one of the smallest of the English counties, bounds the Thames for its northern boundary, Berkshire and daries, Hampshire on the west, Sussex on the south, and Kent on the east. Its form is nearly that of an oblong quadrangle; its utmost length, from east to west, about 394 miles; its breadth, 253 miles. According to Parliamentary returns its superficial area is 789 square miles, or 485,760 acres; though Stevenson estimates it at 519,040 acres. It lies between 51. 5. and 51. 31. N. Lat., and 3. E. and 51. W. Long.

That portion of it included in the valley of the Thames is exceedingly rich and fertile; and the scenery is there diversified by leafy dells, waving corn-fields, picturesque ascents, and prolific woodlands. The western and southern districts exhibit, on the contrary, wide barren heaths and gorse-covered commons, so that Fuller's quaint description is not altogether exaggerated. "The county of Surrey," he says, "is not improperly compared to a cinnamon-tree, whose bark is far better than the body thereof; for the skirts and borders bounding this shire are rich and fruitful, whilst the ground in the inward parts thereof is very hungry and barren, though by reason of the clear air and clean ways, full of many gentle habitations." Aubrey speaks of it in very similar language:—"It has been likened by some to a coarse cloth with a rich bordure or fringe, the inner part being less fruitful than the skirts." A range of chalk-hills, often attaining a considerable height, traverses the shire from east to west; the northern slopes clothed with verdure, and affording many noble prospects; the southern, barren, precipitous, and rugged, but noteworthy for their elevation and romantic character. Among The Surrey hills.

The North Downs may be particularised Cooper's Hill, rendered famous by Denham's vigorous verse; St Anne's Hill, associated with the memory of Charles James Fox; the wooded heights of Norwood; Banstead Downs; Box Hill, and Sandestead Hill. Of the South Downs, most worthy of notice are Leith Hill, so celebrated for the richness and extent of the prospects which it commands; the road from Albury, which affords a view of the whole extent of the Weald; Tilburstow Hill, near Godstone; and Anstle-bury Hill, overlooking a landscape of the utmost beauty.

The geological characteristics of the county have been identified by Dr Mantell with three principal groups, namely, the Wealden, which is the lowest and most ancient; the Chalk, which overlies it; and the London Clay, filling up the depressions or basins of the chalk. Upon these last-named strata have accumulated, in many places, those drifts of sand, loam, and gravel known as post-tertiary detritus, or diluvium. In the neighbourhood of London, on Richmond, Tooting, and Wandsworth Commons, may be found the blue and tenacious London clay, yielding occasionally the bones and teeth of extinct mammalia; of birds, serpents, and crocodiles; fishes, crustacea, nautili, and other marine shells. Epsom and Bagshot Heath lie upon the Bagshot Sand. The North Downs are entirely of the chalk formation, affording ammonites, nautili, and belemnites; corals and other zoophytes; echini, crustacea, and the bones of saurians and turtles. The Shanklin, or lower green sand, occasionally rising to a considerable elevation, may be found at Reigate, Dorking, Godalming, and Tilburstow Hill. The Wealden occupies almost the whole of the southern portion of the country. The district between the Thames and a line running through Croydon, Sutton, Epsom, Leatherhead, and Guildford exhibits Bagshot Sand; between the boundary just indicated and the northern slopes of the Surrey Downs spreads the chalk formation. Shanklin Sand lies between the latter and the range of Tilburstow Hill, Bletchingley, and Leith Hill, a range which separates it from the Wealden.

The face of the county being so varied, it is easy to understand that there will prevail extraordinary differences of temperature. The northern and southern districts are somewhat damp; in the former from their vicinity to the Thames, in the latter from the flatness of the surface and the luxuriance of the woodlands. The air on the chalk hills is, on the contrary, of a dry and bracing character. But, on the whole, Surrey may justly be regarded as a healthy county. Its climate is usually bland and genial, encouraging a quick vegetation and an early harvest. The popularity of its towns among fashionable places of resort is, in a great measure, due to their salubrity; and for different classes of invalids, the faculty constantly appreciate the advantages of Richmond, Dorking, Esher, and Reigate.

In the neighbourhood of London the cultivated land is principally devoted to the production of those esculents required for the metropolitan markets. Acres of market-products, gardens are there in continual cultivation. Chertsey and Godalming produce yearly a large supply of carrots, a vegetable first introduced by the Flemings when driven into England by the persecutions of Alva; but potatoes and cabbages are more generally and more extensively raised. Mitcham is famous for its flower-farms, devoted to the culture of medicinal herbs, such as lavender, mint, chamomile, penny-royal, rosemary, and hyssop. Farnham is celebrated for its hops, which flourish abundantly on its calcareous soil. Though now a principal staple of the district, the hop culture does not date farther back than 1597, when, according to Aubrey, it was introduced by Mr Bignell, a Suffolk gentleman. The varieties chiefly cultivated are the "white-bine grape hop," the "red-bined orchard hop," and the "never black." Red clover is extensively grown in the meadow-lands of Surrey, and sainfoin upon its extensive chalk-hills. Sir Richard Weston is said to have introduced the cultivation of the trefoil and turnip about the middle of the seventeenth century. Wheat and barley are largely produced, but not oats or rye.

Surrey possesses no manufactures of an indigenous character; for the tanneries of Bermondsey, and the potteries and bone-factories of Lambeth belong rather to the metropolis than to the county. On the banks of the Wandle there are some important mills, especially those of copper, snuff, silk, and paper. Near Wandsworth are the extensive works of Price's Patent Candle Company, and Watney's Distillery; Beaufoy's Vinegar Distillery, the Breweries of Barclay and Perkins, and Goding; and Doulton's Potteries are seated on the southern banks of the Thames. Apsley Pellatt's well-known Glass-works occupy large premises in Holland Street, Blackfriars.

Surrey is not associated with any particular breed of live stock. Domestic animals. The horses employed are chiefly of the large black kind, found at the great fairs of Croydon, Ewell, and Kingston. The breeds of sheep most esteemed are the South Downs, the Upland-Merino South Down, the large Wiltshire, the Dorsetshire, the Mendip, and the Romney. Near the metropolis the cows, chiefly kept to supply South London with milk, are of the short-horned or Holderness kind, though the Alderney, the Suffolk, the Galloways, and the Welsh are also encouraged. Dorking is noted for a peculiar breed of fowls.

To carry its products to the London market, and to Rivers, maintain a communication between its principal towns, as canals, and well as to facilitate the frequent visits of tourists, there exist railroads, in the county a complete net-work of rivers, railroads, and canals. Of the Thames, which forms its northern boundary, we need not speak. "The chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave," enters the shire near Frensham, flows through the vale of Farnham, passes Moor Park and Waverley Abbey, proceeds eastward through fertile meadows and agreeable valleys to Godalming and Guildford, and swollen by several streams, washes the town of Weybridge before emptying its waters into the Thames a mile distant, at a point called Ham Haw. It is rendered navigable for twenty miles from its mouth by means of locks and auxiliary canals. The Mole, characterised by different poets from the peculiarities of its career as the "nourishing Mole," the "sullen Mole that hides his diving flood," and the "silent Mole," enters Surrey in several small rivulets which unite near Gatwick, and runs onwards to Betchworth. Near Box Hill it flows into the numerous apertures in its banks and bed called Scoltows, which in summer reduce its waters to an almost imperceptible channel, and have given rise to the fiction that at this part of its course it runs underground. Through the vale of Mickleham it winds to Leatherhead, and thence, with numerous meander- Surrey, past Stoke d'Abernon, Cobham, and Esher Place to East Molesey, where it joins the Thames. The Wandle (or Vandle—Pope's "blue transparent Vandals") rises at Croydon, and increased by several springs which well up from the meadows of Carshalton, runs northward by Mitcham and Beddington to Wandsworth, where, after a brief but useful course of ten miles, it flows into the Thames. A small but pellucid stream, the Hogg's Mill or Ewell River, rises at Ewell, flows northward past Maldon, and runs into the Thames at Kingston.

Weybridge and Basingstoke are brought into communication by a canal, the Basingstoke, completed in 1793, which has a course of 37 miles, and is on an average 5 feet in depth. The Grand Surrey Canal, from its great basin near Addington Square, Camberwell, to its junction with the Thames, opposite the Shadwell Docks, is 4 miles and 6 chains in length. It was commenced in 1801. The Wey and Arun Junction Canal connects the two rivers, whence it derives its name, at a point near Stone Bridge, 2 miles from Guildford, and New Bridge, on the Arun, in Sussex. Its course is about 18 miles. The act of Parliament authorising its construction was passed in 1813.

Few parts of Surrey are now without the advantages of railway communication. The London and Brighton line, from London Bridge, traverses the suburban districts to Croydon, and is thence continued to Reigate, Merstham, and Horley, with branches to Caterham, and through Cheam and Ewell to Epsom; while a short line of 6 miles in length unites Croydon with Wimbledon. The London and South-Western Railway, from Waterloo Bridge, crosses the western division of the county to Guildford and Godalming, with branches to Kew and Twickenham, and a short line between Guildford and Farnborough. The Crystal Palace and West End Railway runs from a point near to Chelsea New Bridge, through the populous districts of Wandsworth, Balham Hill, Streatham, and Norwood, to the Crystal Palace.

In 1801, the population of the county amounted to 269,043; in 1821, to 398,648; in 1831, to 485,700; in 1851, to 683,092 (325,051 males and 358,041 females). At the latter period the inhabited houses numbered 103,822; the uninhabited houses, 5770; houses building, 1540. The principal boroughs and towns of the county, with their populations in 1851, are—Lambeth, 231,345; Southwark, 172,863; Newington, 64,816; Bermondsey, 48,128; Camberwell, 54,667; Wandsworth, 50,764; Rotherhithe, 19,805; Clapham, 16,290; Croydon, 10,260; Richmond, 9065; Streatham, 6901; Kingston, 6279; Guildford, 6740; Putney and Roehampton, 5280; Reigate, 4927; Mitcham, 4641; Egham, 4482; Farnham, 3515; Dorking, 3490; Epsom, 3390; Chertsey, 2743; Godalming, 2218; Kew, 1009.

The eastern division of Surrey (population, 580,226; electors, 8020) returns 2 members to parliament. The western division (population, 102,856; electors, 3924) has the same number of representatives. Southwark, with 10,606 electors, and Lambeth with 21,737 electors, return 2 members each. Guildford, with 739 electors, has 2 members; and Reigate, with 548 electors, 1 member.

| Landlords proprietors | 442 | 131 | | Farmers | 1808 | 118 | | Farm bailiffs | 263 | | Outdoor labourers | 14,293 | 133 | | Indoor labourers | 815 | 263 | | Gardeners | 2546 | 21 | | Nurserymen | 138 | | Labourers employed in agriculture | 20,217 | 725 | | Male and female servants | 2429 | 8393 |

Before the Roman era, Surrey formed a portion of the dominions of a Celtic tribe, named by Ptolemy the Pezio, or Regni, and after the Roman conquest, was merged into the province of Britannia Prima, though, for many years, it retained its native princes, or sub-eguals. Eventually it was swallowed up in the territory of the South Saxons, and reduced by Kenulf, king of Wessex, about 750, into that progressive kingdom which Alfred finally brought into constitutional harmony and national completeness. During the Saxon era Kingston was a town of considerable importance, and witnessed the coronation of Edward the Elder (A.D. 900), Athelstan (A.D. 925), Edmund I. (A.D. 940), Edwin (A.D. 955), Edward the Martyr (A.D. 975), and Ethelred II. (A.D. 978). At Merton, in 784, perished Kenulf, the prince of the West Saxons, slain in a domestic feud by Cynehard, brother of Sigebert, king of Kent.

From the period of the Norman conquest, Surrey can claim no separate annals. It was to Merton, however, that Hubert de Burgh retired for sanctuary, when the barons demanded his expulsion from the councils of the king. Richard I., in the wanderings where, on the 16th day of July 1215, the sun shone upon an event memorable in English history, the signature of the Great Charter, is within the limits of Egham, a Surrey parish. Wyat's brief and disastrous insurrection in 1544, involved in its calamities the town of Kingston. Queen Elizabeth in her progresses visited Beddington, Nonsuch, Croydon, and Loseley. At Kingston, in 1642, took place the first military movement of the great civil war; a body of royalists unsuccessfully attempting to seize upon its magazine of arms. And there, on the 7th of July 1648, Lord Francis Villiers, the brother of Charles the Second's Duke of Buckingham (Dryden's Zimri), met his death in the skirmish which closed the famous struggle.

Of the most celebrated of her sons Surrey counts George Worthies Abbot, born at a public-house in Guildford in 1592; dying in 1655, of Surrey, archbishop of Canterbury, at his palace in Croydon. A man says Clarendon, of very morose manners and a very sour aspect; but, undoubtedly, a man of considerable natural powers and unequalled energy. His brother Robert became bishop of Salisbury, and a second brother, Sir Maurice, Lord Mayor of London; a singular prodigality of fortune, which almost justified Fuller's quaint description of the cloth-worker's sons as "a happy ternion of brothers." With Stoke, near Guildford, is associated the memory of a once popular novelist and pleasing poetess, Mrs Charlotte Smith, the author of the Old Moore House. At Merton is the family vault of the Onslow, notable among whom is the Mr Speaker Onslow of history, who, for thirty-three years, filled the chair of the House of Commons, with unexcelled impartiality, dignity, and courtesy. At Beddington, Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell, the brother in arms of Nelson, and the eccentric donor of that hero's famous coffin, lived for some years, and died in 1834. Moor Park is connected with the famous names of Sir William Temple, and his amanuensis, "the eccentric, uncouth, disagreeable young Irishman," afterwards more widely known as "the great Dan Swift."

At Waverley Abbey was born Poulet Thomson, a useful public servant, and Governor-General of Canada at a time of peculiar difficulty. The old house at Claremont was built by Sir John Vanbrugh; the present mansion was erected by Lord Clive, and in its neighbourhood was born William Huntington, the zealot, who loved to describe himself as "S. S. the Son of Satan." At the lock-keeper, near Putney, was born Malthus, the political economist. Wotton was the birthplace of John Evelyn, and in Wotton Church lies his dust. Sturdy William Cobbett was born at an inn near Farnham, and died at Normandy Farm in the parish of Ash. A more philosophical grammarian, and an equally uncompromising politician, Horne Tooke, wrote his Essay on History at Purley, and died at Wimbledon. Thomson the poet is buried at Richmond, where, too, for a period resided Collins, the lyrist of The Passionate Shepherd. At Bowling Green House, on Putney Hill, died William Pitt, January 23rd, 1806. At Putney, Gibbon, the historian of the decline and fall of Rome was born; and Nicholas West, who, after a wild youth, became bishop of Ely, verifying, says Fuller, the adage, that naughty boys sometimes make good men. Cromwell, the minister of Henry VIII., was a native of Putney, and his father's forge is still shown to inquiring strangers.

Our eyes will but suffer us to glance at the more interesting Antiquarian relics of the county. Those which belong to the Romans and period are not important. Some coins, an urn or two, and traces memorable of their encampments have been discovered at Albury, Woodcote places, Walton-on-the-Hill, and Pendhill. At Cowey Stakes, near Walton, Caesar led his army across the river, though some antiquarians have thought fit to place the scene of his passage at Kingston. There are some brasses of a very early date and remains of Norman architecture at Stoke d'Abernon; at Great Bookham, Chipstead, and Peperharow, there are Norman doorways, arches, and columns. Specimens of early English are noticeable in the churches of Carshalton, Crowhurst, St Mary's, Guildford, West Horsley, and Merstham; Leatherhead, Reigate, and Sherborne, present some good examples of Decorated; while in the stately tower of Croydon, and at Betchingley, Godalming, Leigh, and Putney, the student may study Perpendicular. Of Merton Abbey the ruins are barely perceptible, Surveying and of very little interest; but Newark Priory and Waverley Abbey will well repay the attention of the ecclesiastical antiquarian.

The historical student must fall to be as deeply interested as the archaeologist, in Abbots' hospital at Guildford, Beddington Hall, the archbishopric palace at Croydon, Nelson's residence at Meriton, Loseley, the seat of the Mores, Farnham and Guildford Castles, and Crowhurst Place. To the man of letters, Wolsey's Tower at Esher, Thomson's grave at Richmond, and his house in Kew Lane, Cowley's house at Chertsey, Douglas Jerrold's cottage at Putney, Ham House, Kew, and the poet Denham's residence at Egham, must always be shrines worthy of a pilgrimage.

Surrey gives the title of earl to the head of the ducal house of Norfolk, Richmond has its dukedom, and Guildford bestows an earldom upon the family of Kent. The barony of Ablinger and the earldom of Onslow are also derived from this county.

It is almost impossible to enumerate titles of the seats belonging to noblemen and gentlemen, which, in Surrey, are worthy of notice. We must not omit, however, Claremont, the residence of the exiled royal family of France; Beddington, until a recent date the seat of the Carew; Albury, the late Henry Drummond, Esq., M.P.; Norbury Park, T. Grissell, Esq.; Nonsuch, W. F. Farmer, Esq.; Gatton Park, Lord Monson; Addington and Lambeth Palaces, the residences of the Archbishops of Canterbury; Peperharow, Lord Middleton; Barn Elms, J. Short, Esq.; Wimbledon, the Duke of Somerset; Eastwick Park, David Barclay, Esq.; Clandon Place, Earl of Onslow; Woburn, Hon. Locke King; Ockham Park, Earl of Lovelace; Esher Place, J. W. Spicer, Esq.; Loseley, J. More Molyneux, Esq.; the Deepdens, H. T. Hope, Esq.; and Denbies, G. Cubitt, Esq.

Aubrey's Personalities of Surrey, edited by Rawlinson; Manning and Bray's Surrey; Brayley's Surrey; Lyons' Environs of London; Lyons' Magna Britannia; Camden's Britannia; Leland's History; Fuller's Worthies; Salmon's Antiquities of Surrey; Darell's History of Croydon; Stevenson's View of the Agriculture of Surrey.