the name of two circles of the German empire, a kingdom, and a duchy of the same. The lower circle is bounded to the south by the circle of Upper Saxony, and a part of that of the Upper Rhine; to the north by the duchy of Sleswick, belonging to the king of Denmark, and the Baltic; to the west, by the circle of Westphalia and the North sea; and to the east by the circle of Upper Saxony. The states belonging to it are the dukes and princes of Magdeburg and Bremen, Zell, Grubenhagen, Calenberg, Wolfenbuttle, Halberstadt, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Gastor, Holstein-Gluckstadt, Holstein-Gottorf, Hildesheim, Saxe-Lauenburg; the archbishopric of Lubeck; the principalities of Schwerin, Ratzeburg, Blankenburg, Ranzau; the imperial cities of Lubeck, Gotzlar, Muhlhausen, Nordhausen, Hamburg, and Bremen.

The dukes of Bremen and Magdeburg are alternately directors and summoning princes; but, ever since the year 1682, the diets which used generally to be held at Brunswick or Lunenburg have been discontinued. Towards the army of the empire, which, by a decree of the empire in 1681, was settled at 40,000 men, this circle was to furnish 1322 horsemen and 2707 foot; and of the 300,000 florins granted to the imperial chest in 1707, its quota was 31,271 florins; both which assessments are the same with those of Upper Saxony, Burgundy, Swabia, and Westphalia. The inhabitants of this circle are almost all Lutherans.

The circle of Upper Saxony is bounded by that of Franconia, the Upper Rhine, and Lower Saxony; and also by the Baltic sea, Prussia, Poland, Silesia, Lusatia, and Bohemia. It is of great extent, and contains the following states; viz. the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Eisenach, Saxe-Cobourg, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Querfurt, the Hither and Farther Pomerania, Camin, Anhalt, Quedlinburg, Gernrode, Walkenried, Schwarzburg, Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Mansfeld, Stolberg, Barby, the counts of Reussen, and the counts of Schonberg. No diets have been held in this circle since the year 1683. The elector of Saxony has always been the sole summoning prince and director of it. Most of the inhabitants profess the Protestant religion. When the whole empire furnishes 40,000 men, the quota of this circle was 1322 horse and 2707 foot. Of the 300,000 florins granted by the empire in 1707, it contributed only 31,271 florins, 28 krutitzers, being rated no higher than those of Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Swabia, and Burgundy, though it is much larger. Agreeable to a resolution and regulation in 1654, this circle was to nominate only two assessors of the chamber-court.

The electorate of Saxony was raised to the rank of a kingdom by Bonaparte in 1806, and still retains the dignity. Previous to the overthrow of the French power in 1814, it consisted of the duchy of Saxony, the greatest part of the margravate of Meissen, a part of Vogtland, and the northern half of the landgraviate of Thuringia. The Lusatias also, and a part of the country of Hemmeberg, belong to it, though no part of this circle; but by an act of the Congress of Vienna in 1814, one half of the territory, and two-fifths of the population were given to Prussia. The soil of the kingdom of Saxony is in general exceeding rich and fruitful, yielding corn, fruits, and pulse in abundance, together with hops, flax, hemp, tobacco, aniseed, wild saffron, wood; and in some places woad, wine, coals, porcelain, clay, terra sigillata, fuller's-earth, fine shiver, various sorts of beautiful marble, serpentine stone, and almost all the different species of precious stones. Sulphur also, alum, vitriol, sand, and free-stone, salt-springs, amber, turf, cinnabar, quicksilver, antimony, bismuth, arsenic, cobalt, and other minerals, are found in it. This country, besides the above articles, contains likewise valuable mines of silver, copper, tin, lead, and iron. In 1790, the produce of the mines was estimated at 2,000,000 crowns. The country abounds in many places with horned cattle, sheep, horses, and venison. The principal rivers by which it is watered are the Elbe, the Schwarze-Elster, the Mulde, the Saale, the Unstrut, the Weisse-Elster, and the Pleisse. These rivers, as well as the lakes and rivulets, abound in fish; and in the White-Elster are found beautiful pearls. The kingdom is extremely well cultivated and inhabited. The population, in 1802, was estimated at 2,150,000; but by the cession in 1814, it is reduced to 1,200,000. The superficial extent of the kingdom is now about 7200 English square miles; before the cessions, it was about 15,200. The provincial diets here consist of three classes. The first is composed of the prelates, the counts, and lords, and the two universities of Leipsic and Wittenberg. To the second belong the nobility in general, immediate or mediate, that is, such as stand immediately under the fief chancery or the aulic judicatories, and such as are immediately under the jurisdiction of the amman. The third class is formed of the towns in general. The general provincial diets are ordinarily held every six years; but there are others called selection diets, which are convened commonly every two years. We would here observe, that not only these diets, but those in most of the other states of Germany, are at present extremely insignificant and unimportant, retaining little more than the shadow of their former power and privileges; for even the petty princes, though they depend upon their more potent neighbours, and must be careful not to give them any umbrage, are almost as absolute in their respective territories as the grand seignior himself. As to religion, it was in this country that the reformation took its rise in the 16th century, to which it hath ever since adhered, according to the doctrines of Luther.* The two late electors, when they embraced Popery in order to qualify themselves to be elected kings of Poland, gave the most solemn assurances to their people, that they would inviolably maintain the established religion and its professors in the full and free enjoyment of all their ecclesiastical rights, privileges, and prerogatives whatsoever, in regard to churches, worship, ceremonies, usages, universities, schools, benefices, incomes, profits, jurisdictions, and immunities. The royal family still continue Roman catholics, though they have lost the crown. SAXONY

crown of Poland, for which they at first embraced Popery. With respect to ecclesiastical matters, the country is divided into parishes, and these again into spiritual inspections and consistories, all subordinate to the ecclesiastical council and upper consistory of Dresden, in which city and Leipzig the Calvinists and Roman Catholics enjoy the free exercise of their religion. Learning flourishes in this kingdom; in which, besides the free schools and gymnasia in most of the chief towns, is the celebrated university of Leipzig, in which are societies for the liberal arts and the German language; and in the town are booksellers and printers of the greatest eminence. A great variety of manufactures are also carried on in this country. The principal are those of fine and coarse linen, thread, fine lace, paper, fine glasses and mirrors; porcelain, equal if not superior to that of China; iron, brass, and steel wares; manufactures of gold and silver, cotton, wool, and silk; gloves, caps, hats and tapestry; in which, and the natural productions mentioned above, together with dyeing, an important foreign commerce is carried on. Leipzig is one of the most industrious places. In 1800 it had eight manufactories of wax-cloth, eight of velvet and other silk stuffs, two of silk-stockings, two of painted paper; two extensive and excellent type-foundries, fifteen printing establishments, besides others of tobacco, leather, &c. But the mining district round Freyberg is the most industrious of the whole kingdom. Here, besides the extensive establishments for the amalgamation and purification of silver, there are foundries of cannon and bells, several manufactories of gold and silver lace, of woollen cloth, of cotton yarn, &c. At Chemnitz, there were, in 1795, 1626 weavers, and twelve establishments for printing cotton.

Before the abolition of the electorate, the titles of the elector of Saxony were, duke of Saxony, Juliers, Cleve, and Berg; as also of Engern and Westphalia, arch-marshal and elector of the Holy Roman empire, landgrave in Thuringia, margrave of Meissen, and of Upper and Lower Lusatia, burgrave of Magdeburg, princely count of Henneberg, count of La Mark, Ravensberg, Barby, and Hanau, and lord of Ravenstein. Among the electors he was reckoned the sixth, as great marshal of the empire, of which he was also vicar, during an interregnum, in all places not subject to the vicariate of the county palatine of the Rhine. He was moreover sole director of the circle; and in the vacancy of the see of Mentz claims the directorium at the diet of the empire. His matricular assessment, on account of the electorate, was 1984 florins, besides what he paid for other districts and territories. To the chamber-courts he contributed, each term, the sum of 1345 rix-dollars, together with 83 rix-dollars and 62 kruitzers on account of the county of Mansfeld. In this kingdom, subordinate to the privy council, are various colleges for the departments of war, foreign affairs, the finances, fiefs, mines, police, and ecclesiastical affairs, together with high tribunals and courts of justice, to which appeals lie from the inferior. The revenues of the king of Saxony amounted to about 900,000l. in 1816. They arise from the ordinary and extraordinary subsidies of the states; his own demesnes, consisting of several bailiwicks; the impost on beer, and the fine porcelain of the country; tents of corn, fruit, wine, &c.; his own silver mines, Saxony, and the tenths of those that belong to individuals. The kingdom, however, is at present deeply in debt. The regular troops amount to 12,000 men, exclusive of the militia of the ban, the arriere-ban, and the body of miners and hunters, who are obliged in time of war to bear arms. The whole kingdom is divided into circles.

Saxony was raised to the rank of a kingdom by Bonaparte in 1806. In the following year, Prussia was compelled to cede to Saxony the district of Cottbus, and at the same time four-fifths of her Polish territories were disunited from her, and erected into a principality, under the name of the duchy of Warsaw, and the sovereignty given to the King of Saxony. The duchy was afterwards enlarged by cessions from Austria, and continued subject to the king of Saxony till 1814, when it was transferred to Russia.

The country of Saxony is remarkable for being the mother of the present English nation; but concerning the Saxons themselves, previous to that period, we have very few particulars. The Saxons (says Mr Whitaker) have been derived by our historians from very different parts of the globe; India, the north of Asia, and the forests of Germany. And their appellation has been equally referred to very different causes; the name of their Indian progenitors, the plundering disposition of their Asiatic fathers, and the short hooked weapons of their warriors. But the real origin of the Saxons, and the genuine derivation of their name, seem clearly to be these.

In the earlier period of the Gallic history, the Celts of Gaul crossed the Rhine in considerable numbers, and planted various colonies in the regions beyond it. Thus the Vocon Tectosages settled on one side of the Hercynian forest and about the banks of the Neckar; the Helvetii upon another and about the Rhine and Maine; the Boii beyond both; and the Senones in the heart of Germany. Thus also we see the Treviri, the Norvii, the Suevi, and the Marcomanni, the Quadi, the Venedi, and others, in that country; all plainly betrayed to be Gallic nations by the Gallic appellations which they bear, and all together possessing the greatest part of it. And, even as late as the conclusion of the first century, we find one nation on the eastern side of this great continent actually speaking the language of Gaul, and another upon the northern using a dialect nearly related to the British. But as all the various tribes of the Germans are considered by Strabo to be γαλατικοὶ γενομένοι, or genuine Gauls in their origin; so those particularly that lived immediately beyond the Rhine, and are asserted by Tacitus to be indubitably native Germans, are expressly denominated Γαλαται, or Gauls, by Diodorus, and as expressly declared by Dio to have been distinguished by the equivalent appellation of Celts from the earliest period. And the broad line of nations, which extended along the ocean, and reached to the borders of Scythia, was all known to the learned in the days of Diodorus, by the same significant appellation of Γαλαται, or Gauls.

Of these the most noted were the Si Cambri and Cimbri; the former being seated near the channel of the Rhine, and the latter inhabiting the peninsula of Jutland. And the denominations of both declare their original original; and show them to have been derived from the common stock of the Celts, and to be of the same Celtic kindred with the Cimbri of our own Sommersetshire, and the Cymbri or Cambrians of our own Wales. The Cimbri are accordingly denominated Celts by Strabo and Appian. And they are equally asserted to be Gauls by Diodorus; to be the descendants of that nation which sacked the city of Rome, plundered the temple of Delphi, and subdued a great part of Europe and some of Asia.

Immediately to the south of these were the Saxons, extending from the isthmus of the Chersonesus to the current of the Elbe. And they were equally Celtic in their origin as their neighbours. They were denominated Ambrones as well as Saxons; and, as such, are included by Tacitus under the general appellation of Cimbri, and comprehended in Plutarch under the equal one of Celtico-Sytha. And the name of Ambrones appears particularly to have been Gallic; being common to the Saxons beyond the Elbe, and the Ligurians in Cisalpine Gaul; as both found to their surprise, on the irruption of the former into Italy with the Cimbri. And, what is equally surprising, and has been equally unnoticed by the critics, the Welsh distinguish England by the name of Logyr or Liguria, even to the present moment. In that irruption these Saxons, Ambros, or Ligurians, composed a body of more than 30,000 men, and were principally concerned in cutting to pieces the large armies of Manlius and Caepio. Nor is the appellation of Saxons less Celtic than the other. It was originally the same with the Belgic Suessiones of Gaul; the capital of that tribe being now intitled Soisson by the French, and the name of the Saxons pronounced Saisen by the Welsh, Saxon by the Scotch, and Sasenach or Saxenach by the Irish. And the Suessiones or Saxones of Gaul derived their own appellation from the position of their metropolis on a river, the stream at Soissons being now denominated the Aisne, and formerly the Axon; Uesson or Axon importing only waters or a river, and S-ess-on or S-ax-on on the waters or the river. The Suessiones, therefore, are actually denominated the Uessonnes by Ptolemy; and the Saxones are actually intitled the Axones by Lucan.

These, with their brethren and allies the Cimbri, having been more formidable enemies to the Romans by land, than the Samnites, Carthaginians, Spaniards, Gauls, or Parthians, in the second century applied themselves to navigation, and became nearly as terrible by sea. They soon made themselves known to the inhabitants of the British isles by their piracies in the northern channels, and were denominated by them Lochlyn or Lochlynach; lucd-lyn signifying the people of the wave, and the d being quiescent in the pronunciation. They took possession of the Orkney islands, which were then merely large shoals of sand, uncovered with wood, and overgrown with rushes; and they landed in the north of Ireland, and ravaged the country. Before the middle of the third century they made a second descent upon the latter, disembarked a considerable body of men, and designed the absolute subjection of the island. Before the conclusion of it, they carried their naval operations to the south, infested the British channel with their little vessels, and made frequent descents upon the coasts. And in the fourth and fifth centuries, acting in conjunction with the Picts of Caledonia and the Scots of Ireland, they ravaged all the eastern and south-eastern shores of Britain, began the formal conquest of the country, and finally settled their victorious soldiery in Lancashire.