ENGLAND.
THE History of this country, from the earliest ac counts to the union of the crowns, is given in the Encyckixedia under the article ENGLAND. It is continued from that period to the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, under the word BRITAIN; and will be brought down, in this SUPPLEMENT to the late general pacification and settlement of Europe, tinder the head Of GREAT BRITAIN. The present article will, therefore, be limited to those inquiries which belong to the Statistics of England; but, even in this view, we must leave out such parts of the subject as have been already treated in the Encyclopadsa, and confine ourselves to the supplying of omissions, and of recent or corrected information.
I.—Situation, Extent, Face of Me Country, Soil, and Climate.
England, the southern, and by far the most fertile (Evision of Britain, is parallel in latitude with Hol.
on the authority of Arthur Young, assumed, in 1798, the superficial extent of England and Wales to be nearly 47,000,000 of acres : a later calcu lation by Dr Beeke, approaching more to accuracy than any preceding one, fixes it at 38,500,000 acres (Observations on the Produce of the Income-Tax, 1800); but a still more recent survey (Report to Par liament on the Roads in 1818) declares the area Qf England and Wales to be only 57,960 statute miles, containing 87,094,400 acres.
England is, in general, a level country : in the north, Westmoreland, and a considerable part of Cumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, are moun tainous, but most of the other counties of England present a succession rather of picturesque eminen ces than of great elevations ; forming a striking con trast to the barren ridges of the northern part of the island, and still more to the abrupt and awful scenery of Switzerland, or the south of Germany. The highest mountains of England are in the north west, where there are several exceeding 3000 feet in height ; of these the most noted, if not the high est, is Skiddaw. Between Lancashire and York shire, there is a range of nearly equal altitude; in Shropshire there are various hills ; also in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, none of which, however, reach the height of 2000 feet. There is a long hilly range which traverses the southern counties, in a line nearly due east and west from Dorsetshire to Kent; and another that goes in a north-east course from Wiltshire to the East Riding of York, but both are of inconsiderable elevation. The traveller, who pro ceeds northward from London to York, meets very few hills and hardly one mountain in a distance of 200 miles. To the east of this road, the country, particularly Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, is almost entirely level, and bears a great resemblance to Holland; consisting of fens apparently gained in a very re mote age from the sea. In Wales, the face of the country is altogether different, being mountainous throughout, and some of the hills, in particular Snowdon and Cader Idris, attaining a height nearly 3600 feet above the level of the sea.
The sea coast of England presents a very differ. ent aspect in different situations: in some quarters, as in Cornwall, in Kent, in part of Norfolk, and in Wales, it is steep and elevated ; in other parts it is low, sandy, or marshy; exhibiting, on the whole, a variety which hardly admits of being brought under a uniform description ; and which, though partaking much more of a level than rugged character, still differs greatly from the opposite shore of Flanders, Holland, and Friesland, which is one continued flat for more than SOO miles.
Of the rivers of England, the largest are the Thames, the Severn, and the Trent. Ilse Thames has no pretensions to romantic effect in any part of its course, nor is its body of fresh water large ; but it is navigable for more than 120 miles, and in the •roach to London from the Nore, presents to the • iring spectator a prospect, which, whether we consider the quantity of shipping, the thickening po pulation, or the high state of improvement of its banks, is wholly without parallel. The Severn, though not equal to the Tay in quantity of fresh water, is superior to the Thames, and during the first part of its course preserves the characteristics of a mountain stream, being dear, and at times bor dered by picturesque scenery ; but on leaving Wales and entering a more level country, it assumes a difl ferent aspect, and becomes a full slow-flowing river, admitting of easy navigation, and facilitating greatly. the commerce of Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. Towards its mouth it receives the Wye, a large navigable river from Wales. The Trent rises in Staffordshire, and after a course, often tortuous, but generally in a north-east direction, falls into the Humber, which soon after becomes a broad estuary. The Mersey, as a river, is of no great im portance, but as an arm of the sea it affords, from the west, a very capacious inlet to the trade of Liverpool, and facilitates the conveyance of the pro duce of the interior. The Tyne is a large stream, having Newcastle on its banks, and Shields near its mouth. The Medway, as a fresh water river, is small and sluggish, but acquires, by the influx of the tide, such a width of channel and such a depth of water at Chatham, as to adapt it to the reception of the largest men of war. Speaking generally, it is only the rivers of 'Wales, w.-4morellti(1. Cumberland, and a few mountainous districts, mat are rapid or transpa rent ; the great majority of English rivers, particular. ly in the eastern and central part of the kingdom, • are slow in their course, and owe the degree of beau ty they possess, less to the effect of the water or scenery', than to the high cultivation and elegant disposition of the adjacent grounds.