HARMONY SETTLEMENT, N. AMERICA. This extraordinary and flourishing German colony was founded by a German enthusiast, named Rapp, who, in order to promote Harmony among those who settled there, laid certain restrictions upon marriage! These restrictions were to prevent more than a certain quantum of births within a certain number of years; which births (as Mr. Hulme says) generally arrive "in a little flock like those of a farmer's lambs, all within the same month perhaps." These Harmonists (so called from the name of their settlement) are represented as a remarkably flourishing, pious, and quite people. See the various recent writers on America. Lord Byron alludes to them in some witty lines in his "Don Juan," canto xv. page 12. "When Rapp the Harmonist embargoed marriage In his harmonious settlement-(which flourishes What Nature naturally most encourages) Why call'd he "Harmony" a state sans wedlock ? HINDOSTAN. Our Empire in the East Indies, under this appellation, or Indostan, more properly, is derived from the river Indus, which flows throughout the country. HOLY-ROOD HOUSE. The traditionary accounts which occasioned its erection are thus related :-King David 1st, its founder, being on a hunting match in the forest of Drumslech, near Edinburgh, on a rood-day, was attacked by a large hart, and his life was in the utmost danger.While he was endeavouring to defend himself with his hands against the furious assaults of the animal, a miraculous Cross, from Heaven, slipped into his hand, which so frightened the stag, that he retreated immediately. This wonderful circumstance having of course put an end to the chase, David repaired to the castle of Edinburgh, where, in a dream, he was intructed to erect an Abbey, or House, for Canons regular, on the place where the celestial cross was put into his hands. In obedience to this visionary command, the king erected an abbey for the said purpose, and dedicated it to the HolyRood, or Holy-Cross, and deposited the same therein, where it is said to have remained till the reign of David the 2d. HELLESPONT. "On such a night as this, Leander swam across the Hellespont." This river, famed in classic lore, and more especially as the scene of a feat performed by our immortal bard, Lord Byron,† derives its original name (now Dardanelles) from Helle, the daughter of Athamas, king of Thebes, who, with her brother, Phryxus, flying from their step-mother, ventured to pass a narrow part of this sea, and she was drowned, and left her name to the straits thereof, which was after called the Hellespont. ST. HELLENA. This island, which will be particularly noticed in the pages of future history, as the sepulchre of one of the most extraordinary men the world ever produced, was first discovered by the Portuguese in the year 1502, on St. Hellen's day, and her name was given to it, according to the universal practice of early navigators of naming their discoveries from the Roman Calendar. Hellena was daughter of Coiius, wife of Constantius, and mother of Constantine the Great. She first walled the city of London. ISLE OF MAN. "An Isle, in antient times, renown'd by fame, Lies full in view, and Mona is the name, Once bless'd with wealth, while Derby* held the sway, The name of Man is supposed to refer to its situation, as to the surrounding kingdoms, from the Saxon word mang, signifying among; others suppose the word to originate from Maune, the name of St. Patrick, the apostle of the island, before he assumed that of Patricius. By Cæsar, it is called Mona. All late writers agree that Mona Cæsaris is Man; but Mona Taciti belongs to Anglesey. Early writers call it Monada Menavia Secunda (to distinguish it from Anglesey), Eubonia, &c. The monks derive it traditionally from "Manna Man Maclea," an early king, who first conquered the island. By the inhabitants the island is called Manning, and by the people in general Man. KINGSTON. So called, from the Kings of England having their residence and being anciently crowned there. The coronation of Alfred the Great took place at Kingston in 872. KENT. Kent was called by the Greeks, Kuo, and by the Latins Cantium. Lambard derives it from the Welch Caine, a leaf, because the county formerly abounded in woods; but Camden from Canton, a corner, "because England in this place stretcheth out itself in a corner to the north east." Kent being situate nearest the Continent of Europe, has often been the theatre of great actions. It was in this county that Julius Cæsar landed, when he came to invade Britain; it was the place first seized by the Saxons, after they had defeated the northern barbarians; and Popery was first preached at Canterbury by Austin and his followers. At the period of the arrival of the Romans, it was governed by four British chiefs, and it was the first, although not the largest, kingdom of the heptarchy. MONT MATRE. So called from Mons Martyrum, or Mountain of Martyrs. St. Dennis and other martyrs were beheaded here. • The Derby family were the Lords of Man for many years. MAURITIUS. The Mauritius, or Isle of France, is 400 miles east of Madagascar. Discovered by the Portuguese, but the first who settled here were the Dutch, in 1598. They called it Mauritius, in honour of Prince Maurice, their Stadtholder; but on their acquisition of the Cape of Good Hope, they deserted it; and it continued unsettled till the French landed here in 1720. MASSACHUSETS. One of the States of North America. It was so named from a tribe of Indians who formerly inhabited this quarter. It is 150 miles long and 90 broad; bounded on the north by New Hampshire, and west by New York. MARSEILLES. The history of Marseilles is full of interest. Its origin borders on romance. Six hundred years before the Christian era, a band of piratical adventurers from Ionia, in Asia Minor, by dint of superior skill in navigation, pushed their discoveries to the mouth of the Rhine. Charmed with the white cliffs, green vales, blue waters, and bright skies, which they here found, they returned to their native country, and persuaded a colony to follow them to the barbarous shores of Gaul, bearing with them their religion, language, manners, and customs. On the very day of their arrival, so says tradition, the daughter of the native chief was to choose a husband, and her affections were placed upon one of the leaders of the polished emigrants. The friendship of the aborigines was conciliated by marriage, and their rude manners were softened by the refinement of their new allies in war, their new associates in peace. In arts and arms the emigrants soon acquired the ascendancy, and the most musical of all the Greek dialects became the prevailing language of the colony. MEDITERRANEAN. The Mediterranean Sea is thus denominated, because it flows between Europe and Africa, washing the shores of each. Medi, signifying between, and terra, earth, i. e. between two continents; the latter syllables, ne-an being merely added for the sake of harmony. MAIDSTONE. Maidstone was anciently called Medway-town, from its being seated on the river of that name. Nennius, who wrote about the ninth century, calls it Caer Megwad, corruptly, as is supposed, for Medway, or the Medway city; and states, that it was the third considerable city in Britain, before the arrival of the Saxons; and it appears from Domesday Book to have been a borough by prescription, although it did not send representatives to parliament till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it received a charter of incorporation to be governed by a mayor, assisted by twelve of the principal inhabitants. MIDDLESEX. The Saxons under Ella, on their arrival in this country, had continual wars with the Britons, the particulars whereof are unknown, except that they settled on the sea coast in Sussex, and were called the South Saxons, from whence Sussex was derived. Those that were settled on the East Coast were called East Saxons, from whence came Essex. The country between Essex and Sussex was hence termed Middlesex. Kent retained its ancient name. NORTHUMBERLAND. Most of our readers are acquainted with the great divisions of this kingdom in ancient times, and will recollect those which were established North and South of the Humber, under which a large proportion of Yorkshire, and the whole of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and North Humber land, belonged to Edwin, king of Northumbria. OXFORD. This famous University town derives its name from its being anciently a great Cattle or Oxen-ford; having to pass the river at this point on the way to the London markets. Henry 2d, whose famed amour with "Rosamond of Woodstock" gave a celebrity to this part of the country, built a bridge over the same ford-now called Oxford. rors. OTTOMAN EMPIRE. So called, because Ottoman was the first of the Turkish EmpeThe present Turkish Empire began in Bythinia, in 1298. PORTE. The principal entrance into the Seraglio, or palace of the Grand Seignior, is a huge pavilion, called Capi, the gate or porte, from whence some imagine the name of Porte has been applied to the Turkish seat of government. Other writers say this is not the case, as the term porte originated from that city being the principal port or harbour of the Turkish Empire. PERSIA. By the poets, this country is supposed to have derived its appellation from Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Dance; and by the graver, but perhaps, on this occasion, equally unsuccessful enquirers, from the word paras, which signifies a horseman, the Persians or Parthians having been always celebrated for their extraordinary skill in horsemanship. PERE LA CHAISE. This far-famed burial ground, which is the first in Europe, from its size, its picturesque situation, and its fine monuments, derives its name from Father Lachaise, confessor to Louis 14th, from its occupying the site on which stood Lachaise's house. PENSYLVANIA. So called, from William Penn, a quaker, who obtained a charter for planting it in 1680. PETERSBURGH. This modern capital of Russia, derives its name from its royal founder, Peter the Great. It is built in the gulph of Cronstadt, intersected by artificial channels of the Neva, which limit the districts of the city. This magnificent capital was in 1702 a putrid fen. PRUSSIA. Prussia was anciently possessed by the Venedi, whose kings were anciently descended from Athirius, first king of the Heruli, on the Baltic, 320 B. C. The Venedi were conquered by the Borussi, who inhabited the Riphoean Mountains. Hence the country was called Borussia, or Prussia. PEERLESS POOL. "And in hyghe sommer eueriche daye I wene, For hys delection he woulde ther' unlace, Within an arbre, where bryddes onlie bene And goe, and bayn bym in the waters cool That alway wellyd there and made a peerlesse poole." Peerless Pool, as it is now called, was anciently a public conduit, which supplied the metropolis with water, before the New River was brought to London by Sir Hugh Myddleton. Stowe speaks of it a cleere water, called Perilous Pond, "because," says our chronicler, "divers youths, by swimming therein, have been drowned." Again he says, Upon Saterday the 19th of January, 1633, sixe pretty young lads, going to sport themselves upon the frozen ducking pond, neere to Clearkenwell, the ice too weake to support them, fell into the water, concluding their pastime with the lamentable losse of their lives; to the great griefe of many that saw them dying, many more that afterwards saw them dead, with the inexpressible griefe of their parents." This water was afterwards filled up, and rendered entirely useless, till one Kemp, an eminent jeweller of the city of London, who had a high opinion of this water, having got clear of a violent pain in the head by bathing in it, to which he had for many years been subject, generously re-opened the same spring for the public benefit, in the year 1743, and formed the completest swimming bath in the whole world; and in reference to the improvements he had made on the ruins of that once Perilous Pond, and by a very natural transition, he changed that disagreeable appellation of perilous," that is," says Maitland, "dangerous or hazardous, to the more agreeable name of Peerless Pool, that is, Matchless Bath, a name which carries its own reason with it." The sprightly youth Speeds to the well known pool. Awhile he stands To meditate the blue profound below; Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. His ebon tresses, and his rosy cheek, Instant emerge; and thro' the obedient wave, PALATINATE OF DURHAM. -Thomson. Guthred being seated on the throne of Northumberland, under the auspices of Alfred, the sovereigns, as a joint act, granted, that wherever St. Cuthbert's remains should rest, there should be an in |