SCILLY-ISLANDS and ROCKS, (Cornwall) in the mid-way bet. the British and Bristol-Channels, are about 145 in number, and 60 m. from the Land's-End in Cornwall; to which they are supposed to have been formerly joined, but separated both from it, and from each other, by some violent irruption of the sea, which is here of much the same depth, viz. bet. 40 and 60 fathom. They were conquered by Ethelstan, one of the Saxon Ks. Scilly, which gives name to all the rest, was once the chief; but St. Mary's-Island, though only 9 m. round, is the largest, as well as the most fruitful, and has a very good harbour, fortified by a castle which was built by Q. Eliz. Some of these islands stand very high, but others are covered with water at the spring-tides. Some of them bear good corn, but most of them pasture. They abound with cranes, herons, swans, and other water-fowl, and have plenty of rabbets. Many vessels, by mistaking their reckonings in the nighttime, have been here dashed to pieces; as was the much lamented fate of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's squadron, Oct. 12, 1707, as it was returning home from Toulon.