{ 48 and 52 North latitude. 12 and 19 East longitude. BOUNDARIES.] BOUNDED by Saxony and Brandenburg on the North; by Poland and Hungary on the East; by Austria and Bavaria on the South; and by the Palatinate of Bavaria on the West: formerly comprehending, 1. Bohemia Proper; 2. Silesia ; and 3. Moravia, SOIL AND AIR.] The air of Bohemia Proper is not thought so wholesome as that of the rest of Germany, though its soil and produce are pretty much the same. MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS.] Bohemia, though almost surrounded with mountains, contains none of note or distinction: its woods are many, and the chief rivers are the Elbe, Muldau, and Eger. METALS AND MINERALS.] This kingdom contains rich mines of silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, lead, sulphur, and saltpetre: its chief manufactures are linen, copper, iron, and glass. POPULATION, INHABITANTS, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND DIVERSIONS. About 150 years ago, Bohemia was computed to contain near 3,000,000 of inhabitants; but at present they are thought not to exceed 2,100,000. The Bohemians, in their persons, habits, and manners, resemble the Germans. There is among them no middle state of people; for every lord is a sovereign, and every tenant a slave. But the emperor Joseph H. generously discharged the Bohemian peasants, on the imperial demesnes, from the stage of villanage in which they have been se long and so unjustly retained; and it will be happy if his example should be followed by the Bohemian nobility, and they be thereby induced no longer to deprive their vassals of the rights of human nature. Although the Bohemians, at present, are not remarkable either for arts or arms, yo they formerly distinguished themselves as the most intrepid assertors of civil and religious liberty in Europe; witness the early introduction of the reformed religion into their country, when it was scarcely known in any other; the many glorious defeats they gave to the Austrian power, and their generous struggles for independency. Their virtues may be considered as the causes of their decay, as no means were left unemployed by their despotic masters for breaking their spirit; though it is certain their internal jealousies and dissentions greatly contributed to their subjection. Their customs and diversions are the same as in Germany. RELIGION.] Though popery is the established religion of Bohemia, yet there are many protestants among the inhabitants, who are now tolerated in the free exercise of their religion: and some of the Moravians have embraced a visionary unintelligible protestantism, if it deserves that name, which they have propagated by their zealous missionaries in several parts of the globe. They have a meeting-house in London, and obtained an act of parliament for a settlement in the plantations. ARCHBISHOPRIC AND BISHOPRICS.] Prague is the only Bohemian archbishopric. The bishoprics are Koningsgratz, Breslau, and Olmutz. LANGUAGE.] The proper language of the Bohemians is a dialect of the Sclavonian, but they generally speak German and High Dutch. UNIVERSITY.] The only university of Bohemia is that of Prague. CITIES AND TOWNS.] Prague, the capital of Bohemia, is one of the finest and most inagnificent cities in Europe, and famous for its noble bridge. Its circumference is so large, that the grand Prussian army, in its last seige, never could completely invest it. For this reason it is able to make a vigorous defence in case of a regular siege. The inhabitants are thought not to be proportioned to its capaciousness, being computed not to exceed 70,000 Christians, and about 13,000 Jews. It contains ninetytwo churches and chapels, and forty cloisters. It is a place of little or no trade, and therefore the middling inhabitants are not wealthy; but the Jews are said to carry on a large commerce in jewels, Bohemia contains many other towns, some of which are fortified: but they are neither remarkable for strength or manufactures. Olmutz is the capital of Moravia; it is well fortified, and has manufactures of woollen, iron, glass, paper, and gun-powder. Breslau, the capital of Silesia, has been already described. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.] See Germany. CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT.] The forms and only the forms, of the old Bohemian constitution still subsist; but the government under the emperor is despotic. Their states are composed of the clergy, nobility, gentry, and representatives of towns. Their sovereigns of late have not been fond of provoking them by ill usage, as they have a general aversion towards the Austrians. This kingdom is frequently described as part of Germany, but with little reason, for it is not in any of the nine circles, nor does it contribute any thing towards the forces or revenues of the empire, nor is it subject to any of its laws. What gives some colour to this mistake, is that the king of Bohemia is the first secular elector of the empire, and their kings have been elected emperors of Germany for many years. REVENUES. The revenues of Bohemia áre whatever the sovereign is pleased to exact from the states of the kingdom, when they are an, nually assembled at Prague. They may perhaps amount to 500,0001. a year. ARMS.] The arms of Bohemia are, argent, a lion gules, the tail moved, and passed in saltier, crowned, langued, and armed, Or. HISTORY.] The Bohemian nobility used to clact their own princes, though the emperors of Germany sometimes imposed a king upon them, and at length usurped that throne themselves. In the year 1433, Albert II. of Austria, received three crowns, Hungary, the empire, and Bohemia. In 1414, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, two of the first reformers, and Bohemians, were burnt at the council of Constance, though the emperor of Germany had given them his protection. This occasioned an insurrection in Bohemia; the people of Prague threw the emperor's officers out of the windows of the council-chamber; and the famous Zisca, assembling an army of 40,000 Bohemians, defeated the emperor's forces in several engagements, and drove the imperialists out of the kingdom." The divisions of the Hussites among themselves enabled the emperor to regain and keep possession of Bohemia, though an attempt was made to throw off the imperial yoke, by electing, in the year 1618, a protestant king in the person of the prince palatine, son-in-law to James I. of England. The misfortunes of this prince are well known. He was driven from Bohemia by the emperor's generals, and being stripped of his other dominions, was forced to depend on the court of England for a subsistence. Since the war of thirty years which desolated the whole empire, the Bohemians have remained subject to the House of Austria. HUNGARY, SITUATION AND EXTENT, Miles. { Degrees. Sq. Miles, } 16-35 and 26 East long. 44-50 and 49-35 North lat. 36,060 Containing 87,575 square miles, with 57 inhabitants to cach. BOUNDARIES.] THAT part of Hungary which belongs to the House. of Austria (for it formerly included Transylvania, Sclavonia, Croatia, Morlachia, Servia, Walachia, and other countries) is bounded by Poland on the North; by Transylvania, and Walachia East; by Sclavonia South; and by Austria and Moravia West, The kingdom of Hungary is usually divided into Upper and Lower Hungary. UPPER HUNGARY NORTH OF THE DANUBE. Chief Towns, Presburg, situated on the Danube, Tokay, N. P E. long. 17-30. N. lat. 48-20, Vewhausel, N, W. eopoldstadt, N. W. hemnitz, N. W. ichemnitz, in the middle, Experies, N. uschaw, N. Zotmar, N. E. Unguar, N. E. Montgatz, N. E. Waradin, Great, E. Agria, in the middle, Pest, on the Danube, opposite to LOWER HUNGARY, SOUTH OF THE Danube, Chief Towns. Buda, on the Danube, E. long. 19-20. Altenburg, W. opposite to the N. lat. 47-40. · island of Schut. Gran, on the Danube, above Buda. Weissenburg, or Alba Regalis, sitComorra, on the Danube, in the ated E. of the lake called the island of Schut. Platten Sea. Raab, on the Danube, opposite to Kanisba, S. W. of the Platten Sea, the island of Schut. Five churches, N. of the river Drave. To which may be added Temeswar, which has been considered as distinct from Hungary, because it was formerly governed by an independent king; and it has several times been in possession of the Turks; but the Austrians gaining possession of it, it was incorporated into the kingdota of Hungary in 1778. The province of Temeswar is ninety-four mile long, and sixty-seven broad, containing about $850 miles it has been divided into four districts, Csadat, Temeswar, Werschez, and Lugos. Temeswar, the principal town, is situated E. long. 22-15. N. lat. 45-54. AIR, SOIL, AND PRODUCE.] The air, and consequently the climate of the southern parts of Hungary, is found to be unhealthful, owing to its numerous lakes, stagnated waters, and marshes; but the northern part being mountainous and barren, the air is sweet and wholesome. No country in the world can boast a richer soil than that plain which extends 300 miles, from Presburg to Belgrade, and produces corn, gras-, esculent plants, tobacco, saffron, asparagus, melons, hops, pulse, millet, buck-wheat, delicious wine, fruits of various kinds, peaches, mulberrytrees, chesnuts, and wood: corn is in such plenty, that it sells for onsixth part of its price in England. RIVERS.] These are the Danube, Drave, Save, Teysse, Merish, and the Temes. WATER.] Hungary contains several lakes, particularly four amor the Carpathian mountains, of considerable extent, and abounding wit. fish. The Hungarian baths and mineral waters are esteemed the mos! sovereign of any in Europe; but their magnificent buildings, raised by the Turks when in possession of the country, particularly those of Buda, are suffered to go to decay. MOUNTAINS.] The Carpathian mountains, which divide Hungary from Poland on the north, are the chief in Hungary; though many detached mountains are found in the country. Their tops are generally covered with wood, and on their sides grow the richest grapes ♫ the world. METALS AND MINERALS.] Hungary is remarkably well stock with both. It abounds not only with gold and silver mines, but with plenty of excellent copper, vitriol, iron, orpiment, quicksilver, chr socolla, and terra-sigillata. Before Hungary became the seat of destru tive wars between Turks and Christians, or fell under the power the House of Austria, those mines were furnished with proper works and workmen, and produced vast revenues to the native princes. The Hurgarian gold and silver employed mint-houses, not only in Hungary, b in Germany, and the continent of Europe; but all those mines are no greatly diminished in their value, their works being destroyed or dem lished: some of them, however, still subsist, to the great emolumet of the natives. VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS.] Hungary is remarkable for a fine breed of horses, generally mouse-coloured, and highly esteemed by military officers, so that great numbers of them are exported. There is a remarkable breed of large rams in the neighbourhood of Pres'burg. In general its other vegetable and animal productions are the same with those of Germany and the neighbouring countries. The Hungarian wines, however, particularly those of Tokay, are preferable to those of any other country, at least in Europe. POPULATION, INHABITANTS, MAN-It was late before thenor NERS, CUSTOMS, AND DIVERSIONS. S thern barbarians drove the Romans out of Hungary; and some of the descendants of their legionary forces are still to be distinguished in the inland parts, by their speaking Latin. Before the Turks obtained possession of Constantinople, Hungary was one of the most populous and flourishing kingdoms in Europe: and if the House of Austria should give the proper encouragement to the inhabitants to repair works, and clear their fens, it might become so again. The population of Hungary, exclusive of Transylvania, Sclavonia, and Dalmatia, was estimated, in 1776, by the celebrated Busching, to be 3,170,000; and Mr. Windish, an Hungarian. in his Geography of Hungary, published in 1780, says, "the population, according to a new accurate examination, is 3,170,000, excluding Transylvania, Sclavonia, and Dalmatia." But the committee appointed by the Diet of 1791 to inquire into things of this nature," some of whose notes," says Mr. Townson, a late intelligent traveller in this country, "I have had in my hands, estimate the population of Hungary in its greatest extent, but always excluding Transylvania, at about 8,000,000, which they add, is 1777 souls per square mile. In No. 61 of Mr. Slotzer's Staats Anzeigen, there is a detailed account, which makes the total population 7,417,415." The Hungarians are a brave, generous, and hardy race of men; their manners are peculiar to themselves; and they pique themselves on being descended from those heroes who formed the bulwark of Christendom against the infidels. In their persons they are well made. Their furcaps, their close-bodied coats girded by a sash, and their cloak or mantle, which is so contrived as to buckle under the arm, so that the right-hand may be always at liberty, give them an air of military dignity. The men shave their beards, but preserve their whiskers on their upper lips. Their usual arms are the broad sword, and a kind of pole-axe, besides their fire-arms. The ladies are reckoned handsomer than those of Austria; and their sable dress, with sleeves strait to their arms, and their stays fastened before with gold, pearl, or diamond little buttons, are well known to the French and English ladies. Both men and women, in what they call the mine towns, wear fur and even sheep-skin dresses, The inns upon the roads are most miserable hovels, and even those seldom to be met with. The hogs, which yield the chief animal food for the peasants, and their poultry, live in the same apartment with their owners. The gout and fever, owing to the unwholesomeness of the air, are the predominant diseases in Hungary. The natives in general are indolent, and leave trade and manufactures to the Greeks and other strangers settled in their country, the flatness of which renders travelling commodious either by land or water. The diversions of the inhabitants are of the warlike and athletic kind. They are in general a brave and magnanimous people. Their ancestors, even since the beginning of the present century, were so jealous of their liberties, that rather than be tyrannised over by the House of Austria, they often put themselves under the protection of the Ottoman court; but their fidelity to the late em |