B E R 



thumberland and Sunbury, at the jiinftion of the call with 

 the weft branch of the Si'.fqufhsnnah, and i6o noilh-well 

 of Philadelphia. N. iat. 41° 3'. 



Berwick, a townihlp t.f York county, and di'liift of 

 Maine, containing 3^94 inhabitants. It lias an incorporated 

 acadenn-, and lies on the tal} fid^ of Salmon l':ill river, 7 

 miles N. W. of York, and 86 E, by N. from Boilon. 



BERWlCKSHiRK, a county of Scotland, famous in 

 the liiftoncal annals of Britain for the many d^ fperate bat- 

 tles fouglit bi.tween the Engliih and Scots within its boun- 

 daiies. This county formerly conftitutcd about halt ot the 

 CLildom of Dunbr.r or March, and is generally called by the 

 country people Alerfe. It is nominally divided into three 

 dillrias, rcfpeaivcly cilled Lauderdale, Lammcrniuir, and 

 M.'rfe, or Marih. The latter comprehends tlu mott beau- 

 tiful fubdivilicn, ?nd follows the courfe of the Tweed, Irom 

 the foot of tlie Elden Irl's to within a few miles of Berwick. 

 Lauderdale is the valley which accompanies the river 

 Leader, or Lauder, whole waters are celebrated in Scottifli 

 fon'T. J^ammermuir comprehends the ridge of hills, which 

 f'.parates this county from eall Lothian, and is ctiieAy ap- 

 propriated to the feeding of iheep and black cattle. This 

 county is bounded on the nortli by Haddingtonlhire, on the 

 eail by the German ocean, on the foutii by the river Tweed, 

 which divides it from Northumberland in England, and on 

 the well by the counties of Roxbnry, Peebles, and Mid- 

 lothian. Its length iseilimatedat 32 miles, and breadth at 

 17 miles. It is divided into 32 parccliial dillrifts ; and be- 

 fides the royal borough of Lauder, has the towns of Green- 

 law, Dunfe, Coldllream, Coldiiigham, Ayton, and Eye- 

 mouth, within its limits. The chief rivers of the county are 

 the Tweed, the. Leader, the Eye, the Whiteadder, and 

 the Bhickadder. 'The Hate of agriculture in this county is 

 highly improved within the lall twenty years ; and many 

 parts that were then uncultivated, are now inclofed and ren- 

 dered profitable to the landlord and the hul'oandman. By 

 way of agricultural pre-eminence, this county is often called 

 the Norfolk of Scotland. Many farms now let at 300L 

 and 400I. per annum, which at no very diftant period were 

 fcarccly dcfcrving of notice. This increaCe of profpetity 

 enables the county to export from the ports of Berwick and 

 Eyemouth " above 80,000 bolls of vicUial annually ;" and 

 nearly llie fame quantity is conveyed to the markets of 

 Ediuburgii, Dalkeith, Haddington, and Dunbar. The mi- 

 nerals of this diilrlct hitherto difcovered are few, and thefe 

 not very valuable. Coal is found in fmall quantities near 

 Eyemouth.; frceltone is abundant; anri rock and Hull mail 

 aie found in ditltrent place?. Copper has been obtained in 

 the vicinity of Lauder ; and fome few years pill a mine of 

 the fame ore was difcovered in the pariih of iionkle. A 

 fmall quantity of iron Hone is found in the pari(l\ of Mor- 

 dington. The rocks, which compofe the Lammennuir hills, 

 lire moftly fchillus, with alternate llrata of fandllone. At 

 Eyemouth ic^ a rock ol Puddingilone, v;hich is found to con- 

 tain fragments of porphyry, granite, and, limeltone.. In the 

 parifh of Chirnfide, is a fpecits of gypfum, vihich is advan- 

 tageouily ufed to manure certain lands. Near Duiifc is a 

 celebrated mineral fpring, which is much refortcd to. Its 

 vifatcr, fomewliat fimilar to that ot Tunbridge wells, con- 

 tains iron diffolved in fi.xed air, with a little fea fait and bit- 

 tern ; and its effetis prove rather diuretic and corr<;borant.. 

 Among the gentlemen's manfionsof the county, thofeot Hir- 

 fel, the feat of the carl of Home, and of Mai chmoul, the feat 

 of the earl of Marchmont, are the moil confiderable ; though 

 there are fome other hardfome manfions. Befidcs the calUe 

 and fortifications of Berwick, there are feveral otlicis in dif- 

 ferent parts of the county, particularly at Lauder, Cock- 



B E R 



hurt! path, Home, and Chapel on Beach. There were alfo 

 fevtn nuuueiRS, two hofpitals, and one Dominican convent. 

 Among the eminent natives of this county, the following 

 names occur: James Tliomfon, the poet; John Scott, or 

 Duns Scotus, who was born at Dunie. Of the fame place, 

 was John Brown, author of the Brunonian iylUm of phyhc ; 

 Thomas the Rhymer, or fir Thomas Lermont, is dillin- 

 gu'dud in the hiltory of metrical romance. The real land- 

 rent of this county is ellimattd at ii!5,8col. fterling. Home's 

 Agricultural Report of Beiwickdiire. Sir John Sinclair's 

 Statiftical Account of Scotland. Fuller's liiliory of Ber- 

 wick. 



BERWIN, or Berouin, a confiderable range of moun- 

 tains, which palTes through parts of the counties of Mont- 

 gomery, Merioneth, and Denbigh, in North Wales. The 

 prolpe'ft from different fpots on the fummit of this ridge 

 llrikes the mind with awful allonifhment. " Niiture," lays 

 lord Lyttelton (Works, vol. lii. p. 337-), " is in all her 

 mijcfty there; but it is the mnjelty of a tyrant frowning 

 over the ruins and dcfolation of a cour.try.. The enormous- 

 mountains, or rather rocks, of Mcrionethfliire, inclofed us all 

 around. There is not upon thefe mountains a tree, or flirub, 

 or blade of grafs ; nor did we fee any marks of habitations 

 or culture in the whole place. Between them is a folitude 

 fit fur defpair to inhabit ; whereas all we had feen before in.. 

 Wales, feemed to infpire the meditations of love." 



BERY, Blria, or Berie, was anciently the name of 

 the vill or lite of the habitation of a nobleman, or of a 

 dwelling or manfion-houfe, being the chief of a manor; 

 formed of the Saxon " bcorg," which denotes a hill or caf- 

 tle ; for noblemen's feats were formerly catlles, fituate on 

 hills, of which there are ftill fome remains. It was anciently- 

 taken for a fanftuar^'. See BERi.t. 



BERYL, or BEarLi-, fif^vXTw;, yiquamarine of Siberia,^ 

 Berill, Germ.; Emerauile, vert hhudlre, Hauy ; Jilex fma-- 

 ragdus beryllus, W^erner. 



The colour of the beiyll is a bluirti green, palling into - 

 mountain apple, or afparigus green, and honey yellow oa 

 one fide, and light (l;y blue on the other. It is almoft al- 

 ways found cryltallized in reftangular fix-lided prifms, fome- 

 times truncated on the edges and angles ; the fides of the 

 prifm are occalionally alternately broad and narrow, and 

 fometimes convex, which gives the whole cryllal a cylindric 

 form. It is not unfrtqucnt for the prifms to have the ap- 

 pearance of having been broken acrofs and imperfeftly ce-- 

 menteil together. Sometimes, inllead of having plane fur- 

 faces at their extremiticF,. they are convex or concave, like 

 articulated bafake?. The fize of the cryllals varies confider- 

 ably, the fmallcll being always the longell in proportion to 1 

 their diair.cter ; lome are of Ro greater magnitude than a 

 hair, while other? have been found a foot long and three or 

 four inches in diameter.. The b:tryll has many points of. 

 refciiiblancf witli the emerald ;, and m particular thecryftals- 

 of both are divifihle parallel to the fidss and extremities of a 

 regular hexahedral prifni ; on which account M. Hauy has. 

 comprehended them both under- one fpecies. 



The bcryll is externally fhining, or little-fhining, with a 

 vitreous luilrc. Its parallel fraitnre is minute-conchoidal ;. 

 the crofs fracture is completely conchoidal. It is generally 

 traiifparent, but fometimes is only femi-tranfparent ortranf- 

 lucid. It is lufficiently hard to fcratch quartz, though with, 

 fome difficulty. Specific gravity of the iiglit blue variety 

 2.67 ; of the blucilh green 2.75; of the' mountain green 



2.65 _ 



This mineral appears to have been firft; analyfed by Vau- 

 quehn, and afterwards by Rofe and Schaub, with the fol- 

 lowing refullb : 



SileXj. 



