ISLE OF WIGHT.

THIS island is fituated oppofite the coast of Hampshire, from which

it is feparated by a channel, varying in breadth from two to feven miles; it is confidered as part of the county of Southampton, and is within the diocese of Winchefter. Its greatest length, extending from eaft to weft, measures nearly twenty-three miles; its breadth, from north to fouth, above thirteen. The air is in general healthy, particularly in the fouthern parts: the foil is various; but fo great is its fertility, that it was many years ago computed, that more wheat was grown here in one year than could be confumed by the inhabitants in eight; and it is fuppofed that its prefent produce, under the great improvements of agriculture, and the additional quantity of land lately brought into tillage, has more than kept pace with the increase of population. A range of hills, which afford fine pafture for fheep, extends from caft to weft, through the middle of the island. The interior parts of the ifland, as well as its extremities, afford a great number of beautiful and picturefque profpects, not only in the paftoral but also in the great and romantic ftyle. Of these beauties the gentlemen of the island have availed themselves, as well in the choice of fituations for their houses, as in their other improvements. Domestic fowls and poultry are bred here in great numbers; the outward-bound fhips and veffels at Spithead, the Mother-bank, and Cowes, commonly furnishing themfelves from this island.

Such is the purity of the air, the fertility of the foil, and the beauty and variety of the landfcapes of this ifland, that it has been called the garden of England; it has fome very fine gentlemen's feats; and it is often vifited by parties of pleafure on account of its delightful scenes.

The island is divided into thirty parishes; and, according to a very accurate calculation made in the year 1777, the inhabitants then amounted to eighteen thousand and twenty-four, exclufive of the troops quartered there. Mott of the farm-houfes are built with stone, and even the cottages appear neat and comfortable, having each its little garden. The town of Newport ftands nearly in the centre of the island, of which it may be confidered as the capital. The river Medina empties hfelf into the channel at Cowes harbour, diftant about five miles, and, being navigable up to the quay, is very commodious for trade. The three principal ftreets of Newport extend from eaft to weft, and are croffed at right angles by three others, all which are fpacious, clean, and well paved.

Carifbrook castle, in the Ifle of Wight, has been rendered remarkable by the confinement of king Charles I. who, taking refuge here, was detained a prifoner, from November 1647, to September 1648. After the execution of the king, this caftle was converted into a place of confinement for his children: and his daughter, the princess Elizabeth, died in it. There are feveral other forts in this island, which were all erected about the 36th year of the reign of Henry VIII. when many other forts and blockhoufes were built in different parts of the coaft of England.

of oftrich feathers, was occafioned by a trophy of that kind, which Edward the Black Prince took from the king of Bohemia, when he was killed at the battle of Poitiers, and the motto is Ich dien, I ferve. St. David, commonly called St. Taffy, is the tutelar faint of the Welch; and his badge is a leek, which is worn on his day, the ift of March. HISTORY.] The ancient hiftory of Wales is uncertain, on account of the number of petty princes who governed it. That they were fovereign and independent, appears from the English hiftory. It was formerly inhabited by three different tribes of Britons; the Silures, the Dimetæ, and the Ordovices. These people were never entirely subdued by the Romans, though part of their country, as appears from the ruins of caftles, was bridled by garrifons. The Saxons, as has been already obferved, conquered the counties of Monmouth and Hereford, but they never penetrated farther, and the Welch remained an independent people, governed by their own princes and their own laws. About the year 870, Roderic, king of Wales, divided his dominions among his three fons; and the names of thefe divifions were, Dimetia, or South Wales; Povefia,/ or Powis land; and Venedotia, or North Wales. This divifion gave a mortal blow to the independency of Wales. About the year 1112, Henry I. of England planted a colony of Flemings on the frontiers of Wales, to ferve as a barrier to England. The Welch made many brave attempts to maintain their liberties against the Norman kings of England. In 1237, the crown of England was first fupplied with a pretext for the future conqueft of Wales; their old and infirm prince Llewellin, in order to be fafe from the perfecutions of his undutiful fon Gryffyn, having put himself under the protection of Henry III. to whom he did homage.

But no capitulation could fatisfy the ambition of Edward I. who refolved to annex Wales to the crown of England; and Llewellin, prince of Wales, difdaining the fubjection to which old Llewellin had fubmitted, Edward raised an army at a prodigious expenfe, with which he penetrated as far as Flint, and, taking poffeffion of the Isle of Anglesey, drove the Welch to the mountains of Snowdon, and obliged them to fubmit to pay a tribute. The Welch, however, made several efforts under young Llewellin; but, at last, in 1282, he was killed in battle. He was fucceeded by his brother David, the laft independent prince of Wales, who, falling into Edward's hands through treachery, was by him moft barbarously and unjustly hanged; and Edward, from that time, pretended that Wales was annexed to his crown of England. It was about this time, probably, that Edward perpetrated the inhuman maffacre of the Welch bards. Perceiving that this cruelty was not fufficient to complete his conqueft, he fent his queen, in the year 1284, to be delivered in Caernarvon caftle, that the Welch, having a prince born among themselves, might the more readily recognife his authority. This prince was the unhappy Edward II.; and from him the title of prince of Wales has always fince defcended to the eldest fons of the English kings. The hiftory of Wales and England becomes now the fame. It is proper, however, to obferve, that the kings of England have always found it their intereft to foothe the Welch with particular marks of their regard. Their eldest fons not only held their titular dignity, but actually kept a court at Ludlow; and a regalar council, with a prefident, was named by the crown, for the administration of all the affairs of the principality. This was thought fo neceffary a piece of policy, that when Henry VIII. had no fon, his daughter Mary was created princes of Wales.

ISLE OF MAN.

THE Mona mentioned by Tacitus was not this ifland, but the Isle

of Anglefey. Some think it takes its name from the Saxon word Mang (or among,) becaufe, lying in St. George's Channel, it is almoft at an equal diftance from the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland; but Mona feems to have been a generical name with the ancients for any detached island. Its length from north to fouth is rather more than thirty miles, its breadth from eight to fifteen; and the latitude of the middle of the island is fifty-four degrees fixteen minutes north. It is faid that on a clear day three Britannic kingdoms may be seen from this ifland. The air here is wholefome, and the climate, only making, an allowance for the fituation, pretty much the fame as that in the north of England, from which it does not differ much in other refpects. The hilly parts are barren, and the campaign fruitful in wheat, barley, oats, rye, flax, hemp, roots, and pulfe. The ridge of mountains, which, as it were, divide the island, both protects and fertilifes the valleys, where there is good pafturage. The better fort of inhabitants have good fizeable horses, and a small kind, which is fwift and hardy; nor are they troubled with any noxious animals. The coafts abound with fea fowl; and the puffins, which breed in rabbit holes, are almoft lumps of fat, and esteemed very delicious. It is faid that this island abounds with iron, lead, and copper mines, though unwrought; as are the quarries of marble, flate, and stone.

The file of Man contains feventeen parishes, and four towns on the fea coafts, Caftle-town is the metropolis of the island, and the feat of its government; Peele of late years begins to flourish; Douglas has the bet market and beft trade in the island, and the richest and most populous town, on account of its excellent harbour, and its fine mole, extending into the fea. It contains about 900 houfes, and is a neat pleafant town, the buildings lofty, but the streets narrow and close. Ramfey has likewife a confiderable commerce, on account of its fpacious bay, in which fhips may ride fafe from all winds, excepting the northeat. The reader, by throwing his eyes on the map, may fee how conveniently this island is fituated for being the ftorehouse of fmugglers, which it was till within thefe few years, to the inexpreffible prejudice of his Majefty's revenue; and this neceffarily leads us to touch upon the hiftory of the island.

During the time of the Scandinavian rovers on the feas, who have been before mentioned, this island was their rendez-vous, and their chief force was here collected; from whence they annoyed the Hebrides, Great Britain, and Ireland. The kings of Man are often mentioned in hiftory; and though we have no regular account of their fucceffion, and know but few of their names, yet they undoubtedly were for fome ages mafters of thofe feas. About the year 1263, Alexander II. king of Scotland, a fpirited prince, having defeated the Danes, laid claim to the fuperiority of Man, and obliged Owen or John, its king, to acknowledge him as lord paramount. It feems to have continued tributary to the kings of Scotland, till it was reduced by Edward I.; and the kings of England, from that time, exercifed the fuperiority over the ifland; though we find it ftill poffeffed by the pofterity of its Danish princes,

and bestowed it on his favourite, Montague, earl of Salisbury. His family honours and eftate being forfeited, Henry IV. bestowed Man, and the patronage of the bishoprick, firft upon the Northumberland family, and, that being forfeited, upon fir John Stanley, whofe pofterity, the earls of Derby, enjoyed it, till, by failure of heirs male, it devolved upon the duke of Athol, who married the fifter of the laft lord Derby. Reafons of ftate rendered it neceffary for the crown of Great Britain to purchase the customs of the island from the Athol family; and the bargain was completed by 70,000l. being paid to the duke in 1765. The duke, however, retains his territorial property in the ifland, though the form of its government is altered; and the king has now the fame rights, powers, and prerogatives, as the duke formerly enjoyed. The inhabitants alfo retain many of their ancient conftitutions and culems.

The established religion in Man is that of the church of England. The bishop of Sodor and Man enjoys all the fpiritual rights and preeminences of the other bithops, but does not fit in the British houfe of peers his fee never having been erected into an English barony. One of the most excellent prelates who ever adorned the epifcopal character, was Dr. Thomas Wilfon, bishop of Man, who presided over the diocefe upward of fifty-feven years, and died in the year 1755, aged ninetythree. He was eminently diftinguished for the piety and the exemplarinefs of his life, his benevolence and hofpitality, and his unremitting attention to the happiness of the people entrusted to his care. He encouraged agriculture, established fchools for the inftruction of the children of the inhabitants of the island, tranflated fome of his devotional pieces into the Manks' language, to render them more generally useful to them, and founded parochial libraries in every parish in his diocefe. Some of his notions refpecting government and church discipline were not of the most liberal kind: but his failings were fo few, and his virtues fo numerous and confpicuous, that he was a great bleffing to the Isle of Man, and an ornament to human nature: Cardinal Fleury had fo much veneration for his character, that, out of regard to him, he obtained an order from the court of France, that no privateer of that nation fhould ravage the Isle of Man.

The ecclefiaftical government is well maintained in this island, and the livings are comfortable. The language, which is called the Manks, and is fpoken by the common people, is radically Erfe, or Irish, but with a mixture of other languages. The New Teftament and the Common prayer book have been tranflated into the Manks' language. The natives, who amount to about 30,coo, are inoffenfive, charitable, and hofpitable. The better fort live in ftone houfes, and the poorer in thatched; and their ordinary bread is made of oatmeal. Their products for exportation confift of wool, hides, and tallow; which they exchange with foreign fhipping for commodities they may have occafion for from other parts. Before the fouth promontory of Man is a little island, called the Calf of Man: it is about three miles in circuit, and feparated from Man by a channel about two furlongs broad.

This iiland affords fome curiofities which may amufe an antiquary. They count chiefly of Runic fepulchral infcriptions and monuments, of ancient brafs daggers, and other weapons of that metal, and partly of pure gold, which are fometimes dug up, and feem to indicate the fplendor of its ancient poffeffors.

ISLE OF WIGHT.

THIS HIS island is fituated oppofite the coast of Hampshire, from which it is feparated by a channel, varying in breadth from two to feven miles; it is confidered as part of the county of Southampton, and is within the diocese of Winchefter. Its greatest length, extending from east to weft, measures nearly twenty-three miles; its breadth, from north to fouth, above thirteen. The air is in general healthy, particularly in the fouthern parts: the foil is various; but fo great is its fertility, that it was many years ago computed, that more wheat was grown here in one year than could be confumed by the inhabitants in eight; and it is fuppofed that its prefent produce, under the great improvements of agriculture, and the additional quantity of land lately brought into tillage, has more than kept pace with the increase of population. A range of hills, which afford fine pafture for fheep, extends from eaft to weft, through the middle of the island. The interior parts of the ifland, as well as its extremities, afford a great number of beautiful and picturefque profpects, not only in the paftoral but also in the great and romantic ftyle. Of these beauties the gentlemen of the island have availed themselves, as well in the choice of fituations for their houfes, as in their other improvements. Domeftic fowls and poultry are bred here in great numbers; the outward-bound ships and veffels at Spithead, the Mother-bank, and Cowes, commonly furnishing themfelves from this island.

Such is the purity of the air, the fertility of the foil, and the beauty and variety of the landfcapes of this ifland, that it has been called the garden of England; it has fome very fine gentlemen's feats; and it is often vifited by parties of pleasure on account of its delightful scenes.

The island is divided into thirty parishes; and, according to a very accurate calculation made in the year 1777, the inhabitants then amounted to eighteen thousand and twenty-four, exclufive of the troops quartered there. Mott of the farm-houses are built with ftone, and even the cottages appear neat and comfortable, having each its little garden. The town of Newport ftands nearly in the centre of the island, of which it may be confidered as the capital. The river Medina empties hfelf into the channel at Cowes harbour, diftant about five miles, and, being navigable up to the quay, is very commodious for trade. The three principal ftreets of Newport extend from eaft to weft, and are croffed at right angles by three others, all which are fpacious, clean, and well paved.

Carifbrook castle, in the Ifle of Wight, has been rendered remarkable by the confinement of king Charles I. who, taking refuge here, was detained a prifoner, from November 1647, to September 1648. After the execution of the king, this caftle was converted into a place of confinement for his children: and his daughter, the princefs Elizabeth, died in it. There are feveral other forts in this island, which were all erected about the 36th year of the reign of Henry VIII. when many other forts and blockhoufes were built in different parts of the coaft of England.