duchy of Germany, in the circle of Lower Saxony; bounded on the north by the duchy of Mecklenburgh, on the south and southwest by the principality of Anhalt and Halberstadt, on the east by Upper Saxony with part of Brandenburg, and on the west by the duchy of Wolfenbuttle. The Saale circle, and that of Luxenwalde, are separated from the rest, and surrounded on all sides by a part of Upper Saxony. This country is, for the most part, level; but sandy, marshy, or overgrown with woods. There are salt springs in it so rich, that they are sufficient to supply all Germany with that commodity. The Holz circle is the most fruitful part of it. In the Saale circle, where wood is scarce, there is pit-coal; and at Rothenburg is a copper-mine worked. The duchy is well watered, for the Elbe passes through it; and the Saale, Havel, Aller, Ohre, and Elster, either rise in, or wash some part of it in their course. The whole duchy, exclusive of that part of the county of Mansfeldt which is connected with it, is said to contain 29 cities, six towns, about 430 villages, and 330,000 inhabitants. The states of the country consist of the clergy, the nobility, and deputies of the cities. Before it became subject to the electoral house of Brandenburg, frequent diets were held in it; but at present no diets are held, nor have the states the direction of the finances as formerly. Before the Reformation, it was an archbishopric, subject in spirituals to the pope alone, and its prelate was primate of all Germany; but embracing the Reformation, it chose itself administrators, till the treaty of Munster in 1648, when it was given, together with the bishopric of Halberstadt, to the elector of Brandenburg, as an equivalent for the Hither Pomerania, granted by that treaty to the king of Sweden. Lutheranism is the predominant religion here; but Calvinists, Jews, and Roman-catholics, are tolerated. Of the last there are five convents, who never embraced the Reformation. All the Lutheran parishes, amounting to 314, are subject to 16 inspectors, under one general superintendent; only the clergy of the old town of Magdeburg are under the direction of their senior. The Jews have a synagogue at Halle. The manufactures of the duchy are cloth, stuff, stockings, linen, oil-skins, leather, and parchment; of which, and grain of all sorts, large quantities are exported. The arms of it are, Party per pale, ruby, and pearl. The king of Prussia, as duke of Magdeburg, sits and votes between the elector of Bavaria, as duke of Bavaria, and the elector palatine, as pallgrave of Lautern. Of the states of the circle of Lower Saxony he is the first. His matricular assessment for the duchy is 43 horse and 196 foot, or 1300 florins monthly; and to the chamber of Witzlar 343 florins and 40 kruitzers. For the civil government of the duchy there is a council of regency, with a war and demesne chamber; and for the ecclesiastical, a confistory, and general superintendent. The revenues of the duchy, arising from the salt-works, demesnes, and taxes, some of which are very heavy and oppressive, are said to amount to 800,000 rixdollars annually. With respect to salt, every housekeeper in the Prussian dominions is obliged to buy a certain quantity for himself and wife; and also for every child and servant, horse, cow, calf, and sheep, that he possesses. The principal places are Magdeburg, Halle, and Glauche.

city of Germany, in a duchy of the same name, of which it is not only the capital, but that of all Lower Saxony, and formerly even of all Germany. It stands on the Elbe, in E. Long. 12° 9'. N. Lat. 52° 16'. It is a city of great trade, strongly fortified, and very ancient. Its name signifies the maiden city; which, some imagine, took its rise from the temple of Venus, which is said to have stood here anciently, and to have been destroyed by Charlemagne. The founder of the city is supposed to have been Otho I., or his empress Editha, daughter to Edmund the Saxon king of England. The same emperor founded a Benedictine convent here, which he afterwards converted into an archbishopric, of which the archbishop was a count-palatine, and had very great privileges, particularly that of wearing the archiepiscopal pallium, and having the cross borne before him, besides many others. The first tournament in Germany is said to have been appointed near this city, by the emperor Henry the Fowler; but these pastimes were afterwards abolished, because they occasioned such envy and animosity among the nobility, that several of them killed one another upon the spot. The situation of the city is very convenient and pleasant, upon the banks of the Elbe, amidst spacious fruitful plains, and on the road betwixt High and Low Germany. It has been a great sufferer by fires and sieges; but by none so much as that in 1631, when the emperor's general, count Tilly, took it by storm, plundered and set it on fire, by which it was entirely reduced to ashes, except the cathedral, the convent of our Lady, and a few cottages belonging to fishermen; of 40,000 burgheers, not above 400 escaping. The soldiers spared neither age nor sex; but ripped up women with child, murdered sucking infants in sight of their parents, and ravished young women in the streets; to prevent which violation, many of them flung themselves into the Elbe, and others into the fire. The city is now populous, large, and well built, particularly the broad street and cathedral-square. The principal buildings are the king's palace, the governor's house, the armory, guild-hall, and cathedral. The last is a superb structure in the antique taste, dedicated to St Maurice, which has a fine organ, the matter-pipe of which is so big, that a man can scarce clap it with both arms; it also contains the tombs of the emperor Otho and the empress Editha; a fine marble statue of St Maurice, a porphyry font, an altar in the choir of one stone of divers colours, curiously wrought, and many other curiosities. They show here a bedstead and table which belonged to Martin Luther, when he was an Augustinian friar in a cloister of this city before the Reformation. Among the relics, they pretend to have the basin in which Pilate washed his hands after his condemnation of our Saviour; the lantern which Judas made use of when he apprehended him; and the ladder on which the cock crowed after St Peter denied him. The chapter consists of a provost, 16 major and seven minor canons; besides which, there are four other Lutheran collegiate foundations, and a Lutheran convent dedicated to our Lady, in which is a school or seminary. Here is also a gymnasium, with an academy, in which young gentlemen are instructed in the art of war. The canons of the chapter, which, except the change of religion, is upon the same footing as before the Reformation, must make proof of their nobility. The prebends and dignities are all in the gift of the elector; and the revenue of the provost is computed at 12,000 crowns a-year.

Here is a great trade, and a variety of manufactures. The chief are those of woollen cloths and stuffs, silks, cottons, linen, stockings, hats, gloves, tobacco and snuff. The city was formerly one of the Hanse and Imperial towns. Editha, consort to Otho I., on whom it was conferred as a dowry, among many other privileges and advantages, procured it the grant of a yearly fair. The bargravate of this city was anciently an office of great power; having the civil and criminal jurisdiction, the office of hereditary cup-bearer being annexed to it; and was long held as a fief of the archbishopric, but afterwards became an imperial fief, which was again conferred on the archbishopric by the elector of Saxony, upon certain conditions.