GERMANY. 



763 



halls of princes, their music was probably, like the national character, rude and martial. The 

 native airs of the Tyrol breathe the very spirit of mountain freedom and wildness. The melo- 

 dies are usually of a cheerful cast, but it is mountain mirth ; wild, inspiring, and untamed. 

 Several of the natives of the Tyrol, who have left their hills, and traveled through England in 

 hopes of profit, have been listened to with the utmost pleasure, by the most scientific audien- 

 ces. The family of the Raiiiers especially, who some years since made their appearance in 

 London, were patronized by George the Fourth, and their melodies were collected and ar- 

 ranged by an eminent composer. Some of these airs were already well known, though the 

 manner of singing them, peculiar to the natives, caused them to have all the effect of novelty. 

 Others were said to be the original compositions of Felix Raiiier, and exhibit much taste and 

 simple beauty. Upon the whole, if the Germans are inferior to the Italians as vocal perform- 

 ers, and are, generally speaking, a less musical people, owing to their disadvantages of lan- 

 guage and climate, they are, in musical science, decidedly superior to them. 



The literature of Germany, though recent, is extremely rich ; yet it is less national, or local, 

 than that of any other country. It abounds in poetry and criticism, and the German poets have 

 been very successful in the principle of terror. But every department of science and literature 

 is filled with treasures, and the following are but a few of the German jurists, poets, critics, phi- 

 losophers, and astronomers : Puffendorf, Klopstock, Wieland, Schiller, Gothe, Richter, Lessing, 

 Leibnitz, Werner, Herder, the Schlegels, Eichhorn, Kant, Humboldt, Herschel, and Kepler. 



20. Religion. This is generally Catholic or Protestant ; but the Catholics are the most 

 numerous body. The States in which they form the majority, are Bavaria, Baden, Luneburg, 

 Hohenzollern, and Lichtenstein. There are many Catholics also in the Prussian States, Wir- 

 temberg, Hesse, and Hanover. In the other States the Protestants outnumber the Catholics. 

 There are about 250,000 Jews, who are variously restricted in the different States. In Prus- 

 sia only, have they all the rights of citizens. The superstitions of the Germans are similar to 

 those of the English. The ignorant beheve in a kind fairy, in the wild huntsman, and his 

 phantom hounds, urging the chase, and in the annual assemblage of witches in the Hartz forest. 



In Prussia, persons betrothed give notice of the fact in the newspapers, and an addition to 

 the family is announced in the same way.* Divorces are of frequent occurrence, in some of 

 the German States. In Prussia alone there were 3,000 in the year 1817. 



21. Laws. The German character is generally a better safeguard to justice, than the per 

 fection of the laws. Open courts are rare. In some of the northern States, no criminal can 

 be executed till he has made confession ; but when convicted, he is shut up in a dungeon, more 

 dismal and cold than that of Trenk ; an abode of misery, in which innocence itself would con- 

 fess for the alternative of the scaffold. In Prussia, the punishment of death is inflicted by de- 

 capitation, with a large sword, by burning, and by breaking on the wheel. Instances of burn- 

 ing are very rare. In breaking on the wheel, the head is sometimes crushed first, and after- 

 wards the breast and limbs ; but the torture is much prolonged, when the limbs are broken 

 first. Peasants in Germany, are generally hereditary tenants. In Prussia, servitude was abol- 

 ished in 181 1, though before that time no person could hold land, unless he was ennobled. 



22. Jlntiquities. These are mostly gothic. On the Rhine, and in some other parts, are 

 many gothic castles, in every state of decay ; in some the portals remain, as in the feudal ages, 

 while others are dilapidated, and shapeless. The large towns have museums, in which are pre- 

 served the figures of knights, clothed in mail, together with all the various arms and equip- 

 ments of feudal warfare. 



23. Government. The German confederacy was formed in 1815, to protect the indepen- 

 dence and secure the tranquillity of the States which entered into it. Thirty-six monarchical 

 States, and 4 Republics or Free Cities, were the parties to the federal act. The organ of the 

 confederacy is the Diet, composed of ihe plenipotentiaries of the sovereign members ; it is con- 

 stituted in 2 different forms. 1 . The Plenum or general assembly, in which each member has 

 at least 1 vote, and the great powers have several ; Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hano- 

 ver and Wirtemberg have each 4 votes ; Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Cassel, Denmark, 

 (for Holstein and Lauenburg), and the Netherlands (for Luxemburg) each 3; Brunswick, 



* The following are extracts from Prussian newspapers: As betrothed, present C Amelia R***. 



" I have the honor respectfully to give notice of the be- their remembrance, ( Edward P***." 



trothing of my only daughter, to Mr. P. of Newstead, " The fortunate delivery of my wife, on the 6th of this 



Judge of the domain. month, of a healthy boy, I announce herewith to my 



Signed, friends and relations. 



The widowed Counselloress of Justice, R**". Signed, F. A. R***. " 



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