which being well replenished with numerous Shoals of Fish after it hath for a time parted this County from Northamptonshire passeth through the midst of it and divides it as it were into two equal Portions In fine Nature hath here so generously scatter'd all her Largesses either for Pleasure or Profit that she certainly at first designed it as a Glorious Seat for the Muses and a fruitful Colony for Apollo's Children and therefore we now find here one of the Eyes of this Nation which is the Renowned Oxford Oxford Oxford q. Bovis Vadum a Ford for Oxen to pass over as the Thracian Bosphorus is called by the Germans Ochenfurt It was anciently called Bellositum for its healthy Air and commodious Situation betwixt two Rivers and is so ancient a City as to fetch its Original from the time of the Britaine so large to contain 13 Parish Churches besides the Cathedral so well adorned with private goodly Structures as well as with divers magnificent Colleges and Halls that it must needs be allowed to be one of the most beautiful and stately Cities in England it is supposed by Antiquaries to have been a place for publick Studies before the Reign of that learned Saxon King Alfred who very much augmented it out of his Princely Favour and Love to Learning and Religion and it justly glories in the Ancient and Royal Foundation of Vniversity-College founded by the aforesaid King Alfred about the year 872. afterward re-edified by William Archdeacon of Durham or as others write by William Bishop of Durham in the Reign of William the Conquerour In the curious Fabrick of New-College built by William of Wickham Bishop of Winchester in Richard II's time In the Magnificence of Christ-Church erected by Cardinal Woolsey in the Reign of Henry VIII and in Twenty two stately Colleges and Halls besides To wave the curious Fabrick of the Schools the admirable Structure of the Theatre built at the sole Cost and Charges of the most Reverend Father in God Gilbert late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the famous Bodleian Library which for a Collection of choice Books and rare Manuscripts is not much inferiour to that of the Vatican at Rome The Musaeum erected at the Charge of the University for the Improvement of Experimental Knowledge The publick Physick Garden replenished with the choicest Plants and surrounded with a strong Stone-Wall at the Expence of his Grace the present Duke of Leeds together with all the Customs Privileges Offices and Dignities which are already Elegantly set forth by the Ingenious Author of the Present State of England I shall only observe that the most Puissant King Henry VIII erected here first a Bishop's See and Endowed it as we are informed out of the Lands belonging to the dissolved Monasteries of Abington and Osney and for further Ornaments to the University and Encouragement of Learning through the Munificence of that Prince and divers other Benefactors there have been since added divers professors of several Arts and Sciences to instruct the younger Pupils in their Minority and to make them fit Instruments for the Service of Church and State From hence we moved forward to Burford Burford a Town in this County of good Note for its Antiquity situated very pleasantly on the side of a rising Hill It was formerly called Berghford or Bregforde saith my Learned Friend Mr. White Kennet in his Parochial Antiquities of Oxfordshire and as he further informs us A Synod was here Convened at which were present the two Kings Etheldred and Berthwald Theodore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Sexwolph Bishop of Litchfield Bosel Bishop of Worcester and Aldhelm afterward Bishop of Sherborn then only Priest and Abbot of Malmsbury which said Aldhelm at the Command of this Synod wrote a Book against the Errour of the British Christians in the Observation of Easter and other different Rites wherein they disturbed the Peace of the Church the reading of which Book reclaim'd many of those Britains who were under the West Saxons After this 't is storied further That about the year 752. Cuthred King of the West Saxons when he was no longer able to bear the Severe Tributes and Exactions of Aethelbald King of the Mercians who did most cruelly oppress him and began 〈◊〉 suck the very Blood and Marrow of his Subjects came into the Field against him and in a pitâ—â—'d Battle at Beorgford saith the Saxon Chronicle published by the Learned Mr. Gibson routed him â—â—tally taking from him his Banners on which was painted a golden Dragon and so eased and freed himself and his Subjects from that Tributary Vassalage The Memory whereof has continued for several Ages in the Custom used here of making a Dragon and carrying it about the Town solemnly on Midsummer-Eve with the addition of a Giant to it the reason of which latter Practice is not so easily discovered saith the Ingenious Dr. Plot in his Natural History of Oxfordshire Having once passed from this place we soon arrived within the Limits of Glocestershire Glocestershire in the Eastern parts swelled up into Hills called Cotswold which Feed innumerable Flocks of Sheep the Wool whereof is much praised for its fineness the middle parts consist of a fertile Plain watered by the Severn and the Western part where lies the Forest of Dean is much covered with Woods 'T is a Country happy in the Enjoyment of all things that are necessary for the Use and Service of Man the very Lanes and Hedges being well-lined with Apple and Pear-Trees and the Vales which in William of Malmsbury's time were filled with Vineyards are now turn'd into Orchards which yield plenty of Sider The Towns and Villages stand mostly thick together and so it is populous the Houses numerous and so 't is sociable the Churches fair and magnificent and so 't is honourable But that which is one of the greatest Blessings of all is the Noble River Severn than which there is not any River in all this Island for its Channel broader for Stream swifter for variety of Fish better stored though sometimes it overflows its Banks and when it hath roved a great way upon the Land retires back again in Triumph as a victorious Conquerour This River Severn The River Severn or Sabrina was so called from Sabrine a fair Lady concerning whom there goes this Story Locrine the Eldest Son of Brutus who came first into Britain and from whom some Writers are of Opinion our Country received its Denomination took to Wife Guendoline Daughter to Corineus Duke of Cornwall the Companion of that Noble Trojan but notwithstanding this he kept a very beautiful Mistress whose Name was Estrilde and by her had a Daughter which he named Sabrine whereupon he grew so enamoured of her that after the Death of his Father-in-law Corineus he put away his Wife and Married this Lady at which Act his Wife was so extreamly netled that she immediately repairs into Cornwall makes her Complaint among her Friends and Relations and having gathered
a great Power to revenge her Injury she fought with her husband Locrine at New Troy or London and there slew him After this to execute her Revenge still in the highest degree she took the Lady Estrilde with her fair Daughter Sabrina and drowned them both in this River Travelling over this delightsome Region the first place of any Remark we arrived at was Cirencester alias Circiter * Cirencester It was called by the Britains Kaerceri Rudborn's Hist of Winchester which the River Corinus or Churne rising among the Wolds passeth by and giveth it its Name It appears to have been a place of great Antiquity and Renown from the old Roman Coins and Medals and divers Marble Engraven Stones which have been digged up hereabouts Nay a Judicious Antiquary Mr. Kennet has observed That this place seems to have been as well the first as the greatest of the Roman Stations which the Britains had before made a place of Strength and Confluence That this Corinium is by Ptolemy Recorded as the Metropolis or Chief City of the Dobuni and was after called Corinium Dohunorum The British Chronicles tell us further That this Town was burnt down being set on Fire by a company of Sparrows through an Invention devised by one Gurmund Certain it is the Inhabitants shew a Mount below the Town which they Report this Gurmund cast up which they corruptly call Grismund's Tower Grismund 's Tower It was a long time subject to the West Saxons afterward the Mercians got it into their Possession where it continued till the Establishment of the English Monarchy under which it sustained very great Calamities by the Incursion of the Danes and 't is probable that Gurmon the Dane whom some Historiographers call Guthrus and Gurmundus was a great Instrument to augment its Troubles and Oppressions However there are still some Remains to be seen of old Ruinated Walls and of an Abby built as some conjecture by the Saxons afterward much repaired or rather rebuilt by King Henry I 'T is now beautified with a very handsome Church having a high Spired Steeple and hath once a Week a Market and has formerly been Enriched with the Trade of Clothing though that with many other Privileges and Immunities they enjoyed are now impaired and gone to decay From hence coursing over the Wolds we came to the top of Burlipp-Hill Burlipp Hill where we had a Prospect of a very pleasant Vale the Hill is craggy steep and high from which descending by degrees and passing through a Way which was formerly paved with Stone and was undoubtedly one of the Roman high Ways which here crossed one another we came to Glocester Glocester called by Antiquaries Caer Gloyn which took its Name either of Claudius the Emperour or of the Beauty and Brightness thereof which the Britains call Gloyn though others call it Kaerclan 'T is a City well Seated and as well Inhabited and of a considerable Trade by reason of the River Severn over which it has a fair Bridge and being Navigable Boats of great Burden come up to the Key side loaded with several Commodities 'T is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and is adorned with 12 Parish Churches besides the Cathedral And for the Strength of the Place it was formerly on the Landside encompassed with a strong Wall the standing Remains whereof shew what Force they have been of On the Southside it had a strong Castle of square Stone now fall'n to Ruine Craulin King of the West Saxons Conquered this City from the Britains about the year 570 and 300 years after it fell into the Hands of the Danes who miserably defaced it Soon after this Aldred Archbishop of York built the Cathedral to which belongs now a Dean and Six Prebendaries and it hath been much enlarged by the Charity of good Benefactors John Hanly and Thomas Early adding to it the Chapel of the Virgin Mary N. Morwent the Forefront being an excellent Fabrick G. Horton adjoyn'd to it the North-Cross part Abbot Trowcester a very fine Cloyster and Abbot Sebrok a high Four square Steeple As for the Southside it was repaired by the Free Offerings of the Inhabitants at the Sepulchre of Edward II. who lieth here Interred under a Monument of Alabaster and in the Quire under a wooden-painted Tomb lies Robert the Eldest Son of William the Conquerour who was deprived both of his Life and Kingdom by his Younger Brother Henry I. having his Eyes first put out at Cardiff-Castle and died thereafter 26 years Imprisonment Here likewise is the Monument of Lucius who is said to have been the first Christian King in England Now though by Bishop Burnet in his Travels we are told That there is a famous Chapel Erected to him as their Great Apostle near Coir a Town of the Grisons for the great Service he did to them in working their Conversion yet 't is most probable that he lies Interred here But how he came at first to be instructed in the Christian Faith we have the most probable Account given us by the most Learned Bishop Stillingfleet in his Antiquities of the British Churches which is this That King Lucius hearing of the Christian Doctrine either by the old British Christians such as Eluanus and Meduinus are supposed to have been or by some of M. Aurelius his Soldiers coming hither after the great Deliverance of the Roman Army by the Prayers of the Christians which had then lately happen'd and occasion'd great Discourse every where The Emperour himself as Tertullian saith giving the Account of it in his own Letters might upon this be very desirous to inform himself thoroughly about this Religion and there being then frequent Entercourse betwixt Rome and Britain by reason of the Colonies that were setled and the Governours and Soldiers passing to and fro he might send Eluanus and Meduinus to be fully instructed in this Religion and either the same Persons alone or two others with them called Fagâ—â—us and Dâ—â—â—ianus commonly coming into Britain might have so great Success as to Baptize King Lucius and many others and thereby inlarge the Christian Church here But to return from what we have made a little Digression the Pillars of this Church are of an extraordinary Thickness not to be Parallel'd in any Church of England But that which makes it most Remarkable is a curious piece of Architecture at the East-end of the Quire called The Whispering Place The Whispering Place 't is an Arch in the form of a Semicircle 30 yards in Circuit and so rare a Contrivance that if any Person stand at one end of it and Whisper never so softly he that lays his Ear to the other end will discover distinctly the Words he speaks A C D E F B is the Passage of the Voice or Whispering Place at A and B do the two Persons stand that Whisper to each other At D the middle of the Passage is a Door and Entrance into a Chapel with Window-Cases on each side
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
times past full of Woods and Timber but instead thereof it yieldeth now plenty of Corn Sheep and Cattel the Air is reasonably Healthful save only a little Aguish at some time and in some places by reason of the Fogs that do arise from the Sea It yieldeth also great store of Millstones and Grindstones and in some places a sort of Earth of which they make Alum and Copperas but more especially it affords such plenty of Wheat it is deservedly entitled the Mother of Wales In Caernarvanshire the Air is sharp and piercing and in it are the highest Hills in Wales Caernarvanshire for which reason 't is justly called the English Alps on some of which the Snow lies long and on others all the Year long hard crusted together In the Pool called Lin-paris there is The Pool Lin-paris as 't is reported a kind of Fish called Torroch having a red Belly which is no were else to be seen but here 'T is affirmed likewise that on some of the high Hills of this Shire are too Meres one of which produceth Fish which have but one Eye and in the other is a movable and floating Island which as soon as any Person treads on it presently falls into a moving posture Snowdown-Hills Snowdown Hills although 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 yield sufficient Pasture for all the Cattel in VVales 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 them that if a Man doth but lightly set his Foot upon the top of them he shall perceive the Earth to stir for several Foot from him which probably might occasion the story of the floating Island before mentioned Penmaen-Mour i. e. The great stony Head Penmaen-Mour is an exceeding high and steep Rock which hangeth over the Sea when it is Flood affordeth a very narrow way for Passengers having on the one side huge Stones over their Heads as if they were ready to fall upon them and on the other side the raging Ocean lying of a wonderful depth under it but after a Man hath passed over this together with Penmean-Lythan the less stony Head he shall come to an open broad Plain that reacheth as far as the River Conway in which are bred a sort of Shell-Fish which being conceived of an Heavenly Dew as is conjectured bring forth Pearl Bangor Within this County is Banchor q. Penchor so called a Choro pulchro being a Bishop's See the Church was dedicated to Daniel Bishop hereof but that which is now standing is but a mean Structure for Owen Glendover who designed to have utterly destroyed all the Cities in Wales set it on Fire because the Inhabitants of this Place chose rather to side with the King of England than with him hereupon the ancient Church being defaced Henry Dean Bishop hereof did afterward repair it about the Reign of Henry the VIIth But that which is most observable was the famous British Monastery of this place where as the learned Bishop Stillingfleet hath observed Men were bred up to Learning and Devotion together and so more resembling our Colleges than the Aegyptian Monasteries where Men were brought up to Ignorance and Labour as much as to Devotion The Right Reverend Bishop Floyd in his Historical Account of Church Government in Great Britain tells us farther out of Bede that here were above Two thousand Persons together in seven Colleges of which none had fewer than Three hundred Monks in it This we may believe by what we see saith another Historian that writ Four hundred Years after Bede's time we see saith he so many half ruined Walls of Churches so many windings of Porticos so great a heap of Ruins as you shall scarce meet with elsewhere by which Account it seems in its flourishing State to have been not much less than one of our Universities at this Day How Twelve hundred innocent Monks of this Place though the Saxon Chronicle mentions but Two hundred who came along with their Army by Fasting and Prayer to intercede with Heaven for its prosperous Success were all cruelly put to Death by Ethelfrid King of Northumberland A. D. 607. at the Instigation of Ethelbert King of Kent is too Tragical a Story to insist long upon but that Austen the Monk was the first Spring of this fatal Tragedy moving Ethelbert to it as he did Ethelfrid there are not only strong Suspicions saith the Learned Dr. Cade in his Discourse concerning Ancient Church-Government but the thing is expresly affirmed by several Historians of no inconsiderable Credit and Antiquity In Denbighshire the Air is cold Denbighshire but very wholesom and the Snow lies long upon the Hills which resemble the Battlements of Walls and upon the top of Moilenny-Hill Moilenny-Hill which is one of the largest in this Shire is a Spring of clear Water In this County is VVrexham Wrexham a Market Town distant about Fifteen Miles from Holy-VVell and much admired for the Steeple of its Collegiate Church being a curious Fabrick contrived according to the most exact Draught and Model of Architecture and no where to be parallelled in those Parts for Workmanship of which taking a transient view we passed on again through Shrewsbury and the Strettons to Wigmore Strettons Wigmore which lies within the Confines of Herefordshire where are the Ruins of a Castle built by Edward the Senior and fortified by VVilliam Earl of Hereford from whom the Mortimers who were afterwards Earls of March did lineally descend That this Castle was formerly an Asylum or Sanctuary is generally reported by such as live near it who will tell you that whatsoever Malefactors fled hither for Refuge and could but get his Hand within the Ringle of the Gate secured himself from the Hands of Justice which indentical wreathed Ring of Iron they shewed us upon a Door of one of the Inns in the Town A. D. 1100. Ralph de Mortimer founded here a little College for Secular Canons which was 1197 changed into a Priory and endowed with more Lands by his Son Hugh Mortimer who removed hither the Black Canons from Scobbedon there placed by Oliver de Merlymond his Steward it was commended to the Patronage of St. James A. D. 921. a great Pagan Host of the East-Angles and Mercians came against this Place which the Saxon Chronicle calls Wigingamere but were beaten off from it by the Valour of its Inhabitants only with the loss of some Cattel which they took away with them Three Miles from Wigmore in the Road to Hereford is Mortimer's-Cross Mortimer's-Cross being a Way where four Roads meet so called from Mortimer Earl of March Son to Richard Duke of York betwixt whom and King Henry the Sixth's Friends and Allies was fought a bloody and terrible
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
in a Book Printed for that purpose A. D. 1640. I shall not undertake to pourtray that in a contracted Landskip which hath been before represented to the Publick with so great applause but refer those who are so curious as to desire a more particular Account of this City to that most ingenious Person who hath pencilled out every part and Limb thereof with great exactness and accuracy only one thing I must not omit that of late a Marble Monument hath been erected in St. Margaret's Church Canterbury in Honour of Mr. Somner who lies there interred by his own Widow who afterward Married to Mr. Hannington Vicar of Elam in Kent upon which is engraven this ingenious Epitaph H. S. E. Gulielmus Somnerus Cantuariensis Saxonicam Literaturam Civitatis Cantuariae Historiam Tenebris utramque involutam Illustravit Cantii Antiquitates meditantem Fatum intercepit Officium Erga Deum pietate severa Erga Homines probitate simplici Erga Principem fide periculosa Erga Patriam scriptis immortalibus Indicavit Ita Mores Antiquos Studium Antiquitatis efformat Cantuariae Natus est Martii 30. 1606. Cantuariae Omnem aetatem egit Cantuariae Obiit Martii 30. 1669. Feversham Passing from hence through Feversham a Town pretty large and well inhabited famous formerly for its Abby erected here by King Stephen wherein himself his Queen and Eustace his Son were buried the next place of consequence that was obvious in the Road was Sedingbourn Sedingbourn which being a great thorough-fare is well furnished with Inns a Town of which there are two things more principally Recorded the one is that in the Year 1232 Henry Bishop of Rochester as Mr. Philpott hath collected it out of some old Monkish Writers came with much exultation out of Sedingbourn Church and desired the People to express their joy because on that day by the efficacious Prayers of the Church Richard the First formerly King of England and many others were most certainly ransomed from the Flames of Purgatory The other that in the same Church was a Monument of Sir Richard Lovelace inlayed richly with Brass who was an eminent Soldier in his time and Marshal of Calice under Henry the Eighth with his Portraiture affixed in Brass which the Injuries of Time and the Impiety of Sacrilegious Mechanicks have utterly defaced In the Neighbourhood of Sedingbourn is Newington Newington which though but a small Village hath afforded some worthy Remarks of Antiquity for not many Years ago there were digged up Roman Urns not far distant from the High-way or Common Road it being agreeable to Roman Practice to inter in those Places where their Monuments might be obvious almost to every Eye Memorials of themselves and Memento's of Mortality to living Passengers whom the Epitaphs of great Ones did beg to stay and look upon them From hence the Road brought us directly to Chatham Chatham where the repair of the Parish Church and new Buildings of the Steeple commend the Religious Care and Cost of King Charles the First 's Commissioners and Officers of the Royal Navy in the Year 1635 but the Arsenals Store-Houses and Ship-Docks erected by the same most incomparable Prince are so magnificent and universally useful that they are become a principal Pillar of the Nations support and afford variety of Employment by the Manufacture of Cordage as also the Careening and Building of Ships Contiguous to Capham is Rochester Rochester a City which in Elder times was as eminent for its Antiquity as it was for its Strength and Grandeur and had not those violent impressions which the rough Hand of War made upon it Demolished its bulk and bereaved it of its Beauty it peradventure might have been registred at this Day in the Inventory of the principal Cities of this Nation but so great and dismal Calamities did frequently attend it that the Fury of the Elements seemed to enter into a Corrivalship or Competition with the Fury of Enemies for its Ruine and the Fire and Sword were joint Confederates to destroy it nevertheless maugre all these Casualties by the Favour of Princes and their Royal Munificence it recovered all its Losses and survives in Splendor In the Year 1225 by the indulgent Bounty of King Henry the Third it was invested with a Wall and that this Fortification might be of the greater importance it was secured or fenced with a Ditch it was governed by a Port-Reeve until King Edward the Fourth in the second Year of his Reign raised it to a higher Dignity and decreed by his Royal Grant that it should henceforth be under the Jurisdiction of a Mayor and Twelve Aldermen and to this Monarch doth the City owe much of its present Felicity The goodly Skeleton of the Castle which yet courts the Eye of the Beholder to the admiration of its former strength acknowledgeth for its most eminent Benefactor if not Founder Odo Bishop of Baicux and Earl of Kent half Brother to William the Conqueror which Fortress he afterward breaking forth into open Rebellion against his Nephew Rufus did seize but was quickly dispossessed by the vigorous Expedition of his Prince and enforced immediately to depart the Kingdom After this when the Dauphin was invited into England by the Seditious Barons to wrest the Kingdom from K. John their native Sovereign the Dauphin uniting their strength with his made such a furious Onset on the Castle that like a Tempest which beats down all before it he carried it by Assault the like had been atchieved by Simon Montford Earl of Leicester when he raised an Insurrection against King Henry the Third had not that Prince arrived most opportunely and by a successful Encounter wrested both Earl Warren who had so resolutely maintained it and that likewise from the Impressions of his Fury since which time there hath been little of moment acted in this Place tho it is worth taking notice of what Mr. Philpott hath observed farther concerning it that there being much Land in this County held thereof whose Tenure is perfectly Castle-guard upon the day prefixed for the discharging the quit Rents relating to it there is a Banner displayed and hung out antiently it was on the Castle Wall and all those who are Tenants to this Mannor and are in default by their Non-appearance and do not discharge their accustomary Duties and Services the penalty imposed upon their neglect is that the return of every Tide of the adjacent River Medway which finds them absent doubles their Service or Quit-Rents The Cathedral which the Bishoprick of Rochester united to it was founded and established by that pious Monarch Ethelbert King of Kent and the first Bishop to whom was entrusted the Pastoral Staff or Crosier by Austen the Apostle of the Saxons was Justus who being sent over hither as an Adjutant to Austen in the Propagation of Christianity about the Year 601 Angl. Sacr. Tom. 1. p. 329. was afterward ordained Bishop of this See A. D. 604. much about that time
the West Saxons for a Boundary to their Kingdom against the Mercians We travelled over some of these wide and large Plains for near twenty Miles untill we arrived at a place call'd Stonehenge some four or five Miles distant from Salisbury Stonehenge It is call'd by ancient Historiographers Chorea Gigantum from its Magnitude and contains within the Circumference of three hundred Foot a rude and indigested Mass of vast large Stones rough and of a grey Colour 25 Foot in length 10 in breadth and 8 in thickness they look as if they were hewn square and are joyn'd two and two together and every couple hath a third Stone lying across which is fasten'd by Tenons that enter into Morraises not closed with any Mortar it appears as if they had been set in three Ranks going round as Circles one within another whereof the uttermost and largest contain in compass about three hundred Foot but the other Ranks are decay'd and some of them being fall'n down to the Ground as it is something difficult to compute their Number so if they be rubbed or scraped and Water thrown upon the Scrapings they will say some heal any green Wound or old Sore It is very strange to think how such vast Bulks should happen in this place whenas there are no other kind of Stones even of smaller Dimensions near or about it therefore some not irrationally conjecture that they are not Natural or had their first growth here but were Artificially cemented into that hard and durable Substance from some large Congeries of Sand and other unctuous Matter mixt together Just as there hath been visible at Rome Cisterns made of Sand and Chalk so artificially and closely conjoyn'd that they have pass'd for the Product of Nature and not of Art and therefore it is not an improbable Conjecture which is made by the Author of the History of Alchester Publish'd amongst other Parochial Antiquities of Oxfordshire by the Industrious Mr. Kennet that they are not as some Fable Giants Stones fetch'd from Mount-Karel in Ireland by Merlyn's Art that Renowned Magician but might be made out of that Cliff over-against old Sarum the colour of which Clay they still represent and being scraped with a Knife a Man may discern this Clay cemented with some other glewy Substance as Plaister of Paris and such like Erected not in Memory of those Nobles whose Tombs in heaps of Earth appear still thereabouts slain treacherously by Hengist when he call'd his Son-in-law Gourtigern and the Britains to feast there but for a Trophy of some Memorable Victory thereabouts obtain'd as Necham the Poet saith by Vter Pendragon or as others by Arthur the Valiant and to that seems the ancient Bard Theliesinus to allude But Necham's Verse is this Uter Pendragon molem transvexit ad Ambri Fines de victo Victor ad hoste means Uter Pendragon brought these Stones to Ambrosbury Coast For Trophies of his Victory had on the Pagan Host Salisbury From hence we rode to Salisbury or Sarisbury which some derive from Caesar's Burg and in our way beheld the place where formerly old Wilton the Metropolis of this County stood which had then upon its Gates in honour to the Romans a black Spread-Eagle It was also call'd Willey or Ellandun that is Elen's Town for here or at Chloren or at old Sarum saith the Alchester Historian being before Guns were invented an invincible hold St. Helen at her return out of Wales did remain as well for her better Safety as also to be near the South-Seas to expect daily News and Tydings from Constantine the Emperour in the East Parts as also from his Sons her Nephews who were in the Western 'T is situated saith Cambden where the two Rivers Willeybrook and Adderbourn meet and here it was that Egbert King of the West Saxons in the year 823 fought the second Battle against Beorwulphus the Mercian so bloody on both sides that the River Avon was dyed red with the Blood of the Slain And in the year 871 Alfred having maintain'd a long Fight against the Danes upon the first onset had Success but was at last quite Routed his Forces defeated and himself forced to fly to save his own Life In the Saxon Reign it mightily flourish'd and Edgar building there a Nunnery made his Daughter Editha Lady Governess thereof afterwards being long exposed to the Fury of Suenus the Dane who was its mortal Enemy and deserted by the Bishops who were its main support it went to decay and almost return'd again into its first Principles of Nothing and so Sorbiodunum or old Salisbury then and since new Salisbury which hath sprang from that have quite extinguish'd its Primitive Lustre and Glory Old Salisbury was seated upon a Hill expos'd much to Winds and Storms very dry barren and uncomfortable by reason of the great defect of Water throughout the whole City tho' it was well fortify'd as appears still by some remaining pieces of old Walls Kinricus the Saxon in the year 553 first sack'd and took it being very fortunate in all his Enterprises he undertook against the Britains and in the Reign of Edward the Senior Osmund Bishop of Sherborne Translated the See hither and built a Cathedral Church though Suenus the Dane not long after having taken and burnt the City that likewise underwent the same fatal Calamity and were both levell'd with the Ground till both of them were raised again in William the Conquerour's time for after that he had made his Progress throughout England he at last summoned all the three Orders of the Nation to meet here and take the Oaths of Allegiance to him But after this in the Reign of King Richard I. the Citizens being oppress'd by the insolency of the Soldiers and very much incommoded by a continual want of Water resolv'd to free themselves from these Inconveniencies by transplanting themselves into another Soil which they unanimously agreed upon and seated themselves about a Mile from this place in a more pleasant Valley where the Flowry Meads and Chrystal streamed Rivers gave them a more chearful Welcome and endearing Entertainment After the Plantation of this new Colony Richard Pore first Bishop of Chichester and then of this place did likewise transplant the Cathedral from that barren dry place in which it was first Erected near to the old Castle of the Earls of Salisbury and built it at last in a more pleasant Soil and by the Advice and Contrivance of the most excellent and ingenious Artificers not only Natives but Foreigners whom he drew hither by his large Rewards he raised it to that Splendour and Magnificence that it now vies both for Stateliness and Workmanship with the most noted Cathedrals throughout the whole Kingdom The Steeple is built in form of a Pyramid very high and as the Pole-Star directs the Pilot at Sea so doth this Spire direct the wandring Traveller over the Plain discovering its lofty Head near the distance of twenty Miles but the Admirableness of
Ruines of Churches and other Edifices declare it to have been of a very long standing its Condition was always mutable according to the mutability of Affairs betwixt the Britains and the Saxons and if it was the burying place of that great Man of Valour and prowess the Noble Britain Vortimer as is credibly reported then this hapned contrary to his own Command for he was desirous to be interred near the Sea Shore where he thought his very Ghost would be sufficient to Protect the Britains from all Saxon Invasions But however after his Death the Saxons got possession of it and fortified themselves on the South-side of the Hill about which time Paulinus having preached the Gospel in Lindsey was the first that converted Blecca the Governour hereof to the Christian Faith and erected a Church all of Stone-work some of the Ruines whereof remain to this Day Afterwards it was much impaired and depopulated by the Danes but in the Norman time it flourished so exceedingly that it became one of the most populous Cities of England King William the Conquerour strengthned it with a Castle and Remigius having translated hither the Bishops See from Dorchester a small Town which stood in the remotest corner of this Diocess erected upon the top of the Hill a large and sumptuous * His successor Robert Bloet â—ounded with him the Cathedral and endow'd the Dean and Chapter â—anner's Not. Monast Cathedral mounting up aloft with high Turrets and stately pyramids and dedicated to the Virgin Mary which afterward being defaced by Fire Alexander his Successor re-edified and beautified after a more glorious manner than before Nor indeed did the Bishops that succeeded him add less to its Beauty and Lustre and raised it to so great Magnificence and unconceivable Height that its starely Towers discover themselves at many Miles distance the Workmanship of the whole Fabrick is very curious and admirable and the carved Images on the Front of the West-end were such unimitable pieces of Art till some of them in our late unhappy broils were sacrificed to the fury of the Insolent Soldiery who committed a new Martyrdom upon the Saints in Effigie that they did even allure and ravish the Eyes of all Spectatour Nor was it less glorious without than beautified within for besides the Bell called Great Tom for which this Church is so famous being cast in the Year 1610 and of a larger Size than any Bell in the Kingdom 't is adorn'd with divers Monuments of very ancient Families for the Bowels of Queen Eleanor Wife to King Edward the First lie here interr'd in Copper and the Body of the Lady Catharine Swinford third Wife to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and Mother to the House of Somerset and of the Lady Joan her Daughter Second Wife to Ralph Nevil Earl of Westmorland besides many other Persons of great Note and Quality In the former Ages of the Church the Precincts of this Diocess were of so large an extent that the greatness hereof became even burdensom to it hereupon they were contracted into a narrower compass by some Princes of this Nation and though King Henry the Second took out of this the Diocess of Ely and King Henry the Eighth the Bishopricks of Peterborough and Oxford yet still it is reputed the greatest Diocess of England both for Jurisdiction and number of Shires there being no less than six Counties and One thousand two hundred forty seven Parish Churches as is generally computed belonging to it As for the Town though it flourished mightily for some Years together after the Norman Conquest by reason of a Staple for wooll and other Commodities setled here by King Edward the Third yet it met still with some Calamities or other which hindred its Growth and eclipsed its Grandeur for it had its share of Sufferings both by Fire and War in King Stephen's days about which time it seems though the King had at first been conquered and taken Prisoner yet he afterward entred into the City in Triumph with his Crown upon his Head to break the Citizens of a superstitious Opinion they held that no King could possibly enter into that City after such a manner but some great disaster or other would befal him but neither did it then or by the Barons wars afterwards sustain half the damages which of late Years it hath received from the devouring Hands of Time who hath wrought its downfal and from a rich and populous City hath reduced it almost to the lowest ebb of Fortune and of Fifty Churches which were all standing within one or two Centuries hath scarce left Fifteen so that the old Proverbial Rhymes which go currant amongst them seem so far to have something of verity in them Lincoln was and London is And York shall be The fairest City of the three Sure I am that this doth abundantly verifie the verses of the old Tragedian Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only the Gods cannot Times sickle feel Nothing can else withstand his Powerful Steel But though the City be gone to decay the Magistrates preserve their Authority and their ancient Charters and Privileges are not as yet involv'd in the same Fate with the Town which is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and hath the Assizes held here where the Judges twice a Year determine all Suits and Controversies depending either in the City or the County and for provision it affords great Plenty for 't is replenished every Friday which is their chief Market Day with such variety of Fish and Fowl to be bought up at easy and cheap Rates that there is hardly the like to be met withal in any other City of England From this City we set forward for Barton Barton a small Town Situate upon the River Humber famous for the abundance of Puits Godwits Knots which are a sort of Bird so called say some from Canute the Dane who perhaps brought them hither first from Denmark and likewise for Dottrels a simple kind of Bird much given to imitation these Dottrels are caught by candle-light after this manner The Fowler stands before the Bird and if he puts out an Arm the Bird stretcheth out a Wing if he hold out his Head or set forward his Leg the Bird doth the like and imitates the Fowlers gesture so long till coming nearer and nearer by degrees at length throws his Net over him and so takes him Here we met with a convenient Passage to Ferry over into York-shire York-shire whereupon we took the first opportunity of Wind and Tide and sailed away for Hull which is about a League from the place on the other side of the River This County is the greatest in extent being parted into three Divisions which are called the West-Riding the East-Riding and North-Riding amongst which Providence hath so wisely distributed her Blessings that what one wants the other enjoys and makes a compensation for the Barrenness of one
Mart which in the Month of May holds constantly a Forthight which causing all kinds of Commodities to be brought hither is no less advantageous to the Town than commodious to the Neighbourhood who by this means may provide themselves of all Necessaries at a very reasonable Rate And for the better Government of the Town a Mayor was placed here by Queen Elizabeth which keeps the Town in a good Decorum and Order We removed our Quarters from this place to York which being the Metropolis of the County as well as the Ornament and Safe-guard of the Northern Regions is but one days Journey remote from it York York formerly stiled by the Britains Caer-Ebrank from King Ebrank the first Founder of it and Euerwick by the Saxons from the River Vre or Ouse is for its Magnificence very deservedly reputed the second City of England the situation of it is mighty pleasing and delightful and the Buildings both private and publick stately and beautiful 't is rich and populous 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 Arch-Bishop who is Chief Judge in all Spiritual Matters The River Ouse flowing with a gentle Stream from the North divides the City into two Parts which yet are conjoined by a strong Stone Bridge consisting of five Arches one of which is of so large a size that it contains twice the breadth of any of the other And round the City stands a thick and spacious Wall and as on the West side 't is fortified with a Wall and River together and a great Gate which is called Mikel Bar near to which is the Mount called the Old Bale raised and designed for a Fort by William Melton Arch-Bishop of this See so on the East side opposite to the Mount stands an ancient Castle built by William the Conqueror which is environ'd with a strong Wall and a deep Mote over which is a Draw-Bridge which gives entrance into it here is usually a small Garrison supplied by a Regiment of Soldiers which Quarters about the City and hath some great Guns and Ammunition suitable for the Defence of it Here are now but Seventeen Parish Churches though formerly there were Thirty and towards the North-East stands the Cathedral dedicated to St. Peter being one of the most magnificent and stately Fabricks in our native Soil near to which is the Prince's House called commonly the Mannor-House This Church was first Founded by Paulinus who converted Edwyn King of the Northumbers and his People to the Christian Faith about the Year 626. It was then a mean Oratory built only of Wood but as we are informed by the Saxon Chronicle the King constituting Paulinus the first Bishop of this See ordered him to build a more ample Structure of Stone but he dying before the whole was finished it was at last compleated by Oswald afterward according to the various Successes and Conquests of the Nation it flourished or decayed till the Reign of King Stephen when a sudden Fire breaking out in the City amongst other great Buildings consumed this too together with a noble Library founded at first here by Egbert Arch-Bishop of York from whence Alcuinus the Preceptor of Charles the Great and Founder of the University of Paris borrowed those Lights which have since glittered there a Library which was stiled by the Men of those Days the Cabinet of Arts and Closet of all the Liberal Sciences In this forlorn Condition it continued and lay buried in its Ashes till the Reign of Edward the First when John Roman Treasurer of the Church laid the Foundation * The Notitia Monastica informs us That Thomas the first Norman Arch-Bishop A. D. 1067. laid the Foundation of the stately Cathedral that now is for a new Superstructure which afterward by the Munificence of William Melton and John Thursby both Arch-Bishops hereof together with the liberal Contributions of divers Persons amongst the Nobility and Gentry especially of the Piercies and Vavasors which their Arms and Images at the West end of the Church pourtray'd the one with Timber in their Hands as finding it Timber the other with Stones as supplying it with Stone doth declare recovered its Lustre and Dignity that it hath now justly the Pre-eminence above all others and outvies all its Neighbours in Art and Stateliness As for the Windows which convey Light to the whole Fabrick they are very admirable for their Workmanship all the Panes of Glass being exquisitely painted and adorned with most curious Colours and in the East Window is pourtray'd to the Life the History of the Bible in very lively Representations The Isles of the Church are large and spacious the Pillars strong and uniform and the whole Body adorned with the Monuments of several Persons of Quality and Renown who have lived and died in these Parts amongst which is interred Mr. Swinborn the great Civilian who wrote concerning Wills and Testaments on whose Tomb this Epitaph is engraved Non viduae caruere viris non patre pupillus Dum stetit hic Patriae Virque Paterque suae At quod Swinburnus viduarum scripsit in usum Longius aeterno marmore vivet opus Scribere supremas hinc discat quisque tabellas Et cupiat qui sic vixit ut Ille mori The Superstructure above is made with great Raftures of Timber which are covered with Lead raised Spire-wise and upon one of the Turrets is placed a Lanthorn Seventy Foot square which discovers it self at a great distance to be a beautiful Ornament and there are 286 Steps which lead up to it The Quire is well Roof'd and curiously furnished with all decent Habiliments and the Chapter-House is as famous and remarkable being circular and one and twenty Yards Diameter raised by many Pillars and finished by an Arch or Concave on the top having no Column at all to support it in the middle and indeed 't is so glorious a place that it justly deserves the Character which is written upon the Roof of it in golden Characters Vt Rosa flos florum sie est domus ista domorum In the Vestry upon the left hand is a little Well of pure Water called St. Peter's-Well in the times of Popery supposed to have been of great Virtue and Efficacy in charming Evil Spirits and curing of Diseases but it may be his Holiness since the Extirpation of his Papal Authority in these Parts hath laid an interdict upon its healing Faculty since which time it hath ceased no doubt in Reverence to St. Peter's Successor from any such miraculous Operations The first Original of this Church's Metropolitanism was from Pope Honorius at which time it had not only a Superiority over Twelve Bishopricks in England but its Primacy was dilated over all the Bishops of Scotland too but in process of time Scotland having exempted it self from its Jurisdiction other places likewise did the same so that there are only now left
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
which King John made to Pandulphus the Popes Legate wherein he yielded his Realm Tributary and himself an obedientiary and vassal to the Bishop of Rome The Cliffs beyond Dover being united are well stored with Samphire and reach almost as far as Walmer and Deal Castles which together with Sandown Castle were built by King Henry the Eighth Walmer Deal and Sandown Castle near to which upon a flat or even plain lying full against the Sea stands Deal which of a small and poor Village is now become a place of great note and eminency hereabouts it was where Julius Cesar Landed and though Mr. Somner would have Dover to be the place where he first attempted to arrive yet saith the Accurate Mr. Kennet in his Life of Mr. Somner it is otherwise Demonstrated from Astronomical computation by the very Ingenious Mr. E. Halley who proves the Year the Day the time of Day and place the Downs The Downs where he made his first descent Deal The Town is called lower Deal to distinguish it from the upper part which being the more ancient lies about a Mile farther distant from the Sea and that which hath been the sole cause of raising it was the commodious Riding for Ships in the Downs where Merchant Men making a stop both outward and homeward Bound and taking in here many times a great part of their Provision have by degrees enstated it in a very prosperous condition and indeed its buildings have of late Years been so considerably enlarged and its Trade promoted by great Fleets of Ships who here take in Pilots to carry them up the River Thames that it hath almost quite eclipsed the splendour of Sandwich which is three or four Miles distance from it Sandwich Sandwich being another of the Cinque Ports is on the North and West side fortified with Walls and on the other side fenced with a Rampire Bulwark and Ditch it was called formerly Lundenwick either from its being very populous which the British word Lawn imports or by reason of the great Trade to and from London or from some more peculiar interest the Londoners had in this Place above all other Ports but the name of Sandwich saith Mr. Somner occurs not in any coetaneous Writer or Writing until the Year 979 when King Egelred granted it by that Name to the Monks of Canterbury for their Cloathing which Canutus after his arrival restored again to the same Monks for their sustenance in Victuals with the Addition of his Golden Crown and what perhaps was of equal value in the estimation of those Times St. Bartholomew's Arm It is supposed to have been the Daughter of Rutapis or Richborough Richborough which was an eminent Fortress of the Romans hard by and the first Presidentiary Station that Antiquity represents them to have erected within Britain but like the Mother 't is now very much gone to decay for besides what it suffered from the French in the Reigns of King John and Henry the Sixth after it was recovered again from its Sufferings the Haven being choaked up by the Sand and a great Ship belonging to Pope Paul the Fourth in the Reign of Queen Mary sinking down at the very entrance into the Haven hath ever since reduced it to so great Extremities that the mischief it is to be feared now will prove utterly incurable however it is yet beautified with three Churches and a Free School which was Built and Endowed by Sir Roger Manwood Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and what at present chiefly makes for the Town is the Dutch Colony which is here setled Not far from hence lie those dangerous Sands so much dreaded by Sailors called Goodwyn Sands Goodwyn Sands which though it is the common Opinion that they were Lands of the Earl of Goodwyn swallowed up by the Sea about A. D. 1097. yet with so great strength of Reason is this vulgar Error confuted and the true Cause of Goodwyn Sands more plainly discovered by that indefatigable Searcher into Antiquity Mr. Somner that I shall at present refer the Reader to his ingenious Discourse about this Subject printed with his Treatise of the Roman Ports and Forts in Kent and published A. D. 1693. Over against Sandwich on the other side of the River Stour is Thanet Isle of Thanet a small but very fertile Island where the chiefest Scenes both of War and Peace have been formerly laid for as Mr. Philpott observes when Hengist arrived with his Saxons to support the harassed and afflicted Britains against the Eruption of the Picts he first landed in this Island and when his Forces were broke by Vortimer at the Battel of Alresford he made Thanet his retreat and shelter when Austen the Monk arrived in England to disseminate the Christian Religion amongst the Saxons he found his first Reception in this Island How often the Danes made Thanet a Winter Station for their Navies when they invaded the Maritime Coasts of this Nation our Chronicles do sufficiently inform us and lastly when Lewis the Dauphin was called in by the mutinous English Barons to assert their Quarrel with additional Supplies against King John he laid the first Scene of War in this Island which he afterward scattered on the Face of this unhappy Nation And now being got to the utmost Limits of the Land every Wave of the Ocean ecchoed forth uno plus ultra whereupon taking our leave of these Maritime Coasts we began to withdraw again farther upon the Continent and arrived at Canterbury Canterbury a City of great Antiquity and the Royal Seat of the ancient Kings of Kent watered by the River Stour the Buildings of it at present are but mean and the Wall which encompasseth it gone much to decay and of late Years it hath declined no less in Trade than in Beauty However it is the Metropolis of the County and the Archiepiscopal See of the Primate and Metropolitan of all England and one Ornament still survives 〈…〉 Cathedral in which lie interred divers Kings of Kent whose chief Palace was here till they afterward removed their Station from hence to Reculver Reculver a little Town now by the Sea side about seven or eight Miles distant from it by the Ancients called Regullium where the Roman Captain of the Premier Band of the Vetasians lay in those days in Garrison The Episcopal See was settled here A. D. 601. according to Birchington who tells us Ang. Sacr. Tom. 12 that after Austen the Monk had planted here the Christian Religion and Baptized on one Christmas day no less than Ten thousand Men in the River Swalve he was by the Order of Pope Gregory ordained the first Arch-Bishop of this See But because the Antiquity of this City with all its Liberties and Privileges the Beauty and number of its Churches and Religious Houses before their Dissolution the Magnificence of its Cathedral with all its renowned Tombs and Monuments are so excellently described by Mr. Somner