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violable sanctuary; and that the possessions of St. Cuthbert and his church, as well such as were at that time, or theretofore granted, as those which might thereafter be acquired by purchase or otherwise, should be for ever freed and discharged from all customs and services, and should be held and enjoyed by the church, with all such sovereign jurisdiction and power as the demesne of the crown was held; and this was confirmed by the acclamations of the assenting people, assembled on this solemn occasion; and became an ordinance established for ever. This was the origin of the "Jura regalia," which dignifies the "Palatine of Durham." Durham is derived from Dunholme, Bishop, and Earl of Sandberg.

PACIFIC OCEAN,

Otherwise called the South Sea, lying between Asia and America, and upwards of 10,000 miles in breadth. When Magellan entered this ocean, through the dangerous strait that bears his name, he sailed three months and twenty days in a uniform direction to the N.W., without discovering land, and enjoyed such uninterrupted fair weather, with fair winds, that he gave the ocean the name of Pacific.

POLAND.

The name Poland is said to be derived from the Sclavonian word Pole, which signifies plain and even, as is the face of this country. Some derive it from Polachi, which signifies the posterity of Lechus, who is held to be the founder of this monarchy.

PALESTINE,

It was called Palestine from the Philistines, who inhabited the sea coasts. It was also called Judea, from Juda; and the Holy Land, from our Saviour's residence and sufferings; and it is called Canaan, and the Promised Land, in the Scriptures. It is 150 miles in length, and 80 in breadth; and in the time of Solomon, it seems to have extended from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Euphrates. As a part of Asiatic Turkey, it is bounded by Mount Lebanus, which divides it from Syria on the north; by Mount Herman, which separates it from Arabia de Serta, on the east; by the moun. tains of Seir, and the desarts of Arabia Petroa, on the south; and by the Mediterranean Sea on the west.

RECULVERS.

These ruins, viewed with such peculiar interest by those who visit the Isle of Thanet, and which are a well known water mark to mariners, was called by the Romans Regulbium; by the Saxons first Raculf, afterwards Raculfcester, on account of its castle, and then Raculfminster, from the monastery afterwards built there. In the time of the Romans it had a watch tower and fort, said to be built by Severus, anno 205; in which, as the "Notitia" tells us, "lay in garrison the first cohert of the Vetasians."

Its two spires, commonly called "the Sisters" (from the romantic notion of their being built by relatives, who went from thence on a pilgrimage and returned in safety), are of great utility as a land mark, and from the pier of Margate, and the neighbouring cliffs, may be viewed distinctly.

Bishop of Durham.

RIEVAULX ABBEY, YORKSHIRE.

"Here hills with dales, here woods with waters vie;
Here Art with Nature strives to feast the eye;
Here Espec's tow'ring fabric clad in green,
And monkish grandeur decorates the scene;
Here architects engrav'd the Ionic scroll,

And fam'd Bernice's pencil crowns the whole."

Rievaulx Abbey, as it is termed, is the most superb ruin in England. It is on the estate of Charles Slingsby Duncombe, Esq. of Duncombe Park. In the vicinity also, is a Roman Catholic College. If ever, reader, you sojourn at the ancient city of York, forget not to visit Duncombe Park and Rievaulx Abbey. A pleasant ride of 15 miles will bring you to this second Elysium, where your curiosity will be amply repaid. The following notice is taken of it, by a spirited little work of the present day:

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In the reign of Henry 1st flourished St. Bernard, abbot of Clareval, a man full of devotion, and chief of many monks, some of whom he sent to England, about A. D. 1128, 28th of Henry 1st, who were honourably received by both king and kingdom, and particularly by Sir Walter L'Espec; who about A. D. 1131, allotted to some of them a solitary place in Blakmore, near Hemelac, now Helmsley,* surrounded by steep hills, and covered with wood and ling, near the angles of three different vales, with each a rivulet running through them; that, passing by where the abbey was built being called Rie, whence this vale took its name, and this religious house was thence called the abbey of Rie-val or Rie-vale. The descent of this valley reaches chiefly from north to south. Here William, the first abbot (one of these monks sent by Bernard), a man full of great virtue, and of an excellent memory, began the building of the monastery, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, which the said Sir Walter L'Espec amply endowed." Again, the site was granted, in exchange for other lands, to Thomas, Earl of Rutland, in 30th of Henry 8th; and from him it descended to the dissolute George Villiers, Duke of Bukingham; and from him, by purchase, to Sir Charles Duncombe, knight, from whom it passed to his grand nephew, Thomas Duncombe, Esq. M. P., who, in 1758, erected one of the finest terraces in England, on the brink of the hill that overlooks the ruin, and a temple at each end of the walk; one of which is enriched with mythological paintings by Bernice, an Italian artist. The view from the woody steep of these Ionic temples surpasees all conception; suffice it to quote the words of a descriptive author on the subject, who says, to be believed, it must be seen; and, once seen, can never be forgotten.'

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RED SEA.

So called, not from any redness of either water or weeds, &c. but because anciently styled the Sea of Edom (as being partly on the coast of Edom). The Greeks, knowing that Edom signified red, by mistake called it the Eryth-rean, or Red Sea.

* Now vulgarly called "Helmsley Blackamoor."

Now corrupted to Riveaulx.

RICHMOND.

"Enchanting vale! beyond what e'er the Muse
Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung!

O vale of bliss! O softly swelling hills!
On which the power of cultivation lies,
And joys to see the wonder of his toil.

Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around,
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires,
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all
The stretching landscape into smoke decays."

The ancient name for Richmond, or Rich Mound, was Sheen, which signifies splendour. The choice of a walk in a place like Richmond, where all is beauty, is rather perplexing, the more so to him who pays his first visit. We are invariably at a loss to know, out of the vast number of paths, which to adopt :

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Say, shall we wind
'Mong the streams? or walk the smiling mead?
Or court the forest glades? or wander wild,
Among the way of harvests? or ascend

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The Saxon division of the county of Sussex into Rapes, which in the singular number is Saxon for district, or barony, and which term is peculiar to Sussex, was strictly adhered to at the Conquest. To each was annexed a castle, with large demesnes. There are six Rapes, with their separate baronies, as originally granted. Chichester and Arundel were held jointly by Montgomerie and De Albine, in succession, till the extinction of the last mentioned family, when the barony was held to have ceased, by reason of partition.The Rape of Bramber was given to William de Bariose; Lewes, to William de Warren; Hastings, to Robert de Owe; and Pevensey, to the Earl of Mortein.

ROME.

"Omnium, rerum vicissitudo."

Romulus commenced the foundations of Rome, 753 B. C. His brother Remus was slain by him, or his workmen, for having ridiculed the slenderness of the walls. Thus raised in blood, they became the sanctuary of refugees and criminals, and to increase the population, neighbouring females (the Sabine women) were forcibly dragged within its boundaries. Such was the origin of the once mighty city of Rome, which derives its name from its founder.

OLD SARUM.

Few places have exercised the ingenuity of etymologists more than this. Old Baxter will have it to be a corruption of the British SarAvon, that is, angry or violent river, which ran at the base of the hill on which is placed Old Sarum, and flows through the streets of the new.

Johannes Sarisburiensis calls it Severia, from the emperor Severus; but the Roman name of Sorbiodunum, is much nearer the mark, being an almost literal translation of its original British appellation, Caer Sarflog, the fortified place abounding with the Service Tree. Now, Sorbus is Service Tree in Latin, and dunum is a common

Latin termination for places which have the adjunct dun, or caer, in the British; so that it was impossible to Latinize the word with less violence to the original.

STONEHENGE.

"I like the neighbourhood too,—the ancient places
That bring back the past ages to the eye,
Filling the gap of centuries-the traces

that lie

Mouldering beneath your head!

Some remarkable origins have been given to these ancient and venerable piles, and although savouring strong of the superstitions, one of them is thought worthy of a place here. A curious old work, entitled, "Campion's Historie of Irland," has the following:

"In the plain of Kildare, stood that monstrous heap of stones, brought thither by gyants from Afrique, and removed thence to the plain of Salisbury, at the instance of Aurel Ambrose, king of Britain!" The same historian says: "S. Bede writeth, that serpents conveyed hither, did presently die, being touched with smell of the land; and that whatsoever came hence was then of soveraigne vertu against poyson. He exemplifieth in certain men stung with adders, who dranke in water the scrapings of bookes that had been of Irland, and were cured." Campion piously adds, "neither is this propertie to be ascribed to St. Patrick's blessing, (as they commonly hold) but to the original blessing of God, who gave such nature the situation and soyle from the beginning. And though I doubt not but it fared the better in many respects for that holy man's prayer, yet had it this condition notified one hundred years ere he was born."

To return, however, to Stonehenge, the preceding historian, and believer in miracles, shews us how wide from the fact were the antiquarian conjectures of Stukely, Webb, and others, respecting the formation of these Druidal monuments: we must, nevertheless, with due submission to the pious historian, rest satisfied with their account of them; viz. that the said pile of stones were originally Druidal altars, on which the Druids made their periodical sacrifices to their deities!

Jeffrey of Monmouth ascribes the erection of it to Merlin, who, as he lived in the time of Aurelius Ambrosius, in Welsh Emrys, is called Merddin Emrys, to commemorate the Saxon treachery, in the massacre of the British nobles there assembled to meet Hengist, (and the true Saxon name is Stonhengist).

Camden considers it a piece of work, such as Cicero calls insanam substructionem; for, says he, there are erected in form of a crown, in three ranks, or courses, one within another, certain mighty stones, whereof some are twenty-eight feet high, and seven broad, on the heads of which others rest crosswise, with tenon and mortise, so that the whole frame seem to hang, and therefore stone-hang, or henge.

ST. CLOUD.

Saint Cloud, the country residence of the French monarchs, is a corruption from Clovis, the founder of the French monarchy. It has been called by the continental lawyers, a ducal peerage, and was attached to the archbishopric of Paris, the incumbent of which, from that application attained the rank of duke of St. Cloud, and peer of France.

SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS.

In ancient days, Dermot M'Murrough, a petty king of Munster, was on friendly terms with Fingal Maccorran, a petty prince of Caithness, in Scotland; the latter had lost in a gale of wind, all the oars with which he rowed his ships, and his subjects were ill off for shoes. Scotland then, was totally barren of wood, and Ireland a forest rising from the waves. Fingal, therefore, sent to his friend Dermot an account of his distress, and begged him to send over for his use 500 pair of oars, and 500 pair of brogues. Dermot was no scholar, and consulting his prime minister, they decided he wanted 500 pair of whores and rogues, and sent them off accordingly, with an assurance that he could have as many more as he pleased, so well was Ireland then stocked with those materials. The Scottish chief could not help smiling at the mistake, but was much puzzled what to do with this extraordinary importation.

The Highlands of Scotland were then considered uninhabitable, and thither prince Fingal drove the refugees to perish, as he thought. They, however, were a hardy race, lived and multiplied exceedingly, so that all the genuine Highland families, who now boast of the antiquity of their houses and clans are descended from Irish whores and rogues!!

SEVEN OAKS.

Seven Oaks received its name from seven tall oaks, which formerly grew on the spot where the town is built. In the reign of Henry 5th, one Sir John Sevenoak, lord mayor of London, and once a poor foundling, brought up by the benevolence of the people, and named of course after the place in which he was found, a custom generally adopted by the parish officers, built an hospital here, for the support of aged persons, and a free school for the education of the youth of the town, gratitude for the charity he had himself received formerly from the inhabitants. His school was further endowed by queen Elizabeth.

SOT'S HOLE.

The great lord Chesterfield formerly resided at the house, now occupied by the princess Sophia of Gloucester, at Blackheath. His servants were accustomed to use an ale-house, in the vicinity, too frequently. On one occasion he said to his butler, "fetch the fellows from that Sot's hole!" which circumstance gave a name to the house known by that sign.

SEVERNDROOG CASTLE.

This building, on the right of Shooter's Hill, and which is so prominent an object, was built by Lady James, in commemoration of the storming and capture of Severndroog, in the East Indies, by commodore James, her husband, on the 2d of April, 1755. This place is well known to cockneys as Lady James's Folly."

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SHOOTER'S HILL.

This spot, so well known to Londoners, is so denominated, from the London archers who shot here, and particularly on May Day. An old chronicler relates, that " Henry the Eighth, in the third of his reigne, and divers other yeeres, so namely in the seventh of his reigne, on May Day in the morning, with queen Katherine, his wife,

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