the fineſt parts of the ancient Bœtica; but their love of liberty, and unconquerable averſion to a foreign ſervitude, made them retire, when invaded and overpowered in their ancient ſeats, into theſe mountainous countries, called by the ancients Cantabria. They were governed by counts, ſent them by the kings of Oviedo and Leon, until 859, when finding themſelves without a chief, becauſe Zeno, who commanded them, was made priſoner, they roſe and took arms to reſiſt Ordogne, ſon of Alfonſus the Third, whoſe domination was too ſevere for them, choſe for their chief an iſſue of the blood-royal of Scotland, by the mother's ſide, and ſon-in-law of Zeno their governor, who having overcome Ordogne, in 870, they choſe him for their lord, and his poſterity, who bore afterwards the name of Haro, ſucceeded him, from father to ſon, until the king Don Pedro the Cruel, having put to death thoſe who were in poſſeſſion of the lordſhip, reduced them to a treaty, by which they united their country, under the title of a lordſhip, with Caſtile, by which convention the king of Spain is now lord of Biſcay. It is a republic; and one of the privileges they have moſt infilled on, is not to have a king: another was, that every new lord, at his acceſſion, ſhould come into the country in perſon, with one of his legs bare, and take an oath to preſerve the privileges of the lordſhip. The preſent king of Spain is the firſt who has been complimented with their conſent, that the oath ſhould be adminiſtered at Madrid, though the other humiliating and indecent ceremony has been long laid aſide.
Their ſolicitude for defence has ſurrounded with walls all the towns in the diſtrict. They
