NET 
A beauteous maid above, but magic arts 
With barking dogs deform’d hzrnether parts. Rofcommon. 
Being in a lower place: 
Numberlefs were thofe bad angels, fetn 
Hovering on wing under the cope of hell, 
’Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding, fires. Milton. 
Infernal; belonging to the regions below.—The gods 
with hate beheld the nether fky. Dry den's JEneis. 
No lefs defire 
To found this nethe. empire, which might rife 
In emulation oppofite to heaven. Milton. 
NETH'ER CER'NE, a village in Dorfetlhire, one mile 
and a half from Cerne Abbas. 
NETH'ER STOW'EY. See Stowey. 
NETH'ERBURY, a village in Dorfetlhire, two miles 
fouth of Beaminfter. The parilh is fix miles and a half 
long, and three and a half broad, abounding with orchards. 
It has fome good quarries of ftone, and manufactures of 
wool and flax. It is a prebend to Sarum. Here is a cha- 
rity-fchool; and a large handfome church, built on an 
eminence, with a large high tower. 
NETH'ERBY, a village of England, in Cumberland, 
abounding in antiquities; fuppofed to have been a Roman 
ftation : twelve miles north of Carlifle. 
NETH'ERH ALL, a village in Cumberland, nearEgre- 
mont.—Alfo a village in Elfex, near Parndon, at the 
conflux of the rivers Lea and Stort. 
NETH'ERHAM, a village in Somerfetihire, fouth of 
Axbridge, with a fair on the ijth of Auguft. 
NETH'ERINGTON, a village in Wiltfhire, near Sa- 
lilbury. 
NETH'ERLANDS, or the Seventeen Provinces, a 
country of Europe, bounded on the north by the German 
Sea; on the eaft by Eaft Friefland, the bilhopric of Mun- 
Iter, county of Bentheim, duchy of Cleves, archbilhopric 
of Cologne, and duchy of Juliers; on the fouth by the 
bifliopric of Liege, and by France; and on the weft by 
the German Sea, and part of France. It extended from 
lat. 49. 25. to 53. 30. N. and from Ion. 2. 30. to 7. 20. E. 
reaching near 300 miles in length from north to fouth, 
and 200 in breadth from eaft to weft. 
The name given to this country by the Romans was 
Belgium; by the Spaniards it is called Pays-haxo ; by the 
French Pays-bas ; by the Germans Nierdelanele ; and by 
the Englilh Netherlands, or Low Countries. The modern 
name it owed to its fituation with refpeft to High Germa¬ 
ny. Some authors have called it Lower Germany , but 
improperly, as it never made a part of that co.untry. In 
the time of the Romans, who gained pofleflion of this 
country with great difficulty, the inhabitants were Pagans, 
the original population confiding of Celts, who were 
fupplanted by the Belgae; and it is not certain when 
Chriftanity was firft introduced into this country: towards 
the end of the third century, the ecclefiaftics lent hither 
by pope Marcellin made many converts ; but, during the 
latter end of the fifth century, a bilhopric was erected at 
Tournay; and, as Chriftianity began to flourilh, churches 
were built at Cambray, Arras, Terouane, Maeftricht, and 
other towns. In the year 608, St. Amand preached at 
Ghent; and in the latter end of the feventh century St. 
Wildebrord, with his companions, preached the gofpel 
in Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht. In the beginning of 
this century the Vandals committed great enormities in 
the Netherlands; and in the year 451, Attila, king of the 
Huns, invaded the country with an army of 600,000 men, 
and burnt moft of its towns. In 445, Clodio, king of 
France, made himfelf rnafter of Cambray and Tournay, 
and fubdued the country as far as the Meufe. After the 
irruption of the Franks, this country formed Nenjlria, 
or the New Kingdom, (the ancient kingdom of the Franks 
being on the eaft of the Rhine,) partly belonging to the 
province of Flandria, and partly to that of Lotharingia, 
or Lower Lorraine. Soon after this period it was divided 
NET 739 
into provinces, forming as many different ftates; and the 
number of provinces has been generally reckoned feven- 
teen, viz. the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, 
and Gueldres; the marquifateof the empire of Antwerp ; 
the comtes of Flanders, Artois, Hainault, Namur, Zut- 
phen, Holland, and Zealand ; and the lordlhipsof Malines, 
Utrecht, Overiflel, Friefland, and Groningen; to which 
is added Cambrefin ; fo that, in fait, there would be 
eighteen ; but, Guelderland and Zutphen being politically 
united to the Dutch ftates, they were called feventeen j 
and the United States were always called the Seven, 
although, according to the above ftatement, they are, in 
reality, eight. 
In the middle of the ninth century arofe the powerful 
houfe of the earls of Flanders ; and the counts of Hainault 
commence about the fame epoch. The dukes of Lower 
Lorraine and Brabant are little known till the end of the 
tenth century. Thefe, together with other large inhe¬ 
ritances, gradually fell under the power of the dukes of 
Burgundy, who, in the fifteenth century, enjoyed do¬ 
minions worthy of the regal title. During thefe two laft 
epochs, the Netherlands became the great mart of com¬ 
merce in the weft of Europe, and were diftinguilhed by 
opulence and the arts. 
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, Mary, the 
only daughter and heirefs of Charles duke of Burgundy, 
married Maximilian of Auftria, fon of the emperor Fer¬ 
dinand III. and brought him in marriage the duchies of 
Brabant, Limburg, and Luxemburg; the counties of 
Flanders, Burgundy, Hainault, Holland, Zealand, and 
Namur; and the lordlhip-of Friefland. Philip of Auftria, 
fon to Maximilian and Mary, married Jane, the daughter 
of Ferdinand king of Arragon, and of Ifabella queen of 
Caftile, by which means their fon Charles inherited not 
only almoft all Spain, and the great countries then lately 
difcovered in America, but alio thofe noble provinces of 
the Netherlands; and was chofen emperor, under the name 
of Charles V. Towards the latter end of the year 1527, 
he added to his dominions the temporalities of the bi¬ 
lhopric of Utrecht, on both fides of the Mel; and Henry 
of Bavaria, being diftrefled, through war with the duke 
of Guelderland, and the continued rebellion of his own 
fubje&s, furrendered to the emperor the temporalities of 
his diocefe, which was confirmed by the pope, and the 
ftates of the country. In 1536, Charles V. bought of 
Charles of Egmont the reverlion of the duchy of Guel¬ 
derland, and of the county of Zutphen, in cafe that prince 
fhould die without iflue. The fame year, the city of 
Groningen took the oath of allegiance, and fubmitted to 
Charles V. and in 1543 he put a garrifon into the city of 
Cambray, and built a citadel there. Having thus united 
the Seventeen Provinces, as it were, in one body, he or¬ 
dered that they fhould continue for ever under the lame 
prince, without being ever feparated, or difmembered; 
for which purpofe he published, in November 1549, with 
the confent and at the requeft of all the ftates of the pro¬ 
vinces, a perpetual and irrevocable edift or law; by which 
it was enafted, that in order to keep all thofe provinces 
together, under one and the fame prince, the right of 
reprefentation, with regard to fuccefllon of a prince, or 
princefs, Ihould take place forever, both in a direft and a 
collateral line, notwithftanding the common laws of fome 
provinces to the contrary. Charles had even a mind to 
incorporate thefe provinces with the Germanic body, 
and to make of them a circle of the empire, under the 
title of the Circle of Burgundy, in order thereby to en¬ 
gage the princes of the empire to concern themfelves for the 
prefervation of thofe provinces. But the Netherlander, 
always jealous of their liberty, did not feem to like that 
incorporation; and, when they were demanded to pay 
their lhare towards the expenfes of the empire, they re- 
fufed it; whereupon the princes of the empire refilled, in 
their turn, to take any partin the wars in Flanders, and 
looked upon thofe provinces as by no means belonging 
to the Germanic body. 
Philip 
