er martyred sisters.

URSULINES, an order of nuns founded in 1537 by St. Angela Merici of
Brescia in honour of St. Ursula, devoted to the nursing of the sick and
the instruction of the young, and now established in homes in different
cities of both Europe and North America.

URUGUAY (730), the smallest State in South America and a republic,
formerly called Banda Oriental; lies between the Atlantic and the Uruguay
River, and is bounded on the S. by the estuary of the Plata; it covers an
area of over 70,000 sq. m., and is little more than one-third the size of
France; the mineral wealth is abundant, but little has been done to
exploit it; the cultivation of the soil is only begun, and the land is
mostly given over to pasture, cattle-rearing and sheep-farming being the
chief industries, and the chief products and exports being hides, wool,
preserved meats, and similar articles of commerce. The people are mostly
natives of mixed race, with some 30 per cent. of Europeans; primary
education is compulsory; there are numerous schools, and a university,
and though the established religion is Roman Catholic, all others are
tolerated. Montevideo is the capital.

URUMIYA (32), a town in Persia, near a lake of the name, SW. of the
Caspian Sea, the seat of a Nestorian bishop and the birthplace of
Zoroaster.

USEDOM (33), island belonging to Prussia, at the mouth of the Oder,
with Schwinemuende on the N.

USHANT, island off the W. coast of France, in department of
Finisterre, where Howe gained a signal victory over the French in 1794.

USHER, JAMES, Irish episcopal prelate, born in Dublin of good
parentage, educated at Trinity College, Dublin; took orders and devoted
years to the study of the Fathers of the Church; was in 1607 appointed
professor of Divinity in his Alma Mater, in 1620 bishop of Meath, and in
1621 archbishop of Armagh; in 1640 he went to England, and during the
rebellion next year his house was broken into and plundered, after which
he settled in London and was eight years preacher at Lincoln's Inn;
adhered to the royal cause, but was favoured by Cromwell, and by him
honoured with burial in Westminster; he was a most saintly man,
evangelical in his teaching, and wrote a number of learned works
(1581-1656).

UTAH (207), a territory on the western plateau of the United States,
W. of Colorado, traversed by the Wahsatch range, at the foot of which
lies the Great Salt Lake, is in extent nearly three ti