*wise been discovered in Cornwall; and the English lead is impregnated with silver. Devonshire, and other conoties in England, produce marble. Pit and sea-coal is found in many counties of England, particularly in the north, but the city of London is chiefly supplied from the pits in Northumberland, and the bishopric of Durhain. The cargoes are shipped at Newcastle and Sunderland, and the exporta- : tion of coals to other countries, is a valuable article of commerce. The fluor spar, or blue John of Derbyshire, is found in large quantities, and forms an elegant article of manufacture, being made into urns, vases, columus, and all the infinite variety of shapes, which the ingenuity or fancy of the artist can devise. Cheshire is remarkable for the extent and value of its salt-mines and springs.*

§ 2. Civil Geography and Divisions.

England has been variously divided at different periods of time. When the Romans were masters of this island, they divided it into 1. Britannia Prima, including the southern parts of the kingdom.-2. Britannia Secunda, comprising the western parts, together with Wales.-And 3. Maxima Cæsariensis, which reached from the Trent, as far north as the wall of Severus, between Newcastle and Carlisle, and in some parts as far as that of Adrian, between the Forth and Clyde. After the Saxons became masters of England, they divided it into seven unequal parts, which they called kingdoms; each leader appropriating to himself those parts which he had either conquered himself, or bad assisted in reducing. The seven kingdoms, forming the Saxon Heptarchy, were as follows; 1. Kent. 2. Sussex, or the South Saxons. 3. Wessex, or the West Saxons. 4. Essex, or the East Saxons. 5. Northumberland. 6. East Angleland, and 7. Mercia.

The division into shires is attributed to the illustrious king Alfred. They are also styled counties, as having been each governed, in Saxon times, by a count or Eallorman, and who, after the Danish conquest, was called Earl, from the Danish word JARL, i. e. a great man. The dignity and title becoming hereditary, the government of the county

*For a description of these, see MANUFACTURES, Art. Sult.

devolved upon the earl's deputy, the Shire-reeve, sheriff, or manager of the shire. Yorkshire being a very extensive county, was divided into three parts, called in the Saxon tongue trithings, which are now (corruptly) termed Ridings.

England is divided into forty counties, and the principality of Wales into twelve, making the whole number of counties in South Britain, fifty-two. The following list contains the respective chief towns, together with the population of the counties, aud of some of the towns, in the year 1811.

For the amount of population in England, as well as in Wales and Scotland, we have consulted the only authentic document on the subject, the Enumeration Abstract, and Parish Register Abstract, printed by order of the House of Lords, 1811. fol. pp. xxxi. 712. For the general summary of Population in England, Wales, and Scotland, and the increase since 1801. See p. 111..

Besides the above counties, there are counties corporate, consisting of certain districts, to which the liberties and jurisdictions peculiar to a county have been granted by royal charter. Thus the city of London is a county distinct from Middlesex; the cities of York, Chester, Bristol, Exeter, Norwich, Worcester, and the towns of Kingston upon Hull, and Newcastle upon Tyne, are counties of themselves, distinct from those in which they lie. So also is Berwick upon Tweed, which lies in Scotland, and has within its jurisdiction a small territory of two miles on the north side of the river.

Under the name of a town, are contained boroughs and cities, for every borough or city is a town, though every town is not a borough or city.. A borough is so called, because it sends up burgesses to parliament; and this makes a difference between a village or town and a borough. Some boroughs are corporate, and some not corporate; and though decayed, as old Sarum, they still send burgesses to parliament. A city is a corporate borough, that has either had, or at present has, a bishop; for if the bishopric be dissolved, yet the city remains.

& 37,256.

h London within the walls in 1811, contained 55,484 Inhabitants; without the walls, 65,425,

i

Westminster in 1811, contained 162,085 Inhabitants. ing London and Westminster, the, Out-Parishes, &c. hundred thousand Inhabitants, and in 1811, one million I and town of Portsea, 40,567.

k 72, 119. • 18,896> P 56,060.

The Metropolis, includcontained in 1801, nine and fifty thousand. m 76,433.

n 31,496

§ 3. Ecclesiastical Geography of England.

It is by no means certain, by whom Christianity was first planted in this country. Some antient authors have averred, that the Gospel was first preached in South Britain, by the apostles and their disciples: but it is a well Cattested fact, that many of the soldiers and officers in the Roman armies were Christians, and as their legions were repeatedly sent over to England to extend, as well as to preserve their conquests, it is probable that thus Christianity was diffused among the natives. The constitution of & the church is episcopal: it is governed by bishops, whose benefices were converted by the Norman conqueror into temporal baronies, in right of which, every bishop has a seat and vote in the House of Peers. The benefices of the inferior clergy are now freehold, but in many places, the tithes are impropriated in favour of the laity.

The dignitaries of the church of England, such as deans, prebendaries, and the like, have generally large incomes; some of them exceeding in value those of bishopries, for which reason, the revenues of a rich deanery, or other living, are often annexed to a poor bishopric. At present, the clergy of the church of England, as to temporal matters, are in a most flourishing situation, because the value of their tithes increases with the improvement of lands, which have, of late, been amazing in England: and Parliament has also made considerable grants in favour of the poore livings.

The church of England is governed by two archbishops, and twenty-four bishops, besides the bishop of Sodor and Man, who not being possessed of an English barony, does not sit in the House of Peers. A list of each is annexed, together with their salaries as they appear on the king's books.

The three last bishoprics take precedency of all others in England, and the others according to the seniority of their consecrations.

The archbishop of Canterbury ranks next to the princes of the blood royal, above all other peers, and also above all the officers of state. The archbishop of York has the same rank, giving place only to the archbishop of Canterbury, and to the Lord Chancellor. They are both dig nified with the address-Your Grace." The other bishops rank above all temporal barons: they are addressed "Your Lordships," and are styled, "Right Reverend Fathers in God."

Deans and prebendaries of cathedrals have already been mentioned: but besides these, England contains about sixty archdeacons, whose office is to visit the churches twice or thrice every year, but their offices are less lucrative than honourable. Subordinate to them are the rural deans, formerly styled archpresbyters, who signify the bishop's pleasure to his clergy, the lower class of which consists of priests and deacons.