ISLINGTON, a parish in the Finsbury division of the hundred of OSSULSTONE, county of MIDDLESEX, 2 miles (N. by W.) from London, the population of which, according to the census of 1821, amounted to 22,417, since which it is supposed to have increased to about 33,000. This place, called anciently Isendune, and in Domesday-book Iseldone, appears to have derived its name either from fortifications erected here during the time of the Romans, or from the discovery in "the neighbourhood of some mineral springs, the waters of which were strongly impregnated with iron. In the fields to the north-west of White Conduit house was a large enclosure, called Redmote, supposed to have been the camp of Patdinus Suetonius, after his retreat from London, and the rendezvous of his forces prior to his battle with Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, from which event the hamlet of Battle Bridge is said to have derived its name: in the south-east angle is a moated mansion, supposed to have been the prtetorium of the Roman general. At Highbury also, in this parish, was another fort surrounded by a moat, the site of which was subsequently occupied by a mansion, which becoming the property of Alexander Aubert, Esq., was by him fitted up as an observatory, and furnished with astronomical instruments of various descriptions. From its proximity to London, and the salubrity of the air, Islington at a very early period became the residence of the more opulent citizens, and was inhabited also by many illustrious and distinguished families. Among the numerous mansions erected there in ancient times, exclusively of a royal palace, of which some part is still remaining, was Canonbury House, the palace of the prior of St. Bartholomew's monastery in Smjthfield, of which, though the site is for the greater part occupied by modern dwelling-houses, there are still considerable remains; of these, Canonbury tower, a lofty square structure of brick, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country, is still entire, and of various other parts many vestiges are preserved in the stables and out-buildings of the houses that have been erected near the spot: the tower has long been occupied as a lodging-house, and deserves notice as having been the temporary residence of several literary characters, particularly Ephraim Chambers, author of the Cyclopoedia, and Dr. Oliver Goldsmith. The seat of the Prior of St. John's, at Highbury, was demolished in the reign of Richard II., during the in- surrection of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw; in memory of which outrage the small portion of it that remained was denominated Jack Straw's castle, but it has been taken down within the last few years. Mildmay house, at Newington Green, was occupied by Henry VIII. Of the numerous ancient houses which formerly distinguished the village, and which had for a great number of years been occupied as inns, the last possessing any characteristic features of the age in which they were erected (the Queen's Head inn, Lower-street) was taken down in 1829. The greater portion of the village is pleasantly situated on the great north road, along which it extends nearly two miles: it consisted formerly of two principal streets, called the Upper and Lower street; but within the last few years it has been almost connected by continuity of building in every direction with the metropolis, a very considerable portion of the fields in the vicinity having been laid out in streets, and covered with buildings. A new line of road from the city through Hoxton, called the New North road, joining the high road near Highbury; the Liverpool road, branching from the turnpike at Islington, and uniting with the high road at Lower Holloway; and a road from Battle Bridge, joining the main road at Upper Holloway; have recently been formed, on the two former of which, numerous and extensive ranges of building have been erected. The village is well paved and lighted with gas, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water by the New River Company, Notwithstanding the numerous alterations and extensive additions that have taken place, many parts of Islington still retain much of thenoriginal pleasant and rural character; and the windings of the New river give an interesting and in some places a picturesque appearance to the various grounds through which it passes. Highbury Place and Terrace are fine ranges of respectable houses, commanding, in one direction, pleasing ipiews of Holloway and the Hampstead and Highgate hills, and in the other, of Shooter's hill, Greenwich park, and the winding of the Thames; beyond is Highbury Park, consisting of handsome houses detached from each other, on the crest of the hill, and on the opposite side a noble terrace has recently been erected. Barnsbury Park, leading from the Liverpool road into the Copenhagen fields, is a pleasant range of neat villas, commanding extensive and varied prospects, and there are several interesting and agreeable walks in other parts of the parish. The land in the neighbourhood is principally occupied by cow-keepers, who have very extensive dairies for supplying the inhabitants of the metropolis with milk. In that part of the parish which borders on Kingsland is an extensive white lead manufactory, affording employment to from thirty to forty persons; on the road leading to Ball's Pond is a manufactory for floor-cloth; and on the banks of the Regent's canal, which is conducted under the Liverpool road, the Upper-street, and the bed of the New River, by means of a tunnel, are numerous coal and lime wharfs. Courts leet and baron are held for several manors in the parish, which is within the jurisdiction of the court of requests in Kingsgate-street, Holborn, for the recovery of debts under 40s., and within the limits of the new police establishment. The living is a vicarage, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the Consistorial Court of the Bishop, rated in the king's books at £30, and in the incumbency of the Rev. Daniel Wilson in his own right. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, and erected on the site of the ancient structure, in 1751, is a handsome edifice of brick, with a tower of the same materials, ornamented with quoins and cornices, and surmounted by a spire of stone, for the repair of which, in 1787, scaffolding was constructed of wicker-work by an ingenious basket-maker. In the chancel is a monument to the memory of Dr.William Cave, vicar of the parish, and a learned writer on divinity and ecclesiastical history, who died in 1713: in the churchyard were interred the Rev. John Lindsay, an eminent nonjuring clergyman; John Hyacinth de Magelhaens, F.R.S., an ingenious natural philosopher, who died in 1790; and the celebrated Dr. William Hawes,the founder, of the Royal Humane Society, who was a native of this, parish; as was also John Nichols, Esq., F.S.A., the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, and author of several works on antiquities and topography. The chapel of ease at Lower Holloway was erected in 1814, under the authority of an act of parliament which provided also additional burying-ground: it is a spacious and handsome building of brick, with a low square tower; the interior is very neatly and appropriately fitted up, and the altar is embellished with a good painting of the " Noli me tangere:" the cemetery belonging to this chapel comprises from five to six acres, and is planted with avenues of trees. Three churches have been built by the parliamentary commissioners, at an aggregate expense of more than £35,000, towards which sum the parishioners contributed £12,000. St. John's church at Upper Holloway, erected, in 1827, at an expense of £11,890. 7. 8., and containing one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two sittings, of which seven hundred and fifty-three are free, is a handsome structure in the later style of English architecture with a square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles: the interior is beautifully arranged; the nave, which is very lofty, is lighted by a fine range of clerestory windows, and separated from the aisles by pointed arches and pillars of graceful proportion: the whole of this edifice forms an elegant specimen of beautiful design and correct embellishment. St. Paul's church at Ball's Pond, erected in the same year, at an expense of £ 10,94716< 6., and containing one thousand seven hundred and ninety- three sittings, of which eight hundred and seventeen are free, is a building of similar character with St. John's, though differing in its minuter details; and the church in Cloudesley-square, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, erected at an expense of £11,535, and containing two thousand and nine sittings, of which, eight hundred and fifty-eight are free, differs from the others principally in the substitution of turrets and minarets in lieu of a tower: the architect of the three churches was Mr. Charles Barry. The living of each will be a district incumbency, in the gift of the patron of the vicarage. There are four places of worship for Independents, and one for Wesleyan Methodists. The Church Missionary Society, in 1827, purchased the house and grounds formerly occupied by a Mr. Sabine, opposite Tyndal-place, on the site of the back premises of which they have erected a spacious and handsome building, for the residence and preparation of young men intended for foreign missions; it is capable of affording accommodation for forty students, who are instructed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, the Mathematics, &c.; the theological and classical tutors are resident, and a professor of Arabic and other oriental languages, attends two terms in the year. The students usually remain from three to four years, according to circumstances; and ten, on an average, are annually fitted out for the several stations they are required to occupy abroad. Highbury College, established at Mile-End in 1783, removed to Hoxton in 1791, and thence to Highbury in 1826, is an institution for bestowing a liberal education on young men intending to become dissenting ministers: the building, which is a handsome brick edifice, consists of a centre with a fine portico, and two wings, and was erected at an expense of £22,000, for the reception and accommodation of the students, who must be single men, eighteen years of age and upwards, producing testimonials of their piety, and being able to translate Virgil, having also some acquaintance with the Greek grammar, fractional arithmetic, and the elements of geography: the institution is under the management of a committee chosen from among the subscribers, by whose contributions it is supported: the course of studies, conducted under two tutors, comprises the Latin; Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac languages, the belles lettres, intellectual and moral philosophy, the mathematics, history, biblical criticism, the composition of sermons/theology, Hebrew antiquities, &c. A proprietary grammar school, in connexion with the church of England, was instituted in 1830, for the use of which handsome premises have been erected in the later English style, in Barnsbury-street, at an expense of £1400, to be defrayed by shares of £15 each. The parochial charity schools, established by. subscription about. the beginning of the last century, have been re-modelled on the Madras system; two school-rooms, with dwelling - houses for the master and the mistress, have been built in the Liverpool road, at an expense of £3000, defrayed partly by a legacy .bequeathed by Mrs. Ann May, and other sums, the produce of donations, amounting in the whole to £1977,which had been vested in the funds, and partly by subscription; three hundred and ninety boys and two hundred and thirty girls are instructed in these schools, of which number, fifty boys and fifty girls are completely clothed, and, when they leave school, are apprenticed, or put to service; a premium of £5 is given with the boys, and one of £2 with the girls. Lady Temple, in 1696, bequeathed, to the vicar and churchwardens, lands at Potter's Bar, producing upwards of £50 per annum, in trust for the education of children of the parish, which sum is, by the vicar and the churchwardens, appropriated .to the board and education of three female children. Mr. John Westbrook bequeathed £300 South Sea annuities, to which was subsequently added a legacy of £100 three per cents, reduced, by Mr. Isaac Needham, for the instruction of children in reading and in the catechism of the church of England; the income arising from these funds, amounting to £15 per annum, is paid to a schoolmistress for that purpose. A charity school belonging to Union chapel, in which upwards of one hundred children of both sexes are educated, the majority of them being also clothed; and another for girls, in connexion with Islington chapel, are supported by subscription. The Royal British school, in which one hundred and eighty five girls are instructed, was established in 1817, and is supported by subscription: there are also Sunday schools in connexion with the established church and the several dissenting congregations, and several infant schools, have been recently established. The parish has the right of sending twenty-four scholars to the free school founded by Lady Alice Owen, under the superintendence of the Brewers Company,- and endowed by her with an estate producing more than £60 per annum, for the education of boys of this parish and of the parish of Clerkenwell, in which latter it is situated. There are ten almshouses, founded by Lady Alice Owen, adjoining the school under the management of the Brewers Company, for aged widows of this parish and of that of Clerkenwell, who receive each an allowance of money, coal, and clothes. Ten almshouses in Queen's Head lane were founded, in 1640, by Mr. John Heath, whb endowed them with £ 1500, for decayed members of the Company of Cloth-workers, who receive annually from the trustees of that company & 20 each in money, a suit of clothes, and a chaldron of coal. On the opposite side of the lane are eight neat almshouses, erected, in 1794, by Mrs. Jane Davis, in pursuance of the will of her husband, who, in 1793, bequeathed £2000 three per bent, consols, for their endowment; they are open to the poor of both sexes, who receive £10 per annum each, and are admitted on the nomination of the trustees. In- Frog-lane are eight almshouses for widows of decayed members of the Cloth-workers Company, who have each an allowance of £.20 per annum, a gown, and a chaldron of coal, founded, in 1538, by Margaret, Countess of Kent. The Caledonian asylum, for the maintenance and education of the children of soldiers, sailors, and marines, natives of Scotland, who have died or been disabled in the service of their country, and of the children of indigent Scottish parents resident in London and not entitled to parochial relief, was incorporated by act of parliament in 1815. This institution, which is under the patronage of His Majesty, is governed by a president, ten vice-presidents, and a committee of twenty-four directors, elected triennially; children are admitted from seven till ten years of age, and are maintained in it till they are fourteen, when they are placed Out as apprentices. The premises were erected at an expense of £ 10,000, including the site, and occupy an airy situation in the Copenhagen fields; the building, which is spacious and handsome, is of Suffolk brick, with a fine portico of four fluted columns of the Doric order, surmounted by a statue of St. Andrew; it contains spacious school-rooms and dormitories for one hundred children, and the requisite apartments and offices for the -master and superintendents of the institution; there are at present fifty boys on the establishment, who wear the national costume, or highland dress, which, on leaving school, they exchange for a plain suit of clothes. A dispensary, instituted in 1821, and supported by subscription, is attended by two physicians, two. surgeons, and a resident apothecary. There are various charitable bequests for distribution among the poor; and the churchwardens are in the receipt of considerable funds arising from the Stone-field estate, bequeathed by Richard Cloudesley, in 1517, for superstitious uses, but, by an act passed in 1811, the trustees were empowered to let the land, and apply the proceeds to Vkeeping in repair the parish church and chapel of ease; the land, comprising upwards of sixteen acres, was, in 1814, let on lease for eighty-one years, at a rental amounting in the aggregate to £668. 11. per annum, of which sum, four marks are annually paid to the New River Company, formerly to the Crown, the property having been seized under the statute for suppressing superstitious endowments.