BERKSHIRE, one of the most beautiful of the inland counties of England, is bounded on the north by the Thames, which divides it from Oxfordshire on the westward, and Buckingham on the eastward ; on the east by part of Surrey and by the Thames, which there separates it from Buckinghamshire ; on the south by Surrey and Hampshire, and on the west by Wilt shire,and a small portion of Gloucestershire. It extends from 51° 19' to 51° 48' North Lat. and from 34A' to 1° 43' West Long. Its extreme length from Old Windsor to Buscot is about 48 miles ; and its ex treme breadth from Witham to Sandhurst (which, by the way, is taking rather an oblique line) is about 29 miles. Its circumference is nearly 208 miles. The.boundaries which nature has assigned to Berk shire are in general highly picturesque. The Thames, meandring in a very varied line along its northern and eastern sides, throws it into such an irregular form, that, while in some places it is nearly thirty miles in breadth, in others it is less than four.. On the south,. the hills of Surrey and Hampshire afford a charming variety of landscape ; and from the eminences in its western extremity, the eye is .gratified with many en chanting scenes in the adjoining counties of Glouces ter, Oxford, and Wiltshire. Dr Beekc, Professor of Modern History in the ,University,of Oxford, astronomical observations which determined the lon gitude of that place, and from the trigonometrical survey taken by order of government, makes Berks, including some insulated parts, to contain about 464,500 square acres, according to • the following •distribution : Acres.
Arable land about 255,000 Meadows and dairy land in the Vale 72,000 Sheep walks, chiefly uninclosed . . . .25,000 Other dry pastures, parks, &c 30,000 Wastes, chiefly, barren heaths 30,000 Woods, copses, &c 30,000 Other space occupied by buildings,1 27,500 courts, fences, roads, rivers, &c.
Total 469,500 the report published by order of the House of Lords in 1805, it appears, that, the area of Berk shire is 744 square statute miles, equal to 476,160 statute acres ; the number of inhabitants on each square mile, containing 64.0 acres, is 147 persons, making a total of 109,368." This county is dis-• tributed into eight political divisions, viz. Faringdon,
\Vantage, Abingdon, Wallingford, Maidenhead, Oakingham, Newbury, and Reading. These again are subdivided into twenty-five hundreds ; containing in all twelve market•towns, 14.8 parishes, 67 vicar. ages, and about 670 villages and hamlets. The names of the market-towns are Abingdon, Faring. don, Hungerford, Ilsley, Lambourn, Maidenhead, i•Tewbury, Oakingham, Reading, Wallingford, Wan tage, and Windsor. Abingdon, Reading, Walling ford, and Windsor, are parliamentary boroughs, but Abingdon returns only one member. Reading and Abingdon are both considered as county towns. With regard to its ecclesiastical connections, Berk shire lies within the province of Canterbury, and the diocese of Salisbury. It is subject to an archdeacon, . whose jurisdiction extends no further than the limits of the county: it is divided likewise into four dean eries, Abingdon, Newbury, Wallingford, and Read- , ing. The grand divisions of Berkshire marked out , by nature are four. 1. The VALE, generally called the White Horse Vale, extending from Buscot to: Streatly, and bounded on one side by the Thames, and on the other by the White Horse Hills, a con tinuation of the Chiltern range. 2. The HILLS, which run nearly through the centre of the lower part of the county. 3. The VALE of KENNET. 4. The FoitEsT Divisiox, commencing on the east. of the Loddon, and extending the breadth of the county to Ohl Windsor. The principal rivers and streams in Berkshire are the Thames, the Kennet, the Loddon, the Lambourn, the Ock, the Aubourn,, the Emme, and the Broadwater. Most topographi cal writers take notice of a peculiarity in the Lam bourn, that its stream is in summer, and almost lost in winter. Mr Lyson, who denies this peculiarity, admits at the same time, that it preserves . throughout the whole year a pretty equal degree of fulness, being seldom affected by the drought of, summer, or subject to inundation in the winter., Berkshire has no stagnant waters of any consequence. In the track of the Broadwater there is one particu lar spot, where it spreads in winter over a surface of about 100 acres; and this is called the Rascombe Lake ; but in summer, it is generally left dry.