a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper Saxony, and capital of the duchy of Saxe-Gotha, in E. Long. 10. 40. N. Lat. 50. 57. Some fancy this town had its name from the Goths, and that they fortified it in their march to Italy; but it was only a village till surrounded with walls by the bishop of Mentz in 964. It is situated in a fine plain on the river Leina well built and strongly fortified. Here are two handsome churches and a very good hospital. Its chief trade is in dyers weed, of which they have three crops, but the third grows wild. The neighbouring country produces a vast deal of corn. The castle or ducal palace Gothard of Gotha was rebuilt in the 16th century by duke Ernest, farnamed the Pious, who caufed both that and the town to be encompassed with ditches and ramparts; and gave it the name of Friedenftein, or the Castle of Peace, in opposition to its ancient name of Grimmerftein, or the Castle of the Furies. It is situated on a neighbouring eminence, from whence there is a vaf t propeft of a fruitful plain. In one of the apartments there is a collection of valuable rarities, and a noble library.

The dukedom of Saxe Gotha is about 30 miles long, and 12 broad. The reigning duke is Lewis Ernest, born in 1745, and married to the princess Maria Charlotte of Saxe Meningen, by whom he has issue. He is the head of the Ernestine line of Saxony, defcended from the elector John Frederick the Magnanimous, who was deprived of the electorate by the emperor Charles V. in 1574; since which the youngest branch called the Albertine has enjoyed it. He has several other principalities besides that of Saxe Gotha; and his revenues are computed at 200,000l. a-year, with which he maintains about 3000 regular troops. As he is the moft powerful of all the Saxon princes of the Ernestine branch; so of all the courts of Saxony, next to that of Dresden, he has the moft numerous and the moft magnificent. His guards are well clothed, his liveryes rich, and his tables served with more elegance than profusion. And yet by the prudent management of his public finances, his subjects are the leaft burdened with taxes of any state in Germany. The religion is Lutheran.