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,

which was inundated by the sea in 1100, and which has ever since been rendered memorable for the loss of life as well as property.

GERMANY.

Germany was originally called Allemania, from Alleman, i. e., in German, "every man," denoting, that all nations were welcome there. It derives the title of Germany from the celebrated Germanicus.

GREENWICH.

We have traces of a royal residence at this place so early as the year 1300, when Edward I. made an offering of 7s. at each of the holy crosses in the chapel of the Virgin Mary, Greenwich, and the prince made an offering of half that sum. Henry IV. dates his will 1408, from his manor of Greenwich. Henry VII. resided much at this place, where his second son (afterwards Henry VIII.), and his third son, Edmund Tudor (created Duke of Somerset), were born. Henry VIII., from his partiality to it, bestowed great cost upon Greenwich, till he made it, as Lambarde says, "a pleasant, perfect, and princely palace." During his reign, it became one of the principal scenes of that festivity for which his court was celebrated. King Henry's marriage with his first queen, Katherine of Arragon, was solemnized at Greenwich, June 5, 1510. In 1512 he kept his Christmas here, "with great and plentiful cheer;" and again, 1513, “with great solemnity, dancing, disguisings, and mummers, in a most princely manner." At this celebrity was introduced the first masquerade ever seen in England. Edward VI. kept his Christmas at Greenwich in 1552-3; George Ferrers, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, being "lorde of the merrie disporte." This amiable monarch closed his short reign at Greenwich palace on the 6th of July following. Queen Mary was born here, February 8, 1515, and Queen Elizabeth, September 7, 1533. The hospital founded by William and Mary, occupies the site of the old palace.

HIGHBURY-BARN.

Highbury-barn is a place noted for London tea-drinkers. It was in the olden time a barn belonging to the monks of Clerkenwell, now a tavern famed for its good cheer.

HAG-BUSH LANE.

Hag is the old Saxon word haeg, which became corrupted into haugh, and afterwards into haw, and is the name for the berry of the hawthorn; also, the Saxon word haga signified a hedge, or any enclosure. Hence Hag, or Hawthorn-Bush Lane.

Ꮓ

HERNE'S OAK.

Every one who has seen Shakspeare's admirable comedy of the "Merry Wives of Windsor" represented on the stage, or even read it, has no doubt pictured to himself "Herne's Oak," where the fat and licentious knight is cleverly outwitted by the two dames of Windsor. Sir John Falstaff, whatever may be his situation, never loses his temper, or even his good-humour; and when at midnight he is approaching Herne's Oak, disguised with a buck's head on, to meet Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford, he finds room for self-consolation. "Remember Jove," says he, "thou wast a bull for thy Europa: love set on thy horns. O powerful love! that, in some respects, makes a beast of a man; in some other, a man a beast. You were also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda ;— O, omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the complexion of a goose."

Herne's Oak, a tree thus immortalized by Shakspeare, stood on the south-east side of the little park of Windsor. The reason why it was selected for the frolic with Sir John Falstaff, is the tradition attached to it, which Mrs. Page thus relates:

"There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,
Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak with great ragg'd horns;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch kyne yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner:

You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know,
The superstitious idle-headed eld

Received, and did deliver to our age,

This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth."

Herne is said to have been keeper of the forest in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and having been guilty of some offence, for which he expected to be discharged, hung himself upon this oak.

HASTINGS.

This town is on the eastern extremity of the coast of Sussex. Its Saxon name signified a town or castle, and owes its origin, according to Camden, to one Hasting, a Danish pirate, who, where he landed for booty, built sometimes little fortresses. This town is celebrated in English history for being the place where William the Conqueror first landed in this country; and also for the battle of Hastings, fought shortly after, by which the Norman duke gained the throne of England.

HOLY ISLAND.

The Isle of Lindisfarne, on the coast of Durham, is thus denominated, because of the number of saints there buried.