Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/807

Rh for 140,000 thalers. Another Herstal, distinguished as the Saxon, was the place where Charlemagne had his winter quarters in the year 797. It is now the village of Herstelle on the Weser, in the government of Minden.  HERTFORD,,, or , an inland county in the south-east of England, is situated between 51° 36’ and 52° 5’ N. lat. and 0° 13’ E. and 0° 45’ W. long. It is bounded on the N. by Cambridgeshire, N.W. by Bedfordshire, E. by Essex, 8. by Middlesex, and S.W. by Buckinghamshire. The area comprises 391,141 acres or 611 square miles. The aspect of the county is pleasant and picturesque, its surface being broken by gentle undulations which in some parts form a quick succession of hills and valleys. The highest summit is Kensworth Hill on the border of Bedfordshire, about 910 feet above sea-level. Fine oak and other trees are grown in the hedges, and from being pruned obliquely they form high walls of living timber shading narrow winding lanes. The arable and pasture lands of the farms are intermingled with the parks and ornamental woods of the country seats which are scattered thickly throughout the county. These features, varied by its winding rivers, impart to it a peculiar beauty, while in luxuriance it is not surpassed by any county in England. The principal rivers are the Lea, which, rising some miles beyond Luton in Bedfordshire and entering Hertfordshire at Hidemill, flows south-east to Hatfield and then east by north to Hertford and Ware, whence it bends southward, and passing along the eastern boundary of the county falls into the Thames a little below London, having received in its course the Maram, the Beane, the Rib, and the Stort, which all flow southward in the north-eastern part of the county, the Stort for some distance forming the boundary between it and Essex; the Colne, which, flowing through the south-western part of the county, falls into the Thames at Brentford, having received in its course the Ver, the Bulborne, and the Gade; the Ivel, which, rising in the north-west of the county, soon passes into Bedfordshire. The New Miver, one of the water supplies of London, made by Sir Hugh Myddelton (–13), has its source in some springs near Ware, and runs parallel for many miles with the Lea. The Grand Junction Canal from London to Bir- mingham traverses the south-west corner of the county, passing by Watford and Berkhampstead. There are mineral springs in the parishes of Chipping Barnet, Northaw, and Watton. Geologically the county consists of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks, the greater part being Lower, Middle, and Upper Chalk, which in the south-eastern part of the county are covered by Tertiary deposits belonging to the London basin. Over a large part of the eastern side of the county there are superficial deposits of glacial origin, and on the western side there are traces of the Lower Tertiary beds having formerly extended over a much wider area, outliers of the beds being of not unfrequent occurrence, and the drift deposits on the chalk hills being largely composed of their debris. The vales traversed by the rivers and streams exhibit in the bottoms a rich sandy loam > the sloping sides are covered by loams of inferior quality ; and the flat surface of the high ground is generally formed of a loam of reddish hue tending towards common clay, with which it is often confounded. The climate is mild, dry, and remarkably salubrious. On. this account the London physicians were accustomed to recommend the county for persons in weak health, and 1t was so much coveted by the noble and wealthy as a place of residence, that it was @ common saying—<“‘ He who buys a home in Hertfordshire pays t ra pays two years’ pur chase for the air,”

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