one of the principal provinces of the empire of Germany towards the east; from which situation it takes its name, Ost-rych in the German language signifying the East Country. It is bounded on the north by Moravia; on the east by Hungary; on the south by Stiria; and on the west by Bavaria. It is divided into Upper and Lower. Upper Austria is situated on the south, and Lower Austria on the north side of the Danube. Vienna the capital is in Upper Austria, which contains several other very considerable towns. The country is very fertile, has a great many mines, and produces vast quantities of sulphur.

In the ninth and tenth centuries, Austria was the frontier of the empire against the barbarians. In 928, the emperor Henry the Fowler, perceiving that it was of great importance to settle some person in Austria who might oppose these incursions, invested Leopold, furnamed the Illustrious, with that country. Otho I. erected Austria into a marquisate in favour of his brother-in-law Leopold, whose descendant Henry II. was created duke of Austria by the emperor Frederic Barbarossa. His posterity becoming extinct in 1249, the states of the country, in order to defend themselves from the incursions of the Bavarians and Hungarians, resolved to put themselves under the protection of Henry marquis of Misnia; but Othogar II. king of Bohemia, being likewise invited by a party in the duchy, took possession of it, alleging not only the invitation of the states, but also the right of his wife, heiress of Frederic the last duke. The emperor Rodolphus I. pretending a right to this duchy, refused to give Othogar the investiture of it; and afterwards killing him in a battle, procured the right of it to his own family. From this Rhodolphus the present house of Austria is descended, which Austria, which for several centuries past has rendered itself so famous and so powerful, having given 14 emperors to Germany, and fix kings to Spain.

In 1477, Austria was erected into an archduchy by the emperor Frederic the Pacific for his son Maximilian, with these privileges: That these shall be judged to have obtained the investiture of the states, if they do not receive it after having demanded it three times; that if they receive it from the emperor, or the imperial ambassadors, they are to be on horseback, clad in a royal mantle, having in their hand a staff of command, and upon their head a ducal crown of two points, and surrounded with a cross like that of the imperial crown. The archduke is born privy-counsellor to the emperor, and his states cannot be put to the ban of the empire. All attempts against his person are punished as crimes of lese-majesty, in the same manner as those against the king of the Romans, or electors. No one dared to challenge him to single combat. It is in his choice to absent at the assemblies, or to be absent; and he has the privilege of being exempt from contributions and public taxes, excepting 12 soldiers which he is obliged to maintain against the Turks for one month. He has rank immediately after the electors; and exercises justice in his states without appeal, by virtue of a privilege granted by Charles V. His subjects cannot even be summoned out of his province upon account of lawsuits, to give witness, or to receive the investiture of fiefs. Any of the lands of the empire may be alienated in his favour, even those that are feudal; and he has a right to create counts, barons, gentlemen, poets, and notaries. In the succession to his states, the right of birth takes place; and, failing males, the females succeed according to the lineal right, and, if no heir be found, they may dispose of their lands as they please.

Upper Austria, properly so called, has throughout the appearance of a happy country. Here are no signs of the striking contrast betwixt poverty and riches which offends so much in Hungary. All the inhabitants, those of the capital only excepted, enjoy that happy mediocrity which is the consequence of a gentle and wise administration. The farmer has property; and the rights of the nobility, who enjoy a kind of lower judicial power, are well defined. The south and south-west parts of the country are bounded by a ridge of hills, the inhabitants of which enjoy a share of prosperity unknown to those of the interior parts of France. There are many villages and market towns, the inhabitants of which have bought themselves off from vassalage, are now their own governors, and belong some of them to the estates of the country. The cloisters, the prelates of which belong to the estates of the country, are the richest in Germany, after the immediate prelacies and abbeys of the empire. One of the greatest convents of Benedictines is worth upwards of four millions of French livres, half of which goes to the exchequer of the country.

Lower Austria yearly exports more than two millions guilders worth of wine to Moravia, Bohemia, Upper Austria, Bavaria, Salzburg, and part of Styria and Carinthia. This wine is four, but has a great deal of strength, and may be carried all over the world without danger; when it is ten or twenty years old it is very good. This country is very well peopled. Mr Schloffer, in his Political Journal, which contains an account of the population of Austria, estimates that of this country at 2,100,000 men. The revenue amounts to about 14,000,000 of florins, of which the city of Vienna contributes above five, as one man in the capital earns as much as three in the country.

The southern parts of Austria are covered with hills, which rise gradually from the banks of the Danube to the borders of Stiria, and are covered with woods. They lose themselves in the mists of mountains which run to the south of Germany, and stretch through all Stiria, Carniola, Carinthia, and Tyrol, to the Swis Alps; and are probably, after Savoy and Switzerland, the highest part of the earth. The inhabitants of this extensive ridge of mountains are all very much alike; they are a strong, large, and, the Goitres excepted, a very handsome people.

The characteristic of the inhabitants of all this country is striking bigotry, united with striking sensuality. You need only see what is going forwards here to be convinced that the religion taught by the monks is as ruinous to the morals as it is repugnant to Christianity. The Cicifbos accompany the married women from their bed to church, and lead them to the very confessional. The bigotry of the public in the interior parts of Austria, which, from the mixture of gallantry with it, is still to be found even amongst people of rank, degenerates amongst the common people into the grossest and most abominable buffoonery. The Windes, who are mixed with the Germans in these countries, distinguish themselves by a superstitious custom that does little honour to the human understanding, and would be incredible if we had not the most unequivocal proofs of the fact before our eyes. Many years ago, they set out in company with some Hungarian enthusiasts to Cologne on the Rhine, which is about 120 German miles distant, to cut off the beard of a crucifix there. Every seven years this operation is repeated, as in this space of time the beard grows again to its former length. The rich persons of the association send the poorer ones as their deputies, and the magistrates of Cologne receive them as ambassadors from a foreign prince. They are entertained at the expense of the state, and a councillor shows them the most remarkable things in the town. This farce brings in large sums of money at stated times, and may therefore deserve political encouragement; but still, however, it is the most miserable and meanest way of gain that can be imagined. These Windes have alone the right to shave our Saviour, and the beard grows only for them. They firmly believe, that if they did not do this service to the crucifix, the earth would be flut to them for the next seven years, and there would be no harvests. For this reason they are obliged to carry the hair home with them, as the proof of having fulfilled their commission, the returns of which are distributed among the different communities, and preserved as holy relics. The imperial court has for a long time endeavoured in vain to prevent this emigration, which deprives agriculture of so many useful hands. When the Windes could not go openly they would go clandestinely. At length the court thought of the expedient of forbidding the regency of Cologne to let them enter the town. This happened fix years ago, and the numerous embass was obliged to beg its way back again without the wonderful beard; which without doubt the Capuchins, to whom the crucifix belonged, used to put together from their own. The trade which the monks carry on with holy salves, oils, &c. is still very considerable; a prohibition of the court, lately published, has rather lessened it, but it cannot be entirely suppressed till next generation. It is now carried on secretly, but perhaps to nearly as great an amount as formerly.