U N D 



U N D 



cicrlioii, of thio faculty ; or the aftion by wliich the mind 

 knows tilings, or reprt-fents them in idea to itfclf. 



UNDERSTRATUM, in yl^riadture, a term fignify- 

 ing much the fame as fubfoil and fiibftratum. It is the bod 

 or layer of fome fort of material, upon which the furface or 

 upper foil or mould rails, or is placed. It is of much ufe 

 in many cafes of land to have an open underftratiim. See 

 Soil. 



UNDERTAKERS were anciently fuch perfons as 

 were employed by the king's purveyors, and aftcd as their 

 deputies. 



At prefent, the name is chiefly ufed for upholders, or 

 perfons who furnilh out funerals ; and alfo for fiich as 

 undertake any great work, as the draining of fens, &c. 

 Stat. 43 Eliz. 



UNDER-TREASURER o/En-/^nr/, Vice -the faurarhs 

 Anglia, an officer mentioned in ilat. 39 Eliz. c. 7. and 

 whom feveral other ftatutes confound with treafurer of the 

 Exchequer. 



He chelled up the king's treafure at the end of every 

 term, and noted the content of money in each cheft, and 

 faw it carried to the king's treafury in the Tower, for the 

 cafe of the lord treafurer, &c. 



In the vacancy of the lord treafurer's office, he alfo did 

 every thing in the receipt, that the lord treafurer himfelf 

 does. See Tkkanurer. 



UNDERWALDEN, orUNXERWALDEX, in Geography, 

 a canton of Switzerland, bounded on the north by Lucern 

 and Waldfl alter lake, on tiie eaft by mountains which fepa- 

 rate it from Uri, on the fouth by Bern, and on the wefl by 

 Lucern. It meafures about eiglit leagues each way, and is 

 divided into two valleys, Upper and Lower, by a foreft 

 called " Keniwald," which crofTes the canton from north 

 to fouth. Thefc valleys are called in German " Unterwald 

 ob dem Wald," and " Unterwald nid dem Wald ;" that 

 is, " Underwald over the Forcll," and " Underwald under 

 the Forelt." Each of them forms a feparate regency. The 

 canton itfclf is fmall, but abounds in fruit and cattle. The 

 mountains are covered with ricli pallures, and the fields in 

 the fertile valleys, in one year, yield feveral advantages : for 

 in fpring time, when the fnow is off the ground, they are 

 ^ full of cattle ; afterwards, the cattle being driven up the 

 Alps, the herbage fhoots again in fuch a manner as often to 

 be mowed twice in the fummcr ; and in autumn, the cattle, 

 on their return from the Alps, meet again with plenty of 

 fodder in them, till the fnow fets in a-new. All the lower 

 parts of the country produce an exuberance of very fine 

 fruits ; and with wood this canton is fo well provided, that 

 without any detriment to it, feveral fpots might be alForted 

 and improved into meadow or arable land. Of wheat it has 

 little or none, and grows no wine. The Underwalders are 

 univerfally Roman Catholics, and have ever enjoyed the like 

 liberties with the people of Un and Schweitz. In conjunc- 

 tion alfo with them, in the year 1308, they (hook oft" the 

 Auftrian yoke. Arnold de Melchtal, a native of this 

 canton, was one of the four heroes who iirtl reared the 

 Uandard of Swifs liberty ; and in 1315, they entered into a 

 perpetual alliance with the faid Hates. At the conclufion of 

 the war with Charles the Bold, Friburgh and Soleure hav- 

 ing contrafted an alliance with Zuric, Bern, and Lucern, 

 the treaty was confidered by Uri, Schweitz, Underwalden, 

 Zug, and Glarus, as a breach of the former union. After 

 various difputcs and fruitlefs conferences, the deputies of 

 ihc eight confederate cantons affembled, in 1481, at Stantz, 

 III order to compromifc the differences. When the deputies 

 (ailed to effeft a reconciliation, and a civil war appeared to 

 be inevitable, Nicholas dc Flue, a celebrated faint and 



patriot, born at Saxelon in 141 7, quitted the hermitage to 

 which, in his 50th ye.nr, he had retired, and in his 64th 

 year, after having travelled during the night, arrived at 

 Stantz juft at the moment when the deputies were departing. 

 The conference was renewed by his perfuafion, and all dif- 

 ferences were adjufted. Among the confederate body, they 

 are reckoned the fixth ; but among the fix landern or lefler 

 cantons, the third. The government of this canton is purely 

 democratical, the landefgemeind being the depofitary of the 

 whole fupreme power, and in which all males above fixteen 

 have a right of admittance. As the country, however, con- 

 fills of two vales, Ws. Oberwald and Underwald, each of 

 them forming a feparate republic, fo they have both their 

 own particular landefgemeind and officers ; but in the ge- 

 neral afl^airs of the thirteen cantons they form only one. Of 

 ail the people of Switzerland, thofc of Underwald are the 

 mod honoured and moil loved by the other cantons ; their 

 courage and love of liberty being joined by a ftrift concord, 

 and an amiable fimplicity of manners. In the late conteil 

 with the French, the inhabitants of Schweitz and Under- 

 walden manifeited a noble fpirit, and an ardent defire of in- 

 dependence ; and at length fubraittcd with great rejuftance. 

 (See Schweitz.) Same or Sarneii (which fee) is the 

 capital burgh of the Upper Vale, or Oberwalden ; and 

 here the land-rath, as fupreme court of judicature, ailemblcs, 

 for the purpofe of deciding civil and criminal procefles. 

 This tribunal is compofed of fifty-eight judges, cliofen by 

 the people, and continued in office for life. Stantz or 

 Slanz (which fee) is the capital of the Lower Vale, or 

 Underwalden, and is the feat of civil and criminal judi- 

 cature ; and it is worthy of notice, tliat every male, of the 

 age of thirty years, is permitted to give his vote for the 

 acquittance or condemnation of a ciiininal. This town is 

 fituated in a beautiful plain of pafture, about two or three 

 miles in breadth, at the foot of the Stantzberg, and at a 

 little diftance from the lake of Lucern. The town and 

 environs, which are delightfully fprinkled with cottages, 

 are extremely populous, containing perhaps not lefs than 

 5000 perfons. 



UNDERWICK, a town of Sweden, in HeUlngland ; 

 30 miles W.S.W. of Hudwickfwall. 



UNDERWOOD, in Rural Economy and Planting, a 

 term applied to fmall coppice, or any fort of low wood that 

 is not accounted timber. It is moftly ufed for that which 

 rifes and grows under fome fort of wood of the tree kind, 

 and which is capable of being ufed for a great variety of 

 little purpofes, fuch as hoops, faggots, and many others, 

 as will be feen below. 



In'Suffex, where wood is well known to grow remarkably 

 well, the mode of managing the underwoods is, according 

 to the Correfted Report on Agriculture for that county, 

 to cut them at from eleven or twelve to fifteen or fixteen 

 years' growth ; as, upon favourable well-growing foils, 

 from eleven to thirteen ; and upon poor grounds, on whicli 

 wood rifes more imperfc^ttly, from fifteen to eighteen. But 

 as the age of cutting materially depends upon the qualities 

 of the foil, and the application of the crop or product?, no 

 fixed rule can evidently be laid down, other than the .ibovc 

 ilated general one. The underwoods of fome, as thofe of 

 the earl of Egremont, arc cut at from twelve to fixteen 

 years of age, in cafes where the growth confills of oak, 

 beech, alder, and willow : the underwood is then, it is fald, 

 the moil valuable part of the converfioii, except in the vi- 

 cinity of hop-pl.intations, where the poles afford a much 

 better price ; tut In the cafes where the underwoods abound 

 with birch, afli, hazel, and willow, of which hoops are 

 ■ dually made, at from ten to twelve years of age. Newly 



planted 



