ue their journey to Frankfurt, where
they arrived in less than an hour, and repaired to the _Hotel de
Russie_ for dinner. Mr. Drexel, one of the landlords, was especially
devoted to the party, and afforded them every facility for seeing the
city in the shortest possible time. The dinner was capital, and when it
had been disposed of by the hungry students, they were in condition to
hear Professor Mapps.

"Darmstadt, where we spent an hour this forenoon," said the professor,
"is the capital of Hesse Darmstadt, which consists of two divisions of
territory, separated by a strip of land belonging to Hesse Cassel and
Frankfurt. It has an area of thirty-two hundred square miles,--being
about two thirds of the size of Connecticut--and a population of about
eight hundred and fifty thousand. It is a constitutional monarchy in
its government, the Grand Duke Ludwig III. being the sovereign. The
word _Hesse_, applied to several of the German states, indicates
that they are parts of the original territory which bore that name. One
of its rulers divided his country into four unequal parts, and gave
them to his sons. Two of the descendants of these sons dying without
children, there remained only Hesse Cassel and Hesse Darmstadt. Hesse
Homburg formerly belonged to Darmstadt, but was ceded to another branch
of the reigning family in 1622. It is composed of two parts; the
smaller, containing forty-three square miles, and eleven thousand five
hundred inhabitants, is about ten miles north of Frankfurt; the other
portion, having eighty-five square miles, and fourteen thousand five
hundred inhabitants, is on the other side of the Rhine.[4]

[4] Hanover, Hesse Cassel, Hesse Homburg, Nassau, the part of
Hesse Darmstadt north of the Maine, Hohenzollern, and Frankfurt
were annexed to Prussia in 1866.

"Frankfurt-on-the-Maine, so called to distinguish it from
Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, is a free city, and the capital of the Germanic
Confederation. It is a little nationality by itself, having the right
to make its own local laws, levy duties, and other powers belonging to
a state. It is represented in the Federal Diet. This territory includes
nine villages, besides the city proper, with a population of about
seventy-five thousand. It is a very old city, and is mentioned in
history in the time of Charlemagne, who had a palace here. This city is
the original home of the Rothschilds, the great bankers, upon whom even
princes wait--wh