LONG, an epithet applied to whatever exceeds the usual standard of length in its kind.

Long-Boat, the largest and strongest boat belonging to any ship. It is principally employed in carrying great burdens, as anchors, cables, ballast, and the like.

Long-Benton, a large parish of Castle-ward, in the county of Northumberland, 281 miles from London. The population amounted in 1801 to 3355, in 1811 to 4358, in 1821 to 5547, and in 1831 to 6613.

Long Island, an island of America, belonging to the state of New York, about 120 miles in length and from ten to twenty in breadth. It extends along the coast in.the form of a crescent, and is separated from the mainland by a bay which communicates with∙the sea at both ends, called Long Island Sound. The southern and western parts are generally of a light soil, which, when well manured, produces excellent crops of grain, especially Indian corn. Towards the east and north the land becomes hilly, and the soil much stronger, and a large quantity of wood is there raised to supply the city of New York. A considerable portion has been laid out in orchards and nurseries, and, from the general high state of cultivation in this island, it has sometimes been called the garden of the United States. It is divided into three counties, King’s, Queen’s, and Suffolk, and possesses many thriving towns and villages, the principal of which are Brooklyn, Jamaica, Sag Harbour, Flatbush, Flushing, Satauket, and Huntington. Brooklyn, the chief town, is a large and thriving place, situated opposite the city of New York, with which a regular communication is kept up by means of steam. It is a compact and handsome town, having several public buildings, various manufactories, a bank, and an extensive trade. To the north-east is the United States navyyard. The population of the town in 1830 was 15,394, and that of the whole island 69,775.

Long Island, a small island, about forty miles in circumference, situated off the coast of Papua, between the ocean and Mysore island, and almost wholly unknown in the interior.

Long, Roger·, master of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Lowndes professor of astronomy in that university, rector of Cherryhinton in Huntingdonshire, and of Bradwell t ∕wxta mare in Essex, was author of a treatise of astronomy, and the inventor of a curious astronomical machine. The latter is thus described by himself: “I have, in a room lately built in Pembroke Hall, erected a sphere of eighteen feet diameter, wherein above thirty persons may sit conveniently. The entrance into it is over the south pole by six steps; the frame of the sphere consists of a number of iron meridians, not complete semicircles, the northern ends of which are screwed to a large round plate of brass, with a hole in the centre of it. Through this hole, from a beam in the ceiling, comes the north pole, a round iron rod about three inches long, and supports the upper parts of the sphere to its proper elevation for the latitude of Cambridge. The lower part of the sphere, so much of it as is invisible in England, is cut off; and the lower or southern ends of the meridians, or truncated semicircles, terminate on and are screwed down to a strong circle of oak, of about thirteen feet diameter, which, when the sphere is put into motion, runs upon large rollers of lignum-vitae, in the manner that the tops of some windmills are made to turn round. Upon the iron meridians is fixed a zodiac of tin painted blue, whereon the ecliptic and heliocentric orbits of the planets are drawn, and the constellations and stars traced. When it is made use of, a planetarium will be placed in the middle thereof. The whole, with the floor, is well supported by a frame of large timber.” Dr Long published a Commencement Sermon in 1728, and an answer to Dr Galley’s pamphlet on Greek Accents; and he died on the 16th of December 1770, at the age of ninety-one.