1 * M Artful! Section... ..Qy ^9 N*,.. THE PRE SENT S T A T E O F T H E BRITISH EMPIRE I N Europe , America , Africa andAfa. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/presentstateofbrOOgold THE PRESENT STATE O F T H E BRITISH EMPIRE I N Europe y America, Africa and Af a. CONTAINING A concise Account of our Possessions I N EVERY PART OF THE GLOBE; The Religion, Policy, Cuftoms, Government, Trade, Commerce, and Manufactures, with the natural and artificial Curiofities, of the refpective Parts of our Dominions ; the Origin and prefent State of the Inhabitants ; their Sciences and Arts ; together with their Strength by Sea and Land. The whole exhibiting A more clear, though more fummary, View of the Power of the Britjfh Empire than has hitherto appeared. LONDON: Printed for W. Griffin, J. Johnson, W. Nicoll, and Richardson and Urquhart. MDCC LXVIII. (^ PREFACE. THE following compilation has been made from the moft approved authors, who have either defcribed any part of our empire, or treated of our interefts or conftitution. How neceffary, and how entertaining a work of this kind is, the reader need fcarce be informed, as it fpeaks itfelf. In fact, we have given here the matter of volumes, cleared from any thing ob- folete or extraneous. There has been no attempt of this kind in our language hitherto. There could be none, fince it was impoffible to defcribe an empire be- fore, like ours, it was completed. Many pro- vinces have been added to it within a few years, and fettlements in great abundance, fo that it may now be efteemed the greateft. fovereignty upon earth, either confidered as to its extent or its power. A defcription therefore of its parts, and the dependance which they have upon each other, can only be found with eafe in a work like this, where care has been taken to omit nothing that could enter into our plan, and to reject whatever might mifiead or be- wilder vi PREFACE. wilder the reader. Befides, defcriptions of countries are every day fubject to change, as the countries themfelves happen to alter; and our defcription being the latefl, Hands faireil for being the moil correct. However, it muft not be expected, that in the narrow fpace to which we have confined ourfelves, we can have exhausted all the matter on this fubject, which, perhaps, might form a library : we have only laboured to be judicious in one ex- tract, and to give in a fmall compafs what would otherwise coil much ftudy, as well as expence, to whoever mould wifh to make a fimiliar compilation. One thing, the reader will obferve, we have generally omitted in our defcriptions of each country or province ; namely, the limits, and often the courfe of rivers ; for thefe are much eafier found, and much more distinctly con- ceived by a flight inflection of the map; with- out which, no reader mould fit down to any topographical enquiry. In a word, no pains have been fpared to make this work as com- pleat as poffible; but being the firfl of the kind in our language, it is not to be expected to ap- pear without faults. CON- CONTENTS. Page. HE antient and modern ftate of Great Britain -»--_- I__ 3 A particular defcription of the counties of England, with the natural and artificial curioiities of each, - 8 — 135 Wales, - 136—160 Scotland, - 161 — 1^2 — — Ireland, - ' - .$ - 172—220 — — —« — Guernfey and Jerfey, - 220 — 228 — Minorca, ----- 228 — 253 " —Gibraltar, - - - - - 253 »." ■">' " — Britifh Empire in America, and the Weft-Indies, - 257 — 391 -Englifh pofTeffions in Africa, - - 393—422 -English pofleflions in Afia, - - 425 — 470 -Summary reflections on the trade of India, 470 — 484 A lift of the Englifh company's forts and factories, 484 — 485 Conclufion, * - - - .- . - 486 A DESCRIPTION OF THE iRITISH EMPIRE. GREAT BRITAIN. E (hall begin our defcription of the Britifh Empire with that part of it which moft deferves our atten- tion, and regard, namely, Great Britain, which is an ifland in the Weftern Ocean ; its fouthern extremity lies in latitude fifty degrees, and the northern extremity in latitude fifty- nine degrees, north : the moft weftern part is in longitude nine degrees forty-five minutes, and its moft eaftern part in longitude feventeen degrees fifteen minutes, eaft of TenerifFe, through which the firft meridian has been gene- rally fuppofedto pals. This ifland therefore from its northern extremity at Caithnefs in Scotland, to its fouthern extremity, at the Lizard Point in Cornwall, is 622 miles and an half: and its breadth from its moft weftern part, the Land's End, in Cornwall, to its moft eaftern part, the South Foreland, in Kent, is 285 miles. England and Wales together receive the denomination of South Britain, Scotland is called North Britain. South Britain, extends northward to latitude fifty-five degrees, forty minutes, where it is bounded by the river Tweed, which divides it from Scotland ; it is bounded on the eaft by the German Ocean, on the weft by a narrow fea, which divides it from Ireland, and on the fouth by a ftrait, called the Britifh Channel, which divides it from France. England, the name of the fouthern part of Britain diftinct from Wales, is fuppofed to have been originally Angleland, the Land of the Angles, a people who came into Britain with the Saxons, and are thought to have given this name to the country, when, after having invaded and fubdued it, they united the kingdoms, into which it was at firft divided, into one monarchy. Wales, the name of the weft part of Britain, diftincl: from England, is a Saxon word, fignifying the Land of Strangers ; B a name 2 Dejivi-ptlon of the Britip Empire, a name which the Saxons thought fit to bellow rtpon that part of the country, into which they had driven the native inhabitants when they took pofteffion of the reft. The name England is now often ufcd for all South Britain, including Wales. This country has fome peculiar natural advantages and disadvantages as an ifland ; it is fubject to perpetual varieties of heat and cold, and wet and dry ; but the heat in fummer, and the ccld in winter, are more tem- perate than in any part of the continent that lies in the fame latitude : the atmofphere is fo loaded with vapours, that there is fometimes no funfhine for feveral days together, though at the fame time there is no rain ; but the general numidity produced by thefe vapours, greatly contributes to cover the ground with a perpetual verdure, that is not feen in any other country. The air of the low lands, near the fea coaft, is rather unhcalthful ; but the fea furnifhes the inha- bitants with great plenty and variety of fifh, and the fhore is naturally formed into innumerable bays and creeks, which afford excellent harbours for (hipping. The air in the inland country is healthy, and the foil generally fertile ; the face of the country is diverfified by hill and valley, and wood and water, and being much inclofed and cultivated, abounds with profpecUs that in beauty ca» fcarce be exceeded, even by the fictions of imagination. As the natural hiftory and antiquities of this part of Great Britain, will be ranged under diftincl heady, correfponding with the feveral difiricts or counties into which it is now divided, it will be neceffary to (hew what thefe divifions are, and to give fome account of their origin. : It is alfo neceffary to give fome account of the fucceffive Invafions of this ifland by different nations, and of the various forms of government which have by turns been eftablifhcd and fubvertcd, becaufe many remains of antiquity, and many local privileges and peculiarities have a relation to both, which v/ould render an account of them, without fuch an introduction, manifefliy defective and obfeure. The moft probable opinion concerning the firft inhabitants of Britain, feems to be, that they came from the neighbour- ing continent of France : thefe ancient Britons were a rude warlike people, who lived in hovels which they built in the woods, and painted their bodies, which had no covering but* the fkins of beafts cafually thrown over them, without having. been fhaped into a garment of any kind. They were divided however into feparate tribes,- each of which was governed by a feparate lord, diiringuifhed by fome rude in EUROPE. * mde infignia of fovereign power ; and from among thefe Jords a general was elected in time of war, who was then inverted with fupreme command. They had alfo a kind of civil and religious government, which was chiefly admini- itered by their priefis, who were called Druids, and without whofe concurrence no judicial determination was made, nor any publick meafure undertaken. Our. knowledge of thefe Britons before they were mixed with the people of other nations, is necefTarily defective and uncertain, becaufe they committed nothing to writing, though it appears that they were not unacquainted with letters ; for among other maxims of the Druids, collected by Gollet the Burgundian, in his Memoirs of Franche Comte, there is one that forbids their myfteries to be written, a prohibition that could never have been given where letters were not known. About forty-five years before the Chriflian aera, Britain was invaded by the Romans, under Julius Csfar, and at length became a province to the Roman empire. The Romans maintained their conqueft by a military force, into which they gradually incorporated the flower of the Britifh youth : this force was divided into different parties, which were placed at convenient ftations all over the province ; and the Roman general for the time being, was fupreme governor of the country. Such was the ftate of Britain, till about the year 426, when the irruption of the northern Barbarians into the Roman empire, made it necelTary to recall the troops that were in Britain ; upon which the emperor Honorious re- nounced his fovereignty of the ifland, and releafed the Britons from their allegiance. When the Romans abandoned Britain, with the legions, in which all the natives whom they trufred with military knowledge were incorporated, the country being left in a feeble and defencelefs ftate, was invared by the northern na- tion called the Scots. The Scots were fo rapacious and cruel, that the South Britons invited over the Saxons to deliver them from the intolerable oppreffion, and drive back the invaders to their own territory, propofing to give them as a reward, the little Ifle of Thanet, which is divided by a fmall canal from the coaft of Kent. The Saxons came over with a great number cf Angles, a people who are fuppofed to have taken their name from a place ftill called Angel in Denmark; and having driven back the Scots, fubdued the country they had delivered for them- B 2 felves, I Befcription of the BriiiJJo Empire, felves, and drove the natives into that part of South Brita now called Wales. The Saxon generals became petty fovereigns of different diflricts, and were perpetually committing hoftilities againft each other, till about the year 823, when a king of the Weft Saxons, whofe name was Egbert, became the fovereign of all England. About the year 1011, the Danes, who had often invaded various parts of Europe, and of this ifiand in particular, became lords of all the country under Canutus, their chief, who was crowned king of England : but after about twenty years, the fovereign ty was recovered by Edward Sirnamed the GonfelTor, a prince of the Saxon line. About the year 1066, England was again invaded and fubdued, by William duke of Normandy, called the Con- queror, in whofe fucceffors, though not in a lineal defcent, the crewn has continued ever fince. Some time before this, namely, about the year 896, Alfred the Great, divided England into thirty-two counties or mires. Thefe after were increafed to forty, by the addition of thofe afterwards diftinguiftied by the names of Durham, Lancafhire, Cornwall, Rutlandfhire, Monmouthfhire, Nor- thumberland, Weftmoreland and Cumberland. Thefe, with the addition of twelve, into which Wales was afterwards divided, make the prefent number fifty-two. Alfred fubdivided each county into trehings, or trithings, of which riding is a corruption, hundreds, and tythings, or decennaries : the trehing was a third part of a county, the hundred was a diftricl containing a hundred families, and the tything a diftri<5f. that contained ten families. Over the county or fhire, he appointed an officer, called a ihire-rceve, or fheriff, a word fignifying one fet over a county or fhire : this officer was alfo called vice-comes, not becaufe he depended upon an earl or comes, but becaufe he was fub- ftituted by Alfred in the place of the earl, and appointed to* perform the functions which the earis had performed over the diftricf., which they governed during the heptarchy; the fneriff was afibciaied with a judge. The chief of the trehing,. or trithing was called by diiiereut names ; the hundred was- put under the jurifdiclion of a conliable ; and the tithing, which was alfo called a borhoe, or borough, of a head- borough or tithingman. By this regulation, every man in the kingdom became a member of fome one tithing, the houkholders of which were tuully pledges for each other ■> \q that if any man, accufed of in E U ROP E. 5 of a mifdemeanor, was not produced to anfwer the accufa- tion in one and thirty days, the tithing was fined to the kino-, and anfwered for the offence to the party injured. Every male, at the age of fourteen years, was obliged to take an oath to keep the laws : this oath was adminiftered at the county conic, by the lheriff, who was obliged to fee that the party was properly fettled in feme tithing, all the houfe- holders of which, from that time, became pledges for his good behaviour. This folemn act of furetyfhip was called frank pledge, as the pledge of franks or freemen. The county, the trithing, the hundred, and the tithing, had each a court, and' an appeal lay from the tithing court to the hundred court, from the hundred court to the trithing court, and from the trithing court to that of the county. An appeal lay alfo from the county court to a fuperior court, which was called the king's court, becaufe the king himfelf prefided there, either in perfon or by his chancellor : this court was then held wherever the king happened to be, Thefe divifions and regulations were contrived by Alfred, to prevent the robberies, murders, and other acts of violence, which the interline commotions, and the neceffary fufpenfion of civil jurifdiction, had made fd frequent, that the whole country was one fcene of rapine and bloodfhed : the fuccefs was beyond the moft fVnguine expectation, and indeed the accounts of it are al moft beyond credit ; for it is faid, that if a traveller had dropped a fum of money in his way, he would have found it untouched where it had fallen, though he fhould not have fought it till a month afterwards ; and that the king, as a teft of the publick fecurity, caufed bracelets of gold to be hung up on the high road, even where four ways met, which no man dared to take away. During the heptarchy there was in each of the {even kingdoms a council that afKfred the fovereign ; and there was alfo, on particular occafions, a general council, confiding of reprefentatives, deputed by the particular counfels to affift in fuch affairs of government as concerned the whole hep- tare hv, confidered as a common interefc. Thefe councils or affemblies, called wetenagemot are fuppofed to have been the foundation of Britifh parliaments; but it has never yet been clearly determined, whether in thefe wetenagemots the com- mons had reprefentatives, whether the Jegiilative pov. cr was in the perfon of the king, in the general co'mcil, or in both together ; or whether the king had a right to levy taxes by his own authority : but it feernj to be generally agreed, that B 3 fome 6 Defcripticn of the Britijh Empire, feme members of the wetenagemot, whether it confifted of lords only, or of lords and commons, were eccleliaftics, and that its determinations extended to ecclefiaftical matters. To our Saxon anceftors we alio owe the ineftimable pri- vilege which the commons of England enjoy, of being tried by a jury, twelve men fworn to determine juflly according to the evidence, whether the party accufed is guilty or not guilty of the fact charged againft him : when this queftion is determined, the judge pronounces fuch fentence upon the offender as the law has prescribed. After the N rman conqueft many alterations were made from time to time in the form of government, and the manner in which it was adminiftered. Wales continued to be governed by its own princes and laws till the year 1282, when Llewellin ap Gryffith, prince of that county, loft both his life and principality to king Edward the firit, who created his own fon pxince of Wales ; and ever iince the eldeft ions of the kings of England have commonly been created prince of Wales. The parliament now confifts of two affemblies or houfes, the iords and commons : the houfe of lords confifts of the lords fpiritual and temporal ; the lords temporal are thofe who are noble by birth or creation, and have the title of dukes, earls, viicounts, or barons, and thofe who are noble by fome high office, as the lords chief juftices of the king's courts; the lords fpiritual are the archbifhops and bifhops. The houie of commons confifts of reprefentatives of counties or fhires, cities and boroughs It was formerly re- quired, chat the reprefentatives of a county or fhire fhould be knights ; and though perfons below the degree of knight- hood *re now chofeu, yet the reprefentatives of a county, each county having two, are frill called knights of the fhire. The repreientative of a city, is called a citizen, and the re- presentative of a borough a burgefs : the houfe of commons is therefore called the knights, citizens, and burgeffes, in parliament affembled. The king's courts, of which there arc four, the chancery, king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer, are now held at Weftminfter. The lord chancellor, or lord keeper of the great feals, prefides in the court of chancery, each having the fame rank, authority, and office ; for the only difference between a chancellor and lord keeper is, that the chan- cellor is appointed by letters patent, and the lord keeper only by delivery of the feals: the king's bench, common pleas, and ' exchequer, have each a chief juftice, and three affiftant in E U R OPE. 7 afhftant judges ; the judges of the exchequer are called barons. Every county or (hire has (till a fhcriff, but he is now an- nually appointed by the king, except where the office has been made elective or hereditary by charter. The prefent duty of the fhcriff is to execute the king's writs or mandates, to attend the judges, and fee their fentence put in execution, and to give judgment in petty caufes, which are (till deter- mined in what is called a county court. There are alio in every county juftices of the peace, who take cognizance of felonies, trefpaffes, and other mifdemea*- nors ; and the king every year fends into each county two judges of his courts, to hear and determine caufes, both of property and life. But befides the fifty-two counties into which England and Wales are now divided, there are counties corporate, con- fifting bf certain diflricls, to which the liberties and juris- dictions peculiar to a county are granted by charter from the king. Thus the city cf London is a county diftincf, from Middlefex, and the cities of York, Chefter, Briftol, Norwich, Worcefter, Kmgfton upon Hull, and Newcaftle, are counties of themfelves, diilincl from the counties in which they lie. There are alio five fea-ports in the county of Kent, called the cinque ports, which with fome towns adjoining to them, have the privilege of holding pleas in courts of law and equity. They hare a governor called lord warden of the cinque ports, who is alio governor of Dover caflle : ofthefe courts one is held before the lord warden, and the others before the mayor and jurats of the ports themfelves. The live ports are Dover, Sandwich, Rumney, Winchelfea, and Rye. The ecclefiaftical divifions of England and Wales are into provinces, diocefes, and parifhes : a province is the juris- diction of an archbiihop, a diocefe of a bifhop, and a parifh is a diftrict fuppofed to be under the care cf one prieft. In England there are two provinces, Canterbury and York, and twenty-four diocefes, of which twenty-one are in the province of Canterbury, and three in the province of York. For the care of a parifh the prieft is allowed tythes, or a tenth part of all things in his parifh that yield an annual increafe, befides a portion of land appointed for his feparate ufe, called a glebe; a parifh therefore, confidered as affording' maintenance to a prieft, is called a benefice, and fomeof thefe benefices have been appropriated to certain religious houfes, biihopricks, or colleges, which have enjoyed the revenue, B 4 and S Defcription of the Britifo Empire , and appointed an ecclefiaftical perfon to perform the duty, called the cure of fouls, at a certain price. With regard to the king's revenue, according to the beft calculations hitherto made, the produce of all the lands in England amounts to fomething more than fourteen millions yearly. Out of thefe revenues, about fix millions are em- ployed in the annual fervice of the government, the Civil Lift, and towards the difcharge of the national debt, con- tracted fince the revolution. Before the late civil wars in the reign of king Charles I. the crown had large revenues from lands, the property of which were vefted in it. Befides thefe, upon any extraordi- nary occafions, aids and fupplies were likewife given by the fubjecl. But as the crown at prefent, by alienations, and otherwife is much impoverifhed, there is a Civil Lift ap- pointed which draws near a million for the fupport; of the king's houfhold and dignity. The firft and chief fource from whence the expences of the government are fupplied, is the Land Tax, which is com- puted to produce about two millions; next to the Land Tax is the cuftoms, yielding near fourteen hundred thoufand pounds. The Excife, in all its branches, is fuppofed to bring in at a medium of three years, upwards of two hundred eighty thoufand pounds yearly. BEDFORDSHIRE. Name."] ri^HIS county is called Bedfordshire, from Bed- f ford, its principal town, which probably had its name from tranflating the old Britifh title Lettidur, which fignifies inns upon a river, into Bedford, which implies the fame thing, namely, beds or inns at the Ford. The boundaries and extent of this as well as all theenfuing counties, will be better known by an infpec~tion of the map, than by our verbal defcription ; to the map therefore we muft beg leave to refer our readers for thefe as well as feveral other particulars, fuch as the rivers, chief towns, or principal harbours, in each county. We are rcfolved at all times to /aeriflce method to perfpicuify, and avail ourfelves of thofe icuiry, a fen the re advantges that ferve to leffen the readers labour as well as our own. Air and Soil.] The air of this county is pure and health- ful, and the foil in general a deep clay. On the north fide of the Oufe it is fruitful and woody ; en the fouth fide it is lefs fertile though not barren. It pro- duces in EUROPE. 9 duces wheat and barley in great abundance, and of an ex- cellent kind-; woad, a plant ufed by dyers, is alfo cultivated here j and the foil affords plenty of fuller's earth, an article of fo much importance to our woollen manufactory, that the exportation of it is prohibited by act of pailiament. Manufactures.] The principal manufactures of Bedford- shire are bone lace ; and ftraw wares, particularly hats. Curifliies.] Its antiquities or curiofities are not numerous, although we find fome. At Sandy near Bigglefwade, many Roman urns and coins have formerly been found, and ftill they dig up fome pieces. A little north of Dunftable, are the two fields called Great and Little Danes Field, in which are feveral pits about fifteen feet diameter. In the grounds near Dunftable are ftill found Roman coins, called by the people Madning money, perhaps from Magiovinum the original name of the place. On the defcent from the Chiltern Hills is an area of nine acres, furrounded with a deep ditch and rampier, called Maidin Bourg. The plant Woad, mentioned above, of very great ufe in dying, and with which this county abounds, is ordered in the following manner : The old Woad being firft plucked up (except whan is defigned for feed) they low yearly frefh feed about the beginning of March. It is cropped for the firft time about the middle of May, and four or five times after- wards as the leaf comes up, efpecially in a wet fummer ; though the beft fort, in fmaller quantities, is produced in dry years. The firft crop excels in goodnefs all the reft, as they degenerate every time. The crop is carried to the woad- mill, and ground fo fmall as to be made up into balls, which, after being dried on hurdles, are again ground to powder. After this it is couched, which is done by threading and watering it on a floor ; then by turning it every day, it is fiivered, that is, made perfectly dry and mouldy. Thus it is become ready for the dyer, and fent in bags of 200 weight, who upon proof of its goodnefs, fets the price. The belt fort yields 18I. per ton. The tincture of this plant was employed by the antient Britains in dying their bodies to make them more formidable to their enemies, and perhaps to preserve their bodies againft the inclemency of the weather. They called it glafle, i. e. fky-colour. At Pullux-hill, near Ampthill, fome years ago a gold mine was difcovered, but it is now entirely neglected, the profit falling fhort of the expenee of extracting the metal from the ore. At Afply, near Woburn, is a fmall ftream which petrifies wood, at leaff gives it the appearance of ftone ; in which io Defer iption of the Briiijh Empire, which remarkable quality the banks and earth adjoining like- wife fhare, as was difcovered by a ladder lying buried fome time. Various particulars.] This county fends four members to Parliament, whereof two are for the county, and two are for Bedford. It lies in the diocefe of Lincoln, in the Norfolk circuit : the number of vicarages is 58, parities 116, and of villages 550. The divifion of it is into 9 hundreds, contain- ing 12,170 houfes, upwards 60,000 inhabitants, and the area of it is about 260,000 acres. BERKSHIRE. Name.'] T N the raoft ancient Saxon annals, the name of \_ this county is written Bearcfcire : and from this the prefent name Berkfhire is immediately derived. Some have fuppofed the name to have been originally derived from that of a wood which produced great quantities of box which was called Burroc ; but many have been the conjec- tures upon this fubjecT:, let us not therefore vvaile time in conjecture. Air, Soil, and Natural Productions.] The air of this county is healthy even in the vales, and though the foil in general is not the raoft fertile, yet the appearance of the country is remarkably plcafant, being delightfully varied with hill and valley, wood and water, which is feen at once in almoft every profpeel. It is well ftored with timber, particularly oak and beech; and fome parts of it produce great plenty of wheat and barley. It is moft fruitful on the banks of the Thames and the Kennet, and in the country about the river Lambourne, on the weftern fide, where it borders on Wiltfhire ; but on the eaft fide, where it borders upon Surry, it is rather barren being covered with woods and forefts. Manufactures.] It was once fuperior to all the reft of the ifland in the manufacture of wool ; and its principal manu- factures now are woollen cloth, fail cloth, and malt. Though we pafs over the lefs remarkable towns, we muft not omit to mention Windfor, 23 miles diftant from London, which was incorporated by king Edward the firft, and which from its antiquity and beautiful fituation may be reckoned one of the moft celebrated of Europe. It is fituated on a rifing ground : the principal ftreet looks fouthward over a long in EUROPE. H long and fpacious valley, chequered with corn-fields and meadows, interfperfed with groves, and watered by the Thames, which glides through the profpecf. in a transfluent and o-entle ftream ; which fetching many windings, feems to linger in its way. On the other fide, the country fwells into hills which are neither craggy nor over high, but rife with a gradual afcent covered with perpetual verdure where they are not adorned with trees. In the ftreet there are many good buildings, and a very handfome town hall, which was built in the time of king Charles the fecond. At the north eaft end of this town, there is a caftle which is about a mile in circumference, and confifts of two fquare courts, one to the eaft and the other to the weft, with a circular tower between them ; in the eaftern fquare there is a royal palace, and in the middle an equeftrian ftatue of king Charles the fecond ; the royal apartments with thofe of the great officers of ftate are to the north ; and on the outride of this fquare to the north, the eaft, and the weft, there is a terrace laid to be the fineft in the world ; it is faced with. free ftone like the ramparts of a fortified place, and is covered with fine gravel ; it is alio fo well furnifhed with drains, that it is always dry, even immediately after the heavieft and longeft rains ; to the north, where it is broadeft, it is walhed by the Thames ; and the profpeut. from the apartments over it include London one way, and Oxford the other. The apartments are all fpacious and elegant, richly adorned with fculptures and paintings, particularly a hall called St. George's Hall, where the Sovereign of the order of the Garter ufed to feaft the knights companions of his order every St. George's day. The tower, which is the refidenee of the conftable or go- vernor, is built in the manner of an amphitheatre, very lofty and magnificient. The weftern fquare is of the fame breadth as that to the eaft, and is confiderably longer. On the north fide of this court or fquare, is the chapel of the order of the Garter dedicated to St. George ; in this chapel the knights are in- ftalled, and in the choir each of them has a feat or ftall with the banner of his arms fixed over it. This chapel has a dean and fix canons, who have houfes on the north fide of it in the form of a fetlock, which was one of the badges of Edward the fourth, who rebuilt them. Near the chapel there are alfo little cells for eighteen poor knights, fuppofed to be gentlemen who have been wounded in war, impaired fry a£e> or become indigent by misfortune ; each has a penfion 12 D ej 'crip t ion of the Br "itijh Empire >, penfion of 40 1. a year. They wear a caflbck of red cloth with a mantle of purple, having St. George's crofs on the left fhoulder ; they have flails in the middle of the choir iuft below thofe of the knights of the garter; and are obliged by their order to go twice a day to church in their robes to pray for the fovereign and the knights of the order. The chapel has alfo a chauntry ; and at the weft end of this fquare arc the houfes of the chorifters ; at the bottom is the library*. This fquare is furrounded with a high wall, as the other is by a terrace ; and both are entered by a ftone bridge with a £ate. At a little diftance ftands Old Windfor, which Camden favs has been falling to decay ever fince the time of Edward the third. At the conqucft, Old Windfor confifted of one hun- dred houfes, of which twenty-two were exempt from tax, and thirty {hillings were levied upon the reft. Near this place there are alfo two parks ; one called the little park, and the other the great park. The little park is about three miles in compafs ; the walks are finely fhaded, and it is well ftocked with deer. The great park is not lefs than fourteen miles in compafs. It abounds with all kinds of game, and is fo embellifhed by nature, as to furpafs all that can be produced by the utmoft labour and ingenuity of art. A circuit of thirty miles fouth of this place is called the foreft ; and the foreft is alfo well ftocked with game. Curiojities. ] The moft remarkable curiofity in this county is the rude figure of a white horfe, which takes up near an acre of ground, on the fide of a green hill. A horfe is known to have been the Saxon ftandard ; and fome have iuppofed that this figure was made by Hengift one of the Saxon kings ; but Mr. Wife, the author of a letter on this fubject to Dr. Mead, publifhcd in 1738, brings feveral argu- ments to fhew that it was made by the order of Alfred, in the reign of his brother Ethelred, as a monument of his viclory gained over the Danes, in the year 871, at Afhdown, now called Amen or Aflibury Park, the feat of lord Craven, near Afhbury, not far from this hill. Others however fuppofe it to have been partly the effect of accident, and partly the work of fhepherds, who obferving a rude figure, fomewhat refembiing a horfe, as there are in the viens of wood and ftone many figures that refemble trees, caves and .other objecSs, reduced it by degrees to a more regular figure. But however this be, it has been a cuftom immemorial for the neighbouring peafants to aflemble on a certain day about Midfummer, and clear away the weeds from this white horfe, and in E U R O P E. 13 and trim the edges to prefer ve its colour and fhape ; after which the evening is fpent in mirth and feftivity. The hill ftands a little to the north of upper Lambourne, and is called White-horfe Hill. To the north of this hill there is a long valley reaching from the weftern fide of the county, where it borders upon Wiltihire, as far as Wantage, ^►hich from this hill is called the Vale of Whitehorfe, and is the moil fertile part of the County. The river Lambourne is not one of the leaft curiofities of this county; fince contrary to the nature of all other rivers, it is higheft in furnmer and fhrinks gradually as winter approaches, till at laft it is nearly if not entirely dry. The river Kennet is remarkable for producing the fineft trout in the kingdom. They are in general very large, and it is faid that fome have been taken here which meafured five and forty inches long. Eaft and Weft Enbourne, near Newbury, are remarkable for the well known whimfical cuftom of the manor, taken notice of in the fpe&ator. The widow of every copyhold tenant is intitled to the whole copyhold eilate of her hufband, fo long as fhe continues unmarried and chafte ; if fhe marries, fhe lofes her widow's eftate without remedy ; but if fhe is guilty of incontinence, fhe may recover her forfeiture, by riding into court on the next court day, mounted on a black ram, with her face towards the tail, and the tail in her hand, and repeating the following lines : Here I am, riding on a black ram Like a whore as 1 am ; And for my crincum crancum Have loft my binewn bancum^ And for my tail's game Am brought to this world's fhame, Therefore, good Mr. Steward, let me have my lands again. Various particulars.] The length of this county from eaft to weft, is about forty-five miles; audits breadth near twenty- five. It fends nine members to parliament ; two knights for fhe fhire, as many for Reading, New Windfor, Wallingford, and one for /Jbbington. It lies in the diocefe of Salisbury, and m the Oxford circuit. There are in it 140 parilhes, 62 vicarages, and 671 villages. It is divided into 22 hundreds, containing about 16,900 houfes, and 84,500 inhabitants. '1 he are;i of the county in acres is computed at 527,000. BUCKINGHAM- 14 Defcription of the BrilijJ) Empire ^ BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. Name.} f j ' ^ H I S county is fuppofed to have been called Buckinghamfhire, either from a Saxon word, fignifying Beech Trees, with which it abounded, or from Buc, which is the fame with our buck ; for the woods of this county abounded alfo with deer. The fouth-eaft part of the country lies high, and confifts- of a ridge of hills, called the chiltern, probably from Cylt or Chilt, a Saxon name for chalk ; the northern part is diftinguifhed by the name of the Vale. Air and Soil.] On the Chiltern Hills the air is extremely healthful, and in the vale it is better than in the low grounds of other counties. The foil of the Chiltern is ftoney, yet it produces good crops of wheat and barley : in many places it is covered with thick woods, among which there are frill great quantities of beech. Jn the vale, which is extremely fertile, the foil is marl or chalk ; fome part of it is converted into tillage, but much more is ufed for grazing ; the gentlemen who have eftates in this county, find grazing fo lucrative, that they generally keep their eftates in their own hands ; and the lands that are let fetch more rent than any other in the kingdom. One fingle meadow, called Berryfield, in the manor of Quarrendon, not far from Aylfbury, was let many years ago for 800 1. per annum, and has been fmce let for much more. Manufatturei\ The chief manufactures of Buckingham- fhire are bone lace and paper. Of the towns we may make mention of Eton, which ftands on the borders of Berkfhire, and is joined to Windfor by a wooden bridge over the Thames, there is a college of royal foundation, for the maintenance of a provoft and feven fellows, two fchoolmafters, two conducts, one organift, feven clerks, ten chorifters, and other officers, and for the inftruction of feventy poor grammar fcholars, who are nomi- nated by the king, and are therefore called king's fcholars ; thefe fcholars, when they are properly qualified, are elected on the firft Tuefday in Auguft, to King's College in the univefity of Cambridge, where, after they have been ftudents three years, they claim a fellowfhip ; but as there is not always a vacancy at Cambridge, the fcholars remain at Eton till vacancies happen ; and thefe vacancies they fiil up ac- cording to feniority. The w EUROPE. 15 The fchool is divided into two parts, the upper and the lower, and each of thefe is fub-divided into three claries. Into the lower fchool children are admitted very young, but none enter the upper fchool till they can make Latin verfes, and have fome knowledge of Greek. Befides the feventy Scholars on the foundation, there are feldom lefs than 300 for whole education the mafters are paid, and who board at the mafters houfes. The mafter of each fchool therefore has four affiftants or ufhers. The building has large cloyfters like the religious houfes abroad, and the chapel is a noble pile, though the architecture is Gothic. The prefent fchool-room is a modern building ; and the other parts of the college have been repaired and beautified at great expence. There is a library for the ufe of the fchool, which was greatly increafed by two other collections; one bequeathed by Dr. Waddington, a bifhop of Chefter, valued at 2000I. and the other by the late lord chief juftice Reeves, to whom it had been given by the will of Richard Topham, efq; who had been keeper of the records in the Tower of London. The gardens of this college are very extenfive and pleafant; and the revenue is about 5000 1. a year. Various particulars.] This county fends fourteen members to parliament ; viz. two knights of the fhire ; two for Buck- ingham ; as many for Aylefbury, for Chipping-Wicomb, for Marlow, and for Wendover. It lies in the diocefe of Lincoln, and the Norfolk circuit. The number of it's vicarages is 73, of its parifhes 185, with 615 villages. Its divifion is into eight hundreds, containing about 18,000 houfes, and 91,900 inhabitants. The area of the county is computed 441,003 acres. CAMBRIDGESHIRE. Name.'] t | ^HIS county is called Cambridgefhire, from JL its principal town Cambridge, which evident- ly derives its name from its bridge over the river Cam. Air and Soil.] A confiderable tract of land in this county is diftinguifhed by the name of the Ifle of Ely: it confifts of fenny ground, divided by innumerable channels and drains, and is part of a very fpacious level, containing 300,000 acres of land, and extending from this county into Norfolk, Suffolk, 1 6 Defcri-ption of the Britiftj Empire^ Suffolk, Huntingdonmire, Northamptonfhire, and Lincoln- fhire. The Ifle of Ely is the northern diviiion of the county, and extends fouthward almoft as far as Cambridge. The whole level, of which this is part, is bounded on one fide by the fea, and on the others by uplands, which taken together, form a kind of rude iemicircle, reiernbling a horfe fhoe. This level is generally fuppofed to have been overflowed In fome violent convulhon of nature, preternatural fwelling of the fea, or an earthquake, which left the country flooded with a lake of frefh water, as has frequently happened in other places. It is certain that the fens in Cambridgefhire were once very different from what they are now. William of Malmfbury, an hiftorian of great credit, who wrote in the twelfth century, fays, that in his time this country was a ter- reftrial paradife. He defcribes it as a plain that was level and fmooth as water, covered with perpetual verdure, and adorn- ed with a great variety of tall, fmooth, taper, and fruitful trees : here, fays he, is an orchard bending with apples, and there is a field covered with vines, either creeping upon the ground, or fupported by poles. In this place art alio feems to vie with nature, each being impatient to beftow what the other withholds. The buildings are beautiful be- yond defcription j and there is not an inch of ground that is not cultivated to the higheft degree. But whatever was the condition of this county and its in- habitants formerly, it is extremely bad at prefent ; the waters ftagnating, for want of proper channels to run off, become putrid, and fill the air with noxious exhalations ; the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns could have no com- munication with each other by land, and a communication by WHter was in many places difficult, and in others imprac- ticable ; for though the water covered the ground to a confi- derable height, yet it wasfo chcaked with mud and fedge, and reeds, that a boat could not every where make way through it: and in winter, when the furface was (o frozen as to prevent all navigation, and yet not hard enough to bear horfes, the inhabitants of many ifiands among thefe fens, were in danger of perifhing for want of food. To remedy thefe evils, many applications were made to the government for cutting rivers and drains, which was many times attempted but without fuccefs. In the reign of Charles the firft, Francis Ruffel, who was then earl of Bedford, agreed with the inhabitants "of the feveral drowned countries to drain the whole level, in con- fideration of a grant of ninety-five thoufand acres of the land hi EUROP E. *? Jnhdthathe mould drain, to his own iife. The earl admitted feveral other peribns to be iharers with him in this under- taking, and they proceeded in the work till cne hundred thou- sand pounds had been expended ; but the ground was frill un- der water. It was then undertaken by the king, who engaged to compleat the work for 69,000 acres more^ and proceeded on the attempt till the civil war broke out, wh'rh firft put an end to his projects, and then to his life. During the civil war the work flood flill ; but in the year 164.9, William, earl of Bedford, and the other adventurers, who had beert affociated with Francis, renamed the undertaking upon their original contraft for 95,000 acres ; and after having ex<- pended 300,cocl. more, the work was compleated. But the expence being much more than the value of the 95.000 acres, many of the adventurers were ruined by the projeft, and the fanftion of the legiilature was flill neceffary to confirm the agreement, and inveft the contractors with fuch rights and powers as would enable them to fecure fuch advantages as they had obtained. King Charles the Second therefore upori application, recommended it to his parliament, and in the fifteenth year of his reign, an aft was paffed, intitlfed an aft for fettling the drains of the Great Level called (from the firft private undertaker) Bedford Level. By this aft the proprietors were incorporated by the name of the Governor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty, of the Company of the Confervators of the Great Level of the Fens. The corporation confifls of one governor, fix bailiffs, and twenty confervators. The gover- nor and one bailiff, or two bailiffs without the governor, and three confervators, make a quorum, and are impowered to aft as commiffioners of fewers, to lay taxes en the 95,000 acres) to levy them with penalties for non-payment, by fale of a fufEcient part of the land on which the tax and penalty are due. But by this aft the whole 95,000 acres were not veiled in the corporation. The king referved 12,000 acres to himfelf, 10,000 of which he affigned to his 'brother, the duke of York, and two thoufand he gave to the earl of Portland. In the Ifle of Ely the air is damp, foul, and unwhole- fome ; but in the fouth-eafr. parts of the county it is more pure and falubrious; the foil is alfo very different: in the Ifle of Ely it is hollow and fpungy, yet affords excel h-nt pafturage : in the uplands to the fouth-eaft, the foil produces great plenty of bread corn, and barley. The dry and barren parts have been greatly improved by fowing the g-rafs C called i g- Defcriplion of the BritlJIj Empire, called faint foitt, holy grafs, from its having been fill! brought into Europe from Paleftine. Natural Produftior.s and ManufaBures.~\ The principal commodities of Cambridgeshire are corn, malt, cattle, butter, faffron, colefeed, hemp, fifh, and wild-fowl. The wild- fowl are taken in decoys, places convenient for catching them, into which they are led by tame ducks that are trained for that purpofe ; and in the Ifle of Ely there is fuch plenty of thefe birds, that 3000 couple are faid to be fent to London every week ; and there is one decoy near Ely, which lets for five hundred pounds a-year. The principal manufactures of this county are paper and wicker ware. In the defcription of this county we mull not omit that of the univerfity of Cambridge, which confiffs of fixteen colleges, four of which are diftinguifhed by the name of halls, though the privileges of both are in every refpect equal. It h a corporation, confifting of about 1,500 perfons, and is go- verned by a chancellor, a high fteward, two proctors, and two taxers. All thefe officers are chofen by the univerfity. The chancellor is always a peer of the realm, and generally continues in his office for life, by the tacit confent of the univerfity, though a new choice may be made every three years. As the chancellor is a perfen of fo high rank, it is not expected or intended, that he fhould execute the office ; but he has not the power of appointing his fubftitute : a vice chancellor is chofen annually, on the third of November, by the univerfity ;' he is always the head of feme college, the heads of the colleges returning two of their body, of which the univerfity elects one. The high fteward is choftn by the fenate, and holds his place by patent from the unnerfity. The proctors and taxers are alfo chofen every year, from the feveral colleges and halls by turns. The publick fchools, of which there is one for every college, are in a building of brick and rough ftonc, erected on the four iides of a quadrangular court. Every college- has alfo its particular library, in which, except that of King's College, the fcholars are not obliged to Rudy, as in the ljbrarics at Oxford, but may borrow the books, and fludy in their chambers, Befides the particular libraries of the feveral colleges, there is the univerfity library, which contains the collections of the archbifhops Parker, Grindal, and Sancroft ; and of Dr. Thomas Moore, bifhop of Ely, con- fifting of 30,000 volumes, which was purchafed for 7000I. and preferred to the univerfity by his late rnajefty king George the Firft, in the year 17 15. Each in E f J R O P E. \g Each college has alfo its particular chapel, where the inafters, fellows, and fcholars meet every morning and even- ing, for the publick worfhip of God, though oh .Sundays .and" holidays, when there is a fermon, thev attend at St. Marv's church. The names of the colleges are Peter-Houfe, Clare-Hall, Pembroke-Hall, Corpus Chrifti, or Benedict College, Tri- nity-Hall, Gonvil and Caius College, King's College, Queen's College, Catherine-Hall, Jefus College, Chrift's College, St. John's College, Magdalen College, Trinity College, Emanuel College, and Sidney Suflex College. The whole number of fellows is 406, and of fcholars 660; befide which there are 236 inferior officers and fervants of •various kinds, who are maintained upon the foundation. Thefe however are not all the ftudents of the univerfity ; there are two forts of ftudents, called penfioners, the greater and the lefs ; the greater penfioners are in general the young nobility, and are called fellow commoners, becaufe though they are fcholars, they dine with the fellows ; the lefs are dieted with the fcholars, but live at their own expence. There are alio a considerable number of poor fcholars, called fizars, who wait upon the follows and frhoiars, and the pensioners of both ranks, by whom I in a great degree maintained; but the number of thefe pensioners and fizars cannot be afcertained, as it is in a itate oi perpetual fluctu- ation. Curious particulars.} There is in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, en the eaft fide, a village called Sturbridge, from the little brook Stour, or Sture, which runs by it, tn?.t is remarkable for a fair, which was once the greateft tem- Siorary mart in the world j and is now fo confiderabie as to eferve particular notice. It is held in a corn-field about half a mile fquare, which is covered with booths that are built in regular rows, and divide the area into many ftreets, which are called Cheap- fide, Cornhill, the Poultry, and by the names of many other ftreets in London, to diftinguifi. them from each other. Among the 3 booths tiere are not only ware-houfes and flicks, for aknoft every kind of commodity and manufacture, but Coffee- houP:>, taverns, eating-houfes, mufick-houfes, buildings for .the exhibition of drolls, puppet-fhows, leger- demain, wild bea'fts and monfters. There is an area of about 100 yards fquare, called the Duddery, where the clothiers unload, that is fcarce inferior to Blackwell Hall ; and in this place woollen goods have been fold to the value • C 2 of Zo Defcription of the Br-'Jh Empire, ©f 100,000 1. in a week; and the manufacturers of Norfolk Suffolk, and Efiex, generally lay ou: fixty thoufand pounds in wool : the upholfterers and ironmongers wares amount to a prodigious fum > and hops to ftill more, the price of which, ail over the kingdom, is generally fettled at this fair ; and large commiiiionb are negotiated for all parts of the kingdom. This fair begins on the eighteenth of September, and continues a fortnight. The laft day is appropriated to the fale of horfes, and to horfe and foot races, for the diveriion of the company. The heavy goods from London are brought by fea to Lynn, in Norfolk, whence they are carried in barges up the Oufe to the Cam, and fo to the fair. The concourfe of people, whom bufinefs and idlenefs concur to bring to this place, is fo great, that not only Cambridge, but all the neighbouring towns and villages are full ; and the very barns and ftables are converted into drinking rooms and lodgings, for the meaner fort of people. More than fifty hackney coaches from London are frequently found plying at this, place ; and even wherries have been brought from the Thames in waggons, to row people up and down the Cam. But notwithftanding the multiplicity of bufinefs, and the con- courfe of people, there is very feldom any confufion or dis- order, by which either life or property is endangered ; for a court of juftice is held here every day by the magiftrates of Cambridge, who proceed in a fummary way, and with fuch lteadinefs and diligence, that the fair is in many refpects like a well ordered city. Near this place there is an excellent caufeway, which reaches near four miles, and was begun by Dr. Hervey, matter of Trinity-Hall, and finifhed by William Wortesj Lfq; of Cambridge. The inhabitants of the fenny part of the county of Cam* bridge, now called the Ifle of Ely, and of the reft of the Great Level in Huntingdonlhire, Northamptonfhire, and l.in- colnfhire, were in the time of the Saxons, diftinguifhed by the name of Girvii, or Fen-Men ; and notwithftanding William of Malmfbury's e'efcription of Thorney Abbey, the country was then in fuch a condition, that theie Girvii ufedl to walk aloft on a kind of ftiits, to keep them out of the water and flime. There is a kind of happy prejudice which has fuch a remote kindred to virtue, as bigottry has to religion, by which men are induced to eonfider their own country, whatever are its difadvantages, as the beft in the world ; and it not would have been ftrange, if the walkers on ftiits, who breathed the noxious vapour of ftagnant waters inftead of air, had /» EUROPE, 2i had regarded thofe who walked upon the ground in an happier fituation with an air of contempt, efpecially as the fruitfulnefs of the country, when the rivers were not ob- ftru&ed, made them rich ; but Camden fays that they were a rugged uncivilized race, who if they did not repine at their fituation, envied not that of their neighbours, whom they called Upland Men, not however as a name of honour but diftindtion. Various particulars.'] Cambridgefhire fends fix members to parliament, viz. two knights of the (hire ; two members for the town of Cambridge, and two for the univerfity. It lies partly in the diocefe of Ely, and partly in that of Norwich, and the Norfolk circuit. It contains eighty-three vicarages, 163 parifhes, and 279 villages. Its divifion is into fixteen hundreds, containing about 17,340 houfes, 86,730 inhabi- tants, and 570,000 acres. CHESHIRE. CHESHIRE, the prefent name of this county, is a contraction of Chefterfhire, and derived from Chefter, the name of its city. It is a county palatine, great part of which is a champaign, called by king Edward the Firft, for its great fruitfulnefs, Vale Royal of England. Air and Soil.] The air of this county is ferene and healthful, but proportionably colder than the more fouthern parts of the ifland. The country is in general flat and open, though it rifes into hills on the borders of Staffbrdihire and Derbyfhire, and contains feveral forefts, two of which, called Delamere and Macclesfield, are of confiderable extent. The foil, in many parts, is naturally fertile ; and its fertility is greatly increafed by a kind of marie, or fat clay, of two forts, one white and the other red, which the peafants find in great abundance, and fpread upon their land as manure : corn and grafs is thus produced with the moft pLentiful encreafe ; and the pafture is iaid to be the fweeteft of any in the kingdom. There are hov/ever feveral large traces of land covered with heath and mofs, which the inhabitants can ufe only for fuel. The mofly traits confift of a kind of moorifh boggy earth ; the inhabitants call them mofies, and diftiflguifh them into whitej grey, and black, from the colour of the mofs that grows upon them. The white mofies, or bogs, are evidently com? pages 01 th.e leaves, feeds, flowers, ftalks, and roots of herbs, C 3 plants. 22 Defcription of the Britifi Empire , plant?, or fhrubs. The grey confuls of the fame fubftancis in a higher degree of putrefaction ; and the only difference cf the black is, that in this the putrefaction is perfect ; the grey is harder, and more ponderous than the white ; and the black, is clofer and more bituminous than either. From thefe mc fTeSj fquare pieces like bricks are dug out, and laid in the fuii to dry for fuel, and are called turfs, Natural Productions and Manufa£lurcs.~\ The chief ccmr modifies of this county are checfe, fait, and miliffones. The checfe is efceemed the beft in England, and furniihed in great plenty by the excellent pafturage on which the cattle are fed. The fait is produced not from the water of the fea, but from fait fprings, which rife in Northwich, Namptwich, Ji/fiddjewicb, and Dunham, at the diflance of about fix mi'es ircm each other; and about thirty from the fea. The pirs are feldoni more than four yards deep, and never more than feven. in two places in Namptwich the fpring breaks out in the meadows, fo as to fret away the grafs ; and a fait liquor ouzes through the earth, which is fwampy to a con- fiderable diftance. All thefe fprings lie near brooks and in meadow grounds. The water is fo very cold at the bottom of the pits, that the briners cannot ftay in them above half an hour at a time, nor fo long, without frequently drinking ftrong waters. Some of thefe fprings afford much more water than others ; but it is obferved, that there is more fait in any given quantity of water drawn from the fprings that yield little, than in the fame quantity drawn from thofe that yield much ; and that the ilrength of the brine is generally in pro- portion to the fcantinefs cf the fpring. It is alfo remarkable, that more fait is produced from the fame quantity of brine in dry weather, than in wet. Whence the brine of thefe fprings is fupnlied, is a queftion that has never yet been finally decided : tome have fuppofed it to come from the fea ; feme from fubterraneous rocks of fait, which were difcovered in thofe parts, about the middle of the laft century; and others from fubtil faiine particles, fubfifting in the air, and depofited in a proper bed. It is not probable that this water comes from the fea, becaufe a quart of fea water will produce no more than an ounce and an half of fait, but a quart of water from thefe fprings, will often produce feven or eight ounces. The ftone which is wrought into mill-ftones, is dug from a quarry at Mowcop Hill, near Congleton. Though we generally pafs over the towns unnoticed, we muff not omit a fhort defcription of the antient city of Chefter, which is diftant 182 miles from London; and is governed in. E U R O P E. 23 governed by a mayor, twenty-four aldermen, two fheriffs, and forty common council men. It has nine churches, not ill built, one of which is the cathedral, having the parifh church in the fouth ifle, dedicated to St. Werburgh. The cathedral, with the bifhop's palace, and the houfes of the prebendaries, are on the north fide of the city, which is built in a fquare form, and furrounded by a wall, with bat- tlements, that are two miles in compafs. The two principal ftreets interfect each other at right angles, and form an exact, crofs. At the interfection, which is nearly in the center of the city, there is a fpacious area, called the Pentife, in. which ftands the town-houfe, with an exchange, a neat building, fupported by columns thirteen feet high, of one ftone each. The houfes, which in general are timber, are yery large and fpacious, and are built with a piazza before them, fo that foot paflengers go from one end of the city to the other, under compleat fhelter from the weather. This manner of building however has its difadvantage ; for the ihops which lie behind the piazza, are very clofe and dark, and in other refpecls incommodious Thefe piazzas are called rows ; and the pavement is confiderably above the level of the flreet, into which there are defcents by fteps, placed at convenient diftances. The city has four gates, one at each end of the two great ftreets, which are placed exactly eaft, weft, north, and fouth, and a caftle, on a rifing ground on the fouth fide, which is in part furrounded by the river Dee, and is a place of confiderable ftrength. A garrifon is always kept in it. Natural bijiory and Curoifities.] In this county there are feveral mineral fprings, particularly at Stockport there is a chalybeat faid to be ftronger than that at Tunbridge. In the morafles, or mofles, whence the country people cut their turf, or peat, for fuel, there are marine fhells in great plenty, pine cones, nuts and fhells, trunks of fir trees, and fir apples, with many other exotic fubftances. The morafles, in which thefe fubftances are found, are frequently upon the fummits of high mountains ; and the learned have been much divided in their opinions how they came there. The general opinion is, that they were brought thither by a deluge, not merely from their iituation, but becaufe feven or eight vaft trees are frequently found lying much clofer to each other than it was poflible they fhould grow ; and under the trees are frequently found the exuviae of animals, as /hells and bones of fifties ; and particularly the head of an hippopotamus was dug .from one of thefe moors, fpme years C 4 ago, 24 Defer iptton of the Britiflo Empire, ago, and was feen by Dr. Leigh, who has written the Na- tural Hiftory of this county. There are however fubftances of a much later date than the general delude, found amoncr thefe trees and exuviae, particularly a brafs kettle, a millftone, and lome amber beads, which were given to the doctor foon aher they were dug up. The fix trees which are dug up by the peafants, are fo full of turpentine, that they are cut out into flips and ufed inftead of candles. Various partuuhrrs.~] This county fends four members to parliament ; 'two for the county and two for Chefter. It lies in the northern circuit, and dioccfe of Chefter. It contains twenty vicarages, 68 parishes, and near 670 villages. Its diviiion is into feven hundreds, in which are contained about 24,000 houfes, and upwards of 12,000 inhabitants. The area of the county is commonly thought to be about 720,000 acres. CORNWALL. Name.] /CORNWALL, the raoft weftern county of \^j England, is fuppofed by fome to derive, its' name from the Britifh word Corn, a horn, either becaufe the whole county is fhaped like a cornucopia, or becaufe on the weftern extremity it fhoots out into two promontories, or horns, called the Land's End, and the Lizard Point. Air and SoiL"] Four fifths of the circumference of this cpunty being waflied by the fca, the air is necefTarily more damp than in places that lie remote from the coaft. A dry fummer is here extremely rare; but the rains are rather fre- quent than heavy ; and there are few days fo wet, but that f >me part of them is fair, and few fo cloudy, but that there are intervals of funfnine. Storms of wind are more fudden and more violent than within the land, and the air is impregnat- ed with fait, which rifes with the vapours from the fea; this quality of the air is very unfavourable to fcorbutic habits ; it is alfo hurtful to fhrubs and trees, and in general to tender fhoots of whatever kind, which after a ftorm, which drives the fea air upon them, generally appear fhriveled and have a fait tafte, for this reafon there are no fuch plantations of wood on rifing grounds, nor any fuch hedge-rows of tall trees, in Cornwall, as there are in the northern counties of England whi:h, though farther from the fun, are not expofed to blafts from the fea. In in E U R O P E. 15 In Cornwall however, the winters are mo-e mild than in any other part of the iiland, fo that myrtles will flourifh without a grecn-houie, if they are fecured from the fait winds that blow from the fea ; the fnow feldom lies more than three or four days upon the ground, and a violent fhower of hail is fcarce ever known. The fpring mews itfelf early in buds and bloiToms, but its progrefs is not fo quick as ellewhere. The fummers are not hotter in proportion, as the winters are lefs cold ; for the air is always cooled by a breeze from the fea, and the beams of the fun are not re- flected from the furrqunding water with fo much ftrength, as from the earth ; it happens therefore, that though Cornwall is the moft fouthern county in England, yet the harveft is later, and the fruit has lels flavour, than in the midland parts. As the county abounds in mines, the air is filled with mineral vapours, which in fome parts are fo inflammable as to take fire, and appear in flame over the grounds from which they rife. But notwithstanding the faline and mineral particles that float in the atmofphere, the air of Cornwall is very healthy 3 for it is in a great meafure free from the putrid exhalations that in other places rife from bogs, marines, and {landing pools ; and from the corrupt air that ftagnates in the dead calm that is often found among thick woods. In Cornwall, the country is open, the foil in general found, and the air always in motion, which may well attone for any noxious effluvia fuppoi'ed to rife either from mines or the fea. In the mines of this county there are often found the ochrous earths of metals, the rufty ochre of iron, the green and blue ochres of copper, and the pale yellow ochre of lead, the brown yellow of tin, and the red ochre of bifmuth ; the ochre of lead, in its natural ftate, mixes well with oil, and gives a colour between the light and brown ochre ; as it is folid, and will not fly off, it might perhaps be ufeful in painting. Natural productions.'] The. principal products of Cornwall are tin and copper ; thefe metals are found in veins or fiiTures, which are fometimes filled with other fubftances, and the Jubilance, whatever it is, with which thefe fiiTures are filled, is in Cornwall called a lode, from an old Anglo Saxon word, which fignifies to lead, as the miners always follow its di- rection. The courfe of the fiiTures is generally eaft and weft, not however in a ftraight line, but wavy, and one fide is forne times a hard ftone, and the other loofe clay. Moft of 2 6 Defcripiion of the BritiJJj Empire », of theft lodes are impregnated with metal, but none are im- pregnated equally in all parts. Thefe lodes are not often more than two feet wide, and the greater part are not more than one : but in general, the fmaller lode the better metal : the direction of thefe lodes is feldom perpendicular, but de- clines to the right or left, though in different degrees. Tin is the peculiar and moft valuable product of this county ; it affords employment, and confequently fubfiftance to the poor, affluence to the lords of the foil, a confiderable revenue to our prince of Wales, who is duke of Cornwall, and an important article of trade to the nation, in all foreign markets. Copper is no where found richer, or in greater variety of ores than in Cornwall ; though the mines have not been worked with much advantage longer than fixty years. The moft common ore is of a yellow brafs-colour ; but there is fome green, fome blue, fome black, fome grey, and fome red j the green, blue, and black yield but little; the grey contains more metal than the yellow, and the red more than the grey. There are befides, in almoft all the confiderable mines, fmall quantities of malleable copper, which the miners, from its purity, call the virgin ore. This is com- bined and allayed with various fubftances ; fometimes with a gravelly clay, and fometimes with the ruff, of iron ; its figure alio is very various ; fometimes it is in thin plates, ihaped like leaves, fometimes it is in drops and lumps, fome- times branched, fringed, or twifted into wires, fometimes it fhoots into blades, crofTed at the top like a dagger, and fometimes it has the appearance of hollow fillagree ; it has alfo been found in powder, little inferior in luflre to that of gold ; in a congeries of combined granules, and fometimes in iblid maffes of feveral pounds weight, maturated, unmixed, and-highly polifhed. The annual income to the county from copper, is at this time nearly equal to that from tin ; and both are ftill capable of improvement. The water in which the copper ore is warned, has been lately difcovered to make blue vitriol of the beft kind ; and the water which comes from the bottom of the mines, and which is now fuffered to run off to wafte, is fa ftrongly impregnated with copper, that if it was detained in proper receptacles, it would produce great quantities of malleable copper without any hazard or attendance, and without any other charge than the purchafe of a much lefs qnantity of the moft ufelefs old iron ; for old irbrr, immerfed" in this water, will in about fourteen days produce much more than in E U R O P E. if than Its weight of what is called copper-mud, whence a great proportion of pure copper may be obtained. Befide thefe natural productions of the earth, the inhabi- tants reap ftill more advantageous benefits from the fea, the Pilchard fifhery of this coaft being now the greateft in the world ; and producing more than an annual income of an hundred thoufand pounds. Hie tinners are in many refpedts a community diftinct from the other inhabitants of the county. They have an officer, called the lord warden, who is appointed to administer juftice among them, with an appeal to the duke of Corn- wall, in council, or to the crown. The lord warden ap- points a vice warden to determine all ftannary difputes every month, and he conftitutes four ftewards, each for a par- ticular diftrict, who hold courts every three weeks, and decide by juries of fix, with an appeal to the vice warden, from him to the lord warden, and finally to the crown. They have alfo a parliament, confiding of twenty-four gentlemen tinners, fix to be chofen for each of the ftannary divifions, by the mayor and council of the towns of fuch diviiion refpeclively. The towns are Launcefton, Leftwithiel, Truro, and Helfton. The twenty-four perfons thus chofen are called ftannators, and chufe their fpeaker, who is appro- ved by the lord warden. Whatever is enacted by this body of tinners, with the fubfequent afTent of the crown, has all the authority, with refpect to tin affairs, of an act of the whole legiflature. Parious particulars.] Cornwall fends no lefs than forty-four members to parliament (which is above five times as many as Middlefex, London, and Weftinfter fend, tho' thefe latter pontain above five times as many inhabitants) two knights for the fhire, and as many members for each of the following towns ; Bodmin, Boiliney, Camelford, Dunevet, Launcefton, L aft-Low, Foy, Grampound, Helfton, St. Germans, St. Ives,. Kellington, Lefkard, Leftwithiel, St. Maws, St. Michael, Newport, Penryn, Portpigham, Saltafh, Tregony, and Truro. It lies in the diocefe of Exeter, and in the weftern circuit. It contains 89 vicarages, 161 parifhes, and about 1,230 villages. The divifion.of it is into nine hundreds, containing near 25,380 houfes, and about 126,870 inhabitants, and an area computed at 960,000 acres. CUMBERLAND. % 9 Defcripiion of the Britifh Empire, CUMBERLAND. Name.] t 1 ^ HIS county is generally fuppofed to have been X called Cumberland, from Cumbri, a name given to the ancient Britor.s, who long maintained their ground in it, againft the encroachments of the Saxons. Air, Soil, arid Natural Productions.] The air of this county, though cold, is lefs piercing than might be expected from its fituation, being fheltered by lofty mountains on the north. The foil is in general fruitful, the plains producing corn in great abundance, and the mountains yielding pafture for numerous flocks of fheep, with which they are perpe- tually covered. The face of the country is delightfully varied by lofty hills, vallies, and water ; but the profpect would be frill more agreeable, if it was not deficient in wood, many plantations of which have been made, but without fufficient fuccefs to encourage the practice. The Derwent produces falmon in great plenty, and the Eden char, a fmall fifh of the trout kind, which is not found in any waters of this ifland, except the Lden and Winandermere, a lake in Weftmore- land. At the mouth of the river Irt, on the fea coaft, near Ravenglas, a market town in this county, are found pearl mufcles ; for the fifhing of which, fome perfons obtained a patent not very long ago, but it does not appear that this un- dertaking has yet produced any considerable advantage. Several mountains here contain metals and minerals ; and in the fouth part of the county, which is called Copeland, the mountains abound with rich veins of copper, as they do alio in Derwent Fellc, particularly at Newland, a village near Kefwick, where it io faid there was once found, a mixture of gold and filver. In this county there are alfo mines of coals, lead, lapis calami naris, and black lead, a mineral, found no where elfe, called by the inhabitants wadd. The wadd mines lie chiefly in and about Derwent Fells, where this mineral may be dug up in any quantity. Natural Curiojiries.] Among the natural curiofities of this con: :' 7 we may reckon the mountains, fome of which are renuikLable for their height, particularly Hard-knot-hill, Wry-nofe, and Skiddaw. Hard-knot-hill, at the foot of which rifes the river Elk, is a ragged mountain, fo fleep, that it is very difficult to afcend it ; about a hundred and fifty years ago, fome huge {tones were difcovered upon the xery fummit, which Camden fuppofed to have been the foundation of a cattle, but which may with greater probability be in EUROPE. 29 he confidcrcd as the ruins of fome church or chapel ; for in the early ages of Christianity, it was a work of moll meritori- ous devotion, to erecl: crofTes and build chapels upon the tops of the higheft hills and promontories, not only becaufe they were more confpicuous, but becaufe they were proportionably nearer to Heaven Wry-nofe is fituated about a mile fouth-eaft of Hard-knot- hill, near the high road from Penrith to Kirby, a market town in Lancamire. Near this road, and on the top of the mountain, are three {tones, commonly called fhire rtones, which though they lie within a foot one of another, are yet in three counties ; one in Cumberland, another in Weftmore- land, and the third in Lancafhire. Skiddaw ftands north of Kefwick, and, at a prodigious height, divides like Parnafius into two heads, from whence there is a view of Scroffel-hill, in the fhire of Annandale, in Scotland, where the people prognofticate a change of weather, by the mifts that rife or fall upon the tops of this mountain, according to the following proverbial rhime ; If Skiddaw have a cap, Scroffel wots full well of that. The principal anfquity in this county, and perhaps in all Britain, is that rampire built by the Romans, as a barrier againft the incurfions of the northern Britons, called by the Englifh the Picte Wall. It runs the whole breadth of Great Britain, croffing the north parts of the counties of Cum- berland and Northumberland, and extending above eighty miles, from that part of the Irifh. Sea called the Solway Frith, on the weft, to the German ocean on the eaft. It was begun by the emperor Adrian, and built in the manner of a mural hedge, with large flakes driven deep into the ground, and wreathed together with wattles. It was faced with earth and turf, and fortified on the north with a deep ditch. The Romans being called from Britain, for the defence of Gaul, the North Britons broke in upon this barrier, and in repeated inroads, put all they met with to the fword. Upon this the South Britons applied to Rome for afliftance, and a legion was fent over to them, which drove the enemy back into their own country ; but as the Romans at this time had full employment for their troops, it became neceflary for them to enable the South Britons to defend themfelves for the future ; they therefore aflifted them to build a wall of ftone, eight feet broad and twelve feet high, of equal extent with the mural hedge, and nearly upon the fame ground. This wall 30 "Defcription of the Britijh Etnpire> wall was compleated under the direction of ^lius, the Roman general, about the year 430 ; and the tracks of it* with the foundations of the towers or little caftles« now called .Caftle Steeds, placed at the diftance of a mile one front another, and the little fortified towns on the infide, called Chefters, are flill vifible. The neighbouring inhabitants fay, that here are fometimes found pieces of tubes or pipes, fup- pofed to be ufed as trumpets, and to have been artfully laid in the wall between each caftle or tower, for giving the quicker!: notice of the approach of the enemy, fo that any mattes of moment could be communicated from fea to fea in an hour. In the rubbifh of this wall was found, fome time ago, an image of brafs, about half a foot long, which, from the defcription the ancients have given us of the god Terminus, whofe image they ufed to lay in the foundation of their boundaries, appears to be a reprefentation of that deity. In a place where there are fuch evident traces of Roman power, we are not to be furprized that many monuments have been lately dug up of their religious or military implements, altars with various infcriptions, and arms of different kinds have been found along this wall, and are now kept with claffical veneration in the cabinets of the curious. But as our work is rather calculated for the bufy part of mankind than the fpeculative and fedentary, we hope to be excufed this ufelefs enumeration. Various particulars.] This county fends fix members to parliament, two for the fhire, two for Carlifle, and two for" Cockermouth. It lies partly in the dlocefes of Chefter and Carlifle, and in the northern circuit. It is divided into five wards, containing thirty- feven vicarages, ninety parifhes, near 447 villages, 14,825 houfes, and about 74,125 in- habitants. The area of the county is computed to contain 1,040,000 acres. DERBYSHIRE. Name."] TT is generally thought that this county was called \_ Derbyfhire from Derby, the name of the county town ; fome have derived both from Derwent, the name of* the principal river ; and others have fuppofed it to be formed to exprefs a park or fhelter for deer, an opinion which the arms of Derby, the county town, feem to favour, being z buck couchant in a park. Ait in EUROPE. 31 Air Soil, and natural Productions.] The two parts into which the river Derwent divides this county are very dif- ferent, as well with refpedl to the air as to the foil, except juft on the banks of the river, where the foil is on both fides remarkably fertile. In the eaitern divifion the air is healthy, and its temperature agreeable. The foil every where fruitful, and therefore well cultivated, producing grain of almoft every kind, in great abundance, particularly barley. But in the weftern divifion, the air in general is fharper, the weather more variable, and ftorms of wind and rain more frequent. There the face of the country is rude and moun- tainous, and the foil, except in the vallies, rocky and fteril ; the hills however afford pafture for fheep, which in this county are very numerous. But notwithftanding its barren- nefs, it is yet as profitable to the inhabitants as the eastern part, for it produces great quantities of the beft lead, alfo antimony, mill-ftones, and grind-ftones, befides marble, alabafter, a coarfe fort of cryftal fpar, green and white vitriol, alum, pitcoal, and iron. Trade.] With thefe commodities, and with malt and ale, of which great quantities are made in this county, the in- habitants carry on a confiderable trade ; but it does not appear that they have any manufactory of note. Curiofities.] The moft remarkable curiofities of this county arethofe of the Peak, which, being {even in number, are commonly called the Seven Wonders of the Peak. The fir.ft is the magnificent palace of the duke of Devon- fhire, called Chatfworth Houfe, the only one of the Seven Wonders that is not the production of nature. It ftands about fix miles fouth-weft of Chefterfield, on the eaft fide of the Derwent, having the river on one fide, and on the other a very lofty mountain, the declivity of which is planted very thick with firs. The heads of thefe trees gradually rifing as the mountain afcends, might feem to a poetical imagination, to have climbed one above another, to overlook and admire the beauties of the building below. The front, which looks to the gardens, is a piece of regular architecture. The hall and chapel are adorned with paintings by Verrio, an Italian matter of fome eminence ; particularly a very fine reprefentation of the death of C?efar in the Capitol, and of the refurre&ion of our Lord. The chambers, which are large and elegant, form a magnificent gallery, at the end of which is the duke's clolet, finely beautified with Indian paintings. The weft front, which faces the Derwent, is adorned with a magnificent portal, before which there is a ftone 32 Defer iption of the Britljh Empire, ftone bridge over the river, with a tower upon it, that was built by the countefs of Shrewfbury. There is alfo in ah ifland in the river, a building like a caftle, which, ken from the houfe, has a good efFec~t. In the garden there is a grove of cyprefs, and feveral ftatues extremely well executed. There is alio a very fine piece of water, in which there are; feveral ftatues reprefenting Neptune, his Nereids, and fea horfes; on the banks is a tree of copper reprefenting a willow, from every leaf of which water is made to ifl'ue by the turning of a cock, fo as to form an artificial fhowcr. Ad- vantage has been taken of the irregularity of the ground to form a cafcade ; at the top are two fea nymphs with their urns, through which the water iflues ; and in the bafon, at bottom, there is an artificial rofe, fo contrived, that water may be made to ifiue from it, fo as to form the figure of that flower in the air. There are many other beauties both of art and nature, peculiar to the place, of which the bounds of this work will not admit a particular defcription, and of which no defcription, however minute and judicious, could convey an adequate idea. This palace was built by William, the firftdukeof Devonfhire. The ftone tifed in the buildinp- ... ^ was dug from quarries on the fpot, including the marble, which is finely veined, and found in fuch plenty, that feveral people have ufed it to build houfes. From this houfe there is a moor, extending thirteen miles north, which has neither hedge, houfe, nor tree, but is a dreary and defolate wildernefs, which no ftranger can crofs without a guide. This plain however contributes not a little to the beauty of Chatfworth ; for the contraft not only renders it more ftriking, but it contains a large body of water, covering near thirty acres of ground, which is not only a common drain to the adjacent country, but fupplies all the refervoirs, canals, cafcades, and other water- works in the gardens of Chatfwort^i Houfe, to which it is conducted by pipes, properly difpofed for that purpofe. Upon the hills beyond the garden is a park^ where are alfo fome ftatues and other curiofities j but even thefe hills are over-looked by a very high rocky mountain, from which the view of the palace, and the cultivated valley in which it ftands, breaks at once upon the traveller like the efFecl of enchantment. The fecond wonder of the Peak is a mountain, fituated nine or ten miles north- weft of Chatfworth Houfe, called Mam- Tor, a name which fignifies Mother Toiver. This mountain, though it is perpetually mouldxing away, and the earth in E U R O P E. n earth and ftones are falling from the precipice above in fuch quantities, as to terrify the neighbouring inhabitants with the noife, is yet of fuch an enormous bulk, that the decreafe is not perceived. The third wonder is Eden-Hole, near Chapel in the Frith : Eden-Kole is a vaft chafai in the fide of a mountain, twenty- one feet wide, and more than forty feet long. In this chafm, or cave, appears the mouth of a pit, the depth of which could never be fathomed : a plummet once drew 884 yards, which is fomething more than haif a mile, of line after it, of which the laft eighty yards were wet, but no bottom was found. Several attempts to fathom it have been fince made, and the plummet has Sometimes {topped at half that depth, owing pro- bably to its refting on fome of the protuberances that ftand out from the fides. That fuch protuberances there are, is proved by an experiment conftantly made, to fhew its great depth to thofe that vifit the place, by the poor people that attend them, who always throw fome large {tones down into it, which are heard to ftrike againft the irregularities of the fide with a fainter and a fainter found, that is at length gradually loft. The earl of Leicefter, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, hired a poor wretch to venture down in a bafket, who, after he had de- fended two hundred ells, was drawn up again j but, to the great difappointment of the curious enquirer, he had loft his fenfes, and in a few days after died delirious. The fourth wonder of the Peak is a medicinal water, which rifes from nine fprings, near Buxton, a little village, not far from the head of the river Wye, whence they are called Bux- ton Wells. The bed or foil, from which the water iftues, is a kind of marie ; and it is remarkable, that, within five feet of one of the hot fprings, there is a cold one. The ufe of thefe waters, both for drinking and bathing, is much recommended; and the wells are therefore greatly fre- quented in the fummer feafon. The water is laid to be ful- phureous and faline : when drank it creates a good appetite, removes obftruclions, and, if mixed with the chalybeat water, with which this place alfo abounds, it anfwers all the inten- tions of the celebrated waters of the Bath in Somerfetmire, or thofe of the Hot Well below Briftol. The ufe of this water by bathing, has been recommended by phyficians in all fcorbutic, rheumatic, and nervous difcrders. Thefe wells are inclofed within a handfome ftone building, eredted at the charge of George earl of Shrewsbury. Here is a convenient houfe for the accommodation of ftrangers, built at the charge of the duke of Devonfhire. There is a bath- D room, '£4 Defcripthn of the Britijh Empire, room, which is arched over head, and is rendered handfonte and convenient. The bath will ace ommodate twenty people at a time to walk and fwim in. The temper of the water h blood warm, and it may be raifed at plealure to any height. The fifth curiofity, called a wonder, is the fpring called Tidefwell, fituated near the market-town to which it has given its name. The well is about three feet deep, and three feet wide ; and the water, in different and uncertain periods of time, finks and rifes, with a gurgling noife, two thirds of the perpendicular depth of the well. Many conjectures have been formed to account for this phenomenon. Some have thought that in the aqueduct a ftone ftands in equili. rio, and produces the rife and fall of the water by vibrating backwards and for- wards ; but it is as difficult to conceive what fhould produce this vibration at uncertain periods, as what mould produce the rife and fall of the water. Others imagine that thefe ir- regular ebbings and Mowings, as well as the gurgling noife, are occafioned by air, which agitates or prefles the water from the fubterraneous cavities ; but thefe do not tell us what can be fuppofed firft to move the air: others have imagined the fpring to be occafionally fupplied from the overflowings of fome fub- terraneous body of wiiter lying upon a higher level. The fixth wonder of the Peak is a cave, called Pool's Hole, faid to have taken its name from one Pool, a notorious robber, who being outlawed, fecreted himfelf here from juftice ; but -others will have it that Pool was fome hermit, or anchorite, who made choice of this difmal hole for his cell. Pool's Hole is fituated at the bottom of a loftv mountain, called Coitmofs, near Buxton. The entrance is by a fmall arch, fo very low, "4hat fuch as venture into it are forced to creep upon their hands and knees, but it gradually opens into a vault more than a quarter of a mile long, and, as fome have pretended, a quar- ter of a mile high. It is certainly very lofty, and looks not ■unlike the infide of a Gothic cathedral. In a cavern to the right, called Pool's Chamber, there is a fine echo, though it does not appear of what kind it is; and the found of a cur- rent of. water, which runs along the middle of the vault, be- ing reverberated on each fide, very much enereafes the afto- nifhment of all who vifit the place. Here on the floor are great ridges of flones ; water is perpetually diftilling from the roof and fides of this vault; and the drops, before they fall, • produce a pleafing effect, by reflecting numberlefs rays from the candles carried by the guides ; they alfo, from their qua- lity, form chryftal ligations of various forms, like the figures of fret-work j - and in fome places^ having been long accumu- lated in E U R O P E. 35 latcd one upon another, they have formed large mafTes, bearing a rude refemblance to men, lions, dogs, and other animals. In this cavity is a column, as clear as alabafter, called Mary Queen of Scots Pillar, becaufe it is pretended me went in {o far ; and beyond it there is a fteep afcent, for near a quarter of a mile, which terminates in a hoilow in the roof, called the Needle's Eye ; in which when the guide places his candle, it looks like a ftar in the firmament. If a piftol be fired near the Queen's Pillar, the report will be near as loud as a cannon. There is another paflage by which people ge- nerally return. Not far from this place are two fprings, one cold and the other hot, but fo near one another, that the thumb and finger of the fame hand may be put into both itreams at the fame time. The feventh and laft wonder of the Peak is a cavern, un- accountably called the Devil's Arfe, andfometimes the Peak's Arfe. It runs under a fteep hill, about fix miles north-weft of Tidefwall, by an horizontal entrance fixty feet wide, and fomething more than thirty feet high. The top of this en- trance refembles a regular arch, chequered with ftones of dif- ferent colours, from which petrifying water is continual y dropping. Here are feveral huts, which look like a little town, inhabited by a fet of people who feem in a great meafure to fubfift by guiding ftrangers into the cavern, which opens at the extremity of this entrance. The outward part of this cave is very dark ; it is alfo rendered very flippery, by a current of water which runs acrofs the entrance ; and the rock hangs fo low, that it is necefiary to ftoop in order to go under it ; but having palled this place, and another current, which fometimes cannot be waded, the arch opens again to a third current, near which are large banks of fand ; after thofe are palled, the rock clofes. Various particulars.^ Derbyfliire fends four members to par- liament; two knights for the (hire, and two burgeftes for Derby town. It lies in the diocefe of Litchfield and Coventry, and in the midland circuit. It contains 53 vicarages, 106 pa- rishes, and near 500 villages. Its diviiion is into five hun- dreds, fuppofed to contain 21,155 houfes, upwards of 105,500 inhabitants, with an area of about 680,000 acres. D 2 D E V O N« 3^ Defcription of the Brit if j Empire^ DEVONSHIRE. Name. j 7 |LMiE Englifh Saxons fo called this count j J_ from the ancient Britifh names Deunan and Deuffheynt, which fignify Deep V allies, the greateft part of the towns and villages in this diftricTt being in a lew fituation. Air and foil.'] The air of this county is mild in the valiiesj, and fharp on the hills ; but in general it is pleafant and healthy. The foil is various: in the weftern parts it is coarfe, moorifh, and barren, and in many places a friff clay, which the water cannot penetrate ; it is therefore bad for fheep, which are here not only fmall, but very fubjecl to the rot, efpecially in wet feafons. This part of the county is, however, happily adapte4 to the breeding of fine oxen, which the Somerfetfhire drovers purchafe in great numbers, and fatten for the London markets. in the northern parts of this county the foil is dry, and abounds with downs, which afford excellent pafture for fheep, and which, being well drelTed with lime, dung and fand, yield good crops of corn, though not equal to thole produced in the middle parts of the county, where there is in fome places a rich marie for manuring the ground ; and in others a fertile fandy foil. In the eaftern parts of Devonfh-ire the foil is ftrong, of a deep red, intermixed with loam, and produce* great crops of corn, and the heft peafe in Britain. There are a few villages north-weft, of Dartmouth, which are famous for an excellent rourm cvder, faid to be the beft in the king- dom, and fo near wine, that the vintners mix it with port. Mofl barren places here are rendered fruitful by a fhell fand, fuch as that ufed in Cornwall ; and in places remote from the fea, where this fand cannot be eafily got, the turf, or furface of the ground, is fhaved off and burnt to aflies, which is a good fuccedaneum. The fouthcrn parts of this county are much the molt fertile, and are therefore called the garden of Devonlhire. Natural productions.'] As this county abounds in fine rivers-, falmon is here not only excellent, but in great plenty. There arc alfo, in this county, mines of lead, tin, and fil~ ver, but fcarcely worth the working. Its manufactures are kerfies, ferges, long ells, lhalloons, narrow cloths, and bone-lace ; in which, and in corn, cattle, wool, and fea-fifh, the inhabitants carry on a conquerable trade. Among the towns in this county? Plymouth deferves parti- cular notice -} which, from a fmall fifhing town, is become in EUROPE. 37 the largeft in the county, and is thought to contain near as many inhabitants as the city of Exeter. Its port, which con* iifts of two harbours, capable of containing one thoufand fails has rendered it one of the chief magazines in England. It is defended by feveral forts, mounted with near three hundred guns, and particularly by a ftrong citadel, erected in the reign of Charles the Second, before the mouth of the haibour. This citadel, the walls of which include at leaft two acres of ground, has five regular baftions, contains a large magazine of ftores, and mounfs 165 guns. The inlet of the fea, which runs fome miles up the country, at the mouth of the 1 amar is called the Hamouze ; and that which receives the little river Plym is called Catwater. About two miles up the Hamouze are two docks, one wet and the other dry, with a bafon 200 feet fquare ; they are hewn out of a mine of flate, and lined with Portland ftone. The dry dock is formed after the model of a flrft rate man of war ; and the wet dock will contain five firft rates. The docks and bafon were conftructed in the reign of king William the Third ; and in this place there are conve- niences of all kinds for building and repairing fhips ; and the whole forms as compleat, though not fo large an arfenal, as zny in the kingdom. The (hips that are homeward bound generally put into this port for pilots to carry them up the Channel ; and, in time of war, the convoys for fhips outward bound generally ren- dezvous here. In the entrance of Plymouth Sound there is a rock, called Edyftone Rock, which is covered at high water, and on which a light-houfe was built, by one Winftanly, in 1696. This light-houfe was blown down by a hurricane that happened in November, 1703; and the ingenious builder, with feveral Other perfons that were in it, perifhed in its ruins : another light-houfe, however, was erected, in pursuance of an act of parliament of the fifth of queen Anne ; which too has been de- ftroyed, and another light-houfe is now finiihed. At Brixham, a village about three miles weft of Dartmouth, is a fpring, called Lay Well, which ebbs and flows from one to eleven times in an hour. The rile and fall of it, at a medi- um, is about an inch and a quarter ; and the area of the bafon into which it is received is about twenty feet. It fometimes bubbles up like a boiling pot : the water, which is as clear as cryftal, is very cold in the fummer, yet never freezes in the winter. The neighbouring inhabitants have a notion that, in Tome fevers, it is medicinal. D3 Xi» 38 Defcription of the BritiJJj Empire, In the church at Tiverton was a chapel built by the earls of Devonshire for their burial-place. In this chapel, which is now demolifhed, there was a monument erected for Edward Courtney, earl of Devonfhire, and his countefs, with their effigies in alabafter. It was richly gilded, and inicribed as follows : Ho, ho, who lies here ? 'Tis I, the good earl of Devonfhire, With Kate, my wife, to me full dear, We liv'd together fifty-five year. That we fpent, we had : That we left, we loft ; That we gave, we have. Various particulars.'] This county, including two knights for the fhire, fends twenty-fix members to parliament, two for each of the following places : Exeter, Plymouth, Plymton, Totnefs, Okehampton, Honiton, Barnftaple, Taviftock, Afh- burton, Tiverton, Beraldftone, and two for Clifton-Dart- mouth Hardnefs. It lies in the diocefe of Exeter, and in the vveftern circuit. The number of vicarages is 117, of parifhes 394, and of villages about 1730. It is divided into 30 hundreds, containing near 56,300 houfes, 281,500 inhabit- ants, and thr area of it is computed at 190200 acres. DORSETSHIRE. Name.] t g 1HE prefent name of this county is immediately J_. derived from the Saxon name Douretta, which fignifies a people living by the water or fea fide. Air and Soil.] The air of this county, which has been often ftiled the garden of England, is in general healthy. On the hills it is fomewhat fharp, but mild and pleafant i-n the vallies, and near the coaft. The foil is rich and fertile ; the northern part, which was formerly overfpread with forefts, now affords good palfure for black cattle ; and the fouthern part, which chiefly confifts of line downs, feeds an incredible number of fheep. Natural Preclusions. ] The rivers of this county afford plenty of fifh ; but the tench and eels of the Stour are par- ticularly famous. The port towns fupply the inhabitants with all forts of fea fiih, and the rocks upon the coaft abound with famphire and eringo. Here are fwans, geefe, and in E U R O P E. 39 and ducks without number, and great plenty of wood-cocks* pigeons, pheafants, partridges, field-fares, and other game* This county alfo abounds with corn, cattle, wool, hemp, and timber. There is in this county a peninfula, called Portland Ifland, the fea having formerly flowed round it, though it is now joined to the main by a beach, called Cheffil Bank, which the furge has thrown up. It is fcarce [even miles in comppafs and but thinly inhabited ; for though it affords plenty of corn and pafture, yet wood and coal are fo fcarce, that the inhabitants are forced to dry the dung of their black cattle for fuel. 1 he land here is fo high, that in clear weather it gives a profpect above half way over the Englifh Channel. The iflahd is rendered inaeceffible by high and dangerous rocks, except on the north fide, where it is defended by a ftrong caftle, that was built by king Henry the Eighth, called Portland caftle, and another erected on the oppofite fhore, called Sandford-caftle. Thefe commandJall fhips that come into the road, which for its ftrong current fetting in from the Englifh and French coafts, is called Portland Race, Thefe currents render it always turbulent, and have fre- quently driven veffels not aware of them, to the weft of Portland, and wrecked them on Cheffil Bank ; on the two points of which there are light-houfes, to warn the mariner of his danger. This peninfula is famous for its quarries of excellent ftone, called Portland ftone, reckoned the beft in the kingdom for duration and beauty. There is another peninfula of this county, fuppofed alfo to have been once furrounded by the fea, called Purbeck Tfiand, It is fituated between Warham and the Englifh Channel ; and befides a very ufeful ftone, called Purbeck ftone, furnifhes fome fine marble, and the beft tobacco pipe clay in the world. Befides thefe exports this county is remarkable for its linen and woollen manufactures, and its fine ale. Curio/Ities.] At Hermitage, a village about feven miles fouth of Sherborne, there is a chafm in the earth, whence a large plat of ground, with trees and hedges upon it, was removed intire to the diftance of forty rods, by an earthquake, which happened on the thirteenth of January 1585. We have alfo an account that on the twentieth of June 1653, afhowerof blood fell at Pool from a black cloud, and* tinged the herbage with red, and that in confirmation of the fact, a great number of the leaves fo tinged, were fent to London for the infpection of the curious of th# time. D 4 At 40 Defcripiion of the Britijb Empiray At Dorchefter a fire broke out on the fixtn of Auguil 1613, which confumed 300 houfes, with the two churches of Trinity and All Saints. The damage was computed at 200,oool. but no life was loft. In the reign of queen Elizabeth a fire broke out at Bland- ford which deftroyed the whole town ; and on the fourth of June 1731, it was again burnt, 600 houfes, with the church and other public buildings being deftroyed, befides a village beyond the bridge, in which only twenty-fix houfes were left ftanding. The progrefs of this fire was fo rapid, and the confternation of the people fo great, that moft of their goods and merchandize were deftroyed with the houfes : it happened alfo that the fmall-pox raged at this time in the place, with great violence, fo that many of the fick, who were taken out of bed to efcape the flames, perilhed in the fields. At Mel pain, a village near Bemifter, lived Sir Thomas More, who being IherifF of Dorfetlhire in the year 1533, ordered all prifon doors in the county to be thrown open in a frolic, and the malefactors to be let at liberty ; but after- wards reflecting upon the folly and danger of what he had done, he applied in a very penitent manner to Sir Thomas Powlet, who was then lord treafurer to Henry the Eighth, to intercede with the king in his behalf; Powlet confented, and one of More's daughters, who were coheirefles of his fortune, which was very great, foon after married Powlet's iecond fon ; and this is laid to have been made the condition of his interceifion. Antiquities. ~\ Dorfetlhire is that diftricr. which in the time of the Romans was inhabited by the Durotriges, a name purely Britilh, compounded of Dour, water, and Trig, an inhabitant, and fignifying a people who dwell by the water or fea fide. They were afterwards by the Britons called Dourg- weir, a name fynonymous with Durotriges. At the fir ft fettlement of the Saxons in Britain, this county was part of the Weft Saxon kingdom, and continued fotill their monarch Egbert, having fubdued the reft of the Heptarchy, became king of that part of the ifland ca'.led England. After the monarchy was fettled in Egbert, moft of the Saxon princes, who fucceeded him, admiring the beauty of this cpun,ty, jefided and were buried in it. The inhabitants of Portland were formerly reckoned the beft (lingers in England, and became as famous among their countrymen as the inhabitants of the iflands of Majorca and Minorca, hi EUROPE. 4i Minorca, who acquired the name of Baleares, were among the ancient Greeks and Romans. Various particulars.'] This county fends twenty members to parliament, whereof two are knights of the (hire, and two for each of the following towns : Dorchefter, Pool, Lime, Weymouth, Melcomb-Regis, (which, tho' united, each lends two) Bridport, Shaftfbury, Wareham, and Corfe- Caftle. It lies in the dioceie of Briftol, and in the weftern circuit. It reckons 68 vicarages and 248 parilhcs. It is divided into 28 hundreds, containing upwards of 21,900 houfes, about 109,700 inhabitants, and an area of 772,000 acres. DURHAM. Name.] r I > H I S county takes its name from the city of Durham, and is fome times called the Bifhopric, and fometimes the County Palatine of Durham, having for- merly been a kind of royalty, under the jurifdiction of a bifhop, fubordinate to the crown. /fir, Soil, and Natural Produflions.'] The air of this county is healthy, and though fharp in the weftern parts, is- yet mild and pleafant towards the fea, the warm vapours of which mitigate the cold, which, in a fituation fo far north, muft be fevere in the winter fcafon. The foil is alfo dif- ferent ; the weftern parts are mountainous and barren, the reft of the county is fruitful, and, like the fouthern counties, beautifully diverfificd with meadows, paftures, cornfields, and woods. It abounds with inexhauftible mines of lead and iron, and particularly coal, called Newcaftle-coal, from Newcaftle upon Tine, a large borough town in Northum- berland, the port where it is fhipped to fupply the city of London, and the greateft part of England. The rivers abound with fifh, particularly falmon, known in London by the name of Newcaftle falmon 5 and thefe two articles, with an excellent kind of muftard, include the whole traffic of the. place. The coal trade of this county is one great nurfery for feamen ; and the ports of the Bifhopric of Durham fupply the royal navy with more men than any other county \n the kingdom. In the channel of the Were, a little below Branfpeth, a village near Durham, there are many very large ftones, which are never covered but when that river overflows, and ever which if water is poured, it will in a fhort time become brackifh s 42 "Defcription of the Britijh Empire, brackifh ; and at Saltwater Haugh, not far diftant, there is a fait fpring in the middle of the Were, which is beft perceived in the fummer, when the water of the river is low ; then it is feen bubbling up. The water of this fpring tinges all the ftones near it with a red colour ; it is as fait as any brine, and when boiled, it produces a great quantity of bay fait, though not fo palatable as common fait. Nefham, a village upon the Tees, fouth-eaft of Darling- ton, and in the road from London to Durham, is remarkable for a ford over the river, where the bifhop, at his firft cominw to take pofTcffion of his fee, is met by the country gentlemen, and where the lord of the manor of Sockburn, a village fouth-eaft of Nefham, upon the fame river, advances into the middle of the ftream, and prefents him with a faulchion, as an emblem of his temporal power, which he returns to him again, and then proceeds on his way. Sheales, in this county, is of confiderable note for its fait works, there being in this place above 200 pans for boiling the fea water into fait, which are faid to require 100,000 chaldrons of coals every year. The fait made here fupplies London, all the intermediate country, and every place that is fupplied with that commodity by the navigation of the river Thames. Various particulars.'] The bifhoprick of Durham fends four members to parliament ; viz. two knights for the county, and two burgefles for Durham. It lies in the diocefe of its own name, and the northern circuit, though as a county palatine it might have judges peculiar to itfelf. It contains 59 vicarages, 118 parifhes, near 230 villages, 15,980 houfes, and 79,900 inhabitants. ESSEX. Name."] ? pHE name EiTex is a contraction of the ancient J_ Saxon names, fomewhat of fimilar found, im- porting its eaftern fituation, and which the Normans changed into EiTexfa. Air.~\ The air of this county in general is unhealthy, efpecially to ftrangers. Some parts of it, particularly the hundreds of Rochford and Dengy, bordering upon the fea and the Thames, are a rotten oozy foil ; the country is fcefides full of marfh.es and fens, which produce noifome and pernicious in EUROPE. 43. pernicious vapours, and fubjecl: the inhabitants to agues and fuch other disorders as ufually rile from a moift and putrid atmofphere. But great part of the weftern and northern divifions of the county is as healthy as any other diftricr, in the ifiand. Soil, and Natural Productions. ] It is obferved of this county that the foil is generally beft where the air is worll ; for the fenny hundreds that border upon the fea and the Thames, abound with rich paftures and corn lands ; but in moft of the inland parts the foil is chiefly gravel and fand, and fit neither for coin or grafs. The northern parts of this county are remarkable for the production of faffron ; and in fome of thefe parts the foil is (o rich, that after three crops of faffron, it will yield good barley for twenty years to- gether, without dunging. Other parts of Effex yield hops in great abundance ; in general it has plenty of wood ; and no county in England is better ftored with proviflons of every kind. It furnimes the markets of London with corn, fat oxen, and fheep. There is always a good breed of ferviceable horfes in the marfhes and great plenty of all forts of fea ani river fifli, but efpecially oyfters, in its waters. It abounds with wild-fowl, and by the fea fide the inhabitants have decoys for ducks, that in the winter feafon are generally of great .emolument to the owners. The principal manufactures of this county are cloths and fruffs, but particularly baize and fays, of which, not half a century ago, fuch quantities were exported to Spain and the Spanifh colonies in America, to cioath the nuns and friars, that there has often been a return from London of 30,oool. a-wcek in ready money, to Colchefter only, and a few fmall towns round it. At Dagcnham, a village near Barking, the river Thames broke in fome time ago, and overflowed a tract, of near 5000 acres of land, lince called Pagcnham Breach ; but after ten years inundation, and feveral fruitlefs attempts to drain the land, and reduce the water to its former channel, it was at length happily effected by captain Perry, a gentleman who had been federal years employed bv Peter the Great, Czar of Mufcovy, in his works at Vcronitza, a city upon the river Don. The fpring at the bottom of the cliff, between Beacon Hill and the town of Harwich, petrifies not only the earth, that falls into it from the top of the cliff, but wood alio ; and a large 44 Defcriptlon of the Britijh Empire, a large piece of wood thus petrified, is preferved in the re- pofitory of the Royal Society. At the bottom of this cliff, in a ftratum of ftone, have been found a great variety of fhells, both of the turbinated and bivalve kinds ; and upon the fhore, under the hill, is found the ftone from which our common copperas is pre- pared, and which the people here for that reafon call copperas ftone. To prepare copperas from thefe ftones, they are mixed with earth, and difpofed into light beds, above ground, where they diffolve by the rains and dews; this folution is .received into trunks, properly difpofed, which conduct, it into a large leaden cittern, whence it is again conveyed into a leaden boiler, where, after boiling fome time, it is drawn off into coolers, where it fhoots into cryftals. Thefe ftones are alfo found in fome places on the coaft of Kent, where there are works of the like kind for making copperas from them. Dunmow is a place of great antiquity, and fuppofed by fome to be the Caefaromagus of the Romans ; in feveral parts of the road between this place and Colchefter, there are ftill to be feen the remains of an old Roman way, which the inhabitants call the Street, probably from Strata, a word by which Bede and fome other ancient writers denominate a Roman road. Here was formerly a priory ; and it is re- corded, that in the reign of king Henry the Third, the lord Fitzwalter inftituted a cuttom, that whatever married man made oath, kneeling upon two fharp pointed ftones in the church-yard of the priory, that for a year and a day after marriage, he neither direclly nor indireclly, fleeping or waking,' repented his bargain, had any quarrel with his wife, or any way tranfgreffed his nuptial obligation, fuch married man fhould be intitled to a flitch of bacon. The records of this place mention no lefs than four perfons who have claimed and received the bacon ; one of them was fo lately as the year 1748. There is a cuftom in the town of Maldon, that if a man dies inteftate, his lands and tenements defcend to his youngeft fon, or if he dies without ifTue, to his youngeft brother. This cuttom is called Borough Engliih, and isfaid to have been originally much more general, and to have taken its rife from the wanton and diabolical tyranny of the ancient feudal lords, who, when any of thofe who held under them married, claimed the firft night with the bride : as fome doubt therefore naturally arofe whether the firft: born child was legitimate, ^EUROPE. 45 legitimate, a cuftom was eftablifhed to cut fuch child off frotrf its inheritance, and as the moll diftant from fufpicion, the youngeft was preferred in its ftead. Various particulars.'] EfTex fends eight members to par- liament, viz. two knights for the fhire, and two burgefTes for each of the following towns, Colchefter, Harwich, and Maiden. It lies in the diocefe of London and the home circuit. It contains 125 vicarages, 415 parifhes, and 1100 villages. Its divifion is into eighteen hundreds, containing about 34,800 houfes, 174,000 inhabitants, and 1,240.000 acres. GLOCESTERSHIRE. GLOCESTERSHIRE, or Gloucefterfhire, takes its name from the city of Glocefter. 'Tis generally divided into three diftri&s. The eaftern part of the county, bor- dering upon Warwickfhire, Oxfordfhire, and Berkshire, is called Cotefwould ; the middle part, the Vale of Glo- cefter ; and the triangular part, included between the Wye, the Severn, and a fmall river called the Leden, is called the Foreft of Dean. The Vale of Glocefter manifeftly derived its name from its fituation, and the Foreft was probably called the Foreft of Dean, from Dean, the principal town in the diftricf ; fome have fuppofed the word Dean to be a corruption of Arden, a name ufed both by the ancient Gauls and Britons to fignify a wood ; and there is a wood in War- wickfhire called Arden to this day. Air.'] Though the air of this county is equally healthy throughout, yet it is in other refpects very different ; for Cotefwould being a hilly country, the air there is very fharp, but in the Vale it is foft and mild, even in winter ; fuch indeed is the difference, that of Cotefwould it is commonly laid, eight months in the year are winter, and the other four too cold for fummer ; and of the Vale, that eight months are fummer, and the other four too warm for winter. Soil, and Natural Produflions.] Cotefwould being thus expofed, is not remarkable for its fertility, and the corn is fo flow in coming up, that, * as long a coming as Cotef- would barley,' is become a proverb of the county ; the hills of Cotefwould however afford excellent pafturage, and great numbers of fheepare fed upon them, whofe wool is remark- ably fine 3 the breed of Iheep which produce the fine Spanilrx wool, • . 6 Defcriptlon of the BrltiJIi Empire, wool, is faid to have been raifed from fome of thefe fheep>, which were lent as a prefent by one of our kings to a kino- cf Spain. In the Vale the foil is very fertile, and the paftures are alfo very rich. The cheefe, called Glocefter cheefe, is made in this part of the county, and, next to that of CHefhire, is the beft in England. The foreft of Dean, which contains 30,00a acres, being twenty miles long and ten broad, was formerly covered with wood, and was then a harbour for robbers, efpe- cially towards the banks of the Severn ; fo that, in the reign of Henry the Sixth, an act of parliament was made on purpofe to fupprefs them. The woods have been fince reduced to nar- rower bounds, by clearing great part of the ground, where many towns and villages have been built. The oaks that grow where the woods are frill preferved, are reckoned the belt in England ; and from this foreft moft part of the timber formerly- employed in fhip-building was brought ; which was fo well known to the Spaniards, that, when they fitted out their fa- mous Armada in 1558, to invade England, the people who had the direction of that expedition, were exprefsly ordered to deftroy this foreft, as the moft fpeedy and effectual way to ruin our marine j on the other hand, to cultivate and pre- ferve the wood in a fufficient part of this diftnct, has been the conftant care of our legislature. Great part of it was inclofed by an act of parliament palled in the reign of king Charles the Second ; and fome time ago, many cottages which had been built in and near the woods, were ordered to be pulled down, becaufe the inhabitants damaged the trees, by cutting or lopping them for fuel. In this part of the county there are alfo many rich mines of iron and coal, for the working of which feveral acts of parliament have paffed ; and at Taynton, a little village near Newent, a market town of this county, a gold mine was difcovercd about the year 1700, of which a leafe was granted to fome refiners, who extracted fome gold from the ore, but did not go on with the work, becaufe the quantity of gold was fo imall, as not always toanfwer the expence of the feparation. Befides thefe advantages, this country abounds with grain, cattle, fowl, and game ; the inhabitants have alfo bacon and cyder in great plenty, each excellent in its kind, and the, rivers afford great quantities of fifh, efpecially the Severn, which abounds with falmon, lampreys and conger eels. Mann f aft ures.~\ The principal manufacture of this county is woollen cloth ; and it was computed, that before our wool began to be clandeftinely exported to France, 50,000 pieces of fs EUROPE, 47 of cloth were made yearly in this county, which being efti- mated at ten pounds a-piece, the fine with ihe coarfe, amounts to 500,000 1. Curiojkies.] It is remarkable of the river Severn, that the tides axe higher one year at the full moon, and the fucceeding year at the new moon ; and that one year the night tides are higher than the day tides, and the next year the day tides higher than the night tides : it is alfo remarkable, that the tide of the river Wye, at Chepftow-bridge, frequently rifes to the height of feventy feet above low water mark ; and in 1738, the bridge was much damaged by the fwell of the river greatly above that height. On the bank of the river Avon, near Briftol, is a very high and fteep rock, called St. Vincent's Rock ; and on the oppofite bank is the county of Somerfet- There are other rocks of an equal fize, which, with the river flowing below, them, afford a very ftriking and romantic profpect, which is heightened by the ihips and other vefTels that are continually pafling between them, to and from Briftol. In St. Vincent's rock is found a kind of fpars, commonly called Briftol ftones, which, before the compofition called French pafte was in- vented, were prized for their luftre, which came nearer to that of a diamond than any thing then known. At Bifley, a village near Stroud, was born and educated, the famous friar Bacon, who, from his fuperior learning, and in particular his mathematical knowledge, gained the reputa- tion of a conjurer. He died in the year 1284. Aniient cu/foms] The inhabitants of this county have a proverb, " the father to the bough, the fon to the plough," which alludes to an ancient privilege, by which the eftate of a father, though a felon, descended to the fon. This privi- lege was confirmed to them by a ftatute of the feventh of Ed- ward the Second, but it has not been claimed many years. The cuftom called Borough Englifh, ftill remains in many parts of this county. It is alio a cuftom at the miners court, in the Foreft of Dean, for a miner who gives tefti- mony as a witnefs, to wear a particular cap ; and that he may not defile holy writ with unclean hands, he touches the Bible, when the oath is adminiftered to him, with a ftick. Various particulars.] Gloucefterfhire fends eight members to parliament; two knights for the fhire, and two burgefTes for each of the following boroughs, Gloucefter, Cirencefter, and Tewkefbury. It lies in the diocefe of Gloucefter, and the Oxford circuit. It contains 96 vicarages, 280 parifhes, and upwards of 1200 villages. The divilion is into 21 hun- dreds 4$ Befcriftion of the Britijh Empire, dreds, containing about 26,760 houfes, and 133,800 inha- bitants. The area of the county is computed at 800,000 acres. HAMPSHIRE. Name.]' I A H I S county had its name from the county town X of Hampton, imce called Southampton. Jf$r, foil, and natural productions.] The air of this county Is for the mod part pure and healthy, efpecially upon the downs, which crofs the county from eaft to weft, ^dividing it nearly into equal parts ; and it is obferved, that the vapours in the low grounds that are next the fea, are not fo pernici- ous as in other countries. The hilly parts are barren, and fit only for fheep, but the lower grounds produce a great quantity of grain, particularly wheat and barley. Upon the fea coaft of this county, they have a particular method of fencing againft the incurfions of the tides, which is, by lay- ing the banks with a weed they call fea-oar, whofe (lender but ftrong filaments, are more durable than even walls of ftone. In the breed of horned cattle here, there is nothing particular ; but in fheep and hogs, this county excels all others. The fheep are remarkably fine, both in their flefh and their wool, and as the hogs are never put into (lyes, but fupplied with great plenty of acorns, the bacon is by far the beft in England. Hampfhire is alfo particularly famous for its honey, of which it is faid to produce the beft and the word: in Britain ; the honey collected upon the heath is reckoned the word, and that of the champain country the belt. This county is abundantly fupplied with fea and river fifti, as well as with game of all kinds. It has more wood than any other county in England, efpecially oak, and the greateft part of the Englifh navy is built? and repaired with the timber of this county. Manufactures.] The chief manufacture is kerfeys and cloth, in which a good foreign trade is carried on ; from the many ports and harbours with which this country abounds. Among the curioiities of this county may be reckoned the city of Winohefter. The date of the firft building of which, is fixed at nine hundred years before our Saviour's nativity. In the time of the Romans it was a place much frequented, feme fay by reafon of the looms which were worked there on the private account of the emperors. The Weft Saxon kings frequently rehded there, and after the Norman conquerl , we find in E U R O P E. 49 find fevera! important affairs tranfa&ed in that city. King Charles the Second was fo charmed with the delightful coun- try which furrounus it, that he began a palace on the fouth fide of the Weft Gate, where the caftfe Rood, on an emi- nence commanding the town j but that king's death, and the revolution which foon followed, put a ftop to this defign. The cathedral, a venerable fabrick, was feveral ages build- ing, and at laft finifhecl by William of Wickham, whom we fha.ll have occafion to mention hereafter. The choir feats, the bifhop's throne, the font and the altar, are all curious in their kind. The many antient monuments here, fhew how much this place has been regarded in former ages. — The buildings in the town, like the cathedral, though not very magnificent, yet from their air of antiquity have a venerable appearance ; the ftreets are fpacious and neat, and the fub- urbs without the walls large, fo that it meafures from eaft to weft a mile. In the fouth fuburbs ftands the college which the great William of Wickham, bifhop of this fee in king Edward the Third's time, built to promote learning, knowing by experience how much the want of it is prejudicial to the greateft natural genius. Not far from hence is St. Crofs's, an hofpital for thirteen brothers, with a daily allowance of bread and beer for poor travellers. The chief manufacture is kerfeys and cloth, in which a good foreign trade is carried on, from the many ports and harbours with which this country abounds. Portfmouth, which may be called the key of England, and is the only regular fortification in the kingdom, was be- gun by king Edward the Fourth, and augmented by Henry the Seventh and Eighth ; queen Elizabeth alio, was at fo greac an expence in improving the works here, that nothing was thought wanting to compieat them : but king Charles the Second added very much to their ftrength, extent, and mag- nificence, and made this one of the principal harbours in the kingdom, for laying up the royal navy; he furnifhed it with wet and dry docks, ftore-houfes, rope-yard?, and all mate- rials for building, repairing, rigging, arming, victualling, and compleatly fitting to fea, fhips of war of all rates. At this place all our fleets of force, and all fquadrons appointed as convoys to our trade, homeward or outward bound, ccn- ftantly rendezvous, and a thouiknd fail may ride here in per- fect fecurity. The mouth of the harbour, which is fcrirce fo broad as the river Thames is at Weftminfrer, is, upon the Portfmcuta K fide, 50 Defcription of the Britijh EmpirS, fide, defended by a caftle called South Sea Caflle, built by king Henry the Eighth, and fituated about a mile and an half fouth of the town. The town of Portfmouth is fortified, on the land fide, by works railed of late years, about the docks and yards ; and,, within thefe few years, the government has bought more ground for additional works ; and no doubt this town may be made impregnable, as well by land as by lea, fince a mallow water may be brought quite round it. Here arc dwelling houfes, with ample accommodations for a commiflioner of the navy, and all the fubordinate officers and mafter workmen, neceffary for the conftant fervice of the navy in this port day and night ; and the contents of the vards and ftore-houfes are laid up in fuch order, that the workmen can readily find any implement even in the dark. The quantities of military and naval frorcs of all kinds, that are laid up here, are immenfe. The rope-houle is near a quarter of a mile long, and fome of the cables fo large, that one hundred men are required to work upon them at a time ; and this labour, though divided among lb many, is notwith- ftanding fo violent, that the men can work at it only four hours in a day. The number of men continually employed in the yard is never lefs than a thoufand. The docks and yards re- iemble adiffincl: town, and are a kind of marine corporation within themfelves. The Ijle oflVight.~\ The prefent name of this ifland ap- pears to have been immediately derived from the Roman names Vecla, Veclis, and Vidtelis ; the origin of which names doth not with any certainty appear. Jir, foil, and natural productions.] The air of this ifland is pleafant and healthy, and the inhabitants in general are ftour and vigorous, and live to a great age. The foil is very fruitful, the north part of the ifland being excellent pafturage and meadow ground, and the fouth part. a fine corn country. Through the middle of the ifland, from eafr. to weft, there runs a ridge of mountains, which yield plenty of pafture for fheep ; and the wool of the fheep fed in thefe mountains, being reckoned as good as any in England, turns out much to the advantage of the inhabitants. Here is found the milk-white tobacco-pipeclay, called Creta, by writers of natural hiflory, of which great quantities are exported from hence, together with very fine fand, of which tlrinking-glafles are made. Here is abundance of fea-fifh of all kinds, great plenty of hares, rabbits, partridges, pheafants, lapwings, and other wild- fowl* In this ifland ai?e two parka well in E U R O P E. 5: well {locked with deer; but there being only one foreft, wood is i'o fcarce, that it is imported hither in great quantities from the continent. It has been obfervcd of this ifland, that it yields more corn in one year, than the inhabitants confume in feven ; and therefore great quantities of cprn are annually ex- ported from this place. Nature has fortified this ifland almofi all round with rocks ; and where thefe are wanting, art has fupplied the deficiency with caftles, forts, and block-houfesj to defend it againft any hoftile invafion. The mod dangerous of thefe rocks are the Shingles and the Needles upon the weft fide of it ; the Bram- ble and the Middle on the north, and the Mixon on the eafl. Various particulars.] Hampfhire fends twenty members to parliament ; two knights for the fhire, and two burgeffes for each of the following towns : Southampton, Winchefter, Portfmouth, Petersfield, Stockbridge, Chrift-church, Lyming- ton, Whit-church, and Andover. It lies in the diocefe of Winchefter, and in the weftern circuit. It numbers 77 vicar- ages, 253 parifhes, and 1062 villages. Its divifion is into 33 hundreds, containing about 26,850 houfes, and 134,200 inhabitants. The area of the county is computed at 1,312,500 acres. HER E.F O R D S H I R E. Name] r | > HIS county takes its name from the city of J[ Hereford, a bifhop's fee, and the county- town. Air. foil, and natural productions.] The air of this county is pure, and confequently healthy, particularly between the ri- vers Wye and Severn, which has given occafion to a proverb very common among the inhabitants of the county : " Blefled. is the eye between Severn and Wye." The foil of Hereford- fhire is extremely fertile, yielding fine pafture and great quan- tities of corn ; it is alfo well flocked with wood, and there are fome apple-trees, particularly the red-ftreaks, which thrive here better than in any other county ; the hedges on the high-ways are full of them, and the hogs grow fat by feeding on the windfalls, which give a reddifh colour and fweet tafte to their flefh : but from thefe apples a much greater ad- vantage arifes to the inhabitants, for they afford fuch quanti- ties of cyder, that it is the common drink all over the county j and a few years ago, when the fmooth cyder was preferred to the rough, it was eiteemed the beft in t pgland ; and a great E 2 quantity 5 2 Defer iption of the Britifh Empire, quantity of rough cyder has been made here fince the rough was preferred to the fmooth. The county abounds with fprings of fine water, and the rivers afford abundance of fifh. Curiofities.'] As an extraordinary inftance of the longevity of the inhabitants of this county, Mr. Serjeant Hofkins, a gen- tleman of confiderable eftate in thefe parts, invited king James the Firft, while he was on a progrefs this way, to his houfe ; where, having elegantly entertained him, he procured ten oM men and women, whofe ages put together amounted to more than 1000 years, to dance the morrice before him. Below a hill on which (lands Richard's Caftle, about five miles north of Leominfter, is a well, called Bone Well, in which a great quantity of fmall bones is always found, and of which there is conftantly a frefh fupply, in a very fhort time after it is cleared of them. Some imagine thefe to be the bones of fome fmall hfh, and others the bones of frogs j but whence or how they came to be collected here, it is not cafy to con- jecture. Various particulars.] This county fends eight members to parliament ; two knights for the mire, and two for each of the following boroughs : Hereford, Lempfter (alias Leomin- fler) and Weobly. It lies in the dioccfe of Hereford and the Oxfoid circuit. It reckons 87 vicarages, 176 parifhes, and 391 villages. It is divided into 12 hundreds, containing about 15,000 houfes, and 75,000 inhabitants. The area con- tains near 660, ccc acres. HERTFORDSHIR E. Name] * jf ^ H I S county takes its name from Hertford, or J[ Hartford, the county town. Air and foil] The air of this county is very pure, and confe- quently healthy; and is often recommended by phyficians to valetudinarians, for the prefervation or recovery of health. The foil is, for the moft part, rich, and in feveral places mixed with a marie, which produces excellent wheat and bar- ley. The paftures, however, are but indifferent ; fuch as are dry generally producing fern and broom ; and thofe that are wet, rufhes and mofs : but, by an invention not many years practifed, called bum-draining, the wet lands are greatly im- proved. Natural produclions. ] The chief produce of this county is wood, wheat, barky, and all other forts of grain ; but the wheat in E U R O P E. ss wheat and barley of Hertfordfhire are fo much prized in Lon- don, that many thousand quarters, both of barley and wheat, are fold every year, as the produce of this county, of which not a grain ever grew in it. The inhabitants are chiefly malflers, millers, and dealers in corn ; no manufactures worth notice being eftablifhed in any part of the county. Curio/ities.] In the church of St. Albans, in a town of that name, not many years ago was difcovered the tomb of Hum- phrey duke of Glocefter, brother to king Henry the Fifth, containing a leaden coffin, in which was the duke's corpfe preferved, almoft entire, by a fort of pickle, in which it lay. . On the wall, at the eaft end of the vault, is a crucifix painted, with a cup on each fide of the head, another about the middle, and a fourth at the feet. In this church are alfo feveral other funeral monuments and remarkabJeinfcriptions : amongthereft are the effigies of king Offa, the founder of the church, on his throne ; one of St. Alban the Martyr, and another of Hum- phrey duke of Glocefter, already mentioned, with a ducal co- ronet, and the arms of France and England quartered ; and in niches on the fouth fide of the church are the effigies of feven- teen kings of England. Antient cuflcm.] The manor of Wimley, or Wimondley Magna, near Hitchin, is held by the lord, upon condition that, on the coronation-day, he performs the office of cup bearer to his fovereign : the cup is to confift of filver gilt, and is returned to the cup-bearer, as the fee of his office, which has been appendant to this manor ever fince the Conqueft. Various ■particulars.'] This county fends fix members to par- liament ; two knights for the fhire, and two burgefles for St. Albans, and as many for Hertford. It lies partly in the diocefe of London, and partly in that of Lincoln, and in the home circuit. It reckons 54 vicarages, 120 parifhes, and near 950 villages. Its divifion is into eight hundreds, containing about 16,500 houfes, and 82,800 inhabitants. The area of the county is computed at 451,000 acres. ft 3 H U Nj 54 Befcriftlon of the Britijh Empire, HUNTINGTONSHIRE. Name. ] JJ untington shire takes its name from Hun- Jj[j[_ tington, or Huntingdon, the county- town. rfir, foil, and natural productions,] The air of this county is rendered lefs wholefome than that of fome other counties, by the great number of fens, meers, and other {landing water? v/ich which it abounds, efpecially in the north part. The foil is, in general, very fruitful. In the hilly parts, or dry lands, it yields great crops of corn, and affords excellent pafture for fheep ; and, in the lower lands, the meadows are exceeding rich, and feed abundance of fine cattle, not only for daughter, but for the dairy ; and the cheefe made at a village called Stilton, near Yaxley, a market-town, known by the name of Stilton cheefe, is ufually called the Parmefan of Eng- land. The inhabitants of Huntingtonfhire are well fupplied with fifli and water fowl by the rivers and meers, but they have fcarce any firing befides turf. This county is not remarkable for any manufacture, fo that its trade mud: chiefly confifl in fuch commodities as are its na^ iural productions. Cur to fit its.] Oppofite to Huntington, on the other fide of the Oufe, is Godmanchefter, thought to be the Iargeft village in England, and fo remarkable for hufbandry, thajt no town employs fo many ploughs. Near this place, in the road from London to Huntington, is a tree, well known to travellers by the name of Beggar's Bum. How it came by this name is un- certain ; but we are told that king Jam£s the Firft, being on aprogrefs this way with his chancellor, lord Bacon, and hear- ing that Bacon had lavifhly rewarded a man for fome mean prcfent, told him, He would foon come to Beggar's Bum, as he mould himfelf too, if they continued both fo very bounti- ful. It is now a proverb common in the county, that, when ■& man is obferved to fquander his fortune, He is in the way to Beggar's Bum. Various 'particulars.] This county fends four members to parliament : viz. two knights for the fhire, and two burgefTes for Huntington. It lies in the diocefe of Lincoln and in the Norfolk circuit. It contains 29 vicarages, 79 parifhes, and 229 viJlages. It is divided into three hundreds, containing iSear 8220 houies, and upwards of 41,000 inhabitants. The area is computed at 240^000 acres. KENT. in E U R O P E. $5 K E N T. Name.] f |1IME has not yet deprived this country of its jL antient name, the people having been called Cantii by the writers of antiquity. Air and foil.'] As great part of this county lies upon the fea, the air is thick, foggy, and warm, though often purified by fouth and fouth-weft winds ; and the fhore being generally cleaner than that of Eflex, the marfhy parts of Kent do not produce agues in the fame degree as the Hundreds of Eflex ; and the air in the higher parts of Kent is reckoned very healthy. The foil is generally rich, and fit for plough, pafture, or meadow ; and that part of the county which borders upon the river Thames abounds with chalk-hills, from whence not only the city of London, and the parts adjacent, but even Holland and Flanders, are fupplied with lime or chalk ; and from thefe hills the rubbifh of the chalk is carried in lighters to the coafts of Eflex, Suffolk and Norfolk, where it is fold to the farmers as manure for their lands. Natural produ£i\cm.\ The county affords fome mines of iron, and in general abounds with plantations of hops, fields of corn, and orchards of cherries, apples, and other fruit : it produces alfo woad and madder for dyers ; and, on the cliffs between Dover and Folkftone, two conliderable market-towns of this county, there is found plenty of famphire : hemp and fainfoin grow here in great abundance ; and the fouth and weft parts of Kent, efpecially that called the Weald, are covered with woods of oak, beech and chefnut trees, which afford great timber for fhipping and other ufes; here are alfo many woods of birch, from whence the broom-makers in and about London are abundantly fupplied. The cattle here of all forts are reckoned larger than they are in the neighbouring counties. Here are feVeral parks of fallow deer, and warrens of grey rab- bits ; and this county abounding in rivers, and being almofl furrounded by the fea, is well fupplied with all manner of fifh '; and, in particular, is famous for large oyfters. It is not, however, remarkable for any fort of manufacture ; and its trade chiefly confiffs in fuch commodities as are the natural produce of the county. Curioftties.] Of the artificial curiofities of this county, we may reckon the hofpitai, of Greenwich, the left wing of which was formerly a royal palace, but, in the year 1 694, was ap- propriated, by king William the Third, for a royal hofpitai ior aged and difabled feamen, the widows and children of fuch E 4 "•' as ;V'" ,; , ...