GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



517 



events. Christianity had become the religion 

 of the Roman empire, under Conslantine 

 in the 5th century, and, in ihe course 

 of the next four centuries, the bishops of 

 Rome, under the title of Popes, succeeded 

 in causing themselves to be recognised as 

 the supreme head of the church in all west- 

 ern Europe. This spiritual empire re- 

 ceived a fatal blow from Luther in the mid- 

 dle of the 16th century, when the Protes- 

 tants asserted the great principles of re- 

 ligious liberty. The feudal system, which 

 had oppressed all classes of society, unde. 

 its iron yoke, also began to relax its hold 

 at about this period ; letters revived, and 

 with the aid of the art of printing, knowledge 

 became more diffused. From this era, then, 

 dates the epoch of the Modern history of Europe, which has been, and still is, characterized 

 by the slow, but sure and general progress of reform and improvement in religion, politics, 

 morals, letters, and art. 



Battle between a Crusader and a Saracen. 



CHAPTER LXXL 



THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND 

 IRELAND. 



1. Boundaries. The United 

 Kingdom of Great Britain 

 and Ireland is composed ot 

 England, Wales, Scotland, 

 and Ireland, with the islands 

 lying upon their shores, and 

 the Anglo-Norman Islands. 

 The British Islands are 

 bounded by the North Sea 

 on the north ; the German 

 Ocean washes the eastern 

 shores. On the south, they 

 are divided from France by 

 the English Channel, which 

 extends 350 miles from 

 northeast to southwest. Be- 

 tween Dover and Calais it 

 is narrowed lo a strait 25 

 miles in width, but this 

 widens toward the Atlantic. 

 At the entrance from the 

 west, are the Eddystone 

 rocks, 14 miles fioin the 

 English coast. A lighthouse, 

 upon these rocks, has long 

 withstood the tremendous 

 violence of the sea, which 

 often, during a storm, buries 

 the lantern in its waves. 

 St. George's Channel and 

 the Irish Sea constitute a 

 navigable gulf of irregular 

 dimensions between Great 

 Britain and Ireland, open 



