7. THE EUROPEAN STATES may be divided into the Western, the Central, the Southern, and the Northern. In the West are the kingdoms of Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain and Ireland, and the Republic of Switzerland. In the Central part of the continent are the kingdom of Denmark, the Grand Duchies of Oldenburg, Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, and Mecklenburgh-Schwerin, the kingdoms of Hanover, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, the several petty German States, and the Empire of Austria. In the South are the kingdoms of Lombardy-Venice, Sardinia, and Naples, the State of the Church, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and the Duchies of Parma, Modena, and Lucca, all which are in Italy: together with the Empire of Turkey, the kingdom of Greece, and the Republic of the Ionian Isles. In the North are the Empire of Russia and the kingdom of Sweden and Norway.

8. The Western States. The basis of the present Political Divisions of Europe will be found to accord, in a general manner, with that of its ancient Countries. In the Westernmost part of the continent is the Kingdom of Portugal, corresponding nearly with the ancient Lusitania: its chief cities are Lisbon, Oporto, and Coimbra. To the E. of it is the Kingdom of Spain, the chief cities of which are Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Cadiz, and Granada. At the Southern extremity of Spain is the famous fortress of Gibraltar, which the ancients called Calpe, or the Northern Pillar of Hercules; it belongs to the British, and, owing to its excellent situation as well as its amazing strength, it is considered the key of the Mediterranean. The Kingdom of France lies to the N. of Spain, and corresponds generally with the ancient Gaul, but includes likewise the island of Corsica. Amongst its chief cities are Paris, Strasbourg, Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Orleans, Brest, and Rouen. To the E. of France lies the Republic of Switzerland, or the Helvetic Confederacy as it is sometimes called; its chief towns are Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and Basel. To the N. E. of France is the Kingdom of Belgium, the capital of which is Brussels; and beyond it is the Kingdom of Holland, the chief cities of which are The Hague, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. To the N. of France lies the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, including England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The chief cities in England are London, Canterbury, Bristol, Liverpool, and York; in Wales are Caermarthen, Swansea, and Pembroke; in Scotland are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Aberdeen, and Inverness; in Ireland, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, and Londonderry. There are three small islands belonging to Britain, which lie in the English Channel opposite Dorsetshire, and only a small distance from the N. W. coast of France; their names are Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney.

9. The Central States. Germany is now divided into a great number of independent states, some exceedingly diminutive, whilst others are of very considerable magnitude and importance; they are all formed into a Federative Body, governed by a Diet. Above them is the Kingdom of Denmark,

The

comprising the old peninsula of the Cimbri, and some of those islands, which the ancients reckoned to Scandinavia: its metropolis is Copenhagen. To the S. of it lie the two Grand Duchies of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz and Mecklenburgh-Schwerin, the respective capitals of which are Strelitz and Schwerin; the Kingdom of Hanover, with its metropolis, Hanover; and the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, with its capital of the same name. Kingdom of Prussia occupies the whole N. E. part of Germany, extending some distance beyond the Vistula; its metropolis is Berlin, on the R. Spree. It likewise possesses a large extent of territory on the Rhine (called RhinePrussia), between the Kingdoms of Holland and Belgium on the West, and the petty states of Germany on the East; the chief towns in it are Cologne and Coblentz. To the E. of the petty states lies the Kingdom of Saxony, the capital of which is Dresden. To the S. of Saxony and Prussia is the extensive Empire of Austria, stretching far beyond the limits of ancient Germany to the Eastward, and including the N. E. part of Italy: its metropolis is Vienna on the Danube. Between the Austrian Empire and the Rhine lie the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Wurtemburg, and the Grand Duchy of Baden; their chief cities are Munich, Stuttgard, and Carlsruhe.

10. The Southern States. Italy is likewise divided into several states, varying much in dignity and magnitude. That part of it, which lies to the N. of the Po and East of the Ticino, is called the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, and belongs to the Empire of Austria: its chief cities are Milan and Venice. To the W. of it, touching upon Switzerland, France, and the Mediterranean, lie Piedmont, Genoa, Savoy, and the other provinces, which constitute the continental territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Island of Sardinia forming its remainder; the chief cities are Turin on the continent, and Cagliari in the island. To the S. of the Po, and East of the Sardinian territory, are the Duchies of Parma, of Modena, and of Lucca, each with its capital of the same name: to the S. of these is the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, with its metropolis, Florence. The State of the Church, governed by the Pope, comprises the central part of Italy, from the Mouths of the Po to the Pontine Marshes; the chief city is Rome. The Kingdom of the Two Siciles (or of Naples) includes the Southern part of Italy, and the I. of Sicily; its capital city is Naples. To the S. of Sicily are the Maltese Islands, which belong to the English, and are composed of the two islands Malta and Gozo: Valetta, their chief city, is one of the strongest places in the world. To the S. of Austria lies the Empire of Turkey, composed of the ancient Thracian provinces on the Danube, together with Macedonia, parts of Illyria, Epirus, and Thessaly, Crete and several islands in the gæan Sea: its metropolis is Constantinople. To the S. of Turkey is the Kingdom, of Greece, including the Southern part of ancient Greece, with Negropont and the Western Islands of the Archipelago; its metropolis is Athens. To the W. of Greece is the Republic of the Ionian Islands (or of the Seven Islands, as it is sometimes called) under the protection of Great Britain: their metropolis is Corfu.

11. The Northern States. To the E. of Prussia, Austria, and Turkey, is the enormous Empire of European Russia, extending to the utmost Eastern limits of the continent, and to the shores of the Frozen Sea: its chief cities are Moskow, St. Petersburg, Archangel, Riga, Warsaw, and Odessa. The Kingdom of Sweden and Norway includes the great peninsula of Scandinavia, to the West of Russia, and to the N. of Prussia and Denmark; its chief cities are Stockholm, Tornea, Christiana, Bergen, and Trondheim.

12. The superficial extent, and the estimated population of each country in Europe, will be seen by the following table:

13. THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS of Europe are: in Spain, the Ebro, which runs into the Mediterranean Sea; the Douro, the Tagus or Tajo, the Guadiana, and Guadalquivir, which empty themselves into the Atlantic Ocean. In Gaul are, the Garonne, Loire, Seine, and Meuse or Maas, which flow into the Atlantic and British Oceans; and the Rhone, which runs into the Mediterra

nean Sea. Amongst the most important rivers in Albion are, the Thames, the Severn, the Wye, the Ouse, and the Clyde in Ireland we find the Shannon, the Blackwater, and the Boyne. The greatest rivers of Germany are, the Rhine, the frontier between it and France, and the most beautiful river in Europe; the Weser, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula; the three first of these run into the German Ocean, the two last into the Baltic Sea. The two great rivers of Italy are, the Po, which flows into the Gulf of Venice, and the Tiber or Tevere, which runs into the Mediterranean Sea.

14. But by far the largest and most important river in Europe is the Danube, which rises on the borders of France and Germany, and flows, with an Easterly course, through the Empires of Austria and Turkey into the Black Sea: it receives in its way several considerable tributaries, as the Drave and Save on its right bank, and the Theiss and Pruth on its left bank. In the Southern part of Russia we meet with the Boug and the great Dniepr, which both empty themselves into the Black Sea; the Don, flowing into the Sea of Azov, and the Volga which enters the Caspian Sea, and is partly in the continent of Asia. In the Northern part of Russia are the Pitchora and the Dvina or river of Archangel, which both enter the Frozen Ocean; the Neva or River of St. Petersburgh, which runs into the G. of Finland; the Southern Dvina, and the Neman, which both run into the Baltic Sea, the former at Riga, the latter near Memel.

15. The following table will convey a better idea of the actual and com. parative lengths of these rivers:

SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS OF

16. PRINCIPAL GULFS AND SEAS in Europe. The White Sea is a part of the Frozen Ocean which runs some distance into the Northern Provinces of Russia. The North Sea, or German Ocean as it is likewise called, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Great Britain on the West; Belgium, Holland, and Hanover, on the South; and Denmark and Sweden on the East. The Baltic Sea washes the shores of Sweden and Denmark on the West, Prussia on the South, and Russia on the East; its Northern part runs far up into the land between Sweden and Russia, and is called the Gulf of Botnia: besides this it has two inlets to the Eastward in Russia, called the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland. The Bay of Biscay is that part of the Atlantic which rolls in upon the angle formed by the Western Coast of France and the Northern coast of Spain.

17. The Gulf of Lyons is the North Western part of the Mediterranean Sea, washing the Southern shores of France between the Pyrenees and Toulon, round the Mouths of the Rhone: to the Eastward of it is the Gulf of Genoa, which lies between the North Western part of Italy and the projection of the Maritime Alps. into the Sea, The Gulf of Venice, or the Adriatic Sea as it is also called, runs up between Italy on the West and the Empires of Turkey and Austria on the East. The Great Gulf of the Archipelago is bounded on the West by Greece, on the N. by the provinces of European Turkey, and on the E. by Asia Minor: towards the S. it is locked in, as it were, by the Island of Candia.