800 
SWITZERLAND. 
Riches, renown, and principality. 
For which men swink and sweat incessantly. Spenser. 
To SWINK, v. a. To overlabour. Obsolete. 
The labour’d ox 
In his loose traces from the furrow came, 
And the swink'd hedger at his supper sat. Milton. 
SWINK, s. [j-]>mc, Sax.] Labour; toil; drudgery. 
Obsolete. 
Ah, Piers, been thy teeth on edge, to think 
How great sport they gaynen with little swinke? Spenser. 
SWI'NKER, s. A labourer; a ploughman. Obsolete. 
—A trewe swinker was he. Chancer. 
SWINNA, a small island, about a mile long, and half a 
mile broad, lying nearly in the middle of the Pentland frith. 
It is a barren and inhospitable island, containing five or six 
families, who gain a livehood by the high wages for pilotage 
through that dangerous strait. At each side of it are the dan¬ 
gerous whirlpools, called the wells of Swinna. Swinna 
belongs to the parochial district of South Ronaldshay and 
Burray. 
SWINNERTON, a parish of England, in Staffordshire; 
3 miles west-by-north of Stone. Population 893. 
SWINSCOE, a hamlet of England, in Staffordshire; 4 
miles from Ashborne. 
SWINTON, a township of England, North Riding of 
Yorkshire ; 7 miles south-west-by-south of Bedale.—Also 
another township in the same Riding; 2 miles north-west-by¬ 
west of New Malton. 
SWINTON, a parish of Scotland, in Berwickshire, to 
which, in 1761, that of Simron was united. It extends 4 
miles in length from east to west, and from 3 to 3} in 
breadth. Population 866. 
SWINTON, a township of England, West Riding of 
Yorkshire; 5 miles north-north-east of Rotherham. Popula¬ 
tion 846. 
SWINTROP, a parish of England, in Lincolnshire; 10 
miles from Louth. 
SWIPES, s. Bad small-beer: a colloquial term. 
SWIR, a river in the north of Russia, which issues from 
the lake Onega, and falls into the lake Ladoga. It is navi¬ 
gable for small vessels. 
SWIRE, a parish of England, in Dorsetshire; 1 mile 
from the sea, and 6 south-east of Bridport. 
SWISLOCZ, a small town of Russian Lithuania, in the 
government of Minsk; 50 miles south-east of Minsk. 
SWISS, or Switzer, s. A native of Switzerland.— 
Spinoza hath corrupted many among the Switzers. Abp. 
Usher. 
SWISS, adj. Of or belonging to Switzerland.—A gen¬ 
tleman, hearing him talk of his Swiss compositions, cried 
out with a kind of laugh, Is our music then to receive further 
improvements from Switzerland ? Addison. 
SWITA, a small island in the Ionian sea, on the coast of 
Epirus. 
SWITAWKA, a small town of the Austrian state, in 
Moravia, on the river Switawa; 28 miles west of Olmutz. 
SWITCH, 5. [ swaig , sweg, Su. Goth, surculus, baculus 
fiexilis. Sereniusi] A small flexible twig.—Fetch me a 
dozen crabtree staves, and strong ones; these are but 
switches. Shakspeare. 
To SWITCH, v. a. To lash ; to jerk. 
Lay thy bridle’s weight 
Most of thy left side ; thy right horse then switching, all 
thy throat 
Spent in encouragements, give him; and all the rein let float. 
Chapman. 
To SWITCH, v. n. To walk with a kind of jerk: used 
in some parts of the north. 
SWITHA, one of the smaller Orkney islands. Lat. 58. 
41. N. long. 2.58. W. 
SWITHE, adv. Sax.] Hastily. Obsolete.— 
They sighen Marye that sche roos swythe, and wente out. 
Wicklife. 
SW1THLAND, a parish of England, in Leicestershire; 3 
miles south-west-by-west of Mount Sorrel. 
SWITZERLAND, a well known country in the interior 
of Europe, bounded on the west by France, on the south by 
Italy, on the north and east by Germany. It extends from 
east to west nearly 200 miles, and from north to south about 
140. Its surface is equal to nearly two-thirds of that of 
Scotland or Ireland. Its form may be called a medium 
between an oblong and an oval; and though the limits of 
its circumference are very irregular, it is, on the whole, a 
compact country. It consists, since 1815, of 22 cantons, of 
the following extent and population :— 
Cantons. 
Religion. Extent in English 
square miles. 
Population, 
Schweitz, 
Catholic, 
470 
28,900 
Uri, 
Catholic, 
650 
14,000 
Unterwalden, 
Catholic, 
290 
21,200 
Berne, 
Protestant, 
3,700 
297,600 
Zurich, 
Protestant, 
970 
182,200 
Lucerne, 
Catholic, 
680 
86,700 
Glaris, 
Chiefly Protestant, 
410 
19,300 
Zug, 
Catholic, 
110 
15,000 
Appenzel, 
Mixed, 
220 
55,000 
Schaff hausen, 
Protestant, 
150 
30,000 
Fribourg, 
Catholic, 
820 
67,900 
Solothurn, 
Catholic, 
220 
47,900 
Bale, 
Protestant, 
240 
47,200 
Grisons, 
Mixed, 
2,430 
74,800 
Vaud, 
Protestant, 
1,500 
145,300 
Ticino, 
Catholic, 
1,160 
88,800 
St. Gall, 
ChieflyProtestant, 
1,120 
130,400 
Thurgau, 
Chiefly Protestant, 
340 
77,300 
Aargau, 
Mixed, 
780 
134,500 
Neufchatel, 
Protestant, 
350 
49,800 
Valais, 
Catholic, 
1,970 
63,600 
Geneva, 
Protestant, 
90 
36,600 
18,670 
1,714,000 
This table exhibits the cantons in a kind of historical 
succession, the first three being the nucleus of the confede¬ 
racy formed so early as 1308 ; the next five having joined 
them in the course of that century, and the five succeeding 
cantons in the beginning of the 16th century. This gave 
to the Helvetic confederacy the form by which it is known 
in history, viz., 13 cantons in alliance with several neigh¬ 
bouring states, viz., the Grisons, the small town and terri¬ 
tory of St. Call, the petty republic of Valais, and the city 
of Geneva; while a district on the south side of the Alps, 
called the Italian bailiwics, was subject to the eight old 
cantons. Such was the form of the territory till 1798, when 
the French obtaining possession of the country, and desirous 
to increase the number of their partizans, formed six new 
cantons, viz., the Pays de Vaud and the district of Aargau, 
which till then had been subject to Berne; the Italian bai¬ 
liwics, and the district of Thurgau, governed till then by 
deputies from the eight elder cantons; and finally, the 
Grisons, with the small town and territory of St. Gall, which 
from allies were made direct members of the confederacy. 
The Italian bailiwics received the name of canton of the 
Ticino. The number of cantons amounting thus to 19, 
remained the same during the sway of Buonaparte ; but after 
his overthrow the confederacy received the further accession 
of Geneva and the Valais, hitherto separate states, and of 
Neufchatel, formerly subject to Prussia, carrying the cantons, 
without any material accession of territory, to 22, their 
present, and in all probability their permanent number. 
The towns of Switzerland, neither large nor numerous, 
are situated in the western or comparatively level territory: 
they are— 
Geneva, 
/ 
