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
and worshipfull Family Flixton or Felixton so named of Faelix the first Bishop of these parts Mettingham where there is a Castle Luthingland of Luthing the Lake Comerley Town Burgh-Castle now ruined Sommerly-Hall my Lady Wentworths House famous for fair Walks and Ponds There is one long Walk encompassed with Fir-trees on each side The Parishes in this County amount to the number of five hundred seventy five Surrey FRom the West it boundeth partly upon Barkshire and Hantshire from the South upon Sussex and from the East on Kent toward the North it is watered with the River Tames and by it divided from Middlesex It is a Countrey not very large yet wealthy enough where it beareth upon Thames and lieth as a plain and champion Countrey It is likened by some unto a course freeze garment with a green gard or to a cloath of great spinning and thin woven with a green list about it because the inner part is but barren the outward edge or skirt more fertile Chertsey a kind of Island Fernham so named of much Fern growing in that place Guildford a Mercat Town well frequented and full of fair Innes Ockam where that great Philosopher and Father of the nominals William de Ockham was born and whereof he took that name as of the next Village Ripley George Ripley a ring-leader of our Alchymists Oatlands a fair house of the Kings neer unto which Caesar passed over Tames into the Borders of Cassivelaunus For this was the only place where a man might in times past go over the Tames on foot and that hardly too which the Britains themselves improvidently bewrayed unto Caesar Ockley so named of Oaks Rhiegate the Rivers course Holm-Castle Beckworth-Castle Effingham Kingstone a very good Mercat Town for the bignesse and well frequented It had beginning from a little Town more ancient then it of the same name In which when England was almost ruinated by the Danish Warres Aethelstan Edwin and Ethelred were crowned Kings upon an open stage in the Market place whence it was called Kingston Leland Comment. in Cygn. Cant. Camd. Brit. Shene so called of its shining brightnesse now Richmond wherein the most mighty Prince King Edward the Third when he had lived sufficiently both to glory and nature died King Henry the Seventh built it and gave it that name of Richmond of the Title he bare being Earl of Richmond before he obtained the Crown of England He had scarce finished this new work when in this place he yeelded unto Nature and ended his Life Here Queen Elizabeth also died None-such a retiring place of the Princes and surpasseth all other houses round about which King Henry the Eighth in a very healthfull place called Cuddington before selected for his own delight and ease and built with so great sumptuousnesse and rare workmanship that it aspireth to the very top of ostentation for shew so as a man may think that all the skill of Architecture is in this one piece of work bestowed and heaped up together So many Statues and lively Images there were in every place so many wonders of absolute Workmanship and Workes seeming to contend with Roman Antiquities that most worthily it might have this name that it hath of None-such Hane quia non habeant similem laudare Britanni Saepè solent nullique parem cognomine dicunt The Britains oft are wont to praise this place For that through all The Realm they cannot shew the like and None-such they it call The House was environed about with Parks full of Deer it had such dainty and delicate Orchards such Groves adorned with curious Arbours so pretty quarters Beds and Alleys such Walks so shadowed with Trees that it was exceeding pleasant Wandle a clear Riveret full of the best Trouts Woodcot a pretty Town Croidon there was the Archbishops house of Canterbury There are Charcoals Bedington a fair house beautified with a delightfull shew of pleasant Gardens and Orchards Addington Aguilon situate in a most fertile soil Merton It is famous for the Statute of Merton enacted here in the 21. of King Henry the Third and also for Walter de Merton Founder of Merton Colledge in Oxford borne and bred here Wimbledon there is a goodly House beautifull for building and delectable for fair profpect and right pleasant Gardens built in the year 1588. when the Spanish Armado made sail upon the coast of England Wandlesworth Putney Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth was born there Batersey Lambeth Canutus the Hardy King of England there amidst his cups yeelded up his vital breath It was the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury Southwark the Burrough of Southwork the most famous Mercat Town and place of Trade in all this Shire It is large and populous In the Reign of King Edward the Sixth it was annexed to the City of London and is at this day taken for a member as it were of it Sterborow-Castle This County hath in it an hundred and forty Parish Churches Sussex THe Region of the South Saxons a word compounded of the site thereof Southward and of the Saxons who in their Heptarchy placed here the second Kingdom It is above threescore miles long and somewhat above twenty miles broad It lieth upon the British Ocean all Southward with a strait shore as it were farre more in length than breadth How be it it hath few harbours by reason that the Sea is dangerous for shelves and therefore rough and troublous the shore also it self full of Rocks The Sea-coast of this Countrey hath green Hils on it mounting to a greater height called the Downs which because they stand upon a fat chalk or kind of Marle yeeldeth corn abundantly The middle tract garnished with Medows Pastures Corn-fields and Groves maketh a very lovely shew The hithermore and northern side thereof is shaded most pleasantly with Woods like as in times past the whole Countrey throughout which by reason of the Woods was hardly passable The Wood Andradswald taking the name of Anderida the City next adjoyning took up in this quarter a hundred and twenty miles in length and thirty in bredth It is full of Mines in sundry places where for the making and fining whereof there be Furnaces on every side and a huge deal of Wood is yeerly spent to which purpose divers Brooks in many places are brought to runne in one chanel and sundry Medows turned into Pools and Waters that they might be of power sufficient to drive Hammer-mils which beating upon the iron resound all over the places adjoyning Boseham a place environed round about with Woods and the Sea together Chichester lieth in a champion plain A City large enough and walled about built by Cissa a Saxon the second King of this Province and of him so named It hath four Gates opening to the four Quarters of the World from whence the streets lead directly and crosse themselves in the midst where the Market is kept a
this Nation subsist upon Mines and Cole others upon Manefacture Some upon Corn others upon the Profits of Cattle London and the Sea-Ports upon Exportation and Importation M. Wrens Monarchy asserted chap. 8. Wileboord an Englishman was the first Bishop of Utrect he is called the Apostle of Zeland for having there preacht and planted the Christian Faith as also in the Provinces next adjoyning Verstegans Etymologies of our Saxon Proper Names Willebrodus Britannus fuit Frisiosque primus Christianae Religionis initiis imbuit Bertius in Tab. Geog. Contract I shall detain thee no longer but subscribe my self Thy hearty Well-willer Edward Leigh PROLEGOMENA EUrope the least of the four parts of the World yet the most populous and eminent for Arts and Armes is divided into several Nations and Countreys Albion or Great-Britain Spain France Germany Rhetia Vindelicia Italy Sardinia Sicily Sarmatia Dacia Maesia and Greece Britain or Britanny which also is Albion the most famous Island without comparison of the whole world It is seated as well for air as soil in a right fruitfull and most milde place The air so kinde and temperate that not only the Summers be not excessive hot by reason of continual gentle windes that abate their heat which as they refresh the fruits of the earth so they yeeld a most wholsom and pleasing contentment both to man and beast but the Winters also are passing milde for therein falling often with still showers to say nothing of the Air it self somewhat thick and grosse dissolveth the rigour of the cold so and withall the Sea which compasseth it with moderate warmth doth comfort the Land in such wise as that the cold with us is much more remisse than in some parts of France and Italy It is now called England in Latine Anglia in French Angle-terre Of the several Etymologies of which word see Histoire d' Angle-terre Par Du Chesne l. 6. p. 195. And Munsters Universal Gosmography l. 2. Britanniam lasciviae Culparier justè negas Tamen fateri cogeris Quòd insula est non continens Hugenii Epig. l. 6. Great Britain consisting of England and Scotland contains one thousand eight hundred thirty six miles in compasse This Island as Camden Twine Verstegan imagine was broken off from the Continent of France See Twine De Rebus Britannicis The Bodies of the Inhabitants are of an excellent Constitution their Demeanour right courteous their Natures gentle and their Courage most hardy and valiant whose Manhood by exploits atchieved both at home and abroad is famously renowned thorow the whole world King Edward the third and his Sonne did bear their victorious Arms thoroughout all France King Henry the Sixth was crowned King of France at Paris Our famous Kings Henry the Fifth Edw. 3. and K. Henry the Eight were the most worthiest Warriers that our Nation ever had Sir Roger Williams his brief Discourse of Warre pag. 37. See pag. 8 9. 58. Phil. de Commines Hist. l. 6. c. 2 3. Sir Francis and Sir Horatio Vere Sir Thomas Morgan Sir John Norris by their singular knowledge in military affairs and exploits most valiantly and fortunately atchieved in the Low-Countreys have added exceeding much honour and glory to themselves See Dr. Dillinghams Veres Commentaries Sir Roger Williams also was a famous Commander John Lord Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury marched four and twenty years together with victorious arms over a great part of France Camden cals him Englands Achilles See Froissarts Chron. c. 130. of the victory of the English at the great battel of Cressy The Duke of Bedford was Regent of France and being slain in a battel on Land before Veronil was buried in Roan and together with him all the English mens good fortune in France Whose Monument when Charles the Eighth King of France came to see and a Nobleman standing by advised him to rase it Nay answered he let him rest in peace now being dead of whom in warre whiles he lived all France had dread Marshal Biron said He liked not the English March being beaten by the Drumme it was so slow Sir Roger Williams answer'd him That yet it had gone through all France See the Discourse of the National Excellencies of England Part 1. Chap. 1. Of the Warres of the Britains and their Courage Chap. 3. Of the Danish Invasion Chap. 4. Of the Norman Conquest Chap. 5. Of Warres with Spain Chap. 6. Of Warres with France Chap. 7. Of Warres with the seventeen Provinces Chap. 8 9. Of Warres with Scotland Part 2. Chap. 2. Of the English Courage Our wooden Walls the Ships are a great safety to this Nation The English Navy is the strongest in the world What service did our Ships do us in 88 Sir Francis Drake and after him Thomas Candish Esquire within the space of three yeers and three moneths travelled about the Globe of the whole Earth This Isle hath prescribed in all ages for the Dominion * of the Seas that incompasse it Vide Seldeni Mare clausum lib. 2. c. 12 13 14 15 20 21 22 23 24 30 31 32. Sir Richard Grenvile in a Ship of Queen Elizabeths fought against a great Navy of Spaniards This single vessel was fought with in turns by fifteen other great Ships whereof the great St. Philip of 1500 Tuns Prince of the twelve Sea-Apostles was one It sunk two of their best Ships and killed a thousand men It was sunk at last having first to the full answered its name Without vanity our Nation may assume to it self the praise considering the narrow limits of the Island to have produced as many Scholars admirable in all degrees of knowledge as any Countrey on this side the Alpes Beda Bradwardine Scotus Wicliffe Ockam Baconthorp Joannes de sacro Bosco Cuthbert Tunstall Pool Colet Lilie Linacer Pacaeus Fisher More Stapleton Leland Camden Juel Whitaker Rainolds Sir Philip Sidney a man of excellent parts learned and valiant Our English mens pronunciation of the Latine tongue is condemned much by Outlandishmen A Herald brought a Letter of Defiance from the King of England in very good language and so excellently well penned that I am perswaded it was never of English mans doing Phil. de Comin in his History lib. 4. ch. 5. They write good Latine though Car hath written an Oration De Scriptorum Britannicorum paucitate In Edward the Thirds time there was a Letter directed to the Pope in justification of making it Treason to bring in Papal provisions which was so excellently penn'd as did not only move admiration but astonishment Cito post Rex direxit Papae illam famosam Epistolam pro libertate Ecclesiae contuenda quam praesentibus duximus inserendam Walsing. Hist. Angl. Edw. 3. p. 161. There are sundry opinions whence this word Britain had the original derivation Camden dislikes that from Brutus Some say It is most probably derived from Brit which in the ancient British signifies
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
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