men viz. Leicestershire Bean-Belly Burtons descript. of Leicestershire The South-East-side of this Shire is exceeding rich ground yeelding great increase of Corn in abundance of all kinds affordeth many good and large Sheep-Pastures breeding a Sheep to that height and goodnesse so that as I have credibly heard neither Lemster nor Cotswould can exceed them if one respect either largenesse of the body finenesse of the Wooll or goodnesse of the breed Id. ib. Leicester standeth upon the River Leire now called Sore it signifies the City standing upon the River Leir It is a Town of great antiquity and standeth in the center and heart of the Shire bearing the proportion of an heart and being in the very midst and heart of the Land It is situate in a most rich delicate and pleasant soyl and delicious air it wants only a navigable River Harborow a Town famous for a Fair of Cattel there kept Carleton all that are born there whether it be by a peculiar property of the soyl or of the water or else by some other secret operation of nature have an ill favoured untunable and harsh manner of speech fetching their words with very much ado deep from out of the throat with a certain kind of wharling Lutterworth a Mercat Town it hath a fair Church That famous John Wicliffe was sometimes parson of this Church a man of a singular polite and well wrought wit most conversant also in the holy Scripture Neer to this Town there is a Spring so call'd that within a short time turneth straws and sticks into stones Cathorp It came to one Cook a Merchant of the Staple in the time of Henry the Fourth whose Daughter and Heir was married to William Harper of Rushall in the County of Stafford and from thence by descent to Leigh It was not many years since belonging to Sir Edward Leigh of Rushall Burtons descript. of Leicestershire Hinkley Burton-Lazers so called from a famous Hospital which was there founded for the use of Leprous people to whose Master all the lesser houses of that kind were subordinate as he himself was to the Master of the Lazers at Hierusalem Bosworth an ancient Mercat Town Here Henry Earl of Richmond with a small power encountred in pitch-field with King Richard the Third and overcame and slew him and then with joyfull acclamations was proclaimed King in the very midst of slaughtered bodies round about Ashby de la Zouch a most pleasant Lordship now of the Earls of Huntingdon but belonging in times past to the noble Family De la Zouch Cole-Overton or Orton famous for Pit-coal It is so called of the Cole-mines which are there in great abundance Mount-Sorehill famous only for a Mercat there kept Lough-borough a Mercat Town next Town to Leicester in this Shire whether a man regard the bignesse or building thereof or the pleasant Woods about it Melton-Mowbray a Mercat Town bearing name of the Mowbrayes sometimes Lords thereof Within this Shire are two hundred Parish Churches six Hundreds and twelve Market Towns Lincolnshire A Very large Countrey reaching almost threescore miles in length and carrying in some places above thirty miles in bredth passing good for yeelding of Corn and feeding of Cattel well furnished and set out with a great number of Towns and watered with many Rivers The Diocesse here is the largest of England After three Bishopricks were taken out of it it containeth four whole Counties and parts of two usually thus exprest it had under it two Bs two Hs two Ls. The whole Shire is divided into three parts whereof one is called Holland a second Kesteuen and the third Lindsey Crowland or Croyland a raw and muddy Land as Ingulph the Abbot of this place interprets it a Town formerly of good note among the Fenne-people It is seated like unto Venice In the Moneth of August they have sometimes spread a Net and at once drawn three thousand Mallards and they use to term these Pools or watery Plots of theirs their Corn-fields In regard of this their taking of Fish and Fowl they paid yearly in times past to the Abbot three hundred pounds of our money and after so much to the Crown Spalding a fair Town enclosed round about with Riverets Boston a famous Town standing on both sides of the River Witham which hath over it a wooden Bridge of a great heigth well frequented by means of a commodious Haven unto it the Market place is fair and large and the Church maketh a goodly shew as well for the beautifull building as the greatnesse thereof the Tower-steeple of it which riseth up to a mighty height doth salute passengers and travellers a great way off and giveth direction also to the Sailers In the Coat of Boston for the Corporation there are three Crowns relating to the three Kingdoms the Crest a Ramme lying upon a Wool-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 Mare-maids signifying that it is a Port-Town Stanford it was built of rough stone whence it hath the name A Town well peopled and of great resort endowed also with sundry immunities and walled about It is beautified with seven Parish Churches or thereabout and sheweth an old Hospital Belvoir or Beauvoir-Castle so called of the fair Prospect mounted upon the top of a good steep Hill It belongs to the Earl of Rutland The Vale of Bever a very pleasant place lieth under the Castle The Vale of Bevell barren of Wooll is large and very plentifull of good Corn and Grasse and lieth in three Shires Leicester Lincoln and much in Nottinghamshire Lelands Itinerary Grantham a Town of good resort adorned with a School built by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and with a fair Church having a Spire-steeple of a mighty height Lincolne This City is large well inhabited and frequented it standeth upon the side of an Hill and thence hath its name from its situation or because it hath been a Colony There are fourteen Churches the Minster is a fair one and in one of the Steeples there is a very great Bell rung by sixteen men called great Tom of Lincoln Camden honourably mentions two learned Bishops of Lincoln Robert Grosthead and his Master Thomas Cooper Wainfleet it bred William Wainfleet Bishop of Winchester a worthy Prelate founder of Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford a man that singularly well deserved of learning Alford a Mercat Town Castor an ancient Castle Mercate-Rasin so called of a Mercat there well resorted unto Gainsborrow a Market Town standing upon the River of Trent Grimsby an old Market Town Here was Archbishop Whitgift born There are in this Shire six hundred and thirty * Parishes thirty and one Hundreds and thirty Market Towns Middlesex IT is severed from Buckinghamshire by the River Cole on the West-side from Hertfordshire on the North-side by a known
beside At this day there are 9285. Parishes in the Kingdom There is in no place of the world greater and larger Dogs nor better Hounds That the British Hounds and Mastives excell those of other Nations See Burtons Comment on Antoninus Itin. pag. 219 220. Of all the Doggs in Europe ours bear the name They were in most request both for those baitings in the Amphitheaters and also in all other publick huntings among the Romanes Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni Claudian The Cock is a bold and stout Bird and will fight valiantly with his adversaries and presently crows when he obtains victory See Pliny lib. 29. cap. 4. The Cocks also there give not over the fight till death parts them There are three principal Rivers in England Thames in the South-East Severn in the South-West Trent a Northern River Isis the principal and Prince of all the English Rivers afterward entertaineth Tame and by a compound word is called Tamesis His ita compositis hinc Plantageneta regressus Fluctibus aequoreis trajectis venit in arcem Urbis Londini quam praeterlabitur amnis Piscosus Thamesis famae celeberrimus inter Albionis rivos Oclandi Anglorum Praelia The Thames swelleth with the accesse of the flowing tide of the Sea about Lx Italian miles by water from his mouth Neither to my knowledge is there any other River in all Europe that for so many miles within Land feeleth the violence of the Ocean forcing and rushing in upon it and so driving back and with-holding his waters to the exceeding great commodity of the Inhabitants bordering thereupon The second River of England is Severn the head of it is the Hill Plinlimon in Montgomery-shire He slowly wandereth through this Shire Shropshire Worcestershire and last of all Glocestershire infusing a certain vital moisture into the soil every where as he passeth untill at length he mildely dischargeth himself into the Severn-sea Trent by his due right challengeth to himself the third place among all the Rivers of England It runneth out of two Fountains being neer neighbours together in the North part of Staffordshire among the Moors Certain unskilfull and idle headed have dreamed that it was so named of Trente a French word which signifieth Thirty and thereupon also have feigned that thirty Rivers runne into it and as many kinds of fishes live therein We have more glorious Universities Colledges Schools and Churches than any Nation of the world There are two famous Universities in England Oxford and Cambridge Five great Schools in England Westminster Eaton Winchester Pauls and Merchant-Taylors School For Churches Doctor Heylin in his Geography shews which are the best It is famous beyond Seas also for its fine Wooll which is our golden Fleece The most considerable Ports on the East-side of the Island are New-castle Hull Lynne Yarmouth Harwich Colchester Sandwich on the South-side lies Plymouth on the West Chester Our Language consists partly of French Danish Saxon and Pictish Language The English-Saxon Tongue came in by the English-Saxons out of Germany who valiantly and wisely performed here all the three things which imply a full conquest viz. the alteration of Lawes Language and Attire Camd. Remains He saith also there that our Tongue is as copious pithy and significative as any other Tongue in Europe There is in English as true strains of Eloquence as strong and fine expressions as elaborate and solid pieces of fancy as in any Language whatsoever Howels Instruct for Travel Sect. 12. George commonly called St. George was the Patron both of our Nation and of the most honourable Order of Knighthood in the world The first and last Heresie that ever troubled this Island was inbred by Pelagius but that was amongst the Britons and was suppressed by the zeal of the Saxons who liked nothing of the British breed and for whose sake it suffered more happly then for the foulnesse of the opinion The sweating sicknesse call'd for the propriety by which it seized on the English Nation chiefly Sudor Anglicus It followed onely Englishmen in forrain Countreys no other people infected therewith There is a good course taken to secure this Land from forreigne Invasion by burning of Beacons Beacon of the old word Beacnian that is to shew by a signe for these many hundred years they have been in great request and much used among us in some places by heaping up a deal of wood in others by barrels full of pitch fastened to the top of a Mast or Pole in the highest places of the Countrey at which by night some do alwayes watch that by burning the pitch the enemies coming may be shewed to all the neighbour inhabitants This Realme was first divided into Circuits by King Henry the Second who appointed twice in the year that two of the most grave and learned Judges of the Land should in each Circuit administer Justice in the chief or head Towns of every Countrey Of these Judges one sitteth on matters criminal concerning the life and death of malefactours the other in actions personal concerning Title of Lands Debts or the like between party and party The first Circuit heretofore did comprehend the Counties of Wilts Somerset Devon and Southampton The second contained the Counties of Oxford Berks Glocester Munmouth Hereford Worcester Salop and Stafford The third had in it the Counties of Surrey Kent Essex and Hartford The fourth consisted of the Shires of Buckingham Bedford Huntingdon Cambridge Norfolk and Suffolk The fifth of the Shires of Northampton Rutland Lincoln Nottingham Darby Leicester and Warwick The sixth and last of the Shires of York Durham Northumberland Cumberland Westmerland and Lancaster So that in these six Circuits are numbered thirty eight Shires The two remaining are Middlesex and Cheshire whereof the first is exempted because of its vicinity to London and the second as being a County Palatine and having peculiar Judges and Counsellors to it self The seven Kingdoms Kent South-Saxia West-Saxie East-Saxia Northumberland Mercia and East-Anglia were governed by so many several Kings Ethelbert was King of Kent Sebert of East-Saxon Erpenwald of the East-Angle Edwine of Northumberland Kingill of West-Saxon Peada of Mercia Ethelwolf of the South-Saxon King Alfred ordained the Division of Shires Hundreâ—… and * Tithings that every Englishman living legally might be of a certain Hundred or Tithing out of which he was not to remove without security There are one and fourty Shires in England every Shire consisting of so many Hundreds and every Hundred of a number of Boroughs Villages or Tithings England was divided into seven Kingdomes by the Saxons after into Provinces Shires or Shares and Countreys by Alured In these Shires there is appointed in troublesome times a Deputy under the King to see that the Commonwealth sustain no hurt Now every year some one of the Gentlemen Inhabitants is made Ruler of the County wherein he
Parishes Buckinghamshire IT brings forth Beech-trees plentitifully which the English Saxons in elder times called Bucken whence Buckingham the chief Town and so the whole Shire took the name from Beech-trees The Countrey generally is of a rich plentifull soil and passing full of inhabitants who chiefly imploy themselves in grazing of Cattel there is store of Mutton and Beef Chiltern got that name according to the very nature of the soile of Chalkie Marle which the ancient Englishmen termed Cylt or Chilt Marlow a pretty Town of no mean credit taking name of the said Chalk commonly termed Marle which being spread upon Corn-ground eaten out of heart with long tillage doth quicken the same again so as that after one yeers rest it never lieth fallow but yeeldeth again to the Husbandman his seed in plentifull measure High Wickham or Wicombe rather from the turning of the River Thames the Germane Saxons term any winding reach of River and Sea a Wick and Comb a low valle This Town for largenesse and fair building is equal to the greatest Town in this Shire and in that it hath a Maior for the Head Magistrate Colbroke-Pontes is parted into four chanels over which stand as many Bridges for the commodity of passengers whence it tooke its name Hamden gave name to an ancient and well spread Family in these parts Some say one of that name was High-Sheriff when William the Conquerour came into England There is part of the House at great Hamden yet standing which hath been built ever since the time of William the Conquerour They have ancient Records one of which runs thus Osbert Hamden Lord of Great Hamden one of the Commissioners for expulsion of the Danes Ailesbury a fair Market Town compassed about with many most pleasant green Medows and Pastures of which the whole Vale is termed the Vale of Ailesbury Ascot the principal mansion house of the Dormers from whence descended the Dutches of Feria in Spain and others of noble note Stony Stratford named so of Stones the Streetway and a Fourd The houses are built of a certain rough stone which is digged forth in great abundance at Caversham hard by and it standeth upon the publick street commonly called Watling-street which was a military high-way made by the Romans and is evidently to be seen yet beyond the Town with the Bank or Causey thereof and hath a ford but now hardly passable Newport-Painel so called of Sir Fulcod Painel the Lord thereof Here are an eleven Market Towns and an hundred and eighty five Parishes Cambridgeshire CAmbridgeshire is famous for fish and fowl Cambridge a most famous Mart and Store-house of good Literature and Godlinesse standeth upon the River Cam which turning into the East divideth it into two parts and hath a Bridge over it whence arose the name Cambridge Neither is there wanting any thing here that a man may require in a most flourishing University were it not that the Air is somewhat unhealthfull arising as it doth out of a fenny ground hard by There are sixteen Colledges in it Saint Ides is one of the famousest Markets of England it serves several Counties The Isle of Ely There are several Etymologies of it given by Camden Ely a Bishops See * the City hath an unwholsome Air by reason of the fens round about although it be seated somewhat higher Hard under Cambridge Eastward neer unto Sture a little brook is kept every yeer in the Moneth of September the greatest Fair of all England whether you respect the multitude of buyers and sellers resorting thither or the store of Commodities there to be vented Neer unto Cambridge on the South-East side there appear aloft certain high Hils called Gogmagog On the top of them is a very large Fort entrenched strengthened with a three-fold Rampire Wisbich amongst Fennes and waters It hath eight Market Towns and an hundred and sixty three Parishes Cheshire IT is very pleasant and plenteous in all things needfull for mans use and therefore had the name of the Vale Royal of England from Edward the First The Grasse and Fodder there is of that goodnesse and vertue that Cheeses are made there in great number of a most pleasing and delicate taste such as all England again affordeth not the like no though the best dayriwomen otherwise and skilfullest in Chees-making be had from hence This Region hath alwayes bred more Gentry than the other Countreys in England For you have not in all England again any one Province beside that in old time either brought more valorous Gentlemen into the field or had more families in it of Knights degree The Breretons Manwarings and Venables are the most noble Families in that County On the South-side it is hemmed in with Shropshire on the East-side with Staffordshire and Darbyshire on the North with Lancashire and on the West with Denbigh and Flintshire The River Dee called in Latine Deva breeding very great plenty of Salmons ariseth out of two fountains in Wales and thereof men think it took the name for Dwy in their tongue signifieth two This River no sooner is entered into Cheshire but it passeth by Banchor a famous Monastery It fostered and brought up as some write the most wicked Arch-heretique Pelagius who injuriously derogating from the grace of God troubled a long time the west Church with his pestiferous Doctrine Prosper Aquitanus in this Verse of his termeth him the British Adder Pestifero vomuit coluber sermone Britannus A British Snake with venemous tongue Hath vomited his poison strong Chester * or West-Chester of the West situation Cestria de castris nomen quasi castria sumpsit This City built in form of a quadrant four square is enclosed with a wall that taketh up more then two miles in compasse and hath eleven Parishes Neer unto the River standeth the Castle upon a rocky Hill built by the Earls where the Courts Palatine and the Assizes as they call them are kept twice a year The Houses are very fair built and along the chief streets are Galleries or Walking-places they call them Rows having shops on both sides through which a man may walk dry from one end to another It is called the County Palatine of Chester because the Earls thereof had Royalties and Princely priviledges belonging to them and all the Inhabitants owed Allegiance and Fealty to them as they did to the King One Hugh Wolf was made Earl of Chester by William the First and the County given him in Fee Tenendum sibi Haeredibus it a vere ad Gladium sicut ipse Rex tenebat Angliam ad Coronam And as the King so he for his Heirs had their Barons by that name specially known King Edgar in magnificent manner triumphed over the British Princes For sitting himself in a Barge at the fore-deck Kennadie King of the Scots Malcoline King of Cumberland Macon King of Mann and of the Islands with all the Princes of Wales
so frequented that they of Hereford and Worcester complaining that the confluence of people thither impaired their Mercates procured that by Royal Authority the Mercat day was changed There are an hundred and seventy six Parishes eight Market Towns and an eleven Hundreds in this County Hertfordshire FAmous for a good Air and fair Houses of Gentlemen and Wheat It lieth on the East and partly on the South-side of Bedfordshire The West-side is enclosed with Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire the South with Middlesex the East with Essex and the North with Cambridgeshire A rich Countrey in Corn Fields Pastures Medows Woods Groves and clear Riverets There is scarcely another Shire in all England that can shew more good Towns in so small a compasse In Ware in this County there is 1. The Head of the River that runs into Tames 2. A great Bed which is about three yards at least every way about at both the sides and ends Roiston a Town well known it is very famous and passing much frequented for Malt. It parts four Shires Cambridgeshire Bedfordshire Hertfordshire and Huntingtonshire Ashwell The Well or Fountain among the ashes where there is a source of the springs bubling out of a stony bank overshadowed on every side with tall ashes from whence there floweth at certain Veins continually running such store of water that forthwith being carried within banks it carrieth a stream able to drive a Mill and all of a sudden as it were groweth to a good big River Whethamssed a Town plentifull in Wheat whence it took its name which place John of Whethamsted there born and thereof named a man in King Henry the Sixth his dayes much renowned by his due desert of learning made of more estimation Bishops-Hatfield in times past belonging to the Bishops of Ely whence it was named Bishops-Hatfield which John Morton Bishop of Ely re-edified The Earle of Salisbury hath an House there There were seven Parks in the Mannor of Hatfield Hertford it hath given name to the whole County and is reputed the Shire Town it is ancient Hodesdon a fair thorow fare Saint-Albans It was famous for nothing so much as bringing forth Alban a Citizen of singular holinesse and faith in Christ who when Dioclesian went about by exquisite torments to wipe Christian Religion quite out of the memory of men was the first in Britain that with invincible constancy and resolution suffered death for Christ his sake Whereupon he is called our Stephen and the Protomartyr of Britain Fortunatus Presbyter the Poet wrote thus of him Albanum egregium faecunda Britannia profert Fruitfull Britain bringeth forth Alban a Martyr of high worth The Abbey of St. Albans was the first of England whether because Adrian the Fourths Father called Breakspear was Monk there or from Saint Alban himself Proto-martyr of England This Town was raised out of the ruins of Verolamium it is a fair and large Town Redborne or Red water is seated upon that common and military high-way which we call Watling-street Hamsted a little Mercat Town called Hehan Hamsted situate among the the Hils by a Riveret-side Kings-Langley in which was born and thereof tooke name Edmund Langley King Edward the Third his Sonne and Duke of York Over against Kings-Langley in a manner there is Abbots-Langley so called because it belonged to the Abbots of St. Albanes wherein was born Nicholas surnamed Breakspear afterwards Bishop of Rome known by the name of Pope Hadrian the fourth whose breath was stopped in the end with a Flie that flew into his mouth Watford a Mercat Town Welwen Here the murder of the Danes began when they were generally murdered and it was so called because the weal of that Countrey as was then thought was there first wone But who well considers the sequele of the story shall find little weal that ensued of this deed Graftons Chron. Rickemausworth also a Mercat Town Caishobery Here Sir Richard Merisin Knight a great learned man and who had been used in Embassages to the mightiest Princes under King Henry the Eighth and King Edward the Sixth began to build an House which Sir Charles his Sonne finished Bernet famous for the Beast Mercat there kept This County hath an hundred and twenty Parishes eight Hundreds and eighteen Market Towns Huntingdonshire IT confineth Northward and Eastward upon Cambridgeshire Southward upon Bedfordshire Westward upon Northamptonshire A Countrey good for Corn and Tillage and toward the East where it is fenny very right and plentifull for the feeding of Cattel elswhere right pleasant by reason of rising Hils and shady Groves Kimbolton Saint-Neots commonly called Saint-Needs so named of one Neotus a man both learned and holy who travailed all his life time in propagating of Christian Religion Ainsbury it was named Ainulphsbury of one Almulph likewise an holy and devout man which name continueth still also in one part of it Huntingdon in the publick Seale Huntersdune Leland cals it Venantodunum the Hill or down of Hunters This is the chief Town of all this Shire to which it hath given also the name Godmanchester a very great Countrey Town and of as great name for Tillage situate in an open ground of a light mould and bending for the Sunne There is not a Town in all England which hath more stout and lusty Husbandmen or more Ploughs a going For they make their boast that they have in former time received the Kings of England as they passed in their progresse this way with ninescore Ploughs brought forth in a rustical kinde of pomp for a gallant shew When King James came first into England here the Bailiffs of the Town presented him with seventy Teem of Horses all traced to fair new Ploughs in shew of their Husbandry of which when his Majesty demanded the reason he was answered That it was their ancient Custome whensoever any King of England passed thorow their Town so to present him Besides they added That they held their Lands by that Tenure being the Kings Tenants His Majesty took it well and bad them use well their Ploughes being glad he was Land-lord of so many good Husbandmen in one Town Saint-Ives of Ivo a Persian Bishop who as they write about the year of Christ 600 travelled thorow England preached diligently the Word of God and to this Town wherein he left this life left also his name Ramsey a wealthy Abbey In this little Shire are numbred seventy eight Parishes four Hundreds and six Market Towns Kent THis name Cantium and the name Kent was given by reason of the form and situation The Helvetian Countreys were called by the French Cantons This Countrey by the old Geographers is called Angulus an angle or corner of Land Or of the British word Cainc they call their great woody Forest in Staffordshire yet Kanc. It is the pleasantest Countrey of England This Region extendeth it self in length from West to East fifty miles and from South to North six and twenty The upper part
crooked limit from Essex on the East with the River Lea from Surrey and Kent on the South by the Thames It is a small Shire in length not twenty miles in circuit not above seventy miles yet for the fertility thereof it may compare with any other Shire for the soil is excellent fat fertile and full of profit Nordens Speculum Britaniae For Air passing temperate and for soyl fertile with sumptuous houses and pretty Towns on all sides pleasantly beautified and every where offereth to the view many things memorable Uxbridge full of Innes it stretcheth out in length Harrow-hill the highest Hill of all this Country under which Southward there lie for a long way together exceeding rich and fruitfull fields especially about Heston a small Village that yeeldeth so fine flour for manchet that a long time it hath served for the Kings mouth Hampton-Court a Royal Palace of the Kings a work of admirable magnificence built out of the ground by Thomas Wolsey Cardinal in ostentation of his riches It was enlarged and finished by King Henry the Eighth so amply as it containeth within it five several inner Courts passing large environed with very fair buildings wrought right curiously and goodly to behold The neatest pile of all the Kings houses Godwins Annal. It is called Hampton-Court Hampton of the Parish of Hampton which standeth not farre thence Court in regard of the Majesty and princely beauty There are two Parks the one of Deer the other of Hares Nordens Speculum Britaniae Thistleworth or Isleworth Brentford a fair thorow-fare and frequent Mercat Fulham the place of Fowls where the Bishop of Londons house was Chelsey a place garnished with fair and stately houses London * the Epitome or Breviary of all Britain the seat of the British Empire and the King of Englands chamber King Luds re-edifying Troinovant first built by Brute and from thence leaving the name of Caer Lud afterwards turned as they say into London is not unknown scarce to any that hathbut lookt on Ludgates inner Frontispiece Seld. Illustrat of the eighth Song of Drayt. Polyolb Georgius Braun or Bruin in his Theatrum Praecipuarum totius mundi urbium in three great Volumes in Folio mentions London in the first place of his first Volume Sir Robert Dallington in his view of France comparing the City of Paris with London saith That Paris is the greater the fairer built and the better situate London is the richer the more populous the more ancient Howell in his Londinopolis makes a parallel of it with the other great Cities of the world and so doth Gainsford in his Glory of England lib. 2. ch. 17. For the space of above one thousand five hundred fourscore and six years it hath flourished more for the statelinesse and magnificence of her goodly buildings for the large extent of her bounds and jurisdiction for the Religion and civility of her Inhabitants for the Wisdome and Honour of her Magistrates for the profession of Arms all good Letters and Arts not to speak of her Traffique and Commerce with all Countreys and Ports of the known world more than any other knowne City whatsoever throughout all Christendom Burtons Comment on Antonin his Itin. through Britain pag. 154 155. See more there and 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164. See also M. Calamy and M. Hardie his Sermon preacht before the Londoners Caput atque Metropolis totius insulae Trinovantum sive Londinium sive Londinum urbs potens amaena quam fluviorum Rex Thamesis pererrat Adolphi a Dans vita Elizabethae Quicquid habet miri Memphis pretiive Corinthus Illion antiquum Graecia magnificum Roma ecquid sanctum Campania deliciarum Subtile Hetrusci splendidulum Hesperii Quicquid opum Venetis doctrinae quicquid Athenis Metropolis Britonum dicat id omne suum Stradlingi Epig. l. 1. p. 1. Tacitus Ptolomee and Antonine call it Londinium Ammianus Lundinum and Augusta the Inhabitants London It is situate in a rich and fertile soyl abounding with plentifull store of all things and on the gentle ascent and rising of an Hill hard by the Thames side which by his safe and deep chanel able to entertain the greatest Ships that be daily bringeth in so great riches from all parts that it striveth at this day with the Mart Towns of Christendom for the second prize and affordeth a most sure and beautifull rode for shipping King James being displeased with the City because she would not lend him such a Summe of Money he told the Lord Maior and Aldermen one day That he would remove his own Court with all the Records of the Tower and the Courts of Westminster-Hall to another place with further expressions of his Indignation The Lord Maior calmly heard all and at last answered Your Majesty hath power to do what you please and your City of London will obey accordingly but she humbly desires that when your Majesty shall remove your Courts you would be pleased to leave the Thames behind you It is for Antiquity honourable Ammianus Marcellinus called it in his times and that was twelve hundred yeers ago an old Town and Cornelius Tacitus in like manner who lived in Nero his dayes 1540. years since reported it to have been a place very famous for fresh trade concourse of Merchants and great store of victuals and all things necessary The Tower of London a most famous and goodly Citadel encompassed round about with thick and strong Wals full of lofty and stately Turrets fenced with a broad and deep ditch furnished also with an Armoury or Magazine of warlike Munition and other buildings besides so as it resembleth a big Town The Tower containeth a Kings Palace a Kings Prison a Kings Armoury a Kings Mint a Kings Wardrobe a Kings Artillery Gainsford In the yeer 1235. Frederick the Emperour sent to Henry the Third three Leopards in token of his Regal Shield of Arms wherein three Leopards were pictures since which time those Lions and others have been kept in a part of this Bulwark now called the Lions Tower and their Keeper there lodged Stows Survey of London There are twelve chief Companies out of which the Lord Maior is to be annually chosen Twelve Innes ordained for Students of our Common Law whereof four being very fair and large belong to the Judicial Courts the rest unto the Chancery Herein such a number of young Gentlemen do so painfully ply their Books and study the Law that for frequency of Students it is not inferiour either to Angiers Cane or Orleans it self as Sir John Fortescue in his small Treatise of the Laws of England doth witnesse The said four principal Houses are the Inner-Temple the Middle-Temple Grayes-Inne and Lincolns-Inne John Leland the famous Antiquary was born in London Bishop Andrews Mr. Gataker M. Calamy Sir Thomas More Chaucer Edmund Spenser the famous English Poets were born in London If any City in the world may at this day be called as Jerusalem
the River Dert The mouth is the place where any River finds a passage out either into the Sea or into another greater River which in Latine is termed ostium or a gate Septem ostia Nili Seven mouths by which it fals into the mediterranean This gave the name to many Cities and Towns in England as Dartmouth Plimmouth Portsmouth Yarmouth Weymouth Axmouth with many others Carpenters Geog. l. 2. ch. 9. In Latine Exonia Ptolomee calleth it Isca Bartholomaeus qui quod in lucem editus esset Exoniae quae civitas antiquitus Isca dicitur appellata Iscanus est cognominatus in Exoniensem Episcopum consecratus fuit in utraque Philosophia tam humana scilicet quam divina vir non mediocriter eruditus Godw. de Praesul Ang. Comment Berstable upon the Taw navigable here for great vessels See Carpenters Geog. l. 2. c. 15. the famous men of Devonshire Durnovaria the River passage or Ferry Camden Fons limpidus or clarus Pure fountain or clear Well Bishoprick of Durham Durham Dunelmensis civitatis Ecclesiae indita est appellatio à Dun quod montem Holm quod lingua Saxonica insulam amnicam significat quia Coquedus fluvius per Maeandrum in se quasi reductus montem ab omni ferè parte circumluit quasi insulam molitus in quo Dunelmum Anglice Durham situm est Godwin de Praesul Ang. Comment It is famous for the Ministry Dike of Epping and Rogers of Dedham whose picture is therein the Church An ancient Colony of the Romans called Camalodunum The chiefest Town of the Shire Many have thought it was so called from a Colony in the Râ—man time placed there rather from Coln the River whereon it stands as Lincolne from the River Lune Burtons Commentary on Antoninus his Itinerary through Britain It is famous for Oisters and candied Eringoroots and Cloth * Crocum ad cor exhilarandum sedandos dolores utile cujus fortasse non est ubique terrarum quà m in agris Essexio Suffulcio Cantabrigienfi tam uber proventus Twini de Rebus Britan. Comment. lib. 2. pag. 138. It had this name of Dean a little Town adjoyning A Bishops See Either that the Normans might have more secure arrival into England or for the pleasure he took in hunting Antona australis Northampton Antona Borealis so called for the South situation of it * Its situation is fruitfull and pleasant in a Valley under Hils Wina Wintoniensis primus extitit Antistes neque tamen civitati nomen dedit quod stolide satis nonnulli augurantur Ab antiquis Britannis Caerguentia olim apellata quasi Civiras Guenta à Saxonibus quod idem sonat Wentchester Wentancester Wintoncester nuncupata est unde nostra Wintonia Godw. De Praesul Arg. Comment Vrbs vini vel vinifera quasi dicas munitio vel fortificatio ubi crevit optimum vinum in Britannia appellata est Celebris fuit haec civitas olim Arthurii procerum mensa rotunda occidentalium Saxonum regia sepulchris Episcopali sede lanarum custodia mercatu Henrici tertii favore frequenti praesentia instructissimo Wickami Episcopi Collegio Twini De Rebus Britannic Comment. lib. 2. pag. 116 117. Vectis Insula forma Ovo simillima à littore alibi septem alibi duobus passuum millibus distans Neoportus unicum insulae Emporium Est Castrwn Caerbro id est Cassium tractus antiquitatem Britannicam referens Lhyd. Comment Britann descript. Fragmentum Nobilissima Lisleiorum familia D'or au chef d' azur trois lyons rampans del premier Ex hac gente nonnulli olim ad Comitia Parliamentaria cum reliquis Regni Barâ—nibus evocati fuerunt Bissaei Notae in Uptonum p. 48. This and Monmouthshire have been now long reckoned among the Counties of England * There are sundry sweet and fresh Rivers the chiefest whereof are the Wye Lug and Manow A Bishops See Godwin de Praesulibus Ang. saith it is reported that Bradwardine was here born Vide R. Usseri de Britannic Eccles. primord cap. 7. L. Herberts Henry the 8th See Monasticon Anglicanum Howe 's Chron. Lamb Perambulat of Kent See Kilbourns Surveigh of Kent p. 2. Cantium quod amaenissima humanissima Britanniae habita semper fuit provincia ad austrum Solemque Orientem Oceano Germanico ad aquilonem uberrimo Thamesi fluvio ad Occidentem Surra ac Sussexia provinciis quas Angli comitatus appellant cingitur Haec agrorum feracitate faecunda populoque generoso ac potenti referta plures urbes villasqae in locis ob aquas sylvas vicinas humanae habitationi commodioribus condidit ob maritimos portus quas multos habet peregrinorum consuetudine Galliaeque vicinitate magis {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quam reliquae hujus Insulae regiones à Scriptoribus perhibetur Quibus item rationibus moribus cultier opibus ditior jure existimatur Antiquitates Britannieae pag. 33. Britannos Caesar maximè Cantios longè omnium humanissimos vocat eam humanitatem illis fraudi fuisse belli Caesariani causam extitisse apparet quod praesidia Gallis Caesaris hostibus submiserint eos adventantes subinde amico ac peropportunos profugio exceperint Humfredus De Nobil. lib. 2. Not that Kent was conceived distinct from Christendome Kilburns Survey of Kent p. 5. It is agreed by all men that there were never any bondmen or villains as the Law calleth them in Kent Lamberts Perambulat of Kent The tenures of Land here are as free tenures as any in England The father to the Bough and the son to the Plough Oppidum Winchilseum olim vento frigori ponto obnoxium unde ei nomen obvenit Twini Comment. De Rebus Brittanuicis lib. 1. pag. 25. A Bishops See * Durovernum olim nunc Cantuaria Cantuaria urbs est Archiepiscopalis Metropolitica quae ut antiquitate it a peramaena situs jucunditate multis Angliae urbibus sed dignitate praefertur Nam Cantuariensis Archipraesul totius Angliae primatum obtinet Georgius Bruin in Tabulis urbium Praecipuarum totius mundi A Bishops See See Mr Somner of Canterbury * Mr John Ludd Haywards Life of William the 2d Dubris One of the Cinque Ports A Dovero ad Caletum maritimum ex altera parte in Gallia oppidum secundis ventis spirantibus quatuor horis brevissimus fit trajectus Antiqu. Britann One of the Cinque Ports It containeth 24000 Acres Lamb Perambul of Kent Quis quaeso hodiè credat magnam partem illius prati sivè Planiciei nobis nunc Rumnensis marshii id est Romani maris nomine dictae fuisse quondam altum Pelagus mare Velivolum Vbi tot ovium greges oberrant tot pecorum armenta pascuntur tot juga bovum arant tanti foeni copia qvotannis conficitur tot templa in divinum cultum construuntur tot familiae foventur denique unde tot