GOTHA, anciently Grimmestein, and afterwards Fried-. enstein, is a town of Germany in Upper Saxony, situated on an eminence near the Leine, which supplies the town with water, conveyed to it in stone canals. Gotha is one of the handsomest towns of Thuringia. The Ducal Palace stands on a height above the town, and contains a museum of natural history, a library, a cabinet of medals, and a splendid collection of prints, paintings, geographical charts, and mathematical and physical instruments. This excel lent collection, which has been recently enlarged by that of M. Lichtenberg, has been long ago minutely described by Keysler. At that time the Ducal library consisted of about 30,000 printed volumes, and 2000 manuscripts. The cabinet of medals. hich is particularly valuable, has been long ago described by M. Liebe, in his Goth,e nummaria, and more recently by M. Schlichtegroll, in his Historic Numotheete Gothanc. Gotha, 1799. The Ducal Palace has recently undergone great improvement, particularly in the grand terrace, which has been compared to that of Windsor. The English garden of the Duke is worthy of being visited, and the small island, planted with weeping willows and birches, which contains the tombs of Ernest and Charlotte, the children of the reigning Duke. A co
lumn of granite, surmounted by an urn of white marble, is placed near the tomb. The garden of the Duchess, con taining the monument of Madame de Buchwald, and busts of Newton, Leibnitz, and Kepler ; the buildings of the Orangerie ; and the hotel of Prince Augustus, the brother of the Duke, are also objects of some interest. The other public buildings are the arsenal, the two churches, called Kloster and Neumarkts Birchen, the last of which contains the tombs of several of the Saxe-Gotha pi inces ; an hospi tal for soldiers, two schools for the children of soldiers, a public college, a gymnasium with a good library, the pub lic library, the house of correction, and an hospital for widows, and another for orphans.
The principal manufactures in Gotha are those of wool len goods, ribbands, muslin, and porcelain. There are no fewer than six periodical papers published in this town. Near the village Siebeleben, about half a league from Go tha, upon the insulated mountain of Seeberg, is an excel lent observatory, under the charge of Baron Zach, an able and active astronomer. Population of the town, 1 t,500.