cottages, with their painted frame-work, look out from the vineyards, where men and women in their quaint old fashioned costumes, are working and singing merrily; all has an air of rural simplicity and domestic comfort. I remember that when on a pedestrian journey through the Palatinate in the summer of 1834, I wandered with delight beneath the shady alleys of fruit-trees, whose boughs were. hanging heavily down under the load of ripening apples, pears, bergamots, plums, or walnuts, the passing Pfälzers would good humoredly tell me that the traveller was allowed to eat as much of the fruits as he pleased, while on the road, but that he was prohibited from carrying anything along with him.

"There are within the Palatinate," says an old traveller from 1677, "twenty-four walled cities and twelve fair palaces of the Prince Elector, most of which they have added to their estates within these four hundred years. Such excellent managers have they been of their own domains, so potent in ordering the affairs of the State both in war and peace, and so engrafted themselves into the most notable families of Germany, that I may well say with Irenius: Non est alia Germaniæ familia cui plus debeat nobilitas." The early history of the Palatinate is obscure. But it may perhaps not be uninteresting to follow its traces back to the first establishment of the Frankish Empire. Among the high officers at the court of the Merovingian kings, was the Comes Palatii, or Count of the Palace,* who held the supreme judicial authority as lieutenant of the king, and presided in the court during his absence, in the same manner as the Mayor Domus, who, as chancellor, superintended the royal household and as a general commanded the feudal army. But in the course of time, when the Frankish

*Palatium, first signifying one of the seven hills of Rome, was afterwards used by Ovid for Domus Augusti, which was built on it and then for every palace; hence the medieval German Pfalz or Pfalenz for the Imperial residence, castle, or court of justice and the compounds of Churfalz, Rheinfalz, &c.

+ Sismondi in his History of the French gives a somewhat different function to the mayor domus. He supposes the mayor of the palace to have been, not an officer of the court, but a popular magistrate, called in German MordDom, the justice of murder, who was elected by the people for the protection

empire continued to extend, the jurisdiction of this high functionary became necessary in the more distant territories. The king would, therefore, grant to the holder of a certain fief or province the right to exercise the same power and jurisdiction within his territory as the comes palatii exercised in the capital. Hence this feudatory also obtained the name of comes palatii, or palatinus (Pfalzgraf) and by virtue of this royal favor he enjoyed within his province a supreme and particular jurisdiction, having the jura imperii or royalties, by which he was distinguished from the ordinary comes (Graf) who had only an inferior and dependent authority within his county.* This was the origin of the distinction between the Pfalzgraf and Graf (or Margraf, border-count and Landgraf, count of several united districts) in Germany, and we thus find early counts palatine in Francɔnia, Bavaria, Swabia, Burgundy and later in Saxony.

Aix-la-Chapelle (Achen) being the principal residence (Haupt-Pfalz) of Charlemagne, this city was the seat of the imperial count palatine. But at the subsequent dismem berment of the Carlovingian empire, the court of this high judge was removed to the Rhine, where he held the jurisdiction over a province which, as an imperial domain, depended directly on the crown. It was at that period (be tween 843 and 912) that the feudal system developed its full strength, and the royal power was wrenched from the hand of the weak successors of Charlemagne by the haughty feudatories of the provinces. These began to arrogate to themselves the ducal dignity, which they soon made hereditary in their families, and they possessed themselves of the revenues of those crown-lands they held as a reward for their service. In like manner the dukes usurped

of the freemen. The important point, however, is that the mayor domus soon became chancellor, and directed the distribution of fiefs, (beneficia) among the warriors, and by their favor gaining influence, at last ascended the throne. See the works of Sismondi, Michelet, Leo and Eichhorn.

*According to this custom in England too, the counts palatine had jura regalia within their counties, subject only to the king's general superiority as sovereign. Thus the dukes of Lancaster and the earls of Chester held that title and Penbroke in Wales was also formerly a county palatine.

the jurisdiction of the counts palatine, and henceforth that title did no longer represent the royal authority.

Only the Count Palatine of the Rhine, then residing at Worms, being dependant on no duke, continued to sustain the royal dignity in his territory and rose to such power and influence that, at the institution of the electors in 1256, on the downfall of the Hohen-staufen dynasty, he obtained the first rank among the secular princes and the high function of arch-seneshal of the empire. Nay, during the interregnum which followed on the decease of the emperor Frederic II. he claimed the privilege of holding the Lieutenancy or vicariate of the empire during the vacancy of the throne; a dignity which thenceforth was held by the elector of Rheinpfalz.

In a second article I shall attempt to give an outline of the political history of the Palatinate, its division among different dynasties, its vicissitudes during the turbulent times of the Reformation and the French revolutionary wars, and its ultimate dismemberment and partial incorporation with the kingdom of Bavaria.

Lancaster, Pa.

A. L. K.

*The function of the arch-seneshal consisted in the ceremony of placing the first dishes on the imperial table on the coronation day at Frankfort and on other great festivals. The old collection of German laws, the Sachsen Spiegel, says Book III, Art. 57, Der Pfalzgraf von dem Rein, des Reichs Truchsaess der soll dem Kunig die ersten Schuessel fuertragen.

ART. VII.-SHORT NOTICES.

THE NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA: A popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by George Ripley and Charles Dana. Vol. IV. Brownson--Chartres. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 346 and 348 Broadway. 1858. pp. 766. We announce with pleasure the appearance of the Fourth Volume of this extensive work. It is gotten up in the same finished style as the former volumes; and the work continues to give evidence of the same completeness which we have before noticed as characterizing it. This work covering from Brownson to Chartres, includes the treatment of over two thousand one hundred words. It includes also names of prominent liv

ing men, the first article in this volume giving a very full and satisfactory account of the well-known Orestes A. Brownson. This fact indicates that this Cyclopedia will come down fully to the present time, furnishing important information in regard to the latest matters which is not to be found in other works of reference. The publication of such a work is a credit to our country; and its learned authors deserve much credit for having thus far executed so well this arduous and responsible undertaking. Not less would we praise the enterprise of Appleton and Company in furnishing to the American public a work so valuable, and which involves at the same time so heavy a pecuniary responsibility. With pride and pleasure do we see one volume after another take its place in our Library. H. H. THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

By Philip Schaff, D. D., Author of the History of the Apostolic Church, From the birth of Christ to the reign of Constantine, A. D., 1–311. New York: Charles Scribner. pp. 535. This welcome volume, having come to hand just as the last sheets of the Review were passing through the press, we have been able to ascertain only the general idea or plan of the work and read several chapters which we may regard as proper specimens of its prevailing spirit and style. Judging from such a partial examination, we are not disappointed in our expectations.

Viewing Christ Jesus, the God-man, as the principle of Christianity, of the Church, of Theology, and of all history, whether sacred or ecclesiastical; and the History of the Christian Church as the organic development of the life of Christ in the world by the Holy Ghost; the author occupies the only point of observation from which he can take both a profound and comprehensive survey of the course of the Church and the world in their reciprocal relations to each other, and understand, at the same time, the internal connection of the mighty spiritual forces of the Church with the entire organism of human life and with the diversified phenomena of its progress. This true stand-point is certainly not every thing; but it is of immense account. Without it indeed the faithful reproduction of the course of Christ's kingdom in the earth becomes an impossibility. But with it all the resources of talent, culture and learning can be made available as legitimate means to a right end. These resources Dr. Schaff possesses without doubt in a high degree. A familiar acquaintance with the sources of historical knowledge, a mature judgment, a sound, nervous logic and a lively imagination, pervaded by the energy and warmth of a living faith and a glowing heart, are all brought to bear upon this work. The result is a historical production springing in natural order and in beautiful symmetry from the Christological principle-a production which, whilst based on the precious labors of church historians and appro priating their researches with great freedom and skill, is pervaded by the force of an idea and manner peculiar to itself and is, therefore, not only distinguished from the best works on Church History, but is also a real and valuable contribution to this branch of literature.

The present volume opens with a General Introduction, which is followed by the first two Periods of Church History; the First, entitled the Church under the Apostles extending from the birth of Christ to the death of St. John, A. D. 1-100, and the Second, entitled the Church under Persecution, from the death of St. John to Constantine the Great, A. D. 100–311. Though

an

independent and complete work within itself, it is at the same time presented as the first volume of a general history of Christianity, which, with the help of God, the author intends to bring down to the present age. May God continue to him life and health to finish so great and important an undertaking with the energy and compass of thought with which it has been begun. E. V. G.

THE

MERCERSBURG REVIEW.

APRIL, 1859.

ART. I.-SKETCHES OF A TRAVELLER FROM GREECE, CONSTANTINOPLE, ASIA MINOR, SYRIA AND PALESTINE.

VIII. MY WANDERINGS AMONG THE MANIOTES IN SOUTHERN PELOPONNESUS.

Description of Southern Laconia-Bardunian Filibusters-Levetzova-Battle of Trinasa-Marathonisi-Maurovouni Capture of Bavarian Troops-Zanet-Bey-Colonel FederCastle of Passavá-Charming Scenery-Kakovouli and its Robbers-Langadi Dangerous Defile-Tsimova-Manners and dress of the Maniotes-Kutrakos the Pirate-Antiquities-Vitilos-Battle of Condura-Messenian plain-Historical recollections-Charles O. Müller-Temple of Diana Limniatis-Border Stones-Ithome-Messene and its ruins -Fall and restoration of ancient Messenia.

In several earlier numbers of our Review,* I have attempted to give some account of modern Sparta, its fate during the Sclavic invasions of the middle ages and the amalgamation of those barbarians with the native Greek population. I then described the conquests and feudal settlements of the French Crusaders, their victories and defeats in the fourteenth century, the re-establishment of the Byzantine Emperors at Sparta and their final overthrow by the Turks.

Instead of continuing with the melancholy and dull

* See the three articles on "Sparta and the Dorians" in Mercersburg Quarterly Review for 1856 and 1857.