and translated "Froissart's Cronycles out of Frenche into our maternale Englysshe tongue."

BALTIMORE.

This capital, as it may be termed, of the province of Maryland, in North America, derives its name from Lord Baltimore, who colonized the said province in 1633. The town was first laid out in 1729, and in 1765 contained only thirty houses. It received a charter as a city in 1797, and since that period its extension has been very rapid. The population is now upwards of 103,000.

BERMUDAS.

Bermudas, or Sommer's Islands, four islands in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 miles east of Carolina, and surrounded by rocks. They were discovered by Juan Bermudas, a Spaniard, in 1522; but not inhabited till 1609, when Sir George Sommers was cast away upon them; and they have belonged to Britain ever since. They contain 9000 inhabitants, who carry on some trade with America and the West Indies. Three of them are small, and the principal one is called St. George.

BRAZILS.

Brazil, a country of South America, which gives the title of Prince to the heir-apparent of the crown of Portugal. It extends from North to South about 2600 miles, and from East to West about 2400. It was discovered in 1500 by Alvarez Cabral, a Portuguese, who was forced upon it by a tempest; and it derived its name from the abundance of Brazil, or Brasil, wood found here.

CAMBRIDGE.

Cambridge (Cantabrigia, Latin), a country town of England, situated on the river Cam, eleven miles east of Ely, and fifty-one north of London. It was the Camboritum, or Granta, of the Romans, and a well-known station of that people, as the numerous urns, coins, and other antiquities dug up here attest. The modern town is of small consideration, except for its connection with the University, being only about a mile in length, and half a mile broad; the best streets are Trumpington Street, and St. Andrew's Street, united with Regent Street towards Gogmagog hills; but the whole is well paved.

CANTERBURY.

Canterbury is called, by Bede and others, Dorobernia; by the Saxons, "the city of the people of Kent;" by the Britons, Caer Kent, or the city of Kent; and by the Latins, Cantuaria. This place is generally agreed to have been the Roman Durovernum

and it is famous for being the archiepiscopal seat of the Primate of England. The Saxon kings of Kent had their residence here from the arrival of Hengist to the sixth century.

COLOMBIA.

This name, borne by a portion of South America, is derived from Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, famous for his being the discoverer of this vast continent, although its general appellation of America was given it from an after discoverer. Columbus was born in 1442, and made his celebrated discovery October 12, 1492.

Colombia is now divided into the three republics of Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

This capital of the modern Turkish empire derives its name from Constantine the Great, who founded the eastern empire of Rome. Prior to his conquest of it, it was called Byzantium, famed in history as a bone of contention between the Tamerlanes and Badjazets. One part of the city is called Pera, and is inhabited by the Franks, a name given by the Turks to all European Christians. It was taken in 1453 by the Turks, who have kept possession of it ever since.

CORSICA.

The ancient Greeks gave this island the name of Cyrnus; and to the Romans it was known by its present appellation. By the French it is called Corse. Inhabited at first by a colony of Phoenicians, it was afterwards occupied successively by the Phoceans, and Etruscans, and the Carthaginians. The Romans succeeded to the latter, and settled two colonies here, which was the place of exile for the Roman courtiers when they became obnoxious to the Emperors. On the destruction of the Roman empire, Corsica fell successively under the dominion of the Goths, the Greek Emperors, the Lombards, and the Saracens; the latter, it is supposed, first gave it the title of a kingdom.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, in this island, 15th August 1769.

CANONBURY.

A manor in the village of Islington, given to the Prior and Convent of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, by Ralph de Berners. The date of the gift is unknown, but the estate is enumerated among the possessions of the priory, in a confirmation granted by Henry III., bearing date 1253; and when the religious houses were dissolved, Henry VIII. gave the manor to Thomas, Lord Cromwell; it was afterwards a hunting-seat of Queen Elizabeth's, and ultimately passed through other hands till it was possessed

by Sir John Spencer, an alderman and lord mayor of London, known by the name of "Rich Spencer," and who was the founder of the Northampton family, to whom this property belongs. It was here Goldsmith wrote his "Deserted Village."

DEAD SEA.

So called from its stillness and bad qualities. No fish will live in its waters. It occupies the site of the plain of Siddim, where stood Sodom and Gomorrah. It has, however, been said, that this water has a repulsive force, which makes men and animals float on its surface, and Josephus relates an experiment which was made on the subject by the Emperor Vespasian. Having caused the feet and hands," says he, "of some of his slaves to be tied, he ordered them to be thrown into the sea, in his presence, in the deepest part thereof. None of them sunk to the bottom, and they all remained on the surface until it pleased the prince to give orders for their being taken out again.’

DOWNS.

This term, as applied to that part of the Channel lying near to the Sands, off the coast of Kent, derives its name from the circumstance, that it was at one period a grazing land for sheep, and which formed a part of the estate of the celebrated Earl Godwin. The land, however, in consequence of great inroads of the sea, ultimately disappeared, but the place has ever since retained the name of "the Downs," famed as a rendezvous for shipping.

DAVIS STRAITS.

These Straits were discovered by Captain John Davis, in the year 1585, in consequence of which they were named after him.

ENGLAND.

England, originally spelt Engle-land, means the land of the Angles. The names of places on the Lower Rhine, and more especially in Guelderland, point to the origin of the English; for instance, Engelanderholt, Engelenburg, and Angerlo. Engeland, near Beckbergen, is mentioned in Bondam's Charter-Book as villa Englandi, A.D. 801. It was not till the year 527 that the first Angles arrived in this country. From that time they made a succession of descents, under various petty chiefs, upon the coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk. From the first arrival of the Saxons into Britain to the time they established a permanent settlement in it, during a period of a century and a half, the following kingdoms were founded: 1. Kent, consisting of the present county of that name, A.D. 457. 2. Sussex, the present county, A.D. 491. 3. Wessex, including Surrey, Hants, with the Isle of Wight, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and part

of Cornwall, A.D. 519. 4. Essex, including the present counties of Essex and Middlesex, and the southern part of Hertfordshire, A.D. 527. 5. Northumbria, consisting of the sometimes separate, but commonly united states of Bernicia and Deira, the former including Northumberland, and the south-eastern counties of Scotland, A.D. 547; the latter, Cumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, York, and Lancaster, A.D. 560. 6. East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire, A.D. 571. 7. Mercia, including Chester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Shropshire, Stafford, Leicester, Rutland, Northampton, Huntingdon, Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, and parts of Hertford and Bedford, A.D. 585. This assemblage of states has been commonly called the Heptarchy, for which Mr. Turner has proposed to substitute the Octarchy, on the ground that Deira and Bernicia ought to be considered as two distinct kingdoms. It has been asserted that this republic of states was moderated by the controlling authority of one supreme king, to whom Bede and the Saxon Chronicle have attributed the title of Bretwalda, or Emperor of Britain; but this title, if ever assumed, was the effect, not of law, but of conquest. Ethelbert, who was king of Kent before 568, is supposed to have been acknowledged as Bretwalda from 589 till his death in 616.

EUROPE.

This part of the globe was formerly called by the Romans, as it is at present by the Spaniards and Italians, by the name of Europa; but from whence that name originated has not been determined. By the English and French, it is styled Europe; by the Turks, Alfrank, or Rumalia; by the Georgians of Asia, Frankoba; and by the Asiatics in general, Frankistan. The earliest notices of Europe are in the writings of the Greeks. Homer, who probably lived about 1000 years B.C., was acquainted with the countries round the Ægean Sea or Archipelago, and on the South coast of the Black Sea,

EDINBURGH,

Edwin, king of Northumbria, possessed the entire territory from the banks of the Humber to the shores of the Frith of Forth; and it seems highly probable that the appellation of this city was originally Edwin's-berg, or Edwin's-burgh, now Edinburgh.

EDMUND'S BURY.

St. Edmund's Bury, or Bury St. Edmund's, or simply Bury, as it is termed by some, derives its name from Edmund the Martyr, * See Heathen Mythology-Jupiter and Europa.

who was buried here. We are told, that "Canute paid great respect to the memory of St. Edmund, and built a magnificent church over his grave, since called Edmundsbury, in Suffolk, as well as a monastery."

ESCURIAL OF SPAIN.

This palace was built by Philip II., son of Charles V., Emperor of Germany, in the shape of a Gridiron, out of compliment to St. Lawrence, of Gridiron notoriety. The name of the building has a very humble origin. Ferruginous ores abound in the neighbouring mountains. Escoria, from the Latin Scoria, is the term in the Spanish language for metallic dross, and Escorial is the topographic derivation, signifying the locality for this dross. A corruption from the etymology has occasioned the change of the second vowel, whence the name Escurial. It is the country palace and mausoleum of the Spanish kings.

FLAMSTEAD HOUSE.

The Observatory in Greenwich Park derives its name of “Flamstead House," from John Flamstead, the astronomer-royal, who, on the 10th of August 1675, laid the foundation stone of the said observatory, for watching the motions of the celestial bodies. He died at Greenwich, 31st December 1719.

FRIENDLY ISLANDS.

A group of Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, so named by Captain Cook in 1773, on account of the friendship that appeared to subsist among the inhabitants, and their truly courteous behaviour to strangers.

GRAMPIAN HILLS.

A chain of hills in Scotland, which extend in a north-east direction from the mountain Benlomond, in Dumbartonshire, through the counties of Perth, Angus, and Kincardine, to Aberdeen; and thence in a north-west direction, through the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Murray, and on the borders of Inverness. They take their name from a single hill, the Mons Grampius of Tacitus, and where the battle was fought so fatal to the brave Caledonians. Many of the Grampians are evidently volcanic, being composed of basalts and lava.

GOODWIN SANDS.

These dangerous shoals derive their name from the famous Earl Godwin, the father of King Harold, and who was one of the first who bore the title of Earl. Where the Sands are now, was formerly a large tract of land, that formed part of his estate,