The Weingarten Model a la Polyakov

The Weingarten lattice gauge model of Nambu-Goto strings is generalised to allow for fluctuations of an intrinsic worldsheet metric through a dynamical quadrilation. The continuum limit is taken for $c\leq1$ matter, reproducing the results of hermitian matrix models to all orders in the genus expansion. For the compact $c=1$ case the vortices are Wilson lines, whose exclusion leads to the theory of non-interacting fermions. As a by-product of the analysis one finds the critical behaviour of SOS and vertex models coupled to 2D quantum gravity.