an archbishopric, and formerly an electorate in Germany, the title of which was extinguished in 1802. It was situated on the banks of the river Maine, between Triers on the west, the Palatinate on the south, Franconia on the east, and the Wetterau on the north. It was about 60 miles in length from north-east to south-west, and about 50 in breadth. A considerable part of the elector's revenue arose from the toll on the Rhine and Maine, and from the tax on the excellent wines produced in this country. The chief towns of any trade are, 1. Mentz; (see the next article). In its neighbourhood is Hockheim, so celebrated for good wines, that the best Rhenish is from thence called **old Hock**. It is a pretty village, containing about 300 families; and belonged to the chapter of Mentz, the dean of which enjoyed the revenue of it. He and the Augustins of Mentz and Francfort had the exclusive enjoyment of the best Hockheimer wine, of which, in good years, a piece, consisting of 100 measures, sells for from 900 to 1000 guilders from the press. "This (says the Baron Riesbeck) is certainly one of the dearest wines in the world. Having a desire to taste it on the spot, we were obliged to pay a rixdollar; it was, however, of the best vintage in this century, viz. that of 1766. Nor should we have had it, but for an advocate of Mentz, to whom the hostess meant to shew favour. This was the first German wine I had met with which was entirely without any sour taste: it was quite a perfume to the tongue; whereas the other wine of Hockheim, let it be as good as it may, is not quite clear of vinegar; though for this also, if it has any age, you are forced to pay a guilder and a half." 2. Bingen is a pleasant town, which stands in the district called Rhinegau. This town, which, together with the toll on the Rhine, was worth about 30,000 guilders, belonged to the chapter of Mentz, is extremely beautiful, and contains about 4,500 inhabitants. A great part of the corn which is carried into the Rhinegau from the neighbouring Palatinate, comes through this place, which, on the other hand, supplies the Palatinate with drugs, and various foreign commodities. This traffic alone would make the place very lively; but, besides this, it has very fruitful vineyards. The hill, at the foot of which it lies, and one side of which is made by the gullet through which the Nahe runs into the Rhine, forms another steep rock behind this gullet parallel to the Rhine and the golden Rudesheimer mountain; it therefore enjoys the same sun as this does, which makes the Budesheimer wine that grows on it little inferior to the true Rudesheimer. See **Rudesheim**. The rising grounds about it produce wines that are esteemed preferable to those of Bacharac, so much in vogue hitherto.—3. Elfeld, five miles west from Mentz, is a strong fortified town, on the north side of the Rhine, and the chief of the Rhinegau.—Here is Rudesheim, a place noted for the growth of the best wines in these parts. 4. Weisbaden lies between six and seven leagues from Francfort, and about five or six miles north of Mentz; it is the metropolis of a country belonging to the branch of Nassau-Saarbrak, and is famous for its mineral waters.

According to Riesbeck, the see of Mentz was indebted for its increase of riches to St Boniface, who may be called, with great justice, the apostle of the Germans. It was this man, an Englishman by birth, who in the time of Charlemagne baptized Witikind and the other brave Saxons who had so long resisted baptism with their swords, and spread the empire of the vicar of Jesus Christ as far as the northern and eastern seas. He it was who introduced the Roman liturgy into Germany, and made the savage inhabitants abstain from eating horse's flesh. He raised the papal power to a higher pitch than it had been raised in any other country in Christendom; and, in recompense of his services, the pope made all the new founded bishoprics in the north of Germany subject to the see of Mentz, which Boniface face had chosen for his residence. The provinces, the most considerable in the whole papal dominions, all Suabia, Franconia, Bohemia, and almost all Saxony, with a part of Switzerland, Bavaria, and the Upper Rhine, belonged to this diocese. Though the reformation, and political changes lessened it one-third, it still contained, before the French revolution, the archbishopric of Spirengel, and eleven bishoprics, which are the most considerable of Germany, as Wurzburg, Paderborn, &c. When the building of the papal monarchy was completed by Gregory VII. the archbishops of Mentz became powerful enough to be at the head of the empire. In the 13th and 14th centuries, they were so eminent as to be able to make emperors without any foreign assistance; and it was to one of them that the house of Hapsburg was indebted for its first elevation. After the boundaries of the two powers were more accurately ascertained, and the temporal got so much the better of the spiritual, the power and influence of the archbishops of this place were of course much reduced; still, however, they possessed very important prerogatives, which they might have exerted with much more efficacy than they did, were it not that various circumstances rendered them too dependent on the emperors. They were still the speakers in the electoral college, had the appointment of the diets under the emperors, and might order a re-examination of the proceedings of the imperial courts. These high privileges were, however, too much subject to the control of the house of Austria. Though the archbishop of Mentz did not absolutely possess the largest, yet he certainly had the richest and most peopled domain of any ecclesiastical potentate in Germany. The country, it is true, does not contain more than 125 German miles square, whereas the archbishopric of Salzburg contains 240; but then Salzburg has only 250,000 inhabitants, whereas Mentz has 320,000. The natural riches of the territory of Mentz, and its advantageous situation, make a subject of Mentz much richer than one of Salzburg, the greatest part of which is only inhabited by herdsmen. In the territory of Mentz there were 40 cities; in that of Salzburg only seven. The tax on vessels which went down the Rhine, of itself produced 60,000 guilders or 6000l. a-year, which is nearly as much as all the mines of Salzburg put together, excepting only the salt mine at Halle. The tax on wine, here and in the country round, produced the court above 100,000 guilders or 10,000l. a-year, in which sum we do not reckon the customs of the countries which lie at a greater distance. Upon the whole, the income of the archbishop might amount to 1,700,000 guilders, or 170,000l.

At the settling of the indemnities in 1802, all that part of the diocese which lay on the right of the Maine was given to the prince of Nassau-Usingen, except the bailiwick of Aschaffenburg. It was then determined that the electoral title should, from that time, be elector of Aschaffenburg, and count of Wetzlar; that he should still continue archchancellor of the empire, and hold his office at Ratisbon, with some abbeys and other indemnities, so as to yield an annual revenue of a million of florins. His jurisdiction as metropolitan of the German church to extend over all Germany, except the Prussian states. The noblest production of this territory is the wine, which is almost the only true Rhenish. Connoisseurs, indeed, allow the wines of Neirstein, Baccarach, and a very few other places out of this country, to be true Rhenish: but they do not give this name to the wines of the Palatinate, of Bardon, and of Alsata. There is a great deal of wine made in the countries which lie on the south and west of the Rhine, at Laubenheim, Bodenheim, Budesheim, and Bingen; but the true Rhenish, that which inspires so many who are and so many who are not poets, comes only from the Rhinegau, which lies on the northern banks of the Rhine. See Rhine-gau.

The civil and military establishments of the archbishop, like those of the other German princes, were upon a scale disproportionate to his territories. "He has," says Baron Riesbeck, his ministers, his counsellors of state, and eighty or ninety privy counsellors of various denominations. The expense of this establishment is very disproportionate to the revenue of the state. This is owing to the large number of poor nobility, who can only accept of employments of this kind. Ignorance of the true principles of government are the causes of this evil. The consequences are, that a great number of persons, who might be usefully employed, live in idleness. Even the military establishment of the country appears to me more calculated for the purpose of feeding a hungry nobility than for real use. At the accession of the present elector, though the whole army only consisted of 2200 men, there were six generals. The regular establishment paid for and supported by the country is 8000 men; but though there are only 2000 men kept up, the money expended for their support, particularly that given to numberless useless officers, might be made use of more for the benefit of the country. The army of the archbishop consists of a German guard of 50 men and 25 horses, a Swiss guard, a squadron of hussars of 130 men (the most useful troops, as they purge the land of robbers and murderers), a corps of artillery of 104 men, three regiments of infantry of 600 men each, and some companies belonging to the armies of Franconia and the Upper Palatinate. Of the fortifications of the capital we may say much the same as of the army. Were they, indeed, improved and kept up as they ought to be, they would vie with Luxemburg, and be the most powerful of all the barriers against France. It is true, that the nature of the ground does not allow of a regular plan; but for single parts, I have seen no place of the same capabilities, where greater advantages has been taken of the ground for the erection of the several works. The beauty, as well as size of them, is indeed an object of great wonder; but though the circle of the Upper Rhine, and even the empire in general, has laid out great sums on the building these fortifications, parts of them are not finished, and parts of them are ready to fall to pieces. Their extent, indeed, would require a great army to man them. But this, as well as the maintaining and keeping them up, is evidently beyond the power of this court, or indeed of the whole circle of the Upper Rhine united. They are, therefore, also Mentz, a considerable town of Germany, in the circle of the Lower Rhine, and capital of the late electorate of the same name, is situated on the Rhine near its confluence with the Maine, 20 miles north-west of Worms, 15 west of Francfort, and 75 east of Triers, in E. Long. 8° 20' N. Lat. 40° 51'. This city claims a right to the invention of the art of printing: (see History of Printing). Here is a very beautiful quay along the river, defended by several works well fortified with cannon. That part of the city which extends towards the river is most populous. The best vineyards for Rhenish wine being in this neighbourhood, Mentz has a flourishing trade in that commodity more particularly; and its commerce is the brisker, by reason that all the merchandise which passes up and down the Rhine stops in its harbour to change bottoms.

The northern part of the city, in which the archbishop resides, is full of very regular buildings. Here are three regular streets, called the Bleichen, which run parallel to each other from the banks of the Rhine to 600 yards within the city, and are cut almost regularly by very pretty cross streets. The archbishop's palace has a most commanding view of these streets, the Rhine, and the Rhineau. There are also some good buildings in the old part of the city. The market of beasts is extremely well worth seeing; and you here and there meet with other agreeable spots. The market in the middle of the town, though not regular, is one of the prettiest places in Germany. The cathedral is well worth notice. It is an immense large old Gothic building, the spire of which was struck with lightning many years ago, and entirely laid in ashes. As it contained much wood, it burned 14 hours before it was entirely consumed. To prevent these accidents for the future, the chapter had the present one built to the same height in stone, an undertaking which cost them 40,000 guilders or 400cl. It is a great pity (Baron Riesbeck observes) that it is overloaded with small ornaments: and a still greater, that this wonderful edifice is so choked up with shops and houses as to be hardly more than half visible. As, however, houses and shops are very dear in this part of the town, one cannot be very angry with the chapter for choosing rather to make the most of its ground, than to show off the church to the best advantage. The rent of a shop and a single room to live in is 150 guilders or 15l. per annum in this part of the town. There is hardly another church in Germany of the height and length of this cathedral; and the inside of it is decorated with several magnificent monuments of princes and other great personages. Besides the cathedral, the city of Mentz contains several other churches in the modern style, very well worth seeing. St Peter's, and the Jesuits church, though both too much loaded with ornament, are among this number. The church of the Augustins, of which the inhabitants of Mentz are so proud, is a masterpiece of bad taste; but that of Ignatius, though little is said about it, would be a model of the antique, if here likewise there had not been too much ornament lavished. Upon the whole, the palaces of the noblesse want that noble simplicity which alone constitutes true beauty and magnificence. In another century the externals of the city will be quite changed. The late prince built a great deal, and the present has a taste for the same sort of expense. The monks and governors of hospitals also have been forced to rebuild their houses; so that when a few more streets are made broader and straighter, the whole will have no bad appearance. The inhabitants, who together with the garrison amount to 30,000, are a good kind of people, and, like all the catholics of Germany, make great account of a good table. Their faces are interesting, and they are not deficient either in wit or activity.

There are few cities in Germany besides Vienna which contain so rich and numerous a nobility as this does: there are some houses here which have estates of 100,000 guilders, or 10,000l. a-year. The counts of Bassenheim, Schonborn, Stadion, Ingelheim, Elz, Ostein, and Walderdorf, and the lords of Dahlberg, Breitenbach, with some others, have incomes of from 30,000 to 100,000 guilders. Sixteen or eighteen houses have from 15,000 to 30,000 guilders annual revenue. The nobility of this place are said to be some of the oldest and most untainted in Germany. There are amongst them many persons of extraordinary merit, who join uncommon knowledge to all the duties of active life. Upon the whole, they are far superior to the greater part of the German nobility. Their education, however, is still too stiff. The first minister of the court was refused admittance into their assemblies for not being sufficiently noble; and they think they degrade themselves by keeping company with bourgois.

The clergy of this place are the richest in Germany. A canonry brings in 3,500 Rhenish guilders in a moderate year. The canonry of the provost brings him in 40,000 guilders a-year; and each of the deaneries is worth 2000 guilders. The income of the chapter altogether amounts to 300,000 guilders. Though it is forbidden by the canons of the church for any one to have more than a single prebend, there is not an ecclesiastic in this place who has not three or four; so that there is hardly a man amongst them who has not at least 8000 guilders a-year. The last provost, a count of Elz, had prebends enough to procure him an income of 75,000 guilders. Exclusive of the cathedral, there are several other choirs in which the canonries bring in from 1200 to 1500 guilders a-year. To give an idea of the riches of the monasteries of this place, Baron Riesbeck informs us, that at the destruction of the Jesuits, their wine, which was reckoned to sell extremely cheap, produced 120,000 rixdollars. A little while ago the elector abolished one Carthusian convent and two nunneries, in the holy cellars of which there was found wine for at least 500,000 rixdollars.

"Notwithstanding this great wealth (continues our author), there is not a more regular clergy in all Germany. There is no diocese, in which the regulations made by the council of Trent have been more strictly adhered to than they have here; the archbishops having made a particular point of it both at the time of the reformation and ever since. One thing which greatly contributes to keep up discipline is the not suffering any priest to remain in the country who..." who has not fixed and stated duties, and a revenue annexed to them. Most of the irregularities in Bavaria, Austria, and other countries, arise from abbés who are obliged to subsist by their daily industry and any masses which they can pick up. These creatures are entirely unknown here. The theological tenets of this court are also much purer than those of any other ecclesiastical prince in Germany. I was pleased to see the Bible in the hands of so many common people, especially in the country. I was told that the reading of it was not forbidden in any part of the diocese; only persons were enjoined not to read it through, without the advice of their confessors. For a long time superstition has been hunted through its utmost recesses; and though it is not quite possible to get entirely clear of pilgrimages and wonder-working images, you will meet with no priest bold enough to exercise or to preach such nonsense as we hear in the pulpits of other German churches."

Though the trade of this place has been constantly on the increase for these 18 or 20 years past, yet it is by no means what it ought to be from the situation and other advantages. The persons here who call themselves merchants, and who make any considerable figure, are in fact only brokers. A few toy-shops, five or six druggists, and four or five manufacturers of tobacco, are all that can possibly be called traders. There is not a banker in the whole town; and yet this country enjoys the staple privilege, and commands by means of the Maine, Neckar, and Rhine, all the exports and imports of Alsatia, the Palatinate, Franconia, and a part of Swabia and Hesse, as far as the Netherlands. The port too is constantly filled with ships, but few of them contain any merchandise belonging to the inhabitants of the place. The French took it by surprise in October 1792; it surrendered to the king of Prussia in 1793; but the French again got possession of it in October 1797; and it continued united to the French empire till 1814, when it passed into the hands of the allies. It now forms a part of Germany.