formerly a duchy, now a department of France, lying between the latter and Italy, and which takes its name from the Latin Sabaadria, altered afterwards to Saboia, and Sobojia.

This country was anciently inhabited by the Celtes, whose descendants therein were subdivided into the Allobroges, Nantuates, Veragri, Seduni, Salaffi, Centrones, Garocelli, and some others of inferior note.—Of all these the Allobroges were the most considerable. The reduction of these tribes, in which Julius Caesar had made a great progress, was completed under Augustus. Afterwards this country shared the fate of the rest of the western empire, and was overrun by the northern barbarians. The Burgundians held it a considerable time; but when or how it first became a distinct earldom under the present family, is what historians are not agreed about: thus much, however, is certain, that Amadeus I., who lived in the 12th century, was count of it. In 1416, Amadeus VIII. was created by the emperor Sigismund duke of Savoy; and Victor Amadeus first took the title of king of Sicily, and afterwards of Sardinia. See SARDINIA. Savoy was lately conquered by the French, and added to the republic as the 80th department. As this arrangement, though decreed by the convention to last for ever, may probably be of short duration, we shall write of the duchy as of an independent state. Savoy, then, is bounded to the south by France and Piedmont; to the north by the lake of Geneva, which separates it from Switzerland; to the west, by France; and to the east, by Piedmont, the Mala- nefe, and Switzerland; its greatest length being about 88 miles, and breadth about 76.

As it lies among the Alps, it is full of lofty mountains, which in general are very barren: many of the highest of them are perpetually covered with ice and snow. The summit of those called Montagnes Maudites, "the cursed mountains," are said to be more than two English miles in perpendicular height above the level of the lake of Geneva, and the level itself is much higher than the Mediterranean. In some few of the valleys there is good land and pasture, and a good breed of cattle and mules; and along the lake of Geneva, and in two or three other places, a tolerable wine is produced, Mount Senis or Cenis, between Savoy and Piedmont, over which the highway from Geneva to Turin lies, is as high, if not higher, than the Montagnes Maudites; but of all the mountains of the Alps, the highest is Mount Rochmelon, in Piedmont, between Ferriere and Novalese. The roads over these mountains are very tedious, disagreeable, and dangerous, especially as huge masses of snow, called by the Italians avalanches, and fragments of rocks, frequently roll down into them from the impending precipices. The way of travelling is either in sledges, chairs, or on the backs of mules: in some places the path on the brink of the precipices is so narrow, that there is but just room for a single person to pass. It begins to snow on these mountains commonly about the beginning of October. In summer, in the months of July, August, and September, many of them yield very fine grass, with a great variety of flowers and herbs; and others boxwood, walnuts, chestnuts, and pines. The height and different combinations of these mountains, their towering summits rising above one another, and covered with snow, the many cataracts or falls of water, the noise and rapidity of the river Arc, the froth and green tincture of its water, the echoes of its numerous streams tumbling from cliff to cliff, form altogether a very romantic scene. These mountainous tracts, notwithstanding their height, are not altogether free from thunder in summer, and are also much expo- fed to thick clouds, which sometimes settle unexpectedly on them, and continue several days. There are some wolves among the thickets; and they abound with hares, rupicapras or chamois, and marmottes. In the lower parts of Savoy, there are also bears, wild boars, deer, and rabbits; and among the defolate mountains are found great quantities of rock-crystal. In the glaciers or ice-valleys, between the high mountains, the air is extremely cold, even in the months of July and August. The surface of these ice-valleys looks like a sea or lake, which, after being agitated by fierce and contrary winds, has been frozen all at once, interposed with hideous cracks and chasms. The noise of these cracks, when first made by the heat of the noon-day sun, and reverberated by the surrounding rocks and mountains, is astonishing. The height of the impending mountains is such, that the sun's rays seldom reach the ice-valleys, except a few hours in the middle of summer. The avalanches or snow-balls, which the least concussion of the air will occasion, tumble down the mountains with amazing rapidity, continually increasing, and carrying all before them. People have been taken out alive, after being buried several days under them. The mountainous nature of this duchy renders the plough an useless instrument of agriculture. The peasants break up the hungry soil with the pickaxe and spade, and to improve it carry up mould and dung in baskets. For the purpose of preserving it from drought in the spring and summer, they cut small reservoirs above it, the water of which may be let out at will; and to prevent the earth from giving way, break the declivity of the mountains by building walls on the side for its support, which frequently assume the appearance of ancient fortification, and are a very pleasing deception to travellers. The Savoyards carry their better sort of cheese into Piedmont, as the flavour is much esteemed there; but they gain more by their skins of bears, chamois, and bouquets (a species of the wild goat), or by the sale of grouse and pheasants, which they carry in great numbers to Turin.

The chief rivers are the Rhone, which, on the side of Geneva, separates Savoy from France; the Arve, which has some particles of gold in its sands; the Isère, the Seran, the Siens, and the Arc. There are also a great many lakes in this country, which yield plenty of fish, but none of them are very large, together with medicinal and reciprocating springs and hot baths.

The language of the common people is a corrupt French; but the better sort, and those that live in the great cities, speak as good French as they do in Paris itself.

In their temper, however, and disposition, the Savoyards resemble the Germans more than the French, retaining still much of the old German honesty and simplicity of manners, which no doubt is partly owing to the poverty and barrenness of the country. To this also, joined to their longevity and the fruitfulness of their women, which are the effects of their cheerful disposition, healthy air, activity, temperance, and sobriety, it is owing that great numbers of them are obliged to go abroad in quest of a livelihood, which they earn, those at least who have no trades, by shovelling marmottes, cleaning shoes, sweeping chimneys, and the like. It is said, that there are generally about 18,000 of them, young and old, about Paris. In summer they lie in the streets, and in winter, 40, 50, or 60 of them lodge together in a room: they are so honest that they may be trusted to any amount. The children are often carried abroad in baskets before they are able to walk. In many villages of Savoy there is hardly a man to be seen throughout the year, excepting a month or two. Those that have families generally set out and return about the same season, when their wives commonly lie in, and they never fail to bring home some part of their small earnings. Some of them are such consummate masters of economy, that they set up shops and make fortunes, and others return home with a competency for the rest of their days. An old man is often dispatched with letters, little presents, and some money, from the younger sort, to their parents and relations, and brings back with him fresh colonies, letters, messages, and news. The cultivation of their grounds, and the reaping and gathering in of the harvest and vintage, are generally left to the women and children; but all this is to be understood of the mountainous parts of Savoy. Great numbers of the mountaineers of both sexes are said to be lame and deformed; and they are much subject to a kind of wens, which grow about their throats, and very much disfigure them, especially the women; but that is the only inconvenience they feel from them.

The nobility of Savoy, and the other dominions of the king of Sardinia, labour under great hardships and restrictions, unheard of in other countries, which we have not room here to particularize. A minute account of them will be found in Mr Keyser's Travels. In short, the king has left neither liberty, power, nor much property, to any but himself and the clergy, whose overgrown wealth he has also greatly curtailed.

No other religion is professed or tolerated in Savoy but that of the church of Rome. The decrees, however, of the council of Trent are not admitted; nor are the churches asylum for malefactors.

This duchy is divided into those of Chablais, Genevois, and Savoy Proper, the counties of Tarantaise and Maurienne, and the barony of Faucigny.