as they have made in other Countries this may be sufficient to inform them That there is not any thing worth our Wonder Abroad whereof Nature hath not written a Copy in our own Island And it cannot be too frequently observed that as Italy has Virgil's Grotto and the Sybil's Cave by Puteoli so England hath Ochy-Hole by Wells and Pool's by Buxton We have Baiae at the Bath the Alps in Wales the Spaw in Yorkshire Asphaltites at Pitchford in Shropshire the Pyramids at Stonehenge Pearls of Persia in Cornwall and Diamonds of India at St. Vincent's Rock Besides we have the 〈◊〉 of ancient and famous Castles and Garrisons Fortresses and Bulwarks Rampires and Trenches where as great Sieges have been made as remarkable Battels fought and as noble Atchievements performed as in any other Places in Europe which have been eminent for the Seats of War to which if we add divers Roman High-ways and Causeys with various Coins and Medals of great Antiquity variously dispersed about the Kingdom it will not stoop to any neighbouring Nation for such admirable Curiosities So that since England is not destitute of those many taking Things which all Travellers so passionately admire Abroad it is very incongruous to pretend to be acquainted with other Countries and to be Strangers to their own which is an Epitome of all other and which upon all these as well as other Accounts may very justly claim and challenge as a due Debt all those glorious Elogies which both Ancient and Modern Writers have conferred upon it And having thus briefly declar'd the main Design and Scope of this Narrative I shall neither Complement my Reader into its acceptance nor trouble my self to make any Harangue in Apologizing for its Contrivance for as for all Candid Persons I question not but their Censures will be as favourable as their Humours ingenuous And as for such snarling Criticks and carping Momus's of the Age who can sooner find a Fault than mend it I am sure most complemental Apologies will never work in them Candour or good Nature I shall therefore endeavour to Arm my self against all their Cavils with the excellent Advice of the wise Moralist Mimnermus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English thus Attempt brave things then set your Heart at rest Let not the sensless Mob disturb your Breast If some speak ill on purpose for to teaze you Others will speak the best and let that please you J. B. AN ACCOUNT OF Mr. BROME'S Three Years TRAVELS OVER England Scotland and Wales A Narrative of his first Journey WHen the Spring had rendred the Roads passable and the Country was a fitting Entertainment for Travellers the Gentlemen whose Names I have given my self the Honour of Inserting in the Title were pleased to take me for their Companion in order to have a View of those Places which were under the same Government with the City from whence they set out and which it was not Improper to be acquainted with before they made a Visit to Nations more â—ote And since it is but natural for the Inhabitants of other Countries to be as inquisitive after our Scituation and Establishment as we are after Theirs we could not but endeavour to provide our selves with an Answer by the Knowledge of our own Country's Constitution before we had occasion to ask Questons in Relation to those of others As these were the Reasons which occasion'd our Journey so we took a time in which it was agreeable to make one The Season of the year push'd us forward and the delights which it afforded were motives enough to persuade us to take leave of the Glorious City of London which is Caput Gentis and an Epitome of England Middlesex We took our Journey through Middlesex a Country famous for its goodly Edifices as well wisely compacted together upon the pleasant Banks of Thames as likewise for divers stately and magnificent Palaces dispersed in several other parts thereof Uxbridge to Vxbridge anciently Woxbridge seated on the Colne which parts it from Buckinghamshire a Town Built of late times well stored with Inns and of a considerable length This was the place famous in the Year 1644. for a Treaty held betwixt King Charles the First and the Parliament where after several Debates by Commissioners on both sides the Treaty of Peace was unhappily broken off and ended in a Deluge of Blood which speedily over-ran this whole Nation Bucks From Vxbridge we came into the County of Bucks which might possibly receive its Denomination from its Fertility in Beech-Trees there being a Province in Germany called Buchonia for that very reason 'T is a Country rich in Pasture and so convenient for Grazing that the Inhabitants thereof do very much addict themselves to that Employment receiving great Advantages by the Vicinity of London where the Markets are very Encouraging the Prices being high and the Returns considerable Passing through Beconsfield Beconsfield and Wickam a Town better known in that it was formerly part of the Inheritance belonging to the Noble Family of the Schudamore's than for any thing at present of greater Consequence we arrived at Wickam or Wicomb situated above a pleasant Valley by which runs along a little Rivolet and perhaps from this situation it took its Name for Combe saith the Great Antiquary Mr. Somner in his Saxon Dictionary is a Valley enclosed on either side with Hills and Wick saith the same Author is the turning winding or hollowness of Water-banks or the curving reach of a River 'T is a Town for largeness and buildings not much inferiour to any throughout the Shire and hath a Mayor and Aldermen to govern and support it and is a place very much celebrated for the abundance of Bone-Lace usually made here which brings no small Advantage and Profit to its Inhabitants Having refresh'd our selves a while here we set forward for Oxfordshire Oxfordshire which being once entred into we could not sufficiently enough admire the pleasantness of the Soil for there it is that Ceres bestows her Gifts most liberally upon the laborious Husbandman there it is the Meadows are garnished with Flora's curious Embellishments and the great variety of Plants allure and invite the industrious Herbalist into a more strict Enquiry of their Names Natures and Properties There it is where the Hills adorned with shady Woods afford most delightsome Bowers to wearied Students whilst the Silver-stream'd Rivers with their gentle Murmurs nimbly coursing along by the humble Valleys do whet their Fancies and scrue up their Inventions to the highest pitch To confer upon them suitable Encomiums What more pleasant than Isis afterward called Thamisis which runs along the South-side and then branching it self out in several Veins gives heart to the Eastern part of the County till by a continued Circulation like that of the Blood after several Windings and Maeandrous Flexures it lodgeth at last again within it self What can be more diverting than the River Cherwell
corrupted both their Faith and their Fortitude and straitway restored it to the English Crown A great while after when England was embroiled in Civil Wars King Henry the Sixth flying into that Kingdom for refuge surrendred it up into the hands of that King to secure him his Life and Safety in that Country but many Years were not expired before Sir Thomas Stanley did again reduce it under the command of King Edward the Fourth but not without a great loss of his Men and much Blood spilt about its Walls since which our Kings have been still strengthening it with new Fortifications especially Queen Elizabeth who to the Terrour of the Scots and Safe-guard of this Nation enclosed it about in a narrower compass within the old Wall with a high Wall of Stone most strongly compacted which she hath so forwarded again with a Couterscarp a Bank round about with Mounts of Earth cast up on high and open Terraces above-head upon all which are planted a double tire of great Ordnance that when the Scots entred England in 1640 they took Newcastle but durst not attempt Berwick In this place is still maintained a constant Garrison of Soldiers and the Guards which are placed at the foot of the Bridge which is built over the Tweed do every Night pull up the Draw-Bridges and lock up the Gates which give entrance into the Town so that there is no admission when once the day is gone Tweed All along the Tweed is notable Fishing for Salmons of which there is such great store and plenty in this River that they take vast numbers at one draught as we were credibly informed by the Fishermen of this place who hire out the Fishery from the Lords of the River and have each Man his Bounds set out and mark'd for him The Salmon which they catch are dried barrelled up and transported beyond Seas and are purchased at such easie and cheap Rates that a Man may buy one of the largest for a Shilling and boil it and eat it while the Heart is yet alive a thing which is frequently practised in this place nay they are so common about these Parts that the Servants as they say do usually indent with their Masters when they hire them to feed them with this Fish only some Days in the Week that they may not be nauseated by too often eating of it but as for all other Provisions they are scarce enough here and dearer than in any other parts of the North so that he that first called Berwick the little Purgatory betwixt England and Scotland by reason of the hard Usage and Exactions which are customary here did confer upon it a very just and deserved Title The Borders of Scotland After we were past Berwick we came into that noted Ground lying betwixt the two Kingdoms called the Borders the Inhabitants whereof have ever been reputed a sort of Military Men subtile nimble and by reason of their frequent Skirmishes to which they were formerly accustomed well experienced and adventurous These Borders have been formerly of a far greater extent reaching as far as Edinburgh-Frith and Dunbritton Northward and taking in the Counties of Northumberland Cumberland and Westmorland Southward but since the Norman Conquest they have been bounded by Tweed on the East Solway on the West and the Cheuiot Hills in the midst From these Borders we marched towards the Kingdom of Scotland concerning which I shall in the first place give a brief Account of some Observations we made here in general before I proceed to a particular Description of such Places and Cities through which we travelled From whence at first it received this denomination is dubious and uncertain Scotland being formerly called Caledonia from the Caledonii a chief People of it and Albania from Albany a principal Province in the North but as for the Inhabitants some will fetch their Original from thy Scythi a Sarmatian People of great Renown who after they had wandred about through many Countries came at last and setled themselves in this place but the most probable Opinion is that they were no other than Irish united in the name of Scot about the declination of the Roman Empire the word Scot signifying in their Language a Body aggregated into one out of many particulars as the word Alman in the Dutch Language Though I find the Scotch Historians will rather derive it from Scota Daughter to Pharoah King of Egypt who being given in Marriage to Gathelus Son of Cecrops King of Athens who with some valiant Grecians and Egyptians transplanted themselves into a part of Spain then called Lusitania but by reason of his arrival named Port-gathel now Portugal they afterwards setling themselves in Gallicia sent from thence a new Colony into Ireland from whence at last they removed into this Country This Gathelus brought with him from Egypt the Marble fatal Chair which was transported to Ireland and to Albion now called Scotland wherein all their Kings were Crowned until the time of King Edward the First who transported the whole ancient Regalia of Scotland with the Marble fatal Chair to Westminster where it remaineth to this day by which was fulfilled that ancient Scotch Prophecy thus expressed in Latin by Hector Boethius Ni fallat fatum Scoti hunc quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem In English by Raphael Holinshead Except old Saws do fail And Wisards Wits be blind The Scots in place must Reign Where they this Stone shall find By another Hand thus The Scots shall brook that Realm as Native Ground If Weirds fail not where e'er this Chair is found This Kingdom being divided into two parts by the River Tay hath thirty-four Counties in the South part are reckoned up these that follow Teifidale March Lothien Liddesdale Eskdale Annandale Niddesdale Galloway Carrick Kyle Cunningham Arran Cluidsdale Lennox Sterling Fife Stratherne Menth Argile Cantire Lorne In the North part are reckoned these Counties Loquhabre Braid-Albin Perth Athol Angus Merne Marr Buquhan Murray Ross Southerland Cathaness Steathnavern These are subdivided again according to their Civil Government into divers Seneschallies or Sheriffdoms which are commonly Hereditary and the People which inhabit each are called High-landers and Low-landers The Highlanders High-landers who inhabit the West part of the Country in their Language Habit and Manners agree much with the Customs of the Wild Irish Elgin and their chief City is Elgin in the County of Murray seated upon the Water of Lossy formerly the Bishop of Murray's Seat with a Church sumptuosly built but now gone to decay They go habited in Mantles striped or streaked with divers colours about their Shoulders which they call Plodden with a Coat girt close to their Bodies and commonly are naked upon their Legs but wear Sandals upon the Soles of their Feet and their Women go clad much after the same Fashion They get their Living mostly by Hunting Fishing and Fowling and when they go to War the
of the Country of March March and Lothien which lies upon the German Sea we came to Lothien called from the Picts formerly Pict-land shooting out along from March into the Scotish Sea and having many Hills in it and little Wood but for fruitful Corn-fields for courtesie and civility of Manners commanded by some above all other Countries of Scotland about the Year 873 Edgar King of England between whom and Kenneth the Third King of Scots there was a great knot of alliance against the Danes their common Enemies resigned up his right to him in this Country and to unite his Heart more firmly to him he gave unto him some mansion Houses in the way as Cambden observes out of Matthew Florilegus wherein both he and his successors in their coming to the Kings of England and in their return homeward might be lodged which unto the time of King Henry the Second continued in the Hands of the Scotch King The first Town of any consequence that offered it self unto us was Dunbar famous formerly for a strong Castle being the seat of the Earls of March afterwards Styled Earl of Dunbar Dunbar a fort many times won by the English and as oft recovered by the Scots And in the Reign of Edward the Third the Earls of Salisbury and Arundel came into Scotland with a great Army and besieged the Castle of Dunbar Two and twenty Weeks wherein at that time was black Agnes the Countess who defended the same with extraordinary Valour one time when the Engine called the Sow was brought by the English to play against the Castle she replyed merrily that unless England could keep her Sow better she would make her to cast her Pigs and indeed did at last force the Generals to retreat from that place The Town stands upon the Sea and hath been fenced in with a stone Wall of great strength though by the frequent batteries it hath of late Years received 't is much impaired and gone to decay the Houses here as generally in most Towns of Scotland are built with Stone and covered with Slate and they are well supplyed with provision by reason of a weekly Market which is held here The Inhabitants are governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and talk much of great losses and calamities they sustained in the late Civil Wars for in this place was that fatal battle fought betwixt Oliver Cromwel and the Scots wherein he routed and cut in pieces twenty thousand Scots with twelve thousand English Men and obtain'd so strange and signal a Victory that the very Thoughts of it do to this very Day still strike a terror into them when e'er they call that bloody Day to remembrance and think what great havock and Spoil was made amongst them by the Victorious success of the English forces Edenburgh Our next Quarters we took up at Edinburgh which is the Metropolis of Scotland and lies about twenty Miles distance from Dunbar The Irish Scots call this City Dun-eaden the Town Eaden or Eaden Hill and which no doubt is the same that Ptolomy calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the winged Castle for as Cambden observes Adain in the British Tongue signifies a Wing and Edenbourn a Word compounded out of the Saxon and British Language is nothing else but a Burgh with Wings 'T is situated high and extends above a Mile in length carrying half as much in breadth it consists of one fair and large Street with some few narrow lanes branching out of each side 't is environed on the East South and West with a strong Wall and upon the North strengthned with a Loch 'T is adorned with stately Stone buildings both private and publick some of which Houses are six or seven Stories high which have frequently as many different apartments and Shops where are many Families of various Trades and calling by reason of which 't is well throng'd with Inhabitants and is exceeding Populous which is the more occasioned by the neighborhood of Leith which is a commodious Haven for Ships and likewise because as 't is the seat of their Kings or Vice-Roys so 't is also the Oracle or Closet of the Laws and the Palace of Justice The King's Palace On the East side or near to the Monastery of St. Cross that was a Holy Rood is the King's Palace which was built by King David the First but being much ruinated and impaired in the late unhappy broils betwixt the two Kingdoms it hath been since enlarged and beautified and is now become a Stately and Magnificent structure And not far from this House within a pleasant Park adjoyning to it riseth a Hill with two Heads called of Arthur the Britain Arthur's Chair Arthur's Chair A little further stands the College Founded and Endowed by that most eminent Favourer of Learning the Wise and Learned King James the Sixth The College though afterward the Magistrates and Citizens of this place proved likewise very considerable Benefactors to it and upon their humble Address to the same Prince it was made an University A. D. 1580 but the Privileges hereof were not fully confirmed and throughly perfected till the Year 1582 and have been since the same with those of any other University in this Kingdom The Dignity of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor doth reside in the Magistrates and Town Council of Edenburgh who are the only Patrons neither was the Dignity they say as yet ever conferred upon any simple Person The Persons endowed were a Principal or Warden a Professor of Divinity four Masters or Regent for so they are called of Philosophy a Professor or Regent of Humanity or Philology Since the first Foundation the Town hath added a Professor of Hebrew 1640 and the City of Edenburgh hath since added a Professor of Mathematicks The Library was founded by Clement Little one of the Officials or Comissaries for Edenburgh A. D. 1635. The Library since which time it is much increased both by donatives from the Citizens as also from the Scholars who are more in number than in any other College in the Kingdom and here were presented to our view two very great Rarities the one was a Tooth taken out of a great Scull being four Inches about and the other was a crooked Horn taken from a Gentlewoman of the City who was fifty Years old being eleven Inches long which grew under her right Ear and was cut out by an eminent Chirurgeon then living in the Town who presented it to the College Their Churches and Parliament Houses About the middle of the City stands the Cathedral which is now divided into six sermon Houses for which Service there are seven other Kirks set apart besides and not far from the Cathedral is the Parliament House whither we had the good Fortune to see all the flower of the Nobility then to pass in state attending Duke Lauderdale who was sent down High-Commissioner And indeed it was a very Glorious sight for they were all richly Accoutred
was the first Bishop here say the Annals of Worcecester Angl. Sacr. pars prima about the year 680 under the high Altar whereof lies the Body of King John wrapped in a Monk's Cowl which the Superstition of that time accounted Sacred and a very necessary Defensative against all evil Spirits Here is likewise to be seen the Tomb of Arthur Prince of Wales the eldest Son of Henry VII with divers Monuments belonging to the ancient Family of the Beauchamps It was formerly a Cloyster for Monks but King Henry VIII did substitute in their Room a Dean and Prebendaries and erected a free School for the Education of the Citizen's Children It hath suffered great Calamities by Fire being burnt down by the Danes about the year 104.1 after this by an unknown Casualty under the Reign of Henry I. and once again in King Stephen's days and sure I am it hath of later years fall'n into the Hands of some merciless Men who were as raging as the Flames and whose Fury was as unquenchable as the Fire it self Witness the grievous Pressures it groaned under for its Loyalty to the King in the year 1651 For here it was that after his long Exile King Charles the Second arrived with an Army of Scots and some English the 22. of August and by the Assistance of the Citizens beat but the Soldiers who kept it for the Common-wealth and being proclaimed by the Mayor that then was and Sheriffs King of England c. Nevertheless was attended with the same ill Fortune and Success which was at that time his chief Attendants and having but a small Army in comparison of the numberless number of Rebels that were poured in upon him was totally defeated at this City several of his Nobles Slain and took Prisoners the rest forced to fly for their Lives and himself constrain'd to make his Escape as privately as he could and to betake himself into a Wood in Staffordshire where hiding himself in the shady Boughs of a well-spread Oak he found more Pity and Security from Trees and Woods than from some of his own unnatural and bloody Subjects However this City is now again restored to its Lustre and like the Phoenix being revived out of its own Ashes is raised up to its Prestine Splendour and Magnificence Having sufficiently satisfied our selves with the Varieties of that City we came into the Confines of the Eastern part of Herefordshire Herefordshire which appeared very Rocky and Mountainous at the first but having passed those Rocky parts we began to find the Country more pleasant to the Eye for we discovered it to be a Fertile Soil the Valleys thick with Corn and the Meadows abounding with Grass and well watered with Rivers the Hills covered with Sheep and the Hedges full of Apple-Trees which bear a sort of Fruit called Redstreaks of which they make the best Syder in England In a word we found it according to the usual Report which is made of it to yield to no Country in this Nation for three W. W. W Wheat Wool and Water to which formerly might have been added Wood but that the Iron Works have since destroyed it very much and made it become less plentiful Passing through Bramyard a small Market-Town of no great Consequence Mereford we came to Hereford the chief City of this County which is situated almost in the middle of it and watered by two pleasant Rivers Wye and Lugg which by their happy Union not far from this place advance her Felicity and enrich her Soil Antiquaries are of Opinion That this City had its Rise from Ariconium which hath at this day no manner of Form of a Town as having been thrown down by an Earthquake only some do imagine it to have stood in a place which they now call Kenchester three Miles distant from this City Kenchester and they do build their Conjectures from the Ruines of old Walls which are there Conspicuous as likewise from some four-square paving Tiles and thick Bricks as well as several Roman Coins digged up thereabouts though now the place which they mention is all over-grown with Shrubs Bushes and Brambles We observed when we went to visit this place three or four Receptacles in an old piece of Ruin'd Wall in which the Owners had found some Urns which argues the place to have been of great Antiquity however her Sister Hereford which is now become Beautiful by the others Decay justly claims the Pre-eminence above all other Places within this County She is thought first to have shown her Head under the Saxon Heptarchy and is supposed to have received great Helps and Increase by Religion and the Martyrdom of Ethelbert King of the East Angles who when he Courted the Daughter of Offa King of the Mercians was treacherously put to Death by Quendred Offa's Wife Hereupon being Registred as a Martyr he had a Church built and Dedicated to him by Milfrid King of the Mercians A. D. 825. which after the Establishment of a Bishop's See in it grew to great Wealth and Honour through the Devout and Pious Liberality of the Mercians and then of the West Saxons and is thought never to have suffered any Misfortune untill Edward the Confessor's time when Griffith Prince of South Wales and Algarus having raised a Rebellion against King Edward and led away Captive Leofgarus the Bishop sacked the City and burnt the Cathedral Afterward the Normans at the East End of the Church by the River Wye built a strong Castle Fortified the City with a Wall and by the Trench near the Castle is a very fine Spring call'd St. Ethelbert's Well St. Ethelbert's Well famous formerly for Miracles to which no question but in that Superstitious Age there was a great Resort of the Lame and the Blind with their Vows and their Offerings the Sanctity of Waters being such a Devout Fancy among our Ancestors as has been truly observed by that Indefatigable Searcher into Antiquity the Ingenious Mr. White Kennet that after Ages were forced to restrain the horrid Superstition of Well-Worship by a Canon in a Council under Edgar and after this too by some other Episcopal Injunctions Within this City are four Parish Churches and Bishop Reinelme in the Reign of King Henry I. founded the Cathedral that now is being a beautiful and magnificent Structure adorned with divers Monuments of ancient Prelates and Abbots To this adjoyns divers Houses for the Dignitaries of the Church and a College for 12 Vicars who live after an Academical way under a Praefectus who presides over them and supplies them with all Necessaries to encourage their Attendance upon all Divine Offices So ready were our Ancestors to promote Learning and advance such Persons whose quick and acute Parts were eclipsed under mean and slender Fortunes The City is govern'd by a Mayor who is Annually sworn upon Michaelmas-Day 12 Aldermen a Recorder and divers Common-Council Men and by their Charter have Privileges for particular Companies and Societies
Matter that lies at the bottom of it we found it very hard of a dusky colour and of a round consistency just as if a little company of Hailstones were cemented and joined together and the River running along under Ground tho' its Head from whence it first springs like that of the Nile in Egypt is not as yet plainly discovered and conveying it self at last out of the Cave sets as they say Thirty Mills on work after it comes into the adjacent Country When we were got thus far almost a Mile under Ground as our Guides told us we began to consider how we should return and get out safe again from this place of Horrour and Darkness to the Regions of Light being afraid to find the same Difficulties we had encountred with in our entrance But though the place was something resembling an infernal Abyss and our Passage into it proved so troublesom and irksom yet we came back without any toil or rather with great facility and pleasure notwithstanding it is impossible to find out the way without a Guide there being so many windings and turnings nor could the Guides themselves ever extricate themselves out of this darksom Labyrinth but by the light of Candles whereby they are enabled to steer their Course However at last we made a shift to creep up again to the top of the Rock just as merry Lucian tells us old Menippus did out from a hole in Lebadia after he returned from Hell and had ended his Discourses with the Ghosts below and went back to the place where we first dismounted and left our Horses to graze with the neighbouring Shepherds After we had got breath Bath and were a little recruited we mounted again and rode away for Bath which by several old Writers is called Acamannum Akemancester from the old Roman way called Akemanstreet-way which say Antiquaries took its name from them that being full of Aches and Achings made it their way to this place for ease of their Pains We could not discover it until we came just upon it lying low and on all sides surrounded with Hills out of which issue forth many Springs of a wonderful virtue though some of them are very Sulphureous and unpleasant to the Taste It is watered with the Avon over which it has a Stone-Bridge and is environed with a Wall commodious for its Market-place and handsomly adorned 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 tunable Bells and the Quire is grac'd with a small but sweet Organ And in it are erected several ancient and stately Monuments of Persons of great Quality and of some Bishops of this See who have been most noble Benefactors to it 'T is govern'd by a Mayor and Aldermen and the Assizes are generally kept there in the Summer time But that which is most remarkable and causeth a concourse 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 whatever in Europe The Waters herein are hot of a blueish Colour strong scent and send forth thin Vapours and as without question they have strengthened many weak and feeble Limbs so do they cure divers Diseases which are incident and destructive to humane Nature by causing Men to Sweat either more or less proportionably to their Distempers There are four or five which are principally in request one Triangular and called the Cross-Bath from the Cross that stood formerly in the midst of it 't is about twenty-five Foot long and as broad at one end the heat of it gentler than the rest because it has fewer Springs Whilst we continued in the Town we were presented by the Serjeant of this Bath with a piece of Earth which was digged up here at the loss of a Spring it smelt like Sulphur and burnt like Soot We saw likewise a piece of an Elm-Tree which was digged up at the same time together with the Skull of a Woman taken up then too which are supposed to have lain there many Years before the Bath was so enclosed The Orders are strict and regular and Persons of the greatest Quality prefer to bathe here and to drink the Water hereof with Limona Sugar rather than of the other Hard by this stands the Hot Bath not much frequented save by those who have quite lost the use of their Limbs the Water hereof being much hotter than the rest Not far from this is that which they call the Leper's Bath which is believ'd to be very efficacious against that loathsom Disease and an Hospital or Spittle built by Reginald Bp. of Bath for the use of poor aged decrepit People About the middle of the Town nearer to the great Church are the King and Queen's Baths divided only by a Wall the last having no Spring in it but receiving the Water from the King's Bath which is about 60 Foot square and has in the middle of it many hot Springs that make its heat the greater Each of these two Baths have a Pump to pump Water upon the Diseased and I have observed some Persons who have been troubled with great Pains in their Heads or other parts of their Body have suffered very great quantities of this scalding Water to be poured on them by their Guides Hereabouts formerly was found an ancient Statue of Hercules amongst other great Monuments of Antiquity holding a Serpent in his Hand which was discover'd in the Ruines of an ancient Temple perhaps that which was here Consecrated to Minerva and it might be thought very convenient that he being the Tutelary Patriot of such places and having so frequently exposed himself to hard Labours and manifold Dangers might now and then ease and refresh his wearied Limbs by such Purgations as the Bath 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 restor'd again to their former Health and Strength There is still one behind which is call'd the Horse Bath which is said to be as effectual for the cure of lame and foundred Horses and the removal of some other Distempers which are incident to those kind of Animals Wiltshire Having pass'd away some few days very pleasantly in this Town we set forward for Wiltshire a County healthy pleasant and fruitful the Northern part of it is Hilly and hath formerly been shaded with thick Woods and well watered with wholsom Springs the Southern part is plain and open very convenient for feeding great Flocks of Sheep and through the middle of it from East to West a great large Ditch runs across call'd Wanedike the Banks whereof as the Vulgar will have it were thrown up by the Devil on a Wednesday But the Learned Mr. Cambden is of Opinion That it was made by
and as nobly attended with a splendid Retinue the Heralds of Arms and other Officers that went before were wonderful gay and finely habited and the Servants that attended were clad in the richest Liveries their Coaches drawn with six Horses as they went ratling along did dazle our Eyes with the splendour of their furniture and all the Nobles appeared in the greatest Pomp and Gallantry the Regalia which are the Sword of State the Scepter and the Crown were carried by three of the antientest of the Nobility and on each side the Honours were three Mace-Bearers bare headed a Noble-man bare headed with a Purse and in it the Lord High Commissioner's Commission then last of all the Lord High Commissioner with the Dukes and Marquesses on his Right and Left Hand it is ordered that there be no Shooting under the highest penalties that Day neither displaying of Ensigns nor beating of Drums during the whole Cavalcade The Officers of State not being Noblemen ride in their Gowns all the Members ride covered except those that carry the Honours and the highest Degree and the most Honourable of that degree rid last Nor is their grandeur disproportionate to their demeanour which is high and stately but courteous and obliging having all the additional helps of Education and Travel to render it accomplish'd for during their Minority there is generally great care taken to refine their Nature and emprove their Knowlege of which when they have attain'd a a competent measure in their own Country they betake themselves to foreign Nations to make a further progress therein where they do generally become so great proficients that at their return they are by this means fitted for all great Services and Honourable employments which their King or Country is pleased to commit to their care and fidelity and are thereby enabled to discharge them with great Honour and applause On the West side a most steep Rock mounteth up aloft to a great height every way save where it looks towards the City The Castle on which is placed a Castle built by Ebrank the Son of Mempitius as some Write though others by Cruthneus Camelon the first King of the Picts about 330 Years before the Birth of our Saviour 't is so strongly fortified both by art and Nature that it is accounted impregnable which the Britains called Myned Agned the Scots the Maiden Castle of certain young Maids of the Picts Royal Blood which were kept here in old time and which in truth may seem to have been that Castrum alatum or Castle with a Wing before spoken of In this Castle is one of the largest Canons in Great Britain called Roaring Megg which together with two tire of Ordinance besides planted upon the Wall can command the City and all the Plains thereabouts but most famous is it in that Queen Mary was brought to Bed here of a Son who was afterward Christened at Sterling and called James who at last became the Happy Uniter of the two Crowns and in that Chamber in which he was Born are written upon the Wall these following Verses in an old Scotch Character James 6. Scot. 1. England Laird Jesu Christ that crown it was with Thorns Preserve the Birth qubais badgir here is Borne And send hir Son Succession to Reign still Lange in this Realm if that it be thy will Al 's grant O Laird quhat ever of hir proceed Be to thy glory honour and praise so beed July 19. 1566. A little below the Castle is a Curious Structure built for an Hospital by Mr. Herriot The Hospital Jeweller to the aforementioned King James and endowed with very great Revenues for the use of poor Orphans and impotent and decrepit Persons but by the ruinous and desolate Condition it seem'd at that time to be falling into it became to us a very doleful Spectacle that so noble a heroick design of Charity should be so basely perverted to to other Evil Ends and purposes contrary to the Will and intention of the Donor The City is governed by a Lord-Provost who hath always a Retinue befitting his Grandeur and for the punishing delinquents there is a large Tolbooth Tolbooth for so they call a Prison or House of Correction where all Malefactors are kept in hold to satisfie the Law as their Offences shall require Within seven Miles round the City there are of Noble and Gentlemens Palaces Castles and strong-builded Towers and Stone houses as we were inform'd above an hundred and besides the Houses of the Nobility and Gentry within it here dwell several Merchants of great Credit and repute where because they have not the conveniency of an Exchange as in London they meet about Noon in the High-street from whence they adjourn to their Changes i. e. Taverns or other places where their business may require them to give their Attendance The Fortune of this City hath in former Ages been very variable and inconstant It s variable Changes sometime it was Subject to the Scots and another while to the English who inhabited the East parts of Scotland until it became wholly under the Scots Dominion about the Year 960 when the English being over-poured and quite oppressed by the Danes were enforced to quit all their interest here as unable to grapple with two such potent Enemies A Mile from the City lies Leith a most commodious Haven hard upon the River Leith Leith which when Dessry the Frenchman for the security of Edenburgh had fortified very strongly by reason of a great Concourse of People which after this Flocked hither in abundance in a short time from a mean Village it grew to be a large Town In the Reign of our King Henry the Eighth the Sufferings and Calamities both of it and its Neighbours were grievous and inexpressible being both Burnt and plundred by Sir John Dudly Viscount Lisle Lord High Admiral of England who came hither with a puissant Army and broke down the Peer burning every stick thereof and took away all the Scotch Ships that were fit to serve him which kind of Execution was done likewise at Dunbar afterward when Francis King of France had taken to Wife Mary Queen of Scots the Frenchmen who in hope and conceit had already devoured Scotland and began now to gape for England A. D. 1560. strengthned it again with new fortifications But Queen Elizabeth solicited by the Nobles who had embraced the Protestant Religion to side with them by her Wisdom and Prowess so effected the matter that the French were enforced to return into their own Country and all their fortifications were laid level with the Ground and Scotland hath ever since been freed from the French and Leith hath become a very opulent and flourishing Port for the Peer is now kept up in so good repair and the Haven so safe for Ships to ride in that here commonly lieth a great Fleet at anchor which come hither Richly laden with all sorts of Commodities After we had spent
Scruffel wotes full of that And there goes also this usual By-Word concerning the height as well of this Hill as of the other two Skiddaw Lanvellin and Casticand Are the highest Hills in all England Nay so liberal to it is Nature in the distribution of her largesses that she seems to have enriched it with every thing that may any way be conducible to Health as well as Wealth for here are such Varieties of vulnerary Plants which grow plentifully in these parts especially near to the Picts-Wall that in the beginning of Summer many Persons that are curious in these things come hither out of Scotland on purpose to Simple here are likewise upon the Sea-Coast very frequently discovered Trees at Low-water which have been covered with Sand and that in many other mossy places of the Shire they digg up Trees without boughs and that by the directions of the dew they say in Summer which they observe ne'er stands upon that Ground under which they lie At Carlile wee took up our first qaarters in this Province Carlile an ancient City very commodiously situated 't is guarded on the North side with the River Eden on the East with Peterial and on the West with Cawd and besides these Natural fences 't is fortified with a strong Wall with a Castle and a Cittadel the Fashion of it is long running out from West to East on the West side is the Castle of a large compass which King Richard the Third as appears by his Coat of Arms repaired and on the East the Cittadel built by Henry the Eighth In the middle almost of the City riseth on high the Cathedral Church being formerly a stately and Magnificent Structure adorned with rich Copes and other sacred Garments and Vessels and two Unicorns Horns of great Value which by an ancient custom were placed here upon the Altar but now deplores the want of part of its Body being ruined by a wicked War whilst it was only intended for a House of Prayer and Peace It was first founded by Walter Deputy of these parts for King William Rufus and by him dedicated to the Blessed Virgin but finished and endowed by King Henry the First out of the Wealth which the said Walter had amassed for that purpose The Romans and Britains called this place Lugoballum that is saith Cambden the fort by the Wall which Name it derived probably from that famous military vallum or Trench which stands apparent a little from the City and that it flourished exceedingly in the time of the Romans the famous mention of it in those Days and diverse remains of Antiquity which have been here frequently discovered do sufficiently attest After the departure of the Romans it suffered extreamly by the insolent outrages of the Scots and Picts and afterward being almost quite ruined by the Danes it lay about two hundred Years buried in its own Ashes until it began again to flourish under the government and by the favour of King William Rufus who as the Saxon Chronicle tells us A. D. 1092 coming hither with a great Army repaired the City and built the Castle driving from hence the Daulphin of France who had got too sure footing in some of those Northern parts and planted here a new Colony of Flemmings say some Historians whom presently upon better advice he removed into Wales and setled in their room a more useful plantation of Southern English-men After this here having been formerly a Covent of Monks and a Nunnery built by St. Cuthbert A. D. 686. which were both destroyed by the Danes King Henry the First established here the Episcopal See * A. D. 1135. saith Mr. Wharton Ang. Sacr. Tom. 1. P. 699. and made Athulph Priory of St. Oswalds his Confessor Bishop hereof and endowed it with many Honours and emoluments in the successive Reigns of our Kings it was Subject to great casualties and misfortunes the Scots won it from King Stephen and King Henry the Second recovered it again in the Reign of Edward the First the City and Priory with all the Houses belonging to it were consum'd by Fire and a little after King Edward the Second came to the Crown all the Northern parts from Carlile to York fell under the subjection of the Scots at which time our Chronicles tell us that the English by their faint-heartedness grew so Vile and Despicable that three Scots durst venture upon an hundred English when a hundred English durst hardly encounter with three Scots but under victorious King Edward the Third the Englishmen pluck'd up their Spirits and recovered their ancient Valour enforcing the Scots to quit all their strong holds and retire back again to their own Territories and Dominions nevertheless this City with the parts adjacent were frequently pestered by Scotch Invasions till the happy Union of the two Crowns since which time it is grown more Populous and opulent being governed by a Mayor and having the Assizes and Sessions held here for that County Salkelds We rode away from Carlile by Salkelds upon the River Eden where is a trophy of Victory as is supposed called by the Country People Long Megg ' and her Daughters being seventy seven Stones each of them ten Foot high above Ground and one of them viz. Long Megg fifteen Foot to Penreth Penreth which is saith Cambden if you interpret it out of the Brittish Language the Red-head or Hill for the Soil and the Stones are here generally of a reddish Colour but commonly called Perith sixteen Miles distant from this City This Town is but small in compass but great in Trade fortified on the West-side with a Castle of the King 's which in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth was repaired out of the Ruines of a Roman Fort not far from it called Maburg adorned with a spatious Church and large Market-place where there is an Edifice of Timber for the use of such as resort hither to Market garnished with Bears at a ragged Staff which was the device of the Earls of Warwick it belonged in times past to the Bishops of Durham but the Patriarch Bech taking two much State upon him and carrying himself with more haughtiness than became him did hereby so displease King Edward the First that he took from him Werth in Tevidail Perith and the Church of Simondburn But for the commodious use of this town William Strickland Bishop of Carlile descended from an ancient Race in this tract at his own proper charge caused a Channel for a Water-course to be made out of Peteril which near unto the Bank had Plumpton Park a large plat of Ground which the Kings of England had appointed as a Chase for wild Beasts to range in but King Henry the Eighth disparked it and converted it into a better Habitation for Men it lying near to the Marches where the Realms of England and Scotland confine one upon another Not far from this Town begins the County of Westmorland Westmorland being one of the worst
Countries in England and taking its Name both from its Situation and the great number of Moors in it 'T is likewise a Hilly Country two ridges of high Hills crossing it as far as Cumberland which besides their Northern Situation sharpen the Air and make it less Subject to Fogs and Vapours then many other Counties by reason of which the People are free from strange and infectious Diseases being healthful and living generally to great Ages but in the Southern parts of it it is more fruitful and pleasant In this County near the River Lowther Piramidal Stones near the Lowther is a Spring that Ebbs and Flows many times in a Day and in the same place there are huge Pyramidal Stones some nine Foot high and thirteen Foot thick pitched directly in a row for a Mile together Cataracks near Kendale and placed at equal distances from each other and in the River Ken near Kendale are two Cataracks or Water-falls where the Waters descend with a great and mighty noise and when that which standeth North from the Neighbours living between them sounds clearer and lowder than the other they certainly look for fair or foul Weather to follow but when that on the South-side doth so they look for Foggs and Showers of Rain Appleby We arrived at Appleby a Town in this County memorable for its Antiquity and Situation having formerly been a Roman Station and standing very pleasantly being almost encompassed with the River Eden over which it has a Stone Bridge but so slenderly inhabited and the Buildings so mean that all the Beauty of it lies in one mean Street which riseth with a gentle ascent in the upper part whereof stands the Castle and in the nether end the Church and by it a School which Robert Langton and Miles Spencer Doctors of Law founded for the advancement of Learning That this Castle was surprized by William King of Scots a little before himself was taken Prisoner at Alnwick our Chronicle-inform us but King John having afterwards recovered it from the Scots bestowed it out of his Princely Favour upon Robert Vipon for some singular services he had done to him and the State Burgh under Stanemoor Six Miles further lies Burgh commonly called Burgh under Stanemoor which though now but a poor small Village was in all probability the place where stood the antient Town Vertera in which in the declining Age of the Roman Empire the Band of the Directores kept their Station which Opinion is the more likely becase the distance thereof from Levatra or Bows on the one side and Brovonacum or Appleby on the other being reduced to Italian Miles do exactly agree with Antonines Computation as Cambden observes out of his Itinerary and further for that the High-street of the Romans as is yet evidently apparent by the Ridges thereof leads this way directly to Brovonacum or Appleby But besides this there is nothing here remarkable at all excepting only that in the beginning of the Norman government the Northern English conspired here first against William the Conquerour and that the most Heroick King Edward the First died here of a Dysentery A. D. 1307. and was buried at Westminster When we were past Burgh we began to climb that hilly and solitary Country exposed to Wind and Weather Stanemoor which because 't is all Rocky and Stony is called in the Northern Dialect Stanemoor and here round about us we beheld nothing but a rough wide mountainous Desart save only a poor homely Hostelry rather than an Inn in the very midst thereof called the Spittle on Stanemoor to entertain Travellers and near to it a Fragment of a Cross which we call Rere-Cross Rere-Cross and the Scots Re-Cross i. e. the King 's Cross which formerly served as a Land-mark betwixt the two Kingdoms the same being erected upon a Peace concluded between William the Conquerour and Malcolm King of Scots with the Arms of England on the South-side and those of Scotland on the North and a little lower upon the Roman High-way stood a small Fort built four-square which they called the Maiden Castle from whence as the Borderers reported the said High-way went with many Windings in and out as far as to Carevorran in Northumberland After we had made a shift to scramble over these Mountains we found a little Village on the other side called Bows Bows the same which I observed before Antonine calls Levatra in which was formerly a small Castle belonging to the Earls of Richmond where in was a certain Custom called Thorough Toll and their Jus furcarum i. e. power to hang c. Through this place lies the Road to Richmond Richmond the chief Town hereabouts encompassed with a Wall out of which are three Gates now well peopled and frequented It was built upon the Norman Conquest by Alan Earl of Bretagne who reposing small trust in Gilling a place or manner of his own hard by to withstand the Violence of the Danes and English whom the Normans had despoiled of their Inheritance fenced it with a Wall and a Castle which standing upon a Rock looks down upon the Swale over which it has a Stone bridge which River was reputed Sacred by the ancient English for that Paulinus the first Arch-Bishop of York Baptized in it in one Day above Ten thousand Men besides Women and Children and then gave it the Name of Richmond as a place of Strength and Beauty Here is held a great Market to the benefit of the Country who expose to Sale great quantities of Stockings which being bought up at cheap Rates are afterwards sent into other parts of the Nation This Town gives name to five Wapentakes or Hundreds within its Jurisdiction from hence called Richmond-shire Richmondshire a wild and hilly tract of Ground but yielding good Grass in some places the Hills are stored with Lead Coals and Copper and on the tops or surface thereof are found many times Stones like Sea Winkles Cockles Muscles and other Fish which saith Cambden are either natural or else are the Relicts of Noah's Flood petrified Orosius speaks as much of Oysters of Stone found upon Hills far from the Sea which have been eaten in hollow by the Water in all likelyhood these stone Fishes are of the same kind which some Naturalists have discovered at Alderby in Glocester-shire and I my self have since taken up upon the high Cliffs near Folk-stone in Kent which I shall describe more particularly when I come to speak of that place But to return on our way out of Richmond-shire we made an entrance into the West-Riding of York-shire where we were first saluted by Rippon Rippon situated upon the River Vre which divides the North and West-Riding and is full of Crea-Fishes the breed whereof as they say was brought out of the South parts by Sir Christopher Medcalfe It received all its Dignity and ancient renown from a Monastery built here A. D. 660. by Wilfrid Arch Bishop
Spring is later in Cornwall than in the East Parts of England the Summer temperate but Harvest late especially in the middle of the Shire where they seldom get in their Corn till Michaelmas The Winter is milder than elsewhere for the Frost and Snow come very seldom and never stay long when they do come But this Country is much subject to Storms lying as I said open to the Sea so that their Hedges are pared and their Trees Dwarf-grown and the hard Stones and Iron Bars of Windows are fretted with the Weather one kind of these Storms they call a Flaw and so indeed in some Countrys they call any Storm of Wind which is a mighty Gale of Wind passing suddenly to the Shore with great violence This Country is Hilly which is one cause of the temperate Heat of the Summer and the lateness of Harvest even as its Maritime Situation is the cause of the gentleness of Winter Hilly I say parted with short and narrow Valleys the Earth is but shallow underneath which is Rocks and Shelves so that 't is hard to be Tilled and apt to be parched by a dry Summer The middle of the Shire lies open the Earth being of a blackish colour and bears Heath and spiry Grass there is but little Meadow Ground but store of Pasture for Cattel and Sheep and plenty of Corn. They have a Stone called Moor-stone found upon Moors and wast Ground which serves them instead of Free-stone for Windows Doors and Chimneys it is white with certain glimmering Sparkles They have a Stone digged out of the Sea Cliffs of the colour of grey Marble and another Stone black as Jet and out of the Inland Quarries they dig Free-stone They have a Slate of three sorts Blue Sage-leaf coloured and Grey which last is the worst and all these Slates are commonly found under another kind of Slate that they Wall with when the depth hath brought the Workmen to the Water They also make Lime of a kind of Marble-stone either by burning a great quantity together with Furze or with Coal in small Kilns which is the cheaper way but the first Lime is always the whitest For Metals they find Copper here in sundry Places and the Ore is sometimes shipped off to be refined in VVales And though Cicero will have none in Britain yet Silver hath been found in this County in the time of Edward the First and Third who reaped good profit by it nay Tinners do now and then find little quantities of Gold and sometimes Silver amongst the Tin Ore but for the generality the Metal that the Earth abounds with here is Tin which they discover by certain Tin-stones which are something round and smooth lying on the Ground which they call Shoad In their Tin-works amongst the Rubbish they find sometimes Pick-Axes of Holm Box and Harts-horns and sometimes little Tool-heads of Brass and there was once found a Brass Coin of the Emperor Domitian's in one of the Works an Argument that the Romans wrought in those Tin-Mines in times past Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother to Henry the Third was the first that began to make Ordinances for these Tin-Works and afterward Edmund his Son granted a Charter and certain Liberties and prescribed withal certain Laws concerning the same which he ratified and strengthned under his Seal and imposed a Rent or Tribute upon Tin to be paid unto the Earls these Liberties Privileges and Laws King Edward the Third afterward confirmed and augmented On Hengsten-Down a little above Plimouth are found Cornish Diamonds wanting nothing but hardness to make them valuable being of great Beauty some of them as big as a Nut and which is most admirable ready shaped and polished by Nature and in some Places on the Sea Coasts there are Pearls found that breed in Oysters and Muscles which though they are great are yet not very good here is also sometimes Agat and white Coral as they report It is likewise very famous for those little Fish which they call Pilchars swarming in mighty great Shoals about the Shore from July to November when being taken and garbaged and salted and hanged up in smoak they are in infinite numbers carried over into France Spain and Italy where they are very welcom Commodities and are called there Fumados Taking our leave of these Parts and returning by Ashburton a noted Market Town Ashburton we came back to Exeter where passing away the time with some Friends we met with there till the Assizes were over we departed for Honniton Honniton a Town not unknown to such as travel into the West from whence passing through Axminster Axminster called by the Saxons Exan-minster from the River Axi which runs by it a place famous for the Tombs of some Saxon Princes who were slain in the bloody Battel at Bennaburg and translated hither we came quickly into Dorsetshire Dorsetshire a fertile County well shaded with Woods enriched with Pasture and covered with innumerable Flocks of Sheep where coasting along by the Sea side Lyme Lyme was the first Place of Note which here appeared to us to which there is a very troublesom access by reason of its Situation under a high and steep Rock This Town though it was formerly a poor Receptacle for Fisher-men is of late Years reduced to a more flourishing Condition the Houses which are built of Stone and covered with Slate stand thick and in that part which lies near to the Sea they are sometimes washed ten or twelve Foot high to the great damage of the lower Rooms Here is a little kind of Harbour called the Cobb which being sufficiently defended from the Violence of Wind and Weather with Rocks and high Trees which hang over it doth cause many Vessels to put in hither for shelter 'T is a Corporation governed by a Mayor but of late Years for nothing more famous than that it was the landing Place of James the late Duke of Monmouth who landing here with a few Forces out of Holland was quickly defeated and himself brought shortly after to a very Tragical end Bridport Six Miles farther we saw Bridport placed betwixt two small Rivers that there met together in this Town saith Cambden in the Days of Edward the Confessor were reckoned an Hundred and twenty Houses but in William the Conqueror's Reign One hundred and no more it is now in great Vogue for yielding the best Hemp and the great Skill of its Inhabitants in twisting Cables for the Royal Navy for the Monopoly of which they had once a peculiar Patent granted them Here was formerly an Alien Priory dedicated to St. John Baptist From hence the Shore after several crooked flexures shooteth forth into the Sea and a Bank of Sand called Chesil heaped up thick together with a narrow Frith between lies in length for nine Miles which the South Wind when it is up they say commonly cuts in sunder and dissperseth but the Northern Wind binds and hardens again By this Bank
dismal Calamity in the Reign of King Richard the First Seffrid the Second Bishop of that name restored it once more to its primitive Lustre and Grandeur since which the City began mightily to flourish and had been much more considerable than it now is had but the Haven proved more commodious which lies a little too far distant from it it is walled about in a circular Form the Lavant a pretty River running hard by it on the South and West sides It consists of five or six Parishes and the Buildings are indifferently neat and uniform four Gates it hath opening to the four Quarters of the World from whence the Streets lead 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 as for the Castle that stood not far from North-Gate it was in times past the ancient habitation of the Earls of Arundel who hereupon Stiled themselves Earls of Chichester but afterward it was converted into a House of Franciscan Fryars The Cathedral is not large but very curious and beautiful having a spire Steeple of Stone which riseth up a great height and an high Tower standing near to the West Door which was built by R. Rinan as they say when he was forbidden to erect a Castle at Aplederham his Habitation hard by of those Stones which he had provided before for that Castle In the South cross Isle of the Church was formerly on the one side artificially pourtrayed and depainted the History of the Church's Foundation with the Images of the Kings of England on the other the Images of the Bishops as well of Selsey as Chichester at the Charge of Bishop Shirborne who greatly adorned and beautified the Church and every where for his Impress set these Motto's Credite Operibus i. e. Trust Men according to their Deeds and again Dilexi decorem domus tuae Domine i. e. I have loved O Lord the Beauty of thy House But all these in the late Confusions were unhappily defac'd and there is little now remaining but the memory of them We went from hence to Amberley-Castle Amberly Castle which is about twelve Miles from Chichester higher into the Countrey it was built by VVilliam Read Bishop of Chichester in the Reign of Edward the Third for the use of his Successors but then leased out to the worthy Family of the Butlers who were the Inhabitants at that time We staid here for the space of a Week where we were generously entertained with great Courtesy and Civility and there we had a full account given us of the nature of the Country which by a more particular survey we found afterward very true Sussex for the Soil is for the most part rich and the Ways deep the Downs by the Sea side standing upon a fat Chalk or Marle are abundantly fertile in Corn the middle tract garnished with Meadows Pastures Corn-fields Groves and Iron Mines the North side shaded with Wood and here ran along part of that great Wood which was called by the ancients Andedsleage by which without question saith the Learned Bishop Stillingfleet is meant that vast Wood which beginning in Kent ran through Sussex into Hampshire called by the Britains Coid Andred by the Saxons Andred and Andreswald from whence as Mr. Somner observes Andreswald Wood. that part of Kent where the Wood stood is called the VVeald and Lambert averrs that no Monuments of Antiquity are to be met with in the VVeald either of Kent or Sussex Historians farther tell us that this Wood was formerly reputed 120 Miles long and 30 Miles broad where Sigebert King of the VVest-Saxons being deposed from his Royal Throne was Stabbed by a Swineherd But though the Company was most obliging and the Place no less divertive yet having not compleated our designed Journey we took a solemn leave of our Courteous Friends and retreated towards the Sea-coast to Arundel Arundel a Town situate on the brow of a Hill of special Note for its Castle once of great fame and strength but far more famous for the Lords or Earls hereof to which Castle by an ancient Privilege the Title of an Earldom is annexed so that whosoever is possessed of the Castle and Mannor is ipso facto Earl of Arundel without any Creation wherein it is singular from the rest of England Lewes We proceeded on to Lewes which for frequency of People and its goodly Structure is reputed the principal Town of the County and therefore here generally the Assizes are held for this Countrey if not at East-Greenstead the remoteness of Chichester from the City of London being probably one reason why they are not kept there This Town is seated upon a rising almost of every side but that it hath been Walled there are apparent Symptoms Southward it hath under it a great Suburb called Southover and beyond the River another Eastward called Cliff because 't is under a chalky Hill and hath six Parishes well inhabited In the time of the Saxons when King Athelstan made a law for Coining of Money he appointed two Coiners for this Place VVilliam VVarren the first Earl of Surrey built a large Castle in the highest ground for the most part with Flint and Chalk and in the bottom of Southover A. D. 1078. he founded to the Memory of St. Pancrace an Abbey which he replenished with Cluniack Monks which since the dissolution fell into the possession of the Earls of Dorset But most memorable is this place for a mortal and bloody Battel fought here between King Henry the Third and the Barons in which the prosperous beginning of the Battel on the Kings side was the overthrow of his Forces for whilst Prince Edward his Son breaking by force through certain of the Barons Troops carelesly persued the Enemy over far as making sure account of the Victory the Barons having reinforced themselves and giving a fresh charge so discomfited and put to Flight the Kings Army that they constrained the King to accept of unequal conditions of peace and to deliver up his Son with others whom they Demanded into their Hands A. D. 1264. See the Ingenious Mr. Kennet's Paroch Antiq p. 262. We passed away from thence by Seaford which is in the liberty of the Cinque-Ports a small Fishing Town built of Stone and Slate and defended with a convenient Fort to Bourn a place very Famous for its Wheat-ears which are a sort of Birds in Summer very palatable and delicious and so Fat that they dissolve in the Mouth like Jelly and this lead us through Pevensey Marsh which hath formerly most undoubtedly been overflowed by the Sea to the Town of * Pevensey called by the Britains Cair-Pensavelcott and by others Penvessel c. Mr. Somner's Roman Ports and Forts c. p 104. Pevensey Famous for the Ruines of an old large Castle but more for the landing of William Duke of Normandy with 900 Sail of Ships for the