a walled town of Hanover, in the government of Hildesheim, is situated between the Fulda and Werra, which unite below the town and form the Weser, 14 miles W.S.W. of Göttingen. The principal buildings are the church of St Blaise, an edifice of the fourteenth century; and the old castle, founded in 1571 by Erich II., Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. There are also two other churches, a synagogue, and several schools. Leather, beer, and brandy are manufactured here; and the Weser is navigable up to the town, where there is a harbour, by which a considerable trade was formerly carried on. The town was also in former times a great seat of the linen trade. Pop. 5900.

Joseph Saunders, a distinguished comedian, was born in London in 1758. Becoming an apprentice to a law-stationer, he was employed in writing out the parts of actors, and in course of time was smitten with an irrepressible fondness for the histrionic art. He made his first appearance as a player on the stage of a strolling company. His humour, venting its exuberance in the drollest grimaces, and deepening often into the most touching pathos, gradually came to be appreciated. After acting for some time in the Canterbury theatre, he appeared before a London audience in 1790. For the next twenty-three years he was the comic favourite at Covent Garden. He was then transferred to the stage of Drury Lane, and continued to win fresh laurels, especially by his impersonation of "Old Dornton" in The Road to Ruin. He retired from the stage in May 1824, and died in February 1832.