ENGLAND. 



EXTENT AND SITUATION. 



Mi!es. 



Length 560? . C 50° and 55° 45' North latitude. 



Breadth 300 $ Detv ' een £ i° 50 < E# and 50 o 4( y West longitude, 



England and Wales contain 57,680 squai'e miles, with 164 inhabitants 



to tach. 



Name... .Antiquaries are divided with regard to the etymology of 

 the word England ; some derive it from a Celtic word, signifying a 

 level country, but the common etymology is doubtless the true one, 

 according to which it originated from the Angles, a nation of the 

 Cimbric Chersonesus, or modern Jutland, who conquered a considera- 

 ble part of this island. In the time of the Romans, the whole island 

 went by the name of Britannia. The word brit t according to Mr. 

 Camden, signified painted or stained ; the ancient inhabitants being 

 famous for painting their bodies : other antiquaries, however, do not 

 agree in this etymology. The western tract of England, which is 

 almost separated from the rest by the rivers Severn and Dee, is call- 

 ed Wales ; a name which, according to some, is derived from a 

 Celtic word, and signifies the land of strangers, because inhabited by 

 the Belgic Gauls, who were driven thither by the Romans, and were 

 strangers to the old natives. 



Boundaries. ...England is bounded on the north by that part of the 

 island called Scotland ; on the east by the German Ocean ; on the 

 west by St. George's Channel ; and on the south by the English 

 Channel, which parts it from France. 



Divisions, ancient and modern.. ..When the Romans provinciat- 

 ed England, they divided it into, 



1. Britannia Prima, which contained the southern parts of the king- 

 dom. 



2. Britannia Secunda, containing the western parts, comprehending 

 Wales. And, 



3. Maxima Csesariensis, which reached from the Trent as far north- 

 ward as the wall of Severus, between Newcastle and Carlisle, and 

 sometimes as far as that of Adrian in Scotland, between the Forth 

 and Clyde. 



4. Fiavia Csesariensis, which contained the midland counties. 

 When the Saxons invaded England, about the year 450, and when 



they were established, in the year 582, their chief leaders appropriat- 

 ed to themselves, after the manner of other northern conquerors, the 

 countries which each had been the most instrumental in conquer- 

 ing ; and the whole formed a heptarchy, or political confederacy con- 

 sisting of seven kingdoms. In time of war, a chief was chosen from 

 the seven kings, by public consent; so that the Saxon heptarchy ap- 

 pears to have somewhat resembled the constitution of Greece during 

 heroic ages. 



