was brought to Winchester and buried in this place though afterwards his Bones were Translated into a Coffer At the West end of the Quire stands in Brass two Statues very curiously wrought the one of King James the First and the other of King Charles the First of ever blessed Memory there is another thing also very remarkable in the Cathedral and that is the rich and famous Monument of William of Wickham who was Constituted Bishop of Winchester in the Reign of Edward the Third But to return again into our Discourse relating to the City We find it not only to have attained a great Eminency for its Religious Houses for its pleasant Gardens for its Silver-stream'd Brooks and flowry Meadows for its publick and private Edifices for its great Hall wherein the Assizes are usually held for the County of Southampton not to be parallel'd for Length and Breadth by any throughout this Nation except Westminster for the Antiquity of its Corporation with the true and exact Rules of Equity and Justice prescribed by its Governors and Magistrates 't is likewise reported to have been very famous and renowned by its Sufferings and Ruins of its Palaces and in the time of Adelstane King of the West Saxons that invinceable Hero Guy Earl of Warwick in a single Combat slew Colbrand the Danish Giant in Hide-Mead near to this City After some time spent here we travelled to Portsmouth of which I come next to discourse of PORTSMOUTH is about 16 Miles distant from Winchester and situated in a little Island called Portsey 'T is a place of great Strength and of no less importance by reason of the Dock where many of the King 's greatest Men of War are built those impregnable Wooden-Walls of our Brittish Island 'T is fortified with a Wall made of Timber and the same well covered over with thick Banks of Earth 't is likewise environed with a double Trench over which are placed two Drawbridges from which about a Mile distance is another and at all of them stands Centuries of Soldiers who are kept in Garrison with a little Fortress adjoining to it which leads up the Continent to the Seaward is a Castle and Block-houses which being first begun by King Edward the Fourth King Henry the Seventh as it is reported did afterwards compleat which Fortifications have of late Years received exceeding great Augmentations by the succeeding Monarchs especially in the late King Jame's Reign Here is only one Church and an Hospital called God's House built by Peter Roch Bishop of Winchester hereabouts are divers Saltpanhouses which make exceeding white Salt Much more might have been wrote concerning this County but this may suffice for these two Reasons the first is The smallness of the Volume will not allow it and the second is That what has been related is the notablest and most requisite to be mention'd Sussex The next place of Note we went to was Chichester in Sussex 'T is a good large City well Wall'd re-built by the second Saxon King of this Province it was before the Conquest of a small Repute Bishop Raulf built a Cathedral here which before he had fully finished was consumed by Fire yet by his Endeavours and the bounteous Liberality of King Henry the First it was raised up again and is now a Bishop's See The Church is not very large but was formerly a curious beautiful Fabrick having a Spire-steeple of Stone of a very great height and an high Tower standing near the West Door which was built by King Rinon as they say In the South Cross-Isle of the Church was formerly on the one side artificially pourtrayed and painted the History of the Churches Foundation with the Images of the Kings of England on the other there was likewise the Images of the Bishops at the charge of Bishop Sherborne who greatly Adorned and Illustrated this sacred Structure The City is walled about in a circular round Form the Lavant a pretty River running hard by it on the South and West sides It hath four Gates opening to the four Quarters of the World from whence the Streets leads directly and cross themselves in the midst where the Market is kept and where Bishop Read Erected a fair stone Market-house supported with Pillars round about We went from hence to Amberly Castle which is about 12 Miles from Chichester higher into the County it was built by William Read Bishop of Chichester in the Reign of Edward the Third for the use of his Successors and Leased out now to the worthy Family of the Butlers who are the present Inhabitants We stayed here the space of a Week where we were generously Entertained with great courtesie and civility We went from hence to Arundel and from thence to Lewes of which take this brief Account ARUNDEL is about four Miles from Amberly situated upon the Brow of an Hill but finding nothing to detain us here but the Ruins of an old Castle which for many Generations hath successively appertained to the Earls of Arundel we travell'd on to LEWES which was the next Town we came to 'T is situated upon a Rising almost on every side and hath been Wall'd but now there is no great sign of the Walls there is several Streets near it as Suburbs and in the times of the Saxons when King Athelston made a Law for the coining of Money he appointed two Coiners in this place There are five Churches belonging to it and this place was very memorable for that Mortal and bloody Battel between King Henry the Third and the Barons in which prosperous beginning of the Fight on the King's side proved the overthrow of his whole Army for whilst Prince Edward his Son breaking by force through certain of the Baron's Troops carelesly pursued the Enemy over-far as making sure account of the Victory the Barons having reinforced themselves and giving a fresh Charge so discomforted and put to flight the King's Forces that they constrained the King to accept of unequal Conditions of Peace and to deliver his Son and others into their hands From hence we went to Pevensey or Pemsey of which it follows PEVENSEY or PEMSEY There is a very low Level which some are of Opinion hath been over-flowed by the Sea and the Town of Pevensey is the noted place for the first Landing of William the Conqueror and formerly there was a Haven and Castle Hastings is not far from hence where was fought that bloody Battel betwixt King Harold and the Norman Duke which proved so fatal to the English and successful to the Normans which Ground where the Fight was hath been thought ever since to have worn the Conqueror's Livery because always after Rain it looks of a reddish colour I could haved cited other Remarks in this County but what is related is most material Kent 'T is a County divided into three several Portions the first of which is called Health without Wealth the second is Health and Wealth and the third Wealth without Health to all
Churches whereof the Cathedral is very glorious being not much in feriour to any and in one of the Steples there is a very great Bell rung by sixteen Men called Great Tom of Lincoln 'T is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen The Diocess here is the largest in England for after three Bishopricks were taken out of it it contained four whole Counties and parts of two the whole Shire is divided into three Part whereof one is called Holland a second Kestuen and the third Lindsey GRANTHAM a Town of good resort adorned with a School built by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and with a fair Church having a Spire-steeple of a mighty height There are in this Shire six hundred and thirty Parishes thirty and one Hundreds and thirty Market Towns We went from hence into Nottinghamshire It is limited Northward with Yorkshire Westward with Darbyshire and in some other parts with Yorkshire The South and East parts thereof are made fruitful by the River Trent with other Riverets resorting unto it NOTTINGHAM is built upon a Rock and is environed by Rocks on one side which are washed by a crooked winding of a commodious River and hath a very fair Park of the Duke of Castle 's adjoining to it with the Forest of Shirewood bordering upon it The Streets are large and well paved the Market-place very handsome and convenient the Churches spatious and well contrived and the Houses high and stately they are for the most part built with Brick but some of them are rare pieces as well for Structure as Design and in short the whole front of their Fabrick is beautified with Sculptures and glistering Balconies the Inhabitants be very desirous of the new Modes and Draughts of Architecture The Castle which is on the West side of the Town is situated upon an exceeding high Rock and is supposed to be a place of very great Antiquity This Castle held out a Siege by the Danes against Alfred and it was then called Snottenham and now Nottingham King Edward the Second strenghened the Town by an addition of Walls and a new Castle was built by William the Conqueror to keep the English in awe and subjection and by Art and Nature together it became even impregnable Edward the Fourth illustrated it with several Dwelling-houses for Commanders and Soldiers and indeed in the Rock upon which the Castle stands are several small Cottages hewen out of it in which at present dwells divers poor people and it is reported that it never was taken until it was surprized by Robert Earl of Derby in the Baron's Wars who having once got this entered the Town and then used the Townsmen according to his pleasure though I find too in the Life of King Stephen that Robert Earl of Gloucester invaded this Town with a great Power and when most of the Townsmen were slain and burnt in the Churches whither they fled for refuge there is a Story of one of them who was richer than the rest and being forced to return to his own house by the Soldiers that had taken him to shew them where all his Treasures lay he bringing them into a Celler and whilst they were busy in breaking open Locks and Coffers conveyed himself away making the Door fast after him and set the House on fire so that the Soldiers being thirty in number perished all in the Flames which ketching hold of other Buildings joining to it almost burnt up the whole Town But that which makes this Castle most signally remarkeable was the Discovery of Roger Mortimore Earl of March and the Imprisonment too of David le Brase King of the Scots who was here confined the relation of which I shall set down as briefly as I can After King Edward the Second had been Deposed and Murdered by the Plots of his own Wife Queen Isabella and King Edward the Third her Son had Reigned about four Years a Parliament was called at Nottingham where this Roger Mortimore who was then the Queen 's most especial Favourite was in such Glory and Renown that it was beyond all comparison None so much Lord Paramount as the Earl of March None appears in so great an Equippage and attended with so honourable a Retinue as the Earl of March so that the King's Train was inferiour to his and his Majesty's Glory eclipsed by the Pomp and Grandeur of one of his Nobles for he very oft would presume to go foremost and his own Officers and was so exceeding proud and haughty as to make all Persons cringe and do as great Homage to him as to Majesty it self nay he undertook to Order and Dispose of all Persons and Affairs to his own Will and Pleasure and hereupon one day he very sharply rebuked the Earl of Lancaster the King's Cousin for presuming to appoint Lodgings for certain Noblemen near the Court without his particular License and Assignation and having dislodged the Earl with some other Persons of very great Quality and removed them a Mile out of Town he did by this means so incense the Nobility against him that they began to pry more narrowly into his Actions and being enraged to see his Pride and Usurpation of his great Prerogatives they unanimously held against him and gave it out amongst the People That this Mortimore was the Queen's Gallant and the King's Master and sought by all means he possibly could to destroy the Royal Blood and to Usurp the Crown which Report did so work upon some of the King 's most trusty Friends that they got Robert Holland who had a long time been Governor of the Castle and knew well all the secret Corners therein to swear Secrecy to them and Fidelity to the King and accordingly to assist them in those Designs they had in hand Whereupon one night King Edward lying without the Castle both he and his Friends were brought by Torch-light through a secret place under ground beginning a far off from the said Castle 't is the Vault which is still called Mortimore's Hole till they came even to the Queen's Chamber which by chance they found open being armed with naked Swords in they rushed leaving the King in the same posture at the Door being entered into the Privy-chamber they found the Earl of March undressed ready to go to bed to the Queen but they crossed his Design and cool'd his Courage halling him away by force upon which the Queen cried out Good Son take pitty upon gentle Mortimore suspecting her Son to be there in the company The Keys of the Castle were presently called for and every place withal the Furniture committed into the King's Hands and Mortimore was forthwith sent to the Tower who being Tried by his Peers Arraign'd and found Guilty was hanged upon the common Gallows two Days and two Nights The Articles that were brought against him were divers though his Familiarity with the Queen his Treachery to his King and his great Service to David King of the Scots was the chief whilst he also burnt
the Charters by which the Scotch King stood obliged to do Homage to the King of England and thereupon ensued a great War betwixt them for King David being spurred on by the French King Invaded England and having made a great Road into the Northern Counties and spoiling and burning every where as they went along at length at Durham his Army was routed and himself taken Prisoner being first sent to the Tower afterward committed to this Castle where during his consinement he engraved upon the Walls of his Deportment the History of our Saviour's Death and Passion the Relicts of which are still to be seen After eleven Years Imprisonment he was restored against to his Kingdom by paying a good Ransom for his Liberty but before he returned he was one of the four Kings that was nobly Treated by Henry Picard a Vintner then Lord Mayor of London These were the four Kings Edward the Third King of England John King of France David King of the Scots and the King of Cyprus together with Edward The Black Prince all bearing him company at the same Table this was about the Year 1358. But before I leave this Town I cannot but take notice of one thing more memorable in our Age this being the first place where King Charles the First set up his Royal Standard against the Rebels in the late unhappy Wars and when the King's Forces were forced to leave it the Castle was quite demolished We went from hence to view the Chair of Robin-Hood of which it follows Having pleasured our selves with the Antiquities of this Town we took Horse and went to visit the Well and ancient Chair of Robin-Hood which is about a Mile within the Forest of Shirwood Being placed in that Chair we had a Cap which they say was his very formally put upon our Heads and having performed the usual Ceremonies befitting so great a Solemnity we received the Freedom of the Chair and were incorporated into the Society of that renowned Brotherhood but that we may not receive such Privileges without an honourable mentioning of the Persons that left them to Posterity know we must that the Patent was bequeathed to the inferior Rangers of this Forest by Robin Hood and Little John honourable Personages indeed being the chief Lords of some most renowned Robbers in the Reign of King Richard the First This same Robin Hood entertained one Hundred tall Men all good Archers with the Spoil he daily made himself Master of whom four Hundred tho' every way well Accoutred to give Battel durst scarce make an Onset He suffered no Woman to be violated oppress'd oa any ways molested poor Men's Goods he spared and did relieve them very liberally with what he got from the rich Carles He killed none and by this means he did for a long time keep up the Order of Knight Errants Having for some time pleased our selves with our new Brothers that very curteously entertained us we went from hence into Yorkshire The County of York is the greatest Shire by far of all England and is thought to be in a temperate measure fruitful If in one place there be stony and sandy barren ground in another place there are for it Corn-fields as rich and fruitful if it be void and destitute of Woods here you shall find it shadowed in another place with most thick Forests The Length extendeth from Hart-hill in the South to the Mouth of Tees in the North which is near seventy Miles the breadth from Flambrough-head to Horn-Castle upon the River Lun is Eighty the whole circumference three hundred and eight Miles HELMSLEY a Mannor in Yorkshire hath two Parks and a Chase in it said to be about 146 Miles in compass and had 40000 Timber-Trees and 200 Acres of Wood. There are many Free-holders there The whole Shire is divided into 3 parts which according to the 3 Quarters of the World are called The West-Riding The East-Riding The North-Riding West-Riding for a good while is compassed in with the River Ouse with the bound of Lancashire and with the South limits of the Shire and beareth toward the West and South East-Riding looketh to the Sun-rising and the Ocean which together with the River Derwent encloseth it North-Riding reacheth Northward hemmed in as it were with the River Tees with Derwent and a long race of the River Ouse YORK is the fairst City in all this County and deservedly reputed the Second of England for its Greatness and Munificence the pleasantness of its Situation the Buildings are stately and beautiful The whole City is rich glorious and honourable both in respect of its being governed by a Lord Mayor who moderates in all Cases of Temporal Affairs as also by an Archbishop who is Judge in all Spiritual Matters The River Ouse flowing with a gentle Stream from the North part cutteth it in twain and divided as it were into two Cities which are conjoined with a stone Bridge having one mighty Arch. There is a Cathedral Church dedicated to Saint Peter an excellent fair and stately Fabrick near unto which there is the Prince's House commonly called The Mannour York was a Colony of the Romans Ptolomey and Antonine and also by a piece of Money coined by the Emperour Severus in the reverse whereof we read COL EBORACUMLEG VI. VICTRIX Severus had his Palace in this City and here at the hour of death gave up his last breath with these words I entered upon a State every way troublesome and I leave it peaceable even to the Britains There are many fine Seats of Persons of Quality by reason of the Pleasantness of its Soil which abounds in Plenty of all things and for Pleasure and Recreation it affords the most of any County in England In the North-Riding of this County is Ounsbery-Hill or Rosebery-Topping which mount-up a mighty height and maketh a goodly shew a farre off so often as the Head thereof hath his cloudy Cap on lightly there followeth rain whence they have a proverbial Rhime When Rosebery-Topping wears a Cap Let Cliveland then beware a clap I could have particuliz'd several other Towns and Villages in this Shire but what has been related is most material and again the Volume is but small and would not bear it In this County there are 459 Parishes under which are very many Chappels for number of Inhabitants equal unto great Parishes We went from hence into the Bishoprick of Durham of which it follows Durham The chief Town in Latin Dunelmum a County Palatine and a Bishop's See 't is situated upon a Hill and encompassed almost round by the River Were is also shaped in form of an Egg and strongly fortified both by Art and Nature There is a stately Cathedral which makes a fine and lofty shew with an high Tower in the midst and two Spires at the West end The County in general is very pleasant and rich in its Mountains with Iron and Coals and its Vallies with Corn and Grass But before I leave this County
of this Place and that these Trees through the Malice and Fury of some Person in the late Warrs were cut down and destroy'd But many things here are very observable which I have not room to insert BATH It lying low and all sides surrounded with Hills the Town is well watered with Springs though some of them are sulphureous and bad to the Tast environ'd with a Wall very commodious for its Market-place and handsomly adorn'd with three Churches one whereof is very large and spatious built in the form of a Cathedral the Steeple is four-square and hath a Ring of very tunable Bells and a Quire with very sweet Organs and in it are erected several antient and stately Monuments of Persons of Quality and Bishops of this See who have been noble Benefactors to it 't is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and the Assizes are generally kept there in the Summer time But that which is most remarkable here and causeth a Concourse in the Summer not only of the Nobility and Gentry but of the Commonalty too from all parts of the Nation hither are the Baths which are not inferiour to any that ever Italy or France could glory in they have without question cured many weak and feeble Limbs and do cure divers Diseases which are incident and destructive to Humane Nature by causing Men to sweat either more or less proportionably to their Distempers Who they were that first found them out is very uncertain whether Bleyden alias Bladud the Son of Rudhudibras the Magician or Julius Coesar I shall not undertake to determine the Controversie However they are of very great Antiquity and 't is many hundred years since their powerful Vertues were first discovered though they are all different in their Nature as well as their Operation as the learned Dr. Stubbs by divers Experiments assures us The Baths are in number six the King and Queens Baths the Cross Bath the Hot Bath the Leper's Bath and the Horse That which is the Chief is the Cross Bath the Water whereof being more mild than the other the Orders are very strict and regular And Persons of the greatest Quality of the Nation chuse to bath themselves here and to drink the Water thereof hard by this stands the Hot Bath not much frequented save by those who having quite lost the Use of their Limbs come hither to seek remedy Not far from this is that they call the Leper's Bath which is believed to be very efficacious against that spreading Disease And an Hospital or Spittle built by Reginald Bishop of Bath for the Use and Benefit of poor aged decrepid People About the middle of the Town near to the great Church are the King and Queens Baths the Water of the one flowing into the other and the difference is that the King's Bath is large and the Queens lesser in circumference and I was credibly informed that there hath been found here an antient Statue of Hercules amongst other great Monuments of Antiquity holding a Serpent in his hand which was found in the Ruins of a famous Temple that once stood here near this place And it might be thought very convenient as well as reasonable that Hercules who exposed himself to such difficulties and manifold dangers and underwent such hard and unsupportable Labours should now and then ease and refresh his weary Limbs by such Purgations as the Baths could afford him In this and other Baths hang divers Crutches of lame and decrepit Persons which they left behind them as Trophies of their Recovery being perfectly cured of their Lameness and Infirmity and restored again to their former Health and Strength Last of all that which is called the Horse Bath is very effectual for the Cure of lame and foundred Horses and the removal of some other Distempers Thus have I given a short account of the Bath c. Many things there are more in this County very observable for all Travellers to take notice of which I think too tedious to relate Bristol The next Place we went to in these Parts was Bristol which is undoubtedly the Second City of England which if we consider the Stateliness of the Buildings or its Natural or Artificial Fortifications the Commodiousness of its Harbours and its most pleasant Situation betwixt the two Rivers of Avon and Frome its lofty Churches and its stately Palaces the great Concourse of Foreigners as well as the great Number of Natives Citizens Upon which account no Wonder if both the Counties of Somerset and Gloucester do contend which of them may be most glorious and happy in its Superiority over them and yet neither of them can attain to that Honour it being both City and County of itself and having particular Privileges Immunities and Laws of its own 'T is governed by a Mayor and two Sheriffs twelve Aldermen with other Ministers and Officers befitting its dignity 't is environ'd with a double Wall and adorn'd with two navigable Rivers Avon at Spring-Tides is 11 or 12 Fathom deep and Frome over which stands a Bridge beautified with curious Edifices consisting of four large Arches It is very convenient for the Ships and great Vessels to anchor in and hath a Key in it very commodious for the exporting and importing of Goods out or into the Merchants Houses This returns back into the River Avon and so both by their mutual Union enrich this City and augment its Happiness At what time it was first built is very hard to determine but it seems to have been of latter years because we find it no where spoken of by Historians in the times of the Danes when they made their Invade into this Nation And it is supposed to take its rise in the Declination of the Saxon Empire at the time when Harold is said to have sailed from Bristol with a great Navy into Wales which was about 213 years before our Saviour's Incarnation Robert Bishop of Constance made choice of this place first to begin his War in which he designed against William Rufus and did encompass it with the inner Wall as some conjecture part of which in some places is still to be seen and from that time it hath received great Enlargment and by degrees is risen to that we now behold it in As its Houses are fair and its Streets clear so are its Gates strong and its Churches glorious consisting of nineteen Parish-Churches whereof that which is the Cathedral and Mother-Church dedicated to S. Austin and endowed by King Henry the 8th with Revenues for a Bishop's See yet notwithstanding this the Church of Ratcliff in the Suburbs of this City is a more noble Structure being curiously Arched and made a stately Fabrick all of pure Stone without any Addition of Beams or Rafters of Timber no not one Stick to be found throughout the whole Building the Steeple is four square and of a great height but most artificially carved with divers Sculptures all at the cost and charges of one Mr. Cannius a
which Nature notwithstanding hath liberally apportioned so many Blessings that she compensates the Defects of one thing by the Collation of another not suffering any peculiar Place to monopolize all her Favours at once but thus if the Weald be very eminent for Wooll the same of East Kent shall be as great for Corn and Tenham Goddington and Otham shall be no less cried up for Orchards and Sheppey for the best Wheat and Thanet shall bring forth as good Crops of Barley but if Dover and Cranbrooke hath the Name for Beer Tunbridge shall for Water and if either the fertility of the Soil or safe Roads or sure Harbours for Ships or the broad Streams of great Navigable Rivers or the vicinity of a vast and large City can be any ways to advance it Prosperity it must needs be one if not the most flourishing County in the Kingdom of England As touching the Customes and Privileges of Kent they have been already so fully discoursed of by Mr. Lambert in his Kentish Perambulation and what was by him omitted have been supplied by the ingenious Pen of Mr. Philipot so that I shall wave them and only give a very small account of it although I have been in most Towns and Parishes in this County Canterbury because the Antiquity of this City with all its Liberties and Privileges the Beauty and number of all its Churches and Religious Houses before their Dissolution the Magnificence of its Cathedral with all its renowned Tombs and Monuments are very exquisitely Surveyed and Discribed by other Pens I shall not go about to pourtray that in any contracted Landskip which hath been before represented in so large a Scheme but referr all such as desire a particular Account of this City to those Writters who have pencelled out every Part and Limb thereof with great Exactness and Accuracy Rochester A City which in ancient Times was eminent for its Strength and Granduer and had not those violent Impressions which the rough hands of War formerly defaced and deminish'd its Bulk and bereaved it of its Beauty it might have been registered at this day in the Inventory of the principal Cities of this Nation 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 more concernment 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 Dignitâ— 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 indeed formerly many and dismal Calamities did attend it and that so frequently that the fury of the Elements seemed to enter into a Corrivalship or Competition with the fury of the Enemies for its ruin and the Fire and Sword seem'd to be join'd Confederates to destroy it Nevertheless it maugres all these Casualties by the Favour of the Princes and their Royal Munificence it still recruits its Losses and survives in Splender The goodly Skeleton of the Castle which yet courts the eyes of the Beholders to an admiration of its former Strength and built many hundred Years since The Cathedral with the Bishoprick of Rochester united to it were formerly Established by that pious Monarch Ethelbert King of Kent and the first Bishop to whom was entrusted the Pastoral Staff or Crosier was Bishop Augustine the Apostle to the Saxons Here is likewise a very fine stone Bridge built by Sir Robert Knowles over the River Medway which is fixed and built upon one and twenty Arches and coped about with Iron-spikes by Archbishop Warham and leads into Stroud And because according to the Orator every one is obliged to be serviceable to his Country proportionable to his Abilities and every one hath an inrate Propensity to love the Native Soil which first gave him a Being I cannot but in Duty pay some Acknowledgments of the Benefits I have received herein both for my Nativity and first Education and indeed I may justly say without any partially That it is a Province not much inferior to any in England being divided into three several Parts of which I have made some mention before It is in all parts so sufficiently fruitful of all things necessary for the use of Man and if we will take the pains to course over the Vallies we shall find the Earth groaning under the burdens of bountiful Ceres and the Fields and Meadows in contest which should shine most gay and glorious if we range the Woods and Hills we shall hear such charming Melodies by the mutual reciprecation of Birds and Trees that we should fancy all had got the knack of Speaking and Pratling Groves being now become visible to us if we be so curious as to dig into the Entrails of the Earth and take a view of the recondite Treasures we shall find plenty of Iron-Ore in the South parts of this County and great Queries of Stone in several places also towards the North side they dig out of the Earth plenty of excellent fat Chalk which they use to lay upon their Land for the enriching of it and causeth it to bring forth great Crops of Corn If we be taken with the harmonious Murmurs of Brooks and gentle Rivers there are several the Banks of the Noble River of Thames on the North side and the River Medway which comes out of Surrey glides along for many Miles together on the South side of this County and takes its course through almost the middle of the County and doth not run swift in many places but glides softly admiring as it were the pleasantness of its Soil there is also at Newel in the Parish of Orpington the finest Spings undoubtedly in the Kingdom both for the clearness of its Water and the rising up of it in such abundance that within two Furlongs of the Head it drives a Mill and afterwards is called by the Name of Cray River Most of the Rivers in this County do afford several sorts of Fish to gratifie the Pallate and all the Towns and Villages are well inhabited having a great many very fine Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in which respect 't is honourable the Churches fair and uniform and so 't is glorious the Air in many parts is clear which renders it wholsome One word or two I must I say in relation to Maidstone 'T is the principal Town in the County as in respect of its having the Assizes and Sessions kept in it and its being situated near the middle of the County upon the River Medway which renders it so pleasant and delightful that even that alone might be sufficient to set forth all the other Parts of it Leaving this place we soon after arrived in London where we only tarried a reasonable space of time to give our Selves and Horses some Rest and Refreshment as
Treasures and Mints of Money atchieved more magnificent Acts than ever any Prelate did before him for he erected the Royal Palace of Hampton-Court besides two famous Colleges the one at this Native Town and the other a most glorious Structure called Christ-Church College in Oxford and for the height of his Living and Attendance it is very elegantly set forth by the writer of his Life But notwithstanding he was the Favourite of his Prince and the Darling of Fortune and sued to by Foreigners and his own Country-men too as to be the only Person to apply to in all accounts yet true it is that Fortune very oft sets great Persons upon the Hill of Honour thereby to precipitate them with the greater Violence we find this lofty Cardinal could no way secure himself from the reach of fretting Envy and learn'd by the mutability of his own Condition for being retired into the Country after he seeing his Fortunes began to ebb at Court having the Great Seal took from him by the King's Order and was afterwards sent for by the Lieutenant of the Tower to appear before his Majesty and as returning out of the North to the City of London in his Journy he fell sick of a Flux at the Earl of Shrewsbury's house in Sheffeild-Park which being accompanied with a Fever did so weaken his Body that when he came to Leicester Abby which way he took he told the Abbot after the Solemnities of receiving him were past That indeed he was come to lay his Bones amongst them which accordingly came to pass for their he died and after his death his Corps being invested by the Monks with all such Ornaments as he was Professed in when he was made Bishop and Archbishop as Mitre Cross-King and Pall with all other things due to his Order and Dignity and having lain some few days in State to be visited by those who had a mind to pay their last Respects to his Person he was buried in their Chappel dedicated to the Virgin Mary with great Solemnity though all perished in the ruin of the Monastery Subverted not long after when Popery was banished from the Confines of England This Town had its share of Calamities in the unhappy Civil Wars It is well furnished with all kind of Grain it is governed by a Mayor Alderman and Recorder with other inferiour Officers to attend them The Town is strengthened with several Gates in one whereof is kept the Magazine it is also adorned with divers eminent Fabricks both Sacred and Civil the Cross in high Street is a very excellent Structure there are likewise five Churches by that which is called St. Martins stands the new Hospital being a stately Edifice built and endowed by several Benefactors for the use of divers aged Men and Women with a Chappel and a Chaplain to read Divine Service and to be assistful to those poor People therein and to this joins their publick Library which was given for the use of Ministers and Schollars who inhabit here hard by St. Mary's Church stands the Castle where the Assizes are kept for the County and by St. Nicholas there is a Wall which by the Ruins of it seems to be of very great Antiquity having several hollow places in it of an oval form of which the Inhabitants have strange Conjectures concerning them as if there had been some place in which the Pagans did offer up their Children to their blood-thirsty Idols or that they made them here pass through the fire as the Israelites did to Moloch but of this there is no probability at all and these only being conjectural Guesses I shall leave them and observe one thing more concerning this Town After the fatal Battel betwixt King Richard the Third and Henry Earl of Richmond afterwards Henry the Seventh King of England in Bosworth-field about the Year of our Lord 1485 in which King Richard with four Thousand Men more were slain and not above ten Persons on the other side The Corps of the deceased King was brought to be buried there in great disgrace as the day before he went out in pomp for his Body being rifled by the Souldiers was carried naked behind a Pursivant at Arms and being all over daub'd with Mire and Blood was conveyed to the Grey Friar's Church that then was within the Town and there buried very obscurely and meanly whilst Richmond with joyful Acclamations was proclaimed King in the very midst of slaughtered Bodies round about CARLETON all that are born there whether it be by a peculiar Property of the Soil or of the Water or else by some other secret Operation of Nature have an ill favoured untunable and harsh manner of Speech fetching their Words with very much ado deep from out of the Throat with a certain kind of wharling the Letter R being very irksome to them to pronounce Rutlandshire It is the least County of all England Lying in form almost round like a circle it is in compass so far about as a Light-horsman will ride in one day It was called Rutland as one would say Red-land the Earth in this Shire is every where red and so red that even the Sheeps fleeces are thereby coloured red The English-Saxons called Red in their Tongue Roet and Rud. UPPINGHAM a place upon an high ascent whence that name was imposed a well frequented Market Town The Vale of Catmose a field full of Woods Okeham is in the middle of it so called from Oaks This small Shire hath Parish Churches fourty eight Lincolnshire A very large County reaching almost three Score Miles in length and carrying in some places above thirty Miles in breadth passing good for yielding of Corn and feeding of Cattel well furnished and set out with great number of Towns and watered with many Rivers having great store of Fish and Fowl BOSTON is a famous Town standing on both sides the River Witham which hath over it a wooden Bridge of great height well frequented by means of a commodious Haven unto it The Market-place is fair and large and the Buildings are very beautiful also a most stately Church with a very high Tower-steeple and hath as many steps in its steeple from the bottome to the top as there are Days in the Year which Steeple salutes Passengers and Travellers a great way off and giveth Direction also to Sailers In the Coat of Boston for the Corporation there are three Crowns relating to the three Kingdoms the Crest a Ram lying upon a Wool-sack the Ram signifying the great Sheep-walks in the Fens round about and the Wool-sack that it was a Staple-Town the Supporters of the Coat are two Maremaids signifying that it was a Port-Town LINCOLN The chief City of the County and is large well inhabited and frequented it is situated upon the side of an Hill and thence hath its Name from its Situation or because it hath been a Colony Certain it is a Place of great Antiquity and of a very long standing there are fourteen
Showers or otherwise besides it is observed this Spring never riseth up to the top brink or over-floweth ABERBARRY Cave There is in this Shire a Cave so called under the bottom of a Hill and on the top of it a gaping Chinck where many times is heard as it were a Musical-noise and sometimes other very strange Noises which is very observable for all Travellers to take notice of LANDAFF a small Town but of good Repute in that it is a Bishop's See and adorned with a Catheral-Church Carmardenshire A most hilly Country yet it hath a wholsome Air and though the Soil be not very fruitful in Corn 't is well stored with Cattel and in some places yeilds very good Pit-coal for Fuel On the South side the Ocean hath with so great violence encroached upon the Land that the Country seems to have shrunk back in a fright and withdrawn it self more inwardly for security The Cave and Well near Carreg-Castle Near Carreg-Castle are many Undermines or Caves of very great wideness within the ground now covered all over with Green-sword and Turf wherein it is probable the Multitude unable to bear Arms when the Normans made their first Incursion into these Parts hid themselves during the heat of the War There is also a Well that like the Sea Ebbs and Flows twice in 24 hours Pembrokeshire Hath a good temperate Air considering it lies so near to Ireland the Inhabitants are many of them Dutchmen but by their Manners and Language they are much like the English that upon this Account this County is called Little England beyond Wales In the Rocks of this Shire there breeds a rare kind of Falcon which is thus described The Head is flat and low the Feathers laid in rows the Legs pale and wan the Claws slender and wide spread hooked round About 300 Years a-go it was reported That for five Generations the Father of the Family in the Earldom of Pembroke their Name was Hastings never saw his Son At the time when Henry the Second made his Abode in Ireland there were extraordinary violent and lasting Storms of Wind and Weather so that the Sandy-shoar on the Coasts of this Shire were laid bare to the very hard ground which had lain hid for many Ages and by farther search the People found great Truncks of Trees which when they were digged up were apparently lopped so that they might see the Stroaks of the Ax upon them as if they had been given not long before the Earth looked very black and the Wood of these Truncks altogether like Ebony as the Inhabitants informed us At the first discovery made of these Storms the Trees we spake of lay so thick that the whole Shoar seemed nothing but a lopped Grove from whence may be gathered That the Sea hath over-flowed much Land on this Coast as it had upon the Shoar of many Countries bordering upon the Sea The Salmon's-Leap at Kilgarran About Kilgarran are abundance of Salmons taken and there is a place called The Salmon's-Leap as there is also in other Rivers for this reason The Salmon coveteth to get into fresh-water Rivers to Spawn and when he comes from places where the Water falls down-right almost perpendicular as some such like Places there be he useth this Policy He bends himself backwards and takes his Tail in his Mouth and with all his force unloosing his Circle on a sudden with a smart Let-go he mounteth up before the Fall of the Stream and therefore these down-right Falls are called The Salmon's Leaps St. DAVIDS is in this County formerly an Arch-Bishop's See There is a Cathedral erected in the Time of King John and near unto it stands the Bishop's Palace and several other Houses belonging the Bishop's See all enclosed round with a Wall whereupon they call it The Close Cardiganshire Being a hilly Mountainous County like the rest of Wales was not formerly planted or garnished with Towns but little Cottages as may be gathered by that Speech of their Prince who being taken Prisoner and carried to Rome after he had throughly viewed the Magnificence of that City What mean you said he when you have such stately Buildings of your own to covet our poor small Cottages Many other things here might be mentioned in relation to this County but I must omit them by reason I have not room enough Montgomeryshire In this Shire there is nothing more observable than its excellent Breed of Horses which as I have been informed are of most excellent Shapes and strong Limbs and incomparable for Stoutness The Hill Plim-limmon It raiseth it self up to a wonderful height and on that part where it boundeth on part of this Shire it poureth forth the Severn the greatest River in Britain next the Thames as likewise in the other parts of it riseth the River Wye and the River Rideal The Hill Cerdon Upon Cerdon Hill are placed certain Stones in a round Circle like a Coronet in all probability to commemorate some notable Victory In this County are several old Castles and other things very observable Merionethshire The Air may be wholsome but the Soil is very barren for 't is exceeding full of spired Hills being the most mountainous place in Wales except Caernarvonshire upon which account it is subject to many and extraordinary great Winds The Pool near Bala Near Bala is a great Pool of Water that drowns at least 200 Acres of ground whose Nature is such as they say That the Highland Floods cannot make this Pool swell bigger though never so great but if the Air be troubled with violent Tempests of Wind it riseth above the Banks The River Dee runs into with a swift Stream and glides through it without mixture of Water for in this Pool is bred a sort of Fish which are never seen in Dee and in Dee River Salmons are taken which are never found in this Pool Upon the Sea-Coasts of this County great store of Herrings are taken at time of Year and upon the West side of it the Sea beats so sore and hard that it is thought it has carried away part of it Caernarvonshire In this County the Air is sharp and piercing and in it are the highest Hills in Wales on some of which the Snow lies long and on others all the Year long hard crushed together 'T is affirmed likewise That on the high Hills of this Shire are two Meres one of which produceth Fish that have but one Eye and the other a floating Island I do not verifie the truth of this because I think it meer Fables SNOWDEN-HILLS altho' they have always Snow lying upon them yet they are exceeding rank with Grass insomuch that they are become a Proverb amongst the Welshmen That those Mountains will yeild sufficient Pasture for all the Cattle in Wales if they were put upon them together and 't is certain that there are Pools and standing Waters upon the top of these Mountains and they are so coated with a snowy Crust that lies on