I S L 
With this ftory, that (lie allowed Mrs. Edmonds 4.0I. a-year 
.during her life, for this feafonable and important piece of 
dexterity. 
ISLE of WIGHT, a county of Virginia, on the fouth 
-fide of James’s River, weft of Norfolk county, about forty 
miles long and fifteen broad, and contains 9028 inhabitants, 
including 5S67 (laves. A mineral fpring has been difco- 
vered near the head of the weft branch of Nanfemond 
river, about ten miles from Smithfield, and twelve from 
Suffolk : it is much reforted to, and famed for its medi¬ 
cinal qualities. 
ISLE'BIANS, in eccleliaftical hiftory, a name given to 
thofe who adopted the fentiments of a Lutheran divine of 
Saxony, called John Agricola, a difciple and companion 
of Luther, a native of Ifleb, whence the name; who, in¬ 
terpreting literally fome of the precepts of St. Paul with 
regard to the Jewifh law, declaimed again ft the law and 
the neceffity of good works. See Antinomian's. 
ISI.E'E, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude: forty miles 
fouth of Bahraitch. 
ISLES de MADA'ME lie at the fouth end of Sydney, 
or Cape Breton Hland, on which they are dependant. 
The largelt of thefe, with Cape Canfo, the eaft point of 
Nova Scotia, form the entrance of the Gut of Canfo from 
the Atlantic Ocean. Sse Cape Breton. 
I'SLESBOROUGH, a townfhip of the American States, 
in Hancock county, Maine, formed by Long Ifland, in 
the centre of Penobfcot Bay, fifteen miles in length, and 
from two to three in breadth. It was incorporated in 
Z789, contains 382 inhabitants, and is 260 miles north- 
eaft by north of Bofton. 
I'SLET,yi [from ijleta. Span.] A little ifland. Scott. 
ISLET'TES (Les Grandes), a town of France, in the 
department of the Meufe : three miles weft of Clermont. 
I'SLEWORTH, a village of England, in the county of 
Middlefex, on the banks of the Thames, oppofite Rich¬ 
mond, with 4346 inhabitants: eight miles weft of Lon¬ 
don. Near this place are Sion Houfe and Sion Hill, of 
which fee a ihort account under Brentford, vol. iii. 
P- 377 - 
IS'LINGTON, a confiderable village of Middlefex, 
north of London, but to which in faft it is united. The 
parifh of St. Mary, Iilington, anciently lfeldon , in Finfbury 
divifion of Oflulfton Hundred in the county of Middlefex, 
is about three miles two furlongs in length from north- 
weft to fouth-eaft, two miles one furlong in breadth from 
oaft to welt, ten miles and a half in circumference, and 
contains about three thoufand acres. It is divided into 
feven. liberties, named from the manors in which they are 
fituated, viz. Lower St. John’s of Jerufalem, Lower 
JBarnfbury, Upper Barnfbury, Upper St. John's of Jeru¬ 
falem, Highbury of Newington Barrow, Canonbury, and 
the Prebend liberty. It is a vicarage in the archdeaconry 
and diocefe of London. The old Gothic church was 
taken down in 1751, when the prefent handfome ftrufture 
was begun; it was finilhed in 1754, at the expence of 
63191. The church and tower are built of brick, with 
ftone quoins. See. The l'pire, with the gallery at the 
Lafe, is of Portland ftone; and the front of the tower is 
ornamented with a neat ftone portico, of the Tufcan or¬ 
der, in a femicircular form. The height from the ground 
to the top of the vane is one hundred and fixty-four feet. 
The length of the church is one hundred and eighty feet, 
and the breadth fixty. Its roof is fupported without 
pillars; and the infide is adorned with elegant iimplicity. 
In 17S7, this church underwent confiderable repairs. 
To ftrenghthen the tower, three tiers of iron ties, or 
chain-bars, were fixed acrofs the rower in different di¬ 
rections; and an eleCtric conductor was placed from the 
ground to the top of the ball. The fcaffolding for this 
purpofe was of wicker-work, framed upon a very curious 
plan round the Iteeple, by a bafket maker of St. Alban’s, 
who had before contrived a fimilar work for tile repail's 
pf the fpire of the abbey-church in that town. This in¬ 
genious man engaged to ereft the fcaffold at Iflington 
Vsl. XI. No. 766. 
I S L 457 
for 24I. and the privilege of fliowing it at fixpenCe each 
perfon, by which he cleared a confiderable fum. Slight 
as the work appeared to be, it was conftructed upon luck 
an excellent principle, as to be capable of bearing any 
weight that was required. 
An old building in this town, behind Crofs-ftrect. is 
called Queen Elizabeth’s Lodge, and a reprefestation of 
it is to be feen in Mr. Nichol’s Progreffes of that princefs. 
Strype, in his Survey of London, records the following 
curious anecdote: “ Beyond thefe (Alderfga^e). Bars, 
leaving the Charter-houfe on the left hand, ftretches up 
towards lfeldon, commonly called Iflington, a country- 
town hard by; which, in the former age, was efteemed to 
be fo pleafantly feated, that, in the year 1581, queen Eli¬ 
zabeth, on an evening, rode out that way to take the air; 
where, near the town, (he was environed With a number 
of begging rogues (as beggars ufualiy haunt fuch places), 
which gave the queen much difturbance. Whereupon 
Mr. Stone, one of her footmen, came in all hafte to the 
lord-mayor, and afterwards to Fleetwood the recorder, 
and told them the fame. The fame night did the re¬ 
corder fend out warrants into the fame quarters, and into 
Weftminfter and the Duchy. And in the morning he 
went abroad himfelf, and took that day feventy-four 
rogues, whereof fome were blind, and yet great ufurers- 
and very rich. They were fent to bridewell, and pu¬ 
nched. ” 
At the Crown public houfe, in the Lower-ftreet, among 
other decorations on painted glafs, apparently of the 
reign of Henry VII. is an original portrait cf Elizabeth, 
the queen of that monarch, fuppofed to have been painted 
in 1487; and the Pied Bull Inn is. faid to have been the 
refulence of fir Walter Raleigh, whofe arms are ftill to be 
found on one of the windows. In the fields to the north- 
weft of the White-Conduit Houfe and tea-gardens, is a 
large inclofure, called the Reed Mote, or fix-acre field, 
fuppofed to have been a Roman camp. The White-Con¬ 
duit Houfe takes its name from a conduit near it, which 
formerly l'upplied the Charter-houfe ; and a pipe belonging 
to it is ftill exifting, and conveys water to the late Dr. 
de Valengen’s houfe in Pentonville. On repairing the 
road a few years ago, nearly oppofite the Queen’s Head 
public-houfe, a fubterraneous vault was difeovered which 
feemed to point towards Smithfield: from this circum- 
ftance, many were inclined to l’uppofe it formed a com¬ 
munication between the Priory of St. Bartholomew and 
Canonbury, the country refidence of that body. This 
leads us to fpeak of Canonbury-houfe, which is half a 
mile to the north-eaft of Iilington church, and is i'up- 
pofed to have been a manfion for the prior of the canons 
of .St. Bartholomew, in Weft Smithfield, and thence to 
have received its name of Canonbury, that is Canons' Houfe. 
The ancient part of Canonbury-houfe is fuppofed to have 
been built in the reign of Henry VIII. by William Bol¬ 
ton, the laft prior; his device, a bolt and tun, remaining 
in feveral parts of the garden-wall. At the difl’olution it 
was granted to Thomas Cromwell earl of Effex ; on whofe 
attainder it reverted to the crown, and the divorced queen 
Anne of Cleves had an annuity of 20I. from this manor 
towards her jointure. Edward VI. granted the manor to 
John Dudley earl of Warwick, afterwards duke of Nor¬ 
thumberland, whofe ambition involved in ruin his own 
family, and his daughter-in-law, the excellent lady Jane 
Grey. On his execution, it was granted to fir John 
Spencer, alderman of London, commonly called “ rich 
Spencer;” whofe only child married William, fecond 
lord Compton, afterwards earl of Northampton : who ap¬ 
pears, in confequencc of this vaft accefiion of wealth, to 
have been in a ftate of temporary diffraction. In this 
family the manor has continued ever fince. Great part 
of the old manfion has been pulled down, and the fite is 
occupied by feveral neat modern houfes, the gardens of 
which, ft retching down to the borders of the New River, 
have a romantic appearance on account of the furround- 
ine feenery. A brick tower, fevecteen feet fquare, and 
5 T fifty- 
