river or water For although it be not used at present in that sense nor yet preserv'd in any Glossary or other Books yet I find it in the termination of the names of many of our rivers ex gr Lhugwy Dowrdwy y Vyrnwy Edwy Conwy Elwy Hondhwy Mynwy Mowdhwy Tawy Towy c. Now that this final syllable wy in these names of rivers is the same with gwy seems more than probable in that we find the river Towy call'd in the Book of Landaffe Tiugui ab hostio Taratir super ripam Gui usque ad ripam Tiugui c. and also the river Elwy call'd Elgui And that gwy or wy signified water seems also confirm'd from the names of some aquatick animals as Gwyach Gîach eog alià s oiog c. This being granted we may be able to interpret the names of several rivers which have hitherto remain'd unintelligible as Lhugwy clear water from lhug which signifies light or brightness Dowrdwy Loud water from Dwradh noise Edwy a swift or rapid stream from Ehed to fly c. c As for Rhà iadr Gŵy several places in Wales are thus denominated all which have cataracts near them and the word is still used appellatively among the mountains of Snowdon in Caernarvonshire where such falls of water are very frequent Rhaiadar-castle whereof not the least ruins are now remaining was very advantageously situated in a nook of the river close by this Cataract But what seems very remarkable is a deep trench on one side of the Castle-yaâ—d cut out of an exceeding hard and solid rock About two furlongs below this place where the castle stood I observ'd a large Tumulus or Barrow call'd from a Chapel adjoyning Tommen lhan St. Frêd and on the other side at a farther distance there are two more Bâ—rrows or Lâ—ws call'd in Welsh Krigeu much less than the former call'd Krigeu Kevn Keido viz. the Barrows of Kevn Keido a place so call'd where 't is suppos'd there stood heretofore a Church for that a piece of ground adjoyning is call'd Klyttieu'r Eglwys ¶ On the top of a hill call'd Gwastèdin near Rhaiadr Gŵy there are three large heaps of stones of that kind which are common upon mountains in most if not all Counties of Wales and are call'd in South-wales Karneu Karâ— wiâ—â— it signâ—â—â—â—s and in North-wales Karnedheu They consist of any such lesser stones from a pound weight to a hundâ—ed c. as the neighbouring places afford and are confusedly piled up without any farther trouble than the bringing them thither and the throwing of them in heaps On Plin Lhimmon mountain and some other places there are of these Karnedheu so considerably big that they may be supposed to consist of no less than a hundred Cart-loads of stones but generally consider'd they are much less They are also found in the North and probably other parts of England and are frequent in Scotland and Ireland being call'd there by the same British name of Kairn whereof I can give no other account to the curious Reader than that it is a primitive word and appropriated to signifie such heaps of stones That most of these Karnedheu not to say all were intended as memorials of the dead I am induced to believe for that I have my self observed near the summit of one of them a rude stone monument which I shall have occasion to prove Sepulchral hereafter somewhat of the form of a large Coffer or Chest and have receiv'd unquestionable information of two more such monuments found of late years in the like places But what removes all scruple and puts this question beyond farther debate is that 't is still the custom in several places to cast heaps of stones on the Graves of Malefactors and Self-murderers And hence perhaps it is since we can assign no other reason that the worst of Traytors are call'd Karn-Vradwyr the most notorious Thieves Karn-Lhadron c. That this was also the custom amongst the Romans appears from that Epitaph ascrib'd to Virgil on the infamous Robber Balista Monte sub hoc lapidum tegitur Balista sepultus Nocte die tutum carpe viator iter But that it was nevertheless usual among the Britains before they were known to the Romans seems evident for that they are common also in the Highlands of Scotland and in Ireland where their Conquests never reach'd Now if it be demanded whether Malefactors only were thus serv'd in ancient times or whether other persons indifferently had not such heaps of stones erected to them as Sepulchral monuments I answer that before Christianity was introduced men of the best quality seem to have had such Funeral Piles and such I take to have been the largest of them those especially that have the monuments above mentioned within them But since the planting of Christianity they became so detestable and appropriated to Malefactors that sometimes the most passionate wishes a man can express to his enemy is that a Karn be his monument Karn 〈◊〉 Wynâ—â— and as we have already observ'd the most notorious and profligate Criminals are distinguish'd by that word BRECKNOCKSHIRE ON the South of Radnor lies Brecknockshire in British Brycheinog so call'd as the Welsh suppose Giraâ—d â—â—mo 〈◊〉 c. â— from Prince * Brechanius who is said to have had a numerous and holy Off-spring to wit twenty four daughters all Saints This is considerably a larger County than Radnorshire but more mountainous tho' in many places 't is adorn'd with fruitful and pleasant vales It is bounded on the East with Hereford on the South with Monmouth and Glamorgan and on the West with Caermardhinshire But since nothing can be added in the describing of this small Province to what the industrious Giraldus Cambrensis hath already written who was Arch-Deacon hereof four hundred years since I may do well for some time to be silent and call him to my assistance Brechiniauc saith he in his Itinerary of Wales is a Land sufficiently abounding with corn whereof if there be any defect 't is amply supply'd from the borders of England and is well stor'd with Woods Pastures wild Deer and herds of Cattel It hath also plenty of River-fish from Usk and Wy both abounding with Salmon and Trout but the Wy with a better sort call'd Umbrae It is inclosed on all parts except the North with high mountains having on the West the mountains of Cantre-bychan and towards the South the Southern-hills whereof the chiefest is call'd Kader Arthur or Arthur's Chair from two peaks on the top of it somewhat resembling a Chair Which in regard 't is a lofty seat and a place of strength is ascribed in the vulgar appellation of it to Arthur the most puissant and absolute Monarch of the Britains A fountain springs on the very top of this hill which is as deep as a draw-well and four square affording Trouts tho' no water runs out of it Being thus guarded on the South with high mountains 't is defended from the heat of the Sun with
shall add a sort of grain sown plentifully towards the further end of this County that is Avena nuda Ger. J. B. C. B. Park Naked Oats called hereabouts Pillis or Pill-corn from its being naturally as it were pilled or denuded of the husk wherewith the common Oat is covered It is much esteemed and of equal price with Wheat DEVONSHIRE THE hither Country of the Danmonii which I have mention'd is now commonly call'd Denshire by the Cornish-Britains Deunan by the Welsh-Britains Duffneynt that is deep vallies because they live every where here lowly in the bottoms by the English Saxons a The true Saxon name is Defnascyre for the Saxons never set h after c that being a way of writing which we owe entirely to the Normans Deuenschire from whence comes the latin Devonia and that contracted name us'd by the vulgar b I think in most parts of England it is still commonly call'd Devonshire without such a contraction Denshire and not from the Danes as some Pretenders do stifflly hold This Country as it shoots out on both sides with greater breadth than Cornwall so it has more commodious harbours on each side of it nor is it less rich in tinn mines a especially towards the west-part being enamel'd with finer meadows shelter'd with more woods and very full of towns and houses But the soil in some places is as poor and lean on the other side which however makes a good return to the husbandman if he has skill in husbandry a mind to labour and a good purse to bestow upon it Nor indeed are there many places in England where land requires more charge to till it for it is almost quite barren in most parts unless it be over-spread with a c See the Additions to Cornwall and Philosophical Transactions Numb 103. p. 29. certain sand from the sea 〈◊〉 sand which renders it very fruitful and as it were impregnates the glebe and therefore in places more remote from the shore it is bought dear b In describing this County my way shall be first along the west-side bounded by the Tamar then along the south which lies upon the Ocean from hence by the eastern-bounds where it touches upon the County of Dorset and Somersetshire I will return to the north-coast which is bounded by the Severn-Sea The Tamar which divides these counties first on this side from the east receives the small river Lid upon which stands Lidston a little market-town â—ord and Lidford now a small village but formerly a famous town c most sadly shaken by the Danes in the year 997. This town as it appears from that book wherein William 1. took his survey of England was wont to be taxed at the same time and after the same manner that London was This little river Lid being here at the bridge pent up with rocks has made it self so deep a fall continual working that the water is not to be seen but only the murmure of it to be heard to the great admiration of those that pass over Lower down the Teave a little river runs into the Tamar upon which flourishes Teavistoke commonly Tavistoke formerly famous for an Abbey Tavistoke The foundation Charter which Ordulph the son of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire by the admonishment of a vision from heaven built about the year of our Saviour 961. The place says Malmesbury is pleasant for the convenience of wood for fine fishing and an uniform Church the banks of the river lie along just by the shops which by the force of it's current washes away all the rubbish thrown into it Saint Rumon a Bishop is much talk'd of there where he lies bury'd And there is seen in the same Monastery the sepulcher of Ordgar and the huge bulk of Mausolaeus his Son is look'd upon as a wonder he is call'd Ordulf of gigantick growth and prodigious strength For he could break the bars of gates and go along the river ten foot broad stridewise if we may credit the said William But it had hardly continu'd thirty three years from the foundation of it till it was burnt down by the Danes Yet it flourish'd again and by a laudable institution Saxon Lectures here were Lectures of our old mother tongue I mean the Saxon-language which is now grown into disuse continu'd down to the last age lest that which hath almost now happen'd the knowledge of it should be quite lost d The Tamar having receiv'd the Teave comes next to it's mouth where the Plim in conjunction with it rolls into the sea and gives name to the town Plimouth Plimouth seated on it which was formerly call'd Sutton this seems to have been twofold 13 H. 4. for we find mention in the Acts of Parliament of Sutton Vautort and Sutton Prior which partly belong'd to the family of the Valletorts and partly to the Prior. In the last age from a small fisher-village it grew up to a large town and is not inferiour to a city in number of inhabitants as we see it at this day e The convenience of the Haven was the cause of this rise which admits the greatest ships that are without striking sail and yields them safe harbour tho' never so big as well in the Tamar as the Plim besides it is sufficiently fortify'd to withstand the attacques of an enemy For in the very middle the d The name of this Island is S. Nicholas and contains two acres of ground or more Isle S. Michael lies before it which is also fortify'd And then the Haven at the town is guarded on both sides and block'd up with a chain crossing it upon occasion being guarded on the south by a bastion and by a castle on the next hill built as 't is thought by the Valletorts The whole town is divided into four tribes which we in our language call Wards who are all govern'd by a Mayor ordain'd by Henry 6. and under him formerly a * Capitaners Captain was made to every single ward who had each one also his inferior Officers As to that fable of Corinaeus's wrastling with Gogmagog Gogmagog the giant in this place it may suffice to subscribe a verse or two from the Architrenius concerning our giants Hos avidum belli robur Corinaeus Averno Praecipites misit cubitis ter quatuor altum Gogmagog Herculea suspendit in aëra lucta Anthaeumque suum scopulo detrusit in aequor Potavitque dato Thetis ebria sanguine fluctus Divisumque tulit mare corpus Cerberus umbram With those rude Monsters bred in wars and blood Brave Corinaeus clogg'd the Stygian flood High in the air huge Gogmagog he shook And pitch'd the vile Antaeus from his rock His hated carcass on the waves was tost And Cerberus started at his monstrous ghost That Rock from which the Giant is reported to have been thrust off is now call'd the Haw a hill between the town and the sea on the top whereof which is levelled into a delicate
last Office he was able to pay him not to preserve his memory which his many Virtues had made immortal but his body committed to the ground in hopes of a joyful Resurrection As for the River which runs by and has its Spring in the Northern parts of this County it is enlarg'd by the influx of many Rivulets on both sides the most noted of which washes Cowdrey a noble seat of Viscount Montacute 7 Which for building oweth much to the late Viscount and formerly to Sir William Fâ—tz-Williams Earl of Southamton and has on it's other side Midherst 8 That is Middle-wood proud of its Lords the Bohuns who bear for their Arms A Cross Azure in a Field Or and from Ingelricus de Bohun under K. Hen. 1. flourish'd till Hen. 7's days who gave in marriage the Daughter and heir of John Bohun to Sir David Owen Knight the natural Son of Owen Theodore or Tudor with a large inheritance Bohuns of Mâ—dâ—â—â—â— Their Arms Spigurâ—el what a signifies These Bohuns were to note by the by the antiquity of a word now grown out of use for some time the Kings Spigurnels by inheritance that is the Sealers of his Writs which Office together with the Serjeanty of the King's Chapel was resigned to K. Edw. 1. by John de Bohun the Son of Franco as we read in an old Charter made concerning that very matter Next we have a sight of Pettworth Pettwâ—â—th which William D'Aubeney Earl of Arundel gave together with a ‖ large estate to Josceline of Lovain a Brabander Queen Adeliza's brother a younger son of Godfrey Duke of Brabant descended from the stock of Charlemain upon his marriage with Agnes the only daughter and heir of the Percies The Percies Since which time the posterity of that Josceline having assumed the name of Percy as we shall tell you elsewhere have held it See Northumberland in the end A family certainly very ancient and noble which derive their descent from Charlemain more directly and with a series of Ancestors much less interrupted than either the Dukes of Lorrain or Guise who so highly value themselves upon that account This Josceline as I have seen in a donation of his us'd this Title Josceline of Lovain Brother of Queen Adeliza Castellane of Arundel As the shore gives back from the mouth of Arun 9 Inwardly is Michelgrove that is Great Grove the heir general whereof so surnamed was married to John Shelley whereby with the profâ—ssion of the Law and a marriage with one of the Coheirs of Beknap the family of Shelley was greatly enrich'd near Tering lies Offingtons The faâ—â—â— of the Wâ—â—â— the seat of William West Baron De la-ware This of the Wests is a noble and ancient family whose estate being much enlarg'd by matching with the heirs of Cantelupe of Hempston and of Fitz-Reginald Fitz-Herbert was adorn'd also with the title of Baron by the heir general of the Lord De-la-ware Barons de 〈◊〉 Ware Hard by is a sort compass'd about with a bank rudely cast up where the inhabitants believe that Caesar intrench'd and sortify'd his Camp But Cissbury Cissbury the name of the place plainly shews it was the work of Cissa who was the second King of this Kingdom of the Saxon race succeeding Aella his father and with his brother Cimen and no small body of Saxons landed on this coast at Cimen shore Cimeâ—-shore so call'd of the said Cimen a place which now hath lost it's name but that it was near Wittering King Cedwalla's Charter of Donation made to the Church of Selsey is a very convincing proof There is another fort likewise to be seen two miles from Cissbury which they commonly call Chenkbury Thence near the sea lies Broodwater the Barony of the Lords de Camois Câ—mâ—â—s who flourish'd here from the time of King Edward 1. till * Heâ—â—â— time our Grandfathers remembrance when by female heirs the estate fell to the Lewkenors and Radmilds Of this family John Camois son of Lord Ralph Camois by a president not to be parallel'd in that nor our own age out of his own free will I speak from the Parliament Rolls themselves gave and demised his own wife Margaret daughter and heir of John de Gaidesden A Wâ—â—e given 〈◊〉 grantâ—◠〈◊〉 another Paâ—l â—â— Edw. â— to Sir William Painel Knight and to the same William voluntarily gave granted released and quit claimed all the goods and chattels which she hath or otherwise hereafter might have and also whatsoever was in his hands of the aforesaid Margaret 's goods and chattels with their appurtenances So that neither he himself nor any man else in his name might claim or challenge any interest nor ought for ever in the aforesaid Margaret from henceforth or in the goods or chattels of the said Margaret Which is as much as what the Ancients said in one word Ut omnia sua secum haberet that she should have away with her all that was hers By vertue of which grant when she demanded her dowry in the mannour of Torpull an estate of John Camois her first husband there commenc'd a memorable suit But she was cast in it and sentence pass'd That she ought to have no dowry from thence Upon a Statute made against Women absenting themselves from their Husbands c. This I mention with a sort of reluctancy but I perceive Pope Gregory had good reason to write to Archbishop Lanfrank that he heard there were some amongst the Scots that not only forsook their Wives but sold them too since even in England they so gave and demis'd them Upon the shore a little lower appears Shoreham Shoreham anciently Score-ham which by little and little has dwindled into a poor village now call'd Old Shoreham having given rise to another Town of the same name the greatest part whereof is ruin'd and under water and the commodiousness of it's Port by reason of the banks of sand cast up at the mouth of the river wholly taken away whereas in former ages it was wont to carry ships under sail as high as Brember Brember-Castâ—e at a pretty distance from the sea This was a castle formerly of the Breoses for K. William 1. gave it to William de Breose from whom the Breoses Lords of Gower and Brechnock are descended and from them also the Knightly Families of the Shirleys in this County and Leicestershire But now instead of a castle there is nothing but a heap of ruins beneath which lies Stening on set-days a well-frequented market which in Aelfred's Will if I mistake not is called Steyningham 10 In latter times it had a Cell of Black Monks wherein was enshrin'd St. Cudman an obscure Saint and visited by Pilgrims with Oblations e â—â—â—tus Ad â—ni 〈◊〉 Proâ—â—â—rum That ancient port also call'd Portus Adurni as it seems is scarce 3 miles off the mouth of the river where when the Saxons
mark of infamy by wickedly conspiring with those wretched Incendiaries who design'd with one single charge of Gun-powder to have destroy'd both their Prince and Country d 2 More eastward upon the river Welland I saw nothing remarkable unless it be Berohdon now Barodon which Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick held with South-Luffenham and other hamlets by service to the King's Chamberlain in the Exchequer Fiâ— 14 Ed. 3. In the furthermost division beyond the river encompass'd with hills lyes the pleasant and fruitful valley now call'd The Vale of Catmose perhaps from Coet maes which in the British tongue signifies a woody field or ground In the midst of which vale stands Okeham Okeham that seems for the same reason to have taken it's name from Oaks Near the Church 3 Which is large and fair are still remaining the ruinous walls of an old castle built as is reported by a He was a younger son to William de Ferrers Earl of Derby and held Okeham by the service of one Knights fee and a half 12 Hen. 2. Wright pag. 95. Walkelin de Ferrariis in the beginning of the Normans And that it was the habitation of the Ferrars besides the authority of tradition is sufficiently evident from the Horse-shoes which that family gave for their Arms nail'd on the â—â—tes and in the hall Afterwards this town belong'd to the Lords of Tatteshall But when King Richard 2. advanced Edward son of the Duke of York to the title of Earl of Rutland he also gave him this Castle In the memory of the last age it came to Thomas Cromwell Barons Cromwell and as I have read b He was Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon but not of Okeham See the printed Stat. of 31 Hen. 8. concerning Gavelkind gave him the title of Baron Henry 8. advanc'd this person to the highest dignity but soon after when by his many projects he had expos'd himself to the storms of envy on a sudden he depriv'd him both of life and honours e Eastward from hence is Burley Burly most pleasantly situated overlooking the Vale. This is now the magnificent seat of the Harringtons who by marriage with the daughter and heir of Colepeper came to so large an inheritance in those parts that ever since they have been a flourishing family in like manner as the Colepepers were before them to whom by N. Green the great estate of the Bruses did in part descend Which Bruses being of the chief Nobility of England match'd into the Royal family of Scotland from whom by Robert the eldest brother the Royal Line of the Scots and by Bernard a younger brother the Cottons of Connington in the County of Huntingdon of whom I have already spoken and these Harringtons are descended Upon which account K. James dignify'd Sir John Harrington Barons Harringtâ—â— 4 Branch'd from the stem of the ancient Lords Harington a most famous and worthy Knight with the title of Baron Harrington of Exton 5 A town adjacent where be hath also another fair house f On the east-side of this County near the river Guash lye Brigcasterton of which more hereafter and Rihall where when superstition had so bewitched our Ancestors that it had almost remov'd the true God by the multiplicity of Gods one Tibba a Saint of the lesser rank was worship'd by Falconers The Falcoâ—ers Saint as a second Diana and reputed a kind of Patroness of Falconry g Next adjoyning is Essenden whose Lord Robert Cecil the excellent son of an excellent father who was the support of our kingdom was lately created by King James Baron Cecil of Essenden Baron Câ—â—â— of Essendâ—n This little County Edward the Confessor devised by his last Will to his wife Eadith conditionally that after her death it should go to St. Peter's at Westminster These are the words of the Testament I will that after the decease of Queen Eadgith my wife Roteland with all things thereunto belonging be given to my Monastery of the most blessed Peter and that it be surrender'd without delay to the Abbot and Monks there serving God for ever But this Testament of his was vacated by William the Norman who keeping a great part of this estate to himself divided the rest to Judith the Countess whose daughter marry'd David K. of Scots to Robert Mallet Oger Gislebert of Gaunt Earl Hugh Alberic the Clerk and others But to Westminster he left indeed at first the tithes but afterwards only the Church of Okeham with the Appendices or Chapelries thereunto belonging Oppida Mercatoria per Ichnographiam Villae Parochiales per Pagi minores per Sedes vel loca devastata Olim Villae per Denotantur COMITATUS ROTELANDIAE Tabula Nova Aucta This little County is adorn'd with 48 Parish-Churches ADDITIONS to RVTLANDSHIRE a WHat the original of this County's name was we are in a great measure in the dark for as Mr. Camden's Roet and Rud will not do because we are assur'd there is nothing in the County to justifie such a conjecture so Mr. Wright's Rotelandia quasi Rotunda-landia will hardly pass till we can give some probable account how it came by a Latin name more than other parts of England The Conquest could not bring it in because we find it call'd so in the time of Edward the Confessor and beside so much of it as belong'd to Nottinghamshire to which the name Roteland was given before the rest came to be part of it is far from making a circular figure how round soever it may be when all together b When the County of Rutland came to be distinct or upon what occasion is altogether unknown Mr. Camden says that Authors 300 years old make no mention of it as of a separate Shire but that it was distinct before is certain for in the 5th of King John Isabel his new Queen had at her Coronation assigned her in Parliament for her dowry among other lands * Wright â—g 3. Com. Roteland villam de Rokingham in Com. Northampt. c. And in 12 Johan the Custos did account for the profits of this County in the Exchequer Which Custos can relate to nothing but the Sheriff of the County who was and still is as it were a Guard and his office is imply'd in his name Scyre-gerefa from which Sheriff is contracted signifying no more than a Keeper of the County â—iâ—g 〈◊〉 c In the south part of this County lies Uppingham the site whereof will hardly bear Mr. Camden's derivation from an ascent †Wright â— 130. the ground upon which it stands being something above a level but hardly amounting to a hill Johnson who is said to have built the school was call'd Robert and beside that built two Hospitals one at Okeham and another here at Uppingham Near this place is Lydington where about the year 1602. Thomas Lord Burgley settl'd an Hospital or Alms-house for a Warden 12 poor men and 2 poor women
Envy resign'd up these and two other castles to wit Blank and Hanfeld to King Edward the third In another corner North-eastward the river Mynwy and Wy meeting do almost encompass the chief town of this County which is thence denominated for the Britains call it Mynwy and we Monmouth Monmouth On the North-side where it is not guarded with the rivers it is fortify'd with a wall and a ditch In the midst of the town near the market-place stands the castle which as we find in the King's Records flourish'd in the time of William the Conquerour but is thought to have been re-built by John Baron of Monmouth From him it devolv'd to the House of Lancaster when King Henry the third had depriv'd him of his Inheritance for espousing so violently the Barons Interest against him Or rather as we read in the King's Prerogative for that his heirs had pass'd their Allegiance to the Earl of Britain in France Since that time this town has flourish'd considerably enjoying many privileges granted them by the House of Lancaster But for no one thing is it so eminent as the birth of King Henry the fifth that triumphant Conquerour of France and second Ornament of the Lancastrian Family who by direct force of arms subdu'd the Kingdom of France and reduc'd their King Charles the sixth to that extremity that he did little better than resign his Title Upon whose prosperous Success John Seward a Poet in those times and none of the lowest rank bespeaks the English Nation in this lofty stile Ite per extremum Tanain pigrósque Triones Ite per arentem Lybiam superate calores Solis arcanos Nili deprendite fontes Herculeum finem Bacchi transcurrite metas Angli juris erit quicquid complectitur orbis Anglis rubra dabunt pretiosas aequora conchas Indus ebur ramos Panchaia vellera Seres Dum viget Henricus dum noster vivit Achilles Est etenim laudes longè transgressus avitas March on brave Souls to Tanais bend your arms And rowze the lazy North with just alarms Beneath the toâ—rid Zone your enemies spread Make trembling Nile disclose it's secret head Surprize the World 's great limits with your hast Where nor Alcides nor old Bacchus past Let daily triumphs raise you vast renown The world and all its treasures are your own Yours are the Pearls that grace the Persian Sea You rich Panchaea India and Catay With spicy ivory barks and silk supply While Henry great Achilles of our land Blest with all joys extends his wide command Whose noble deeds and worthy fame surpass The ancient glories of his heavenly race Monmouth also glories in the birth of Galfridus Arthurius Bishop of St. Asaph Geofrey of Monmouth or Ap. Artâ—â—c who compiled the British History an Author well experienced in Antiquities * Fâ—de 〈◊〉 vidâ—tâ—â— non anâ—â—quá but as it seems not of antique credit so many ridiculous Fables of his own invention c hath he inserted in that work In so much that he is now amongst those writers that are censur'd by the Church of Rome The river Wy wherein they take Salmon plentifully from September to April is continued from hence Southward with many windings and turnings It 's now the limit between Glocestershire and Monmouthshire but was formerly the boundary betwixt the Welsh and English according to that verse of Necham Inde vagos Vaga Cambrenses hinc respicit Anglos Hence Wye the English views and thence the Welsh Near its fall into the Severn-Sea it passes by Chepstow Câ—eâ— t â— which is a Saxon name and signifies a market or place of trading In British 't is call'd Kaswent or Castelh Gwent 'T is a town of good note built on a hill close by the river guarded with walls of a considerable circumference which take in several Fields and Orchards The castle is very fair standing on the brink of a river and on the opposite side there stood a Priory whereof the better part being demolish'd the remainder is converted to a Parish-church The bridge here over the Wy is built upon piles and is exceeding high which was necessary because the tide rises here to a great height The Lords of this place were the Clares Earls of Pembroke who from a neighbour castle call'd Strighul where they liv'd were entitled Earls of Strighul Earâ—s â—f Strigâ—â—l and Pembroke of whom Richard the last Earl a man of invincible courage and strength sirnam'd Strong-bow from his excellency in Archery was the first that made way for the English into Ireland By his daughter it descended to the Bigots c. And now it belongs to the Earls of Worcester This place seems of no great antiquity for several do affirm and that not without reason that it had its rise not many ages past from the ancient city Venta Veâ—ta which flourish'd about four miles hence in the time of Antoninus who calls it Venta Silurum as if it had been their chief city Which name neither arms nor time have consum'd for at this day 't is call'd Kaer-went Kaer-wenâ— or the city Venta But the city it self is so much destroy'd by the one or the other that it only appears to have been from the ruinous walls the checquer'd pavements and the Roman coyns d It took up about a mile in circumference on the South-side is a considerable part of the wall yet remaining and more than the ruins of three Bastions What repute it had heretofore we may from hence gather that before the name of Monmouth was heard of this whole Country was call'd from it Went-set or Went's land e Moreover as we read in the life of Tathaius a British Saint it was formerly an Academy Lâ—â—anâ—â—ff or place dedicated to Literature which the same Tathaius govern'd with commendation and also founded a Church there in the reign of King Kradok ap-Ynyr who invited him hither from an Hermitage Five miles to the West of Kaer-went is seated Strighul-castle at the bottom of the hills which now we call Strugle but the Normans Estrig-hill built as we find in Domesday-book by William Fitz-Osbern Earl of Hereford and afterwards the seat of the Clares Earls of Pembroke whence they have been also commonly call'd Earls of Strighull Beneath these places upon the Severn-Sea not far from the mouth of the river Wy lies Port Skeweth P â—t Skewâ—â—h call'd by Marianus Port-Skith who informs us that Harald built a Fort there against the Welsh in the year 1065. which they immediately under the conduct of Karadok overthrew 1 And adjoyning to it is Sudbroke the Church whereof call'd Trinity-Chapel standeth so near the Sea that the vicinity of so tyrannous a neighbour hath spoil'd it of half the Church-yard as it hath done also of an old Fortification lying thereby which was compassed with a triple Ditch and three Rampiers as high as an ordinary house cast in form of a Bow the string whereof is the Sea-cliff That this was a
the south the Irish Sea upon the west the Frith of Clyde upon the north Carick and Kyle and to the north-east the river of Nith 'T is in length from North-east to South-west about seventy miles in breadth from North to South in some places 24 in others 20. and in others only sixteen It is divided into the Higher and Lower Country The Higher lyes between the water of Cree and the point or Mule making the Sheriffdom The Lower takes up the rest namely all upon the water of Cree making the Stewardry of Kilcumbright The plenty of pastures induces them to keep vast flocks of Sheep as also of Cows which they send into England in great numbers when there is no Prohibition b The second part of the Novantes is said to be the Sheriffdom of Aire so called from the Town of Aire the head Burgh of the shire though the north part of this tract seems rather to have belonged to the Damnii The country is bounded on the north by the Shire of Rainfrew on the south with Galloway on the east with Clidsdale and on the west with the Frith of Clyde It generally produces good store of Corn and Grass is very populous and the Inhabitants of it are exceeding industrious 'T is divided into three Baileries Carick Kyle and Cunningham The most considedrable Loch in it is that of Dun six mile in length and two in breadth with an Isle in it upon which is an old house call'd Castle-Dun Upon the Water Down is a bridge of one arch ninety foot long But the most noted place in these parts is Aire the chief market-town in the west of Scotland Theatr. Scot. * It 's situation is in a sandy plain yet hath it pleasant and fruitful fields with Greens which afford a good prospect both winter and summer The Church is stately enough and there is a bridge of four arches which joyns it to the New-Town seated on the north side of the water The ancient name of this Aire was St. John's Town but that is now lost By the King's Patent it is the Sheriff's Seat having within its Jurisdiction thirty two miles A mile north of the Town not far from the sea-shore there is a Lazer-house commonly called the King's Chapel which King Robert de Brus set apart for the maintenance of Lepers DAMNII BEyond the Novantes along the River Glotta and Cluyde and farther up even to the very Eastern sea dwelt the Damnii and if I have any judgment for who can give the certainty of things at such a distance and in so much obscurity in Cluydesdale the Barony of Renfraw Lenox Sterling Menteith and Fife CLVYDESDALE NEAR the head of the Cluyde Cluydesdale in Crawford-Moor among the wasts certain Husbandmen of the Country after violent Rains happened to find a sort of shavings of Gold which hath long given great hopes of much riches more especially in our times since B. Bulmer hath undertaken with great application to find out a Mine of Gold A Gold Mine They certainly dig up daily * Azurum the Lapis Lazuli with little or no labour Crawford-Castle together with the title of Earl of Crawford The Lindsays Earls of Crawford was conferr'd by K. Robert the 2. on James Lindesay who in a single Combat with Baron Welles an Englishman got much commendation for his valour The Lindsays have generally deserved well of their Country and are of antient Nobility ever since William Lindesay married one of the Heirs of William de Lancaster Lord of Kendal in England whose great grand-daughter was married into the honourable family of Coucy in France The Cluyd after with much strugling it hath forced its way Northward by the seat of Baron Somervill Baron Somervill receives from the West the river Duglas or Douglas so called of its dark greenish water This river gives name to the Valley through which it runs called Douglasdale and to the Castle therein which gives its name to the family of Douglass This family is very antient but hath been most eminent ever since James Douglas Douglass or Duglass stuck always very close to King Robert Brus and was ever ready with extraordinary courage and singular prudence to assist him while he claim'd the Kingdom in those troublesom times to him it was that the same Robert gave his heart in charge to be conveyed to the Holy Land for the performance of his Vow In memory whereof the Douglasses The Douglasses has inserted a Man's heart in their Coat of Arms. Since when this family hath grown up to such mighty power and greatness especially after William's being created Earl of Douglass by David the 2. that they have awed even the Kings themselves for almost at the same time it had six Earls of it viz. of this Douglas of Angus Ormond Wigton Murray and of Morton amongst whom the Earl of Wigton for his Martial valour and in requital of his good services was honour'd by K. Charles the 7. of France with the Title of Duke of Tourain Dukes Tours Touraâ—â— and left the same to two Earls of Douglass his heirs Above the confluence of the Douglas and the Cluyde lies Lanerick Sheriffdom oâ— Laneriâ—â— the hereditary Sheriffdom of the Hamiltons who owe their name to Hamilton-Castle seated somewhat higher upon the Cluyd's bank in a place extremely pleasant and fertile †* See 〈◊〉 of it inâ—â— Additâ—â—â— The Hâ—milton but their original is from England as they give out from a certain Englishman sirnamed Hampton who taking part with Robert Brus received from him large possessions in this tract Their Estate was much augmented by King James the 3d's liberality who gave his own eldest sister after he had taken her from Boid in marriage to James Hamilton together with the Earldom of Arran but their Honours by the States of the Kingdom who after the death of King James 5. ordained James Hamilton this Lord's Grandson Regent of Scotland who was likewise made Duke of Chasteau-Heralt Duke 〈◊〉 Chastâ—â—â— Heralâ— in Poictou by Henry the 2. King of France as also by K. James 6. who created his son John Marquiss of Hamilton Marquâ—â—â— Hamilâ—â—â— a title new and never us'd before in Scotland The Glotta or Cluyd runs from hence by Bothwell Earls Bothwâ—â—â— proud of its Earls viz. John Ramsey too great a creature of K. James the 3d's to his own and the Prince's ruin and the Hepburns of whom before Then it runs streight through Glasgow Glascoâ— antiently a Bishop's see but long discontinued till restored by K. William Now an Archbishoprick and an University Anno 1154. founded by Bishop Turnbull who for the advancement of Religion built a College here It is the most celebrated Mart of this Tract much commended for its pleasant situation and plenty of Fruit having also a handsome bridge supported with eight Arches * See the â—â—aditions Of which thus J. Johnson Non te Pontificum
themselves thrown off or rejected endeavour to revenge the injury by poison The Church is the habitation of the Priest's whores and Bastards there they drink fornicate murder and keep their Cattle Among these wild Irish there is nothing sacred no signs of a Church or Chapel save outwardly no Altars or at most such only as are polluted and if a Crucifix thereon defaced and broken the sacred Vestments are so nasty they would turn one's stomach their moveable Altar without a cross mean and despicable the Mass-book torn and without the Canon used also in all oaths and perjuries their Chalice is of lead without a cover and their Communion-cup of horn The Priests think of nothing but providing for their Children and getting more The Rectors play the Vicars and that in many Parishes together being great pretenders to the Canon-law but absolute strangers to all parts of learning The sons succeed their fathers in their Churches having dispensations for their Bastardy These will not go into Priest's orders but commit the charge to the * Presbyâ—er Curates without any allowance that they may live by the Book i e. by the small oblations at baptism unctions or burials which proves but a poor maintenance The sons of these Priests who follow not their studies grow generally notorious Robbers For those that are called Mac Decan Mac Pherson Mac Ospac i.e. the son of the Dean Rector and Bishop are the greatest Robbers enabled by the bounty of their Parents to raise the greater gang of accomplices which likewise induces them to hospitality after the example of their Fore-fathers The daughters of these if married in their fathers life-time have good portions but if afterwards they either turn whores or beggars They hardly speak three words without a solemn oath by the Trinity God the Saints St. Patrick St. Brigid their Baptism their Faith the Church their God-fathers hand and by this hand Though they take these oaths upon the Bible or Mass-book laid upon their bare heads and are perjured or forsworn yet if any one put them in mind of the danger of damnation they presently tell him That God is merciful and will not suffer the price of his own blood to be lost Whether I repent or not I shall never be thrown into Hell As for performance of promise these three things are looked upon as the strongest obligations among them 1. To swear at the Altar with his hand upon the book as it lyes open upon his bare head 2. To invoke some Saint or other by touching or kissing his bell or crooked staff 3. To swear by the hand of an Earl or by the hand of his Lord or any other person of Quality For perjury in the two first cases makes him infamous but in this last oath the Grandee by whose name be swore fines him so much money and so many cows for the injury he has done his name For Cows are the most valuable treasure here Of which this is remarkable as the same writer tells us that cows are certain to give no milk in Ireland unless either their own calves be set alive by them or the skin of a calf stuffed out with straw to represent a live one in which they meet with the smell of their own Matrix If the cow happens to become dry a witch is sent for who settles the cows affections upon another calf by certain herbs and makes her yield her milk They seldom marry out of their own town and contract with one another not in praesenti but in futuro or else consent without any manner of deliberation Upon this account the least difference generally parts them the husband taking another wife and the wife another husband nor is it certain whether the contract be true or false till they dye Hence arise feuds rapines murders and deadly enmities about succeeding to the inheritance The cast-off-wives have recourse to the witches these being looked upon as able to afflict either the former husband or the new wife with barrenness or impotency or some other calamity All of them are very apt to commit incest and divorces under pretence of conscience are very frequent Both men and women set a great value upon their hair especially if it is of a golden colour and long for they plat it out at full length for more shew and suffer it to hang down finely wreath'd folding over their heads many ells of fine linnen This sort of head-dress is wore by all that can compass it be they wives or strumpets after child-bed To this may be added abundance of superstitious customs Whether or no they worship the Moon I know not but when they first see her after the change they commonly bow the knee say the Lord's Prayer and then address themselves to her after this manner Leave us as well as thou found us They receive Wolves as Gossips calling them Chari Christ praying for them and wishing them happy upon which account they are not afraid of them They look through the blade-bone of a shoulder of mutton when the meat is pick'd clean off and if they find it dark in any part they think it portends a funeral out of that family They take any one for a witch that comes to fetch fire on May-day and therefore refuse to give any unless the party asking it be sick and then it is with a curse believing that all their butter will be stole away next summer by this woman On May-day likewise if they find a hare among their herd they endeavor to kill her out of a notion that this is some old witch or other that has a design upon their butter If their butter be stolen they fancy they shall recover it if they take some of the thatch that hangs over the door and throw it into the fire But they think it foretells them a plentiful dairy if they set boughs of trees before their doors on a May-day When any Town-magistrate among them enters upon his office the wives in the streets and the maidens in the window strew him and his retinue with salt and wheat Before they sow their fields the good wife of the house sends salt to it To prevent the Kite and hinder him from stealing their chickens they hang up the egg-shells wherein the chickens were hatch'd in the cieling of the House It is thought unlawful to rub or clean their horses feet or to gather grass for them upon a saturday though all this may be done upon their strictest Holy-days If they never lend out fire to their neighbours they imagine it adds length of life and much health to their horses When the owner of a horse eats eggs he must be very careful to eat an even number otherwise they endanger their horses Jockeys are not at all to eat eggs and whatever horseman does it he must wash his hands immediately after When a horse dies the master hangs up the feet and legs in the house and looks upon the very hoofs as
the West of Kirkwal at the bottom of a large Bay lyes a little Isle called Damsey with a Holm beside it as big as it self To the North-north-west lyes Rousa a large Isle about six miles long full of heatherly hills well stored with Plover and Moor-fowl it is but thinly inhabited Betwixt it and the main land lyes Inhallo and toward Kirkwal lyes Wyre and Gairsa small but profitable Isles North from Kirkwal at eight miles distance stands Eglesha something more than two miles long but pleasant and fertile having a convenient road for ships betwixt it and Wyre there is in it a little handsome some Church where it is said that St. Magnus the Patron of this Country lyes buryed To the North of Eglisha is Westra seven miles long pleasant fertile and well inhabited it hath a convenient harbour for ships at Piriwa at the East end of it lyes Faira called for distinction Faira be North and to the North-and-by-east is Papa-Westra a pleasant Isle three miles in length famous for Saint Tredwel's Chapel and Loch of which many things are reported by the vulgar All these Isles are indifferently fruitful well stored with fields of Corn and herds of Cattle and abound with Rabbets but destitute of Wheat Rye and Pease The chief products of this country and which are exported yearly by the Merchant are Beer Malt Meal Fish Tallow Hides Stockings Butter Selch-skins Otter-skins Rabbet-skins Lamb-skins white Salt Stuffs Writing-Pens Downs Feathers Hams Wooll c. Thus much of the particular Islands They have good store of field and garden-plants and make great quantities of butter Their Ews are so fertile that most of them have two at a birth and some three nay Mr. Wallace affirms that he has seen four at a birth all living and following the Dam. Their horses are but little yet strong and lively they have great herds of Swine and Warrens almost in every Isle well stored with rabbets That they can want either fish or fowl considering the situation of the Country we cannot well imagine The Eagles and Kites are there in great plenty and are very troublesome seizing sometimes upon young Children and carrying them a good way off So that if any one kills an Eagle he may by law claim a hen out of every house in the parish where it is killed Hawks and Falcons have their nests in several parts of the Islands and the King's Falconer comes every year and takes the young who has twenty pound sterling in salary and a hen or a dog out of every house in the Country except some houses that are privileged They have several Mines of Silver Tin Lead and perhaps of other Metals but none are improved They find abundance of Marle which turns to good account to the Husbandman Free-stone quarries with grey and red slate are in many places and in some Marble and Alabaster When the winds are violent the sea casts in pieces of trees and sometimes hogsheads of wine and brandy Ambergreese exotick Fowls c. Forest or Wood they have none nor any Trees except in the Bishop's garden at Kirkwall where there are some Ashes Thorn and Plum-trees Here and there in a Gentleman's garden there are Apple and Cherry-trees but the fruit seldom comes to any maturity Yet it should seem there have been Woods formerly for they find Trees in the Mosses of twenty or thirty foot in length with their branches entire Where the Country is divided into so many small Islands it cannot be expected there should be any large rivers yet bourns and torrents they have well replenished with Trouts There are many Lochs but they serve to no further use than affording water to their Mills or Cattle The many excellent roads bays and ports make it exceeding commodious for navigation Thus much of the Country in general Particular places are no ways considerable except it be Kirkwall an account whereof take from my Author together with the ancient state of the Church of Orkney the Cathedral and Bishop's Palace being both in this Town Mr. Wallacâ—'s account of Kâ—râ—wall The only remarkable town in this Country is Kirkwall an ancient borough long possessed by the Danes by whom it was called Cracoviaca built upon a pleasant Oyse or inlet of the sea near the middle of the main land near a mile in length with narrow streets having a very safe harbor and road for ships Here is the seat of justice the Stewart Sheriff Commissary all of them keeping their several Courts in this place Almost all the houses in it are slated but the most remarkable edifices in it are St. Magnus's Church and the Bishop's Palace As for the King's Castle it is now demolished but by the ruines it appears to have been a strong and stately fort and probably built by some of the Bishops of Orkney as appears from a remarkable stone set in the midst of the wall that looks towards the Streat which has a Bishop's Miter and Arms engraven on it There is in it a publick School for the teaching of Grammar endowed with a competent salary and at the north end of the town is a place built by the English ditch'd about and on which in time of war they plant Cannons for the defence of the harbor against the ships of the enemy as it fell out anno 1666 when there was war between our King and the Hollanders a Dutch man of war coming to the road who shot many guns at the Town with a design to take away some of the ships that were in the harbor was by some Cannon from the Mount so bruised that he was forced to flee with the loss of many of his men This Town had been erected into a royal borough in the time of the Danes and Anno 1480 King James the third gave them a Charter confirming their old erection and privileges specifying their antiquity and giving them power to hold Borough-Courts to incarcerate and arrest to make laws and ordinances and to elect their own Magistrates yearly for the right government of the town to have a weekly Market on Tuesday and Friday and three Fairs in the year one about Palm-Sunday another at Lammas and the third at Martinmas each to continue three days He moreover disposed to them some lands about the town with the customs and shore-dues and the power of a Pitt and Gallows and all other privileges granted to any Royal Borough within the Kingdom exempting them from sending any Commissioners to Parliament unless their own necessities requir'd it This Charter is dated at Edinburgh the last of March 1486. And in the year 1536 February the 8th King James the fifth ratified the former charter by a new Charter of confirmation And in the year 1661 King Charles after his restoration ratified the former Charters by a signiture under his royal hand dated at Whitehall May the 25th whereupon the Parliament at Edinburgh the 22d of August 1670 confirmed all by their Act yet with this special provision
Afterwards 7 When the Danes rifled and robb'd all the Sea-coasts upon the Danish Invasion it was translated to Durham Under the town lyes a good commodious haven defended by a fort built upon the hill towards the South-east This Island from the Monks that lived in it is called by the English Holy-Island â—â—ly Island Of which thus Alcuin in an Epistle to Egelred King of Northumberland The most venerable place in Britain is left to the mercy of Pagans and where the Christian Religion was first preached after St. Paulinus left York there we have suffer'd woe and misery to enter â—â—erne â—â—land Seven miles from hence towards the South-east lyes Farn-Island distant about two miles from Banborrow-Castle surrounded by the main Ocean and edg'd about with a ridge of rocks with a fort almost in the middle of it in the very place as some say where Cuthbert B. of Lindes-farn the tutelar Saint and Patron of the North built Bede in the life of Cuthbert as Bede expresses it a City to serve God in becoming his government and houses accordingly For the whole building was made round and four or five perches wide between wall and wall The wall on the out side was more than a man's height for he had made it much higher within by sinking a huge rock to restrain both the eyes and thoughts from rambling and direct the mind to heavenly desires by hindring the devout Inhabitants from any other prospect The wall was not made of square stone or brick nor cemented with mortar but of rough unpolished stone and turf dug up in the middle of the place Some of them were so big that four men could hardly lift them In this mansion he had two houses a chapel and a room for common uses The walls of it were of earth dug up or par'd off both within and without The roof was timber unhew'n and thatch'd Moreover at the Haven of this Island was a larger house wherein the brethren that came to visit him might be received and lodged not far from which there was a fountain convenient for them Near this lye some lesser Islands towards the North namely Widopens Staple-Island which is two miles off Bronsman and two less than these called The Wambes After these The Saxon Isles over against the mouth of the River Coquet lyes an Island called Coquet where they find great store of Sea-coal These are all the Islands to be seen on this coast but over against it we arrive at the Saxon Isles now Heilichlant that is to say the Holy Island which lye along in a continued range over against the Coast of East and West-Freisland Of all these Birchanis Lib. 7. that which Strabo calls Birchanis was best known to the Roman Arms Pliny terms it Burchana and the Romans Fabaria from a grain of that form naturally growing there which that I may restore to its proper place though it be nothing to my purpose is undoubtedly that Burkun Burkun over against the mouth of the Ems as the name it self demonstrates Lower down upon the Coast of Holland toward the old mouth of the Rhine the foundation of a very antient Arsenal appears sometimes when the Sea is gone back which is indeed an admirable piece of antiquity and a very curious model and contrivance as Abraham Ortelius the restorer of the antient Geography and my very intimate friend hath shewn in that accurate description of his by which he has rescued it from the violence of the Waves I was the more inclin'd to take notice of it because the Hollanders call it by the name of Huis te Britten Britten Huis that is to say a British house so that the name at least is ours For as it is granted that C. Caligula in that mock expedition of his against the Britains built this for a Watch-tower so 't is likewise manifest from an old inscription dug up here that Septimius Severus repair'd it As for the original or cause of this name Britten 't is uncertain 't is derived most likely from the Britains Thus Bretta the birth-place of Philip Melancthon had its name as he himself thinks and we find that the mountains in Heinault termed Breten are likewise said to take their name from the Britains And therefore as Pliny thinks it very unaccountable that an herb peculiar to Holland should be called Britannica unless those perhaps bordering upon the Ocean might dedicate it to Britain because of its vicinity so I cannot but wonder why this tower should be called British unless perhaps the Dutch gave it this name as being just over against Britain Pliny calls a place in Picardy the Portus Morinorum Britannicus Portus Morinorum Britannicus for no other reason than either that they took Ship there for Britain or because it lay just opposite Why therefore might not this tower be called Britten for the same reason For the Britains came often hither and no one will question but this was a common passage from Germany into Britain since Zosimus computes the breadth of the Ocean between Britain and the mouth of the Rhine to be 900 Stadia as though this were the common passage and writes that supplies of corn were brought hither out of Britain and hence conveyed in boats up the Rhine to the Roman Camps Considering withal that Julian the Emperor as Marcellinus tells us built Granaries for the corn usually sent him from Britain About that time this tower seems to have been converted into a Granary and called from the British Corn Britten which is the more probable because 't is written Britenburg in the Records of Holland For in that age they called such Castles as stood conveniently and were stored with Corn Burgs Burg wiâ—â— as appears by the History of the Burgundians But what if one should say for this is only multiplying conjectures upon a thing that has puzzled many an enquirer that the Britains took this tower and left it this name when they set up Magnus Maximus â—â—â—irus 〈◊〉 or Clemens Maximus as others call him against Gratian for he certainly arrived at the mouth of the Rhine If this name be of later date what if one should think it had the name of Huis de Britten given it by the Saxons since they set sail from hence when they infested our coast with their pinaces Saxons in Holland or Onles as they call them For Zosimus tells us that the Saxons drove out the Franks 1 Called SALII Hol. and possessed themselves of Batavia and that thence they made their descent upon Britain is sufficiently manifest This seems also to be intimated by Janus Dousa Jâ—nus Douza a Noble Gentleman and a great Scholar in an Ode of his upon Leyden But lest I seem lavish in the praise of my own Country I must note before I leave this subject that seeing the learned Hadrianus Junius a Dutchman born deduces the name Britannica from Britten a
are not mentioned by old writers and therefore may be reasonably omitted here After these upon the same coast appears an Island which Antoninus calls Liga Liga a name which it still retains in that it has at this day being call'd Ligon Next to them lie seven Islands which Antoninus terms Siadae from the number for Saith in British signifies seven the French at this day Le set Isles These I take to be corruptly called Hiadatae by Strabo for he tells us it is not a days sail from these to Britain Seven furlongs from these Siadae lies BarsaÌ„ BursaÌ„ mentioned by Antoninus the French call it the Isle de Bas the English Basepole A view of the Ocean for bas in British signifies shallow and so the mariners find the sea here when they sound it Where the B itish sea is deepest For 't is hardly above seven or eight fathom deep here whereas in other parts of the coast they find 12 18 or 20 fathom water as we may see by their Hydrographical charts Between these Islands and Foy in Cornwall mariners find the sea to be very deep no less than 58 fathom or thereabouts in the Chanel From hence I will set sail for our own coast of Britain As we steer along by the shore after we have pass'd Ideston Mousehole and Long ships which are rather infamous rocks than Islands we come within sight of Antoninus's Lisia Lisia at the very utmost point of Cornwall called by the people thereabouts Lethowsow by others the Gulfe which is only visible at low water The Gulf Lisia by transposâ—â— makes Silia This I take to be that which the Antients called Lisia for Lis as I have heard among our Britains signifies the same So Liso implies a great sound and roaring like that which is made in whirlpools and from this place the tide presses both northward and eastward with great noise and violence being pent in and streightned between Cornwal and the Islands which Antoninus calls Sigdeles Sulpitius Sillinae Solinus Silures the English Silly the Dutch Seamen Sorlings and the ancient Greeks Hesperides and Cassiterides For thus Dionysius Alexandrinus names them from their western situation in those verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Priscian translates thus Sed * Sacrum promentonum summam contra Sacram cognomine dicunt Quam caput Europe sunt stanni pondere plenae Hesperides populus tenuit quas fortis Iberi Against the sacred cape great Europe 's head Th' Hesperides along the Ocean spread With mines of tin and wealthy hills abound And stout Iberians till the fertile ground Festus Avienus calls them the Ostrymnides in his Poem De oris Maritimis wherein he has these verses according to the Paris edition and the notes upon it In quo insulae sese exerunt Oestrymides Laxè jacentes metallo divites Stanni atque plumbi multa vis hic gentis est Superbus animus efficax solertia Negotiandi cura juris omnibus * Non usqâ—â— novibus we read in the notes of Parâ— Nolusque cumbis turbidum latè fretum Et belluosi gurgitem Oceani secant Non hi carinas quippe pinu texere Facere morem non abiete ut usus est Curvant phasello sed rei ad miraculum Navigia junctis semper aptant pellibus Corioque vastum saepe percurrunt salem Where the wide Isles Oestrymnides are seen Enrich'd with deepest veins of lead and tin Stout are the natives and untam'd in war Gain is their study trade their only care Yet not in ships they try the watry road And rouze the shapeless monsters of the flood For neither Gallies of the lofty pine They know to frame nor weaker maple join In shallow barks but skins to skins they few Secure in these to farthest parts they go And pathless seas with keels of leather plow Such also were us'd upon this coast in the year 914. For we read of certain pious men transferr'd from Ireland into Cornwal in a Carab or Caroch which was made of two hides and a half Thus also the same Avienus tells of these Islands in another place afterwards Tartesisque in terminos Oestrymnidum Negotiandi mos erat Carthaginis Etiam colonis Oft the Tartessians thro' the well known seas Would sail for traffick to th' Oestrymnides And Carthaginians too Other Greek writers called these the Cassiterides from the Tinne as Strabo calls a certain place among the Drangi in Asia Cassiteron for the same reason and Stephanus in his book de Urbibus observes from Dionysius that a certain Island in the Indian sea was called Cassitera from Tinne As for Mictis which Pliny upon the authority of Timaeus says is six days sail inward from Britain and produces white lead I dare hardly affirm it was one of these Yet I am not ignorant that the learned Hermolaus Barbarus found some MSS. that have it Mitteris for Mictis and thereupon would read Cartiteris However I may warrant these both from the authority of the Ancients from the situation and from the veins of Tinn in them to be the very Cassiterides so much sought for Over against the Artabri on the north says Strabo which are opposite to the west parts of Britain lie those Islands which they call Cassiterides situate as it were in the same Climate with Britain Thus also in another place The Sea is much wider between Spain and the Cassiterides than between the Cassiterides and Britain The Cassiterides look towards the coast of Celtiberia saith Solinus Diodorus Siculus In those Islands next the Iberian Sea call'd from the Tinn Cassiterides Eustathius the Cassiterides are ten Islands lying close by one another northward Now considering that these Isles of Silly are opposite to the Artibri i.e. Gallilia in Spain that they bend directly to the north from them that they lie in the same clime with Britain that they look towards the coast of Celtiberia that the sea is much broader between them and Spain than between them and Britain that they lie just upon the Iberian Sea and close to one another northward that there are only ten of them of any note viz. Saint Maries Aniuth Agnes Sumpson Silly Brefer Rusco or Trescaw Saint Helens Saint Martins and Arthur again considering this which is more material that they have veins of Tinn as no other Isle besides has in this tract and lastly that two of the lesser sort Minan-Witham and Minuisisand seem to derive their names from mines I should from all this rather take these for the Cassiterides than either the Azores which lie too far westward or Cisarga as Olivarius does which in a manner joyns to Spain or even Britain it self as Ortelius does since there were many of the Cassiterides and Dionysius Alexandrinus after he has treated of the Cassiterides gives a separate account of Britain If any deny these to be the
place of note here perhaps Aire Aire which is a Sheriffdom a little Mart and a well known Port upon a river of the same name * See 〈◊〉 of it iâ— Additâ—ons Concerning which I can meet with nothing better worth my writing than these Verses sent me by Mr. Johnston Parva urbs ast ingens animus in fortibus haeret Inferior nulli nobilitate virum Aëris è campis haurit purissima coelum Incubat miti mollior aura solo Aëria hinc non Aera priùs credo illa vocata est Cum duris quid enim mollia juris habent Infera cum superis quod si componere fas èst Aurea fo rs dici debuit illa prius Small is the town but of great Souls is prowd For courage fam'd and sons of noble blood From th' happy clime pure draughts of air descend And gentle breezes bless the fruitful land Old times if Poets have a right to guess Not Aeria but Aëria call'd the place Rough brass could ne're such soft delights express If I so high might raise my noble theme I 'd swear that Aurea was the ancient name Besides the River Aire there are two other Rivulets that water this small Territory having many little villages scattering upon their banks Lougar upon which the Crawfords and Cesnock upon which the Cambells have their residence noted families in this tract upon whose bank is also Uchiltre-Castle Uchiltre or Ochiltre the Seat of the Stewarts of the blood Royal as descending from the Dukes of Albany hence stiled Barons of Uchiltre of which House was that Robert Stewart the inseparable companion of the Prince of Conde who was kill'd with him in a battle in France Cambel of Louden enjoys the honour of Hereditary Bailiff of this Kyle CVNNINGHAM TO Kyle upon the West and North is joyned Cunningham and so hems in the same Bay that it streightens its hitherto expatiating breadth The name signifies as much as the King's habitation whence you may conjecture its pleasantness It is water'd by the Irwin which divides it from Kyle at the head almost of which river we have a sight of Kilmarnock the Seat of the Barons Boids 〈…〉 In the reign of King James the third Thomas one of these was by a gale of Court-favor advanced to the authority of Regent and Robert his Son to the Honour of Earl of Arran and a marriage with the King's Sister But upon the same gale's blowing contrary they were adjudged enemies to the State Robert had his Wife taken from him and given to James Hamilton their Estates were confiscated and stript of all by the inconstancy of fortune they died in exile Yet their posterity recover'd the ancient honour of Barons and enjoy it at this day Upon the mouth of the river Irwin stands 〈◊〉 e It hath a Viscount of the family of Ingram a Borough with a Port so choaked up with banks of sand and so shallow that it is only capable of small Vessels Higher up stands Ardrossan â—â—â—â—â—ssan a Castle of the Montgomeries hanging as it were over the bay this is an ancient and noble family which can shew as a proof of their Marshal valour Poununy-Castle built out of the ransom-money of Henry Percy sirnamed Hotspur whom J. Montgomery took with his own hand in the Battle at Otterburne and brought away Prisoner Not far from Ardrossan is Largis embru'd in the blood of the Norwegians by King Alexander the third From whence following the winding of the shore we meet with Eglington-Castle once possessed by Gentlemen of that name from whom it descended to the Montgomeries Montgomeries who take hence the title of Earls of Eglington Earls of Eglington But whence this Sirname came is hard to guess That out of Normandy it came into England and that there were several Families of that name I am satisfied But that in Essex from which Sir Thomas Montgomery Knight of the Garter in the reign of Edward the fourth was descended gave Arms but a little different from these But this noble House hath dilated it self very much and out of those of Gevan was that Gabriel de Lorges called Earl of Montgomery Captain of the Scotch Guard du Corps The Scotch Guard du Corps in France that was instituted by Charles the fifth King of France for a Guard to him and his Successors as a signal mark of their fidelity and favour who in a Tournament slew Henry the second King of France with a Splinter of his Spear which his Beaver chancing to be up penetrated through the eye into his brain Afterwards taking part with the Huguenots in the Civil wars of France he was intercepted and beheaded But the Family of the Cunninghams is accounted the most numerous in this Tract the head whereof the Earl of Glencairn Cunninghams Earls of Glencairn hath a Seat at Kilmauris and derives his descent out of England from an English Gentleman who together with others murdered Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury How true this is I know not but perhaps it may be grounded upon a probable conjecture taken from an Archbishop's Pall which they give in their Coat of Arms. b The Island GLOTTA or ARRAN WIthin sight of Cunningham amongst many other Islands Glotta is of greatest eminence an Island mentioned by Antonine the Emperor in the very Frith of the river Glotta or Clyde called at this day from a Castle of the same name Arran The innermost parts are wholly mountainous but the bottoms along the shore are well inhabited The first Earl it had â—â—â—â—s of â—â—â—on that I ever read of was Robert Boid whose wife and Earldom together upon Boid's being banished the Kingdom James Hamilton as I mentioned before obtained and his Posterity have enjoyed the same saving that of late James Steward appointed Guardian to James Hamilton Earl of Arran when he was so defective in his understanding that he could not manage his Estate took this Title in the right of being guardian Near unto this stands Buthe called from a little Religious Cell founded by Brendanus for so in Scotch the call a Cell which has a Sheriff of the Family of the Stewarts In this Island is Rothesay-Castle which gives the Title of Duke to the eldest Son of the King of Scotland who is born Prince of Scotland Duke of Rothsay and High Steward of Scotland ever since King Robert the third invested David his eldest Son Duke of Rothsay who was the first in Scotland that was honoured with the Title of Duke With which Title Queen Mary honoured Henry Lord Darley before she took him to be her Husband After this in the same Bay we have a sight of Hellen antiently Hellan-Leneow that is according to J. Fordon's interpretation The Saints Island the Hellan Tinoc that is the Island of Hogs with many others of less note Additions to the NOVANTES a THE Country of the Novantes is Galloway and the Sheriffdom of Aire Galloway hath upon
whole Island have been for it had they not blinded their eyes and possessed their hearts with a mad and stubborn conceit of their own country fashions in opposition to better manners The Irish are so wedded to their own customs that they not only retain them themselves but corrupt the English that come among them for so ready is human nature to incline to evil that it is scarce credible how soon they degenerate THE SMALLâ— ISLAND in the BRITISH OCEAN By Rob t Morden Sold by Abel Swale Awnsham and John Churchâ— The smaller ISLANDS in the British Ocean HAving now at last set sail from Ireland I will steer my course towards those Islands that lye scattered upon the Coast of Britain and take a survey of them If I durst imagine my self able or could confide in my own sufficiency I would try to make some discoveries in every one of them but since my design is only to give some light into their antiquities such of them as are of little note I shall not much trouble my self with but such as are more eminent I will land at and make some short stay in that now at last I may be so happy as to restore them to the honour of their respective Antiquities That this voyage may be regular and orderly I will take my course from Ireland towards the Severn-Sea and from thence after I have doubled the utmost point of Scotland towards the German ocean from hence by the British Sea which reaches as far as Spain I will sail on as directly as I can but not without some apprehension that this ship of mine with me at the head of it will now and then touch upon rocks of error or else sink in the depth of antiquity for want of skill in the Pilot to direct it However I am embarked now and must go through 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Adventure is the best Sea-captain says Antiphilus and whoever follows me may perhaps make a more successful voyage But first it will not be foreign to my business to set down that which Plutarch reports of these Islands in general from a fabulous relation of Demetrius 1 Who seemeth to have lived in Hadrian's time He says that about Britain there was many small and desolate Islands some of which were called the Isles of Daemons or Demy Gods and that he himself at the command of the Emperor sailed to the nearest of those places for curiosity's sake where he found few inhabitants but those that were all look'd upon as sacred Not long after he arrived there the air and weather grew foul and tempestuous and there followed a terrible storm of wind and thunder which at length ceasing the Inhabitants told him that one of the * Epraestantioribus Daemons or Demy Gods was deceased A little after he says also that in one of those Islands Saturn is detained prisoner fast a sleep and in the custody of Briareus that sleep is instead of chains and fetters and that he has several of those Daemons about him for attendants Thus our fore-fathers as we do at this day took the liberty of telling monstrous strange things of places afar off which is a good safe way of Romancing In the Severn there first appear two small Islands the one being plain and level is called Flatholme Flatholme in the same sense with Planarie in Italy the other being steep is called Stepholme Stepholme and in British Reoric but the Britains termed them both Echni as we do now Holmes Holmes for so the Saxons always called a grassy plot of ground enclosed with water Formerly they were famous for nothing else but for the Danes that harbored there and for the burial of Gualch a Britain of great piety whose Disciple Barruch has given name to the Island Barry Barry Giraldus v. p. 739. in Wales as we learn from an ancient monument of the Church of Landaff and thus the Island it self has done the same to the Barraies a noble family in Ireland Hard by this lyes Silly Silly a small Island upon the coast of the ancient Silures a name whereof it retains some remains to this day as a small town over against it in Glamorganshire likewise does Yet I will not affirm this to be the very Silura or Insula Silurum which Solinus speaks of because there are Islands of the same name though at some farther distance From hence we arrive at Caldey Caldey in British Inispir pretty near the shore and over-against it more into the sea is Londey Londey which faces Devonshire being fourteen miles distance from the promontory Hertness This is reckoned the larger of the two and yet is not much above two miles broad and a mile long so pent in with rocks that there 's no coming to it but by one or two places Here has formerly been a fort the ruines of which as also the remains of S. Helen's Chapel are visible Heretofore it has been plow'd as is manifest from the furrows but now all the gain and profit made of it arises from the sea-fowl which flock in great numbers hither No trees grow in it except stinking elders to which the Starlings flock in such numbers that one can hardly come at them for dung But why should I launch out into such observations since Sir Thomas Delamere Kt. has thus described it when he tells us How poor King Edward the 2d endeavoured to shelter himself here from his troublesome wife and rebellious Barons who pursued him with great fury and threatning Londay is an Island situate in the mouth of the Severn about two miles over every way full of good pasture and well stock'd with rabbets pigeons and starlings Alexander Necham calls them Ganimede's birds which are breeding continually Though it is encompassed with the sea yet it affords the inhabitants good fresh spring water It has only one way to it which is so strait that two men can hardly walk a-breast in it On all sides else the horrible steep rocks make it inaccessible Our Historians hardly make mention of it but upon the account of William de Marisco a sad mischievous pirat that infested these coasts in the reign of Henry the third In Edward the third's time it was part of the estate of the Lutterels From hence we arrive at Gresholme Stockholme and Scalmey Greshâ—lme Stockholme Scalmey situated in the very bend or turning of Pembrookshire grass and wild thyme grow plentifully in them I was heretofore of opinion that this Scalmey was the Silimnus Silimnus in Pliny but since I have had some reason to be of another mind For this Silimnus in Pliny may probably from the resemblance of the two names be the Limni in Ptolemy that this is the same that the Britains call'd Lymen is clear from the word it self it goes by the name of Ramsey Ramsey at this day and lies over-against the Bishoprick of St. David's to which it belongs
famous in the last age for the death of Justinian a holy man who in that fruitful age of saints retired hither out of Bretagne in France and devoted himself wholly to God in a Hermit's course of life was at last slain by a servant and canoniz'd for a martyr In the history of his life this Island is often call'd Insula Lemenia which word together with the name of Limen as the Britains call it shews the greatness of their absurdity who would have the Island next above it to be Ptolemy's Limnos called at present by the Welsh Enhly and by the English Berdsey Berdsey that is an Island of Birds One would think from the signification of the word that this is that which Ptolemy calls Edri Edri and Pliny Andros or Adros as some Copies have it For Ader among the Britains signifies a bird and so the English in the same sense have afterwards call'd it Berdsey The name Enhly is more modern deriv'd from a certain Religious person that lived a Hermit here For this very Isle which on the east shoots out in a high promontory but on the west is champaign and fertile has been formerly inhabited by so many saints that without reckoning Dubritius and Merlin the Calidonian no fewer than 20000 faints are said by ancient histories to lie buried here Next to this is Mona Mona or the Isle of Anglesey Anglesey call'd by the Britains Mon Tir-Mon and Inis Dowyli that is the Dark Island and by the Saxons Monege whereof I have already spoken Near Anglesey lies these three lesser Islands Moyl Rhoniad that is the Isle of Seals to the north west This was unjustly with-held by certain usurpers from the Bishops of Bangor to whom it belong'd till Henry Deney Bishop of Bangor as we read in the history of Canterbury recover'd it by the assistance of a fleet and army in Henry the seventh's time To the east lies Ynis Ligod that is the Isle of mice and under that Prestholmé i.e. the Isle of Priests where I saw nothing but the tower steeple of S. Cyriac's Chapel visible at a great distance The neighbours report incredible things of the infinite breed and number of sea-fowls here and what 's no less strange that a causey went from hence through the very sea to the foot of that huge mountain Pen-Maen-Maur for the convenience of such as came in pilgrimage hither I take no notice of Lambey Lambey a small Island over-against this upon the Irish shore though Alum has been sought for in it at great charge by the metal-men The Isle of Man More northward lies the Mona which Caesar mentions situated as he says in the middle between Britain and Ireland Mona or Menavia Ptolemy calls it Monoeda or Moneitha that is to say if I may be allowed to conjecture the more remote Mona to distinguish it from the other Mona or Anglesey Pliny terms it Monabia Orosius Menavia Lib. 2. c. 9. In a certain copy of Ninniu◠it is call'd Manau Guotodin and Bede Menavia secunda in whom Mona or Anglesey is called Menavia prior and both British Islands yet I must note that this is falsly read Mevania in these Writers Ninius who goes also by the name of Gildas calls it Eubonia and Manaw the Britains call it Menaw the Inhabitants Maning and the English the Isle of Man lying stretch'd in the middle between the north parts of Ireland and Britain says Giraldus Cambrensis which raised no small stir among the ancients in deciding to which of the territories it most properly belong'd At last this difference was thus adjusted Forasmuch as the venemous worms would live here that were brought over for experiment's sake it was generally thought to belong to Britain Yet the Inhabitants are very like the Irish both in their speech and manners and not without something of the Norwegians in them It lies out from north to south for about thirty Italian miles in length but in the widest part of it is hardly above fifteen miles broad nor above eight in the narrowest In Bede's time it contained three hundred families and Mona nine hundred and sixty But at present it can reckon 17 parish churches Here flax and hemp grow in great plenty and here are good pastures and corn-fields which produce barley and wheat but especially oats in great abundance for this reason the people generally feed upon oat-bread Here are likewise great herds of cattle and many flocks of sheep but both the sheep and cattle are like those in their neighbour Country Ireland much less than in England and not so well headed The want of wood for fuel here is supplied by a bituminous kind of turf in digging for which they often light upon trees lying buried under-ground Towards the middle this Isle is mountainous the highest hill is Sceafell from which they can see Scotland England and Ireland in a clear day The chief town is Russin situated towards the north side of the Island which from a castle and garison in it is commonly called Castle-town where within a little Isle Pope Gregory the 4th erected an Episcopal See Episcopus Sodorensis the Bishop whereof named Sodorensis from the Island as it is believed had formerly jurisdiction over all the Hebrides But it is now limited to this Island and his Metropolitan is the Archbishop of York This Bishop has neither seat nor vote among the Lords of Parliament in England The most populous town is Duglas Duglas for it has the best harbour and the most easie entrance and is frequented by the French and other foreigners who come hither with their bay-salt and buy up leather course wooll and salt beef to export with them On the south-side of the Island stands Bala Curi where the Bishop generally resides and the Pile a fort erected in a small Island defended by a pretty good garison Before the south point there lies a little Island which they call the Calf of Man where there are great store of those sea-fowl term'd Puffins and of those Ducks and Drakes said to breed in rotten wood which the English call Bernacles Bernacles the Scots Clakes and Soland Geese What remains of the account of this Island is here added out of a letter which I received from the most learned and reverend Father in God John Meryk Bishop thereof This Island not only supplies its own wants with its own cattle fish and corn but exports great quantities into foreign countreys every year Yet this plenty is rather to be ascribed to the pains and industry of the natives than to the goodness of the soil However the happiness of this Isle is owing to nothing more than the government of the Earl of Derby who at his own proper charges hath defended it with a body of regular and standing troops against its neighbouring enemies and laid out the greatest part of his revenues upon it All causes are decided betwixt man and man without