dwelleth whom we call in Latine Vicecomitem as one would say the Deputy of the Comes or Earl and in our tongue Sheriff It is his duty to gather the common moneys of the Prince in his County to collect and bring into the Exchequer all fines imposed even by distreining to be attendant upon the Judges and to execute their commandments to assemble and empanel the twelve men which in causes do enquire of the Fact and make relation thereof and give in their Verdict to the Judges for Judges with us sit upon the right onely of a cause and not upon the fact to see condemned persons executèd and to examine and determine certain smaller actions OF THE Several Counties IN ENGLAND CAmden begins with Cornwall and ends with Northumberland I shall mention the Counties of England rather according to the Letters of the Alphabet Barkshire IT is called in Latine Berkeria It is bounded upon the East with Surrey upon the North with the River of Thames from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire upon the West with Wiltshire and upon the South with Hantshire Abbendune or Abington so called of the Abbay rather than of one Abben an Irish Eremite of the Abby there See Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 97. Farendon famous now for a Mercate there kept Wadley It is situate in a vale though not so fertile a soil as some vales afford yet a most commodious site wholsome in a delicious air a rich and pleasant seat Newbury as much as the Newburgh a fair Town well seated in a Champion plain Reading of the Brittish word Redin which signifieth Fearn that growing here plentifully excelleth all other Towns of this Shire in fair streets and goodly houses for wealth also of the Townsmen and their name in making of Cloath There is a very great Market Maidenhead so named of the superstitious worshipping of I wot not what British Maidens-Head Camd. Brit. Maidenhead or Maidenhith Hith in the old Saxon did signifie a Wharf Haven or Landing-place It had its name from the Wharf or Ferry belonging at that time to some neighbouring Nunnery or to some private Maidens dwelling thereabout who then received the profits of it So Queen-Hith in London took that appellation because the profits of the Wharf were anciently accounted for to the Queens of England Dr. Heylins Animadvers on the Church Hist. of Brit. lib. 1. p. 20. See Camden of Maiden-bradly in Wiltshire fol. 243. Windesore A Royal Castle and House of the Kings with the Town adjoyning A Princes Seat cannot have a more pleasant situation For from a high Hill that riseth with a gentle ascent it enjoyeth a most delightfull Prospect round about With the pleasantnesse of this place Princes were allured very often to retire themselves hither and here was Edward the Third that most puissant King borne who here built new out of the ground a most strong Castle in bignesse equal to a pretty City fortified with Ditches and Bulwarks made of stone and forthwith after he had subdued the French and Scots held at one and the self same time John King of France and David King of Scotland prisoners together in the same In this place King Edward the Third for to adorn Martial Prowesse with Honours the Guerdon of Vertue ordained the most Noble Order and Society of Knights whom he called Knights of the Garter who wear on their left Legge somewhat under the knee a Blew Garter with these golden Letters in French HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENS'E Shame to him that evil thinks and fasten the same with a Buckle of Gold as with the Band of a most inward Society in token of Concord and Unity that there might be among them a certain Consociation and Communion of Vertues Some attribute the original of it unto the Garter of the Queen or rather Joan Countesse of Salisbury a Lady of incomparable beauty which fell from her as she danced and the King took up from the floor for when a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by laughed thereat he made answer again That shortly it would come to passe that Garter should be in high honour and estimation This is the most common and most received report There is a Book entituled Catechismus ordinis Equitum Perifcelidis written long since by Belvaleti the Popes Nuncio here and published in the year 1631. by Bosquierus wherein the Authour makes an Allegory on the whole habit of the Order the Matter Colour Fashion Wearing to the very Girdle Dr. Heylins Antidotum Lincolniense Sect. 3. ch. 10. The mightiest Princes in Christendome reputed it amongst their greatest honour to be chosen and admitted into this Company and since the first Institution thereof there have been already received and enrolled into this Order which consisteth of six and twenty Knights two and twenty Kings or thereabout besides our Kings of England who are named Sovereigns thereof to speak nothing of Dukes and others of most high calling very many The Founders of the Order which in those dayes for stout courage and warlike Prowesse had few or no Peers and were in that regard advanced to that honour Edward the Third King of England Edward his eldest Sonne and Prince of Wales Henry Duke of Lancaster Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick Peter Copit de la Bouche Ralph Earl of Stafford William de Montacute Earl of Sarisbury Roger Mortimer Earl of March John Lord Lisle Sir Bartholomew de Burgherst Sir John Beauchamp John Lord Mohun of Dunstere Sir Hugh Courtne Sir Thomas and Sir Otho Holland Sir John Gray of Codnor Sir Richard Fitz Simon Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Walle Sir Hugh Wrothesly Sir Neel Lorenge Sir John Chandos Sir James Audley Sir Henry Eswi◠Sir Sanchio Dampredicourt Sir Walter Pavely There is an honourable Family of Barons surnamed of Windsore Eaton is hereto adjoyned by a wooden Bridge over the Thames and in it a fair Colledge and a famous School of good literature founded and built by King Henry the Sixth wherein besides the Provost eight Fellows and the singing Choristers there are threescore Scholars instructed in Grammar and in due time preferred to the University of Cambridge It containeth twenty Hundreds twelve Market Towns and an hundred and forty Parishes Bedfordshire BEdford is the principal Town whereof the Shire also taketh name A Town to be commended more for the pleasant situation and antiquity thereof then for beauty or largenesse although a man may tell five Churches in it Hockley in the Hole so named of the miry way in Winter time very troublesome to travellers for the old Englishmen our Progenitors called deep mire Hock and Hocks Dunstable This Town seated in a Chalky ground well inhabited and full of Innes hath four streets answering to the four quarters of the world in every one of which there is a large Pond of standing water for the publique use of the Inhabitants It contains ten Market Towns an hundred and sixteen
this Nation subsist upon Mines and Cole others upon Manefacture Some upon Corn others upon the Profits of Cattle London and the Sea-Ports upon Exportation and Importation M. Wrens Monarchy asserted chap. 8. Wileboord an Englishman was the first Bishop of Utrect he is called the Apostle of Zeland for having there preacht and planted the Christian Faith as also in the Provinces next adjoyning Verstegans Etymologies of our Saxon Proper Names Willebrodus Britannus fuit Frisiosque primus Christianae Religionis initiis imbuit Bertius in Tab. Geog. Contract I shall detain thee no longer but subscribe my self Thy hearty Well-willer Edward Leigh PROLEGOMENA EUrope the least of the four parts of the World yet the most populous and eminent for Arts and Armes is divided into several Nations and Countreys Albion or Great-Britain Spain France Germany Rhetia Vindelicia Italy Sardinia Sicily Sarmatia Dacia Maesia and Greece Britain or Britanny which also is Albion the most famous Island without comparison of the whole world It is seated as well for air as soil in a right fruitfull and most milde place The air so kinde and temperate that not only the Summers be not excessive hot by reason of continual gentle windes that abate their heat which as they refresh the fruits of the earth so they yeeld a most wholsom and pleasing contentment both to man and beast but the Winters also are passing milde for therein falling often with still showers to say nothing of the Air it self somewhat thick and grosse dissolveth the rigour of the cold so and withall the Sea which compasseth it with moderate warmth doth comfort the Land in such wise as that the cold with us is much more remisse than in some parts of France and Italy It is now called England in Latine Anglia in French Angle-terre Of the several Etymologies of which word see Histoire d' Angle-terre Par Du Chesne l. 6. p. 195. And Munsters Universal Gosmography l. 2. Britanniam lasciviae Culparier justè negas Tamen fateri cogeris Quòd insula est non continens Hugenii Epig. l. 6. Great Britain consisting of England and Scotland contains one thousand eight hundred thirty six miles in compasse This Island as Camden Twine Verstegan imagine was broken off from the Continent of France See Twine De Rebus Britannicis The Bodies of the Inhabitants are of an excellent Constitution their Demeanour right courteous their Natures gentle and their Courage most hardy and valiant whose Manhood by exploits atchieved both at home and abroad is famously renowned thorow the whole world King Edward the third and his Sonne did bear their victorious Arms thoroughout all France King Henry the Sixth was crowned King of France at Paris Our famous Kings Henry the Fifth Edw. 3. and K. Henry the Eight were the most worthiest Warriers that our Nation ever had Sir Roger Williams his brief Discourse of Warre pag. 37. See pag. 8 9. 58. Phil. de Commines Hist. l. 6. c. 2 3. Sir Francis and Sir Horatio Vere Sir Thomas Morgan Sir John Norris by their singular knowledge in military affairs and exploits most valiantly and fortunately atchieved in the Low-Countreys have added exceeding much honour and glory to themselves See Dr. Dillinghams Veres Commentaries Sir Roger Williams also was a famous Commander John Lord Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury marched four and twenty years together with victorious arms over a great part of France Camden cals him Englands Achilles See Froissarts Chron. c. 130. of the victory of the English at the great battel of Cressy The Duke of Bedford was Regent of France and being slain in a battel on Land before Veronil was buried in Roan and together with him all the English mens good fortune in France Whose Monument when Charles the Eighth King of France came to see and a Nobleman standing by advised him to rase it Nay answered he let him rest in peace now being dead of whom in warre whiles he lived all France had dread Marshal Biron said He liked not the English March being beaten by the Drumme it was so slow Sir Roger Williams answer'd him That yet it had gone through all France See the Discourse of the National Excellencies of England Part 1. Chap. 1. Of the Warres of the Britains and their Courage Chap. 3. Of the Danish Invasion Chap. 4. Of the Norman Conquest Chap. 5. Of Warres with Spain Chap. 6. Of Warres with France Chap. 7. Of Warres with the seventeen Provinces Chap. 8 9. Of Warres with Scotland Part 2. Chap. 2. Of the English Courage Our wooden Walls the Ships are a great safety to this Nation The English Navy is the strongest in the world What service did our Ships do us in 88 Sir Francis Drake and after him Thomas Candish Esquire within the space of three yeers and three moneths travelled about the Globe of the whole Earth This Isle hath prescribed in all ages for the Dominion * of the Seas that incompasse it Vide Seldeni Mare clausum lib. 2. c. 12 13 14 15 20 21 22 23 24 30 31 32. Sir Richard Grenvile in a Ship of Queen Elizabeths fought against a great Navy of Spaniards This single vessel was fought with in turns by fifteen other great Ships whereof the great St. Philip of 1500 Tuns Prince of the twelve Sea-Apostles was one It sunk two of their best Ships and killed a thousand men It was sunk at last having first to the full answered its name Without vanity our Nation may assume to it self the praise considering the narrow limits of the Island to have produced as many Scholars admirable in all degrees of knowledge as any Countrey on this side the Alpes Beda Bradwardine Scotus Wicliffe Ockam Baconthorp Joannes de sacro Bosco Cuthbert Tunstall Pool Colet Lilie Linacer Pacaeus Fisher More Stapleton Leland Camden Juel Whitaker Rainolds Sir Philip Sidney a man of excellent parts learned and valiant Our English mens pronunciation of the Latine tongue is condemned much by Outlandishmen A Herald brought a Letter of Defiance from the King of England in very good language and so excellently well penned that I am perswaded it was never of English mans doing Phil. de Comin in his History lib. 4. ch. 5. They write good Latine though Car hath written an Oration De Scriptorum Britannicorum paucitate In Edward the Thirds time there was a Letter directed to the Pope in justification of making it Treason to bring in Papal provisions which was so excellently penn'd as did not only move admiration but astonishment Cito post Rex direxit Papae illam famosam Epistolam pro libertate Ecclesiae contuenda quam praesentibus duximus inserendam Walsing. Hist. Angl. Edw. 3. p. 161. There are sundry opinions whence this word Britain had the original derivation Camden dislikes that from Brutus Some say It is most probably derived from Brit which in the ancient British signifies
crooked limit from Essex on the East with the River Lea from Surrey and Kent on the South by the Thames It is a small Shire in length not twenty miles in circuit not above seventy miles yet for the fertility thereof it may compare with any other Shire for the soil is excellent fat fertile and full of profit Nordens Speculum Britaniae For Air passing temperate and for soyl fertile with sumptuous houses and pretty Towns on all sides pleasantly beautified and every where offereth to the view many things memorable Uxbridge full of Innes it stretcheth out in length Harrow-hill the highest Hill of all this Country under which Southward there lie for a long way together exceeding rich and fruitfull fields especially about Heston a small Village that yeeldeth so fine flour for manchet that a long time it hath served for the Kings mouth Hampton-Court a Royal Palace of the Kings a work of admirable magnificence built out of the ground by Thomas Wolsey Cardinal in ostentation of his riches It was enlarged and finished by King Henry the Eighth so amply as it containeth within it five several inner Courts passing large environed with very fair buildings wrought right curiously and goodly to behold The neatest pile of all the Kings houses Godwins Annal. It is called Hampton-Court Hampton of the Parish of Hampton which standeth not farre thence Court in regard of the Majesty and princely beauty There are two Parks the one of Deer the other of Hares Nordens Speculum Britaniae Thistleworth or Isleworth Brentford a fair thorow-fare and frequent Mercat Fulham the place of Fowls where the Bishop of Londons house was Chelsey a place garnished with fair and stately houses London * the Epitome or Breviary of all Britain the seat of the British Empire and the King of Englands chamber King Luds re-edifying Troinovant first built by Brute and from thence leaving the name of Caer Lud afterwards turned as they say into London is not unknown scarce to any that hathbut lookt on Ludgates inner Frontispiece Seld. Illustrat of the eighth Song of Drayt. Polyolb Georgius Braun or Bruin in his Theatrum Praecipuarum totius mundi urbium in three great Volumes in Folio mentions London in the first place of his first Volume Sir Robert Dallington in his view of France comparing the City of Paris with London saith That Paris is the greater the fairer built and the better situate London is the richer the more populous the more ancient Howell in his Londinopolis makes a parallel of it with the other great Cities of the world and so doth Gainsford in his Glory of England lib. 2. ch. 17. For the space of above one thousand five hundred fourscore and six years it hath flourished more for the statelinesse and magnificence of her goodly buildings for the large extent of her bounds and jurisdiction for the Religion and civility of her Inhabitants for the Wisdome and Honour of her Magistrates for the profession of Arms all good Letters and Arts not to speak of her Traffique and Commerce with all Countreys and Ports of the known world more than any other knowne City whatsoever throughout all Christendom Burtons Comment on Antonin his Itin. through Britain pag. 154 155. See more there and 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164. See also M. Calamy and M. Hardie his Sermon preacht before the Londoners Caput atque Metropolis totius insulae Trinovantum sive Londinium sive Londinum urbs potens amaena quam fluviorum Rex Thamesis pererrat Adolphi a Dans vita Elizabethae Quicquid habet miri Memphis pretiive Corinthus Illion antiquum Graecia magnificum Roma ecquid sanctum Campania deliciarum Subtile Hetrusci splendidulum Hesperii Quicquid opum Venetis doctrinae quicquid Athenis Metropolis Britonum dicat id omne suum Stradlingi Epig. l. 1. p. 1. Tacitus Ptolomee and Antonine call it Londinium Ammianus Lundinum and Augusta the Inhabitants London It is situate in a rich and fertile soyl abounding with plentifull store of all things and on the gentle ascent and rising of an Hill hard by the Thames side which by his safe and deep chanel able to entertain the greatest Ships that be daily bringeth in so great riches from all parts that it striveth at this day with the Mart Towns of Christendom for the second prize and affordeth a most sure and beautifull rode for shipping King James being displeased with the City because she would not lend him such a Summe of Money he told the Lord Maior and Aldermen one day That he would remove his own Court with all the Records of the Tower and the Courts of Westminster-Hall to another place with further expressions of his Indignation The Lord Maior calmly heard all and at last answered Your Majesty hath power to do what you please and your City of London will obey accordingly but she humbly desires that when your Majesty shall remove your Courts you would be pleased to leave the Thames behind you It is for Antiquity honourable Ammianus Marcellinus called it in his times and that was twelve hundred yeers ago an old Town and Cornelius Tacitus in like manner who lived in Nero his dayes 1540. years since reported it to have been a place very famous for fresh trade concourse of Merchants and great store of victuals and all things necessary The Tower of London a most famous and goodly Citadel encompassed round about with thick and strong Wals full of lofty and stately Turrets fenced with a broad and deep ditch furnished also with an Armoury or Magazine of warlike Munition and other buildings besides so as it resembleth a big Town The Tower containeth a Kings Palace a Kings Prison a Kings Armoury a Kings Mint a Kings Wardrobe a Kings Artillery Gainsford In the yeer 1235. Frederick the Emperour sent to Henry the Third three Leopards in token of his Regal Shield of Arms wherein three Leopards were pictures since which time those Lions and others have been kept in a part of this Bulwark now called the Lions Tower and their Keeper there lodged Stows Survey of London There are twelve chief Companies out of which the Lord Maior is to be annually chosen Twelve Innes ordained for Students of our Common Law whereof four being very fair and large belong to the Judicial Courts the rest unto the Chancery Herein such a number of young Gentlemen do so painfully ply their Books and study the Law that for frequency of Students it is not inferiour either to Angiers Cane or Orleans it self as Sir John Fortescue in his small Treatise of the Laws of England doth witnesse The said four principal Houses are the Inner-Temple the Middle-Temple Grayes-Inne and Lincolns-Inne John Leland the famous Antiquary was born in London Bishop Andrews Mr. Gataker M. Calamy Sir Thomas More Chaucer Edmund Spenser the famous English Poets were born in London If any City in the world may at this day be called as Jerusalem
and worshipfull Family Flixton or Felixton so named of Faelix the first Bishop of these parts Mettingham where there is a Castle Luthingland of Luthing the Lake Comerley Town Burgh-Castle now ruined Sommerly-Hall my Lady Wentworths House famous for fair Walks and Ponds There is one long Walk encompassed with Fir-trees on each side The Parishes in this County amount to the number of five hundred seventy five Surrey FRom the West it boundeth partly upon Barkshire and Hantshire from the South upon Sussex and from the East on Kent toward the North it is watered with the River Tames and by it divided from Middlesex It is a Countrey not very large yet wealthy enough where it beareth upon Thames and lieth as a plain and champion Countrey It is likened by some unto a course freeze garment with a green gard or to a cloath of great spinning and thin woven with a green list about it because the inner part is but barren the outward edge or skirt more fertile Chertsey a kind of Island Fernham so named of much Fern growing in that place Guildford a Mercat Town well frequented and full of fair Innes Ockam where that great Philosopher and Father of the nominals William de Ockham was born and whereof he took that name as of the next Village Ripley George Ripley a ring-leader of our Alchymists Oatlands a fair house of the Kings neer unto which Caesar passed over Tames into the Borders of Cassivelaunus For this was the only place where a man might in times past go over the Tames on foot and that hardly too which the Britains themselves improvidently bewrayed unto Caesar Ockley so named of Oaks Rhiegate the Rivers course Holm-Castle Beckworth-Castle Effingham Kingstone a very good Mercat Town for the bignesse and well frequented It had beginning from a little Town more ancient then it of the same name In which when England was almost ruinated by the Danish Warres Aethelstan Edwin and Ethelred were crowned Kings upon an open stage in the Market place whence it was called Kingston Leland Comment. in Cygn. Cant. Camd. Brit. Shene so called of its shining brightnesse now Richmond wherein the most mighty Prince King Edward the Third when he had lived sufficiently both to glory and nature died King Henry the Seventh built it and gave it that name of Richmond of the Title he bare being Earl of Richmond before he obtained the Crown of England He had scarce finished this new work when in this place he yeelded unto Nature and ended his Life Here Queen Elizabeth also died None-such a retiring place of the Princes and surpasseth all other houses round about which King Henry the Eighth in a very healthfull place called Cuddington before selected for his own delight and ease and built with so great sumptuousnesse and rare workmanship that it aspireth to the very top of ostentation for shew so as a man may think that all the skill of Architecture is in this one piece of work bestowed and heaped up together So many Statues and lively Images there were in every place so many wonders of absolute Workmanship and Workes seeming to contend with Roman Antiquities that most worthily it might have this name that it hath of None-such Hane quia non habeant similem laudare Britanni Saepè solent nullique parem cognomine dicunt The Britains oft are wont to praise this place For that through all The Realm they cannot shew the like and None-such they it call The House was environed about with Parks full of Deer it had such dainty and delicate Orchards such Groves adorned with curious Arbours so pretty quarters Beds and Alleys such Walks so shadowed with Trees that it was exceeding pleasant Wandle a clear Riveret full of the best Trouts Woodcot a pretty Town Croidon there was the Archbishops house of Canterbury There are Charcoals Bedington a fair house beautified with a delightfull shew of pleasant Gardens and Orchards Addington Aguilon situate in a most fertile soil Merton It is famous for the Statute of Merton enacted here in the 21. of King Henry the Third and also for Walter de Merton Founder of Merton Colledge in Oxford borne and bred here Wimbledon there is a goodly House beautifull for building and delectable for fair profpect and right pleasant Gardens built in the year 1588. when the Spanish Armado made sail upon the coast of England Wandlesworth Putney Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth was born there Batersey Lambeth Canutus the Hardy King of England there amidst his cups yeelded up his vital breath It was the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury Southwark the Burrough of Southwork the most famous Mercat Town and place of Trade in all this Shire It is large and populous In the Reign of King Edward the Sixth it was annexed to the City of London and is at this day taken for a member as it were of it Sterborow-Castle This County hath in it an hundred and forty Parish Churches Sussex THe Region of the South Saxons a word compounded of the site thereof Southward and of the Saxons who in their Heptarchy placed here the second Kingdom It is above threescore miles long and somewhat above twenty miles broad It lieth upon the British Ocean all Southward with a strait shore as it were farre more in length than breadth How be it it hath few harbours by reason that the Sea is dangerous for shelves and therefore rough and troublous the shore also it self full of Rocks The Sea-coast of this Countrey hath green Hils on it mounting to a greater height called the Downs which because they stand upon a fat chalk or kind of Marle yeeldeth corn abundantly The middle tract garnished with Medows Pastures Corn-fields and Groves maketh a very lovely shew The hithermore and northern side thereof is shaded most pleasantly with Woods like as in times past the whole Countrey throughout which by reason of the Woods was hardly passable The Wood Andradswald taking the name of Anderida the City next adjoyning took up in this quarter a hundred and twenty miles in length and thirty in bredth It is full of Mines in sundry places where for the making and fining whereof there be Furnaces on every side and a huge deal of Wood is yeerly spent to which purpose divers Brooks in many places are brought to runne in one chanel and sundry Medows turned into Pools and Waters that they might be of power sufficient to drive Hammer-mils which beating upon the iron resound all over the places adjoyning Boseham a place environed round about with Woods and the Sea together Chichester lieth in a champion plain A City large enough and walled about built by Cissa a Saxon the second King of this Province and of him so named It hath four Gates opening to the four Quarters of the World from whence the streets lead directly and crosse themselves in the midst where the Market is kept a
and Commonwealth there ariseth a most plentifull increase of right learned men In this Colledge one Warden ten Fellows two Schoolmasters threescore and ten Scholars with divers others are plentifully maintained Potesmouth that is the mouth of the Haven A place always in time of warre well frequented It is fortified with a Wall made of Timber and the same well covered over with thick Banks of earth There is nothing wanting that a man would require in a most strong and fenced place Of the Garison Souldiers some keep watch and ward both night and day at the Gates Others upon the Tower of the Church who by the ringing or sound of a Bell give warning how many Horse or Foot are coming and by putting forth a Banner shew from what Quarter they come Basing stoke a Mercat Town well frequented Basing is near it the Seat of the Marquesses of Winchester Odiam a Borough corporate belonging in times past to the Bishop of Winchester William Lilie the great Grammarian was born here He was the first Master of Pauls School There are in this Shire two hundred and fifty three Parishes eighteen Market Towns and forty Hundreds To this County of Southampton belongeth the Isle of Wight Vecta or Vectis Insula This Isle between East and West in an old form stretcheth out twenty miles in length and spreadeth in the midst which is broadest twelve miles So Camden Leland saith it is ten miles broad The Ground to say nothing of the Sea full of Fish consisteth of a very fruitfull soil it breeds every where store of Coneys Hares Partridges and Pheasants It hath one little Forest and two Parks replenished with Deer for game and hunting pleasure Through the midst thereof runnes a long tract of Hils yeelding plenty of Pasture and Forrage for Sheep The Wooll of which next unto that of Lemster and Cotteswold is esteemed best and in special request with Clothiers whereby there groweth to the Inhabitants much gaine and profit There are thirty six Towns Villages and Castles which for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction belonged to the Bishop of Winchester and for Civil Government to the County of South-hanton It armeth four thousand men exercised by their Captains The Inhabitants of this Isle were wont merrily to make their boast That their case was happier than all others because they had neither hooded Monks nor cavilling Lawyers nor yet crafty Foxes Newport is the principal Mercat Town of the whole Isle Caresbrook an old Castle is in the very heart and midst of the Isle Brading a Mercat Town Newton and Yarmouth have their Maiors and send Burgesses to the Parliament Sauham-Castle The Inhabitants of the Isle being naturally most warlike bold and adventurous are through the diligence and care of the Captain of the Isle confirmed so by continual exercise in strength and military Discipline that they exactly know before-hand with their Peeces to shoot point-blank and not misse the Mark to keep their ranks to march orderly and in ray to cast their squadrons if need be close into a ring to display and spread the same at large to take pains to runne and ride to endure both Sunne and dust and fully to performe whatsoever warfare doth require Of these Souldiers thus trained the Isle it self is able to bring forth into the field four thousand and at the instant for all assayes appointed there are three thousand more of most expert and practised Souldiers out of Hantshire and two thousand beside out of Wiltshire to be ever prest and in readinesse for the defence of the Isle That all hostile Forces whatsoever might be withstood more speedily and with greater facility the whole Countrey is divided into eleven parts and every of them hath their several Centoner or Centurion their Vinton also Leaders as it were of twenty their great peeces of Ordnance their Sentinels and Warders who keep Watch and Ward at the Beacons standing on the higher grounds their Posts also or Runners whom by an old name grown almost out of use they terme still Hoblers who presently give intelligence of all occurrents to the Captain and Governour of the Isle Vespasian was the first that brought it into subjection whiles he served as a private person under Claudius Caesar This Isle had a noble Family named De Insula or Lisle out of which in the Reign of King Edward the Second one was summoned unto the Parliament by the name of Sir John Lisle of the Isle of Wight Herefordshire THis County lieth round in compasse as it were a Circle it is bounded on the East-side with Worcester and Glocestershire on the South with Monmouthshire on the West-side with Radnoc and Brecknotshire and on the North with Shropshire For three W. W. W. Wheat Wooll and Water * it yeeldeth to no Shire of England This Countrey is reputed the Orchard of England From the greatest persons to the poorest cottager all habitations are encompassed with Orchards and Gardens and in most places the hedges are enriched with rows of Fruit-trees Pears or Apples Gennet-moyles or Crab-trees Worcestershire is more proper for Pears and Cherries Herefordshire for Apples Herefordshire Orchards a Patern for all England By J. B. Bradwardin-Castle gave both original and name to that famous Thomas Bradwardin Archbishop of Canterbury who for his variety of knowledge and profound Learning was in that age termed The profound Doctor Hereford is the chief City of the Shire it is seated among most pleasant Medows and as plentifull Corn-fields compassed almost round about with Rivers On the North-side and the West with one that hath no name on the South-side with Wye which hasteneth hither out of Wales Lemster upon the River Lug. The greatest name and fame that it hath at this day is of the Wooll in the Territories round about it Lemster Ore they call it which setting aside that of Apulia and Tarentum all Europe counteth to be the very best Where lives the man so dull on Britains furthest shore To whom did never sound the name of Lemster Ore That with the Silk-worms web for smalnesse doth compare Wherein the winder shews his workmanship so rare As doth the Fleece excell and mocks her looser clew As neatly bottom'd up as Nature forth it drew Of each in high'st accompt and reckoned here as fine As there th' Appulian Fleece or dainty Tarentyne Draytons Polyolbion 7th Song In Apulia and the upper Calabria of Italy the Wool hath been famous for finest excellence insomuch that for preserving it from the injury of earth bushes and weather the Shepherds used to clothe their Sheep with skins and indeed was so chargeable in these and other kind of pains about it that it scarce requites the cost Seld. Illustrat of Drayt. Polyolb Brameyard upon the River Frome Ledbury under Malvern-Hils It is also so renowned for Wheat and Bread of the finest Flour that Lemster Bread and Weabley Ale are grown unto a common Proverb By reason of these Commodities the Mercates at Lemster were
men viz. Leicestershire Bean-Belly Burtons descript. of Leicestershire The South-East-side of this Shire is exceeding rich ground yeelding great increase of Corn in abundance of all kinds affordeth many good and large Sheep-Pastures breeding a Sheep to that height and goodnesse so that as I have credibly heard neither Lemster nor Cotswould can exceed them if one respect either largenesse of the body finenesse of the Wooll or goodnesse of the breed Id. ib. Leicester standeth upon the River Leire now called Sore it signifies the City standing upon the River Leir It is a Town of great antiquity and standeth in the center and heart of the Shire bearing the proportion of an heart and being in the very midst and heart of the Land It is situate in a most rich delicate and pleasant soyl and delicious air it wants only a navigable River Harborow a Town famous for a Fair of Cattel there kept Carleton all that are born there whether it be by a peculiar property of the soyl or of the water or else by some other secret operation of nature have an ill favoured untunable and harsh manner of speech fetching their words with very much ado deep from out of the throat with a certain kind of wharling Lutterworth a Mercat Town it hath a fair Church That famous John Wicliffe was sometimes parson of this Church a man of a singular polite and well wrought wit most conversant also in the holy Scripture Neer to this Town there is a Spring so call'd that within a short time turneth straws and sticks into stones Cathorp It came to one Cook a Merchant of the Staple in the time of Henry the Fourth whose Daughter and Heir was married to William Harper of Rushall in the County of Stafford and from thence by descent to Leigh It was not many years since belonging to Sir Edward Leigh of Rushall Burtons descript. of Leicestershire Hinkley Burton-Lazers so called from a famous Hospital which was there founded for the use of Leprous people to whose Master all the lesser houses of that kind were subordinate as he himself was to the Master of the Lazers at Hierusalem Bosworth an ancient Mercat Town Here Henry Earl of Richmond with a small power encountred in pitch-field with King Richard the Third and overcame and slew him and then with joyfull acclamations was proclaimed King in the very midst of slaughtered bodies round about Ashby de la Zouch a most pleasant Lordship now of the Earls of Huntingdon but belonging in times past to the noble Family De la Zouch Cole-Overton or Orton famous for Pit-coal It is so called of the Cole-mines which are there in great abundance Mount-Sorehill famous only for a Mercat there kept Lough-borough a Mercat Town next Town to Leicester in this Shire whether a man regard the bignesse or building thereof or the pleasant Woods about it Melton-Mowbray a Mercat Town bearing name of the Mowbrayes sometimes Lords thereof Within this Shire are two hundred Parish Churches six Hundreds and twelve Market Towns Lincolnshire A Very large Countrey reaching almost threescore miles in length and carrying in some places above thirty miles in bredth passing good for yeelding of Corn and feeding of Cattel well furnished and set out with a great number of Towns and watered with many Rivers The Diocesse here is the largest of England After three Bishopricks were taken out of it it containeth four whole Counties and parts of two usually thus exprest it had under it two Bs two Hs two Ls. The whole Shire is divided into three parts whereof one is called Holland a second Kesteuen and the third Lindsey Crowland or Croyland a raw and muddy Land as Ingulph the Abbot of this place interprets it a Town formerly of good note among the Fenne-people It is seated like unto Venice In the Moneth of August they have sometimes spread a Net and at once drawn three thousand Mallards and they use to term these Pools or watery Plots of theirs their Corn-fields In regard of this their taking of Fish and Fowl they paid yearly in times past to the Abbot three hundred pounds of our money and after so much to the Crown Spalding a fair Town enclosed round about with Riverets Boston a famous Town standing on both sides of the River Witham which hath over it a wooden Bridge of a great heigth well frequented by means of a commodious Haven unto it the Market place is fair and large and the Church maketh a goodly shew as well for the beautifull building as the greatnesse thereof the Tower-steeple of it which riseth up to a mighty height doth salute passengers and travellers a great way off and giveth direction also to the Sailers In the Coat of Boston for the Corporation there are three Crowns relating to the three Kingdoms the Crest a Ramme lying upon a Wool-sack the Ram signifying the great Sheep-walks in the fens round about and the Wool-sack that it was a Staple-town The Supporters of the Coat are two Mare-maids signifying that it is a Port-Town Stanford it was built of rough stone whence it hath the name A Town well peopled and of great resort endowed also with sundry immunities and walled about It is beautified with seven Parish Churches or thereabout and sheweth an old Hospital Belvoir or Beauvoir-Castle so called of the fair Prospect mounted upon the top of a good steep Hill It belongs to the Earl of Rutland The Vale of Bever a very pleasant place lieth under the Castle The Vale of Bevell barren of Wooll is large and very plentifull of good Corn and Grasse and lieth in three Shires Leicester Lincoln and much in Nottinghamshire Lelands Itinerary Grantham a Town of good resort adorned with a School built by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and with a fair Church having a Spire-steeple of a mighty height Lincolne This City is large well inhabited and frequented it standeth upon the side of an Hill and thence hath its name from its situation or because it hath been a Colony There are fourteen Churches the Minster is a fair one and in one of the Steeples there is a very great Bell rung by sixteen men called great Tom of Lincoln Camden honourably mentions two learned Bishops of Lincoln Robert Grosthead and his Master Thomas Cooper Wainfleet it bred William Wainfleet Bishop of Winchester a worthy Prelate founder of Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford a man that singularly well deserved of learning Alford a Mercat Town Castor an ancient Castle Mercate-Rasin so called of a Mercat there well resorted unto Gainsborrow a Market Town standing upon the River of Trent Grimsby an old Market Town Here was Archbishop Whitgift born There are in this Shire six hundred and thirty * Parishes thirty and one Hundreds and thirty Market Towns Middlesex IT is severed from Buckinghamshire by the River Cole on the West-side from Hertfordshire on the North-side by a known
Earls of Pembroke Sudbroke the Church whereof called Trinity-Chappel standeth neer the Sea a moor for many miles together Abergenny It is fortified with Wals and a Castle This Shire containeth Parish Churches an hundred twenty seven Northfolk or Norfolk PEople of the North It is a Region large and spacious and in manner all thorowout a plain champion unlesse it be where there rise gently some pretty Hils passing rich exceeding full of Sheep and stored with Coneys replenished likewise with a great number of populous Villages for besides twenty seven Mercat Towns it is able to shew Villages and Countrey Towns six hundred twenty and five watered with divers Rivers and Brooks and not altogether destitute of Wood A man may collect the goodnesse of the ground by this that the Inhabitants are of a passing good complexion to say nothing of their exceeding wily wits and the same right quick in the insight of our Common Laws insomuch as it is counted the only Countrey for best Lawyers One saith that three hundred and forty nisi prius were tried there at one Assizes It is a pleasant Countrey for sports Hawking and Hunting Thetford the Ford of Thet of good bignesse yet it hath but few Inhabitants Harleston a good Mercat Norwich a famous City by reason of the wealth number of Inhabitants the resort of people fair buildings and many fair Churches it containeth thirty two Parishes and fourty two Chappels and Churches the painfull industry of the Citizens and their courtesie unto strangers The Market Crosse and Cloister of the Cathedral there are the fairest in England It is pleasantly situate on the side of an Hill compassed about with strong Wals in which are orderly placed many Turrets and twelve Gates unlesse it be on the East-side where the River is a fence thereto It is three miles about The Arms of the City are the Castle and Lion A City whose Antiquity Alexander Nevil hath most learnedly and elegantly set down in Latine It hath been long famous for the ancient cloathes or stuff called Worsted but hath lately abounded in variety of weaving through the invention and industry of the Dutch and French Flemmings which inhabit there in great numbers There is a great House there of the Duke of Norfolks now the Earl of Arundels where there are very fair Granaries and the best Bowling-alley in England There is also an Hospital where an hundred of men and women are maintained Matthew Parker was born here Yarmouth a very convenient Haven and as fair a Town beautifully built and well fenced both by the natural strength of the place and also by the skilfull industry of mans art It hath but one Church yet the same is very large having a high Steeple to adorn it It is famous for fishing and merchandizing There are two long Streets in it each of them a mile long one called the Dean-street the other the Key There is also another Street called the Middle-street and many rows as they call them after the manner of Holland There is also a fair Market place Holt a Town so called of an Holt or tuft of trees and for the Mercat well known Ailesham a Mercat Town of good resort Worsted where the stuff worsted in so great request amongst our Ancestors was first made and hence so named as Dornicks Camery Calecut had in like manner their denominations from the places where they were first invented and made Walsingham This Village is very famous by reason of the best Saffron growing there The Family of the Walsinghams Knights fetched first their name and original from hence out of which house flourished that Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary to Queen Elizabeth a man as of deep insight so also of as rare and painfull industry in the weightiest affairs of the Realm Lynne peradventure so named of the waters broad spreading So Lynne imports in the Welch tongue This is a large Town encompassed with a deep Trench and Wals for the most part thereof divided by two small Rivers that have fifteen Bridges or thereabout over them It is called old Linne and Linnum Regis that is Kings Linne yet by reason of the safe Haven which yeeldeth most easie accesse for the number also of the Merchants there dwelling and thither resorting for the fair and the goodly houses the wealth also of the Townsmen it is doubtlesse the principal Town of this Shire except Norwich onely Mershland a little moist Mersh-Countrey as the name implieth a soil standing upon very rich and fertile mould and breeding abundance of Cattel insomuch as that in a place commonly called Tilneysmeth there feed much about thirty thousaud Sheep In this Province there be Parish Churches about six hundred and sixty In Norfolk and Suffolk there are more Parishes than in any other Counties six hundred and odde in Norfolk and above five hundred in Suffolk Northamptonshire THis County is situate in the very middle and heart as it were of England On the East lie Bedford and Huntingdonshires On the South Buckingham and Oxfordshires Westward Warwickshire Northward Rutlandshire and Lincolnshire separated from it by Avon the lesse and Welland two Rivers It is a champion Countrey exceeding populous and passing well furnished with Noblemens and Gentlemens Houses replenished also with Towns and Churches insomuch as in some places there are twenty and in others thirty Seeples with Spires or square Towers within view at once The soil very fertile both for Tillage and Pasture yet nothing so well stored with Woods unlesse it be in the further and hither sides But in every place as elswhere also in England it is over-spread and as it were beset with Sheep Brakley a place full of Brake or Fern the Students of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford use the Colledge there for a retiring place Torcester so called of Towrs It hath a large Church in it Hard by at Eston-Nessont there is a fair and beautifull House belonging to the Knightly Family of the Farmers Sacy-Forest stored with Deer and fit for game Avon a general name of all Rivers This Aufona or Nen is a notable River which after a sort runneth through the middle part of this Shire Dantrey is a through-fare Town well known at this day by reason of the Innes there Fawesly where have dwelt a long time the Knightleys descended from those more ancient Knightleys of Gnowshall in the County of Stafford Wedon in the street It is a pretty through-fare set on a plain ground and much celebrated by Carriers because it standeth hard by the famous way there commonly call'd of the people * Watlingstreet Lelands Itinerary Holdenby-House a fair patern of stately and magnificent building Northampton so called from its situation upon the North-bank of the River Aufon The City for Houses is very fair for circuit of good largenesse and walled about and from the Wall there is a goodly Prospect every way to a wide and spacious plain Countrey There are seven Parish Churches