to this peculiar advantage, in conjunction with the moderate temperature of the climate, the fertility of the soil, and the number of large and important islands, lining both its external and its internal seas, may, in a great measure, be attributed the distinguished superiority of Europe, in civilization and industry, in arts and in arms, over the other quarters of the globe.

White Sea. The white sea, or gulf of Archangel, is a branch of the Frozen ocean, running south-westerly into the northern parts of Russia. This sea was formerly much frequented by navigators from the western and southern parts of Europe, during the summer months; but, since the establishment of Petersburgh, this commerce has greatly declined.

Baltic.-The Baltic, or as it is usually called by seamen, the East sea, penetrates from the Atlantic into the heart of the north of Europe, separating Sweden and Finland on the north from Denmark, Prussia, Poland, and Russia, on the south. This sea is divided into two branches; the one running north, called the gulf of Bothnia, separating Sweden from Finland, and the other extending eastward, called the gulf of Finland, and dividing that country from Russia: at the extremity of this gulf lies Petersburgh, the modern capital of the Russian empire.

German ocean.-The German ocean, which washes the east coasts of Britain, and the west coasts of Denmark and Holland, may be considered as a deep gulf of the Atlantic, notwithstanding it has, at this day, by the strait of Dover, and the English channel, a communication with that ocean: for from many circumstances it may not unreasonably be concluded, that the sea has not always flowed between Dover and Calais ; and that, in some remote period, Britain was in that quarter united to the continent.

Bay of Biscay-This bay is also an inlet from the Atlan

tic, bordered on the east by the coast of France, and on the south by that of Spain.

Gulf of Venice, &c. Within the strait of Gibraltar, along the European shore of the Mediterranean, we meet with the gulfs of Lyons and Genoa ; and, at the southern point of Italy, the gulf of Taranto : but the most considerable branch of the Mediteranean is the gulf of Venice, also called the Adriatic sea, denominations drawn from two cities, the one ancient, the other more modern, situated at its northern extremity. This gulf extends in a north-westerly direction "from its mouth, at the south-east spur of Italy, to the bottom between Venice and Triest, about 520 English miles, washing the shores of Italy on the one hand, and those of Albania, Dalmatia, Morlachia, and Istria, on the other. At its entrance the breadth may be about 50 miles; but, towards the middle, the distance, from shore to shore, is not less than 130 miles.

Bay of Corinth, &c.-The gulfs, or bays of Arta or Ambracia, of Lepanto or Corinth, of Coron, of Napoli, of Engia or Athens, of Salonica or Thessalonica, indent and enrich the shores of Greece.

Capes, Promontories, &c.-The most remarkable headlands of Europe are the north cape in Lapland, the Naze at the south end of Norway, Capes Finisterre, St. Vincent, De Gata, on the coasts of Spain and Portugal, Spartivento and Santa Maria, the most southerly projections of Italy, Matapan, the most advanced point of Greece in the same direction. The principal promontories of the several European islands have also their peculiar appellations, to be enumerated in their particular descriptions.

Mountains.-Europe is traversed and knit together by various ranges of mountains, of which the most considerable is that of the Alps, which separate Italy, on the east and south, from France, Switzerland, and Germany, on the .west and north. Of this vast chain the most elevated point

is Mont Blanc, so named from the unvarying whiteness of its mantle of snow, soaring up, according to some observers, 15,662 English feet; but, according to others, only 15,302 feet above the level of the Mediterranean sea.

Of the Pyrenees, which occupy the whole isthmus connecting Spain with France, the loftiest summit is that of Mont Perdu, which rises 11,000 feet above the sea,

The Appenines, which, springing from the same root with the Alps, extend the whole length of Italy, present. peaks of great elevation; Monte Velino raising its top no less than 8,397 feet above the Mediterranean.

The Dalecarlian mountains, which divide Norway from Sweden, are likewise very lofty, the elevation of the sum mit of Swucku being estimated at about 9,000 feet.

A point in the Carpathian, or Krapak: Range, extending, between Poland and Hungary, has been computed to be elevated 8,640 feet above the surface of the sea.

Besides these lofty ranges, the Sierra Nevada, Sierra Morena, Sierra de Urbion in Spain, and the Jura mountains separating France from Switzerland, attain very considerable elevations above the sea.

Rivers. The Volga, the Danube, the Nieper, the Rhine, and the other chief rivers of Europe, will be noticed in the descriptions of the countries to which they respectively belong..

Political Divisions.-Europe may be divided into the following states: 1. The united kingdom of Great Britain) and Ireland; 2, Denmark and Norway, 3. Sweden, 4." Russia, 5, Holland, 6. German states, 7. Prussia, 8. Po-, Jand, 9. Austrian dominions, 10. France, 11. Switzerland, 12. Portugal, 13. Spain, 14. Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily,' Malta, &c. 15 Turkish dominions.*

* In this arrangement the young geographer is supposed to run over his map as he peruses the page of a book, beginning at the top, and reading from

1.

THE BRITISH DOMINIONS.

These dominions comprehend the islands of Britain and Ireland, with the Shetland, Orkney, and western isles of Scotland, Mann, Anglesey, Wight, and others of less note on the coasts of England and Ireland, together with Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, &c. on the coast of France..

Situation and Extent.-Britain is situated between the parallel of the Lizard in north latitude 49°, 58', and that of the northern extremity of Scotland in 58°, 46, and between the meridian of Yarmouth in east longitude 1°, 44, 22′′, and that of west longitude 6o, inclosing the most westerly parts of Scotland: so that the length of the island from north to south may be reckoned about 528 geographic, or

the left to the right to the bottom. A different distribution has of late been introduced into some treatises on geography, of which the object is to class the several European states according to their real consequence and comparative importance. Such an arrangement might, twenty years ago, have been susceptible of some accuracy and probable stability: but, to a similar attempt, at this day, the situation of Europe seems peculiarly unpropitious. It has, therefore, been deemed most advisable, in these pages, to retain those divi, sions which, from their uniform employment in history, have acquired a sort of classic establishmeut and authority, whilst the various political changes, to which many portions of Europe have lately been subjected, are duly recorded. When the reader meets with the ancient appellations Flanders and Savoy, the territory of Geneva, and the county of Nice, he forms correct conceptions of certain districts of Europe; whilst the modern designations of the same countries, viz the departments of the North and the Scheld, of Mont Blanc, of Leman, of the Maritime Alps, will, for many years to come, convey but very indistinct notions of the tracts intended to be pointed out. Nay, the Parisian himself, the inventor of this new nomenclature, is suspected of po tendency to royalism, when he invites his friend to share his bottle of Burgundy, or Champagne; and to describe a stranger as a Norman or a Gascon, still recalls ideasof the characteristic qualities of his ante revolutionary predecessors, which, by designating him as a native of the departments of the Lower Seine, or of the Garonne, it would be vain to attempt to excite.

nearly

nearly 10 English miles. The breadth is very irregular, for the extent along the English channel, from the Land'send to the South Foreland, is a stretch of about 312 English miles, while at Carlisle and Newcastle, the distance, from sea to sea, is only about 70 miles; and in the middle of Scotland the breadth of the Isthmus, between the firths, of the Forth and the Clyde, is not above 25 miles.

Name. The island, according to the most ancient authorities, was named Albion and Britannia; terms, which conjecture itself, has been in vain exhausted to explain. Cæsar knew it under the name of Britannia. The modern appellation Great-Britain, instead of conveying an idea of the magnitude and importance of the country, seems not a little preposterous; for it appears to have been assumed to distinguish this noble island from a province in the northwest corner of France, to which a body of British refugees passed over in the 5th century, and which from them acquired the name of Britannia or Bretagne.

The Greeks, who probably acquired their first knowledge of these islands from the Phoenicians, called them Cassiterides, or the islands of Tin, in imitation of the appellation employed by those early navigators.

Britain is divided into two parts, once separate and independent states, but for these hundred years past united into one kingdom. The southern portion is called England, or South Britain, and the northern is called Scotland or North Britain

I.

ENGLAND.

England, including Wales, is of a triangular form, being in length, on the meridian, from Berwick to St. Alban's Head, in Dorsetshire, about 360 English miles, while the

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