The advantages of Frankfort for commerce have attracted a vast number of Jews, and reconcile them to many regulations, imposed by the magistrates, which otherwise they would not submit to.  Their numbers are said to exceed 6,000 in a total population of nearly 50,000.  The fame of Frankfort is not, however, merely of a commercial nature.  It can boast of having produced many of the most eminent literary characters of Germany.

All religions are here tolerated; but, under its old constitution, the members of government were Lutherans, and Calvinists were excluded from any share in the management of affairs.  The present magistrates are only provisionally appointed since the late change in its situation.  The cathedral is a venerable Gothic edifice, as is also the town-house; but Frankfort is more remarkable for a general air of magnificence than for the exclusive elegance of any particular buildings.  There are seven or eight gates to the city, some of which are handsome, and adorned with statues of many worthies, whose names I could not learn.  The busts of Alexander and Roxana were however too conspicuous to escape notice; but their connexion with Frankfort I am not antiquary enough to trace.  Frankfort cannot be considered as a fortified place.  Its bastions are planted with shrubs, and form a pleasant walk for the citizens. Hamburg has recently afforded a melancholy example of the evil which walls may bring upon a commercial city; and the people of Frankfort cannot regret the use to which their bastions are applied.  I was, by the favour of a merchant, to whom I had an introduction, admitted as a temporary member of the Casino, or Public Institution.  It is one of the best conducted establishments I have seen.  There are not less than 110 newspapers, besides other periodical publications; and, after an interval of two months, I was glad again to peruse an English newspaper.  The reading-room, like the council-chamber at Stutgard, is adorned by a figure of Silence, and I think the hint seems well observed.  There are, however, several very spacious and elegantly decorated apartments, for conversation, cards, billiards, &c.  These rooms are frequented by ladies in the evenings, and then bear some resemblance to a London rout.  The concerts at Frankfort are remarkably good.  There is only one theatre; and, as the performance was in German, I only went once out of curiosity.  The number of villas around Frankfort are numerous and handsome, and the villages are large, and have every appearance of opulence.  Here are many fine orchards, and the cider of Afschaffenburg can be only distinguished from wine by a connoisseur.

At Hochst, six miles from Frankfort, stands the large edifice noticed by Dr. Moore, as having been built by a great tobacconist of Frankfort, out of spite to the magistrates of that city, with whom he had quarrelled; and he endeavoured to induce merchants to settle here.  His plan, however, failed, and this great building is almost uninhabited.  This village is at present chiefly remarkable for a manufacture of porcelain of excellent quality.