a principality of Germany, in the circle of Upper Saxony, is a long narrow tract, situated for the most part betwixt the rivers Elbe and Saal, about 90 miles in length from east to west, but of unequal breadth, the greatest being on the east side, which is but 35 miles. The house of Anhalt, from whence the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg are said to derive their original, is a very ancient and honourable family. The best genealogists deduce their origin from Berenthobaldus, who made war upon the Thuringians in the sixth century; it has produced many princes who make a great figure in the German history. story. Joachim Ernest, who died in 1586, left five sons, who divided the principality among them. All of them having children, and being of equal authority, they unanimously agreed to submit to the eldest of the family, who has the supreme government, which is Anhalt Dessau. The others are, Anhalt Bernburg, Anhalt Schaumburg, Anhalt Coethen, and Anhalt Zerbst.

The last house became extinct in 1793. The three houses of Dessau, Bernburg, and Coethen, have votes in the new German diet, established in 1814. The population of all the principalities in 1815, was 123,000; the revenue about 113,000l. sterling. The tax on lands is four per cent, which, rating them at 20 years purchase, is not quite one shilling in the pound. Upon an emergency the subjects are able to raise half a million dollars extraordinary. The towns in these little states are not so numerous in proportion to the extent of country as in Saxony, but better peopled. It is bounded on the south by the county of Mansfeld, on the west by the duchy of Halberstadt, on the east by the duchy of Saxony, and on the north by the duchy of Magdeburg. It abounds in corn, and is watered by the Sadle and Mulda; its principal trade is in beer.