(John Augustus), one of the most illustrious Philologers and Theologians of the last century. He was born on 4th August 1707, at Tennstadt, of which place his father, likewise a distinguished theologian, was pastor, and superintendent of the electoral dioceses of Thuringia, Salz and Sangerhusen. After having received his first instruction in the learned languages, under the domestic discipline of his father, and in the gymnasium of his native town, he was sent at the age of sixteen to the celebrated Saxon cloister school of Pforta. Here he continued four years. At the age of twenty he entered the University of Wittemberg, where he studied eloquence and ancient literature under the celebrated Berger, theology under Wernsdorf, and the Wolfian philosophy under Schlosser. From Wittemberg he passed to the University of Leipzig, where he applied himself to the mathematical sciences under Hausen, following the courses of Boerner and Deyling on theology, and the lectures of Gottschon on German eloquence. In 1730, he was made Master in the Faculty of Philosophy. In the following year he accepted the office of Connector in the Thoman school of Leipzig, of which J. M. Gesner was then Rector; and on Gesner's vocation, as professor of eloquence, to Göttingen, he succeeded him as Rector. In this situation, by his erudition, diligence, and the elegance of his methods, he surpassed all his contemporaries, and created an epoch in Germany for the study of the ancient authors. From this office, in opposition to the present custom, which precludes a translation into the universities to the masters of the subordinate schools, he was, in 1742, named as Extraordinary Professor of Ancient Literature in the University of Leipzig, and in 1756, promoted to the Ordinary Professorship of Eloquence. In both these chairs he knew how to combine more intellect, philosophy, and taste, than had been done by any of his predecessors. His reputation as a scholar, and his rational treatment of the biblical exegesis, paved the way to his entrance into the Theological Faculty. Through the elegance of his learning, and his manner of discussion, he co-operated with Baumgarten of Halle in disengaging dogmatic theology from the scholastic and mystical excrencences with which it was then deformed; and thereby contributed greatly to the new revolution in theology, although he himself never deviated from the ancient system. In these deserving labours, and with unbroken health, he attained an honourable old age; and died, after a short illness, in his seventy-sixth year, on 11th September 1781.

Whether Ernesti be considered as a philologer or theologian, it is perhaps as much from the impulsion which he gave to sacred and profane criticism in Germany, as from the intrinsic excellence of his own works in either department, that he must derive his reputation. With Gesner, he instituted a new school in ancient literature; and after Crocus, Melancthon, and Camerarius, has been perhaps the greatest reformer and promoter of classical learning in Germany. With Semler he partially co-operated in the great revolution of Lutheran theology; though he is guiltless of all participation in the deductions which many of those who profess themselves his disciples, have drawn from the principles which he established.

An enthusiastic and enlightened study of the ancient Greek and Roman authors is the well-merited boast of the present German literature. This commenced, in its existing form, towards the middle of the last century. Not that Germany, before that period, had neglected ancient literature, or could not enumerate her proportion among the great names of classical erudition. No nation, in fact, had produced so many, or more illustrious, scholars immediately after the Reformation; but for a long time polite literature had become deformed, if not neglected, in proportion as religious wars and polemical theology had exhausted and engrossed her governments and universities. The German scholars were chiefly theologians; and theologians who had studied everything in reference to their peculiar profession. Add to this, that the most disgusting and inefficient methods had been introduced; whereby the spirit of the instruction was at utter variance with the object of the study. Accordingly, during the whole of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century, Germany was far excelled by Holland in the number and excellence of her philologers; and it was not until the appearance of Gesner and Ernesti, with their somewhat earlier contemporaries, Cortius, Daniel Longolius, and Michael Heusinger, that she could oppose above one or two rivals to the great critics of the Dutch schools. Gesner and Ernesti, however, through the influence of their lectures at the greater universities of Göttingen and Leipzig, through the wider extent of their labours in philology, and still more through the greater excellence of their methods, are alone entitled to be held the founders of the new German school of ancient literature. Both excelled their philological countrymen in taste, in the elegance of their Latin style, in a philosophical spirit, and in a wider acquaintance with the subsidiary branches of erudition. Both made an advantageous use of their critical knowledge of the languages; both looked at once to the words and to the subject of the ancient writers; established and applied the rules of a legitimate interpretation; and carefully analysed the meaning as well as the form of the expression. Both contributed effectually to expel the old absurd, and disgusting methods of instruction from the schools and universities, and to introduce an improved and more effectual system. To the epoch which they formed, many circumstances indeed contributed:—their acquaintance with the Dutch criticism; the universal enthusiasm of the Germans for establishing a national literature, and for becoming, at the same time, reformers in the departments of ancient learning; and withal the spirit of philosophy which at that period, in Germany, began more and more to blend itself with every part of science and literature. It is also true that their editions do not possess the complement of erudition and criticism which distinguish those of many of their contemporaries: their commentaries have the precision, but how inferior are they in certainty copiousness and depth of illustration, to those of the philologers of Holland? In their editions of the Latin classics, they returned back to the somewhat inconvenient method of Cellarius, collecting their principal illustrations into an Index Rerum et Verborum, as is done by Gesner in his Quintilian, and by Ernesti in his Cicero; not, however, that they did not possess the means of illustrating their author with a rich critical and philological commentary; of which the former has given ample proof in his editions of the Scriptores de Re Rustica, and in his Claudian, the latter in his two most valuable labours, his Suetonius and Tacitus. Both, but especially Ernesti, have detected grammatical niceties in the Latin tongue, which had escaped all preceding critics; such, among others, are the use of the subjunctive mood after the pronoun qui, and the legitimate consecution of the tenses. His canons are, however, not without exceptions. As an editor of the Greek classics, Ernesti deserves hardly to be named beside his Dutch contemporaries Hemsterhuis, Valkenaer, Ruhnken, or his colleague and enemy, the learned and unfortunate Reiske. How insignificant are his own labours in his editions of Homer and Callimachus? In regard to the higher criticism, it was not even attempted by Ernesti. But to him and to Gesner, the peculiar praise is owing, of having formed, partly by their discipline and partly by their example, philologers greater than themselves; and to them is due the honour of having so strongly excited in Germany that enthusiasm for ancient learning, which has now, unfortunately, no parallel in the other countries of Europe.

As a theologian, Ernesti is far less conspicuous than as a scholar, and his influence not so marked either on his contemporaries or on his successors. Before the middle of the eighteenth century, the Spenerian pietism had been almost banished from the Lutheran theology; and the professors of that faculty in the Protestant universities of Germany no longer excluded philosophy from all interference in the doctrine of Christian belief. It had then been boldly proclaimed and maintained with pre-eminent ability by Semler, that Luther had commenced and not finished the Reformation of religion; but that this Reformation must still proceed, and that religion, like other branches of knowledge, must become purer and more perfect, in proportion to the increase of knowledge, and the development of the human mind. At this date, accordingly, the theologians of Germany had begun to disregard the nonconformity of their doctrines with the Formula of the Lutheran church; and after this period, few were at all apprehensive of openly controverting its tenets, when at variance with the results of their own speculations. From the unrestrained freedom of thought in matters of religion, which was now indulged, if not even encouraged, by the governments in their different universities, every one was at perfect liberty, without any derogation from his character as a clergyman, or instructor, to maintain and promulgate what opinions in religion he chose; and it must be acknowledged, that the theologians have made, and are still making, every use and abuse of this licence, and have arrived at every conclusion that piety and learning, as well as presumption, folly, and irreligion, can suggest. It was at the commencement of this important era that Ernesti flourished as a theologian.

Of the three sciences subsidiary to theology, philosophy, history, and the grammatical exegesis, the first had been imperfectly applied, and without any interesting result, by Baumgarten, a scholar of Wolf; but the second, the historical interpretation, had, in the hands of Semler, been productive of conclusions subversive of much that had been hitherto held orthodox and even sacred. In the grammatical interpretation of the New Testament some imperfect progress had been made by Bengel; but the new epoch in the biblical exegesis commences with John David Michaelis for the Old, and with Ernesti for the New Testament. It is, indeed, chiefly in hermeneutic that Ernesti has any claim to the character of a great theologian. But here his merits are distinguished, and, at the period when his Institutio Interpretis N. T. was published, almost peculiar to himself. He applied himself to the interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, after a long and familiar acquaintance with the Greek and Roman writers; and when formed in his mind and taste by a constant study of these patterns. His interpretation of the New Testament bears the character of both these circumstances. It is not only the matter, but at the same time, the manner, in which it is conveyed; it is the selection of subjects, with the precision, the pregnant brevity, the elegance and simplicity in which they are expressed, that confers on this little book so high and so singular a value. We find in it the principles of a general interpretation, and this without the assistance of any particular philosophy, not even of the Wolfian, to which Ernesti was attached; but consisting of observations and rules, which, though already enunciated, and applied in the criticism of the profane writers, had never rigorously been employed in the biblical exegesis. He admits in the sacred writings only one acceptation, and that the grammatical, convertible and the same with the logical and historical. The Scriptures, therefore, having this in common with all other writings, it follows that they can only be explained like mere human compositions; that the rules of interpretation are the same in both; and that only through some peculiar constitution of speech and writing could any possible distinction between these subsist. He therefore justly censures the opinion of those who, in the illustration of the Scriptures, refer every thing to the illumination of the Holy Spirit; as well as that of others who, in contempt of all knowledge of the languages, would explain words by things, and thus introduce into the holy writings their peculiar glosses and opinions. The analogy of faith, as a rule of interpretation, he greatly limits; and teaches that it can never alone afford the explanation of words, but only determine the choice among their possible significations, and must always stand in need of philology as an assistant. The spirit of Ernesti's interpretation gives no countenance, however, to the results which many of his followers have deduced from the grammatical and historical exegeses. Every principle of his interpretation rests on the assumed inspiration of the holy books; and there is not perhaps a better antidote to the poisonous tenets of many of those who profess to be of his school, than the diligent study of his Interpres, and the relative Acroases of Morus. In the higher criticism of the sacred books Ernesti did nothing. In dogmatic he always expressed great contempt of strict systematic theology; and though he lectured for many years on the Aphorisms of Neumann, it was rather in refutation than in support of his text-book.

Among his works the following are the more important:

I. IN PROFANE LITERATURE: Initia Doctrinae Solidioris, 1736, 8vo: many subsequent editions. A work not only valuable by reason of the real excellence of the matter, but more particularly deserving an attentive study, on account of the purity of the Latin, in discussing subjects of philosophy known only to the moderns.

Initia Rhetorica, 1730. Xenophontis Memorabilia Socratis, cum notis, 1737; often reprinted. Ciceronis Opera cum clave. 1737, 2d Edit. Halle, 1757, 3d Edit. Ibid. 1776, 8vo, 6 vols. Suetonius cum Animaadversionibus, 1748. 2d Edit. 1775-8. Taciti Opera cum notis J. Lipsii, Jo. Fr. Gronovii et suis, 1752. 2d Edit. 1772. 8vo. Another edition, with many additions and improvements, has been procured by Oberlin. Aristophanis Nubes cum Scholiis Antiquis et praefatione, 1754. 8vo. Corradi Quaestura cum praefatione, 1754. 8vo. See Wytttenbach in his Vita Ruhnkenii. Hederici Lexicon Graecum, multis Vocabulorum milibus Auctum. 1754-67. 8vo. Homeri Opera Omnia, ex Recensione, et cum Notis Sam. Clarkii, accessit Varietas Lectionum M.S. Lips. et Edit. Vet. cura J. A. E. qui et suas Notas adspersit. 1759-64. 5 vols. 8vo. Callimachi Hymni et Epigrammata, cum Notis Var. Latine vertit atque Notas adject. Lugd. Bat. 1761. 8vo. 2 vols. Polybius cum Notis Var. Praefationem et Glossarium Polybianum adject. Viennae et Lips. 1764. 3 vols. 8vo. Archæologia Litteraria, 1768. A new and improved edition by Martini.

Horatius Tursellinus de Particulis, 1769. 8vo.

Fabricii Bibliotheca Latina nunc melius delecta, rectius digesta et aucta. Vol. I. and II. 1773, Vol. III. 1774, 8vo; unfinished. The learned Professor Beck of Leipsic has recently announced that he is soon to publish a fourth volume to complete the edition.

II. IN SACRED LITERATURE: Antimuratori sive Confutatio Disputationis Muratorianae de rebus Liturgicis, 1755–58.

Neue Theologische Bibliothek. Vol. I. to X. 1760–69. 8vo.

Institutio Interpretis Nov. Test. 1761. Reprinted in the same year at Leyden. 2d Edit. 1765. 3d Edit. 1775. 8vo.

Neueste Theologische Bibliothek. Vol. I. to X. 1771–75. 8vo.

Besides these he published above a hundred smaller works in the form of Prefaces, Academical Dissertations, Programmata, Memoriae, Elogia, Epistles, Orations, Translations, &c. Many of these have been collected in the three following publications: Opuscula Oratoria. Lugd. Bat. 1762. 2d Edit. 1767. 8vo. Opuscula Philologica et Critica. Lugd. Bat. 1764. 2d Edit. 1776. 8vo. Opuscula Theologica. Lips. 1773. 8vo.

ESSEXSHIRE is bounded on the south by the River Thames, on the east by the German Ocean, on the north by the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and on the west by Hertfordshire and Middlesex. Its surface contains 1473 square miles, according to the recent measurement of the Board of Ordnance. The population, which, by the census of 1801, amounted to 226,437 inhabitants, had increased in the succeeding ten years to 252,473; which, on 942,720 acres of land, gives nearly one human being to three acres and three-quarters; but as the rivers and estuaries form a portion of the county, the inhabitants may be calculated at one to three acres and a half.

Essex may be considered as a mere agricultural country; for though, from the near approach of one part of it to the metropolis of the kingdom, there are some manufactories established, which find both their raw materials and their consumption in London, and though in one district of the county there are remains of the once extensive manufactories which were brought from Flanders to this island, the number of persons occupied in them bears but a very small proportion to that part of the population which depends on agriculture.

Although nearly half the county is bounded by the sea, or by navigable rivers, it carries on no foreign commerce, and what vessels belong to it are employed, either in conveying to London the produce of its agriculture, or in the oyster fishery, which occupies a considerable tonnage and many seafaring persons. The oysters are bred in both the rivers Coln and Crouch, in the former they are protected by the seniory rights of the corporation of Colchester, and in the latter by the proprietor of that river, Sir Henry Mildmay. The spawn is deposited in the months of April and May; and it is said the shell about it begins to form within twenty-four hours. The fishermen are forbidden to dredge for them at this season. In the month of July the dredgers separate the small oysters from the stones on which the spawn was deposited, and on which they have grown, and lay them down in the channels of the river till they grow of a fit size for consumption, which is determined by a gage, kept for that purpose by the water-bailiff of Colchester. The stones or other substances to which the young oysters had adhered, are again thrown into the water from whence they were taken; as they apprehend the accumulation of the ouse at the bottom of the river would otherwise generate such an increase of muscles and cockles as would destroy the breed of oysters. The number of vessels of different sizes employed in this branch of industry, from ten to forty tons burden, amounts to near three hundred, and the quantity of oysters, varying in different years, which are caught, are from 18,000 to 24,000 bushels. The larger description of vessels are employed, part of the year, on the shores of Hampshire and Dorsetshire in dredging for the native oysters, which are afterwards deposited in the beds of Essex and Kent, to fatten for the London market. The uncertain produce of the breeding grounds in Essex makes it necessary to have recourse to the more distant coasts to obtain the requisite supply.

From being almost wholly an agricultural county, Distribution the far greater part of the inhabitants of Essex are of Population found in villages. The principal places with their population, according to the late census, is as follow:

<table> <tr><th>Colchester</th><td>- - -</td><td>12,544</td></tr> <tr><th>Chelmsford</th><td>- - -</td><td>4649</td></tr> <tr><th>Walthamstow</th><td>- - -</td><td>3772</td></tr> <tr><th>Harwich</th><td>- - -</td><td>8732</td></tr> <tr><th>Saffron-Walden</th><td>- - -</td><td>3408</td></tr> <tr><th>Halsted</th><td>- - -</td><td>3279</td></tr> <tr><th>Romford</th><td>- - -</td><td>3214</td></tr> <tr><th>Malden</th><td>- - -</td><td>2679</td></tr> <tr><th>Bocking</th><td>- - -</td><td>2544</td></tr> <tr><th>Coggeshall</th><td>- - -</td><td>2471</td></tr> <tr><th>Barking</th><td>- - -</td><td>2421</td></tr> <tr><th>Witham</th><td>- - -</td><td>2352</td></tr> <tr><th>Braintree</th><td>- - -</td><td>2298</td></tr> <tr><th>Waltham Abbey</th><td>- - -</td><td>2287</td></tr> <tr><th>Dunmow</th><td>- - -</td><td>2279</td></tr> </table>

The towns of Thaxted, Harlow, Epping, Dedham, Billericay, Brentwood, Rochford, Manningtree, Turnham, and Greys, contain each from 1000 to 2000 inhabitants.

The woollen manufactures are confined to Colchester, Bocking, Halsted, and Coggeshall. The Flemings originally introduced the art of making woollen cloths into this country, and it soon spread from hence, first to the districts nearer to parts producing the wool, and more recently to those where fuel is most abundant. What remains now is principally the manufacture of baizes, some of which are sent to Devonshire, where they are spotted, finished, and exported; but the greater portion is a kind made of the long wool of Lincolnshire, very stout, shaggy, and broad, known by the name of South Sea baize. These are sent to London white, and are there dyed to some of the most expensive colours, so that the cost of dyeing and finishing frequently amounts to more than the price of the baize. They are generally exported to Spanish America, formerly through the peninsula, but recently direct, and they form the clothing of the inhabitants of the cold regions of the Andes. A kind of stuff called Says is likewise made here, which, like the baize, is commonly dyed and finished in London, and is exported to Spain and Italy, where it is adopted for the dress of the clergy.

The manufactures are, however, rapidly declining, and will probably, in a few years, become extinct. The improvements in machinery, the fine streams of water for turning mills, and the low price of fuel, have created a competition in the northern counties with which it is not possible that Essex can long contend. On the eastern side of the county, contiguous to London, there are some establishments for printing calicoes and for bleaching. There are also manufactories of sal-ammoniac, of Prussian blue, of iron liquor for the calico printers, and some other chemical preparations.

The face of the county is generally very beautiful; it is well inclosed; for the most part displays good verdant pastures; the hills, none of which rise to great heights, are cultivated to the tops, and there are abundance of trees, especially oak and chestnut, which give a rich appearance to the prospects. There is no county in England in which the proportion of waste land is so small. The forests and wastes can indeed scarcely be considered as utterly uncultivated, and the whole of them do not amount to more than 14,000 acres, including the two forests of Epping and Hainault. These belong to the crown; though the inhabitants of many surrounding parishes have the right of pasturage for their cattle upon them. The king has an unlimited right to keep deer on all the inclosed woods, and the occupiers of land, in the various parishes included within the ancient boundaries of the forests, have a right to feed horses and cows, but no other cattle. The numerous common rights have led to considerable devastation of the timber of these forests, and considerable injury to the property of the crown, but plans have been lately adopted for preserving the trees, and converting a part into a nursery for growing timber for the royal navy. The vicinity to navigation makes these forests well deserving to be appropriated to this purpose.

That part of Essex which lies on the banks of the Thames, and on the shores of the ocean, is a rich alluvial soil on a subsoil of very tenacious clay. It produces, with good cultivation, most abundant crops of wheat, beans, oats, and clover. It is found necessary on the cultivation to fallow very frequently, and repeated ploughings is a practice very generally adopted. The swing-plough is much used, and sometimes a wheel-plough drawn by two, and occasionally by three horses abreast, which are guided with long reins by the ploughman. In fallowing it is common to plough the land six or seven times, and it is not unusual with the best cultivators to plough it eight or even ten times. After the summer fallow, by which the soil becomes completely pulverized, and rendered as fine as a garden, it is sometimes the practice to sow wheat in the autumn, but it is more common to let it remain through the winter; and then, after a spring ploughing, to sow barley or oats. The rotation of crops which usually succeeds to a fallow is, 1. Barley or oats; 2. Clover, red or white, mostly the former; 3. Wheat; 4. Beans, twice hoed at least; 5. Wheat. After this course the land is again fallowed. The whole produce of the course of crops is said to depend on the accuracy and skill exercised in the process of fallowing.

There is in this district some land adapted for turnips, and the rotation on such soils is usually, 1. Turnips; 2. Oats or barley; 3. Clover; 4. Wheat; 5. Beans; 6. Wheat. These courses are occasionally varied, tares being introduced when the clover fails, and sometimes peas being substituted for beans. The best cultivators often omit the second crop of wheat, and fallow again after the beans. A rotation which is sanctioned by some very skilful agriculturists is the following: 1. Fallow; 2. Barley or oats; 3. Clover; 4. Beans; 5. Wheat; 6. Tares or peas; 7. Wheat. In this case the manure is laid on the clover ley for the bean crop. In the district we are describing all the farms have a portion more or less extensive of rich marsh land, on which oxen are fed, which supplies hay for winter consumption, and is consequently the source from whence the manure is derived. The best wheat that is brought to the market of the metropolis is raised in the part of Essex of which we are speaking, which is usually denominated the hundreds. It has the convenience of water-carriage to London; the rent of land is comparatively low, and it is of extraordinary fertility; but it suffers from a scarcity of good water. It is, especially in the autumn, a very aqueous country; and though, of late, the roads have been much improved, they are still in such a state as, added to its insalubrity, prevents the gentry from residing on their estates.

The middle part of Essex rises above the level of the marshy lands, but partakes, in a considerable degree, of their unhealthiness. Around the town of Colchester, for a considerable distance, the soil is a dry loam, well calculated for turnips, and then the most general system adopted is the four course husbandry of Norfolk, viz. turnip, barley, clover, and wheat. A variation is, in some instances, introduced by taking a crop of peas after the wheat, and occasionally tares are sown after the barley instead of clover, as that latter plant will sometimes fail, if too frequently repeated. The greater part of the district is, however, of a clayey loam, on a subsoil of clay, and too tenacious for the turnip system. Much of this is good old pasture land, used solely for feeding, and to which the plough is never applied. The arable land is highly productive; the crops of wheat and beans especially are very luxuriant, and their produce of the best quality. The practice of fallowing is pursued as in the district before described, but so many ploughings are not deemed to be necessary. The rotation is various, but it rarely occurs that wheat is sown immediately after the fallow. Most commonly the succession is, 1. Fallow; 2. Barley; 3. Beans; 4. Wheat; 5. Tares; 6. Barley; 7. Clover. When the land is more wet, which, in spite of excellent draining, is frequently the case, the ro- tation is, 1. Fallow; 2. Oats; 3. Clover; 4. Wheat. When manure is abundant the heavy soils are cropped in the following rotation with great success: 1. Fallow; 2. Beans; 3. Wheat; 4. Tares; 5. Barley; 6. Clover; 7. Beans; 8. Wheat. In this rotation, the clearing the ground from weeds depends on the use of the hoe, which is applied most carefully to the crops of beans.

The western part of the county, especially where it borders on Hertfordshire, is, in general, land of a very inferior quality, and, without most expensive cultivation, yields but light crops. One extensive district, called the Rodings, still practises a most singular system of husbandry, known now in Essex only, though formerly it was adopted on poor lands in some other counties. It is, 1. A year's fallow, 2. Wheat, 3. Fallow, 4. Barley, and then repeat the same course; thus having one-half the arable land constantly without any crop. The soil is a tenacious clay, of a reddish colour, upon a subsoil of white clay. It is difficult to pulverize, and, with wet, potches so much as not to admit of ploughing when the atmosphere is moist. There are but small parts of this district which produces clover, pease, tares, or beans, and what hay is grown is confined to the narrow borders of the rivulets which run in the valleys.

In the south-western part of the county, the agriculture assumes that system which is adapted to the supply of the wants of the metropolis. A great portion of the land is in permanent pasture, or grows hay to furnish the markets of Smithfield and Whitechapel. The arable land is generally cultivated with a rotation of three crops, viz. potatoes, wheat, and clover; and, as London supplies abundance of manure, by applying it very liberally to the young clover, after the wheat is harvested, such culture produces most abundant crops, and the land is cleaned by the potatoe culture. In this kind of husbandry, which, indeed, can only be conducted where manure is to be obtained with great facility, the plough is only used once in the rotation, after the clover; as the potatoes are planted, and the digging them up sufficiently prepares the land for wheat.

Essex feeds some sheep, but very few are bred in the county. Calves are suckled to a great extent, and the rearing them to furnish veal for the London market is the principal dependence of many farmers. The whiteness of the veal is produced by a great attention to cleanliness, by regular periods of suckling, and by giving them a small portion of barley-meal mixed with chalk. The tendency to fatten is promoted by administering narcotic drugs, which keep the young animals in a quiescent state. Though the county affords such abundance of excellent pasture, yet the fattening of calves is so much more profitable than the dairy, that it is supplied with butter from other counties. Epping has indeed been celebrated for its excellent butter; but the greater part of what is sold in London under that denomination is the produce of Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and other counties. London is supplied with much of its beef from Essex. The bullocks, in a lean state, are brought from Scotland, from Wales, and some from Devonshire, and are fattened in this county, sometimes on the rich, natural meadows, and sometimes on turnips, with the addition of oil-cake.

Several other agricultural productions are cultivated in Essex. Hops are grown near Chelmsford, and in a few other districts. Saffron is cultivated near Saffron Walden with great success. Mustard is an advantageous crop in the islands of Foulness and Wallasea, and on the embanked marshes. On some rich old pasture land, when first broken up, three crops are raised together, viz. caraway seed, coriander seed, and teasels, for the baize manufacturers. The three kinds of seed are sowed together, in the spring of the year. The harvest of the coriander takes place in the following autumn. The caraway is a biennial plant, and the seed is fit to be gathered in July of the succeeding year; and, in September of the same year, the teasels are cut. The caraway sometimes produces a crop a second, or even a third year. This cultivation is deemed an excellent preparation for the growth of wheat, on lands which are so prolific as to require some degree of exhaustion; as, in the process of this treble cropping, the hoe is very liberally applied, it keeps the ground free from weeds. There are few counties in England, taking the whole of them together, in which the agriculture is so skilfully conducted, or where the productivity is so great.

The landed property in Essex, as in other counties near to the metropolis, is very much divided; there are no overgrown estates, though some of considerable value, belonging to a few individuals; but the greater part is in moderate-sized farms, which can be easily disposed of, and which are frequently purchased from the savings of the commercial class in London.

The only good harbour in this county is Harwich, whence the packets for Holland are dispatched, and where there is a royal dock-yard, in which some frigates are built and repaired. The river Coln is navigable for small vessels to Colchester, and the Blackwater river to Walden. The Crouch is navigable for the largest ships, but passing through an unhealthy country, and having few inhabitants on its borders, it is useless to the purposes of commerce. The river Lea is navigable by barges a distance of 25 miles. There are no canals in this county, but one is projected, to unite the river Lea with the Cam, and thus create internal navigation from Lynn to London.

The seats of noblemen and gentlemen in this county are very numerous, especially on the western side of it, where it approaches to the metropolis, and where many of the richer citizens have fixed their country residences. The most remarkable are, Audley End, belonging to Lord Braybrooke; Braxted Lodge, Peter Duncane, Esq.; Coppet Hall, John Conyers, Esq.; Dagenham Park, Sir Thomas Neave; Easter Lodge, Viscount Maynard; Felix Hall, Charles Western; Gosfield Hall, Marquis of Buckingham; Hallingbury Place, John Houbou, Esq.; Hill Hall, Sir William Smith; Langlees, William Tuffnell, Esq.; Mistley Hall, F. H. Rigby, Esq.; Moulsham Hall, Sir H. C. St John Mildmay; Roydon, Sir George Duckett; Terling Place, John Strutt, Esq.; Thorndon Hall, Lord Petre; Wansted House, Hon. William Pole Tylney Long Wellesley; Weald Hall, Christopher Towers, Esq.; Bell House, Sir Thomas Lennard; Whitley, Thomas Walford, Esq. The family of Capel derive the title of Earl from this county, that of Nassau from the town of Rochford; and Mr Abbot, late Speaker of the House of Commons, has been created Lord Colchester.

See Morant's History and Antiquities of Essex—Dale's History of Harwich—History of Essex, 8vo, 1769, ascribed to Bate Dudley—Arthur Young's Survey of Essex—Brayley and Britton's Beauties of England and Wales—Lyson's Environs of London.

(w. w.)