a county of England; anciently reckoned a part of Wales, but in Charles the Second's time taken into the Oxford circuit, and made an English county. It is bounded on the north by Herefordshire, on the east by Gloucestershire, on the south by the river Severn, and on the west by the Welsh counties of Brecknock and Glamorgan. Its extent from north to south is about 30 miles, from east to west 26, and in circumference 110. It is subdivided into six hundreds; and contains seven market-towns, 127 parishes, about 6494 houses, 38,900 inhabitants; but sends only three members to parliament, that is, one for Monmouth, and two for the county. The air is temperate and healthy; and the soil fruitful, though mountainous and woody. The hills feed sheep, goats, and horned cattle; and the valleys produce plenty of grass and corn. This county is extremely well watered by several fine rivers; for, besides the Wye, which parts it from Gloucestershire, the Mynow, which runs between it and Herefordshire, and the Rumney, which divides it from Glamorganshire, it has, peculiar to itself, the Usk, which enters this county a little above Abergavenny, runs mostly southward, and falls into the Severn by the mouth of the Elbwith; which last river runs from north to south, in the western side of the county. All these rivers, especially the Wye and Usk, abound with fish, particularly salmon and trout.