on the West side serveth the River Levin on the South Clyde and on the East a boggy Flat which on every side is wholly covered over with Water and on the North side the very upright steepness of the place is a sufficient Defence to it Directly under the Castle at the Mouth of the River Clyde as it enters into the Sea there are a number of Clayk Geese so called black of colour which in the night time do gather great quantity of the crops of Grass growing upon the Land and carry the same to the Sea then assembling in a round with a great curiosity do offer every one his Portion to the Sea Flood and there attend upon the flowing of the Tide till the Grass be purified from the fresh tast and turned to the salt and lest any part of it should escape they hold it in with their Bills after this they orderly every Fowl eat their own Portion and this Custom they observe perpetually Universities The Universities are four in number St. Andrews Aberdeen Glasgow and Edinburgh from which every Year there is a fresh supply of learned Persons fit for publick Employments and Dignities in Church and State St. Andrews St. Andrews was Founded by Bishop Henry Wardlaw A. D. 1412. and is endowed with very ample Privileges the Arch-Bishops of St. Andrews were perpetual Chancellors thereof The Rector is chosen Yearly and by the Statutes of the University he ought to be one of the three Principals his power is the same with that of the Vice-Chancellor of Cambrige or Oxford There are in this University three Colleges St. Salvator's St. Leonard's and New-College St. Salvator's College was founded by James Kennedy Bishop of St. Andrews he built the Edifice furnished it with costly Ornaments and provided sufficient Revenues for the Maintenance of the Masters Persons endowed at the Foundation were a Doctor a Batchellor a Licentiate of Divinity four Professors of Philosophy who are called Regents and eight poor Scholars called Bursars St. Leonard's College was Founded by John Hepburne Prior of St. Andrew's 1520 Persons endowed are a Principal or Warden four Professors of Philosophy eight poor Scholars New-College was Founded by James Beaton Arch-Bishop A. D. 1530 The Professors and Scholars endowed are of Divinity for no Philosophy is taught in this College Aberdeen In the Reign of King Alexander the Second A. D. 121. there was a Studium Generale in Collegio Canonicorum where there were Professors and Doctors of Divinity and of the Canon and Civil Laws and many Learned Men have flourished therein King James the Fourth and William Elphinstown Bishop of Aberdeen procured from Pope Alexander the Sixth the Privileges of an University in Aberdeen 1494. It is endowed with as ample Privileges as any University in Christendom and particularly the Foundation relates to the Privileges of Paris and Bononia but hath no reference to Oxford or Cambrige because of the Wars between England and Scotland at that time the Privileges were afterward confirmed by Pope Julius the Second Clement the Seventh Leo the Tenth and Paul the Second and by the Successors of King James the Fourth The Bishop of Aberdeen is perpetual Chancellor of the University and hath power to visit in his own Person and to reform Abuses and tho' he be not a Doctor of Divinity yet the Foundation gives him a power to confer that Degree The Office of Vice-Chancellor resides in the Official or Commissary of Aberdeen The Rector who is chosen Yearly with the assistance of his four Assessors is to take notice of Abuses in the University and to make a return thereof to the Chancellor if one of the Masters happen to be Rector then is his Power devolved upon the Vice-Chancellor The College was Founded by Bishop William Elphinstone Anno 1â—00 and was called the King's College because King James the Fourth took upon him and his Successors the special Protection of it Persons endowed were a Doctor of Theology who was Principal a Doctor of the Canon-Law Civil-Law and Physick a Professor of Humanity to teach Grammer a Sub-Principal to teach Philosophy a Canton a Sacrist three Students of the Laws three Students of Philosophy six Students of Divinity an Organist five Singing Boys who were Students of Humanity The Marischal-College of Aberdeen was Founded by George Keith Earl of Marischal A. D. 1593. Persons endowed were a Principal three Professors of Philosophy Since that there hath been added a Professor of Divinity and Mathematicks a fourth Professor of Philosophy twenty-four poor Scholars Of the other two Universities I shall treat afterward Mountains and Rivers The chief Mountains are Cheriot-Hill and Mount Grampius spoken of by Tacitus the safest shelter of the Picts or North-Britains against the Romans and of the Scots against the English now called the Hill of Albany or the Region of Braid-Albin Out of these ariseth Tay or Tau the fairest River in Scotland falling into the Sea about Dundee on the East-side Clayd falling into Dunbritton-Frith on the West-side of the Kingdom besides which there are other small Rivers as Bannock Spay d ee well replenished with Fish which furnish the Country with great Store of that Provision The Nature of the Air Soil and Commodities The Air of this Kingdom hath its variety according to the situation of several places and parts of it but generally it is healthful because cold the Soil in the High-landers is poor and Barren but in the Low-landers 't is much better bearing all sorts of Grains especially Oats which are much ranker than ours in England Their chief Commodities are Cloth Skins Hides Coal and Salt their Cattle are but small and their best Horses are commonly bred about Galloway where Inhabitants follow Fishing as well within the Sea which lies round about them as in lesser Rivers and in the Loches or Meers standing full of Water at the foot of the Hills out of which in September they take in Weels and Weer-nets an incredible number of most sweet and toothsom Eels For Bernacles or Soland Geese they have such an infinite number of them that they seem even to darken the very Sun with their flight these Geese are the most rife about the Bass an Island at the mouth of the Frith going up to Edinburgh and hither they bring an incredible number of Fish and withal such an abundance of Sticks and little twiggs to build their Nests that the People are thereby plentifully provided of Fuel who also make a great gain of their Feathers and Oil There hath been a dispute amongst the learned about the generation of these Geese some holding that they were bred of the leaves of the Bernacle-Tree falling into the Water others that they were bred of moist rotten Wood lying in the Water but 't is of late more generally believed that they come of an Egg and are certainly hatched as other Geese are In the West and North West Parts the People are very curious and diligent in
Happiness to receive the first Rudiments of my Education nor can I mention his Name without the most profound Respect nor when I think of his manifold Favours conferred upon me refrain from breaking forth into a Poetical Rapture with the sincerest Gratitude imaginable Dii siqua pios respectant Numina siquid Vsquam justitiae est aut mens sibi conscia recti Praemia digna ferant Out of this Street lies a way up into a fair Champaign Heath where the Walks are so pleasant and the Air so sweet that every gentle gale doth fan and clear the Blood from all gross and feculent Humours and infusing a more than ordinary Agility and Briskness into the Spirits keeps the Body constantly in an even and healthy Crasis And indeed every where about the Town there are dispersed such variety of Delights for Recreation so much Wit and Facetiousness for Diversion so much gentile Complaisance for Imitation that 't is no wonder to behold it so Populous and so Rich so Gay and so Glorious and every day to receive still greater addittaments of Wealth and Honour As for what concerns the particular Government of the Town 't is under the Charge of an Alderman with Twelve Brethren who are his Assistants out of which the Chief Magistrate is annually elected who have all things necessary to support their Grandeur And for its constant supplies of Provision there is weekly a great Market of Corn and all other Commodities to be serviceable to the Inhabitants and for the farther promoting of our English Manufactures there are two great Fairs kept here every Year wherein they may furnish themselves with what their Markets are not able to supply them Not far from this Town was that great Battel fought against King Henry the Second in which he overthrew Robert Earl of Leicester with his Rabble of Flemmings the Earl himself and his Wife being taken Prisoners And here was Born Richardus de Bury Bishop of Durham the Governor of Edward the Third when young and famous especially for a Work which he entituled Philobiblos in the Preface of which he confesseth Ecstatico quodam librorum amore potenter se abreptum he was well acquainted with Petrarch the Italian and other Learned Men of that Age Bradwardin Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Richard Fitz-Ralph Armachanus Walter Burleigh Robert Halcot and other famous Men of that Age were his Chaplains We diverted our selves a while with our Friends whose Civility and Kindness was as generous as their Entertainments free and cordial but though the Charms of this place were very strong and inviting yet at last we were enforced unwillingly to break through these alluring Enchantments and resolving again to seek out new Adventures we passed from hence through Buddesdale Buddesdale a Market Town of good Note to a little Village called Scole very famous for an Inn and Sign-Post built by a Gentleman of this Country at a considerable Charge The House is of Brick neat and uniform Scole Inn. and hath great variety of Objects for Diversion in the Porch at the four Corners stand the Statues of two Men playing on Wind-Musick a Tapster filling out Drink and a Tumbler shewing of Tricks on the two side Posts Hercules with his Club and Sampson with his Jaw-bone on the Front is the Figure of the Whale vomiting up Jonah out of his Mouth and on the East side of the House the Statue of Peace and Hope with an Anchor and an Olive Branch But that which is most admirable is the contrivance of the Sign-Post which seems to contain an Epitome of Ovid's Metamorphosis in Effigie on the top of it is an Astronomer looking through a Quadrant and riding upon an Anchor with the four Cardinal Virtues on each side of him Fortitude with her Pillars Temperance with a Cup pouring out Wine Prudence with a Snake in her Right-hand and Horn of Plenty in her Left and Justice with a pair of Scales and a Sword All along the Sign-Post stand several Images curiously carved and painted the first represents a Huntsman equipped and accoutred with his Horn and green Jacket as if he was then very hot upon his Chase and next to him Actaeon transformed into a Stag under which is this Inscription Actaeon ego sum Dominum cognoscite vestrum The next is Diana with a Half-Moon upon her Head the Planets under her Feet her Quiver in her Hand and her Horn by her side and before her is a Grey hound in a close pursuit after a Hair After which stands old Time with an Hour-Glass on his Head a Syth in his Left-Hand a Prodigal Youth in his Right and Death under his Feet with this Inscription Tempus edax rerum In the middle hangs the Sign of the White Hart ingeniously contrived into an Oval Figure with two Angels and two Lions at each corner under one of which are placed four naked Boys pressing of Grapes and under the other a Tumbler shewing feats of Activity On both sides are Coats of Arms of some of the chief Families both in Suffolk and Norfolk with Bacchus sitting astride upon a Barrel and holding two Bunches of Grapes in one hand and a Cup of Wine in the other The Effigies of a Triton riding upon the back of a Dolphin and also of a Shepherd playing merrily upon his Rural Pipe And last of all on each side of the Post which supports the whole Fabrick stands three-headed Cerberus the great Janitor of the Infernal Court and grisle-bearded Charon with his Boat and Oars wafting a Wench over the Stygian Ferry And because I find a great Master of Wit and Poetry Mr. Alexander Brome exercising his Fancy ingeniously upon this Subject I shall borrow from his Book that elegant Poem which was Printed some years ago I. DID none of you hear Of a Wonder last Year That through all Norfolk did ring Of an Inn and an Host Of a Sign and a Post That might hold God bless us the King II. The Building is great And very compleat But can't be compar'd to the Sign But within doors I think Scarce a drop of good Drink For Bacchus drinks all the best Wine III. But here 's the design What 's amiss in the Wine By Wenches shall be supplied There 's three in a row Stands out for a show To draw in Gallants that ride IV. The first of the three Diana should be But she Cuckolded poor Actaeon And his Head she adorns With such visible Horns That he 's fit for his Hounds to prey on V. 'T is unsafe we do find To trust Womankind Since Horning's a part of their Trade Diana is plac'd As a Goddess that 's chast Yet Actaeon a Monster she made VI. The next Wench doth stand With the Scales in her hand And is ready to come at your beck A new Trick they have found To sell Sack by the pound But 't were better they 'd sell it by th' Peck VII The last of the three They say Prudence must be With
as they have made in other Countries this may be sufficient to inform them That there is not any thing worth our Wonder Abroad whereof Nature hath not written a Copy in our own Island And it cannot be too frequently observed that as Italy has Virgil's Grotto and the Sybil's Cave by Puteoli so England hath Ochy-Hole by Wells and Pool's by Buxton We have Baiae at the Bath the Alps in Wales the Spaw in Yorkshire Asphaltites at Pitchford in Shropshire the Pyramids at Stonehenge Pearls of Persia in Cornwall and Diamonds of India at St. Vincent's Rock Besides we have the 〈◊〉 of ancient and famous Castles and Garrisons Fortresses and Bulwarks Rampires and Trenches where as great Sieges have been made as remarkable Battels fought and as noble Atchievements performed as in any other Places in Europe which have been eminent for the Seats of War to which if we add divers Roman High-ways and Causeys with various Coins and Medals of great Antiquity variously dispersed about the Kingdom it will not stoop to any neighbouring Nation for such admirable Curiosities So that since England is not destitute of those many taking Things which all Travellers so passionately admire Abroad it is very incongruous to pretend to be acquainted with other Countries and to be Strangers to their own which is an Epitome of all other and which upon all these as well as other Accounts may very justly claim and challenge as a due Debt all those glorious Elogies which both Ancient and Modern Writers have conferred upon it And having thus briefly declar'd the main Design and Scope of this Narrative I shall neither Complement my Reader into its acceptance nor trouble my self to make any Harangue in Apologizing for its Contrivance for as for all Candid Persons I question not but their Censures will be as favourable as their Humours ingenuous And as for such snarling Criticks and carping Momus's of the Age who can sooner find a Fault than mend it I am sure most complemental Apologies will never work in them Candour or good Nature I shall therefore endeavour to Arm my self against all their Cavils with the excellent Advice of the wise Moralist Mimnermus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English thus Attempt brave things then set your Heart at rest Let not the sensless Mob disturb your Breast If some speak ill on purpose for to teaze you Others will speak the best and let that please you J. B. AN ACCOUNT OF Mr. BROME'S Three Years TRAVELS OVER England Scotland and Wales A Narrative of his first Journey WHen the Spring had rendred the Roads passable and the Country was a fitting Entertainment for Travellers the Gentlemen whose Names I have given my self the Honour of Inserting in the Title were pleased to take me for their Companion in order to have a View of those Places which were under the same Government with the City from whence they set out and which it was not Improper to be acquainted with before they made a Visit to Nations more â—ote And since it is but natural for the Inhabitants of other Countries to be as inquisitive after our Scituation and Establishment as we are after Theirs we could not but endeavour to provide our selves with an Answer by the Knowledge of our own Country's Constitution before we had occasion to ask Questons in Relation to those of others As these were the Reasons which occasion'd our Journey so we took a time in which it was agreeable to make one The Season of the year push'd us forward and the delights which it afforded were motives enough to persuade us to take leave of the Glorious City of London which is Caput Gentis and an Epitome of England Middlesex We took our Journey through Middlesex a Country famous for its goodly Edifices as well wisely compacted together upon the pleasant Banks of Thames as likewise for divers stately and magnificent Palaces dispersed in several other parts thereof Uxbridge to Vxbridge anciently Woxbridge seated on the Colne which parts it from Buckinghamshire a Town Built of late times well stored with Inns and of a considerable length This was the place famous in the Year 1644. for a Treaty held betwixt King Charles the First and the Parliament where after several Debates by Commissioners on both sides the Treaty of Peace was unhappily broken off and ended in a Deluge of Blood which speedily over-ran this whole Nation Bucks From Vxbridge we came into the County of Bucks which might possibly receive its Denomination from its Fertility in Beech-Trees there being a Province in Germany called Buchonia for that very reason 'T is a Country rich in Pasture and so convenient for Grazing that the Inhabitants thereof do very much addict themselves to that Employment receiving great Advantages by the Vicinity of London where the Markets are very Encouraging the Prices being high and the Returns considerable Passing through Beconsfield Beconsfield and Wickam a Town better known in that it was formerly part of the Inheritance belonging to the Noble Family of the Schudamore's than for any thing at present of greater Consequence we arrived at Wickam or Wicomb situated above a pleasant Valley by which runs along a little Rivolet and perhaps from this situation it took its Name for Combe saith the Great Antiquary Mr. Somner in his Saxon Dictionary is a Valley enclosed on either side with Hills and Wick saith the same Author is the turning winding or hollowness of Water-banks or the curving reach of a River 'T is a Town for largeness and buildings not much inferiour to any throughout the Shire and hath a Mayor and Aldermen to govern and support it and is a place very much celebrated for the abundance of Bone-Lace usually made here which brings no small Advantage and Profit to its Inhabitants Having refresh'd our selves a while here we set forward for Oxfordshire Oxfordshire which being once entred into we could not sufficiently enough admire the pleasantness of the Soil for there it is that Ceres bestows her Gifts most liberally upon the laborious Husbandman there it is the Meadows are garnished with Flora's curious Embellishments and the great variety of Plants allure and invite the industrious Herbalist into a more strict Enquiry of their Names Natures and Properties There it is where the Hills adorned with shady Woods afford most delightsome Bowers to wearied Students whilst the Silver-stream'd Rivers with their gentle Murmurs nimbly coursing along by the humble Valleys do whet their Fancies and scrue up their Inventions to the highest pitch To confer upon them suitable Encomiums What more pleasant than Isis afterward called Thamisis which runs along the South-side and then branching it self out in several Veins gives heart to the Eastern part of the County till by a continued Circulation like that of the Blood after several Windings and Maeandrous Flexures it lodgeth at last again within it self What can be more diverting than the River Cherwell
which being well replenished with numerous Shoals of Fish after it hath for a time parted this County from Northamptonshire passeth through the midst of it and divides it as it were into two equal Portions In fine Nature hath here so generously scatter'd all her Largesses either for Pleasure or Profit that she certainly at first designed it as a Glorious Seat for the Muses and a fruitful Colony for Apollo's Children and therefore we now find here one of the Eyes of this Nation which is the Renowned Oxford Oxford Oxford q. Bovis Vadum a Ford for Oxen to pass over as the Thracian Bosphorus is called by the Germans Ochenfurt It was anciently called Bellositum for its healthy Air and commodious Situation betwixt two Rivers and is so ancient a City as to fetch its Original from the time of the Britaine so large to contain 13 Parish Churches besides the Cathedral so well adorned with private goodly Structures as well as with divers magnificent Colleges and Halls that it must needs be allowed to be one of the most beautiful and stately Cities in England it is supposed by Antiquaries to have been a place for publick Studies before the Reign of that learned Saxon King Alfred who very much augmented it out of his Princely Favour and Love to Learning and Religion and it justly glories in the Ancient and Royal Foundation of Vniversity-College founded by the aforesaid King Alfred about the year 872. afterward re-edified by William Archdeacon of Durham or as others write by William Bishop of Durham in the Reign of William the Conquerour In the curious Fabrick of New-College built by William of Wickham Bishop of Winchester in Richard II's time In the Magnificence of Christ-Church erected by Cardinal Woolsey in the Reign of Henry VIII and in Twenty two stately Colleges and Halls besides To wave the curious Fabrick of the Schools the admirable Structure of the Theatre built at the sole Cost and Charges of the most Reverend Father in God Gilbert late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the famous Bodleian Library which for a Collection of choice Books and rare Manuscripts is not much inferiour to that of the Vatican at Rome The Musaeum erected at the Charge of the University for the Improvement of Experimental Knowledge The publick Physick Garden replenished with the choicest Plants and surrounded with a strong Stone-Wall at the Expence of his Grace the present Duke of Leeds together with all the Customs Privileges Offices and Dignities which are already Elegantly set forth by the Ingenious Author of the Present State of England I shall only observe that the most Puissant King Henry VIII erected here first a Bishop's See and Endowed it as we are informed out of the Lands belonging to the dissolved Monasteries of Abington and Osney and for further Ornaments to the University and Encouragement of Learning through the Munificence of that Prince and divers other Benefactors there have been since added divers professors of several Arts and Sciences to instruct the younger Pupils in their Minority and to make them fit Instruments for the Service of Church and State From hence we moved forward to Burford Burford a Town in this County of good Note for its Antiquity situated very pleasantly on the side of a rising Hill It was formerly called Berghford or Bregforde saith my Learned Friend Mr. White Kennet in his Parochial Antiquities of Oxfordshire and as he further informs us A Synod was here Convened at which were present the two Kings Etheldred and Berthwald Theodore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Sexwolph Bishop of Litchfield Bosel Bishop of Worcester and Aldhelm afterward Bishop of Sherborn then only Priest and Abbot of Malmsbury which said Aldhelm at the Command of this Synod wrote a Book against the Errour of the British Christians in the Observation of Easter and other different Rites wherein they disturbed the Peace of the Church the reading of which Book reclaim'd many of those Britains who were under the West Saxons After this 't is storied further That about the year 752. Cuthred King of the West Saxons when he was no longer able to bear the Severe Tributes and Exactions of Aethelbald King of the Mercians who did most cruelly oppress him and began 〈◊〉 suck the very Blood and Marrow of his Subjects came into the Field against him and in a pitâ—â—'d Battle at Beorgford saith the Saxon Chronicle published by the Learned Mr. Gibson routed him â—â—tally taking from him his Banners on which was painted a golden Dragon and so eased and freed himself and his Subjects from that Tributary Vassalage The Memory whereof has continued for several Ages in the Custom used here of making a Dragon and carrying it about the Town solemnly on Midsummer-Eve with the addition of a Giant to it the reason of which latter Practice is not so easily discovered saith the Ingenious Dr. Plot in his Natural History of Oxfordshire Having once passed from this place we soon arrived within the Limits of Glocestershire Glocestershire in the Eastern parts swelled up into Hills called Cotswold which Feed innumerable Flocks of Sheep the Wool whereof is much praised for its fineness the middle parts consist of a fertile Plain watered by the Severn and the Western part where lies the Forest of Dean is much covered with Woods 'T is a Country happy in the Enjoyment of all things that are necessary for the Use and Service of Man the very Lanes and Hedges being well-lined with Apple and Pear-Trees and the Vales which in William of Malmsbury's time were filled with Vineyards are now turn'd into Orchards which yield plenty of Sider The Towns and Villages stand mostly thick together and so it is populous the Houses numerous and so 't is sociable the Churches fair and magnificent and so 't is honourable But that which is one of the greatest Blessings of all is the Noble River Severn than which there is not any River in all this Island for its Channel broader for Stream swifter for variety of Fish better stored though sometimes it overflows its Banks and when it hath roved a great way upon the Land retires back again in Triumph as a victorious Conquerour This River Severn The River Severn or Sabrina was so called from Sabrine a fair Lady concerning whom there goes this Story Locrine the Eldest Son of Brutus who came first into Britain and from whom some Writers are of Opinion our Country received its Denomination took to Wife Guendoline Daughter to Corineus Duke of Cornwall the Companion of that Noble Trojan but notwithstanding this he kept a very beautiful Mistress whose Name was Estrilde and by her had a Daughter which he named Sabrine whereupon he grew so enamoured of her that after the Death of his Father-in-law Corineus he put away his Wife and Married this Lady at which Act his Wife was so extreamly netled that she immediately repairs into Cornwall makes her Complaint among her Friends and Relations and having gathered
was the first Bishop here say the Annals of Worcecester Angl. Sacr. pars prima about the year 680 under the high Altar whereof lies the Body of King John wrapped in a Monk's Cowl which the Superstition of that time accounted Sacred and a very necessary Defensative against all evil Spirits Here is likewise to be seen the Tomb of Arthur Prince of Wales the eldest Son of Henry VII with divers Monuments belonging to the ancient Family of the Beauchamps It was formerly a Cloyster for Monks but King Henry VIII did substitute in their Room a Dean and Prebendaries and erected a free School for the Education of the Citizen's Children It hath suffered great Calamities by Fire being burnt down by the Danes about the year 104.1 after this by an unknown Casualty under the Reign of Henry I. and once again in King Stephen's days and sure I am it hath of later years fall'n into the Hands of some merciless Men who were as raging as the Flames and whose Fury was as unquenchable as the Fire it self Witness the grievous Pressures it groaned under for its Loyalty to the King in the year 1651 For here it was that after his long Exile King Charles the Second arrived with an Army of Scots and some English the 22. of August and by the Assistance of the Citizens beat but the Soldiers who kept it for the Common-wealth and being proclaimed by the Mayor that then was and Sheriffs King of England c. Nevertheless was attended with the same ill Fortune and Success which was at that time his chief Attendants and having but a small Army in comparison of the numberless number of Rebels that were poured in upon him was totally defeated at this City several of his Nobles Slain and took Prisoners the rest forced to fly for their Lives and himself constrain'd to make his Escape as privately as he could and to betake himself into a Wood in Staffordshire where hiding himself in the shady Boughs of a well-spread Oak he found more Pity and Security from Trees and Woods than from some of his own unnatural and bloody Subjects However this City is now again restored to its Lustre and like the Phoenix being revived out of its own Ashes is raised up to its Prestine Splendour and Magnificence Having sufficiently satisfied our selves with the Varieties of that City we came into the Confines of the Eastern part of Herefordshire Herefordshire which appeared very Rocky and Mountainous at the first but having passed those Rocky parts we began to find the Country more pleasant to the Eye for we discovered it to be a Fertile Soil the Valleys thick with Corn and the Meadows abounding with Grass and well watered with Rivers the Hills covered with Sheep and the Hedges full of Apple-Trees which bear a sort of Fruit called Redstreaks of which they make the best Syder in England In a word we found it according to the usual Report which is made of it to yield to no Country in this Nation for three W. W. W Wheat Wool and Water to which formerly might have been added Wood but that the Iron Works have since destroyed it very much and made it become less plentiful Passing through Bramyard a small Market-Town of no great Consequence Mereford we came to Hereford the chief City of this County which is situated almost in the middle of it and watered by two pleasant Rivers Wye and Lugg which by their happy Union not far from this place advance her Felicity and enrich her Soil Antiquaries are of Opinion That this City had its Rise from Ariconium which hath at this day no manner of Form of a Town as having been thrown down by an Earthquake only some do imagine it to have stood in a place which they now call Kenchester three Miles distant from this City Kenchester and they do build their Conjectures from the Ruines of old Walls which are there Conspicuous as likewise from some four-square paving Tiles and thick Bricks as well as several Roman Coins digged up thereabouts though now the place which they mention is all over-grown with Shrubs Bushes and Brambles We observed when we went to visit this place three or four Receptacles in an old piece of Ruin'd Wall in which the Owners had found some Urns which argues the place to have been of great Antiquity however her Sister Hereford which is now become Beautiful by the others Decay justly claims the Pre-eminence above all other Places within this County She is thought first to have shown her Head under the Saxon Heptarchy and is supposed to have received great Helps and Increase by Religion and the Martyrdom of Ethelbert King of the East Angles who when he Courted the Daughter of Offa King of the Mercians was treacherously put to Death by Quendred Offa's Wife Hereupon being Registred as a Martyr he had a Church built and Dedicated to him by Milfrid King of the Mercians A. D. 825. which after the Establishment of a Bishop's See in it grew to great Wealth and Honour through the Devout and Pious Liberality of the Mercians and then of the West Saxons and is thought never to have suffered any Misfortune untill Edward the Confessor's time when Griffith Prince of South Wales and Algarus having raised a Rebellion against King Edward and led away Captive Leofgarus the Bishop sacked the City and burnt the Cathedral Afterward the Normans at the East End of the Church by the River Wye built a strong Castle Fortified the City with a Wall and by the Trench near the Castle is a very fine Spring call'd St. Ethelbert's Well St. Ethelbert's Well famous formerly for Miracles to which no question but in that Superstitious Age there was a great Resort of the Lame and the Blind with their Vows and their Offerings the Sanctity of Waters being such a Devout Fancy among our Ancestors as has been truly observed by that Indefatigable Searcher into Antiquity the Ingenious Mr. White Kennet that after Ages were forced to restrain the horrid Superstition of Well-Worship by a Canon in a Council under Edgar and after this too by some other Episcopal Injunctions Within this City are four Parish Churches and Bishop Reinelme in the Reign of King Henry I. founded the Cathedral that now is being a beautiful and magnificent Structure adorned with divers Monuments of ancient Prelates and Abbots To this adjoyns divers Houses for the Dignitaries of the Church and a College for 12 Vicars who live after an Academical way under a Praefectus who presides over them and supplies them with all Necessaries to encourage their Attendance upon all Divine Offices So ready were our Ancestors to promote Learning and advance such Persons whose quick and acute Parts were eclipsed under mean and slender Fortunes The City is govern'd by a Mayor who is Annually sworn upon Michaelmas-Day 12 Aldermen a Recorder and divers Common-Council Men and by their Charter have Privileges for particular Companies and Societies
learnt so much abroad your self is a sufficient Encouragement to me to lay these Papers before you not doubting but that they will find a favourable Acceptance from so worthy a Friend whose experienced Candour and Ingenuity makes him so signally Eminent amongst all such who have themselves any true sparks of it What it was that moved me to publish this Itinerary as it will fully appear by the Preface I have prefixed so if I add further that the natural and congenite Propensity that is in Mankind to pay their Regards and shew what Service they can in their Stations and Capacities to their own Native Country in which as Lipsius elegantly expresseth it Infantia vagiit pueritia lusit juventus exercita educata est was the next motive I hope they will jointly be a sufficient Apology for this Topographical performance If I may flatter my self that it will any way gratifie your nice and curious Palate I shall not doubt but it will then find a powerful Advocate to plead for such Slips and Imperfections to which things of this nature may be unwillingly obnoxious however it will fully answer my design if it may be accepted of as a grateful Acknowledgment for the repeated Acts of Kindness conferred upon Your most Humble Servant James Brome AN ACCOUNT OF Mr. BROME'S Three Years TRAVELS OVER England Scotland and Wales A Narrative of his second Journey AFTER some few days respite and abode in London we began a new Progress and passing through Newington Totnam-High-Cross and Edmington Towns of good Note by reason of divers Gentlemen Merchants and rich Citizens that inhabit there we came to Waltham in Essex of which County I shall have occasion to speak more fully hereafter Waltham was of old a small Village Waltham in Essex or rather a desolate place beset with Woods and Briars which one Tovius in the declination of the Saxon Empire a great Courtier and a very wealthy and potent Man first Founded and planted there a Colony of some sixtysix Men afterwards he deceasing Athelstan his Son was deprived of his Patrimony and Edward the Confessor bestowed it upon Harold a great Favourite of his who having taken possession of it constituted in it a Church of Secular Canons and Dedicating it to the Honour of the Holy Cross made his Vows here in hopes of a Victory when he went to fight against William the Conqueror but Harold being slain and his Army quite routed by the Normans his Body was beg'd by his Mother of the Norman Duke and buried in this place After this the same Abby in the Reign of K. Henry II. was by the King's Command much enlarged and Regular Canons placed there to the number of Twenty-four and Dedicated to the Holy Cross and St. Lawrence saith the most Ingenious Mr. Tanner in his Notitia Monastica Richard I. still more augmented it and so did King Henry III. with Fairs and Markets appointing one Fair in the year to last for seven days together Hartfordshire We staid not long here and therefore were presently in Hartfordshire a County every where abounding with fertile Fields sat Pastures shady Groves and pleasant Rivolets and the first Town here of any Remark which presented it self to our View was Ware Ware which was built say Antiquaries by Edward the Senior King of the West Saxons about the year 914. 'T is watered by the River Ley and hath a great Market for all sorts of Grain it is populous and well inhabited by persons of very good Quality and lying in the great Road to London frequented constantly by persons of all degrees and although Hartford be the Eye of the County 't is now inferiour to this place since all Passages for Carriages being there obstructed during the Barons Wars were here freely opened to the great Advantage of this Town But the most remarkable thing in Ware is the New River or Aquaeduct convey'd above 20 Miles together in a continued Channel from this place to Islington from whence the Water thereof is dispersed in Pipes laid along in the Ground for that purpose into abundance of Streets Lanes Courts and Alleys of the City and Suburbs of London the happy Contrivance whereof all the Citizens have daily Experience and ought to Immortalize the Name of their Inventor Sir Hugh Middleton who bestow'd this most excellent Gift upon them and consummated this good Work so useful and beneficial to the City at his own proper Cost and Charges We lay here one Night in the company of some Friends Puckeridge and Barkway who came along hither with us for their Diversion but the next Morning taking a solemn farewell of them we set forward on our Journey and passing thro' Puckeridge and Barkway Towns of good Hospitality and Entertainment for Strangers we were quickly arriv'd within the Precincts of Cambridgeshire This is an extream pleasant open Country Cambridgeshire and a place of such Variety and Plenty that fruitful Geres with a smiling Countenance invites the Industrious Peasant to behold with Joy the Fruits of his Labour whilst she crowns his Industry with a plentiful Harvest and as if the Earth strove not to be behind hand with him in conferring other Largesses she in divers places makes some Annual Additions of another Crop by adorning the Fields with large Productions of Saffron by which great Profits do continually arise Besides here it is that the green Banks of murmuring Rivers and sunny Hills bedeck'd with diversity of Plants and Simples call forth the Students from their musing Cells and teach them Theory as well as Practice by diving into their Natures contemplating their Signatures and considering their Qualities and various Effects In a word here is nothing wanting for Profit or Delight and though the Northern parts of the County towards the Isle of Ely lying somewhat low are moist and Fenny yet that Defect is abundantly supply'd by the Plenty of Cattle Fish and Fowl bred in those Fenns and which makes the Air more healthy the gentle Gales which are frequently stirring drive away all thick Mists and Fogs which in some parts most annoy it and by this means it is become a fit Seat for the Muses to inhabit and we have no reason to complain of the Soil since our Wise Ancestors thought it good and convenient to plant a Colony of Learned Men here and place one of the Eyes of our Nation in this spot of Ground the famous and most glorious University of Cambridge which we could not in Honour pass by without a Visit Cambridge Cambridge was formerly call'd by the Britains Kaergrant and Grantbridge from a fair large Bridge made over the River Grant which is now call'd Cam from whence the Town it self receives its Name It is increased much by the Ruines of Grantchester sometimes a famous City situated a little above a Mile from this place and the Castle that is beyond the River the Ruines of which are still to be seen was built as
Town being a great thorough Fare for the Western Counties and lying near to London is enriched with a great Trade and the Market draws a considerable concourse of Citizens who flock hither on purpose to buy up such Commodities as it affords besides the River Thames running not far from it is very conducive to beautifie and enrich it whilst by that means all sorts of Goods are with great conveniency conveyed backward and forward thither Here met us some Friends who from thence conducted us back to the City where we again safely arrived after this divertive Perambulation The End of the Second Journey AN ACCOUNT OF Mr. BROME'S Three Years TRAVELS OVER England Scotland and Wales A Narrative of his Third Journey WE diverted our selves for some little time in the City but the Pleasures therein growing nauseating and irksom and the Rural Diversions more pleasing and delightful we resolved to undertake once more a Pilgrimage of a greater extent than any we had done before and the Vernal Season which then began to attire the Country in all its bravery did as mightily conduce to quicken our Resolutions in steering our Course about the Maritime Coasts of our Native Soil as in taking a view of that further part of the Continent to which before we had made no access Hereupon equipping our selves like provident Pilgrims with all things requisite for so great a Journey we set forward and having some Friends which accompanied us in our way our first Remove was into the County of Essex Essex a Country of as great Variety as Delight of a considerable compass and very fruitful 't is full of Woods and shady Groves enriched with all kind of Grain abounds with Saffron and is stocked with great Herds of Kine and Hogs hereupon the Rusticks have great plenty of Dairies and make Cheeses massy and ponderous the Gentry generally are courtly and affable and the Commonalty for the most part pretty well refined but for them who live in the Hundreds as they call that part of the County which lying more low and flat and near to the Sea is full of Marshes and Bogs they are Persons of so abject and sordid a Temper that they seem almost to have undergone poor Nebuchadnezzar's Fate and by conversing continually with the Beasts to have learn'd their Manners Rumford was our first Stage Rumford about ten Miles from London renowned for its great Market for all manner of Cattle but more especially celebrated for its Hogs and Calves After a little stop in this place we passed on through Burntwood and Ingerstone Burntwood and Ingerstone Towns of no great Note save one for its Free-School and both for their Markets and Hospitable Inns to Chelmsford a Town twenty-five Miles from the City where we took up our Quarters for one Night This Town stands in the Heart of the County Chelmsford being formerly called Chelmerford 't is situate betwixt two Rivers which meet here viz. Chelmer from the East and another from the South the name whereof if it be Can as some would have it we have no reason to doubt it was Old Canonium which Cambden tells us stood anciently in this place it was of old very famous for a small Religious House erected by Malcolme King of Scots and for its Church-Windows having the History of Christ and the Escutcheons of its noble Benefactors painted in them which were batter'd down by the Instigated Rabble in the late Rebellion but that which now renders it most Renowned is not only the Assizes which are held here twice a Year for the County but likewise its great Market for Corn which the Londoners coming down every Week take away in great quantities and the Vicinity of the Nobility and Gentry which lying round about it do very much enhance its Glory as well as promote its Trade But the Allurements of this place were too weak to detain us any longer than the Morning for no sooner did we discern the modest Blushes upon Aurora's Cheeks but we prepared our selves for the Farewel of our Friends where mutually embracing each other with some passionate Expressions of Kindness at our departure we left them to return to the City and they with a gale of good Wishes speeded us forward on our Journey No sooner were they departed from us but a Cloud of Sorrow overspread our Countenance and as if we had suffered an Eclipse of Friendship upon our Souls by their Separation from our Bodies we began to think that of all Evils which are incident to Humanity there is none that equals Privation upon which account we became for a while a little discomposed in our Thoughts till Witham Witham another Market Town about five Miles distant from Chelmsford Built as is supposed by King Edward the Senior presented us with some other Scenes of Pleasure and Diversion Colchester However our main drift being for Colchester we hastned to that place which was formerly called Kaer-Colden by the Britains but whether it took its Name from Colonia a Colony of the Romans being here planted or from the River Colne 't is not much material to enquire the several Coins which have been digged up here bearing all the Roman stamp do evince its Antiquity and whether Lucius Helena and Constantine the first Christian King Empress and Emperor in the World were Born here or no sure I am that the Inhabitants speak great things of her Father King Coel who built the Castle tho' others will have it Built by Edward Son of King Alfred and the Walls of the Town having erected a Statue for him in the midst of it which they preserve with great Reverence to perpetuate his Memory And 't is as certain that in remembrance of the Cross which his Daughter found here they give for their Arms a Cross engrailed betwixt two Crowns It suffered much of old from the Fury of the East-Saxons about the Year 921 as the Saxon Chronicle informs us who having taken it by Storm put all to the Sword except a few who by stealth crept away and saved themselves by flight and destroyed all its Fortresses and threw down its Walls but King Edward the Confessor came and Fortified it again and having repaired all its Breaches and strengthened it with a Garison it began by degrees to recover its Losses and retrieve its ancient Splendor and Comeliness for being pleasantly seated upon the Brow of a Hill which extends its self from East to West it quickly drew to it numerous Shoals of Inhabitants whereby its Buildings were enlarged and its Churches encreased to the number of 15 within the Walls and 1 without besides 2 Religious Houses an Abby built here A. D. 1096. by Eudo Steward to King Henry I. to the Honour of St. John Baptist for the use of the Benedictine Monks the first of that Order which was erected in England and another Priory saith the Notitia Monastica Founded A. D. 1110. by Eynulphus for Canons of the
Order of St. Austin and dedicated to St. Botolph and St. Julian In the late unhappy Civil Wars it had its share of Calamities for being close Besieged by their Enemies the Royalists within behaved themselves so bravely that they could neither take it by Violence nor enforce it to a surrender till having block'd up all Avenues whereby the least Provision might be conveyed to them within they were reduced to such Exigency and Want Hunger exercising its Tyranny within the Walls with no less rigour than the Enemy did without that they were compelled by one Enemy to Surrender to another and to fall by the Sword rather than die by Hunger Nor were the Royalists more famous for their Valour and Bravery than the adverse Party was infamous for their Baseness and Treachery for having got possession of the Town they did not only exercise the utmost Rigour and Severity upon the weaker sort who could make no Resistance but even in cold Blood did they barbarously Murder Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle Persons of great Integrity and undaunted Courage who became Victorious to their Malice being cruelly shot to Death by the Sanguinary Hands of the Insolent Soldiers in the Castle-yard on which Spot of Ground where they fell down dead there hath never since as is reported sprouted up any Grass as there was wont to do the very Ground it self it seems ever since being clad with mourning Weeds and the Grass as it were dreading such execrable Murders retires and hides it self within the Bowels of the Earth But tho' just Nemesis designs perhaps that plat as a Monument of infamy to succeeding generations yet doth a Vault prepared for the Family of Sir Charles Lucas secure both his own and Fellow-sufferers Body from any farther Attempts of the Sons of Violence and being wrapped in Lead they lie in that Church which was next to his own House and was formerly a fair and Sumptuous Structure but was ruinated by his Enemies who hated the House for the Masters sake and were so maliciously incensed against all that had relation to that Noble Family that they sacrilegiously violated the Tombs of the Lady Lucas and Killigrew in the Church adjoyning and inhumanely used their dead Bodies dismembring and disjoynting their very Trunks and wearing their Hair in their Hats by way of Triumph The Castle is now quite demolished and gone to decay and though they shew'd us a Brazen-Gate which gives entrance as they say to a Vault fifteen Miles under-ground yet the Stories they multiply concerning both are so Romantickly idle and extravagant that there is little credit to be given to any Relations concerning them As for the Town it is very Rich and Populous and there are Merchants of considerable Estates and great Traders who inhabit it The chief Manufacture of the Place is Stuff and Bays which are from thence transported into divers parts of the World and there being a Colony of Dutchmen planted here they are industrious in keeping up the Trade nor is it less Famous for its Oysters which by the general Vogue of most Persons are reputed the best in England We betook our selves from hence into its Neighbouring County of Suffolk which is divided into too Parts called High and Low Suffolk Suffolk the former of which is Miry and Dirty the other more Pleasant and Delightful but both are of a fat and fertile Soil the Air is here Wholesome and counted proper for Consumptive people the Country abounds in Rye Pease and Hemp feeds abundance of Sheep and produceth great Store of Butter and Cheese 't is every where adorned with stately Palaces and Magnificent Edifices to which the Parks Replenished with Game adjoyning are very conducive to their Profit and Delight The first place of note we arrived at here was Ipswich Ipswich called by the Saxons Gippeswick situate on the North side of the Stour at the foot of a steep Hill commodious for its haven enriched by Forreign commerce replenished with Inhabitants adorned with several Magnificent Churches and being united into a Corporation is governed by two Bayliffs who have all other Ministers befitting their Grandeur to attend them It has been formerly fortified with Rampires and Trenches but to little purpose it being incapable of Defence by its Situation because commanded by hills on all sides but the South and South-east So that the Danes did easily master it 991. who nine Years after reduced it in a manner to a heap of Ruines in the Norman times it began to recover it self insomuch that it consists at this time of divers Parishes graced with many fair Buildings The Normans built a Castle which held out Stoutly against King Stephen but was forced at last to Surrender and is supposed by Cambden to have been demolished by Henry the Second Here Landed the 3000 Flemmings called in by the Nobility against the said King Henry when his Sons rebell'd against him and 't is very observable that in the Civil Wars under the Reign of Charles the First this Town stood clear of most of those Calamities which overspread and involved the rest of the Nation The Streets are kept clean and well Pav'd and in the midst of the Market-place which is surrounded with rich Shops Stands a curious Cross with the Essigies of the great and Impartial Goddess Astraea bearing a pair of Scales in the one Hand and a Sword in the other a fit emblem to remind the Magistrates of the exact measures they must use in the distribution of Justice and with what Severity they must proceed in discountemanding all the contrary acts of Violence and Oppression The Store-houses which are kept for the Kings Ships do much promote the Trade of the Town and there is no small Advantage rebounds to it by the continual supply of Stores which upon occasion are made for the Royal Navy Before the Subversion of Monasteries it had its share of some such Religious Houses and of a Magnificent College begun by Cardinal Woolsey who receiving here his first Breath though of a mean Extraction being only a Butchers Son did at last attain to such Dignity and Renown as to surmount most Prelatical Grandees that have been in this Nation before him but as he was mounted up with admiration to the Hill of Honour he did at last as suddenly tumble down headlong from that dangerous Precipice and though it might have been as truly said of him in one as it was of Alexander the Great in another Sense Aestuat infaelix angusto limite Mundi that this microcosm of our English Soil was too little and narrow for his large and boundless Thoughts and ambitious Desires yet behold Sarcophago contentus a little Urn contains all his Pomp and Grandeur which extended it self from our British Island to the Popish Conclave at Rome and his dust appears of no finer mold than those poor Creatures from whom at first he lineally descended After some respite in this Place we pass'd on through Needham Stow
part by the Fruitfulness of the other if in one place 't is craggy and mountainous in another 't is as Rich in Corn and Pasture and where the Woods do not shade in Summer and make some provision for its Inhabitants against the Winter she provides other kind of Fuel for them within the Bowels of the Earth and by dispersing such varieties all over it renders it a very grateful and delectable Country Ouse and Humber The Rivers which water it are many but the chief are Ouse and Humber the first of which lodging many Rivolets within itself dischargeth both them and itself into the Humber who carries them all away as Tributaries to the Ocean This River hath a very broad current and rapid Stream it riseth very high when the Tide flows in upon it and when it ebbs the Sea returns back with such a forcible violences that the passage thereby becomes no less rough than dangerous Kingston upon Hull Upon the mouth of this stands Hull so called from the River Hull that runs along by it into the Humber This Town hath been of no long date for King King Edward the First was the Founder of it who viewing well and considering the conveniency of this Place how safe a Harbour it might prove for Ships to ride in made it first an Haven and Borough and granted to the Inhabitants great Privileges and Immunities from whence it received the name of Kingston or King's-Town so that in few Years it arose to that degree of Dignity that for stately buildings for strong Block-houses for well rigged Ships for store of Merchants and abundance of all other necessaries it became the most famous and renowned Town in all these parts Sir Michael Dela-Pole whose Father a most Eminent Merchant was the first Mayor of this place being a great favourite of King Richard the Second's after he was created * This same Nobleman founded here a Carthusian Priory A. D. 1378. as did Walter Shirlane Bishop of Durham a College of Prebendaries A. D. 1400. Mr. Tanner Not. Mon. Earl of Suffolk did prevail with that King to enlarge their Charter and the Inhabitants themselves being very industrious and much addicted to trade for Fish into the Northen Islands did at last heap together in a common Stock so great a Treasure that it enabled them not only to fence the Town with a strong Brick Wall but to strengthen it likewise with Towers and Bulwarks where it was not defended by the River and further brought such quantities of Cobblestones for Ballast to their Ships that therewith they paved all the Streets of the Town which added much comeliness and beauty to its strength and ever since it hath been reputed one of the strongest and most impregnable places in this Nation for 't is not only fortified with a Castle and Block-house to command the Sea but is likewise environed with a double Wall betwixt each of which are large Trenches and hath several great Sluces so conveniently contrived that the Flood-gates being once pulled up they can drown all the Country which lies within the compass of three or four Miles In the late Civil Wars the Hothams being deputed Governors of this place kept this Garrison for the Pretended Parliament's Service nor could all the importunity of the King or his Friends prevail with them to surrender it to his Majesty till at last too late recanting their Actions and giving their own Party some cause to suspect their fidelity towards them and their inclinations to be more favourable to the Royal Party Vengeance laid hold upon both Sir John and his Son and being summoned up above when they least thought of Death were sentenc'd to die by their own Friends who having set them on work pay'd them very justly the Wages which they deserved to have received from their injured Sovereign This place of great consequence is now under the Government of his Grace the Duke of Leeds and the Inhabitants are still great Traders to Newfoundland for Fish and Oil and in their Trinity-House which is an Hospital for poor and impotent Persons they shew a little Boat with the Effigies of a Wild Man who they say was found therein many Leagues off at Sea with a huge Jaw bone of a mighty Whale both which they brought with them from the Northern Seas After we had pleased our selves with the various Diversions of this place Beverly we withdrew from hence to a neighbouring Town called Beverly supposed by Cambden to be the Petuaria Parisiorum and is about seven or eight Miles further into tho Country where John de Beverly first of Hexham afterward Arch-Bishop of York a Man of great Learning and Piety having resigned up his Bishoprick came and ended his Life in Solitariness and Contemplation The Memorial of this Holy Man was so reverend and sacred to many Kings of this Island especially to King Athelstan who honoured him as his Tutelary Saint after the greatest Conquest he had obtained over the Danes that for his sake they endowed it with great and singular Privileges and Immunities which it seems Athelstan did afterward enlarge who came hither and offered his Knife at his Tomb For in the Church which is an ancient and goodly Structure built Cathedral-wise is still to be read this Inscription engraven upon the West end of the Quire in old Characters All 's free make I thee As hert may think Or eyh may see On each side of which are placed the Pictures both of King Athelstan and St. John Nor were there only Privileges granted to the Town but even Foreigners did reap great Benefit hereby by reason of an Asylum or Sanctuary which was appointed for Persons who had committed any capital Crime for here formerly stood an old Chair of Stone which by its description did declare as much Haeo sedes lapidea Freed-Stool dicitur i. e. Pacis Cathedra ad quam Reus fugiendo perveniens omnimodam habet Securitatem That is This Chair of Stone is called Freed-Stool that is the Chair of Peace unto which whatsoever Offender fleeth or cometh hath all manner of Security In this Church there are some Monuments of great Note particularly those which are erected in Honour of the Earl of Northumberland who was slain at Chivy Chase in the Conflict with Lord Douglas and of his Lady the Countess over whom is placed on one side the Image of our Saviour Baptizing an Infant and on the other two Angels with our Lord in the middle one of which holds the Cross the Nails and the Hammer which were the cruel Instruments of his Bloody Crucifixion On the East side of the Town was a House of the Trinity belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem saith the Notitia Monastica The conflux of Foreigners was not formerly more remarkable here to promote the Merchandize of Rome than it is now by reason of great Fairs and Markets which have been granted to the Town and especially for the great
four Bishopricks which are subject to this See namely Durham Carlisle Chester and Man or Sodor in the Isle of Man Indeed there was afterward several private Grudges Heart-burnings and Contests betwixt Canterbury and York touching Precedency Appeals and some Ecclesiastical Privileges but by a Decree of Pope Alexander they were quelled who ordained that the Church of York should be subject to Canterbury and obey the Constitutions of that Arch-Bishop as Primate of all Britain in such things as appertain to the Christian Religion But to return again from the Church into the City we find it to have been a place of great Antiquity for it was not only famous for the Sepulture of Eadbryth King of the Northumbers about the Year 738 together with his Brother Egbert Arch-Bishop of this See and long before that time of two greater and more renowned Emperors Severns and Constantius but likewise in that Constantine the Great after the Death of his Father was first here in this place saluted and proclaimed Emperor by the Soldiers at which time it appears to have been in great Repute and Estimation till the Romans deserting it left it a Prey to the barbarous Nations so that not only the Scots and Picts did depopulate and spoil it but afterward the Saxons and Danes as they got Possession still Ransack'd and laid it Waste so that about the Year 867 it grew so extreamly weak through the grievous Oppression of the Danes that Osbright and Ella broke easily through the Walls thereof and encountring there the Danes were both slain in the Battel the Danes remaining Masters of the City saith the Saxon Chronicle tho they lost it at last to Athelstan in the year 928. Nor found it kinder Usage from the merciless Normans who treated it no better than its former Enemies had done so that even till after King Stephen's Days there was little left in it by reason of so many Calamities that befel it but a small poor shadow of a great Name but at last after sundry bitter Blasts and troublesom Storms which had grievously shaken and afflicted it a sweet gale of peaceful Days began to refresh and enliven it and in the space of a few Years it hereby became a Wonder to it self and a Miracle to others by reason of its prosperous Condition and ever since it hath increased in Honour and Wealth in Grandeur and Power till at last it attained to that height of Greatness in which it is now established We diverted our selves for some Days in this City where during our abode we had the Honour to be invited to the Lord Mayors House who treated us with all the Civility imaginable where I cannot omit to observe by the way that there are no Gentlemen more affable and Courteous more Hospitable and Generous more Obliging in their deportment and hearty in their entertainments to all Strangers and foreigners than the generality of the Gentry who are every where dispersed through these Northen Climates The great satisfaction we met withal here made us hope for no less in the rest of our Northern travels and giving us encouragement for a further Progress Malton we set forward from York to Malton a Market Town notable for the great resort of Jockeys who flock thither in abundance to the Fair that is held there every Year for Horses 't is watred by the River Rhie and well frequented for Corn Fish and Instruments of Husbandry and here are still to be seen the ruines of an old Castle belonging formerly to the Vrscies who were ancient Barons in these Parts and in the Reign of King Stephen here was built by Eustace a Gilbertine Priory dedicated to the Honour of the Blessed Virgin From hence we steered towards the Sea Coast and came to Scarborough Scarborough a Town very eminent for its Spaw-water and Castle where Pierce Gavaston the great favourite of King Edward the Second was placed by the King to secure him from the Barons whom he had so extreamly incensed from which notwithstanding he was by force drawn away and immediately beheaded by their Command and Order The Castle is Situated upon a Rock of a wonderful height and bigness which by reason of its steep and craggy Cliffs is almost inaccessible extending it self into the Sea wherewith it is encompassed excepting on that Side which opens to the West on the top it hath a very fair green and large Plain containing diverse Acres of Ground with three fresh Springs one of which comes out of a Rock and a Mill to grind Corn in case of a Siege in the strait passage which leads up to it stands a high Tower and beneath the said Passage stands the Town spreading two sides North and South but the fore-part Westward which is fenced on the front with a Wall of its own on the East fortified by the Castle wherein a Garrison is kept and on both sides watered by the Sea The Town is not very large but conveniently built of Stone and Slate and well inhabited and stands bending upon the Brow of the Hill and served for a Landmark to Ships off at Sea till it was so much defaced in the late Civil Wars It has a commodious Key and enjoys a pretty good Trade About half a Mile from the Town near to the Sea is the Spring which they call the Spaw The Spaw of a very Medicinal and purgative Nature what are the particular qualities and Mineral principles of this Well I leave to Physicians * See Dr. Simpson on this Subject and Naturalists to discuss but sure I am but the effects of this Water have been strange and wonderful and many Persons who in the Summer time resort hither to Drink it do find great benefit and advantage by it From hence the Shore indented and interlaced with Rocks bendeth in as far as the River Teese and by a large compass which it fetcheth there is made a Bay about a Mile broad which from the Famous Outlaw Robin-Hood is called Robin-Hoods Bay Robin-Hoods Bay Here is a small Village but the most celebrated for the Fishing Trade In all these parts for here are caught great quantities of all sorts of Fish in their Seasons which not only supply York but all the adjacent Country and hard by the Shore is a little Hully as they call it which is much like a great Chest bored full of Holes to let in the Sea which at high Water always overflows it where are kept vast quantities of Crabbs and Lobsters which they put in and take out again all the Season according to the quickness or slowness of their Markets Here and all along this Coast are great plenty of Herrings which coming hither in Shoals out of the Northen Seas the beginning of August are caught until November not only by our own Fishermen but by Dutchmen too Afterward they disperse themselves into the British Sea where they continue till Christmas and then betake themselves to the Irish Coast and
corrupted both their Faith and their Fortitude and straitway restored it to the English Crown A great while after when England was embroiled in Civil Wars King Henry the Sixth flying into that Kingdom for refuge surrendred it up into the hands of that King to secure him his Life and Safety in that Country but many Years were not expired before Sir Thomas Stanley did again reduce it under the command of King Edward the Fourth but not without a great loss of his Men and much Blood spilt about its Walls since which our Kings have been still strengthening it with new Fortifications especially Queen Elizabeth who to the Terrour of the Scots and Safe-guard of this Nation enclosed it about in a narrower compass within the old Wall with a high Wall of Stone most strongly compacted which she hath so forwarded again with a Couterscarp a Bank round about with Mounts of Earth cast up on high and open Terraces above-head upon all which are planted a double tire of great Ordnance that when the Scots entred England in 1640 they took Newcastle but durst not attempt Berwick In this place is still maintained a constant Garrison of Soldiers and the Guards which are placed at the foot of the Bridge which is built over the Tweed do every Night pull up the Draw-Bridges and lock up the Gates which give entrance into the Town so that there is no admission when once the day is gone Tweed All along the Tweed is notable Fishing for Salmons of which there is such great store and plenty in this River that they take vast numbers at one draught as we were credibly informed by the Fishermen of this place who hire out the Fishery from the Lords of the River and have each Man his Bounds set out and mark'd for him The Salmon which they catch are dried barrelled up and transported beyond Seas and are purchased at such easie and cheap Rates that a Man may buy one of the largest for a Shilling and boil it and eat it while the Heart is yet alive a thing which is frequently practised in this place nay they are so common about these Parts that the Servants as they say do usually indent with their Masters when they hire them to feed them with this Fish only some Days in the Week that they may not be nauseated by too often eating of it but as for all other Provisions they are scarce enough here and dearer than in any other parts of the North so that he that first called Berwick the little Purgatory betwixt England and Scotland by reason of the hard Usage and Exactions which are customary here did confer upon it a very just and deserved Title The Borders of Scotland After we were past Berwick we came into that noted Ground lying betwixt the two Kingdoms called the Borders the Inhabitants whereof have ever been reputed a sort of Military Men subtile nimble and by reason of their frequent Skirmishes to which they were formerly accustomed well experienced and adventurous These Borders have been formerly of a far greater extent reaching as far as Edinburgh-Frith and Dunbritton Northward and taking in the Counties of Northumberland Cumberland and Westmorland Southward but since the Norman Conquest they have been bounded by Tweed on the East Solway on the West and the Cheuiot Hills in the midst From these Borders we marched towards the Kingdom of Scotland concerning which I shall in the first place give a brief Account of some Observations we made here in general before I proceed to a particular Description of such Places and Cities through which we travelled From whence at first it received this denomination is dubious and uncertain Scotland being formerly called Caledonia from the Caledonii a chief People of it and Albania from Albany a principal Province in the North but as for the Inhabitants some will fetch their Original from thy Scythi a Sarmatian People of great Renown who after they had wandred about through many Countries came at last and setled themselves in this place but the most probable Opinion is that they were no other than Irish united in the name of Scot about the declination of the Roman Empire the word Scot signifying in their Language a Body aggregated into one out of many particulars as the word Alman in the Dutch Language Though I find the Scotch Historians will rather derive it from Scota Daughter to Pharoah King of Egypt who being given in Marriage to Gathelus Son of Cecrops King of Athens who with some valiant Grecians and Egyptians transplanted themselves into a part of Spain then called Lusitania but by reason of his arrival named Port-gathel now Portugal they afterwards setling themselves in Gallicia sent from thence a new Colony into Ireland from whence at last they removed into this Country This Gathelus brought with him from Egypt the Marble fatal Chair which was transported to Ireland and to Albion now called Scotland wherein all their Kings were Crowned until the time of King Edward the First who transported the whole ancient Regalia of Scotland with the Marble fatal Chair to Westminster where it remaineth to this day by which was fulfilled that ancient Scotch Prophecy thus expressed in Latin by Hector Boethius Ni fallat fatum Scoti hunc quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem In English by Raphael Holinshead Except old Saws do fail And Wisards Wits be blind The Scots in place must Reign Where they this Stone shall find By another Hand thus The Scots shall brook that Realm as Native Ground If Weirds fail not where e'er this Chair is found This Kingdom being divided into two parts by the River Tay hath thirty-four Counties in the South part are reckoned up these that follow Teifidale March Lothien Liddesdale Eskdale Annandale Niddesdale Galloway Carrick Kyle Cunningham Arran Cluidsdale Lennox Sterling Fife Stratherne Menth Argile Cantire Lorne In the North part are reckoned these Counties Loquhabre Braid-Albin Perth Athol Angus Merne Marr Buquhan Murray Ross Southerland Cathaness Steathnavern These are subdivided again according to their Civil Government into divers Seneschallies or Sheriffdoms which are commonly Hereditary and the People which inhabit each are called High-landers and Low-landers The Highlanders High-landers who inhabit the West part of the Country in their Language Habit and Manners agree much with the Customs of the Wild Irish Elgin and their chief City is Elgin in the County of Murray seated upon the Water of Lossy formerly the Bishop of Murray's Seat with a Church sumptuosly built but now gone to decay They go habited in Mantles striped or streaked with divers colours about their Shoulders which they call Plodden with a Coat girt close to their Bodies and commonly are naked upon their Legs but wear Sandals upon the Soles of their Feet and their Women go clad much after the same Fashion They get their Living mostly by Hunting Fishing and Fowling and when they go to War the
of the Country of March March and Lothien which lies upon the German Sea we came to Lothien called from the Picts formerly Pict-land shooting out along from March into the Scotish Sea and having many Hills in it and little Wood but for fruitful Corn-fields for courtesie and civility of Manners commanded by some above all other Countries of Scotland about the Year 873 Edgar King of England between whom and Kenneth the Third King of Scots there was a great knot of alliance against the Danes their common Enemies resigned up his right to him in this Country and to unite his Heart more firmly to him he gave unto him some mansion Houses in the way as Cambden observes out of Matthew Florilegus wherein both he and his successors in their coming to the Kings of England and in their return homeward might be lodged which unto the time of King Henry the Second continued in the Hands of the Scotch King The first Town of any consequence that offered it self unto us was Dunbar famous formerly for a strong Castle being the seat of the Earls of March afterwards Styled Earl of Dunbar Dunbar a fort many times won by the English and as oft recovered by the Scots And in the Reign of Edward the Third the Earls of Salisbury and Arundel came into Scotland with a great Army and besieged the Castle of Dunbar Two and twenty Weeks wherein at that time was black Agnes the Countess who defended the same with extraordinary Valour one time when the Engine called the Sow was brought by the English to play against the Castle she replyed merrily that unless England could keep her Sow better she would make her to cast her Pigs and indeed did at last force the Generals to retreat from that place The Town stands upon the Sea and hath been fenced in with a stone Wall of great strength though by the frequent batteries it hath of late Years received 't is much impaired and gone to decay the Houses here as generally in most Towns of Scotland are built with Stone and covered with Slate and they are well supplyed with provision by reason of a weekly Market which is held here The Inhabitants are governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and talk much of great losses and calamities they sustained in the late Civil Wars for in this place was that fatal battle fought betwixt Oliver Cromwel and the Scots wherein he routed and cut in pieces twenty thousand Scots with twelve thousand English Men and obtain'd so strange and signal a Victory that the very Thoughts of it do to this very Day still strike a terror into them when e'er they call that bloody Day to remembrance and think what great havock and Spoil was made amongst them by the Victorious success of the English forces Edenburgh Our next Quarters we took up at Edinburgh which is the Metropolis of Scotland and lies about twenty Miles distance from Dunbar The Irish Scots call this City Dun-eaden the Town Eaden or Eaden Hill and which no doubt is the same that Ptolomy calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the winged Castle for as Cambden observes Adain in the British Tongue signifies a Wing and Edenbourn a Word compounded out of the Saxon and British Language is nothing else but a Burgh with Wings 'T is situated high and extends above a Mile in length carrying half as much in breadth it consists of one fair and large Street with some few narrow lanes branching out of each side 't is environed on the East South and West with a strong Wall and upon the North strengthned with a Loch 'T is adorned with stately Stone buildings both private and publick some of which Houses are six or seven Stories high which have frequently as many different apartments and Shops where are many Families of various Trades and calling by reason of which 't is well throng'd with Inhabitants and is exceeding Populous which is the more occasioned by the neighborhood of Leith which is a commodious Haven for Ships and likewise because as 't is the seat of their Kings or Vice-Roys so 't is also the Oracle or Closet of the Laws and the Palace of Justice The King's Palace On the East side or near to the Monastery of St. Cross that was a Holy Rood is the King's Palace which was built by King David the First but being much ruinated and impaired in the late unhappy broils betwixt the two Kingdoms it hath been since enlarged and beautified and is now become a Stately and Magnificent structure And not far from this House within a pleasant Park adjoyning to it riseth a Hill with two Heads called of Arthur the Britain Arthur's Chair Arthur's Chair A little further stands the College Founded and Endowed by that most eminent Favourer of Learning the Wise and Learned King James the Sixth The College though afterward the Magistrates and Citizens of this place proved likewise very considerable Benefactors to it and upon their humble Address to the same Prince it was made an University A. D. 1580 but the Privileges hereof were not fully confirmed and throughly perfected till the Year 1582 and have been since the same with those of any other University in this Kingdom The Dignity of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor doth reside in the Magistrates and Town Council of Edenburgh who are the only Patrons neither was the Dignity they say as yet ever conferred upon any simple Person The Persons endowed were a Principal or Warden a Professor of Divinity four Masters or Regent for so they are called of Philosophy a Professor or Regent of Humanity or Philology Since the first Foundation the Town hath added a Professor of Hebrew 1640 and the City of Edenburgh hath since added a Professor of Mathematicks The Library was founded by Clement Little one of the Officials or Comissaries for Edenburgh A. D. 1635. The Library since which time it is much increased both by donatives from the Citizens as also from the Scholars who are more in number than in any other College in the Kingdom and here were presented to our view two very great Rarities the one was a Tooth taken out of a great Scull being four Inches about and the other was a crooked Horn taken from a Gentlewoman of the City who was fifty Years old being eleven Inches long which grew under her right Ear and was cut out by an eminent Chirurgeon then living in the Town who presented it to the College Their Churches and Parliament Houses About the middle of the City stands the Cathedral which is now divided into six sermon Houses for which Service there are seven other Kirks set apart besides and not far from the Cathedral is the Parliament House whither we had the good Fortune to see all the flower of the Nobility then to pass in state attending Duke Lauderdale who was sent down High-Commissioner And indeed it was a very Glorious sight for they were all richly Accoutred
Scruffel wotes full of that And there goes also this usual By-Word concerning the height as well of this Hill as of the other two Skiddaw Lanvellin and Casticand Are the highest Hills in all England Nay so liberal to it is Nature in the distribution of her largesses that she seems to have enriched it with every thing that may any way be conducible to Health as well as Wealth for here are such Varieties of vulnerary Plants which grow plentifully in these parts especially near to the Picts-Wall that in the beginning of Summer many Persons that are curious in these things come hither out of Scotland on purpose to Simple here are likewise upon the Sea-Coast very frequently discovered Trees at Low-water which have been covered with Sand and that in many other mossy places of the Shire they digg up Trees without boughs and that by the directions of the dew they say in Summer which they observe ne'er stands upon that Ground under which they lie At Carlile wee took up our first qaarters in this Province Carlile an ancient City very commodiously situated 't is guarded on the North side with the River Eden on the East with Peterial and on the West with Cawd and besides these Natural fences 't is fortified with a strong Wall with a Castle and a Cittadel the Fashion of it is long running out from West to East on the West side is the Castle of a large compass which King Richard the Third as appears by his Coat of Arms repaired and on the East the Cittadel built by Henry the Eighth In the middle almost of the City riseth on high the Cathedral Church being formerly a stately and Magnificent Structure adorned with rich Copes and other sacred Garments and Vessels and two Unicorns Horns of great Value which by an ancient custom were placed here upon the Altar but now deplores the want of part of its Body being ruined by a wicked War whilst it was only intended for a House of Prayer and Peace It was first founded by Walter Deputy of these parts for King William Rufus and by him dedicated to the Blessed Virgin but finished and endowed by King Henry the First out of the Wealth which the said Walter had amassed for that purpose The Romans and Britains called this place Lugoballum that is saith Cambden the fort by the Wall which Name it derived probably from that famous military vallum or Trench which stands apparent a little from the City and that it flourished exceedingly in the time of the Romans the famous mention of it in those Days and diverse remains of Antiquity which have been here frequently discovered do sufficiently attest After the departure of the Romans it suffered extreamly by the insolent outrages of the Scots and Picts and afterward being almost quite ruined by the Danes it lay about two hundred Years buried in its own Ashes until it began again to flourish under the government and by the favour of King William Rufus who as the Saxon Chronicle tells us A. D. 1092 coming hither with a great Army repaired the City and built the Castle driving from hence the Daulphin of France who had got too sure footing in some of those Northern parts and planted here a new Colony of Flemmings say some Historians whom presently upon better advice he removed into Wales and setled in their room a more useful plantation of Southern English-men After this here having been formerly a Covent of Monks and a Nunnery built by St. Cuthbert A. D. 686. which were both destroyed by the Danes King Henry the First established here the Episcopal See * A. D. 1135. saith Mr. Wharton Ang. Sacr. Tom. 1. P. 699. and made Athulph Priory of St. Oswalds his Confessor Bishop hereof and endowed it with many Honours and emoluments in the successive Reigns of our Kings it was Subject to great casualties and misfortunes the Scots won it from King Stephen and King Henry the Second recovered it again in the Reign of Edward the First the City and Priory with all the Houses belonging to it were consum'd by Fire and a little after King Edward the Second came to the Crown all the Northern parts from Carlile to York fell under the subjection of the Scots at which time our Chronicles tell us that the English by their faint-heartedness grew so Vile and Despicable that three Scots durst venture upon an hundred English when a hundred English durst hardly encounter with three Scots but under victorious King Edward the Third the Englishmen pluck'd up their Spirits and recovered their ancient Valour enforcing the Scots to quit all their strong holds and retire back again to their own Territories and Dominions nevertheless this City with the parts adjacent were frequently pestered by Scotch Invasions till the happy Union of the two Crowns since which time it is grown more Populous and opulent being governed by a Mayor and having the Assizes and Sessions held here for that County Salkelds We rode away from Carlile by Salkelds upon the River Eden where is a trophy of Victory as is supposed called by the Country People Long Megg ' and her Daughters being seventy seven Stones each of them ten Foot high above Ground and one of them viz. Long Megg fifteen Foot to Penreth Penreth which is saith Cambden if you interpret it out of the Brittish Language the Red-head or Hill for the Soil and the Stones are here generally of a reddish Colour but commonly called Perith sixteen Miles distant from this City This Town is but small in compass but great in Trade fortified on the West-side with a Castle of the King 's which in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth was repaired out of the Ruines of a Roman Fort not far from it called Maburg adorned with a spatious Church and large Market-place where there is an Edifice of Timber for the use of such as resort hither to Market garnished with Bears at a ragged Staff which was the device of the Earls of Warwick it belonged in times past to the Bishops of Durham but the Patriarch Bech taking two much State upon him and carrying himself with more haughtiness than became him did hereby so displease King Edward the First that he took from him Werth in Tevidail Perith and the Church of Simondburn But for the commodious use of this town William Strickland Bishop of Carlile descended from an ancient Race in this tract at his own proper charge caused a Channel for a Water-course to be made out of Peteril which near unto the Bank had Plumpton Park a large plat of Ground which the Kings of England had appointed as a Chase for wild Beasts to range in but King Henry the Eighth disparked it and converted it into a better Habitation for Men it lying near to the Marches where the Realms of England and Scotland confine one upon another Not far from this Town begins the County of Westmorland Westmorland being one of the worst
of the bottom of the Hill Pennigent doth as it were sport it self with winding in and out as if it were doubtful whether it should return back to its Spring-head or run on still to the Sea Skipton we came to Skipton in Craven a Country so rough and unpleasant with craggy Stones hanging Rocks and rugged Ways that it seems to have derived its very name from Cragg which in the British Language doth signifie a Stone in the midst hereof in a low bottom stands Skipton lying hid and enclosed about with steep Hills and precipices not unlike Latium in Italy which Varro supposeth to have been so called because it lieth close under the Apennine and the Alps the Town for the bigness of it and manner of its buildings is Fair enough being more especially beautified with a Castle which belongs to the Earldom of Pembrook in the Reign of Edward the Second it underwent the same dismal calamities from the Scots which the Neighbouring parts at the same time suffered A little further upon the edge of this County at Giggleswick which is not far distant from Settle Settle a small Market Town we rode by a little Spring rising under a Hill The ebbing and flowing Well and Robinhood's Mill by Giggleswick which ebbs and flows several times in an Hour it flows about a quarter of a yard high and at ebb falls again so low that it is scarce an inch deep with Water and on the other side of this Hill is heard a clacking noise such as is made by a Mill which is caused as is supposed by some current of Water which creeping under Ground falls down upon the Rocks and this the Country people call Robin-Hood's Mill. We arrived quickly from hence within Lancashire commonly called Lonkashire Lankashire and the county Palatine of Lancaster because it gives a Title to a Count Palatine * Famous for the four Henries the 4th 5th 6th and 7th Kings of England derived from John Gaunt Duke of Lancaster The Air hereof is thin and piercing not troubled with gross mists or foggs which makes that People healthy strong and long-liv'd the Soil differs much in nature and situation some parts being Hilly and others flat and of these some being fruitful some mossy and others moorish the Champain Country for the most part good for Wheat and Barly and that which lies at the bottom of the Hill yields the best of Oats yet it breeds great number of Cattel that are of a huge proportion and have goodly Heads and large spread Horns and for Fish and Fowl here is great abundance particularly in Winander Meer Winander Meer which is ten Miles long and four broad and has such a clear pebly bottom that the common saying amongst them is that it is all paved with Stone besides Trouts Pikes c. there is one most dainty Fish called a Char not to be found elsewhere except in Vlles Water Ulles Lake another Lake upon the borders of Cumberland and that two principally in Lent at which time some zealous Romanists will tell you that they more freely come to Net than at any other season for afterward they scond and are not easily taken Besides all this the Country abounds with Flax to make Linnen with Turfs and pit Coal for fuel and with Quarries of good Stone for building and in some boggy places are digged up Trees which will burn clear and give light like touch-wood Here are three great Hills not far distant asunder seeming to be as high as the clouds Ingleborow Penigent and Pendle which are Ingleborow Penigent and Pendle on the top of which grows a peculiar Plant called Cloudsberry as though it came out of the Clouds this Hill formerly did the Country much harm by reason of an extraordinary deal of Water gushing out of it and is now famous for an infallible sign of Rain whensoever the top of it is covered with a mist and by reason of the excessive height for which they are all three celebrated there is this Proverbial Rhime goes currant amongst them Ingleborow Pendle and Penigent Are the highest Hills betwixt Scotland and Trent Lancaster Lancaster is the chief Town of the County of no large extent but very sweet and clean fortified with a Castle which is made use of for the Assizes and adorned with one large Church both which are situated upon a high Hill from whence is a pleasant prospect into the adjacent Fields which are delicately enriched with the best of Earths Tapestry and are watred by the Christal streams of the River Lone which pays here a petty tribute before it posts away to do homage to the Ocean in the descent and sides of the Hill where it is steepest hard by the Stone-Bridge which hath five Arches hangs an ancient piece of Wall called Wery-wall supposed to have been some ancient Work of the Romans by reason of several Roman Coins which have been found hereabouts the grants and privileges which have been conferred upon this Town by the Kings of this Realm have been very great and considerable and King John and Edward the Third have ever been esteemed two of its principal Benefactours From hence the great Road led us directly through Garstange Garstange a small market Town noted chiefly for a great Fair held here every Year in the beginning of July to Preston Preston being a delightful place well peopled with the more wealthy and gentile sort situate upon the Ribble with a fair Stone Bridge over it the same is honoured with the Court of Chancery and the Offices of Justice for Lancaster as a County Palatine and not far from it stands Ribchester Ribchester supposed to be the ancient Bremetonacum counted in its flourishing times the richest Town in Christendome about which have been digged up so many pieces of Roman Antiquity that one may conclude it from thence to have been a place of great account in the time of the Romans Passing after this through Wigan another Market Town and Corporation Wigan well known by reason of the great Trade for Coverlids Rugs Blankets and other sorts of Bedding which is made there Leverpool we came to Leverpool a Sea Port Town situated at the Mersey's-mouth where it affords a safe Harbour for Ships and a convenient passage for Ireland for its denfence it hath on the South side a Castle built by King John and on the West side a Tower upon the River being a stately and strong piece of Building We ferried over from thence into Cheshire Cheshire which lies opposite to it on the other side of the River This shire is a County Palatine and the Earls hereof have formerly had such Royalties and Privileges belonging to them that all the Inhabitants have Sworn fealty and allegiance to them as to their King the Air of it is so healthy that the People are generally long-liv'd and the Irish vapours rising from the Irish Sea do
Spring is later in Cornwall than in the East Parts of England the Summer temperate but Harvest late especially in the middle of the Shire where they seldom get in their Corn till Michaelmas The Winter is milder than elsewhere for the Frost and Snow come very seldom and never stay long when they do come But this Country is much subject to Storms lying as I said open to the Sea so that their Hedges are pared and their Trees Dwarf-grown and the hard Stones and Iron Bars of Windows are fretted with the Weather one kind of these Storms they call a Flaw and so indeed in some Countrys they call any Storm of Wind which is a mighty Gale of Wind passing suddenly to the Shore with great violence This Country is Hilly which is one cause of the temperate Heat of the Summer and the lateness of Harvest even as its Maritime Situation is the cause of the gentleness of Winter Hilly I say parted with short and narrow Valleys the Earth is but shallow underneath which is Rocks and Shelves so that 't is hard to be Tilled and apt to be parched by a dry Summer The middle of the Shire lies open the Earth being of a blackish colour and bears Heath and spiry Grass there is but little Meadow Ground but store of Pasture for Cattel and Sheep and plenty of Corn. They have a Stone called Moor-stone found upon Moors and wast Ground which serves them instead of Free-stone for Windows Doors and Chimneys it is white with certain glimmering Sparkles They have a Stone digged out of the Sea Cliffs of the colour of grey Marble and another Stone black as Jet and out of the Inland Quarries they dig Free-stone They have a Slate of three sorts Blue Sage-leaf coloured and Grey which last is the worst and all these Slates are commonly found under another kind of Slate that they Wall with when the depth hath brought the Workmen to the Water They also make Lime of a kind of Marble-stone either by burning a great quantity together with Furze or with Coal in small Kilns which is the cheaper way but the first Lime is always the whitest For Metals they find Copper here in sundry Places and the Ore is sometimes shipped off to be refined in VVales And though Cicero will have none in Britain yet Silver hath been found in this County in the time of Edward the First and Third who reaped good profit by it nay Tinners do now and then find little quantities of Gold and sometimes Silver amongst the Tin Ore but for the generality the Metal that the Earth abounds with here is Tin which they discover by certain Tin-stones which are something round and smooth lying on the Ground which they call Shoad In their Tin-works amongst the Rubbish they find sometimes Pick-Axes of Holm Box and Harts-horns and sometimes little Tool-heads of Brass and there was once found a Brass Coin of the Emperor Domitian's in one of the Works an Argument that the Romans wrought in those Tin-Mines in times past Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother to Henry the Third was the first that began to make Ordinances for these Tin-Works and afterward Edmund his Son granted a Charter and certain Liberties and prescribed withal certain Laws concerning the same which he ratified and strengthned under his Seal and imposed a Rent or Tribute upon Tin to be paid unto the Earls these Liberties Privileges and Laws King Edward the Third afterward confirmed and augmented On Hengsten-Down a little above Plimouth are found Cornish Diamonds wanting nothing but hardness to make them valuable being of great Beauty some of them as big as a Nut and which is most admirable ready shaped and polished by Nature and in some Places on the Sea Coasts there are Pearls found that breed in Oysters and Muscles which though they are great are yet not very good here is also sometimes Agat and white Coral as they report It is likewise very famous for those little Fish which they call Pilchars swarming in mighty great Shoals about the Shore from July to November when being taken and garbaged and salted and hanged up in smoak they are in infinite numbers carried over into France Spain and Italy where they are very welcom Commodities and are called there Fumados Taking our leave of these Parts and returning by Ashburton a noted Market Town Ashburton we came back to Exeter where passing away the time with some Friends we met with there till the Assizes were over we departed for Honniton Honniton a Town not unknown to such as travel into the West from whence passing through Axminster Axminster called by the Saxons Exan-minster from the River Axi which runs by it a place famous for the Tombs of some Saxon Princes who were slain in the bloody Battel at Bennaburg and translated hither we came quickly into Dorsetshire Dorsetshire a fertile County well shaded with Woods enriched with Pasture and covered with innumerable Flocks of Sheep where coasting along by the Sea side Lyme Lyme was the first Place of Note which here appeared to us to which there is a very troublesom access by reason of its Situation under a high and steep Rock This Town though it was formerly a poor Receptacle for Fisher-men is of late Years reduced to a more flourishing Condition the Houses which are built of Stone and covered with Slate stand thick and in that part which lies near to the Sea they are sometimes washed ten or twelve Foot high to the great damage of the lower Rooms Here is a little kind of Harbour called the Cobb which being sufficiently defended from the Violence of Wind and Weather with Rocks and high Trees which hang over it doth cause many Vessels to put in hither for shelter 'T is a Corporation governed by a Mayor but of late Years for nothing more famous than that it was the landing Place of James the late Duke of Monmouth who landing here with a few Forces out of Holland was quickly defeated and himself brought shortly after to a very Tragical end Bridport Six Miles farther we saw Bridport placed betwixt two small Rivers that there met together in this Town saith Cambden in the Days of Edward the Confessor were reckoned an Hundred and twenty Houses but in William the Conqueror's Reign One hundred and no more it is now in great Vogue for yielding the best Hemp and the great Skill of its Inhabitants in twisting Cables for the Royal Navy for the Monopoly of which they had once a peculiar Patent granted them Here was formerly an Alien Priory dedicated to St. John Baptist From hence the Shore after several crooked flexures shooteth forth into the Sea and a Bank of Sand called Chesil heaped up thick together with a narrow Frith between lies in length for nine Miles which the South Wind when it is up they say commonly cuts in sunder and dissperseth but the Northern Wind binds and hardens again By this Bank
Battle at that very Place where were slain on the King's Party as was computed 3800 Men before which Battel 't is said that the Sun appeared to the Earl of March like three Suns and suddenly joined altogether in one for which cause some imagine that he gave the Sun in its full Lustre for his Badge and Cognizance Having spent some short time again with our Friends and Acquaintance at Hereford and dispatched some Business which called us thither we passed on from thence to Dean Dean a Market Town in Gloucestershire which gives Name to a large Forest adjoining to it Dean Forest a Forest formerly so shaded with Trees and dangerous by reason of crooked winding ways that were generally infested with Robbers that King Henry the Sixth was fain to secure his Subjects by most strict Laws from the violence of their Assaults and daily Incursions but since the Woods have been thinned by the Iron Mines to whose uses they have been of late very subservient the Roads have not been annoyed with such troublesom Company After a short review of Bath and Wells we travelled to Glassenbury Glassenbury which place is famous in our old Historians for the ancientest Church in Great Britain being as they say Built by Joseph of Arimathea A. D. 41. But so far is the most Learned Bishop Stilling-fleet from giving any Credit to this Story that he looks upon it only as an Invention of the Monks of Glassenbury to serve their Interests by advancing the Reputation of their Monastery and instead of Joseph of Arimathea or Simon Zelotes or Mary Magdalen's coming hither he very rationally shews us how St. Paul is rather to be looked upon as the first Founder of a Christian Church in Britain and that there was Encouragement and Invitation enough for St. Paul to come hither not only from the infinite numbers of People which Caesar saith were here in his time but from the new Settlements that were daily making here by the Romans after the first Success which they had in the Time of Claudius when divers Colonies were drawn over hither Here was also the first Monastery in England Founded by St. Patrick A. D. 425. and afterwards liberally endowed by the Munificence of King Ina who caused his Subjects first to pay Peter-Pence to Rome whither he travelled himself and there at last ended his days St. Dunstan introduced Benedictine Monks and dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin Mary after which time it thrived wonderfully and became a small City full of stately Buildings and encompassed with a strong Wall a Mile in Circumference and had a Vault under Ground through which there was a Passage to the high Tower upon the Hill without the Town which is called the Tor And which is very remarkable the Abbot's Kitchen being 20 Foot high was built in the form of a Pyramid of pure Stone and divided in four Angles or Corners to each of which was allotted a Window and a Chimney but all of them went to rack and were razed to the Ground and there is nothing now left but the Ruins to proclaim its former Glory and Magnificence It would be too tedious to reckon up all the Kings of the West-Saxons with divers other eminent Persons who were all buried here or how at last Abbot Thurstan's Cruelty to his Monks some of which he killed and others barbarously wounded A. D. 1083. was very justly met withal and he severely fined by King William Rufus according to his Deserts But this I must not omit that this Place was a shelter to the Britains in the latter Times of the British Churches when they were miserably harassed and persecuted by the then Pagan Saxons and it might be of far greater request amongst the Britains because it was the place where their King Arthur was buried for I see no reason saith the Learned Bishop of Worcester to question that which Giraldus Cambrensis relates concerning the finding of the Body of King Arthur there in the time of Henry the Second with an Inscription on a Leaden Cross which in Latin expressed that King Arthur lay there buried in the Island of Avalon for Giraldus saith he was present and saw the Body which is likewise attested by the Historians of that time as Leland proves at large And the account given that his Body was laid so deep in the Earth for fear of the Saxons farther confirms that this was a place of Retreat in the British times but nor without the apprehension of their Enemies Invasion The Wollnâ—â—-Tree and Holy Haw-thorn But to come nearer to our own Days here was something not many Years since very notable and strange the Walnut-Tree in the holy Church yard that did never put out any leaves before St. Barnabas Day and upon that very Day grew rank and full of leaves and the Hawthorn in Wiral Park that always on Christmas Day sprouted forth as if in May both deserve Credit as well as admiration of the truth of which we were credibly informed by diverse Persons inhabitants of this place who having then still some young Scions of each Tree remaining in their Gardens yet did not find them blossom like the other which through the malice and fury of some Person in the late Wars were cut down and destroyed From Glassenbury we rode to Taunton q. Thonton from the River Thone which runneth through it Taunton a large neat and Populous Town pleasantly situated beautified with fair Houses and goodly Churches and a spatious Market-place enriched with fertile Meadows and adorned with curious Gardens and Orchards 't is mostly inhabited by Clothiers driving a good Trade in Cloath and Serges made here and in the adjacent parts here was formerly an old Castle built by King Ina which Queen Aethelburga destroyed A. D. 722. and a Priory of Black Canons was also erected by William Gifford Bishop of Winton temp Hen. 1. to the Honour of St. Peter and St. Paul Passing through Wellington Wellington and Columpton in Devonshire another Market Town in this County the Road then led us to Columpton a small market Town in Devonshire which King Alfred by Will bequeathed to his younger Son In Devonshire the Air is sharp and wholesome the Land if not in some places so fruitful yet through the Husband-mans industry is made capable of good emprovement its chief Commodities are Wool and Kersies Sea Fish and Fowl and the Western parts are stored with Tin and Lead Mines and Load-stones have been found upon Dartmoor Rocks of good value and virtue The People of this Country are strong and well made and as they have a peculiar sort of Food which they call White-pots so the Women have a peculiar sort of Garment which they wear upon their Shoulders called Whittles they are like Mantles with fringes about the edges without which the common sort never ride to Market nor appear in publick In diverse places of this County the ways are so Rocky and narrow that 't is
not possible for Waggons to pass so that the Country People are forced in Harvest time to carry home their Corn upon Horses in Crooks made for that purpose which creates no small Toil and Labour to them Exmore Forrest Upon Exmore Forest are some huge Stones placed as confusedly as those upon Salisbury Plains and one of them hath Danish letters upon it directing passengers that way Hubblestow And at Hubblestow in this County was a Battel fought by the Danes where their Banner called Reafan in which they reposed all confidence of Victory and success was notwithstanding taken and Hubba their General slain Exeter Exeter is the Principal City of this Province called by the ancients Isca and Isca Damoniorum and by the Saxs on Ex or Exa 't is situate upon the Western Bank of the River Ex or Isc upon a litttle Hill gently arising with an easy ascent to a pretty height the pendant whereof lies East and West environed about with Ditches and very strong Walls having many Turrets orderly interposed and six Gates which give entrance into the City and contains about a Mile and half in Circumference The Suburbs branch forth a great way on each side the Streets are broad kept clean and and well paved the Houses are as gay within as trim without and there are contained in it fifteen 〈◊〉 and in the very highest part of the City 〈…〉 Castle called Rugemont forâ—â—◠〈…〉 VVest-Saxon Kings and afterwards of the Earls of Cornwal which Baldwin de Reduers as the Saxon Chronicle informs us A. D. 1135. holding out against King Stephen was through scarcity of Provision enforced to surrender and after the surrendery he with his whole family was banished out of the Kingdom Just without the East-gate are two pleasant Walks called Southney and Northney beset on both sides with rows of high Trees which being mounted up aloft afford a curious prospect to Topsham Topsham the place where all the Ships and Vessels of the Citizens lie at Anchor from whence since the River was stop'd up by certain Wears and Dams that Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire from some distast which he had took to the City caused here to be made all their Goods and Commodities are brought home by Land In the same quarter of the City stands the Cathedral in the precincts of whose close were in ancient times three Religious Houses as the Ingenious Mr. Tanner's Notitia Monastica doth inform us the first was a Nunnery which is now the Deans House the other was a House of Monks reported to have been built by King Ethelred about A. D. 868. the third was a Monastery of Benedictines founded by King Aethelston A. D. 932. but the Monks not long after forsook it for fear of the Danes till A. D. 968. at which time King Edgar restored them upon the removal of the Bishops See hither from Crediton A. D. 1050. the Monks were translated to VVestminster upon which about the same time Bishop Leafric Chaplain to Edward the Confessor uniting the three forementioned Monasteries into his Cathedral Church placed here some secular Canons dedicating it to St. Mary and St. Peter but the Chapter was not setled till Bishop Brewer A. D. 1235. established and endowed a Dean and twenty four Prebendaries to which have been since added four Arch-deacons In this Church are six private Chappels and a Library very handsomely built and furnished by a Phisitian of this City the Quire is curiously beautified and adorned especially with an excellent Organ the Pipes whereof as they are of a much larger size than any which ever we beheld in any Cathedral besides so likewise is its Musick no less sweet and harmonious and though this Church did through all its parts extreamly suffer in the late unhappy Civil Wars yet it hath returned to its primitive beauty and order since the return of King Charles the second in this Church as likewise in most of the other Churches and Church-yards of the City the Graves especially of the Wealthier sort are paved all over on the inside with Bricks and plaistered with white Lime where after they have interred the Corps all the company in general who were invited to the Funeral return to the House of Mourning from whence they came and there very ceremoniously take their leave of the party by whom they were invited to perform these doleful obsequies On the West side of the City runs the River over which is built a strong Stone Bridge with four Arches and about the middle of the City is the Town Hall where the Assizes and Sessions are held it being both City and County of it self in which hangs the Picture of the Royal Princess Henrietta Maria Daughter to King Charles the First who was Born here and was given by her Royal Brother King Charles the Second to this City which is governed by a Mayor Recorder two Sheriffs and four and Twenty Aldermen with all other Officers befitting the Dignity of so Honourable a place The chief Trade of it consists in Stuffs and Kerseys of which there are innumerable Packs sent away every Week for London and other places in lieu whereof all sorts of vendible Commodities are imported hither here being a knot of very eminent Merchants This City has been exposed to great Calamities and disasters straitned with sieges and exposed to the fury both of Fire and Sword the Romans had it in possession about the Reign of Antoninus and after them the East-Saxons in the Days of King Athelstan from whom the Danes having forced it Suenus raged here with Ruine and Destruction and scarce had it regained a little Strength and Beauty when it felt the fury of the Norman Conqueror after this it was besieged by Hugh Courtney Earl of Devonshire in the Civil Wars betwixt the two Houses of York and Lancaster then by Perkin Warbeck that imaginary counterfeit and pretended Prince who being a young Man of as mean a Family as Condition feigning himself to be Richard Duke of York second Son of King Edward the Fourth made strange Insurrections against Henry the Seventh after this it was pestered by the seditious Rebels of Cornwal about the Year 1549 when although the Citizens were extreamly pinched with a great scarcity of all things yet they kept the City with Courage and Fidelity till John Lord Russel came to succour and relieve it And again in the late miserable Confusions it was strictly besieged by the Parliamentarian Forces at which time it is reported by several Persons of good Credit and Repute that it being reduced to great extremities for want of Provision an infite number of Larks came flying into the Town and setled in a void green place within the Walls where they were killed in great quantities by the besieged and eaten We departed from hence to Newton-Bushel Newton-Bushel a Town well known in these Parts for its Market and from thence to King's-ware King's-ware situated below a Hill upon