two friends to the western ifles and parts of Scotland, where his fatigues and fufferings were as inexpreffible, as the courage with which he and his few friends bore them (the lord Douglas efpecially) was incredible. Though his wife and daughters were fent prifoners to England, where the best of his friends and two of his brothers were put to death, yet fuch was his perfevering fpirit, that he recovered all Scotland, excepting the caftle of Stirling, and improved every advantage that was given him by the diffipated conduct of Edward II. who raised an army more numerous and better appointed than that of his father, to make a total conqueft of Scotland. It is fad that it confifted of 100,000 men, though this has been fuppofed to be an exaggerated computation: however, it is admitted that the army of Bruce did not exceed 30,000; but all of them veterans, who had been bred up in a detefta. tion of tyranny.

Edward, who was not deficient in point of courage, led his powerful army towards Stirling, then befieged by Bruce, who had chofen, with the greatest judgment, a camp near Bannockburn. The chief officers under Edward were, the earls of Gloucefter, Hereford, Pembroke, and fir Giles Argenton. Thofe under Bruce were, his own brother fir Edward, who, next to himself, was reckoned to be the best knight in Scotland, his nephew, Randolph, earl of Murray, and the young lord Walter, high-steward of Scotland. Edward's attack of the Scotch army was exceedingly furious, and required all the courage and firmnefs of Bruce and his friends to refift it, which they did fo effectually, that they gained one of the most complete victories that is recorded in hiftory. The great lofs of the English fell upon the bravest part of their troops, who were led on by Edward in perfon against Bruce himself. The Scotch writers make the lofs of the English to amount to 50,000 men. There certainly never was a more total defeat, though the conquerors loft 4000. The flower of the English nobility were either killed or taken prifoners. Their camp, which was immensely rich, and calculated for the purpose rather of a triumph than a campaign, fell into the hands of the Scots; and Edward himself, with a few followers, favoured by the goodness of their horfes, were purfued by Douglas to the gates of Berwick, from whence he escaped in a fifhing-boat. This great and decifive battle happened in the year 1314 *.

The remainder of Robert's reign was a series of the most glorious fucceffes and fo well did his nobility understand the principles of civil liberty, and fo unfettered were they by religious confiderations, that, in a letter they fent to the pope, they acknowledged that they had fet afide Baliol for debafing the crown, by holding it of England; and that they would do the fame by Robert, if he fhould make the like attempt. Robert, having thus delivered Scotland, fent his brother Edward to Ire land, at the head of an army, with which he conquered the greatest part of that kingdom, and was proclaimed its king; but by expofing himfelf too much, he was killed. Robert, before his death, made an ad

That the Scots of thofe days were better acquainted with Mars than the Muses, may be feen from a fcoffing ballad made on this memorable victory, which beginą as follows:

Maydens of England fore may you mourn,
For zour lemans zou have loft af Bannockburn.

With heve a low !

What ho! ween'd the king of England,

So foon to have won all Scotland?

With rumby low.

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vantageous peace with England: and died in 1328, with the character of being the greateft hero of his age.

The glory of the Scots may be faid to have been in its zenith under Robert I. who was fucceeded by his fon David II. He was a virtuous prince; but his abilities, both in war and peace, were eclipfed by his brother-in-law and enemy, Edward III. of England, whofe fifter he married. Edward, who was as eager as any of his predeceffors to effect the conqueft of Scotland, efpoufed the caufe of Baliol, fon to Baliol the original competitor. His progrefs was at firft amazingly rapid, and he and Edward defeated the royal party in many bloody battles; but Baliol was at last driven out of his ufurped kingdom by the Scotch patriots. David had the misfortune to be taken prifoner by the English at the battle of Durham; and, after continuing above eleven years in captivity, paid 100,000 marks for his ranfom; and died in peace, without iffue, in the year 1371.

The crown of Scotland then devolved upon the family of Stuart, by its head having been married to the daughter of Robert I. The first king of that name was Robert II. a wife and brave prince. He was fucceeded by his fon Robert III. whofe age and infirmities difqualified him from reigning; fo that he was forced to truft the government to his brother, the duke of Albany, an ambitious prince, who feems to have had an intention to procure the crown for his own family. Robert, upon this, attempted to fend his fecond fon to France; but he was most ungeneroutly intercepted by Henry IV. of England; and, after fuffering a long captivity, he was obliged to pay an exorbitant ranfom. During the imprifonment of James in England, the military glory of the Scots was carried to its greatest height in France, where they fupported that tottering monarchy against England, and their generals obtained fome of the firft titles of the kingdom.

James, the firit of that name, upon his return to Scotland, difcovered great talents for government, enacted many wife laws, and was beloved by the people. He had received an excellent education in England during the reigns of Henry IV. and V. where he faw the feudal fyftem refined from many of the imperfections which still adhered to it in his own kingdom; he determined therefore to abridge the overgrown power of the nobles, and to recover fuch lands as had been unjustly wretted from the crown during his minority and the preceding reigns; but the execution of thefe defigns coft him his life; he being murdered in his bed by fome of the chief nobility in 1437, and the forty-forth year of his age.

A long minority fucceeded; but James II. would probably have equalled the greatef of his ancestors both in warlike and civil virtues, had he not been fuddenly killed by the accidental bursting of a cannon, in the thirtieth year of his age, as he was befieging the cafile of Roxburgh, which was defended by the English.

Sufpicion, indolence, immoderate attachment to females, and many of the errors of a feeble mind, are visible in the conduct of James III. and his turbulent reign was clofed by a rebellion of his fubjects, being flain in battle, in 1488, aged thirty-five.

His fon, James IV. was the most accomplished prince of the age: he was naturally generous and brave: he loved magnificence, he delighted in war, and was eager to obtain fame. He encouraged and protected the commerce of his fubjects, fo that they greatly increafed in riches; and the court of James, at the time of his marriage with Henry VII.', daughter, was fplendid and refpectable. Even this alliance could not

cure him of his family diftemper, a predilection for the French, in whose cause he rafhly entered, and was killed, with the flower of his nobility, by the English, in the battle of Flodden, anno 1513, and the fortieth of his age.

The minority of his fon, James V. was long and turbulent; and when he grew up, he married two French ladies; the first being daughter to the king of France, and the latter of the houfe of Guife. He inttituted the court of feffion, enacted many falutary laws, and greatly promoted the trade of Scotland, particularly the working of the mines. At this time the balance of power was to equally poifed between the contend ing princes of Europe, that James's friendship was courted by the pope, the emperor, the king of France, and his uncle Henry VIII. of England, from all whom he received magnificent prefents. But James took little fhare in foreign affairs; he feemed rather to imitate his predeceffors in their attempts to humble the nobility: and the doctrines of the reformation beginning to be propagated in Scotland, he permitted, at the inftigation of the clergy, a religious perfecution; though it is generally believed, that, had he lived longer, he would have feized all the church revenues, in imitation of Henry. Having rather flighted fome friendly overtures made to him by the king of England, and thereby given great umbrage to that prince, a war at length broke out between them. A large army, under the command of the duke of Norfolk, entered Scotland, and ravaged the country north of_the Tweed. After this fhort expedition, the English army retired to Berwick. Upon this the king of Scotland fent ten thousand men to the western borders, who entered England at Solway-Frith; and he himfelf followed them at a fmall diftance, ready to join them upon occafion. He foon after gave great offence to the nobility and the army, by imprudently depriving their general, lord Maxwell, of his commiffion, and conferring the command on Oliver Sinclair, a private gentleman who was his favourite. The army were fo much difgufted with this alteration, that they were ready to difband, when a small body of English horfe appeared, not exceeding five hundred. A panic feized the Scots, who immediately took to flight, fuppofing themfelves to be attacked by the whole body of the English army. The English horse, feeing them flee with fuch precipitation, clofely pursued them, and flew great numbers, taking prifoners feven lords, two hundred gentlemen, and eight hundred foldiers, with twenty-four pieces of ordnance. This difafter fo much affected king James, that it threw him into a fit of illness, of which he soon after died, on the 14th of December, 1542.

His daughter and fucceffor, Mary, was but a few hours old at the time of her father's death. Her beauty, her misconduct, and her miffortunes, are alike famous in hiftory. It is fufficient here to fay, that, during her minority, and while fhe was wife to Francis II. of France, the reformation advanced in Scotland; that being called to the throne of her ancestors while a widow, fhe married her own coufin-german, the lord Darnley, whofe untimely death has given rife to fo much controverfy. The confequence of her hufband's death, and of her marriage with Bothwell, who was confidered as his murderer, was an infurrection of her fubjects, from whom the fled into England, where he was ungenerously detained a prifoner for eighteen years, and afterwards, on motives of ftate-policy, beheaded by queen Elizabeth in 1587, in the forty-fixth year of her age.

Mary's fon, James VI. of Scotland, fucceeded, in right of his blood

from Henry VII. upon the death of queen Elizabeth, to the English crown, after showing confiderable abilities in the government of Scotland. This union of the two crowns, in fact, deftroyed the independency, as it impoverished the people, of Scotland for, the feat of govern. ment being removed to England, their trade was checked, their agri. culture neglected, and their gentry obliged to feek for fituations in other countries. James, after a fplendid but troublesome reign over his three kingdoms, left them, in 1625, to his fon, the unfortunate Charles I. That prince by his defpotic principles and conduct induced both his Scottish and English fubjects to take up arms againft him; and, indeed, it was in Scotland that the fword was first drawn against Charles. But when the royal party was totally defeated in England, the king put himself into the power of the Scottifli army; they at first treated him with respect, but afterwards delivered him up to the English parliament, on condition of their paying 400,000 pounds to the Scots, which was faid to be due to them for arrears. However, the Scots afterwards made feveral bloody but unfuccessful attempts to reftore his fon, Charles II. That prince was finally defeated by Cromwell, at the battle of Worcester, 1651, after which, to the time of his reftoration, the common-wealth of England and the protector gave law to Scotland.

The state of parties in England, at the acceffion of queen Anne, was fuch, that the Whigs once more had recourfe to the Scots, and offered them their own terms, if they would agree to the incorporate union as it now ftands. It was long before the majority of the Scotch parliament would liften to the propofal: but, at laft, partly from conviction, and partly through the effects of money diftributed among the needy nobility, it was agreed to; fince which event, the history of Scotland becomes the fame with that of England.

BOUNDARIES.

Great Britain contains 79,712 fquare miles, with 119 inhabitants to each. CLIMATE AND THE longeft day in the northern parts contains 17 hours and 30 minutes; and the shortest in the southern near eight hours. It is bounded on the North by that part of the inland called Scotland; on the Eaft by the German Ocean; on the Weft by St. George's Channel; and on the South by the English Channel, which parts it from France; and contains 49,450 square miles.

The fituation, by the fea wathing it on three fides, renders England liable to a great uncertainty of weather, fo that the inhabitants on part of the fea-coafts are often vifited by agues and fevers. On the other hand it prevents the extremes of heat and cold, to which other places,. lying in the fame degree of latitude, are fubject; and it is, on that ac

evant, friendly to the longevity of the inhabitants in general, especially thofe who live on a dry foil. To this fituation likewife we are to afcribe that perpetual verdure for which England is remarkable, occafioned by refreshing fhowers and the warm vapours of the fea.

NAME AND DIVISIONS, ANCIENT AND MODERN.

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Antiquaries are divided with regard to the etymology of the word England; fome derive it from a Celtic word, fignifying a level country, but the common etymology appears to be preferable, according to which it is derived from Anglen, a province now fubject to his Danish majefty, which furnished a great part of the original Saxon adventurers into this ifland. In the time of the Romans, the whole ifland went by the name of Britannia. The word Brit, according to Mr. Camden, fignified painted or ftained; the ancient inhabitants being famous for painting their bodies: other antiquaries, however, do not agree in this etymology. The western tract of England, which is almoft feparated from the reft by the rivers Severn and Dee, is called Wales, or the land of ftrangers, because inhabited by the Belgic Gauls, who were driven thither by the Romans, and were ftrangers to the old natives.

When the Romans provinciated England, they divided it into,

1. Britannia Prima, which contained the fouthern parts of the kingdom.

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2. Britannia Secunda, containing the western parts, comprehending Wales. And

3. Maxima Cæfarienfis, which reached from the Trent far northward as the wall of Severus, between Newcastle and Carlisle, and fometimes as far as that of Adrian in Scotland, between the Forth and Clyde.

To thefe divifions fome add the Flavia Cæfarienfiş, which they fuppofe to contain the midland counties.

When the Saxons invaded England, about the year 450, and when they were established in the year 582, their chief leaders appropriated to themselves, after the manner of other northern conquerors, the countries which each had been the most inftrumental in conquering; and the whole formed a heptarchy, or political confederacy, confifting of feven kingdoms. In time of war, a chief was chosen from the feven kings, by public confent; fo that the Saxon heptarchy appears to have somewhat refembled the conftitution of Greece, during the heroic ages.

Kingdoms erected by the Saxons, ufually flyled the Saxon Heptarchy.