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
ENGLAND DESCRIBED Or the several COUNTIES SHIRES thereof briefly handled Some things also premised to set forth the Glory of this NATION By Edward Leigh Esquire Mr of Arts of Magdalen-Hall in Oxford LONDON Printed by A. M. for Henry Marsh at the Signe of the Princes-Arms in Chancery-lane near Fleetstreet 1659. TO THE Right Worshipfull AND HIS Honoured Friend Sr ROBERT PYE SIR IT is blamed in our Englishmen that they are apt too much to admire Foreigne Countreys and Commodities and exotick Fashions also because they are either ignorant of or do not sufficiently prize the Excellencies of their own native Soil and herein the old Proverb of the English is verified They never know when they are well VVe have little cause I thinke to envy any other Countrey if we rightly understand our own happy condition I have in my Prolegomena written encomiastically of this Nation and in the Book have spoken snccinctly of each County Were the Subject well handled I suppose it would be a pleasing Argument to you who have seen a great part of England However you will I hope excuse my boldnesse in prefixing your Name to this worke since I was willing to testifie herein how much I am beholding to you for your many great Civilities and Courtesies to me and mine I have heard you often say Though you had a great Office many yeers and was Executor also to three eminent Persons of the Nobility yet you scarce ever had any complaint against you for Miscarriages in your Place or a Suit at Law with any one excepted in your whole life These with a plentifull Estate and a healthfull Constitution of Body are mercies and lay a stronger Obligation upon you to be carefull to please and honour that God who hath been so propitious to you Your exciting of others and your own munificence also to so good a VVork as to the edifying of a specious Chappel for the solemn worship of God and setling also a competent Maintenance for a Minister is laudable Your prudent avoiding Suretiship though you were solicited by two Royal Persons to be bound for them is consonant to Scripture-Rules But Sir in your declining Age it will be your wisdome now and comfort hereafter to lay up your treasures in Heaven to mortifie all inordinate affections and to secure your interest in Christ Nusquam tuta foelicitas ubi periclitatur aeternitas A man is never safe till his everlasting condition be well provided for I shall not enlarge herein but subscribe my self Sir Your obliged and thankfull Friend and Servant Edward Leigh TO THE CANDID READER Reader I Did intend the publishing of this first Book of the Kingdome or Several Counties of England together with another of The Kings of England But the Bookseller desired to put forth this first alone I have made much use of Camden and if I could have added to his Chorography some new and memorable things of each County which he had not observed I should have thought it might have been usefull for a native Englishman and Foraigner Perhaps I have not been able to make additions to him in every County but I hope I have inserted some special things in the whole over and above what he travelling over most part of the Land for that purpose hath published I have perused Andre du Chesne his Histoire generale de Angleterre d'Escosse d' Irlande Councellor and Geographer to the King of France and also Draytons Polyolbion with M. Seldens Illustrations Those that have written of any Counties or Cities of England as Burton of Leicestershire Dugdale of Warwickshire King of Cheshire Nordens Speculum Britanniae his brief Description of Middlesex and Harfordshire Lambert and another of Kent Crews Surveigh of Cornwall Stows Description of London Somners of Canterbury and Nevils of Norwich we having onely as yet the Description of those three Cities I made use also of Lelands Itinerary a Manuscript written to Henry the Eighth and his Comment in Cygneam Cantionem M. Burtons Notes on Antoninus his Itinerary I have confined my self to England not medling with Wales Ireland or Scotland I have in the Prolegomena related some things which may make the Nation illustrious and also acquaint Strangers with the Politia or Government thereof I have lately received from M. Du-gard a learned Minister in Warwickshire and Rector of Barford a memorable observation concerning the Family of the Fairfaxes there the like whereto is scarce to be found in any sacred or prophane Writer which coming too late to insert in Warwickshire I thought good to mention here The matchlesse Family of the Fairfaxes in Barford two miles from Warwick wherein there are four Generations and three of them double viz. 1. Samuel Fairfax a child of almost twelve years of age 2. John and Elizabeth his Father and Mother 3. John and Eleonor his Grand-father and Grandmother 4. Richard and Alice his great Grandfather and great Grandmother Not one of these three pairs hath been twice married and every pair of them is an honour to marriage They all for divers yeares most lovingly dwelt together in one house and ate together at one Table At last they are divided in habitations but not in affections The youngest pair with their children live at Wibtaft in the furthest part of the County nigh unto High-crosse the other two pair in Barford The great Grandfather is above fourscore yeares of age a very proper and lusty man an honest and loving neighbour and one that hath born the Office of High-Constable The most remarkable of these particulars have been put into this Latine Epigramme by the present Rector of Barford Mirabilis Fairfaxiorum Familia quae est Barfordiae secundo lapide à Polemopoli sive Warwico Quartus in aetheream Fairfaxius editur * auram Patris Avi Proavi gaudia magna sui Hos tegit una domus cum terna uxore maritos Unáque alit lautis mensa benigna cibis Non magis unanimes nôrunt haec secula mentes Est bis corporibus mens velut una tribus Tótque ex conjugibus bis vincla jugalia nemo Nexuit nemo nexa soluta cupit More columbarum laetatur conjuge conjux Deseruit rugas nec juvenilis amor Hisce tribus Paribus Barfordia jure superbit Nampar his Paribus quis locus alter habet Tho. Dugard Art Mag. Rector Barf The same in English Fairfax the Fourth is born * a gallant Boy Fathers Grandfathers great Grand-fathers great joy Under one roof these dwell with their three Wives And at one Table eat what Heaven gives Our times a sweeter Harmony have not known They are six Persons yet their hearts but one And of these six as none hath hitherto Known Marriage twice so none desires to do Mate is to mate what dearest Dove to Dove Even grandest wrinkles are top-full of love In these three Pairs Barford may justly glory What other place can parallel this Story Th. Dugard Some parts of
brought to do homage and like Watermen working at the Oar rowed him along the River Dee in a triumphant shew to his great glory and joy of the beholders King Henry the Seventh made it a County by it self incorporate Bunbury contractly so called or Boniface-Bury Boniface was the Patron Saint there Beeston-Castle hath a wall of a great circuit Here are very famous Salt-pits or Salt-wiches five or six miles distant asunder where brine or salt water is drawn out of pits which they boile over the fire to make salt thereof These were known unto the Romanes and from hence was usually paid the Custome for salt called Salarium Nantwich Middle-wich Nortwich Nantwich which the River Wever first visiteth is reputed the greatest and fairest built Town of all this Shire after Chester It is called the White-wich or Salt-pit because the whitest salt is there boiled North-wich is called the Black-salt pit Congleton a Mercat Town famous for Gloves Purses and Points of Leather Kinderton the old seat of the ancient race of the Venables who ever since the first coming in of the Normans have been of name and reputation here and commonly are called Barons of Kinderton Brereton hath given Name to the worshipfull ancient and numerous Family of the Breretons Knights Before any Heir of this House of the Breretons dieth there are seen in a Pool adjoyning bodies of trees swimming for certaine dayes together so Camden but some deny this Middle-wich there are two Wels of salt water parted one from the other by a small brook Maclesfield one of the fairest Towns of this County Lee from whence there is a Family bearing the same surname that is not only of gentle bloud and of especial note but also farre and fairly propagated into a number of branches Camd Britan. High Leigh in Cheshire I think gave Names to all the renowned Races of that Name in this County Two distinct Descents of the same Name have their seats in the same place and there have continued in a long succession of their Ancestors Knights and Esquires of much worth one is Thomas Leigh the other is Peter Leigh Esquires King of Cheshire Lime in Cheshire a great Family of the Name of the Leighs of whom there have been many famous Knights Sir Peter now the Possessor thereof King of Cheshire Nor thou magnanimous Leigh must not be left In darkness for thy rare fidelity To save thy faith content to lose thy head That reverent head of good men honored Daniels Second Book of Civil Warres Cholmundeston or Cholmeston anciently the Lands of the Leighs of Rushall in Staffordshire King of Cheshire pag. 74. It containeth thirteen Market Towns and sixty eight Parishes Cornwall IT extends in length to about seventy miles the breadth in the largest place passeth not thirty Carews Surveigh of Cornwall Speed computes the length sixty miles and the breadth forty It is called by later Writers Cornubia in Latine of all Britain it doth bear most Westward because it waxeth smaller and smaller in manner of an Horn and runneth forth into the Sea with little promontories as if they were Horns on every side Others would have it so called of one Corin and do call it Corinea Camd. Brit. There is digged here wonderfull store of Tin yeelding exceeding much profit and commodity whereof are made houshold Pewter vessels which are used thorowout many parts of Europe in service of the Table and for their glittering brightnesse compared with silver-plate Terra admodum sterilis fructum magis ex cultorum industria quam ex sua bonitate praebet sed fert uberius plumbum nigrum album hoc est stannum in quo effodiendo maximè consistit vita incolarum Polyd. Verg. Angl. Hist. l. 1. The Kings of England and Dukes of Cornwall in their times have reserved to themselves a praeemption of Tinne by the opinion of the learned in the Law as well in regard of the Propriety as being chief Lords and Proprietaries as of their Royal Prerogative Not only Tin is here found but therewith also Gold and Silver yea and Dyamonds shaped and pointed angle-wise smoothed also by Nature it self whereof some are as big as Wall-nuts and inferiour to the orient Dyamonds in blacknesse and hardnesse only So plentifull is this Countrey of grain although not without great toil of the Husbandman that it hath not only sufficient to maintain it self but also affordeth often times great store of Corn into Spain Besides a most rich Revenue and Commodity they have by those little Fishes that they call Pilchards which swarming as one would say in mighty great skuls about the shores from July unto November are there taken garbaged falted hanged in the smoke laid up pressed and by infinite numbers carried over into France Spain and Italy unto which Countreys they be very good chaffer and right welcome merchandize and are there named Fumados Michael a Cornish Poet and of Rhymers in his time the chies hath these Verses of Cornwall Non opus est ut opes numerem quibus est opulenta Et per quas inopes sustentat non opulenta Piscibus stanno nusquam tam fertilis ora The people thre are civil valiant hardy well pitcht in stature brawny and strong limbed such as for wrestling to speak nothing of that manly exercise and feat of hurling the Ball which they use so farre excell that for slight and clean strength together they justly winne the prize and praise from other Nations in that behalf Godolphin-Hill right famous for plentifull veins of Tin but much more renowned in regard of the Lords thereof bearing the same name who with their vertues have equalled the ancientnesse of that House and Linage That name in the Cornish Language came of a white Eagle and this Family hath anciently born for their Arms in a Shield Gules an Aegle displayed Argent between three Flower-deluces of the same Shield Falemouth-Haven is as noble as Brundusium it self in Italy of exceeding great capacity for it is able to receive an hundred Ships which may ride therein so apart by themselves that out of never an one of them the top of anothers Mast can be seen and most safe withall under the wind by reason that it is enclosed on every side with brims of high rising banks The Gullet on either hand as well for the defence and safety of the place as for terrour to enemies is fortified with Block-houses to wit the Castle of Maudit Eastward and toward the West the Fort Pendinaes both built by King Henry the Eighth Foy a Town most renowned in former ages for Sea fights which the very Arms of the Town do witnesse as being compounded of the Cinque-ports Arms Padstow a pretty Market Town so called short for Petrockstow of one Petroch a Britan canonized a Saint by the people who spent his dayes here in the service of God Edward the Third erected Cornwall into a Dukedome and invested Edward his Sonne
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
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
painted and the word Tain signifying a Nation the Britains used to discolour and paint their bodies that they might seem more terrible in the eyes of their enemies Camden in his Britannia p. 26 27. seems rather to incline to this Etymology Brith signifieth blew-coloured sc. with woad hence Britons The Greeks gave to this Isle the name Albion for difference sake Seeing they have in fabulous wise named Italy Hesperia of Hesperus the sonne of Atlas France Gallatia of a sonne of Polyphemus I cannot otherwise believe but in the same vein also of fabling they called this Island Albion of Albion Neptunes sonne which thing Perottus and Lilius Giraldus have put down in writing Unlesse a man would derive it rather of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which as Festus witnesseth in Greek signifieth white whence the Alpes also have their appellation for it is environed with white Rocks England is called Albion ab albis rupibus whereby it is specially conspicuous So was an Isle in the Indian-Sea called Leucas white Seld. on Drayt. Polyolb Song first This Etymology is disliked by Lhoyd but defended by Sir John Price in his Defence of the British History England bears a great sway in the affairs of Europe Speed in his Chronicle saith The great affairs of Europe mainly depended upon the Directions of Queen Elizabeth who sitting at the Helm of the Ship arbitrated and guided their estates both in Peace and Warre See more there to this purpose in his 9th Book chap. 24. p. 880. The English have been very helpfull to the Netherlands in their warres and atchievers of the greatest exploits amongst them Heinsius in his Oration made after the taking of the Busse saith Anglorum sanguine stat haec respublica This Commonwealth stands by the bloud of the English The first of all Provinces this Island of Britain by common consent received the Christian Faith The glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ saith Gildas Albanius surnamed the Wise the most ancient of our British Historians which first appeared to the world in the later time of Tiberius Caesar did even then spread his bright beams upon this frozen Island of Britain And it is generally received for a truth that Joseph of Arimathea laid the foundation of our faith at Glastenbury He that hath written of Honour Military and Civil lib. 4. cap. 19. saith The chief place of Honour and Precedency in Europe appertaineth to the Kings of England And one of the reasons he gives is Because the King and people of England received the Gospel and Christian Faith before France or Spain There have been more Kings and Princes of the Bloud Royal Confessors and Martyrs in England than in any one Province in Europe Fasciculus temporis See Gainsfords Glory of England Chap. 21. 27. concerning our famous Kings here and of famous Kings and Princes that came hither Claudia Rufina of the British Nation is celebrated by the Apostle Paul and also by Martial It is apparent that this Island had the first Christian King in the world and clearly in Europe If priority of time swayed it and not custome derived from a communicable attribute given by the Popes that name of Most Christian should better fit our Sovereigns than the French Vide Polyd. Verg. Angl. Hist. l. 2. p. 41. We had also the first Christian Emperour Constantine The first King that ever renounced the Popes Supremacy was King Henry the Eighth The first King that ever wrote against the Pope to prove him to be the Antichrist was King James England hath been an Asylum for the distressed Protestants of other Countreys The Armes of England are three Lions passant gold in a field gewls The Lion signifies fortitude and generosity Three Flour-delices were since that time annexed thereto by Edward the Third by reason of his claime to the Crown of France The State is Monarchical A Kingdom of a perfect and happy composition wherein the King hath his full Prerogative the Nobles all due respects and the People amongst other blessings perfect in this that they are masters of their own purposes and have a strong hand in the making of their own Laws Of all Seniories in the world that I know the Realme of England is the Countrey where the Commonwealth is best governed the People least oppressed and the fewest buildings and houses destroyed in Civil Warre and the lot of misfortune falleth upon them that be authours of the Warre Phil. de Commin Hist. l. 5. c. 18. England is not subject to Imperial and Romane Lawes as other Kingdoms are but retaineth her ancient Laws It is governed by the Municipal or Common Law a Law proper to the Nation The Commonalty of England is the best Commonalty in the world and the best Infantry or Foot-souldiers in whom the principal strength of an Army consists It was once the saying That the Husbandry and Yeomandry of England were the freest men in the world The Merchant of England surpasseth all other Nations See Gainsfords Glory of England ch. 26. England aboundeth with all sorts of Cattel except Asses Mules Camels and Elephants No Countrey yeeldeth such plenty of Beeves and Sheep A Countrey alwayes most temperate The Air is thick and so it is much subject to winds clouds and rain and therefore in regard of the thicknesse of the Air it is neither opprest with too much heat or too much cold It is somewhat cloudy Gundamore being here bid the Spanish Post when he came to Spain commend him to the Sunne for he had not seen him a great while and in Spain he should be sure to find him The Ocean which beateth upon the Coast of this Island aboundeth with all manner of Fish There are no where in all the world either more dainty Oisters or greater store The soil is fruitfull in Mines of Lead Iron Tin and other Minerals especially it abounds in Coal a necessary and rich Commodity It is replenished also with all sorts of Grain with Medows and Pastures in which innumerable flocks of Cattel feed Cardan exhorted Edward the Sixth to plant Olives and was fully perswaded they would prosper in this Island Many places in Glocestershire and elsewhere in England are called Vineyards seeing it hath afforded Wine and surely it may seem to proceed rather from the Inhabitants idlenesse than any distemperature and indisposition of the Aire that it yeeldeth none at this day Camd. Brit. in Glocestershire In Hantshire he saith We had Vines in Britain since Probus the Emperours time rather for shade than fruit The People are tall of stature well-favoured and fair countenanced for the most part gray-eyed The women most fair and beautifull do go very decently and comely attired We feed mostwhat on flesh The drink which we use and do make of malt is in deed very good wholsome and pleasant There are more Parks Forests Chases in England than are found in all Christendom
beside At this day there are 9285. Parishes in the Kingdom There is in no place of the world greater and larger Dogs nor better Hounds That the British Hounds and Mastives excell those of other Nations See Burtons Comment on Antoninus Itin. pag. 219 220. Of all the Doggs in Europe ours bear the name They were in most request both for those baitings in the Amphitheaters and also in all other publick huntings among the Romanes Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni Claudian The Cock is a bold and stout Bird and will fight valiantly with his adversaries and presently crows when he obtains victory See Pliny lib. 29. cap. 4. The Cocks also there give not over the fight till death parts them There are three principal Rivers in England Thames in the South-East Severn in the South-West Trent a Northern River Isis the principal and Prince of all the English Rivers afterward entertaineth Tame and by a compound word is called Tamesis His ita compositis hinc Plantageneta regressus Fluctibus aequoreis trajectis venit in arcem Urbis Londini quam praeterlabitur amnis Piscosus Thamesis famae celeberrimus inter Albionis rivos Oclandi Anglorum Praelia The Thames swelleth with the accesse of the flowing tide of the Sea about Lx Italian miles by water from his mouth Neither to my knowledge is there any other River in all Europe that for so many miles within Land feeleth the violence of the Ocean forcing and rushing in upon it and so driving back and with-holding his waters to the exceeding great commodity of the Inhabitants bordering thereupon The second River of England is Severn the head of it is the Hill Plinlimon in Montgomery-shire He slowly wandereth through this Shire Shropshire Worcestershire and last of all Glocestershire infusing a certain vital moisture into the soil every where as he passeth untill at length he mildely dischargeth himself into the Severn-sea Trent by his due right challengeth to himself the third place among all the Rivers of England It runneth out of two Fountains being neer neighbours together in the North part of Staffordshire among the Moors Certain unskilfull and idle headed have dreamed that it was so named of Trente a French word which signifieth Thirty and thereupon also have feigned that thirty Rivers runne into it and as many kinds of fishes live therein We have more glorious Universities Colledges Schools and Churches than any Nation of the world There are two famous Universities in England Oxford and Cambridge Five great Schools in England Westminster Eaton Winchester Pauls and Merchant-Taylors School For Churches Doctor Heylin in his Geography shews which are the best It is famous beyond Seas also for its fine Wooll which is our golden Fleece The most considerable Ports on the East-side of the Island are New-castle Hull Lynne Yarmouth Harwich Colchester Sandwich on the South-side lies Plymouth on the West Chester Our Language consists partly of French Danish Saxon and Pictish Language The English-Saxon Tongue came in by the English-Saxons out of Germany who valiantly and wisely performed here all the three things which imply a full conquest viz. the alteration of Lawes Language and Attire Camd. Remains He saith also there that our Tongue is as copious pithy and significative as any other Tongue in Europe There is in English as true strains of Eloquence as strong and fine expressions as elaborate and solid pieces of fancy as in any Language whatsoever Howels Instruct for Travel Sect. 12. George commonly called St. George was the Patron both of our Nation and of the most honourable Order of Knighthood in the world The first and last Heresie that ever troubled this Island was inbred by Pelagius but that was amongst the Britons and was suppressed by the zeal of the Saxons who liked nothing of the British breed and for whose sake it suffered more happly then for the foulnesse of the opinion The sweating sicknesse call'd for the propriety by which it seized on the English Nation chiefly Sudor Anglicus It followed onely Englishmen in forrain Countreys no other people infected therewith There is a good course taken to secure this Land from forreigne Invasion by burning of Beacons Beacon of the old word Beacnian that is to shew by a signe for these many hundred years they have been in great request and much used among us in some places by heaping up a deal of wood in others by barrels full of pitch fastened to the top of a Mast or Pole in the highest places of the Countrey at which by night some do alwayes watch that by burning the pitch the enemies coming may be shewed to all the neighbour inhabitants This Realme was first divided into Circuits by King Henry the Second who appointed twice in the year that two of the most grave and learned Judges of the Land should in each Circuit administer Justice in the chief or head Towns of every Countrey Of these Judges one sitteth on matters criminal concerning the life and death of malefactours the other in actions personal concerning Title of Lands Debts or the like between party and party The first Circuit heretofore did comprehend the Counties of Wilts Somerset Devon and Southampton The second contained the Counties of Oxford Berks Glocester Munmouth Hereford Worcester Salop and Stafford The third had in it the Counties of Surrey Kent Essex and Hartford The fourth consisted of the Shires of Buckingham Bedford Huntingdon Cambridge Norfolk and Suffolk The fifth of the Shires of Northampton Rutland Lincoln Nottingham Darby Leicester and Warwick The sixth and last of the Shires of York Durham Northumberland Cumberland Westmerland and Lancaster So that in these six Circuits are numbered thirty eight Shires The two remaining are Middlesex and Cheshire whereof the first is exempted because of its vicinity to London and the second as being a County Palatine and having peculiar Judges and Counsellors to it self The seven Kingdoms Kent South-Saxia West-Saxie East-Saxia Northumberland Mercia and East-Anglia were governed by so many several Kings Ethelbert was King of Kent Sebert of East-Saxon Erpenwald of the East-Angle Edwine of Northumberland Kingill of West-Saxon Peada of Mercia Ethelwolf of the South-Saxon King Alfred ordained the Division of Shires Hundreâ—… and * Tithings that every Englishman living legally might be of a certain Hundred or Tithing out of which he was not to remove without security There are one and fourty Shires in England every Shire consisting of so many Hundreds and every Hundred of a number of Boroughs Villages or Tithings England was divided into seven Kingdomes by the Saxons after into Provinces Shires or Shares and Countreys by Alured In these Shires there is appointed in troublesome times a Deputy under the King to see that the Commonwealth sustain no hurt Now every year some one of the Gentlemen Inhabitants is made Ruler of the County wherein he
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
and Commonwealth there ariseth a most plentifull increase of right learned men In this Colledge one Warden ten Fellows two Schoolmasters threescore and ten Scholars with divers others are plentifully maintained Potesmouth that is the mouth of the Haven A place always in time of warre well frequented It is fortified with a Wall made of Timber and the same well covered over with thick Banks of earth There is nothing wanting that a man would require in a most strong and fenced place Of the Garison Souldiers some keep watch and ward both night and day at the Gates Others upon the Tower of the Church who by the ringing or sound of a Bell give warning how many Horse or Foot are coming and by putting forth a Banner shew from what Quarter they come Basing stoke a Mercat Town well frequented Basing is near it the Seat of the Marquesses of Winchester Odiam a Borough corporate belonging in times past to the Bishop of Winchester William Lilie the great Grammarian was born here He was the first Master of Pauls School There are in this Shire two hundred and fifty three Parishes eighteen Market Towns and forty Hundreds To this County of Southampton belongeth the Isle of Wight Vecta or Vectis Insula This Isle between East and West in an old form stretcheth out twenty miles in length and spreadeth in the midst which is broadest twelve miles So Camden Leland saith it is ten miles broad The Ground to say nothing of the Sea full of Fish consisteth of a very fruitfull soil it breeds every where store of Coneys Hares Partridges and Pheasants It hath one little Forest and two Parks replenished with Deer for game and hunting pleasure Through the midst thereof runnes a long tract of Hils yeelding plenty of Pasture and Forrage for Sheep The Wooll of which next unto that of Lemster and Cotteswold is esteemed best and in special request with Clothiers whereby there groweth to the Inhabitants much gaine and profit There are thirty six Towns Villages and Castles which for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction belonged to the Bishop of Winchester and for Civil Government to the County of South-hanton It armeth four thousand men exercised by their Captains The Inhabitants of this Isle were wont merrily to make their boast That their case was happier than all others because they had neither hooded Monks nor cavilling Lawyers nor yet crafty Foxes Newport is the principal Mercat Town of the whole Isle Caresbrook an old Castle is in the very heart and midst of the Isle Brading a Mercat Town Newton and Yarmouth have their Maiors and send Burgesses to the Parliament Sauham-Castle The Inhabitants of the Isle being naturally most warlike bold and adventurous are through the diligence and care of the Captain of the Isle confirmed so by continual exercise in strength and military Discipline that they exactly know before-hand with their Peeces to shoot point-blank and not misse the Mark to keep their ranks to march orderly and in ray to cast their squadrons if need be close into a ring to display and spread the same at large to take pains to runne and ride to endure both Sunne and dust and fully to performe whatsoever warfare doth require Of these Souldiers thus trained the Isle it self is able to bring forth into the field four thousand and at the instant for all assayes appointed there are three thousand more of most expert and practised Souldiers out of Hantshire and two thousand beside out of Wiltshire to be ever prest and in readinesse for the defence of the Isle That all hostile Forces whatsoever might be withstood more speedily and with greater facility the whole Countrey is divided into eleven parts and every of them hath their several Centoner or Centurion their Vinton also Leaders as it were of twenty their great peeces of Ordnance their Sentinels and Warders who keep Watch and Ward at the Beacons standing on the higher grounds their Posts also or Runners whom by an old name grown almost out of use they terme still Hoblers who presently give intelligence of all occurrents to the Captain and Governour of the Isle Vespasian was the first that brought it into subjection whiles he served as a private person under Claudius Caesar This Isle had a noble Family named De Insula or Lisle out of which in the Reign of King Edward the Second one was summoned unto the Parliament by the name of Sir John Lisle of the Isle of Wight Herefordshire THis County lieth round in compasse as it were a Circle it is bounded on the East-side with Worcester and Glocestershire on the South with Monmouthshire on the West-side with Radnoc and Brecknotshire and on the North with Shropshire For three W. W. W. Wheat Wooll and Water * it yeeldeth to no Shire of England This Countrey is reputed the Orchard of England From the greatest persons to the poorest cottager all habitations are encompassed with Orchards and Gardens and in most places the hedges are enriched with rows of Fruit-trees Pears or Apples Gennet-moyles or Crab-trees Worcestershire is more proper for Pears and Cherries Herefordshire for Apples Herefordshire Orchards a Patern for all England By J. B. Bradwardin-Castle gave both original and name to that famous Thomas Bradwardin Archbishop of Canterbury who for his variety of knowledge and profound Learning was in that age termed The profound Doctor Hereford is the chief City of the Shire it is seated among most pleasant Medows and as plentifull Corn-fields compassed almost round about with Rivers On the North-side and the West with one that hath no name on the South-side with Wye which hasteneth hither out of Wales Lemster upon the River Lug. The greatest name and fame that it hath at this day is of the Wooll in the Territories round about it Lemster Ore they call it which setting aside that of Apulia and Tarentum all Europe counteth to be the very best Where lives the man so dull on Britains furthest shore To whom did never sound the name of Lemster Ore That with the Silk-worms web for smalnesse doth compare Wherein the winder shews his workmanship so rare As doth the Fleece excell and mocks her looser clew As neatly bottom'd up as Nature forth it drew Of each in high'st accompt and reckoned here as fine As there th' Appulian Fleece or dainty Tarentyne Draytons Polyolbion 7th Song In Apulia and the upper Calabria of Italy the Wool hath been famous for finest excellence insomuch that for preserving it from the injury of earth bushes and weather the Shepherds used to clothe their Sheep with skins and indeed was so chargeable in these and other kind of pains about it that it scarce requites the cost Seld. Illustrat of Drayt. Polyolb Brameyard upon the River Frome Ledbury under Malvern-Hils It is also so renowned for Wheat and Bread of the finest Flour that Lemster Bread and Weabley Ale are grown unto a common Proverb By reason of these Commodities the Mercates at Lemster were
so frequented that they of Hereford and Worcester complaining that the confluence of people thither impaired their Mercates procured that by Royal Authority the Mercat day was changed There are an hundred and seventy six Parishes eight Market Towns and an eleven Hundreds in this County Hertfordshire FAmous for a good Air and fair Houses of Gentlemen and Wheat It lieth on the East and partly on the South-side of Bedfordshire The West-side is enclosed with Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire the South with Middlesex the East with Essex and the North with Cambridgeshire A rich Countrey in Corn Fields Pastures Medows Woods Groves and clear Riverets There is scarcely another Shire in all England that can shew more good Towns in so small a compasse In Ware in this County there is 1. The Head of the River that runs into Tames 2. A great Bed which is about three yards at least every way about at both the sides and ends Roiston a Town well known it is very famous and passing much frequented for Malt. It parts four Shires Cambridgeshire Bedfordshire Hertfordshire and Huntingtonshire Ashwell The Well or Fountain among the ashes where there is a source of the springs bubling out of a stony bank overshadowed on every side with tall ashes from whence there floweth at certain Veins continually running such store of water that forthwith being carried within banks it carrieth a stream able to drive a Mill and all of a sudden as it were groweth to a good big River Whethamssed a Town plentifull in Wheat whence it took its name which place John of Whethamsted there born and thereof named a man in King Henry the Sixth his dayes much renowned by his due desert of learning made of more estimation Bishops-Hatfield in times past belonging to the Bishops of Ely whence it was named Bishops-Hatfield which John Morton Bishop of Ely re-edified The Earle of Salisbury hath an House there There were seven Parks in the Mannor of Hatfield Hertford it hath given name to the whole County and is reputed the Shire Town it is ancient Hodesdon a fair thorow fare Saint-Albans It was famous for nothing so much as bringing forth Alban a Citizen of singular holinesse and faith in Christ who when Dioclesian went about by exquisite torments to wipe Christian Religion quite out of the memory of men was the first in Britain that with invincible constancy and resolution suffered death for Christ his sake Whereupon he is called our Stephen and the Protomartyr of Britain Fortunatus Presbyter the Poet wrote thus of him Albanum egregium faecunda Britannia profert Fruitfull Britain bringeth forth Alban a Martyr of high worth The Abbey of St. Albans was the first of England whether because Adrian the Fourths Father called Breakspear was Monk there or from Saint Alban himself Proto-martyr of England This Town was raised out of the ruins of Verolamium it is a fair and large Town Redborne or Red water is seated upon that common and military high-way which we call Watling-street Hamsted a little Mercat Town called Hehan Hamsted situate among the the Hils by a Riveret-side Kings-Langley in which was born and thereof tooke name Edmund Langley King Edward the Third his Sonne and Duke of York Over against Kings-Langley in a manner there is Abbots-Langley so called because it belonged to the Abbots of St. Albanes wherein was born Nicholas surnamed Breakspear afterwards Bishop of Rome known by the name of Pope Hadrian the fourth whose breath was stopped in the end with a Flie that flew into his mouth Watford a Mercat Town Welwen Here the murder of the Danes began when they were generally murdered and it was so called because the weal of that Countrey as was then thought was there first wone But who well considers the sequele of the story shall find little weal that ensued of this deed Graftons Chron. Rickemausworth also a Mercat Town Caishobery Here Sir Richard Merisin Knight a great learned man and who had been used in Embassages to the mightiest Princes under King Henry the Eighth and King Edward the Sixth began to build an House which Sir Charles his Sonne finished Bernet famous for the Beast Mercat there kept This County hath an hundred and twenty Parishes eight Hundreds and eighteen Market Towns Huntingdonshire IT confineth Northward and Eastward upon Cambridgeshire Southward upon Bedfordshire Westward upon Northamptonshire A Countrey good for Corn and Tillage and toward the East where it is fenny very right and plentifull for the feeding of Cattel elswhere right pleasant by reason of rising Hils and shady Groves Kimbolton Saint-Neots commonly called Saint-Needs so named of one Neotus a man both learned and holy who travailed all his life time in propagating of Christian Religion Ainsbury it was named Ainulphsbury of one Almulph likewise an holy and devout man which name continueth still also in one part of it Huntingdon in the publick Seale Huntersdune Leland cals it Venantodunum the Hill or down of Hunters This is the chief Town of all this Shire to which it hath given also the name Godmanchester a very great Countrey Town and of as great name for Tillage situate in an open ground of a light mould and bending for the Sunne There is not a Town in all England which hath more stout and lusty Husbandmen or more Ploughs a going For they make their boast that they have in former time received the Kings of England as they passed in their progresse this way with ninescore Ploughs brought forth in a rustical kinde of pomp for a gallant shew When King James came first into England here the Bailiffs of the Town presented him with seventy Teem of Horses all traced to fair new Ploughs in shew of their Husbandry of which when his Majesty demanded the reason he was answered That it was their ancient Custome whensoever any King of England passed thorow their Town so to present him Besides they added That they held their Lands by that Tenure being the Kings Tenants His Majesty took it well and bad them use well their Ploughes being glad he was Land-lord of so many good Husbandmen in one Town Saint-Ives of Ivo a Persian Bishop who as they write about the year of Christ 600 travelled thorow England preached diligently the Word of God and to this Town wherein he left this life left also his name Ramsey a wealthy Abbey In this little Shire are numbred seventy eight Parishes four Hundreds and six Market Towns Kent THis name Cantium and the name Kent was given by reason of the form and situation The Helvetian Countreys were called by the French Cantons This Countrey by the old Geographers is called Angulus an angle or corner of Land Or of the British word Cainc they call their great woody Forest in Staffordshire yet Kanc. It is the pleasantest Countrey of England This Region extendeth it self in length from West to East fifty miles and from South to North six and twenty The upper part
crooked limit from Essex on the East with the River Lea from Surrey and Kent on the South by the Thames It is a small Shire in length not twenty miles in circuit not above seventy miles yet for the fertility thereof it may compare with any other Shire for the soil is excellent fat fertile and full of profit Nordens Speculum Britaniae For Air passing temperate and for soyl fertile with sumptuous houses and pretty Towns on all sides pleasantly beautified and every where offereth to the view many things memorable Uxbridge full of Innes it stretcheth out in length Harrow-hill the highest Hill of all this Country under which Southward there lie for a long way together exceeding rich and fruitfull fields especially about Heston a small Village that yeeldeth so fine flour for manchet that a long time it hath served for the Kings mouth Hampton-Court a Royal Palace of the Kings a work of admirable magnificence built out of the ground by Thomas Wolsey Cardinal in ostentation of his riches It was enlarged and finished by King Henry the Eighth so amply as it containeth within it five several inner Courts passing large environed with very fair buildings wrought right curiously and goodly to behold The neatest pile of all the Kings houses Godwins Annal. It is called Hampton-Court Hampton of the Parish of Hampton which standeth not farre thence Court in regard of the Majesty and princely beauty There are two Parks the one of Deer the other of Hares Nordens Speculum Britaniae Thistleworth or Isleworth Brentford a fair thorow-fare and frequent Mercat Fulham the place of Fowls where the Bishop of Londons house was Chelsey a place garnished with fair and stately houses London * the Epitome or Breviary of all Britain the seat of the British Empire and the King of Englands chamber King Luds re-edifying Troinovant first built by Brute and from thence leaving the name of Caer Lud afterwards turned as they say into London is not unknown scarce to any that hathbut lookt on Ludgates inner Frontispiece Seld. Illustrat of the eighth Song of Drayt. Polyolb Georgius Braun or Bruin in his Theatrum Praecipuarum totius mundi urbium in three great Volumes in Folio mentions London in the first place of his first Volume Sir Robert Dallington in his view of France comparing the City of Paris with London saith That Paris is the greater the fairer built and the better situate London is the richer the more populous the more ancient Howell in his Londinopolis makes a parallel of it with the other great Cities of the world and so doth Gainsford in his Glory of England lib. 2. ch. 17. For the space of above one thousand five hundred fourscore and six years it hath flourished more for the statelinesse and magnificence of her goodly buildings for the large extent of her bounds and jurisdiction for the Religion and civility of her Inhabitants for the Wisdome and Honour of her Magistrates for the profession of Arms all good Letters and Arts not to speak of her Traffique and Commerce with all Countreys and Ports of the known world more than any other knowne City whatsoever throughout all Christendom Burtons Comment on Antonin his Itin. through Britain pag. 154 155. See more there and 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164. See also M. Calamy and M. Hardie his Sermon preacht before the Londoners Caput atque Metropolis totius insulae Trinovantum sive Londinium sive Londinum urbs potens amaena quam fluviorum Rex Thamesis pererrat Adolphi a Dans vita Elizabethae Quicquid habet miri Memphis pretiive Corinthus Illion antiquum Graecia magnificum Roma ecquid sanctum Campania deliciarum Subtile Hetrusci splendidulum Hesperii Quicquid opum Venetis doctrinae quicquid Athenis Metropolis Britonum dicat id omne suum Stradlingi Epig. l. 1. p. 1. Tacitus Ptolomee and Antonine call it Londinium Ammianus Lundinum and Augusta the Inhabitants London It is situate in a rich and fertile soyl abounding with plentifull store of all things and on the gentle ascent and rising of an Hill hard by the Thames side which by his safe and deep chanel able to entertain the greatest Ships that be daily bringeth in so great riches from all parts that it striveth at this day with the Mart Towns of Christendom for the second prize and affordeth a most sure and beautifull rode for shipping King James being displeased with the City because she would not lend him such a Summe of Money he told the Lord Maior and Aldermen one day That he would remove his own Court with all the Records of the Tower and the Courts of Westminster-Hall to another place with further expressions of his Indignation The Lord Maior calmly heard all and at last answered Your Majesty hath power to do what you please and your City of London will obey accordingly but she humbly desires that when your Majesty shall remove your Courts you would be pleased to leave the Thames behind you It is for Antiquity honourable Ammianus Marcellinus called it in his times and that was twelve hundred yeers ago an old Town and Cornelius Tacitus in like manner who lived in Nero his dayes 1540. years since reported it to have been a place very famous for fresh trade concourse of Merchants and great store of victuals and all things necessary The Tower of London a most famous and goodly Citadel encompassed round about with thick and strong Wals full of lofty and stately Turrets fenced with a broad and deep ditch furnished also with an Armoury or Magazine of warlike Munition and other buildings besides so as it resembleth a big Town The Tower containeth a Kings Palace a Kings Prison a Kings Armoury a Kings Mint a Kings Wardrobe a Kings Artillery Gainsford In the yeer 1235. Frederick the Emperour sent to Henry the Third three Leopards in token of his Regal Shield of Arms wherein three Leopards were pictures since which time those Lions and others have been kept in a part of this Bulwark now called the Lions Tower and their Keeper there lodged Stows Survey of London There are twelve chief Companies out of which the Lord Maior is to be annually chosen Twelve Innes ordained for Students of our Common Law whereof four being very fair and large belong to the Judicial Courts the rest unto the Chancery Herein such a number of young Gentlemen do so painfully ply their Books and study the Law that for frequency of Students it is not inferiour either to Angiers Cane or Orleans it self as Sir John Fortescue in his small Treatise of the Laws of England doth witnesse The said four principal Houses are the Inner-Temple the Middle-Temple Grayes-Inne and Lincolns-Inne John Leland the famous Antiquary was born in London Bishop Andrews Mr. Gataker M. Calamy Sir Thomas More Chaucer Edmund Spenser the famous English Poets were born in London If any City in the world may at this day be called as Jerusalem
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
and the strongest hold in all Britain It is well neer compassed about with the Sea and Twede together Upon the West parts of Northumberland the Picts-Wall is in some of the waste ground the Wall is to be seen of great height and almost whole The Roman Britains being continually molested by the often incursions of the barbarous people called Picts The Emperour Severus built a Wall of stone with great wisdome and industry to strengthen the Northern parts of Britain against the many inrodes of the Picts At every miles end of this Wall was a Tower and in the Wall a Pipe of Mettal betwixt the Tower or Sentinel-houses that so soon as a man had set his mouth to this Pipe they might hear through all the Sentinels where the enemy was and so in a short time giving warning from one end of the Wall to the other There are about fourty six Parishes in Northumberland Oxfordshire ON the West-side it joyneth upon Glocestershire on the South which way it runneth out farthest in breadth it is dissevered from Barkshire by the River Isis or Tamis Eastward it bordereth upon Buckinghamshire and Northward where it endeth pointed in manner of a Cone or Pineapple hath Northamtonshire of one side and Warwickshire on the otherside confining with it It is a fertile Countrey and plentifull wherein the plains are garnished with Corn-fields and Medows the Hils beset with Woods stored in every place not only with Corn and Fruits but also with all kind of Game for Hound or Hawk and well watered with fish-full Rivers Hoch-Norton for the rustical behaviour of the Inhabitants in the age afore-going it grew to be a Proverb when folk would say of one rudely demeaning himself and unmannerly after an Hoggish kind That he was born at Hocknorton Woodstock a woody place Here is one of the Kings Houses full of state and magnificence built by King Henry the First who adjoyned also thereunto a very large Park compassed round about with a stone wall which John Rosse writeth to have been the first Park in England Our Historians report that King Henry the Second being enamoured upon Rosamond Clifford a Damsel so fair so comely and well-favoured without comparison that her beauty did put all other women out of the Princes mind insomuch as she was termed Rosa mundi the Rose of the world and to hide her out of the sight of his jealous Juno the Queen he built a Labyrinth in this House with many inextricable windings backward and forward which notwithstanding is no where to be seen at this day She was buried at Godstow with this Epitaph in Rhyme Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi non Rosa munda Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet The Town it self having nothing at all to shew glorieth yet in this that Jeffrey Chaucer our English Homer was there bred and brought up Banbury a fair large Town It is famous for Cheese and Cakes Hanwell where the Family of Cope hath flourished many yeers in great and good esteem Broughton the seat of my Lord Say and Sele Islip the native place of that King Edward whom for his religious piety and continency our Ancestours and the Popes vouchsafed the name of Edward the Confessor Oxford a fair and goodly City whether a man respect the seemly beauty of private houses or the stately magnificence of publick buildings together with the wholsome site or pleasant prospect thereof It was from its situation in ancient times called Bello situm Isidis vadum Saxonice Ouseford Ousenford corrupte Oxford Historia circumfertur adfirmans hanc urbem olim ab amaenitate sitûs Bellositum dictum fuisse Joannes Rossus hinc edoctus hoc idem affirmat Let. Comment in Cygn. Cant. Oxoniensis Universitas Schola secunda Ecclesiae imo Ecclesiae fundamentum Matthew Paris Hist. Angl. pag. 945. In the Councel of Vienna it was ordained that there should be erected Schools for the Hebrew Greek Arabick and Chaldaean Tongues in the studies of Paris Oxford Bonony and Salamanca as the most famous of all others to the end that the knowledge of these Tongues might by effectual instruction be throughly learned Here are 17 Colledges and 7 Hals Dorchester a Town known in times past to the Romans Vide Lel. Commentin Cygn. Cant. Henley upon Tamis The Inhabitants of it for the most part are watermen This County containeth two hundred and eighty Parish Churches Richmondshire IT takes the name from a Castle Most of it lieth very high with ragged Rocks and swelling Mountains whose sloping sides in some places bear good Grasse the bottom and Valleys are not altogether unfruitfull The Hils themselves within are stored with Lead Pit-coal and Copper Nappa an house built with Turrets and the chief seat of the Medcalfs thought to be not long since the greatest Family for multitude of the same name in all England For I have heard that Sir Christopher Medcalf Knight and the top of this kindred being of late High-Sheriff of the Shire accompanied with three hundred men of the same House all on Horse-back and in a Livery met and received the Justices of Assizes and so brought them to York So Camden Bolton-Castle a stately Castle Richmond the chief Town of the Countrey well peopled and frequented Hourby-Castle There are contained in this Shire an hundred and four Parishes besides Chappels Rutlandshire IT is the least County of all England Lying in form almost round like a circle it is in compasse so farre about as a Light-horsman will ride in one day It was called Rutland as one would say Red-land the Earth in this Shire is every where red and so red that even the Sheeps fleeces are thereby coloured red the English-Saxons called Red in their tongue Roet and Rud. Uppingham a place upon an high ascent whence that name was imposed a well frequented Mercat Town The Vale of Catmose a field full of Woods Okeham is in the midst of it so called from Oaks This small Shire hath Parish Churches fourty eight Shropshire ON the East-side it hath Staffordshire on the West Mongomeryshire and Denbighshire on the South-side Worcester Hereford and Radnorshires and on the North Cheshire It is replenished with Towns and Castles standing thick on every side in regard of repelling and repressing the Welshmen in the Marches bordering hereupon Whence our Ancestours by an ancient word named the Confines of this Shire toward Wales the Marches because they were Bounds and Limits between the Welsh and English and divers Noblemen in this Tract were called Barons of the March and Lords Marchers who had every one in their Territory a certain peculiar jurisdiction and in their own Courts ministred Law unto the Inhabitants with sundry Priviledges and Immunities Bishops-Castle so called because it belonged to the Bishops of Hereford whose Diocesse and Jurisdiction was large in this Shire Clun-Castle so called from the River Clun Ludlow it standeth upon an Hill a Town
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
command the fire-crosse to be carried an ancient custome in cases of importance which was two fire-brands set in fashion of a Crosse and pitched upon the point of a spear Sir Richard Bakers Chron. in the Reigne of King Edward the 6th The Saxon Heptarchy This Island most flourished then and in the Conquerours time it was farre better inhabited then at the present * So named because there were ten persons in each of them whereof each was surety for others good abearing Lamberts Perambulat of Kent Totius Angliae de Aluredo Rege sic scribit Ingulphus Abbas Croulandensis pagos Provincias in comitatus primus omnium commutavit Comitatus in Centurias in decimas divisit ut omnis indigena legalis in aliqua centuria decima existeret Seldeni Janus Anglorum Abbay Town The vale of the white Horse is a very fruitfull vale and full of Gentry it is both in Barkshire and Wiltshire A very ancient Town and the best Town of all Barkshire Lelands Itinerary MS. to H. 8. Others say Abington New Windsore Oppidum antiquum nobile magnificum situ denique tam amaenum ut cum alio quocunque jure optimo de palma contendat quam mihi vel in ipso castri vertice quo sol splendidius sanè nihil aspicit decentissimè gestare videtur Lel. Comment in Cyg Cant. See Histoire d' Angle-terre Par Du Chesne l. 15. p. 670 671 672 Camd. Britanin Barkshire An Order verily of all the Orders of the Christian world if it be to be compared with any other most ancient and most famous Milles of Nobil. Polit. and Civil p. 88. The Order of the Garter exceeds in majesty honour and fame all chivalrous Orders in the world Selden Illustrat of Drayt. Polyolb 16th Song See more there and Lel. Com. in cygn. Cant. and Seld. Tit. of Hon. 4to pag. 363. Vir pugnacissimus Joannes Chandos Periscelidis eques primarius Gallisque propter summam virtutem sub Ed. 3. bellator notissimus Spelman Aspilogia Splendor loci omnis in scholae publica quam erexit Vindelisorae in alumnos Rexâ—longe pientior quam fortunatior Lelandi Comment in Cygneam Cantionem Bedfordia the River Ouse runs thorow the Town in the middest A tale of vain credit is reported of Dunstable that it was built to bridle the outragiousnesse of a thief named Dun by King Henry the First but certain it is the place was formerly held by the Romans Speed Yet Sir John Hayward in the Life of King Henry the First pag 282. saith Dun was a famous thief amongst others commander over the rest and of him the place was called Dunstable There is a Countrey in Germany bearing Beech-trees named Buchonia and with us a Town in Norfolk called Buckenham fruitfull of Beech Pontes in France and our Tunbrige and others are so called of Bridges Cambridge and Huntingtonshire have but one Sheriff * Sedes est Cathedra Episcopalis Ipsum solum fertilitate omnes alias Angliae regiones adaequat plerasque superat pascua succulento virent gramine agri denso laetantur segete prata aquis irrigua luxuriant Sed alia est ubertas nobilior in qua mihitriumphare videtur triginta concionatores simul floruerunt qui ex oppido solo natales suos derivarent quod de nulla alia civitate Londino excepto affirmari posse credo Willeti Epistola Dedicat. ad lib. 2. Samuelis Vide plura ibid. It begins on the 8th of September and lasts about a fortnight It is called Sturbridge-Fair Cheshire chief of men Lancashire fair women King of Cheshire Yet Banchor is in Flintshire * It is chiefly one street of very mean building Lel. Itin. Cestria Episcopalis magnifica celeberrima Angliae urbs amplitudine superbo aedificiorum nitore cultissimorum hortorum elegantia commendata duo passuum millia in circuitu colligit Ecclesias Parochiales novem Cathedralem elegantem exhibet praeter loca alia sacra ut hospitalia nosocomia religioni nuncupata Georgius Bruin theat. Vrbium praecipuarum totius mundi Salinae Anglicè The Wiches videlicet Nantovicum Nortovicum Dirtovicum in quibus locis sal purissimus conficitur Leland Cheshire excelleth for white salt not only all other Shires in England but also all other Countreys beyond the Seas King of Cheshire A rebus of a Brier and a Tun Adlington the chief seat of that race of Leighs of Adlington which is one of the great names of Gentry in this County whereof these have had a very ancient continuance here from many Knights and Esquires down to the present owner Sir Vrian Leigh Knight King of Cheshire In Richard the Seconds reign this was Ancestor of Sr Peter Leigh of Lime in Cheshire that now is Cornwallia The farthest Shire of England westwards so called from Cornu Galliae being cast out into the Sea with the shape of a Horn Carews Surveigh of Cornwall Vide Polyd. Verg. Camden in the close of Cornwall commends that Carew and acknowledgeth he received much light from his Description of this Countrey The Cornish are a race of men stout of stomack mighty of body and limb which live hardly in a barren countrey Sr Francis Bacon in his Hist. of H. 7th The places every where bear British names Black-lead is also found there Two other Hils in that Tract In Latine Carleolum It flourished in the time of the Romans as divers tokens of Antiquity now and then digged up there and the famous mention of it in those dayes do sufficiently prove The foundation of it was laid by young men and maids and part of it built by them as appears in letters there on the Steeple In Anglia est Castrum quod dicitur Pech in quodam monte situm in cujus montis latere est foramen apertum de quâ— sicut de quad am fistula ventus non modicus saepe spirat cujus Dominus dictus Gulielmus Penerelli cum in animalibus dives esset subulcus ejus unam gravidam suem in pascuis amisisset pro ipsa quaerenda dictum foramen intravit quod tamen nec dum aliquis perscrutatus fuerat Cum ergo per opaca foraminis percurrisset tandem in locum lucidum devenit scilicet in Camporum planitiem spatiosam ad quam ingressus Messores colligentes maturas segetes reperit inter quos suem perditam quae suculas ediderat adinvenit Habito ergo verbo cum praeposito terrae illius scropham recepit dimissus ab illis ipsam nove grege per idem soramen ad domum Domini sui reduxit Mira res ait Gervasius qui apparet Anglicus fuisse vel multum in Anglia commoratus de messibus subtèrraneis venerat in nostro hemispherio hyemalia frigora videt Pet. Berchor Deduct Moral De Anglia In Latine Devonia Devonia nobilium ingeniorum ferax Camd. The commodities of this shire Cloath Kerfies Lead Silver Loadstone At the mouth of
pingues pecudes in macellis veniunt ut non modo universum Cantium hujus locis commoda sentiat verum etiam civitas Londinum non nihil emolumenti inde percipiat Twini Comment. De Rebus Britan. l. 1. p. 31. Priests-Town Or Loncaster from the River Lone Carlton-Curlew They cannot prenounce the letter R. Camd. Brit. And Burtons descript. of Leicestershire Bishop Latimer was also born at Thurcaston in Leicestershire It was so called of the Zouches sometimes Lords thereof Burtons descript. of Leicestershire The largest next Yorkshire It is well stored with all kind of provision it abounds with fish and fowl The roof of the Church is richly guilt Mr John Fox the Authour of the Acts and Monuments was born here There are so many steps in the steeple from the bottom to the top as there are dayes in the years At the George there is one of the fairest Inns of England Lincolnia The greatest Bell of England He was great with Henry the 6th he built a Free-School at Wainflet his name was Patten of the worshipfull family of which he was descended * More than in Yorkshire The chiefest at this day of all the Kings houses A City rather in shew then the Palace of a Prince and for stately port and gorgeous building not inferiour to any in Europe Weavers Monum. * It is most sweetly situate upon the Thames served with all kind of necessaries most commodiously The air health full it is populous rich and beautifull Nordens Speculum Britanniae It is convenient for situation hath a noble Bridge navigable River 2. Strictly governed 3. Opulent hath abundance of all kinds of provision 4. Ancient and enjoyeth many Immunities Of St Pauls Cathedral See Mr Dugdales History and of the Bishops of Pauls Londinum copia negotiatorum commeatu valde celebre Tacitus The Inner-Temple is the mother and most ancient of all the other houses of Court Burtons descript. of Leicestershire Dr Reynolds Sions praises This work viz. the Arches Chappel and stone-bridge over the Thames was thirty three yeers in building Stow. Speeds Chron. Stows and Speeds Chron. in Edw. the 3d. Thomas Greshamus Cives Londinensis Mercator Regius ex ordine Equestri qui patriae ornamento Mercatorum usui Perystillium pulcherrimum Excambiam Regium Elizabetha nominavit Londini extruxit aedes quas in urbe habuit amplissimas bonarum literarum professioni dicavit constitutis in iisdem Sacrae Theologiae Juris Civilis Medicinae Astronomiae Geometriae Rhetoricae praelectionibus cum honestis salariis Camd. Annal. rerum Anglic. pars â—â— p. 286. Vide etiam pag. 189. The new Ex change Monasterium Westmonasteriense Regum angliae inauguratione sepultura Insignium Regalium custodia celeberrimam Camd. Annal. rerum Anglic. par 1o p. 60. Vide plura ibid. Monasticon Anglicanum p 55 c. L. Herb. Henry the 8th Neer hereunto are the two Houses of Parliament Ex infima plebe non pauci reperiuntur quin si nihil litium sit lites tamen ex ipsis Juris apicibus serere calleant Camdenus There are three Churches Vrbs nunc ampla est nobilis florens celebris civitatum omnium secundum Londinum universi Regni Emporium multo maxima augustissimaque Nevilli Norvicus No one Shire of England hath three such Towns as Norwich Linn and Yarmouth Speed There is the earliest Park of England The King was wont to have venison thence before he had it out of his own Parks * Of that and the other famous wayes in England see Burtons Commen on Antoninus his Itinerary through Britain * He was brought up in New-Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of Law Petriburgus or Petropolis Ab arborum proceritate in frequentia veprium Lympida Sylva noto satis nomine dicitur Twini Comment. The Nobility and Gentry of the North are of great antiquity and can produce more ancient Families then any other part of England many of them Gentry before the Conquest the rest came in with William the Conquerour * Axelodunum * So called because Robert de Curtois Son of William the Conquerour built there a new Castle out of the ground against the neighbouring Scots Alnevicum In Dunston a little village within the Parish of Emildon Berwicus An hundred miles long Wedgenock Park in Warwickshire is one of the most ancient Parks in England Nunc autem conficiendo Caseo notissimum So Camden Dr Holland englisheth that thus Now the fame of this Town is for Zeal Cheese and Cakes Though that is but an unhandsome conjunction and there is no ground for it in Camden yet in Mr Wheatlyes time to my knowledge it was famous for zeal and I hope is so now Oxonia or Oxonium Quodcunque habuit ab initio nomen pulcherrimum saluberrimum habet situm regionemque omnia necessaria affatim ministrantem bonarumque litterarum celeberrimam scholam ut omnes qui alias Europae Academias adierunt facilè agnoscunt Lhyd. Com. Brit. Descrip Fragment Rutlan-Castle in Wales is so named being built on a shore of red earth Commitatus Salopiensis Salop in Latine Salopia It hath a fair Library and School-house and Brew-house So called from Oswald King of the Northumbers Asserius an ancient Writer calleth this Countrey alwayes Somertunensis that is Somertunshire * Used about Cloath Glastonia Monasterium viderint parentes nostri amplitudine ac magnitudine perpaucis in universa Europa quantum autumo postponendum Godwinus De Conversione Britanniae ad Christianam Religionem Vide plura ibid. Et Monasticon Anglicanum p. 1 2 c. Of Ogo a British word which betokeneth Den Fontanensis Ecclesia Fountain Church Bathonia Vrbs non mode antiqua verum etiam celebris Romanorum Monumentis multis liquidò in muris comparet qua itur à porta meridionali ad borealem Lelandi Comment in Cygneam Cantionem Vide Johnsonum De urbe Thermis Bathonicis A Bishops See and famous Port. In Henry the 7th his time Stephen Gennings Maior of London founded a free Grammar-School there where he was born There is a Corporation So called from Tame the River running beside it Cadaverum Campus The field of dead bodies a number of Christians was there martyred under the Emperour Dieclesian A small Countrey bare and cold it keepeth snow lying upon it a good while A Market Town Dr Lightfoot was born there Southfolk or people in respect of Norfolk Here Bishop Steven Gardiner was born Godw. de Praesul Ang. Comment Stoke Clare the Dukes of Clarence * A large sweet well watered Town a Town in Orchards Here was born Cardinal Wolsey of whom see a pithy description in Herberts Henry the 8th pag. 314 315. See more in Camdens Britania there The Kings Town Regio-dunum Tamesinam sic dictum quod ad Tamesini fluvii ripam situm sit Lel. Kings Kingston upon the Thames so called to distinguish it from Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire Quanta illic Romanae antiquitaris aemulatio Quantum speciosae picturae Quantum auri Quantum denique omnia genera ornamentorum Diceres Coelum esse stellis interpolatum Lel. Comment in Cygn. Cant. Battersega Nomen loco inditum ut ego conjicio ex cymbis Leland Comment. in Cygn. Cant. A low or clayish rode or hide The Southwork or building because it standeth South ove against London the Suburbs whèreof it may seem in some sort to be In Latine Cicestria Called Seals It is the Shire Town Ripa Baron Buckhurst Sanders Glover and manyother Martyrs suffered in Warwickshire It stands South of Lichfield Coventria quasi Coventus trium a Covent of three sorts of Monks Or rather of an Elephant being not so little as a yard in length Speed See Mr Dugdales Antiq. of Warwickshire illustrated Westmaria Westmorlandia There were Lords also of Kendale From the River Lone Aballaba The Sessions and Assizes are there kept Wiltonia of Wilton sometime the chief Town and of the River Willy Crecolada non insignis olim ut vulgus indoctum somniat Grecanicis scholis Lel. Comment in Cygn. Cant. Vide Burtoni Graec. Ling. hist. p. 52. Et Godwin de Praesul Ang. Comment de Theodoro Archiepisc Cant. p. 61. Cyppanus in the Saxon tongue is to buy and Cyppen a buyer as with us Cheapen and Chapman Sarisburia Roger of Salisbury built this stately Church also The Cathedral was longer in building than the Jews Temple for it was above fifty years in building and do you not think the Founders did intend by proportioning the Doors to the Moneths and the Windows to the Dayes and the Pillars to the Hours of the Year that you should learn this instruction Not a Moneth nay not a Day nay not an Hour should be let passe without something of Religion Mr Annesley on 1 Chron. 12. 32. It had also Bishop Abbot and Davenant Our old Historians termed it for the greatnesse Chorea Gigantum the Gyants dance Our Country-men reckon this for one of our miracles Leporarium Of Marga marle which we use in stead of dung to manure our grounds It lieth near a chaulkie-hill which our Ancestours before they borrowed this name Chaulk of the Latine word Calx named Marle Wigorniensis Comitatus Vnum est satis mirabile quia aqua illa per medium annum est salsa scilicet à nativitate Domini usque ad festum sancti Johannis Baptistae per aliud verò medium temporis est dulcis Sed quod mirabilius est pro illo tempore quo est sali necessaria si non hauritur superfluit per aliud verò temporis vix semper excrescit Gervas in lib. de Ociis imperialibus citatâ—…r Pet. Bechor Reduct Moral l. 13. c. 3. De Anglia Vigornia and Wignornia Some say it is as big as the twelve Counties in Wales The Scots call it Don-Castle from the River Don. Holy-hair The Englishmen dwelling beyond Trent called the hair of the Head Fax There is also a Family in this Countrey of Gentlemen named Fairfax of the fair bush of their Hair Pontefract A French name brought in by the Lacies Normans for the English word of broken bridge Lelands Itinerary * Eboracum Eburacum is derived from the River Vré by Vre or a long the side of Vre See Burtons Comment on Anton. his Itin. p. 60 61. why it is called Eboracum The Kings-Town built by King Edward the First There are also high and low Burton houses Or the North-part of this Countrey