I S M 



cellent produce of its dairies, tlicre can remain little doubt 

 that tliefe circamltances muft have rendered it of confider- 

 able importance to the Londoners, as well as the garrifon 

 there." This village has been varioufly fpelt in old records 

 and publications ; as Ifendune, Tfendon, Ifeldon, Yfeldon, 

 and Eyfeldon : but it appears that the prefent name has 

 prevailed from the clofe of the i6th century. The parifii 

 of inington is three miles two furlongs in length, from 

 N.W. to S.E., and two miles one furlong in breadth. It 

 confiils of 3032 acres three roods, of which the ehief part 

 is appropriated to pafture. Befides the village of Ulington, 

 the pariili contains the following hamlets : HoUovvay, Balls- 

 pond, Battle -bridge, the City-gai-dens, Kingfland-grccn, and 

 great part of Newington-green. The population of this 

 parifti, in 1800, was returned at 10,212, occupying 1663 

 honfes : in 1793, the latter was only i2Co, and the former 

 t>6co : whereas, in iSio, the population has increafed to 

 14,000. Previous to the year 1714, the roads and high- 

 ways were in fo bad a ftate, that in an aft of parhament then 

 pafied, they are defcribed to be " very ruinous and almoft 

 impaflable for the fpace of five months in the year." This 

 furniHies a curious illullration of the amazing improvements 

 made for public accommodation within lOO years : for now 

 foot-paffengers are provided with good pavements, or gravel 

 patlis, and the public roads are fii-m, even, and generally 

 clean. They are alfo furnifhed with lamps for winter, and 

 watchmen and patroles are employed to protcft houfes and 

 paffengers. From an early period, even before the time of 

 Henry II., Iflington has been noted as a place of recreation 

 for the citizens of London ; where wrefthng-matches, flioot- 

 ing, archery, calling the (lone, and other athletic pallimes 

 ■neve purfued. Now the mechanics and lower clafles fre- 

 quent public-houfes, which are provided with grounds for 

 Ikittles and Dutch-pins ; places for playing at fives, cricket, 

 and bowls. In this parilh, to the north of White Conduit- 

 houfe, are the traces of an encampment, which fevei-al 

 writers have attributed to the Romans, but neither its pre- 

 fent ftate, nor any difcoveries that have been made, juftify 

 this opinion. Iflington contains feveral commodious, and 

 fome handfome houfes belonging to London merchants and 

 tradefmen. 



For a full and circumftantial hiftory and defcription of 

 this parifli, the reader is referred to " The Hiftory, Topo- 

 graphy, and Antiquities of Iflington," by John Nelfon, 

 4to. iSii. 



ISLIP, a poft-town of New York, in Suffolk county, 

 Long ifland, E. of Huntington, containing 958 inhabitants. 

 ISMADABS, a town of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon ; 

 125 miles N.W of Jedo. 



TSMAELPOUR, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar ; 38 

 miles S.W. of Patna. — Alfo, a town of Bengal ; fix miles 

 E. of Boglipour. 



ISMAIL, or IsMAiLow, a town of European Turkey, 

 in the province of Beffarabia, fituated on the N. fide of the 

 Danube, about ^j miles from the Black fea. The town 

 meafures about a mile toward the land, and half a mile by 

 the fide of the Danube, and was fortified by eight baftions. 

 The ramparts are in general 18 feet high, and in fome places 

 sj. The moat is from 30 to 40 feet deep, and at an inter- 

 mediate diftance between the polygons named Bender and 

 Brock was a falfe trench. Near the town was a cavalier of 

 flone-work, capable of holding fome thoufand men. The 

 fide next the water was defended by ramparts and horizontal 

 batteries. This place was taken by ftorm, December 22, 

 J 790, by the Ruffians, under general Suwarrow. It is faid, 

 that after the Turks had furrendered, the garrifon was put 

 ts death, and j 0,000 men malRicred in cold blood ; the town 

 -t'4 



I S M 



was given up to the unreftrained brutality of the viclorious 

 army. The booty found in the place was immenfe: 144 

 mile's S. W. of Otchakov. N. lat. 4J- 23'. E. long. 

 29^45'. 



ISMANING, a town of Bavaria, which gives name to 

 a county, fituated on the Ifer ; eight miles N. N. E. of 

 Munich. 



ISMENIAS, in Biography, one of the moft celebrated 

 performers on the flute in antiquity, was a native of Thebes ; 

 and not lefs renowned for fplendour, extravagance, and ca- 

 price, than for his flcill in mufic. Having been taken pri- 

 foner by Atheas, king of the Scytliians, he performed on 

 the flute before this rude monarch ; but though his attend- 

 ants were charmed fo much that they applauded him with 

 rapture, the king laughed at their folly, and faid that he 

 preferred the neighing of his horfe to the flute of this fine 

 mufician. 



.^lian tells us, that he was fent ambaffador into Perfia. 

 Lucian, that he gave three talents, or 581/. 5.;. for a flute 

 at Corinth. Antifthenes, not very partial to mufic, faid he 

 was fure that Ifraenias was a worthlefs fellow, by his. play- 

 ing fo well on the flute. Plutarch relates the following 

 itory of Ifmenias : being fent for to accompany a facrifice, 

 and having played fom.e time without the appearance of any 

 good omen in the viftim, his employer became impatient, 

 and, fnatching the flute out of his hand, began playing in 

 a very ridiculous manner himfelf, for which he was repri- 

 manded by the company ; but the happy omen foon appear- 

 ing, there ! faid he, to play acceptably to the gods, is their 

 own gift ! Ifmenias anfwered with a fmUe, " While I 

 played, the gods were fo delighted, that they deferred the 

 omen, in order to hear me the longer ; but they were glad 

 to get rid of your noife upon any terras." Thus we fee 

 that neither vanity nor impiety is . peculiar to modern mu- 

 ficians. 



The fame author, in his life of Demetrius, informs us, 

 that Ifmenias ufed to inftruft his pupils by examples of ex- 

 cellent and execrable performance ; letting them hear, imme- 

 diately after each other, a good and a bad player on the 

 flute ; faying of the firft, " this is the way you Jbould 

 play ;" and of the fecond, " this is the way you ftioiJd not 

 play." He is recorded by Pliny as a prodigal purchafer 

 of jewels, which he difplayed with great oilentation. Being 

 at Cyprus, he found at a jeweller's an engraved emerald of 

 the moft exquifite kind, reprefenting the prince fs Amy ona, 

 one of the daughters of Danaus, tor which the jeweller 

 aflced him five talents, with which demand Ifmenias imme- 

 diately complied. But the jeweller, aftoniftied at his facility, 

 and expefting that an abatement would have been required, 

 offered, confcientoufly, to return two of the five talents ; 

 but the magnificent mufician refufed to take them ; faying, 

 that it would for ever diminifh the value of the gem. Upon 

 this principle it feems as if the purchafers of fcarce books 

 were fearful of acquiring them cheap ; as their valwe is 

 often more heightened by their price and margin than con- 

 tents. And we are convinced that the innumerable crowds 

 who flocked to the Pantheon in 1775, when the Agujari 

 firft fling there, were not occafioned by her merit or cele- 

 brity as a finger, but by her having ico/. a night for her 

 performance ; and who knows but that Mrs. Billington's 

 high falaries may have contributed to her attradiions, as well 

 as her extraordinary talents ? 



ISMID, or Is NiCKMiD, in Geography, a town of Afiatic 

 Turkey, fituated on a bay of the fea of Marmora ; where 

 the Greeks and Armenians have each a church and an arch- 

 bifiiop. This is fuppofed to have been the ancient Nico- 



jnedia. 



