The Romans early formed an alliance with the people of Marfeilles, Polyb. iii. 95. and under pretext of affifting them, made war on the neighbouring ftates, Liv. xxi. 20. & 26. The first nation which the Romans fubdued beyond the Alps was the Salyes; against whom, and the Ligurians, they carried on a war for eighty years, to procure from them a fafe paffage by land into Spain; and at laft obtained a space twelve ftadia broad to make a public way through their country, Strab. iv. 203, whence Cicero calls the part of Gaul poffeffed by the Romans before the conquefts of Cæfar, SEMITA, de prov. Conf. 13. The Salyes or Salluvii were vanquished by C. Sextius, a. U. 629, who planted a colony at Aix, which, from its baths, and his own name, he called AQUA SEXTIE, Liv. Epit. Ixi.; Vell. i. 15. About four years after a colony was planted at Narbonne, called Narbo Martius, from 2; Marcius Rex the conful, who fettled it, Vell. ib.; Cic. Font. 1. whence that part of Gaul, which firft belonged to the Romans, called by Cæfar PROVINCIA or Provincia Noftra, i. 1. 7. 10. &c. after the time of Auguftus got the name of GALLIA NARBONENSIS, Tacit. Annal. xi. 24. or Narbonenfis Pro vincia, Plin. iii. 4.

After the overthrow of the Cimbri and Teutones by Marius, the Gauls remained unmolested till they were attacked by Cafar. After the conqueft of Gaul, Cæfar and the fucceeding Emperors derived from that country large fupplies for their armies. Struck with the dreadful loffes they had fustained, the Gauls continued for a confiderable time fubmiflive to the Roman government. But being provoked by the rigid exactions. of the præfects fet over them, they attempted to recover their former liberty under different leaders *.

The Gauls, although miferably oppreffed by the Roman governors, in common with the other provinces of the empire, made great progrefs in the arts of civilization. The ftudy of eloquence was fo much cultivated in Gaul, Juvenal. vii. 128. that it furnished orators to inftruct the British lawyers in the

First under Julius Florus and Julius Sacrovir, after the death of Germanicus, Tacit. Annal. iii. 40. but they were foon reduced by the Germanic legions to their former subjection; ib. 46. then under VINDEX, who revolted against Nero, but perished in the attempt, Dio. Ixiii. 22-24. Tacit. bifl. i. 51. afterwards under various commanders, but without fuccefs. The Druids, who were found to have encouraged thefeinfurrections, were fuppreffed by Claudius, Suet. 25. They continued however, for a long time after, to have influence among their countrymen, Tacit. hift. iv. 54.

art of pleading, (Gallia caufidicos docuit facunda Britannos *,) Juvenal. xv. 111. Under Claudius the chiefs of the Gauls, particularly of the Edui, were chofen into the Roman fenate. They had formerly obtained the right of citizenship, Tacit. Annal. xi. 23.-26. which was granted by Galba to all the Gauls, Plutarch. in Galba.; Tacit. Hift. i. 8. The Gauls, with their liberty, loft that valour for which their ancestors were fo renowned, Tacit. Agric. 11. When the Roman empire was invaded by the barbarous nations, Gaul was attacked firft by the Goths and Vifigoths, Procop. 1. then by the Burgundians, Agath. 1. prope princ. and finally conquered by the FRANKS, a fierce people from Germany, Procop. I. compofed of various tribes, among the reft the SALII, Zozim. iii. from whom the law by which females were excluded from fucceeding to the crown of France was called the SALIC LAW.

The chief harbours for the French Navy are, Breft and Toulon. The other principal fea-ports and harbours are, in Picardy, Calais and Boulogne; in Normandy, Dieppe, Havre

Caligula, when he exhibited games of various kinds, (mifcellos ludos, Suet. 20. vel mifcellanea, fc. certamina, Juvenal. xi. 20.) inftituted a contest for preeminence in Greek and Latin eloquence; in which those vanquished were obliged to confer rewards on the victors, and to compofe orations in their praise. Such as had performed the worst were forced to blot out what they had written with a Sponge or with their tongue; unless they chose rather to be scourged with rods, or plunged in the nearcft ftream, i. e. the Rhone or Arar, Suet. Cal. 20. This conteft was celebrated before the altar dedicated to Auguftus, Liv. epit. 137. Suet. Cl. 2. Juvenal 1. 44. in the temple decreed to him by the joint confent of all the ftates of Gaul, whofe names, fixty in number, were infcribed on the altar. Strab. iv. 192. An annual feftival was celebrated there in the time of Auguf tus, which Dio fays was ftill kept in his time, liv. 32. This folemnity Caligula fgems to have oblerved, Dio lix. 22, and to have only added the literary conteft, to which Juvenal elludes, i. 44• ̧

de

de Grace, Hárfleur, Rouen, Honfleur, Caen, Bayeux, Cherburg, Coutance, Granville, and Averanches. In Bretany, St Malo, Brieux, Treguer, Morlaix, Audierne, Port l'Orient, Port Louis, or Blavet, Vannes, and Nantz; in Orleanois, Rochelle and Rochefort; in Guienne, Bourdeaux; and in Gafcony, Bayonne; in Languedoc, Narbonne and Beffiers; in Provence, Marseilles and Antibes.

From these ports the French carry on an extensive trade with all the quarters of the globe. The fpirit of commerce was first excited by Henry IV. juftly ftyled the Great, under It was afterwhom the manufacture of filk was introduced. wards greatly encouraged and improved by the famous Colbert, a gentleman of Scotch extraction, minifter to Louis XIV.

The chief capes are, Antifleur, Barfleur, and La Hogue, in the English Channel; Penmark and Quiberon, on the coast of Bretany; and Portes, on the coaft of Provence.

The number of inhabitants in France are computed at twenty-five millions; thofe in Patis about nine hundred thoufand. The King was styled, His Moft Chriftian Majefty, and by the Pope, the Eldeft Son of the Church. The King's eldest fon was called Dauphin, and was declared to be of age when fourFemales were excluded from the crown, by old. years what is called the Salic Law:

teen

The chief palaces of the King of France were, the Louvre in Paris; and in the country, Verfailles, twelve miles from Paris; Marli, Fountainbleau, St Germain, &c.

The established religion in France, till the late revolution, was the Roman Catholic. Protestants were not tolerated. In the year 1685, under Lewis XIV. they were obliged to change their religion, or leave the country, which is called revoking the edict of Nantz; becaufe in that town Henry IV. promulgated of prohis famous edict, fecuring to the Proteftants the liberty feffing their religion, A. D. 1598.

There were in France 17 archbishopricks, 104 bishopricks, 750 great convents of monks, and 200 nunneries. The monks and nuns in the whole kingdom were reckoned above 200,000; and the revenues of the clergy and religious houses amounted to upwards of fix millions Sterling.

The universities were thofe of Paris, Orleans, Rheims, Poitiers, Bourdeaux, Angers, Nantz, Caen, Bourges, Montpelier, Cahors, Valence, Aix, Lion, Grenoble, Strasburg, Pont, Mouson, and Thoulouse; befides feveral academies for the fciences, for painting, fculpture, and architecture.

The

The French monarchy was first founded by CLOVIS, A. D. 481. His defcendants were called, from his grandfather Merovæus, the Merovingian race; and having continued 270 years, ended in Childeric III. A. D. 751, when PEPIN, the fon of Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, and father of CHARLES the Great, was proclaimed king. His defcendants were called the Carlovingian race, and ended in Lewis the Slothful, A. D. 987. After his death, HUGH CAPET, the fon of Hugh called the GREAT, and grandíon of EUDES, Count of Paris, who, together with Bishop GossIN, bravely defended that city for two years against the Normans, from 885 to 887, ufurped the crown; and his defcendants, till the late dreadful ca tastrophe, continued to enjoy it under the name of the House of Bourbon.

B

SWITZERLAND.

OUNDED on the fouth by Italy; on the weft by France; on the north by Alface and Swabia in Germany; and on the east by the lake of Conftance, Tyrol, and Trent: between 45 and 48° north lat. 6 and 11° east long.; about 260 miles long, and too broad.

Switzerland is divided into thirteen cantons, Bern, Bafil, Schaffhaufen, Zurich, Appenzel, Glaris; Friburg, Lucern, Solothurn, or Solcure, Zug, Switz, Uri, Underwald: all of them having capitals of the fame name, except the two laft, whofe capitals are, Altorf and Stantz. The firft fix cantons are Proteftant, the reft Popifh.

The allies of the Swifs or Switzers are, the Grifons, anciently Rhati, Brenni, and Genauni, who have under them Chiavenna, Valteline, and Bormio, partly Proteftant and partly Popish; the republic and abbey of St Gall, Proteftant and Popish; the republic of Geneva, Proteftant; the republic of Va

lais,

GENEVA is fituate on a lake of that name, one of the nobicft in Europe: The Rhone rufhing out of it, flows through the middle of the city; which is incircled with fertile fields, highly cultivated: the profpect, one of the finest in the world, is bounded by the long ridge of mountains, called mount Jura, on the one fide, the Alps, the Glaciers of Savoy, and the fnowy head of mount Blanc, on the other. The inhabitants are free and happy. An attempt was made by the Duke of Savoy, a. 1602, to feize upon the town, in the middle of a dark night, in time of peace. Several hundreds of his foldiers had got in

to

lais, towards Italy, its capital, Sion, Popish; the Protestant city of Mulhaufen in Alface, and fome others.

The Swiss cantons and their allies are fo many independent ftates, united together for their mutual defence. The govern

ment

to the town by fcaling-ladders, and the reft were following, when they were at length discovered by a woman, who gave the alarm. The Genevois, starting from their fleep, faized the readieft arms they could find, killed numbers of the affailants in the streets, and drove the rest out of the city. Hence the gates are always fhut at fun-fet, and are not opened without an order from the Syndics or Magiftrates, which is not to be obtained but on fome great emergency.

The anniversary of this event is kept with great folemnity, and called le jour de l'Escalade.

The public harmony of Geneva is frequently interrupted by political fquabbles betwixt the favourers of ariftocracy and democracy. Geneva owes its independence to the jealoufy and intereft of its neighbours.

About a day's journey from Geneva, in the king of Sardicia's dominions, are what are called the Glaciers.

The GLACIERS are prodigious collections of fnow and ice, formed in the intervals or hollows between the mountains that bound the fide of the valley of Chamouni, near which mount Blanc ftands; five in number; their furface is from a thousand to two thousand feet high above the valley, fome of them Their breadth is different, according to the interval between the mountains in which they are formed. In thefe vallies of ice are fwellings like waves, fome of them forty or fifty feet high, and rents from two to fix feet wide, of an amazing depth.

more.

The valley of Chamouni is about fix leagues, or eighteen miles in length, and an English mile in breadth. The Glaciers, which defcend from mount Blanc, are on one fide, and on the other, mount Breven, seven thousand three hundred feet higher than the valley. Behind Malavert, which gives name to one of the Glaciers, there is a chain of mountains all covered with fnow, which terminate in four diftinct rocks, of a great height, having the appearance of narrow pyramids or fpires, hence called the Needles. From the top of Malavert, mount Blanc appears nearly as high as from the valley. The Rhone, when it iffues from the lake of Geneva, is faid to be one thousand two hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean.

On the highest and moft protuberant parts of thofe rocks and mountains are formed great maffes of fnow and ice, which fometimes giving way, under the name of Avalanches, and hurrying along with them large portions of the loofened rock or mountain, roll with a thundering noise to the valley, and involve in certain deftruction all the trees, houfes, cattle, and men, which lie in their way, Virg. En. xii. 684.

At fome diftance from Chamouni, after paffing various defiles, rugged rocks, and fteep mountains, is the beautiful valley called the Pays de Vallais; of an oval form, about feven leagues in length, and one in breadth, furrounded on all fides by mountains of a ftupenduous height, the lower parts of which are covered with a very rich pafture. The valley itfelf is highly fertile and finely cultivated; the Rhone flows in beautiful mafes from the one end to the other": on the upper extremity is fituate SION, the capital of the Valais, and Martigny on the lower.

The Vallaifans are in alliance with the Swifs cantons, but independent of them or any other power. Their religion is Popery, and their form of govern

ment democratic.

The people are troubled with fwellings in the glands of the throat and neck, called Goitres, (ftruma), which are common to other inhabitants of the Alps,

(whense