Volume 1

A universal geographical dictionary; or, grand gazetter. Of general, special, antient and modern geography: including a comprehensive view of the various countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; more especially of the British dominions and settlements throughout the world ... / by Andrew Brice.

  • Brice, Andrew, 1690-1773.
Date:
1759
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A universal geographical dictionary; or, grand gazetter. Of general, special, antient and modern geography: including a comprehensive view of the various countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; more especially of the British dominions and settlements throughout the world ... / by Andrew Brice. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    jed Miles. It has a Charter to hold a Fair the Day before St. James s Day, viz. July 24. ABDERA, antiently one of the mod famous Cities and Maritime Towns of Thrace, near the Mouth of the Nejlus. Mela tells us that it was founded by the Sifter of Diomedes; but Stephanas makes Hercules the Founder of it, and adds, that he gave it the Name of Abdera in Memory of Ahderus, one of his Companions, who was devoured by the famous (or rather fabulous) Horfes of Diomedes. In Procefs of Time a Colony of Clazomenians fettled there, whence the City is by fome Writers called alfo Clazomene. The Clazomenians were driven out by the Natives, who fuffered the Teians to live peaceably in Abdera and other Places of Thrace, after they had been driven out of their own Country by Cyrus the Great; and hence Abdera is called by Strabo and other Wri¬ ters a Colony of the Teians. The Abderitani were looked upon by the Antients as a dull ftupid People, and were much derided for their Want of Wit and judgment; but never- thelefs their City gave Birth to feveral Eminent and Great Perfons, namely to Protagoras, the famous Democritus, Anax- archus, Heccatams the Hiftorian, Niceneetus the Poet, (Ac. This made Juvenal fay, fpeaking of Democritus, — Cujus prudcntla monjlrat Summos pojfe viros, (A magna exetnpla daturos, Vervecum in patria, craJfo<{ue fub aere nafci. i. e. * Learn from fo great a Wit; a Land of Bogs, * With Ditches fenc’d, a Heaven fat with Fogs, * May form a Spirit fit to fway the State, * And make the neighbouring Monarchs fear their Fate. Drydens Juvenal. Here Thucydides, as Plutarch informs us, wrote the Hiftory of the Peloponnefian War, his Wife being a Native of that Place, as we read in Marcellinus. Near this City were the famous Gold and Silver Mines fpoke of by Plutarch, (Ac. In the Reign of Lyjimachus, fays Boyle, Abdera was afflifled for fome Months with a moft unaccountable Difeafe : This was a burning Fever, whofe Crifis was always on the fe- venth Day, and then it left them ; but it fo diftrafted their Imaginations, that they fancied themfelves Players. After this, they were ever repeating Verfes from fome Tragedy, and particularly out of the Andromeda of Euripides, as if they had been upon the Stage ; fo that many of thefe pale, meagre Actors were pouring forth their Tragic Exclamati¬ ons in every Street. This Delirium continued till the Win¬ ter following, which was a very cold one, and therefore fitter to remove it. How Lucian, (Ac. accounts for the na¬ tural Caufe of this odd Difeafe is too long for us to infert here, and therefore we refer to Bayle, who tells us of cer¬ tain other Singularities of Abdera not unworthy mentioning. The Grafs of°the Country round it was fo ftrong, that fuch Horfes as eat of it ran mad. In the Reign of Cafifander King of Macedon this City was fo pefter’d with Frogs and Rats, that the Inhabitants were forced for a while to quit it. As to the modern State of Abdera, tho’ it was once fo fine a Town as to be proverbially called Abdera the beautiful, yet it is now notable for very little more than its Antiquity, (Ac. Some now call it Afirizza, Afprofa, or Afpercfa, as F. Riccioli, Niger, Baudrand, and Corneille; the latter placing it at the Mouth of the River Nefior. Mr. De ‘Life gives it the fame Situation, but Mercator and Sanfon place it to the E. of the River, and Ptolemy makes Abdera 25 min. more E. than that fame River which he calls Nefos. Burn, in the Maps which he has .added to his Edition of Cluverius's In¬ troduction, has very well diftinguiftied./^<r<?/2z from Abdera, and both thefe Towns from Maximianopoli. Moll's Maps makes Afperofa 40 M. dift. fr. the Mouth of the River Me- 7-iza, to the W. and 97 fr. Adrianople to the S. It is ftill the See of a Bifhop, Suffragan to the Metropolitan of Tra- janople. ABDOVA, one of the chief Towns in the Wefern Mof- covy, in the Lordlhip of Plejkow [which fee]. ABDUA, or ADDUA, a River of Lombardy. Plin. ABEL-BETH-MAACAH, (which fignifies Mourning to the Houfe of Maacah) a City, mentioned I. Kin. xv. 29. and II. Kin. xix. 16. where Sheba, a Man of Mount E- phraim, who had made a Party againft King David, betook himfelf, and was beheaded by the Inhabitants. It s placed by Jcrom in the Way from Eleutheropolis to Jerufalem, and consequently in the Tribe of Judah. But as this (fays Wells j feems not agreeable to the Circumftances of this Tranfattion, fo it appears much more probable, that it was fituated in the North Part of the Land of Ijrael, in the Tribe of Naphtali. ABEL-MEHOL ATH, (fignifying Sorrow or Mourning of JVeaknefs, or of SkhefsJ mention’d Judges vii. 22.1. Kin. A 2 0 xix. 16. (both of which fee). The Army of the Midianites being put into a Confternation by a Stratagem made ufe of by Gideon, did not ftand a Fight, but fled.. to the Border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabboth, v. 23. It is conjec¬ tured (fays Well's) to lie near the River Jordan, which is thought to be denoted by the Hebrew Word, render’d in our Bible Border, but denoting alfo the Lip, (as is obferv’d in the Margin of our Bible) and fo frequently ufed to de¬ note the Brink of a River. This Place is remarkable for the Birth-place of Elijha the Prophet. ABELMIZRAIM, (fignifying the Mourning of the Egyp¬ tians) mentioned Gen. 1. 11. was the Name bellow’d by the Canaanites on the Place where was the Threlhing-floor of Atad, for as much as they look’d upon the whole Com¬ pany, by reafon of their coming out of Egypt, as all Egyp¬ tians. Where this Spot lay is not certain from Scripture ; but it is probable that ’twas not far from the Place where Jacob was buried, and fo not far from Hebron. ABEL-SFIITTIM, (fignifying Mourning of the Thorns) was a City near the Jordan, in the Wildernefs, Numb, xxxiii. 49. It was in all Likelihood no other Place than what is fingly called Shittim, Numb. xxv. I. Jofh. ii. 1. and iii. 1. At moft the Difference was only this Shittim was the Place, and Abcl-Jhittim the Valley or Plain adjoining to it. Hence the Margin to the Text of Numb, xxxiii. 49. has it the Plain of Shittim. And of the Valley of Shittim we have particular Mention made, Joel iii. 18. We have Mention made of Shittim, Jofi. ii. 1. where JoJhua fent the two Spies to Je¬ richo, and from which they decamped when they were fpee- dily to pafs the Jordan. From which, and what will be obferv’d in the Article BETHJESIMOTH, it feems plain¬ ly enough to follow, that of the two Places Bethjefimoth and Abel-Jbiitlm, the former lay to the S. & the latter to the N. of the Camp ; quite contrary to the Pofition afiign’d them by fome Geographers. Some are of Opinion, that in the Neighbourhood of this Place grew a great deal of the Sort of Wood called in Scripture Shittim-Wood, and of which the Ark was made. ABENSBURG, E. Ion. 11. 40. lat. 48. 40. a Town of Germany, in the Circle of Bavaria, fit. on the River Abe- nefe, near the Danube, 1 5 m. S. W. of RatiJbon. ABER is an Old Britifh Word, fignifying the Fall, or Emp¬ tying of a leffer Water into a greater, as of a Brook into a River, or a River into the Sea ; alfo the Mouth of a Ri¬ ver ; frosn whence feveral Rivers are named, and feveral Towns built at or near their Mouth take their Names, as Aberconway, (Ac. ABER-AVON, is an antient Borough-Town in Glamor- ganjhire, in S. Wales, governed by a Portreve, and had for¬ merly a pretty Market, tho’now little or none. It’s 150 computed, and 139 meafur’d Miles from London. ABERBROTHOCK, or ARBROTH, a Market-Town, Royal Burgh, and a Seat of a Presbytery, in Haddington- Jhire, in Scotland, 9 M. fr. Montrofe on the fame Coaft. It contains 11 Parifhes, has a Harbour coveniently fituate for Trade, near the Promontory called Red-Head, which is to be feen at a good Diftance. Its Name is derived from the Old Britijh Word Abcr \which fee above] and Brothock the Name of the Water that runs by it. Here was one of the richeft and greateft Monafteries in the Nation, founded a- bout 1170, by William I. King of Scotland, (who lies buried here under a ftately Monument of his own erecting) in Ho¬ nour of his intimate Acquaintance Thomas Becket, the fa¬ mous Archbifhop of Canterbury : And at the faid King’s Requeft, K. John of England granted to the Inhabitants of this Town the fame Privileges throughout England (except London) as the E7iglijh themfelves enjoy’d; the Patent being yet preferved among the Town Records. The Abacy was changed to a Lordlhip in Parliament in 1606, and given to James Marquis of Hamilton. Here is a famous Mineral Water much frequented for various Difeafes. ABER-CONWAY, fo denominated from its being the Mouth of the River Conway, in Denbighjhir’e, Wales, fit. 1 o M. fr. Bangor, 229 fr. London, was built by K. Edward I. out of the Ruins of the antient Conovium, and by its advanta¬ geous Situation, and other Conveniencies, is grown to be a handfome Town. ’Tis govern’d by an Alderman and two Bailiffs, and had a neat Caftle by the Side of the Ri¬ ver, which Dr. Williams, Archbifhop of York, a Native of this Place, who fled thither from Cawood, fortified at his own Expence, in the Beginning of the Civil War, and held it ’till May 1645, when it was feized by Sir John Owen, by Virtue of a Commiffion from Pr. Rupert, of which the Archbilhop complained to the King, but without Redrefs ; and upon the Declining of the King’s Affairs, the Arch- ' - ~ biihop