disputants to many incidental topics: these equally increased the powers
and curiosity of the disputants, and stimulated them to better and more
interesting studies.







V. 1.

_Antient and Modern Geography of the Netherlands._


We have thus brought down our historical deduction of the German Empire
to the accession of the Emperor Charles the Fifth.

About 160 years before this event, that portion of the empire, to which
its situation has given the appellation of THE NETHERLANDS, began to
have a separate history, and both a separate and important influence on
the events of the times. To them we shall now direct our attention.

These spacious territories are bounded on the north, by the German
Ocean; on the west, by the British Sea and part of Picardy; on the
south, by Champagne or Lorraine; on the east, by the archbishoprics of
Triers and Trêves, the dutchies of Juliers and Cléves, the bishopric of
Munster, and the county of Embden or East Friesland.

[Sidenote: V. 1. Antient and Modern Geography of the Netherlands.]