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
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
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
Neptune in Holland which is one of the grand Divisions in Lincolnshire Lincolnshire This County is of a large extent and in most places very fertile and rich in Cattel it stretcheth out it self no less than Threescore Miles in length and above Thirty in breadth and is divided into three Portions called by the Names of Holland Kesteven and Lindsey Holland Holland so called as some would have it from Hay which our Ancestors broadly term Hoy is divided likewise into two parts the Higher and the Lower the Lower is a very moist and watery Soil troublesom for its deep Fens annoyed frequently with Quagmires which in Summer-time are so soft and pliable that they will shake under a Man's Feet who will be ready to sink into them as he stands upon them in that Season it is all over covered with Sheep as in the Winter with Water at which time there is such a vast plenty of Fish and Fowl that many poor People thereabouts make a good Livelihood by catching of them But as the Incomes are great and the Profits considerable of most Persons who inhabit these Fens so are there some Inconveniences which are no less intolerable for their Cattle being commonly a good distance from their Houses they are forc'd in the Winter when they go either to Fodder or Milk them to betake themselves to their little Boats which they call Skirries carrying usually two a-piece and may be compared to an Indian Canoo and by these convey themselves from place to place as occasion requires and because their Ground lies very low and flat and East-ward adjoins to the main Ocean lest at any time it should be overflown by any sudden Inundations as in stormy Weather it too frequently happens they fence in their Lands with great Piles of Wood and mighty Banks well lined and ramm'd down against the Violence of the Waves and are forced to keep Watches with great care and diligence as against the Approaches of a most dangerous Enemy and yet notwithstanding all their vigilance and forecast they can scarce with the strongest Barricadoes they can prepare defend themselves from the violent Incursions and Outrages of the Sea Here is great plenty of Flax and Hemp and in all these Parts many thousands of Sheep are fatted for the slaughter but of good Bread and Water which are the staff of Life as great a scarcity for the Water is generally brackish and ill relished and the Bread as little pleasing and toothsom being made for the most part of Pease and Oats which yet goes down as favourily with the Peasants as if it had been moulded of finer Flour Nor are their Dormitories any more pleasing or delightful for all the Summer long there are continually such swarms of stinging Gnats and other troublesom Flies throughout all these Quarters that a Stranger can find but a very unhospitable Lodging and Reception amongst those little buzzing Misanthropical Animals Being loth therefore to lie at the mercy of such Enemies or to come within the reach of their Bloody Inquisition we made all the haste we conveniently could their troublesom Territories to Boston which lying within the Precincts of Higher Holland we hoped to find more safe and inoffensive Boston This is a famous Town situated upon the River Witham more properly named Botolph's Town from a great Saint Botolph who had here formerly a Monastery 't is a place of great Note and Repute for Merchandize for the Sea flowing up the River causeth a very commodious Haven so that many times here lie a Fleet of Ships which convey down Goods hither from all Parts and the Mart which is kept here yearly doth much enrich the Town with all sorts of Commodities There are fair and beautiful Houses seated on both sides of the River over which is built a wooden Bridge of a great height for the more easie converse and entercourse of the Inhabitants The Market-place is fair and large and on Market Days well stored with all kind of Provisions and the Church being a most curious and stately Fabrick is chiefly remarkable for its towring Steeple which hath as many steps in it from the top to the bottom as there are Days in the Year and doth not only salute all Travellers at a great distance but is a good Sea-mark and Direction to all Sailors And it seems the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond and Darby of whose great Munificence I have formerly spoken had a great kindness and esteem for this place for the Margaret Preacher from Cambridge doth usually once in two Years come hither to give the Inhabitants a Sermon for which service there is a particular Salary left in Legacy by that Lady And whatever Damages it sustained formerly by the sudden Incursion of some bold and insolent Ruffians who coming clad cunningly in the Habits and Garb of Monks and Friars broke into Merchants Houses and plundered and pillaged them and set Fire to the Town in sundry places in the time of Edward the First so that as our Chronicles tell us Gold and Silver which was melted in the Flames ran down in as rapid a stream as the like and other Metals did at the Sacking of Corinth yet it hath since retrieved its Wealth and recovered its strength for the Inhabitants addicting themselves either to Merchandize or Grazing or both have reduced it to a very opulent and flourishing Condition and 't is now governed by a Mayor and Aldermen by whose prudent Conduct and Government it may in all probability long continue in that prosperous Estate In the Coat of Arms for the Corporation there are three Crowns relating to the three Kingdoms the Crest a Ram lying upon a Wooll-Sack the Ram signifying the great Sheep-walks in the Fens round about and the Wool-Sack that it was a Staple Town the Supporters of the Coat are two Maremaids signifying that it was a Port Town Reposing our selves here one Night the next Day we travelled further into the Country and passing over some part of the Fens we came within the limits of the second part of the County called Kesteven where as the Air is far more sweet and wholesome so the Soil is no less rich and fruitful to a small Market Town named Sleeford Sleeford of little account except it be by reason of an ancient Castle built formerly by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln or a House which was erected by Sir John Hussey who in King Henry the Eighth's Days lost his Head And from hence coming to Lindsey the other part which is a Champaign Heath Country we arrived at Lincoln the most eminent Place and City of this County Lincoln This is the City which Ptolemy and the Emperour Antoninus called Lindum the Britains saith Rudborne Caerludecote and Bede Linde-Collina Civitas whether from its Situation upon a very high Hill or in that it was an ancient Colony is not material to enquire certain it is a great place of Antiquity and the Remains of old Walls and
Ships are under Sail dancing along the proud Billows of the Ocean After we had travelled some few Miles from hence we came in little time within the Liberties of the Bishoprick of Durham Bishoprick of Durham a County very rich in its Mountains which are inlayed with Iron Lead and Coals and very fruitful in its Valleys with Grass and Corn. It was formerly the Patrimony of St. Cuthbert who being Bishop of Lindisferne and afterward Patron of the Church of Durham led a Life of such wonderful Piety and Holiness that he was Canonized for a Saint and Invocated by some of the Kings and Princes of this Nation as their Tutelary Saint and Protector against the Picts and Scots who formerly did grievously infest these Parts upon which account upon him and his Successors was not only conferred and setled all the County between the Tees and the Tine while he lived but after his Death came divers Princes and other Potentates with the greatest Devotion imaginable in Pilgrimage to visit his Body and offered at his Shrine an inestimable Mass of Treasure To which many other great Privileges and Immunities being daily added at the coming in of the Norman Conqueror the Bishop was reputed for a Count Palatine and did ingrave upon his Seal an Armed Knight holding a naked Sword in one hand and the Bishops Arms in the other Nay it was once adjudged in Law that this Bishop was to have Forfeitures and Escheats within the Liberties as the King had without in short the Bishops hereof have had the Royalties of Princes having their own Courts of Judicature both for Civil and Criminal Causes and Coining their own Coins But these Royalties have been since taken off in a great measure and reannexed to the Crown However the Bishop is still Earl of Sadberg a place in this Bishoprick and takes place in the Episcopal College next to the Bishop of London but he is subordinate to the Arch-Bishop of York Darlington We took up our first Station at Darlington on the Skerne over which it hath a Stone-Bridge 'T is a Market-Town of good resort which Seir an English-Saxon the Son of Vlph having obtained leave of King Ethelred gave unto the Church of Durham and Hugh Pudsey adorned it with a fair Church and other Edifices Here was also formerly a College for a Dean and six Prebendaries In the Precincts of this place are to be seen three Pits full of Water of a wonderful depth called by the common People Hell-Kettles Hell-Kettles concerning which Sir Richard Baker in his Chronicle gives us this following Account That in the 24th Year of King Henry the Second the Earth in this place lifted up it self in the manner of a high Tower and so remained immovable from Morning until Evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it afrighted all the Inhabitants thereabouts and the Earth swallowing it up made there a deep Pit which is still to be seen to this day That these Pits have Passages under Ground was first experimented they say by Bishop Tunstall who to satisfie his Curiosity herein marked a Goose and let her down into them which very Goose he found afterwards in the River Tees which runs along not far from this place Bishop-Aukland From hence we bent our course to Bishop-Aukland upon the Ware over which it has a Bridge 't is a Town pleasantly seated in a good Air upon the side of a Hill and as it was formerly adorned with a Collegiate Church dedicated to St. Andrew Founded by Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham for twelve Prebendaries so is it likewise graced with the Bishop's Palace built at first by the same Bishop Beck with divers Pillars of Black and White Marble and re-edified since by that Munificent Prelate Dr. Cosins one of the Miracles of our Age for his great and unbounded Works of Charity He likewise rebuilt the Chapel and very gloriously adorned it with the most costly Habiliments that are any way befitting so Sacred a place and the Plate which was bestowed upon it by him for religious Uses was of a great value Nor was his Charity confined at home but dispersed and diffused it self as liberally abroad having erected here an Alms-House as he did likewise another at Durham for divers poor People for whom he hath allotted a comfortable subsistence He erected at Durham a Library very spacious and uniform to which he bequeathed several Volumes of choice Books he raised there a new Structure for the use of the Country in which are held the Assizes and Sessions he made the Castle formerly built by William the Conqueror which was quite gone to Ruin very useful again and magnificent besides all this he gave some new Fellowships and Exhibitions to St. Peter's-College in Cambrige where himself had been Master He expended vast Sums of Money in publick Benevolences to the King in redeeming Christian Captives at Algiers in relieving the distressed Loyal Subjects and in many other publick and pious Uses So that both the City and Country have sufficient reason gratefully to remember him and to wish that such Prelates may continually succeed him who may approve themselves such Worthy Fathers of the Church such Noble Patrons to their Country and such Glorious Pillars of Religion Some three or four Miles distance from this Place is Binchester Binchester now a small Village of little repute save for its relicts of old Walls and pieces of Roman Coin often digged up here called Binchester Pennies by which it appears to have been formerly an eminent Station of the Romans though now 't is nothing but a rude heap of Rubbish And about the same distance from Binchester stands Durham the most flourishing and principal City of this Province Durham is a City whose Situation is upon Hills and bottoms of Hills Durham and all surrounded with Hills but the lower parts watered by the River Ware which encircles the best part of it and over which there are two Stone Bridges so that it is a Peninsula which Dunholme a name by which it was formerly called doth denote for the Saxons called an Hill Dun and a River-Island Holme from whence the Latins have made Dunelmum the Normans Duresme and the Commonalty corruptly Durham The Town is pretty large but of no great Beauty nor seems to bear any considerable stamp of Antiquity but to have received its first Original from the distressed Monks of Lindisferne who being driven thence by the Fury of the Danes came hither with the Body of St. Cuthbert which they preserved with great care and honoured with the greatest Veneration imaginable at which time the See being removed hither by Bishop Aldwin A. D. 995. he built a small Oratory of wreathen Wands and Hurdles over the Body of St. Cuthbert on the South-side of the City which continued for some time till William de Careleph pulling down that began a new Foundation which was afterward finished by Ralph his Successor after this
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
Countries in England and taking its Name both from its Situation and the great number of Moors in it 'T is likewise a Hilly Country two ridges of high Hills crossing it as far as Cumberland which besides their Northern Situation sharpen the Air and make it less Subject to Fogs and Vapours then many other Counties by reason of which the People are free from strange and infectious Diseases being healthful and living generally to great Ages but in the Southern parts of it it is more fruitful and pleasant In this County near the River Lowther Piramidal Stones near the Lowther is a Spring that Ebbs and Flows many times in a Day and in the same place there are huge Pyramidal Stones some nine Foot high and thirteen Foot thick pitched directly in a row for a Mile together Cataracks near Kendale and placed at equal distances from each other and in the River Ken near Kendale are two Cataracks or Water-falls where the Waters descend with a great and mighty noise and when that which standeth North from the Neighbours living between them sounds clearer and lowder than the other they certainly look for fair or foul Weather to follow but when that on the South-side doth so they look for Foggs and Showers of Rain Appleby We arrived at Appleby a Town in this County memorable for its Antiquity and Situation having formerly been a Roman Station and standing very pleasantly being almost encompassed with the River Eden over which it has a Stone Bridge but so slenderly inhabited and the Buildings so mean that all the Beauty of it lies in one mean Street which riseth with a gentle ascent in the upper part whereof stands the Castle and in the nether end the Church and by it a School which Robert Langton and Miles Spencer Doctors of Law founded for the advancement of Learning That this Castle was surprized by William King of Scots a little before himself was taken Prisoner at Alnwick our Chronicle-inform us but King John having afterwards recovered it from the Scots bestowed it out of his Princely Favour upon Robert Vipon for some singular services he had done to him and the State Burgh under Stanemoor Six Miles further lies Burgh commonly called Burgh under Stanemoor which though now but a poor small Village was in all probability the place where stood the antient Town Vertera in which in the declining Age of the Roman Empire the Band of the Directores kept their Station which Opinion is the more likely becase the distance thereof from Levatra or Bows on the one side and Brovonacum or Appleby on the other being reduced to Italian Miles do exactly agree with Antonines Computation as Cambden observes out of his Itinerary and further for that the High-street of the Romans as is yet evidently apparent by the Ridges thereof leads this way directly to Brovonacum or Appleby But besides this there is nothing here remarkable at all excepting only that in the beginning of the Norman government the Northern English conspired here first against William the Conquerour and that the most Heroick King Edward the First died here of a Dysentery A. D. 1307. and was buried at Westminster When we were past Burgh we began to climb that hilly and solitary Country exposed to Wind and Weather Stanemoor which because 't is all Rocky and Stony is called in the Northern Dialect Stanemoor and here round about us we beheld nothing but a rough wide mountainous Desart save only a poor homely Hostelry rather than an Inn in the very midst thereof called the Spittle on Stanemoor to entertain Travellers and near to it a Fragment of a Cross which we call Rere-Cross Rere-Cross and the Scots Re-Cross i. e. the King 's Cross which formerly served as a Land-mark betwixt the two Kingdoms the same being erected upon a Peace concluded between William the Conquerour and Malcolm King of Scots with the Arms of England on the South-side and those of Scotland on the North and a little lower upon the Roman High-way stood a small Fort built four-square which they called the Maiden Castle from whence as the Borderers reported the said High-way went with many Windings in and out as far as to Carevorran in Northumberland After we had made a shift to scramble over these Mountains we found a little Village on the other side called Bows Bows the same which I observed before Antonine calls Levatra in which was formerly a small Castle belonging to the Earls of Richmond where in was a certain Custom called Thorough Toll and their Jus furcarum i. e. power to hang c. Through this place lies the Road to Richmond Richmond the chief Town hereabouts encompassed with a Wall out of which are three Gates now well peopled and frequented It was built upon the Norman Conquest by Alan Earl of Bretagne who reposing small trust in Gilling a place or manner of his own hard by to withstand the Violence of the Danes and English whom the Normans had despoiled of their Inheritance fenced it with a Wall and a Castle which standing upon a Rock looks down upon the Swale over which it has a Stone bridge which River was reputed Sacred by the ancient English for that Paulinus the first Arch-Bishop of York Baptized in it in one Day above Ten thousand Men besides Women and Children and then gave it the Name of Richmond as a place of Strength and Beauty Here is held a great Market to the benefit of the Country who expose to Sale great quantities of Stockings which being bought up at cheap Rates are afterwards sent into other parts of the Nation This Town gives name to five Wapentakes or Hundreds within its Jurisdiction from hence called Richmond-shire Richmondshire a wild and hilly tract of Ground but yielding good Grass in some places the Hills are stored with Lead Coals and Copper and on the tops or surface thereof are found many times Stones like Sea Winkles Cockles Muscles and other Fish which saith Cambden are either natural or else are the Relicts of Noah's Flood petrified Orosius speaks as much of Oysters of Stone found upon Hills far from the Sea which have been eaten in hollow by the Water in all likelyhood these stone Fishes are of the same kind which some Naturalists have discovered at Alderby in Glocester-shire and I my self have since taken up upon the high Cliffs near Folk-stone in Kent which I shall describe more particularly when I come to speak of that place But to return on our way out of Richmond-shire we made an entrance into the West-Riding of York-shire where we were first saluted by Rippon Rippon situated upon the River Vre which divides the North and West-Riding and is full of Crea-Fishes the breed whereof as they say was brought out of the South parts by Sir Christopher Medcalfe It received all its Dignity and ancient renown from a Monastery built here A. D. 660. by Wilfrid Arch Bishop
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
Conquest of England the Sea is now near three Miles distant from the Town which chiefly subsists by the grazing Trade and there is only a small Rill for Boats of little Burdens to put in upon occasion Twelve Miles further is Hastings Hastings a Sea-Port of good antiquity consisting of two Parishes 't is situated under very high Hills and Cliffs is extended to a good length and was formerly fortified with a strong Castle the Ruines of which are as yet invisible but now more conveniently strengthned with two useful Bulwarks which command the Sea In the Reign of King Athelstan here was a Mint-House afterward it was accounted the first of the Cinque-Ports which with the Members belonging to it viz. Seaford Pevensey Hodney Bulver-Hyth Winchelsea and Rye which are called the two ancient Towns were formerly bound to find one and twenty Men of War for the King's Service thus it flourished long being inhabited by a warlike People and skilful Sailors and though the Peer is quite gone to decay yet here are still an industrious Colony of Fishermen who very much enrich the Town by their constant Fishery 't is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen who by their prudent measures very regularly keep up the Grandeur of their Corporation Here or at Pevensey was probably Anderida one of the ancient Roman Garrisons as Mr. Somner conjectures See Somner's Roman Ports and Forts c. P. 104. Winchelsea by its Name betokens a waterish place seated in a Corner Idem P. 69. Along the same Shore is situated Winchelsea which when a more ancient Town of the Name was Swallowed up by the Sea in the Year 1250 was built by King Edward the First It was then inclosed with a Rampire and after with strong Walls and scarce began to Flourish when it was sacked by the French-men and Spaniards and by the Sea 's shrinking from it did as suddenly fade and lose all its Beauty and is now only the Skeleton of a fair Town as doth appear by the Quadrangular Streets large Vaults and other ruinous materials of ancient Structures having upon the level which the Sea relinquished a Castle built by King Henry the Eighth now quite gone to decay and large Marshes which are defended from the Violence of the Sea with great earthen Walls and Banks which are preserved and repaired with no small charge and Trouble In this Town were formerly three Parish Churches dedicated to St. Leonard St. Gyles and St. Thomas tho' the latter alone in which are some ancient Monuments to be seen now serves the Town in that of St. Leonard was formerly erected the Picture of St. Leonard the Patron of the place holding a Fan or Aeolus his Scepter in his Hand which was moveable at the Pleasure of any that would turn it to such a point of the Compass as best fitted the return of the Husband or other Friend whom they expected and so after that was done and an Offering made for without Offerings these Idols would be Idle they promised to themselves the desired Wind both speedy and prosperous This is likewise a Corporation but yet a pitiful Spectacle of Poverty and Desertion Not many Miles from this Place is Battel Battel where October 14. A. D. 1066 was fought the Bloody Battel betwixt King Harold and the Norman Duke which proved so fatal to the English and successful to the Normans for besides King Harold himself who with an Arrow was Shot quite through the Head there fell with him likewise upon the spot as we are told by the most accurate Historian Sir William Temple who hath wrote the Life of William the Conqeror no less than threescore Thousand Men upon which he makes this observation that nothing seems to show the greatness of England so much at this time as that Harold should be able to assemble so mighty an Army to oppose this Invasion which Ground where this grand re-encounter was hath been thought ever since to have worn the Conquerour's Livery because as they say after Rain it always looks of a reddish Colour though afterward this Prince to make some atonement as he thought for the vast effusion of Blood which had been Spilt there the next Year erected a Abby at this place to the Honour of St. Martin and placed here a Covent of Benedictine Monks to pray for their Souls who had fallen in the Battel Rye Three Miles from Winchelsey is Rye which stands on the very edge of this County towards Kent and at the very fall of the Rother into the Sea That it was formerly in great vogue and well fortified by William Ipres Earl of Kent Ipres Tower now the Prison and the great Immunities and Privileges it had in common with the Cinque-Ports may sufficiently demonstrate but by reason of Winchelsey's Vicinity or the Sea 's retiring back it was of little account till the other Place decayed and that King Edward the Third began by walling it to make it more considerable than it was before after which though the Sea did for many Years extreamly befriend it and a very convenient Haven lay open for Trade and Commerce yet so inconstant is the Favour of that changeable Element that it is now almost quite choaked up and a passage hardly left for the smallest sort of Vessels and were it not for its Fishery and the conveniency from hence of a ready Passage into Normandy it is to be feared it would fall quickly under the same deplorable fate of its Neighbour if some other Privileges from the Corporation do not support and keep it up Kent We Ferried over the Camber from Rye into Kent which is divided into three several Portions the first is a Ridge of Hills that runs by Boxley Detling c. and is call'd Health without Wealth the second is that which runs by Sutton Boughton Malherf c. and is called Health and Wealth the third by Tenterden and is called Wealth without Health Names very proper for them and the reason is very plain why they are so Nature having so liberally apportioned her Blessings that she compensates the defect of one by the collation of another not suffering any peculiar Place to Monopolize all her Favours at once but thus if the VVeald be eminent for Wool the Fame of East Kent shall be as great for Corn and Tenham Goddington and Otham shall be no less cried up for Orchards if Shepey or Reculver produce the best Wheat Thanet shall bring forth as good crops of Barley and if Cranbrook hath the Name for Beer Tunbridge shall for Water In fine if either the fertility of the Soil or the safe Roads and sure Harbours for Ships or the broad Streams of a great navigable River the noble River Thames or the Vicinity of the vast and opulent City of London can be any way contributive to advance its Prosperity it must needs be one of the richest and most flourishing Provinces of this Kingdom As this Country was first subdued by