stabb'd in the Senate and in the Chappel an admirable and lively Draught of the Resurrection Hence we were conducted into the Chambers which are Noble and Great and most richly Inlaid with the choicest Woods and Compose a very stately Gallery At the upper End of it is his Grace's Closet richly beautify'd with Indian Paint where there are various Figures of Birds as Drawn by the Native Indians Here stands a stately Looking-Glass which when you approach it reflects the whole Gallery back again and so deceives the Sight that the Walk seems to continue to the Eye though you have reach'd the Bounds of the Gallery The next Curiosity were the Gardens very delightful pleasant and stately adorn'd with exquisite Water Works the First we observe is Neptune with his Sea-Nymphs from whence by the turning of a Cock immediately issue forth several Columns of Water which seem'd to fall upon Sea-Weeds Not far from this is another Pond where Sea-Horses continually rowl and near to this stands a Tree composed of Copper which exactly resembles a Willow by the turning of a Cock each Leaf distils continually Drops of Water and lively represents a Shower of Rain From this we pass'd by a Grove of Cypress upon an Ascent and came to a Cascade at the Top of which stand Two Sea-Nymphs with each a Jarr under the Arm the Water falling thence upon the Cascade whilst they seem to squeeze the Vessels produces a loud rumbling Noise like what we may imagine of the Egyptian or Indian Cataracts At the Bottom of the Cascade there is another Pond in which is an Artificial Rose by turning of a Cock the Water ascends through it and hangs suspended in the Air in the Figure of that Flower There is another Pond wherein is Mercury pointing at the Gods and throwing up Water besides there are several Statues of Gladiators with the Muscles of the Body very lively display'd in their different Postures The Pile is not yet finish'd but will assuredly be a very compleat and magnificent Structure and worthy of so illustrious a Family Haddon-House is a stately Building with noble Gardens the Seat of the Right Honourable the Earl of Rutland and worthy the Sight of the Curious I shall now in the next place proceed to give an Account of the Earls of Derby the First of whom were the Peverels Earls of Nottingham and Derby as Mr. Cambden transmits it to us from good Authorities Afterwards King Richard the First gave and confirm'd to his Brother Iohn the County and Castle of Nottingham Lancaster Derby c. with the Honours belonging to them and the Honours of Peverel After him those of the Family of the Ferrars are allow'd to be Earls whom King Iohn created Earls of Derby with his own Hands but his Two Sons William and Robert in the Civil Wars were stripp'd of this Dignity and many Possessions of Robert were given by King Henry the Third to his younger Son Edmund and Edward the Third by Act of Parliament gave Henry of Lancaster the Son of Henry of Lancaster the Earldom of Derby to him and his Heirs and likewise assign'd him a Thousand Marks yearly during the Life of Henry his Father From that Time this Title continu'd in the Family of Lancaster till King Henry the Seventh bestow'd it upon Thomas Stanley who had not long before marry'd Margaret the King's Mother afterwards William the Sixth Earl of Derby of this Family a Man of great Worth and Honour enjoy'd it when the Author Mr. Cambden writ this William departing this Life Anno Dom. 1642. was succeeded by Iames his Son and Heir Eminent for his good Services to King Charles the First as was also his Excellent Lady Charlote who with a true Masculine Bravery sustain'd the Siege of Latham-House against the Parliament's Forces when my Grandfather Colonel Chisnell Commanded under her He receiv'd Two Commissions One from His Majesty King Charles the First for a Regiment of Horse the Other from his Highness Prince Rupert for a Regiment of Foot in which are these Expressions For the Desence of the True Protestant Religion by Law establish'd the Liberty and Property of the Subject and Defence of His Majesty's Person which is an invincible Argument of the Degeneracy of the contrary Party who wou'd calumniate these worthy Patriots with being Abettors of Popery and Arbitrary Power The worthy Earl after the Fight of Worcester being unfortunately taken in Cheshire was on the Fifteenth of October Beheaded at Bolton in Lancashire He was succeeded by his Son Charles and he by his Eldest Son and Heir William the present Earl he had Issue Iames Lord Strange by Elizabeth Grand-daughter of the late Duke of Ormond and Daughter to the late Earl of Ossory This young Gentleman in the ripening Bloom of his Years had all the Marks of a sweet Temper real Honour and solid Judgment that in those Years cou'd possibly be expected but to the unspeakable Loss of his Parents and the universal Sorrow of the whole Country he unfortunately died the last Year at Venice of the small Pox in the Course of his Travels The present Earl has now Two Brothers but no issue Male Persons of great affability true Conduct and Bravery as the World is sufficiently convinced of by their repeated Actions in Flanders in the Service of his present Majesty King William the Third Having thus far proceeded in the Antiquities of these Countries which unquestionably add to the Glory of them in laying before us the Regard the Romans had by erecting their Colonies and forming their Stations for the Security of these Parts of Britain it remains now for the Satisfaction of the Reader that I give him an Explanation of the Reverses of the Coins dug up in different Places here I pretend not hereby to add many to the numerous Catalogues collected and explained by the Care of preceding Antiquaries but that I may give what is due to these Parts of our Isle esteemed indeed obscure and barren by many one may by these Reverses form some Idaea's of the Extent of the Roman Empire and their wondrous Transactions carried on in those Times One thing is observable here that as it was an universal Custom in Egypt and China to deliver their Sentiments by Hieroglyphical Representations so in those Days the Roman Emperors were no less devoted to that Piece of Vanity I shall not observe any strict Method in the Successions of the Emperors but give you the Coins indifferently as they came to my Hands On the Reverse of one of Iulius Caesar's Coins was Mars with a Spear or Scutum or Target which doubtless denoted his Warlike Temper On one of Augustus Caesar's was Pallas with these following Letters DESID P. R. thus interpreted the Desire of the Roman People which sufficiently evidences to us the great Encouragement given to Learning in those Days at which Time it was those great Masters of Eloquence and Poetry flourished viz. Cicero Virgil Horace c. Others of his
Carolus Leigh M. D. W. Faithorn delin I Savage sculp THE NATURAL HISTORY OF Lancashire Cheshire AND THE Peak in Derbyshire WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE British Phoenician Armenian Gr. and Rom. ANTIQUITIES IN THOSE PARTS By CHARLES LEIGH Doctor of Physick OXFORD Printed for the AUTHOR and to be had at Mr. George West's and Mr. Henry Clement's Booksellers there Mr. Edward Evet's at the Green-Dragon in St. Paul's Church-yard and Mr. Iohn Nicholson at the King 's Arms in Little-Britain LONDON MDCC IMPRIMATUR GUIL PAINTER S. T. P. Vice-Cancel Oxon. To His GRACE JAMES Duke of ORMOND Chancellor of the University of OXFORD To the Reverend the Vice-Chancellor THE DOCTORS PROCTORS HEADS of Colleges and Halls AND THE Rest of the Learned MEMBERS OF THAT Flourishing and Famous University THIS WORK is humbly Dedicated IT was some Years since by Recommendation from several of the Heads of Houses Professors and Doctors of Physick that this Work was undertaken it is therefore from You that it presumes to seek a Protection which if it has the Honour and Happiness to obtain the Censorious Criticks may shew their ill Temper but will be too Weak to wound it I must own it may be look'd upon by some perhaps as a Piece of Arrogance for so obscure a Pen to solicite a Protection from such a Learned and Honourable Body But since the Sun that great Luminary of the Universe sometimes gilds the darkest Grotto's I presume therefore so far as not totally to despair of Your Favour I do with the profoundest Gratitude acknowledge that an Encouragement from so many Learned Persons contributed no small Matter to this Undertaking and had that been wanting the Difficulties I met with were so many and so insuperable I should not have been able to have accomplish'd my Design The Method I have taken in this Book which has been a Work of Seventeen Years is chiefly to relate Matter of Fact having seen the Misfortunes of many in swelling their Books with Digressive Quotations and Chimerical Hypotheses and as the French observe frequently losing the Truth by Argument I can solace my self with this that I dread not to be Contradicted in any Instance I have mentioned having been Critically Curious in each Observation and Experiment and those frequently repeated It is my Hopes that several Matters in the following Sheets may occur that in future Ages may not only tend to the Wealth and Honour of those Counties but the Improvement of Natural History and the general Good of Mankind no Counties in England affording so great a Variety of Mines Minerals and Mettals with other choice Products and the most surprizing Phaenomena of Nature if it happen to have this Effect it will be to the infinite Satisfaction of Your Ever-devoted Most Humble Obliged and Obedient Servant Charles Leigh To His Excellency WILLIAM Duke of Devonshire c. ONE OF THE Lords Justices of ENGLAND The Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Derby c. The Right Honourable RICHARD Earl Rivers c. WITH The Rest of the Nobility and Gentry Encouragers of this WORK My Lords and Gentlemen THERE are particular Spirits in Mankind which soar above the common Level Hence it is that true Patrons of Learning and Honour have such an Influence over those who move in a lower Orb that they are enabled by that borrowed Lustre to dart such Reflections as raise some Sort of Men to that Pitch of Thought that can allure them to the Perusal of a Book So little indeed by a great many is Learning esteem'd and a Publick Good encouraged that an Author like an Ass in the Indies may be overloaden with Treasure but the Brambles in his tedious Fatigues are frequently his Recompence The Poets how unhappy soever they may have been upon other Accounts have had their Moecenas's in all Ages to guard them from the Fury of the Criticks while the Philosopher generally like Truth the Object of his Intentions and Discourse comes into the World naked It 's only his Innocence and Integrity that skreens him from their Malevolent Censures but to add Lustre and Energy to his Performances is to derive it from the Patronage of the Great which gives to 'em if the Metaphor be not too uncouth a kind of Perpetual Living Since therefore so many Noble Personages and Worthy Gentlemen have been pleased so far to incourage this Undertaking by honouring both it and me with your Generous Subscriptions I hope you will pardon this in me who cannot but now and ever shall acknowledge it with the deepest Sense of Gratitude and remain with the Profoundest Respest My Lords and Gentlemen Your most Obedient and Oblig'd Servant Charles Leigh THE EPISTLE TO THE Candid Reader I Cannot but be conscious to my self that several Errors may occur in the following Work which have slipt my Observation but in relation to those I have only this to say as an Apology for my self the Work consisting of that Variety of Subjects I had so many different Persons to deal with I could not give that attendance to the Press which otherwise I would have done and that if any material ones be met with they are not mine There are some of the Plates which are figured twice over but those being wrought off while I was in Oxford the Error could not be rectify'd but those are ranged in the Book with their proper Explications so that the Fault is not material It is said of Demosthenes when he gave the Athenians an Account how their Ancestors fought by Land at Marathon and by Sea at Salamis he took not the least Notice of their being Victorious but all he aim'd at was to conceal that Tragical one at Chaeronea If therefore the candid Reader in the ensuing Work meets with any thing which may be of Use or Divertisement to him I hope he 'll be so benign as to erase or at least correct the Errors since the Author though he may be apt to flatter himself to have been in some measure happy in the Former may be as unfortunate in the Latter The Design of the whole Work is briefly recited in the Preface to that therefore I refer him and shall not presume upon his Patience by Harangues and Repetitions but subscribe my self His Humble Servant Charles Leigh THE PREFACE SO different are the Tempers of Men and so various the Impressions made upon their Minds that as it would be an high piece of Folly in me to expect the Favours of all so on the other hand 't is equally prudent to be arm'd against the Criticisms of many who will be apt to quarrel with divers Things contain'd in this Work the Method whereof wherein I have endeavour'd to be as concise as I could having evaded Quotations from others as far as the Subject would bear I shall briefly touch upon having first premised that what is recited therein is chiefly from my own Observation and Experiments This Work therefore is divided into Three Books the First relating to Natural
extraordinary use in scrophulous Cases either in Powder or Decoction Spatula foetida grows in some parts but very rare Lamium album grows in several places and is a good Anti-strumatic Dulcamara grows very common and is an Anti-scorbutic good in the Jaundice and Dropsies the Bark of it is used and that in infusion Upon the Draining of Martin-Meer several unusual Plants were observable never before seen in these Parts particularly a kind of Grass which grows to a prodigious length and is as sweet as Liquorice this in a very short time fattens Sheep and other Cattle and makes them very delicious Food but then they must be slaughter'd out of it when thorowly fatten'd otherwise they are apt to grow rotten and dye Which Distemper by what I can observe in the Dissection of those Creatures is nothing but an Anasarca or Dropsy of the whole Body and in these we have the fairest opportunity of discovering the Lymphatic Vessels which if thorowly known both as to their Uses and Rise would bring Matters in Physick very near to a Demonstration and in Hydropic Cases might save the Lives of several Persons by having a clear Idea of the Cause of that Distemper in those Creatures Erysimum we have in these Parts and it is of use in Asthma's Consumptions and Dropsies Feverfew grows common a noted Anticsteric and Diuretic White Hoare-hound likewise and is an excellent Pectoral Scabios is plentiful and Tragopogon or Goats-beard of great use in Consumptive Cases Centaury and Celandine are very common and are used in the Jaundice and Intermitting Distempers Asarum grows in several places and likewise Arum or Wake Robin its Water is an Antiscorbutick and the Roots are used in Distempers of the Stomach and the Pica Virginis Enula Campana is very common as likewise Bistort Echiums and Buglosses we have both the Hispidum and Glabrum and Hieracia of several sorts particularly the Lactescens which deserves our strict Enquiry into its Vertues of which the Botanists have not taken notice Water-Plantain grows common and is much used in Arthritic Cases we have likewise the Plantago Rotundi-folio other Plantains are common which in the Autumnal Season are apt to collect a white Powder from the Air about which time Intermitting Distempers are generally Epidemical This Powder has no peculiar Taste I have given it to Dogs and Cats but never found any Effects from it Ebulum or Dwarf-Elder grows in several places and is of great use in Hydropic Cases There are several other Plants in these Counties but these being the most remarkable for their Vertues in Physick I have only given an Account of them for the benefit of the Inhabitants of these parts the other are already describ'd at large by the incomparable Dr. Morrison Mr. Ray Dr. Plackenet Dr. Sloane Dr. Robinson and Mr. Dale wherefore for a full and entire satisfaction in those Matters to those eminent and learn'd Authors refer the Reader As to fossile Plants Dr. Woodward in his Essay towards an universal Natural History seems not to give a more probable Conjecture of a total dissolution of the Strata of the Earth at the universal Deluge than by the Observations he has made upon Plants discover'd in Rocks But since this Hypothesis labours under so many unanswerable Difficulties I cannot till more pregnant Proofs are produc'd adhere to it nor can we reasonably suppose a dissolution of the Strata of the Earth and yet conceive these to be kept entire That very Instance in Coal-Mines is a demonstration against it To these I shall add another Instance I have now by me of a stony Substance of the exact resemblance and magnitude of a Cockle-shell found many Yards in Stone yet much lighter than any Cockle-shell of the same bigness which could never be perform'd by specifick Gravitation as the Dr. alledges In the next place to imagin a dissolution of most solid Rocks and Bodies of more obdurate substance this surely must be effected by some peculiar Menstruum distinct from Water and why then in the Name of common Reason should not Plants run the same risque That Menstruum that could make so severe an Impression and disunite those compact Bodies would certainly have easily reduc'd Plants to ruin That there was a Disruption of the Strata of the Earth is but reasonable to allow and likewise that various Bodies floated in that general Inundation but that these Plants are any Argument for a Dissolution or that they were the Exuviae of the Deluge is in the next place to be consider'd In the Rocks in these Parts are only found Polypody Wall-Rue Scolopendrium or Leaves of Thorns doubtless other Plants as well as these would have occur'd to our Observation had these been deposited here by Noah's Deluge Again these Leaves are never found doubled which certainly in so dismal a Confusion as the Deluge was would have happen'd had they here been deposited in that general Catastrophe My Sentiment of the whole is this That as it is observable in Chymistry that the Salts of some Plants will divaricate themselves into the figure of the Plants that these representations of Plants in Rocks are nothing but different Concretions of saline bituminous and terrene Particles and I am farther confirm'd in this Hypothesis since they as well as the Capsulae they are found in seldom fail to afford us that mixture Various Specimens we have of these in Rocks in these Counties in one particularly near Ormskirk in Lancashire in which Scolopendrium may be seen exactly delineated This was communicated to me by Mr. William Barton Apothecary in that Town and is as I remember in some Rocks near Latham belonging to the R t Hon ble William Earl of Derby to whom I am infinitely oblig'd for the Honour done me in having had the Honour to be frequently Physician to his Lordship and to that unparallel'd Youth his Son the R t Hon ble Iames L d Strange There are other Rocks in which may be observ'd Leaves of Thorns as in some Rocks near Heesham and in the Coal-Pits near Burnley in Lancashire These are all the reputed Plants that I have found remarkable in these Parts Having now fairly illustrated it to be highly improbable that these Plants shou'd be the Exuviae of the Deluge but rather Concretions of Matter or the Disports of Nature it may perhaps be expected by some that I shou'd give an account of the different Opinions concerning the Universality of the Deluge as well in respect of the Terrestrial Globe as of the total Destruction of all its Inhabitants I shall therefore give you a Scheme of the most principal amongst them The first is of the Iews who extend the Universality of the Deluge not only to all the Terrestrial Creatures but the Fish they say were suffocated by the Heat of the Rains and Waters which broke out of the deep Fountains of the Earth There are others also amongst the Jews who deny this Universality of the Deluge not only to all terrestrial
erected a New and convenient School at the end of the other Besides these publick Benefactions and Endowments there have been several other sums of Moneys and annual Revenues left and bequeathed to the Poor of the said Town by several Persons who are thereby with the Charity of the present Inhabitants competently provided for without starving at home or being forced to seek relief abroad Let us do Justice to the Memory of the generous William Hulme of Broadstone Esq who has nobly added to the Benefactions of the publick School four Exhibitions The Scholars are to be Batchellours of Arts in the College of Brazen-Nose in Oxford these are to be elected by the Wardens of Manchester the Rector of Bury and Parson of Prestwich then Living they are at present of value betwixt Twenty and Thirty Pounds per Annum each but after the Death of his Lady will advance to near Sixty Pounds a piece Yearly and these they are to hold till they have commenced Masters of Arts and I do believe they will then be the best Exhibitions in that University The Town gives Title to an Honourable Family Henry Mountague being Created Earl of Mancester by King Charles I. Ann. Dom. 1625. which Honour is now possessed by Edward his Grand Child third Earl of the said Family This account was given me by my honour'd Friend the Reverend and Learned Dr. Wroe the Present Warden of the Collegiate Church at Manchester within which Church are inscriptions of some Eminent Persons At Maclesfield in Cheshire was a College Founded by Thomas Savage first Bishop of London and afterwards Arch-Bishop of York in which several of that noble Family the Savages are buried as also of the Family of Dunham which from Hammon de Massy By the Fittans and Venables came Hereditarily to the famous Family of Booth After these Learned and Charitable Personages let us rank others Eminent for natural discoveries of which these Countries have not been altogether Barren The World owes a great many Obligations to the great industry and Knowledge of Richard Townley of Townley Esq which will be the best understood by a recital of his own Experiments and Performances His Letter to Dr. Croon touching the invention of dividing a Foot into many thousand Parts for Mathematical purposes is as follows Finding in one of the last Philosophical Transactions how much M. Auzont esteems his invention of dividing a Foot into near 30000 parts and taking thereby Angles to very great exactness I am told I shall be looked upon as a great wronger of our Nation shou'd I not let the World know that out of some scatter'd Papers and Letters that formerly came to my hands of a Gentleman of these parts one Mr. Gascoigne found out that before the late Civil Wars he had not only devised an instrument of as great a Power as M. Auzonts but had also for some Years made use of it not only for taking the Diameters of the Planets and distances upon Land But had farther endeavour'd out of its Preciseness to gather many certainties in the Heavens amongst which I shall only mention one viz. the finding the Moon 's distance from two Observations of her Horizontal and Meridional Diameters which I rather mention because the French Astronomer esteems himself the first that took any such notice as thereby to settle the Moon 's Parallax For our Country-Man fully consider'd it before and imparted it to an acquaintance of his who thereupon proposed to him the difficulties that would arise upon the Calculation with considerations upon the strange Niceties necessary to give him a certainty of what he desired The very instrument he made I have now by me and others more perfected by him which doubtless he wou'd have Infinitely mended had he not been slain unfortunately in his late Majesty's Service He had a Treatise of Opticks ready for the Press but though I have used my utmost endeavour to retrieve it yet I have in that point been totally unsuccessful But some loose Papers and Letters I have particularly about this instrument for taking of Angles which was far from perfect Nevertheless I find it so far to exceed all others that I have used my endeavours to make it exact and easily tractable which above a Years since I effected to my own desire by the help of an Ingenious and and exact Watch-Maker in these parts since which time I have not altogether neglected it but employed it particularly in taking the distances as occasion served of the Circum-Jovialists towards a perfect setling their motion I shall only say of it that it is small not exceeding in weight nor much in bigness an ordinary Pocket-Watch exactly marking above 40000 Divisions in a Foot by the help of two Indexes the one shewing Hundreds of Divisions the other Divisions of the Hundred Every last Division in my small one containing 1 10 of an Inch and that so precisely as I use it there goes above 91 22 Divisions to a second Yet I have taken Land Angles several times to one Division though for the reason mentioned by M. Auzont it be very hard to come to that exactness in the Heavens viz. the swift motions of the Planets Yet to remedy that fault I have devised a rest in which I find no small advantage and not a little pleasing those Persons who have seen it being so easy to be made and by the observer managed without the help of another which second convenience my yet nameless instrument hath in great perfection and is by reason of its smallness and shape easily applicable to any Telescope Sir if you think this invention thus improved worthy to be take notice of by the Curious you may command a more perfect description of it or any of the observations either Mr. Gascoigne or my Self have made with it A Description of the Instrument referring to the CVT. THE 1 2 3. Figures do represent the several Parts of this Instruments the 4th Figure part of the Telescope with the Instrument apply'd to it and the 5th the rest on which the whole reposeth The first Figure represents the Box with the whole Instrument excepting only the movable Cover and the Screws by which it is fixed to the Telescope In this Figure aaaa is a small oblong brass Box serving both to contain the Screws and also to make all the several moveable parts of the Instrument to move very true smooth and in a simple direct motion To one end hereof is Screwed on a round Plate of brass bbbb about 3 inches over the extreme Limb of whose outside is divided into 100 equal parts and number'd by 10 20 30 c. Through the middle of this Plate and the middle of the Box aaa is placed a very Curiously wrought Screw about the bigness of a Goose Quill and of the length of the Box the Head of which is by a fixed Ring or Shoulder on the inside and a small springing Plate dd on the outside so adapted to the Plate
seems were for the Preservation of the Memory of Two Centuriont that had so many Years faithfully and worthily served the Romans there In the Year 1692 under the Root of an Oak in Med-Lock near Knot-Mill was found a Stone Three Quarters long Fifteen Inches broad Eleven Inches thick with the Letter'd side downward which Mr. Cambden saw not at least before the Finishing his Britania but is now to be seen in the Garden of Holme the Seat of Sir Iohn Bland Bar to whom that Estate descended the same formerly belonging to the Moseley's in Right of his Wife a Lady of great Temper Piety and Prudence The Inscription of the Stone is thus FORTVNAE CONSERVA TRICI LVCIVS SENACIANIVS MARTIVSBLEG VI. VICT. This seems to be an Altar dedicated to Fortune by Lucius Senecianus Martius Brutus a Commander in the Sixth Legion which remained in York in the Time of Severus his being there after he had vanquished Albinus General of the Britains and reduced their State under his Obedience It was surnamed Victrix and is plac'd by Dio in Lower Britain and the Twentieth Legion surnamed also Victrix remain'd at Chester which was plac'd in Higher Britain This Division it seems was made by the said Severus and the Country about it where these Legions were were divided into little Regions since call'd Hydes This was part of the Kingdom of Deiara several of whose Youth being sent to Rome and Pope Gregory admiring their Beauty sent over Augustine to convert the English Edward the First King of the West Saxons and afterwards of the Mercians sent into the Kingdom of the Northumbers an Army of the Mercians saith Hoveden ordering that they should fortifie the City of Manchester and place valiant Soldiers in it it being defac'd by the Danes It was a Frontier Town betwixt the Mercians that inhabited Cheshire and Derbyshire and the Northumbers inhabiting Lancashire and Yorkshire and in their Wars and mutual Incursions was sometimes possessed by the Mercians and sometimes the Northumbers Thus far our Author proceeds As to the present State of the Town it is vastly populous of great Trade Riches and Industry particularly for the Fustian Manufacture and Printing them as for those likewise which are call'd Manchester Wares both which are now sent all over the Kingdom as well as to the Indies It is watered by the Rivers Erwell and Irke Little can be added of Lancaster for Antiquity save that it was doubtless a Roman Fortress as appears by the Roman Wall and Road leading to it it is at this time a very thriving Corporation and an improving Port Its Eminency chiefly lies in this that many Branches of the Royal Family have enjoy'd Titles deriv'd from it which for the Dignity of the County in general I will enumerate as briefly as possible The First that was stiled Lord of the Place in the Beginning of the Norman Government was Roger of Poictou surnamed Pictarensis because his Wife came out of Poictou in France He was succeeded in that Honour by William Earl of Morton and Warren upon whose Death King Richard the First bestow'd it on his Brother Iohn afterwards King of England of whom Gualter De Hemingford and R. Hoveden gives this Account That King Richard shew'd great Affection to his Brother Iohn for besides Ireland and the Earldom in Normandy he bestow'd upon him such great Preferment in England that he was in a manner Tetrarch there For he gave him Cornwall Lancaster Nottingham and Derby with the adjacent Country and many other Things After this King Henry III. Son of King Iohn promoted his younger Son Edmund Crouchback he having been prevented of the Kingdoms of Sicily and Apuleia to the Earldom of Lancaster giving it in these Words The Honour Earldom Castle and Town of Lancaster with the Cow-Pastures which at this Day they call Vaccaries from thence and Forest of Wiresdale Lownsdale New-Castle under Lime with the Mannor Forest and Castle of Pickering the Mannor of Scateby the Village of Gormancester and the Rents of the Town of Huntingdon Edmund had Issue Thomas Henry and Iohn who died unmarried which Thomas was Second Earl of Lancaster and was succeeded in that Honour by his Brother Henry whose Son Henry was in Parliament created Duke of Lancaster being the Second Dukedom that was erected in England that of Cornwall being the First in the Person of Edward the Black Prince and left Two Daughters Maud Dutchess of Bavaria and Blanch married to Iohn of Gaunt so call'd because he was born at Ghent in Flanders Fourth Son of Edward the Third who thereby coming to the whole Estate and being now equal to many Kings in Wealth was created Duke of Lancaster by his Father he also obtain'd the Royalties from him and the King then advanced the County of Lancaster into a Palatinate By this Rescript wherein after he had declar'd the great Service he had done his Country at Home and Abroad he adds We have granted from Us and our Heirs to our Son aforesaid that he during his Term of Life shall have within the County of Lancaster his Chancery and his Writs to be issued out under his own Seal belonging to the Office of Chancellor his Justices likewise as well for Pleas of the Crown as for other Pleas relating to Common Law to have Cognizance of them and to have Power of making all Executions whatsoever by his Writs and Officers and to have all other Liberties and Royalties whatsoever appertaining to a County Palatine as freely and fully as the Earl of Chester within the said County is known to have Nor was he only Duke of Lancaster but by Marriage with Constantia Daughter to Peter King of Castile sometime bore the Title of King of Leon and Castile but by Contract he parted with this Title and in the Thirteenth of King Richard the Second was created Duke of Aquitaine by Consent of Parliament to the great Dissatisfaction of the Country At that Time his Titles were Iohn Son to the King of England Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster Earl of Derby Lincoln and Leicester and High Steward of England After this Henry de Bullingbrook his Son succeeded in the Dutchy of Lancaster who having deposed Richard the Second obtained the Crown and conferr'd that Honour upon Henry his Son afterwards King of England and that he might entail it upon him and his Heirs for ever he had an Act of Parliament made in these Words We being unwilling that our said Inheritance or Liberties by reason of our now assuming the Regal Seat and Diguity shou'd be any ways chang'd transferr'd diminish'd or impair'd but that our said Inheritance with its Liberties and Rights aforesaid shou'd in the same Manner and Form Condition and State wherein they descended and fell to us and also with all and singular Liberties Franchizes and Priviledges Commodities and Profits whatsoever which our Lord and Father in his Life-time had and held it for term of his Life by Grant of the late King Richard and wholly
Duke of Mercia and the Danes hitherto continu'd their Usurpations He was deposed from his Dukedom by King Canutus and that Part of the Kingdom of Mercia was afterwards govern'd by Earls commonly stiled the Earls of Chester Of the Earls of Chester Leofric the Son of Leofwin the Danes still continuing in these Parts was a great Lover of Chester and adorn'd it with several Buildings Algar the Son of Leofric succeeded him he died in the Year 1059 and was buried at Coventry Edwin the Son of Edgar succeeded him in his Earldom but after the Defeat of Harold by William the Conqueror the Saxon Nobility ended and this Earl was by the Conqueror carried into Normandy from whence he attempted to make his Escape into Scotland but was slain in his Journey thither as Hoveden testifies Gherbod a Fleming was the First Earl of Chester after the Conquest then Hugh Lupus had the Earldom and he was succeeded by Richard his Son Ranulph Nephew to Hugh Lupus succeeded him in the Earldom then Ranulph Son of the former Ranulph receiv'd that Dignity in 1141 was poisoned and succeeded by Hugh Kevelioc his Son then Ranulph the Third surnamed Blundevill succeeded his Brother Hugh John Scot Nephew to Ranulph succeeded him he likewise was poisoned died at Darnel Grange in the Hundred of Edsbury in Cheshire and was buried at Chester After his decease Henry the Third held that Earldom in his own Hands till he created Edward his Son Earl of that Palatinate Edward the First Son of Henry the Third succeeded him who mightily delighted in the Pleasantness of the City of Chester and for that Reason termed the Country the Vale-Royal of England he was succeeded by Simon de Montfort who was a Warrior as appears from his Battle at Lewes in Sussex wherein he defeated the King and afterwards receiv'd the Earldom of Chester he was slain at Evesham and his Honours return'd to the Crown in 1265. Edward the Second born at Carnarvan in Wales succeeded him he was Earl of Chester and Flint Edward the Third his Son was created Earl of Chester as likewise Prince of Wales and Duke of Aquitain Edward the Black Prince ensu'd next then Richard his Son born at Burdeaux likewise assum'd the Title of Prince of Chester as Wallingham testifies Henry the Fifth was after him Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester Henry the Sixth succeeded him in that Earldom the next Earl was Edward Son of Henry the Sixth he was murthered at Tewksbury by Richard Crouchback Edward the Fifth succeeded him who was likewise murthered by his Uncle Edward the Son of King Richard the Third was next Earl of Chester then Arthur Eldest Son to Henry the Seventh who was succeeded by Henry the Eighth his Brother afterward Edward the Sixth then Prince Henry Eldest Son of King James the First and he was succeeded by King Charles the First and he by Charles the Second his Eldest Son Thus it remains Titular to the Royal Family and for ought appears may continue so for a Series of endless Generations The Bishops of Mercia The Two First Bishops were Diama and Ceollah Two Scotch Men the Third was Tramkere an English Man but ordain'd by the Scots after him Iarnman or German as Bede relates it To these succeeded Bishops who had sometimes their Sees at Coventry sometimes at Chester but most commonly at Litchfield Those were all in the Saxon Government of whom there is a full Account in Ingulphus Bede and others The First after the Conquest was Petrus who removed his Seat from Litchfield to Chester but was afterwards alter'd by Robert Pecaam who had Three Seats Chester Litchfield and Coventry but the Episcopal Seat was again restor'd to Chester in King Henry the Eighth's Time and that of St. Werburgh appointed the Cathedral Church and the Bishop made a Suffragan of York The Catalogue of the Bishops after that Time may be seen at large in Godwin and others The Barons of Chester The First Barons we read of were Nigell Baron of Haulton Robert Baron de Mount Hault Seneschal or Steward of the County of Chester who dying without Issue it came to Isabell Queen of England by Settlement and Iohn de Eltham Earl of Cornwall and his Heirs thence to William de Malbedenge Baron of Malbanc whose Great Grand-daughters transferr'd this Inheritance by their Marriages to the Vernons and Bassetts and for want of an Heir Male to Vernon Baron of Sipbroke it came by the Sisters to the Willburhams Staffords and Littleburys Robert Fitz-Hugh Baron of Malpas Hammons de Massey Fittons de Bolin Gilbert Venables Baron of Kinderton Warrens of Pointon Barons of Stockport descended from the Noble Family of the Earls of Warren and Surrey succeeded in Right of Marriage I have not met with any farther Antiquities of Chester or the County but by what has already been discover'd we may assuredly conclude the City of Chester to have been the most Ancient and August Colony in these Parts Derbyshire especially the Peak which in the Saxon Language fignifies Eminence part of the famous Mercian Kingdom whose Inhabitants were call'd Coritani will afford us but a slender Scene of Antiquities the very Nature of the Place rendring it inhospitable to Mankind and at the same time indulgent to Wolves and Beasts of Prey yet withal we may with Admiration contemplate the Conduct of wife and provident Nature where amidst all this unpolish'd Rubbish of the Globe she her self sits in State and displays her Works equally compatible with the most desirable Objects Those uneven Mountains she has made pregnant with a very useful and necessary Mettal and as useful Minerals she has here and there scatter'd her Disports for the Diversion of the Curious and cut out large Themes for Philosophical Enquiries she liberally affords Hot and Mineral Waters for the Relief and Comfort of infirm and decrepid Mortals so that these untractable and dispeopl'd Parts become frequented with numerous Crouds who yearly arrive here either through a Prospect of Ease from their Pains and Infirmities or for the pleasing Entertainment of the Mind with new Objects of which these Parts are very prolifick I will as briefly as I can give you my Thoughts of what is most remarkable I have not heard of any Roman Antiquities save that Place call'd Little Chester mention'd by Mr. Cambden where Coins of several sorts and different Mettals are sometimes dug up some of Copper Silver and Gold and an Altar mention'd by Mr. Gibson dug up near Bakewell in the Grounds belonging to Haddon House the present Seat of the Right Honourable the Earl of Rutland with this Inscription DEO MARTI BRACIACAE OSITIUS CAECILIAN PRAEFECT TRO V. S. As to the Tooth Skull and Bones found in digging a Grove mention'd by Mr. Gibson I have spoke of such Forms before and take them to be only the Lusus Naturae in Sparr and other indurated Bodies which unquestionably at the first were all fluid and capable of any Impression We