408 
I S L 
the aile being probably at firft only a wing or fide-walk. 
Or it may come from allee, Fr. a walk.] A long walk in 
a church or public building: 
O’er the twilight groves and dulkv caves. 
Long founding ijles and intermingled graves 
Black melancholy fits. Pope. 
ISLE, a town of France, in the department of theTarn, 
on the Tarn : five miles fouth-weft of Gaiilac, twenty- 
three north-north-eaft of Touloufe. 
ISLE ADAM', a town of France, in the department 
of the Seine and Oife, on the Oife: fix miles north-north- 
eaft of Pontoife. 
ISLE AUMON'T, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Aube, on a fmall river, which foon after runs 
Into the Seine : fix miles fouth of Troyes. 
ISLE BOUCHA'RD, a town of France, in the depart-, 
ment of tlie Indre and Loire, furrounded by the Vienne : 
nine miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Cliinon, twenty-one fouth- 
fouth-weft of Tours. 
ISLE BOUDOUIN', or Bouin, a town of France, in 
the department of the Vendee, fituated on an ifland of 
the fame name, about five miles long, on the coaft : nine 
mile•. north-weft of Challans. 
ISLE of BOUR'BON. See Boureon, vol. iii. 
ISLE of CERF, a fmall ifland in the Englifli Channel, 
near the coaft of France. Lat. 4-8. 53. N. Ion. 3. 26. W. 
ISLE de DIEU. See Dieu, .vol. v. p. 816. 
ISLE en DODON', a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Upper Garonne: eighteen miles north-north- 
eaft of St. Gaudens. 
ISLE of DOGS, a fmall tra< 5 t of low land in the 
■county of Middlefex, oppofite to Greenwich; where To- 
.godumnus, brother of Caraftacus, is faid to have been 
killed in a battle with the Romans, A.D. 46. Although 
it is now converted to commercial purpofes, the Ifle of 
Dogs derived its name from being the depot of the lpa- 
niels and grey-hounds of Edward III. and this fpot was 
chofen, becaufe it lay contiguous to his fports of wood¬ 
cock fliooting, and courfing the red deer, in Waltham and 
the other royal forefts in EfiTex ; for the more convenient 
enjoyment of which, he generally refided, in the fporting 
feafon, at Greenwich. It is elteemed one of the molt 
fertile fpots of pafture-land in England, and has been 
greatly celebrated for the reftoratipn of diftempered horfes 
and cattle. A great part of it is, however, now exca¬ 
vated to form the Welt-India docks. In this marfli are 
the ruins of a ftone chapel, but when or by whom built 
Is unknown. Alfo, in making the excavations for the 
docks, a wonderful phtenomenon of nature was difeovered. 
Eight feet beneath the furface, appeared a foreft, con¬ 
cealed, for unnumbered centuries, from every human eye. 
It prelented amafs of decayed twigs, leaves, and branches, 
emcompafling huge trunks rotted through, yet perfect in 
every fibre. The bark was uninjured ; and’ the whole 
evidently torn up by the roots. A great deal of this 
timber.was dried and burnt by the inhabitants of Poplar. 
Some violent convulfion of nature, perhaps an earthquake, 
muft have overturned this foreft, and buried it many feet 
below the prefent high-water mark ; but when or how 
it happened, is beyond the tradition of the molt remote 
ages. 
The Weft-India Docks are fituated in the Ifle of Dogs. 
Thefe capacious balons are intended to receive the whole 
of the fliips in the Weft-India trade. The vaft increafe 
of commerce in the port London has rendered fuch an 
accommodation neceffary ; for.the arrival of a Weft-India 
fleet in the river has often occaficned confufion and incon¬ 
venience amongft the (hipping. The northern dock co¬ 
vers a fpace of thirty acres, and is wholly appropriated to 
(hips unloading their cargoes inwards ; it is 2600 feet in 
length, 510 in breadth, and 29 in depth, and is capable 
of holding 300 veftels of three hundred tons burthen 
each. The fouthern dock, which extends over twenty- 
four acres, receives luch velTels only as are to load out- 
I S L 
wards ; this is 2600 feet long, 400 wide, and 29 deep ; and 
will hold 200 veftels. The vaft warehoufes that furround 
thefe docks, built in a regular handfome ftyle; the cranes, 
and other contrivances to render the removing heavy ar¬ 
ticles ea(y from thefe warehoufes to the (hips, or the con¬ 
trary; correfpond with the magnitude of the defign, and 
form altogether one of the moft extraordinary commercial 
curiofities in the world. The proprietors are ftyled the 
Welt-lndia Dock Company. They were enabled to com¬ 
mence the undertaking by a fubfeription of 500,000k A 
tonnage on the veftels and goods is expedited to repay the 
original fum, and will, in all probability, in time, yield 
a profit to thofe concerned in the docks. The entrances 
into thefe docks are on each fide; one from Limehoufe, 
the other from Blackwali. Parallel to thefe docks runs a 
canal of fufneient breadth to receive fliips, which, by 
paying a fmall toll, avoid going round the Ifle of Dogs. 
This canal forms the niarfh to the fouth of it into an 
ifland, which, othenvife, would only be a peninfula. For 
farther particulars of this and the other docks lately con- 
ftxudled, fee the article London 
ISLE sur le DOUBS, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Doubs, fituated on the Daubs : eleven 
miles narth-eaft of Baume les Dames, five north-eaft of 
Clerval • 
ISLE of FRANCE. See vol. vii. p. 905. 
ISLE of FRANCE. See Mauritius. 
ISLE GRANDE, or La Roche, an ifland in the South 
Pacific Ocean, feen by Anthony de la Roche in 1675. 
Lat. 45. S. 
ISLE JOURDAI'N, a town of France, and principal 
place of a diitrift, in the department of the Gers, on the 
Save. It was once fortified, but the caftle and walls have 
been deftroyed; the number of inhabitants is about 2600: 
feven miles eaft of Auch, nine fouth-eaft of Ledtoire. 
Lat. 43.37. N. Ion. 1. 10. E. 
ISLE JOURDAI'N, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Vienne: twenty-four miles fouth-fouth-eaft 
of Poitiers, thirteen fouth-louth-weft of Mont Morillon. 
Lat. 46.1 5. N. Ion. o. 45. E. 
ISLE MADA'ME, a fort of France, in the department 
of the Lower Charente, at the mouth of the Charente : 
feven miles weft of Rochefort. 
ISLE of MAN, an ifland in the Irifli Sea, diftant from 
St. Bee’s head in Cumberland, thirty miles ; from Bur¬ 
row-head, in Scotland, fixteen miles; and from Strangford, 
in Ireland, twenty-feven miles ; the latitude of the mid¬ 
dle of the ifland being 54. 16. N. Its length rather ex¬ 
ceeds thirty miles, and its mean breadth ten. 
Etymologifts are not agreed refpedting the derivation 
of its name. Bifhop Wilfon fuppofed it to be an abbre¬ 
viation of Manning , its prefent Manks appellation, digni¬ 
fying, in that language, “ among ;” this ifle being fur- 
rounded by other territories. Some fuppofe it to be de¬ 
rived from Mona, a word which they imagine, but with¬ 
out fuflicient authority, to have been ufed by Caefar to 
denote this ifland. The Mona of Tacitus, which he ac¬ 
quaints us had a fordable ftrait between it and the conti- 
• nent, can be applied only to Anglefey. Pliny has fet 
down both iflands; Mona , by which he intends Anglefey j 
and Monabia , which is Man. In Ptolemy we find Monace - 
da, or Monaida, that is, the farther or more remote Mon. 
Orofius ftyles it Menavia ; he tells us, that it was not ex¬ 
tremely fertile; and that this, as well as Ireland, was then 
pofleffed by the Scots. Beda, who dillinguifties clearly 
two Menavian iflands, names this the northern Menavia , 
bellowing the epithet of Jouthcrn upon Anglefey. In fome 
copies of Nenius, this ifle is denominated Eubonia ; in 
others, Menavia ; but both are explained to mean Man. 
Alured of Beverley alfo (peaks of it as one of the Mena¬ 
vian iflands. The Britons, in their own language, called 
it Manaw, more ^property Main av, i. e. “a little ifland,” 
which feems to be Latinized in the word Menavia. E‘.it 
perhaps the words Mona and Man may both be derived 
from the ancient Britilh mon, iignifying “ what is ifolated.” 
From 
