A CONCISE
ACCOUNT OF ANCIENT BRITAIN.
CHAP. I.
ENGLAND and Scotland, though but one island, are two kingdoms, viz. the kingdom of England and the kingdom of Scotland; which two kingdoms being united, were in the reign of James I. called Great-Britain. The shape of it is triangular, as thus
, and 'tis surrounded by the seas. Its utmost extent or length is 812 miles, its breadth is 320, and its circumference 1836; and it is reckoned one of the finest islands in Europe. The whole island was anciently called Albion, which seems to have been softened from Alpion; because the word alp, in some of the original western languages, generally signifies very high lands, or hills; as this isle appears to those who approach it from the Continent. It was likewise called Olbion, which in the Greek signifies
happy
; but of those times there is no certainty in history, more than that it had the denomination, and was very little known by the rest of the world.