in a Book Printed for that purpose A. D. 1640. I shall not undertake to pourtray that in a contracted Landskip which hath been before represented to the Publick with so great applause but refer those who are so curious as to desire a more particular Account of this City to that most ingenious Person who hath pencilled out every part and Limb thereof with great exactness and accuracy only one thing I must not omit that of late a Marble Monument hath been erected in St. Margaret's Church Canterbury in Honour of Mr. Somner who lies there interred by his own Widow who afterward Married to Mr. Hannington Vicar of Elam in Kent upon which is engraven this ingenious Epitaph H. S. E. Gulielmus Somnerus Cantuariensis Saxonicam Literaturam Civitatis Cantuariae Historiam Tenebris utramque involutam Illustravit Cantii Antiquitates meditantem Fatum intercepit Officium Erga Deum pietate severa Erga Homines probitate simplici Erga Principem fide periculosa Erga Patriam scriptis immortalibus Indicavit Ita Mores Antiquos Studium Antiquitatis efformat Cantuariae Natus est Martii 30. 1606. Cantuariae Omnem aetatem egit Cantuariae Obiit Martii 30. 1669. Feversham Passing from hence through Feversham a Town pretty large and well inhabited famous formerly for its Abby erected here by King Stephen wherein himself his Queen and Eustace his Son were buried the next place of consequence that was obvious in the Road was Sedingbourn Sedingbourn which being a great thorough-fare is well furnished with Inns a Town of which there are two things more principally Recorded the one is that in the Year 1232 Henry Bishop of Rochester as Mr. Philpott hath collected it out of some old Monkish Writers came with much exultation out of Sedingbourn Church and desired the People to express their joy because on that day by the efficacious Prayers of the Church Richard the First formerly King of England and many others were most certainly ransomed from the Flames of Purgatory The other that in the same Church was a Monument of Sir Richard Lovelace inlayed richly with Brass who was an eminent Soldier in his time and Marshal of Calice under Henry the Eighth with his Portraiture affixed in Brass which the Injuries of Time and the Impiety of Sacrilegious Mechanicks have utterly defaced In the Neighbourhood of Sedingbourn is Newington Newington which though but a small Village hath afforded some worthy Remarks of Antiquity for not many Years ago there were digged up Roman Urns not far distant from the High-way or Common Road it being agreeable to Roman Practice to inter in those Places where their Monuments might be obvious almost to every Eye Memorials of themselves and Memento's of Mortality to living Passengers whom the Epitaphs of great Ones did beg to stay and look upon them From hence the Road brought us directly to Chatham Chatham where the repair of the Parish Church and new Buildings of the Steeple commend the Religious Care and Cost of King Charles the First 's Commissioners and Officers of the Royal Navy in the Year 1635 but the Arsenals Store-Houses and Ship-Docks erected by the same most incomparable Prince are so magnificent and universally useful that they are become a principal Pillar of the Nations support and afford variety of Employment by the Manufacture of Cordage as also the Careening and Building of Ships Contiguous to Capham is Rochester Rochester a City which in Elder times was as eminent for its Antiquity as it was for its Strength and Grandeur and had not those violent impressions which the rough Hand of War made upon it Demolished its bulk and bereaved it of its Beauty it peradventure might have been registred at this Day in the Inventory of the principal Cities of this Nation but so great and dismal Calamities did frequently attend it that the Fury of the Elements seemed to enter into a Corrivalship or Competition with the Fury of Enemies for its Ruine and the Fire and Sword were joint Confederates to destroy it nevertheless maugre all these Casualties by the Favour of Princes and their Royal Munificence it recovered all its Losses and survives in Splendor In the Year 1225 by the indulgent Bounty of King Henry the Third it was invested with a Wall and that this Fortification might be of the greater importance it was secured or fenced with a Ditch it was governed by a Port-Reeve until King Edward the Fourth in the second Year of his Reign raised it to a higher Dignity and decreed by his Royal Grant that it should henceforth be under the Jurisdiction of a Mayor and Twelve Aldermen and to this Monarch doth the City owe much of its present Felicity The goodly Skeleton of the Castle which yet courts the Eye of the Beholder to the admiration of its former strength acknowledgeth for its most eminent Benefactor if not Founder Odo Bishop of Baicux and Earl of Kent half Brother to William the Conqueror which Fortress he afterward breaking forth into open Rebellion against his Nephew Rufus did seize but was quickly dispossessed by the vigorous Expedition of his Prince and enforced immediately to depart the Kingdom After this when the Dauphin was invited into England by the Seditious Barons to wrest the Kingdom from K. John their native Sovereign the Dauphin uniting their strength with his made such a furious Onset on the Castle that like a Tempest which beats down all before it he carried it by Assault the like had been atchieved by Simon Montford Earl of Leicester when he raised an Insurrection against King Henry the Third had not that Prince arrived most opportunely and by a successful Encounter wrested both Earl Warren who had so resolutely maintained it and that likewise from the Impressions of his Fury since which time there hath been little of moment acted in this Place tho it is worth taking notice of what Mr. Philpott hath observed farther concerning it that there being much Land in this County held thereof whose Tenure is perfectly Castle-guard upon the day prefixed for the discharging the quit Rents relating to it there is a Banner displayed and hung out antiently it was on the Castle Wall and all those who are Tenants to this Mannor and are in default by their Non-appearance and do not discharge their accustomary Duties and Services the penalty imposed upon their neglect is that the return of every Tide of the adjacent River Medway which finds them absent doubles their Service or Quit-Rents The Cathedral which the Bishoprick of Rochester united to it was founded and established by that pious Monarch Ethelbert King of Kent and the first Bishop to whom was entrusted the Pastoral Staff or Crosier by Austen the Apostle of the Saxons was Justus who being sent over hither as an Adjutant to Austen in the Propagation of Christianity about the Year 601 Angl. Sacr. Tom. 1. p. 329. was afterward ordained Bishop of this See A. D. 604. much about that time
this most flourishing College I must not forget the Munificence of some late great Benefactors who by their generous Liberality to it have erected to themselves a more lasting and durable Monument than the Pyramids of Egypt or the Coloss at Rhodes The one was the Right Reverend and Learned Dr. Ward the late Bishop of Salisbury who hath founded here four new Scholarships of Ten Pounds a piece per Annum The other Noble Benefactors were the Honourable Sir John Finch Brother to the Earl of Nottingham sometime Ambassador in Turkey and Sir Thomas Bayns a Physician his Companion and Fellow-Traveller sometime here a Student who at their Death added to the College two more considerable Fellowships and Scholarships for the due encouragement of Learning and lie interred in the Chapel as a signal Testimony of that indissoluble Love and Affection they had always even to the very last for this Learned Society As far the Town of Cambridge it self it is governed by a Mayor who at the entrance into his Office takes a solemn Oath before the Vice-Chancellor to observe and conserve the Privileges Liberties and Customs of the University and as the Assizes for the County are for the most part kept here so 't is observable that one High Sheriff serves for both the Counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon which borders upon it The chief Market every Saturday supplies it well with Corn and plenty of other Provision But nothing is more remarkable nor advantageous to it than the great Fair annually kept within a Mile of it in September called by the name of Sturbridge Fair Sturbridge-Fair from whence it received its denomination is uncertain but this is most certain that of all Fairs or publick Marts in England 't is supposed the largest and best stored with all kind of Wares and Commodities which the Londoners take special care to import hither When you are within the Limits you would rather be ready to imagine your self in some great Town by the variety of Shops and multiplicity of Booths than in a wide open Field Now those Booths are always built for the time in which it lasts which is about a Fortnight Neither are you presented with Booths only upon the Land but with Booths upon the Water too there being particular contrivances in their Boats upon the River which runs hard by this place for Rooms and secret Retirements all covered above for the conveniency of Strangers which resort thither and indeed here is always a great concourse of People from all parts of the Nation Not far from this place appears aloft a certain ridge of Hills called Hog-magog-Hills Hog-magog Hills fortified of old by the Danes when they infested these Parts with a threefold Trench some part whereof is still to be seen Having paid our Devoirs and taken a review of that which affords so great Variety we at last took our farewell and bidding it adieu we betook our selves into its Neighbouring County of Huntingdon Huntingdonshire 't is a fruitful Country both for Corn and Grass towards the East it is waterish and fenny and hath formerly been well beset with Woods In the Reign of King Henry the Second it had a large Forest which he destroyed converting it to other uses 'T is watered by the pleasant Rivers Avon and Ouse which render it very fertile The first Village we arrived at in this County was Fenny-Stanton but found nothing observable till we came to Godmanchester Godmanchester a great Country Town and of as great a Name for Tillage situate in an open Ground of a light Mould and bending for the Sun Here have been observed more stout and lusty Husbandmen and more Ploughs agoing than in any Town besides in England for they make their boast that they have in former times receiv'd the Kings of England as they passed it their Progress this way with Ninescore Ploughs brought forth in a rustical kind of Pomp for a gallant Show Soon after King James the First came into England the Bayliffs of this Town presented him with Seventy Teem of Horses all traced to fair new Ploughs of which when His Majesty demanded the reason he was answered That it was their ancient Custom whensoever any King of England passed through their Town so to present him besides they added That they held their Lands by that Tenure being the King's Tenants His Majesty took it well and bad them make good use of their Ploughs being glad he was Landlord of so many good Husbandmen in one Town Antiquaries do affirm it to have been formerly a flourishing City and not only the old Roman Coins which have been digged up here do attest its Antiquity but its ancient denomination too It was formerly called Duroliponte corruptly for Durosiponte which in the British Language signifies a Bridge over the River Ouse but this Name being antiquated in the Saxons time it began to be called Gormoncester by Gormon the Dane for King Alfred having conquer'd the Danes who had made an Invasion into these Parts reduced them at last to these Conditions either forthwith to give him Pledges that they would immediately depart this Land or else that they would embrace the Christian Religion which latter Proposal being made choice of Guthrus or Gormundus the Danish King with Thirty more of his Nobility was Baptiz'd into the Christian Faith and their Prince adopted by Alfred for his Son who changing his Name to Athelstan appointed him his Station here and committed the Provinces of the East-Angles and Northumbers to his peculiar Charge And if it be likewise allowed that one Machutus was here Bishop when it was called Gumicastrum hou quantum mutatur 'T is certainly now reduced to a poor and despicable Condition to what it could then glory of in former Generations Huntingdon Huntingdon is about a Mile distant from this place and is the chief Town of the County situate upon the River Ouse over which stands a Bridge made of Stone which gives entrance into it the Houses are fair and the Streets large 't is adorn'd with Four Churches and had formerly a Benedictine Nunnery dedicated to St. James saith the Notitia Monastica and a Priory of Black Canons founded about the Year 1140 to the honour of St. Mary by Eustace de Luvetot some of the Ruins whereof are still to be seen Near the River upon a high Hill stands the remains of a Castle which was built about the Year of Christ 917 by Edward the Senior Afterwards David King of Scots waging War against King Stephen upon the account of Mawd the Empress who was his Neice this was surrendred upon some certain Conditions to the Scots King who did exceedingly beautifie and strengthen it by making strong Rampires and Fortifications about it but Henry the Second finding it in process of time a Cage only for Rebels and Ringleaders of Sedition at last quite demolished it and from the top of this Hill is a very pleasant Prospect for the space
Armour wherewith they cover their Bodies is a Morion or Bonnet of Iron and an Habergeon which comes down almost to their very Heels their Weapons against their Enemies are Bows and Arrows and they are generally reputed good Marks Men upon all occasions their Arrows for the most part are barbed or crooked which once entred within the Body cannot well be drawn out again unless the Wound be made wider some of them fight with broad Swords and Axes and in the room of a Drum make use of a Bag-pipe They delight much in Musick but chiefly in Harps and Clarishoes of their own Fashion the strings of which are made of Brass-Wire and the strings of their Harps with Sinews which strings they strike either with their Nails growing long or else with an Instrument appointed for that use They take great delight to deck their Harps and Clarishoes with Silver and precious Stones and poor ones that cannot attain thereto deck them with Crystal They sing some Verses very prettily put together containing for the most part Praises of valiant Men and there is not almost any other Argument of which their Rhimes are composed They are great lovers of Tobacco and a little Mundungo will make them at any time very serviceable and officious and as they are mostly tall and strong they are likewise so exceeding fleet that some of them will make nothing of it to run many Miles in a day upon an Errand and return back again with no less Expedition Low-landers The Low-landers inhabiting on this side the two Friths of Dunbritton and Edinburgh and the plain Country along the German Ocean are of a more civiliz'd Nature as being of the same Saxon Race with the English which is evident from their Language being only a broad Northern English or a Dialect of that Tongue These People have been noted by their best Writers for some Barbarous Customs entertained long amongst them one of which was that if any two were thoroughly displeased and angry they expected no Law but fought it out bravely one and his Kindred against the other and his which fighting they called Feids and were reduced by the Princely Care and Prudence of King James the Sixth To this purpose I have read a very remarkable Story in the Life of Robert the Third King of Scots how that a dangerous Feud falling out betwixt two great and populous Families in the North Thomas Dunbar Earl of Murray and James Earl of Craford were sent to reduce them who perceiving the great Mischief likely to attend their endeavours of a forcible reducement contrived a more subtle way to quiet them after a representation made to the Heads of those Clans a part of the danger of those mutual Feuds and of the King's Wrath against both they advise to conclude their Feuds as the Horatii and Curatii did at Rome by the choice not of three but of three hundred on each side to fight armed with Swords only in the sight of the King and his Nobles whereby the Victor should gain Honour and the Vanquish'd Safety from further Punishment and both regain his Majesty's Favour whereof they gave them full assurance the Proposition is embraced on both sides of St. John's Town Mounts raised and Galleries made for the accommodation of the Spectators the Combatants are chosen and on the day appointed together with a multitude of Beholders all of them appear upon the place only one through fear privately withdrew himself this put some delay to the Encounter the one Party looking on it as a dishonour to fight with the other wanting one of their number the other Party not finding one who would engage himself to make up the number desire one of the Three hundred to be put aside but of all that number not one could be enduced to withdraw accounting it an indelible Disgrace to be shufled out of such a choice Company of valorous Men At last an ordinary Trades-man tendreth his Service desiring no greater Reward than one single piece of Gold in hand as an honourable Badge of his Valour and an Annuity of a small Sum for Life should he survive the Combat his Demands are soon granted and immediately beginneth the Conflict with as much fury as the height of Wrath the insatiable desire of Honour and the fear of Shame more than the fear of Death could produce to the Horror and Amazement of the Spectators whose Hearts tremble within them to see as indeed it was a horrid Spectacle to behold such a ruful sight of furious Men butchering one another and observed it was by all that of all the Combatants none shewed more shall I call it Valour than the Trades-man did who had the good Fate to survive that dismal Day and on the Conquering side too whereof only ten besides himself outlived that Hour to partake with many ghastly Wounds the Honour of the Day the Vanquished are killed on the place all to one who perceiving himself to be left alone and being without Wounds he skippeth into the River by which means none of the surviving Victors being able to follow him by reason of their Wounds he makes a fair escape with his Life Thus the Heads and most turbulent of both Clans being cut off their Retainers are soon persuaded to Peace and so for many Years after live quiet enough This Fight happened in the Year 1396. The other Custom was that of Nature that the like was scarce heard amongst the Heathens and much less in Christendom which did begin as the Scotch Historians affirm in the Reign of Ewen the Third which Ewen being a Prince much addicted or rather given up altogether to Lasciviousness made a Law that himself and his Successors should have the Maidenheads or first Night Lodging with any Woman whose Husbands held Land immediately from the Crown and the Lords and Gentlemen likewise of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers this was it seems the Knights Service which Men held their Estates by and continued till the Days of Malcolm Conmor who at the Request of his Wife Queen Margaret the Sister of Edgar Atheling abolish'd this Law and ordained that the Tenants by way of Commutation should pay unto their Lords a Mark in Money which Tribute is still customary to be paid The Republick or Commonwealth of the Scots like ours of England consists of a King The Castles Nobility Gentry and Commons whose chief Castles are Edenburgh Sterling and Dunbarton which last is the strongest in all the Castles in Scotland by natural Situation towring upon a rough craggy and two headed Rock at the meeting of the Rivers in a green Plain in one of the Heads above stands a lofty Watch-Tower on the other which is the lower there are sundry strong Bulwarks between these two on the North-side it hath only one ascent by which hardly one by one can pass up and that with some labour and difficulty by steps cut out aslope traverse the Rock instead of Ditches
Romanum mare as if it were Sea in the Romans time or from the Saxon Rumen-ea the large Water or watery place to which he is most inclinable 't is certain as my singular good Friend Mr. Kennett hath observed in his Life he is more singularly happy in fixing Limene or the Mouth of the River Limene or Rother at Romney which is since turned another way To which I shall subjoin that reckoning one Town and Nineteen Parish Churches within the Precincts being as is computed about 18 Miles in length and 10 in breadth it contains 44200 Acres or thereabouts of Pasture which proves most excellent Forage both for Bullocks and Sheep with which it is stocked all over to a Miracle As for New Romney as 't is called as it was formerly the Roman Port Lemanis New Romney by its distance from Canterbury so now 't is one of the Cinque-Ports of which Lyd and Old Romney are accounted Limbs and received that Epithet of New to distinguish it from its Old Neighbour which distinction saith Mr. Somner I find used near 500 Years ago and from the Ruin of the latter it states the Epocha of its first Original when after that the Ocean in the Reign of Edward the First had made an Inroad into the Land and overflowed all this Tract with its violent Inundations it was forced to submit to the irresistible Conquest of that implacable Enemy who returned Triumphant with the Trophies of five Churches a Priory and an Hospital besides great Depredations both of Cattel and Houses into its restless and turbulent Dominions Hereupon began this other Town immediately to flourish which though it appears of no large extent yet the subsistence which it now affords by Grazing doth very well comport with the Genius of its Natives In this Town are generally held all Publick Assemblies for the more speedy dispatch of the Cinque-Port Affairs and are called the Brotherhood and Guestling Now a Brotherhood is an Assembly held by the Mayors Bayliffs Jurats and Commons of the Cinque-Ports and their Corporate Members jointly For the better preserving the Lands there are three Guts or Sluces in Romney Marsh issuing East-wards by the Names of Willop and Hoorney Gut Marshland Gut and Clobsden Gut One Gut more called the Five Waterings issuing into the Channel of the River Rother and so falls into Rye Water and Dengemarsh-Gut issuing Eastward within the Liberties and Corporation of Lyd. I shall likewise here set down the Order of Watches which were formerly kept by the Sea-Coast taken out of an ancient MS. now in my Custody At Dengemarsh by twelve Men of the seven Hundred At Helmes-Beacon by eight Men viz. of the Hundred of St. Martin's two the Hundred of Oxney two the Hundred of Allowes-bridge two the Hundred of Lamport one and the Hundred of Ham one At Broad-Hall aliàs Dimchurch by nine Men viz. of the Hundred of Street two of the Hundred of Worth two of the Hundred of Philipborough three of the Hundred of Newchurch two At Seabrook aliàs Shorn-Cliff thirteen Men viz. of the Hundred of Hane one the Hundred of Longbridge and Chart three the Hundred of Calehill three the Hundred of Bircholt one the Hundred of Wye five At Sandgate nine Men viz. the Hundred of Folk-stone four the Hundred of Loningborough two the Hundred of Pettam one the Hundred of Stowting two At Coldham by four Men of the Hundred of Milton and Marden A. D. 1614. Dimchurch Four Miles farther is Dimchurch a Village of great Note for the Lords Bayliffs Jurats and other Officers of Romney Marsh who keep here a general Court call'd the Lath every Whitsun-Week for the dispatch of all Affairs which depend hereon As for the great Wall or Bank which is here cast up against the Sea 't is fenced with great Piles of Wood which are driven deep upon the Shore by an incredible Charge to repress the Outrages of that merciless Element which by its propinquity doth many times threaten a subitaneous Inundation and could it once gain a Conquest in this place would quickly run in Triumph over the whole Marsh besides Over this Wall the Road leads to Hyth Hyth West-Hyth and Lym. another of the Cinque-Ports which hath West-Hyth for a Member a small Neighbouring Village Westward which falling to decay by the retiring of the Sea from it occasioned in a short time the Plantation of the other though both are supposed to have received their beginning from the Ruins of Lym standing hard by which in times past was a most famous Port until the Sands cast up by the Sea had altogether choaked and stopped up the Haven which the Bands of the Turnacenses under the Lieutenant of the Saxon Shore quartered in this place which the Port-way call'd Stony-Street reaching from hence almost to Canterbury being doubtless a Work of the industrious Romans and which in fine the ancient Ruins of an old decayed Castle called Studfall i. e. Stodfold saith Mr. Somner a Fold or Inclosure for Steeds whose remains carry still a resemblance of the obsolete Modes of Roman Architecture seem manifestly to attest But though Hyth extracted all its Glory from those Places yet so subject are Towns and Cities to Vicissitudes as well as Men that it seems to be involved in the same Fate and to decline into their perishing Condition having of late Years suffered a great Eclipse of all its pristine Splendor and every day more and more very sensibly decaying by the loss of its Haven and the distance of the Sea which hath almost withdrawn it self near a Mile from the Town The Town is situated upon the brow of an high stony craggy Hill the lower part consisting of one long Street which extends it self about half a Mile in length and in the upper part are placed some few rows of Houses together with the Church an ancient Fabrick which overlooks all the other Buildings and discovers it self at a great distance at Sea capacious enough to receive a greater Congregation than with which it is usually frequented But that which now more especially preserves still the Fame and keeps up the repute of this poor languishing Port besides the two Hospitals of St. John and St. Bartholomew the latter of which was Founded by Haymo Bishop of Rochester who was Born here is the Charnel-House adjoining to the Church or the arched Vault under it wherein are orderly piled up a great stack of dead Mens Bones and Skulls which appear very white and solid but how or by what means they were brought to this Place the Townsmen are altogether ignorant and can give no account of the matter probably the first occasion of them might be from what is related by Henry Knyghton de Eventibus Angliae lib. 3. p. 2503. How that in the Reign of Edward the First about the Year 1295 the then King of France sending about 300 Ships for an English Invasion one of them more forward than the rest came directly for Hyth where landing