one of the Thirteen United States of America. It received that name in honour of Henrietta Maria, the consort of king Charles I. who made a grant of this country, with very extraordinary powers, to Lord Baltimore. It lies between 38° and 40° degrees north latitude, and in longitude from 74° to 78° degrees west from London. It is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania; on the east by the Delaware state; on the south-east and south by the Atlantic Ocean, and a line drawn from the ocean over the peninsula (dividing it from Accomack county in Virginia) to the mouth of Patomack river, thence up the Patomack to its first fountain, thence by a due north line till it intersects the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, in lat. 39° 43' 18"; so that it has Virginia on the south, south-west, and west. It contains about 14,000 square miles, of which about one-sixth is water. It is divided into 18 counties, 10 of which are on the western and 8 on the eastern shore of Chesapeake bay, Maryland, Somerset, Calvert, Montgomery, Washington, Queen Ann's, Caroline, Kent, Charles, Talbot, Dorchester, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Worcester, Harford, Cecil, Frederick, and Prince George's. Each of the counties sends four representatives to the house of delegates; besides which the city of Annapolis and town of Baltimore send each two, making in the whole 76 members. The climate is generally mild and agreeable, suited to agricultural productions and a great variety of fruit-trees. In the interior hilly country the inhabitants are healthy; but in the flat country, in the neighbourhood of the marshes and stagnant waters, they are, as in the other southern states, subject to intermittents. Chesapeake bay divides this state into the eastern and western divisions. It affords several good fisheries; and, in a commercial view, is of immense advantage to the state. It receives a number of the largest rivers in the United States. From the eastern shore in Maryland, among other smaller ones, it receives Pokomoke, Choptank, Chester, and Elk rivers; from the north the rapid Susquehannah; and from the west Patapisco, Severn, Patuxent, and Patomack, half of which is in Maryland and half in Virginia. Except the Susquehannah and Patomack, these are small rivers. East of the blue ridge of mountains, which stretches across the western part of this state, the land, like that in all the southern states, is generally level and free of stones. Wheat and tobacco are the staple commodities of Maryland. In the interior country, on the uplands, considerable quantities of hemp and flax are raised.

The number of inhabitants in this state, including the negroes, is 254,050; which is 18 for every square mile. The inhabitants, except in the populous towns, live on their plantations, often several miles distant from each other. To an inhabitant of the middle, and especially of the eastern states, which are thickly populated, they appear to live very retired and unsocial lives. The effects of this comparative solitude are visible in the countenances as well as in the manners and dress of the country people; there being among them very little of that cheerful sprightliness of look and action which is the invariable and genuine offspring of social intercourse; nor do they pay that attention to dress which is common, and which decency and propriety have rendered necessary, among people who are liable to receive company almost every day. As the negroes perform all the manual labour, their masters are left to saunter away life in sloth, and too often in ignorance. These observations, however, must in justice be limited to the people in the country, and to those particularly whose poverty or parsimony prevents their spending a part of their time in populous towns, or otherwise mingling with the world.

The chief towns in this state are Annapolis and Baltimore.—Annapolis, the capital, and the wealthiest town of its size in America, is situated just at the mouth of Severn river, 30 miles south of Baltimore. The houses are generally large and elegant; and the state-house is the noblest building of the kind in America.—Baltimore has had the most rapid growth of any town on the continent, and is the fourth in size and the fifth in trade in the United States. It lies in lat. 39° 21' on the north side of Patapsco river, around The situation of the town is low. The houses were numbered in 1787, and found to be 1955; about 1200 of which were in the town and the rest at Fell's point. The number of stores was 152; and of churches 9, which belong to German Calvinists and Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Nicolites, or New Quakers. The number of inhabitants is between 10,000 and 11,000.

There are many very respectable families in Baltimore, who live genteelly, are hospitable to strangers, and maintain a friendly and improving intercourse with each other; but the bulk of the inhabitants, recently collected from almost all quarters of the world, bent on the pursuit of wealth, varying in their habits, their manners, and their religions, if they have any, are unsocial, unimproved, and inhospitable. The trade of Maryland is principally carried on from Baltimore, with the other states, with the West Indies, and with some parts of Europe. To these places they send annually about 30,000 hogsheads of tobacco, besides large quantities of wheat, flour, pig iron, lumber, and corn—beans, pork, and flax-seed, in smaller quantities; and receive in return, clothing for themselves and negroes, and other dry goods, wines, spirits, sugars, and other West India commodities. The balance is generally in their favour.

The Roman Catholics, who were the first settlers in Maryland, are the most numerous religious sect. Besides these, there are Protestant Episcopalians, English, Scots, and Irish Presbyterians, German Calvinists, German Lutherans, Friends, Baptists, Methodists, and Nicolites, or New Quakers. The colleges in this state have all been founded since the year 1782, and are yet in their infancy. The names of the several seminaries are, Washington College at Chestertown, instituted in 1782; St John's College at Annapolis, founded in 1784; Cokesbury College at Abingdon, instituted by the Methodists in 1785; and a college founded by the Roman Catholics at Georgetown. There are a few other literary institutions, of inferior note, in different parts of the state, and provision is made for free schools in most of the counties; though some are entirely neglected, and very few carried on with any success; so that a great proportion of the lower class of people are ignorant, and there are not a few who cannot write their names. But the revolution, among other happy effects, has roused the spirit of education, which is fast spreading its salutary influences over this and the other southern states.

The legislature of this state is composed of two distinct branches, a senate and house of delegates; and styled The General Assembly of Maryland. The senate consists of 15 members, chosen every five years. Nine of these must be residents on the western shore and six on the eastern; they must be more than 25 years of age, must have resided in the state more than three years next preceding the election, and have real and personal property above the value of £1,000. The house of delegates is composed of four members for each county, chosen annually on the first Monday in October. The city of Annapolis and town of Baltimore send each two delegates. The qualifications of a delegate are, full age, one year's residence in the county where he is chosen, and real or personal property above the value of £1,500. The qualifications of a freeman are, full age, a freehold estate of 50 acres of land, and actual residence in the county where he offers to vote; property to the value of £30 in any part of the state, and a year's residence in the county where he offers to vote.

On the second Monday in November annually a governor is appointed by the joint ballot of both houses. The governor cannot continue in office longer than three years successively, nor be elected until the expiration of four years after he has been out of office. The qualifications for the chief magistracy are, 25 years of age, five years residence in the state next preceding the election, and real and personal estate above the value of £5,000, £1,000 of which must be freehold estate. This constitution was established by a convention of delegates at Annapolis, August 14, 1776.

Maryland was granted, as has been already noticed, by King Charles I. to Cecilius Calvert, baron of Baltimore in Ireland, June 20, 1632. The government of the province was by charter vested in the proprietary; but it appears that he either never exercised these powers alone, or but for a short time. The honourable Leonard Calvert, Esq., Lord Baltimore's brother, was the first governor or lieutenant-general. In 1638, a law was passed, constituting the first regular house of assembly, which was to consist of such representatives, called burgesses, as should be elected pursuant to writs issued by the governor. These burgesses possessed all the powers of the persons electing them; but by any other freemen, who did not attend to the election, might take their seats in person. Twelve burgesses or freemen, with the lieutenant-general and secretary, constituted the assembly or legislature. This assembly sat at St Mary's, one of the southern counties, which was the first settled part of Maryland. In 1689, the government was taken out of the hands of Lord Baltimore by the grand convention of England. Mr Copley was appointed governor by commission from William and Mary in 1692, when the Protestant religion was established by law. In 1716, the government of this province was restored to the proprietary, and continued in his hands till the late revolution; when, being an absentee, his property in the lands was confiscated, and the government assumed by the freemen of the province, who formed the constitution now existing. At the close of the war, Henry Harford, Esq.; the natural son and heir of Lord Baltimore, petitioned the legislature of Maryland for his estate; but his petition was not granted. Mr Harford estimated his loss of quit-rents, valued at 20 years purchase, and including arrears, at £2,594,883, 5s.—dollars at 7s. 6d. and the value of his manors and reserved lands at £3,279,447 of the same money.