dwelleth whom we call in Latine Vicecomitem as one would say the Deputy of the Comes or Earl and in our tongue Sheriff It is his duty to gather the common moneys of the Prince in his County to collect and bring into the Exchequer all fines imposed even by distreining to be attendant upon the Judges and to execute their commandments to assemble and empanel the twelve men which in causes do enquire of the Fact and make relation thereof and give in their Verdict to the Judges for Judges with us sit upon the right onely of a cause and not upon the fact to see condemned persons executèd and to examine and determine certain smaller actions OF THE Several Counties IN ENGLAND CAmden begins with Cornwall and ends with Northumberland I shall mention the Counties of England rather according to the Letters of the Alphabet Barkshire IT is called in Latine Berkeria It is bounded upon the East with Surrey upon the North with the River of Thames from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire upon the West with Wiltshire and upon the South with Hantshire Abbendune or Abington so called of the Abbay rather than of one Abben an Irish Eremite of the Abby there See Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 97. Farendon famous now for a Mercate there kept Wadley It is situate in a vale though not so fertile a soil as some vales afford yet a most commodious site wholsome in a delicious air a rich and pleasant seat Newbury as much as the Newburgh a fair Town well seated in a Champion plain Reading of the Brittish word Redin which signifieth Fearn that growing here plentifully excelleth all other Towns of this Shire in fair streets and goodly houses for wealth also of the Townsmen and their name in making of Cloath There is a very great Market Maidenhead so named of the superstitious worshipping of I wot not what British Maidens-Head Camd. Brit. Maidenhead or Maidenhith Hith in the old Saxon did signifie a Wharf Haven or Landing-place It had its name from the Wharf or Ferry belonging at that time to some neighbouring Nunnery or to some private Maidens dwelling thereabout who then received the profits of it So Queen-Hith in London took that appellation because the profits of the Wharf were anciently accounted for to the Queens of England Dr. Heylins Animadvers on the Church Hist. of Brit. lib. 1. p. 20. See Camden of Maiden-bradly in Wiltshire fol. 243. Windesore A Royal Castle and House of the Kings with the Town adjoyning A Princes Seat cannot have a more pleasant situation For from a high Hill that riseth with a gentle ascent it enjoyeth a most delightfull Prospect round about With the pleasantnesse of this place Princes were allured very often to retire themselves hither and here was Edward the Third that most puissant King borne who here built new out of the ground a most strong Castle in bignesse equal to a pretty City fortified with Ditches and Bulwarks made of stone and forthwith after he had subdued the French and Scots held at one and the self same time John King of France and David King of Scotland prisoners together in the same In this place King Edward the Third for to adorn Martial Prowesse with Honours the Guerdon of Vertue ordained the most Noble Order and Society of Knights whom he called Knights of the Garter who wear on their left Legge somewhat under the knee a Blew Garter with these golden Letters in French HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENS'E Shame to him that evil thinks and fasten the same with a Buckle of Gold as with the Band of a most inward Society in token of Concord and Unity that there might be among them a certain Consociation and Communion of Vertues Some attribute the original of it unto the Garter of the Queen or rather Joan Countesse of Salisbury a Lady of incomparable beauty which fell from her as she danced and the King took up from the floor for when a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by laughed thereat he made answer again That shortly it would come to passe that Garter should be in high honour and estimation This is the most common and most received report There is a Book entituled Catechismus ordinis Equitum Perifcelidis written long since by Belvaleti the Popes Nuncio here and published in the year 1631. by Bosquierus wherein the Authour makes an Allegory on the whole habit of the Order the Matter Colour Fashion Wearing to the very Girdle Dr. Heylins Antidotum Lincolniense Sect. 3. ch. 10. The mightiest Princes in Christendome reputed it amongst their greatest honour to be chosen and admitted into this Company and since the first Institution thereof there have been already received and enrolled into this Order which consisteth of six and twenty Knights two and twenty Kings or thereabout besides our Kings of England who are named Sovereigns thereof to speak nothing of Dukes and others of most high calling very many The Founders of the Order which in those dayes for stout courage and warlike Prowesse had few or no Peers and were in that regard advanced to that honour Edward the Third King of England Edward his eldest Sonne and Prince of Wales Henry Duke of Lancaster Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick Peter Copit de la Bouche Ralph Earl of Stafford William de Montacute Earl of Sarisbury Roger Mortimer Earl of March John Lord Lisle Sir Bartholomew de Burgherst Sir John Beauchamp John Lord Mohun of Dunstere Sir Hugh Courtne Sir Thomas and Sir Otho Holland Sir John Gray of Codnor Sir Richard Fitz Simon Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Walle Sir Hugh Wrothesly Sir Neel Lorenge Sir John Chandos Sir James Audley Sir Henry Eswi◠Sir Sanchio Dampredicourt Sir Walter Pavely There is an honourable Family of Barons surnamed of Windsore Eaton is hereto adjoyned by a wooden Bridge over the Thames and in it a fair Colledge and a famous School of good literature founded and built by King Henry the Sixth wherein besides the Provost eight Fellows and the singing Choristers there are threescore Scholars instructed in Grammar and in due time preferred to the University of Cambridge It containeth twenty Hundreds twelve Market Towns and an hundred and forty Parishes Bedfordshire BEdford is the principal Town whereof the Shire also taketh name A Town to be commended more for the pleasant situation and antiquity thereof then for beauty or largenesse although a man may tell five Churches in it Hockley in the Hole so named of the miry way in Winter time very troublesome to travellers for the old Englishmen our Progenitors called deep mire Hock and Hocks Dunstable This Town seated in a Chalky ground well inhabited and full of Innes hath four streets answering to the four quarters of the world in every one of which there is a large Pond of standing water for the publique use of the Inhabitants It contains ten Market Towns an hundred and sixteen
Earls of Pembroke Sudbroke the Church whereof called Trinity-Chappel standeth neer the Sea a moor for many miles together Abergenny It is fortified with Wals and a Castle This Shire containeth Parish Churches an hundred twenty seven Northfolk or Norfolk PEople of the North It is a Region large and spacious and in manner all thorowout a plain champion unlesse it be where there rise gently some pretty Hils passing rich exceeding full of Sheep and stored with Coneys replenished likewise with a great number of populous Villages for besides twenty seven Mercat Towns it is able to shew Villages and Countrey Towns six hundred twenty and five watered with divers Rivers and Brooks and not altogether destitute of Wood A man may collect the goodnesse of the ground by this that the Inhabitants are of a passing good complexion to say nothing of their exceeding wily wits and the same right quick in the insight of our Common Laws insomuch as it is counted the only Countrey for best Lawyers One saith that three hundred and forty nisi prius were tried there at one Assizes It is a pleasant Countrey for sports Hawking and Hunting Thetford the Ford of Thet of good bignesse yet it hath but few Inhabitants Harleston a good Mercat Norwich a famous City by reason of the wealth number of Inhabitants the resort of people fair buildings and many fair Churches it containeth thirty two Parishes and fourty two Chappels and Churches the painfull industry of the Citizens and their courtesie unto strangers The Market Crosse and Cloister of the Cathedral there are the fairest in England It is pleasantly situate on the side of an Hill compassed about with strong Wals in which are orderly placed many Turrets and twelve Gates unlesse it be on the East-side where the River is a fence thereto It is three miles about The Arms of the City are the Castle and Lion A City whose Antiquity Alexander Nevil hath most learnedly and elegantly set down in Latine It hath been long famous for the ancient cloathes or stuff called Worsted but hath lately abounded in variety of weaving through the invention and industry of the Dutch and French Flemmings which inhabit there in great numbers There is a great House there of the Duke of Norfolks now the Earl of Arundels where there are very fair Granaries and the best Bowling-alley in England There is also an Hospital where an hundred of men and women are maintained Matthew Parker was born here Yarmouth a very convenient Haven and as fair a Town beautifully built and well fenced both by the natural strength of the place and also by the skilfull industry of mans art It hath but one Church yet the same is very large having a high Steeple to adorn it It is famous for fishing and merchandizing There are two long Streets in it each of them a mile long one called the Dean-street the other the Key There is also another Street called the Middle-street and many rows as they call them after the manner of Holland There is also a fair Market place Holt a Town so called of an Holt or tuft of trees and for the Mercat well known Ailesham a Mercat Town of good resort Worsted where the stuff worsted in so great request amongst our Ancestors was first made and hence so named as Dornicks Camery Calecut had in like manner their denominations from the places where they were first invented and made Walsingham This Village is very famous by reason of the best Saffron growing there The Family of the Walsinghams Knights fetched first their name and original from hence out of which house flourished that Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary to Queen Elizabeth a man as of deep insight so also of as rare and painfull industry in the weightiest affairs of the Realm Lynne peradventure so named of the waters broad spreading So Lynne imports in the Welch tongue This is a large Town encompassed with a deep Trench and Wals for the most part thereof divided by two small Rivers that have fifteen Bridges or thereabout over them It is called old Linne and Linnum Regis that is Kings Linne yet by reason of the safe Haven which yeeldeth most easie accesse for the number also of the Merchants there dwelling and thither resorting for the fair and the goodly houses the wealth also of the Townsmen it is doubtlesse the principal Town of this Shire except Norwich onely Mershland a little moist Mersh-Countrey as the name implieth a soil standing upon very rich and fertile mould and breeding abundance of Cattel insomuch as that in a place commonly called Tilneysmeth there feed much about thirty thousaud Sheep In this Province there be Parish Churches about six hundred and sixty In Norfolk and Suffolk there are more Parishes than in any other Counties six hundred and odde in Norfolk and above five hundred in Suffolk Northamptonshire THis County is situate in the very middle and heart as it were of England On the East lie Bedford and Huntingdonshires On the South Buckingham and Oxfordshires Westward Warwickshire Northward Rutlandshire and Lincolnshire separated from it by Avon the lesse and Welland two Rivers It is a champion Countrey exceeding populous and passing well furnished with Noblemens and Gentlemens Houses replenished also with Towns and Churches insomuch as in some places there are twenty and in others thirty Seeples with Spires or square Towers within view at once The soil very fertile both for Tillage and Pasture yet nothing so well stored with Woods unlesse it be in the further and hither sides But in every place as elswhere also in England it is over-spread and as it were beset with Sheep Brakley a place full of Brake or Fern the Students of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford use the Colledge there for a retiring place Torcester so called of Towrs It hath a large Church in it Hard by at Eston-Nessont there is a fair and beautifull House belonging to the Knightly Family of the Farmers Sacy-Forest stored with Deer and fit for game Avon a general name of all Rivers This Aufona or Nen is a notable River which after a sort runneth through the middle part of this Shire Dantrey is a through-fare Town well known at this day by reason of the Innes there Fawesly where have dwelt a long time the Knightleys descended from those more ancient Knightleys of Gnowshall in the County of Stafford Wedon in the street It is a pretty through-fare set on a plain ground and much celebrated by Carriers because it standeth hard by the famous way there commonly call'd of the people * Watlingstreet Lelands Itinerary Holdenby-House a fair patern of stately and magnificent building Northampton so called from its situation upon the North-bank of the River Aufon The City for Houses is very fair for circuit of good largenesse and walled about and from the Wall there is a goodly Prospect every way to a wide and spacious plain Countrey There are seven Parish Churches
a Prince most accomplished with Martial Prowesse in the yeer of Christ 1336. Duke of Cornwall by a Wreath on his Head a Ring upon his Finger and a silver Verge Since which time the King of Englands eldest Sonne is reputed Duke of Cornwall by birth Launston the chief Town The Promontory named the Lands end the most Western point of the Kingdom It containeth nine Hundreds two and twenty Market Towns an hundred sixty and one Parishes Cumberland IT took the name of the Inhabitauts who were the true and natural Britans and called themselves in their own language Kumbri This Countrey although it be somewhat with the coldest as lying farre North and seemeth as rough by reason of Hils yet for the variety thereof it smileth upon the beholders and giveth contentment to as many as travel it Of all the Shires we have it is accounted the best furnished with the Roman Antiquities Burtons Comment on Antoninus his Itin. p. 13. At Newlands there are copper or brasse Mines Skiddaw-Hill is very high Skiddaw Lauvellin and Casticand Are the highest hils in all England Solway Frith so called of Solway a Town in Scotland standing upon it Under this Burgh within the very Frith where the salt water ebbeth and floweth the Englishmen and Scotish by report of the Inhabitants fought with their Fleets at full Sea and also with their Horsemen and Footmen at the ebbe Hard by the Riveret Dacor standeth Dacre-Castle of signal note because it hath given surname to the honourable Family of the Barons Dacre Carlile This ancient City is fortified with strong walls of stone with a Castle and Citadel as they terme it Here begun Picts-wall or simply by way of excellency The Wall the limit of the Roman Province continued through this Countrey and Northumberland and ending in Walls-end Here are nine Market Towns and fifty eight Parishes Darbyshire IT is a plentifull Countrey there are many Minerals and several kinds of Stones Darby is the chief Town of all this Shire a Town of good trade There be five Churches in it Of which the greatest named All-Hallows dedicated to the memory of All-Saints hath a Tower-steeple that for height and singular fine Workmanship excelleth They had a famous Minister there one Chappel which was brother to him that was of Cambridge and went afterward into Ireland He did much good in Darby When King James came thither a witty Butcher in the Town said thus to him Jemmy for a Chappel and a Steeple We may compare with any people The Assizes are there kept for the whole Shire and the best nappy Ale is brewed there in two places especially It is the ancient and peculiar drink of the Englishmen and Britains and very wholsome Henry of Aurenches the Norman Arch-Poet to King Henry the Third merrily jested on it in these Verses Nescio quid Stygiae monstrum conforme paludi Cervisiam plerique vocant nil spissius illa Dum bibitur nil clarius est dum mingitur unde Constat quod multas faeces in ventre relinquit Of this strange drink so like to Stygean lake Most terme it Ale I wot not what to make Folk drink it thick and pisse it passing thin Much dregs therfore must needs remain within The wealth of this Town consisteth much of buying of Corn and selling it again to the mountains for all the Inhabitants are a kind of Badgers Thomas Linaker the famous Scholar was born here and so was Mr. Cotton the famous Minister of Boston and Dr. Wilmot neer it Chesterfield a Market Town The Peak which signifieth to appear aloft is severed from Staffordshire by the Dove a most swift and clear River It is plentifull of Lead also Stibium or Antimony Mill-stones likewise are here hewed out as also Grinde-stones and Whet-stones to give an edge unto iron tools Under the old Castle called the Castle in the Peak there is a Cave or Hole within the ground called the Devils Arse Devils Arse in Peak that gapeth with a wide mouth and hath in it many turnings and retiring rooms This Hole is reckoned one of the wonders of England There are several other wonders in the Peak Ashburn in the Peak There is a place called Elden-Hole which lies two miles distant from Castleton a Town in the high Peak it is within the Peak Forest it descendeth directly down into the earth it is about thirty yards long and fifteen yards broad at the top of it but is much straighter when it cometh fourty yards deep You may see into it about sixty yards being as farre as the light which cometh in at the mouth of the Hole will give light to see it is fearfull to look into being a face of rock on each side About sixty years since one Mr. Henry Cavendish eldest brother to Sir Charles Cavendish who had spent all his dayes in travel had been at Jerusalem and several other parts of the world and hearing of this place came to it and caused Engines to be made or to let a man into the Hole which being done one George Bradley of the Peak Forest was let down in a rope fourscore yards And then another Engine was made to let him go further and from thence he was let down fourscore yards further and at the end thereof a third Engine was made whereby he was let down almost fourscore yards further at the top of the rope was fastened a Bell which he was to ring if he could go no further or would return back when he was let down almost the third fourscore yards he rung the Bell and being drawn up he was much affrighted remained speechlesse for a time and was struck with lamenesse but after he recovered his speech he declared that as he descended down were bones of Deer Sheep and other Cattel and also of men and that he was affrighted but how or in what manner he could not tel he lived several years but never was in perfect memory nor sound of his limbs Within the Town of Buxton there is a Bath called Buxton-Well which cureth very many Diseases There are two springs of water the one within a hand breadth of the other the one is very hot the other cold as ice There are eight Market Towns six Hundreds and an hundred and six Parishes in this County Denshire OR Devonshire A Countrey harborous on either side with commodious Havens enriched with Tin-mines especially Westward garnished with pleasant medows sightly with great store of woods and passing well replenished with Towns and buildings There is not any place almost in all England where the ground requireth greater charges For in most parts thereof it groweth in manner barren if it be not over-strewed and mingled with a certain sand from the Sea which is of great efficacy to procure fertility by quickening as it were and giving life unto the Glebe and therefore in places far from the shore it is bought at a dear rate On
famous no doubt in the Romans time The Archbishop of Canterbury was called Totius Angliae Primas the Archbishop of York Angliae Primas without any further addition Anselme for recompence of the service he had done in oppugning the marriage of Priests and resisting the King for the investiture of Clerks was by Pope Urbane endowed with this accession of honour that he and his Successours should from thenceforth have place in all General Councels at the Popes right foot who then said withall Includemus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis Papam Canterbury is one of the famousest Cities in England It hath had a rare Cathedral though now much ruinated by reason of these later times The Cathedral is in the midst of the City a fair Church the body of which is within a little as large as Pauls in London between the body and the Quire a very high Steeple where hangeth a Bell called by the name of Bell-Harry being one of them which King Henry brought out of France There is also in this Steeple four Spires much like to Sepulchres in London There is on each side of the great West-gate two other Steeples the one called Dunston-steeple the other Arnold-steeple in each of which are a very pleasant ring of Bels In the same Cathedral there was the famousest Window that ever was known in England for which there was offered as some say by the Spanish Embassadour 10000lb being the whole History of Christ from his Nativity to his Sufferings but is now battered to pieces In the Quire of this Cathedral is buried Prince Edward called the Black Prince whose Monument is there of brasse The Dean and Prebends had very fair Houses within the bounds of the said Cathedral which was like a little City and so much power formerly that the Maiors Sword was not suffered to be held up within the Gates of the Deanry There is underneath this Cathedral a great Congregation of French living in the City and the Dutch also have a Church in that place which was called the Bishops Palace Within the bounds of the said Deanry there is a free School called The Kings School wherein are two Masters and many Scholars formerly wearing Gowns that are there brought up and many from thence sent to the University There was one Schoolmaster * some years before he died affirmed he had had thirty seven Masters of Arts of his bringing up There are many Churches in the City and Suburbs There are two Markets a week The Maior and Aldermen are cloathed in Scarlet and they keep the Sessions in the same City The City is walled and hath a Mote about it the Wall being so broad that two or three men may go a-brest with gallant Watch houses called Citadels all built with flint-stone There was an old Castle but it hath been for many years demolished and some of the Works or Forts are yet standing that were when the Danes came in one or two of which were made use of when the last rising was there There are two Hospitals in the City one for Ancient people and the other for Children The Isle of Thanet it is eight miles long and four broad a right fertile soil Goodwin-Sands a sandy dangerous place In the Reign of William the Second certain Lands in Kent which did once belong to Godwin Earl of Kent were overflowed and covered with sand which to this day do bear the name of Godwins Sands See Kilburns Survey of Kent pag. 262 263. How Tenterden Steeple was said to be the cause of Goodwins Sands Sandwich one of the Cinque Ports Dover The Town is seated between high Cliffs more famous for the commodiousnesse of the Haven such as it is and for ready passage into France then for any elegance or great trade There is a most stately Castle like unto a pretty City fortified strongly with Bulwarks and many a Tower It is the strongest hold of all England and most commodious for the French Sandgate-Castle and Satlwood a Castle Hith it signifies an Haven or Harbour one of the Cinque Ports Rumney-marsh a fruitfull soil it feedeth a number of Herds of Cattel sent hither from the furthest parts of Wales and England to be fatted There is at Bilsington a Priory built by John Maunsel Weaver in his Funeral Monuments saith He saw a Pedigree of the Maunsels from Philip de Maunsel who came in with the Conquerour untill these our times Wie Here was born John Kemp Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the great Benefactors to the University of Oxford He was Bishop of Rochester Chichester and London Archbishop of York first and afterward of Canterbury twice made Cardinal Bis primas ter Praeses bis Cardine functus This Province hath three hundred ninety eight Parishes and sixty four Hundreds Lancashire IT is a large populous and well wooded Countrey The County Palatine of Lancaster famous for the four Henries the Fourth Fifth Sixth and Seventh Kings of England derived from John Gaunt Duke of Lancaster is upon the South confined and parted by the River Mersey from the County Palatine of Chester the County of Darbyshire bordering upon the East the large Countrey of Yorkshire together with Westmerland and Cumberland being her kind neighbours upon the North and the Sea called Mare Hibernicum imbracing her upon the West Their Kine and Oxen have goodly Heads and fair spread Hornes and are in body well proportionate withall Warringdon Rochdale a Mercate Town well frequented Manchester a Town of great antiquity from Main a British word which signifieth a Stone It is seated upon a stony hill and beneath the Town there are most famous quarries of stone It farre excelleth the Towns lying round about it for the beautifull shew it carrieth for resort unto it and for cloathing in regard also of the Mercate place the fair Church and Colledge John Bradford the famous Martyr was born here Letherpool or Lirpool so named of the water spreading it self in manner of a Pool whence there is a convenient passage over into Ireland and much frequented and in that respect more notorious than for any antiquity Ocmeskirk a Mercate Town well known by reason of the Sepulture there of the Stanleys Earls of Derby whose chief seat Latham is hard by a stately house Wiggin a Corporation with a Maior and Burgesses Bolton upon the River Irwell Preston a great fair Town and well inhabited Hornby a fair Castle Lancaster the chief Town of this Region There are thirty six Parishes in this Shire but those very populous and spacious six Hundreds and fifteen Market Towns Leicestershire IT hath bordering upon it on the East-side both Rutlandshire and Lincolnshire on the North Notingham and Derbyshire and Warwickshire on the West and on the South-side lieth Northampton The whole Shire yeeldeth great abundance of Peas and Beans more than any other Country insomuch that there is an old by-word of the same commonly known to all
once was a City of Truth a holy Mountain in regard of the Doctrine of truth and holinesse preached therein then certainly London may Insomuch that Foraigners Hungarians Germans Batavians others learn our Language and come over to this City that they may hear our Preachers and read our English Divines London-Bridge is an admirable Workmanship of stone hewen out of the Quarry upon nineteen Arches besides the Draw-bridge and is furnished on both sides with passing fair houses joyning one to another in manner of a street that for bignesse and beauty it may worthily carry away the prize from all the Bridges in Europe The whole City is divided into six and twenty Wards and the Councel of the City consisted of as many ancient men named of their age in our tongue Aldermen as one would say Senatours who each one have the over-seeing and rule of his several Ward The chief Magistrate is the Lord Maior and two Sheriffs whereof the one is called the Kings the other the Cities Sheriff In Henry the Sixths Reign Godfrey Bolein was Lord Maior of London being the Ancestor of two renowned and virtuous Queens of England Anne second wife to King Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth their Daughter through whose great vigilancy and providence the City stood so well guarded that the Kings peace was dutifully kept notwithstanding the great Lords of both the Factions Yorkists and Lancastrians were with so great Troops of followers lodged within and about the same In Edward the Thirds Reign Henry Picard Maior of London in one day sumptuously feasted four Kings Edward the Third King of England John King of France the King of Cyprus then arrived in England David King of Scots See the courage and piety of a Lord Maior in King James his time in Wilsons History of Great-Britain p. 106. The Merchants meeting place standing upon Pillars which the common people call the Burse and Queen Elizabeth with a solemn Ceremony named The Royal Exchange was set up by Sir Thomas Gresham Citizen and Knight a magnificent work whether you respect the Model of the building the resort of Merchants from all Nations thither or the store of wares there Which Sir Thomas Gresham being withall an exceeding great lover of Learning consecrated a most spacious house his own habitation to the furtherance of Learning and instituted the Professours of Divinity Law Physick Astronomy Geometry and Musick with liberal Salaries and Stipends to the end that London might be a place not only furnished with all kind of Traffick but also with the Liberal Arts and Sciences There is also a fair and goodly Library in Sion-Colledge containing an hundred twenty and one foot in length and above five and twenty foot in breadth In the Reign of King James Robert Earl of Salisbury caused to be erected a stately building in the Strand which upon Tuesday the tenth of April in the yeer 1609. was begun to be richly furnished with Wares and the next day after the King the Queen and Prince with many great Lords and Ladies came to see and then the King gave it the name of Britains Burse Westminster was called in times past Thorney of Thorns now Westminster of the West situation and the Monastery A City of it self having its peculiar Magistrates and Priviledges It is renowned for the Abbey Church the Hall of Justice and the Kings Palace This Church is famous especially by reason of the Inauguration and Sepulture of the Kings of England William the Conquerour and Matilda his wife were first crowned at Westminster and since them all other Kings and Queens of this Realm have been there crowned Stows Surveigh of London It is a Church of very fair Workmanship supported with sundry rows of Marble Pillars a peece of work that cost fifty yeers labour in building It was founded by King Edward the Confessour King Henry the Seventh for the Burial of himself and his children adjoyned thereto in the East end a Chappel of admirable elegancy Leland calleth it The wonder of the world all the curious and exquisite work that can be devised is there compacted It is reported That the Chappel cost ten thousand pound or as others say fourteen thousand pound There is a Collegiate Church and famous School Forty Scholars in their due time are preferred to the Universities Here are buried the Prince of English Poets Geffrey Chaucer as also he that for pregnant wit and an excellent gift in Poetry of all English Poets came neerest unto him Edmund Spenser Isaac Casaubone William Camden Clarenceux King of Arms Westminster-Hall is the greatest Hall in England and the very Praetorium or Hall of Justice In this are the Judicial Courts the Upper-Bench the Common-Pleas and the Chancery and in places neer thereabout the Starre-Chamber the Exchequer Court of Wards and Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster In which at certain set times we call them Terms Causes are yeerly heard and tried This Judgement Hall King Richard the Second built out of the ground as appeareth by his Arms engraven in the stone-work and many arched beams There are a hundred twenty and one Churches more than Rome it self can shew Redcliff so called of the Red cliff a pretty fine Town and dwelling place of Sailers Enfield-Chase a place much renowned for hunting In this County without the City of London are reckoned Parishes much about seventy three with the City Liberties and Suburbs an hundred twenty and one Monmouthshire IT is enclosed on the North-side with the River Munow that separateth it from Herefordshire on the East-side with Wye running between it and Glocestershire on the West with the River Remmey which severeth it from Glamorganshire and on the South with the Severn The East part is full of Grasse and Woods the West is somewhat hilly and stony yet not unthankfull to the Husbandman Monmouth the chief Town of the Shire Munow and Wye at their confluence do compasse it almost round about and give it the name On the North-side where it is not defended with the Rivers it was fortified with a wall and ditch In the midst of the Town hard by the Mercat place standeth a Castle which as it is thought John Baron of Monmouth built It was the Birth place of Henry the Fifth that triumpher over France and the second Ornament of the English Nation It glorieth also that Geffrey Ap Arthur or of Munmouth Compiler of the British History was born and bred there a man well skilled in Antiquities but as it seemeth not of antique credit so many toyes and tales he every where enterlaceth out of his owne brain as he was charged while he lived Chepstow a famous Town and of good resort situate upon the side of an Hill rising from the very River fortified round about with a Wall of a large circuit which includes within it both Fields and Orchards It hath a very spacious Castle situate over the River Strighall Castle it belongs to the