BOOK IV.] History of Nature. 35 



Records. It is opposite to Germania, Gallia, and Hispania, 

 the greatest Parts by far of Europe, and no small Sea lying be- 

 tween. Albion was its Name, when all the Islands were called 

 Britanniae, of which by and by we will speak. This (Island) 

 is from Gessoriacum, a Coast of the Nation of the Morini, 

 50 Miles by the nearest Passage. In Circuit, as M. Pytheas 

 and Isidorus report, it containeth 3825 Miles. And now for 

 about 30 Years the Roman Armies growing into further 

 knowledge, yet have not penetrated beyond the neighbour- 



the latter people, more particularly to the Scilly Islands and the County 

 of Cornwall. Albion was more properly the Roman name of the coun- 

 try ; and was probably derived from its white appearance, as seen on their 

 approach to it from Gaul. This latter name was retained in official docu- 

 ments, even under the Saxon dominion, as appears from a charter of 

 JEthelred in the 10th century; in which he terms himself " Ego JEthel- 

 redus, totius Albionis, Dei gubernante moderamine, Basileus :" and end- 

 ing, " Ego JEthelredus Rex Anglorum." HEARNE'S Leland, vol. ii. 



As natives of the British Islands, we cannot but regret that, while the 

 Author has been so minute in the mention of places lying round the 

 borders of the Mediterranean Sea, he has passed over with neglect the 

 regions and towns of Britain and Ireland, as well as those of the north of 

 Europe. Although his knowledge of these was probably limited, the 

 omission can scarcely have proceeded from ignorance alone, for Suetonius 

 informs us, that the Emperor Vespasian, who was the great patron of Pliny, 

 had subdued twenty cities in Britain, together with the Isle of Wight ; and 

 we cannot suppose that Pliny remained unacquainted with the names of 

 any of them. In another place he names Camelodunum, which is be- 

 lieved to be Doncaster, as a station sufficiently known, from which to 

 measure the distance to the Island Mona, or Anglesea ; and the city of 

 the Trinobantes had been previously mentioned by Julius Caesar. His 

 distribution of the islands lying round Britain is contradictory as well 

 as obscure ; but he appears to regard all that are situated west of the 

 ordinary place of passage from the Continent into Britain, (Gessoriacum, 

 which is probably Boulogne on the one side, and the British port of the 

 Morini, whether Dover or Folkestone,) as being necessarily situated be- 

 tween Britain and Ireland. Vectis is admitted to be the Isle of Wight ; 

 but by some authors the same name is given to an island to which tin 

 was carried from Cornwall in carts, and from which it was afterwards 

 exported. From a comparison of ancient authors, Sir Christopher Haw- 

 kins was persuaded that this could be no other that St. Michael's Mount, 

 in Cornwall ; and the argument urged against this supposition, built on 

 the tradition that it once stood within the land, and was surrounded by 



