Yorkshire is divided into three parts called Ridings, which are subdivided into wapentakes. The principal towns, with their populations in 1881, are- London, 3,814,571; Liverpool, 552,425; Manchester and Salford 517,741; Birmingham, 400.757; Leeds, 309.126.

The established religion is the Protestant Episcopal, but the most complete toleration is extended to all other religious sects. There are two archbishops and twenty-nine bishops. The number of benefices is about 13,500, and of clergy of every class about 23,000. The number of adherents is estimated at over 13,000,000, and the revenues from every source are probably little short of £8,000,000 annually. The principal of the other sects are Methodists, Independents, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Unitarians. The average school attendance is 2,595,000.

England was known to the Phoenicians, who resorted hither for tin, at least four centuries before the Christian era. The aboriginal inhabitants were Celts, who inhabited the country when it was invaded by Cæsar, B.C. 55. It was abandoned by the Romans early in the fifth century, and subsequently was overrun by the Anglo-Saxons, the Celtic inhabitants being driven into the remote and mountainous regions of Wales and Cornwall. The Saxons formed seven kingdoms called the Heptarchy, each of which had its separate chief, till they all became united under one head. The country was subsequently invaded by the Danes; and finally came under the power of the Normans, after the battle of Hastings, in 1066. Thus the popula tion of England is a mixed Celtic, German, and Norman one, and characteristics of each are to be found combined in the national character.

SCOTLAND comprises the northern and smaller portion of Great Britain, and measures in length from north to south 275 miles, with breadth varying from 30 to 175 miles. Area 30,460 square miles. Population (1881) 3,734,441.

The surface of the country, as compared with England, is generally speaking rugged and mountainous, and even where least mountainous is commonly varied with hill and dale. With the exception of a few rich alluvial tracts, there are no extensive plains. The principal mountain chain is that of the Grampians, which extends from N.E. to S.W. across the country. It contains the loftiest summits in Britain, the highest being Ben Nevis (4,406) and Ben Macdhui (4,296). South of the Grampians and running parallel to them is the range of the Sidlaw, Ochil, and Campsie hills. South of these, and separated from them by the Forth basin, are the Lammermuir and Pentland hills; while on the border, and situated partly in England and partly in Scotland, are the Cheviots.

The principal rivers are the Tweed, valuable for its fisheries; the Forth, which has a very winding course, and is navigable to Sterling; the Tay, which is navigable to Perth, and said to discharge a greater quantity of water than any other in Britain; the rapid Dee and Spey,

from the Grampians; and the Clyde, commercially the most important river in Scotland, and navigable to Glasgow. The lakes are numerous, the principal being Loch Lomond (the largest in Britain, twenty-four miles in length), Loch Awe, Loch Tay, Loch Rannoch, Loch Ericht Loch Ness. The coast is much broken by arms of the sea, so that the coast-line is not less than 2,500 miles in length.

The most important mineral productions are coal and iron. The great coal-fields extend through the middle of the country from the eastern to the western coast, on both sides of the rivers Forth and Clyde. Annual produce about 18.000.000 tons. Iron is largely found in the coal districts, especially in Lanarkshire. In addition to these, lead, copper, silver, gold, antimony, cobalt, manganese, etc., are found. Slate, limestone, sandstone, and granite are common.

Agriculture has here attained a high state of perfection, and in some parts is not surpassed in any other country. The principal crops are wheat, oats, barley, beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, etc. The manufactures are similar to those of England. The chief seats of the cotton manufacture are Glasgow and Paisley. The woollen manufacture is carried on in Galashiels, Hawick, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Aberdeen. The linen manufacture has its chief seat in Dundee, but is also largely carried on in Forfar, Arbroath, Montrose, and Aberdeen. The fisheries on the coast are extensive and valuable. There are 2,900 miles of railway in operation, and 3,800 miles of turnpike roads, besides navigable rivers and canals. The principal towns, with their populations in 1881, are Edinburgh, 228,190; Glasgow, 511,532; Dundee, 142,454; Aberdeen, 105,054.

The established religion is Presbyterian, governed by kirk sessions, presbyteries, synods, and a general assembly held annually in Edinburgh. Probably about one-half of the population belong to the Established Church. The most powerful of the dissenting bodies is the Free Church, which separated itself from the Establishment in 1843. Then follow the United Presbyterians, and after them Indepen dents, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, etc. Education is widely diffused among all classes, and the average school attendance is 385,00,

Scotland was originally independent, and governed by her own kings till the accession of James VI. to the English throne in 1603, when the whole of Britain came under the dominion of one sovereign. The complete union of the two countries was effected in 1707.

IRELAND lies west of Britain, from which it is separated by St. George's Channel, the Irish Sea, and the North Channel, and on the north, west, and south is washed by the Atlantic. It is rhomboidal in shape, and is 225 miles in length from north to south, by 174 in greatest breadth. Area 32,524 square miles. Popa lation (1881) 5,159,839.

The north, west, and south coasts are indented with numerous deep and safe bays, and the islands are numerous but small in size. The

greater part of the surface is flat, interspersed here and there with low hills. There are few mountains, but some of them attain a considerable elevation. The principal are the Mourne mountains, in Down county; the mountains surrounding Clew Bay, in Mayo county; Macgillicuddy's Reeks, in Kerry county (of which Carran Tual is the highest point in Ireland, being 3,414 feet); and the Wicklow mountains. The rivers are numerous, the principal being the Shannon, 254 miles long, and navigable for nearly the whole of its course. Among the others are the Suir, Barrow, Nore, Blackwater,. Slaney, Boyne, Foyle, Erne, Lee, Bandon, Bann, and Moy. The lakes or loughs are numerous, the largest being Loughs Neagh, Erne, Corrib, and Mask. The lakes of Killarney are noted for their scenery.

The climate is mild and temperate, but moist, and more suited for pasture than agriculture. Hence the brilliancy of its verdure, which has gained for it the name of the "Emerald Isle." The soil in general is of great fertility, but from lack of energy and bad management it is not turned to the best account. The majority of the holdings are small. The principal crops are wheat, oats, barley, rye, beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, carrots, and flax. About oneseventh of the total area of the island is occupied by turf or peat bogs. The country is rich in minerals, but they are not taken advantage of as they might be. Coal and iron are widely distributed, but of the former only about 130,000 tons are raised annually. The other minerals are copper, lead, silver, gold, zinc, antimony, tin, salt, sulphur, etc. The manufactures are chiefly woollen, linen, and cotton staffs, silk, sewed muslins, paper, spirits. The surrounding seas abound with fish. Length of railways 2,290 miles.

Ireland is divided into four provinces-Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, and Munster; and these are subdivided into thirty-two counties. The chief towns are Dublin (which has a popula tion of 338,579), Belfast, and Cork. About four-fifths of the population are Roman Catholics, under the superintendence of four archbishops and twenty-six bishops. Only about one-tenth of the people belong to the Protestant Episcopal Church, which previous to 1871, when it was disestablished, was the established religion of the country. The Presbyterians number about 485,000 adherents.

Ireland was conquered by England in the twelfth century, but remained a distinct king. dom till 1801, when it was joined with England and Scotland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The executive government is vested in a lord-lieutenant, who must be a peer, assisted by a privy council appointed by the crown, and by a chief secretary, a member of the house of commons.

THE UNITED KINGDOM.-The form of government is a limited monarchy, consisting of the sovereign and the two houses of parliament, lords and commons, without whose joint approval no legislative measure is complete. The executive power is nominally vested in the sovereign, who summons and dissolves

299

parliament; but on the principle that "the king can do no wrong," the ministers of the crown are responsible for the acts of the sovereign. The house of lords at present consists of six princes of the blood royal, two archbishops and twenty-four bishops, 426 English peers, sixteen Scotch and twentyeight Irish representative peers,-in all 502 members. The house of commons is composed of 658 members, being 493 for England and Wales, 60 for Scotland, and 105 for Ireland. In 1881 the public revenue amounted to £84,041,288, the gross expenditure to £83,107,924; while the national debt was £768,703,692. The regular army numbered 188,958 men; the volunteers, 206,537; militia, 137,971; and the navy, 79,250 men, boys, and marines.

The total number of vessels registered at the different ports are:-Sailing vessels 32,622, tonnage 5,729,095; steam vessels 6,629, tonnage 2,733,269. The total number of vessels that entered the different ports in 1879 was 351,238, tonnage 65,706,633; that cleared, 314,351, tonnage 60,705,578. The total im. ports amounted to £362,991,875, of which wheat and other kinds of grain £52,000,000; raw cotton £36,000,000; silk manufactures £12,000,000; wood and timber £10,000,000; sugar £22,000,000; wool £23,000,000; tea £11,000,000; butter £10,000,000; beef, bacon, and hams £10,000,000; living animals, oxen, sheep, etc., £7,000,000. The total exports were:-£248,783,364, of which £182,274,391 were produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom. The chief items were cotton yarn and cotton manufactures £60,000,000; iron and steel wares £19,000,000; woollen and worsted goods £15,000,000; coal £7,000,000; linen manufactures £5,000,000. In 1880 the total imports were £411.230,000, the exports £286,414,000. The imports are chiefly from the United States of America, France, British India, Australia. Germany, Holland, Russia, China, and Belgium; the exports chiefly to Germany, France, the United States of America, British India, Australia, Holland, Belgium, and Russia.

Great Britain, with its numerous dependencies, has an area of 8,982,000 square miles, and a population of 303,000,000.

A map of Great Britain and Ireland will be found
on p. 330.

by high-handed decrees of the Court of High Commission and the Star Chamber. Monopolies, a great and standing grievance, were increased, until the names of such men as Sir Giles Mompesson (the original of Massinger's Sir Giles Overreach in the "New Way to pay Old Debts") became hateful to the nation. An aged clergyman, Peachum, was cruelly tortured by means of the rack, and was left to die in prison, for having written a sermon against the king's misrule. The Puritans were greatly mortified and incensed at a proclamation published in 1618, allowing public sports on Sundays, after divine service; and the temper of the powerful sect was shown in the emigration of the Pilgrim Fathers, who, in 1620, preferred to quit their country and seek new homes beyond the western main, rather than submit to the harsh rule imposed on them in their native land.

But the part of the king's policy which aroused the greatest indignation in England was the approximation of James towards Spain, a country held in detestation from the time of Mary and Attempt to Philip II., conciliate Spain.

downwards. The king now endeavoured to conciliate the Spanish government by various expedients, the meanest of which was the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh on the sentence pronounced in the Main plot fifteen years before. Ostensibly the execution was in consequence of Raleigh's failure in Guiana; in reality the whole nation saw in it an unkingly endeavour to give satisfaction to Spain.

At length, in 1621, a parliament met; and in no friendly humour. The king had given great offence by

prison, for expressing his joy at the expuls of "goodman Palsgrave" and "goodwife Pal grave" from Prague. In the next session the commons took upon themselves boldly to point out to the king the inconveniences and injuries that would arise from the marriage of the Prince of Wales to a Roman Catholic princess: for upon a Spanish marriage the king had set his heart. They also drew attention to the increase of popery in the country; for James had greatly abated the rigour of the laws against the Roman Catholics. The angry admonitions of the king to the house, exhorting the members not to meddle with state mysteries, produced the celebrated Protestation, in which the commons utterly repudiated the king's assertion that their privileges depended only on the grace and favour of the monarch; declaring that the liberties, franchises, and jurisdictions of parliament are the ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England. They especially vindicated the right of freedom of speech and of

his Spanish policy, by which he hoped to exhibit a triumph of kingcraft. Since 1618 the Thirty Years' War had been raging on the Continent. The Count Palatine Frederick, the "winter king of Bohemia," was the husband of James's daughter Elizabeth. That unhappy prince had been deprived of his palatinate, and was now a fugitive. Deceived by Spanish cunning, King James had expected to gain by diplomacy a favourable settlement of his sonin-law's claims, and was grievously duped. The parliament was determined, moreover, to obtain the redress of grievMompesson and Mitchell. ances. Mompesson and Mitchell were punished by fine and imprisonment. The great chancellor, Francis Bacon, impeached for bribery, made an abject submission, and thereby probably saved himself from total ruin. The bias of the parliament towards upholding the cause of the Protestants on the Continent, was further seen in the outrageously severe sentence of a £5,000 fine, with whipping, pillorying, and perpetual imprisonment, passed upon a Roman Catholic gentleman named Hoyd, a captive in the Fleet

Parliamentary

Protest of

1619.

remonstrance, and the immunity of members against arrest. Highly incensed st this display of spirit, James sent for the journals on which the protestations had been entered, tore out the leaves that contained the obnoxious declarations, and soon after dissolved the parliament, committing several of the leading members to prison.

The intended Spanish match, however, resulted in a Spanish war. By a judicions display of re- War with Spain. luctance, the

Spanish court had obtained from the king great and im portant concessions, including a promise not only to suspend the execution of the penal laws against the Romanists, bat to procure their abrogation by the parliament But then came the project of "Steenie" to carry off "Baby Charles" to Madrid, to claim the bride, as James in his younger days had taken away his queen, Anne, from Denmark. Then followed the complications at the Spanish court; the quarrel of the haughty English favourite with the Count de Olivarez, at that time all-powerful at Madrid. Buckingham, seeing his own power and popu larity at stake if the marriage took place, lent his efforts to break off the match, and sacceeded; the whole blame being thrown on the Spanish court before the next parliament, both by the duke and the prince. Then, to the great joy of the people, war was declared against Spain; and shortly before his death the weak king prepared to take an active part in the regaining of the palatinate, a purpose for which the commons granted £300,000. At the same time an act was passed declaring all monopolies illegal; and thus a great point of difference was definitely settled to the advantage of the nation.

make no more blunders; for at Portsmouth, as he was preparing to embark, he fell beneath the dagger of Felton, a moody discharged officer, to whom he had given offence.

Meanwhile the later supply, obtained by a general forced loan-paid with a very bad

Third parliament.

grace by a discontented nation, among whom many individuals suffered imprisonment rather than contribute their share-had been com

pletely exhausted, and a fresh sum was imperatively needed. Accordingly, in March, 1628, a third parliament was called. The new house of commons included many men of wealth and influence, sternly determined to oppose the despotic proceedings of the king, and to uphold the liberty of the English nation. There had been many acts of arbitrary power which had excited disquietude and anxiety: besides the collection of unauthorised taxes, the billeting of soldiers in private houses had been a grave source of complaint. Martial law was applied to the punishment of ordinary offences. Members of parliament and others who had freely expressed their opinions as to the illegality of forced loans, and of other proceedings of the government, had been committed to prison.

Such were the very sufficient reasons that induced the parliament to draw up and present to the king that famous Petition The Petition of Right, which has with justice of Right. been termed the second Magna Charta. The king, in consideration of five subsidies voted to him, gave his assent to this document, and thus bound himself to abstain from levying taxes without the consent of parliament, from billeting soldiers in private houses, from trying citizens by martial law, and from imprisoning any man, except in due course of law.

ARITHMETIC.

XXXVI.

DOUBLE RULE OF THREE.

IN questions in the Rule of Three we are given three things from which to find a fourth. Similar questions may be set in which we are given five things to find a sixth, or seven things to find an eighth, and so on. Each question can be solved by a method analogous to the Rule of Three, called Double or Compound Rule of Three.

In these cases, as in Simple Rule of Three, the required quantity and one of the given quantities must form a pair of quantities of the same kind, while the remaining given quantities must fall into pairs of other kinds. Also, as in the Rule of Three, the kind of quantity which forms any of the latter pair must be proportional, directly or inversely, to the quantity of the former kind.

Example. If 18 men, working 8 hours a

day, earn £20 a week, how much a week will 150 men earn, working 6 hours a day?

Here the required thing is earnings, which is the same kind of thing as the £20; the 18 men and the 150 men form a pair of things of one kind, and the 8 hours and 6 hours are a pair of things of another kind. Also the amount of earnings is directly proportional to the number of men, and it is also directly proportional to the number of hours of work

i.e., the earnings will increase in proportion to the number of men if the number of hours remain the same, and in proportion to the number of hours of work if the number of men remains the same.

This and all similar examples may be solved by two or more Rule of Three statements, which are eventually compounded into one simple statement (hence the name Compound Rule of Three).

First we may ask-Supposing the number of hours to remain the same in both cases, how much would 150 men earn when 18 men earn £20? Clearly the answer to this question is given by the Rule of Three statement

18:150 20: required sum,

which gives the required sum = £20 × 15 i.e., 150 men, working 8 hours a day, would earn this much. But we require to know how much 150 men would earn working 6, not 8, hours. Clearly the answer to this is given by the statement

We see, therefore, that such a question as this really consists of two Rule of Three questions. Statement (1) is made on the supposition that the number of hours is the same for both sets of men; and statement (2) is made on the supposition that the number of men remains the same while the number of hours of work is different.

We can now understand the following rule:Arrange the quantities corresponding to the two suppositions in two lines, placing quantities of the same kind under one another, thusmen. hours. £ 18 S 20 150 6

Make the required quantity the 4th term of a statement, and the given quantity of the same kind the 3rd term. Take the first pair of quantities of the same kind, and having reduced