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112 G E R M A N Y. [Solms.
a lion faphire ; for Miinzcnherg, party per Je(s topaz and ruby ; for JVildenfels,
topaz a rofe-diamond -, for So/menioald, diamond a lion pearl,
§. 4. The houfe of Solms has a matricular afleffinent of two hundred and
fifty-one fiorins in the following divifions, viz. Hohen-Solms pays for Solms
forty-eight florins ; for Lieh twenty-four florins ; for Braunfels one hundred
and twenty florins j for Rodelheim twenty-four florins, and for Laubacb
thlrtj'-five florins. To the chamber at V/etzlar, Hohen-Solms is taxed at
thirty-feven ruthlr. twenty-one kruitzers ; Braunfels at fifty-nine ruthlr.
forty-five kruitzers j Rodelheim at eighteen ruthlr. fifty-three kruitzers, and
Laidmch in the like fum. The Princes and Counts of Solms belong to the
college of the Imperial counts oi xhzWetterau, and have four votes in it, as
alio a like number in the Diet of the Circle of the Upper-Rhine.
§. 5. From the feniorlhip cuflomary in this houfe are excluded the Saxon
counts of Sohns. The fenior, for the time being, is always the feofi^ee, but
this does not take place in all the fiefs. The lines of Braunfels and Hohen-
Solms are Protefl:ants, Son/ienwald is Catholic, and all the reft profefs Lutberanifm.
§. 6. With rdpedt to the difl:indl ruling-houfes, the pofTefllon of Solms-
Braunfels are,
I. The greateft part of the proper county of Solms, which lies on both
fides the Lahn, and borders on the territories of Naffau and Heffe, and the diftrid
of the city of Wetzlar, being fix hours in length and four broad. This
county abounds in grain and cattle, and has every where iron-mines which
employ feveral founderies and other works. Its mines of copper and filver
great profit.
are not fought after; but its woods, though declining, are ftill an article of
This county was formerly divided into the "vordure and hintereland.
In the former are the prefedfurates of Braunjels and Greifenflein, the
latter of which contains alfo thofe of Hohen-Solms and Königsberg, which
belong to HeJJe-Darmßadt . The name of the hintere-land is ftill in ufe
here. This county is alfo divided according to its rivers, into the IJlhnthally
the land on the Solms and the Mutt, the Wetzthal, Ulmthal, Dillthal,
Lemptbal, and land on the Aar and Kins. In the laft of thefe ftood Ardehe-Gau.
The Prince's prefedurates here are,
I. The prefefturate of Braunfels, containing two towns, one convent,
twenty villages and three manfion-houfes. The moft remarkable places in
it
are,
Braunfels, the Prince's palace, which ftands on a very high hill, and is
of great ftrength, according to the ancient manner of fortification, and contains
in it one church, which alfo ferves the inhabitants of the town.
Without it is the town, which is called Thai, as alfo a place called S. George
which lies beneath it. The palace and town are fupplied with water by
works erefted at the foot of the mountain. In the 17th century the town
was twice deftroyed by fire.
Leun,