or, as it is sometimes called, the county of Southampton, or of Hants, a shire of England on the British Channel. It is bounded on the east by Surrey and Sussex, on the north by Berkshire, on the west by Wiltshire and Dorsetshire, and on the south by the sea. Its extreme length is 55 miles, but, owing to a projection at its south-west extremity, its mean length is not more than 44 miles, and its breadth 39 miles. Its area, including the Isle of Wight, which is at the extreme points 23 miles long and 13 broad, is 1645 square miles, or 1,052,800 statute acres.

According to the returns under the population act, there were, in 1811, 44,240 houses, and 245,080 inhabitants, viz. 118,855 males, and 126,225 females. The number of families was 50,916. Of these 21,401 were employed in agriculture, 18,024 in manufactures and trade, and 11,491 in neither. The marriages were 2512; the males baptized were 4109, the females 4020. The deaths of males were 2897, of females 2718. That portion of the inhabitants living in towns, whose population exceeded 1000 souls, was 113,954.

As a whole, few counties in England are superior to this, or have a less proportion of uncultivated land. At the western extremity, bordering on Dorsetshire, a small portion of sandy heath is scarcely productive of any thing but sheep-feed, or of honey. A considerable tract, extending from Winchester to the northern extremity of the county, is down land, principally used for sheep-pasture, but, when brought under the plough, is very fertile in barley, turnips, clover, and sanfoin. Another portion is forest land, including the New Forest of about 92,000 acres, but within whose boundary a great part of the land is highly cultivated, and very fertile. The abundance of timber trees of large dimensions, the open glades between, and the variety of foliage, as well of the trees as of the underwood, render the scenery of the district highly delightful. The oaks are the principal beauty of this forest; they do not grow to a great height, but swell to large dimensions in the trunk, and shoot out strong crooked branches, which give them a very picturesque appearance, and add to their value as naval timber, by being well adapted to be used as knees for ships of the largest size. The beech trees also grow to a very great size, and contribute to the beauty, as well as the profits of the forest. The other forests are Alice, Holt, and Woolmer, extending over about 15,500 acres, of which nearly one half belongs to the Crown, and affords excellent oak timber; and Bere forest, of 16,000 acres, whose timber has been much neglected. In these forests there are abundance of deer belonging to the Crown, some of which are annually killed, and distributed, according to ancient prescription, to the various officers of the government and the royal household. The greater part of the county is inclosed, and even the down-lands are so in a great measure.

The principal rivers are the Itchen, which forms a part of the estuary of Southampton Water; the Avon, which falls into the sea at Christchurch Bay; the Boldre, which empties itself at Lymington. The Anton, which falls into the Tees, receives many small brooks before it reaches Southampton, where it is lost in that arm of the sea. The canals of the county are but two. The Basingstoke was begun in 1778, to communicate between that town and London. It is 37 miles in length, and terminates near Guildford, in the river Wey, which falls into the Thames. It passes through a tunnel, near three-quarters of a mile in length, under Grewell Hill, near Odham. It was not completed till 1794: it had then cost L. 100,000; and the tolls are not yet sufficient to pay the interest. The Andover canal Hampshire was begun in 1789 at that town, and terminates at Redbridge; and is useful to convey coals and other heavy commodities to the centre of the county.

Agriculture. The soil of this county is very various, but, in almost every part, it rests on a calcareous subsoil. The uplands are generally appropriated to breeding sheep, and hence the culture of turnips has been much extended. After the turnips are fed on the land, barley is usually sown, and with it clover, or other artificial grass-seeds. To the clover succeeds sometimes wheat or oats, and when the land is somewhat heavier in texture, occasionally beans; but in few parts of England are the rotations of crops more diversified. The average produce of corn on these high lands is not more than 16 bushels of wheat, 22 of barley, and 24 of oats to the acre. The ploughing is almost universally performed by horses, which are of a very excellent race. On much of the stiffer lands four of these strong horses are thought necessary; but on lighter lands, and with a single wheel-ed plough, sometimes two or three are used, and very rarely are harnessed abreast of each other. On the higher lands, the hay for winter consumption is generally made from sanfoin, a plant which peculiarly flourishes when the subsoil is calcareous. It is laid down with much care in extirpating all weeds, and every other description of grasses, and will usually continue for ten years to be fit for mowing, and on some soils it has been found to last even twenty years, and yield abundant crops of hay. There is no part of England in which this valuable grass is so well, or so extensively cultivated.

The corn lands on the lower levels of the country are much more productive; but on those districts they have no occasion for sanfoin, and scarcely for clover, as their rich water meadows supply them with a sufficiency of hay. Some of these meadows are perhaps the most valuable of any lands in this island, and are managed with great skill and attention. Where a rapid stream of water can be passed over them during the whole winter, it seldom becomes frozen; and the grasses grow during the cold weather, so as to be fit for pasture at an early period in the spring, before any traces of vegetation appear in the surrounding fields. This young grass is a provision for the sheep, when no other green food is to be found, and supplies them to the beginning of May, when it is laid up, and in six or eight weeks it is fit to be mowed, and yields most abundant quantities of hay. There is much of this valuable description of land in the fertile valley that extends from Overton to Redbridge, by Stockbridge.

In the eastern part of the county, bordering on Surry, there are extensive hop plantations, the produce of which is equal in flavour to those in the adjoining villages of that country near Farnham.

The original race of Hampshire sheep were white faced, with horns; but these have been so often crossed with other races, that few are left of an unmixed breed. Most of the flocks now are of the Southdown kind; they are found to be more beneficial, both on account of the superior quality of their wool, and the tendency to fatten with a less quantity of food than any others. The cows are not much attended to, and are not generally of the best kind. The introduction of the Welsh breed has made some improvement, but there is room for much more.

The breeding and fattening pigs has long been a most important part of Hampshire husbandry. The bacon from them is the principal animal food of the rural inhabitants. In the vicinity of the forests they are fed on acorns and beech-mast; and those so fattened are considered the best, either as pickled pork, or when converted into bacon. The average weight of these animals, when deemed fit for slaughter, is about 440 or 450 pounds, but many of them weigh 800 pounds.

The manufactures of this county are neither numerous nor extensive, except those carried on at Portsmouth, for warlike purposes. Besides the ship-building in the royal yard, there are many vessels, both for war and trade, built on the River Itchen at Buckler's-hard, on the River Boldre, and on the banks of Southampton Water. The manufacturing of their woollen goods upon a small scale is carried on at Andover, Romsey, Alton, and Basingstoke. Paper is made at Rumsey, and at Overton. The mills at the latter place have supplied the whole of the thin paper used by the Bank of England for their notes, ever since the reign of George I. Ringwood has been long celebrated for the excellence of the strong beer brewed there; but the quantity has declined of late years. On the sea shore at Lymington, and on the island of Hayling, near Havant, some salt is made by the evaporation of sea-water. The quantity depends on the degree of heat which prevails during the summer season, as the first part of the process of evaporation is performed by the heat of the sun alone; the brine is afterwards conveyed to iron pans, and the process completed by artificial heat, which, as coals, the only fuel, are dear, makes the whole expensive, and prevents the proprietors from competing with the northern manufacturers of salt.

The foreign commerce of the county is considerable. Many merchant-ships repair to Portsmouth, with stores for the naval arsenal, and, in time of war, many prizes are carried there for sale, which creates some extensive trade. Southampton imports much wine from Portugal, which, before the introduction of the bonding system, used to be deposited in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, to save the interest on the amount of the duties. At Christ-Church there are a few vessels fitted for the Newfoundland fishery.

The most populous town in the county is Portsmouth, which, with its adjuncts, Portsea and Gosport, with the adjacent villages, contains between fifty and sixty thousand inhabitants. The far greater part of these are the families of officers of the navy, army, and marines, and of the arsenal, with the various artificers.

The harbour of Portsmouth is perhaps one of the best in the world. Its entrance is narrow, and, therefore, easily defended. The approach to that entrance is defended by batteries, that can rake any ship before it reaches the fire of the castles, at the two narrowest points. The depth of water is sufficient for the largest ships, and the interior spreads out into an extensive basin of still water, in which there is room for all the British fleet to anchor. The system of building no ships of war in private yards has much increased the number of artificers of every description. The mast-making, anchor-making, cable-making, and particularly the making of blocks, are all conducted within the walls of the arsenal, which, as a whole, is a most astonishing combination of vast powers simply and economically directed to naval purposes. The Gun-wharf, Victualling-office, the King's-mill, and many other public buildings, merit rather a detailed description, than such brief notices as our limits allow. One of the finest objects depending on the naval establishment is the hospital for sick and wounded seamen at Haslar. It is 567 feet in length. It is divided into 100 wards, each sixty feet long, and twenty-four broad, calculated to receive twenty patients, with apartments adjoining for nurses and attendants.

Southampton is celebrated for the beauty of its environs, the elegance of the streets and buildings, and the purity of its air; and is much frequented for salt water bathing, and on account of a chalybeate spring of considerable repute. In the summer season it is a place of fashionable resort to those who wish to enjoy the rides among the pleasing scenery of the New Forest.

Winchester, a city of ancient date, has fallen to decay, and now depends on its being the county town, the see of the bishop of an extensive diocese, the station of his courts, and a collegiate place, in which many youths of the first families in the kingdom receive their classical education. The cathedral and the castle are venerable piles of antiquity, though the former was much damaged, and the latter blown up by the soldiers of Cromwell, after his capture of the city.

The antiquities of this county are very numerous; they are to be contemplated in the ruins of numerous castles, abbeys, and shattered towers, which add not a little to the beauty of the scenery. The most remarkable of these are Calshot Castle, Netley Abbey, Hurst Castle, Porchester Castle, and Beaulieu Abbey. Antiquities of more early date,—of ancient British or of Roman origin, are scattered over the county. The numerous barrows are ascribed to the former, and many vestiges of entrenched camps and castles to the latter.

The beauty of the country has attracted to it a greater number of families of rank and fortune than almost any other county can enumerate; the bare list of which would fill a page.

The towns and their population are as follow:—

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th></th> <th></th> <th></th> <th></th> </tr> <tr> <td>* Portsmouth and Portsea,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>40,567</td> </tr> <tr> <td>* Southampton,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>9,617</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gosport,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>7,788</td> </tr> <tr> <td>* Winchester,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>6,705</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Romsey,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>4,297</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Farnham,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>3,325</td> </tr> <tr> <td>* Andover,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>3,295</td> <td>Hampshire</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ringwood,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>3,260</td> <td>Hanover</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Titchfield,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>3,227</td> <td>Hanover</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Basingstoke,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>2,656</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>* Lymington,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>2,641</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Alton,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>2,313</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fordingbridge,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>2,259</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Kingsclere,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>1,863</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bishops Waltham,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>1,830</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Havant,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>1,824</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>* Christchurch,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>1,553</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hambleton,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>1,495</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>* Petersfield,</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>-</td> <td>1,280</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>

Two members are returned for the county, two for each of the towns marked with an asterisk, and for the smaller towns of Stockbridge and Whitchurch.

The Isle of Wight, a part of Hampshire, is not noticed in the preceding account, because it is a district of itself, and insulated from the rest of the county. The whole is an agricultural district, and produces most abundant crops of corn, usually estimated to be from eight to ten times as much as its inhabitants consume. It is almost divided into two equal parts, by the navigable river Medina, on which are many vessels, converted into floating tide-mills, for grinding wheat. Besides its agricultural productions, it affords fine sand, much used by the glass makers, and a white pipe clay. It returns two members to Parliament for each of these places,—Newport, Yarmouth, and Newton. The towns and population are, Newport, 3855, Cowes, 3325, Ride, 1601, and Bradling, 1218. The whole population of the island in 1811 was 24,120.

See Brayley and Britton's Beauties of England and Wales; Driver's Reports to the Board of Agriculture; Milner's Winchester; Hampshire Repository; Warner's Walk through Southampton; Worsley's Isle of Wight.