dominion in things spiritual and temporal over all the Sovereigns of the earth, by virtue of being themselves the immediate vicars or vicegerents of God. - It is but justice to the Roman Catholics to add, that these high pretensions, generally known under the name of the dispensing and deposing powers, (or the power of the Pope to dispense with the oath of allegiance from the subject to the Sovereign, and to depose the Sovereign in case of heresy), have been formally disavowed by the six principal Catholic Universities, consulted for that purpose in the year 1788. The following countries are Roman Catholic: France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, nearly the whole of the Southern German States, Belgium, and part of Switzerland. The King is the head of the Church of England. The established Religion of Ireland is that of the Church of England; but the mass of the population is Roman Catholic. The Greek Church is derived from the Greek Christians, who formed the Eastern division of the Roman Empire, the capital of which was Constantinople. Hence it is also called the Eastern, in contradistinction to the Romish or Western Church, from which it differs in many unimportant points of discipline, but few very material points of doctrine. The Patriarch of Constantinople is head of the Greek Church, which comprehends the Russians and Greeks, whether on the Continent or in the Grecian islands. Mahometanism is a form of religion engrafted on the Jewish and Christian dispensations by the impostor Mahomet, who was born A. D. 571, at Mecca, in Arabia, and died A. D. 632. The Mahometans acknowledge the divine mission of Moses and of Christ; but maintain that these were ineffectual to convert mankind, and that none but faithful Mussulmen, or Mahometans, will be entitled to future happiness, which they believe will consist in a paradise of sensual delights. They are also believers in predestination. The doctrines of Mahomet are to be found in the Coran, which may be called the Mahometan bible. CHAPTER III. GREAT BRITAIN. The Island of Great Britain extends from 50% to 58 30% of North latitude. Its length is about 580 British miles, and its greatest breadth, from Land's End to the North Foreland in Kent, is about 370. Great Britain is divided into England, Wales, and Scotland. The greatest of these divisions is England, which is bounded on the East by the German Ocean, on the South by the English Channel, on the West by Wales, between the Bristol Channel and Chester, and above that by St. George's Channel, and on the North by the river Tweed, and an imaginary line continued South West down to the Firth of Solway. The remainder of the island, North of this, is Scotland., England was divided into Shires by Alfred; these are also denominated counties, from having been governed by an Ealderman, a dignity corresponding with the Latin Comes, or Count, and afterwards with the Danish title of Earl. England and Wales are divided into 52 counties, containing about 58,335 British square miles *, which may be classed as follows:— the extent and population is taken from the returns to Parliament in 1811. . Popum lation. 6 Northern. 27,587 12,531 6,763 18,217 4 Bordering on Wales. Counties Extent in Popu- Chief Sq. Miles. lation. Towns. Cumberland 1497 · 133,744 Carlisle 1040 177,625 Durham York West Riding ) 2633 653,315 Cheshire 1017 227,031 Chester 2,160 924 16,140 15,530 7,306 3,503 34,253 13,043 4,868 23,146 1,111 8,427 6,497 13,814 8,280 12,931 2,987 4,605 12 Midland. * An English square mile contains 640 'statute acres, and is to a geographical square mile as 300 to 398.6 or as 3:4 nearly. 8 Eastern. 3 South Western. 4 Southern. Eastern. 3 South 2488 Counties Extent in Popu- Chief Popu Sq. Miles. tation. Towns. lation 2013 291,999 Norwich 37,256 13,670 Essex 1525 252,473 Chelmsford 4,649 Hertford 602 111,654 Hertford 3,900 Middlesex 297 953,276 London 1,009,546 Surrey 811 323,851 Guildford 2,974 Kent 1462 373,095 Maidstone 9,433 Sussex 1461 190,083 Lewes 6,221 Berkshire 744 118,277 Reading 10,783 | Wiltshire 1283 193,828 Salisbury 8,243 Hampshire 1533 245,080 Southampton 9,617 Dorsetshire 1129 124,693 Dorchester' 2,546 Somersetshire 1549 303,180 Bridgewater . 4,911 Devonshire 383,308 Exeter 18,896 Cornwall 1407 216,667 Launceston 1,758 Flintshire . 309 46,518 Flint 1,433 Denbighshire 731 33,111 Denbigh 2,714 Carnarvonshire 775 49,336 Carnarvon 4,595 Anglesea 402 37,045 Beaumarais 1,810 Merionethshire 691 30,924 Dolgelle 3,064 Montgomeryshire 982 51,931 Montgomery Radnorshire 455 20,900 Presteign 1,114 Cardiganshire 726 50,260 Cardigan 2,129 Pembrokeshire 575 60,615 Pembroke 2,415 Carmarthenshire 77,217 Carmarthen 7,275 Brecknockshire 37,735 Brecknock 3,196 Glamorganshire 822 85,067 Cardiff 2,457 The total population of London, which is by far the greatest metropolis in the civilized world, is 1,050,000. The following cities and towns in England have a population above 10,000, exclusive of those already enume- ' rated. 6 North Wales, 6 South Wales. |
