Town is managed by two Aldermen and two Bailiffs who are yearly elected out of twenty five Burgesses that are their assistants It hath no Recorder one Town-Clerk and two Sergeants at Mace and by observation of the Mathematicks the Pole is elevated in the degree of Latiâ—ude 53 and 49 sâ—ruples and from she first point in Longitude 16 and 45. 8 This County with them of Flint and Carnarven-shires are not divided by pricks into their several hundreds according to the rest of this work the want of their particulars in the Parliament Roles so causing it which for the good of these three Shires I earnestly sought to have supplied from the Nomina Villarum in their Sheriffs Books and had promise of them that might easily have procured the same But whether a fearless jealousie possessed their spirits lest the riches of these Shires by revealing such particulars should be further sought into I cannot say yet this I have observed in all my Survey that where least is to be had the greatest fears are possâ—ssed Take these Shires therefore to be done as I could and not as I would that wish both the wealth of them all and their esteem to be of better regard by those that may do them good 6 This Shire then is divided into twelve Hundreds for the readier ordering of businesses necessary to the State of the Country wherein are placed three Market-Towns â—it for buying and selling and other negotiations It hath five Castles to defend her self and to offend her enemies and fifty seven Parishes for Gods Divine Service and Worship FLINT-SHIRE CHAPTER XII FLINT-SHIRE stretching out in length broad at one end and narrow at another is not much unlike in fashion to a Wedge a piece of which is cut off by the meetiâ—g of Cheshire and Denbighshire South-East in distance some four miles It borders East-ward with part of Cheshire from whence it is guarded in length with the River Dee unto the North which parteth Worrall and Flint-shire till you come to a little Island called Hellebree Northward it is bounded with the Virginian-Sea on the West a little River called Cluyd parteth her and Denbighshire asunder and on the South altogether by Shrop-shire 2 This Country is nothing mountainous as other parts of Wales are but rising gently all along the River Dee makes a fair shew and prospect of her self to every eye that beholds her as well upon the River being in most places thereabouts four or five miles broad as upon the other side thereof being a part of Cheshire 3 The Air is healthful and temperate without any foggy clouds or fenny vapours saving that sometimes there ariseth from the Sea and the River Dee certain thick and smoaky seeming Misâ—â— which nevertheless are not found hurtful to the Inhabitants who in this part live long and healthfully 4 The Clime is somewhat colder there than in Cheshire by reason of the Sea and the River that engiâ—ts the better part of her by which the Northern-winds being long carried upon the Waters blow the more cold and that side of the Country upward that lieth shoring unto the top having neiâ—her shelter nor defence receiveth them in their still power and is naturally a Bulwark from their violence unto her bordering Neighbours that maketh the Snow to lie much longer there than on the other side of the River 5 The Soil bringeth forth plenty both of Corn and Grass as also great store of Cattel but they be little To supply which defect they have more by much in their numbers than in other places where they be bigger Great store of Fish they take in the River of Dee but little from the Sea by reason they have no Havens or Creeks for Boats No great store of Woods either there or in any other part of Wales are found it having been a general plague unto all the Country ever since the head-strong Rebellions of their Princes and great Men against the Kings of England that in time took away the principal helps of their Innovations by cutting down their Woods whereof in this Shire there hath heretofore been great plenty Fruits are scarce but Milk Butter and Cheese plenty as also store of Honey of the which they make a pleasant Wine in colour like in taste not much unlike unto Muskadine which they call Metheglin Yea and in the days of Giraldus Cambrensis near the place now called Holy-Well was a rich Mine of Silver in seeking after which men pierced and pried into the very bowels of the earth 6 The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were the Ordovices a sturdy People against the Romans but now most kind and gentle towards the English and indeed make much of all Srangers except they be crossed and then they are the contrary 7 Places of defence are the Castles of Flint Hawarden vulgarly Harden Treer Rudland Mold Yowley and Hope of which Flint and Harden are the two principal The Castle of Flint famous for the benefit it received from two Kings and for the refuge and relief it gave unto the third It was founded by Henry the Second finished by Edward the First and long after gave harbour and entertainment to that noble but unfortunate Prince Richard the Second coming out of Ireland being within her Walls a free and absolute King but no sooner without but taken Prisoner by Henry Bullingbroke Duke of Lancaster losing at that time his liberty and not long after his life This standeth in the graduation of Latitude 53 55 minutes in Longitude 17. For the Castle of Hawarden no Record remains of the first Founder but that it was held a long time by the Stewards of the Earls of Chester Howbeit their resistances did not so genearally consist in the strength of their Castles and Fortifications as in their Mountains and Hills which in times of danger served as natural Bulwarks and Defences unto them against the force of Enemies As was that which standeth in a certain strait set about with Woods near unto the River Alen called Coles-hull that is Coles-hill where the English by reason of their disordered multitude not ranged in good array lost the Field and were defeated when King Henry the Second had made as great preparation as might be to give Battel unto the Welsh and the very Kings Standard was forsaken by Henry of Essex who was Standard-Bearer to the Kings of England in right of inheritance 8 This Country hath many shallow Rivers in it but none of fame and note but d ee and Cluyde Howbeit there is a Spring not far from Rudland Castle of great report and antiquity which is termed Fons Sacer in English Holy-Well and is also commonly called S. Winefrids-Well of whom antiquity thus reporteth That Winefrid a Christian Virgin very fair and vertuous was doated upon by a young lustful Prince or Lord of the Country who not long able to rule his head-strong affections having many times in vain attempted and tried her chastity both by rich gifts
several noted Rivers the chief whereof are Iames River formerly called Powhatan the denomination of a very potent King of this Countrey at the time of the English first adventuring thither this River is found navigable 50 leagues or thereabout 2. York River otherwise Pamaunke in the language of the natives which lies about 14 miles Northward from the other and is navigable 26 Leagues 3. Rapaâ—anock or Topahanock the last River of Virginia Northward and navigable 40 leagues 4. Patowmec River mentioned in the Description of Mary-Land to which part of the Countrey this River also belongs Besides these greater Rivers there are some others of lesser note which fall into them as into Poâ—hatan or Iames River Southward Apameâ—uck Eastward Quiyonycohanuc Nansamund and Chesopeac Northward Chickamahania into Pamaunkee Payankatank The English Plantation here is divided into 22 Counties on the Eastern shore Northampton County in Acomac on the Western shore Carotuc Iames Henrico Charles York Glocester Surry Hartford Warwick Lancaster New Kent Surrey Middlesex Nansemund Lower Norfolk Northumberland Westmorland Northampton Warwick Isle of Wight and Rappahanoc in each of which are monthly held those inferior County Courts where matters not of highest concernment or relating to life are tried and from whence appeals are made to the Quarter Court at Iames-Town where all criminal and Civil Causes are determined and where the Governor and Counsel sit as Iudges The Metropolis or chief Seat of the English here is Iames-Town or rather Iames-City so denominated in honour of King Iames where the Quarter Courts General Assemblies and Secretaries Office are kept This Town adorned with many fair Brick-houses and other handsome Edifices is situated in a Peninsula on the North-side of Iames River The other Towns and Places of chief note are Elizabeth City seated nearer the mouth of the same River on the same side near which at a place nam'd Green-spring Sir William Berkley the present Governor hath a very pleasant Mansion-house built of brick Henricopolis or Henry's Town so denominated from Prince Henry living when it was first built seated in a commodious place about 80 miles from Iames City Dale's gift so named from Sir Thomas Dale Deputy Governor of the Place in the year 1610 at whose charge it was built and a Colony here planted besides others of less note some whereof still retain the Indian names as Wicocomoco c. which doubtless are by this time increased to a very considerable number in regard of the amplitude and grandeur to which by the continual access of people this Plantation is of late arrived VIRGINIA and MARYLAND The Description of Mary-Land IT was in the year 1631 that his late Majesty gave a grant to George Lord Baltimore for the possessing and planting the Southern part of New-Netherland now New-Yorkshire lying toward Virginia when upon his Embassy to the States of Holland they declared by publick writing their dissent to what-ever had been acted by any of their subjects in prejudice of his Majesties Right and Title in those parts as hath been already mentioned Crescentia was the name first in designation for this Countrey but it being left to his Majesty at the time of his signing of the Bill to give it what denomination he judged fittest he was pleased in honour of his Royal Consort Queen Mary to erect it into a Province by the name of Mary-Land which Patent upon the death of his Lordship before the final ratification thereof was not long after confirmed under the Broad-Seal of England bearing date Iune 20 Ann. 1632 to his Son and Heir Coecilius the now Lord Baltimore investing him his heirs and successors with the Sovereignty attended with all Royal Prerogatives both Military and Civil as absolute Lords and Proprietors of the said Province saving only the Allegiance and Sovereign homage due to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors of whom they were to hold it as of his Majesties honour of Windsor for the yearly payment at the Castle of the said honour of Windsor on every Easter Tuesday of two Indian Arrows of those parts and the fifth part of all the Gold and Silver Oar which should happen to be found there The next year after this Patent had past viz. in the year 1633 a Colony of about 200 in all Servants and Planters whereof some persons of quality was sent over by the Lord Proprietor under the Conduct of his Lordships two Brothers Mr. Leonard and Mr. George Calvert the first of whom was made Governor of the Province for his Lordship and from thence forward this Plantation hath prospered and by the several supplies since sent very much increased to which good success the good Government of the said Mr. Leonard and his strict observance of his Lordship's prudent instructions very much conduced The first place they pitch'd upon to plant themselves in was Yaocomaco now St. Maries which the Governor purchased of the Natives for never hath any forcible or violent invasion of any mans right been made here by any of his Lordships Ministers with such commodities as they brought from England though at so much the more easie rate in regard of their pre-intentions to leave this place as thinking it their safest course to remove farther off from their too potent and valiant Neighbours the Sesquehanocks After the happy restauration of his present Mâ—jesty viz. in the year 1661 the Lord Proprietors only Soâ— Mr. Charles Calvert went over into these parts his Fathers Lieutenant in which charge he hath continued ever since in great tranquility and prosperity and with general contentment and satisfaction by his obliging carriage to all that live under his Government or have any interests or concerns in the Province This Province according as it is bounded and set out by the forementioned Patent extends one way from the most Northernly part which bounds it to the South and from which it is parted by the Southernly bank of the River Patowmeck to New-York or the most Southernly part of New-England which bounds it Northward and from the Atlantick Ocean and Delaware-Bay Eastward to the true Meridian of the first Fountain of the River Patowmeck Westward The Climate here in Summer time inclines to an extraordinary heat and in Winter is very cold but both the heat of the Summer is very much allayed by cool Breeses and the cold of the Winter is of short continuance so that the Country is accounted sufficiently healthful and of late agrees well enough with English bodies since the abatement and almost extinction through the regulation of diet felling of the woods c. of that distemper called the Seasoning which used to be very fatal to the English at their first landing This Countrey is for the most part champain the Soil fruitful and abounding with many sorts of fruits and other commodities which are common in our parts of the World and for those that are peculiar it cannot be imagined that in so small a distance and even in the same Country as
the state of their bodies before they be decayed and the other for quantity gives place to no neighbouring Countrey 4 The ground to say nothing of the Sea which is exceeding full of Fish consisteth of soil very fruiful yet the husbandmans labour deserves to be thankfully remembred by whose pains and industry it doth not only supply is self but affords Corn to be carried forth to others The Land is plentifully stored with Cattle and Grain and breeds every where store of Conies Hares Partridges and Phesants pleasant for meadows pasturage and Parks so that nothing is wanting that may suffice man The middle yields plenty of pasture and forrage for Sheep whose wooll the Clothiers esteem the best next unto that of Leinster and Cotteswold If you cast your eyes towards the North it is all over garnished with Meadows Pastures and Woods If towards the South side it lieth in a manner wholly bedecked with Corn fields enclosed where at each end the Sea doth so incroach it self that it maketh almost two Islands besides namely Freshwater Isle which looketh to the West and Binbridge Isle answering it to the East 5 The Commodities of the whole chiefly consist of Cattle Sea fowl Fish and Corn whereof it hath sufficient Woods are not here very plentiful for that it is only stored with one little Forrest yet the Countrey of Hant-shire for vicinity of Site is a friendly neighhour in that behalf so as it were being tyed together in affinity they are always ready and propense to add to each others wants and defects by a mutual supply 6 The ancient Inhabitants of this Island were the Belgae spoken of in the several Provinces of Sommerset-shire Wilt-shire and Hant-shire Such as did then possess it were called Lords of the Isle of Wight till it fell into the Kings hands by Roger Son to William Fits Osburne slain in the war of Flanders that was driven into exile And Henry the first King of England gave it unto Richard Ridvers with the Fee or Inheritance of the Town of Christs-Church where as in all other places he built certain Fortresses 7 The Principal Market-Town in the Isle of Newport called in times past Medena and Novus Burgus de Meden that is The new Burgh of Meden whereof the whole Countrey is divided into East Meden and West Meden A Town well seated and much frequented unto whose Burgesses his Majesty hath lately granted the choice of a Major who with his brethren do govern accordingly It is populous with Inhabitants having an entrance into the Isle from the Haven and a Passage for Vessels of small burden unto the Key Not far from it is the Castle Caresbrook whose founder is said to have been Whitgar the Saxon and from him called VVhite-Garesburgh but now made shorter for easier pronunciation the graduation whereof for Latitude is in the degree 50 36 minutes and her Longitude in 19 4 minutes where formerly hath stood a Priory and at Quarre a Nunnery a necessary neighbour to those Penitentiaries And yet in their merry mood the Inhabitants of this Island do boast that they were happier then their neighbour Countries for that they never had Monk that ever wore hood Lawyer that cavelled nor Foxes that were craftâ— 8 It is reported that in the year of mans Salvation 1176. and twenty three of King Henry the second that in this Island it rained a showre of bloud which continued for the space of 2 hours together to the great wonder and amazement of the people that beheld it with fear 9 This Isle of Wight is fortified both by Art and Nature for besides the strength of Artificial Forts and Block houses wherewith it is well furnished it wants not the Assistants of natural Fences as being enriched with a continual ridge and range of craggy Cliffs and Rocks and Banks very dangerous for Saylers as the Needles so called by reason of their sharpness The Shinglâ—s Mixon Brambles c. 10 Vespasian was the first that brought it to the subjection of the Romans whilest he served as a private person under Claudius Caesar. And Cerdic was the first English Saxon that subdued it who granting it unto Scuffe and VVhitgar they joyntly together slew almost all the British Inhabitants being but few of them there remaining in the Town aforesaid called of his name VVhitgaresburgh VVolpher King of the Mercians reduced this Island afterwards under his obedience and at that â—ime when he became God-father to Edelwalch King of the South Saxons and answered foâ—â—im at his Baptisme he assigned it over unto him with the Province also of the Menuari But when Edelwalch was slain and Arvandus the petty King of the Island was made away Caedwalla King of the West-Saxons annexed it to his Dominion and in a tragical and lamentable Massacre put to the sword almost every mothers child of the in-born Inhabitants The thing that is best worthy note and observation is this That Bishop Wilfrid was the first that instructed the Inhabitants of this Island in Christian Religion and brought them from Idolatrous Superstition with the which unto that time they were obscurely blinded For Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction this Countrey belongeth to the Bishop of Winchester and for Civil government to the County of South-hampton It is fortified with the strength of six Castles traded with three Market-Towns and hath 36 Parish-Churches planted in it Dorcet Shire DORCESTER-SHIRE CHAPTER VIII DORCESTER from her ancient people DUROTRIGES is most likely to have received that name By the Britains called DWRGWEIR lieth bounded upon the North side with Sommerset and Wilt-shire upon the West with Devon-shire and some part with Sommerset upon the East altogether with Hamp-shire and her South part is wholly bounded with the British Seas 2 The form grows wider from the West and spreads her self the broadest in the midst where it extends to twenty four miles but in length is no less than forty four The whole in Circumference about is one hundred and fifty miles 3 The Air is good and of an healthful constitution the soyl is fat affording many commodities and the Countrey most pleasant in her situation for the In-land is watered with many sweet and fresh running-Springs which taking passage through the plain Vallies do lastly in a loving manner unite themselves together and of their many branches make many big bodied streams neither doth the Sea deny them entrance but helpeth rather to fill up their Banks whereby Vâ—ssels of Burthen discharge their rich Treasures and her self with open hand distributeth her gifts all along the South of the Shore 4 Antiently it was possest by the Durotriges whom Ptolomy placeth along in this Tract who being subdued by the Romans yielded them room and unwilling subjection After them the Saxons set foot in these parts whereof Portland seemeth from that Port to take name who in this place arrived in Anno 703. and did sorely infect and annoy all the South Tract And at Bindon before him Kinegillus King of the
Grand-child to Iohn Holland half-brother to King Richard the Second siding with Lancaster against Edward the fourth whose Sister was his wife was driven to such misery as Philip Comineus repotteth that he was seen all torn and bare-footed to beg his living in the Low Countries And lastly his body was cast upon the shore of Kent as if he had perished by ship-wrack so certain is Fortune in her endowments and the state of man notwithstanding his great birth 9 Religious Houses in this Shire built in devotion and for Idolatry pulled down were at Excester Torhay Tanton Tavestokes Kirton Hartland Axminster and Berstuble 10 And the Counties divisions are parted into thirty three Hundreds wherein are seated thirty seven Market-Towns and three hundred ninety four Parish-Churches Cornwaile CORNVVALL CHAPTER X. CORNWALL as Matthew of Winchester affirmeth is so named partly from the form and partly from her people for shooting it self into the Sea like an Horn which the Britains call Kâ—rne and inhabited by them whom the Saxons named Wallia of these two compounded words it became Cornwallia Not to trouble the Reader with the Fable of Corinnus cousin to King Brute who in free gift received this County in reward of his prowess for wrestling with the Giant Gogmagog and breaking his neck from the Cliffe of Dover as he of Monmouth hath fabuled 2 Touching the temperature of this County the Air thereof is cleansed as with Bellowes by the Billowes that ever work from off her environing Seas where thorow it becometh pure and subtile and is made thereby very healthful but withall so piercing and sharp that it is apter to preserve than to recover health The Spring is not so early as in more Eastern parts yet the Summer with a temperate heat recompenseth his â—low fostering of the fruits with their most kindly ripening The Autumne bringeth a somewhat late Harvest and the Winter by reason of the Seas warm breath maketh the cold milder than else-where Notwithstanding that Countrey is much subject to stormy bâ—asts whose violence hath freedome from the open waves to beat upon the dwellers at Land leaving many times their houses uncovered 3 The Soyl for the most part is lifted up into many hills parted asunder with narrow and short valâ—â—es and a shallow earth doth cover their outside which by a Sea weed called Orewood and a certain kind of frâ—â—sul Sea-sand they make so rank and batten as is uncredible But more are the riches that out of those hills are gotten from the Mines of Copper and Tinn which Countrey was the first and continueth the best stored in that merchandize of any in the world Timaeus the Historian in Pliny reporteth that the Britains fetched their Tinn in Wicker boats stitched about with Leather And Diodorus Siculus of Augustus Caesars time writeth that the Britains in this part digged Tin out of stony ground which by Merchants was carried into Gallia and thence to Narborne as it were to a Mart. Which howsoever the English Saxons neglected yet the Normans made great benefit thereof especially Richard brother to King Henry the third who was Earl of Cornwall and by those Tinn-works became exceedingly rich for the incursions of the Moores having stopped up the Tinn-Mines in Spain and them in Germany not discovered before the year of Christ 1240. these in Cornwall supplyed the want in all parts of the world This Earl made certain Tinn-Laws which with liberties and priviledges were confirmed by Earl Edmund his son And in the days of King Edward the third the Common-weale of Tinn-works from one body was divided into four and a Lord Warden of the Stanniers appointed their Iudge 4 The Borders of this Shire on all parts but the East is bound in with the Sea and had Tamer drawn his course but four miles further to the North betwixt this County and Devonshire it might have been rather accounted an Island than stood with the Mayne Her length is from Launston to the Lands-end containing by measure 60 miles and the broadest part stretching along by the Tamer is fully forty lessening thence still lesser like a horn 5 The Antient inhabitants known to the Romans were the Danmonii that spread themselves further into Devon-shire also by the report of Diodorus Siculâ—â— a most courteous and civil people and by Michael their Poet extolled for valour and strength of limbs nor therein doth he take the liberty that Poets are allowed to add to the subject whreof they write but truly repotteth what we see by them performed who in activity surmount many other people When the Heathen Saxons had seated themselves in the best of this Land and forced the Christian Britains into these rocky parts then did Cornwall abound in Saints unto whose honour most of the Churches were erected by whose names they are yet known and called To speak nothing of Visula that Counties Dukes daughter with her company of canonized Virgin-Saints that are now reputed but to trouble the Calender These Britains in Cornwall so fenced the Countrey and defended themselves that to the reign of Athelstaâ—e they held out against the Saxons who subduing those Western Parts made Tamer the Bounder betwixt them and his English whose last Earl of the British Bloud was called Candorus 6 But William the Bastard created Robert his half-brother by Herlotta their mother the first Earl of the Normans race and Edward the Black Prince the ninth from him was by his Father King Edward the third invested the first Duke of Cornwall which Title ever since hath continued in the Crown 7 The Commodities of this Shire ministred both by Sea and Soile are many and and great for besides the abundance of Fish that do suffice the Inhabitants the Pilchard is taken who in great shuls swarm about the Coast whence being transported to France Spain and Italy yield a yearly revenue of gain unto Cornwall wherein also Copper and Tinn so plentifully grow in the utmost part of this Promontory that at a low water the veins thereof lie bare and are seen and what gain that commodity begets is vulgarly known Neither are these Rocks destitute of Gold nor Silver yea and Diamonds shaped and pointed Angle wise and smoothed by Nature her self whereof some are as big as Wallnuts inferiour to the Orient only in blackness and hardness Many are the Ports Bayes and Havens that open into this Shire both safe for arrivage and commodious transport whereof Falmouth is so copious that an hundred Ships may therein ride at Anchor apart by themselves so that from the tops of their highest Masts they shall not see each other and lie most safely under the Winds 8 This County is fruitful in Corn Cattle Sea-fish and Fowl all which with other provision for pleasures and life are traded thorow twenty two Market-Towns in this Shire whereof Lauston and Bodman are the best from which last being the middle of the Shire the Pole is elevated to the degree of Latitude 50 35 minutes and for Longitude
in it for the celebration of Divine Service CUMBERLAND CHAPTER XLI CUMBERLAND the furthest North-West Province in this Realm of England confronteth upon the South of Scotland and is divided from that Kingdom partly by the River Kirsop then crossing Eske by a tract thorow Solomâ—-Moss until it come to the Solwaye-Frith by Ptolomy called the Itune-Bay The North-West part is neighboured by Northumberland more East-ward with Westmerland the South with Lancashire and the West is wholly washed with the Irish-Seas 2 The form whereof is long and narrow pointing wedg-like into the South which part is altogether pestred with copped hills and therefore hath the name of Cop-land The middle is more level and better inhabited yielding sufficient for the sustenance of man but the North is wild and solitary cumbred with Hills as Copland is 3 The Air is piercing and of a sharp temperature and would be more biting were it not that those high Hills break off the Northern storms and cold falling Snows 4 Notwithstanding rich is this Province and with great varieties thereof is replenished the Hills though rough yet smile upon their beholders spread with Sheep and Cattel the Vallies stored with Grass and Corn sufficient the Sea affordeth great store of Fish the Land overspread with variety of Fowls and the Rivers feed a kind of Muskle that bringeth forth Pearl where in the mouth of the Irt as they lie gaping and sucking in Dew the Country people gather and sell to the Lapidaries to their own little and the buyers great gain But the Mines Royal of Copper whereof this Country yieldeth much is for use the richest of all the place is at Keswick and Newland where likewise the Black-Lead is gotten whose plenty maketh it of no great esteem otherwise a commodity that could hardly be missed 5 The ancient Inhabitants known to the Romans were the Brigantes whom Ptolomy disperseth into Westmorland Richmond Durham York-shire and Lancashire But when the Saxons had overborn the Britains and forced them out of the best to seek their resting among the vast Mountains these by them were entred into where they held play with their enemies maugre their force and from them as Marianus doth witness the Land was called Cumber of those Kumbri the Britains But when the State of the Saxons was sore shaken by the Danes this Cumberland was accounted a Kingdom of it self for so the Flower-gatherer of Westminster recordeth King Edmund saith he with the help of Leoline Prince of South-Wales wasted all Cumberland and having put out the eyes of the 〈◊〉 soâ—s of Dunmail King of that Province granted that Kingdom unto Malcolm King of Scots whereof their eldest sons became Prefects This Province King Stephen to purchâ—se favour with the Scots what time he stood in most need of aid confirmed by gift under their Crown which Henry the Second notwithstanding made claim unto and got as Nubrigensis writeth and laid it again in the Marches of England since when many bickerings betwixt these Nations herein have hapned but none so bitter against the Scottish-side as was that at Salome Moss where their Nobility disdaining their General Oliver Sinclere gave over the Battel and yielded themselves to the English which dishonour pierced so deeply into to the heart of King Iames the fifth that for grief thereof he shortly after died 6 Many memorable Antiquities remain and have been found in this County for it being the Confines of the Romans Possessions was continually secured by their Garrisons where remains at this day part of that admirable Wall built by Severus also another Fortification from 〈◊〉 to Elâ—â—-Moâ—th upon the Sea-shore toward Ireland by Stillicâ— raised when under 〈◊〉 he suppressed the rage of the Picts and Irish and freed the Seas of the Saxon Pirates Upon Hard-knot hill Moresby Old-Carleil Pap-Castle along the Wall and in many other places their ruines remain with Altars and Iâ—scriptions of their Captains and Colonies whereof many have been found and more as yet lie hid 7 The chiefest City in this Shire is Careile pleasantly seated betwixt the Rivers Eden Petterelâ— and Caud by the Romans called Luguvallum by Beda Luell by Ptolomy Leucopibia by Ninius Caer-Lualid and by us Carlile This City flourishing under the Romans at their departure by the furious outrages of the Scots and Picts was dejected yet in the daies of Egfrid King of Northumberland was walled about but again defaced by the over-running Danes lay buried in her own ashes the space of two hundred years upon whose ruines at length Rufus set his compassionate eye and built there the Castle planting a Colony of Flemings to secure the Coasts from the Scots but upon better advisement removed them into Wales After him Henry his Brother and Successor ordained this City for an Episcopal See whose site is placed in the degree of Longitude from the first West part 17 and 2 scruples and the Pole thence elevated from the degree of Latitude 55 and 56 scruples 8 West from hence at Burgh upon the Sand was the fatal end of our famous Monarch King Edward the First who there leaving his Wars unfinished against Scotland left his troubles and soon missed life to his untimely and soon lamented death 9 And at Salkelds upon the River Eden a Monument of seventy seven Stones each of them ten foot high above ground and one of them at the entrance fifteen as a Trophy of Victory was erected These are by the By-dwellers called Long-Meg and her Daughters 10 This Country as it stood in the Fronts of Assaults so was it strengthened with twenty-five Castles and preserved with the Prayers as then was thought of the Vâ—taries in the Houses erected at Carlilâ— Lâ—ncroft Wether all Holme Daker and Saint Bees These with others were dissolved by King Henry the Eight and their revenues shadowed under his Crown but the Province being freed from the charge of Subsidie is not therefore divided into Hundreds in the Parliament Roles whence we have taken the divisions of the rest only this is observed that therein are seated nine Market-Towns fifty eight Parish-Churches besides many other Chappels of Ease NORTHUMBERLAND NORTHUMBERLAND CHAPTER XLII THE County of Northumberlaâ—d hath on the South the Bishoprick of Durham being shut in with the River Derwent and with Tyne the North is confined upon Scotland the West upon part of Scotland and part of Cumberland the East-side lyeth altogether upon the Sea called Mare Germanicum 2 The form thereof is Triangular and differs not much in the sidings for from her South-East unto the South-West point are near unto 40 miles from thence to her North-point are sixty miles and her base along the Sea-shore 45 miles The whole in circumference is about one hundred forty five miles 3 The Air must needs be subtile and piercing for that the Northernly parts are most exposed to extremity of weathers as great winds hard froâ—ts and long lying of snows c. Yet would it be far more sharp than it is were
The second part occupied all the Land Northward from Humber to the Orkney-Sea called by the Latines Marâ— Caledonium or Dâ—ucâ—lâ—â—oâ—ium now famously known by the name of Scotland The third part was this lying betwixt the Irish-Seas the Rivers Sâ—verne and Dee and was called Câ—mbria which name doth yet continue with them though we the Eâ—glish call it Wales as the People Welshmen which is strange and strangers for so at this day the dwellers of Tyroll in the higher Germany whence our Saxons are said to have come do name the Italian their next neighbour a Welshman and his language Welsh 2 This opinion Verstegâ—n doth altogether contradict rather judging by the ancient Tâ—utâ—â—ick tongue which the Germans spake and wherein the G is pronounced for W that these Sâ—xoâ—s called them Gallish from the Gaules whence their original proceeded rather than Wallish from strangers which he thinketh could not be considering their habitations so neer unto them and that the like was in use he proveth by the words of Erench Gardian for Wardian Cornugalles for Câ—rwâ—lles yea and Galles for Walles calling our most famous Edward Prince of Galles not Prince of Wâ—lles insomuch that the County of Lombardy bordering along upon the Germans was of them called Gâ—lliâ—ciâ— cis-alphina and at this day Welsh-land So likewise do the Netherlands call the Inhabitants of Henalt and Artois Wallen or Walloâ—s and some part of Brabant and Flanders Welsh-Brabant and Welsh-Flaâ—ders and all because of the Language and Lineage of the Gauls Neither do the meer Natives of Wales know any other name of their Country than Cambria of themselves than Cambri or Cumri or of their Language than Cambraoc But leaving this opinion free to his affection we will proceed 3 Wales therefore being anciently bounded as before the Saxons did afterwards win by force from the Britains all the plain and Champion Country over the River Dee and especially Offa King of Mercia made their limits straighter by making a Ditch of great breadth and depth to be a Mear betwixt this Kingdom and Wales This Ditch is in many places to be seen at this day and bears the name of Clawh Offa that is Offaes Ditch The Country between it and England is commonly called the Marches and is for the most part inhabited by Welshmen especially in North-Wales even to the River Dee This admirable Trench began at Bassiâ—gwerke in Elintshire between Chester and Ruthland and ran along the Hills to the South-Sea a little from Bristow reaching above an hundred miles in length 4 Silvester Giraldus makes the River Wye to be the Mear between England and Wales on the South part called South-Wales whence he ascribeth the breadth of Wales unto Saint Davids in Menâ—viâ— to be an hundred miles and the length from Caerleon upon Vske in Gwentland to Holly-head in Anglesâ—y an hundred miles he might have said thirty more 5 About the year of Christ 870 our Alfred reigning in England Rodericus Magnus King of VVales did divide it into three Talaiths Regions or Territories which were called Kingdoms This Rodericus Magnus gave Venâ—dâ—tia Gwyneth or North-Wales to Anarawd his eldest son to Cadeth his second son Demeâ—ia Debeuâ—arth or South-VValls and to Mervin his third son Powys 6 North-VVales had upon the North-side the Irish-Sea from the River Dee to Bassingwerke to Aberdyvi upon the West and South-West the River Dyvi which divideth it from South-VVales and in some places from Powysland And on the South and East it is divided from Powys sometimes with high Hills and sometimes with Rivers till it come again to the River Dee It is generally full of high Mountains craggy Rocks great Woods and deep Vallies many strait dangerous places deep and swift Rivers 7 This Land was of old time divided into four parts Mon Arvon Meryonith and y Bervedhwlan or the middle Country and each of these were again divided into several Countries and they subdivided into their Cymeden or Commots wherein we follow that division which was in the time of Llewylyn ap Ruffin last Prince of VVales according to a Copy imparted to me by a worshipful Friend and learned Antiquary as seeming far more exact than that of Doctor Powels 8 Aâ—glâ—sey the chiefest is separated from the main Land with the River Moenai wherein at Aberfraw was the Princes Court now a mean Village In this Island is a fair Town called Beaumarish And common passage to Ireland at Caergybi in English Holly-head 9 Arvâ—n the second part of North-VVales is now called Carnarvanshire the strongest Country within that Principality giving place to none for fertility of the ground or for plenty of Wood Cattel Fish and Fowl c. Here are the Towns of Caernarvan in old time called Caer-Segoâ—t and Bangor the Bishops See with divers other ancient Castles and places of memory This portion hath on the North the Sea and Moeâ—ai upon the East and South-East the River Conwey which divideth it from Denâ—igh-shire and on the South-West is separated from Merionyth by Rivers Mountains and Mears 10 Merionyth was the third part of Gwyneth and keepeth the name till this day it is full of Hills and much noted for the resort of People that repair thither to take Herrâ—ngs Upon the North it hath Arvon and Denbigh land upon the South Caerdigan-Shire and upon the East Montgâ—mâ—ry-shire heretofore part of Powis In this County standeth the Town of Harlech and a great Lake called Llyn-Tegyd This Country is likewise full of Cattel Fowl and Fish and hath in it great store of red Deer and Roes but there is much scarcity of Corn. 11 Y Bervedhwland was the fourth part of Gwyneth and may be called in English The middle Country is inclosed with Hills on the East West and South-parts and with the Sea Northward It is plentiful of Cattel Fish and Fowl as also of Corn and is divided in the midst with the River Clwyd to which run a number of other Rivers from the Hills In this part is Dyffryn-Clwyd the fairest Valley within Wales containing eighteen miles in length and seven in breadth In which is the Town and Castle of Ruthlâ—n near unto the Sea and not far thence S. Assaph an Episcopal seat between the Rivers Clwyd and Elwy Herein stands the fair Town and goodly Castle of Denbigh situated upon a Rock the greatest Market-Town of North-Wales and from thence is seen the Town and Castle of Ruthyn fair for prospect and fruitful for fite This part of North-Wales hath the Sea upon the North d ee toward the East Arvon The River Conwey and Mâ—riâ—nyth upon the West and the Country then called Pâ—wys upon the South And these were the Mears and Bounds of the four Parts of Venedâ—tia Gwyneth or North-Wales 12 The second Talaith or Kingdom was Mathraval or Powys To this belonged the Country of Powys and the Land between Wye and Sevâ—rne It hath South-Wales upon the South and West with the Rivers Wye and Tywy and other Mears upon the North
Gwyâ—eth and upon the East the Marches of England from Chester to Wye a little above Hereford This part was divided into Powis Vadoc Powis between Wye and Severne and Powis-Weâ—wynwyn In Powis-Vadoc is the Castle of Holt in Bromefield and the Castle of Chirke in Chirkâ—land the Castle likewise of Whittington and Lordship of Oswestrie with others 13 The second part of Powiâ— or the Territory belonging to Mathrâ—vâ—l is Poâ—is between 〈◊〉 and Severne or Guy and Hauren whereof some is at this day in Montgoâ—ery-shirâ— some in Radnor-shire and some in Brecknock-shire and among sundry other hath these Towns and Castles following Montgomery The Castle of Clyâ— The Town of Knightâ—n The Castle of Cyâ—aron Presteyn The Town and the Castle of Radâ—or called in Welch Maesyvet which is at this day the Shire-Town The Town of Kinton and the Castle of Huntington 14 The third part belonging to Mathraval the chief seat of Powis after the Welsh were driven from Peâ—gwern or Shrewsbury was Powis Wenwynwyâ— a County full of Woods Hills and Rivers having in it among others the Towns of Welsh-Pool New-Town Machinâ—aâ—th Arustly was anciently in this part but afterward it came to them of Gwyneth This may suffice for the description of that which in old time was called Gwyneth and Powis 15 It now remaineth that we describe the last Kingdom of Wales called Demetia-Deheubarth or the Talaith of Dinevowr which although it was the greatest yet was it not the best because it was much molested with Flemings and Normans and for that also divers parts thereof would not obey their Prince as in Gwent and in Morganwe 16 This was divided into six parts of which Cardigaâ— was the first and is a Champion Country without much Wood. It hath Merionyth-shire on the North part of Powys upon the East Carmarden-shire and Pembroke-shire with the River Tivi upon the South and upon the West the Irish-Sea In this part is the Town of Cardigaâ— upon Tivi not far from the Sea as also the Town of Aberstwyth upon the River Istwyth and Lâ—aâ—badâ—râ—evowr which in times past waâ— a great Sanctuary there were also many Castles as of Strâ—tneyrie of Walter of Lâ—anâ—ysted of Dyvâ—rth and of Aâ—er-Roydâ—ll c. 17 The second part was called Dyvet and at this day Pembroke-shire It hath upon the North and West the Irish-Sea upon the East Carmarden-shire and upon the South Severne There are in it sundry Towns and Havens among others these Pembroke Tenby Hereford-West with the goodly and many Branched Haven of Milford called in Welsh Aberdangledhett S. Davids or Menevia which is the chiefest See in Wales Fiscard called Aberwayn and Newport named Tresdreth 18 The third part was Carmarden-shire which is a Country accounted the strongest part of all South-Wales as that which is full of high Mountains great Woods and fair Rivers 19 The fourth called Morganwe now Glamorgan-shire hath on the South the Severne-Sea which divideth it self from Devon-shire and Cornwall upon the West and North-West Carmardenshire upon the North-East Brecknock-shire and upon the East Monmouth-shire 20 The fifth now called Gwent and in Monmouth-shire hath in it the ancient City of Caerlheâ—n upon Vske There are also divers Towns and Castles Chepstow Glynstrygul Ros Tynterne upon the River Wye c. This is a fair and fertile Country It hath on the West Glamorgan and Brecknock-shirâ—s upon the North Hereford-shire upon the East Glocester-shire with the River Wye and the River Severne upon the South and South-East 21 The last is Brecknock-shire for the most part full of Mountains Woods and Rivers This Country is both great and large being full of fair Plains and Valley for Corn it hath plenty of thick Woods Forrests and Parks It is full also of clear and deep Rivers of which Severne is the chiefest although there be other fair Rivers as Vske and the like 22 Thus far concerning the ancient Welsh division by Talaiths but the present division distributeth them more compendiously into two Countries and twelve Shires enacted so by Parliament under King Henry the Eighth The Countries are North-Wales and South-Wales which have shared and as it were devoured between them all Powysland each of which Countries contains 〈◊〉 Shires North-Wales Aâ—glesâ—y Câ—ernarvan Merionyth Denbigh Flint Montgomery South-Wales Cardigan Pembroke Carmarden Glamorgan Brecknock Radâ—â—r But whereas Monmouth-shire and Radnor were anciently parts the first of South-Wales the other of Powys-land Monmouth-shire by Act of Parliament also under the same King was pluckt away wholly from Wales and laid to England one of whose Counties and Shires it was from that time forward and is at this present reckoned and Radnor-Shire as it were in lieu thereof is comprehended in South-Wales Humphry Hluyd a Welsh Gentleman in his Epistle and Map of old Wales maketh mention of a West-Wales which he calleth Demeâ—ia and Dyfer the one the Latine and the other the British name there but because it is wholly swallowed up by this last division we will not perplex the Reader with superfluous and impertinent recitals PEMBROK Shire PEMBROKE-SHIRE CHAPTER II. PEMBROKE-SHIRE the furthest Promontoâ—y of all West-Wales liâ—th parted on the North from Cardigan-shire with the Rivers Tivy and Keach and on the East is Confronted by Caermarden-shire the South and West shooting far into the Irish-Seas is with the same altogether washed 2 The form thereof is longer than it is broad for from S. Govens South-point to Cardigan-bridge in the North are twenty six miles the Eastern Landenie to S. Davids-point in the West are twenty miles the whole circumference is ninety three miles 3 The Air is passing temperate by the report of Giraldus who 〈◊〉 his reason from the sitâ— of Ireland against which it butteth and is so nearly adjoyned that 〈◊〉 Rufâ— thought it possible to make a Bridge of his Ships over the Sea whereby he might pass to 〈◊〉 on foot 4 Anciently it was poâ—â—essed by the Demetia further branched into Cardigan and Caermarden-shires as in that County hath been said and in the Saxons Conquest and Hâ—ptarchy by the Britaiâ—s forced into those parts for refuge whither Hâ—â—ry the First and third of the Normans Kings sent certain Flemings whose Country was over-whelmed with the breaking in of the Seas to inhabit the Maritime Tract called Rosse lying West upon the River Dougledye These Dutchmen saith Giraldus were a strong and stout Nation inured to Wars and accustomed to seek gain by Cloathiâ—g Traffique and Tillage and ever ready for the Field to fight it out adding withal that they were most loyal â—o the English and most faithful to the Englishmen Whereupon Malmesbury writeth thus Many a timâ— did King William Rufus aâ—â—aile the Welsh but â—ver in vain which is to be wondred aâ— â—nsidâ—ring his other fortunate success But saith he it may be the unevenness of the ground and sharpness of the air that maintained their courage and impeached his valour which to redress King Henry his Brother found means for those Flemings who in regard
and Sea-shore of this Shire Harlech a Market and Mayor-Town standeth bleak enough and barren but only for Fowl and Fish Houses not many neither curiously built wherein â—tandeth a little Chappel decayed and without use in which lieth buried Sir Richard Thimbleby an English Knight who for the delight he took in that game removed his abode from a far better Soil Here also standeth a most strong and beautiful Castle mounted upon a Hill and with a double Bulwark walled about commanding the Sea and passage of entrance of such as seek to invade the Coast and surely a great pity it is to see so fair a Work fall to decay the Constable whereof by Patent is ever the Mayor of this Town near unto which are two great Inlets of Seas which at low water may be paâ—sed upon the Sands with Guides Upon whose Shore as upon the Sea Coasts in this County abundance of Herrings are caught for which cause they are much frequented in the season of the year by many People from divers Countries 7 This Town being the chiefest of the Shire The Pole shall be elevated only from thence whose height for Latitude standeth in the degree 53 29 minutes and for Longitude in the 15 47 minutes The whole being bivided into six Hundreds wherein are feared thirty seven Parishes-Churches DENBIGH and FLINT discribed DENBIGH-SHIRE CHAPTER XI DENBIGH-SHIRE called in Welsh Sire Denbigh retiring more from the Sea within the Country on this side of the River Conwey shooteth Eastward in one place as far as to the River Dee on the North first the Sea for a small space and then Flint-shire encompasseth it on the West Caernarvan and Merioneth shire on the East Cheshire and Shropshire and on the South Mountgomery shire 2 The form thereof is long growing wider still towards the North-West and narrower towards the East It is in length from East to West one and thirty miles and in breadth from North to South seventeen miles in the whole circuit and circumference one hundred and fourteen miles 3 The Air is very wholsome and pleasant yet bleak-enough as exposed to the winds on all sides and the high Hills wherewith it is in many places environed long retaining the congealed Snow The tops whereof in the Summer time are the Harvest-Mens Almanacks by the rising of certain Vapours thereon in the Mornings and foreshew a fair Day ensuing 4 The Soil is but barren towards the West-part yet the middle where it lieth flat in a Valley is most fertile The East-side when it is once past the Valley findeth Nature to be a very sparing niggard of her favours but next unto Dee it feeleth a more liberal extent of her blessings The West part is but here and there inhabited and mounteth up more than the other with bare and hungry Hills yet the leanness of the Soil where the Hills settle any thing flatting hath been now a good while begun to bâ— overcome by the diligent pains and careful industry of the Husbandmen for they parting away the upper Coat of the Earth into certain Turffs with a broad kind of Spade pile them up artificially on heaps and fire them so as being turned into Ashes and thrown upon the ground so pared they fructifie the hungry barrenness and sterility of Soil and make the Fields bring forth a kind of Rie or Amell-Corn in such plenty as is hardly to be believed 5 The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were the Ordâ—vices who being also named Ordevices or Ordovicae a puissant and couragious People by reason they kept wholly in a mountainous place and took heart even of the Soil it self for they continued longest free from the Yoke both of Roman and also of English dominion They were not subdued by the Romans before the dayes of the Emperour Domitian for then Iulius Agricolâ— conquered almost the whole Nation nor brought under the command of the English before the Reign of King Edward the First but lived a long time in a lawless kind of liberty as bearing themselves bold upon their own magnanimity and the strength of the Country 6 The Mountains of this County yield sufficiency of Neat Sheep and Goats The Valleys in most places are very plenteous of Corn especially Eastward on this side betwixt the Rivers of Alen and Dee But the most Westerly part is Heathy and altogether barren The heart of the Shire shews it self beneath the Hills in a beautiful and pleasant Vale reaching seventeen miles in length from South to North and five miles or thereabouts in breadth and lieth open only toward the Sea It is environed on every side with high Hills amongst which the highest is Moillenly on the top whereof is a warlike Fence with Trench and Rampier and a little Fountain of clear Water From these Hills the River Cluyd resorts unto this Vale and from the very Spring-head increased with Becks and Brooks doth part it in twain running through the midst of it whereof in ancient time it was named Strat-Cluyd for Marianus maketh mention of a King of the Strat-Cluyd of the Wâ—lsh And at this day it is commonly called Diffryn-Cluyd that is The Vale of Cluyd This thing is worthy observation as a matter memorable both for admiration and antiquity that in the Parish of Lan-sanan within this Country there is a place compass cut out of the main Rock by Mans hand in the side of a Stony Hill wherein there be four and twenty Seats to sit in some less some bigger where children and young men coming to seek their Cattel use to sit and to have their sports And at this day they commonly call it Arthurs Round Table 7 Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln obtaining Denbigh by the Grant of King Edward the First after the Conviction and Beheading of David Brother of Llewelin for High-Treason was the first that fortified it with a Wall about nor large in circuit but very strong and on the South-side with a fair Castle strengthned with many high Towers But he gave it over and left the work unfinished conceiving grief as a sorrowful Father that his only Son came to untimely death and was downed in the Well thereof The fame of this Town spreads it self far for repute aâ— being reckoned the most beautiful place in all North-Wales and it is of no less report for the Castle adjunct unto it is impregnable for fortification And this strange accident hapning there in the year 1575 deserves not to be omitâ—ed being left as a continual remembrance of Gods merciful Providence and preservation at that time that where by reason of great Earthquakes many People were put into great â—ear and had much harm done unto them both within and without their Houses in the Cities of â—ork Worcester Glocester Bristoâ— Hereford and in other Countries adjâ—cent yet in the Shire-Hall of Denbigh the Bell was caused to Toll twice by the shaking of the earth and no hurt or hindrance at all either done or received The government of this
West-point about 80 miles from thence to her North-west about 70 miles and her East Coast along the Irish Sea-shore eighty miles the circumference upon two hundred and seventy miles 3 The air is clear and gentle mixt with a temperate disposition yielding neither extremity of heat or cold according to the seasonable times of the year and the natural condition of the Continent The soil is generally fruitful plentiful both in fish and flesh and in other victuals as butter cheese and milk It is fertil in Corn Cattle and pasture grounds and would be much more if the husbandman did but apply his industry to which he is invited by the commodiousness of the Country It is well watered with Rivers and for the most part well wooded except the County of Divelin which complains much of that want being so destitute of wood that they are compelled to use a clammy kind of fat turff for their fuel or Sea-coal brought out of England 4 The Inhabitants of these parts in Ptolomies days were the Brigantes Menapii Cauci and â—lani from which Blani may seem to be derived and contracted the latter and modern names of this Country Lâ—in Leighnigh and Leinster The Menapii as the name doth after a sort imply came from the Menapians a Nation in Low Germany that dwelt by the Sea-Coasts These Brigantes called also Brigants Florianus del Campo a â—paniard labours to fetch from the Brigants of his own Countrey of whom an ancient City in Spain called Brigantia took the name But they may seem rather to derive their denomination from the River Birgus about which they inhabited for to this the very name is almost sufficient to perswade us 5 The commodities of this Country do chiefly consist in Cattle Sea-fowl and Fish It breeds many excellent good horses called Irish Hobbies which have not the same pace that other horses have in their course but a soft and round amble setting very easily 6 This Country hath in it three Rivers of note termed in old time the three sisters Shour Neor and Batraeo which issue out of the huge Mountain called by Giraldus Bladinae Montes as out of their mothers womb and from their rising tops descending with a downfal into several Channels before they empty themselves into the Ocean joyn hand in hand altogether in a mutual league and combination 7 Places very dangerous for shipping are certain flats and shallows in the Sea that lie over against Holy-point which the Mariners call the Grounds Also the shelves of sand that lie a great way in length opposite to Newcastlâ— which over looketh them into the Sea from the top of an high hill adjoyning 8 In this Province are placed many fair and wealthy Towns as Kilkenny which for a Burrough-Town excels all the midland Burroughs in this Island Kildare which is adorned with an Episcopal See and much graced in the first infancy of the Irish Church by reason of Saint Brigid a venerable Virgin had in great account and estimation for her virginity and devotion as who was the Disciple of S. Patrick of so great fame renown and antiquity also Weisford a name given unto it by these Germans whom the Irish term Oustmans a Town though inferiour to some yet as memorable as any so that it became the first Colony of the English and did first submit it self unto their protection being assaulted by Fitz Stephen a Captain worthily made famous for his valour and magnanimity 9 But the City which fame may justly celebrate alone beyond all the Cities or Towns in Ireland is that which we call Divelin Ptolomy Eblana the Latinists Dublinium and Dubliniâ— the West-Britaines Dinas Dublin the English-Saxons in times past Duplin and the Irish Balacleigh that is the Town upon hurdles for it is reported that the place being fennish and moorish when it first began to be builded the foundation was laid upon hurdles 10 That it is ancient is perswaded by the authority of Ptolomy That it was grievously rent and dismembred in the tumultuous wars of the Danes and brought afterwards under the subjection of Edgar King of England which his Charter also confirmeth wherein he calleth it the noble City of Ireland is written by Saxo Grammaticus That it was built by Harold of Norway which may seem to be Harold Harsager when he had brought the greatest part of Ireland into an awful obedience unto him we read in the life of Griffith ap Sinan Prince of Wales At length it yielded unto the valour and protection of the English at their first arrival into Ireland by whom it was manfully defended from the fierce assaults as well of Auscoulph Prince of the Dublinians as afterwards of Gotard King of the Isles since which time it hath still augmented her flourishing estate and given approved testimony of her faith and loyalty to the Crown of England in the times of any tumultuous straights and commotions 11 This is the Royal Seat of Ireland strong in her munition beautiful in her buildings and for the quantity matchable to many other Cities frequent for traffick and intercourse of Merchantâ— In the East Suburbs Henry the second King of England as Hoveden reporteth caused a royal Palace to be erected and Henry Loundres Archbishop of Divelin built a Store house about the year of Christ 1220. Not far from it is the beautiful Colledge consecrated unto the name of the holy Trinity which Queen Elizabeth of famous memory dignified with the priviledges of an University The Church of S. Patrick being much enlarged by King Iohn was by Iohn Comin Archbishop of Dublin born at Evesham in England first ordained to be a Church of Prebends in the year 1191 It doth at this day maintain a Dean a Chanter a Chancellor a Treasurer two Archdeacons and twenty two Prebendaries This City in times past for the due administration of Civil Government had a Provost for the chief Magistrate But in the year of mans redemption 1409 King Henry the fourth granted them liberty to chuse every year a Major and two Bailiffes and that the Major should have a gilt sword carried before him for ever And King Edward the sixth to heap more honour upon this place changed the two Bailiffs afterwards into Sherifâ—s so that there is not any thing here wanting that may serve to make the estate of a City most flourishing 12 As the people of this Country do about the neighbouring parts of Divelin come nearest unto the civil conditions and orderly subjection of the English so in places farther off they are more tumultuous being at deadly feuds amongst themselves committing oft-times Man slaughter one upon another and working their own mischiefs by mutual wrongs for so the Irish of Leinster wasted Leinster with many Towns in the same Province in the year 1294. And in the year 1301 the men of Leinster in like manner raised a war in the winter season setting on fire the Town of Wykinlo Rathdoâ— and others working their own plague and punishment by burning
up their sustenance and losing their Castle by deprâ—dation 13 Matter of observation and no less admiration among them is the Giants dance commonly so called and so much talked of which Merlin is said by Art of Magick to have translated out of this Territory unto Salisbury Plain which how true it is I leave to the vain believers of miracles and to the credulous observers of antiquity 14 In this County have been erected many famous Monasteries Abbeys and religious houses consecrated to devout and holy purposes As the Monastery of Saint Maries of Oustmanby founded for preaching Fryers unto which of late daies the Iudicial Courts of thâ— Kingdom have been translated also the magnificent Abbey called S. Thomas Court at Dublin builded and endowed in times past with many large priviledges and revenues of King Henry the second in expiation of the murther of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Likewise Teniern Monastery or the notable Abbey which William Marshall Earl of Pembrooke founded and called Deâ—voto for that he had vowed to God being â—ossed at Sea with many a sore and dangerous tempest to errect an Abbey wheresoever he came to land and being after shipwrack cast upon land in this place he made performance of his vow accordingly This Province containeth the Counties of Kilkenny Caterlough Queens County Kings County Kildare East-Meath West-Meath Weisford and Dublin â—o say nothing of Wicklâ— and â—ernes which either be already or else are to be annexed unto it and subdivided into fifteen Market-Towns It hath been fortified with the strength of many Castles against the power of enemies and is thus divided Counties East Meath West-Meath Kilkenny Caterlough Queens County Kings County Kildare Weisford Dublin CONNACK Petrus Kaerius caelavit The Province of CONNAUGHT CHAPTER IIII. THis Province named by Giraldus Cambrensis Conachtia and Coâ—acia by the Irish Conaughty and by English-men Connaught is bounded East-ward with part of the County of Leinster North-ward with part of Vlster West-ward with the West-main Ocean and on the South it is confined with a part of the Province of Mounster closed in with the River Shennon and butting against the Kingdom of Spain 2 The form thereof is long and towards the North and South ends thin and narrow but as it grows towards the middle from either part it waxeth still bigger and bigger extending in length from the River Shennon in her South to Enis Kelling in her North 126 miles and the broadest part is from Tromer in her East to Barragh Bay in her West containing about fourscore miles The whole in circuit and compass is above four hundred miles 3 The Air is not altogether so pure and clear as in the other Provinces of Ireland by reason of certain most places covered over with grass which for their softness are usually termed Boghes both dangerous and full of vaporous and foggy mists 4 This County as it is divided into several portions so is every portion severally commended for the soile according to the seasonable times of the year to Twomond or the County Clare is said to be a Country so conveniently situated that either from the Sea or Soil there can be nothing wisht for more than what it doth naturally afford of it self were but the industry of the Inhabitants answerable to the rest Galway is a land very thankful to the painful husbandman and no less commodious and profitable to the Shepherd Maio in the Roman Provincial called Mageo is replenished both with pleasure and fertility abundantly rich in Cattel Deer Hawks and plenty of Honey Slego coasting up the Sea is a plenteous Country for feeding and raising of Cattel Le-Trim a place rising up throughout with hills is so full of rank grass and forrage that as Solinus reporteth if Cattel were not kept sometimes from grazing their fulness would endanger them And Roscomen is a Territory for the most part plain and fruitfull feeding many Herds of Cattle and with mean husbandry and tillage yielding plenty of Corn. As every particular part is thus severally profitabâ—e be in-bred commodities so is it no less commended in the generality for the many accommodate and fit Baies Creeks and navigable Rivers lying upon her Sea-Coasts that after a sort invite and provoke the Inhabitants to Navigation 5 Such as in ancient time made their abode and habitations in this Province were the GANGANI who were also called CONCANI AUTERI and NAGNATAE As the Luceni that were next neighbours unto them came from the Lucensii in Spain so those Gangani and Concani may seem also to have fetcht their derivation from the Concani a Nation of the self-same Country both by the affinity of name and vicinity of place In Strabo according to the diversity of reading the same people are named Coniaci and Conisci and Silius testifieth them at the first to have been Scythians and to have used ordinarily to drink horses bloud a thing nothing strange among the wild Irish even of late days And some may also haply suppose that the Irish name Conaughty was compounded of Concani and Nagnatae Howsoever it is sure that these were the ancient inhabitants of this Country as is to be seen in Ptolomy 6 The Principal City of this Province and which may worthily be accounted the third in Ireland is Galway in Irish Gallive built in manner much like to a Tower It is dignified with a Bishops See and it is much frequented with Merchants by reason whereof and the benefit of the Road and Haven it is gainful to the Inhabitants through traffique and exchange of rich commodities both by Sea and Land Not far from which near the West shoar that lies indented with small in-lets and out-lets in a row are the Islands called Arran of which many a foolish fable goes as if they were the Islands of the living wherein none died at any time or were subject to mortality which is as superstitious an observation as that used in some other corners of the Country where the people leave the right Arms of their Infants males unchristned as they term it to the end that at any time afterwards they might give a more deadly and ungracious blow when they strike which things do not only shew how palpable they are carried away by traditious obscurities but do also intimate how full their hearts be of inveterate revenge 7 This Province presents no matter more worthy of memory than the battel of Knock-â—â—â— that is The hill of Axes under which the greatest rabble of Rebbels that were ever seen before in Ireland raised and gathered together by the Arch-Rebbels of that time William Burk O Brien Mac-Nenare and O Carrol were after a bloudy overthrow discomfited and put to flight by the noble service of Girald Fitz-Girald Earl of Kildare And the suppression of certain Irish the posterity of Mac-William who usurping a tyranny in these parts raged sometimes upon themselves with mutual injuries and oppressed the poor people a long time with extorting pilling and spoiling so as
concealed it ever since Yet to satisfie in some measure such as are more inquisitive I will touch at the several conjectures which hath passed upon the place of this earthly Paradise Rog. Higdâ—n Monk of Chester and with him Iohn Trevisa set it in the field of Damascus and many others probably enough have thought it was in the Land of Canaan for that in divers places it is noted with attributes proper to the garden of Eden She was seated in the midst of Nations Ezek. 5. It was a Land of Wheat Barley and Vines Fig-trees and Pomgranates a Land of Olives and Honey a Land whose stones were Iron and out of whose hills might be digged brass Deut. 8. She was pleasant above all Lands Ezek. 20. Yet Franciscus Iunius D. Willet Sir Walter Raleigh and others make it a part of Mesopotamia North-west from Babylon about the degrees of 78 in Longitude and of Latitude 35 where still the Rivers meet mentioned in Genesis and where Ptolemy hath his Audanites a corrupt name as is supposed from Edâ—n Certainly it was about the middle of the Earth and abounded by a peculiar blessing of God with all kinds serviceable for the use of man 8 But Adam soon lost this possession by his disobedience and was cast out on the East-side of the garden where he placed himself Moses makes no more particular relation Cain is specified to have gone out of the presence of the Lord into the Land of Nod and there built him a City and named it after his sons name Henoch this was the first City and was seated some thing about Mount Libanus As the place so the time when it was found is uncertain but the common conjecture gives it to be about 2 or 3 hundred years after the Creation when the world was replenished as well it might be within that compass if we compare it to our known stories Abraham in 215 years had 600 thousand of his own stock in the blessed line besides women and children And in this number we omit his other seed of whom came twelve Princes Questionless after this proportion the people multiplied in the beginning and so for 1656 years forward and that must needs 〈◊〉 a large portion of the earth most likely those parts of Asia that lay nearest to their first seat For they wandred no farther than necessity of room compelled them 9 But now as man so the sin of man was grown to a height For this the wrath of God fell upon them in a flood that destroyed the whole earth saving eight persons Noah and his family who were commanded into an Ark built by Gods own direction and is held to have been the pattern for all Ships to all posterity 10 When the anger of the Lord was ceased and the waters abated after 150 days float the Ark rested upon the Mountains of Arrarat in Armenia They are supposed by most to be the same which Ptolomy calleth Montes Cordios about the degree in 75 Longitude and in Latitude 39. Master Cartwright a Traveller of our own Nation reports himself an eye-witness of many ancient and ruinous foundations there which the inhabitants have believed through all ages to be the work of those first people that for a long time durst not adventure into the lower Countries for fear of another flood 11 But God blessed the remnant which he had preserved and when he had given them the Rainbow for a sign of his mercy that he would no more break up the fountains of the great deep nor open the windows of heaven upon them to root out all flesh by degrees they descended from the hills Eastward and seated themselves upon a plain in the Land of Shinar This was the lower part of Mesopotamia which compassed Chaldea and Babylonia lying under the Mount Singara a hill neer the degrees of 77 in Longitude and of Latitude 36 and stands in the direct way from Arrarat or the Moutes Cordios towards Babyâ—on 12 There when their number increased and they forced still to seek new Colonies they were ambitious to leave a name behind them for posterity and therefore adventured upon a building whose top should reach Heaven and so indeed in did for it fetcht from thence Gods second vengeance He confounded their speech that they no longer understood one the other Thus they were broke off from their impious attempt and scattered upon all the earth about an hundred years after the Floud into seventy two several Nations as some have punctually numbred â—hem 13 Whether Noah himself were present or to what place he removed is uncertain He had yet two hundred and fifty years to live and is thought to have had his habitation in Phenicia North-ward from Palestine about the degree of 66 and 33. 14 His Sons Sem Ham and Iapheth possest their several Provinces of the World From Iapheth came the Isles of the Gentiles of which we are a part to him Europe is by most allotted Sem not guilty questionless of that proud enterprise rested himself in the land of Canaaâ— which he knew as it was revealed to Abraham should be given to his posterity Yet part of his issue the Sons of Iocktan were divided and lived remote toward the East To him was Asia But Cham by his fathers curse for discovering his nakedness roved to the utmost parts of the earth and peopled with his Progeny especially those Countries which are most toucht in Histories for Barbarism and Idolatry As indeed how could it otherwise be since himself had lost his father that should instruct him and therefore could deliver no precepts to his children but left every one to his own inventions And those that at the confusion spread where ever they came this diversity of Customs and Religions that possess the world at this day To him was Africa 15 America too doubtless had her portion in the division though not so soon or so immediate but seemed rather of later times to have received her people from the bordering parts of Asia and those are thought by most to have been first inhabited by Iocktan and his thirteen Sons the issue of Sem. It is â—aid in the Text they possest the East-part from Mesha to Sephar Iosophus takes the first for a Countrey and the second for a Mountain in India insomuch as that he strictly bounds out their possession from the River Cephew to Ieria which is now called the East or Portugal Indies Indeed many of those Eastern Regions are noted to bear the name as yet of Iocktans sons The Shabeans found as if they had Sheba to their Father And from Havilah is a Country in Ieria From Shaphira Iosephus derives Ophir both of especial fame for their plenty of Gold But it is Doctor Willets opinion that Ophir was rather the same Region in the West Indies which is now called Peru. To say truth we have little certainity of the first Inhabitants which were seated in America or the Parts of Asia near about her whether
called Epidaâ—num and Croya The whole Country was invaded by Amurath â—nâ— recovered by George Castriot or Scanderbeg the terriblest enemy that ever the Turk had 18 Epirus in her name carries no more than a firm land and is a part as most esteem it of Albania but indeed lies somewhat more South-ward than Abania propria on the East she is divided from Achaia by the River Achelous and on the West is bounded with Monâ—es Acroceraunii on the South with the Ionian Sea It was of old divided into Câ—aonia which took her name from Chaon the brother of Helenus and Acarnania which is now called Graecia the less The Country was fertile and populous but at this day lies wast and breeds better Cattel than men especially Buls Sheep and Dogs of wonderfull bigness among the rest extraordinary Mares which from thence were called Eporiticae It was the Kingdom of Pyrrhus and of later years was governed by George Castriot 19 Achaia is upon the South of Thessalia East of the River Achelous West of the Aegean Sea and North of Peloponnesus It contains many famous Provinces the chief are 1 Attica and her prime City was Athens now Setines she had her first name from Minerva whom they honoured as their peculiar goddess as being at that time accounted the best learned among the Heathens and excelled as well in Martial affairs In a word they came short to noâ—e in wealth State-policy aâ—d what else might make a people happy above expression so Pliny sets her forth The second Priovince is Daris a tract near Parnassus Mount and mother to the most elegant Greek Dialect 3 Aetolian and in this the City Câ—lynan 4 Locris and Regio Opuntiorum her chief City Naupactus and the famous Lepanto 5 Phocis which can glory in nothing more than the City Delphi where the Oracle of Apollo gave answer for many years to the silly Idolaters 6 Beotia and in this stood Thebes 7 Megaris her principal City Megara and from hence was the Seâ—ta Megarica of which Euclide was chief 20 Pâ—loponnesus is a Peninsula on the South of Graecia and joyned to the rest by an Isthmuâ— which is not above 5 miles in breath from one Sea to the other insomuch that it hath been sometimes attempted to be digged through and was began by Nero but the work was found not worth the charge and trouble It waâ— fenced cross with a strong wall and five Castles which being once destroyed was the second time by many hands erected in five days and called Hexamillium 21 This Peninsula is indeed the fortress of all Greece and though it wants much of the ancient glory which it might well vaunt in the time of Agamemnon Menelaus Ajax and the rest yet is she not so much to be contemned as other parts of this ruinated Coâ—ntry However the Turk is her Master and she his now called generally Morea 22 Her Provinces were 1 Corinthia neer the Isthmus and is named from her chief City Corintâ—us which being â—â—red melted sundry metals into a confused medly and made up the Aes Corinthium held more precious than any other of its own simple nature 2 Argia her Common-wealth was heretofore of great note and her City Argos is at this day held pleasant and well seated And in this likewise stood Epidamnus 3 Laconia to the South of the Peninsulae her Chief City was Lacedemonia once Sparta when Lycurgus gave his Laws and is now called Misithra 4 Messeniâ— and her chief Cities are Messene Methone Corone c. 5 Elis. 6 Achaia propria and here stood Aegina and Aegium and Patras 7 Arcadia once Pelasgia in the Centeâ— almost of Peloponnesus full of pleasant Mountains fit for pasture and is therefore made the Shepâ—erds scene in our renowned Sir Philip â—idney's poetical story Her principal City is Megalopolis 23 Thus have we passed the Continent of Greece and want coâ—ing only to give mâ— Reader a brief survey of the Islands which lie round in the Adriatique Mediteraneâ—n Ionian and Aegean seas But by reason the compass is so large and the number so great the little space which is left me will scarce admit more than their bare names which I will set down with reference to their next neighbouring Provinces as I have described them in the Continent 24 First then near Pelepâ—â—â—esus and the Ionian sea toward Macedonia and Epirus the chief â—re Aegina Cithera the Stâ—ophâ—des Zâ—â—ynâ—bus Cephalonia Ithacâ— Eâ—â—inades Corcyra or Corphin and Saphâ— c. In the Aegean sea belonging to Greece are the Cyclades and Sporades and over against Thrace Thassus Samothracia Imbrus and Lemnos Vulcani Neer Macedonia Pepanthos Scopelos Scyathos Scyros Aâ—â—onnesus Cycinnethus Dromus Seraquinus Neer Achaia is Euboea now Megreponte a very large Island and not far distant Andros Tenos Delos Rhene Melos and many others THE ROMANE EMPIRE Petrus Karius Caelavit The Description of the Roman Empire VIRTVTE Duce comite Fortunâ is the word of most Historians upon the low birth and quick growth of the state of Rome For had not matchless prowess and infallible success joyned in their full strength to make up an Empire for the world to admire I see not how she could in so few years raise her self from so small grounds to so high a pitch of luâ—tre as set the whole earth at a gaze and found us all business enough for a time to do liâ—tle else but obâ—erve her actions Look back to Romulus her first founder you shall find him no better man than the base son of a licentious Vestall his father not truly known to this day but simply surmised to be Mars the god of War His mother Rhea burnt by law for that very fact in which she conceived him and himself an out-cast exposed with his brother Rhemus to be torn by the wild Beasts Little hope we see left for such a Nation to spring from their loins had not Fortune lulled them in her own lap and delivered them by meer chance into the hands of one Faustulus the Kings Shepherd when thâ—y were thus found the best Writers afford them no better Nurse than the Shepherds wife a known Strumpet who for her insatiate lust was called Lupa and might perhaps occasion the fable of the Shâ—wâ—lf She suckled them with no choicer milk than she did her own home-spun brats nor were they bred under Faustâ—lus to any better fortune than the Sheep-hook yet no sooner the yonkers were start up to the knowledge of their true birth but they stript themselves out of their disguise revenged their mothers death upon their usurping Uncle Aeâ—ilius Sylvius restâ—red the Latine Kingdom to the rightful Numitor and erected a new Empire for their own posterity 2 These were the progeny of Aeneas who arrived here from the Trâ—jan War and made love to Lavinia daâ—ghter to Latinus King of the Laureâ—tiâ—i The great combat betwixt him and Turnâ—s the Rutilian grew upon no other terms than for her fair looks which he could not nor did he
Captains 5 Lanâ—â—â— North west from Pilsen noted for the most fruitful place in the whole Region 15 Now the out Provinces which are part of the Kingdom though not of Bohemia are first Lâ—â—atia It Iyeth betwixt the Rivers Albis and Odera and the Mountains of â—ohemia On the West it hath Saxony On the North and East Brandenburg On the South Silesia It is divided into the higher and lower Lâ—satia and is watered with the River Nissâ— It is indeed part of Saxony though under rule to the King of Bohemia For both this and Silesia was given to Vratislaus by the Emperor Henâ—y the â—ourth It is a very fruitful Country in most kind of grain and the Inhabitants though employed much in Husbandry yet are they a warlike people as most of Germany and so they have been tried by the Duke of Saxony and others of the Emperors party though they have been by number and main strength over-born The first that was surprised was Bantsen but the Metropolis is â—orlitâ—ia next Zittan c. No soil nor Customes differ much from the next Province 6 Silesia on the West hath part of Bohemia upon the North Dusatia and part of Poland upon the South Moravea and upon the East Polonia At the beginning it was part of the Hircinian Forest It is watered with the River Odera and from hence took her name as Conradus Celtus delivers it Lib Amorum 2. Eleg. 5. Hic Odera à priscis qui nomina Suevus habebat Nascitur Godani praecipitatur aquis Suevos qui Siesum socium sibi convocat amnem A quo nunc nomen Slesia terra gerit But Iohannes Crato a Silesian rather thinks that the name came from the Qâ—adi a people that heretofore inhaâ—â—ted these parts and the rather for thâ—t the very Qâ—adi in the Slavonian Tongue signifieth the same which Sâ—lâ—sium did in the Sâ—xon and old German That they did possess this Provâ—nce is agreed upon by most but where they were before seated Geographers somewhat differ Ptolomâ— placeth them by the Hirâ—inian under Lâ—na sylva and others not far off It was the people which in their war with Mâ—rcus Aâ—tonius the Emperour were scaâ—tered with thundring and lightning obtained by the prayers of the Christian Legion For when the Râ—man was driven to such straight that he could foresee no help which might come from man he put himself upon their prayers to God for his deliverance A strange hope that he could believe in their faith and yet not in that God in whoâ— they believed But the Almighty was pleased to shew his power and force the very heathen â—o honour his people For here ended the fourth Persecution 174. and the Christian Legion was surnamed the Thunderer 17 The air here is somewhat cold but mild and the Land â—ertile The Inhabitants good Husbandmen to make the best They have a kind of forced Wine which the meaner sort drink freely The richer have it sent from those neighbouring Provinces which are better stored The chief City is Perslaw or Vratisâ—avia which takes name from her Founder Vratislaus and in honour of him givâ—â— the Letter W in her Arms. About the seat of this City Ptolomâ— placeth Budorgis insomuch that some think this was raised out of her ruine Not far off there is yet to be seen the remainders of statelâ— old buildings which are supposed to have been the houses of the ancient Quadi Iâ— the year 1341. â—t was ruined by fire but built again with stone and it is now one of the stateliest Cities of Germaâ—y for â—xcellent buildings and fair streets It is an Archbishops See and an Academy The rest are Neissa Niâ—sa â— Bishops See and a fair Town Glats Oppolen Olderberge Glomor c. Maginus numbers 15 Dukedomes in Silesia whereof six remain in their ancient families the rest for want of heirs are â—allen to the King of Bâ—hemia But the two chief of name are Ligintz and Swevitz The first is immediately the Kings Swevitz too is under his government but yet hath a Duke of its own which is honoured with the title and revenues 18 Moravia is bounded on the North and East with Silesia on the West with Brandenburg on the South with Austria and Hungary It was heretofore called Marcomannia received the latter name from the River Moravia which runs through the Country It yields plenty of Corn Wine Fish and People which use a kind of confused mixt language of Sclavonick Bohemick and Tutonick In plowing up their grounds there hath been oftentimes found a certain Coyn of the Roman Emperours Marcus Antonius with this inscription de Marcomannis which the Inhabitants interpret to be of the Spoâ—ls whiâ—h the Roman took from the Marcomanâ—i who inhabited this Region For certain it is that this people were vanquished by Marcus Antonius as appears in their Historians The People were converted to Christianity by Methodius Their chief City is Olmuzium Olmuz an â—niversity Brin c. It is reported by Dubrarius that in Gradiâ—co a part of this Province there grow eth a kind of Myrrhe and Frankincense out of the ground which in likeness resemble the hidden parts of man and woman It was first added to the King and Kingdome of Bohemia by Sigisâ—und the Emperour in the Reign of Albertus GALLIA The Description of FRANCE No people but are ambitious to win upon Antiquity as far as their Line will reach Among others the French are great prerenders to that Title and fetch their original from Mesech the sixth son of Iapheth not above an hundred and fifty years after the Ark â—ested But this passeth not for currant truth among her own Historians and therefore is not the plea which gives France here the second place in my Division of Europe I observe rather her situation which ranks her next to Spain East-ward and that was the course proposed in my general Description 2 As for her Inhabitants the first certainly which we can make good were the Gauls A people of whose beginning we can give no unquestionable account yet this of them is most sure they were a Nation of noted valour above four hundred years before Christ. It is â—ow full two thousand and twelve since they sacked Rome and took the Capitoll In the memory of that great Action we may claim a part For first were themselves conquered by the two â—oble Brittish spirits Brennius and â—elinus Kings of England and aâ—ter led on by them if we may trust the story unto thoâ—e glorious adventures which have to this day continued their fame almost above any other Natâ—on Let the proof resâ— upon my Author This saith Matthaeus west monâ—steâ—iensis out of the Roman History 3 â—â—ecenta millia â—allorum ad sedes novas querendas prâ—â—ecti ducibus Bâ—linâ— Brennio Romam invaseruâ—t ibique diu morati â—unt Sed mille libras auri praemium discessionis â— Romanis suscipientes mox diversis agminibus alii Graeâ—iam alii Macedoniam alii Thraciam petiverunt
and principal are the Wild Bee as they call it which building habitacles like Cobwebs among the Vine leaves guards the Grapes The Gurnipper which no bigger than a flea bites also like a flea though somewhat more rancorously and lives but three weeks The Musqueto which lives chiefly in thick woods or swamps scarcely induring wind or excess of cold or heat but in thick close weather and against rain it raiseth where it bites a venomous kind of itching The ancient Inhabitants of this part of the Country were formerly divided into several Tribes or petty Nations the chief whereof were East and North-East the Churchers and Tarentines Southward the Pequods and Naragansetts Westward the Canectacuts and Mawhacks North-West the Aberginians all which people how different from each other in nature and disposition in so small a compass of ground is wonderfull to imagine the Mawhacks most bloudy savage and man-eaters The Tarentines little less cruel but not Canibals The Aberginians more mild innocent and harmless c. But in religious Ceremonies Habit Civil manner of Government Marriages Burials Ingenuity in Arts and Manufactures Games and Exercises not materially differing Among the rest which it would be too tedious here to insist upon it is observable that the figures of Beasts and other things described upon their bodies are not described by superficial painting but by incision and impunction of colours between the skin and the flesh What Provinces this Country was anciently divided into I find not otherwise than accoâ—ding to the several Tribes or people already mentioned Only there is peculiar mention made of the Province of Laconia now inalrged into a greater called the Province of Main and much about the same either more or less with the Country of the Troquois anciently so called The name of Laconia seems derived from those Lakes which are the most noted if not only ones of New-England but since is one grand one named the Lake of Trequois made by the River Sagadahoc and said to contain 60 Leagues in length and 40 in breadth in which Connent there are about four or five pretty large Islands The Rivers of this Country are Tamescot Agomentico Nansic Conecticut Sagadahoc Apanawapesk Merimec Pascatâ—way Newishwavoc Mistic Neraganset Pemnaquid Ashamahaga Tachobacco the most of which have English denominations and among the rest Chirâ—s River The number of well built Towns is far greater here than in any of the rest of his Maâ—esties American Plantations by reason it was so numerously peopled from the very first time of its settlement The first is Boston by the Indians called Accomonticus the principal Town or City and chief seat of Government secured with three hills whereon strong Fo â—â—s are raised 2. St. Georges Fort the first place where any Plantation was setled being at the mouth of the River Sagadahoc 3. New Plymouth the first Rendezvous of our Nonconformists sâ—ated on the Bay of Pawtuxed 4. Mahumbec or Salem delightfully seated on a neck of Land between two Rivers 5. Mashawnut or Charles Town seated on an Isthmus or neck of Land on the North of a River called Charles River and through a part of which the River Mestic runs it is adorned with a handsome Church and a fair Market place near the River side 6. Roxbury a pleasant place for fruitful Gardens and fresh Springs between Boston and 7. Dorchester no less pleasant for Gardens and Orchards and watered with two small Rivers though standing near the Sea-side 8. Pigsgusset or Water Town upon one of the branches of the River Charles 9. Linne by the Indians named Saugus between Salem and Charles Town 10. Amoncangen or New-Town now Cambridge built in the year 1633 between Charles-Town and Water-Town on the River Merimec it is the only University of New-England having two Colledges and was once the seat of Government 11. Sawacatus or Ipswich seated on a pleasant River in the Sagamoreship of Aggawan now called Esâ—x 12. Newbury 12 miles from Ipswich near Merimec River 13. Hartford built by the people of Cambridge 14. Concord seated upon a branch of the River Merimec 15. Hingham a Sea-coast Town South-East of Charles River 16. Dukesbury alias Sandwich situate also upon the Sea-coast in Plymouth Government 17. Newhaven built in the year 1637 by a new supply near the shalles of Capecod 18. Dedham in the County of Suffolk 12 miles from Boston 19. Wâ—ymouth a Sea-Town 20. Rowâ—y 6 miles North-East from Ipswich 21. Hamptou built in the year 1639 in the County of Norfolk near the Sea-coast 22. Salisbury overagainst Newbury on the other side the River Merimec 23. Aguwon or Southampton built in the year 1640 by a supply that settled in long Island 24. Sudbury built in the same year 25 Braintre buâ—lt at Mount Wollaston by some old Planters of Boston 26. Glocester built in the year 1641 by Mr. Riâ—hard Blindman at Cape Anne 27. Dover situate upon Pascatoway 〈◊〉 North-East of Bâ—ston 28. Wâ—burn built in the year 1642. 29. Reading built in the year 1644. 30. Wenham in the Matachusetts Government between Salem and Ipswich 31. Springfield built in the year 1645 by Mr. Pinchin conveniently for a brave trade with the Indians upon the River Canectico 32. Haverhill founded in the year 1648 and not long after 33. Malden by some that came out of Charles Town which lies over against it on the other side the River Mistic 34. Oxford alias Sagoquas 35. Falmouth alias Totum 36. Bristol 37. Hull alias Passataquac 38. Dartmouth alias Bohanna 39. Exeter 40. Greens Harbour 41. Taunton alias Cohannet 42. Norwich alias Segocket 43. Northam alias Pascataqua 44. Yarmouth 45. Berwick NEW ENGLAND and NEW YORK The Description of New-Neatherlands now called New-York NOvum Belgium or New-Netherland now called New-York was first discovered by Henry Hudson Aun 1609 at the charge of the East-India Company but in regard he return'd without leaving any men upon the place the Dutch in the year 1614 under Adrian Block and Godyn began to plant themselves there and doubtless had soon setled themselves upon a double pretence first as finding the place not pre-possest and therefore free for any that would enter next as having contracted with Hadson for his interest and bought all his Charts and Instruments had not Sir Samuel Argal then Governor of Virginia disputed the business with them And upon a serious debate and conference with them about it wherein he alledged that Hudson being a Subject of the King of England and acting solely by his commission had not power to alienate any Countrey he discovered for the King his Master without his Majesties consent but that this Countrey more especially belonged to him as his own Dominion being accounted part of the Province of Virginia he brought them to acknowledge the King of England's Title and to submit to the holding of the Countrey as feodatory of the Crown of England and under the Government of Virginia Yet this compliance was not of a very long
called Pintâ—hâ— a stately and pleasant Seat the Royal Mansion of the King of the Nahissans who is an absolute Monarch About fifty miles from Sapon is Akâ—â—atzy a small but well-peopled Island lying upon the direct course of the River and bearing South and by West governed by two Kings the one Superintendent over their Martial affairs the other over their Hunâ—ing and Husbandry Thirty miles farther South-west from Akenatzy are the Oâ—nock Indians dwelling in a Town built round a Field in which they usually practice their sports and exercises of activity Their Houses are built some of Reed and Bark some of Watling and Plaister Their Government is Democratical Fourteen miles South-west of the Oenocks dwell the Shackory Indians whose Countrey abounds in Antimony Forty miles farther South-west is Watary Thirty miles farther Westward is Sara lying more towards that ridge of the Apalatâ—an Mountains by the Spaniards called Suala where great quantities of Cinabar are found South-west from thence is Wisacky over a continued marish ground overgrown with reeds this Town is subject to the King of Ushery on which also this King hath his Royal Seat about three miles from the Town and this is the utmost Town South-west that I find mentioned belonging to Carolina To the North over the Suala Mountains lie the Rickockans but back again North-east returning on the other side of the River toward Virginia is the Town of Katearas a place of notable Trade and the Seat of the proud Emperor of the Toskiroros called Kascusara or Kascous There are also the Towns of Kasriocam and Mencherink which though on the Virginian side of the River Rorenock yet are accounted rather belonging to Carolina The Countrey as it is now in possession of the English is divided and governed according to a platform and model drawn up by my Lord Shaftsbury with the consent and approbation of the rest of the Lords Proprietors judged by many serious persons that have perused it of equal advantage to the Inhabitants with any that ever hath been yet experienced in respect of the equal ballance of the interests of all parties The whole Province is divided into several Counties each containing forty square plats of 12000 acres a piece of these square plats eight are to be divided among the Lords Proprietors that is each to have one with the title of a Signory eight more among the Nobility of which there are to be three in every County a Landgrave and two Cassiques only the Landgrave to have double the proportion to the two Cassiques that is four to their two a piece the rest containing 24 acres falls to the people and this division is to be observed alike in every County by which means one fifth of the Land comes to the Proprietors another to the Nobility and three to the People The Signories or Lands belonging to the Proprietors are to be hereditary and descend with the Dignity to their Heirs and in like manner the Baronies The Parliament which is to be Biennial is to consist of the Proprietors the Nobility and for the people one chosen out of every District by the Freeholders which representatives are to have a free Vote in the making of Laws the force whereof is determined to set a time viz. sixty years or thereabouts to prevent the incumbrances and mischiefs arising from the multiplicity of rules and penalties which the longer a Law continues are liable to be increased and perplexed by the cunning of such as make a gain by the practice of the Law Besides the Parliament which hath the Legislative Power there are eâ—ght supreme Courts for the dispatch of all publick affairs The first is that of the Palatine for so the eldest of the Proprietors is stil'd who hath power to call Parliaments and dispose of publick affairs The second is the Chief Iustices for the judging of Criminals and trial of Causes about Right and Propriety The third is the Chancellor's Court which is for the passing of Charters and managing the grand affairs belonging to the Province The fourth is the High-Constablâ—s which is for the ordering of the Land-Militia The fifâ—h is the Admirals for the disposing of the Naval-Forces and other Maritime affairs The sixth is the High Stewards which inspects into the business of Trade The seventh is the Treasurers which looks after the incomes and disbursements of the publick Stock or Treasury The eighth is the Chamberlain's which marshals and orders the ceremonies and fashions in all great Marriages Burials and publick Solemnities All these Courts each of which consists of one Proprietor and six Counsellors whereof two are chosen by the Nobility and two by the People joyned together make up the Council of State or Grand Council by which all affairs of highest concernment are managed and to which the last appeal lies in all Causes belonging to them There is also a Court in every County and in every District another in each of which to prevent long Suits whereby the people suffer only to enrich a numerous Tribe of glib-tongu'd Orators no Cause is tried above once only an appeal to be made from an inferior to a superior Court till it come to the Proprietors Court where the last determination is made without farther appeal neither indeed are there any mercenary Pleaders allowed And farther to prevent the occasion of Controversies and Sâ—â—â—s in Law there is to be a Register of all Grants and Conveyances of Land Lastly to prevent all disturbance and annoyance to publick or private weal and safety strict enquiry is to be made into the conversations of such as shall be found to have neither estates not employments such provision being to be made as shall take away all excuses of following illegal courses nor are any to be suffered to make a Trade of begging who have ability of body and are obliged by necessity to work since it is apparent that idleâ—ess and beggery are the source of all those villanies which by the hand of Iustice bring so many to untimely ends whose lives might otherwise haply have one way or other conduced to the service of their King or Countrey and that it must needs be much more advantagious to the publick to prevent the necessity of inflicting capital punishments than to inflict them when deserved As to the Government in point of Religious affairs there is only this to be observed that a free toleration and liberty of Conscience is granted to all excepting in the case of Atheism Profaneness and debauchery of life as destructive to all Government and humane Society whereas ceremonies and indifferent circumstances in Religion are judged to tend most to disturbance when most strictly and rigorously imposed A Map of EAST INDIA The Description of India INDIA by the Ancients simply so denominated but by the Moderns sirnamed Orientalis for distinction sake in regard America or the new found World is usually stil'd India Occidentalis or the West-Indies is that Region of Asia which under one appellation
Novogardia and whose primary City of the same name was besieged in vain by Steven King of Poland with an Army of 10000 men One remarkable thing is reported of this Countrey namely that the Cattel of what coloured hair soever that are brought into it after a short while turn perfectly white The Volsks or people of this Countrey have a Language peculiar to themselves 21 Corelia a Province separated toward the East with a long tract of Hills from Finland its chief Towns are Corelâ—burgh according to the name of the Province and Nordenburg seated at the entrance of the River Warfuga into St. Nicholas-Bay besides Hexholm in possession of the Swedish King to whom therefore as Lord of Finland this Province is tributary 22 Biarmia or West-Lapland for it is accounted a part of Lapland though subject to the Great Duke since the people of this Countrey called Dikilâ—ppâ— are a sort of wild Laplanders Tude and barbarous without setled habitations in Towns or Cities but living most in Caves some in scattered sheds toward the Sea-side withal bruitish Idolaters but performing strange things by sorcery 23 Bieleiezioro a Dukedom increasing the Titles of the Czar or Great Duke It is named from the Lake Biolisero or the White Lake on which it is situated extending 36 German miles in length and as many in bredth This Countrey is almost all over fenny and full of woods 24 25 26 and 27 Four Provinces comprehended in a vast Promontory which lying on the other side of the Bay of Granvick or St. Nicholas over against Biarmia shoots Northward into the Arctick Region all won from the Tartars of late years to the Russian Empire namely Petzora with its chief Town so nam'd from the River on which it is situate near its influx into the Sea and girdled with a parcel ridge of those Hills called Hâ—perborei Condora more Northward whose chief Town is Pustozera so calâ—ed from the Lake Ozera near which it stands Obdora lying on each side of the River ob from whence it is so nam'd Iugria between the Provinces of Petzora and Duina the original habitation as some Writers affirm of the Pannonians or Hungarjans as is conjectured from the resemblance of the Language or as others say of the ancient Iaâ—yges often mentionâ—d in History 28 wiathca a barren Countrey and much taken up with large woods lying beyond tâ—e River Cammâ— Eastward taken from the Tartar by the Great Duke Basilius yet still inhabited according to the Tartarian manner of Hoords and movable Habitations excepting one City built by the Moscovites since their taking of this Countrey whereof it bears the name serving as a Fortress being garrison'd to deâ—end it against those from whom they took it but that which hath given greatest advantage to the Russian over the Tartar hath been the taking of 29 Casan and 30 Astracan heretofore two Potent Kingdoms of Tartaria Deserta from the Nothacensian Tartars They were first conquered by Bâ—silius but revolting totally subdued about the year 1553 by Iohn Vasilovich annex'd to the Russian Empire and give Royal addition to the Style of the Czar Homonymous with these two Kingdoms are their Capital Cities besides which there are most taken notice of in Casan the Cities Sâ—iatski 20 versts from the City that is within a fourth part so many Italian miles Tetus 120 versts distant Samara 350. Soratof as many from Samara In the Kingdom of Astacan Zarisa 350 versts beyond Saratof towards Astracan Tzornogar 200 versts from Sariza Before the first Conquest of these two Kingdoms by Basilius Casan and the total subduing of them by Ioannes Bâ—sâ—â—ides and the winning of those Provinces before mentioned The Tartarian yoke was shâ—ken off by Iohn the third before whose time the Russians were so slavishly tributary to the Tartars that the Czar was obliged once a year to feed an Horse of the Cham's which was kept at Mosco for the purpose with Oats out of his own Cap. On the Northern or frozen Ocean there lie two Islands towards the Coast of Russia and therefore supposed to belong to the Russian Empire viz. Nova Zembla and Willoughby's Island so called as being first discovered in the year 1553 by Sir Hugh Willoughby who in a second Voyage the next year his Ship being fix'd in the ice was in these Seas frozen to death with all his Company FINIS
Kent and the East-side thereof is altogether washed with the German Seas 4 The Air is temperate and pleasant only towards the waters somewhat aguish the soyl is rich and fruitful though in some places sandy and barren yet so that it never frustrates the Husbandmans hopes or fills not the hands of her Harvest-labourers but in some part so fertile that after three years glebe of Saffron the Land for eighteen more will yield plenty of Barley without either dung or other faâ—ning earth 5 Her ancient inhabitants known to the Romans were by Caesar called the Trinobants of whom in the former Chapter we have spoken and in our History shall speak more at large But this name perished with the age of the Empire the Saxons presently framed a new and with Hertford and Middlesex made it their East-Saxons Kingdom until that Egbâ—rt bought this and the whole into an entire and absolute Monarchy the Danes after them laid so â—ore for this Province that at â—â—â—mfleet and Havenet now Sâ—â—bery they fortified most strongly and at Barklow besides the hills mounted for their burials the Danewort with her red berries so plentifully grow that it is held and accounted to spring from the blood of the Danes which in that place was spilt and the herb as yet is called from them the Danes-bloud neither yet were they quelled to surcease that quarrel but at Ashdowne abode the Iron side in â—ight wherein so much blood of the English was spilt that Canutus their King in remorse of conscience built a Church in the place to pacifie God for the sins of his people but when the Normans had got the garland of the whole many of the Nobles there seated themselves whose posterities since both there and else-where are spread further abroad in the Realm 6 The Commodities that this shire yieldeth are many and great as of Woods Corn Cattle Fish Forrests and Saffron which last groweth with such gain and increase upon her North parts that from a split Clove much like unto Garlike a white blewish Flower shortly springeth from whence fillets of Saffron are gathered before the Sun and dried are sold as spice with great gain From the Islands Canvey Mersey Horsey Northly Osey Wallot and Foulness great store of Fish and Fowl are daily gotten and so from their Cattle have they continual increase which men and boys milk as well the Ewe as the Kinâ— whereof they make great and thick Cheese sold abroad in the Land much thereof transported unto other Countries Their Oysters which we call Walfleet the best in esteem and are thought from Pliny to have been served in the Romans Kitchins But least we should exceed measure in commending or the people repose their trust in the soyl behold what God can do to frustrate both in a moment and that by his meanest creatures for in our age and remembrance the year of Christ 158. an Army of Mice so over ran the Marshes in Dengey Hundred near unto South minster in this County that they shore the grass to the very roots and so tainted the same with their venemous teeth that a great Murtain fell upon the Cattle which grazed thereon to the great losse of their owners 7 The chiefest City for account at this day in this Shire is Colchester bâ—ilt by Collus the Brittish Prince one hundred twenty four years after the birth of our Saviour Christ if he of Monmouth say true wherein his son Luâ—ius Helena and Constantine the first Christian King Empresse and Emperour in the World were born which made Nechâ—m for Constantinâ— to sing as he did From Colchester there rosâ— a Star The Rayes whereof gave glorious light Throughout the world in Climates far Great Constantine Romes Emperour bright And the Romans to the great honour of Helena inscribed her Piissima Venerabilis Augustâ— But of these we shall be occasioned to speak more hereafter This City is situated upon the South of the River Coln from whence it hath the name and is walled about raised upon a high Trench of earth though now much decayed having six gates of entrance and three Posterns in the West wall besideâ— nine Watch-Towers for defence and containeth in compasse 1980 paces wherein stand eight fair Churches and two other without the walls for Gods divine service S. Tenants and the Black Fryers decayed in the Suburbs Mary Magdalens the Nunnery S. Iohns and the Crouched Fryers all suppressed within towards the East is mounted an old Castle and elder ruines upon a Trench containing two Acres of ground whereas yet may be seen the provident care they had against all ensuing assaults The trade of this Town standeth chiefly in making of Cloth and Bayes with Saies and other like Stuffs daily invented aâ—d is governed by two Bayliffs twelve Aldermen all wearing Scarlet a Recorder a Town Clerk and four Sergeants at Mace Whose position for Latitude is in the degree 52 14 minutes and for Longitude in the degree 21 and 50 minutes 8 Places of Antiquity and memorable note in this County I observe the most Famous to be Camolodunum by us Maldon which was the Royal Seat of Cunobelin King of the Trinobants as by his money therein minted appeareth about the time of our Saviours birth which City afterwards Claudius won from the Britains and therein placed a Colony of Souldiers which were called Victriâ—â—nsis This City Queen Boduâ— in revenge of her wrongs razed to the ground what time she stirred their people against Nero with the slaughter of seventy thousand of the Romans Of some later and lesser account was Ithaâ—chester now S. Peters upon the wall where the Fortenses with their Captain kept towards the declination of the Roman Empirâ— In the East promontory in this County in the Reign of Richard the second the teeth of a Giant were found if they were not of an Elephant of a marvellous size saith Ralph Coggeshall and not far thence in the reign of Elizabeth more bones to the like wonder were digged up 9 I purposely omit the message of a Pilgrim from S. Iohn Baptist by whom he sent a Ring to King Edward Confessor for which cause his house took the name Havering seeing the Monks of those times made no great dainty daily to forge matter for their own advantage who in this Shire so swarmed that they had houses erected at Waltham Pritelewel Tiltey Dunmow Lecyâ— Hatfield-Peverel Chelmesford Coggâ—shall Maldon Earls coln Colchester S. Osiths Saffron-Walden Hatfield-Bradockâ— and more with great revenues thereto belonging all which felt the Axes and Hammers of destruction when the rest of such foundations fell under the flail of King Henry the Eighth who with Hezekiah brake down all these Brazen Serpents 10 This Shire is divided into 23 Hundreds wherein are seated 21 Market-Towns 5 Castles 5 Havens 2 of His Majesties Mannours and 415 Parish-Churches SVFFOLCK SUFFOLK CHAPTER XVI SUFFOLK in regard of them which were seated in Northfolk is a County most plenteous and pleasant for habitation It is
Colchester declareth that a Fish in all parts like a man was taken near Oxford and for six months was kept in the Castle whence after he escaped again to the Sea As strange but most true was a crop of Pease that without tillage or sowing grew in the Rocks betwixt this Oxford and Aldebrough in the year 1555 when by unseasonable weather a great dearth was in the Land there in August were gathered above one hundred Quarters and in blossoming remained as many more where never grass grew or earth ever seen but hard solid Rocks three yards deep under their roots 8 Places separated from common use and devoted to God and his service by religious Princes were at S. Edmunds Ipswich Ikleworth Blithborow Clare Ieston Burgh Castle wherein Sigebert King of the East Angles entered the profession of a Monk but was thence forced by his people to fight against the Mercians in which Battle he was slain And Dunwich where Foelix founded his Episcopal See These with many others in this County were suppressed in the fall of the Monasteries and their Revenues assumed by King Henry the Eighth 9 This Shire is principally divided into three parts which are called Celdable S. Edmunds and S. Andreys Liberties subdivided into twenty two Hundreds and them again into 575 Parish-Churches wherein are seated seven Castles and twenty eight Market-Towns NORFOLCKE NORTHFOLK CHAPTER XVII NORTHFOLK is an Island inclining to an oval form closed on the South part with the Rivers of Wavenay and the lesser Ouse which divides it from Suffolk On the East and North with the German Ocean on the West toward Cambridge-shires with some branches of the greater Ouse toward Lincolis-shire with that part of the Neve which passeth from Wisbitch into the Washes It containeth in length from Tarmouth to Wifbitch about fifty miles In breadth from Theâ—ford to Wells about thirty The whole Circuit is about two hundred forty two miles The Name ariseth from the situation of the people who being the Norther-most of the Kingdom of East-Angles are therefore called the Northfolk as the Souther-most Southfolk The Air is sharp and piercing especially the Champion and near the Sea therefore it delayeth the Spring and Harvest the situation of the Countrey inclining thereto as being under the 53 degree of Latitude The Soil diverse about the towns commonly good as Clay Chalk or fat Earth well watered and with some Wood upward to the Heaths naked dry and barren Marsland and Flegge exceeding rich but Marsland properly for Pasture Flegge for Corn. 2 The parts from Thetford to Burneham and thence Westward as also along the Coast be counted Champion the rest as better furnished with Woods Woodland The Champion aboundeth with Corn Sheep and Conies and hesein the barren Heaths as the Providence of our Ancestors hath of old disposed them are very profitable For on them principally lie our Fould courses called of the Saxons whose institution they therefore seem to be Paldyocum that is Liberty of fold or foâ—â—dage These heaths by the compasture of the sheep which we call Tathe are made so rich with Corn that when they fall to be sown they commonly match the fruitfullest grounds in other Countries and laid again do long after yield a sweeter and more plentiful feed for Sheep so that each of them maintain other and are the chiefest wealth of our Countrey The Woodland fitter for grass is maintained chiefly by feeding of Cattel yet well stored with Corn and Sheep The Coast is fortunate in Fish and hath many good harbours whereof Lynn and Tarmouth be the mother-ports and of great traffique Wells and Blackeney next in estimation The whole County aboundeth with Rivers and pleasant Springs of which the Ouse is the chiefest by whose plentiful branches the Isle of Ely the Towns and Shires of Cambridge Huntington and the County of Suffolk vent and receive Commodities The next is Hiâ—rus or Yere passing from Norwich to â—armouth where it receiveth the Bure coming from Aylsham both of them of great service for water carriages but very notable for their plenty of fish for some one man out of an hold upon the Bnrâ— hath drawn up ordinarily once a year between two Nets above five or six score Bushels of Fish at one draught The Waveney and the lesser Ouse are also Navigable and of great use The residue I omit 3 The people were anciently called the ICENI as the also of Suffolk Cambridge-shire and Huntington-shire and supposed to be of them whom Caesar nameth Cenimagni Ptolomy Simeni some Tigeni Their manners were likely to be as the rest of the Britains barbarous at those times as appeareth by Caesar and Tacitus Neither can I otherwise commend their successors the Saxons for so also their own Countreyman Ethelward termeth them Since the entry of the Normans they have been counted civil and ingenious apt to good Letters adorning Religion with more Churches and Monasteries than any Shire of England and the Laws and Seats of Iustice for many ages with some excellent men from whom most of our chief Families and some of the greatest Nobility of the Kingdom have taken advancement And herein is Northfolk fortunate that as Crete boasted of an hundred Cities so may she of an hundred Families of Gentlemen never yet attainted of high Treason How the Government of this County was about Caesars time is uncertain but agreeable no doubt to the rest of the Britains under some peculiar Toparch or Regulus as Tacitus termeth him The latter Romans held it by two Garrisons one at Gariannum neer â—armouth the other at Branodunum now called Brancastre both of horse and commanded by the Comes Maritimi Tractus as Mercellinus calleth him and termed after Comes Littoris Saxonici Upon the entry of the Saxons this County with Suffolk fell in the portion of the Angles and about the year five hundred sixty one were together erected into a Kingdom by Vffa of whom the succeeding Kings were tituled Vffines But having suffered many Tempests of Fortune it was in the year 870 utterly wasted and extinct by Hungar and Hubba the Danes who overthrew the vertuous King Edmund about Thetford and after martyred him at S. Edmundsbury Yet they did not long enjoy it for King Edward shortly recovered it from them and annexed it to his other Kingdoms The Daâ—es notwithstanding inhabited abundantly in these parts so that many of our Towns were sounded by them aâ—d a great part of our people and Gentry are risen out of their bloud 4 This Kingdom of East-Angles was after allotted to an Earldom of that name by William the Conqueroâ—r who made Radulph a Britain marrying his Kinswoman Earl thereof but gave the greatest parts of this County about Wimonham Keninghall Lenn Burnham Fulmerstone c. to W. de Albany Pincerne and W. de Warranna Forrestario who to strengthen themselves according to the use of that time with the homage and service of many Tenants divided large portions of the same amongst their friends and
by Succession and Right of Inheritance the Earldâ—m of Chester annexed to his most happy Stiles Upon whose Person I pray that the Angels of Iacobs God may ever attend to his great glory and Great Britains happiness 9 If I should urge credit unto the report of certain Trees floating in Bagmere only against the deaths of the Heirs of the Breretons thereby seated and after to sink until the next like occasion or inforce for truth the Prophesie which Leyland in a Poetical fury forespake of Beeston-Castle highly mounted upon a steep Hill I should forget my self and wonted opinion that can hardly believe any such vain Predictions though they be told from the mouths of Credit as Bagmere-Trees are or learned Leyland for Beesson who thus writeth The day will come when it again shall mount his head aloft If I a Prophet may be heard from Seers that say so oft With eight other Castles this Shire hath been strengthened which were Ould-Castle Shocloch Shoâ—witch Chester Pouldford Dunham Frodesham and Haulten and by the Prayers as then was taught of eight Religious Houses therein seated preserved which by King Henry the Eight were suppressed â—â—amely Stanlow Ilbree Maxfeld Norton Bunbery Combermere Rud-neath and Vale-Royal besides the VVhite and black Friâ—rs and the Nunnery in Chester This Counties division is into seven Hundreds wherein are seated thirteen Market-Towns eighty five Parish-Churches and thirty-eight Chappels of Ease Lancaster LANCA-SHIRE CHAPTER XXXVII THE County Palatine of Lancaster famous for the four Henries the fourth fifth sixth and seventh Kings of England derived from Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster is upon the South confined and parted by the River Mersey from the County Palatine of Chester the fair County of Darby-shire bordering upon the East the large County of York-shire together with Westmerland and Cumberland being her kind neighbours upon the North and the Sea called Mare Hibernicum embracing her upon the West 2 The form thereof is long for it is so inclosed between York-shire on the East side and the Irish-Sea on the West that where it boundeth upon Cheshire on the South-side it is broader and by little and little more Northward it goeth confining upon Westmerland the more narrow it groweth It containeth in length from Brathey Northward to Halwood Southward fifty seven miles from Denton in the East to Formby by Altmouth in the West thirty one and the whole circumference in compass one hundred threescore and ten miles 3 The Air is subtile and piercing not troubled with gross vapours or foggy mists by reason whereof the People of that Country live long and healthfully and are not subject to strange and unknown diseases 4 The Soil for the generality is not very fruitful yet it produceth such numbers of Cattel of such large proportion and such goodly heads and horns as the whole Kingdom of Spain doth scarce the like It is a Country replenished with all necessaries for the use of Man yielding without any great labour the commodity of Corn Flax Grass Coals and such like The Sea also addeth her blessing to the Land that the People of that Province want nothing that serveth either for the sustenance of Nature or the satiety of appetite They are plentifully furnished with all sorts of Fish Flesh and Fowls Their principal Fuell is Coal and Turff which they have in great abundance the Gentlemen reserving their Woods very carefully as a beauty and principal ornament to their Mannors and Houses And though it be far from â—ondon the Capital City of this Kingdom yet doth it every year furnish her and many other parts of the Land besides with many thousands of Cattel bred in this Country giving thereby and other ways a firm testimony to the World of the blessed abundance that it hath pleased God to enrich this noble Dukedom withall 5 This Counties ancient Inhabitants were the Brigantes of whom there is more mention in the description of York-shire who by Claudius the Emperour were brought under the Roman subjection that so held aud made it their Seat secured by their Garrisons as hath been gathered as well by many Inscriptions found in Walls and ancient Monuments fixed in Stones as by certain Altars erected in favour of their Emperours After the Romans the Saxons brought it under their protection and held it for a part of their Northumbrian Kingdom till it was first made subjugate to the Invasion of the Danes and then conquered by the victorious Normans whose Posterities from thence are branched further into England 6 Places of antiquity or memorable note are these the Town of Manchester so famous as well for the Market-Place Church and Colledge as for the resort unto it for Clothing was called Manâ—unium by Antonine the Emperour and was made a Fort and Station of the Romans Riblechester which taketh the name from Râ—ibell a little River near Clithâ—râ— though it be a small Town yet by Tradition hath been called the richest Town in Christendom and reported to have been the Seat of the Romans which the many Monuments of their Antiquities Statues Pieces of Coin and other several Inscriptions digg'd up from time to time by the Inhabitants may give us sufficient perswasion to believe But the Shire Town is Lancaster more pleasant in situation than rich of Inhabitants built on the South of the River Lon and is the same Longovicum where as we find in the Notiâ—e Provinces a company of the Longovicarians under the Lieutenant General of Britain lay The beauty of this Town is in the Church Castle and Bridge her Streets many and stretched fair in length Unto this Town King Edward the Third granted a Mayor and two Bailiffs which to this day are elected out of twelve Brethren assisted by twenty four Burgesses by whom it is yearly governed with the supply of two Chamberlains a Recorder Town-Clerk and two Sergeants at Mace The elevation of whose Pole is in the degree of Latitude 54 and 58 scruples and her Longitude removed from the West point unto the degree 17 and 40 scruples 7 This Country in divers places suffereth the force of many flowing Tides of the Sea by which after a sort it doth violently rent asunder one part of the Shire from the other as in Fourness where the Ocean being displeased that the shore should from thence shoot a main way into the West hath not obstinately ceased from time to time to slash and mangle it and with his Fell irruptions and boysterous Tides to devour it Another thing there is not unworthy to be recommended to memory that in this Shire not far from Foâ—rness-Felles the greatest standing water in all England called Winander Mere lieth stretched out for the space of ten miles of wonderful depth and all paved with stone in the bottom and along the Sea-side in many places may be seen heaps of sand upon which the People pour water until it recover a saltish humour which they afterwards boil with Turffs till it become white Salt 8 This
not the German-Sâ—as a ready means to further the dissolution of her Ice and Snow and the plenty of Coals there gotten a great help to comfort the Body with marmth and defend it from the bitter coldness 4 The soil cannot be rich having neither fertility of ground for Corn or Cattel the most part of it being rough and in every place hard to be manâ—red save only towards the Sea and the River Tyne where by the great diligence and industrious pains of good husbandry that part is become very fruitful 5 The ancient Inhabitants of this Country mentioned by Ptolomy were called OTTALINI OTTADENI and OTTADINI which by an eaâ—ie alteration as M. Câ—mbden saith if it had been called OTTATINI signifying about the River Tyne or on the further side of Tyâ—e for so this People were planted there would have been much consonance both with the name of the Inhabitants and the Position and Site of the Province 6 The chiefest commodity that enricheth this County are those Stones Linthancrates which we call Sea-coals whereof there is such plenty and abundance digged up as they do not only return a great gain to the Inhabitants but procure also much pleasure and profit to others 7 No place of â—his Province vents forth so many of these Sea-coals into other Regions as New-Castle doth being the very Eye of all the Towns in this County for it doth not only minister relief by such provision to all other parts of England but doth also furnish the wants of forrain Countries with her plenty By means of this and the intercouse of Traffique which it hath the place is grown exceeding rich and populous Before the Conquest it was called Monk-chester having been as it seemed in the possession of â—onks and Chester being added which signifies a Bulwark or place of defence and shews that in ancient time it had been a place of Fortification 8 After the Conquest it got the name of Newcastle by the New Castle which Robert the Son of William the Conquerour built there out of the ground What it was called in old time is not known yet some are of opinion that it may be thought to have been Gatrosentum for that Gatesâ—ead the suburb as it were of the same expresseth in their own proper signification that British name Gatrosentum It is now most ennobled both by the Haven which Tyne maketh of that not able depth that it beareth very tall Ships and is able to defend them against Storms and Tempests As also by many favours and honours wherewith it hath been dignified by Princes for Richard the Second granted that a Sword should be carried before the Mayor and Henry the Sixt made it a County consisting of a Corporation within it self It is adorned with four Churches and fortified with strong Walls that have eight gates It is distant from the first West line 21 degrees and 30 minutes and from the Equinoctial-line towards the North-Pole thirty four degrees and fifâ—y-seven minutes 9 The utmost Town in England and the strongest Hold in all Britain is Barwick From whence it had the name is not certainly made known Some fetch it from Berengarius a Duke never read of Howsoever this is better to be said than trusted and whencesoever it hath the name it is seated between two mighty Kingdoms shooting far into the Sea with the which and the River Tweed it is almost encompassed and whensoever any discord fell between the two Nations this place was the first thing they took care of It hath endured the brunts of divers inroads and incursions and been oftentimes possessed and repossessed of the Sâ—ots and English But since it was reduced under the command of Edward the Fourth our Kings have from time to time so strengthned it with new Works and Fortifications as they cut off all hopes of winning it The Governour of this Town is also Warden of the East-Marches against Scotland The Longitude of it according to Mathematical observation is 21 degrees and 43 minutes the Latitude 55 degrees and 48 minutes 10 The Inhabitants of this Country are a warlike People and excellent Horsemen and arâ— made fierce and hard by the several encounters of the Scots and not much unlike them in neither betwixt whom in this County many Battels have been fought and the successes oftentimes waved through very doubtfully the Victory sometimes falling to the Scots sometimes to the English At Otterburne was one in which three or four times it stood doubtfully indifferent till in the end the Scots got the upperhand of the English Howbeit their glory was not made so illustrious by this Conquest but that it was as much darkned by the foil they received at Anwicke where William King of Scots was taken and presented Prisoner to Henry the Second As also by that Battel at Brumridge Where King Athelstan fought a pitcht field against Anlafe the Danâ— Constantine King of 〈◊〉 and Eâ—genius King of Cumberland and that with such fortunaâ—e success as it hath left matter sufficient to fill the pens of Historians Flodden-Field also memorable in the death of Iames the fourth King of Scots who was there slain and his Army overthrown in a sharp Fight as he displayed his Banner in great hope against England when King Henry the Eight lay at the siege of Turnay in France 11 Other Battels in this County have been as that at Hexam called by Beda Hangustâ—ld wherein Iohn Nevil Marquess Mâ—ntacute encountred the Leaders of the Lancastrian Faction with much courage and with greater success put them to flight for which he was made Earl of Northumberland by Edward the Fourth As also that of Dilston by Beda called Devilshurne where Oswald having the Faith of Christ for his Defence and Armour slew Cedwall the Britain in a set Battel himself straightwaies becoming a professed Christian and causing his people to be instructed in Christain Religion 12 Many memorable Antiquities are found in this Country along the Wall and in other places As pieces of Coin Inscriptions broken and unperfect Altars c. the ruines of the Wall yet to be seen but none that deserves more to be remembred than Wall-Town by Beda called Ad Murum for that Segebert King of the East-Saxons was in it baptized in the Christian Faith by the hands of Paulinus and Halyston where the said Paulinus is said to have baptized many thousands into the Faith of Christ in the Primitive Church of the English Nation 13 Busy-gap is a place infamous for robbing and thieving and is therefore rather remembred as a cautionary note for such as have cause to travel that way than for any proper matter of worth it hath that merits place with other parts of this Province Other matters of observation are only these that North-Tyne running thorow the Wall waters two Dales which breed notable light-horse-men and both of them have their hillsâ— hard by â—o boggy and standing with water on the top that no horse-men are able to ride through them and
lieth about five leagues North-West from Iersey and is compaâ—â—ed like to her neighbour with the British Sea It lieth in length from Plymouth-Bay South-West to Lancroâ—se de Anckers North-East thirteen miles in breadth from S. Martins-point South-East to the Howe North-West nine miles and is in circuit thirty six miles The Emperour Antonine having the rule and dominion of France at that time called Gaul from whence the word Gallia is derived did name this Island Sarnia which afterwards by the change of Times and corruption of Languages was long since and is at this day called Garnsey 2 This Isle in form and fashion standeth in the Sea much like to a Park that is encompassed â—ound about with a Pale of Rocks being very defensible unto the Island from the attempting invasion of Enemies 3 The Air and Climate of this Isle hath little or no difference in temper or quality from that of Iersey And this deserves to be remembred of it that in this Isle is neither Toad Snake Adder or any other venemous creature and the other hath great plenty 4 It standeth for the most part upon a Rock very high in many places from the Sea Nevertheless the Soil is very fruitful yielding forth great plenty of Grass for their Sheep and other Cattel which they have to serve all uses Their Fields in the Summer time are so naturally gaâ—nished with Flowers of all sorts that a man being there might conceit himself to be in a pleasant artificial Garden 5 The Inhabitants are not so much given to Tillage as they of Iersey though the Soil be as fruitful They have of late takeâ— great delight in Planting and Setting of Trees of all sorts and especially of Apples by reason whereof they make much Sider Their Commodities are alike and their helps from the Sea no less or rather more 6 In this Isle are many great â—teep Rocks among which is found a hard stone called by the â—reâ—ch-Men Smyris which we term Emerill The Stone is serviceable for many purposes and many Trades as Glasiers c. but especially for the Goldsmiths and Lapidaries to cut their precious Stones 7 It hath a head of Land upon the North part thereof the passage into which is so narrow that a man would think that at every Tyde the Sea beating strongly on both sides it were in a continual danger to be fundred from the other part of the Isle This place is called S. Micâ—â—â—l in the Vale where in former times stood a Priory or a Covent of Religious Persons the ruines whereof are at this day to be seen 8 The government of this Isle in nature and forâ— reseâ—bles the other of Iâ—rsâ—y of whom shall be said The People in their Original and Language alike also but in their Customs nnd Conditions they come neerer the civil fashions of the English Other matters of moâ—ent I find not worthy to be recorded It hath ten Parishes and one Market-Town being also a Haven aâ—d is called S. 〈…〉 â—lose by the Peer and Castâ—-Cornâ—t IERSEY THe two Islands Iersey and Garnsey being the only remains of the Dukedom of Normandy that in former times many years together was in the possession and under the command of the Kings of England annexing thereunto a large Territory and glorious Title to the Crown are both seated in the Sea called Mare Britannicum the Ocean parting them a good distance asunder and are now both adjuncts and within the circuit of Hampshire For the first being the Isle of Iersey it lieth upon the British-Sea having on the North parts the Coasts of Hampshire and on the South the Country of Normandy 2 This Island is long not much unlike the fashion of an Egg. It contains in length from Sentwâ—n-Poole upon the West to Mount-Orguil Castle on the East ten miles and in breadth from Dubon-point to Plymounâ—-bay six miles the whole circuit of the Island being thirty eight miles It is distant from a little Island caâ—â—ed Alderney about four leagues It was in old time called Caesaria whether from Iulius Octavius or any the other Caesars that followed is unknown But the Freâ—chmen have by corruption of speech long time called it Iersey 3 It is a very pleasant and delightful Island and giveth a pleasant aspect unto the Seas It lyeth Southward not far from a craggy ridge of Rocks which is much feared of the Mariners and makes the passage that way very dangerous howbeit it serves for a forcible defence against Pirats or any stranger that attempts invasion and they are termed Casquets 4 The Soil is very fertile bringing forth store of Corn and Cattel but especially of Sheep that are of reasonable bigness the most of them bearing four horns apiece Their Wooll very fine and white of which the Inhabitants make their Iersey Stockings which are ordinarily to be had in most parts of England and yield a great commodity unto the Island 5 The first original of the Inhabitants sprung either from the Normans or Britains or both They speak French though after a corrupt manner and have continued their Names Language Customs and Country without any or little intermixâ—ure these many hundred years having been under the jurisdiction of the English ever since the untimely and unnatural death of Robert Duke of Normandy eldest son to William the Conquerour 6 The People of this Country live very pleasantly as well by the profits of the Land as the helps and furtherances of the Sea that yields unto them and especially in Summer season great store of Fish but principally for Conger and Lobsters the greatest and fatâ—est upon the Coaâ—t of England Wood is very scant for their best Fuel is Turff some Coal they have brought unto them but it is very dear Straw Furrs's and Fern serving their ordinary uses The middle part of the Island hath many pretty Hills rising in it yielding a delightful object unto the Vallies that receive from one another a mutual pleasure 7 The Governour of this Iâ—le is the Captain thereof who appointeth certain Officers under him the principal of whom carrieth the name and title of a Bailif that in civil causes hath the assistance of twelve Iurats to determine of differences and minister Iustice in criminal matters seveâ— in matters of reason and conscience five Their Twelve are chosen out of the twelve Parishes so that no man goeth further to complain than to his own Iurate in ordinary Controversies but matters of moment and difficulty are determined before the Bailiâ—â— in a General Meeting 8 This Isle hath two little Islands adjacent the one S. Albous the other Hillary Island It hath twelve Parishes and four Castles No other Monuments of Name or Note WALES The Description of WALES CHAPTER I. ANtiquity hath avouched that the whole Isle of Britain was divided into three Parts The first and fairest lay contained within the French-Seas the Rivers of Sevâ—rnâ— Dâ—â— and Humber called then Lâ—oyger which name it yet retaineth in Welsh in English called England
his right hand cut off by the Kings Officers The fourth place for account is Raihader Gowy who besides the great fall of Wye with a continual noyse hath her Markets there kept upon the Sabbath which I there observed and here note for an offence 7 Many Rivers arise and run thorow this Shire which were it not that the Hills so cluster together might make the Soyl both fertile and fat Such are Teme Lug Ithon Clowdok Dulas Comatton Somegill Guithel Arro Machaway Edway Hawye Eland Clarwen and Wye besides other Loâ—ghs that stand betwixt the Hills This Shire is divided into six Hundreds wherein are seated three Forrests four Market-Towns siâ— Castles and fifty two Parish-Churches BRECKNOCK-SHIRE CHAPTER IV. BRECKNOCK-SHIRE in the British language Brethinâ—aâ— so called as the Welshmen relate of a Prince named Brechaâ—ius the Father of an holy off-spring whose twenty four Daughters were all of them Saints is a County neither very large nor greatly to be praised or disliked of whose bounds upon the North is parted from Radnâ—r with the Rivers Clarwen and Wye the West lyeth butted upon by Cardigan and Caermarden-shires the South is confined by Glamorgan and the East with Monmouth and Radnor-shires is wholly bound 2 The length of this Shire from North to South betwixt Lâ—anuthel and Iâ—tradgunles are twenty eight English miles and her breadth from East to West extended betwixt Frentisso and Elywell are twenty miles the whole circumference about one hundred and two miles 3 This County is full of Hills and uneven for travel which on the South part mount in such height that as Giraldus hath written They make the Air much colder and defend the Country from the excessive heat of the Sun where by a certain natural wholsomness of Air maketh it most temperate and on the East side the Mountains of Tolgar and Ewias do as it were fore fence the same Among which there arise and run so many fruitful Springs that their Vallies are thereby made most fertile yielding in plenty both Corn and Grass 4 The ancient Inhabitants and possessors of this Shire with the rest in this South Tract were the Silures much spoken of and great opposers to the Romans whose Countries were first made subject by Iulius Frontinus who besides the valour of the enemy had to struggle with the Mountains and Straits as Tacitus tells us neither any more hard we may well say than them of this Shire whereof one in the South and three miles from Brecknock is of such height and operation as is uncredible and were it not that I have witness to affirm what I shall speak I should blush to let the report thereof pass from my Pen In my Perambulation in these parts remaining in Brâ—cknock to observe the site of that Town the Aldermen or chief Seniors thereof regarding my pains with friendly and courteous entertainments at my departure no less than eight of them that had been Bailiffs of the Town came to visite me where they reported upon their Credit and Trials that from the top of that Hill in the Welsh called Mounch-denny or Cadier Arthur they had oftentimes cast from them and down the North-East Rock their Cloaks Hats and Staves which notwithstanding would never fall but were with the Air and Wind still returned back and blown up neither said they will any thing descend from that Cliffe being so cast unless it be stone or some Metalline substance affirming the cause to be the Clouds which are seen to rack much lower than the top of that Hill As strange Tales are told of the Mear Llynsavathan two miles by East from Brecknock which at the breaking of her frozen Ice maketh a fearful sound like unto Thunder In which place as is reported sometimes stood a fair City which was swallowed up in an Earthquake and resigned her Stone-Walls unto this deep and broad Water whither unto this day leadeth all the waies in this Shire which as learned Camdâ—n conjectureth might be that Loventrium which Ptolomy in this Tract placeth and the more confirmed by the Rivers name adjoyning being also called Lovenny which River also passeth thorow this Mear without any mixture of her waters as by the colour thereof is well perceived which glideth through it with the same stream and no greater than wherewith she first entred in 5 The Towns for Commerce are Hay Bealt and Brecknock two of them unfortunate of their former greatness whom Wars and sedition have defaced and cast down Hay upon Wye and Dulas pleasant for situation in the Rebellion of Owen Glendowerdy was diswalled depopulated and burnt in whose foundations for new repairs many Roman Coyns have been found and thereby thought to be the Seat of their Legions and Buelth now Bealt though of good frequency yet not so great as when Ptolomy observed her position for graduation who calleth it Buleum Silurum neither when it with the Country was possessed by Aurelius Ambrosius by whose permission Pascentius the Son of Vortiger ruled all as Ninius writeth nor yet as of later times when Leolin the last Prince of the Britains was therein betrayed and slain 6 Brecknock the Shire-Town for Buildings and Beauty retaineth a better regard whose Walls in Oval-wise are both strong and of good repair having three Gates for Entrance with ten Towers for defence and is in circuit six hundred and forty paces about upon whose West part a most sumptuous and stately Castle is seated the like whereof is not commonly seen whose decayes approaching do increase her ruins daily and in the end is feared will be her fall This Town is seated upon the meeting of two Rivers Houthy and Vske whose yearly Government is committed to two Bailiffs fifteen Aldermen two Chamberlains two Constables a Town-Clerk and two Sergeants their Attendants having the Poles Elevation in 52 21 minutes of Latitude and for Longitude is placed in the 16 and 32 minutes as the Mathematicians do measure them 7 This Shire is strengthened with nine Castles divided into six Hundreds wherein are seated three Market-Towns and sixty one Parish-Churches CARDIGAN-SHIRE CHAPTER V. CARDIGAN-SHIRE in the Welsh called Sire Aber-Tivi is parted on the North from Merioneth-shire with the River Dovi by the Plinillimon Hills from Montgomery-shire in part of her East and the rest from Brecknock shire with the water Towy and with Tyvy altogether on the South from Caermarden-shire The West is wholly washed with the Irish-Sea 2 The Form thereof is Horn-like bowing compass long and narrow and growing wider stll towards the North so that from Cardigan the Shire-Town and uttermost point in the South unto the River Dovi her farthest North-bounder are thirty two miles and from the head of Clarwan in the East to Abersthwyth on her West the broadest part in the Shire are only fifteen the whole in circumference is one hundred and three miles 3 The Air is open and somewhat piercing The Soil is hilly and Wales like uneven yet more plain and champion towards the Sea than
the Receits of other Rivolets into her Stream and with many Wings doth sport her self thorow all the East-part of this Shire 3 That this River took her name from Abren the beautiful base daughter of Locrinus begotten out of Wedlock upon Estrildis the daughter of Humber the Scythian King that invaded this Land and both of them drowned in this River by Guendolena King Locrinus surviving Widow let Geoffrey relate and Poets enlarge whereof one among them in good account thus writeth In flumen praaecipitatur Abren Nomen Abren fluvio de Virgine nomen eidem Nomine corrupto deinde Sabrina datur Into this stream fair Abren headlong-cast Gave name of Abren to those waters vast Corruptly call'd Sabrina now at last 4 The River maketh the East part of this Shire for fruitfulness to be compared with most of the Land and to exceed any other Shire in Wales the West-side is more hilly and less inhabited yet surely those mountains breed innumerable of Cattel especially of Horses whose Portraiture for making and incomparable swiftness Giraldus Cambrensis Arch-Deacon of Brecknock doth greatly commend 5 The ancient Inhabitants that were seated in Gwineth and Powisland whereof this Shire was a part were to the Romans known by the name of ORDOVICES a puissant and couragious Nation whose Hearts and Hills held them the longest free from the Yoke of Subjection either of the Romans or English for unto the daies of Domitian they kept plea with the Romans and were not brought to the will of the English before the Reign of King Edward the first Those ORDOVICES inhabited the Counties of Mountgomery Merioneth Caernarvan Denbigh and Flint which are of us called now North-Wales a people generous and of affable conditions goodly for feature fair of complexion couragious of mind courteous to strangers and that which is most commendable most true and loyal to the English Crown Towns for Trades and Commerce in this County are six the chiefest thereof and Shire-Town is Mountgomery very wholsome for Air and pleasant for situation upon an easie ascent of an Hill and upon another far higher mounted stands a fair and well-repaired Castle from the East-Rock whereof the Town hath been walled as by some part yet standing and the Tract and Trench of the rest even unto the North-side of the said Castle may evidently be seen whose graduation for Latitude is placed in the degree 53 and for Longitude 17 the lines cutting each other in the site of this Town This Town hath lately received the Honour and Title of an Earldome whereof Philip Herbere the second Son of Henry Earl Pembroke was created the first in Anno 1605. And the Shire divided into seven Hundreds wherein are seated six Market-Towns and forty seven Parish-Churches MERIONETH-SHIRE CHAPTER X. MERIONETH-SHIRE which the Britains call Sire Verioneth and in Latine Mervia is bordered upon the North by Carâ—arvon and Denbigh-shires upon the East with Mountgomery upon the South by the River Dowy is parted from Cardigan-shire and the West side altogether washed with the Irish-Seas whose rage with such vehemency beateth against her Banks that it is thought and said some quantity of the Land hath been swallowed up by those Seas 2 In form this Shire somewhat resembleth a Welsh-Harp though small is the Musick that to her Inhabitants she makes being the roughest and most unpleasant to see to as Giraldus their own Historian writeth in all Wales The Air for great pleasure nor Soil for great profit I cannot greatly commend unless it be for the many and mighty great winds that for the most part therein do rage and the spired Hills clustred together so near and so high as the same Author affirmeth that Shepherds upon their tops falling at odds in the morning and challenging the Field for fight before they can come together to try out the quarrel the day will be spent and the heat of their fury shut up with their sleep 3 These mountains formerly did abound with Wolves for whose avoidance Edgar the peaceable did impose as Malmesbury writeth a yearly Tribute of three hundred Wolves upon Ludwall Prince of that Country whereby in three years space they were quite destroyed and now their faces are covered with fruitful Flocks of Sheep besides Neat and other Cattel that therein abundantly do grase wâ—erein the only riches of this Shire doth consist for by reason of this unevenness of the Soil and Rocks so near the face of the Earth the Plough cannot be drawn nor the Corn prosper which some have imputed to the idleness of the Inhabitants wherein they have been greatly wronged 4 These People are a part of the Ordovices of whom we have spoken who by the advantage of these Mountains held out with the longest against the Romans and their Necks not brought under the yoke of Bondage before the daies of King Edward the first since when they have attempted to cast off their subjection to the English upon those stirs raised by Owen Glendover who having been a Favorite of King Richard the second and discontented by King Henry the fourth in a quarrel with the Lord Grey of Rutâ—in that intruded upon his demains quarrelled with the King and entred into open Rebellion and Confederacy with all other his Rebels drawing the Welsh-men wholly to his side in hope to have had Princes restored of their own blood and he maintained the same with wonderful pride policy and obstinacy for a long time until his Confederates Followers and Favorites and his own courage credit and maintenance were brought so low by that powerful King that in the end he perished for very want of Food 5 Their Towns are not many neither those that they have of any stately Buildings whereof Bala Dolgelhe and Harlech are the Markets By Bala in the North-East of this County in the Welsh Lâ—integid in English Pimble-mear a great Pool of Water doth drown at least threescore Acres of ground whose nature is as the report doth pass that the High-land Floods though never so great cannot make her swell bigger by their receits but if the Air be troubled with over great blasts and tempests of Winds she in as great a rage riseth and passeth her Banks as if she would encounter that enemy in fight Into the South whereof the two headed Dee with a pretty sharp stream entreth and through the same glideth without any mixture of the same water as the Inhabitants believe more strongly conceited in their opinion for that the Salmon usually taken in Dee is never found in that Pool and the Fish called Guiniad bread in that Mear never is seen in the River Dâ—â— South thence near Dolgelhe in a lower Hill a great Rampire of Stone and compass is seen and hath been some fortification or defence in War which whilst we were curious to find out some instructions thereof by report this only we learned that it was called Caddoryrita Drâ—n according to the name of her neighbour and far higher Hill 6 Upon the West
and large promises could not by any means obtain his desires he therefore in a place of advantage suddenly surprised and ravished her weak yet resisting body After the deed done the cruel Tyrant to stop her cries and acclamations slew her and cut off her head out of which place did suddenly arise a Spring that continueth to this day carrying from the Fountain such a forcible stream and Current as the like is not found in Christendom Over the Head of the Spring there is built a Chappel of Free-stone with Pillars curiously wrought and engraved in the Chancel whereof and Glass-Window the Picture of the Virgin is drawn together with the memorial of her Life and Death To this Fountain Pilgrims are accustomed to repair in their zealous but blind devotion and divers others resort to Bath in holding firmly that the water is of much vertue There be many red Stones in the bottom of this Well and much green Moss growing upon the sides the superstition of the People holding that those red spots in the Stones were drops of the Ladies Blood which all the Water in the Spring can never wash away and that the Moss about the Wall was her Hair which though some of it be given to every Stranger that comes yet it never wasteth But howsoever this be carried for truth by the Tradition of time the Moss it self smells exceeding sweet There is also hard by Kilken a small Village within this County a little Well of no great note that at certain times riseth and falleth after the manner of Sea-tydes 9 In the South-part of this Country divided from the rest is a place in some written Copies of Antonine called Bovium which we now term Banchor first a City and afterwards a Monastery of famous memory and the first that is read of in the World wherein as Beda saith were a great number of Monks and them divided into seven Companies every one having his several Ruler assigned None of these Companies had less than three hundred Persons devoted to Prayer and to get living by their own labour for themselves and the poor although it hath long since been utterly ruinate so as now there is scarce seen the face and outward shew of a dead City or Monastery It hath only the names of two Gates remaining one standing a mile diâ—tant from another and betwixt which the River Dee now runneth where are often-times found many pieces of Roman Coyn and other tokens of antiquity But of these shall be more mention made in the following History Another like Monastery but of lesser account stood in the Vale beneath Varish a little City placed by the Romans in the consines of this Shire and Denbigh-shire and upon the Bank of Elwy and Cluyd This the Britains call Llan-Elwy of the River the Englishmen Asaph of the Founder and the Historiographers Asaphensis It is more famoused for antiquity than for building or bravery for about the year 560 Kentigern Bishop of Glasco being fled hither out of Scotland placed here a Bishops See and erected a Monastery gathering together 663. in a Religious Brotherhood whereof 300 that were unlearned gave themselves to husbandry and to work within the Monastery the rest to Prayer and Meditations When he returned into Scotland he ordained Asaph a godly and upright man to be Governour over this Monastery of whom it took the name and is called Saint Asaphs Another Monastery of great account was at Basingwarke in this County near unto which began that admirable Ditch drawn thence into the Month of Severne by King Offa the Tract whereof I have expressed thorow this Shire and will further speak thereof in the following History 10 This Shire is divided into five Hundreds fortified with seven Castles hath only one Market-Town and twenty eight Parishes in which there is a continual celebration of Divine Service ANGLESEY and CARNARVAN ANGLESEY CHAPTER XIII ANGLESEY was in the time of the Romans called Mona by the Britains Mon and Ver-Mon that is the Land of Mon of the ancient England-Saxons Moneg And at last after the Englishmen had by their sharp and several assaults brought it under their rule and became Lords thereof it was termed Anglesey as one would say The Englishmens Island 2 For an Island it is albeit it be severed from the Continent of Britain but with a small and narrow straight of the River Menai and on all other parts beaten upon with the surging and troublous Irish Sea in which it lyeth somewhat square-wise not much different in length and breadth being where it reacheth out in length from Beau-marish Eastward to the utmost Promontory Westward which we call Holy-head twenty miles and in breadth from Llambederick Northward to the point of Menai Southward seventeen miles the whole circuit or circumference amounting towards seventy miles 3 The Air is reasonable grateful and healthful and not generally subject to Diseases excepting certain Agues at sometimes which are occasioned by the Fogs and misty Exhalations which arise from the Sea called Mare Virginium with the which this Isle is encompassed 4 The Commodities that commend or rather beautifie this Country are in Corn and Cattel wherewith it not only enricheth it self exceedingly but sendeth out great Provision thereof to others to supply their defects and although the ground may seem dry and stony or unpleasant and nothing sightly wherein for the outward quality it resembleth some other parts of Wales that are not so fruitful yet for the inward bounties of nature it is far unlike for above all the Coasts of Wales it is most plentiful of Wheat insomuch as by Giraldus Cambreâ—sis report they are wont to say in Welsh by way of a Proverb Mon Mam Cambry which is to say Mon is the Mother of Wales for that when other Countries Harvest fails round about or their Provision is exhaust and drawn dry this alone like a provident and full breasted Mother is able to sustain the rest Whereunto Nature most providently hath added another benefit serviceable and necessary to the former in that the Country produceth also those kind of Stones which are called Molares as of all other fittest to make Millstones or Grindstones In some places also it yieldeth an Earth of Aluminous quality out of which some not long since began to make Alâ—m and Copperose who like unflesht Souldiers gave over their enterprise without further hope because at first they saw it not answer their over-hasty expectations 5 The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were the Ordovines mentioned before in the precedent Provinces of Denbigh-shire Flint-shire and Carnarvon-shire And this very Island was that ancient and so much ennobled Seat of the British Drâ—yds who so amated the Army of Roman Invaders as Tacitus reports and as else-where we have related in the sixth Book and seventh Chapter of our ensuing History 6 This Nation was attempted first by Paulinus Suetonius in the Reign of Nero but brought under the Roman Empire by Iulius Agricola When the
Empire of the Romans in Britain began to decline and go downward some out of Ireland entred into this Isle by stealth and â—estled themselves there as may be gathered by certain mounts of earth entrenched about and yet to be seen which they call the Irish-mens Cottages as also by a place named of the Irish-men yâ— Hiericy Gâ—idid who did there as is recorded put the Britains to flight under the leading of Sirigus The Norwegians also were often infestuous to this Island but King Ethelreds Fleet having in the year 1000 scoured the Seas round about this Isle far exceeded all both Irish and Norwegian depopulations for they wasâ—ed the Country in all hostile manner 7 After this two Hughs both Normans did greatly afflict this Island The one being Earl of Chester the other of Shrewsbury at which very time Magnus the Norwegian arriving there shot Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury through with an Arrow and departed afâ—er he had ransacked the Island It was afterwards grievouslâ— infested by the Englishmen who never gave over from time to time to invade it until in the Reign oâ— King Edward â—â—e first it was wholâ—y broâ—ght under his subjection 8 The principal Town in this Isle is Beaumarish which the said King Edward the First built in the East-side thereof and for the fâ—â—r situation thâ—uâ—h in a Mooâ—ish-place gave it the name which it now beareth whereas in times past it was called Bonover which â—e also fortified with a goodly Caâ—tle 9 The Mayor is the chiefest Magistrate of the Town who is yearly chosen and hath the assistance and help of two Bailiffs two Sergeants at Mâ—ce and one Town-Clerk by whose careful diligence the affairs of this Town are orderly managed and commanded whose Latitude is 54 and Longitude 15 45 minutes 10 Not far from hence is Lhaanvais in times past a fair Religious House of the Friers Minors which although it be now in a manner rased out of memory yet antiquity maketh mention that it hath been of great regard among the Kings of England who hâ—ve shâ—wed themselves very bountiful Patrons unto that Covent both in respect of the sanctimonious life of such as conversed there as also because there the Bodies of very eminent persons as the Daughter of King Iohn the Son of a King of the Danes as likewise of many great Lords Knights and Squires were enterred that were slain in the Wars againâ—t the Welsh in the time of many illustrious Kings of England 11 This Isle is reckoned to have had anciently many Villagâ—s in it even to the number of three hundred threescore and three and the same even at this day is very well peopled The division of this Isle for disposition of affairs that belong either to the state of the Crown or to the condition of the Country is into six Hundreds in which are seated two Market-Towns and seventy four Parish-Churches for Gods Divine Honour and Worship CAERNARVON-SHIRE CHAPTER XIV CAERNARVON-SHIRE in Welsh Sire Caer-ar-vâ—n so called because it is just over against Anglesey which the Britains call Mon and in composition was termed also Snowden-Forrest before Wales was laid into Shires the North-side whereof and the West butteth upon the Irish-Sea the South-side is inclosed with Merioneth and the East with Denbigh shires from which it is severed by the River Conwey 2 The form thereof is much like a wedge long and narrow towards the South and growing still wider towards the North so that from Pevâ—nkel-point Southward to Orms-head-point Northward are forty miles from the River Conwey Eastward to the River Llâ—noy Westward miles twenty and the whole circumference one hundred and ten miles 3 The Air is sharp and piercing by reason that the Country hath not natural Provision to ensconce her self against the extremity of Winds and Weather but especially as may be thought through the continuance of the Snow on the Hills which also exclude the Suns aspect and warmth 4 The Soil cannot be much commended for the fertility except those parts of the Sea-coasts which lie on the West towards Ireland but for the heart of this Shire it is altogether mountainous as if nature had a purpose here by rearing up these craggy Hills so thick together strongly to compact the joynts of this our Island and to frame the Inland part thereof for a fit place of refuge to the Britains against those times of adversity which afterward did fall upon them for no Army though never so strongly or scarce any Travellers though never so lightly appointed can find passage among those so many rough and hard Rocks so many Vales and Pools here and there crossing all the ways as ready obstacles to repel any Inroads of forrain assailants These Mountains may not unfitly be termed the British Alps as being the most vast of all Britain and for their steepness and cragginess not unlike to those of Italy all of them towring up into the Air and round encompassing one far higher than all the rest peculiarly called Snowdon Hills though the other likewise in the saâ—â—e sense are by the Welsh termed Craig Eriry as much as Snowy Mountains taking their name as doth by Plinies testimony Niphates in Armenia and Imaus in Scythia For all the year long these lie mantelled over with Snow hard crusted together though otherwise for their height they are open and liable both to the Sun to dissolve them and the Winds to over-sweep them 5 The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were the Oâ—â—ovices of whom we have sufficiently spoken in the description of the former Provinces neither need I insist either upon the pleasures or profits that this Country yieldeth by reason of the great affinity it hath both of Climate and Commodities with Denbigh-shire and Flint-shire before mentioned But this beyond the other in some places breeds certain Shel-fishes which being conceived by an heavenly dew bring forth Pearls in ancient times more reckoned of than now they are 6 Touching places of note that City is very ancient which the Emperour Antonine callâ—â—h Segontium taking name of a River running by which at this day is called Sâ—â—ent some Reliques of the Walls whereof do yet appear neer unto a little Church consecrated to the honour of Saint Publicius This City Ninius calleth Caer Custenith which some interpret the City of Constantine Indeed Matthew Westminster saith how true I know not that Anno 1283. here was found the body of Constantius Father to Great Constantine which King Edward thâ— first caused to be sumptuously bestowed in the Church of the new City which he raised out of the ruins of the old and is now called Caernarvon which giveth name to this whole Shire The Town it self yieldeth a most excellent prospect towards the Sea and is incompassed in a manner round with the Walls of the Castle so as we may say it is a City within a Castle which taketh up the whole West-side of it and great pity it is that so famous a work should not be perpetuous
in Ila Bunals and Iona now Columbkill where as Donald Munro who travelled through these Islands reporteth are three Tombs having the several Inscriptions of the Kings of Scotland of Ireland and of Norway 19 Among these Western Islands the Hebrides Skie Mula Ila and Arran are the greatest All of them plentiful of Corn Woods Salmons and Herrings as others of Conies Deer Horses and Sheep where in some they are wild and in others without any owners but the People uncivil and lacking Religion they rather live rudely in state of necessity than as Lords of these portions which God hath allotted them and with a sufferable ease ignorant of ambition enjoy those contentments which some others though they no great sum do more laboriously attain unto by the Precepts of Philosophy for feeding themselves with competency without any excess they return all the over-plus unto their Lords as do the Inhabitants of Hirta and Rona but alas Religion not known among them these penurious vertues are rather the curses of Cham than the followings of Christ who forbids us to be too careful for the morrow 20 The â—sles of Orkenay upon the North of Scotland lying in a most raging and tempesâ—uous Sea are about three and thirty in number whereof thirteen are inhabited and the other replenished with Cattel in these are no venomous Serpents nor other ugly vermin the Air sharp and healthful and the Soil apt to bear only Oats and Barley but not a stick of Wood among these Pomonia is the greatest accounted and called the Main-Land affording six Minerals of lead and Tin and in her chief Town a Bishops See wherein are seated twelve Parish Churches one of them very magnificent for so remote a Country 21 Of all the Romans Iulius Agricola first discovered the Orkenays yea and subdued them if we will believe Tacitus but Pomponius Mela that wrote thirty years before him doth mention them and Iuvenal in Hadrians time after him tells us the Romans had won them and lastly Claudian nameth Saxons that were slain in them and so doth Ninius name Octha and Ebissus Saxou Commanders who in their roving Pinnaces wasted the Orknays These Islands Donald Bane the Usurper of the Scottish Crown gave the King of Norway for his assistance and by the Norwegians were they held the space of an hundred and sixty years until that Alexander the third King of Scotland with Sword and Composition got them from Magnus the Fourth King of Norway which afterward King Haquin confirmed unto King Robert Bruce but lastly Christian the First King of Norway and Denmark utterly renounced all his right to those Islands when he gave his Daughter in Marriage unto King Iames the Third which deed was further ratified by the Pope who openeth the way to the possession of Kingdoms with his own Key 22 More North and further than this Chart could well express lie the Isles of Shetland of some thought to be Thule and by the Commenter upon Horace the Fortunate Island where as Tzeâ—zes fabuleth the Souls of good Men are ferryed into those Elizian Fields that ever grow green and whence Iulius Caesar could hardly be drawn as Muretus had written but their Fictions intended only that the vertuous Souls of the dead passed the uttermost bounds of earthly abode and attained to an ever-pleasing repose and ever-flourishing happiness which whether they borrowed from the description of Paradise taken both for a fair Garden and the Souls happy rest I cannot define but sure they would not have made those Fields always green if they had seen how they lie ever covered with Ice and Snow being in the 63 degree of Latitude as Ptolomy hath placed it where for the most part is a continual Winter but for proof that this was the Thule besides Ptolomies Positure Saxo Grammaticus betwixt Norway and Scotland hath placed it and Solinus two daies sailing from the point of Caledonia and Tacitus saith that the Romans kenned Thule afar off as they sailed about Britain by the Orcades and lastly Mela maketh it to face Berge a City in Norway THE KINGDOME OF IRLAND IRELAND Described CHAPTER I. THe Traditions of time have delivered unto us divers names whereby this famous Island is recorded to have been called yet none of more fair probabiliâ—y than that of Ortheus Aristotle and Claudian by whom it is named Ierna by Iuvenal and Mela called Iuverna by Diodorus Siculus Iris by Martian of Heraclea Ioyepnia by Eustachius Oyernia and Bernia by the native Inhabitants Erin by the Britains Yverdon the Welsh Bards in their Ballads Tirvolas Totidanan and Banno and by the Engâ—ish Ireland But from whence these diversities were derived arise many opinions Doubtless it is that Hibernia Iuverna and Overnia came from Ierna spoken of by Orpheus and Aristotle and the same Ierna as alâ—o Iris Iverdhon and Ireland from Erin the term that the Inhabitants now usâ— From this Erin therefore a word proper to the Nation the original is most likely to be deduced 2 Some derive Hibernia from Hiberno tempore that is from the Winter season some from Hiberus a Spaniard some from a Duke named Irnalph some again from the ancient River Iberus and some from Hiere an Irish word which signifieth the West or a Western Coast whence Erin may also seem to fetchâ—he derivation for it lieth furthest Westward of any Region in ail Europe As also for that the River running in the most remoâ—e West-part of this Island is in Pâ—olomy called Iernus like as the furthest Western Promontory in Spain from whence our Irish-Men came is by Strabo called Ierne and the River next unto it by Mela Ierna yea and Spain it self for the Western situation is called Hesperia the West-Cape of Africk Hesperium and in Germany Westrich and Westphalen from their position have their names Postelius a man that rather followed his own fancy than the judgement of others fetcheth the original of Ireland from the Hebrews as if Iâ—in should be as much as Iurin that is the Iews land which opinion I hold no better than those that would have it from the Winter-like storms although upon every Wind the Air is cold there 3 Festus Avienus in that little Book which he entituled Orae Maritimae calleth Ireland Sacram Insulam that is The holy Island to which opinion the people are soon drawn by reason of the many Saints that the Island is said to produce and the blessed Soil that affords no venomous Creatures to retain Life It is thought that Plutarch meant Ireland by his Ogygia for her great antiquity and of latter times by Isidore and Bede it was called Scotia of those Scots that inhabited it and that thence the name of Scotland together with the Scots themselves came into Britain 4 For largeness and circuit in times past this Island challenged the third place in rank of all the Isles of the then known World for thus have Geographers left us that the Indian Taproban for greatness was the first the Isle
of Britain the next and this of Ireland the third and for that cause doth Ptolomy call it the Little-Britain But howsoever Strabo hath extended the breadth as broad as the length and others have formed it in shape like an Egg yet later dimensions have found it far otherwise twice longer than broad and may be compared to the fore-leg of a Bear if the Siâ—ile breed no offence Whose East-side hath on it that tempesâ—uous Sea that cutteth her Channel betwixt England and this Ireland the West is washed with the Western-Ocean the North with the Dâ—ucaledonian and the South with the Virginian-Sea 5 The Air of this Island is delectable and wholsom though neither so clear nor subtil as is ours of England which as Mela saith is nothing favourable for the ripening of Corn but so grateful to the ground that it causeth grass to grow abundantly not only fresh and long but withal very sweet for all Cattel and in Winter is more subject to Wind than Snow and that I may use the words of Giraldus It is of all Countriâ—s most temperate neither forcing the Iâ—habitants to seek shade from the frying heat of Cancer nor the chilling cold of Capricorn to drive tâ—em to the fire but at all seasons most mild betwixt a sufferable cold and gentle warm heat 6 The Soil saith Cambrensis is uneven woody wild waterish and boggy so full of Loughs and Mears that great Ponds of Water are found upon the high Mountains These indeed make the places somewhat dangerous unto all new Commers by breeding of Rheums Dysenteries and Fluxes whose usual remedy is Vskebah a wholsome Aqua vitae that drieth more and enflameth less than many other hot Confections 7 The Commodities of this Kingdom chiefly consist in Cattel whose seed is so sweet and so rank that they will soon graze to a surfeit if they may be suffered to feed as they will Their Sheep are many but bear not the best Wooll which twice are shorn within one year Of these they make Mantles Caddowes and Coverlets vented from thence into forrain Countries Their Hobbies likewise are of great esteem and are answerable to the Ienners of Spain Bees are there in such abundance that honey is found in holes of Trees and in rests of the Rocks No annoyance of hurtful Snake or venomous Creatures and to speak all in a word nothing wanting for profit or pleasure for so much doth Giraldus affirm in saying that Nature had cast into this Western Kingdom of Zephyrus a mâ—re gracious eye â—han was ordinary 3 Touching the original peopling of this fair Island if we will believe their Records they make antiquity it self but young unto themselves affirming the Daâ—sel Caesarea and Niâ—ce unto Noah to have found it out before the Flood and that three hundred years after when Iaphets posterity took into these Wests-parts of the World one Bartholarus of his Progeny a Scythian by birth encouraged by the late success of Nimrod who now had intruded upon the Monarchy of Syria wandred so far West that Fortune at last cast him and his people upon the coast of Ireland There he setled with his three sons Languinna Salanus and Ruthurgus who searching through every creek and corner of the Land left their own names by three notable places Languini Stragrus and Mount Salanga which the revolution of times hath since called by other names as S. Dominickhill Ruthurgi and Stagnum Under the government of these three sons and their off-spring this Land was kept about three hundred years at which time there arrived also in Ireland a Giant-like kind of People of Nimrods race who in bodily shape exceeded the proportion of usual men using their strengths to win soveraignties and to oppress with rapine and violence These growing to numbers accounted it necessary to prevent dominion lest the curse of slavery prophecied by Noah should light upon them to prevent the which they set up a King of their own then quarrels bred daily either parties purposing to hold their interest by their Swords against whom lastly a Battel was fought and an infinite company of Giants slain when also died most of those of the posterity of Iapheth leaving them of Cham Lords of the Island 9 Whereupon Nemethus a Scythian with his four Sons arrived in Ireland and by strong hand seated themselves among these Giants where for two hundred and sixty years they kept but then no longer able to hold out against them they left their â—tandings and departed the Land 10 Soon after the five Sons of Dela descended from the said Nemetheus came into these coasts and with manly prowess drove these miscreants out of Ireland whereby the Seed of Cham was utterly expelled and these of Iapheth divided the Land into five parts whereof they became themselves Kings but falling at variance gave advantage unto others among whom the BRITAINS set in a foot 11 But to make this Island more famous certain Historians have fetched their Kings from most uncertain Records as namely from Gaothel the Grecian and Scotia the daughter of King Pharaoh and nourisher of Moses his Wife who at that time when Israel were in Egypt with a Colony came into Spain and after into Ireland where he was made King and in honour of his Queen the Land named Scotia from whom also the Inhabitants took name his posterity increasing in the parts of Spain where first they had seated in process of time sought further adventures under the four Sons of Milesius King of Spain whose names were Hibernus Hermion Euer and Erimon 12 These by the direction sufferance and assistance of Gurguntius King of the Britains after that Ireland had been very much dispeopled by a contagious pestilence seated themselves and from the eldest Hibernus called the Island Hibernia as some are of opinion these divided the whole into five Provinces famously known by the names of Mounster Leinster Connaught Vlster and Meath in their midst and from these the present Irish repute themselves to come Yet surely as I make no question but that this Island became inhabited even of old time when mankind again over-spread the face of the earth so doubt I not but that our Britains passed thereinto themselves such infinite number of words in the Irish language yet in use such ancient names of Waters Isles Mountains and Places meerly British words yet remaining and the testimony of Tacitus who saith that their manners were fashioned to the Britains inforceth so much and Ptolomy before him calleth that Island by the name of Little-Britain all which shew a former interest for Ireland than that which by conquest under Henry the second was made 13 That it ever was subject to the Romans is doubtful though Agricola did wish it and Tacitus held most necessary yea and in the division of their Empire Ireland with Britain and Thule fell unto Constantine the Son of Constantine the Great yet their Manners unreclaimed and barbarism retained long after those days do witness no
such civility sown to be in that plot But when Romes great Empire began to grow less the Scots or Scythians grew mighty in Ireland and as Orosius writeth that Island was wholly inhabited by the Scottish Nation in the days of Honorius and Arcadius the Emperours whose Wars and Slaughter Claudian doth lightly touch in this his Verse Scotorum tumulos flevit glacialis Ierne The frozen Ireland wept to see her Scots all slain on heaps to be 14 As these for the most part by the testimony of Ninius were the ancient Inhabitants so by other ancient Writers their customs and manners are thus set forth Strabo saith The Inhabitants of Ireland are more rude than the Britains they feed upon the flesh of men yea and think it a point of worth to eat their dead Parents waâ—tonly they accompany with women making no difference of other mens wives their own sisters nor of their natural mothers but of these things saith he we have no certain witness of sufficient credit Poâ—ponius Mela recordeth That the Irish are uncivil ignorant of vertues and void of Religion And Solinus affirmeth That after victory they drink the blood of the slain and besmear their own faces therewith so given to war that the mother at the birth of a man-child feedeth the first meat into her Infants mouth upon the point of her husbands sword and with heathenish imprecations wisheth that it may die no otherwise than in war or by sword 15 But from these ancient and barbarous manners let us come to the conditions of their middle time whom Giraldus Cambrensis describeth as followeth The Irish saith he are a strong and bold people martial and prodigal in War nimble stout and haughty of heart careless of life but greedy of glory courteous to stranger constant in love light of belief impatient of injury given to fleshly lusts and in eâ—mity implacable At the baptizing of their Infants their manner was not to dip their right arms into the water that so as they thought they might give a more deep and incurable blow never calling them by the names of their Parents whilst they lived together but at their death took it upon them Their women nursed not the children they bare and they that nursed others did affect and love them much more than their own 16 So much were they given to fantastical conceits that they held it very ominous to give their neighbours fire upon May-day to eat an old Egg endangered the death of their Horse and before they cast in their Seed they send Salt into the Field to hang up the Shells in the Roof was a preservative of the Chickens from the Kite to set up green Boughs at their Doors in the Moneth of May increased their Kines Milk and to spit upon Cattel they held it good against Witchery whereof Ireland was full 17 Superstitious Idolatry among the wilde Irish was common yielding divine honour unto the Moon after the change unto whom they both bowed their knees and made supplications and with a loud voice would thus speak unto that Planet We pray thee leave us in as good estate as thou foundst us Wolves they did make their Godsibs terming them Chari Christ and so thought themselves preserved from their hurts the hoofs of dead Horses they accounted and held sacred about childrens necks they hung the beginning of Saint Iohns Gospel a crooked nail of an horse-shoe or a piece of a Wolves Skin and both the sucking-child and nurse were girt with Girdles finely plated of womans hair so far they wandred into the ways of errour in making these arms the strength of their healths 18 Their Wives were many by reason of divorcements and their Maids married at twelve years of age whose customs were to send to their Lovers Bracelets pleated and curiously wrought of their own Hair so far following Venus in the Knots of these Allurements The Men wore Linnen Shirts exceedingly large stained with Saffron the Sleeves wide and hanging to their Knees strait and shâ—rt Trusses plated thick in the Skirts their Breeches close to the Thighs a short Skein hanging point down before and a Mantle most times cast over their Heads The Women wore their Hair plated in curious manner hanging down their Backs and Shoulders from under foulden Wreaths of â—â—ne Linnen rolled about their Heads rather loading the Wearer than delighting the Beholder for as the one was most seemly so the other was unsightly their Necks were hung with Chains and Carkanets their Arms wreathed with many Bracelets and over their Side-garments the Shag-Rug Mantlets purfled with a deep Fringe of divers colours both Sexes accounting Idleness their only Liberty and Ease their greatest Riches 19 In Wars they were forward and fought with Battle-Axes whose Bearers were called Gâ—lloglasses the Common-Souldier but lightly armed who served with Darts and sharp Skeins their Trumpet was a Bag-pipe and Word for Encounter Pharroh which at the first Onset with great Acclamation they uttered and he that did not was taken into the Air and carried into the Vale of Kerry where transformed as they did believe he remaineth until he was hunted with Hounds from thence to his home 20 For the Dying and Dead they hired Women to mourn who expostulated with the Sick why he would die and dead at his Funerals such out-cries were made such clapping of hands such howlings and gestures that one would think their sorrows unrecoverable holding the opinion of Pythagâ—ras for the Souls departed 21 Their Diet in necessâ—â—y was slender feeding upon Water-Cresses Roots Mushromes Shamrogh Butter tempered with Oat-meal Milk Whey yea and Raw 〈◊〉 the Blood being crushed out their use was also to let their Kâ—ne blood which standing a while and coming to a jelly with Butter they did eat as a very good Dish 22 That the Gospel of Christ should be preached in Ireland by Iames the Apostle I will not affirm though Vicentius hath said it neither will I with the Scots bring the Islands conversion from a Christian woman who as their Historians do avouch first instructed the Queen and the Queen her Husband and he again his Subjects till all became â—hristians But most true it is that the Scots first received the doctrine of Christ in this Kingdom of Ireland for thus writeth Prosper Caelesâ—â—n Pope of Rome sent his Archdeacon Palladius into Britain to withstand the Pelagian heresie who at one time did drive out these enemies of grace and ordained a Bishop among the Scots whereby that barbarouâ— Nation embraced Christianity Yet â—inius reporteth That Palladius did nothing in neither being taken away by untimely death but that S. Patrick born at Eiburne in Cluedsdale the Son of Calphurus by the Sister of S. Martin was the first Apostle for Ireland who sowed his heavenly seed with such plentiful increase that the soil it self shortly was called Sanctorum Patria The Country of Saints for whose Sepulchre after his deaâ—h rose as great variance as was for Homer amongst them
of Greece they of Downe challenged his Grave to be with them upon certain Verses written on a Toâ—b which ascribes Patrick Bridget and Columbe to be buâ—ied therein they of Armagh lay claim by the warrant of S. Bernard who saith that Patrick in his time there ruled and after death there rested Glascenbury in England by ancient Records will have his body interred with them and Scotland avoâ—cheth his birth to be at Glasco and bones to rest at Kirk Patrick with them of such reverent esteem was this Irish Apostle 23 This Patrick in his youth had been taken captive by the Irish Pirats and for six years continuance served Machuain as his slave and keeper of his Swine in which dejected condition so desirous he was of the Lands Salvation that in his Dreams he thought the Infants unborn cryed unto him for Baptism and redeeming himself thence for a piece of Gold found in the Feld which a Swine had turned up in his aged years came back again into Ireland preached the Gospel converted the People and lastly became Archbishop of Armagh Of whose miracles and Purgatory I leave others to speak that are more credulous in the one and have better leisure to relate the other and will shew thee Ireland as now it is first in general and then in parts Mounster The Province of MOUNSTER CHAPTER II. THis Province called in Irish Mown in a more ordinary construction of Speech Wown in Latine Momonia and in English Mounster lieth open Southward to the Virginian Sea Northward it affronteth part of Connaught The East is neighboured by Leinster and the West is altogether washed with the West-Ocean 2 The length thereof extended from â—allatimore-Bay in her South unto the Bay of Galway in her North are about ninety miles Her broadest part from East to West is from Waterford-Haven to Feriter-Haven and containeth an hundred miles The whole circumference by following the Prometaries and indents are above five hundred and forty miles 3 The â—orm thereof is quadrant or four-square The Air mild and temperated neither too chilling cold nor too scorching hot The Soil in some parts is â—illy looking aloft with woody wilde and solitary Mountains yet the Vallies below are garnished with Corn-fields And generally all both pleasant for sight and fertil for Soil 4 This Province is at this day divided into two parts that is the West Mounster and the South Mounster The West Mounster was inhabited in old time by the Luceni the Velabri and the Vterini the South Mounster by the Oudiae or Vodiae and the Coriondi The Velabri and Luceni are said by Orosius to have dwelt in that part of the Country where it lieâ—h outmost Westward and passing towards the Cantabrian-Ocean looketh afar off to Gallitia in Spain The Luceni of Ireland who seem to have derived their name and original from the Lucensii of Gallitia and of whom there still remain some Reliques in the Barony of Lyxnouw are supposed to have been seated in those parts that lie neighbouring upon the bank of the River Shennon 5 The general Commodities of this Province are Corn Cattel Wood Wooll and Fish The last whereof it affords in every place and abundance of all sorts But none so well known for the store of Herrings that are taken there as is the Promontory called Eraugh that liâ—s between Banire and Ballatimore Bay whereunto every year a great Fleet of Spaniards and Portugals resort even in the midst of Winter to fish also for Cods 6 The principal City of the Province is Limericke which the Irish call Loumeagh compassed about with the famous River Shennon by the parting of the Channel This is a Bishops See and the very Mart-Town of Mounster It waâ— first won by Reymond le Grosse an Englishman afterwards burnt by Duenald an Irish petty King of Thuetmond Then in process of time Philip Breos an Englishman was infeoffed in it and King Iohn fortified it with a Castle which he causâ—d therein to be built In this Castle certain Hostages making their abode in the year 1332 grew as is reported so full of pride and inconstancy that they slew the Constable thereof and seized the Castle into their own hands But the resolute Citizens that could neither brook nor bear with such barbarous cruelty did in revenge then shew such manly courage and vivacity as they soon after recovered the Castle again repaying the Hostages in such hostile manner as they put them all to the Sword without partiality The position of this Town is by Mercator placed for Latitude 53 degrees 20 minutes and for Longitude 9 degrees 34 minutes Near unto the River that Ptolomy calleth Daucona and Giraldus Cambrensis by the alteration of some few letters nameth Sauranus and Savarenus which issueth out of Muskerey Mountains is seated the City Corke graced also with another Episcopal dignity and with the Bishops See of Clon annexed unto it which Giraldus calleth Corragia the Englishmen Corke and the native inhabitants of the Country Coreach This Town is so besâ—t on every side with neigâ—bouring molesters as that they are still constrained to keep watch and ward as if there lay continual siege against it The Citizens of this place are all linkt together in some one or other degree of affinity for that they dare not match their daughters in marriage into the Country but make contracts of Matrimony one with another among themselves In this place that holy and religious man Briock is said to have his birth and breeding who flourished among the Gaules in that fruitful age of Christianity and from whom the Diocess of Sambrioch in Britain Armorica commonly called S. Brieâ— had the denomination 7 The City which the Irish and Britains call â—orthlargy and the English Waterford though it be last in place yet is it not least in account as being the second City in all Ireland as well for the convenience and commodiousness of the Haven that affords such necessary aptitude for trade and traffique as also for the faithful loyalty which it hath always shewed to the Imperial Crown of England for ever since it was won by Richard Earl of Pembroke it still performed the obedience and peaceable offices of duty and service unto the English as they continued the course in the Conquest of Ireland whence it is that the Kings of England have from time to time endowed it with many large Franchises and Liberties which King Henry the Seventh did both augment and confirm 8 Although since the time of S. Patrick Christianity was never extinct in this Country yet the government being haled into contrary factions the Nobility lawless and the multitude wilful it hath come to pass that religion hath waxed with the temporal common sort more cold and feeble being most of them very irreligious and addicted wholly to superstitious observations for in some parts of this Province some are of opinion that certain men are yearly turned into Wolves and made Wolf-men Though this hath been constantly affirmed by
Apocalyps Now scarce is it inhabited but toward the Sea-side and that by a base and abject people such as are both lazy in their life and odious Idolaters in their Religions For the most part Mahumetans 8 Let my first division of this Asia the Less be into two Regions of these one hath the particular appellation of Asia propria and contains the several Regions of 1 Caria 2 Ionia 3 Doris 4 Aeolis Phrygia 5 Lydia 6 Minor 7 and Major The other hath no one name as I find among Geographers but is known by her Provinces of 1 Cilicia 2 Pamphilia 3 Lycia 4 Bythynia 5 Pontus 6 Paphlagonia 7 Galatia 8 Cappadocia 9 Lycaonia 10 Pisidia and 11 Armenia minor 9 Asia propria was the scene of many noble actions much celebrated among our Historians First in Caria stood the City Mindum upon which Diogenes brake his Iest That the Citizens should take heed lest it run out at her Gates And Halicarnassus the birth place of Dyonisius and Herodotus and of this was Artemisia Queen that erected the miraculus Monument in honour of her Husband Mausolus The second Province is Ionia and here stood Miletum where Paul made his Oration to the Elders of Ephesus and here Ephesus it self the Star of Asia that as well for her Religion as her miraculous Temple set the World at a gaze upon her It was raised in the middle of the City modelled out by Ctesiphon but was 220 years in building and was ordered in such a ground that no Earth-quake should move it it was 425 foot long and 220 broad and had an hundred twenty seven Pillars given by so many several Kings saith Vadianus whereof twenty seven were most curiously graven all the rest of Marble polished In this City Saint Iohn the Evangelist is said to have gone down into his Grave alive there be who yet question his Death and Irenaeus reports that he lived in Trajans time This with the third and fourth Provinces of Doris and Aeolis were only accounted Greeks the other Nations of Asia were called Barbarians 5 Lydia was the fifth named in our Division and in her are many Cities which we have mentioned in Scripture and are common among other Writers Of these the chief are Laodicea Thyatira Philadelphia Sardis where Croesus kept his Court and Pergamus the Seat of Attalus that made the Romans his Heir and where Galen the great Physician was born and lived 140 years 6 The first was phrygia minor it is called Troas by the Inhabitants and those are now Greeks Turks and Arabians heretofore they were the antient Trojans that gave Homer his subject for his admired Poem Here is that Adramittium named in the Acts. and Trajanopolis and the Mount Tmolus that sends down a River into Lydia with abundance of Gold and Silver And lastly the Mount Ada famous for the judgment of Paris past upon the three Goddessâ—s 7 The last was Phrygia major and on this was Gordion the very Town where Gordius hampered his Plow-tacklings in such a knot that none might unty but he that should possess the Monarchy of the World and indeed it proved true enough in Alexander the Great Another was Midaium where Midas son to this Gordius turned all to Gold with a Touch. A third Coloss the place of the Colossians to whom Saint Paul directs an Epistle And all these were contained within the compass of that one part which bears the name of Asia propria 10 The other Provinces of Asia minor have their Stories worth the Memory 1 The first was Cilicia now called Garamania whose People in times past were noted for grand Pirats till overcome by Pompey and when by force they were turned honest they gained the repute of a warlike Nation especially in Sea-fights So Lucan Itque Cilix justâ non jam pirata Carinà It was a rich Province to Rome when Cicero was Proconsul and still it is full of pleasant places but withal hath many wild and waste grounds that are no mans peculiar but who will may there freely feed his Goats which afford them good commodities as well by their milk as their hair of which are made most curious Chamlets In this Province was Tarsus the City of Saint Paul and Nicopolis aâ—d Pompeiopolis and Alexandria 2 The second Pampbilia The People were once called Soli and used a rude kind of Idiom from whence the very word Solaecismus and here was Perga Sida and Attalia Sea Towns mentioned in the Acts. 3 The third was Lycia a fruitful Country in the Plains and was heretofore of great fame The Metropolis was Patara Saint Nicholas his birth-place and where sometimes Apollo's answers were returned 4 Pontus and Bythinia were the fourth and fifth though once severed yet afterward they made but one Province and was governed by Mithridates that first found out the Medicine that bares his name He had many years war with Rome but at last with much adoe was overcome Her Cities were Chalcedon the place of the fourth General Counsel and Nice of the first as also Nicomedia Apamia c. 6 The sixth Paphlagonâ—a and from hence had the Venetians their original and were at first called Heneti but being driven out by sedition they followed Antenâ—â— into Italy and there it seems changed a letter of their name 7 Galatia the seventh and to the Inhabitants Saint Paul directed one of his Epistles It was the seat of King Deiotarus Client to Cycero as appears by an Oration in his behalf In this Province were many Iews disperâ—ed after the Passion the chief Cities are Iuliopolis and Ancyra where a Synod hererofore was held called Synod Ancyrana 8 The eigth Capadocia heretofore Leucosyria Here is the City Amasia which receiveth the Turks eldest Son after their circumcision till their Father's the Emperor's death And here Mazaca where St. Basil lived that first gave himself to a Monastical life and the flourishing City of Trepizand heretofore a Seat Imperial 9 Ninethly Lycaonia In the South of this Region is the Hill Câ—imaera that gives occasion to a Poetical Fiction of a Monster with a Lions head a Goats body and tail of a Serpent for so on the top of this Hill were Lions in the middle Goats and in the valley Serpents Bellerophou â—id it and first made it habitable and thence this Fable Here was Iconium and Lystra where Timothy wâ—s born and Paul and Barnabas adored as Gods 10 Pisidia was famous for the Cities of Antiochia and Lysinia 11 Lastly Armenia Minor is by most thought to be the Land of Ararat where the Ark rested And there is great store of Oyl and excellent Wine 11 Hitherto our Tract hath been of Asia the less or Anatolia It resteth that we proceed to Asia Major which lieth remote from Europe toward the East And of this we can make no large description in so small a scantling we will only mark cut the Provinces and refer my Reader to more particular Relations in our several Maps that contain the Turkish
For the most part they live not as if Reason guided their actions Maginus numbers twenty five Provinces of this Country which have had their several Governours Now it knoweth but four Kings and those are 1 The King of Tombulum and he is an infinite rich Monarch hates a Iew to the death of his Subject that converseth with him keeps a Guard of three thousand Horsemen besides Foot 2 Of Bornaum where the people have no proper Names no Wives peculiar and therefore no Children which they call their own 3 Of Gonga who hath no estate but from his Subjects as he spends it 4 Gualatum a poor Country God wot not worth either Gentry of Laws or indeed the name of a Kingdom 14 Aethiopia Superior the fifth and is called likewise the Kingdom of the Abyssines It is limited on the North with Aegypt on the South with the Montes Lunae on the East with the Red-Sea and on the West with the Kingdom of the Nigers and Manilongo It is distinct from the Aethiopia so often mentioned in Scripture For by all probability that was in another quarter of the world and teacheth from the Red-Sea to the Persian Gulf. It is governed by one of the mightiest Emperors in the world For his power reacheth almost to each Tropick and is called by us Presbyter Iohn He is the only white man amongst them and draws his Line from Solomon and the Queen of the South His Court rests not long in one place but his moving as well for Housing as Retinue For it consists of Tents only to the number of six thousand and incompasseth in about twelve or thirteen miles He hath under him seventy Kings which have their several Laws and Customes Among these the Province of Dobas hath one that no man marry till he hath killed twelve Christians The Inhabitants of the whole Region are generally base and idle the better sort have the modesty to attire themselves though it be but in Lyons and Tygers skins Their Religion is mixt Christians they have but yet differ from us For they circumcise both Sects Their Oath is by the life of their King whom they never see but at Christmas Easter and Holy Rood Their Commodities are Oranges Lemmons Citrons Barley Sugar Honey c. 15 Aethiopia inferior the sixth part of Africa is on every side begirt with Sea except toward the North that way it is severed form the Abissines by the Montes Lunae The government of this Region is under five free Kings 1 of Aiana which contains in it two petty Kingdoms of Adel and Adia and abounds with Flesh Honey Wax Gold Ivory Corn very large Sheep 2 Zanguebar in this stands Mesambique called by Ptolomy Prassum Promontorium and was the utmost part South ward of the old world The Inhabitants are practised much in South-saying indeed Witch craft 3 Of Monomolâ—pa in which is reported to be three thousand Mines of Gold Here there lives a kind of Amazons as valiant as men Their King is served in great pomp and hath a guard of two hundred Mastives 4 Cafraia whose people live in the Woods without Laws like brutes And here stands the Cape of good Hope about which the Sea is always rough and dangerous It hath been especially so to the Spaniard It is their own note in so much that one was very angry with God that he suffered the English Hereticks to pass so easily over and not give his good Catholikes the like speed 5 Manicongo whose Inhabitants are in some parts Christians but in other By-Provinces Anthropophagi and have shambles of mans flesh as we have for meat They kill their own children in the birth to avoid the trouble of breeding them and preserve their Nation with stoln brats from their nighbouring Countries 16 Aegypt is the seventh and last part of the African Continent which deserves a larger Tract than we can here afford it But for the present be content with brief Survey and satisfie your self more particularly in the many several Authours that write her story It hath on the East the Red Sea Barbary on the West on the North the Mediterraneum and Aethiopia Superior on the South It was first possest by Cham and therefore called Chemiaâ— in their own antique Stories Or at least by Mitzraim his Grand-child and is so agreed upon by most For plenty it was called Orbis hâ—rrâ—um yet it had very seldom any rain but that defect was supplied by the River Nilus The places of note are Caire and Alexandria The first was heretofore Memphis Some say Babylon whither the Virgin 〈◊〉 to escape Herods tyranny intended to our Saviour and blush not to shew the very Cave where â—he had hid her Babe In a desert about four miles distant stand the Pyramids esteemed rightly one of the seven wonders of the world Alâ—zandria was a mangnificent City and the place where Ptolomy took his Observations and was famous for the rarest Library in the world To the Inhabitants of this Country we owe the invention of Astrology Physick writing on Paper Their Kings names were Pharaoh toward the beginning now what the Turks pleaseth 17 And this is as far as we may travel by Land it remains that we lose out into the bordering Sea and descry what Islands we can neer those parts of Africa which we have here mentioned And these lie either South-ward in the Aethiâ—â—pick Sea or else West-ward in the Atlantick Ocean 18 The Aethiopick Islands are only two 1 The Islands of S. Lawrence of Madagascar four thousand miles in compass and the length more than Italy rich in all Commodities almost that man can use The Inhabitants are very barbarous most of them black some white there are supposed to have been transplanted out of China 2 Zocratina at the mouth of the Red-Sea in length sixty in breadth â—wenty five miles It lieth open to sharp winds and by that means is extream dry and barren Yet it hath good Drugs and form hence comes the Aloâ— Zocratina The people are Christians and adore the Cross most superstititously and give themselves much to Inchantments 19 The Atlantick Islands are 1 S. Thomas Island and lyeth directly under the Aequator it was made habitable by the Portugals which found it nothing but a Wood. It is full of Sugar little â—ther Commodities 2 Prince Island between the Aequator and Tropick of Capricorn It is rich â—nough for the owner though I find no great report of it 3 The Gorgades of old the Gorgoss where Medusa and her two fisters dwelt I forbear the fable they are nine in number and because neer to Cape Viridâ— in the Land of Negroes the have a second name of Insulae Capitis Viridis They abound with Goats and the chief of them is called Saint Iames. 4 The Canaries called for their fertility The Fortunate IsIands and was the place of the first Meridian with the ancient Geographers to divide the world into the East and West and from thence the to measure
the Nobles 17 Sclavonia hath Hungary on the North on the South the Adriatick Sâ—a Greece on the South-East and on the West part of Italy It is in length 480 miles in breadth 120. The people were called Sclavi and were by Conquest of the Venetians made their drudges It is now divided into Illyricum Dalmatia Croatia The mother tongue of this Nation is used through many Countries both of Europe and Asia part of it belongs to the government of Hugary some to the Turk some to the Austrians and a portion to the Venetian State 18 Greece iâ— limited on the West with the Adriatick Sea on the East with the Aegean Hellespont Propontis North-ward with the Mountain Haemus and South-ward with the Mediterraneum It was once the seat of the worlds Empire and flourisheth far beyond all other in every kind of humane learning which to this day is received by all civil Nations as their rule It was one of the first among the Gentiles that received the faith of Christ and bred many Fathers of our Church St. Chrysostome Basill St. Gregory and others But the Inhabitants are now curbed and kept low as well in knowledge as estate by the tyranny of the Turk Their women are well favoured but not fair The common division is into these Regions Peloponesus Achaia Epirus Albania Macedonia Migdonia Thracia They afford us Gold Silver Copras Colours Wines Velvet Stuffs c. 19 Dacia on the West hath Hungary on the East the Euxine Seas on the South Greece on the North Sarmatia from which it is divided by the Carpathian Mountains It was heretofore Misia and was by Domitius parted into Misia superior and inferior Now the chief Regions are Transilvania Moldavia Walachia Servia Rasia Bulgaria Bosuia 20 Norwegia or Norway describes her situation in her very name which signifieth in the German tongue no other than North-way for so it is in respect of the rest of Europe and encompassed almost round with Sea The length is 1300 miles The breadth about 600. The people were once valiant and spread their Conquest in most palces of Europe Among the rest England hath her share and was forced to submit to Duke William and Ireland to Tancud But now themselves are under a foraign government of the King of Denmark and live simply enough possess little worth the commending except honesty Theft is counted the greatest sin among them Yet they have Cables Masts Fuirs good store and Stock-fish which the poor eat in stead of bread The Metropolitan City is Nidrosio besides this there is not above two of eminent note Bergla one of the Mart Towns of Christendom and Asloia a Bishops-See On the North and West stands the populous Province of Frimark 21 Suevia or Sweden is on the East of Norway divided from it with the Dofrine Mountains On the North and South it is bounded with Seas at the East end it is joyned to Muscovia by reason of their neighbour-hood they partake much in their dispositions with the Norwegians Their Country is fertile and in some Provinces hath very great plenty of Corn Furts Mines of Gold and Silver Copper Lead and other excellent Commodities from which they take their name For the first is Gotland as much as good land The second Finland quasi Fineland The rest are Bodia Serick-firmia Lapland and others The Inhabitants live to a great age of 140. and are much given to Witchcraft 22 Muscovia is the last Region of Europe towards the East and indeed stands a good part in Asia It is bounded on the West with Livonia and some part of Swevia on the East with Tartary on the North with the frozen Seas and South-ward with Lituania The length of it is 3000 miles the breadth 3065. It is likewise known by the name of Russia alba The most parts of it are extream cold but Nature for the help of the Inhabitants hath lined it with rich Furrs Sables Martins white Fox and he like and hath furnished it with other Commodities Corn Fruits and Cattel The whole Region is subject to the Emperour of Russia A vast Territory and as wild a government For the people are very base contentious ignorant and sottishly superstitious They bury their dead upright with a slaff in his hand a penâ—y in his purse and a Letter to St. Nicholas to procure him entrance into heaven There are many Provinces of note The chief are 1 Muscovia where Mosco stands the prime City and seat of the Emperonr 2 Permia where they eat Stags-flesh instead of bread 3 Rhesan so full of Corn that Horses cannot tread it down not a quail pass through it But for this I am not very urgent to enforce belief upon my Reader Others there are which have their stories of as much wonder and as little credit But I must not pass too far this way lest I a little trespass upon anothers possession I have already set footing into Asia Give me leave to recover my self into my proper bounds and I will set you a brief description of the Islands which are reckoned as the appendices to Europe 23 The West in the Atlantick are Cronland Groviland Island Freizland These lie nearest to the Artick and are extream cold but send forth good store of Fish The next rank is in the British Seas Ireland Great Britain with her train the Oâ—cades Hebrides Silly Islands Man Anglesey Iarsie Garnsey Wight Let not the rest envy if I here as I pass do a due homage to our own and salute her Queen of European Seas She is a parcel of earth culled out from the rest which for her portionable distance from the Torrid and frized Zones enjoyeth so sweet a temper that neither our Summer heat need compel us to the shade nor our Winter cold invite us to the fire so Maginus And indeed our lines are fallen into pleasant places we have a fair inheritance others you shall find of less regard in the German Seas and those which divide Norway and Sweden from Germany and Poland More toward Spain are situated the Azores 9 in number Of these one called Faiall is with us of greatest note for our noble Sir Walter Raleighes victory over the Spaniard 1597. 24 The Southern Islands of Europe lye about the Mediterraneum The first rank are 1 Baleares near unto Spain 2 Carsica 3 Sardinia over against Italy where it parts from France 4 Sicily famous for the Gulf Charybdis which answers to the Rock Scylla on Italy side and for the shipwrecks which oftimes they enforce have made up the fiction of the Sea Monsters mentioned in our ancient Poets 5 Malta the seat of the illustrious Knights The second Classis is of those in the Adriatick and Ionium Seas In Ptolomy I find situated on the North-East of Italy Absorrus Curicta Scardona Insulae Diâ—media Issa Targurium Pharia Corcyra Melitum More South toward the Mediterraneum Corcyra Ericusa Cephalenia Ithaca the Country of Vlysses Echinades Insulae Zacynthus the Strophades Cythera And just as
peaceably enjoy till he had vanquished his corrival and then he soon fastned himself in the right to that Kingdom and not long after pâ—ssest it about the year of the world two thousand seven hundred eighty seven It would not be much to our purpose to lead you down step by step through the succession till we come to Romulus All before him were before this Empire had Being and therefore outâ—eacht the line of my story yet this in brief we may recount here that he was the 17 from Aeneas and founded Rome in the year 3198. 3 The plat-form was first cast in a figure of a quadrangle upon the mons Palatinus for the other six noted hills were not then taken in but added in after ages by their several Kings It was began it seems but sleight and the walls raised not very high when Rhemus could skip them over in contempt of his brotâ—ers poor enterprise but the mock cost him his life he was slain by Roâ—ulus and he now left the sole founder to give name to this new building 4 Romulus then is their first King and takes upon him the government of such discontented and masâ—erless young Shepherds as he had raked together to people his Common-wealth a crue so scorâ—ed of their neighbours that their daughters denyed to joyn in marriage with such â— refuse of men so that by this means this up-start Nation was like to sink in the birth for meer want of issue to continue their succession And without doubt themselves had seen their last man born had not their own wit bestead them more than the womens love For when they saw â—heir worth was not sufficient to woe fairly with effect they proclaimed a day for solemn sports which they presuâ—ed and rightly too would call in their borders of both sex and for that purpose had made provision of strength to force the women to their lust whom theâ— could not entiâ—e to their lawful eâ—braces The plot held and the Sabiâ—â—s bear the name to have suffered most in that brutish treacheâ—y yet others it seâ—â—s â—â—d their part too in the injury and joyntly beset them round with strong enemies which the Râ—mans notwithstanding shook off with that ease and undaunted courage that the rest were glad at last to yield them truce for their own quiet and assist them too in their â—nsuing Conquest 5 The City at this time was not above two miles in circuit the Inhabitants not much above the proportion of that little ground till Romulus had built an Asylum a Râ—fuge for debaucht people where the servant might secure himself from his Master the â—urderer from his Magistrate the debtor from his arrest and each fault from his punishment and then he soon called in incredible swarms such as they were of Latines Tuscaines Trojans Arcadians and made up a Miscellany of people each brought in the proper sins of his own Country and have there left them as a testimony of their ancest â—rs to this day 6 This policy might seem good at first to make up his number For who else but such would leave a setled state though mean in a well ordered Kingdom to apply himself to novelâ—es of so uncertain event But in a few years their King found that there was more need of a Pistrinum to correct than an Asylum to shelter his offenders and therefore was foâ—ced to make setled Laws for his Common-wealth and cull out a certain number of the best ordered to assist him with their câ—unsell and see execution duly performed upon the rest These be called Patres or Senatores and wâ—re at first not above one hundred chosen out of the elder wâ—althâ—er and gravest Citizens who were either called Patricii for that they had mâ—st of them many children or Patroni as being the Patrons of the Plebeii or poorer sort which were therefore oft times called Clients as having no business of actâ—on in the Common-wealth scarce so much as to require their own right unless under the protection of some one or other of the Patricii yet afterward both the number of Senators was encreased to 200 and at last 300. and the Plebeii too in time had the priviledge to be elected into their society 7 No sooner Romulus had thus set the form but while he was yet in speech to the people at a set assâ—mbly a tempest rose the skies darkned and â— trick was found to juggle him clean out of their â—ight as if at this instant he had been rapt into the Heavens He past not it seems to lose his life so that he might gain the opinion of a God For so the Romans believed and it was confirmed by one Proculus who pretended to have seen him after his change and received a charge from his deiâ—y that he should be thence forward honoured in Roâ—e as her tutelare In brief the more likely surâ—ise of his manner of death is that in the storm he was cut in pieces by some of his Senators who had either suffered under his tyranny or at least had hope to â—aise themselves by his fall 8 Their second King was Numa Pompilius religious in his kind beyond all others and ordained in Rome a set form to worship their gods invested Priests and South-sayers to perform their rites and fortel things to come committed the Vestal fire to Virgins to be kept aâ— a perpetual watch over the Empire in an emulation to the bright stars of heaven which were never extinguisht and in brief civilized the people so far as they began now and scare till now to have a sense of moâ—ral goodness a moderate love to themselves mixt with some equity towards others 9 Their third Tullus Hostilius stirred them up first with the desire of true honour and enabled them by martial discipline to provoke the Albanes a Nation then of long standing and great fame thâ—ough most parts of Italy yea so equal was their prowess that open war might well lessen their several strengths but not determine the conquest till by the tried fortune of the Horatii and Curiatii brothers on each party it stoopt at last to Rome beyond her own hope for she had at last but one Champion left of her Horatii against the three others who were notwithstanding by a feigned flight of their own adversary drawn severally out into single combate and successively fell by the sword of the Roman victor Alba was now carried captive to Rome and gave up her honours as a Trophy to this new born Empire 10 Ancus Martius their â—ourth King enlarged her walls joyned those parts of the City which were before served by the River Tyber with a large bridge Their next Tarqâ—inius Priscus was a Corinthian and knew well how to use his Greek wit with a Roman valour Nor peace nor war could â—ver-march him He triumpht over the Tuâ—cains and was the first which entred the City in Chariotroyal drawn with four horses and first indeed that ordained the vestments and ensigns of
are Breselare and Neisse 32 Moravia on the East of Bohemia and South of Silesia Her chief Cities are Almusium Olmutz and Brin 33 Pomerania It is bounded on the East with Iâ—tula on the North with the Baltick Ocean Her Metropolis is Stetin Oâ—hers châ—ef are Wolâ—â—st Wallin c. On the West of this Region stands 34 Mecklingburg or Mâ—galopâ—lis a place Provincial of it self and hath Towns of note Malâ—hawe Rostock c. 22 35 Aâ—stria an Arch-Dukedome it lieth upon Hungary and is esteemed by the Germans the Easteâ—n bâ—â—nd of the Empire It was formerly called Pannonia superior It is a rich Country Her chief Cities are Viâ—nna famous for beauty wealth and learning Emps St. Leopald c. There are reckoned to this Region the Provinces of Styria Carinthia Carinola and by some Tirolum BOHEMIA Petrus Kaerius Caelavit The Description of the Kingdome of BOHEMIA IN our Description of Germany we reckoned Bohemia but as a Province among the rest and therefore she was mentioned there with no more solemnity than the other parts were We purpose here to declare it an intire Kingdom of it self which besides her own compass as she is most commonly limited by Geographers hath under-subjects Dukedoms and Marquisates such as do her homage and make her well worthy of a more particular History than we had before room for 2 The ancient Inhabitant of these parts was the Bemorum magna gens as Ptolomy calls it and placeth it somewhat South toward Danubius under Suna sylva After them the Boii a people of Gallia Lugdunensis which had been before conquered by Caesar saith Quadus and packt over the Alpes to seek them a new seat in Italy But when they found the Romans too hot for their abode there they were forced to trudge farther and to pass the River Rhene into Germany as Strabo witnesseth where they found them a fit place to lurk in compassed with a large Wood called the Sylva Hircinia and like enough they joyned in with the Bemi to make up the name of Bohemia But neither here did they enjoy their peace long for they were in time nestled out by a potent people of Swevia called Marcomanni and they again had the like measure from the Sclavonians a barbarous crue which came in upon them under the conduct of an exiled murderer of Croatia one Zechius about the year five hundred and fifty 3 From that time there hath been no general expulsion but the present Bohemians are the progeny of those Sclavonians whose very language and customs are in use among them at this day Doubtless it was at first a rude Common-wealth that had no other Governours but so ungoverned a multitude for so they continued above an hundred years after Zechius But when they had for a time endured the misery of such a confusion they were content to agree upon some one for their Prince that might rule them and the first which they elected was Croâ—us a man of grâ—at esteem among them for his wisdom and goodness 4 Till the time of Vratislaus it had the title of a Dukedome only He was the fiâ—st King and was created by Henry the fourth of Germany Anno one thousand eighty six Yet after that again for the succession of six Princes it was governed by Dukes For the second King was Vladislaus the third crowned by Frederick the Emperour in the year one thâ—usand one hundred fifty nine and the third Primaslaus crowned by the Emperour Phillip one thousand one hundred nienty nine after six other Dukes from his Predecessor Vlaâ—islaus the third It hath been now long since fully setled into a Kingdom and is the title of the right noble Frederick Count Elector Palatine of the Rhene and husband to the illustrious Elizabeth daughter to our late Soveraign King Iames. They were both crowned at Prague in the year one thousand six hundred and nineteen but have been enforced ever since to maintain their right by continual wars against Fâ—rdinand the second who by vertue of an adoption which declared him successor to Matthias laies claim to the Crown of Boâ—â—mia But the â—asâ— was before deâ—ided in their third Vladislaus who though as deeply 〈◊〉 to tâ—e Kingdom as 〈◊〉 coâ—ld be yet for that he had past no lâ—gall â—lâ—ctâ—on accâ—â—ding to â—â—â—ir Custâ—mes and Priviledgâ—s he was deposed by the States and Vladislâ—us chose in his room 5 There remains no great difficulty concerning the naâ—e It appears suffâ—cienâ—ly to proceâ—d either from her first people or first Prince who as some report was one Boemus And it is worth observinâ— that though this Land hath in sundry ages being so oftâ—n ranâ—aâ—kt and poâ—â—st by sâ—rangers and Tyrants yet in her name she constantly preserves the memory only of her fâ—â—st Natives and hath not suffered that change as we have done from Albion to Britain from Britain to Eâ—gland Aâ—d so indeed it is with almost all which have been equally subject to the like Invaâ—â—ons 6 The situation of this Kingdom is almost in the midst of Germany and is easily desâ—ried in ouâ— common Maps by the Hircinian Forest held in the Romans time to be nine dayes journey in breadth and in length at lâ—ast forty So Caeser in his sixth Com. It â—oseth Boâ—emia on every side insomuch that to shâ—w they are not unlike an Aâ—phitâ—eater it is Mâ—ginus his comparison The several parts of thâ—s Wood are known by divers names which they take from the Country adjacent The portion North west is by Sâ—rabo called Gaâ—reta Sylva that South toward Danubius Luâ—a Sylva by Ptolomy non Sâ—lva Passarica and so the rest Without this Wall of Bohemia as Qâ—adus calls it her limits are on the West Franconia on the North Lâ—satia and Misâ—ia on the South â—avaria and Austria on the East â—oravia and Silesia The figure of it is in a manner circular and the Diameter is esteemed three daâ—es journey to a quick traveller The circuit contains five hundred and fifty miles of good ground fertile and pleasant enricht as well by her Rivers as Land commodities 7 Her principal are 1 Albis Elve which hath hâ—s rising in the Hircinian Wood and the name from eleven Fountains which meet in oâ—e at the head of the River For Elve or Elbe in the German Tongue signiâ—ies eleven It runs through a great part of the Country and by the chief City Prague and at last vents it selfe into the German Ocean Of this Lucan thus Fundat ab extremo flavos Aquilene Suevos Albis indomitum Rheni caput 2 Multaria Mulda 3 Egra which gives a name to a Town 4 Sassâ—va 5 Gisera 6 Missa 7 Vatto They are received all into the River Albis yield excellent Salmon and plenty And if we will believe report there is oft times found in the sands lumps of pure gold which need no other refining and very precious shels of great value 8 It seems the water supplies that only defect which is to be found in their Land For it is
to be observed to be full with Mines of all sorts of metals Gold only excepted Their Tin was found out by an Eâ—glish man of Cornwall in the year one thousand two hundred and forty one belike which hâ—d been skilled in that work in his own Country for it is said That at that time there was no Tin known elsewhere in Eâ—rope The earth gives good Corn and their pastures breed as good Cattle There is Wood good store as there are Woods which harbour multitudes of wile Beasts Foxâ—s Bears Harts Bulls and others which afford them sport in the hunting and meat for the best manâ— Table Among the rest there is a wild Beast which they call Lomi armed by nature with a strange defence against the hounds which â—ollow her For they say she hath a kind of bladder hanging under her â—aws which in the hunting she fills with a sâ—lding hot water and â—asts it upon the Dogs with thâ—t nimbleness that they are not able to avoid or pursue her but oft times have their veâ—y hair â—all off as from a drest Pig The Coâ—nâ—ry is generally 〈◊〉 in Saffron and other medâ—cinal drugs Wine it hath too but not so kind or pleasiâ—g as in other places â—nsomuch that the richer sort furnish themselves out of Aâ—stria Hâ—ngary and the Regâ—on about which they in lieu of it supply with excellent Beer For they are held very good at the art of brewing and not behind hand at drâ—nking when thâ—y have done It is said of the 〈◊〉 sort I 〈◊〉 that if once they set to a Veâ—â—el of good lâ—quor they will not looâ—e it tâ—ll they 〈◊〉 â—ound it â—â—pty 〈…〉 before them as oft as he was heard though in a dead sound by the enemy whom he had so often crushed while he was yet living 10 For matter of learning they have not been very famous heretofore howbeit now the better parts are not now behind with the other parts of Germany The chief of note were Iohn Hussâ— and Hiâ—rome of Prague two worthy members of the Church They were condemned for Heretiques in the Council of Constance one thousand four hundred and fourteen for attempting a reformation of such errours as they held not agreeable with the word of God But yet their sufferings could not dead the good seed which they had sown in the true hearted It lives still among them in some measure though they have been often assayed by strange Impostures in Religion such as the heart of man could not conceive without a strong and extraordinary working of that great Deceiver 11 I cannot pass the most wicked cousenage of Picardus who posâ—est great multitudes of these silly people with an opinion that he could recall them to that perfect state in which Adam was created placed them in an Island for that purpose which he called Paradise caused them to walk naked and named this Sect Adamites Horrible sins were committed under that pretence promiscuous whoredome and incest at their very Divine Service It is feared that at this day there are many secret professors which live under ground meet at their solemnities have their prayers framed to their own humour and when the Priest pronounceth the words of Genesis as his custome is Crescite multipliâ—amini replete terram the lights are suddenly pop 't out and without any respect had to alliance or kindred or reverence to their exercise they mingle like Beasts and when they have acted their wickedness and are returned to their seats the Candles are again lighted and they fall to their pretended prayers as if there had been no harm done 12 The King is one of the seven Electors of the Emperour and in case the other six be equally divided he gives the suffrage which carrieth it It is to be thought that his power was conferred upon 〈◊〉 not without great counsel and good reason For besides that the place it self is by naturâ— strong the people to have a special inbred love to Germany and defence of her liberties At Coronation he is Cup-bearer and performs it himself in person if he bepresent His revenues are cast up to be three Millions of Crowns which are not gathered all within the compass here limited but part out of other Principalities which are annexed to this Kingdom For there are four Regions which make up his Title and are subject to his government 1 Bohemia it self as we have described it 2 Lusatia 3 Silesia 4 Moravia They were named in the Map of Germany as being parts of the whole Country but will admit here a more particular tract as belonging properly to this Kingdom 13 First then for Bohemia it self it contains about thirty Cities which are immediate subjects to the King as Quadus calls them besides many others which are held in possession of the chief Princes Primates Barons Counts and Nobles of the Country The Metropolis is Prague heretofore know by the names of Bubienum and Morobudum saith Maginus but rather I think by the situation it should be the same which Ptolomy calls Casurgis It was compassed with a wall by Primaslans their third King and received the name of Prague by the wise Lubussa a Limine which they say is called Prague in the Bohemian language It is indeed a very stately City seated in the middle of the Country in the River Multaria and compared by some to Florence It consists of three Cities which are called the old Town the new Town and the little Town The old Town is the chief and is adornâ—d with may illustrious buildings The new Town is divided from the old by a large ditch And the little Town stands on the other side of the River Mulda but is joyned to the old Town by a stone bridg of twenty four Arches It was made an Arch-bishops See by Charles the Emperour and King of Boâ—emia was once the chief University but that now is removed to Lipsia in the Province of Misnia It is the Regal seat of Bohemia and here was the King and Queen when it was taken by the Imperialists 14 The other Cities of this Region which are worth the noting are 2 Egra It stands upon the River from whence it beares the name before it was called by Ptolomy Monosgada on the West end of Sylva Gabreta that part of the Hircinia which portends toward Franconia It was a City Imperial till the right was sold by Lodovicus Bavares to Iohn King of Bohemia It is a very strong City fortified as well by Nature as Art for the most part is built upon a Rock It is in compass two miles within the walls and with the Suburbs three Not far from it there is a fountain of a kind of sharp waâ—er which the Inhabitants drink Instead of Beer 3 Krens toward Austria on the North side of Daâ—ubius 4 Piâ—sen on the West of Bohemia a City which long held out against General Tilly by the defence of the now Count Manâ—â—ield but was at last betrayed by some of his
note are Troys and Brye and Auxerre and Sans an Arch-Bishops See c. 6 Burgundia both the Dutchy and Country The Dutchy or Burgundia suferiour and Western lieth on the South of higher Germany Her principal places are Digion Saint Bernards birth-Town Antun Bealne Sologue and Aliza once the famous City of Alexia The County of Burgundy or Burgundia Ihperior yields not to the choicest Garden in France for fertility of soil nor to the most renowned for stoutness of Inhabitants They acknowledge not as yet the French command no more than Savoy and Lorain They were under divers Generals and are called Walloons corruptly for Galleâ—s a trick of the Dutch Her principal Cities are Besanson the Metropolis of both Burgundies Salives Arboys Gray and Dola 7 Lugdunense Territorium Lione an illustrious City The center of Europe I mean where Merchants meet for Traffique from all quarters All these Provinces belong either wholly or at least in part to Gallia Lugdunensis For indeed some lie divided and stretch into their neighbours Territories as Campania into Belgica and this last Lugdunense is in part under the Government of Savoy 14 Narbonensis Gallia on the West hath the Comitatus Armenaici and Comminges Eastâ—ward part of the Alps North-ward the Mountain Cemenus and South-ward the French Seas It is generally a fruitful Country not inferior in the esteem of Pliny to Italy it self it comprehends the Provinces 1 of Languedo supposed from Languegotia language of the Goths it reacheth from the bounds of Armenia and Comminges to the Mediterraneam Her chief Cities are Narbon from whence this whole Region receives her appellation and is reckon'd the first Roman Province in Europe and Mons pessulame Mont-Pellein an University most famous for the study of Physick Nimes where there is at this day many reliques of Antiquity and Pons Sancti Spiritus c. 2 Provence provincia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divided from Languedoc by the River Rhodanus Rhoan It belongs part to the Crown of France part to the Pope and a third to the Prince of Orange In the Kings portion are Air a Parliamentary City â—rles and Maâ—silia the last built in the time of the Roman Tarquin To the Bishop of Rome belongs â—â—enian a City and Arch-bishops See with the whole Comitatus Venissimus To the Prince of Orange the chief City Aurangia or Orange on the River Meine Estang Boys de S Poll c. 3 Dâ—â—lphine on the North of Provence regio Allobrogum and is divided in Delphinatum superiorem and inferiorem The first contains in it Embrum where Agaric and Manna is plentifully gathered and Valentia c. The latter Grinnoble Vienna Daulphin Romans 4 Savoy Sabadia on the East of Daulphin a Dukedome without whose limits stands the well known City Geneva which entertains people from all Countries of any Religion But yet enforceth a Law upon fugitives not common elsewhere For whatsoever malefactor is there apprehended for mischief done in his own Countrey suffers as if he had been there condemned The principal Cities besides are Tarantise Bele Moustire Maurience c. To this Dukedom belong Cambrey on the West side of the Alps and the Countrey of Bresse whose heir is intituled Prince of Piemont a part of Italy at the very East foot of the Mountains which â—ever her from this Countrey 15 Gallia Belgica the last is the Eastern tract toward Germany and as much as belongs to this Kingdom contains only Picardy which is divided into the higher and lower The first portends towards the British Seas and here stands Calice distant but thirty miles from Dover It is that which Caesar called Portus Iâ—cius won from the French by our Edward the third lost by Q. Mary Upon her Confines toward England is the Country of Bononia and Guinnes which contain sundry Towns and Villages The chief â—â—lloin conquered by our Henry the Eighth but delivered back in the reign of Edward the Sixth In this Picardy stands Terwin besieged by King Henry in person where the Emperour Maximilian served under his Coulours and received pay as his Souldier In the lower Picardy stands Ambianum Amiens the Metropols Here are the Dutchy of Terache whose chief City is Guisa which gave name to the family of the Guises and the Country of Vermindois where Saint Quintin stands Retelois and Retel her Metropolis Artelois and Laâ—erre her 's Ponthein and Aberille 16 The Islands which are reckoned properly French are only those which lye neer in the Atlantick Ocean They are but few and of no great account The principal Dame de Bovin L'ille de Dieu Marmotier Insula regis A NEW MAPE OF Y E XVII PROVINCES OF LOW GERMANIE P. Kaerius Caelavit The Description of BELGIA IN this we continue still the Description of Belgia begun in the Map of France For the title is common as well to those Territories as indeed to all the North-East Tracts of the old Gallia The portion hereditary to the French King was marked out among the rest of his Dominions The residue since it hath been by length of time chance of war or at least chance of Fortune dispersed into the power of several Princes is better known to us by the familiar names of the Low-Countries than Netherlands Flandars c. 2 In the search of her Original we may have reference to our precedent Discourse For questionless it was possest by the Gauls as the other parts were aud if trust may be given to those Antique Stories whose truth is almost worn out with age she reacheth her pedegree as high as any and likely enough did partake in the Spoils of Rome when the Capitol was ransaked by the Gauls under the conduct of our two â—nglish Brothers For her chief Captain â—elgius whose memory she preserves to this day in her name is mentioned by Qâ—adus andother as companion to Brennius in his expedition toward Macedonia after they were intreated from Rome 3 In the first times they were a stout people and practised to continual wars by the bordering Germans which made them as well expert as hardy It seems Caesar found them so in his tryal â—or he gives them in his Commentaries the honour of a valâ—ant Nation above any other part of Gallia Yet at last he brought them under and in time they were expulsed by the Germans who for their neerest speech and customs are sâ—pposed and justly too the Predecessors to the now Inhabitants 4 For her first name I find no other likely account given than from a City built by their â—elgius in the Province of Hannonia where now stands Bavaria The râ—st Germania inâ—erior the Low Countries and Netherlands require no long search for without doubt they have little other ground than her low situation upon the Seas and indeed it is such as hath oft times endangered her by inundations and sunk many hundreds of their Towns and Villages which to this day in some places shew their tops above water at a dead low ebb Lastly Flanders
the Romans in Citeriorem which lay nearest to their Territories and Vlteriorem which was all the extent beyond the River Iberus ad fretum usque Herculeum The second was by them too in Baeticum the whole tract beyond the River Ana South-ward 2 Lusitanium Northward toward the Cantabrick Ocean and 3 Terraconensem Eastward joyning upon France When the Moors enjoyed it they rent it into twelve parcels a multitude of petty royalties Arragon Catalonia Valentia Castile Toledo Biscay Leon Gallicea Murcia Navarre Corduba and Portugal And these yet retain the name of Kingdoms but their government was long ago recovered into the hands of five which bare the titles of Castile Arragon Granada Navarre and Portugal It was of latter times contracted into the three Kingdoms of Arragon Castile and Portugal but is in the power of one King called the Catholick King of Spain We stand to this last division as most proper for our times and best befitting my brief Discourse Give me leave to add the Islands which lie near to each Kingdom 11 The present state of Arragon comprehends three of those Kingdomes as it was scattered by the Moors and Sarazens 1 Arragon it self which lieth on the South of Navarre on the East of Castile on the North of Valentia and the West of Catalonia The ancient Inhabitants were the Iaccetani Lutenses and Celtiberi her chief City Caesar Augusta 2 Catalonia It lieth betwixt Arragon and the Pyrenâ—an hills It is supposed a mixt name from Gothi and Alani people which heretofore possest it after the Vandals had lost their hold The Region is but barren yet it hath in it many Cities the chief Terra cona which gave name to the whole Province called by the Romans Terraconenses 3 Valentia which on the East is touched with the Mediterraneum on the North with Castile on the South with the Kingdom of Murcia It is reported for the most pleasant and fruitful Region in all Spain it hath her name from her chief City and as Maginus relates admits as yet of 22 thousand Families of Moors In this is the University where S. Dominick Father of the Dominicans studied and the old Saguntum besieged by Hannibal now Morvedre 12 The state of Castile as now it stands comprehends all the rest of those scattered Governments as were possest by the Moors Portugal only excepted And first Castile it self both the old which joyns with Arragon on the East of Portugal and the west of Navarre and the new which toucheth her upon the South The first abounds not much with fruits but yet it breeds many Cattel The Metropolis is Burgos and the other chief are Salamanca an University and Valadolit once the seat of the Kings of Spain Now Castile abounds more with Corn is watered with the River Tagus and Ana And in this stands the Kings chief Cities Madrid and Toledo which was heretofore a propriatory of it self The rest that belong to Castile are 2. Toledo however now but a City of new Castile yet in the division her Territories spread themselves over a large compass The City is in the midst of Spain It was the seat of the Gothish Kings and successively of the Moorish Princes now of the Arch-Bishops who exceed in Revenues any other Prelate in the world except the Pope Here hath sate eighteen National Councils in the time of the Gothish Kings 3. 13 Biscay heretofore Cantabria on the North of old Castile toward the Ocean it was the last people which yielded to the Romans and after to the Moors A Mountainous Countrey but affords excellent Timber for ships and good Iron Her Cities are S. Sebastian Fonterabia and Bilbao which stands but two miles from the Sea and is noted for excellent Blades some have been tried by the English upon their own Crests 4. 14 Leon heretofore Austria on the East hath Biscay on the West Gallicia on the North the Cantabrick Ocean and on the South old Castile The Region is reported to yield plenty of Gold Vermilion red Lead and other Colours else she is barren her inhabitants not many and those live most upon Hunting and Fishing It is the title of the eldest Son of Castile as Wales is to our Prince of England Her chief City is Oveido which bears part with her in the name of a Kingdom and indeed was the Title of the first Christian King after the Moors Conquest 15 Gallicia on the East joyns upon Leon on the West it is bounded with the Atlantick Ocean on the North with the Cantabrick and on the South with the River Mingo It breeds Iennets in abundance insomuch that they have been Poetically feigned to be conceived by the wind Niger writes that here hath been an incredible plenty of Gold Lead and Silver that the Rivers are full of a mixt earth and that the Plough could scarce wag for clods of Golden Ore There appears now no such matter The principal Cities are Saint Iago where S. Iames the Apostle lieth buried his Reliques kept worshipped and visited by Pilgrims And the other of note especially with us is Corugna an excellent Port for Ships and mentioned oft in our wars with the Spaniards by the name of the Groyne Here likewise is the Promontory Nerius called by our Mariners Capo de finis terrae 16 Murcia on the North hath new Castile on the South and East the Spanish Seas It is not much peopled but yet is famous for several commodities especially for pure earthen Vessels and fine Silk Heretofore it enriched the Romans with a daily supply of 25000 Drachmae of silver Her chief places are Alicante whence our Alicant Wines come and new Carthage oft commended by our Travellers for her large and safe Haven and lastly Murcia a Town which gives name to the whole Region 17 Navarre lieth close to the Pirenaean Hills and as Maginus gives it is enclosed with Mountains and so it is North and East on the West it hath the River Ebro and on the South Arragon The Vascones are said to have lived here who afterward placed themselves in France and kept there their name to this day of Vascones corruptly Gascoigns The chief Towns are Bampelme the Metropolis and Viana the title of the Navarran Prince Maginus sets the Revenue annual of this Kingdom at 100000 Duckets 18 Corduba now a City only heretofore a Kingdom and included Andaluzia Granada and Estremadura Equalized almost the whole Province which the Romans in their second division called Baetica Andaluzia hath lost but one Letter of her name since she was possest by the Vandales From them she was first called Vandalicia since Andalicia corruptly Andaluzia It lieth on the west of Granada and is a very fertile Countrey In this Region is the chief City Corduba whence we receive our Cordavan Leather The second of note is Sevil the Metropolitan of Andaluzia and the fortunate Islands esteemed the goodliest City in all Spain and though as Corduba it was not honoured with the Title of a Kingdom
was forced by Evander the Arcadian a man of that admirable eloquence that he was called the son of Mercury but had by chance slain his Father and was therefore expulsed his inheritance and advised into Italy by his Mother a great Prophetess of those times He removed the Aborigines from their seat and planted his companions in the same plot of ground where after Rome was built and in the Mons Palatinus founded a little Town which he called Palâ—auteum in memory of his great grandâ—father And this was about the year 2710. 6 About 60 years after Aeneas arrived in this Countrey from the siege of Troy was entertained as an amorous suitor by Lavinia with consent of her Father Latinus and after the death of his corrival Turnus King of the Rutilians was setled heir to the Latin Monarchy after his Father 7 From Aeneas to Numitor the succession went on not without some rubs but suffered no great breach for almost four hundred years When the title should have fallen to him being the elder and true heir he was spoiled of the Kingdom by his younger Amulius Sylvius nor could it be recovered till time had given growth and strength to Romulus and Remus his grand-children by his daughter Rhea 8 The birth and breeding of these two brothers is well known we need not enlarge their story farther than thus They were the sons of Rhea a Virgin which was cloystered up into the Temple of Vesta by her Uncle Amulius Sylvus that she might not bring forth an heir to endanger his Title Notwithstanding means was found so that she conceived at once two children by Mars and was delivered among her Sister Vâ—stals For this her self as the censure was upon such delinquents was buried alive her boys exposed to be destroyed but were preserved by Faustulus the Kings Shepherd and nursed by his wife Laurentia or Lâ—pa for her bad life 9 When years and their supposed father had taught them their pedegree and the base tyranny of their Uncle they began with revenge upon him for their mothers quick burial for their own intended murder and their Grandsires injury To be brief they slew their great Uncle Amâ—lius Sylvius and turned the Kingdom to the rightful 〈◊〉 10 Thus when they had once dealt in disposing of Empires they could not easily return to the Shepherds hook but bethought them of the like fortune for their own advancement and stirred not far to make good their purpose but in the very Mons Palatinus the place where they suckt their nurse they drew together a monstrous head of debaucht Shepherds and built the City which is now called Rome from Romulus who in strife for the name or as some say for a disdainful skip over the new walls slew his brother Rhemus and was left the sole Founder and Commander of this rascal crew for so indeed it was and held in that contempt by their borderers that they could not by intreaty get wives from them to continue their succession till by a guile they had enticed the Sabines to their Pastimes ravisht their women and afterward by degrees either made their peace or wan it with the sword from the people round about them 11 Thus began the Empire of Rome and was governed at first by 7 Kings in a direct succession to Tarquinius Superbus who lost both himself and Kingdom by his own pride and his Son Sextus rape upon Lucretia It was next taken up by Consuls two annually chosen out of the Patritii or principal Citizens The third rank were of Decemviri but they again were dispossest for the like rape of Appius upon Virginia and Tribunes were constituted of Consulary authority Then Consuls again in another course and for a while Dictators which when Caesar had once clapsed he soon made to himself a power Imperial and though after five years it cost him his life which he enchanged with Brutus and Cassius for 23 wounds in the Senate-house yet the liberty of Rome was never so fully recovered but that soon after the Government fell upon Angustus by the death of Anthony and deposing of Lepidus who for a while were joyned with him into the Triumviratus 12 Thâ—s hold was scarce ever lost clearly to this day though by the changing of the seat Imperial from Rome to Bizantium in the reign of their forty third Constantinus by the division into the Eastern and Western in the time of Theodotius by the many invasions of the Goths Huns Vandals Alani Burgundians and Lombards it comes now far short of that full glory in which it once shined 13 Yet is Italy still as before a happy soyl pleasant and fertile at all times moderate weather and healthful air full of variety as well of living creatures as Plants Corn Wine Oyl Linnen Herbs c. And can afford into other Countries Rice Silks Velvets Sattins Taffataes Grogram Rash Fustians Gold-wire Armour Allom Glasses c. The rich are very rich for wealth will come with much labour in great abundance but the poor are extream poor for they are most of them very idle 14 Her chief Rivers are Padus or Poe Athesis Rubica Tyberis Arnus c. And her chief Mountains are the Alps and Mons Appennius The first are in height 5 dayes journey covered with snow and from thence have their name à nivibus albis They have two passages from Germany into the Countrey and three out of France From Germany by the Valtoline and by Trent Out of France through Provence and Liguria through the hills Genura to Lombardy and through the Countrey of Turaign The Appennine Mountains run at length with Italy like the ridge of a mans back and is called indeed Spina The measure of Italy is from North-west to South-East about 1020 miles and from the two Seas cross in some places 410. 15 The Inhabitants are of a sad temper solid judgement witty Politick and frugal yet they are as deeply engaged to their peculiar vices hot letchers and those seldome stand quit from that horrible torture of jealousie over their Wives for it measures others actions by its own rule Both in them are incredible and makes treachery and murder seem no fault in their eye if they be provoked by suspition Little friendship with them but for advantage and a man must beware that he venter not farther upon those terms than he may well step back lest he be betrayed perhaps forced to a love worse than their hate for they are most unnatural in their lust The Women when they have their free liberty differ not much but their close keeping either hinders or at least hides their faults so as they appear modest lovely and witty for as much as they dare speak 16 For war and learning it bred in times past the mirrour of both Camillus Fabius Maximus Scipio Pompey Caesar Cicero Livie Tacitus Virgil Ovid and many hundreds which yet prompt our tongues and pens with examples of goodness in several kinds Nor hath it lost that
glory in this age For that Nation directs not their travellers into these parts to see hear and partake of their excellent learning though they compass it with great expence and venture through dangerous hazzards by reason of their treacherous dispositions and cruel barbarous usage of such as shall in any light circumstance seem to be averse from their idolatrous suspition But their Universities are many and very famous Rome Ferrara Naples Salernum Venice Padua Verona Florence Millain Mantua c. 17 I must omit those many divisions of Italy made first by Cato in Appenninam Cisappenninam Transappenninam By Pliny in Liguriam Latium c. By Strabo in Venetiam Lucaniam Apaliam Romam c. By Ptolomy into 45 several Nations We will rest in the latest which best â—its the present state and numbers ten Provinces 1 The Kingdom of Naples 2 The Land of the Church 3 The Commonwealth of Venice 4 The Dukedom of Florence 5 The Dukedom of Millain 6 The Dukedom of Mantua 7 The Dukedom of Vrbin 8 The Principality of Parma 9 The State of Genoa 10 The State of Luca. 18 The first is the Kingdom of Naples in the South part of Italy and is the most fertile it is bounded with the Seas unless on that side towards the Papacy It is of large compass and comprehends many Provinces 1 Campania faelix or terra laboris and in this stands Naples the Metropopolis and Cuma where the Sybyls Cave was by which Aeneas went down to Hell And not far off is the lake Avernus 2 Abrazzo her chief Towns of note are Sulmo and Aquine the birth-place of our great School-man Thomas Aquinas 3 Calabria inferior The chief City Salernum an Academy famous for Physick 4 Calabria superior called Magna Grecia from a multitude of Greek Colonies which there built Cities and possest a great part of the Countries The principal of note was Tarentum 5 Terra Di Otranto for her Metropolis Otranto once Hydruntun And here stands Brundusiâ—m famous for one of the best Havens in Christendom 6 Puglia and her chief City was Arpinum Tully's birth-place 19 The Land of the Church lieth on the West of Naples and South-East of the Common-wealth of Venice North and South she crosseth from the Adriatique to the Tuscau Sea Her under-Provinces are 1 Romandiola and her chief Cities Bononia and Ferrara and Ravenna 2 Marchia Anchonitana in which stands Loretta the place where so many miracles are performed by our Lady as they deliver among the rest of their Legends 3 Ducato Spoletano and in this Asis where Saint Francis was born 4 Saint Peters Patrimony a large portion and I believe more than ever he enjoyed or could leave to his heirs Her ancient Towns well known and oft mentioned in the Roman Stories were Alba the seat of the Sylvian Kings and Ostia built by Ancus Martius and Tybur Preneste the Gaâ—ii the Veii and that which bustles for the place above any other in Christendome Rome her self we will not repeat her beginning she was then but two miles in compass but after she grew far she burnished to 50 miles about upon the walls 740 Turrets and the Inhabitants innumerable For those memorable actions which were performed in her under the Antique Empire we will refer the Reader to a particular Description derived wholly to that purpose As it is now it stands somewhat lower on the banks of Tiber in the Campus Maetins she retains yet 11 miles round and 200000 Inhabitants a great part Friars and such odd idle fellows which pretend to Religion for want of other means to live cloyster themselves up to a single life only to avoid the charge and incumbrances of marriage not to separate themselves from the world or desires of the flesh for among them they maintain commonly 40000 Curtizans in good custome and so rich that they are able to pay 30000 Duckets yearly to the Pope The buildings in which they most glory in are the Church of Saint Peter the Castle of Saint Angelo the Vatican Library and the Popes Palace The truth is there is pride enough to attire the Whore of Babylon as there can hardly be any other meant than Rome she sits upon the Beast with seven heads for she was built upon seven Hills Palatinus Capitolinus Viminalis Aventinus Esquilinus Caelius Quirinalis was ruled first by seven Kings and hath been since subject to seven several forms of Government if you joyn the Popedom to those former which I have now mentioned 20 The Common-wealth of Venice on the North of the Papacy is a large Territory and is now as famous for State-policy as it hath been heretofore glorious for warlike atchievements The Inhabitants were first a people of lesser Asia and assisted their neighbour Trojans in their ten years quarrel with the Greeks So long since they were known by the name of Heneti and that differs not much from Veneti as they are now called Though they have a Duke yet it is a free State and governed by an Aâ—istarchy for he is ordered to the very cloaths on his back by a certain number of the chief Citizens of Venice for that is their Gentry and hath his allowance out of their treasury little enough to keep him from the thought of tyranny about 40000 Duckets by the year The City it self is eight miles round built upon 72 Islands five miles from the firm land but for convenience of passage is alwayes furnisht with Boats and hath 4000 Bridges Their Arsnal keeps in continual readiness 200 Gallies In their Magazin of War there is ever furniture for 100000 men at Arms. The younger brothers of the Gentry may not marry to increase the number beyond maintenance yet to make up their liberty they allow them stews Her Provinces are 1 Marca Trarigniana and her chief Cities are Truisco and Padua the University best frequented by Physicians by reason of her rare garden of Simples and Verona with many others 2 Frinby 3 Histria 4 Part of Dalmatia 5 The Islands Candie Corsica Ithaca Zant Leucadia Cythera c. 21 The Dukedome of Florence betwixt the Appennine Mountains on the North and the Tyrrhene Sea on the South hath on the West Romagna and Pissâ—o on the East A great part of it was Tuscany and gives yet to their Prince the title of great Duke of Tusâ—any Her chief Cities are Florence where the most â—legant Italian is spoke familiarly and Pisa which the Florentines besieged and conquered by the valour of our English Sir Iohn Haukewood who raised himself by his brave carriage in the wars haâ—ing been before but a very poor Taylor in Essex the third is Pistoya where first began the quarrel of the Gueâ—fes and Gabellines 22 The Dukedome of Millain in Lombardy on the South of Traginana North of Liguria West of Mantua and East of Piedmont A pleasant and rich Province Her chief City Millain of seven miles compass the seat of St. Ambrose his Bishoprick 23 The Dukedom of Mantua on the East
Austria on the East with the River Tibiâ—cus on the North with Poland and Russia and on the South with the River Savus 8 The Land thus limited it is hard to believe what most Geographers report of her fertility That she yields Corn thrice in one year almost without any tillage or care of the husbandman Fruit of all kinds in great abundance and Grapes which make an excellent wholsome and rich Wine It breeds Cattel in such plenty that this one Countrey besides store for her own Inhabitants sends Sheep and Oxen into for eign Nations which lye about her and might say they suffice to feed all Europe with flesh Venison is not here any Dainty Does Hares Goats Boars are every mans meat and the game common as well to the Boors as Gentry And so for Phesant Partridge Black-birds Pigeons most Fowl wild and tame 9 The earth is enricht with variety of Mines which yields her plenty of Iron Steel Copper Silver and Gold Lead she hath not and scarce at all any Tin Her Rivers are equally commodious as well for their own wealth as fit conveyance of foreign Merchandise by shipping into their quarters The chief and only one indeed which belongs properly to this Region is Tibiâ—cus or Teissa and this imparts not her streams to any other Countrey but fully and freely pays her tribute to the Hungarian more Fish than can be spent yearly within their own limits It passeth proverbially upon this River that two parts of it are water and a third Fish The rest which are common to this with other Countries are Danubius here Ister and Savus and Darvus all of them well stored with water provision and in some places cast up a sand mixt with very good Gold Here are besides many waters of excellent vertues whereof some turn wood into Iron others Iron into Brass some very medicinal for sundry diseases others again so pestiferous that they kill the creature which doth but taste them The like is reported of an Hiatus in the ground unaccessible by any but the â—owls of the air and those fall suddenly dead with the stench which ascends from it 10 The people for the most part are strong fierce revengeful harsh to strangers briefly ill-mannered and worse learned For they affect not either liberal Arts or mechanick Trades Yet it affords one of the most reverend Fathers of our Church good Saint Hierome Their greatest pride is their name of a warlike Nation and the basest infamy to put up the tearm of Coward Yet the person charged may not acquit himself upon his upbraider but must make good his honour in single combate with a Turk when he hath overcome him and not till then he may by order of the Country wear a Feather as a note of his true Gentry The sons only are inheriters If it chance that the males fail the estate descends not to the Daughters but is forfeit to the common treasury They have no portions with their wives but a wedding garment and till they are married neither one nor th' other are accustomed to lye in beds Their language is the Scythian and their Religion divers some Papists more Protestants They received Christianity above six hundred years since 11 Hungary hath been heretofore divided in citeriorem ulteriorem The former circa and the other ultra Danubium And both again had their division into fifty Counties as Maginus calls them Her most illustrioâ— Cities are 1 Buda the Metropolis and seat of their Kings before it was taken by the Turk For pleasant situation wholsome air fertile fields about her stately buildings and whatsoever else may commend her Quadus sets her equal with any other in Europe Vadianus mentions here a stature of Hercules which himself saw made of brass so artificially that the very veins were lively expressed besides the ruines of other rich work a goodly Library furnisht by Matthias Corvinus King of Hungaria But at his being there it was not in the glory that it had been and not long after was for the most part utterly wasted by the inhumane Turks it is commonly called Osâ—en and is thought by some to be the same with Câ—rta in Ptolomies descriptions 12 2 Southward from Buda stands Albanum an ancient Town which of late they have called Alba now Alba Regalis for it was the place where their Kings were both Crowned and buried 3 Strigonium Grau an Arch-bishops seat and Metropolitan of Hungary It hath had the several chance of war was won by the Tark in the year one thousand five hundred forty three and recovered one thousand five hundred ninety five In which last action our noble Sir Thomas Arundel took with his own hand the Turkish Banner and was honoured by the Emperour Rodulphus with the title of a Count there and here by his own Sovereign Lord Arundel of Wardour 4 Quinque Ecclesiae a Bishops See taken by the Turk one thousand five hundred forty three 5 Comara in a small Island which takes her name from the Town And herâ— it is reported that the grass exceeds in length the height of a man 6 â—avarium not far from Comaâ—â— and is called Rab. 7 Neuhensel where â—â—ucquoy was slain in the year one thousand six hundred twenty one having adventured too far upon the Hungarians Ambush with iâ—tent onâ—y to have received the order of their Forces and fittest place for access to bid them battel And thus of the Kingdom of Hungary as it is strictly bounded with its own proper limits 13 Dacia is on the East of Hâ—ngary and is divided on the North from Sarmatia by the Carpathian Mountains on the South from Greece with Haemus and on the East reâ—â—heth the Pontus Euxinus The first Inhabitants were the Maesti of Asia Afterward the Daci or as Strabo calls them the Dari a Nation of so slavish a disposition that the Athenians brought them into a Proverb and in their Comedies presented their Sycophants under no other name than Dâ—â—ri The Country is fruitful and enricht with Mines their Horses are very comely aâ—d their manes so long that they touch the ground Their last King before it was made a Province to the Romans was Decebalus who as Dion delivers it affrighted the Emperour from an assault which he intended with an incredible number of stakes stuck up in battel array and attired in his Souldiers old habits A wooden shift it was but served him for the present yet after he was vanquished by Trajan and being sunk by the fortune of war below the hope of recovering his Kingdom fell upon his own sword It is now divided into 1 Transylvania 2 Moldavia 3 Walachia 4 Servia 5 Rascia 6 Bulgaria 7 Bosnia 14 Transylvania is the Province of Dacia and was it self called Dacia Mediterranea and Ripensis Dacia Since Transylvania because it was compassed with Woods and septem Castra from her seven Castles of defence upon the Frontiers built by the Saxons who questionless gave her the German name
Countries It hath five Towns Nistad Nasco Togrop Rothus and Marilus with some strong Castles pretty Villager and Noble-mens houses 5 〈◊〉 in length four miles Her Cities are Stubecopen and Nicopen a pleasant and a fair one for which she is by some stiled the Neopolis of Denmark 6 Moena or Muen In this the City Steck and Elmelanda 7 Femera or Femeren Her chief Cities are Derborch and Petersborn and Stabull and here is the Castle Vraniburgh built by the great Mathematician Ticho Brahe which besides the fame of its own artificial structure is much celebrated for the admirable Instruments which are there kept whereby the particular motion of the Heavens is excellently observed 21 8 And to this Kingdom belongs the Islands Borâ—holme which lies in the Baltick Seas called more particularly Mare Suevicum betwixt Blicker and Pomerania It is a Region of excellent pasture and feed abundance of Cattel and therefore is full of Butter Cheese Wool Hides c. and sends into other Countries much of their provision for victuals powdered and barrelled up for the longer keeping It hath some well peopled Towns the chief is Boruholme It had lain for fifty years together in pawn to the State of Lubeck but was redeemed by Frederick the second 22 From these and those many other Northern Islands there have issued in several ages an innumerable sort of Nations which like so many birds as Maginus calls them have flown over the greatest part of our Christian world He concludes that ex his insulis olim Gothi Ostrogothi Vestrogothi Vandali Franci Cimbri Gepidae Dani Hunni Suedi Herculi Rugi Alani Longobardi Alemani alii plures Danubio Rheno superatis omnem Europam praesertim ipsam Italiam altricem imperii dominum 400. plus annis perpetuâ quadam regionum successione subjugarunt ac Romani nomines gloriam ferè omnem extinxerunt POLONIA P. Kaerius Caelavit The Description of POLAND THE Kingdom of Poland borders upon the East-side of Germany and indeed as far as the Râ—ver Vistula it is accounted a part of the Empire and useth the same Speech Religions and Customes as the other Territories admitting only that variety which all of them have among themselves and must needs be found in so large compass s governed by so many several free Princes Beyond the River as it shrinks from the seat of Christianity so it begins to degenerate into a kind of Heathenish rudeness which favours of their Predecessors 2 For this Tract is a part of Sarmatia Europae and the first Inhabitants were the Sauromatae a Scythian people as well for barbarisme as by name It was next possest by the Vandals an active Nation of whom we have had some inkling at least almost in every place which we have past For they have spread their Victories through Europe and have left either name or story behind them in Spain France Italy Germany Tnrace and where not Their most received pedegree is from Vandalus whom Tacitus remembers the Tuscane King of the Progeny of Tuisco first Founder of the Germans Yet Munster in his Cosmography mentions a pretty conjecture of some well wishers it seems perhaps to their own Countrey which gave the original of their name of Vandals to one Vanda a Queen of Poland 3 Briefly Were the Vandals natives or were they invaders here they were found and ejected by the Sclavonians and these were the third Inhabitants of Polonia She was over-run at the same time and had the same fortune with Bohemia they were both lost to their old Lords and divided betwixt the two runnagate brothers of Croatia Zechius and Lechius who being forced for a murder out of their own soyl brought on their crew into these parts abouâ— the year 550. and here have continued in their posterity to this day They are as yet remembred in the very names of the people For the Bohemians in their proper language call themselves Zechians and in the greater Poland there is still extant a Territory known by the title of Regnum Lechitorum 4 Her Etimon signifieth no other than the site of the Country as the Sclavonians first descryed it For it was a Champian or plain field and so is Pole land interpreted out of the Sclavonish tongue It was before called Sarmatia and the people Sauromatae ab oculis Lacertarum Lizzards eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a property it seems which gave name to all her Nations For this was divided from another Sarmatia by the River Tanais that on the one side was Asiatica for the most part wild Heathenâ—sh Idolaters and in the farthest parts of Scythia some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this other is Europaea which being joyned with some parts of Germany Westward to the River Odera Silesia and Moâ—avia make up the Kingdome of Polonia as it is here described 5 The bounds then of this great Region are on the West the River Odera Silesia and Moravia on the East the River Neiper which Ptolomy calls Boristhenes on the North Pomerania or rather the Baltick Ocean and on the South Russia and the Mountains of Hungary And if we will with Maginus take in the out Provinces which belong to this Government we must reach Eastward the Tartars and 〈◊〉 that live near on the other side of Boristhenes and North-east ward part of Muscovia Southward the Hungarian mountains and the Vallaci insomuch that the compass would come little short of all Spain as it lieth beyond the Pyrenaean 6 The principal Rivers of Poland are 1 Vistula it hath its rise in the Caparthian Mountains which divide this Kingdom from Hungary and it self runs into the Baltick but by the way takes in divers other streams on the West out of the Polonia Germanica and on the East out of the Sarmonica It is navigable 400 miles 2 Neister which hath her Fountains in the hills of Hâ—ngary and glâ—des East ward on the South of Podolia into the Pontus Euxinus 3 Neiper or Boristhenes which bounds the Kingdom on the East is navigable 600 stadia and runs from North to South into the Pontus Euxinus where there is naturally cast up plenty of Salt which needs no art to perfect it 4 Rubin in Lituania 5 Hypanis now Bugh not far distant from the City Oleska and falls at last into the River Vistula with many others of lesser note though all conduce to make the Countrey in some kinds very fertile 7 For it abounds with most sorts of Corn and Pulse sufficient both for their own spending and continual traffique into other Countries Many of her neighbouring Regions could not well miss her plenty as well of Whet Rie and Barley as Beeves and other Cattel which gives supply to Saxony and the rest of Germany near hand which hardly yield enough for their Inhabitants out of their own store The blessing of this fertility cannot come alone but must needs bring with it the like riches of butter Cheese Milk Wax Honey and
in this Countrey 20 5 Mesopotamia now Diarbecha heretofore Aram or Charam lies betwixt the two Rivers Euphrates and Tigris and hath Armenia major on her North and on her South Arabia deserta it is of large extent and hath much variety of commodities in her several quarters but hath suffered great calamities by reason of her continual wars with the Turk Her chief Cities are Charon or Haran where Abraham setled himself when he was called forth of Chaldaea and where that gurges Avaritiae the Roman Marcus Crassus lost his life Not far distant is the City Nisibis which was once called Antiochia and Migdonia to these Maginus adds Merdin and Mosus 21 6 Parthia now Arach on the East of Media on the South of Hyrcania North of Carmania and West of Aria The Inhabitants were valiant and had their course of Sovereignty in the Eastern Monarchy Her chief Cities are Cassan and Hispaham which the Persian hath in so great account that he calls it half the world 22 7 Hyrcania now Strava on the North of Parthia and East of Media and South of the Mare Caspium it is plain fertile and rich Her Metropolis Hyrcania the rest of note are Bestan Mesnadran 8 Bactriana now Charassan on the South is divided from Aria by the mountain Parapomissus Her chief City Bactra the birth place of that great Physician Avicenna and Zoroaster Magus This Region belongs not entire to the Sophie of Persia. 9 Parapomissus now Sublestan and Candbear on the East of Aria a mountainous Countrey and the Inhabitants rude and ragged yet her chief City Candatura is a great market and well frequented both from India and Cathaia 10 Aria now Eri on the East of Parthia the Inhabitants of this Region rebelled against Alexander but were forced by his Armies to flye for shelter into a Cave upon the â—op of a Rock yet thither he pursued them and dammed up the Caves mouth with Timber which he set on fire and stifled most the rest were taken to the Victors mercy the treason of Philotus against Alexander was here discovered 11 Drangiana now Sigestan In this Country the Hill Taurus is called Caucasus where the Poets seign that Prometheus was perpetually gnawn by a Vulture for stealing fire from Heaven Her chief Cities are Sim and Cabul built by Alexander at the foot of Caucasus and therefore Alexandria Arachosiae 12 Gedrosia now Circan near the Mare Indicum a barren Countrey scarce worth a farther description and so 13 Carmania 23 14 Upon the confines of the Persian Empire stands a potent Kingdome which comprehends part of the coast of Persia some Islands of the Persick bay and a good portion of Arabia Foelix near to those Seas The chief seat is the City and Island Ormutz a place of a great merchandise but of it self affordeth little provision for victuals so that they are forced to have it brought in from other Parts of the Empire though at an extream dear rate It bounds with a precious Pearl called the Vnion Their King is now tributary to Portugal as once it was to the Persian Emperour THE TURKISH EMPIRE The Description of the TURKISH EMPIRE THe Turk is admired for nothing more than his sudden advancement of so great an Empire For before these three hundred and odd years we must seek this people which is become now a terrour to the whole world lurking in the by-corners of Asia like runnagates and thieves as indeed they were such as so infested their neighbours with rapines and murders as that they neither enjoyed their own lives freely nor possest more wealth than they could maintain with the sword 2 The great Osmand was the first which redeemed them from obscurity his Predecessors were scarce mentioned as a Nation worth story and therefore it is not easie to give their true original or set justly the place of earth from whence they sprang There are which say from the Caspain mountains and that in the time of the Macedoâ—ian â—â—asilius they served the Sarazens in their Indian Wars but turned the Victory to their own advantage for when they had once tryed their strength and found their Forces sufficient in behalf of others they bethought themselves at last to use them for their own advancement and to that purpose turned head first upon their pay masters out of whose spoils they raised incredible Armies which over-spread all Asia to the very Euxine Sea Others again conjecture that they were a Scythian people and the rather for that they made their way into these parts through Pontus and Cappadocia and so on as it were in a direct course from Scythia The truth is the customs of both are not much unlike their habit very near and their wars waged with the same weapons and discipline 3 But admit their first attempt upon the Sarazens yet were they again scattered by their civil dissention lived as before and could not be recollected into a Nation till Othoman took upon him to be their Leader in the year 1300 a man of as low birth and fortunes as the meanest but had 〈◊〉 spirit and an able wit may weild it which put upon this great action to conquer the world and suffered him not to rest in it till he had seated himself in an Empire which his progeny enjoy to this day He began with a rascal crew of such as were led on by want and seemed rather to bear Arms in defence of their privy thests than with intent to invade an enemy for he appeared not at first as an open Warriour but wrought his spoils by stratagems and sleights and clandestine excursions upon such as were unprovided for resistance possest himself of mountains and woods as lay most convenient for his lurking practises and whither he might retire safe if at any time he were pursued 4 By these means he was content for a while to encrease his wealth and power which soon grew to that eminency as in few years he durst meet a strong enemy to the face buckle with him upon his own ground for his possessions and at last so prevailed where ever he set footing that he scarce stept back till he claspt into his own government Pontus and Cappadocia Galathia and Bythinia Pamphilia and Licia and Phrygia and all Asia minor to the Greek Seas to which his successors have in latter times added many other Countries of Asia Africa and Europe so that it is now become the most potent and tyrannical Empire of the world 5 The first of State was at Prussia in Bythinia from thence it was removed Hadrianopolis and at last to Constantinople a City of Greece in the Province of Romania His Palace is called Seraglio is built in the most eminent part of the Town contains three miles in circuit within the walls and surpasseth all other Courts under Heaven for Majesty and number of buildings for pleasurable gardens sweet fountains and rich furniture The Emperour himself hath for his common Guard four thousand footmen the sons
this name whether from Vignina an ancient King thereof or from our Virgin Queen Elizabeth the other parts being since distinguished by the names of New-England New-York and Mary-Land After the more perfect discovery of these parts which is said to have been first encouraged and promoted by Sir Walter Raleigh by several worthy Adventurers as first Captain Philip Amidas and Captain Arthur Barlow Anno 1584. Sir Richard Greenvil 1585. Mr. Iohn White 1587 and 1589. Captain Gosnol 1602 Captain Martin Pring 1603 set out by the City of Bristol Captain George Weymouth 1605 set out by the Lord Arundel of Warder at last iâ— the year 1606 some footing being got for all the forementioned voyages had prov'd succesless those that went over with Captain Newport carrying with them a commission from King Iames for the establishing a Counsel to direct those new discoveries landed on the 19th of December at a place afterwards called Cape Henry at the mouth of Chesapeac-Bay and immediately opened their Orders by which eight of the Counsel were declared with power to choose a President to govern for a year together with the Counsel The next year Letters Patents bearing date April the 10th were granted by the King to Sir Thomas Gates Sir George Summers and the rest of the Undertakers who were divers Knights Gentlemen and Merchants of London Bristol Exeter Plymouth anâ— other parts to make a double Colony for the more speedy Planting of the place the first Colony to be undertaken by those of London the other by those of Bristol Exeter Plymouth c. However it was not till in some years after that this Plantation came to be considerably peopled and that principally by the great care industry and activity in this affair of the Valiant Capt. Iohn Smith who in the year 1615 in the 12th of King Iames his Reign procured by his interest at Court his Majesties recommendatory Letters for the encouragement of a standing Lottery for the benefit of the Plantation which accordingly succeeded and in two or three years time turn'd to no bad account And perhaps the cancelling and making void of the Patent granted to the Corporation of the first Colony of Virginia and all other Patents by which the said Corporation or Company of Adventurers of Virginia held any interest there which was done in Trinity Term 1623 by reason of several misdemeanors and miscarriages objected against the said Corporation was an inlet of a far greater conflux into these parts than otherwise would have been by reason that this Corporation been dissolved and the Plantation governed be persons immediately appointed by commission from the King a greater freedom of Trade was opened to all his Majesties Subjects that would adventure into those parts The greatest disturbance the English received from the Natives was in the year 1622 when by a general insurrection of the Barbarians 300 of our men were massacred In the year 1631 being the 7th of the Reign of King Charles the First the most Nothernly part of this Countrey was parcell'd out into a particular Province and by Patent granted to the Lord Baltâ—more by the name of Maryland And in like manner in the 15th year of his present Majesty being the year of our Lord 1663 that part of Florida which lies South of Virginia to Edw. Earl of Clarendon then Lord High Chancellor of England George Duke of Albermarl William Earl of Craven Iohn Lord Berkley Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftsbury Sir George Carteret Sir William Berkley and Sir Iohn Colleton by the name of Carolina as is specified more at large in the particular discourses of these two Countreys So that Virginia as it now stands with these two Provinces lopt from it for in Carolina also is included some part of the Land which belonged formerly to the dissolved Company of Virgina extends it self only between 36 and 37 degrees and 50 minutes of Northern latitude being bounded to the East by the Ocean to the North by Mary-land to the West by the South-Seas and to the South by Carolina The Air of Virginia is accounted of a temperature very wholsome and agreeable to English constitutions especially since by the cutâ—ng down of the Woods and the regulation of diet the seasonings have been abated only within the present limits of Virginia it is somewhat hotter in Summer than that part called Mary-Land and the seasoning was formerly more violent and dangerous here to the English at their first landing The Soil which is generally plain but sometimes diversified with variety of hill and dale is capable being very fertile of producing all things that naturally grow in these parts besides which there are of the proper growth of this Countrey a sort of Plant called Silk-grass of which is made a very fine Stuff of a silky gloss and cordage more strong and lasting than any of hemp or flax For fruits the Mettaquâ—sunanks something resembling the Indian Fig the Chechinquamins which come nearest to the Chesnut the Putchcamines a fruit somewhat like a Damsin Messamines a sort of Grape in shew Rawcomens the resemblance of a Gooseberry Morocoks not much unlike a Strawberry Macoquer a kind of Apple Ocoughtanamnis a berry much like Câ—pers For Roots Musquaspen with the juice whereof being a rich sort of paint they colour their Mars and Targets Wichsacan yielding a most excellent healing jâ—ice for wounds Pocones an emulgent of much efficacy for swellings and aches Tockawaugh frequently â—aten there is also a Plant called Matonna of which they make bread and Assament a sort of Pulse a great delicacy among the natives The Beasts peculiar to this Countrey are the Opassum a certain beast which carrieth and suckleth her young in a bag which she hath under her belly the Assapanic or flying Squirrel the Mussascus a musk-sented beast having the shape of a Water-rat the Aroughena a sort of Badger the Utchuâ—quâ—is somewhat like a wild Cat also a sort of beast called Roscones Of Fish the most peculiar is the Sâ—ringraise which is also common to this Countrey with New-England So many several Towns as were anciently among the natives so many distinct Nations there were all Monarchical except that of the Sesquahanocks all something differing in disposition customs and religious Ceremonies and most of all in language but all of them in general valiant well-set of a tawny complexion with black flaggy and long hair crafty and treacherous sufficiently laborious in the art of War which they used frequently to exercise among each other and wonderful lovers of hunting in other things most scandalously lazy and indulgent to their ease mean in their apparel homely in their diet and sluttish in their houses All Ships that come to Virginia and Mary-Land enter through the Bay of Chesapeac at whose opening to the South Virginia begins between those famous Capes Cape Henry and Cape Charles Into this Bay which runs up 75 Leagues Northward into the Coâ—ntrey and is in some places seven leagues broad there fall
it hath been formerly accounted they should differ much from those of Virginia Yet there is a sort of fruit called a Persimon mentioned as most especially belonging to Mary-Land and among Birds one named the Mock-bird from its imitation of all other Singing-birds which differing among themselves in the mixture of their colours that which is black and yellow is called Baltemore-bird from the colour of his Lordships Coat of Arms which are Or and Sable excelling in beauty all the other sorts The same is to be said of the complections customs dispositions government c. of the Natives of this Province as of those of Virginiâ— and other adjacent parts that is in brief thaâ— they are somewhat tawny their hair long black and uncurl'd but cut into fantastical forms more ingenious and docile than industrious each Town a distinct Nation and govern'd by iâ—s several Weroance or King only the Sesquaâ—anocks are a Republick As the Province is now inhabited by the English it is divided into ten Districts or Counties five on the Eastern-shore of the Bay of Chespeack namely Dorchester Somerset Kent Caecil and Talbot and five on the West side of the Bay St. Maries where the Provincial Court or chief Court of Iudicature consisting of Governor and Consiliar Iudges is held every quarter of a year Anne Arundel Baltemore Charles and Calvert The chief Rivers of this Country are Patowmec Patuxent Ann Arundel alias Severn Sasquesahanough Choptank Nantecoke Pocomoke besides others of less note of those mentioned the first four on the West side the other three to the East fall into Cheâ—apeack Bay which is navigable for 200 miles and which between two Capes Cape Charles to the North and Cape Henry to the South being seven or eight leagues distant receives all the Ships that come for Virginia or Mary-Land and passeth Northernly through the midst of Mary-Land On the Eastern shore of this Bay are divers convenient Harbours Creeks and Islands and Northward thereof is the entrance of Delaware Bay The original Seat and Principal City of this Province where the Provincial Courts the general Assembly the Secretaries office and other publick offices are held and where the seat of Trade is fixt is St. Maries situate in St. Maries County on the East-side of St. Georges River Here formerly at the Palace of St. Iohns the Governor Mr. Charles Calvert used to reside but he hath now a very pleasant and commodious habitation at a place called Mattapany upon the River Patuxent about eight miles from St. Maries here is also another fair house where the Chancellor usually resides There were also some years since in all the rest of the Counties the foundations of Towns laid which no doubt by this time are very near if not altogether compleated particularly in Calvert County near the River Patuxent 1. Calverton in Battle-creek 2. Harvy Town over against Point Patience 3. Herington upon the Cliffs As for the present Government of Mary-Land by the English the Lord Proprietor in the first place is invested as hath been mentioned with an absolute power and dominion by whose sole command all things relating to peace or War are ordered and in whose name issue forth all publick Instruments Patents Warrants Writs c. In the enacting of Laws he hath the consent and advice of the general Assembly which is made up of two Estates the first consisting of his Lorships Privy Council of which the Chancellor and Secretary alwaies are and such Lords of Manors as are called by his special Writ the other of the Deputies of each Province elected by the free voice of the Free-holders of the respective Province for which each Deputy is chosen The names of the present Governor the prime Officers of State and the rest of his Lordships Privy Council are as followeth the Governor Mr. Charles Calvert his Lordships Son and Heir the Chancellor Mr. Philip Calvert his Lordships Brother the Secretary Sr. William Talbot the Muster-Master General Mr. William Calvert Mr. Baker Brook all three his Lordships Nephews the Surveyor General Mr. Ierome White Mr. Edw. Lloyd Mr. Henry Coursy Mr. Thomas Trueman Major Edward Fitz-Herbert Mr. Samuel Chew Vast quantities of Tobacco the grand Trade of this Province of Mary-Land are yearly vended from hence not only in England but likewise in several of the other English Plantations besides the importation also of some other commodities to the great improvement of his Majesties Revenue by Custom and Excise The common way of traffick here is by barter or trucking of commodities one for anotherr though money is not altogether wanting as well of the coin of England and other parts as of his Lordships own Coin being stampt on the one side with his Lordships Coat of Arms with this circumscription Crescite Multiplicamini and on the other side with his Effigies and this circumscription Caecilius Dominus Terrae Mariae c. The Description of New-England WHat hath been said in General of the discovery of Virginia largely so called may in consequence be applyed to this Country of New-England being as above mentioned one of the three principal Colonies comprehended therein but in the year 1602 it began to be more particularly known a part from the rest from the discovery as some think of Captain Gosnold and in the year 1606 it was granted by Patent by King Iames to divers Lords and Gentlemen under the denomination of the Plymouth Company yet after that several that set out for this Plantation successively either miscarried or returned re infecta as first Captain Henry Chaloung who meeting with the Spanish Fleet that came from the Havana was with all his Company carried Prisoner into Spain Not long after Thomas â— Haman sent to the succour of Chaloung by Sr. Iohn Popham Lord cheif Iustice of England Next Captain Prinne set out by the Bristol Company whose Voyage though it had not its wisht success yet he returned with a farther discovery of the Coast than had been made before Not long after George Popham and Raleigh Gilbert were fitted out at the charge of Sir Iohn Popham with one hundred men who though they had seated themselves not uncommodiously in a Peninsula at the mouth of the River Sagadahoc and were upon making farther discoveries yet in the year 1608 upon the death of George Popham their Commander and soon after of the Lord Chief Iustice they returned into England notwithstanding supplies had but lately been sent them to the very great distaste of the chief promoters of the design and whereupon the French had taken occasion to plant themselves in these parts had they not been timely expelled by Sr. Samuel Argal from Virginia The next that attempted a settlement here was Captain Hobson who by reason of the opposition raised against him by two Natives whom having been detained some while in England he took back along with him upon an affront offered them by some of the English was forc't to return without effecting of any thing
are by some named several Provinces into which this Countrey hath been formerly divided viz. Panuca bordering upon New Spain Aranaris Albardaosia whose Natives are peculiarly noted for their subâ—ilty Irquasia inhabited by a people exceeding all others in swiftness of foot and Alpachia Authia and Someria remarkable for expert swimmers even to the very women who make nothing to cross over wide Rivers with children in their arms it is said to abound also with Hermophradites who are made use of as drudges to follow the Camp and carry the luggage of the Army Colas bordering upon Cape Florida Tegista or Florida properly so called which stretcheth our North and South 100 leagues in length into a long Peninsula toward the Isle Cuba by the Cape Los Martyres Acuera Vitacuâ—â—us c. But the more common division of the Floridans is into their several Tribes as the Quitones the Susolas the Maticones the Avavares the Camoni the Canagadi the Marianes and the Quevenes of each of which the supreme Head or Prince is called the Paraousti This Countrey of Florida is well watered with many large and convenient Rivers of which the only mentioned in any noted Writer of these parts are these 1 Rio Grande 2 Rio Secco 3 Rio de Nieves 4 Rio de Spiritu Santo 5 Serravahi 6 Garuna 7 Ligeriâ— 8 Sequana 9 Axona 10 Charente all which fall into the great Lake of Mexico 11 Maio so called by Ribault from the Month in which he discovered it if it be not one of those already mentioned under another name The principal Towns of Florida whereof some built by the Spaniards and one by the French others by the ancient Inhabitants are 1 St. Helens situate on or near a Promontory or point so called on the utmost Frontier of the Country toward Virginia 2 Arx Carolina or Fort Charles built by Laudonier on the banks of the River Majo and by him so called in honour of King Charles the 9th of France in whose time the Conquest of Florida was undertaken by the French but this place was not long after taken from them by the Spaniard and very much ruinated 3 Port Royal a place inhabited for the sake of the Haven only which for the commodiousness of it is very much frequented 4 St. Matthews one of the principal sortifications of the Spaniards lying on the Eastern Coast of Tergesta of Florida properly so called 5 St. Augustines another of their ancient sortified places on the same Shore only somewhat more Southernly This Town as above mentioned was in the year 1585 taken and sack'd by Sir Francis Drake 6 Vitacuche once the chief Seat of the Province or petty Kingdom of Vitacuche though nâ— better indeed than an indifferent Village consisting but of 200 houses or rather cottages however thought worthy to be taken by the Natives from the Spaniards As also 7 Ocalis the Metropolitan Village of Acuera of so much the more note by how much the larger than the other 8 Osachite another Provincial Town of the Floridans 9 Apatache an ancient Native-built Town probably once of some note and resort at least taken by the Spaniards for such which made them the more eager to take it under the conduct of Pamphilus Narvaes in hopes of finding there great riches Doubtless it was then a place much larger and more considerable than to consist but of 40 or 50 houses or cottages as hath been by some delivered since it was capable of making so smart a resistance as it did when it was attack'd and of repelling them after the departure of Nervaes 10 Ante another ancient Town or Village of the Floridans chiefly remarkable for a sharp Ingagement between them and the Spaniards whom at this place though said to be nine days march from Apatache they overtook and forc'd to retreat not without the loss of very many of their men some of note 11 St. Philip. 12 St Iago both heretofore fortified by the Spaniards if not still possessed by them CAROLINA The Description of Carolina CAROLINA having been formerly accounted a part of Florida though of late separated into a peculiar Province little or nothing is to be said more of the discovery situation climate temperature soil commodities nature and customs of the natives than what hath been already mentioned in Florida it self of which we have been the more particular in regard this part of it which is called Carolina from his present Majesty King Charles the Second and which makes up a considerable Province belongs now to the English it being not so proper to attribute those things to a part only which are applicable to the whole it remains only therefore to speak of the present interest and propriety when upon what occasion and to whom the Patent was granted and if there be any thing else peculiar to this Province above the rest of Florida It was by the care charge and industrious endeavours of divers noble persons as Edward Earl of Clarendon â—ord Chancellor of England George Duke of Albemarl William Earl of Craven Iohn Lord Berkly Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftsbury Sir George Carteret Vice-Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold Sir William Berkly Knight and Baronet Sir Iohn Colleton Knight and Baronet that this Province of Carolinâ— as the best part of all Florida was impropriated into the interest and possession of the English to whom indeed of right the whole Countrey may be accounted properly to belong both in regard it was discovered by Sir Sebastian Cabott by the encouragement and for the use of King Henry the seventh of England and for its neighbouring situation to our other Plantations besides several other conveniences by setling therein two considerable Plantations the one at Albemarl-Point which lying to the North borders upon Virginia and whither very many Families have transplanted themselves from New-England and other of our American Plantations the other at Charles-Town or Ashly River almost in the center of the Countrey which being the better Plantation of the two may in all likelihood invite a far greater as well from New-England and other parts that way as from Barbadoes and Bermudas many have already removed their effects hither The most apparent boundary between Carolina and Virginia appears plainly by Mr. Ledderers Map who hath written a very exact description of his travels into these parts to be the Râ—ver Rorenock alias Shawan that is to say the main River for above half the way and afterwards a smaller branch running on Northward towards the Hills as far as Sapon in the Countrey of the Nabissans the rest of the main stream running farther into the heart of the Countrey which from this boundary stretcheth a long way North-west This Sapon is the first Town within the limits of Carolina and situate as it were upon the utmost point of the said branch of the River Rorenock whereby though it stand dry upon an high ground yet it is environed with a fruitful and productive Soil Nor far from it is a place
by Pearl-fishing Chamdagrir sometimes honoured with the Residence of the Narsingan Kings Prepeti where an annual Feast is celebrated to their Saint Pereimar once sole King of Malabar Golconda peculiar to Musulipatan a little Province subject to the Crown of Narsinga Madura Gingi and Tanajor the Seat of the Naigi or Tributary Roytelets to the King of Narsinga Mâ—liapur called by the Christians St. Thomas from a supposition that this Apostle martyred by the Idolaters was here interred it is said to have had once 330 Temples Cheromandel whence all that Sea-coast which lies on the West-side of the Gulf of Bengala is denominated Negapatan said to be chiefly inhabited by Thomasians Tarnassart once the Royal Seat of a Kingdom so nam'd Casta remarkable for the kind custom of women there who accompanying their dead Husbands into the Grave are buried with them alive Bisnagar ruined by the joynt Forces of four Decan Kings whereupon the Court was removed first to Ponegardo thence after a short time to the City of Narsinga where yet for the most part it remains 12 Oristan whose eminent Towns or Cities are besides that which gives name and credit to the Countrey Catech â— once the Seat of the Kings of this Countrey till vanquished by the Mogul Bacolli peculiar to a little Kingdom so called Angeli Simergan and Senerpase 13 Bofanter containing divers petty Kingdoms as Botia Kacares Conche Gouren Rame Recon Tippura all denominated from their predominating Cities 14 Patanau of which Patane is the mother City the rest are Banaras seated upon the River Ganges frequented by those whose supeâ—stition leads them to bath in that reputed holy stream Siripur and Ciandecan the Seat of two old Princes not yet subdued by the Mogul Sagtagam reckoned of late too 15 Bengala taking name together with a famous Gulf from a City of great Trade seated on the Ganges whose holy waters enrich it also with a concourse of Pilgrims The rest are Gonro anciently the Seat of the Bengalan Kings Caligan a place once of Traffick as seated on the Gulf Taxda till the diversion of the Channel Porto Grande and Porto Pequeno two Towns built by the Portugheses adjoyning to the North of Bengala and therefore accounted part of it the City and Kingdom of Arachan India extra Gangem contains several Territories which are either large Kingdoms of themselves or are divided into divers lesser Kingdoms the first are six namely 1 Brama or Bâ—rma 2 Cauchin-China 3 Camboia 4 Iangoma 5. Siam 6 Pegu. 1 Brama is subdivided into these following lesser Kingdoms viz. Cavilan or Calum Prom Melinta Miranda Bacan Tangu â—va and Brama peculiarly so called all taking â—his appellation from their grand Cities and inhabited by the Brames or Bramines 2 Cauchin-China with its principal City of the same name it is divided into three Provinces each governed by his particular petty King but all under one Head and he tributary to the King of China 3 Camboia with its Capital City of the same name divided also into two inferior Provinces Champa and Camboia properly so called 4 Iangoma or the Countrey of the Laos divided into three Provinces Lavea Curroy and Iangoma strictly so called 5 Siam a Peninsula the same which of old was termed Aurea Câ—ersonesus or the Golden Cherâ—onese and supposed by some to be Solomon's Land of Ophir as the other tract of this part of India was called the Silver Region This Peninsula comprehends within it the Kingdoms of Malaca Patane Ior Muontay and Siam peculiarly so called Malaca denominated from its Emporium or City of greatest Trade belongs to the Portugheses who have also Sincapura and PaloZambilan Patane or as some say Pathane to distinguish it from that Patane already mentioned taking name also from its chief City where by the Queens leave for it hath of late been governed by Queens the English and Hollanders have their several Factories Muantay whose chief City Odia may be well reputed the Metropolis of the whole Kingdom of Siam being the Seat-Royal of the Siamese Kings it is situate like Venice upon several little Islands tack'd together with Bridges in the River Capumo Siam specially so called whose Cities of chiefest note are Socotai remarkable for a Temple 80 spans high all intirely made of metal Quedoa a Town of great Trade for Pepper of which the best sort is there to be had Tavy lying on the Sea-coast and bordering on the Kingdom of Pegu. Lugor near the Isthmus of the Chersonese Calantan peculiar to a petty Kingdom subordinate to the Crown of Siam Pegu divided into several lesser Kingdoms Verma Marin Martavan Orachan and Pegu peculiarly so called all denominated from their prevalent Cities besides which we find not in the three first any of remark but in Orachan there are also mentioned Dianga destroyed by the Portugheses who took it Ann. 1608. In Pegu Cosmi built of Canes of a vast circumference in the midst of a wilderness Coilan a quadrangular City whose four sides are said to consist of four miles a piece Dala chiefly memorable for the Stables of the Kings Elephants Lanagen delightfully seated among Palm-trees Tocabel and Dian both seated upon a River full of habitable Vessels as big as Gallies Meccao a place of retreat for the King by reason of its strong Castle in time of imminent danger but above all the Cities Pegu it self exceeds in strength pleasantness of situation and sumptuousness of building RUSSIA The Description of Russia RUSSIA sirnamed Alba to distinguish it from Russia Nigra a Province of Poland otherwise called also Moscovia from its chief Province is the greatest or rather only Empire of all Europe and one of the greatest of all the World extending from the 43 d to the 66th degree of Northern latitude the longest day in the most Southern parts 16 hours and an half and in the most Northern 22 hours and an half the length in terrestrial measure is reckoned from the Promontory Litamin vulgarly Cape Oby to the Town Czercassy 380 German miles the bredth from Corelenburgh a Town in the Confines of Finland to the River Ob near Lopin 300 German miles each German mile being equivalent to four of ours all under the Dominion of one Prince the Czar or Emperor of Russia otherwise stil'd the Great Duke of Moscovy It is bounded on the North with the frozen Sea on the East with Tartary on the South with part of Livonia a Province now belonging to the Kingdom of Poland and those Cremensian Tartars inhabiting the Southern Shores of Mar del Zabache and the Euxin or Black Sea on the West with certain Mountains and the River Polne which separates it from Livonia and Finland This large Countrey is judged to have been the principal habitation of the ancient Sarmatae or Sauromatae who yet besides what belongs at present to the Great Czar are concluded also to have possest all Borussia Livonia and Lithuania and that part of Moldovia between the Rivers Ister Tyra and Hierasus As to
the temperature of the Air it must needs be supposed that in a Territory of so vast an extent all parts cannot be alike some being so very distant from others In Moscow and the adjacent Provinces the Air is so sharp and pâ—ercing cold that sometimes no Furr is able to protect the nose and ears of those that venture forth into the Air yet the earth being kept very warm with the snow at the first approach of Spring which is almost as soon as in Germany the face of Heaven puts on a pleasant and most serene aspect and the earth a most lively verdure In Winter they travel for the most part in Sledges which being low and covered over with Canvas and the Passengers wrapt warm in Sheepskins they feel no cold but travel as it were in moving Stoves and in Summer the heat is very near as intollerable as the cold in Winter Among their Plants there is one peculiar sort which they call Boranez from its form or shape resembling a Lamb upon a stalk which seems to be its navel-string as far as which stalk permits it changes place and makes the grâ—ss wither as it turns about This fruit is clothed with an hairy rind which they say is dressed in stead of Furr and Scaliger writes that no beast will feed on it but the Wolf whom to intrap it is often set as a bait Their Melons of which there is plenty are commended as singularly well-tasted and of an extraordinary large size The frequency of Wood and Forest furnishes this Countrey with store of Venijon and all those kinds of beasts whose Furrs are in highest price besides one of a very peculiar kind and proper to these parts called the Reen by the Modern Latins Rangifer and thought to be the same with the Tarandius of the Ancients With the skin of this beast the Samoides cloath themselves it is in shape and bigness and horns partlâ— like a Stagg partly an â—lk but with long rough and white hair a cloven foot whose horn strikes so far into the ice that it never slips it is frequently made use of in the drawing of their Sleds upon any occasion of expedition for it is reported to run 30 German leagues a day Of Fish none is here wanting but the Carp Of Fowl none but the Stork The Moscovites are strong and active of body of a middle stature but square-set and brawny arm'd of a natural ingenuity and subtilty which they make use of to cheat with in their bargains and contracts being false treacherous and perfidious withal very lazy and wholly unaddicted to Learning and Arâ—s only necessity obliges them to follow Husbandry they are malicious quarrelsome and scurrilous in company yet their choler seldom advances to farther violence than can be managed with the stick fist or foot which saves many a murther the Sword or Gun would be guilty of They are generally lascivious and beastly drinkers both men and women when occasion offers for all their great Solemnâ—ies and Feastivals are so many drunken Bacchanals in which they walow one among another like Swine at other times if they are sober it is for want of what they love above all things strong liquor for their ordinary drink is but a pitiful poor sort of tiff and though the Countrey affords wherewith to fare delicately enough yet the best of them scarce know how to feed elegantly and the meaner sort eat like what they are poor slaves and lodge as ill that is like the wild Irish or bâ—rbarous Indians the whole Family man woman and beast lie higgledy-piggledy altogether in a room upon straw or mats and in Summer-time upon benches or tables And no wonder their manner of life is so animal and uncultivated since they live subordinately in most wretched slavery the common People to the Nobles the Nobles to the Czar whose grand Maxim it is as generally in Monarchies so very absolute to proscribe Learning well knowing that the necks of the ignorant most â—amely subject themselves to the yoke of tyranny The Religion they profess is according to the Greek-Church which they are said to have received from the Patriarch of Constantinople Ann. 987 though in the Moscoviâ—ish Annals their first Conversion is boasted to have been from St. Andrew the Apostle others say that Duke Wolodomirus received Baptism in the year 987 upon his Marriage with Anna the Daughter of the Emperor Basilius but the most received opinion is that Leo coming out of Greece and planting the Christian Faith among the Russians became their first Patriarch and fix'd his Seat at Kiovia whence after some time the Patriarchal Seat was removed to Volodimiria and lastly to Mosco where it continues The Patriarch who till about 100 years since could not be confirmed but by the Patriarch of Conâ—tantinople but hath ever since been chosen and confirmed only by the Czar or Great Duke though with the consent of the generality of the Clergy hath subservient to him two Metropolitans or Arch-Bishops the Arch-Bishop of Novogrode and the Arch-Bishop of Rostow and under these there are 18 Bishops enjoying very large Revenues and therefore the largest contributers to the Great Duke when he hath occasion to raise an Army Of the Rivers of this Countrey the chief are the Dniâ—per or Borysthenes of the ancients whose Fountain though unknown to Herodotus hath been since found to be near Dnieperko a' Village of Moscovia in the Wood Wolskonski and which flowing Southward by the Cities Smolensko and Kiovian after having taken in many lesser Rivers dischargeth it self at last into the Euxin or Black Sea 2 Ducina concluded to be the Turuntus of Ptolemy which springing not far from the Fountains of Boryâ—thenes in the same Wood and flowing by Riga the Capital City of Livonia falls at last into the Baltick Sea 3 Volga the Rha of Ptolemy and now called Edel which springing from a Lake of the same name being about 25 miles from Mosco and flowing with a long course and many windings after the taking in of many lesser streams disburtheneth it self with no less than 70 mouths into the Caspian Sea not far from the the City citracham 4 Don or Tanais by the Italians called Tuna which dividing Europe from Asia hath its source as some are of opinion from the Riphaeâ—n Mountains in a certain Wood out of a vast Lake not far from the City Tulla and flowing with a long course beyond the Confines of Russia Southward makes the Lake Mâ—otis 5 Occa which springing out of the Province Moâ—ceneck which it semi-circles after a long course enters the Volga beneath Inferior Novogrod The most noted Lakes are the Ilmen or Ilmer 12 German miles in length and 8 in bredth The Ladoga whose length is 25 German miles the bredth 15 and containing divers Islands The White Lake called by the Inhabitants Bielcyesero twelve miles in length and as many in bredth and into which 360 Rivers small streams or rivulets doubtless are said to empty
themselves near this Lake is another whose waters cast up a sulphureous scum Of the Mountains of thâ—is Countrey the only of note are those famous Amadoci Riphaei and Hyperboreâ— so much spoken of and so obscurely defin'd by the Ancients being one continued ridge of â—ilâ—s which under these several names runs overthwart European Sarmatia and tends first North then South lastly Eastward into Asiatick Sarmatia The Russian or Moscovian Empire is divided into 30 Provinces whereof several are Dutchies and Principalities viz. 1 Moscovia properly so called the Principal City whereof and not only of this Province but of the whole Empire is Mosco seated on a River of the same name but five miles in compass since burnt by the Tartar it contains 16 Churches built for the most part like the houses of mud and wood but the chief ornament of the Town is the Emperor's Palace like a Town for largeness next it is the Palace of the Patriarch This City is defended by two Castles Kitugorod and Basigorod the next Town of note is Sloboda a Bishop's See This Province extends from East to West 600 German miles and besides the inferior Souldiery furnishes the Great Duke with 3000 Boiares who serve in the nature of the Tuâ—kish Timariots or such as hold by Knights service 2 Volodomire a Dukedom added to the Title of the Great Duke a fertile Province once the Seat of the Empire till the time of Iohn Danielovitâ— who removed to Mosco from which it is distant 36 Polonish miles the next City of note is Muron 3 Novogardia the lower not inferior to Wolodomire in fertility and a Dukedom whose denominating City scarce parallell'd by any other of the Empire for largeness and fair building is seated on the Confluence of the Volga and Occa and guarded with a strong Castle hew'd out of a Rock by the Great Duke Basiâ—ius and adorned with a stately Temple reported to be built in imitation of that of St. Sophia at Constantinople In some out-skirts of this Province rather than in distinct Provinces there may be said to live rather than inhabit sculking up and down in Woods and Wildernesses two rustick people the Czeremissi wonderfully swift of foot both men and women and most expert handlers of the Bow and Arrow and the Mordwits the civiller of the two and not altogether without Houses and little scattering Villages but both of them either Maâ—umetans or rather the greatest part of them down-right Idolaters being boâ—h of them a sort of Tartars though within the Great Dukes Dominion 4 Rostow 5 ustynga 6 Vologda 7 Iaroslow with their several Provincial Towns or Cities of the same denomination which some will have to belong to the Province of Moscovia Rostow and Iaroslow seated on the banks of Volga have both the Titles of Dukedoms and belonged heretofore to the Great Duke's second Son the first is one of the Metropolitan Sees and guarded with a Castle the other a Bishop's See Vologda is also a Bishop's See and fortified with a strong Castle where the Czar keeps part of his treasure 8 Duina as it were Twain so called from its principal Town and that from the River upon which it stands in which are united the streams of Iuch and Sachona But the places of most trade and concourse are St. Nicholas a Sea-Port Town and Bâ—shops See on the Gulph of Granvicus otherwise called the Bay of St. Nicholas into which the River Duina cischargeth it self and especially St. Michael generally called Archangel where the English Merchants have a very great Trade and large-Priviledges there are also to be taken notice of Sanga so named from the stream Sachona on which it stands and Cargapol another Bishops See besides the strong Castles Colmagro and Pineâ—ul 9 Rhesan between Occa and Tanais adding the Title of another Dukedom to the Czar a very fertile Province and well peopled yielding to the service of the Czar no less than 1500 Boiari Kâ—ights or Horsemen and consequently Foot proportionably The Town from which the Province takes name stands upon the River Octa the rest are Cossira an Episcopal See Tulla the source or fountain-head of Tanais and Colluga a strong Garrison against the Tartars 10 Severia a large and in some places fertile Dutchy for it is very much taken up with vast Desarts and Forests the most observ'd Towns are Starodub Potâ—volo and Czernigo 11 The Dutchy of Woâ—otine which stretcheth it self along the Western-Bank of the River Occa upon which also stands the Town of Worotine with a strong Castle 12 Permia a large extended Province and deriving name from its chief Town seated on the River Vishore second to which Town is Siewarsky 13 Smolensco Dutchy full of thick Forests extending it self along the banks of the River Niâ—per upon which the City Smolensco stands an Episcopal See 14 Mosaiski a Dukedom extending in length above 87 German miles and as much in bredth taken by Iohn the Father of Basilius from Alexander King of Poland the City which denominates this Province is a Bishops See 15 Biela or Bielski a Principality with a City and Castle of the same name seated on the River Opska 16 The Dukedom of Ruschovia whose City and Castle of the same name is seated on the River Volga which takes its source in this Province from the Lake Volga 17 Tuver heretofore one of the chief Principalities of Russia whose City Tuverda an Episcopal See and reported more magnificent than Mosco it self is situated on the Volga along whose Banks is extended this fair and spacious Territory affording the Czar no less than 40000 Bâ—iaâ—i and double if not treble the number of Foot 18 Plescow a Principality which stretcheth it self above 80 German miles in length and near a third part in bredth whose spacious Metropolis of the same name is of all the Cities of the Russian Empire the only walled City It was in the year 1509 taken by the Great Duke Basiâ—ius from the King of Poland some say by the treachery of the Priests 19 The Dukedom of Novogardia or Novogrod for distinction sake entituled Novogardia Magna as being indeed one of the amplest Provinces in all the Russian Empire as the City that gives appellation to iâ— one of the largest Cities but generally consisting of wooden or clay buildings seated on the River Narva or Ny ah Archiepiscopal See and one of the four great Marts or Hans Towns of Russia heretofore belonging to the King of Poland as Duke of Lithuania from whom it was taken by the Great Duke Basilius or as some say his Son Ioannes The other Towns thought worthy mention are Narva taken also by the Great Duke from the Polander situate Northward at the Influx of Duina into the Bay of Finland Pozow and Volocoluc two Frontier Towns strongly fortified to prevent the incursions of the Poles besides the strong Castle of Iuanagogoâ—od which serves as a frontier defence aganist the Suedes of Narva 20 Volzka or Wotâ—ka a little Region lying North-west from