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a sort of Episcopacy obtained in the church, while the ecclesiastical form of government was Presbyterian. In 1606, the temporalities of bishops were restored, and they were allowed a seat in Parliament: thus the Presbyterian form of church goverment was overturned. The General Assembly at Glasgow established Episcopacy in 1610, condemned it in 1638, and deposed the bishops, which restoration of Presbyterianism was ratified by Parliament in 1641. The General Assembly was put down by the civil power in 1653, and did not meet again till after the Revolution, when, in 1690, that form of Presbyterian government was established by law, which continues to the present day.

EDINBURGH, or Edwinsburgh, derives its name from Edwin, a Saxon king of Northumberland, who founded its castle about the year 626. It was long the principal royal residence of Scotland, and has been regarded as the capital since the time of David I., 1150. The city is built upon three ridges running from east to west. That in the middle, beginning at Holyrood-house, and termi nating in the abrupt rock upon which stands the Castle, is the highest, and has a deep ravine on either side. Along this ridge runs the principal or High Street of the old town. Along the bottom of the valley to the south runs the Cowgate, over which stretches the South bridge connecting the High Street with the rising ground on the south. The ravine on the north, called the North Loch, now completely drained and converted into gardens, separates the old from the new town, which, however, are connected by a bridge and a mound. The new town comprehends the greater portion of Edinburgh; the houses are large and well built, the streets regular and spacious, and the squares adorned with gardens. The whole affords a grand and imposing spectacle, to which it would be difficult to find a parallel in the finest capitals of Europe. The view from the Calton Hill commands the Frith of Forth with the adjacent country on both its banks, and requires only the sky of Italy or Greece to vie with the shores on the bay of Naples, or the coast of the Bosphorus in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. Though Edinburgh is no longer the residence of kings, or

the centre of government, it is still the seat of the highest tribunals, whose jurisdiction extends over all Scotland; and these courts are at present the principal source of its opulence. In 1687 the population of Edinburgh was only 20,000; it is now 140,000.

Glasgow is the great seat of the cotton trade in Scotland. Its population in 1450 was only 1500, in 1700 it was 12,000; it is now 280,000. Paisley is noted for muslins and silk goods; Dundee for linens; Stirling and Kilmarnock for carpets and other woollen cloths. The seats of the Scottish universities are Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrew's, and Aberdeen.

III.-Ireland.

IRELAND is a level and fertile country, whose pasturegrounds of rich verdure have procured for it the name of the "Green or Emerald Isle." More than one-tenth of the surface consists of bogs, which yield abundance of fuel, but are unfit for the purposes of agriculture. One of these stretches in a belt quite across the island, narrower towards Dublin, but widening as it approaches the western coast. In the centre of this belt is the somewhat elevated ground, called the Bog of Allen, whence many of the rivers take their rise, and the mountains branch off both towards the north and south. The Giants' Causeway, eight miles from Coleraine, is a huge mass of basaltic columns projecting into the sea, 600 feet in length, 200 in breadth, and with a general elevation of from 16 to 36 feet.

Ireland had the misfortune not to be subdued by the Romans. It therefore remained longer in a state of barbarism than most of the other European countries; and even after its partial civilization, it has continued the scene of constant feuds and dissensions. In the earliest period of its history, it seems to have been divided among several independent chieftains or princes. Christianity is supposed to have been introduced by St Patrick, about the fifth century. The English invasion took place in 1162, in the reign of Henry 11. Richard. Earl of Pem

broke, better known by the name of Richard Strongbow, found a few hundred men sufficient to subdue the petty and barbarous chieftains on the east coast; and thus the English obtained their first footing in Ireland. Henry II. followed in 1172 with 500 knights and 4000 soldiers: he allotted large tracts of land to his followers, introduced the English laws, and made a commencement for establishing British dominion throughout the country. From this period almost constant wars were carried on between the natives and the new settlers from England. The part of the island subject to English law was called the Pale: it extended over little more than the province of Leinster, the rest of the country being subject to the native princes, and ruled according to the old Irish law. So powerful were the Irish princes in the 15th century, that the English borderers of the pale were glad to pay them an annual tribute called black-rent for their protection. The pale itself was contracted within the narrow limits of the counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and part of Louth; even the southern part of the county of Dublin was in undisputed possession of the Irish, so that within three miles of the city, the king's writ was a dead letter. Ulster having been in a great measure depopulated by the wars in the time of Elizabeth, was, in the reign of her successor, James I., colonised by English and Scotch agriculturists this is the source of that difference of character observed in the inhabitants of this quarter, who are mostly Protestants, and distinguished for industry and manufactures beyond those of any other part of Ireland. The rebellion in 1641, for the purpose of extirpating the English, was accompanied by atrocities which must for ever disgrace the pages of Irish history. The Rebellion of United Irishmen in 1798, aided by a small force of about 1000 French, was quelled after a short but sanguinary struggle. Ireland was formally united to Great Britain in 1801.

The Christianity of Ireland was free from Papal control until the English invasion, when it was subjected to the Roman Pontiff; and the great mass of the people continue Roman Catholics to the present day. The Reformation which agitated the countries of Europe made almost no impression, and no progress in Ireland. Whilst the

people of England modified their faith at the bidding of a capricious tyrant; and the people of Scotland, imbued with the purer tenets of the Genevese theologian, shook off the Roman yoke in despite of their rulers, and, by their solemn league and covenant, formed a union for the support of the Presbyterian government-the Irish people beyond the English pale were also beyond the reach of the new opinions; and, although, as the English dominion extended, Episcopacy was established by law over the land, the great majority of the people remained devoted to the ancient superstition. Hence the civil dissensions in Ireland have since been aggravated by the bitterness of religious animosity.

DUBLIN, the capital of Ireland, was a place of no importance till the invasion of the English, when its position on the eastern coast, as a point of communication with England, soon secured to it a preference for the seat of the local government. It is beautifully situated on the river Liffey, which divides the city nearly into two equal parts, and enters the bay of Dublin about a mile below it. From the point where the Liffey enters the bay, it is embanked with walls of free-stone, forming ranges of beautiful and spacious quays through the whole city, uninterrupted by any building near the river, the breadth of a wide street extending on both sides for two miles and three-quarters. The castle is a pile of mean and unornamental buildings in the centre of the town. There are many spacious streets and squares, particularly Merion Square, and St Stephen's Green, which last is the largest square in Europe, containing twenty-seven acres within the palisades. The Cathedral of St Patrick is a venerable Gothic pile. The Bank of Ireland, formerly the Parliament-House, stands in College Green. The Custom House and Royal Exchange are both splendid edifices. It must not, however, be omitted, that the mud hovels of the suburbs are the abodes of much poverty and wretchedness. Population 230,000.

Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, are all large towns, noted for the export of provisions: Belfast has extensive linen manufactures, and through it is carried on the greater part of the Irish trade with Scotland.

IV.-France.

FRANCE has long held a conspicuous place among the principal European powers, and has recently been remarkable for the amazing extent to which she pushed her arms, dictating laws to all the continental nations around her, and for the subsequent reverses which deprived her of her conquests, and humbled the pride of her military glory.

About the time when those convulsions took place which shook the Roman empire to its foundation, the Franks passed from Germany into Gaul, and gave their name to the country. Chlovis I. in 485, defeated the Romans at Soissons, and laid the first permanent foundation of the French monarchy. The Saracens, flushed with the conquest of Spain, carried their victorious arms across the Pyrenees, and penetrated to the heart of France. In 732, Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace of Paris, defeated them in a great battle at Tours, rolled back the tide of Musselman invasion, and compelled them to retreat within the Pyrenees. France was never so powerful as in the reign of Charlemagne, who succeeded to the throne in 771. In a reign of 45 years, which was a continued series of victories and conquests, he extended his sway over the greater part of Italy; over Switzerland, Bavaria, Hesse, Saxony, and Friesland; and subdued the barbarous tribes on the banks of the Vistula and Danube. This vast empire fell to pieces in the hands of his suc cessor, and France itself was broken up into a number of petty sovereignties. When Hugh Capet took possession of the throne in 987, he was merely the first baron in the kingdom, and reigned only over Picardy, the Isle de France, and Orleanois. Louis XI., wily and politic, who reigned from 1461 to 1483, crushed successively the powerful nobles of France, annexed their authority to the crown, and established that despotic form of government which continued till the Revolution. The French Revolution, which broke out in 1789, is the most remarkable event of modern times. Napoleon Bonaparte, first a republican general, then Emperor of France, by a long career of victory, made his arms the admiration and terror of Eu

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