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subject, who says, 'to be believed, it must be seen; and, once seen, can never be forgotten.""

RED SEA.

So called, not from any redness of either water or weeds, &c., but because anciently styled the Sea of Edom (as being partly on the coast of Edom). The Greeks, knowing that Edom signified red, by mistake called it the Erythrean, or Red Sea.

RICHMOND.

The ancient name for Richmond, or Rich Mound, was Sheen, which signifies splendour; but when Henry VII. rebuilt the royal palace, he called it Richmond, from his having borne the title of Earl of Richmond before his accession. The choice of a walk in a place like Richmond, where all is beauty, is rather perplexing, the more so to him who pays his first visit. We are invariably at a loss to know, out of the vast number of paths, which to adopt:—

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The Saxon division of the county of Sussex into Rapes, which in the singular number is Saxon for district, or barony, and which term is peculiar to Sussex, was strictly adhered to at the Conquest. To each was annexed a castle, with large demesnes. There are six Rapes, with their separate baronies, as originally granted. Chichester and Arundel were held jointly by Montgomerie and De Albine, in succession, till the extinction of the last-mentioned family, when the barony was held to have ceased by reason of partition.-The Rape of Bramber was given to William de Bariose; Lewes, to William de Warren; Hastings, to Robert de Owe; and Pevensey, to the Earl of Mortein.

ROME.

Romulus commenced the foundations of Rome, 753 B.C. His brother Remus was slain by him, or his workmen, for having ridiculed the slenderness of the walls. Thus raised in blood, they became the sanctuary of refugees and criminals, and to increase the population, neighbouring females (the Sabine women) were forcibly dragged within its boundaries. Such was the origin of the once mighty city of Rome, which derives its name from its

founder, and it was governed by a succession of kings to the year

510 B.C.

OLD SARUM.

Few places have exercised the ingenuity of etymologists more than this. Old Baxter will have it to be a corruption of the British Sar-Avon, that is, angry or violent river, which ran at the base of the hill on which is placed Old Sarum, and flows through the streets of the new. Johannes Sarisburiensis calls it Severia, from the emperor Severus; but the Roman name of Sorbiodunum is much nearer the mark, being an almost literal translation of its original British appellation, Caer Sarflog, the fortified place abounding with the Service Tree. Now, Sorbus is Service Tree in Latin, and dunum is a common Latin termination for places which have the adjunct dun, or caer, in the British; so that it was impossible to Latinize the word with less violence to the original.

STONEHENGE.

These venerable and ancient piles have been the subjects of much unprofitable speculation. A curious old work, entitled Campion's Historie of Irland, has the following: "In the plain of Kildare stood that monstrous heap of stones, brought thither by gyants from Afrique, and removed thence to the plain of Salisbury, at the instance of Aurelius Ambrose, king of Britain!” It is, however, the general opinion of antiquaries, that it was an ancient temple of the Druids, or at any rate, that it was employed by them for the celebration of some of their mysteries. In the year 1797, three of the stones which formed part of the oval in the centre fell to the earth, and this appears to have been the only instance on record of any alteration having taken place in these remains of antiquity. Such, indeed, is the general fascination imposed on all those who view this mysterious monument of antiquity, that no one can quit its precincts without feeling strong sensations of surprise and admiration. The rustic, with a vacant stare, will attribute it to some imaginary race of giants, and the antiquary, equally uninformed as to its origin, will regret that its history is veiled in perpetual obscurity; even the most indifferent passenger over the plain of Salisbury, must be attracted by the solitary and magnificent appearance of these ruins; and all with one accord will exclaim, "How grand! how wonderful! how incomprehensible!" Stukeley, Webb, and others, state, that the said pile of stones were originally Druidical altars, on which the Druids made their periodical sacrifices to their deities! Jeffrey of Monmouth ascribes the erection of it to Merlin, who, as he lived in the time of Aurelius— Ambrosius-in Welsh, Emrys-is called Merddin Emrys, to commemorate the Saxon treachery, in the massacre of the British

nobles there assembled to meet Hengist (and the true Saxon name is Stonhengist).

ST. CLOUD.

St. Cloud, the country residence of the French monarchs, owes its foundation to Clodoald, grandson of Clovis, who built a monastery here, A.D. 351. It has been called by the continental lawyers a ducal peerage, and was attached to the archbishopric of Paris, the incumbent of which from that application attained the rank of duke of St. Cloud, and peer of France.

SEVEN OAKS.

Seven Oaks received its name from seven tall oaks which formerly grew on the spot where the town is built. In the reign of Henry V., one Sir John Sevenoak, lord mayor of London, and once a poor foundling, brought up by the benevolence of the people, and named of course after the place in which he was found, a custom generally adopted by the parish officers, built an hospital here for the support of aged persons, and a free school for the education of the youth of the town, in gratitude for the charity he had himself received formerly from the inhabitants. school was further endowed by Queen Elizabeth. This town is also remarkable for the defeat of Jack Cade and his followers, by Sir Humphry Stafford, whom Henry VI. sent against them.

SOT'S HOLE.

His

The great Lord Chesterfield formerly resided at the house, afterwards occupied by the late Princess Sophia of Gloucester, at Blackheath. His servants were accustomed to use an alehouse in the vicinity too frequently. On one occasion he said to his butler, "Fetch the fellows from that Sot's hole!" which circumstance gave a name to the house known by that sign.

SEVERNDROOG CASTLE.

This building, on the right of Shooter's Hill, and which is so prominent an object, was built by Lady James, in commemoration of the storming and capture of Severndroog, in the East Indies, by Commodore James, her husband, on the 2nd of April, 1755. This place is well known to cockneys, as "Lady James's Folly."

SHOOTER'S HILL.

This spot, so well known to Londoners, is so denominated from the London archers, who shot here, and particularly on May Day. An old chronicler relates, that “ Henry the Eighth, in the third

of his reigne, and divers other yeeres, so namely in the seventh of his reigne, on May Day in the morning, with queen Katherine, his wife, accompanied with many lords and ladies, rode a Maying from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter's Hill: where, as they passed by the way, they espyed a company of tall yeomen, clothed all in greene, with greene hoods, and with bowes and arrowes, to the number of 200. One, being their chieftaine, was called Robin Hood, who required the king and all his company to stay and see his men shoot: whereunto, the king granting, Robin Hood whistled, and all the 200 archers shot off, loosing all at once; and when he whistled againe, they likewise shot againe : their arrowes whistled by craft of the head, so that the noise was strange and loud, which greatly delighted the king, queene, and their company."

SADLER'S WELLS.

Sadler's Wells, so called from there being within the premises two wells of a chalybeate water, and from having been discovered by a man named Sadler, in 1683; originally (i. e., the ground on which it stands) belonged to the monastery of St. John's, Clerkenwell, but to what purpose it was then appropriated we do not know. In process of time the wells were opened to the public, as the Tunbridge Spa, Islington, St. Chad's Well, Gray's Inn Lane, &c., are now, and numbers resorted there to drink the waters. In the time of Oliver Cromwell, they continued to be visited by invalids, but were prohibited, among others, by the then hypocritical rulers of the land as objects of superstitious notice. During the reign of Charles II., Sadler took the ground, and whatever buildings might be upon it, and opened a place of public recreation and entertainment, called "Sadler's Wells’ Music-House," and he reopened the two wells. The latter are still on the premises; one in the yard, arched over; the other in the cellar of the theatre. The water is now done away with, and the theatre has for many years maintained a well-deserved celebrity for the performance of the plays of Shakspeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, &c.

SOUTHWARK.

So denominated, from a fortification, or work, which anciently stood here, and from its situation being southerly, was called Suthwark, or South-work.

SCLAVONIA.

A province, subject to the House of Austria, and bounded on the north-east by the rivers Drave and Danube, which separate it from Hungary, being about two hundred miles long, and sixty broad. It takes its name from the Sclavi, an ancient people of

European Scythia; from whom is likewise derived the Sclavonic language, which is said to be the most extensive language in the world except the Arabic, as being the common mother of the Russian, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian, Corinthian, Bohemian, &c., languages.

STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.

The Straits of Magellan derive their title from one Magalhaens, who was in the service of Spain, and who discovered them in the first voyage round the world; he was killed by the savages in the Marianne Islands. These straits were discovered in 1520, and are the most extensive known on the surface of the globe.

STEYNE AT BRIGHTON.

It has been stated that this celebrated promenade derives its name from the Roman way, called Stane Street; but this supposition is the conjecture of fancy, for we find in the ad decimun of Richard of Cirencester, in his 15th Iter, that the Roman western road, called Stane Street, commenced at the east gate of Chichester, and taking a northern direction, pursued its course to Bignor Hill, within a few furlongs of the Roman pavements of a villa discovered in 1811. After passing Bignor, the direction it took was through Hardham to Pulborough. It has been further traced to Woodcote, to Dorking churchyard, and to London, where it is now distinguished by the name of West Ermine Street; it is therefore impossible to attribute its name to this Romau road. The fact is, before the late inroads of the sea, the Steyne was skirted or edged on that side by chalk rocks, and from that circumstance received its name. Stein, or Steen, a rock, in the imported language of the Flemish emigrants, was then a proper denomination for this verdant margin of a chalky cliff. How it came to be called Steyne must be attributed to fashion.

TUNBRIDGE.

Tunbridge, or, as it is frequently called, Tunbridge Town, to distinguish it from the well-known watering-place in the same county, is situated in the south-western part of Kent, on the banks of the Medway, and derives its name from the number of bridges over the river, which here separates itself into five streams. The district round this town is called the "Lowy of Tunbridge," which, in Domesday Book, is mentioned as Lenna Ricardi de Tonbriga; and in old Latin deeds is called Districtus Leuca de Tonbridge. The reason why it is so named is this: Richard Clare, a descendant of the natural son of Richard, the first Duke of Normandy, who came over to England with William the Conqueror, and distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings,

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