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erally had an important acquaintance with the doctrines and the duties of Christianity. There was an university of some reputa tion at Basil, founded in 1469, and colleges at Berne, Zurich, and Lucerne.

Cities and Towns. Basil, or Basle, is on both sides of the Rhine. A bridge connects the two parts. Its extent is capable of containing 100,000 inhabitants, and it is said to have 220 streets and 6 market places. The environs consist of fine level fields and meadows. Here were extensive manufactures of ribbands and cottons, and the trade of the place was considerable. The number of inhabitants is 15,060.

Berne stands on a peninsula formed by the Aar, the neck of which is fortified. The streets are wide, and the houses mostly of stone. The great church is a most beautiful piece of architecture. The city is of singular neatness, and beauty, and the environs are rich and fertile, presenting a prospect of hills, lawns, wood, and water, bounded at a distance by the long chain of the superior Alps. Inhabitants 13,339.

Zurich, is at the mouth of the Lake of Zurich, where its waters are discharged northwards, through the Lammat towards the Rhine. Inhabitants, in 1807, 10,353.

Climate. Many of the mountains are covered with perennial snows, and the frosts of winter are often very severe. But the summer has sufficient heat to mature the grape, though the vine harvest is rendered precarious by the occasional cold winds from the Alps. Even the corn harvest is so often injured by rains and tempests, that public granaries have been erected to supply the failure of crops. The valleys are generally warm, and such is the diversity of seasons in different parts, that the inhabitants are often reaping on one side of the mountains, when they are sowing on the other.

Face of the Country.

Switzerland is generally mountainous, but less so in the north, than in the south.

Soil and Agriculture. The valleys and plains, though generally stony, are fertile. The sides of the hills, also, with a vigorous cultivation, repay the labor of the husbandman, and perhaps in no country, except Holland, does the eye meet with more numerous proofs of persevering industry. Sufficient grain is commonly raised for home consumption. Barley is cultivated on the mountain tops; oats, rye, and spelt, require successively a warmer situation. Flax and hemp are cultivated to a considerable extent; and tobacco has lately been introduced. The vine is cultivated with most success in Berne, Schaffhausen, and the Pays de Vaud. The attention of the Swiss farmer is, however, chiefly devoted to his catɛle, and most of the fertile land is used for meadow and pasture. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, and nuts, are found every where in abundance; and, in the warmer districts, peaches, almonds, figs, and pomegranates.

Rivers. The Rhine and the Rhone, already described, pass through Switzerland.

The Aar pursues a winding course towards the N. W. through

the lake of Thun, to Aarburg; then turning to the N. E. and receiving the waters of the lake of Neufchatel, and being joined by the Reuss and the Limmat, falls into the Rhine, opposite Waldshut, after a course of 150 miles. The Reuss issues from Mount St. Gothard, and passing through the lake of Lucern, runs N. to the Aar, a course of 80 miles. The Limmat, running 20 miles, enters the lake of Zurich; from which it runs about the same distance, and joins the Aar, a little below the Reuss.

The Thur runs westward, and joins the Rhine below Schaffhausen. The Tessino falls into the lake of Maggiore.

Lakes. The lakes of Switzerland are numerous and interesting. The most considerable are those of Constance on the N. E. and Geneva on the S. W. The former is about 45 miles in length, and in some places 15 in breadth. It is a beautiful expanse of water.

The lake of Geneva extends in the form of a crescent, about 40 miles in length, and 9 at its greatest breadth. The beauties of this lake have been celebrated by Rousseau; but would be considerably increased if it were sprinkled with islands.

Mountains. The Alps, the most celebrated of the mountains of antiquity, pass between Piedmont, on the E. and France and Savoy on the W. through Switzerland, and between Italy on the S. W. and Germany on the N. E. till they terminate at the gulf of Carnero, on the E. of Istria. The whole length of the chain is about 550 miles. Different parts of it have received different names, but the common name of Alps has been extended to the whole. The highest eminence of this chain is Mont Blanc, separ ating the N. W. corner of Piedmont from Savoy. Its summit and sides, to the depth of 4000 feet perpendicular, are covered with perpetual ice and snow. The first, who explored its summit, was Mr. De Saussure, of Geneva, in 1787. Sir George Shuckburgh measured its height with great accuracy, and found it to be 15,662 feet above the ocean, a greater elevation than that of any measur ed mountain in the old world.

The Helvetic Alps are a ridge north of the Rhone, and running nearly parallel with the principal chain. The chief eminences be tween the Rhone and Mount St. Gothard, are Gemmi, Jungfrau, Sehreckhorn, and Finsteraar, 13,218 feet high.

Mineralogy. The mountains contain iron, sulphur, and crystal. The last is found in pieces weighing from 7 to 800 weight, Rock salt is found in the canton of Berne. Granite, porphyry, as bestos, jaspers, and agates are abundant in the Alps. Tremolite has its name from mount Tremola, near St. Gothard.

GENEVA.

GENEVA is situated at the southern extremity of the lake of this name, where, contracting, it forms the Rhone. The inhabitants became christians in the 3d century. In 1535, the doctrines of the reformation were established, and the celebrated Calvin here found a safe retreat from the persecution of the Catholics. The territory belonging to the republic comprised about 60 square

miles; and the population was 30,000. The city of Geneva itself, contained, in 1802, 23,309 inhabitants. The Rhone divides it into two unequal parts. The town and territory are now an integral part of France.

SPANISH EMPIRE.

THE Spanish, like the British Empire, embraces portions of territory in all the four quarters of the globe.

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African Presidencies, Ceuta, Melilla, and a few other cities.

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Extent. SPAIN lies between lon. 9 17 30 W. and 3 45 E. and

between lat. 36 6 30, and 43 46 30 N. niles; and its greatest breadth 530. according to Hassel, is 195,510.

Its greatest length, is 620 The number of square miles,

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Boundaries. Spain is bounded N. by the bay of Biscay and France; E. by the Mediterranean; S. by the same and the Atlantic; W. by Portugal and the Atlantic.

Divisions. The following we believe to be an accurate account. of the divisions and subdivisions of Spain, with the extent and the population of each in 1787; together with the number of cities, boroughs, villages, and parishes.

Provinces.

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Biscay,

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Historical Epochs. The following are the chief epochs in Span-ish history.

1. The original settlement by the Celts, and then by the Mauri. 2. The Carthagenian conquest of Spain about the time of the first Punic War.

3. The Roman dominion, which lasted from B. C. 196 to A. D..

4. The domination of the northern barbarians.

5. The domination of the Saracens.

6. The union of the crowns of Castille and Arragon by the marFiage of Isabella and Ferdinand, in 1474.

7. The reign of the emperor Charles V. which began in 1517. The power of Spain was now at its zenith.

8. The conquest of Portugal by Philip II. of Spain, and I. of Portugal, in 1580, soon after the defeat of the Portuguese, in Africa, by Muley Moloch. The Spaniards found their conquest an unquiet possession during the 60 years of its subjugation. In 1640, John, duke of Braganza, put himself at the head of the Portuguese, who unanimously shook off the Spanish yoke, and bravely achieved their independence.

9. The termination of the Austrian dynasty by the death of Charles II. November 1, 1700: and the accession of the house of Bourbon, in the person of Philip, grandson of Louis XIV.

10. The kidnapping of the Spanish royal family at Bayonne, in the spring of 1808, by the French emperor, and the subsequent attempt to impose his brother Joseph on the Spaniards, in the room of Ferdinand VII. the lawful monarch.

11. The liberation of Spain from the usurped dominion of France, 1813.

Religion. The Catholic is almost the only religion known or tolerated in Spain, and is here exercised in all its ceremonial orthodoxy. The court of inquisition, instituted in 1478, by Ferdinand the catholic, was long invested with exorbitant power, a power exercised with a degree of intolerance and cruelty known in no other country but Portugal. The high court was at Madrid, and 8 subordinate courts were scattered over the kingdom. This baleful and detestable court was abolished by the government in 1813. There are in Spain 8 archbishoprics, 48 bishoprics, 117 cathedrals, 18,537 parishes, 2146 monasteries, and 1023 nunneries. The revenues of the archbishoprics are very great. That of Toledo is about £90,000 sterling. The whole number of clergy, in 1787, was 188,625, of whom 22,460 were parish priests, and their assistants; 69,617 monks; 32,500 nuns; and 2,705 inquisitors.

Government. The government was a despotic monarchy, balanced however by the power of the church, and tempered by many councils, who were responsible for the success of their own

measures.

Population. The census of 1787 gave a population of 10,268,150. Hassel estimated it in 1809, at 10,396,000. Since that time it must have been seriously diminished by the indiscriminate carnage occasioned by the armies of France.

The government of Spain, during her struggle for independence, has undergone several changes, and is still in a revolutionary and unsettled state.

The census of 1787 exceeded that of 1768-9, by 960,346 souls. Army. In 1806, the army amounted to 153,840 men, under the command of a generalissimo, 5 captain-generals, 92 lieutenantgenerals, 136 major-generals, and 225 brigadiers. Since the rev

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