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256 NEUFCHATEL NEUHOF NEFFCHlTEL, or NencMtel (Ger. Neueriburg). I. A "W. canton of Switzerland, consisting of the former principality of Neufchatel and the county of Valengin or Valendis, bounded N. and N. E. by the canton of Bern, S. E. by Fri- bourg and Vaud, .8. by Vaud, and W. and N. W. by France ; greatest length 36 m., greatest breadth 13$ m. ; area, 312sq.m.; pop. in 1870, 97,284. Several ridges of the Jura mountains traverse the canton. The lake of Neufchatel, 28 m. long, 7 m. wide, and 400 ft. deep, sepa- rates the canton from Fribourg and Vaud, and is connected with the Rhine by several small- er lakes and streams. Wine, fruit, hemp, flax, and grain are the prin- cipal products, but the grain crop is not suffi- cient for home use. The raising of cattle is the most important branch of rural industry. With the exception of about 11,500 Roman Catholics, 1,000 of other Chris- tian denominations, and 700 Jews, the people belong to the Reformed church. French is the prevailing language. Watch making (chiefly at Chaux-de-Fonds and Locle), lace making, and cotton manufacture are the leading indus- trial pursuits. The constitution of the canton is democratic. Neufchatel belonged to Bur- gundy until 1032, when it became part of the German empire. After having been a fief of the counts of Fribourg and the margraves of Hochberg, it became a possession of the Lon- gueville family, and after its extinction in 1707 was inherited by Frederick I. of Prussia, as successor to the rights of the house of Orange. It remained under the house of Hohenzollern as a principality with a separate government till 1806, when Napoleon received it in ex- change of territory from Frederick William III., and gave it as a principality to Marshal Berthier. In 1814 the king of Prussia re- gained possession of Neufchatel, and procured its admission into the Swiss confederacy, it being the only canton with a monarchical con- stitution. In 1848 a revolutionary movement severed the connection with the house of Prussia ; and an attempt of the royalist party in 1857 to reinstate the royal authority hav- ing been frustrated, the independence of the canton was at last recognized by Frederick William IV., May 26, 1857. II. A town, cap- ital of the canton, at the embouchure of the river Seyon into the lake of Neufchatel, 25 m. W. of Bern; pop. in 1870, 13,321. It is picturesquely built on a steep slope of the Jura, and contains many fine buildings. An ancient castle on the heights has been con- verted into public offices; the Gothic church adjoining the castle contains a monument to the reformer Farel. There is a museum, with a fine picture gallery; a public library with 30,000 volumes, and having many manuscript Castle of Neufchatel. letters of Rousseau ; a college in which Agas- siz was once professor ; an observatory fa- mous for its geodetical labors ; an orphan asy- lum and two hospitals munificently endowed by private citizens, one of whom, David Pury, in 1786 left 4,000,000 livres to these institu- tions and for other public purposes ; his statue stands in front of the gymnasium. The prin- cipal manufactures are clocks and watches, paper, lace, straw hats, and spirits. NEUHOF, Theodor von, baron, a German adven- turer, born about 1686, died in London, Dec. 11, 1756. He was the son of a Westphalian nobleman, studied in Cologne, was compelled to leave that city on account of having killed in a duel a young man of high family, and ob- tained a lieutenancy in the Spanish army in Africa. He fell into the hands of the Moors, and is believed to have been employed during 18 years as interpreter by the dey of Algiers. In 1735 he led two regiments, chiefly Tunisians and Algerians, to Corsica to assist that island against Genoa, and ingratiated himself so much with the Corsicans that they elected him king, April 15, 1736, under the name of Theodore I. He succeeded in securing the alliance of the Netherlands ; but the French coming to the as- sistance of the Genoese in 1738, the Corsicans were again subdued, and Neuhof fled. In 1741, when the French left the island, he in vain en- deavored to regain his power, and spent the remainder of his life in England, where shortly before his death he was released from prison by Walpole, who raised a subscription which enabled him to compromise with his creditors. There are other versions of Neuhof's life and