This gentleman is since dead.
Historische Entwickelung der heutigen Staatsverfassung, des Teutschen Reichs vom. Putter, Vol. III. 278.
It was a son of this man who was the prototype of Goethe’s hero, Werter. See Aus meinem Leben, Vol. III. p. 337.
Geschichte des Fürstenthums, Hannover, Vol. I. p. 49.
Aus meinem Leben, Vol. III. p. 34.
Perhaps the reader may not be acquainted with this game, and it may therefore be proper to describe it. A female sits down, one of the company kneels down, and lays his head in her lap, so that he can for the moment see nothing. He lays one of his hands behind him, flat on his back, and all those who choose to play give him smart strokes on this hand, till he guesses who hit him, when the person who is discovered must take his turn on his knees. In this instance, however, they neither sat nor kneeled down, but one person stooped down and hid his face in the apron of one of the maidens. If I recollect right, there is a good description of this game, with many of its agreeable et ceteras, as it is played in decent circles in France, in the Hermit de la Chausse d’Antin.
Since the text was written, I have seen the list of births in these provinces for 1817, in which the proportion of natural to legitimate children is as 1 to 15, and in the whole kingdom of Hannover as 1 to 14.
Constitutions des trois villes libres Anséatiques, par Charles de Villers, p. 89.
Erd Beschreibung des Konigieichs. Hannover, p. 242.
Hermann and Dorothea. “Happy is he to whom nature has given a pleasing countenance, for she always recommends him, and he is a stranger nowhere.”
This sessions was a meeting of the magistrates of several districts, and seems to resemble, in many little points, the quarter sessions of England.
Handbuch der Väterlandischen Geschichte, von Dr Karl Venturini, Vol. III. pages 89, 93.
The greater part of these particulars are taken from Wiarda’s History of Friezland. It is untranslated, and fills nine octavo volumes.
The following is the passage which describes the occupation alluded to:
Sonne Erdbeschreibung des Konigeischs, Hannover, p. 128.
Venturini, book ii. 4th chapter.
Spittler Geschichte des Fürstenthums, Hannover, Vol. II. p. 321. The custom of dividing sovereignties, as if they were property, was very general in Germany, particularly amongst the princes whose territories were not large. The various branches of the Saxon family, as Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, are all derived from one stock. It was only in the beginning of the eighteenth century that the right of primogeniture was fully established amongst these princes.
Smollet’s History of England, Reign of King William.
Pütter’s Historische Entwickelung, Vol. II. p. 332.
Patje, who published an account of the manufactories and commerce of Hannover in 1796, does not include Osnabrück; I therefore conclude the text is correct. Hassel, however, makes the increase of territory 2104 square miles, and of inhabitants, 317,762.
Gesetz Sammlung, 3d Abtheilung, No. 72, § 30.
In Dr Bright’s Travels in Lower Hungary, pp. 90–93, the spoliation of Nuremberg by the Bavarians is described, which shews, much more vividly than I have attempted, the manner in which the sovereigns of Germany are disposed to treat the once free, polished, and powerful cities of their country.
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Most of the foregoing information relative to the states is taken from a work entitled, Das Königreich, Hannover, published at Nordhausen in 1818 by Heinrick Luden; Professor of History at the university of Jena. As I may hereafter quote this work, I shall then do it under the title of Luden.
Geschichte des Fürstenthums, Hannover, Vol. I. p. 89–92.
Handbuch der vaterländischen Geschichte, Vol. IV. p. 409.
Luden, p. 63.—All the historical writers accuse the English commissariat of having refused to pay, at the end of the seven years’ war, for many things which had been delivered for the use of the army, and even to pay some part of the money due to the troops of Hannover. It would be a pleasure to see this charge on our national honour disproved.
Venturini, Vol. IV. p. 144, &c.
Since the text was written, I have had an opportunity of reading a very able article in the Edinburgh Review for February 1818, on the states of Wirtemberg. As the constitution of that country is there described, it resembled in most points that of the different provinces of Hannover. The writer of that article is, however, mistaken in limiting this sort of constitution to Wirtemberg and Friezland. Every country of Germany had one somewhat similar.
Geschichte des Fürstenthums, Hannover, Vol. I. p. 1.
The states of Wirtemberg kept the taxes levied by their authority. They amounted, before 1805, to 1,060,000 florins. The revenues of the church were 1,000,000 florins, but the revenues of the then duke was 2,117,000 florins. The independent revenue, therefore, of the duke, exceeded the produce of the taxes and the revenue of the church. The Protestant church was richer in Wirtemberg than in any other part of Germany.
Luden, Appendix, pp. 28–32.
Luden says, p. 160, that the ordinance relative to the landwehr made no mention of the states. That copy which I have seen said the ordinance was made after consulting with them.
Luden, 356.
See speech as reported, on March 2, 1819.
It has been recently stated in the public journals, that this number is reduced to 20,000, but the proportions were not stated.
Various sources have been consulted on the subject of the revenues and debts. The principal printed authority is Neueste Länder und Völkerkunde, 19th Band, Weimar, 1818. Lüden, and Ueber die gleiche Besteuerung, etc. von Georg. Sartorius, professor at Göttingen.
It has been stated since I left Hannover, that the expences of the government of Hannover had exceeded the revenue for 1818.