HERTFORDSHIRE, an inland English county of great riches, derived principally from its vici nity to the metropolis of the British Empire. It is bounded by Essex on the east, by Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire on the north, by Buckinghamshire on the west, and by Middlesex pn the south. Its extreme length is thirty-eight miles, and its great est breadth twenty-eight miles. Its area is about six hundred and twenty square miles. It is divide ed into eight hundreds, and contained 17 towns, 134 parishes, and 20,781 houses, at the time of the last survey.
In 1811, the inhabitants were 111,654, of whom 55,023 were males, and 56,631 females. The whole number of families was 22,744, of which 11,998 were employed in agriculture, 7192 in trade and manufactures, and 3554 in different unclassed pur suits. In the year preceding the census, the bap tisms of males were 1665, of females 1574 ; the marriages were 614 - the burials of males were 996, of females 1016. From the great number of per sons dissenting from the established church, the number of baptisms is necessarily deficient, and that of burials also, but in a less degree.
It is generally a level district, with gentle undu lations, no part rising to the height of mountains, though Kingsworth Hill, the most elevated spot, is nine hundred feet above the level of the sea. Though beautifully diversified with ornamented there are no extensive tracts of forest land. The intermixture of pasture and arable fields with the great number of gentlemen's seats, the pleasing rivulets and the shady hedges, give it a peculiar character of beauty. Notwithstanding the deficien cy of forests, the abundance of trees, especially oaks of ancient growth, which the hedge rows and parks display, give a richness to the scenery which is surpassed by that of no county in England.
rises on the borders of Middlesex, passes through the western part of the county, and falls into the Thames at Brentford. It receives in its course the Gade, the Bulborne, and the Ver, or Meuse. This river, in some parts of its course, forms a part of the Grand Junction Canal for several miles, and, af terwards separating from it, continues its course in a parallel direction, till it reaches its mouth. Third, The Ivel, a river composed of the inferior streams of the Oughton, the Iliz, and the Pirral. These, when united, pass into Bedfordshire, and, at length, reach the German Ocean. The river, made by ar tificial means to supply the metropolis with fresh water, called the New River, has its sources in va rious springs in the vicinity of Ware, and is rendered more copious by borrowing water from the river Lea, whose course is parallel to it for many miles. The New River enters Middlesex before it reaches the reservoir, from whence by pipes it is distributed to the different houses of the metropolis. That ex traordinary work, the Grand Junction Canal, passes through a great part of this county in its progress from its union with the other canals to its termina tion in London.
In almost every part of this county the subsoil is calcareous, consisting of two species, one a pure chalk, the other of a softer kind, mixed with por tions of whitish clay, and provincially called marine. The superior soil does not contain any great va rieties of species. It is generally a clayey loam, in some parts highly tenacious, and retentive of mois ture ; on the higher grounds it is frequently mixed with many surface stones. There are some sandy loams intermixed with gravel, and others with clay. Some of the parts on the side of Essex are very wet, and require expensive draining, as well as copious quantities of manure, to render them fruitful. In the neighbourhood of North-Mims and Hatfield the soil is very sterile, mixed with many springs of a sulphureous or ferruginous nature, and only ren dered productive by expensive improvements. Near Baldocic, Hitchen, and King's Walden, the upper soil is of a chalky nature, occasionally mingled with other earths, but generally rather poor.