market-town of England, county of Worcester, in a beautiful situation on the right bank of the Avon, here crossed by a bridge, 10 miles S.E. of Worcester, and 102 W.N.W. of London. It is well built, and consists principally of one long street. The church of Holy Cross, a fine remnant of the ancient abbey church, has a transept and a high square tower of Norman architecture; while the chancel, now used for worship, is in the early English style. There is also a small old church of St Andrew, and places of worship belonging to Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Mormons. National and infant schools, and a mechanics' institution, exist here. A county court is held; and there is an annual fair held on the 26th of June. Some of the people are employed in making stockings; and a retail trade is carried on. Pop. (1851) 2717. Of the countries which have been the ancient seats of mankind, not one is more famous than Persia; and late linguistic and ethnological discoveries have revived and strengthened the interest attaching to a region which, with Assyria, Armenia, Arabia, and Egypt, supplies the most ancient records of the human race. The boundaries of Persia have fluctuated more than those of any other kingdom in the world, from the period when its monarchs rose from the government of a province to all but universal empire, down to the time when they again sank into insignificance as the rulers of a second-rate Asiatic state.