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A31570
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Angliæ notitia, or The present state of England together with divers reflections upon the antient state thereof.; Angliae notitia. Part 1
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Chamberlayne, Edward, 1616-1703.
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1669
(1669)
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Wing C1819; ESTC R212862
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111,057
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538
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Second State or Nobility of England p. 405. to p. 457. and therein of their Degrees Priviledges Precedence State Revenues c. p. 417. A Catalogue of all the Peers of England according to their Precedence p. 439. Of the Third State or Commons of England p. 457. Of Knights Esquires Gentlemen Yeomen Citizens Handycrafts c. p. 472. Of the Liberties and Properties of the English Subjects p. 493. Of the Women in England p. 497. Of the Children p. 509. Of the Servants p. 513. OF ENGLAND ENgland the better part of the best Iland in the whole World antiently with Scotland called Britain and sometimes Albion was about 800 years after the Incarnation of Christ by special Edict of King Egbert descended from the Angles a people of the Lower Saxony named Angle or Englelond thence by the French called Angleterre by the Germans Engeland and by the Inhabitants England It is situated between the Degrees 16 and 21 Longitude equal with Normandy and Britany in France and between 50 and 57 Northern Latitude equal with Flanders Zeland Holland Lower Saxony and Denmark The longest day in the most Northern part is 16 hours 44 minutes and the shortest 7 hours 16 minutes It is in length 386 miles in breadth 279 in compass by reason of the many Bayes and Promontories about 1300 miles in shape triangular contains by computation about 30 Millions of Acres about the thousandth part of the Globe and 333d part of the habitable earth almost ten times as big as the United Neatherlands five times as big as the Spanish Neatherlands less than all Italy by almost one half and in comparison of France is as 30 to 82. The Aire is far more mild and temperate if not more healthy than any part of the Continent under the same Climat By reason of the warm vapours of the Sea on every side and the very often Winds from the huge Western Sea the Cold in Winter is less sharp than in some parts of France and Italy though more Southern By reason of the continual blasts from Sea the Heat in Summer is less scorching than in some parts of the Continent that lies more Northern As in Summer the gentle Winds and frequent Showres qualifie all violent Heats and Droughts so in Winter the Frosts do only meliorate the cultivated Soyle and the Snow keep warm the tender Plants It is blessed with a very fertile wholsome Soyle watered abundantly with Springs and Streams and in divers parts with great Navigable Rivers few barren Mountains or craggy Rocks but generally gentle pleasant Hills and fruitful Valleys apt for Grain Corn or Wood. The excellency of the English Soyle may be learnt as Varro advised of old from the Complection of the Inhabitants who therein excell all other Nations or else from the high value put upon it by the Romans and the Saxons who â—ookt upon it as such a precious â—pot of ground that they thought it worthy to be fenced â—n like a Garden Plot with a mighty Wall of fourscore miles â—n length viz. from Tinmoâ—th on the German Sea to Solwey Frith on the Irish Sea whereby the Caledonian Bores might be excluded and with a monstrous Dike of fourscore and ten miles viz. from the Mouth of the River Wy to that of the River Dee whereby the Cambrobritan Foxes might be kept out lastly the excellency of her Soyle may also be learnt from those transcendent Elogies bestowed on her by Antient and Modern Writers calling England the Granary of the Western World the Seat of Ceres c. That her Valleys are like Eden her Hills like Lebanon her Springs as Pisgah and her Rivers as Jordan That she is a Paradise of Pleasure and the Garden of God O fortunata omnibus terris beatior Britannia te omnibus coeli ac soli ditavit Natura tibi nihil inest quod vitae offendat tibi nihil deest quod vita desiderat ita ut alter orbis extra orbem poni ad delicias humani generis videaris O happy and blessed Britanie above all other Countries in the World Nature hath enricht thee with all the blessings of Heaven and Earth Nothing in thee is hurtful to Mankind nothing wanting in thee that is desirable in so much that thou seemest another World placed besides or without the great World meerly for the delight and pleasure of Mankind As it is divided from the rest of the World so by reason of its great abundance of all things necessary for the life of Man it may without the contribution of any other part of the World more easily subsist than any of its Neighbouring Countries Terra suis contenta bonis non indiga mercis First for Food what plenty every where of Sheep Oxen Swine Fallow Deer and Coneys what plenty of Hens Ducks Geese Turkeys Swans Peacocks Phesants Partridges Woodcocks Snipes Plovers Quailes Herons Bustards Heath Cocks or Grouse Thrushes or Throstles Black-birds Veldevers Nightingales Pigeons and Larks What plenty of Salmon Trouts Carps Tench Lampreys Pikes Perches Eeles Crevish Flounders Plaice Shads Mullets What great abundance of Herrings Pilchards Oysters Lobsters Crabs Mackerel Whitings Soles Smelts Sprats Prawnes Ruffes c. What great plenty of Apples Pears Plums and Cherries How doth England abound with Wheat Barly Pulse Beans and Oates with excellent Butter and Cheese with most sorts of Edible Roots and Herbs It wants not Red Deer Hare Goats c. It wants not Wild-Ducks Wild-Geese Puffins Snipes God-wits and many other kind of Sea-fowl It wants not Apricocks Peaches Nectarins Grapes Figgs Melons Quinces c. Walnuts and Hasel-nuts Lastly for Drinks England abounds with Beer Ale Sider Perry and in some places with Metheglin Now of all these things there is such a constant continuance by reason of the Clemency of the Climat that scarce the least Famine which frequenteth other Countries hath been felt in England these 300 years Then for Rayment England produceth generally not onely very Fine Wooll which makes our Cloth more lasting than other Countrey Cloth and better conditioned against Wind Weather but also such great abundance of Wooll that not onely all sorts from the highest to the lowest are clothed therewith but so much hath been heretofore transported beyond the Seas that in honour of the English Wooll that broughâ— heretofore such plenty of Golâ— into the Territories of Charleâ— the puissant and bold Duke of Burgundy where the Staple for English Wooll was then keptâ— he instituted that famous Military Order of the Golden Fleece aâ— this day in highest esteem with the whole House of Austria This abundance and cheapness of Wooll in England proceeds not onely from the goodness of the Soyle but also from the freedom from Wolves and temperateness of Heat and Cold which in other Countries creates a great charge of a constant guarding their Sheep and housing them by Night and sometimes by Day Also for advancing the Manufacture of Cloth that necessary Earth called Fullers Earth
as it will when the Dominical Letter is D. and the Golden Number 16 then Easter will be on the 22 March as was this year 1668. But the Romish Church following new Rules for finding of Easter it happens sometimes that their Easter is full 5 weeks before ours and sometimes with ours but never after ours for Pope Gregory the 13th in the year 1582 having observed that upon exact account the year contained above 365 dayes not full 6 hours as had been from the time of Julius Caesar hitherto reckoned but only 5 hours 49 minutes and 16 seconds and that this difference of almost 11 minutes in the space of about 134 years maketh one whole day which not considered since the Regulation of Easter had brought back the year at least 10 dayes insomuch that the Vernal Equinox which was at first on the 21 of March was now on the 11th of March by reason whereof sometimes 2 Full Moons past between the Equinox and Easter contrary to the Primitive Institution thereof which was that Easter should alwayes be observed on the Sunday following the first â—ull Moon after the Vernal Equinox Pope Gregory then having observed these inconveniences resolved at once to take away 10 dayes and that out of the Moneth of October by calling the 5th day thereof the 15th and that for that year those Festivals which fell in those 10 dayes which by reason of the Vintage time were but few should be celebrated upon the 15 16 and 17th dayes of that Moneth And that the Equinox might never retrocede for the future it was then provided that every 400 years 3 Bissextile years should be left out that is in the years 1700 1800 and 1900 and so again in 2100 2200 and 2300 leaving the year 2000 to have its Bissextile and so every 400th year The English Nation as all other States that with-drew themselves from under the Bishop of Rome's Usurped Authority before the said year 1582 except Holland and Zealand observe still the Antient Account made by Julius Caesar 43 years before the Birth of Christ and is therefore called the Old Style or Julian Account the other observed by those still under the Romish Yoke is called the New Style or Gregorian Account and is by reason of the aforesaid 10 dayes taken away 10 dayes before ours for the beginning of Moneths and for all Fixt Festivals but various for all Moveable Festivals Easter and the other Moveable Feasts in England are most certainly thus found Shrove-Tuesday is alwayes the first Tuesday after the first New Moon after January except that New Moon happen on a Tuesday then the next is Shrove-Tuesday and the Sunday following is Quadragesima and the Sixth Sunday after is Easter Day and the Fifth Sunday after Easter is Rogation Sunday and the Thursday following being 40 dayes after the Resurrection is Ascention day 10 dayes after which or 50 dayes after Easter is Pentecoste or Whit sunday and the Sunday following is Trinity Sunday Which Computation of the Church of England agrees with all the Eastern Christian Churches for they and we find Easter by the Rules which were generally received by all Christendom Anno 532 and ever since till 1582 it was altered by the Pope as aforesaid yet cannot it be denied but that this old Computation is become erroneous for by our Rules two Easters will be observed within one year as in the last year 1667 and not one Easter to be observed this year as this Author observed the last year in his Proposals to the Parliament Advent Sunday hath a peculiar Rule and is alwayes the Fourth Sunday before Christmass Day or the nearest Sunday to St. Andrews whether before or after The year in England according to the Cycles of the Sun and Moon and according to Almanacks begins on the First of January but the English Church and State begins the year from the day of Christs Incarnation viz. on the 25 of March which also is observed in Spain yet the Portugues as divers Countries in Africa begin their year on the 29th of August the Venetians on the first of March according to the Epact the Grecians on the longest day as the old Romans did on the shortest day which two last seem to have most reason as beginning just at the Periodical day of the Suns return The Natural day consisting of 24 hours is begun in England at Midnight and counted by 12 hours to Midday and again by 12 hours to next Midnight whereas in Italy Bohemia Poland and some other Countries their Account 〈◊〉 from Sun-setting by 24 of thâ— Clock to the next Sun-setting and at Noremberg and Wirtenberg in Germany according to the old babylonian Account they begin at the first hour after Sun-rising to count one of the Clock and so again at the first hour after Sun-set Probably there was a time when those Names of Number now in use amongst all Civilized Nations were unknown and Men applied their Fingers of one or both hands to those things they desired to keep account of and thence it may be that the Numeral words are but Ten in any Nation and in some Nations but Five and then they begin again as after decem undecim duodecim c. The Hebrews and the Greeks instead of Numeral Words used the Letters of their Alphabets beginning again after the Tenth Letter The Latines made use onely of 7 of their Capital Alphabet viz MDCLXVI all comprehended in this Figure O and all made use of in the same order in the late year 1666 which never did happen before or ever will happen again The English as all the Western Christian World till about 400 years ago used only Numeral Words in all Writings but since use the Figures 1 2 3 c. which the Christians learnt first of the Maures or Arabs and they of the Indians Nomina quasi Notamina Names were first imposed upon Men for distinction sake by the Jews at their Circumcision by the Romans at the 9th day after Birth and by the Christians at the Baptisme of such signification for the most part that might denote the future good hope or good wishes of Parents toward their Children The English Names of Baptisme are generally either Saxon as Robert Richard Henry William Edward Edmund Edwin Gilbert Walter Leonard c. Which are all very significative or else out of the Old and New Testament as John Thomas James Abraham Isaack Jacob c. Names super-added to the Christian Names the French call Sur noms i. e. supernomina The Hebrews Greeks and most other Antient Nations had no Surnames fixt to their Families as in these dayes but counted thus for example among the Hebrews Melchi Ben Addi Addi Ben Casam c. So the Britaines Hughe ap Owen Owen ap Rhese c. so the Irish Neal mac Con Con mac Dermoti c. As Christian Names were first given for distinction of Persons so Surnames for distinction of Families About Anno 1000 the