their native country, and persuaded a colony to follow them to the barbarous shores of Gaul, bearing with them their religion, language, manners, and customs. On the very day of their arrival, so says tradition, the daughter of the native chief was to choose a husband, and her affections were placed upon one of the leaders of the polished emigrants. The friendship of the aborigines was conciliated by marriage, and their rude manners were softened by the refinement of their new allies in war, their new associates in peace. In arts and arms the emigrants soon acquired the ascendency, and the most musical of all the Greek dialects became the prevailing language of the colony.

MEDITERRANEAN.

The Mediterranean Sea is thus denominated, because it flows between Europe and Africa, washing the shores of each. Medi, signifying between, and terra, earth, i. e., between two continents; the latter syllables, ne-an being merely added for the sake of harmony.

MAIDSTONE.

Maidstone was anciently called Medway-town, from its being seated on the river of that name. Nennius, who wrote about the ninth century, calls it Caer Megwad, corruptly, as is supposed, for Medway, or the Medway city, and states, that it was the third considerable city in Britain before the arrival of the Saxons; and it appears from Domesday Book to have been a borough by prescription, although it did not send representatives to parliament till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it received a charter of incorporation to be governed by a mayor, assisted by twelve of the principal inhabitants.

MIDDLESEX.

The Saxons under Ella, on their arrival in this country, had continual wars with the Britons, the particulars whereof are unknown, except that they settled on the sea-coast in Sussex, and were called the South Saxons, from whence Sussex was derived. Those that were settled on the east coasts were called East Saxons, from whence came Essex. The country between Essex and Sussex was hence termed Middlesex. Kent retained its ancient name.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

Most of our readers are acquainted with the great divisions of this kingdom in ancient times, and will recollect those which were established north and south of the Humber, under which a large proportion of Yorkshire, and the whole of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumberland, belonged to Edwin, king

of Northumbria. In this country there are several remains of Roman encampments. The most remarkable monument of the Roman dominion is, the great line of defence formed and augmented by the successive labours of Agricola, Adrian, and Severus; and sometimes called the Picts Wall, sometimes the Roman Wall.

OXFORD.

This famous University town derives its name from its being anciently a great cattle or oxen ford; having to pass the river at this point on the way to the London markets. Henry II., whose famed amour with " Rosamond of Woodstock" gave a celebrity to this part of the country, built a bridge over the same ford—now called Oxford.

OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

So called from Othman, the first of the Turkish emperors. The present Turkish empire began in Bithynia, in 1298.

PERSIA,

By the poets, this country is supposed to have derived its appellation from Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Danae; and by the graver, but perhaps, on this occasion, equally unsuccessful inquirers, from the word paras, which signifies a horseman, the Persians or Parthians having been always celebrated for their extraordinary skill in horsemanship.

PERE LA CHAISE.

This far-famed burial-ground, which is the first in Europe, from its size, its picturesque situation, and its fine monuments, derives its name from Father Lachaise, confessor to Louis XIV., from its occupying the site on which stood Lachaise's house,

PENNSYLVANIA.

Pennsylvania was originally settled by the Swedes in 1627, was conquered by the Dutch in 1654, and was ceded to the British in 1664. It was granted to William Penn, a quaker, from whom it derives its name, and, after his death, was sold by the proprietors to the United States.

PETERSBURGH.

This modern capital of Russia derives its name from its royal founder, Peter the Great. It is built in the Gulf of Cronstadt, intersected by artificial channels of the Neva, which limit the districts of the city. This magnificent capital was in 1702 a putrid fen.

PRUSSIA.

Prussia was anciently possessed by the Venedi, whose kings were anciently descended from Athirius, first king of the Heruli on the Baltic, 320 B. c. The Venedi were conquered by the Borussi, who inhabited the Riphœan Mountains. Hence the country was called Bo-Russia, or Prussia. It consists of two great divisions: the eastern, or larger portion; and the western, or smaller portion.

PEERLESS POOL.

Peerless Pool, City Road, was anciently a public conduit, which supplied the metropolis with water, before the New River was brought to London by Sir Hugh Myddleton. Stow speaks of it as “a cleere water, called Perilous Pond, because," says our chronicler, "divers youths, by swimming therein, have been drowned." Again he says, "Upon Saturday the 19th of January, 1633, sixe pretty young lads, going to sport themselves upon the frozen ducking pond, neere to Clearkenwell, the ice too weake to support them, fell into the water, concluding their pastime with the lamentable losse of their lives; to the great griefe of many that saw them dying, many more that afterwards saw them dead, with the inexpressible griefe of their parents." This water was afterwards filled up, and rendered entirely useless, till one Kemp, an eminent jeweller of the city of London, who had a high opinion of this water, having got clear of a violent pain in the head by bathing in it, to which he had for many years been subject, generously reopened the same spring for the public benefit in the 1743, and formed the completest swimming-bath in the whole world; and in reference to the improvements he had made on the ruins of that once Perilous Pond, and by a very natural transition, he changed that disagreeable appellation of perilous, "that is," says Maitland, dangerous or hazardous, to the more agreeable name of Peerless Pool, that is, Matchless Bath, a name which carries its own reason with it."

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PALATINATE OF DURHAM.

Guthred being seated on the throne of Northumberland, under the auspices of Alfred, the sovereigns, as a joint act, granted, that wherever St. Cuthbert's remains should rest, there should be an inviolable sanctuary; and that the possessions of St. Cuthbert and his church, as well such as were at that time, or theretofore granted, as those which might thereafter be acquired by purchase or otherwise, should be for ever freed and discharged from all customs and services, and should be held and enjoyed by the church, with all such sovereign jurisdiction and power as the

demesne of the crown was held; and this was confirmed by the acclamations of the assenting people, assembled on this solemn occasion, and became an ordinance established for ever. This was the origin of the "Jura regalia," which dignifies the "Palatine of Durham." Durham is derived from Dun-holm, i. e., a town in a wood.

PACIFIC OCEAN.

Otherwise called the South Sea, lying between Asia and America, and upwards of 10,000 miles in breadth. When Magalhaens entered this ocean, through the dangerous strait that bears his name, he sailed three months and twenty days in a uniform direction to the N.W. without discovering land, and enjoyed such uninterrupted fair weather, with fair winds, that he gave the ocean the name of Pacific.

POLAND.

The name Poland is said to be derived from the Sclavonian word Pole, which signifies plain and even, as is the face of this country. Some derive it from Polachi, which signifies the posterity of Lechus, who is held to be the founder of this monarchy. But it is very doubtful, as the history of Poland previous to the introduction of Christianity is involved in great obscurity.

PALESTINE.

It was called Palestine from the Philistines, who inhabited the sea-coasts. It was also called Judea, from Juda; and the Holy Land, from our Saviour's residence and sufferings; and it is called Canaan and the Promised Land, in the Scriptures. It is 180 miles in length, and 80 in breadth; and in the time of Solomon it seems to have extended from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Euphrates. As a part of Asiatic Turkey, it is bounded by Mount Lebanus, which divides it from Syria on the north; by Mount Herman, which separates it from Arabia de Serta, on the east; by the mountains of Seir, and the deserts of Arabia Petræa, on the south; and by the Mediterranean Sea, on the west.

RECULVERS.

These ruins, viewed with such peculiar interest by those who visit the isle of Thanet, and which are a well-known water-mark to mariners, was called by the Romans, Regulbium; by the Saxons, first Raculf, afterwards Raculfcester, on account of its castle, and then Raculfminster, from the monastery afterwards built there. In the time of the Romans it had a watch-tower and fort, said to be built by Severus, anno 205; in which, as the

"Notitia" tells us, "lay in garrison the first cohort of the Vetasians." Its two spires, commonly called "the Sisters" (from the romantic notion of their being built by relatives, who went from thence on a pilgrimage and returned in safety), are of great utility as a landmark, and from the pier of Margate and the neighbouring cliffs may be viewed distinctly. For a full and interesting account of Reculver, see Mr. G. R. Smith's Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver, and Lymne.

RIEVAULX ABBEY, YORKSHIRE.

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Rievaulx Abbey, as it is termed, is the most superb ruin in England. It is on the estate of Charles Slingsby Duncombe, Esq., of Duncombe Park. In the vicinity also, is a Roman Catholic College. If ever, reader, you sojourn at the ancient city of York, forget not to visit Duncombe Park and Rievaulx Abbey. A pleasant ride of fifteen miles will bring you to this second Elysium, where your curiosity will be amply repaid. The following notice is taken of it, by a spirited little work of the present day. 'In the reign of Henry I. flourished St. Bernard, abbot of Clairval, a man full of devotion, and chief of many monks, some of whom he sent to England about A.D. 1128, 28th of Henry I., who were honourably received by both king and kingdom, and particularly by Sir Walter L'Espec; who, about A.D. 1131, allotted to some of them a solitary place in Blackmore, near Hemelac, now Helmsley,* surrounded by steep hills, and covered with wood and ling, near the angles of three different vales, with each a rivulet running through them; that passing by where the abbey was built being called Rie, whence this vale took its name, and this religious house was thence called the abbey of Rie-val or Rie-vale.† The descent of this valley reaches chiefly from north to south. Here William, the first abbot (one of these monks sent by Bernard), a man full of great virtue, and of an excellent memory, began the building of the monastery, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, which the said Sir Walter L'Espec amply endowed." Again, "the site was granted, in exchange for other lands, to Thomas Earl of Rutland, in 30th of Henry VIII.; and from him it descended to the dissolute George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham; and from him, by purchase, to Sir Charles Duncombe, knight, from whom it passed to his grand-nephew, Thomas Duncombe, Esq. M.P., who, in 1758, erected one of the finest terraces in England on the brink of the hill that overlooks the ruin, and a temple at each end of the walk; one of which is enriched with mythological paintings by Bernice, an Italian artist. The view from the woody steep of these Ionic temples surpasses all conception; 'suffice it,' to quote the words of a descriptive author on the *Now vulgarly called " Helmsley Blackamoor." + Now corrupted to Rieeaulx.