BAVARIA, one of the circles of Germany, is bounded on the north by Franconia and Bohemia ; on the east and south by the circle of Austria ; and on the west by Swabia. The whole extent of this circle has been estimated at one thousand and twenty ' square leagues. The states which it contains, a mounti?g to the number of twenty, are divided into two benches, ecclesiastical and secular. The first of these benches consists of the archbishopric of Salz burg, the bishoprics of Ratisbon, Passau, and Frey singen, the princely provostship of Bercktoldsga den, and the abbeys of Saint Emeran, Nieder, and Ober-Munster, in the town of Ratisbon. The secu lar bench is composed of the electorate of Bavaria, the duchies of Newburg and Salzburg, the landgra viate of Leuchtenberg, the princely county of Stein stein, the counties of Haag and of Ortenburg, the lordships of Ehrenfels, Sulzburg, Pyrbaum, Hohen waldeck, and Breiteneck, and the imperial town of Ratisbon. The Elector of Bavaria and the Arch bishop of Salzburg possess the joint power of convo king the states of this circle; and their assemblies, over which those princes alternately preside, are ge nerally held at Ratisbon, or at Wysserburg. This circle furnishes only one assessor to the imperial' chamber, though, by the treaty of 'Westphalia, it ought to send four.
. By far the greater part of this circle_belongs to the elector (now king) of Bavaria, who is one of the most powerful of the secondary princes of Germany. Before the late wars between Germany and France, his dominions in this circle consisted, 1st, Of the Duchy of Bavaria ; 2d, Of the Upper Palatinate, or the Palatinate of Bavaria ; 3d, Of the principalities of Newburg and Sulzbach ; 4th, Of the Landgravi ate, or principality of Leuchtenberg ; 5th, Of the county of Haag ; 6th, of the lordships of Ehrenfels, Salzburg, Pyrbaum, Breiteneck, and Hohenwaldeck. Besides these territories, he was sovereign lord of the greater part of the county of Erbach, in the circle of Franconia ; in the circle of Swabia, he possessed the lordships of Wiesensteig, Meindclheim, and Schwa bach ; in the circle of the Lower Rhine, the Lower Palatinate, or the Palatinate' of the Rhine ; in the circle of the Upper Rhine, the principalities of Sim mern, Lantern, and Veldenz, with two-thirds of the county of Spenheim, besides the reversion of the prin-• cipality of the Deux Ponts, another part of the coun ty of Spenheim, and half the bailliage of Hombourg, the other half of which belonged to the house of Nas sau Saarbruck ; in the circle of Westphalia, the Duchies of Juliers, and of Berg. The connection
which recently took place between the families of the Elector and the Emperor of the French, induced Na poleon to erect the electorate into a kingdom, which, by the ordonnance of the 21st June 1808, has been divided into fifteen circles, whose names, extent, and population, are accurately laid down in the following Table : kingdom of Bavaria, which belongs to the confederation of the Rhine, has an annual revenue of 20,000,04,0 florins, and can bring into the field an army of 6.5,000 men.
At present we shall direct the attention of our readers chiefly to the Duchy of BAvnttrA. It is bounded by Tyrol and the archbishopric of Salz burg on the south ; by Swabia and Franconia on the west ; on the north by the Upper Palatinate ;• and on the east by Bohemia and Austria. Its is generally estimated at 576 miles, or 1600 square leagues ; and the number of its inhabitants, according to the most accurate computations, amounts to about' 900,000. The Duchy of Bavaria holds the fourth rank among the German states ; assigning the first rank to the house of Austria, the second to the house of Brandenburg, and the third to Saxony. Under even tolerable culture, it might very easily maintain more than double of its present population ; and, with the advantage of a better government, might dc velope a power at least four times greater than it can at present boast. It is divided into Upper and Lower Bavaria, the former of which is the extremity of the immense chain of the Alps, which stretches into this country through Salzburg and the county of Tyrol. The Duchy, including the Palatinate, is said to con tain 34 towns, and 80 burghs, 8000 villages or ham lets, and thirty-six thousand estates, subject to taxa tion. It has 30.50 churches, 518 chapels, 908 cures, 12 chapters, and 142 convents, 3765 secular clergy, and 3560 religious of both sexes. Its chief towns are Munich, Straubing, Landshut, •Donawert, and Burghausen.