I. 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 divisions 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, 6f 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 no 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 base base along the English channel as about 312. The superficial area has been computed at 49,450 square miles; but, agreeably to the returns of land in the several counties, lately made to parliament, England proper contains 33,204,055 acres, and Wales 4,705,400, making in all 37,909,455 acres, equal to 59,233 square English miles. If the population of England and Wales, as contained in the following table, be 8,876,980 persons, the average will be about 150 for each square English, or 130 for each square geographic mile. ALPHABETICAL TABLE Of the Counties of England and Wales, with the Number of Acres and Inhabitants, and the chief Town of each. 105,000 16,356 Oakham 890,000 167,639 Shrewsbury 1,000,000 273,750 Taunton Southampton 1,212,000 219,656 or Hampshire Stafford 780,800 239,153 Suffolk Surrey Sussex Warwick 800,000 210,431 933,360 159,311 Winchester Stafford Westmoreland 540,160 41,617 Appleby Wiltshire 878,000 185,107 Salisbury Worcester 540,000 139,338 Worcester (North Riding 1,311,187 155,506 York West 1,568,000 563,953 York East 819,000 139,433, Total Acres 37,909,455 8,876.980 Inhabitants The following is a statement of some of the principal towns of England, arranged according to their popula |