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the friends of the people, and yet they make more widows and orphans, more cripples and sickly persons, more suicides and madmen, than perhaps a war would have made."

When the speaker was silent, the landlord exclaimed, "Go on! that is all truth, and no exaggeration."

"Well," said the magistrate, "why repeat what you yourself have said? By brandy-drinking men become frivolous, spendthrifts, lazy, poor, and shameless.

Then

arise complaints of the deficiency of good poor-houses. But who has promoted the poverty? The legislature! Poverty and intemperance render tenfold the number of offenders against the law-thieves, swindlers, and other offenders. We find few criminals who do not embolden themselves by a dram, before committing their crimes. The highwayman and the thief, before undertaking an enterprise, swallow a dram. In judicial examinations hitherto, this has been too little inquired into. But question each man in the prisons and houses of correction, and you will find more than half of them to be brandy-drinkers. And then we complain that the houses of correction become too small for the number of offenders! Who, then, is answerable for the increase of offences and of criminals? The lawsakers are the first cause of the public corruption. But no more on that head."

He

Then a gentleman in a black dress rose, to whom the title of counsellor had been given during the evening. said, "Your worship has forgotten one thing! We have a law which favours drunkards more than sober people. By this law it is ordained that the drunkenness of a criminal shall be considered in mitigation of punishment, because not being master of his reason, he cannot be made entirely answerable for his offence. But is it not a crime in the first place for a man to confuse his reason, to contaminate his human dignity, and to lower himself down to a brute? In England and in North America they understand legislation better. There the previous stupefaction of the mind, by means of heating liquors, is not considered a reason for the mitigation of the punishment, but all offences committed in drunkenness are punished as if perpetrated in a state of sobriety. Every one can avoid placing himself in a state in which he no longer knows what serious consequences he hazards, but it takes a long time before we in Switzerland arrive to the perception of the simplest truth. He who is sober knows, that when he is in a state of intoxication, he cannot one minute answer for his actions in the next; that he cannot warrant whether or not the next hour will find him guilty of treachery, of adultery, of murder, of having ruined his fortune through gambling, and plunged his whole family into the deepest pitch of misery! The demon of brandy opens before him the broad path of crime and misery, it drags him laughing to infamy, to prison, to the convict's chains, to the scaffold! When sober, he knows very well that all this may happen to him as soon as he loses his reason by getting drunk, and yet he drinks, and drinks, till he has lost it! He commits a crime, and now intoxication is made the ground of a milder punishment for him than for the sober!"

This conversation, which caused much debate, lasted till late at night, and was not finished when I and my friend Dr. Walter went to bed.

ON VISITING MELROSE ABBEY AFTER AN ABSENCE
OF SIXTEEN YEARS.

Yox setting sun, that slowly disappears,
Gleams a memento of departed years:
Aye, many a year is gone, and many a friend,
Since here I saw the Autumn sun descend.
Ah! one is gone, whose hand was lock'd in mine,
In this that traces now the sorrowing line;
And now alone, I scan the mouldering tombs,
Alone I wander through the vaulted glooms,
And list, as if the echoes might retain
One ling ring cadence of her varied strain.
Alas! I heard that melting voice decay,
Heard seraph tones in whispers die away;
I mark'd the tear presageful fill her eye,
And quivering speak, I am resigned to die.
Ye stars, that through the fretted windows shed
A glimmering beam athwart the mighty dead,
Say to what sphere her sainted spirit flew,
That thither I may turn my longing view,
And wish, and hope, some tedious seasons o'er,
To join a long lost friend, and part no more.

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In the age in which we live, religion and virtue have been proposed and defended with such advantages, with that great force of reason, and those persuasions, that they can hardly be matched in former times; yet after all this, there are but few much wrought on by them, which, perhaps, flows from this, among other reasons, that there are not so many excellent patterns set out, as might, both in a shorter and more effectual manner, recommend that to the world which discourses do but coldly: the wit and style of the writers being more considered than the argument which they handle, and therefore the proposing virtue and religion in such a model, may perhaps, operate more than the perspective of it can do; and for the history of learning, nothing does so preserve and improve it, as the writing the lives of those who have been eminent in it.

The subject of our present memoir was born on the 1st of November, 1609, at Alderley, in Gloucestershire. His father had been educated for the bar, but he "gave over the practice of the law, because he could not understand the reason of giving colour in pleading, which, as he thought, was to tell a lie." In his infancy Matthew lost both his parents, and was brought up under the directions of a kinsman, who being attached to the doctrines of the Puritans, placed Matthew under the care of teachers holding similar opinions; and thus were probably founded those strict principles of thought and action, which afterwards distinguished him. At the age

of seventeen he became a student of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he was remarkable, as at school, for pro-. ficiency in his studies. He did not, however, escape the temptations to which a young and ardent mind is likely to be exposed in so public a place as a university. He rejected the precise habiliments of the Puritan for more fashionable attire: he preferred the theatre to the retirement of his study: and the lessons of a fencing-master to the lectures of his tutor: and so strongly was he enamoured with martial exercises, that when his tutor was about to depart for the Low Countries as chaplain

to Lord Vere, young Hale resolved to accompany him, in order "to trail a pike in the Prince of Orange's army."

But he was happily deterred from gratifying this warlike freak by one of those events called accidents, but which should rather be regarded as Providential means and opportunities of escaping temptation, or turning from an evil way. Young Hale was engaged in a lawsuit relative to his property, and was induced to visit London to attend to it. Having retained Serjeant Granville, he became acquainted with that learned man, who soon remarked the many valuable qualities of his client, and succeeded in persuading him to relinquish all idea of the military service, and devote his powers to the study of the law. In November, 1629, he was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn. The ardour with which he had so latterly pursued pleasure, was now directed to his studies, to which he applied such method and industry, as could not fail to command success. He assumed a sober, student-like dress, and for some years devoted sixteen hours each day to study. But, notwithstanding this change, the love of convivial society was a temptation strong within him, to which he sometimes yielded, til an event occurred, which powerfully affected him. Being present at a party where wine was drunk to excess, one of the company became insensible, and the most serious apprehensions were entertained for his life. Hale was so much affected by this event, that he retired into another room, fell upon his knees, and prayed earnestly to God that his friend might recover, and that he himself might be pardoned for having participated in such excesses. At the same time he made a vow never more to be guilty of similar intemperance, nor again while he lived, to drink a health. Most persons under the influence of some powerful and painful mental impression, are ready to make good resolutions:-but there is too often this difference between Matthew Hale and them he kept his during the rest of his life-they forget their's when time has weakened the impression, or new pleasures have effaced it. Happy would it be for us, if, adopting the maxim of an old writer, we would do when we are well, what we so often resolve to do when we are ill!

It was probably under the influence of these good resolutions that Hale composed the scheme of daily employments, which we insert below*. May we hope that every reader will carefully study it, and, if possible, adopt it for his own use. The early impressions of Hale now returned with full force, and, (like young persons generally, apt to fall into extremes,) he became so

* MORNING.-I. To lift up the heart to God, in thankfulness for renewing my life.

II. To renew my covenant with God in Christ; 1. By renewed acts of faith, receiving Christ, and rejoicing in the height of that relation. 2. Resolution of being one of his people, doing him allegiance. III. Adoration and Prayer.

IV. Setting a watch over my own infirmities and passions, over the snares laid in our way. Perimus licitis.

DAY EMPLOYMENT.-There must be an employment-two kinds: I. Our ordinary calling, to serve God in it. It is a service to Christ, though never so mean. Coloss. iii. Here, Faithfulness, Diligence, Cheerfulness. Not to overlay myself with more business than I can bear. II. Our spiritual employments. Mingle somewhat of God's immediate service in this day.

REFRESHMENTS.-I. Meat and drink, moderation, seasoned with somewhat of God.

II. Recreations: 1. Not our business. 2. Suitable. No games, if

given to covetousness or passion.

IF ALONE.-I. Beware of wandering, vain, lustful thoughts; fly from thyself, rather than entertain these.

II. Let thy solitary thoughts be profitable; view the evidences of thy salvation, the state of thy soul, the coming of Christ, thy own mortality,

it will make thee humble and watchful.

COMPANY.-Do good to them. Use God's name reverently. Beware of leaving an ill impression of ill example. Receive good from them, if more knowing.

EVENING. Cast up the accounts of the day. If aught amiss, beg pardon. Gather resolution of more vigilance. If well, bless the mercy and grace of God that hath supported thee.

The above notes were copied by Bishop Burnet from the M.SS. of Hale "in the same simplicity in which he writ it for his own private use." These notes have an imperfection in the wording of them, which shows that they were only intended for his privacies."

| austere as to neglect his personal appearance, so much so, that being impressed as a fit person to serve his majesty, he was only released by being recognised by a passing acquaintance.

The zeal and ability of Hale attracted the notice of Noy, the Attorney-General, who undertook to direct his studies, and interested himself so warmly in his progress, that Hale was distinguished amongst his fellow-students by the name of Young Noy. Under such patronage Hale soon became known: his merits also procured him the friendship of the learned Selden, and John Vaughan, afterwards Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Hale was peculiarly struck with the varied acquirements and instructive conversation of Selden, and by his example was induced to extend his own studies to literature and science. His posthumous works show the diligence with which he pursued mathematics and natural philosophy. He also devoted considerable attention to the study of medicine, anatomy, ancient history, and chronology; but his principal delight was in the study of divinity, to which he was probably led by early associations. All these pursuits, any one of which would suffice to occupy the working-hours of an ordinary mind, Hale called his diversions, with which he refreshed himself from the fatigues of professional studies.

Like many men of ardent genius, (says Mr. Roscoe,) he possessed the valuable faculty of applying the powers of his strong and active mind to various subjects, without that distraction of thought, to which persons of inferior capacity are subject. His indefatigable industry also enabled him to accomplish tasks which, to the indolent, would seem incredible. He rose early in the morning, and as he sacrificed no portion of the day to idle society, nor even indulged in any useless correspondence by letter, he found leisure to apply to his various literary pursuits without injury to his professional prospects. His temperance also was highly favourable to mental occupations; and so sparing was he in his diet, that his meals never prevented him from immediately resuming the labours which they had interrupted. It is, perhaps, to the variety of studies in which Hale engaged, that his extensive learning is to be attributed. A complete change in the nature of the objects upon which the mind is engaged, is almost equivalent to repose, and is, perhaps, equally salutary to the mental health.

At the time when Hale was called to the bar, the civil dissensions which were beginning to harass the country, made it "no easy thing for a man to preserve his integrity and to live securely:" he resolved, however, to take no part in the political contests of the times. The only interest which he displayed in public affairs, was in relieving the distresses of both parties.

The strict neutrality thus professed by Hale, at a period when so much was at stake on both sides, is not a subject for applause. When the violent and the indiscreet of all parties are roused to action, it does not become the moderate and sensible portion of society to remain unmoved, and to preserve their individual repose, at the expense of the tranquillity of the state. At a later period of his life, Hale appears to have been sensible of this error, and exerted the influence which his high character gave him, in endeavouring to place the liberties of his country upon a sure foundation.

This political neutrality and the esteem in which he was held by both parties, made him a desirable advocate tical offences. In many of the great state trials of the to those of the prerogative party, who were tried for poliperiod, he appeared as counsel, and on one of these occasions on being threatened by the attorney-general for appearing against the government, he replied, "that he was pleading in defence of those laws, which they declared they would maintain and preserve, and he was doing his duty to his client, so that he was not to be daunted with threatenings."

After the execution of Charles I. several of the judges resigned their seats, and one of the vacancies in the Court of Common Pleas was offered to Hale, as it is supposed, from a desire of Cromwell to remove from the bar a man whose honest and resolute character might

prove injurious to his service. He hesitated to accept the proffered dignity: his practice was considerable, and he had doubts as to the propriety of acting under a commission from the existing government; but having satisfied his scruples by conversing with two eminent divines he came to the resolution, "that as it was absolutely necessary to have justice and property kept up at all times, it was no sin to take a commission from usurpers."

The

Some time after he had exercised his judicial functions, he began to entertain doubts with regard to the lawfulness of presiding at the trial of criminals, on the ground that the government which granted his commission had no right to inflict punishment. He accordingly refused to sit on the crown side at the assizes. This resolve was probably not unpleasing to the government, since the judge had on more than one occasion displayed a stern determination to favour justice rather than the wishes of those in power. Soon after he was raised to the bench two soldiers were tried before him under the following circumstances. An inhabitant of Lincoln, who had been one of the royal party, walking in the fields with a fowling piece in his hands, was met by one of the soldiers, who informed him that the Protector had ordered that none of the King's party should carry arms, and then attempted to force away the weapon. man resisted, and throwing the soldier down, beat him and left him. The soldier having met one of his comrades, prevailed upon him to accompany him for the purpose of taking revenge. They accordingly watched for the man, and on his approach the soldier again demanded the fowling-piece, and while they were again struggling for its possession, the other soldier, coming behind the man, pierced him with his sword. For this act the men were tried; one of them was found guilty of manslaughter, and the other of murder. At the trial, Colonel Whaley, who was in command of the garrison, came into court, and addressing the bench, urged that the man was killed for disobeying the Protector's orders, and that the soldier had done his duty. The judge, however, was neither convinced by the colonel's arguments nor daunted by his threats; and passing judgment on the prisoner, ordered him for immediate execution, lest a reprieve should be granted. In this, however, he certainly exceeded the bounds of his duty as a judge. Upon another occasion, Hale also displayed a remarkable degree of moral courage and a love of justice. On being informed that the Protector had ordered a jury to be returned to try a cause in which he was particularly interested, the judge called upon the sheriff to explain the matter. The sheriff knew nothing about it, but referred to the undersheriff, who admitted that the jury had been returned by an order from Cromwell. Hale, having pointed out the statute which directs that every jury shall be returned by the sheriff or his lawful officer, dismissed the jury and refused to try the cause. On his return from the circuit the Protector expressed his displeasure at the conduct of Hale, and told him angrily that he was not fit to be a judge: to which Hale mildly replied "it was very true."

Expectation prepareth applause with the weak, and prejudice with the stronger judgment. The fashion of commending our friend's abilities before they come to trial, sometimes takes good effect with the common sort, who, building their belief on authority, strive to follow the conceit of their betters; but usually amongst men of independent judgments, this bespeaking of opinion breeds a purpose of stricter examination, and, if the report be answered, procures only a bare acknowledgment; whereas, if nothing be proclaimed or promised, they are perhaps content to signify their own skill in testifying another's desert. Otherwise, great wits, jealous of their credit, are ready to suppress worth in others to the advancing of their own; or, if more ingenuous, to be no further just than to forbear detraction: at the best, rather disposed to give praise upon their own accord than to make payment upon demand or challenge.-SIR HENRY

WOTTON.

ON ROPES AND ROPE-MAKING.
II.

31

THE NATURE AND CULTIVATION OF FLAX. THE botanical name of the flax plant is Linum, a word considered by some to be derived from the Greek verb Avew, to hold, the fibres of this plant being so remarkable for their tenacity, that its herbage has always been cordage, &c. in the greatest estimation for the manufacture of cloth,

The stem of the flax plant, which is round and hollow, grows to the height of about two feet, and then divides flowers, consisting of five petals, and are succeeded by into several branches; these are terminated by blue capsules divided within into ten cells, in each of which is inclosed a bright, slippery, elongated seed. The leaves are long, narrow, sharp-pointed, and placed alternately along the stem and branches of the plant. The plant flax, for the linseed oil expressed from the seeds, and for is cultivated for the fibrous bark, bearing the name of the oil-cakes, (a fattening food for cattle,) formed by the cultivation varies somewhat according as the bark or the seed when the oil has been expressed. The mode of fore confine ourselves to that routine of operations seed is the chief object to be obtained. We shall therewhereby the fibrous bark is procured.

The most proper soil for flax is a deep free loam, mode
rately moist; especially if there be water at the depth of
Zealand, and other parts of Holland, where flax is grown
a foot or two beneath the surface, as is the case in
of great excellence."
fine and mellow, by repeated ploughings and harrowings.
The land requires to be rendered
Where grass land is to be broken up for this crop, it
influence of the atmosphere until the early part of the
should be done in the autumn, and left exposed to the
following year; when it should be well pulverized and
broken down by heavy harrowing, then in the course of
main till the period of putting in the seed, when another
a week or two ploughed again; in which state it may re-
light harrowing should be given, and the ploughing per-
formed afterwards by a very light furrow. But in cases
where the crop is sown after grain, or other crops that
have the property of keeping the ground free from weeds,
it may remain in that state until the early spring, being
the first ploughing need not be given till January; when
then well reduced by good harrowing and rolling; and
after continuing in that state about a fortnight, the seed
ploughing and harrowing be first given. The quantity
may either be immediately put in, or another light
of seed put in is generally about two, or two and a half
bushels per English acre.
is about the latter end of March or the beginning of
The best time for sowing
April. The best method of sowing, when the flax
rather than the seed is the object of cultivation, is that
of broad-cast over the surface of the ground; care being
taken that the seed be dispersed as evenly as possible to
prevent the plants rising in an unequal or tufty manner.
It should afterwards be covered in by regular harrowing
with a light common or bush harrow. When the plant is
cultivated for its seed, the drill method of sowing is pre-
ferred; but this we need not dwell on, for the reason
before assigned.

by a good hand-hoeing or weeding; care being taken not
As soon as the crop is sufficiently up, it is benefited
Flax is sometimes damaged by insects, when it is about
to injure the plants by too much treading amongst them.
four inches high: these, it is said, may be destroyed by
a slight strewing of soot, ashes, &c., over the crop; at all
it do not kill the insects,
events this dressing will give vigour to the flax, even if
wards among the flax, as is generally the case, they must
If any weeds appear after-
be very carefully rooted out.
liable to be beaten down in stormy weather; and to pre-
The finest flax is very
vent this it has been proposed to fasten small ropes
across the field, both lengthwise and breadthwise: these

being fastened where they intersect one another, and supported by stakes at due distances, form a kind of network, which constitutes a protection to the crop.

Much discussion has arisen among agriculturists as to the period when the plant is most fitted to be pulled up; but without entering into these discussions, we may state that when the pulling is about to take place, if the object be the flax and not the seed, the crop is pulled up by the roots, and placed in small parcels usually termed beats, upon the surface of the land, for exposure to the sun. It is afterwards tied up, in order to be conveyed to the place where it is to undergo the process of watering. In pulling the flax it is usual, when the seeds are to be saved, to follow a procedure somewhat different. The watering of the flax is that process in which the stalks are steeped or exposed to moisture for a longer or shorter period. The object of this process is that of inducing the separation of the flaxy material, by exciting a slight degree of fermentation in the substance which attaches it to the stem of the plant. This flaxy exterior is called the harl, while the central stem or woody portion is termed the boon or reed, and it will at once be understood that the harl is that portion which yields the flaxen fibres. We stated, when describing the cultivation of hemp, that the watering is effected in one of two different ways; viz., water-retting and dew-retting, of which the first is a steeping of the plant in water for several days; while the latter is an exposure of the plant to the action of the atmosphere on a large piece of ground. The modes in which flax is treated bear so close a resemblance to these that we shall not feel it necessary to describe them. We will therefore suppose the flax stalks to have been "retted" or watered, and to have attained that state which is deemed necessary for the easy separation of the harl from the boon. The plants are then carried away from the grassy sward, and deposited in barns, till wanted to undergo the process of "breaking" or dressing, which is the separation of the harl from the boon. In some places, however, before the flax is carried to the barn, it is exposed to the heat of the sun, by being placed against a wall or paling in a slanting direction, or to the heat of a fire by being placed on hurdles or in an oven heated by refuse flax: in either case, the heat is very gently applied, and only to such an extent as will dispel any dampness that the flax may have acquired.

For breaking and separating the harl or fibre from the boon different processes are employed, according to the rudeness or completeness of the arrangements in the place where the operation is carried on. The old method of proceeding was with a stock and scutcher. The stock is a bar or rail of wood, on which the man rests the stem of flax, which he holds in the left hand; then with the right he holds a kind of triangular hammer or mallet, called a scutcher, with which he beats the stalk, and separates the fibre from the boon. A somewhat better means than this was the brake. This is a machine consisting of two levers hinged at one end, and provided with sharp teeth at their meeting edges. The flax (or hemp) being held in the left hand, and placed between the levers, the upper lever is pressed down quickly and repeatedly, the stems being dexterously moved so as to cause the boon or reed to be broken in almost every part, without cutting or injuring the fibres.

An improved form of the brake, called the foot-brake, was introduced into Scotland some years ago, by which flax is broken with much greater expedition than by the hand-brake. The foot of the workman, by stepping on a treadle, moves round a large fly wheel, which by some connecting mechanism moves one arm of a horizontal lever, so as to make the lever oscillate to and fro in a vertical direction. At the other end of this lever is suspended a piece of apparatus called the brake-mallet, weighing upwards of thirty pounds, at the under surface of which are two wedge-shaped cutters or knives seven

teen inches long, three inches deep, an inch and a quarter thick at the back, and a quarter of an inch thick at the edge. These knives, being let fall suddenly by the weight of the brake-mallet, strike with considerable force on the pieces of hemp or flax, which are placed across a stand called the under-brake, provided with three wedge-shaped knives, similar to those just alluded to. As the two upper knives are fixed with the edges downwards, and the lower ones with the edges upwards, and as the upper knives, when let fall, sink between the lower ones, which are left apart for that purpose, it is evident that any stems or stalks placed across the knives must be completely crushed; but as the edges are by no means sharp, the fibres at the surface of each stalk are not actually cut.

The scutching of the hemp or flax is the separating of the fibres from the bruised or broken boon. Generally speaking, this is done by the same machine which breaks the boon, called a flax mill. In one form of flax mill, the breaking of the boon is effected by three indented rollers, placed one above the other; the middle of which, being forced quickly round, takes the other two along with it. One end of a handful of flax being by the workman directed in between the upper and middle rollers, a curved board or plate of tin behind the rollers guides the flax to return again between the middle and undermost rollers; and thus the operation is repeated till the boon is sufficiently broken. This part of the process being thus completed, the scutching next succeeds. Four arms, projecting from a perpendicular axle, are enclosed in a box placed around the axle; and this box is divided among the workmen, each having sufficient room to stand and handle his flax. The men pass the ends of the flax through slits in the upper part and sides of the box, so as to bring the flax within reach of the arms or scutchers; these latter, moving round horizontally, strike the flax across or at right angles, and so thresh out or clear it of the boon.

Various other machines have been employed for separating the fibre from the boon or core; but we do not deem it necessary to dwell farther on them here. It will suffice to say that the general action of all of them is to crush the boon within the fibre, and to beat out the small pieces resulting from this crushing.

rope

In passing on to consider the processes of making, it will be sufficient to speak only of hemp, since flax is not employed except for fine twine and cord.

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IN our Supplement on the Hanseatic League, (Vol.
XVIII., p. 249,) we gave a list of the towns of that cele-
brated confederation at the time when it had attained the
zenith of its power.
At the commencement of the
eighteenth century, the number of Hanse Towns was
reduced to six, viz.: Bremen, Lubeck, Hamburg, Rostock,
Dantzic and Cologne. We have already described
Cologne and Hamburg, and now propose to notice the
other four important cities. We must, however, remark
that the peculiar privileges of Hanse Towns, have long
been confined to Lubeck, Bremen and Hamburg: they are
accounted free cities, members of the German confedera-
tion, and have one vote each in the diet by which its
affairs are arranged.

is

In the north of Germany the name of Bremen subject to three different applications. There is a province of Hanover, situated between the rivers Elbe and Weser, and comprising an area of about two thousand square miles, called Bremen; there is a small district situated on either side of the Weser, and comprising an area of about seventy miles, also called Bremen; and lastly, there is a city contained in this small district also called Bremen. The political circumstances which gave rise to these different applications of the same name, were as follow. A town, called Bremen, rose into note about the year A.D. 788, when the Emperor Charlemagne made it the seat of a bishopric, which probably extended a considerable distance towards the Elbe, on the banks of which the city of Hamburg was situated. In the year 858, it was incorporated with the archbishopric of See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VI., p. 170, and Vol. VII., p. 50. VOL. XX.

Hamburg, through which act so violent a disagreement. arose between the two cities, that it was found necessary to separate them; and after the lapse of some time Bremen became the seat of an archbishopric. This archbishopric corresponded in extent with the present Hanoverian province or duchy of Bremen; but it was afterwards secularized, that is, made into a duchy instead of an archbishopric. Sweden conquered it in 1648; Denmark obtained possession of it in 1712; and lastly, it was sold to Hanover a few years afterwards, in whose possession it still remains. Meanwhile the town of Bremen had been gradually increasing in importance; it prospered greatly as one of the Hanse Towns, even when under the ecclesiastical authority of its archbishop; and enlarged the sphere of its operations when made one of the "free towns" of the empire, by Otho the First. It continued to enjoy the privileges of a separate state until Bonaparte seized it in 1810. After the battle of Waterloo, the congress of Vienna restored the liberty of the city, and gave a small district surrounding it, as part of its territorial possessions; in the same manner as was done to the cities of Hamburg and Frankfort. The reader will hence understand, that the city of Bremen is one of the three independent towns of the Germanic confederation; that the state of Bremen is a small district which surrounds, and is under the jurisdiction of the city; and that duchy of Bremen is a province of Hanover, once connected with, but now wholly severed from, the city of Bremen.

With the duchy of Bremen we have nothing farther to do in this place: but shall proceed to speak of the state 614

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