to be broken by high winds, and in small gardens in parti- | are several tan-yards: morocco leather is manufactured. cular, where room is of great importance, and where a col- Good wine is produced in the country round Espalion. lection of the finer sorts of fruit is always desirable, it is The town has a subordinate court of justice (tribunal de found highly useful, both on account of the small space première instance), a high-school, and a drawing-school. which the trees occupy, and because they will bear fruit The arrondissement of Espalion is subdivided into nine much sooner than when allowed to grow in their natural cantons or districts, under the jurisdiction of a justice of the form. peace, and 101 communes: it had in 1832 a population of 65,086. In France and other parts of the Continent this kind of training is very much practised, and in the northern parts of England and in Scotland, where the borders of the kitchengarden are frequently planted with flowers, in order to combine pleasure with utility, espaliers are trained along the back of the flower borders to prevent the vegetables being seen from the walks. When the espalier is fastened to a wall, as is very common on the Continent, peach and nectarine trees are frequently trained upon it; but where it is detached, as it is most commonly in Britain, apples and pears, and sometimes gooseberries, are the only fruits which are successfully cultivated in this way. Plums and cherries are occasionally so managed, but not so advantageously as the others. When a common espalier is to be covered, the trees should be planted from 20 to 24 feet apart, which will allow the branches to grow 10 or 12 feet on cach side: but as a considerable time would elapse before they would fill this space, duplicate tree may be planted between each, and cut away as the others grow. Gooseberries of course require a small space; three or four feet from plant to plant is sufficient. The training on espalier is very simple, and easily performed. When the trees are young, one shoot must be trained perpendicularly, and two others horizontally, one from each side; the two last must not be shortened, but the perpendicular shoot is to be shortened in the following year to three good buds, two of which are to form new side branches, and the other a leader as before; and so on every year until the trees have attained the desired size. The proper distance between the horizontal branches must depend upon the peculiar growth of the tree, but from six to nine inches is what is generally allowed. Trees are sometimes trained upon a double espalier which has the advantage of giving two surfaces to train upon. It consists of two trellises instead of one, about two feet apart at the bottom, and approaching at the top. The only kind of espalier worth notice, which differs from those now mentioned is a table-rail: this, the management of which is called table training, consists of rails resembling tables, up the centre of which the tree is trained and reguJarly spread over the surface. It is rarely employed, and has the essential fault of exposing the blossom so much to the effect of nocturnal radiation that in this country a crop is rarely obtained from such espaliers. The stakes which form the espalier are made of different materials, some of wood, others of wire and wood, and some of cast iron. The first of these is by far the most simple, and is composed of stakes, five or six feet in height, driven into the ground from one to two feet apart; along the top a bar, which is nailed to each, connects the whole together. It is of no use to have the stakes either so strong or so high when the trees are first planted, because they are not required, are unsightly, and will have to be renewed before the trees have attained their intended height; for this reason, stakes of a much weaker kind will at first answer quite as well. The wire and wood rail is formed by strong vertical wires, strained from two wooden horizontal rails, which are connected and held fast by wooden posts let into the ground. The iron rail is constructed upon the same plan as a common street railing. The objection to all iron trellises is, that they cut and canker the trees; and when the cheapness of the wooden one is considered, besides the more natural appearance which it presents, it must undoubtedly have the pre ference. The best wood for this purpose is young larch, the thinning of plantations. ESPALION, a town in the department of Aveyron, in France. It is on the left or south bank of the river Lot, 17 miles from Rhodez, the capital of the department, and 339 from Paris by Fontainebleau, Briare, Nevers, Moulins, Riom, Clermont, and St. Flour. The principal street of the town is broad, and lined with well-built houses: it leads down to the bridge over the Lot. The population in 1832 was 2260 for the town, or 3545 for the whole commune. The inhabitants manufacture light woollen stuffs, and there ESPIRITU SANTO. [BRAZIL, p. 336; CUBA, p. 205.] ESPRIT, SAINT, a suburb of Bayonne. [BAYONNE.] ESPLANADE, the ground between the fortifications of a citadel and those of the town to which it belongs. It is recommended by writers on fortification that this space should be about 300 fathoms broad, reckoning from the covered way of the citadel, that in the event of an attack on the latter the enemy may not construct batteries within breaching distance under the cover afforded by the buildings of the town. ESQUILINE HILL. [ROME.] ESQUIMAUX, a nation inhabiting the most northern countries of America, and, if the extent of country be considered, one of the most widely-spread nations on the globe. On the eastern coast of America they are met with as far south as 50° N. lat. on the shores of the Strait of Belle Isle, which separates Newfoundland from the mainland of America. They occupy the whole of the great peninsula of Labrador and the whole eastern coast of Hudson's Bay up to East Main River. On the western side of Hudson's Bay they inhabit the coast north of Churchill River, whence they extend northwards over the Barren Lands to the Great Fish River, or Thleweechodezeth, on both banks of which river they are found east of 100° E. long. The whole country between this river, the Great Bear Lake, the Mackenzie River, and the Arctic Ocean, is exclusively inhabited by them. The coast lying to the west of Mackenzie River is also in their possession; and they seem to be spread as far as Kotzebue Sound, on Behring's Straits. They also occupy Greenland and all the other islands between the northern coast of America and the pole, as far as they are habitable. In stature the Esquimaux are inferior to the generality of Europeans. A person is rarely seen who exceeds 5 feet in height. Their faces are broad, and approach more to the rounded form than those of Europeans; their cheek bones are high, their cheeks round and plump, mouth large, and lips thick. The nose is small, and, according to some authors, flat, which, however, is denied by others. Their eyes are in general of a deep black; but some are of a dark chestnut colour: they appear very small and deeply seated, owing to the eye-lids being much encumbered with fat. The hair is uniformly long, lank, and of a jet black colour. The ears are situated far back on the head. Their bodies are large, square, and robust, the chest high, and shoulders very broad. Their hands and feet are remarkably small; there is, however, no sudden diminution, both extremities appearing to taper from above downwards in a wedge-like shape. Graah, in his Voyage to Greenland,' observes that the inhabitants of the eastern coast have disproportionately large hands and feet. They are of a deep tawny or rather copper-coloured complexion. They are not without beard, as it has been asserted, but they pluck it out as soon as it appears. Some of them even wear long beards. They show a good deal of ingenuity in making their dresses and instruments; and some of them have at tracted the attention of our travellers by their display of mental powers. Their language is different from that spoken by the other savage nations who inhabit North America; but it seems that the same language is spoken by all the different tribes of the Esquimaux, though of course each of them has expressions which are peculiar. (Parry; Mac Keever; Graah's Voyage to Greenland.) ESQUIRE (from the French, éscuier, or shield bearers is the next title of dignity to that of knight. The emulate. was the second in rank of the aspirants to chivalry, or knighthood, and had his name from carrying the shield of the knight, whose bachelor, or apprentice in arms, he was. The gradations of this service, or apprenticeship to arms, were, page, exquire or bachelor, and knight, who, in his turn, after the formation of degrees of knighthood, was called a knight bachelor, as aspiring to the higher honours of chivalry. The esquire was a gentleman, and had the right of bearing arms on his escutcheon or shield; he had 1 also the right of bearing a sword, which denoted nobility or chivalry, though it was not girded by the knightly belt; he had also a particular species of defensive armour which was distinguished from the full panoply of the knight. So much for the esquire of chivalry, which order is only preserved in the almost obsolete esquires for the king's body, whom antiquaries have pronounced to be the king's esquires in chivalry (that is, his esquires, as being a knight), and in the esquires of knights of the Bath. There was also another class, who may be called feudal esquires, and consisted of those tenants by knight's service who had a right to claim knighthood, but had never been dubbed. They were in Germany called ritters, or knights, but were distinguished from the actual knights, who were called dubbed knights, or Ritter Geschlagen, and had many of the privileges of knighthood. This distinction still exists in many of the countries which formed part of the German empire. In Hainault, Brabant, and other provinces of what was Austrian Flanders, the antient untitled nobility, or gentry as they are called in England, to this day are styled collectively the Ordre Equestre, or knightly order. It also existed in England until James the First had prostituted the honour of knighthood, for Camden frequently speaks of knightly families (familias equestres, or familias ordinis equestris), where the heads of them were not, at the time, actual knights. Writers on precedence make mention of esquires by creation, with investiture of a silver collar or chain of ss, and silver spurs: but these seem to have been only the insignia of the esquires for the king's body, which being preserved in a family as heir looms, descended with the title of esquire to the eldest sons in succession. The sons of younger sons of dukes and marquesses, the younger sons of earls, viscounts, and barons, and their eldest sons, with the eldest sons of baronets, and of knights of all the orders, are all said to be esquires by birth, though their precedence, which differs widely, is regulated by the rank of their respective ancestors. Officers of the king's court and household, and of his navy and army, down to the captain inclusive, doctors of law, barristers, and physicians, are reputed esquires. A justice of the peace is only an esquire during the time that he is in the commission of the peace, but a sheriff of a county is an esquire for life. The general assumption of this title by those who are not, in strictness, entitled to it, has virtually destroyed it as a distinct title or dignity. The heads of many old families are, however, still deemed esquires by prescription. ESSAYISTS, BRITISH. This title is customarily confined to a certain class of periodical writers upon subjects of general interest, as morals, criticism, manners, &c. The notion of a series of papers fit for general circulation, and not including news or politics, was originated by Steele and Addison in the Tatler.' [ADDISON.] The Freeholder,' 'Craftsman,' Freethinker,' &c., now almost forgotten, were rather political pamphlets than essays in this sense of the word; and an interval of thirty-five years elapsed from the end of the Spectator' to the successful revival of this style of writing by Dr. Johnson, in the Rambler,' in 1750. Its great popularity led to the establishment of a number of similar periodicals during the latter half of the eighteenth century, since which time they have again gone out of fashion. We give a list of those contained in Alexander Chalmers's collective edition of British Essayists, which includes some that have little claim to a place among the standard works of our language; with the names of the principal and most celebrated contributors to each. 'Tatler'-Steele, Addison. 'Spectator'-Addison, Steele, Budgell, Pope, &c. Guardian'-Steele, Addison, Berkeley, Pope, Tickell, Gay, &c. Rambler'-Johnson, almost entirely. Adventurer'-Hawkesworth, Johnson, Jos. Warton, &c. World'-Moore, Lord Chesterfield, Horace Walpole, J. Warton, &c. royal free town situated in a level and marshy district on the right bank of the Drave, a little to the west of its efflux into the Danube. It lies in 45° 34' N. lat., and 18° 42′ E. long. Its site is that of the Mursia, or Mursa of the Romans, which was founded in the year 125 by the emperor Hadrian, and afterwards became the residence of the Roman governors of Lower Pannonia. Constantine made it the seat of a bishopric in the year 335. It now consists of four quarters; the present fortress, begun under the emperor Leopold I. in 1712, and finished in 1719, is well built, contains 147 handsome and lofty houses, an arsenal and barrack, and is regularly fortified: an esplanade runs round it, and to the north-west of it stands the Felso-Varos (Upper Town), which is approached by an avenue 1100 paces long, is the residence of the merchants and dealers, and has well-attended fairs. South-east of the fortress lies the Also-Varos, or Lower Town, the site of the antient Mursa, which consists of broad and handsome streets, and has some fine churches; and in the east is the New Town, composed rather of farms and gardens than of lines of streets. The fortress and suburbs contain altogether about 1800 houses, 5 Roman Catholic churches, 4 chapels, and a church for those of the Greek persuasion, and 11,200 inhabitants. There are several handsome buildings, such as the town-hall, the house of assembly for the states of Verócz, the county in which Essek is situated, the barracks, engineers' house, officers' pavilion, and arsenal. Essek has a Roman Catholic highschool, a gymnasium, a Greek school, a military cadet academy, and a Franciscan and a Capuchin monastery. A causeway or bridge about two miles and a half in length, 55 feet in breadth, and 9 feet in height, constructed in the year 1712, leads across the Drave and the swamps on its northern bank into the Hungarian county of Baranya. With the exception of some silk-spinning there is little mechanical industry in the town. There is a considerable trade in grain, cattle, and raw hides. ESSEN, a township in the Prussian administrative circle of Düsseldorf, consisting of the town of Essen only, which lies on the Berne, in 51° 27′ N. lat., and 7° 2' E. long. It was the spot where the foreign princes of the Rhine and of Westphalia formerly held their diets, or Fürstentage.' Essen is surrounded by walls, has about 830 houses, and the population, which was 4706 in the year 1817, is now about 5700. It is the seat of mining and crown-domain boards, and has 2 Protestant and 2 Roman Catholic churches, a gymnasium, a Capuchin monastery, a Protestant orphan asylum, and a hospital. The chapel of St. Quirinus is supposed to be the first place of Christian worship erected in these parts. The manufactures consist of woollens, linens, vitriol, leather, arms, iron and steel ware, &c. The town has some trade, and there are coal-mines in the vicinity, as well as a number of iron works. ESSENCE is derived from the Latin essentia, a word which is used by Cicero and Quinctilian, and formed, not as stated in Mr. Richardson's Dictionary, from existentia, but from essens, the analogous but obsolete participle of the verb esse, to be. The English word essence consequently signifies that which constitutes the being of a thing, or, in the words of Locke, that which makes it to be what it is. This term was the subject of many very subtle disquisitions and disputes among the scholastic logicians of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries; and the metaphysical notions of essence entertained by these logical doctors cannot be understood without reference to their discussions respecting the nature of universal ideas, as real or nominal, of abstraction, genus, species, differentia, substance, properties, accidents, &c., of all which particulars may be found in Smiglecii Logic. Disputat.; Burgersdicii Logica; Eustachii Logica; Le Grand, Institut. Logic.; Wallisii Logica; and in many other logical and philosophical treatises cited in Johnson's Quæstiones Philosophice, p. 168, &c. Some amusing instances of metaphysical sagacity concerning logical essence are exhibited in the scholastic work of Louis de Lesclache, La Philosophie, divisée en cinque Parties,' 1548. 'Il n'y a rien dans la substance qui ait moins d'essence que la substance; aussi il n'y a rien dans la substance qui soit moins substance que la substance,' &c. In the Oxford Manual of Scholastic Logic, by Dr. Aldrich, as expounded by Mr. Huyshe, it is taught, in accordance with the theory of the Nominalists, that essence is not really existent, but is merely a figment of imagination, and that the notion of it is resolvable into two parts; that which is common to other ESSEQUIBO. [GUIANA, BRITISH.] ESSEX, an English county, situated on the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain. It is of irregular form, approximating to the quadrant of a circle, of which the north-western point of the county may be considered as the centre; the southern, south-eastern, and eastern sides a portion of the circumference; and the northern and western sides the circumscribing radii. It is bounded on the north by the county of Suffolk (from which it is separated by the river Stour) and by the county of Cambridge (from which it is separated for a very short distance by the river Cam); on the west by the county of Herts (from which it is separated, along a part of the boundary-line, by the river Stort, a feeder of the Lea, and by the river Lea); and by the county of Middlesex (from which it is separated throughout by the Lea, which joins the Thames at the south-western extremity of the county); on the south side and on a portion of the south-east side it is bounded by the separated from the county of Kent; and on the remainder of the south-east side and on the east side by the German Ocean. The length of a straight line drawn from the northwestern to the north-eastern extremity of the county, is 53 miles; but the northern boundary of the county, following its turnings, is about 75 miles; the length of a line joining the north-western with the south-western extremity, is 37 miles; but the boundary-line, from its many windings, extends to 53 miles. The length of a line joining the south-western to the north-eastern extremity of the county (which would be the chord of the circumscribing are of the quadrant) is 63 miles; but the boundary along the bank of the Thames and the coast of the ocean is about 85 miles. The area of the county is estimated at 1533 square miles; or, taking the estimated areas of the several parishes, 979,000 acres. The population, according to the return of 1831, was 317,507, giving 207 to a square mile. In magnitude it is the tenth of the English counties, being a little smaller than Kent, and a little larger than Suffolk. In absolute population it is the thirteenth, and in relative population the eighteenth, of the English counties. Chelmsford, the county-town, is on the river Chelmer, 29 miles from St. Paul's, London, in a straight line north-east by east; and the same distance from Whitechapel Church, London, by the road through Romford, Brentwood, and Ingatestone. (Ordnance Survey.) essences being called the genus, and that which is peculiar | said Arius, therefore three essences or natures. There are to one particular essence, distinguishing it from all others and two essences or natures in Christ, said Nestorius, therefore constituting it what it is, being called the differentia. The two substances or persons. There is but one substance or whole essence is called the species; that is, genus+differ- person in Christ, said Eutyches, therefore but one essence entia species. The qualities joined to essence are also or nature. The essay on the difference between ovoia and of two kinds; those which are joined necessarily are called inóoraoig, essence and substance, which is often attributed properties, and those which are joined only contingently to St. Gregory, appears to belong rather to St. Basil: at are called accidents. Hence the five predicables, or only least it is contained in his 43rd epistle. The epithet essenpossible parts of a thing which can be the objects of asser- tial denotes those indispensable qualities in a thing, withtion:-1. Species or whole essence. 2. Genus, the common out which it could not be what it is; and the name essenor material part of the essence. 3. Differentia, the peculiar tials, as the essentials of logic, signifies those parts alone or formal part of the essence. 4. Property or quality, neces- which are valid for general or particular uses. sarily joined to the essence. 5. Accident, or quality con- ESSENES. [HESSENES.] tingently joined to the essence. The following statements, collected from Locke (Essay, book iii., c. 3 and 6), exhibit the principal points of his doctrine of essence. He considers essence to be of two kinds: 1. The real essence, which constitutes the insensible parts of a thing, and is wholly unknown to us. 2. The nominal essence, which depends on that which is real, and is the complex idea, for instance, of the properties of colour, weight, malleability, fixedness, fusibility, &c., expressed by the word gold; for nothing can be gold which has not the qualities conceived in the abstract idea to which this name is applied. In simple ideas (see book ii. c. 2), the real and nominal essence are identical, but in substances they are always different. Each of the distinct abstract ideas which men make and settle in their minds by giving them names is a distinct essence; and the names which stand for such distinct ideas are the names of things essentially different. Thus, a circle is as essentially different from an oval as a sheep from a goat; the abstract idea which is the essence of one being impos-gradually widening æstuary of the Thames, by which it is sible to be communicated to the other. As essences are nothing but the abstract complex ideas to each of which has been annexed a distinct and general name, and as of such ideas there are some which correspond to no reality in nature-for instance, those of mermaids, unicorns, &c. -it is evident that there are essences of things which have no existence. In considering essence with regard to the scholastic theory of genus and species, Locke observes that we classify things by their nominal essences, having no other measure of essence and species but our abstract general ideas or mental archetypes, without reference to which we cannot intelligibly speak of essential and specific difference. The doctrine of the immutability and ingenerable incorruptible nature of essences can be founded, says Locke, only on the relation between abstract ideas and the sounds by which they are signified; that is, on the fact that the same name retains the same signification, and also on the fact that, whatever may become of individuals, as Alexander and Bucephalus, the ideas of man and horse remain unaltered. Some of these positions, as that real essences are unknown, and that species are distinguished by essences merely nominal, are disputed in Green's Philosophy and Lee's work against Locke. (See also many of the earlier scholastics; and for an exposition of the doctrine of essence, according to the transcendental theory, see Kant's 'Kritik der reinen Vernunft' and Wirgman's Logic and Metaphysics, in the Encyclopædia Londinensis.') Substance, as distinguished from essence, is understood to mean all the essential, with the accidental qualities; and essence (genus and differentia, or common and proper) the essential qualities alone, that is, the pure substance, or metaphysical substratum. The Greek word oúsia (ovoía) has many significations applicable to the individual, genus, species, and subject (Aristotle, Metaphys. 1. 6, c. 3); on which it is remarked by Roy Collard (Essai sur la Psy-along the river-bank; the embankment is, however, carried chologie, 1826, p. 149. 246), that while the Latin and all modern languages have two distinct expressions for essence and substance, it is surprising that the Greek, which is otherwise so rich, had only one name (ovoia) for these two ideas. The word vooravic, hypostasis (substance), was subsequently employed, but with similar duplicity and confusion. Hence arose many of the Trinitarian controversies, or rather logomachies, which embroiled the first ages of the church; for Athanasius, Epiphanius, and most of the other Greek fathers understood рówоv, person or mode of being, as meaning the same thing as nooraric, substance; and Sabellius, Arius, Nestorius, and Eutyches understood inórraoic as signifying the same thing as ovoia, that is, essence or nature. So that Sabellius said, there is one essence or nature in God, therefore one substance or person. There are three substances or persons in God, Coast, Islands, &c.-The bank of the Thames and the sea-coast of Essex are marshy almost throughout. From the junction of the Lea with the Thames to Purfleet, 11 or 12 miles, the marshes extend from a mile to a mile and a half or even two miles inland, and the river is confined to its bed by an embankment. At Purfleet the hills come down to the river; and from Purfleet to Grays Thurrock, 5 miles, the marshes consist only of a very narrow strip on, except just at Purfleet. West and East Tilbury marshes, on each side of Tilbury Fort, extend 6 miles along the river, and from one to two miles inland; but below them the breadth of the marsh land is again contracted, along that bend of the river called The Hope, 3 miles long, from the lower end of which they again widen, and extend above 9 miles along the river, and nearly 4 miles inland, being intersected by an inlet called Hole Haven, the branches of which cut off from the mainland the low marshy Isle of Canvey. The embankment of the river is carried round the inlet of Hole Haven, along the bank of the creek which separates Canvey Island from the main, and round the whole of Canvey Island; those portions of the marshland which are not comprehended within the embankment are, below Tilbury Fort, salt marshes. From the eastern end of Canvey Island the marshes cease; and about Leigh Foulness Island (so called from the Saxon Fugel, a fowl, and nære, a promontory, the Promontory of Fowls') is bounded on the north by the river Crouch, on the east and south-east by the German Ocean, on the west by the Broomhill river, which separates it from Wallasea Island, and on the south-west by a creek which communicates between this river and the sea and separates Foulness from Potten and New England Islands. Its extreme length, from northeast to south-west, is almost 6 miles; its greatest breadth 23. Its area is given by Morant at 4500 acres, and in the Lib. of Useful Knowledge' at 5000; but in the Population Returns, Foulness parish, which does not, so far as we know, comprehend more than the island, is given at 8060 acres, with a population of 630, almost entirely agricultural. The soil is good, the upper part producing corn of every kind, and the lower part pasturage; the only fences are ditches, which are filled at every tide. Fruit-trees thrive ill. The water is brackish; the only fresh water is rainwater. The houses are scattered over the island, upon the different farms; they are all of wood-a material which, from some cause or other, is here liable to rapid decay. The church, also of wood, is situated near the centre of the island; it will hold 300 persons. The living is a rectory, exempt from the archdeacon's jurisdiction, of the yearly value of 3007., with a glebe-house. There is a yearly fair in the island. Beds of oyster and cockle-shells have been found beneath the surface of this island, which renders it probable that it was originally formed by deposits from the sea. and Southend the coast rises into low cliffs. At Shoebury Ness, a low point of land at the mouth of the Thames, 6 miles from the east end of Canvey Island, where the coast turns to the north-east, the marshes reappear; and with an interval of about a mile just beyond Shoebury, they continue along the coast 11 miles, to the mouth of the river Crouch. Nearly 4 miles from Shoebury a narrow creek, with many ramifications, penetrates inland into the channel of the river Crouch, and with that river cuts off from the mainland several low flat islands, Russelys, Haven Gore, New England, Potten, Wallasea, and Foulness. The edge of this creek and its various ramifications, as well as of the Broomhill and Crouch rivers, which unite with it, are embanked, and the islands are embanked all round. The marshy tract, including the islands and the adjacent part of the mainland, is from 3 to nearly 6 miles broad; and the sand (Foulness Sand), dry at low water, which at Shoebury Ness was a mile and a quarter broad (having widened from a quarter of a mile at Hole Haven), is off Foulness Island 4 miles broad; there is a road along this sand from Kennet's Head, near Shoebury, almost to the north-eastern end of Foulness Island. From the mouth of the Crouch the coast runs nearly north and south 8 miles to the mouth of the Blackwater river. In this part of the coast the sea encroaches upon the land. The marshes (Burnham Marsh, Southminster Marsh, Dengey Marsh, Tillingham Marsh, and Bradwell Marsh) extend in the southern parts nearly 5 miles inland, but gradually become narrow to the northward to St. Peter's Chapel, where they are interrupted Wallasea, otherwise Wallet or Wallis, so named from by the higher ground running down to the coast; the sand, the sea-walls which surround it, is bounded on the north which is dry at low water, has a breadth of from two miles to by the river Crouch, on the east and south by the Broomtwo miles and a half. Between the estuaries of the Black-hill river, which separates it from Foulness and Potten water and the Colne, in the inlet formed by their junction, Islands, and on the west and south-west by Paglesham the mouth of which inlet, from St. Peter's Chapel to St. Creek, which separates it from the mainland. There is a Osyth Point, is above 5 miles over, is the island of Mersey, causeway over Paglesham Creek. Its greatest length is, separated from the main by a marshy tract and an inter- from east to west, 3 miles; its greatest breadth is 14 miles. vening narrow channel. The outer or seaward shore of The water is too salt to be fit for kitchen use, and the inhathis island is skirted by a very narrow tract of marsh-land; bitants have to fetch fresh water from the mainland; that but the marshes about St. Osyth Point are from three- in the ponds is so brackish that horses do not thrive till quarters of a mile to a mile broad. The marshes, however, they have been inured to it. The whole island is marshterminate 4 miles beyond St. Osyth's Point, and (with a land; it is included in several parishes. slight interruption of a mile of marsh-land near the mouth of Holland Creek) a high broken coast extends between 9 and 10 miles to the Naze, the most eastern point of the county. This point formerly extended much farther toward the east. The ruins of buildings have been found at considerable distances from land; and a shoal called West Rock is 5 miles from shore. From the Naze to Harwich, between 5 and 6 miles in a direct line north and south, the coast forms an inlet lined by salt marshes, and occupied by Horsey Island, Holmes Island, Pewit Island, and one or two smaller islands. The sea-coast terminates at Harwich; but the estuary of the Stour, which is in most parts more than a mile wide at high water, extends up to Catawade Bridge, above Manningtree. (Ordnance Survey.) The islands have been named in the course of the foregoing description of the coast: we subjoin a few particulars of the chief of them. Canvey Island is bounded on the south-west and west by Hole Haven, and on the north by a narrow creek, which separates it from the mainland. It is entirely marsh-land, banked in all round. Its extreme length from east to west is 6 miles; its greatest breadth from north to south 23. Its area is estimated at more than 2600 acres (Lib. of Useful Knowledge: Geography), chiefly appropriated to grazing sheep and cattle; or 3600 acres (Morant's Hist. of Essex). It is connected with the mainland by a causeway leading to the village of South Benfleet. It does not form a distinct parish, but pays tithes and rates to several parishes. From its being comprehended in so many parishes, its population cannot be ascertained from the population returns; but the 'Clerical Guide' (A.D. 1836) assigns to it a population of 216. Morant, in his 'History of Essex,' states that there were then (A.D. 1768) fifty dwellings in the island. In 1622, the land being subject to be overflowed at high water in the spring tides, the owners of lands in it entered into an agreement with Joas Croppenburgh, a Dutchman, for inning and recovering the island,' as Morant terms it. A timber chapel was built for the use of the Dutchmen employed in the work. This chapel has been twice rebuilt: the present chapel will held 100 persons. The value of the perpetual curacy, to which several endowments are attached, is 587.: it is in the gift of the bishop of London. There is a yearly fair on the island. Potten Island, Haven Gore, New England, and Russelys or Rushley, belong to the same group as the two foregoing; they are to the south-west of Foulness and to the south of Wallasea. The whole group is in Rochford hundred. In the creeks which surround or separate these islands are fed the small oysters called Wallfleet oysters. Mersey Island is in an inlet formed by the æstuaries of the Blackwater and the Colne. The name is derived from the Saxon Meɲe, the sea or a marsh, and ig, an island. It is bounded on the south by the estuary of the Blackwater river, on the south-east by the German Ocean, on the east by the æstuary of the Colne, and on all other sides by a creek, which, running through the marshes on its northwest side, under the names of Mersey Channel or Pyeflect Channel, separates it from the mainland; a portion of the marsh on the north side of the island is separated from the rest by a channel called Passfleet. The greatest length of the island is, from east-north-east to west-south-west, nearly 5 miles; the breadth varies from one to two miles. The island is divided into the two parishes of East and West Mersey or Mersea, of which the former comprehends an area of 1810 acres, with a population, in 1831, of 300; the latter an area of 3020 acres, with a population of 847 together, 4830 acres and 1147 inhabitants. There is a passage from the island to the mainland over the Mersey Channel, dry at low water, called 'the Strode' or 'Stroude,' i. e., a bank along the side of a creek, river, or sea. The history and antiquities of this island will be noticed with those of the county at large. Horsey Island is in that inlet which occurs between the Naze and Harwich. Its greatest length is from north-west to south-east about two miles: its greatest breadth rather more than a mile. It consists almost entirely of salt marshes: a spot rather more elevated than the rest, about one-fourth of the whole, on the south-west side of the island, is banked in. In the marshes there is a decoy for wild fowl. Pewit Island and Holmes Island, with one or two others are near Horsey: all these islands are separated from each other and from the main by narrow channels. Surface, Hydrography, Communications. This county has few hills of any considerable elevation: its general slope, as determined by the watershed, is towards the south and east; the coast and the banks of the Thames present a succession of unhealthy marshes commonly known as the hundreds of Essex. High Beach, on the north-west side of Epping Forest, near Waltham Abbey (390 feet high), Langdon hill, south of Billericay (620 feet high), Danbury hill, between Chelmsford and Maldon, of nearly the same height, and Tiptrey Heath near Witham, are probably the highest parts of the county. The Chalk downs which form the continuation of the Chiltern hills just cross the north-western part of the county in their extension towards the north-east. The rivers of Essex are-the Thames with its affluents, the Lea (into which flows the Stort), the Roding, the Bourne Brook, the Ingerburn, and some smaller streams; the Crouch with its affluent the Broom-hill; the Blackwater with its affluents the Pods Brook or Witham river; and the Chelmer (into which flow the Sandon Brook, the Ter, and some other streams); the Colne with its affluent the Roman; the Stour; and the Granta or Cam. The Thames bounds the county on the south side. Its course, though winding, is on the whole nearly from west to east. It is a tide river, and navigable for the largest merchant ships (that is, for East Indiamen of the first class, 1400 tons burden), and for frigates and other smaller ships of war throughout that part of its course which belongs to this county. The mouth of the Thames contains numerous shoals. The Lea bounds the county on part of its west side. It more properly belongs to Hertfordshire, in which it has a considerable part of its course. It meets the border of Essex at the point where it receives the Stort, along which the boundary previously runs and flows south past Broxbourn (Herts), Waltham Abbey, Chingford, Layton, and Stratford (all in Essex), 20 miles, into the Thames. The banks of this river are marshy; and the marshes are from half a mile to a mile wide. The stream is frequently divided and flows in several channels, and in some places cuts have been made in order to improve or shorten the navigation, which comprehends all that part of the river connected with this county. Some of the acts of parliament relating to the navigation of this river are above 400 years old. The Stort rises in Hertfordshire, but soon enters Essex, through which it flows for some miles, and then touches the border again, and flows sometimes on the border, sometimes in Hertfordshire, into the Lea. Its whole course is about 24 miles, for about 10 miles of which it has been made navigable. The navigation of the Stort and the Lea serves for the conveyance of corn, malt, wool, and other agricultural produce to London; and for the conveyance in return of coals, timber, deals, bricks, paving stones, groceries, cloth, and other articles of daily consumption. The Roding rises in the western part of the county, near Easton Park, a short distance north-west of Dunmow: it flows southward about 15 miles to the neighbourhood of Chipping Ongar, where it receives the Cripsey Brook (about 9 miles long) from the north-west. From the junction of the Cripsey Brook, the Roding flows south-west in a very winding channel 14 miles past Kelvedon Hatch, Navestock, Abidge, Loughton, and Chigwell, to Woodford bridge: and from Woodford bridge it flows about 7 or 8 miles south and south by east past Ilford and Barking into the Thames. Its whole course is about 36 or 37 miles. The banks are low and marshy from the neighbourhood of Ongar. The west bank, from Ilford, and both banks from below Barking, are protected by embankments. It is navigable under the name of Barking Creek up to Ilford bridge, and serves to convey coals and other articles for the supply of Romford and the neighbourhood. The Bourne Brook rises between the villages of Navestock and Havering-atte-Bower, and flows in a winding channel past Romford (below which it receives a small brook from Hornchurch), and between Dagenham and Hornchurch Marshes into the Thames. Its length is about 12 miles. In the lower part of its course the Bourne Brook is connected with the pool formed by Dagenham Breach. This breach was occasioned in 1707 by the blowing up of a small sluice that had been made for the drainage of the land waters: an opening was formed by the rushing in of the Thames, 300 feet wide, and in some places 20 feet deep: 1000 acres of rich land in the adjacent levels were overflowed, and the surface of nearly 120 acres was washed into the Thames, where a bank was formed nearly a mile in length, and extending halfway across the river. After various ineffectual attempts, the breach (which in course c time had been, by the force of the reflux every turn of the tide, worn into several channels like the arms of a river) was stopped, by driving dove-tailed piles and other expedients, under the direction of Captain Perry, who commenced his works in 1718. Within the embankment there is yet a pool of between 40 and 50 acres, where the soil was carried away by the tide. [BARKING.] Through the upper part of this pool the Bourne Brook flows. The Ingerburn rises near Havering-atte-Bower, not far from the source of the Bourne Brook, and flows southward, past Upminster, into the Thames. It is about 12 miles long. A stream of about the same length, which rises close to Thorndon Park near Brentwood, falls into the Thames near Purfleet. The Crouch rises on the slope of the hills, south of Billericay, and flows east by north about 25 miles into the sea, passing the villages of Ramsden Cray, Wickford, Runwell, and much lower down, the village of Burnham. The tide flows about 13 miles up the river and is kept from overflowing the low lands on its banks by mounds. In the tideway there are many arms; and the various channels by which the river communicates with the sea form the group of Foulness, Wallasea, and the adjacent islands. Just above its mouth it receives the Broom-hill river (10 miles long), which is navigable for seven miles nearly up to Rochford. The Blackwater, which in the upper part of its course is called the Pant, rises near the village of Wimbish, three or four miles from Saffron Walden, in the north-western part of the county. It flows first south-east and then south about 30 miles, past Redwinter, Great Sampford, Little Sampford, Great Bardfield, Weathersfield, Shalford, Panfield, Bocking, Stisted, Coggeshall, Kelvedon, Great Braxted, and Little Braxted, to the neighbourhood of Witham. Here it is joined by the Pods Brook, a stream 14 or 15 miles long. which rises near Great Bardfield and flows past Rayne, Braintree, Black Notley, White Notley, Faulkbourn, and Witham. From the junction of this stream the Blackwater flows south about 4 miles to the junction of the Chelmer; after which it flows east about 12 miles into the sea, having a course of about 46 miles. From Maldon, which is below the junction of the Chelmer, it is a tide river; and its æstuary, which is at high-water from 14 to 24 miles wide, contains the islands of Northey, Osey, Ramsey, and Pewit. Lawling Creek and Goldhanger Creek are channels in the ooze or strand of this tideway. The Chelmer rises near Debden, two or three miles south of the sources of the Blackwater, and flows south-south-east about 23 or 24 miles to the town of Chelmsford, passing Thaxted, Tiltey, Great Easton, Dunmow, Great Waltham, and Little Waltham. At Chelmsford it is joined by a stream which rises near Thorndon Park and flows northward between Billericay and Ingatestone to Widford and Writtle, and then turns east and runs into the Chelmer after a course of about 14 miles. From Chelmsford the Chelmer flows east about 10 miles till it falls into the Blackwater near Maldon. Its whole course is about 34 miles. The Sandon Brook, which rises near Stock, two miles north-east of Billericay, and has a course of about 10 miles, joins the Chelmer between Chelmsford and Maldon. The Ter rises between Felsted on the Chelmer and Rayne on the Pods Brook, and flows south-east 13 or 14 miles into the Chelmer, which it joins about two miles below the junction of the Sandon Brook. It passes Little Leighs, Great Leighs, Terling, and Hatfield Peverel. The Colne rises in the north-western part of the county, between Great Sampford on the Pant, and Steeple Bumpstead on the Stour. It flows east about 7 miles to the neighbourhood of Great Yeldham, where it is joined by another stream of nearly the same length. From this junction it flows south-east 6 miles past Castle Hedingham and Sible Hedingham to Halsted; and from thence eastsouth-east about 13 miles to Colchester. Below Colchester it becomes a tidewater and flows 8 or 9 miles south-east into the sea at the north-east end of Mersey Island. Its whole course is about 35 miles. The Roman rises about 2 miles north of Coggeshall on the Blackwater, and flows east by south about 13 miles into the tideway of the Colne, which it joins midway between Colchester and the sea. A brook eight or nine miles long from Layer Marney and Layer Breton joins the Roman about three miles above its junction with the Colne, |