cularly salmon, which the rivers afford. Merionethshire, beset with high mountains, is an agricultural and manufacturing district, and carries on a great trade in woollen cloth. Denbighshire produces grain in abundance, raises goats, sheep, and other animals, and furnishes cheese equal to that of Cheshire: it has also iron, lead, and coal mines; the air is pure, and the inhabitants are long-lived: the frost of age does not chill the industrious spirit with which they are gifted. Flintshire, less mountainous than the others, abounds in corn and pasturage, possesses mines of lead and coal, and maintains great numbers of bees, the honey of which, in many places, is made into a liquor highly esteemed, called metheglin. In the maritime county of Carnarvon, agriculture is in a backward state: horses and horned cattle, and the products of mines and fisheries, are the chief resources of the people. The life of the peasants in this territory, bears in many points, a considerable resemblance to that of the Swiss mountaineers: from the end of May till September, they abandon their valleys, and go to tend their flocks among the mountains, where they subsist upon their milk and flesh: in autumn they return to their habitations, and spend the winter in spinning wool and making coarse cloth for domestic use. In the island of Anglesey, which ranks as a county, cultivation has improved since contraband trade has ceased to be the sole occupation of the inhabitants. Administra tion of justice. divided into four circuits, each under the jurisdiction of a For the administration of justice, these twelve counties are | judge, who sits at the assizes every six months. That of Chester, comprises, in addition to Cheshire, which joins upon Wales, Flintshire, Denbighshire, and Montgomeryshire. The northern circuit is composed of the county of Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, and Merionethshire. The southwestern circuit is formed of Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire, and Carmarthenshire. The south-eastern circuit contains Glamorganshire, Brecknockshire, and Radnorshire. In ecclesiastical government, this principality is under the Archbishop of York, and contains the bishoprics of St. Asaph, Llandaff, Bangor, and St. David's. The abovementioned counties, whose principal towns only we shall pass in review, all bear the names of their capitals except Merionethshire and Glamorganshire. The latter has for its chief town Cardiff, on Cardiff. I the left bank of the Taff: it dates from the year 1079. The canal of Glamorgan, which runs parallel with the river, facilitates the trade of this place with the interior, while its harbour, at the mouth of the same stream, is capable of receiving a large number of vessels. The village of Llandaff has the title of a city in consequence of its bishopric. The little town of Neath, to which we proceed from Cardiff by a road thirteen leagues in length, bears the name of a river, which near the town falls into the bay of Swansea. In the vicinity are several manufactories, and at Mellincourt is a cascade 150 feet in height. Near the coast is Swansea, a town of 1000 souls, more deSwansea. serving than Cardiff the rank of capital: its harbour, at the mouth of the Tawy is one of the most important in Wales: a number of canals bring to this place the products of the country, and the sea-bathing in the neighbourhood, brings every year to this spot a great number of visiters. On the right bank of the Tawy, which is a considerable stream, we come to Carmarthen or Caermarthen in crossing an elegant Carmarthen. bridge of ten arches: this town is built in the form of an amphitheatre, upon the site of Maridunum, an ancient town of the Demateca. It is a large and busy place; and was formerly defended by walls, vestiges of which only remain: the castle is now used as a jail. The environs of this town are covered with picturesque ruins, and the inhabitants pretend that Merlin, the enchanter, established his abode upon an eminence in the neighbourhood. Five leagues to the south-east is a rail road, extending from the bank of the river to Llanelly, which gives an activity to the manufactures of this small town. Keeping along the sea coast we pass the town of Pembroke, | Pembroke. consisting of one long narrow street. This was the native place of Henry VIII. Under the chapel of the ancient castle built by Arnulph in the time of William Rufus, is the cave of Wogan, remarkable for an echo repeating several syllables. Milford Haven, a town of 3000 inhabitants, has a safe port capable of receiving above 1000 ships. St. David's, upon the sea, near a cape of the same name, which the ancients called Promontorium Octapitarum, is nothing more, | St. David's. notwithstanding its capital, than a village of 2000 inhabitants: the name it bears is that of the patron saint of Wales, as St. George is the patron of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, and St. Patrick of Ireland: but there is this peculiarity relating to St. David, on the 1st of March, the day of this saint, the people wear leeks in commemoration of him, a symbol which learned theologians explain in a variety of ways. Car| Cardigan. digan has a harbour much frequented, and gives its name to a large gulf which forms several bays. At the foot of one of the branches of the great chain of mountains traversing Wales through its whole extent, stands Brecknock or Brecon, a small town surrounded by old fortifications. Old and New Radnor, distant less than half a league from each other, are not worth visiting. The county assizes | Radnor. are held alternately at New Radnor and Presteigne: but this last town, called in Welsh Llan Andrew, has the advantage of the other in being well built. Near the right bank of the Severn, stands Montgomery, seated upon a rock, and visible at a distance by means of the | Montgomery. ruins of its ancient castle. If we turn to the left, and proceed eleven leagues to the banks of the Dyvy, we shall arrive at the handsome town of Machynleth, where Owen Glendower accepted the crown of Wales in 1402. [ Denbigh Nearly all the towns of this principality, have some ruinous old castle frowning over them. Denbigh, dismantled in 1646; and Flint at the mouth of the Dee, present in their edifices of the middle ages, some traits of resemblance to each other: if | Flint. the latter is less populous than the former, its sea baths render it more pleasant during the summer. It was at Flint that Richard II. submitting to necessity, resigned his crown to the Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV. Caerwys, formerly capital of a county, and until the reign of Elizabeth, the rendezvous of the Bards who resorted hither each year to dispute the prize of song before judges appointed by the king, has at present only 900 inhabitants. Holywell, a town of 8000 souls, enriched by mines and manufactures, is famous for a spring called St. Winifred's Well, which gushes from a rock with such violence and copiousness as to give out 7,500 gallons of water every minute. St. Asaph is but a single street, but it takes the name of a city in consequence of being a bishop's see. The population of this place is but 2000: the cathedral is falling to ruin, and service is performed in another church. Bala, which divides with Dolgelly the dignity of being the seat of the assizes of Merionethshire is a very ancient place, and exhibits the remains of three Roman camps. This town stands on the shore of the Bala, the largest lake in Wales, though it is but a league and a quarter in length and half a league in breadth. Near the site of the ancient Legontium, of which a few vestiges remain, Edward I. founded in 1285, Carnarvon or Caernarvon: the harbour of this place, on the southern shore of the channel of Menai, be| Caernarvon. tween Wales and Anglesey, is the constant resort of shipping from all parts of the kingdom, and of visiters for the purpose of bathing during the fine season. Bangor, like all the other episcopal cities of this princi VOL. V.-5 F Baumaris. pality, is nothing more than an assemblage of mean habitations around an old Cathedral, which was partly demolished by Owen Glendower. The sole electoral city in the isle of Anglesey is Baumaris, which we descry with its harbour on the eastern coast as we leave Bangor: but the most important seaport in the island is Amlwich, I on the southern coast: this town has a population of 5000, and its port, cut out of the solid rock, is sufficient for the reception of thirty vessels of 200 tons. This work was effected by the copper mining companies of the island. Amlwich. BOOK CLIV. EUROPE. Europe continued.-Historical and Topographical Description of the British Islands. SECTION II. DESCRIPTION OF SCOTLAND. A DISTANCE of thirty leagues separates the coast of Wales from that of Scotland. The navigation of the Irish sea is not without its difficulties, but the Welsh and Scotch sailors are so well acquainted with these parts, that we may confide ourselves to their care in full safety: the great number of deep bays with which the western coast of Great Britain is indented, offers besides so many points of shelter against the fury of the tempests. Wigtonshire. I Entering the Solway Frith, we discover the small town of Wigton, situated on the slope of a hill at the bottom of a bay of this name: it is the chief town of an agricultural county. On the west, a tongue of land called the Mull of Galloway, hides from the view Port Patrick, a commodious and safe harbour, from whence a great trade is carried on with Ireland: this place possesses one of the finest quays in Kirkcud- Great Britain. Next we come in sight of Kirkcudbright, chief brightshire. I town of a county: this is a small and handsome town regularly built, on the Dee, with a port three leagues from the mouth of the river. The county is hilly towards the north, and the soil except in the valleys, is not fertile, but the pastures feed large flocks of sheep. Finally we land Dumfries. at Dumfries, a handsome town on the banks of the beautiful I river Nith: vessels of 150 tons may reach this place, and the commerce of the port gives an increased activity to its manufactures of hosiery and hats. From the burial ground on the highest elevation of the place, a magnificent view is presented. Downs and sandy tracts border the Solway, but after passing them, we must be careful not to forget the tide upon the shores of this gulf, which rises twenty or thirty feet with such rapidity, that the best mounted horseman would find it difficult to save himself by flying before it. Annan, a town which bears Annan. the name of a river flowing into the Frith, carries on a coasting trade and salmon fishery: in the neighbourhood are the remains of Roman camps and other antiquities. Near this spot terminates the wall of Adrian. Towards the southern extremity of the county is the little town of Moffat, celebrated for its mineral waters, sulphureous I and chalybeate: the town consists of but a single street. Before proceeding to the highlands of Scotland, and penetrating through their deep valleys, we shall detain ourselves awhile about the ramifications Moffat. of the Cheviot Hills, from which descend the Dee, the Nith, and the Annan, into the Solway. We shall then give a cursory examination of the political and religious features of the country, and pass in review its productions, the manners of the Highlanders, and the history of Scotland. We have already given a sketch of three of the counties: the whole country contains thirty others, much smaller than those of England, their superficies comprising but 3,830 square leagues, including the islands. Scotland is divided naturally into two distinct regions, the Highlands and Lowlands, but a more exact division would separate it into three parts, the northern, central, and southern divisions. The first is separated from the second by the Frith of Forth on the east, and the Frith of Clyde on the west: between these two gulfs is a communication by means of the great Caledonian Canal. The second division is separated from the third, along the space between the Murray or Moray Frith, in the north-east, and Loch Linnhe, in the south-west, by a series of lakes, through which the Caledonian canal passes, uniting, by an extent of thirty leagues, the German Ocean with the Irish Sea. The people of the Highlands and Lowlands are distinguished from each other by their language, customs, and dress: the Lowlanders bear, in their manners, some traits of resemblance to the English, and even the French, while the Highlanders, in both language and customs, approach nearer to the Welsh and Irish. These mountaineers have always shown the strongest attachment to every thing which recalls the memory of their ancestors: the harp of the bard has been replaced by the shepherd's bagpipe, but the simple harmony of the music has not been changed: a touching and native gracefulness still marks their amatory songs: a more stirring and emphatic strain, fitted to the gay modulations of the dance, is designedly preserved in the British armies, to excite the Scottish soldiers to battle. The national costume, which during the frequent rebellions in Scotland, has always been a badge and incitement of revolt, was finally prohibited by parliament, after the last rebellion in favour of the Stuarts, but it is still in general use among the highlands, and has even been preserved in the regiments of soldiery in this part of Scotland. This dress consists of a phillibeg or kill, and a plaid worn over the shoulder like the Roman toga, and fastened with a pin or clasp of silver: the thighs are left bare, but the leg is covered with a tartan stocking, fastened up to the knees with crossed garters of variegated woollen: a small bonnet, adorned with a feather, is worn upon the head. The dress of the Highland women differs from that of the other Scotch females, chiefly by the sort of cloak in which they are wrapped, and by the tartan. The Scotch language is composed of the Celtic and other | Languages. northern idioms. We easily distinguish in it several dialects -the Scottish proper, or Lowland Scotch, spoken formerly at the court of the kings of Scotland, and in which James V. composed some graceful verses; the Border Scotch, a mixed dialect, spoken on the southern frontiers, and containing the popular ballads of the country: to these may be added the language of the Orkneys, remarkable for the number of Norwegian words it contains. There are also two dialects of the Gaelic or Celtic in use among the Scotch, namely, the Calnonach, spoken among the mountains, and in the Hebrides, and the Manks, existing only in the Isle of Man. The caldonach acquired considerable reputation after the publication of the pretended poems of Ossian. English is spoken in all parts of Scotland, but the pronunciation is as bad as in the south of England. Relics of antiquity are found in nearly every parish in the kingdom. We have already noticed the wall built by the Ro[ Antiquities. mans between the Friths of Forth and Clyde: it is called by the people of * See the Atlas ethnographique, par M. Adrien Balbi. bitants. the country, Grahame's dyke, after a Scottish warrior who is believed to be the first that passed it. The neighbourhood still affords vestiges of Roman camps, one of which passes for the camp of Agricola. A number of conical towers and fortifications which crown the summits of the mountains, and many subterranean habitations attributed to the Picts, may be considered as all belonging to the same epoch. There are some ancient round and square towers, remarkable for the solidity of the cement with which they are built: these are called the vitrified forts, and are of rather dubious origin; it is not known whether they were constructed by the Romans, or by the native inhabitants, who learned their architecture from the conquerors: they are doubtless of high antiquity. Many Saxon edifices in the country may be dated at the ninth and tenth centuries, but the churches and ancient castles which served for an asylum to the nobles during the civil wars, belong to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Ancient inha These monuments which refer to the three most obscure periods in the history of Scotland, form a sort of connecting link between the most ancient events and those which preceded the final union of the two crowns of Great Britain. In going back as far as the researches of history will permit us, we find that the primitive population of Scotland consisted of the Cimbri, who came from the Cimbric Cimbri. | Chersonesus, now the peninsula of Denmark, about two centuries before the Christian era. This people remained masters of the country till the Caledones or Picti, whom Tacitus believed to have originated in Germany, left Norway, landed on the northern coast of Scotland, and drove the Cimbri towards the south. These Picti are the ancestors of the Lowland Scotch, and a distinction has always been made between these people and those of the western highlands. Towards the middle of the third century, the Attacotti, so called Attacotti. by Ammianus Marcellinus and other Latin writers, passed from Ireland into the county of Argyle, and became the original stock of the Scotch Highlanders, who speak an Irish idiom, analogous to the Celtic, while the inhabitants of the Lowlands have always preserved the Scandinavian idiom. Subjugated by Agricola in the first century, Scotland was for three hundred years regarded as a Roman conquest, although the submission of the country never was complete. Caledonia was governed by the customs of each of the tribes it contained: the Picti retained the habit of painting their bodies. Picti. At the fall of the Roman empire, the Cimbri and Allacotti unitMiddle Ages. ed against the Picti, and fought long for the mastery: their bloody struggle was only ended by a treaty of alliance between the chiefs of the two nations, who in 843 were finally conquered by Kenneth II. king of Scotland. After this event the country became, during many years, the prey of the Danes and Norwegians, but the bravery of the inhabitants at length freed the soil from enemies. As late as the beginning of the eleventh century, the northern part of the kingdom preserved the name of Pictland; the south retained the appellation of Valencia and Cumbria, which recalled the memory of Roman dominion: the valleys at the foot of the Grampians, peopled by the descendants of the Attacotti, were comprised under the name of Strathclyd. It was not until the time of Malcolm II. that these divisions were confounded in the title of the kingdom of Scotland. William the conqueror invaded the kingdom, but respected its independence. Rivalry of In the twelfth century we find sanguinary manifestations of that rivalry of the two kingdoms, each too small to content the ambition of its sovereign, and striving for aggrandizement at the cost of the other. The aggressions of Henry III. of England, were at first repelled in a manner glorious to Scotland, by Alexander II. But Edward I. profiting by the death of Alexander III. destroyed the principal |