681 
MONM'OUT II S II I R E; 
•MONMOUTH I'SLAND, one of the Bafliee iflands in 
the Eaftern Indian Sea. 
MONMOUTH I'SLAND, a fmall ifland in the Straits 
of Magellan : two miles weft of James Ifland. 
MON'MOUTHSHIRE, one of the weftern counties of 
England, is bounded on the fouth-eaft by the Severn 
Sea, or Briftol Channel; on the weft, by Glamorganflrire 
and part of Brecknockfliire ; on the north, by part of the 
latter county and that of Hereford ; and on the eaft, by 
Gloucefterfliire. It extends about thirty-three miles in 
length, ancTtwenty in breadth, and comprifes, according 
to the lateft furveys, an area of 520 lquare miles, or 
332,800 acres. By the returns made to parliament in 
* 811, it contained 64,200 inhabitants. The whole county 
is now divided into fix hundreds; and comprehends 127 
parilhes, and feven towns, which are Monmouth, Caerleon, 
Chepftow, Ulk, Abergavenny, Newport, and Pontypool. 
All the parilhes, with refpedt to ecclefiaftical jurifdidtion, 
are included in the province of Canterbury, and alio in 
the diocefe of Landaff, with the exception of fix, viz. 
‘Wellh-Bicknor, Dixon, and St. Mary’s, being in the dio- 
cele of Hereford ; and Oldcaftle, Lanthony, and Cwmyoy, 
belong to St. David’s. 
At the period of the Roman invafion, Monmouthlhire 
formed part of the territory inhabited by the Shiites, who, 
befides this diftridt, pofiefled the counties of Glamorgan, 
Brecknock, Radnor, Hereford, and fucli parts of Glou- 
cefterlhire as lay between the Severn, the Teme, and the 
Towy. On the divifion of Britain into provinces by the 
Romans, this county was included in Britannia Secunda. 
From the period at which thefe conquerors left our ifland, 
till the eftablilhment of the Saxon heptarchy, the hiftory 
of Monmouthlhire, in common with that of almoft every 
portion of Britain, is uncertain and contradictory. In 
the legends of thefe times, however, it makes a moll con- 
fpicuous figure. Many of the heroic exploits of Uther 
Pendragon, and of the celebrated Arthur, are faid to have 
taken place within its boundaries. Caerleon was long 
the capital of the Britifli dominions, and is frequently 
tlefcribed by the bards as equalling Rome in fplendour 
and magnificence. After the full eftablilhment of the 
Saxon power in England, this county fieems to have 
formed a petty principality of itfelf, under the name of 
Gwent, whole princes were fometimes bold enough to 
afpire at independence, but who, for the raoft part, paid 
tribute to the princes of South Wales. The invincible 
courage which had marked their character at a more re¬ 
mote period, ftill continued in full force during this era, 
and oppcl'ed a molt effectual barrier to the attempts of 
the Saxon monarchs to fubjugate the principality. Ca¬ 
nute, the Dane, entered Gwent with a powerful army, in 
the year 1034; but, though he defeated Rytherch-ap- 
Jeftin, prince of South Wales, he was unable to hold 
pofleffion of the country. It was not, indeed, till the 
reign of Edward the Confelfor, that the Gwentians could 
be regarded as conquered, when Harold, having pene¬ 
trated into the heart of Wales, forced the inhabitants to 
lwear fealty to the crown of England, and retained mili¬ 
tary poflelfion of this county, in order the more effectually 
to fecure the advantages he had gained. The Norman 
invafion, however, was the iignal to all the Welfh tribes 
for renewing the war, and throwing off the yoke which 
had been thus impofed. In order again to reduce them, 
the Conqueror, too politic to weaken his own army in 
fuch a warfare as Wales prefented, encouraged his power¬ 
ful barons to make incurfions into that country at their 
own expenfe, and with their own retainers; and, as a 
reward, granted them the privilege of holding the lands 
they conquered in capitc. Monmouthlhire was accord¬ 
ingly overrun in this way after a long and bloody ftruggle 
for its independence; but the conquerors, having built 
numerous caftles and fortrefles in order to overawe the 
inhabitants, foon began, in their turn, to arrogate to 
themfelves an independent authority. Continual dif- 
put.es took place betwixt them, with refpeCt to the extent 
Vox. XV. No. 1075. 
and boundaries of their lands, which not unfrequentiy 
terminated in open hoftility to each other, and even to 
the crown of England. The power pofleffed by thefe 
barons marchers, within the limits of their property, was 
little inferior to that of a prince. They held courts, and 
adminiftered juftice at will to their tenants and depend¬ 
ants, in all queftions both civil and criminal. This 
fyltem of jurifprudence, perhaps the molt wretched and 
deplorable that could pofiibly be adopted, continued in 
this ebunty, as well as in the other marches of Wales, 
till the reign of Henry VIII. when the government of the 
lords marchers was abolifhed, and Monmouthlhire was 
detached from the principality of Wales, and included 
among the counties of England. The ftatute, however, 
authoriling this change, does not feem to have been im-s 
mediately acted upon, for we find Monmouth regarded 
as a Welfh county fo late as the reign of Charles II. 
when it firft began “ to be reckoned an Englifh county, 
becaufe the judges kept the aflifes here on the Oxford 
circuit.” From this' circumftance it is difficult to fix, 
precifely, the period at which Monmouthfhire might be 
ftridfly confidered as an Englifh county : probably, how¬ 
ever, not before the jurilcliftion of the fupreme “court 
of lords marchers,” ufuallv held at Ludlow, was finally 
abolifhed in the firft year of William and Mary. 
The general afpedt of Monmouthihire prefents to the 
eye a continual recurrence of hill and dale, wood and 
water, corn-fields and meadows. Nor is the air lefs fa¬ 
vourable to health than the face of the country is in- 
terefting to the view. Except on the more elevated 
ridges, which are no doubt cold and bleak, it is for the 
molt part mild and temperate. It is a remarkable cir¬ 
cumftance, that the fogs here, during winter, fhift pe¬ 
riodically ; fo that it is no uncommon thing to lee the 
hills enveloped feveral days with a thick fog, while the 
valley beneath has the fplendour of a genial fun : but on 
a Hidden thefe effects are entirely reverfed; the fog de- 
feends into the valley, and the mountains are, in their 
turn, left open to the rays of heaven. Monmouthlhire 
abounds with rivers, of which the principal are the 
Severn, the Wye, the Ufk, the .Rumney, the Monnow, or 
Mynwy, and the Ebwy. The Wye is particularly re¬ 
markable for the beauty and variety of its feenery, exhi¬ 
biting a continued feries of enchanting views, which 
have been amply defcanted on by Gilpin, Ireland, War¬ 
ner, and many other tou'rifts; and latterly by Bloomfield, 
in a poem exprefsly 4 ev °ted to the fubjedt. The Ufk 
likewife difplays many charming feenes; and, when lwelled 
by mountain-torrents, fpreads itfelf out into expanfive 
lakes, and occalionally inundates the adjacent country. 
This river is navigable for barges up to Tredonnoc- 
bridge. There is only one canal in this county, which 
was begun in 1792, and finifhed in 1798. (lee Canal 
Navigation, vol. iii. p. 681.) and, in 1812, the long- 
expedted junction t>f the Brecon and Abergavenny 
canal with this of Monmouthfhire was at length com¬ 
pleted ; fo that an uninterrupted communication by water 
from the town of Brecon to Newport, and the great 
eftuary of the Severn, is now opened. Still further to 
facilitate the conveyance of the more weighty articles 
which this county produces, rail-roads have been formed 
in different parts of it. One, which connedts the iron¬ 
works at Blaenavon with the canal at Pontnewydd, is 
particularly remarkable. It only extends five miles and 
a quarter in length, and riles no lei's than 610 feet. The 
roads in Monmouthlhire, with the exception of thofe from 
New-Palfage to Newport, Caerdiff, and Ulk, and thence 
to Abergavenny, were, till lately, proverbially bad; and, 
though improved, are capable of ftill further amend¬ 
ment. 
As to the mineralogy of Monmouthfhire, the promi¬ 
nent features of this county are its infuiar mountains, 
and the beauties of its bordering river; the latter pro¬ 
duced by the bold terminations of lirne-ftone, and the 
other by ftrata of land-ftone, dun-ft one, and reddifli- 
8 L . brown. 
