If we look at the map of Germany under the Saxon and Frankish Kings, we see that the old names, marking the great divisions of the German people, still keep their predominance. ♦The great Duchies.♦ The kingdom is still made up of the four great duchies, the Eastern _Francia_, _Saxony_, _Alemannia_, and _Bavaria_, together with the great border-land of _Lotharingia_. These are still the great duchies, to which all smaller divisions are subordinate. ♦Eastern Francia cut off from extension.♦ Among these, the kernel of the kingdom, the Eastern _Francia_, is the only one whose boundaries had little or no chance of being extended or lessened at the cost of foreign powers. It had the smallest possible frontier towards the Slave. ♦Frontier position of Saxony, Bavaria, and Alemannia.♦ On the other hand, _Saxony_ has an ever fluctuating boundary against the Slave and the Dane; _Bavaria_ marches upon the Slave, the Magyar, and the Kingdom of Italy, while _Alemannia_ has a shifting frontier towards both Burgundy and Italy. ♦Exposed position of Lotharingia and Burgundy.♦ Lotharingia, and Burgundy after its annexation, are the lands which lie exposed to aggression from the West. ♦Vanishing of Francia.♦ It is perhaps for this very reason that, of the four duchies which preserve the names of the four great divisions of the German nation, the Eastern Francia is the one which has most utterly vanished from the modern map and from modern memory. Another cause may have strengthened its tendency to vanish. The policy of the kings forbade that the Frankish duchy should become the abiding heritage of any princely family. ♦Its ecclesiastical Dukes.♦ The ducal title of the Eastern Francia was at two periods of its history borne by ecclesiastical princes in the persons of the Bishops of _Würzburg_; but it never gave its name, like Saxony and Bavaria, to any ruling house. ♦Analogy with Wessex.♦ The English student will notice the analogy by which, among all the ancient English kingdoms, Wessex, the cradle of the English monarchy, is the one whose name has most utterly vanished from modern memory.