a country of Europe, comprises the northern and larger portion of West Russia, and forms all the N. and N.E. part of the ancient kingdom of Poland. Area 112,000 square miles, and population about 5,000,000. It forms the present Russian governments of Wilna, Grodno, Minsk, Mohilew, and Vitepsk. The country is on the whole flat, and is for the most part covered with marshes and sand. The duchy of Samogitia and the banks of the Niemen, however, are fertile; the former of these producing a large quantity of flax. The mineral products are granite and pudding-stone; and iron is found, although in very small quantities. In winter the climate is excessively severe, while it is very hot in summer. Bears, wolves, elks, wild hogs, &c., abound in the forests; and the bison, or uruchs, which occurs also in the Caucasus, may be found in the forest called Biala Vieja. The manufactures are of no importance, and the trade consists chiefly of exports of flax, timber, corn, wax, and honey.

In the Chronicle of Quedlinburg, A.D. 1009, we find mention is made of Lithuania; but little is known of it till the end of the twelfth century, when we find the inhabitants called "Letoven." At a very early period they fell a prey to the Russians, who reduced them into a state of slavery and degradation. The consequence of this miserable condition was, that the Lithuanians had no decided position among the nations of Europe till the middle of the thirteenth century. At length, after long and bloody wars, they succeeded in gaining their independence; and, gradually encroaching on the Russian territories they extended their boundaries from the Niemen to the Dnieper, and from the Bug to the Dnieper. In 1230 Ringold assumed the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania. His son, Mendog, was baptized at Riga in 1252, but three years afterwards relapsed and became the sworn enemy of Christianity. Idolatry remained in the land for another century. The royal family became extinct with the death of Mendog's son in 1266, and Witezes, a young man about the court, succeeded in placing himself on the throne in 1282. He was succeeded by his son Gheclemin in 1315, who did more for his country than any of his predecessors, both by extending his conquests and preserving the religion, language, and customs of the inhabitants of the lands which he subdued. His son Olgerd, on his deathbed in 1381, at the instigation of his wife, became a member of the Greek Church. From Olgerd the power passed into the hands of Jagello, one of his younger sons; and on condition of his becoming a Christian, and of Lithuania being united to Poland, he received Hedwig the Queen of Poland in marriage. Jagello, together with all his brothers and sisters, and many of the nobles of his court, was publicly baptized in Krakau on the 14th of February 1386, and shortly afterwards was solemnly crowned King of Poland. In the following year he changed the magnificent heathen temple at Wilna into a Christian church, and at once induced thousands of his subjects to receive the Christian religion. From many circumstances, however, the real political union between Lithuania and Poland took place only gradually, although it had been formally declared at Wilna. Properly speaking, the union was not thoroughly established till the Diet of Lublin in 1569. Before Lithuania was annexed to