Note 154 — LETTER XXII.

Phillip the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, was in 1518 Sovereign of all the Country of Hesse. He died in 1567, and left four Sons who shar'd his Dominions and form'd the four Branches of Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Marpurg, Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Darmstadt The landgraves Lewis de Marpurg and Philip de Rheinfels had no Issue, but their Nephew Maurice of Cassel having 18 Children, Earnest one of the Sons reviv'd a Branch of Rheinfels which was divided into those of Rotenburg and Vanfried, that are still subsisting. The Posterity of George I, Landgrave of Darmstadt was altogether as fruitful, and form'd the Branches of Darmstadt, Butzbach, Hombourg, and Lauterbach, some of which are extinct. The Landgrave-Regent is one of the sixteen Children of the Landgrave Lewis VI. Great-Grandson of George I. There are at present these six Branches of the Family of Hesse, viz. 1. Hesse-Cassel, 2. Hesse-Philipstall, 3. Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenbourg, 4. Hesse-Rheinfels-Vanfried, 5. Hesse-Darmstadt, 6. Hesse-Hambourg.