the course of the seventh century, and in 823 it finally sub- | shorter periods preserved an all but nomina independence in mitted to Egbert of Wessex. the midst of the larger states, to some one or other of which 5. Northumbria, consisting of the sometimes separate but they were severally considered as annexed. Such were the commonly united states of Bernicia and Deira; the former Isle of Wight; the Suthrige, or Southern Kingdom, now (from the native name Bryneich) including the county of Surrey; the district of Hwiccas, or Magesettam, which was Northumberland, and the south-eastern counties of Scot- conterminous with the antient bishoprie of Worcester; and land as far as the Forth, founded by Ida, whose followers others, of which the annals have been for the first time were Angles, A.D. 547; the latter (from the native name collected by Sir Francis Palgrave. But above all it would Deifyr) including the counties of Cumberland, Durham, be difficult to show that either term is perfectly admissible, Westmoreland, York, and Lancaster, founded by Ella, whose if it be intended to imply (as in strict propriety both hepfollowers were also Angles, A.D. 560. These two states tarchy and octarchy would seem to do) that the several appear to have coalesced before the beginning of the states were all connected together into any sort of union or seventh century; and after the year 655 they were never confederacy; that they formed, in fact, any political system separated, so long as they retained their independence. entitled to be designated by one word at all. We know The limits of the kingdom of Northumbria to the north that they were constantly at war with one another, and of varied greatly from time to time according to the fortunes the existence of any general controlling authority, except of the almost constant warfare which it carried on with the such as one king was occasionally enabled to maintain over Scots, the Piets, and the kingdom of Strathclyde. From the the rest by his sword, their history affords no trace. To middle of the eighth century the history of Northumbria certain of the kings however by whom this temporary suconsists of little else than a detail of civil dissensions, con-premacy appears to have been asserted in the most marked fusion, and bloodshed, arising from the claims of rival com- manner, Bede, and after him, the Saxon Chronicle, have petitors for the throne. The Northumbrians made a formal attributed the title of Bretwalda, that is, as it has been insubmission to Egbert of Wessex in 829. In 867 the coun- terpreted, Wielder or Emperor of Britain; and it is probable try was conquered by the Danes; and from this time it that a species of superior honour and dignity, such as this may be considered to have remained independent under title would imply, may have been claimed by the princes in princes of Danish race till 924, when both the Danes and question, and accorded to them by those of their neighbours the English inhabitants acknowledged the supremacy of whom they had brought under subjection, or who, although Edward the Elder. Northumbria, however, continued to unsubdued, preferred not to provoke their enmity. The be governed by princes of its own, who, although nominally following is the succession of the Bretwaldas as given by subject to the English monarch, took the title of kings, Bede:-1. Ella, or Aelli, who was king of Sussex from 491 till 952. After this its rulers were only designated earls; to 518; 2. Coelin, or Ceawlin, who reigned in Wessex from the district forming sometimes one earldom, sometimes 560 to 591, and is supposed to have held the place of Brettwo, under the names of Bernicia and Deira, or Northum-walda from 568 to 589; 3. Ethilbert, or Aedilberct, who bria and York. It was not till some time after the Norman was king of Kent before 568, and is supposed to have been conquest that the territories which had formed this Saxon acknowledged as Bretwalda from 589 till his death in 616; state came to be considered as strictly included within the 4. Redwald, king of East Anglia, from 616 to 624; 5. realm of England. Edwin, of Northumbria, from 624 to 633; 6. Oswald, of Northumbria, from 635 to 642; 7. Oswio, of Northumbria, from 642 to 670. Egbert of Wessex is reckoned the eighth Bretwalda, and is considered to have attained the dignity in the year 827. This account, it will be observed, makes the country to have been without any general sovereign for about one half of the whole period that elapsed between the death of Ella and the accession of Egbert. The enumeration also omits some kings, such as Ina of Wessex, and Offa of Mercia, who were certainly possessed of as much power as any of those, excepting Egbert, upon whom the title of Bretwalda is bestowed. 6. East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire, founded by Uffa, whose followers were Angles, and from whom the kings of this state took the name of Uffingas, A.D. 571. The East Angles placed themselves under the sovereignty of Egbert of Wessex about the year 823, but they continued for some time after this under the immediate government of their own kings. The country was conquered by the Danes in 883; and it was not completely brought back under subjection to the English crown till after the accession of Athelstane in 925. From this time it appears to have been governed by ealdermen or dukes. 7. Mercia, including the counties of Chester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Shropshire, Stafford, Leicester, Rutland, Northampton, Huntingdon, Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, and parts of Hertford and Bedford, said to have been founded by Crida, whose followers were Angles, A.D. 585. The name Mercia has been derived, by Camden and others, from the word meare, a limit; for the other kingdoms,' it is said, bordered upon it.' Lingard thinks that the people were called Mercians, perhaps from the marshy district in which they first settled.' The most probable explanation, however, appears to be that given by Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce,' who observes that the Saxon name Myrenaric properly signifies the woodland kingdom, which,' he adds, agrees very closely with Coitani, the Latinized name of the old British inhabitants, signifying woodland-men, or foresters.' About the middle of the seventh century Mercia was conquered by Oswio, king of Northumbria; but after a few years it recovered its independence; and before the end of the next century it had reduced to subjection both the neighbouring states of East Anglia and Kent. It was eventually subjugated however about the year 825, by Egbert of Wessex, and although for some time considered as a separate kingdom, it continued ever after dependent upon that state, with the exception of a short period in the latter part of that century, during which it was overrun and taken possession of by the Danes. This assemblage of states has been commonly called the Heptarchy, for which Mr. Turner has proposed to substitute the Octarchy, on the ground that Deira and Bernicia ought to be considered as two distinct kingdoms. But in truth it may be doubted if there ever was a time when so many as seven of the states co-existed separately and independently. Various small districts also appear to have for longer or Upon the whole, the title of Bretwalda cannot well be regarded as any thing more than an ostentatious and empty assumption of some of the Saxon kings, or an epithet of distinction bestowed upon them by the flattery of the chroniclers. It certainly carried with it no real or legal authority. In the same manner we may dismiss the vaunting claims put forward by or for the Saxon Bretwaldas to the sovereignty of the Scots, the Picts, the Irish, and all the nations of other lineage inhabiting the British islands, founded as they are on little else than the interpretation put upon this title. Lists of the kings of the several states of the heptarchy do not exist in a complete form. The most perfect that have been compiled are those published by Sir Francis Palgrave, which are stated to have been examined and verified by Mr. Allen. The more remarkable names are noticed in this Cyclopædia in separate articles. Egbert of Wessex, although not strictly entitled to be called the first king of all England, certainly laid the foundation of what afterwards became the English monarchy. The royal house of Wessex never lost the ascendancy which he acquired for it so long as the Anglo-Saxons remained masters of England. It will be convenient therefore to begin from him the chronological table of the kings of the country, which is all that we shall now add, an account of the events of each reign from this period being given in separate articles. Kings of Wessex, with which Kent, Essex, and Sussex were sometimes incorporated, sometimes connected as vassal states, and to which also East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria acknowledged a more qualified subordination:A.D. 800. Egbert, acknowledged as Bretwalda from A.D. 827. 836. Ethelwulf;-with Athelstane till 852, and then 1 A.D. 855. Ethelbald;-with Ethelwulf (the preceding king) as supreme till 856, and Ethelbert as subordinate, in Kent, Essex, and Sussex. 860. Ethelbert. 866. Ethered, or Ethelred I. 871. Alfred the Great. 901. Edward the Elder. Kings of all England, of the House of Wessex :- 955. Edwy. 975. Edward the Martyr. 978. Ethelred the Unready 1016. Edmund Ironside. Danish Kings of England: 1017. Canute the Great. ENGLISH CHANNEL, called by the French La Manche, is that narrow sea which separates the southern shores of England from the northern shores of France. On the west it opens into the Atlantic Ocean by a wide mouth, between the Land's End and the French island of Ushant (Ouissant), where it is about 100 English miles across. On the east it is united to the North Sea by the Straits of Dover (Pas de Calais of the French.) This strait, which must be considered as a part of the channel, is formed on the English side by the shore between the South Foreland and Folkstone, and on the French side by that between the harbour of Calais and Cape Grisnez, and at its narrowest point between Folkstone and Cape Grisnez is only about 20 English miles across, and at other points very little more. West of the strait of Dover, the channel rapidly increases 1035. Hardacnute, or Hardicanute, with Harold Hare- in width; between Brighton and Havre is more than 90 foot in Mercia and Northumbria 1037. Harold Harefoot. 1040. Hardacnute restored. House of Wessex restored :.042. Edward the Confessor. Line of the Earls of Kent, &c.: 1760. George III. ENGLAND. The general description of this part of the island is under the head of GREAT BRITAIN; and that of Roman Britain under the head of BRITANNIA. English miles across. Farther west however it is narrowed by the peninsula of Cotentin, which projects from the French coast into the channel, and terminates in Cape de la Hogue, its most north-western point. Between St. Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight and Cape Barfleur, the eastern termination of the peninsula of Cotentin, the shores of both countries are hardly 70 miles from one another. West of the peninsula is the widest part of the channel, which between St. Alban's Head in Dorsetshire and the harbour of St. Malo is nearly 140 English miles across. The remainder of the channel to its junction with the Atlantic is between 100 and 110 miles wide. Though there is no perceptible current in any part of the channel, it can hardly be questioned that a current generally, if not constantly, is running up it from the west. This is evident from the eastern tides being stronger than the western or ebb tides, and their running longer in stormy weather from the west. It is also observed, that at the same time the surface of the channel is raised two feet or more above that of the North Sea, and consequently discharges a great quantity of water into that sea. The ports of the channel are some feet deeper in strong westerly winds than at ordinary times. It is worthy of remark, that the French ports along the channel are shallow, and that none of them are deep enough to admit men-of-war, while England has some of its finest harbours on the coast-line of the channel. As this circumstance secures to England a great advantage over France in time of war, the French government at different times have been at great expense in attempting to deepen the harbour of Cherbourg, but hitherto they have not succeeded, the works being in a short period again filled up with sand. It is not improbable that this is owing to the current, as the coast of France does not lie parallel to it, like the shores of England, but meets it in an oblique line. The channel is well stocked with fish, which gives constant occupation to a considerable number of fishermen on the coasts of England and France; the most important branch is the fishery of pilchards along the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire. ENGLISH DRAMA. Under the head DRAMA the reader will find the history of the Greek and Roman, or what is commonly called the Antient Drama. Under the present title we have placed the History of the Modern Drama in Europe, distributed under the following heads: 1. Italian. 2. Spanish. 3. French. 4. German. 5. English. ITALIAN DRAMA. After the long sleep of the true dramatic and theatrical spirit in the middle ages, which began to dawn again in mysteries and moralities independent of classical models, the first endeavour to imitate the antients in their ENGLAND, NEW, is a name which, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was applied to the English settle-theatre, as in other departments of art and poetry, was ments on the eastern coast of North America, north of 41° N. lat. But as, in the progress of colonization, the British population increased, the country was divided into several provinces, which, at the time when these countries acquired their independence, were formed into so many states. The provinces formerly comprehended under the name of New England were the present states of New Hampshire, Massachussets, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; but the states of Maine and Vermont, which, before the revolution, did not form provinces, were also considered as portions of New England, though some later writers think that the state of Vermont never belonged to it. At present the term New England is rarely used. ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. [GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.] made by the Italians. Nevertheless, apart from the religious plays, we find in the earliest dramatic attempts of modern Italy upon secular subjects a thorough independence of the classical rules. Among these first essays we find the Philodoxeos, o l'Amico della Gloria' of Leon Battista Alberti; and others might be cited which, written first in Latin and afterwards in Italian, combined in like manner all the elements of tragedy, comedy, and pastoral. For although, for instance, 'L'Orfeo' of Politian, performed at Mantua, and Il Cefalo, o L'Aurora' of Niccolo da Correggio at Ferrara, were given under the name of pastorals, while, on the other hand, a certain Antonio da Pistoja gave that of tragedies to two dramas of his entitled 'Il Filostrato e Panfilo and Il Demetrio,' yet these designations were determined merely by the predominance of particular elements in the respective pieces, and not at all by adhe- ་ becoming predominant, the Spanish plays, composed on the opposite system, had not yet exhibited that strength and fire of genius which afterwards gave the Spanish theatre so powerful an influence upon the dramatic literature of Europe; so that the Italians still adhered closely to the antique models. In this kind of secondhand imitation of the antients, the Florentines most distinguished themselves by a certain subtle grace of dialogue derived from the richness of their idiom and their proverbial expressions. Among the comic writers of Florence, Aretino is certainly not to be cited for elegance and correctness, but he surpassed all the others in licentiousness and causticity. These qualities he displays yet more strikingly in his comedies than in his prose writings; and in that respect approaches perhaps, of all the moderns, the nearest to Aristophanes, attacking all ranks and all institutions. The school of Aretino had many disciples; countenanced by the example of the court of Leo, it established itself more especially in Venice, where liberty was rapidly being corrupted into licentiousness. Lodovico Dolce, indeed, the most distinguished follower of Aretino, strove to justify this unbounded license on the ground, certainly not altogether fallacious, that there was no other possible way of delineating the manners of the time. Some, however, there were, who, scandalized at the excessive liberty of the comic poets, strove to reclaim them by example to a more moderate and decent course; but these efforts, wanting comic power, only served to raise a belief that the true comic spirit was inconsistent with any moral restraint, and so confirmed the evil instead of removing it. Among the successful comic poets of this period, the most distinguished was Giambattista de la Porta, who flourished at the close of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. He was a Neapolitan gentleman with a truly encyclopaedic genius, who from the deepest scientific studies could pass to the lightest amusements of literature. After forming among his countrymen the first academy of experimental philosophy, he pleased himself with instructing a company of amateur performers in the comic art, and producing a number of comedies for exhibition at his own house. Though he drew both the subjects and the form from the same source as his predecessors, yet he displayed so much happy invention in the contrivance and conduct of his pieces as to give them an air of considerable originality. Though most of his comedies were of the familiar species, and some of them even bordered on farce, yet a few rose to the noble and pathetic tone: of the latter kind are La Furiosa,' La Cintia,' Le Due Fratelli Rivali,'' La Sorella,' and 'Il Moro.' The first specimen of the Grecian or Greco-Roman co- But the Italian public were satiated by such an accu- ma comedy which he entitled 'The Revolt of Parnassus,' | This was the invention, by Ottavio Rinuccini, of the melodrama, which more commonly took the name of opera per musica, and which we now briefly term the opera. The magic power of this union of music with the romantic drama completed the triumph of the latter among the Italians of the seventeenth century; for not only was this musical melo-drama thenceforward their prime theatrical favourite, but the ordinary drama itself was no longer tolerated except under the romantic garb. To the despair of the few who still adhered to the classic school, the very names of tragedy and comedy were for a while laid aside; and the public would hear of nothing but those azioni, which went by the various names of reali, reali-comiche, tragi-comiche, tragi-satiro-comiche, &c., and seem to have been all translations or imitations of Spanish pieces. great original genius had yet arisen in Italy, as in Spain and At the same time the public continued their favour to a At the commencement of the eighteenth century, no logical and historical materials, which is not properly either historical or mythological, and the endeavour to produce a certain tragic purity which degenerates into monotony. The unity of place, however, it was impossible for him to observe, as a change of scene was required of the opera poet: in his rich intrigues too he followed Spanish models, VOL. IX-3 G and borrowed especially a great deal from Calderon. The which no enumeration can here be attempted. Among the comic dramatists of his own country he still occupies the highest place; and though some very respectable writers in the same department have succeeded him, they have done little either to extend or to enrich the dramatic field. We shall therefore, in enumerating the principal of these, dismiss them with all possible brevity. Francesco Albergati Capacelli, a Bolognese gentleman of a distinguished family, and on that account more familiar than Goldoni with the tone of good society, displays in his comedies a purer style, more dignified manners, and occasionally more elevation in his characters, but wants the nature and vivacity of his predecessor. Camillo Federici, a Piedmontese, who had originally entered the order o Jesuits, afterwards became a comedian and a prolific writer of comedies: taking his characters chiefly from history, romance, or allegory, he inclined much to the romantic school; but, though he was very popular in his time, and though his countrymen the Piedmontese strove to rank him as high in comedy as Alfieri in tragedy, yet he did not exhibit powers at all capable of permanently establishing the romantic drama in public favour. Gherardo de Rossi, of Rome, was a tamely correct follower of Goldoni; and the Conte Giraud, also a Roman, full of natural wit and liveliness, is the most spirited successor of the latter that has yet appeared, and has succeeded accordingly. We find Vittorio Alfieri himself devoting, in his latter years, his austere pen to comedy. He translated some pieces from The first endeavour to restore what the classicists de- the antients; and in his original comedies he appears to nominated the true comedy was made by Luigi Riccoboni, have made Aristophanes his principal model, mixing up a theatrical manager, who attempted, on the Venetian the historical and the actual with the fictitious and the stage, to revive the Scolastica' of Ariosto. The result was allegorical. Four of these bearing the quaint but signifiremarkably curious: the audience, idolizing in Ariosto the cant titles of 'The One' ('L'Uno'); 'The Few' ('I Pochi)'; painter of the romantic loves of Orlando and Angelica, and The Too Many' ('I Troppi'); and 'The Antidote' ('L'An eagerly expecting to see something of a kindred spirit in tidoto), are thoroughly political, being designed to exhibit, this long neglected dramatic production from such a pen, under the veil of antique names and manners, the several showed such indignation at the disappointment they re-effects of despotism, of oligarchy, of simple democracy, and ceived from this regular comedy, that Riccoboni hastily of rational liberty. The small pieces of the Neapolitan quitted Venice, and repaired to Paris, where, of all places Giulio Genoino, written for the exercise and instruction of in Europe, classicism was in greatest honour and glory. youth, are worthy of mention as being among the best in Venice, however, was destined shortly after to be the scene that peculiar and rather difficult line of theatrical composi of a successful struggle on the part of the same comiction. These comedies, ten in number, first appeared not school to re-establish itself in the public estimation. A many years ago, under the title of Dramatic Ethics' native of that city, Carlo Goldoni, nursed, both as a come- (Etica Drammatica), five of them being designed for boys, dian and a poet, in the study of Macchiavelli and Molière, and five for girls. In none of them is there the slightest and, it should seem, admirably qualified by nature for de- trace of the passion of love, or any injudicious exhibition of veloping all the resources that can enter into that compara-high-flown heroism. The quiet sentiments and duties they tively narrow dramatic circumscription, sedulously applied himself, in a series of original compositions, to the task in which Riccoboni had made so unlucky an experiment. He displayed such abundant nature and fertility in painting the manners and the follies of his own age and country, that at length he brought the comedy of character into vogue, to the discredit both of the improvisatory farce and the melodrame. His first successes, however, received a severe check. The injury sustained by the masked and improvisatory comedy, for which the company of Sacchi in Venice had the highest talents, was one of the causes that led to the production, at this period, of the fantastic dramas of Gozzi. These are fairy tales in a dramatic form, in which, however, along with the wonderful, versified, and serious part, this author introduced the whole of the masks, and allowed them the most unrestrained development. When his imagination was in some degree wearied with oriental tales, he applied himself to the re-modelling of Spanish plays, especially those of Calderon; and although the ethereal poetry of the Spaniard lost much of its delicacy under this kind of handling, yet the extravagant caricature of the Italian masks formed an admirable contrast to the wild wonders of the fairy tale. This bold and original flight in the romantic region so fascinated the Venetians, that Goldon was fairly driven from the field, and retired to Paris, as Riccoboni had done before him. There, by his production of 'Le Bourru Bienfaisant,' &c., he had the satisfaction of exhibiting himself to the French as the ablest follower that had yet appeared in the track of Molière, and of being honoured and applauded accordingly It is a remarkable.instance, too, of the sway which French criticism at that day exercised over the European continent, that Goldoni's Parisian success mainly contributed to his speedy reinstatement in Italian favour, and to the proscription of the wildly romantic pieces of Gozzi. From the pen of Goldori we have about a hundred and fifty pieces, of are designed to inculcate are sufficiently indicated in their In the latter period of the last century, Alfieri opened S |