Chap. IV. Of the Conftitution of England Chap. V. Of the King of England, his Title, Coun- cil, &c. 128 136 Chap. VIII. of his Majesty's Treafury or Exchequer 151 Chap. IX. Of the Courts of Judicature Chap. X. Of the Government of Counties, &c. Chap. XI. Of the Affizes, Seffions, Juries, and Man- Chap. XII. Of the Parliament of Great Britain Chap. XV. Of the English Trade Chap. XVI. Of the Capital of England Chap. XVIII. Of the Situation, Climate, &c. of Chap. XIX. Of the feveral Shires or Counties of Scotland Chap. XX. Of the Scottish Parliament Chap. XXII. Of the Ecclefiaftical Government of LISTS. An accurate Lift of both Houses of Parliament, and of all the principal Perfons in all the Public Offices of Great Britain; corrected to the prefent time Part II. 231 234 268 271 274 THE THE NEW PRESENT STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN. G REAT Britain is an inland, fituated in the Western Ocean; the fouthern extremity lies in the latitude of fifty degrees north of the equator; and the northern extremity in the latitude of fifty-nine degrees: The most western part is in the longitude of fix degrees weft, and the eastermoft in one degree, forty-two minutes east. Its utmoft length, therefore, is nine degrees of latitude; and its utmost breadth feven degrees, forty-two minutes of longitude. But as fixty-nine English miles and a half are nearly equal to a degree of latitude; and near thirty-nine geographical, or forty-four English miles equal to one degree of longitude, in the parallel of fifty degrees; the length of Great Britain from its northern extremity at Caithness in Scotland to the Lizard point in England, is about fix hundred and twenty-five English miles; and its greatest breadth from Southwold in Suffolk to the Land's End, in Cornwall, three hundred and thirty-eight English miles. This ifland is divided into two parts, called South and North Britain; the former contains England and Wales, and the latter Scotland, The form of it is triangular; the Land's End, the NorthForeland, and Caithness, fhooting out into many promontories, and forming the three corners, or angular points. It is wholly bounded by the fea, which hath feveral names adapted to the several fhores it washes. On the north it is called the North Sea; on the weft the Irish Sea; on the fouth the Britifh, or English Channel; and on the eaft the German Ocean. The fea, by thus furrounding the whole island, forms, at once, a fecurity against its enemies, and a defence against the exceffive cold of the north, to which its climate would be, otherwise, exposed; and hence it is, that in some parts of France and Italy they feel more of the winter, than the inhabitants of the fouthern parts of England.. Vaft numbers of fmaller iflands lie round Great Britain; fome fingle, as the ifle of Wight, the ifle of Man, &c. and others, as it were in clufters; as the Caffiterides, or iflands of Scilly; and the Orcades, and others, scattered along the coaft of Scotland. It has on all fides very convenient harbours; and is accommodated, with abundance of navigable rivers, by which the riches of the fea, and thofe imported from foreign nations are conveyed into the very heart of the kingdom. С НА Р., I. Of the Situation, Name, Climate, Divifions, Inhabitants, &c, of South Britain, comprehending England and Wales. SOUT OUTH Britain, comprehending England and Wales, extends northward to the latitude of fifty five degrees forty minutes, where it is terminated by the river Tweed, which divides it from Scotland; it is bounded on the eaft by the German ocean; on the weft by the Irish fea, which divides it from Ireland; and on the fouth by the British Channel, which feparates it from France. It is perhaps impoffible to refolve that queftion of idle curiofity relating to the derivation of the name Britain. It has, by different authors, been deduced from almoft every word in every language to which it has any fimilitude, either in or thography or found: fome have derived it from Brutus, the name of a Trojan, supposed to have fubdued the ifland, and given his name to it, 1108 years before the Christian æra : Camden takes it for granted, that the island was first called Britain by the ancient Greeks, and conjectures that Britain was formed from Brith, or Brithon, painted; a name which the ancient inhabitants are fuppofed to have given themselves, because because they painted their skins; and tania, a Greek termination, fignifying country, to exprefs the country of the Briths, or Brithons, Humphry Llwydd, a celebrated antiquary, was of opinion, that the name was wholly British, and that it was originally Prydcain, or Prydhain, a Welsh word fignifying white, from a fuppofition that the original inhabitants gave it that name from the colour of the cliffs on its coaft. But the most probable conjecture feems to be, that the Phonicians, who are known to have traded to the western parts of the island, principally for tin, called it Bratanaek, which in their language fignifies the Land of Tin; and it is remarkable that Meneg, the name of one of the divifions of Cornwall, is derived from the Phoenician language, and fignifies bounded by the sea. Albion is another name of Britain, the origin of which is equally doubtful, and equally involved in obfcurity. Some suppose it to have been fo called by the Greeks, from Albion the fon of Neptune, because it is known that they termed Italy Hefperica, from Hefperus the fon of Atlas: others imagine that they formed the name from Alphon, white, while others fuppofe it to have been originally Olbion, from the Greek Olbios, happy. England, the name of the fouthern part of Britain, diftinct from Wales, is fuppofed to have been originally called Angleland, the land of the Angles, a people who came into the island with the Saxons, and are thought to have given this name to the country, when, after having invaded and fubdued it, they united the kingdoms into which it was at first divided, into one monarchy. Wales, the name of the western part of Britain, distinct from England, is a Saxon word, fignifying a land of strangers; a name the Saxons thought proper to bestow upon that part of the country, into which they had driven the natives, when they took poffeffion of the reft of their country. That part of Great Britain called England, which is now frequently used for all the parts of the island to the fouthward of the Tweed, and confequently including Wales, has fome natural advantages and difadvantages, peculiar to an island: it is fubject to perpetual varieties of heat and cold, of wet and dry; but, at the fame time, the heat in fummer, and the cold in winter are more temperate than any part of the continent, fituated between the fame parallels of latitude. The atmosphere is fo loaded with vapours, that there is sometimes no funfhine for feveral days together, though no rain falls during the whole interval; but the general humidity produced by these vapours greatly contribute to cover the ground B 2 with |