SKI 



verfity without taking a degree. He thence travelled on 

 the continent, and Ihidied at various univerfities. On his 

 return to his native country, he went to Oxford, and took 

 his degree in arts, and then fettled as a phyfician at Lincoln, 

 where he died in 1667. He was a man of very extenfive 

 erudition, but is chiefly known by his works in etymology, 

 which, after his death, came into the hands of Mr. Thomas 

 Henfliaw, who digefted, coirefted, and enlarged them, and 

 pnbhflicd them in 1671, with the title of " Etymologicon 

 Lingus Anglicans ;" a work that has always been con- 

 fidered as of high authority among the learned, and is ilill 

 regarded as a moll ufeful book of reference. 



SKINNERA, in Botany, Forll. Gen. t. 29, was fo 

 named in honour of Mr. Skinner, an Oxford gentleman, 

 whom Forfter terms " a moft acute and clear-fighted bo- 

 tanift," but we have met with no record of him elfewhere ; 

 and the genus thus denominated is in no refpeft different 

 from Fuchsia ; fee that article. By the fpecific name, (.v- 

 corticata, the author feems to have had a punning allufionin 

 his mind. 



SKINNERS, Company of. See Company. 



SKINNING, in Ship-BulIding, a term often ufed for 

 planking the bottom. 



SKINOSA, in Geography, a defart ifland, or rather rock, 

 in the Grecian Archipelago, about 12 miles in circumference; 

 5 miles S. from the ifland of Naxia. N. lat. ^Q^SS'- ^- ^^"g- 

 25° 32'. 



SKINSKATTEBERG, a town of Sweden, in Well- 

 manland-; 25 miles N.N.W. of Stroemlholm. 



SKINTEI, a town of European Turkey, in Moldavia ; 

 10 miles S. of Jafli. 



SKINUS, c-y.mc, a name given by the ancient naturalifts 

 to the lentifl<-tree, and alfo to a peculiar fpecies of the fquill, 

 or fcilla, which was not naufeous and emetic as the common 

 fquill, but efculent and pleafant to the tafte. 



SKIOLDS, in Geography, a town of Norway, in the pro- 

 vince of Bergen ; 32 miles N. of Stavanger. 



SKION, a town of Sweden, in Medelpadia, near the coall 

 of the gulf of Bothnia. The church was formerly a callle, 

 ind the Iteeple is full of loop-holes for arras ; 30 miles S. of 

 Hernofand. 



SKIPNESS Point, a cape of Scotland, on the E. coaft 

 of Kintyro, with a village called Skipnefs ; 22 miles N. of 

 Cambletown, N. lat. 55" 49'. W. long. 5° 24'. 



SKIPPACH Creek, a creek of America, in the Dela- 

 ware, where general Wafhington was encamped before the 

 battle of German Town, in the county of Montgomery. 



SKIPPACK, a townfhip of Pennfylvania ; 20 miles N. 

 of Philadelphia. Shippack and Perkiomen contain 902 in- 

 habitants. 



SKIPPER. Sec Shipper. 



Skipper, an Enghfh name for the common gar-fifli. See 

 Acus. 



SKIPPON, in Geography, a river of England, in the 

 county of Lancafter, whicti runt into the Wyre. 



SKIPSILAR, a town of European Turkey, in Ro- 

 mania ; 72 miles E. of Emboli. 



SKIPTON, or Siipton in Craven, a market-town in 

 the eafl divifion of the wapentake of Staincliflc and Ewcrofs, 

 Welt Riding of the county of York, England, is fituated at 

 the diltance ot 48 miles W. by S. from the city of York, 

 and 216 miles N.N.W. from London. This town, wiiich 

 previoiifly was a poor place, has, fiijce the inclolure of 

 Knarefl)orough fortit, become the thief mart for the ditlridl 

 of Craven. The market-day is Saturday, weekly ; when 

 there ie always a large fupply of different forts of grain, 

 which ie thence difperfed throughout Craven, and the ma- 



VoL. XXXIil. 



SKI 



nufaAuring country in the north-eaft part of Lancafhire. 

 Brown, in his Agricultural Survey of the Weil Riding of 

 the County, affirms that upwards of two hundred carta regu- 

 larly attend this market. The fairs here are numerous, viz. 

 on the firfl Saturday after old Twelfth-day, the 13th of 

 March, the Saturday before Palm-Sunday, the Tucfday in 

 Eaiter-week, and every other Tuefday till Wliitfunlide, 

 chiefly for lean cattle ; Saturday before Whitfun-eve, and 

 Saturday before Trinity Sunday, old St. James, old Mar- 

 tinmas, beiides fortnight fairs every other Tuefday 

 throughout the year for fat cattle, fheep, &c. 



Skipton ftands clofe to the Leeds and Liverpool canal, a 

 circumftance which greatly facilitates its trade. It confifts 

 chiefly of one very wide and long ftreet, where the markets 

 are held, with feveral Itraggling lanes on each fide of it. 

 The church, which is fituated at one extremity of the main 

 ftreet, is a fpacious itrufture, with a tower at the weft end, 

 which appears, from an inlcription thereon, to have been 

 rebuilt, in 1655, by the celebrated Ann Chfford, countefs 

 of Dorfet, Pembroke, and Montgomery. Here are infcrip- 

 tioiis, on plain ftones, in memory of the three firit earls of 

 Cumberland. 



Skipton caitle ftands at a fhort diftance to the caftward 

 of the church, and on the left fide of the road leading to 

 Knarefborough. This ancient ftruiflure i-; faid to have been 

 originally erefted loon after the Conqueft by Robert de Ro- 

 meli, then lord of the honour of Skipton, whofe daughter and 

 heirefs carried it by marriage to William Fitz-Duncan, earl 

 of Murray. From his family it pafTed in the fame manner 

 to William Ie Gros, earl of Albemarle, and afterwards fuc- 

 ceffively to William de Mandeville, earl of Effex, to Baldwin 

 de Betun, and to William de Fortibus. In the reign of Ri- 

 chard I. Avelin, daughter to the fecoiid William de Fortibus, 

 a minor, fucceeded, and became ward to king Henry III., 

 who, in 1269, gave her in marriage to his fon Edmund, earl 

 of Lancafter. On the forfeiture of her fon, earl Thomas, for 

 rebellion againft king Edward II. the caftle was granted, in 

 1 309, to Robert dc Clift'ord, a Herefordfhire baron, whofe 

 defcendants, earls of Cumberland, continued to enjoy it till 

 the early part of the feventeenth century', when it devolved 

 to Richard Sacvillc, earl of Dorfet, by his marriage with Ann 

 Clittord, the diftinguilhed lady above-mentioned. By her 

 daughter and heireis, Margaret, it was conveyed to John 

 Tufton, fecond earl of Thanet, in whofe family it yet 

 remains. 



Skipton caftle, though apparently little calculated for 

 defence againft the engines of modern warfare, appears to 

 have been of confidcrablc importance during the civil war* 

 between king Charles and his parliament. It was firft gar- 

 rifoncd in the royal caufe, and is faid to have hold the fur- 

 rounding country for fome time in great awe. At length, 

 however, it was vigoroudy bcfieged by a detachment of the 

 parliamentary army, to whom it furrendered upon honourable 

 terms on the 20th of December, 164^. In the following 

 year, its works and defences were deitroyed by order of 

 parliament. L;idy Clifford, after the death of her fecond 

 luifband, the earl of Pembroke, repaired this caftle, in 

 which the was born, and made it occafionally the place of 

 her refidence. Though not much elevated above the fur- 

 rounding conntry, it ncverth.clefs commands a plcafing view 

 uvcr the town and vale of Skipton, which is one of the iineft 

 and moll fertile in England, extending about twelve miles 

 in lengtli, und from one and a half to two miles in breadth. 

 It contains little tillage, but difplays the moft luxuriant 

 meadows and pallures that can any where be fecn. 



Skipton, according to the parliamentary returns for 181 1, 



contain! 609 houlcs, and 2868 inhabitants. The parilh i« 



of 



