WESTERN EMPIRE WESTMINSTER. 



21 



11, the city was pillaged, and filled with the blood 

 of its noblest citizens; and Olybrius was placed 

 upon the throne. In the next month, August 20, 

 the tyrant Ricimer died, and, soon after, the new 

 emperor, October 23. Rome now saw itself ex- 

 posed to the arbitrary caprice of the barbarians, at 

 whose head was Gundobald, nephew of Ricimer, a 

 Burgundian prince. Gundobald named Glycerius, 

 one of his soldiers, emperor of the West, but gave 

 him so little support, that he was displaced by 

 Julius Nepos, a nephew of Marcellinus, and gover- 

 nor of Dalmatia, vho had been proclaimed by the 

 court of Constantinople. Glycerius received, in- 

 stead of the empire, the bishopric of Saloria (474). 

 Shortly after ascending the throne, Nepos made 

 peace with the Visigoths, ceding to them the terri- 

 tory of Auvergne; but, soon after, a rebellion of 

 the allied barbarians, under the command of their 

 general Orestes, obliged him to fly from Ravenna 

 to Dalmatia. The fugitive emperor lived there 

 five years, until he was assassinated at Salona, at 

 the instigation of Glycerius, who received, perhaps 

 on this account, the archbishopric of Milan. Ro- 

 mulus Augustus, son of Orestes, was proclaimed 

 emperor of the West, in 476. The fall of the em- 

 pire was now at hand. The German troops, 

 Herulians, Rugians, &c., revolted under their 

 general Odoacer, when Orestes refused to divide 

 among them a third part of the Italian territory. 

 Pavia, where he sought to defend himself, was 

 taken by storm ; Orestes was executed ; Augustus 

 abdicated ; Odoacer was proclaimed king by his 

 army, and the senators of Rome sent an embassy 

 to the emperor Zeno at Constantinople to declare 

 " that it was neither necessary, nor desirable, that 

 Italy should any longer be governed by an emperor of 

 its own ; and therefore they acknowledged, in the 

 name of the people, that the seat of the general 

 government being transferred from Rome to Con- 

 stantinople, they renounced the right of choosing 

 an emperor for themselves. The republic, how- 

 ever, confiding in the virtues of Odcacer, humbly 

 prayed that the emperor would grant him the title 

 of patrician, and the administration of the Italian 

 province." So low had Rome fallen 1 The em- 

 peror Zeno first gave the senate to understand that 

 Nepos, who was still living in Dalmatia, was the 

 lawful sovereign of Rome ; but, soon after, pleased 

 with the prospect of being sole ruler, he received 

 the honours of the emperor of the West. The 

 dethroned monarch, Romulus Augustus, whose first 

 name had been changed, in Constantinople, to that 

 of MomyUus, and whom the Romans called, in de- 

 rision, Augustulus, was banished by Odoacer to the 

 villa of Lucullus, in Campania, with a yearly pen- 

 sion of 6000 pieces of gold. Soon after, in the 

 year 486, the Franks established their kingdom in 

 Gaul. Thus the barbarians had risen in proportion 

 as the spirit of the Romans had declined. From 

 mercenaries of Rome they had become its allies ; 

 from allies its masters. King Odoacer ruled Italy 

 for fourteen years. In the year 491, he was con- 

 quered by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who, 

 in 493, founded the kingdom of the Ostrogoths on 

 the classic ground of Italy. The name of Rome 

 was ail that remained of that empire, which had 

 subsisted twelve centuries since its foundation by 

 Romulus. In the history of the decline of this 

 gigantic state, we, see the causes of its fall. The 

 prevailing corruption of manners destroyed all moral 

 energy ; and, from the time when Honorius ascended 

 the throne, to the total overthrow of the empire, 



it was in a continual death-struggle. The system 

 of dividing the empire, introduced by Diocletian, in 

 284, and completed by Theodosius, was the chief 

 cause of its political weakness and final dissolution, 

 which its moral degradation made it impossible to 

 avert, especially as the increase of civilization 

 among the barbarians who had broken into the em- 

 pire, gave them an overwhelming power. A new 

 order of things commenced : the feudal system, in- 

 troduced by the Ostrogoths, Franks, and Lombards, 

 altered the whole character of a state which for 

 centuries had boasted of a republican constitution; 

 and even the Roman language gave way before the 

 total change in the spirit of the times ; and its place 

 was supplied by the Italian, French, Spanish and 

 English tongues. See Byzantine Empire. 



WESTERN ISLANDS. See Hebrides, and 

 Azores. 



WESTERWALD; a chain of mountains in the 

 Prussian government of Coblentz, and the duchy 

 of Nassau, connected with the Siebengebirge. The 

 highest point is near Neaburg and Salzkirch, 2600 

 feet above the level of the sea. Flax is cultivated 

 and cattle raised on the Westerwald. It affords 

 iron, copper, excellent building stone, and great 

 quantities of brown coal. 



WESTMEATH; an inland county of Ireland, 

 in the province of Leirister, is bounded on the north 

 by Cavan, on the east by Meath, on the south by 

 King's County, and on the west by Roscommon 

 and Longford, from the former of which it is sepa- 

 rated by the Shannon. It is about twenty-five 

 miles long from north to south, and twenty-four 

 from east to west, and contains 562 English square 

 miles, and 378,880 English acres. It is divided 

 into twelve baronies, and sixty-two parishes, of 

 which 21 have churches, all of them being in the 

 diocese of Meath. The general aspect of this 

 county is diversified with large lakes, woods, un- 

 productive bogs, and rich grazing lands. The sur- 

 face rises into small hills cultivated to the top, or 

 covered with wood. The principal rivers are the 

 Shannon, Inny, and the Brosna. The Shannon 

 extends into a fine lake called Lough Ree, or the 

 Royal Lake. The Inny, rising in Cavan, enters 

 Lough Shelin on the borders of Westmeath, and 

 after passing through Loughs Derveragh and Iron, 

 falls into Lough Ree. The principal lakes are 

 Lough Ree, full of wooded islands, Lough Shelin, 

 Leign, Iron, Derveragh, Hoyle or Ovvell, and Ennel, 

 some of which are encircled with well cultivated 

 land, and others with low wooded hills. They are 

 well stored with fish. The soil is generally light, 

 though in some places deep and rich. Most of it 

 lies on limestone, and yields very fine pasture, sup- 

 porting a great many fine large horned cattle, and 

 long woolled sheep. Tillage is carried on upon a 

 limited scale, but still to such an extent as to sup- 

 ply the home consumption, and allow the farmers 

 to contribute to the exportation of oats from Drog- 

 heda. Beside the usual crops, flax, hemp, and 

 rape are raised ; and clover and turnips to a small 

 extent. The principal towns are Athlone, which 

 is partly situated in Roscommon, Mullingar, the 

 county town, Mool-grenogner, Kilbeggan, and a few 

 other small places. Mullingar is a large and well 

 built town, with extensive barracks, and carries on 

 a considerable trade, and the rest are places of little 

 note. Population in 1841, 141,300. 



WESTMINSTER, a city of Middlesex, Eng- 

 land, the seat of government, the residence of roy- 

 alty, and the centre of fashion, is now so united 



