Roër with the Maese, has a population of 4,280 inhabitants, and possesses some manufactures and commerce.-Venloo, on the Maese, with 5,018 inhabitants, conducts some commerce.

CHAP. XXIII.-THE PROVINCE OR GRAND DUCHY OF LUX

EMBURG.

Physical Features and Productions.] This province, which belongs to the German confederacy, is a mountainous country, with extensive woods and heaths, but also several fertile valleys and hills. The principal mountains are the Ardennes. The largest river is the Moselle, which is navigable; besides this there are the Sure, the Wilz, the Alzette, the Our, and the Ourthe. The climate is pure and healthy, and notwithstanding the height of the country, temperate. The productions are the common domestic animals, game, wild boars, wolves, fish, beer, corn, vegetables, fruit, hemp, flax, hops, a little wine, wood, copper, iron, slate, lime, clay, and peat. Agriculture is a principal branch of industry, and so is the rearing of cattle. Very little wine is produced, and that only of an inferior quality. Fruit is raised in great quantity. The industry of this province is far inferior in comparison to that of the others, and the commerce is not very considerable.

Population.] The population are Roman Catholics. They are partly Germans, and partly Walloons, but are very much behind their brethren in civilization. Establishments for education are much wanted, and the popular schools are in a wretched state. The clergy, as a body, are also shamefully ignorant. The Germans, who form the majority of the population, are behind the Walloons in civilization. The latter are gallant soldiers, and seem formed for military service. They have always entertained a secret grudge to the Germans, and a partiality for the French, to whose language their own is kindred.

Chief Towns.] Luxemburg is the capital of the province. The fortifications of this place are considered among the strongest in Europe. The population is about 9,500.-Diekirch, with 2,627 inhabitants, has some tanneries and trade.-Neufchâteau, with 1,242 inhabitants, is situated in a high and rough country of the Ardennes, and conducts some commerce in cattle.

Duchy of Bouillon.] To this province belongs also the duchy of Bouillon, which was given in the 2d peace of Paris to the prince of Rohan Guemenée, to be held by him under the sovereignty of the king of the Netherlands. It lies in the Ardennes, and has about 150 British square miles of surface, and 16,000 inhabitants. It had in ancient times sovereign princes of its own, among whom Gottfried, or Godfrey, of Bouillon, generalissimo in the first crusade, and king of Jerusalem, is the most celebrated. It came afterwards to France.-The only town is Bouillon, on steep rocks of difficult access, with 2,575 inhabitants.

The colonies and settlements belonging to the Netherlands will be described when we come to the quarters of the world to which they belong.

Authorities.]

Schiller's Geschichte.-The Belgian Traveller, 1804 and 1805, 4 vols. 12mo.-Cade's Tour through Holland. Lond. 1807, 8vo.

-H. Hassel's geogr. statist. Abr. des Konigreichs Holland. Weimar, 1809, 8vo.-Bernard's Tour in 1814, Lond. 8vo.-Tableau des habillemens, des mocurs et des contumes en Hollande. Amsterd. 1812, 4to.-Butler's Life of Grotius and Succinct Account of the History of the Netherlands. Lond. 8vo.-Jacob's View of Germany and Holland, 1820, and Corn Report, 1827.-Almanach royal des Pays Bas. Bruxelles, 8vo., and Staat's Almanack. Amsterd. 8vo.-Topographisch-militarischer Atlas von dem Kinigs. der Niederlande in 36 Blätt. Weimar, 1818 and 1819.Stein, Bleine Geographie, Leipzig, 1826, 8vo.-Balbi's Political Scale of the Globe. Paris, 1828.

FRANCE.

Name.] The country situated between the Jura, the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees, the Atlantic, the British Channel, the German ocean, and the course of the Rhine, did not receive the name of France till after Clovis's conquest. It was anciently named Gaul, from a Celtic word signifying a wood,' or 'woody country:' for Gaul was formerly covered with thick forests. The Romans gave it the appellation of Gallia Transalpina, to distinguish it from the countries of Piedmont and Lombardy, which were known by the name of Gallia Cisalpina.

Extent.] This country forms a part of Western Europe, and lies within the temperate zone. Its utmost extent from N. to S. is 81°: viz. from the frontiers of Rousillon, in 42° N. latitude, to Dunkirk in 51° 2′ N. latitude, or 590 British miles. Its greatest length from E. to W. or from the mouth of the Lauter, 6° E. of the meridian of Paris, to the most western point of the peninsula of Brittany, 7° W. of the same meridian, is 590 British miles; and, if we take it from New Brisac on the Rhine, in N. latitude 48° 5', and 7° 40′ E. of Greenwich, to Cape Ushant in 48° 22′ N. latitude, and 5° 4′ W. of the same meridian, the length will be the same. Were it not for the peninsula of Brittany, which stretches 100 miles farther into the Atlantic than any other part of France, its form would almost resemble an oblong square. Or we may regard it as an hexagonal figure, of which the angles are as follows: viz. on the N. Dunkirk; N. E. the confluence of the Lauter and the Rhine; S. E. the embochure of the Var; S. Cape Cerbères at the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees; S. E. the embochure of the Bidassoa; and on the E. Point Saint-Mathieu, at the entrance of Brest Roads. The whole superficial area is estimated in the Almanac royal for 1819, at 52,562,300 hectares, or 26,281.15 square leagues of 25 to a degree; by Baron C. Dupin-whose calculations are founded on the data of the recent trigonometrical surveyat 53,533,426 hectares, or 132,694,000 English acres; by Chaptal, in 1818, at 52,000,000 hectares, or about 128,500,810 English acres; in a magnificent Tableau Synoptique du Royaume de France, published at Paris last year, at 52,889,672 hectares, or 130,624,000 English acres, or 204,000 British square miles; by Balbi at 205,000 square miles; and by the Société de Géographes of Paris at 27,000 square leagues.1

As France has long been the habitation of ingenious and enlightened men, and geographical science has received most important improvements from the labours of natives of this country, it might have been expected that its superficial contents would have been accurately determined. We perceive, however, that so far is this from being the case, scarce any two native-authors are agreed on this point,-a circumstance which shows how little credit is to be attached to such calculations in general. This is not at all owing to the want of good maps. No country has been delineated with such geographical accuracy as France. The younger Cassini's map of this country is a work of prodigious labour, having been begun in 1744, and not finished till 1794, and containing 183 sheets, imperial folio. The National Atlas contains 108 sheets of similar size.