Irish Sea and St. George's Channel; and on the north by Scotland.

The Sark, an artificial line called the Scots Dikes, the River Liddell, the Cheviot Hills, and the Tweed, form the boundary line between England and Scotland.

Under the Romans a wall extending from the Tyne to the Solway, built first by Agricola, again by Hadrian, and afterwards by Severus, separated the two countries.

The superficial extent of England and Wales is 57,960 square miles.

DIVISION INTO COUNTIES.

Under the Romans England was divided into four parts: 1st, Maxima Cæsariensis; south of the wall as far as the Humber and Mersey. 2nd, Flavia Cæsariensis, to the south of the former, as far as the Bristol Channel, but exclusive of;-3rd, Britannia Secunda, which comprehended Wales, and all west of the Severn. 4th, Britannia Prima, embracing all the southern coast.

By the Saxons England was partitioned at first into eight, but shortly afterwards into seven kingdoms-hence called the Heptarchy. These were,

1st, The kingdom of Northumbria, comprehending the whole of the six northern counties. 2nd, Mercia, corresponding to the Roman division Flavia Cæsariensis, with the exception of the two following kingdoms. 3rd, East Anglia, containing Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. 4th, East Saxony, comprehending Essex, Middlesex, and the eastern part of Herts. 5th, Kent, answering to the county of that name. 6th, South Saxony-Surrey and Sussex. 7th, Wessex, comprehending the four southern and three south-western counties.

The Heptarchy became one kingdom under Egbert, and was afterwards divided by Alfred into 32 shires, which number was subsequently increased to 40, making, at present, together with the twelve into which Wales is divided, 52.

Three of these counties, Chester, Durham, and Lancaster, are called counties Palatine, because the owners of them (the Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster) had in those counties royal powers as fully as the king has in his palace (in palatio).

London is a county by itself, distinct from Middlesex, and is governed by its own sheriffs and other magistrates. Chester, Bristol,

Coventry, Canterbury, Exeter, Gloucester, Litchfield, Lincoln, Norwich, Worcester, York, Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Pool, Southampton, are also counties corporate, as they are termed.

England is divided into six circuits; they are as follow:

Home Circuit.-Hertford, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent.
Midland Circuit.-Northampton, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham,
Derby, Leicester, and Warwick.

Norfolk Circuit.-Bucks, Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge,
Suffolk, and Norfolk.

Oxford Circuit. - Worcester, Stafford, Shropshire, Hereford,
Monmouth, Gloucester, Oxford, and Berks.

Western Circuit. - Hampshire, Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall,
and Somerset.

Northern Circuit.-York, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancaster.

Wales is divided into two circuits, the South Wales and the North Wales Circuit, which include Chester.

COAST.

England, excepting at its junction with Scotland, is surrounded by the sea; this, besides the protection which it affords from invading foes, is essential to our existence as a commercial nation. Its form is nearly triangular.

The figure of England approaches pretty nearly to the fanciful representation given of the island by the Romans, as a woman seated on a rock, the well-known Britannia.

The principal head-lands are Flamborough Head and Spurn Head in Yorkshire; Yarmouth, situated on the most easterly point of the island; North Foreland in Kent; Beachy Head in Sussex; Portland Bill in Dorset ; Start Point in Devon; Lizard Point, the most southerly, and Land's-end, the most westerly point of England; with the remarkable projections formed by the counties of Pembroke and Caernavon.

The principal inlets on the East, are the Humber, the Wash, and the Estuary of the Thames. On the West, the Bristol Channel, Cardigan Bay, Morecambe Bay in Lancashire, and the Solway Firth.

The navigation of the coast is on all sides endangered

by sands and shoals, the most famous of which are the Yarmouth Sands and the Goodwin Sands: the latter stretch parallel to the coast from North to South Foreland, forming the Downs, a much frequented road for ships.

ISLANDS.

The principal islands are the Isle of Wight, the Island of Anglesea, and the Isle of Man.

Holy Island or Lindisfarne, where literature found an asylum in the dark ages, and which contains the ruins of an ancient abbey and castle is off the coast of Northumberland. The Isle of Wight, a large and beautiful island, called the Garden of England, is off the coast of Hampshire. Eddystone Rock, on which the famous light-house is erected, is nearly opposite Plymouth. The Scilly Islands, 17 in number, are off Land's End. Anglesea was the last resort of the Druids, it is of itself a county. The sovereignty of the Isle of Man was possessed by the Dukes of Athol, until it was purchased in 1765 by the British Parliament. The Channel Islands, off the N. E. coast of France, have belonged to England since the 11th century. The chief of them are Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. Heligoland (Holy Island), opposite the mouth of the Elbe, also belongs to Britain; it is a useful possession in time of war; it was anciently the seat of worship of the Saxon goddess Phoseta.

MOUNTAINS.

England is generally a level country. A range of hills passing from Scotland extends with some interruptions through the whole length of the country, keeping chiefly to the western side. In Cheviot this chain attains an elevation of 2680 feet. Sca Fell, in Cumberland, is 3166 feet high, and Skiddaw 3022.

In Derbyshire it forms a mountainous district, denominated the Peak; between Hereford and Worcester, it forms the Malvern Hills; in Somersetshire, the Mendip Hills; and in Devonshire, the extensive and rugged district of Dartmoor. The highest hills in the southern division of the island are those of Wales, Snowdon in Caernarvon being 3571 feet high.

LAKES.

The principal lakes lie in the mountainous districts of