nobles there assembled to meet Hengist (and the true Saxon name is Stonhengist).

ST. CLOUD.

St. Cloud, the country residence of the French monarchs, owes its foundation to Clodoald, grandson of Clovis, who built a monastery here, A.D. 351. 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.

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 V., 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, in gratitude for the charity he had himself received formerly from the inhabitants. His school was further endowed by Queen Elizabeth. This town is also remarkable for the defeat of Jack Cade and his followers, by Sir Humphry Stafford, whom Henry VI. sent against them.

SOT'S HOLE.

The great Lord Chesterfield formerly resided at the house, afterwards occupied by the late Princess Sophia of Gloucester, at Blackheath. His servants were accustomed to use an alehouse 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 2nd of April, 1755. This place is well known to cockneys, as “Lady James's Folly."

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, accompanied with many lords and ladies, rode a Maying from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter's Hill: where, as they passed by the way, they espyed a company of tall yeomen, clothed all in greene, with greene hoods, and with bowes and arrowes, to the number of 200. One, being their chieftaine, was called Robin Hood, who required the king and all his company to stay and see his men shoot: whereunto, the king granting, Robin Hood whistled, and all the 200 archers shot off, loosing all at once; and when he whistled againe, they likewise shot againe : their arrowes whistled by craft of the head, so that the noise was strange and loud, which greatly delighted the king, queene, and their company.”

SADLER'S WELLS.

Sadler's Wells, so called from there being within the premises two wells of a chalybeate water, and from having been discovered by a man named Sadler, in 1683; originally (i. e., the ground on which it stands) belonged to the monastery of St. John's, Clerkenwell, but to what purpose it was then appropriated we do not know. In process of time the wells were opened to the public, as the Tunbridge Spa, Islington, St. Chad's Well, Gray's Inn Lane, &c., are now, and numbers resorted there to drink the waters. In the time of Oliver Cromwell, they continued to be visited by invalids, but were prohibited, among others, by the then hypocritical rulers of the land as objects of superstitious notice. During the reign of Charles II., Sadler took the ground, and whatever buildings might be upon it, and opened a place of public recreation and entertainment, called "Sadler's Wells' Music-House," and he reopened the two wells. The latter are still on the premises; one in the yard, arched over; the other in the cellar of the theatre. The water is now done away with, and the theatre has for many years maintained a well-deserved celebrity for the performance of the plays of Shakspeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, &c.

SOUTHWARK.

So denominated, from a fortification, or work, which anciently stood here, and from its situation being southerly, was called Suthwark, or South-work.

SCLAVONIA.

A province, subject to the House of Austria, and bounded on the north-east by the rivers Drave and Danube, which separate it from Hungary, being about two hundred miles long, and sixty broad. It takes its name from the Sclavi, an ancient people of

European Scythia; from whom is likewise derived the Sclavonic language, which is said to be the most extensive language in the world except the Arabic, as being the common mother of the Russian, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian, Corinthian, Bohemian, &c., languages.

STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.

The Straits of Magellan derive their title from one Magalhaens, who was in the service of Spain, and who discovered them in the first voyage round the world; he was killed by the savages in the Marianne Islands. These straits were discovered in 1520, and are the most extensive known on the surface of the globe.

STEYNE AT BRIGHTON.

It has been stated that this celebrated promenade derives its name from the Roman way, called Stane Street; but this supposition is the conjecture of fancy, for we find in the ad decimun of Richard of Cirencester, in his 15th Iter, that the Roman western road, called Stane Street, commenced at the east gate of Chichester, and taking a northern direction, pursued its course to Bignor Hill, within a few furlongs of the Roman pavements of a villa discovered in 1811. After passing Bignor, the direction it took was through Hardham to Pulborough. It has been further traced to Woodcote, to Dorking churchyard, and to London, where it is now distinguished by the name of West Ermine Street; it is therefore impossible to attribute its name to this Roman road. The fact is, before the late inroads of the sea, the Steyne was skirted or edged on that side by chalk rocks, and from that circumstance received its name. Stein, or Steen, a rock, in the imported language of the Flemish emigrants, was then a proper denomination for this verdant margin of a chalky cliff. How it came to be called Steyne must be attributed to fashion.

TUNBRIDGE.

Tunbridge, or, as it is frequently called, Tunbridge Town, to distinguish it from the well-known watering-place in the same county, is situated in the south-western part of Kent, on the banks of the Medway, and derives its name from the number of bridges over the river, which here separates itself into five streams. The district round this town is called the "Lowy of Tunbridge," which, in Domesday Book, is mentioned as Lenna Ricardi de Tonbriga; and in old Latin deeds is called Districtus Leuca de Tonbridge. The reason why it is so named is this: Richard Clare, a descendant of the natural son of Richard, the first Duke of Normandy, who came over to England with William the Conqueror, and distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings,

obtained the manor of Tunbridge from Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, in exchange for the castle of Brion in Normandy, each estate being measured with the same line. At that time, it was the custom in Normandy to term the district round an abbey, castle, or chief mansion, Leuca, or Leucata, in English, the Lowy, in which the possessor had generally a grant of several peculiar liberties, privileges, and exemptions; and Gilbert procured from the king similar grants to those he enjoyed in Normandy, to this, as well as to his adjoining manor of Hadlow, whence he called it the "Lowy of Tunbridge," by which name it has gone ever since. Tunbridge Castle was built by this Richard de Clare in the reign of William Rufus.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

Tunbridge Wells is said to be the oldest watering-place in England, Bath excepted. The wells are about five miles south of the town, and are situated in a sandy bottom, at the foot of three hills, called Mount Ephraim, Mount Sion, and Mount Pleasant. The air is particularly salubrious, which, with the wellknown virtues of the wells, and their vicinity to town, being only thirty-six miles distant, makes them much frequented. The discovery of the medicinal waters at Tunbridge Wells, in the year 1606, is generally attributed to young Dudley, Lord North, who, having injured his health by his dissipations at the court of Henry, Prince of Wales, son of James I., by the advice of his physicians took up his abode within two miles of the wells, at a place called Eridge House. After a residence of several weeks, finding his disorder rather increased than diminished, and his spirits greatly lowered, he abruptly quitted this retired mansion, and began his journey to London. Fortunately, adds the narrator, his road lay directly through the wood in which these useful springs were concealed from the knowledge of mankind; so that, when his lordship came upon the spot, he could not pass by without taking notice of a water which seemed to claim his attention, on account of the shining mineral scum that swam on its surface, as well as the ochrous substance which subsided at the bottom. These uncommon appearances induced him to alight from his carriage, and to order one of his servants to borrow a little vessel from a

neighbouring hovel, that he might taste it. The ferruginous flavour induced his lordship to think it was embued with some medicinal properties, which might be beneficial to mankind. Having submitted it therefore to chemical analysis, he determined to try its restorative powers upon himself; and after about two months' continuance at Eridge, returned to town so perfectly free from all complaints, that he lived in the indulgence of every courtly enjoyment till he attained the age of eighty-five. Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I., was sent here after the birth of her

first child, and, on account of the then uninhabited state of that part of the country, lived for six weeks in tents on Bishops-down Common.

TARPEIAN ROCK.

The Tarpeian Rock, off the coast of Sicily, derives its name from the following: Tarpeia, according to Heathen Mythology, was a vestal virgin, who agreed with the Albans to deliver up the capitol for their bracelets; but they being entered, threw their shields upon her, and buried her under them. Hence is derived the name Tarpeian Rock.

VIRGINIA.

On the discovery of this portion of North America by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1584, he called it Virginia, in compliment to his virgin mistress, queen Elizabeth.

VENICE.

The first inhabitants of this country were the Veneti; from whence the term Venice is derived. They were conquered by the Gauls, and made a kingdom about 356. The islands on which the city stands began to be inhabited by Italians about 421; the first house erected on the morass was by Entinopus, who fled from the Goths; the people of Padua took refuge there also, and were assisted by Entinopus in building the eighty houses which formed the first city, in 413. They were first governed by a doge in 697, but its republic was not independent till 803. The conspiracy on which Otway's play is founded, was in 1618. The doge omitted the ceremony of wedding the Adriatic Sea from 1173.

WEALD OF KENT.

The Weald of Kent comprises a large district, containing several market towns, viz., Cranbrook, Smarden, Tenterden, Biddenden, &c. It is so called from the growth of large timber, oak particularly; weald being a Saxon term, signifying a woody district.

WOODSTOCK.

The ancient manor-house, or royal palace of Woodstock, was situate near the old town of that name, about eight miles from the city of Oxford, on the north bank of the valley, through which the little river Glyme has its course. It was erected (according to Camden) by Henry I., who joined to it a large park, enclosed with a stone wall, which Rous affirms to have been the first park in England, and which, says Dr. Plott, was not only stocked with