Roër with the Maese, has a population of 4,280 inhabitants, and possesses some manufactures and commerce.-Venloo, on the Maese, with 5,018 inhabitants, conducts some commerce.

CHAP. XXIII.—THE PROVINCE OR GRAND DUCHY OF LUX

EMBURG.

Physical Features and Productions.] This province, which belongs to the German confederacy, is a mountainous country, with extensive woods and heaths, but also several fertile valleys and hills. The principal mountains are the Ardennes. The largest river is the Moselle, which is navigable; besides this there are the Sure, the Wilz, the Alzette, the Our, and the Ourthe. The climate is pure and healthy, and notwithstanding the height of the country, temperate. The productions are the common domestic animals, game, wild boars, wolves, fish, beer, corn, vegetables, fruit, hemp, flax, hops, a little wine, wood, copper, iron, slate, lime, clay, and peat. Agriculture is a principal branch of industry, and so is the rearing of cattle. Very little wine is produced, and that only of an inferior quality. Fruit is raised in great quantity. The industry of this province is far inferior in comparison to that of the others, and the commerce is not very considerable.

Population.] The population are Roman Catholics. They are partly Germans, and partly Walloons, but are very much behind their brethren in civilization. Establishments for education are much wanted, and the popular schools are in a wretched state. The clergy, as a body, are also shamefully ignorant. The Germans, who form the majority of the population, are behind the Walloons in civilization. The latter are gallant soldiers, and seem formed for military service. They have always entertained a secret grudge to the Germans, and a partiality for the French, to whose language their own is kindred.

Chief Towns.] Luxemburg is the capital of the province. The fortifications of this place are considered among the strongest in Europe. The population is about 9,500.-Diekirch, with 2,627 inhabitants, has some tanneries and trade.-Neufchâteau, with 1,242 inhabitants, is situated in a high and rough country of the Ardennes, and conducts some commerce in cattle.

Duchy of Bouillon.] To this province belongs also the duchy of Bouillon, which was given in the 2d peace of Paris to the prince of Rohan Guemenée, to be held by him under the sovereignty of the king of the Netherlands. It lies in the Ardennes, and has about 150 British square miles of surface, and 16,000 inhabitants. It had in ancient times sovereign princes of its own, among whom Gottfried, or Godfrey, of Bouillon, generalissimo in the first crusade, and king of Jerusalem, is the most celebrated. It came afterwards to France.-The only town is Bouillon, on steep rocks of difficult access, with 2,575 inhabitants.

The colonies and settlements belonging to the Netherlands will be described when we come to the quarters of the world to which they belong.

Authorities.] Schiller's Geschichte.-The Belgian Traveller, 1804 and 1805, 4 vols. 12mo.-Cade's Tour through Holland. Lond. 1807, 8vo.

-H. Hassel's geogr. statist. Abr. des Konigreichs Holland. Weimar, 1809, 8vo. Bernard's Tour in 1814, Lond. 8vo.-Tableau des habillemens, des mocurs et des contumes en Hollande. Amsterd. 1812, 4to.-Butler's Life of Grotius and Succinct Account of the History of the Netherlands. Lond. 8vo.-Jacob's View of Germany and Holland, 1820, and Corn Report, 1827.-Almanach royal des Pays Bas. Bruxelles, 8vo., and Staat's Almanack. Amsterd. 8vo.-Topographisch-militarischer Atlas von dem Kinigs. der Niederlande in 36 Blätt. Weimar, 1818 and 1819.— Stein, Bleine Geographie, Leipzig, 1826, 8vo.-Balbi's Political Scale of the Globe. Paris, 1828.

FRANCE.

Name.] The country situated between the Jura, the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees, the Atlantic, the British Channel, the German ocean, and the course of the Rhine, did not receive the name of France till after Clovis's conquest. It was anciently named Gaul, from a Celtic word signifying a wood,' or 'woody country:' for Gaul was formerly covered with thick forests. The Romans gave it the appellation of Gallia Transalpina, to distinguish it from the countries of Piedmont and Lombardy, which were known by the name of Gallia Cisalpina.

Extent.] This country forms a part of Western Europe, and lies within the temperate zone. Its utmost extent from N. to S. is 83°: viz. from the frontiers of Rousillon, in 421° N. latitude, to Dunkirk in 51° 2′ N. latitude, or 590 British miles. Its greatest length from E. to W. or from the mouth of the Lauter, 6° E. of the meridian of Paris, to the most western point of the peninsula of Brittany, 7° W. of the same meridian, is 590 British miles; and, if we take it from New Brisac on the Rhine, in N. latitude 48° 5′, and 7° 40′ E. of Greenwich, to Cape Ushant in 48° 22′ N. latitude, and 5° 4′ W. of the same meridian, the length will be the same. Were it not for the peninsula of Brittany, which stretches 100 miles farther into the Atlantic than any other part of France, its form would almost resemble an oblong square. Or we may regard it as an hexagonal figure, of which the angles are as follows: viz. on the N. Dunkirk; N. E. the confluence of the Lauter and the Rhine; S. E. the embochure of the Var; S. Cape Cerbères at the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees; S. E. the embochure of the Bidassoa; and on the E. Point Saint-Mathieu, at the entrance of Brest Roads. The whole superficial area is estimated in the Almanac royal for 1819, at 52,562,300 hectares, or 26,281.15 square leagues of 25 to a degree; by Baron C. Dupin-whose calculations are founded on the data of the recent trigonometrical survey— at 53,533,426 hectares, or 132,694,000 English acres; by Chaptal, in 1818, at 52,000,000 hectares, or about 128,500,810 English acres; in a magnificent Tableau Synoptique du Royaume de France, published at Paris last year, at 52,889,672 hectares, or 130,624,000 English acres, or 204,000 British square miles; by Balbi at 205,000 square miles; and by the Société de Géographes of Paris at 27,000 square leagues.1

As France has long been the habitation of ingenious and enlightened men, and geographical science has received most important improvements from the labours of natives of this country, it might have been expected that its superficial contents would have been accurately determined. We perceive, however, that so far is this from being the case, scarce any two native-authors are agreed on this point,-a circumstance which shows how little credit is to be attached to such calculations in general. This is not at all owing to the want of good maps. No country has been delineated with such geographical accuracy as France. The younger Cassini's map of this country is a work of prodigious labour, having been begun in 1744, and not finished till 1794, and containing 183 sheets, imperial folio. The National Atlas contains 108 sheets of similar size.

Boundaries.] France, as it is bounded at present, is marked as one of the separate kingdoms of Europe by natural limits on three of its sides. It has the Channel, which separates it from England on the N.; the Bay of Biscay, on the W.; and the Mediterranean, with the Pyrenean mountains, separating it from Spain on the S. Its inland boundaries, on the N. E., E., and S. E., have not been traced by the hand of Nature, but are dependant on political circumstances. At present, the boundary line commences to the N. E. of Dunkirk, betwixt it and Furnes on the coast o maritime Flanders. Thence it runs S. E., along the ancient limits of the Belgian provinces, the late bishopric of Liege, and the duchy of Bouillon. Passing onwards, it separates the grand duchy of Luxemburg from the department of the Ardennes; and thence runs in a S. E. direction, cutting the Maese, and crossing the Moselle at Syrk, where it leaves the frontier of the Netherlands, and begins to separate the Prussian dominions from France, running along the west bank of the Saare, between Sarrelouis and Bouzonville, and Sarrebruck and Sarreguemines. Thence it passes S. E., cutting the mountains Des Vosges, as far as the source of the Lauter, along whose southern bank it runs till it falls into the Rhine. The boundary then runs due S., along the Thalweg, or course of the Rhine, separating the grand duchy of Baden from France, till it reaches Huningue, where the river becomes navigable. It then turns to the W., after which it runs straight south and cuts the Vosges, then E., and then S., along the crest of the Jura, separating France from Switzerland on the E., as far as to the S. of Geneva, whence it runs south, along the Rhone, to that point where the river turns to the W.; traversing the Isère at the point where that river becomes navigable, it reaches the Cottian Alps, along which it runs in a S. E., and then a southern direction, separating France from the Sardinian States, as far as the shore of the Mediterranean. Thus the present inland boundaries of France are the United Netherlands on the N. E.; Germany and Switzerland on the E.; and Savoy and Piedmont on the S.E. PROGRESSIVE GEOGRAPHY.-Roman Period.] The progressive geography of this country has been very different at different periods of its history. It was anciently called Gaul, and not only comprehended what is denominated modern France, but also the duchy of Savoy,-the cantons of Switzerland, then called Helvetia, the four late electorates of the Rhine: viz. the Palatinate, and the archbishoprics of Mentz, Treves, and Cologne, and the territories of Liege, Luxemburg, Flanders, and Brabant. Julius Cæsar found this country divided into three parts, denominated Gallia Belgica, Aquitania, and Gallia Propria or Celtica. The Aquitani had passed, it is supposed, from Spain, and were of African origin; they had seized upon modern Gascony and Bearn, while the warlike

Perhaps no method is so well-adapted for arriving at some degree of accuracy respecting the superficial contents of any country, as that first adopted by Dr Long of Cambridge, in 1742, for ascertaining the proportions of land and water on the surface of the globe, and lately practised by Mr Jardíne and Sir George Mackenzie in calculating precisely the superficial contents of Scotland. The method is, to take a copy, we shall suppose of Chaucard's map of 13 sheets, the latest and most accurate that has been yet published of France, the paper to be as nearly as possible of uniform thickness; a portion of each sheet, equal to 5,000 British miles, being carefully weighed by a balance sensible to the hundredth part of a grain when loaded with two lbs. in each scale, let each department be accurately separated by means of a sharp pointed knife, and its weight carefully compared with that portion of the sheet to which it belongs; in those districts which are indented with deep bays, arms, or inland gulfs, let these be separated and compared in a similar manner; and from these data let the land and water of each district, or department, be deduced; and the result, if not absolutely accurate, will be a near approximation at least to geographical truth.

German tribes, under the name of Belgæ, settled themselves in the northeastern parts of Gaul, and introduced the Gothic language and manners. Celtic Gaul, which was inhabited by a people differing in their customs and language from the Belgae and Aquitani, called in their own language Celts, but by the Romans Gauls, was further divided into Gallia Comata, so called because the people wore long hair,-Gallia Braccata, in which the people wore breeches, and Gallia Togata, where the Roman toga, or gown, had been adopted by the inhabitants after their subjection to the Roman sway. Gallia Celtica comprehended all the territory bounded by the ocean, the Seine, the Marne, the Saone, the Rhine, and the Garonne. Belgic Gaul was bounded by the Seine, the Marne, the mountains of Vosges, the Rhine, and the sea. Aquitania lay between the ocean, the Pyrenees, and the Garonne. Gaul was afterwards divided by Augustus into 4 provinces: viz. Narbonensis, Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica. In the 4th century the Notitia Imperii exhibits Gaul divided into 5 provinces; and finally it was divided by Constantine the Great into 17 provinces, 6 of which were consular, and 11 under presidents who resided in the capital cities.

Under the Franks.] The modern name of France is derived from the Franks, a German tribe, or rather, as has been supposed, a motley multitude of different tribes, who, uniting themselves in defence of their liberty, against the Romans, styled themselves Franks,-that word signifying in their language, as it still does in ours, free. They inhabited that part of Germany which lies between the Rhine, the Wesser, and the German Ocean; and were known in the time of Tacitus by the names of Chauci, Cherusci, Catti, &c. In the 5th century, in conjunction with the Alemans, the Vandals, the Alans, and the Burgundians, the Franks crossed the Rhine, and, under Clovis, achieved the conquest of Gaul. Upon the death of Clovis, the dominion of the Franks was split into two divisions: viz. Oesterric, or the Eastern kingdom, corruptly called Austrasia, and Westerric, or the Western kingdom, called Neustria. These were again subdivided into smaller principalities, which were all re-united by Charlemagne, the founder of the Carlovingian dynasty; but, under the reign of his weak successors, France was again split into a number of feudatory principalities, though the name continued paramount through all the struggles of those little monarchies, till at last it became that of the whole kingdom.

Under the Capetian Dynasty.] Hugh Capet, the founder of the present race of sovereigns, who succeeded the last of the Carlovingian line, in 987, possessed nothing of France but Picardy, the Isle of France, and Orleanais. Berry was reunited to the crown in 1100. Touraine and Normandy were reconquered by Philip Augustus in 1200. Languedoc was annexed in 1316. The final and permanent union of Champagne to the French crown was effected in 1361. The Lyonnais came under the possession of the crown in the reign of Philip the Fair; and Dauphiné, under Philip de Valois, who received it from its last count, on condition that the eldest son of the French king should always take the title and bear the arms of the Dauphin. Poitou, Aunis, Limousin, and Saintonge, were conquered by Charles V.; and Guyenne and Gascony by Charles VII. Louis XI. obtained Maine and Anjou by inheritance,-seized the province of Burgundy, on the death of its last Duke, Charles the Bold, in 1477,and took possession of all Provence upon the death of Charles king of Sicily, who was count of Provence. By the successive marriages of