534 
ENGLAND. 
neral productions. Rttvenglafs is the firft fmall port 
which offers itfelf to view; then, after pafling the mouths 
of two or three fmall rivulets, fucceeds St. Bees.head, a 
promontory nofed for the great refort cf fea fowl. A 
little beyond, feated on its bay, we reach Whitehaven, a 
large handfome town, and a port of confiderable com¬ 
merce, though entirely of modern date, brought about 
by the exertions of the late lord Lonfdale, and lord 
Muncafler. Its great fource of traffic is in the collieries 
fituated in the vicinity, which are fome of the mod re¬ 
markable in the kingdom, being wrought under the fea. 
Much of the coal is exported to Ireland; and the town 
has alfo a confiderable trade with the Weft Indies. Some¬ 
what further-north, is Workington, a port front Whence 
large quantities of coal are likeyvife exported. This was 
the landing-place of the unfortunate Mary queen of 
Scots, when (he was driven to take refuge in the domi¬ 
nions of her infidious rival, Elizabeth. In the neigh¬ 
bourhood of this port is a large iron foundery : and at 
fome diftance up the river, at the conflux of the Cocker 
with the Derwent, is the opulent town of Cockermouth, 
populous, and thriving very faft by its manufactories, 
further along fhore lies Maryport, a new town raifed by 
the coal-trade. From hence the coaft proceeds northward 
to the inlet of Moricambe, at the entrance of Solway 
Frith. At Burgh-upon-Sands, on this arm of the fea, 
died our great and victorious Edward I. Up this Frith 
alfo, we enter the mouth of the Edtn, which leads to 
the celebrated city of Carlifle. Thus the weftern coaft of 
England terminates like its eaftern fide, upon the fouther.n 
extremity of North Britain, once the hardy and warlike 
kingdom of Scotland. 
Such is the fliort, but faithful (ketch, of the coafts and 
fhores of England ; Chores which are defended, in confe- 
quence of their peculiar fituation, and the higher blefting 
of Providence, by unconquerable and imperifhable bul¬ 
warks, againft the malevolent attacks of an invading foe ; 
namely, the raging fea, the rough and ihconftant winds, 
the contending currents, and the beguiling tides, which 
deceive the eye, by covering the rock's and ledges near 
land, the conftant harbingers of deftruCtion and death to 
•ftrahgerSi While, therefore, the hardy and loyal race of 
people in England aft with becoming fpirit and unani¬ 
mity, and in unifon with its “ floating batteries and wood¬ 
en walls”—its invincible navy,—the theatre of deftruc- 
tive war can never reach them, nor, but in a tranfient 
manner, difturb their peaceful abodes. 
The iflands which are dependent on or attached to the 
coaft of England, are of confiderable number and im¬ 
portance. In the Engliih Channel, firft appears the ifle 
of Wight, by the Romans called VeElis, by the Saxons 
Vi/it/ond, of an oval form, about twenty miles in length, 
and. twelve in breadth. This ifle is fertile and beautiful, 
and decorated with many pifturefque villas; the princi¬ 
pal port is that of Cowes. ' The chief mineral p'rodlifts 
are pipe-clay, and fine white fand, for the fabrication of 
pure glafs; and at Alum-bay, on the north fide of the 
Needles, have been found confiderable quantities of na¬ 
tive alum. At the diftance of about feventy miles from 
the Wight, to the fouth.weft arifes the little" ifle of Al¬ 
derney, off Cape la Hogue; which is afterwards followed 
by the more important ifles of Guernfey and Jerfey; 
.Sark being a-fmall ifle interpofed between the two latter. 
Guernfey, the largeft of thefe ifles, is twelve miles long, 
nine broad, and about thirty-fix in circuit. It is verdant, 
though the foil be hilly, and barren of wood. The only 
town is that of Port St. Pierre. Jerfey is about twelve 
miles in length, and fix in breadth, a well watered and 
fertile ifland, producing excellent butter and honey. 
The winters are milder, but mote windy, than thofe of 
England. The inhabitants are computed at 20,000, of 
which 3000 afe capable of arms. Alderney is a fmall 
ifle, with a town, and about 1000 inhabitants. Sark has 
about 300 inhabitants. It is remarkable that thefe 
iflands, though fo much nearer, and even in view of the 
French coaft, fhould have fo long continued under the 
dominion of England. This can only be accounted for 
from the free and open fpirit of the people, a mixed 
breed, and their love of liberty and a free conftitution ; 
and from the great fuperiority of the Britifit navy, which 
conftantly protefts them from the rapacity of their neigh¬ 
bours, > 
Returning to the Englifh fliore, we firft defcry the Ed- 
diftone light-honfe, beat by all the fury, of the weftern 
waves. About thirty miles to the weft of the land’s end, 
appear the ifles of Scilly, which have been deemed the 
Cafti.terides of the ancients, though thefe recks would 
feetn to be too minute to have attracted their notice. 
This clufter pretends to the name of 145 ifles, covered 
with grafs or mofs, belides innumerable dreary rocks. 
The large,id is that of St. Mary, which is about five miles 
in circuit, and has a caftle and garrifon : inhabitants about 
fix hundred. That of St. Agnes is rather fertile : inha¬ 
bitants about three hundred. The whole inhabitants of 
the Scilly ifles, are computed at about one thou land. 
On turning to the north, firft appears the little ifie of 
Lundy, fituated in the Briftol channel, about three miles 
long, but not a mile in breadth, with about five hundred 
acres of good land, fome rivulets, and a caftle. It was 
formerly a noted retreat for pirates. Some fmall ifles lye 
off the Welfh coaft of Pembrokelhire and Caernarvon, filch 
as Caldy, Skomar, Bardfey, and others : but the I fie of 
Angtefea deferves more attention, being the Mona of 
Tacitus, while the Ifle of Man is more properly the Mo- 
nasda of the ancients. Anglefea is about twenty-five 
miles in length, and eighteen in breadth. That of Man- 
is about thirty miles in length, and fifteen in its g feat eft 
breadth. In the midrt is a high mountain, called Snafel. 
The chief mineral produftions are black marble, ljate, 
lime-ftone, lead, copper, and iron. There are alfo'fome 
fmall iflands oft'the eaftern coaft, as Lindisfarm and Co¬ 
quette ifland, near the mouth of the river of that name, 
in Northumberland. The Ifle of Th'anet is now joined 
to the land of Kent; but Sheppey remains a pleafant and 
interefting ifle. See all thefe, with the various ports and 
places on the Engliih coaft, fully deferibed under their 
refpeftive names, in this work. - 
PRIMITIVE HISTORY. 
It has ever been found a fubjeft of extreme difficulty 
to afeertain the origin of the firft fettlers, even in a con¬ 
tinental country; but particularly in an ifland, like Bri¬ 
tain, whofe fhores could not but attraft the earlieft at¬ 
tention of thofe bold and enterprifihg men, who firft 
braved the dangers of the ocean in pm fait of commerce, 
or in view of gain. Hence the Phoenicians, recorded as 
the mod ancient enlightened navigators, are generally 
fuppofed to have firft difeovered this ifland; which is the 
largeft in Europe; and to have fettled colonies on its 
coafts, particularly in Cornwall, for the acquifition of its 
tin. Bochart even fuppofes the name Britain, to be de¬ 
rived from a Phoenician word ; and Huet infers that the 
name Caffiterides , or iflands of tin, afterwards reftrUTed to 
the ifles of Scilly, was likewife given to it by the Greeks, 
in common with Ireland ; but for the various etymolo¬ 
gies’,.fee the article Britain, vol. iii. p. 415.—The name 
of Anglia , or England, was not given to South Britain un¬ 
til the Saxon heptarchy, when it took that name from the 
Angles, a people of the ancient Cjmbric Cherfonefe, or 
modern Jutland, who conquered a confiderable portion of 
the ifland. See Ang les, vol. i. p.699.' 
The earlieft population of this country, however, which 
can with more plaufibility be traced, is that of the fouth- 
ern Celts, about nine hundred years before the birth of 
Chrift, when the Phrygians had acquired the fovefeignty 
of the Mediterranean Sea. But the events of that pe¬ 
riod of our hiftory have been very imperfectly, and in 
many inftances unfaithfully, recorded. Add to thefe 
difficulties which oppole our refearches on this JtibjeCt, 
that the nations of Europe were then a mixed multitude, 
, conliflino; 
