in a Book Printed for that purpose A. D. 1640. I shall not undertake to pourtray that in a contracted Landskip which hath been before represented to the Publick with so great applause but refer those who are so curious as to desire a more particular Account of this City to that most ingenious Person who hath pencilled out every part and Limb thereof with great exactness and accuracy only one thing I must not omit that of late a Marble Monument hath been erected in St. Margaret's Church Canterbury in Honour of Mr. Somner who lies there interred by his own Widow who afterward Married to Mr. Hannington Vicar of Elam in Kent upon which is engraven this ingenious Epitaph H. S. E. Gulielmus Somnerus Cantuariensis Saxonicam Literaturam Civitatis Cantuariae Historiam Tenebris utramque involutam Illustravit Cantii Antiquitates meditantem Fatum intercepit Officium Erga Deum pietate severa Erga Homines probitate simplici Erga Principem fide periculosa Erga Patriam scriptis immortalibus Indicavit Ita Mores Antiquos Studium Antiquitatis efformat Cantuariae Natus est Martii 30. 1606. Cantuariae Omnem aetatem egit Cantuariae Obiit Martii 30. 1669. Feversham Passing from hence through Feversham a Town pretty large and well inhabited famous formerly for its Abby erected here by King Stephen wherein himself his Queen and Eustace his Son were buried the next place of consequence that was obvious in the Road was Sedingbourn Sedingbourn which being a great thorough-fare is well furnished with Inns a Town of which there are two things more principally Recorded the one is that in the Year 1232 Henry Bishop of Rochester as Mr. Philpott hath collected it out of some old Monkish Writers came with much exultation out of Sedingbourn Church and desired the People to express their joy because on that day by the efficacious Prayers of the Church Richard the First formerly King of England and many others were most certainly ransomed from the Flames of Purgatory The other that in the same Church was a Monument of Sir Richard Lovelace inlayed richly with Brass who was an eminent Soldier in his time and Marshal of Calice under Henry the Eighth with his Portraiture affixed in Brass which the Injuries of Time and the Impiety of Sacrilegious Mechanicks have utterly defaced In the Neighbourhood of Sedingbourn is Newington Newington which though but a small Village hath afforded some worthy Remarks of Antiquity for not many Years ago there were digged up Roman Urns not far distant from the High-way or Common Road it being agreeable to Roman Practice to inter in those Places where their Monuments might be obvious almost to every Eye Memorials of themselves and Memento's of Mortality to living Passengers whom the Epitaphs of great Ones did beg to stay and look upon them From hence the Road brought us directly to Chatham Chatham where the repair of the Parish Church and new Buildings of the Steeple commend the Religious Care and Cost of King Charles the First 's Commissioners and Officers of the Royal Navy in the Year 1635 but the Arsenals Store-Houses and Ship-Docks erected by the same most incomparable Prince are so magnificent and universally useful that they are become a principal Pillar of the Nations support and afford variety of Employment by the Manufacture of Cordage as also the Careening and Building of Ships Contiguous to Capham is Rochester Rochester a City which in Elder times was as eminent for its Antiquity as it was for its Strength and Grandeur and had not those violent impressions which the rough Hand of War made upon it Demolished its bulk and bereaved it of its Beauty it peradventure might have been registred at this Day in the Inventory of the principal Cities of this Nation but so great and dismal Calamities did frequently attend it that the Fury of the Elements seemed to enter into a Corrivalship or Competition with the Fury of Enemies for its Ruine and the Fire and Sword were joint Confederates to destroy it nevertheless maugre all these Casualties by the Favour of Princes and their Royal Munificence it recovered all its Losses and survives in Splendor In the Year 1225 by the indulgent Bounty of King Henry the Third it was invested with a Wall and that this Fortification might be of the greater importance it was secured or fenced with a Ditch it was governed by a Port-Reeve until King Edward the Fourth in the second Year of his Reign raised it to a higher Dignity and decreed by his Royal Grant that it should henceforth be under the Jurisdiction of a Mayor and Twelve Aldermen and to this Monarch doth the City owe much of its present Felicity The goodly Skeleton of the Castle which yet courts the Eye of the Beholder to the admiration of its former strength acknowledgeth for its most eminent Benefactor if not Founder Odo Bishop of Baicux and Earl of Kent half Brother to William the Conqueror which Fortress he afterward breaking forth into open Rebellion against his Nephew Rufus did seize but was quickly dispossessed by the vigorous Expedition of his Prince and enforced immediately to depart the Kingdom After this when the Dauphin was invited into England by the Seditious Barons to wrest the Kingdom from K. John their native Sovereign the Dauphin uniting their strength with his made such a furious Onset on the Castle that like a Tempest which beats down all before it he carried it by Assault the like had been atchieved by Simon Montford Earl of Leicester when he raised an Insurrection against King Henry the Third had not that Prince arrived most opportunely and by a successful Encounter wrested both Earl Warren who had so resolutely maintained it and that likewise from the Impressions of his Fury since which time there hath been little of moment acted in this Place tho it is worth taking notice of what Mr. Philpott hath observed farther concerning it that there being much Land in this County held thereof whose Tenure is perfectly Castle-guard upon the day prefixed for the discharging the quit Rents relating to it there is a Banner displayed and hung out antiently it was on the Castle Wall and all those who are Tenants to this Mannor and are in default by their Non-appearance and do not discharge their accustomary Duties and Services the penalty imposed upon their neglect is that the return of every Tide of the adjacent River Medway which finds them absent doubles their Service or Quit-Rents The Cathedral which the Bishoprick of Rochester united to it was founded and established by that pious Monarch Ethelbert King of Kent and the first Bishop to whom was entrusted the Pastoral Staff or Crosier by Austen the Apostle of the Saxons was Justus who being sent over hither as an Adjutant to Austen in the Propagation of Christianity about the Year 601 Angl. Sacr. Tom. 1. p. 329. was afterward ordained Bishop of this See A. D. 604. much about that time
Sir Reginald Bray Who this St. George was we have now mentioned Mr. Sands in his Travels gives us the best account That he was a Cappadocian advanced in the Wars to the Dignity of a Tribune who afterward became a Soldier of Christ and is said in Lydda to have suffered Martyrdom under Dioclesian where stands a Temple built to his Honour as they say by a King of England which Church the Greeks have the Custody of and do shew a Skull therein which they affirm to be St. George's On this St. George's Day which is April 23. King Edward the Third that he might give to true Chivalry that Honour and ample Reward it deserves constituted first the most noble Order of the Garter appointing a select number of Twenty-six Persons of Honour to wear a blue Garter on their left Leg with this Motto in French * Evil be to him that evil thinks Hony soit qui maly pense and these he call'd Knights of the Garter Of this Order are and have been the most Puissant and Renown'd Princes in Christendom this Honour being deriv'd to them from the King of England who is the first and chief thereof but because the Occasion of the constitution of this most Noble Order as well as a List of the Persons that are Honoured therewith are given us already by Elias Ashmole Esq and others I shall not actum agere but rather declare who were the Principuli and had the Honour to stand Rank'd in the first Front of this Order and they are these who follow who being very Renowned in their Generation it is pity they should be Buried in the Grave of Oblivion 1. Edward the Third King of England 2. Edward the Prince of Wales 3. Henry Duke of Lancaster 4. Thomas Earl of Warwick 5. Captain de Bouch. 6. Ralph Earl of Stafford 7. William Mountague Earl of Salisbury 8. Roger Mortimer Earl of March 10. Sir John Lisle 11. Sir Bartholomew Burwash 12. Sir John Beauchamp 13. Sir Hugh Courtney 14. Sir Thomas Holland 15. Sir John Grey 16. Sir Richard Fitz-Simon 17. Sir Miles Stapleton 18. Sir Thomas Walle 19. Sir Hugh Wrothesley 20. Sir Neel Loring 21. Sir John Chandos 22. Sir James Audley 23. Sir Otho Holland 24. Sir Henry Eme. 25. Sir Zanchet D'Brigecoure 26. Sir Walter Paveley All these as likewise all other Knights of the Garter have their several Stalls allotted them in St. George's Chapel over which hang their Escutcheons and their Arms and when they are present they are all arrayed with Robes and Mantles peculiar to their Order and upon their day of admission to this Dignity which is usually on St. George's Day they are generally Installed either by themselves or their Proxies by the Prelate of the Garter which Office is setled upon the Bishop of Winchester and the Chancellour belonging to it is the Bishop of Salisbury On one side of the Church stand the Houses of the Dean and Prebendaries who are Twelve in number and on the other side an House not unlike the Graecian Prytaneum for the comfortable Maintenance of Twenty-six poor Knights who being all clad in long purple Gowns bearing the Badge of the Cross upon them are daily to be present Morning and Night at Divine Service Betwixt the two Courts ariseth up a high Mount on which is set a round Tower and hard by it riseth another lofty Pinnacle called Winchester Tower of William Wickam Bishop of Winchester whom King Edward the Third made Overseer of this Work when he Built the Castle There is a Rumour of a certain Inscription that was engraven by this Wickam upon the inner part of the Wall after the finishing of the Tower in these Words This made Wickam which bearing a dubious meaning some of the Courtiers that were his Enemies represented them in such a sense to the King as if he had arrogated to himself all the Glory and Magnificence of the Structure and so had eclipsed the King's Honour at which the King being incensed and rebuking him for the Fact he replied That he did not mean that he had made the Castle but that the Castle had made him having raised him from a mean and low Condition to the King's Favour and thereby to great Wealth and Dignity But before I leave this Bishop I cannot omit one very remarkable Story which I find Recorded of him by John de Pontoys in his History of the Bishops of Winchester how this Renowned Prelate discovered a notorious Cheat to Edward the Third put upon him by his own Queen Philippa for that John Duke of Lancaster who then went for his Son was never Born of that Queen but was really Supposititious which she still concealed for fear of the King's Anger but afterward a little before her Death she declared the whole Truth to this Bishop and commanded him to tell the King the whole Matter when he should find the most convenient Opportunity Mr. Wharton's Anglia Sacra pars prima p. 318. New-Windsor That which the Inhabitants call now New-Windsor standing South-West from the Castle began to flourish in the Reign of King Henry the Third and the Daughter hath now quite eclipsed the Glory and Honour of the Mother for 't is grown very Beautiful and Populous adorned with handsom Buildings and a regular Corporation and sends from thence constantly two Burgesses to the Parliament Aeton College There is one thing still more here which is remarkable opposite to Windsor on the other side of the River Thames a fair Bridge of Wood leads you on to Aeton where stands a famous College erected by that most Charitable Prince King Henry the Sixth in which besides a very honourable Allowance for the Provost there is a handsom Pension for Eight Fellows and a creditable Subsistence for Sixty Scholars who having received here the first Rudiments of Grammar and Rhetorick are afterwards translated to King's-College in Cambridge where they are certainly preferred according to their civil and studious Deportment Having satisfied our Curiosities with these pleasant Prospects we took our Farewell of the Muses Athenaeum as well as Mars his Cittadel and crossing again the River arrived at Colebrook Colebrook three or four Miles distant from this place so called from the River Cole which gently glides along through Bucks and Middlesex 't is parted into several Channels over which stand as many Bridges and by the several partitions of its Streams it encompasseth several little pretty Islands into which the Danes fled about the Year 894. whither King Alfred pursued them and endeavoured what he could to annoy them till at last for want of Provision he was enforced to quit that most advantageous Post We passed on from hence to Brentford Brentford which receives its name from the Rivolet Brent running by it Here in the Year 1016 Edmund Ironside did so overpower the Danes that they fled away very ingloriously being quite routed by him and leaving a great many Men slain behind them This
the River Dart and fortified with a Castle for the defence of Vessels which lie dispersed hereabouts where we ferried over to Dartmouth opposite to it on the other side of the River Dartmouth Dartmouth is situate upon the brow of an high Hill being divided into three Streets one rising above the other to each of which is a gentle ascent gradually by Free-stone Steps contrived and laid there for that purpose 'T is enriched with a safe and commodious Haven and is guarded with a strong Castle which commands the River being placed aloft just at the very mouth or entrance into it The great Trade of this Place is fishing to Newfound-land in which there are employed a great many Ships every Year Their Chief Magistrate is the Mayor for which Office there was a Charter granted to the Town by King Edward the Third since which it hath been subject to divers Changes and vicissitudes and hath frequently couragiously held out against the French who have endeavoured to destroy it but especially in the Reign of King Henry the Fourth for Monsieur de Castle having by his Men of War Stopp'd all entercourse of Traffick in those Parts and burnt Plimouth and being come hither to serve this place after the same manner met with some shrewd repulses contrary to his expectation and was by a company of Women and Country People prevented in his designs and having all his Men cut off was himself also slain by the Hands of such Boors which he always had in the greatest Contempt and derision One days visit here having satisfied our curiosity the next gave us a sight of the renowned Town of Plimouth Plimouth so called from the River Plime that runs along by it Here is one of the largest and most secure Havens in England for before the very mouth of it lies St. Nicholas Islands strongly fortified both by Art and Nature and in the Haven are fortifications laid on both sides for the safe riding of Ships and anoyance of Enemies On the one side is Mount Batton in which is a strong Garrison having twelve Guns mounted upon its platforms and on the other side the Cittadel which may for Strength compare with most Places in the Nation commanding both the Sea and Town at pleasure Without the Walls of the Cittadel runs a Trench out of which was diged a certain kind of Marble with which they were built eleven foot thick at the bottom and seven at the top and about three quarters of a Mile in compass upon the Walls are placed divers Watch-Towers and each of them are adorned with a round Ball upon the top so curiously gilded and painted with the King's Arms that they make a glistering shew at a distance and round about are placed between two and three hundred pieces of Ordnance there are two Gates and as many Draw Bridges which gives entrance into the Castle and upon the front are admirably carved the Arms of his Majesty King Charles the Second by which is placed his Royal Statue with the Arms of the Earl of Bath who was then Governor thereof within the Walls is the Governor's House and divers Apartments for Soldiers a Magazine for Ammunition and a Store-House for Provisions and for the Strength and conveniencies of this Fortress which is almost impregnable the Town was much obliged to the excellent Ingenuity of Sir Bernard De-Gum then his Majesties Engineer The commodiousness of the Harbour often causeth a Fleet of Ships to ride here so that though this place was formerly but a poor despicable Village 't is now so replenished with Mariners frequented by Merchants enriched by Traffick that it seems to outvye some great Cities of this Kingdom being made a Corporation by King Henry the Sixth which consists of a Mayor twelve Aldermen and twenty-four Common-Council Men who have a stately Guild-Hall for their more solemn Conventions and is adorned with two handsome Churches The story of the great Giant Gogmagog who was here worsted by the famous Champion Corinaeus and thrown headlong from the Haw a Rock standing between the Town and the Ocean hath a little too much of the Romance to gain Credit but the magnificent House near to this Town called Mount Edgecomb Mount Edgecomb adds so great a Lustre to these Western Parts that Plimouth hath great reason to be proud of its Vicinity And which is still farther observable it was from this Town that Sir Francis Drake set Sail A. D. 1577 when he went that Voyage in which he sailed round the Terrestrial Globe and it was out of this Haven that the English Fleet commanded by the Lord Howard Admiral of England was towed by Ropes A. D. 1588. to fight the Spanish Armada unwisely called Invincible Being now upon the very Borders of Cornwall the unseasonableness of the Weather which then happened and the short time allotted for our return to Exeter not permitting us to take a particular view of it we made it our business to inform our selves concerning some of the most remarkable things in this utmost Region of England Cornwall Devonshire and Cornish Men are more active in Wrestling and such like boisterous Exercises than any other Shires in England being also more brawny stout and able of Body Ordulphus a Devonshire Man Son of Ordarus Earl of Devonshire was such a strong Gigantick Person that if William of Malmsbury say true he would break open any Bars of Gates and stride ten Foot John Bray a Cornish Man carried on his Back at one time a good way six Bushels of Wheaten Meal and the Miller a Lubber of Twenty-four Years of Age upon the whole And one John Roman a thick short Fellow would carry at one time the whole Carcass of an Ox. There was also one Kiltor who lying in Lanceston-Castle Green upon his Back threw a Stone of some Pounds weight over the top of one of the highest Towers in that Castle Which stoutness and goodly stature of this People Cambden reflecting on makes this Observation That the Western People of most Countrys are the tallest and stoutest The Cornish Men are very healthy and long lived Eighty or Ninety Years of Age is ordinary as we were told in every place and in most Persons accompanied with an able use of the Body and Senses One Polzew lived an 130 Years a Kinsman of his 112 one Beaucamp 106 and one Brown a Beggar above 100 and in one Parish in Queen Elizabeth's time there died in Fourteen Weeks space four People whose Years added together made 340 And to urge no more Examples Mr. Chamond who lived at Stratton in this County was Uncle and Great Uncle to at least 300 the cause of which Healthiness and longevity is in all probability the rockiness and driness of the Country which though it be for the most part environed with the Sea yet it hath few Marshes or Ouzy Shores but most Sandy and withal the Air is cleansed by frequent Winds lying open to the Sea The
a great Power to revenge her Injury she fought with her husband Locrine at New Troy or London and there slew him After this to execute her Revenge still in the highest degree she took the Lady Estrilde with her fair Daughter Sabrina and drowned them both in this River Travelling over this delightsome Region the first place of any Remark we arrived at was Cirencester alias Circiter * Cirencester It was called by the Britains Kaerceri Rudborn's Hist of Winchester which the River Corinus or Churne rising among the Wolds passeth by and giveth it its Name It appears to have been a place of great Antiquity and Renown from the old Roman Coins and Medals and divers Marble Engraven Stones which have been digged up hereabouts Nay a Judicious Antiquary Mr. Kennet has observed That this place seems to have been as well the first as the greatest of the Roman Stations which the Britains had before made a place of Strength and Confluence That this Corinium is by Ptolemy Recorded as the Metropolis or Chief City of the Dobuni and was after called Corinium Dohunorum The British Chronicles tell us further That this Town was burnt down being set on Fire by a company of Sparrows through an Invention devised by one Gurmund Certain it is the Inhabitants shew a Mount below the Town which they Report this Gurmund cast up which they corruptly call Grismund's Tower Grismund 's Tower It was a long time subject to the West Saxons afterward the Mercians got it into their Possession where it continued till the Establishment of the English Monarchy under which it sustained very great Calamities by the Incursion of the Danes and 't is probable that Gurmon the Dane whom some Historiographers call Guthrus and Gurmundus was a great Instrument to augment its Troubles and Oppressions However there are still some Remains to be seen of old Ruinated Walls and of an Abby built as some conjecture by the Saxons afterward much repaired or rather rebuilt by King Henry I 'T is now beautified with a very handsome Church having a high Spired Steeple and hath once a Week a Market and has formerly been Enriched with the Trade of Clothing though that with many other Privileges and Immunities they enjoyed are now impaired and gone to decay From hence coursing over the Wolds we came to the top of Burlipp-Hill Burlipp Hill where we had a Prospect of a very pleasant Vale the Hill is craggy steep and high from which descending by degrees and passing through a Way which was formerly paved with Stone and was undoubtedly one of the Roman high Ways which here crossed one another we came to Glocester Glocester called by Antiquaries Caer Gloyn which took its Name either of Claudius the Emperour or of the Beauty and Brightness thereof which the Britains call Gloyn though others call it Kaerclan 'T is a City well Seated and as well Inhabited and of a considerable Trade by reason of the River Severn over which it has a fair Bridge and being Navigable Boats of great Burden come up to the Key side loaded with several Commodities 'T is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and is adorned with 12 Parish Churches besides the Cathedral And for the Strength of the Place it was formerly on the Landside encompassed with a strong Wall the standing Remains whereof shew what Force they have been of On the Southside it had a strong Castle of square Stone now fall'n to Ruine Craulin King of the West Saxons Conquered this City from the Britains about the year 570 and 300 years after it fell into the Hands of the Danes who miserably defaced it Soon after this Aldred Archbishop of York built the Cathedral to which belongs now a Dean and Six Prebendaries and it hath been much enlarged by the Charity of good Benefactors John Hanly and Thomas Early adding to it the Chapel of the Virgin Mary N. Morwent the Forefront being an excellent Fabrick G. Horton adjoyn'd to it the North-Cross part Abbot Trowcester a very fine Cloyster and Abbot Sebrok a high Four square Steeple As for the Southside it was repaired by the Free Offerings of the Inhabitants at the Sepulchre of Edward II. who lieth here Interred under a Monument of Alabaster and in the Quire under a wooden-painted Tomb lies Robert the Eldest Son of William the Conquerour who was deprived both of his Life and Kingdom by his Younger Brother Henry I. having his Eyes first put out at Cardiff-Castle and died thereafter 26 years Imprisonment Here likewise is the Monument of Lucius who is said to have been the first Christian King in England Now though by Bishop Burnet in his Travels we are told That there is a famous Chapel Erected to him as their Great Apostle near Coir a Town of the Grisons for the great Service he did to them in working their Conversion yet 't is most probable that he lies Interred here But how he came at first to be instructed in the Christian Faith we have the most probable Account given us by the most Learned Bishop Stillingfleet in his Antiquities of the British Churches which is this That King Lucius hearing of the Christian Doctrine either by the old British Christians such as Eluanus and Meduinus are supposed to have been or by some of M. Aurelius his Soldiers coming hither after the great Deliverance of the Roman Army by the Prayers of the Christians which had then lately happen'd and occasion'd great Discourse every where The Emperour himself as Tertullian saith giving the Account of it in his own Letters might upon this be very desirous to inform himself thoroughly about this Religion and there being then frequent Entercourse betwixt Rome and Britain by reason of the Colonies that were setled and the Governours and Soldiers passing to and fro he might send Eluanus and Meduinus to be fully instructed in this Religion and either the same Persons alone or two others with them called Fagâ—â—us and Dâ—â—â—ianus commonly coming into Britain might have so great Success as to Baptize King Lucius and many others and thereby inlarge the Christian Church here But to return from what we have made a little Digression the Pillars of this Church are of an extraordinary Thickness not to be Parallel'd in any Church of England But that which makes it most Remarkable is a curious piece of Architecture at the East-end of the Quire called The Whispering Place The Whispering Place 't is an Arch in the form of a Semicircle 30 yards in Circuit and so rare a Contrivance that if any Person stand at one end of it and Whisper never so softly he that lays his Ear to the other end will discover distinctly the Words he speaks A C D E F B is the Passage of the Voice or Whispering Place at A and B do the two Persons stand that Whisper to each other At D the middle of the Passage is a Door and Entrance into a Chapel with Window-Cases on each side
afterward Earl of Northumberland pretending to deliver to him the Keys of the Castle upon the top of a Spear ran him through the left Eye * Mowbray was for that reason called afterward Pearce-Eie of which he died immediately and so relieved the Town again from all Extremity and his Son Prince Edward coming hither to revenge his Father's Death met with the same fatal Doom After this in the Reign of King Henry the Second the English Forces behaved themselves so bravely that they took Prisoner William King of Scots and presented him as a Captive to their Victorious Prince having fortified this place with a strong Garrison and in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth the Scots coming against it with another Army were in hopes to have taken it but the English Army retreating as if they had deserted it by that means discouraged the Scots from any further Onsets who supposing it to have been a Stratagem of the English and that they had only retreated Scythico more the more easily to entrap them very fairly left it to the possession of those Persons in which at first they found it Bamborough Castle Ten Miles further upon the Sea stands the Castle of Bamborough called formerly Bebbanbur from Queen Bebba who gave it that name Some Writers say that it was built by King Ebrank others by Ida * Saxon Cron. A. D. 547. the first King of Northumberland who fenced it at first with great Stakes and Piles of Timber and afterwards with a Wall It was one of the Receptacles of Robert Mawbray Earl of Northumberland in his Rebellion against King William Rufus over against which the King plac'd a Fort to annoy him which it did so effectually that it forced him to desert it In the Reign of Edward the Fourth when the Scots invaded England in the behalf of Queen Margaret they took this Castle but were quickly dispossessed of it by the English Forces who recovered it again for the King's Service and delivered up the Governor Sir Ralph Grey to the King who was afterward executed for holding it out against his Sovereign but both its Beauty and Strength began visibly to decay during the Wars betwixt York and Lancaster and since that Time and Age have more prevailed against it than all the Attacks of its most furious Enemies for the Rampires are broken down and the Trenches filled up and there is little now remaining of that famous Fortress About a League from this Castle we saw Farne-Island Farne-Island being a little spot of Land inclosed with the Ocean and encircled about with craggy Cliffs which render it almost every where inaccessible Hither did St. Cuthbert about the Year 676 retire from Lindisfarne for Devotion desiring to sequester himself from the rest of the World where for nine Years together he lived a very solitary and religious Life till by the great importunity of King Eegfrid and Trumwine Bishop of the Picts who came hither to him for that very intent and purpose he was at last persuaded to remove to Hexham where he succeeded Bishop Eata in that See After two Years spent in this Bishoprick this Holy Man foreseeing his Death approaching betook himself again to this very Island where in the space of two Months through the Malignancy of his Distemper he at last breathed out his pious Soul on the 20th of March A. D. 687. We once resolved to visit this place but the unseasonableness of the Weather which happened at that time prohibited our Passage the Wind being so high and the Sea so rough that none of their small Cobble Boats durst venture off to Sea but we were inform'd that there was then but one House standing upon the Island and continually such flocks of wild Fowl who laid generally in that place that it was not possible to walk far upon it without treading upon some of their Eggs of which here the Fishermen make a considerable advantage by selling them abroad to the Neighbourhood they are of all sizes and colours we saw some that were much speckled about the bigness of Hens Eggs and some larger than the Eggs of our ordinary Turkeys and Geese but both were no less pleasing and grateful to the Palate As to the Air of this place whatever it was formerly it is now reputed very unhealthy subject to the Dysentery or Bloody Flux and other Diseases by reason of the frequent Fogs that happen here and 't is no less troubled with Tempests of Wind Storms of Rain and Rage of the Sea the Soil is barren and good for little but what is gotten from the Fowl and the Fish which swim in shoals round about it Berwick upon Tweed We coasted on for Berwick which is one of the strongest Holds in all Britain and is almost environed with the Sea and the River Tweed whence the Town took its name is not so well agreed upon as that 't is a large and populous Town well Built and strongly Fortified 't is situated betwixt the two great Kingdoms of England and Scotland and hereupon was always the first place they took care of whenever they began to be at open variance with each other and according to the various and inconstant Successes ef each Nation hath been held in possession by one and sometimes kept under the power of the other Before the Reign of Henry the Second we find little or nothing Recorded of it for William King of Scots being taken Prisoner by the English did first surrender it into King Henry's hands upon condition that unless by such a day he paid the Ransom that was demanded for his Liberty it should always belong to the Crown of England hereupon the King built a Castle to strengthen it all which was afterward released to the Scots by King Richard the First upon the payment of that Money which before had been promised Afterward King John upon a great distast he took against the Northumbers for doing homage to the Scotch King won it again and not many Years after when Baliol King of Scots had violated his Oath King Edward the First brought it under his Subjection yet within a while after when the Fortune of the War began to smile upon the Scots it was unawares surprized but in a few days the English regained it afterward in that loose Reign of Richard the Second it was betrayed to the Scots and for a long time after it was in vain besieged by the English Forces until King Edward the Third that most Puissant Prince came thundering against it and forced his entrance Notwithstanding in the Reign of Richard the Second the Castle was surprized by certain Scotch Robbers but they could not hold it long for the Earl of Northumberland in a few days dislodged them of their Fortress Scarce seven Years were over passed when the Scots recovered it again not by force but by Money for which cause the aforesaid Earl was Impeached of High Treason but he being a very politick Man
of the bottom of the Hill Pennigent doth as it were sport it self with winding in and out as if it were doubtful whether it should return back to its Spring-head or run on still to the Sea Skipton we came to Skipton in Craven a Country so rough and unpleasant with craggy Stones hanging Rocks and rugged Ways that it seems to have derived its very name from Cragg which in the British Language doth signifie a Stone in the midst hereof in a low bottom stands Skipton lying hid and enclosed about with steep Hills and precipices not unlike Latium in Italy which Varro supposeth to have been so called because it lieth close under the Apennine and the Alps the Town for the bigness of it and manner of its buildings is Fair enough being more especially beautified with a Castle which belongs to the Earldom of Pembrook in the Reign of Edward the Second it underwent the same dismal calamities from the Scots which the Neighbouring parts at the same time suffered A little further upon the edge of this County at Giggleswick which is not far distant from Settle Settle a small Market Town we rode by a little Spring rising under a Hill The ebbing and flowing Well and Robinhood's Mill by Giggleswick which ebbs and flows several times in an Hour it flows about a quarter of a yard high and at ebb falls again so low that it is scarce an inch deep with Water and on the other side of this Hill is heard a clacking noise such as is made by a Mill which is caused as is supposed by some current of Water which creeping under Ground falls down upon the Rocks and this the Country people call Robin-Hood's Mill. We arrived quickly from hence within Lancashire commonly called Lonkashire Lankashire and the county Palatine of Lancaster because it gives a Title to a Count Palatine * Famous for the four Henries the 4th 5th 6th and 7th Kings of England derived from John Gaunt Duke of Lancaster The Air hereof is thin and piercing not troubled with gross mists or foggs which makes that People healthy strong and long-liv'd the Soil differs much in nature and situation some parts being Hilly and others flat and of these some being fruitful some mossy and others moorish the Champain Country for the most part good for Wheat and Barly and that which lies at the bottom of the Hill yields the best of Oats yet it breeds great number of Cattel that are of a huge proportion and have goodly Heads and large spread Horns and for Fish and Fowl here is great abundance particularly in Winander Meer Winander Meer which is ten Miles long and four broad and has such a clear pebly bottom that the common saying amongst them is that it is all paved with Stone besides Trouts Pikes c. there is one most dainty Fish called a Char not to be found elsewhere except in Vlles Water Ulles Lake another Lake upon the borders of Cumberland and that two principally in Lent at which time some zealous Romanists will tell you that they more freely come to Net than at any other season for afterward they scond and are not easily taken Besides all this the Country abounds with Flax to make Linnen with Turfs and pit Coal for fuel and with Quarries of good Stone for building and in some boggy places are digged up Trees which will burn clear and give light like touch-wood Here are three great Hills not far distant asunder seeming to be as high as the clouds Ingleborow Penigent and Pendle which are Ingleborow Penigent and Pendle on the top of which grows a peculiar Plant called Cloudsberry as though it came out of the Clouds this Hill formerly did the Country much harm by reason of an extraordinary deal of Water gushing out of it and is now famous for an infallible sign of Rain whensoever the top of it is covered with a mist and by reason of the excessive height for which they are all three celebrated there is this Proverbial Rhime goes currant amongst them Ingleborow Pendle and Penigent Are the highest Hills betwixt Scotland and Trent Lancaster Lancaster is the chief Town of the County of no large extent but very sweet and clean fortified with a Castle which is made use of for the Assizes and adorned with one large Church both which are situated upon a high Hill from whence is a pleasant prospect into the adjacent Fields which are delicately enriched with the best of Earths Tapestry and are watred by the Christal streams of the River Lone which pays here a petty tribute before it posts away to do homage to the Ocean in the descent and sides of the Hill where it is steepest hard by the Stone-Bridge which hath five Arches hangs an ancient piece of Wall called Wery-wall supposed to have been some ancient Work of the Romans by reason of several Roman Coins which have been found hereabouts the grants and privileges which have been conferred upon this Town by the Kings of this Realm have been very great and considerable and King John and Edward the Third have ever been esteemed two of its principal Benefactours From hence the great Road led us directly through Garstange Garstange a small market Town noted chiefly for a great Fair held here every Year in the beginning of July to Preston Preston being a delightful place well peopled with the more wealthy and gentile sort situate upon the Ribble with a fair Stone Bridge over it the same is honoured with the Court of Chancery and the Offices of Justice for Lancaster as a County Palatine and not far from it stands Ribchester Ribchester supposed to be the ancient Bremetonacum counted in its flourishing times the richest Town in Christendome about which have been digged up so many pieces of Roman Antiquity that one may conclude it from thence to have been a place of great account in the time of the Romans Passing after this through Wigan another Market Town and Corporation Wigan well known by reason of the great Trade for Coverlids Rugs Blankets and other sorts of Bedding which is made there Leverpool we came to Leverpool a Sea Port Town situated at the Mersey's-mouth where it affords a safe Harbour for Ships and a convenient passage for Ireland for its denfence it hath on the South side a Castle built by King John and on the West side a Tower upon the River being a stately and strong piece of Building We ferried over from thence into Cheshire Cheshire which lies opposite to it on the other side of the River This shire is a County Palatine and the Earls hereof have formerly had such Royalties and Privileges belonging to them that all the Inhabitants have Sworn fealty and allegiance to them as to their King the Air of it is so healthy that the People are generally long-liv'd and the Irish vapours rising from the Irish Sea do