the most northerly county of England, and formerly a distinct kingdom, is bounded on the north and west by the river Tweed, which divides it from Scotland, the Cheviot-hills, and part of Cumberland; washed on the east by the German Ocean; and separated from Durham on the south by the rivers Tyne and Derwent. This county, which gives the title of duke to a nobleman who married the daughter of Algernoon duke of Somerset, whose mother was heiress of the Piercy family, extends about 66 miles in length from north to south, and about 47 in breadth from east to west. It is remarkably populous, containing 12 market-towns, 280 villages, and 450 parishes. The face of the country, especially towards the west, is roughened with huge mountains, the most remarkable of which are the Cheviot hills, and the high ridge called Rideafell; but the lands are level towards the sea-side and the borders of Durham. The climate, like that of every other mountainous country in the neighbourhood of the sea, is moist and disagreeable: the air, however, is pure and healthy, as being well ventilated by breezes and strong gales of wind; and in winter mitigated by the warm vapours from the two seas, the Irish and the German Ocean, between which it is situated. The soil varies in different parts of the county. Among the hills it is barren; though it affords good pasture for sheep, which cover those mountains. The low country, when properly cultivated, produces plenty of wheat, and all sorts of grain; and great part of it is laid out in meadow-lands and rich enclosures. Northumberland is well watered with many rivers, rivulets, and fountains: its greatest rivers are the Tweed and the Tyne. The Tyne is composed of two streams called South and North Tyne: the first rises on the verge of Cumberland, near Alston-Moor; enters Northumberland, running north to Haltwefel; then bends easterly, and receiving the two small rivers East and West Alon, unites above Hexham with the other branch, taking its rise at a mountain called Fane-head in the western part of the county, thence called Time-dale; is swelled in its course by the little river Shele; joins the Read near Billingham; and running in a direct line to the south-east, is united with the southern Tyne, forming a large river that washes Newcastle, and falls into the German Ocean near Tynemouth.

In all probability the mountains of Northumberland contain lead-ore and other mineralized metals in their bowels, as they in all respects resemble those parts of Wales and Scotland where lead mines have been found and prospected. Perhaps the inhabitants are diverted from inquiries of this nature, by the certain profits and constant employment they enjoy in working the coal pits, with which this county abounds. The city of London, and the greatest part of England, are supplied with fuel from these stores of Northumberland, which are inexhaustible, enrich the proprietors, and employ an incredible number of hands and shipping. About 658,858 chaldrons are annually shipped for London.

There are no natural woods of any consequence in this county; but many plantations belonging to the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, of which there is a great number. As for pot-herbs, roots, salading, and every article of the kitchen-garden and orchard, they are here raised in great plenty by the usual means of cultivation; as are also the fruits of more delicate flavour, such as the apricot, peach, and nectarine. The spontaneous fruits it produces in common with other parts of Great Britain, are the crab-apple, the floe or bullace, the hazel-nut, the acorn, hips, and haws, with the berries of the bramble, the juniper, wood-strawberries, cranberries, and bilberries.

Northumberland raises a good number of excellent horses and black cattle, and affords pasture for numerous flocks of sheep; both the cattle and sheep are of a large breed, but the wool is coarser than that which the more southern counties produce. The hills and mountains abound with a variety of game, such as red deer, foxes, hares, rabbits, heathcocks, grouse, partridge, quail, plover, teal, and woodcock: indeed, this is counted one of the best sporting counties in Great Britain. The sea and rivers are well stocked with fish; especially the Tweed, in which a vast number of salmon is caught and carried to Tynemouth, where being pickled, they are conveyed by sea to London, and sold under the name of Newcastle Salmon.

The Northumbrians were anciently stigmatized as a savage, barbarous people, addicted to cruelty, and injurious to rapine. The truth is, before the union of the two crowns of England and Scotland, the borderers on each side were extremely licentious and ungovernable, trained up to war from their infancy, and habituated to plunder by the mutual incursions made into each kingdom; incursions which neither truce nor treaty could totally prevent. People of a pacific disposition, who proposed to earn their livelihood by agriculture, would not on any terms remain in a country exposed to the first violence of a bold and desperate enemy; therefore the lands lay uncultivated, and in a great measure deserted by everybody but lawless adventurers, who subsisted by theft and rapine. There was a tract 70 miles in length and 6 in breadth, between Berwick and Carlisle, known by the name of the Debateable Land, to which both nations laid claim, though it belonged to neither; and this was occupied by a set of banditti who plundered on each side, and what they stole in one kingdom, they sold openly in the other.