carriage, lain useless for ages, but now find their value. The various commodities, both of export and import, find a cheap and easy conveyance, and the merchants and manufacturers of the interior enjoy the benefits of water carriage, almost from their own doors to the principal sea ports; for the Severn now communicates, not only with the Trent and the Mersey, by various courses of [navigation, but also with the Thames, by a canal of near forty miles in length, which completes the quadruple intersection of the kingdom.

The minute divisions of inland navigation are so ramified, that scarcely any considerable town, in the whole kingdom, is without the convenience of either a navigable river or a canal. The several parts, considered as forming a grand whole, mark the prosperity and commerce of the country; and will serve to commemorate the grand and liberal views of the Duke of Bridgewater, as well as the self-taught genius of Brindley.

England cannot boast of gold or silver among the variety of her mineral productions, although a trifling quantity of the former has, in several places, been found; and the English lead ore contains a small mixture of the latter; but in the abundance and excellence of her coal and tin, she stands unrivalled. Since the English have discovered the method of manufacturing their tin, it has proved an article incalculably beneficial to the nation. The coal pits of Northumberland are of still greater value than the tin mines of Cornwall; and, ultimately, more beneficial to England, than those of Potosi to Spain. The veins were discovered only about the commencement of the fifteenth century, and from them Newcastle principally derives its opulence. The mines of Northumberland furnish London, annually, with about 600,000 chaldrons of coal; in consequence of which, 1500 vessels are employed in carrying so vast a supply to the metropolis, besides the number required for a very considerable exportation of this useful commodity to foreign countries. Mines of lead, iron, and copper, are found in England.

Stone, of various kinds, for building and other purposes, is plentiful in many districts. The slate of Westmoreland is unrivalled for elegance of colour and fineness of texture.

Pottery-clays and fullers'-earth are among the valuable earths. Of fossil salt there is an inexhaustible store in the rock salt pits of Cheshire, and the brine springs of that county and Worcestershire.

Mineral waters occur in many parts. The warm springs of Bath and Buxton are of peculiar note: the waters of Tunbridge, Cheltenham, Harrowgate, and various others, are celelebrated for different medicinal properties, according to their several impregnations.

The inhabitants of Great Britain are compounded of a variety of races, indistinguishably blended. At the time of the Roman invasion, the natives were of Celtic blood. To these, a foreign addition was made by the conquerors. The Saxon invaders poured in a great mass of German population, which took possession of the best parts of the island, and confined the remaining Celts to the mountains of Wales, and the Scotch highlands, where their posterity, to this day, retain their language and national characteristics. The Danes, in their frequent and destructive inroads, seized upon many dis. tricts on the sea coast, especially on the eastern side of the island, and became permanent settlers. The Normans, next, gave a new set of great proprietors to the lands, and an infusion of their blood and language. Refugees from the continent, and an influx of natives of different countries, attracted by commerce and lucrative employments, have, in later times, been continually adding to the variety of sources. On the whole, however, the main stock may be regarded as similar to that of the Teutonic nations of Europe; a dialect of whose language is the base of the English and Scotch tongue.

England, although it be in general as productive as most other countries, contains, like them, a visible mixture of fertility and barrenness. It owes as much of its abundance to the efforts of agriculture, as to its natural fertility.

P

No country perhaps on the globe has a more variable climate than England, or an atmosphere more frequently loaded with clouds. From the extreme changeableness of the temperature, proceeds the frequency of colds and catarrhs, which are often the source of other disorders, and particularly of con

sumption, a disease more common perhaps in England than in any other country. To the moist and foggy climate, in conjunction with the great use of animal food, may likewise be ascribed that melancholy, which, by some foreigners, has been considered as a national characteristic, as well as the general prevalence of the rheumatism and scurvy. In a climate, so mutable, it is difficult to speak with precision on the commencement, duration, and end of the seasons. Frosty nights/ are not uncommon in the middle of June; summer often exhibits an appearance of winter; and the month of December is not unfrequently tinctured with the mildness of May.

England has mostly been regarded as a country extremely fertile in grain; but, from the present system of farming, the progressive increase of population, and other accidental causes, it does not, at this time, produce a sufficient quantity for the supply of its home consumption.

The inadequacy of the supply of corn, produced in England, to the national consumption, from whatever cause it proceeds, seems to have commenced since the peace of 1763, and to have become more perceptible since A. D. 1767. From that time the evil has gradually increased, and, in 1795, it arose to an alarming magnitude. From 1782 to 1793, the annual deficiency amounted, on an average, to 587,165 quarters,* and that of the year 1795, was increased to 1,764,163 quarters. This extraordinary deficit, appears to have been chiefly owing to the failure of the two preceding crops; but it is somewhat more difficult to account for the uniform, or rather constantly increasing annual deficiency, especially when the large tracts of waste lands, lately brought into cultivation, are taken into the estimate of productive agriculture. The grazing system of English farming is generally assigned as the principal cause; but a variety of others undoubtedly concur to produce this effect. A growing population, and increased luxury may be allowed to have their due weight; but perhaps no existing circumstance has a greater share in causing a scarcity of grain, than the almost incalculable number of horses kept for a va

* Middleton's View of Middlesex, p. 481.

riety of purposes. If any credit be given to Mr. Middleton's computation, scarcely less than one fourth of the arable lands in Great Britain, is destined to their support.

Amidst the modern improvements of husbandry, the extent of waste land is still astonishing. The first report of the committee, appointed by the house of commons, to inquire into these matters, stated the cultivated lands of England and Wales at 39,000,000, and those, yet in an uncultivated state, at 7,888,777 acres. Of the latter, no more than 500,000 are considered as wholly unimproveable.

Almost every production of every clime is found in English gardens and hot houses, where, the deficiency of solar heat is so amply supplied, that many of the tropical flowers and fruits, especially pine apples, are successfully cultivated. The kitchen gardens abound in all sorts of greens, roots, and other productions of horticulture. The general and successful cultivation of clover, saintfoin, lucern, and a variety of other grass seeds, must be considered as an important branch of British agriculture.

Among the vegetable productions of England, its timber, especially its oaks, merit particular notice. With the exception of the live oak of Carolina and Georgia, these are not excelled in any country of the globe. It is scarcely to be doubted, that the quantity of timber in England has, from time immemorial, been decreasing, but this is a circumstance common to all cultivated and well peopled countries; and, it is equally evident, that this must still continue to be the case, wherever population is increased, and agriculture improved. If we extend our views into futurity, it may be presumed that a time must come, when public regulations, for the preservation and the planting of timber, will be found indispensably necessary. In regard to Great Britain, it is to be observed, that, while she maintains her commercial and naval superiority, she can easily procure supplies of this necessary article; and the inexhaustible abundance of her coal will prevent her timber from decreasing so rapidly, as in those countries where wood is the only fuel that can be procured.

The gloominess and moisture of the atmosphere of Eng

land, exceedingly contribute to that almost perpetual verdure which clothes the fields, and produces abundance of sustenance for man and beast. This, perhaps, is the principal cause of that perfection to which its various animals so easily attain. Its climate is peculiarly adapted to pasturage; for while the clear summer skies of several continental countries present no obstacles to the operation of the solar heats, an unclouded atmosphere is seldom observed for any length of time in England. For the most part, even in the finest season, a canopy of clouds affords a shade to the pastures, and the cattle with which they are covered. This physical cause of animal perfection, has been admirably seconded by the laudable exertions and judicious management of the English gentry, and opulent farmers, in improving the different breeds, by every mode of intermixture. The general solicitude which has been mani. fested, and the incredible industry and expense that have been bestowed in improving the breed of that noble and useful animal the horse, have been recompensed with a success, corresponding to those endeavours. The English horses are superior to any others in the world, as they now unite all the beauties and perfections of the Persian, Arabian, Spanish, and other foreign breeds. The period of time, at which horses were first introduced into this island, is wholly unknown; but its deficiency in that noble animal was never more conspicuous, than when the Spanish Armada appeared upon the coast, A. D. 1588. One of the reasons, which induced the Spaniards to assure themselves of success, in case they made good their landing, was their knowledge of the weakness of the English cavalry. In that moment of extreme danger, the ministry, after making the strictest inquiries, found, that in the whole kingdom, no more than 3000 horses could be relied on as fit for military service.* This circumstance is one of those striking particulars, which strongly mark the change that, within the space of little more than two centuries, has taken place in the state of this country. At that time, tolerable horses could no where be found, but in the stables of the

* Campbell's Polit. Survey, vol. ii. p. 193.