to lose his Life for Christ's sake At the stake he kneeled down and read the 51st Psalm then the Sheriff said to him Here is a Letter from the Queen if thou wilt recant thou shalt live otherwise thou shalt be burnt No quoth William I will never recant and so he was fastened to the stake He then said Good People pray for me while you see me alive adding Son of God shine upon me and the Sun immediately shone out of a thick Cloud so full in his face that he was forced to turn his head aside fire being kindled he lift up his Hand to Heaven saying Lord Lord receive my Spirit and so ended his Life in the Flames John Lawrence was burnt at Colchester whose Legs being lame with Irons and his Body weak with cruel usage he was carried to the Stake in a Chair and burnt therein at his burning many young Children being about the fire cried out to him Lord strengthen thy servant and keep thy Promise which was lookt on as a product of Divine Providence who out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings hath ordained strength Thomas Hawks Gentleman was first brought into trouble for refusing to baptise his Child after the Popish fashion This man going to the stake promised his Friends to give them some solemn Token of the clearness and comfort of his Conscience in performance whereof whilst his Body was burning he raised up himself and though having the sense yet having no fear of the Fire joyfully clapped his hands over his head to the Admiration of all the Beholders There was an Idol called the Rood of Dover-Court in this County to which multitudes of People went in Pilgrimage Divers zealous Protestants at Dedham being much troubled to see the Almighty so dishonoured by wicked Idolatry went from thence in a Frosty Moonshine Night 10 Miles to the place where the Idol was where they found the Church Doors open the Popish Clergy boasting the power of this Rood was such that no man could shut the doors of the Church where it stood These Persons taking the Image from the place where it stood carried it a quarter of a Mile off and there burnt it to ashes for which three of them were by the bloody Papists hanged in Chains In 1605. a great Porpus was taken at Westham in a little Creek alive a Mile and half within the Land and within a few days after a Whale came up the Thames whose lenght was seen divers times above Water and judged to exceed the largest Ship in the River but when she tasted the Fresh-Water and scented the Land she returned into the Sea This County contains 20 Hundreds 21 Market Towns and 415 Parish Churches It is in the Diocess of London and elects 8 Parliament men for the County 2. Colchester 2. Harwich 2. Malden 2. and gives the Title of Earl to Arthur L. Capel GLOCESTERSHIRE hath Worcester and Warwickshire on the North Oxford and Wiltshire on the East Somersetshire on the South Herefordshire with the River Wye on the West the River Severn runs through it and Malmsbury the old Historian thus describes it The ground of this Shire throughout saith he yieldeth plenty of Corn and bringeth forth abundance of Fruits the one only through the natural goodness of the ground the other by diligent manuring and tillage insomuch that it would provoke the most lazy Person to take pains Here you may see the High ways and common Lanes full of Apple-trees and Peer-trees not ingrafted by the industry of Mans hand but growing naturally of their own accord the ground itself is so inclined to bear fruit and those both in taste and beauty far exceeding others and will endure till a new supply come There is not any County in England so thick set with Vineyards as this is so plentiful of increase and so pleasant in taste the very Wines made thereof have no ill taste and are little inferiour to the French the Houses are innumerable the Churches very fair and the Towns standing very thick but that which addeth a greater glory to it is the River Severn than which there is not any in the Kingdom exceeds it for breadth of Channel swiftness of stream or for Fish better stored There is in it a daily rage and fury of the Waters which I know not whether to call a Gulf or Whirlpool of Waves raising up Sands from the bottom winding and driving them upon heaps and sometimes overflowing its banks roveth a great way on the bordering grounds and then returneth again into its usual Channel unhappy is the Vessel which it taketh full upon the side but the Watermen being aware of it when they see it coming turn their Vessels and cut through the midst of it and thereby avoid the danger Thus far he This encounter of the salt and fresh water as is supposed here mentioned is called in this Country the Higre and by some the Eagre for the keenness and fierceness thereof which is such that it is equally terrible with the flashings and noise to those that see and hear it much more to them who feel it of which there can be no reason rendered since the Thames where we find the same cause hath no such disturbance Hear how the Poets describe this Higre Vntil they be imbraced In Severns Soveraign Arms with whose tumultuous Waves Shut up in narrower bounds the Higre wildly raves And frights the stragling Flocks the Neighbouring shores o flie Afar as from the Main it comes with hideous cry And on the angry front the curled foam doth bring The Billows ' gainst the Banks when fiercely it doth fling Throws up the slimy Ouze and makes the scaly brood Leap madding to the Land affrighted from the flood O'returns the toyling Barge whose Steersman doth not launch And thrusts the furrowing beak into her dreadful paunch We read that in the 2. of King Richard 3. at that time when the Duke of Buckingham intended to pass with his Army over the Severn there was so great an Inundation of Water that men were drowned in their Beds Houses were overturned Children were carried about the Fields swimming in their Cradles and Beasts drowned even upon the Hills which rage of the Waters continued for the space of 10 days and is called to this day in those parts The Great Water In the 17 of Q. Elizabeth Feb. 24. being a hard frost after a flood which was not great there came down the River of Severn such a swarm of Flies and Beetles that they were judged to be above an 100 Quarters the Mills thereabout were dammed up with them for the space of 4 days and then were cleansed by digging them out with Shovels In 1607. a mighty West-wind which continued 16 hours brought the Sea into the Severn after a great rain and at a spring Tyde with such violence that the River began to overflow its banks from as far as the Mount in Cornwall along on both sides up into Somersetshire and
as some think which occasions vapours to break violently out of the Earth The Natives who dwell about these Meers are healthy and live long but strangers are subject to much sickness In the Year 1580. Sept. 23. at Fennystanton in this County one Agnes Wife to William Linsey was delivered of an ugly strange Monster with a black Face Mouth and Eyes like a Lion which was both Male and Female In 1584. there happened a strange thing at Spaldwick in this Shire Mr. Dorrington one of the Gentlemen Pensioners to Q. Elizabeth had a Horse which died suddenly and being opened to see the cause of his Death there was found in his heart a Worm of a wondrous form as it lay together in a kall or skin it resembled a Toad but being taken thence the shape was hard to be described the length of it divided into 80 Grains which spread from the Body like the branches of a Tree was from the snout to the end of the longest grain 17 Inches having 4 Issues in the grains from whence dropped a red Water the Body was 3 Inches and an half about the Collar being like that of a Mackrel this prodigious Worm crawling about to have got away was killed with a Dagger and being dried was shewed to many Honourable Persons as a great rarity We read that Henry Holland Duke of Exeter and E. of Huntington who married the Sister of K. Edward 4. was driven to such want that passing into Flanders Philip de Comines saith he saw him running on Foot and bare leg'd after the Duke of Burgundy's Train begging his Bread for God's sake whom the Duke of Burgundy at that time did not know though they had married two Sisters but hearing afterward who it was allotted him a small pension to maintain him till not long after he was found dead upon the shore of Dover and stripped all naked but how he came by his death could never by any inquiry be brought to light It is observed by Mr. Speed that the ancient Families of this County have been more outworn proportionably than in any other few now remaining whose Sir-names were eminent in the Reign of K. Hen. 8. the reason whereof may probably be because this Shire being generally Abby Lands after their dissolution many new purchasers planted themselves therein But Let 's not repine that Men and Names do die Since Stone-built Cities dead and ruin'd lie This County is divided into 4 Hundreds wherein are 6 Market Towns and 69 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Lincoln out of it are elected 4 Parliament men for the County 2. for Huntington 2. It gives the Title of Earl to Theophilus L. Hastings KENT in the Saxon Heptarchy was an entire Kingdom by itself an honour which no other County attained to it hath the Thames on the North the Sea on the East and South Sussex and Surrey on the West from East to West it is 53 Miles and from North to South 26. The upper part of it they say is healthful but not so wealthy the middle they account both healthful and wealthy the lower they hold to be wealthy but not healthy as which for a great part thereof is very moist It is every where almost full of Meadows Pastures and Corn fields abounding wonderfully in Apple-trees and Cherry-trees the Trees are planted after a very direct manner one against another by square most pleasant to behold It is plentiful of Fowl Fish and all sorts of grain It hath Villages and Towns exceeding thick and well peopled safe Roads and sure Harbours for Ships with some Veins of Iron and Marble The Air is somewhat thick and foggy by reason of Vapours arising out of the Waters This County hath 2 Cities and Bishops Seas was strengthened formerly with 27 Castles graced with 4 of the Kings Houses The Kentish People in Caesars time were accounted the civilest among the Brittains and had the Priviledge to lead the Van in all Battles for their valour shewed against the Danes and those of Cornwall Devonshire and Wiltshire the Rear They esteem themselves the first Christians since their King and People received the Christian Faith before any other of the Saxons in 596. yea and long before that time Kent received the Gospel for it is recorded that Lucius the first Christian Brittish King in this Island built a Church for the service of Christ at Dover endowing it with the Toll of that Haven They glory that they were never conquered but were compounded with by the Norman Conqueror of whom our English Poet writes thus Stout Kent this praise to thee doth of most right belong Thou never wast enslaved impatient wert of wrong Who when the Norman first with Pride and Horrour sway'd Threwst off the servile Yoak upon the English laid And with a Courage great most bravely didst restore That Liberty so long enjoy'd by thee before Not suffering foreign Laws should thy free Customs bind And thereby shewedst thy self o' th noble Saxon kind Of all the English Shires be thou sirnam'd the free And foremost ever placed when they shall marshall'd be Of their throwing off the Norman Yoke Mr. Sâ—â—den thus explains it When the Norman Conqueror had the day he came to Dover Castle the Look and Key of the Kingdom that he might with safety subdue Kent also a most strong and populous Province and secure himself from the Invasion of Enemies which when Stygand Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbot of St. Austins who were the chief Lords and Governours of Kent understood they assembled the Commons and told them of the dangers of their Country the miseries of their Neighbours the Pride of the French and that the English till then were born free and the name of Villains or Bondsmen not heard among them but now slavery only attends us said he if we submit to the insolency of our Enemies And therefore these two Prelates offered to command them and to dye with them in the defence of their Freedom and Country whereby the People were so extreamly encouraged that they concluded to meet at a day appointed at Swanscomb two Miles West from Gravesend where being come accordingly and keeping themselves private in the Woods they waited the coming of William the Conqueror filling up all the way by which he was to pass with each of them a great green Bough in his hand whereby they might hide their number from being discovered and if occasion were fall upon the Normans the next day the Duke came by Swanscomb and was much amazed to see a Wood as it were marching toward him for being as he thought free from the Enemy he was now beset on all sides with Trees and knew not but all the other vast Woods thereabout were of the same nature neither had he leisure to avoid the danger for the Kentish men immediately enclosing his Army about displayed their Banners and throwing down their Branches at the sound of a Trumpet prepare their Bows and Arrows ready for
the Learned about the generation of these Geese some holding that they were bred of the leaves of the Barnacle Tree falling into the Wayters others that they are bred of moist rotten wood lying in the Waters but it is since found that they come of an Egg and are hatched like all other Geese There is a water in this Country called Merton Lake part of whose Waters are frozen in Winter and part not In the Lake of Lennox being 24 miles in compass the Fish are generally without Finns and yet there is great abundance of them It is said that when there is no wind stirring the waters of this Lake are so Tempestuous that no Marener dares venture on it They write also of a deaf stone 12 foot high and 33 foot thick of this rare quality that a Musket shot off the one side cannot be heard by a man standing on the other these wonders are reported by Hector Boetius and if not true let him bear the blame Near Falkirk remain the ruines and marks of a Town swallowed up by an Earthquake and the void place is filled with water saith Lithgow The Lough Lâ—mond turneth sticks into stones in which are several Islands and one of them which is full of Grass Rushes and Reeds swims about the Lake near a place called Dysert in Fife by the Sea side is a Heath where there is great plenty of earthly Bitumen In the Country of Argile at this day saith Cambden are Kine and red Deer ranging wild upon the Hills Between the Coast of Cathness and Orkney is a dreadful Frith or Gulf in the North end of which by reason of the meeting of 9 contrary Tides or Currents is a Male stream or great Whirlpool which whirleth continually about and if any Ship Boat or Bark come within the reach thereof they must quickly throw over something into it as a Barrel a piece of Timber or the like or else the Vessel will inevitably be swallowed up which the Cathness and Orkney Mareners know very well and observe it as a constant custom to redeem themselves that way from danger Toward the North of Scotland saith Speed there be Mountains all of Alabaster and some all of Marble At the mouth of the River Frâ—th in the main Sea is a very high Rock out of whose top a spring of water runs abundantly The Snow lies all the year upon the Hills in Ross A large piece of Amber saith Cambden as big as a Horse was found not long since upon the Coast of Buquan in which County they say Rats are never seen and if any be brought thither they will not live It is credibly reported saith Ortelius that there is a Stone found in Argile which if covered a while with Straw or Flax it will set it on fire The Snow lies all the year long upon the Hills in Ross It is recorded that Sergius K. of Scots was so addicted to Harlots that he neglected his own Wife and drove her to such poverty that she was forced to wait upon another Noblewoman for her living whereupon watching her opportunity she slew her Husband in Bed and her self after The Castle of Edenburgh was built by Cruthenus King of the Picts and called Maiden Castle because the Daughters of the Pictish Kings were there kept working with their Needles till they were married Ethus King of Scots was almost as swift in running as a Stag or Greyhound and therefore called Wing-footed but utterly unfit for Government being cowardly and a slave to Pleasure In the time when the Barbarous and bloody Danes raged in England they came to Coldingham a Nunnery on the hither part of Scotland where Ebba the Prioress with the rest of the Nuns cut off their own Noses and Lips chusing rather to preserve their Virginities from the Danes than their beauty or favour whereupon these cruel Heathens burnt their Monastery and all of them therein Malcolm King of Scots was a very magnificent and couragious Prince in 1067. of which he gave proof in the beginning of his Reign for being informed of a Conspiracy against his life he dissembled the knowing of it till being abroad one day a hunting he took one of the chief Conspirators aside challenged him as a Traitor adding Here now is a fit place to do that manfully which you intended to perform by Treachery now if you have any valour kill me honourably and none being present you can incur no danger With this Speech of the King the man was so daunted that he fell at his Feet confessed his fault asked forgiveness and proved ever after Faithful and Loyal This King repealed that barbarous Statute of K. Eugenius 3 by the persuasion of his Virtuous Lady Margret Sister to K. Edward Atheling which ordained That when a man was married his Lord should lye with his Bride the first night He allowing it to be redeemed with half a Mark of Silver which sum is to this day put into the Leases which the Lords make to their Vassals this King besieging Aldwich Castle an English Knight unarmed only with a light Spear in his hand on the end of which he carried the Keys of the Castle came riding into the Camp where being brought to the King and bowing his Spear as though he intended to present him with the Keys ran him into the left Eye and left him for dead and by the swiftness of his Horse escaped hence some say came the great Family of the Pierceys His Queen hearing of her Husband and Sons death beseeched the Almighty that she might not survive them and had her desire dying within a days after In 1137. Kentigern was Bishop of Glasgow a man of rare Piety and exceeding bountiful to the poor It is recorded that an Honourable Lady having lost a Ring which her Husband gave her as she crossed the River Clayd her Husband grow Jealous as if she had bestowed it on one of her Lovers upon which she went to Kentigern intreating his help for the safety of her honour who after he had used his Devotionâ— went to the River and spoke to one who was fishing to bring him the first Fish he caught which he doing the Ring was found in the Fishes Mouth and the Bishop sent it to the Lady who was thereby freed of her Husbands Jealousy This good Bishop saith A. B. Spotswood lived till he was 185 years old In 1550. The Persecution waxing hot in Scotland against the Protestants many Prodigious signs were observed saith A. B. Spotswood a Comet like a fiery broom or besom flamed the whole months of November December and January great Rivers in the midst of Winter were dryed up and in Summer swelled so high that divers Villages were therewith drowned and numbers of Cattle feeding in the low grounds were carried into the Sea Whales of an huge bigness were cast up in divers parts of the River Forth Hailstones as big as Pigeons Eggs fell in many places which destroyed abundance of Corn And which was
are all deceased it is in the Diocess of Ely CHESHIRE hath Lancashire on the North Denby Flintshire and the Irish Ocean on the West Darby and Stafford shires on the East and Shropshire on the South it produces the best Cheese also Milstones Fish Fowl and all sorts of Cattel in K. Richar 2. time it was made a Principality the City of Chester is the chief Town and in the daies of King Edgar was in a very flourishing condition he having the homage of 8 other Kings who rowed his Barge from St. Johns to hâ— Pallace himself holding the helm as their Supream a fair stone Bridge is built over the River Dee upon 8 Arches at either end whereof is a Gate from whence the walls incompass the City high and strongly built with four fair Gates opening to the 4 winds besides 3 Posterns and 7 Watch Towers it is reported by credible and believed by discreet Persons that there is a Pool adjoining to Brereton the seat of the Honourable Family of the Breretons wherein Bodies of Trees are seen to swim for certain days together before the death of any Heir of that house and after the Heir is dead they sink and are never seen more till the next occasion neither must we forget the many Fir-trees found buried under ground on the Southside of Cheshire by the River Wever which the common People imagine to have lain buried there ever since Noah's Flood the Inhabitants cut pieces of such wood very small and use them instead of Candles which give a good light the Author adds That such wooden Candles have long snuffs and yet saith he which indeed is a wonder in falling down they do no harm though they light into Tow Flax or the like yet let not this incourage careless Servants since this Country has been sadly sensible of casualties by Fire Nantwich a fair Market Town therein being twice burnt to the ground in 150 years In 1657. July 8 In the Parish of Bickly in this County about 3 in the afternoon was heard a very great noise like Thunder afar off which was much wondred at because the sky was clear from Clouds soon after says the Author a Neighbour comes and tells me if I would go with him I should see a very strange thing so coming into a Field called Layfield we found a very great bank of Earth which had tall Oaks growing on it now quite sunk under ground Trees and all at first we durst not go near it because the earth for near 20 yards about was much rent and seemed ready to fall in but since that time saith he my self and some others by Ropes have ventured to look down and saw water at the bottom about 30 yards from us under which is sunk all the Earth about it for 16 yards round at least with 3 or 4 tall Oaks and certain other small Trees and not a sprig of them to be seen above water four or five Oaks more were expected to fall every moment and a great quantity of Land beside it never ceasing more or less and when any considerable clod fell it was much like the report of a Canon we could discern the ground hollow above the water a great way but how far or how deep is not to be found out by man the water was salt like that of the Sea from whence some imagine it came through certain large passages under ground but it is probable to be no other than that which issues from those salt Springs about Nantwich and other places in this County may we not also judge that those Trees which are digged up in some places hereabout were buried in the Earth by some such accident as this is July 30. 1662 was a very stormy and Tempestuous day in many parts of Cheshire and Lancashire at Ormskirk there was such a storm of hail as brake the Glass-windows and did much hurt to their Corn Mr. Heywood measured an Hailstone after some of it was wasted and found it four inches about others being thought larger the same day in the afternoon in the Forrest of Maxfeild in Cheshire there arose a great Pillar of smoke in height like a Steeple and judg'd 20 yards broad which making a most hideous noise went along the ground 6 or 7 miles levelling all in the way it threw down Fences and Stonewalls and carried the Stones a great distance from their places but happening upon Moorish ground not inhabited it did the less hurt the terrible noise it made so affrighted the Cattel that they ran away and were thereby preserved it passed over a Cornfield and laid all as even with the ground as if it had been troden down with Feet it went through a Wood and turned up above an hundred Trees by the Roots coming into a Field full of Cocks of Hay ready to be carried in it swept all away so that scarce an handful of it could afterward be found only it left a great Tree behind in the middle of the Field which it had brought from some other place from the Forrest of Maxfield it went up by a Town called Taxal and thence to Waily Bridge where and no where else it overthrew an house or two yet the People that were in them received not much hurt but the Timber was carried away no body knew whither from thence it went up the Hills into Derbyshire and so vanished this account was given by Mr. Hurst Minister of Taxal who had it from an Eye-witness Dr. Walter Needham an eminent and learned Physician in a late discourse of Anatomy gives a Relation of a Child that cryed in its Mothers Womb which is as followeth A long time saith he I could scarce believe that there were such cryings till I was informed of that which I now set down by a Noble Lady in Cheshire as this Honourable Person sate after meat in the Dining Room with her Husband their Domestick Chaplain and divers others she was sensible of an extraordinary stirring in her Belly which so lift up her cloths that it it was easily discernable to those that were present she was then with Child and in her seventh month upon a suddain there was a voice heard but whence it should come they were not able to conjecture not suspecting any thing of the Embrio in her Womb soon after they perceived the Belly and Garments of the Lady to have a second and notable commotion and withal heard a cry as if it proceeded from thence while they were amazed at what had passed and were discoursing together of this Prodigy all that before had happened did a third time so manifestly appear that being now become more attentive they doubted not but that the cry came from her Womb the Girl that was so talkative in the Womb of her Mother doth yet live and is likely enough so to continue I cannot doubt saith he of the Truth of so eminent a story receiving the confirmation of it from so credible Persons There is a Proverb
see the Stars at noon-day in clear weather the labour is so hard and tedious that they cannot work above 4 hours in a day they sometimes meet with loose earth yet otherwhile they light upon such hard Rocks that a good workman can scarce hew above a foot in a week sometimes again they meet with great streams of water and sometimes with stinking damps that distemper their heads for the present though not dangerously I hear of no Medicinal Water in this Countrey but only one and since he that telleth a miraculous truth must always carry the Author at his back saith my Author I will transcribe the words of B. Hall in his Myst of Godliness speaking of the good Offices of Angels to Gods Servants Of this kind saith he was that no less than miraculous cure which at St. Maderns in Cornwall was wrought upon a poor Cripple whereof besides the attestation of many Hundreds of the Neighbours I took a strict and impartial examination in my last Visitation this man for 16 years together was fain to walk upon his hands by reason the sinews of his legs were so contracted and upon Monitions in his dream to wash in that Well was suddenly so restored to his Limbs that I saw him able both to walk and get his own maintenance I found here was neither Art nor Collusion the thing done the Invisible Author being God In this County there are some stones called Hurlers at a competent distance from each other which are vainly reported to be men transformed into Stones in St. Cleers Parish there are upon a Plain 6 or 8 Stones such as are upon Salisbury Plain which like them too will be mistaken in the telling near Helford is a Rock lying on the ground the top whereof is hollow like the long half of an Egg this they say holdeth water which ebbeth and floweth with the Sea and indeed saith the Author when I came hither to see this Curiosity the Tide was half gone and the Pit or hollowness half empty There is a rock in this County called Mainamber erected as some conceive by Ambrosius that Valiant Brittain upon some Victory obtained by him against the Romans or other Enemies this is a Masterpiece of Mathematicks and Critical Proportions being a great Stone of so exact position on the top of a Rock that the push of a Finger will sensibly move it to and fro and yet all the strength that men could make was not thought sufficient to remove it out of the place but know Reader saith Dr. Fuller that this wonder is now unwondred for I am credibly informed that some Souldiers of late have utterly destroyed it which shews how dangerous it is for Art to stand in the way of ignorance surely Covetousness could not tempt them to it though it was the ruine of a fair Monument in Turky where a Tomb was erected near the Highway according to the fashion of that Country on some Person of Quality consisting of a Pillar and on the top thereof a Chapiter or great Globe of Stone whereon was written in the Turkish Language The Brains are in the Head this stood many years undemolished it being very criminal there to violate the Monuments of the dead till one of less conscience but more cunning than others passing by it resolved to unriddle the meaning of this Inscription and breaking the hollow Globe open found it full of Gold and departed the richer though not the honester certainly if any such temptation invited the Souldiers to this Act they missed their mark therein At Hall near Foy there is a Faggot all of one piece of wood naturally grown so it is wrapped about the middle with a band and parted at ends into four sticks one of which is divided into two others In Lanhadron Park there grows an Oak that bears leaves speckled and white and so doth another called Painters Oak it is certain saith our Author that divers Ancient Families in England are forewarned of their death by Oaks bearing strange leaves An Earthen Pot was found some years ago near Foy gilded and graven with Letters in a great stone Chest and full of a black Earth the Ashes it 's thought of some Ancient Roman At Trematon in Cornwall in the Chancel of the Church a Leaden Coffin was digged up in which being opened was found the proportion of a very big mans body but being touched turned to dust It was thought to be the body of Duke Orgarus who as Speed saith married his Daughter to K. Edgar for there was an Inscription on the Coffin that signified it was the body of a Duke whose Heiress was Married to a Prince Likewise an exceeding great Carkass of a Man was found by the Tinners digging at a Village near the lands end called Trebegean there is a story that passes of St. Kaines Well in this County that whoever drinks first of this water whether Husband or Wife they are sure to get the Mastery a fit Fable for the vulgar to believe In the West parts of Cornwall during the Winter Swallows are found sitting in old deep Tinn-works and holes of the Sea-cliffs On the Shore of this Shire about 30 or 40 years ago a huge Mass of Ambergreece was found by a poor Fisherman of a very great value King Arthur Son to Vter-pendragon was born at Tintagel Castle in this County and was afterward Monarch of Great Brittain he may fitly be termed the Brittish Hercules in three respects 1. For his Illegitimate Birth both being Bastards begotten on other Mens Wives and yet their Mothers honest Women both deluded by Art-Magick the last by Merlin by other men coming to them in the form of their Husbands 2. In his painful life one being famous for his twelve labours and the other for his 12 Victories against the Saxons and both of them had been greater had they been made less and the reports of them reduced within the compass of probability 3. In their violent and painful deaths our Arthur being as lamentable and more honourable not caused by Feminine Jealousy but Masculine Treachery being murdered by Mordred near the place where he was born As though no other place on Brittains spacious earth Were worthy of his end but where he had his Birth As for his round Table and his Knights about it the Tale thereof has never met with much credit amongst the Judicious The Cornish men in general have ever been held valiant and therefore K. Arthur made them his Vanguard as appears by the following Verses Brave Arthur when he meant a Field to fight Vs Cornish men did first of all invite Only to Cornish against Caesars Swords He the first blow in Battel still affords Yet these People have sometimes abused their valour to Rebellion as in the Reign of Hen. 7. where upon the account of raising a subsidy granted by Parliament against the Scots they made a commotion the Ringleaders being Thomas Flammock a Lawyer and Michael Joseph a Smith who having assembled
the Sun was risen and shined clear He gave his Master time to pray before he took him but thou didst kill thy Brother sleeping not suffering him to wake or speak only to sigh and groan and that most sadly yet all moved thee not c. This young man was soon after deservedly Executed for this horrid Fratricide so this worthy Knight lost both his Sons at one time Two Watermen of Gravesend one named Smith and the other Gurnay being some years before hired by a Grasier to carry him down to Tilbury Hope intending to go to a certain Fair in Essex to buy Cattle these Villains by the way perceiving he had mony conspired to take away his life and accordingly one of them cut his throat and the other taking his mony threw him over-board This Murther was concealed divers years but in 1656. these Murtherers being drinking together fell out and one of them in his passion accused the other of Murther and he again accused him upon which being apprehended and examined they confessed the Fact were condemned at Maidstone Assizes and hanged in Chains at Gravesend In 1658. June 3. A Whale came up the Thames as high as Deptford and being discovered at Greenwich many Boats made out after her and a Marriner struck her with an harping Iron whereupon she spouted forth much water and blood and roared like a Lyon and so beating her self up and down till she came below Greenwich she there turned up her Belly and died she was 59 foot long and 15 foot high as she lay on her Belly September 3. following Oliver Cromwell dyed three days before which there was such a Tempestuous and violent wind as overthrew divers Houses brake and overturned many Trees by the roots and did much mischief In 1660. August 4. At Dover from 10 a clock at night till 2 next morning were such storms of Hail accompanied with Thunder and Lightning as the like was never known some of the Hailstones that fell were as big as Walnuts and were measured 4 inches about the damage was reckoned 50 pound in glass Windows which were broken In 1662. July 2. about 3 in the afternoon there happened a very strange whirlwind in Mason Dufield between the Town and Castle of Dover at the upper end of which Field the wind took up divers sheafs oâ—wards of Pease a vast height into the Air and carried them over the Town into the Seâ— and it was judged they were carried two or three miles before they fell into the Sea it also took up some Calves and other small Cattle and threw them into a Ditch a Hoy likewise in the Road was almost overset by it Upon Aug. 4. following several great Spouts were seen in Dover Road about quarter Seas over some affirm they were 7 and about half a mile asunder and ran about half an hour they were big at both ends and slender in the middle some Seamen affirmed they were bigger than those in the Streights and are very unusual in these Seas The County of Kent is divided into 5 Laths and 67 Hundreds wherein are 29 Market Towns and 408 Parish Churches it is in the Diocess of Canterbury and Rochester and gives the Title of Earl to Anthony L. Gray as Dover doth to John L Cary Thanet to Nicholas L. Tufton Rochester to John L. Wilmot and Sandwich to Edward L. Montague It elects 10 Parliament Men. LANCASHIRE hath the Irish Sea on the West Yorkshire on the East Cheshire parted with the River Mersey on the South and Westmoreland on the North It is a County Palatine and is replenished with all necessaries for the use of man yielding without any great labour Corn Flax Grass Coals and is plentifully furnished with Fish Flesh and Fowl the Brigantes the ancient Inhabitants of this County were subdued by the Emperor Claudius who secured it by Garrisons as appears by the many Inscriptions found in Walls and by certain Altars erected in honour of some of their Emperours it is famous for the four Henrys the Fourth Fifth Sixth and Seventh all derived from John Duke of Lancaster the Shire Town is Lancaster more pleasant in situation than rich in Inhabitants the beauty thereof is in the Church Castle and Bridge Manchester is a Town of great Antiquity from Main a Brittish word which signifieth a Stone it is seated upon a stony hill and beneath the Town there are most famous quarries of Stone it far excelleth the Towns lying about it for the beautiful shew it maketh for resort to it and for clothing in regard also of the Market place the fair Church and Colledge In this Province King Arthur is reported to have put the Saxons to flight in a memorable Battle near Duglas a little Brook near the Town of Wiggan In this Shire not far from Fourness Fells or Hills is the greatest standing water in all England called Winander Mere which is wonderful deep and 10 miles over and all paved with Stone as it were on the bottom it breeds a Fish called a Chare no where else to be found At Ferneby the People use Cannal or Turss both for Fewel and Candle which when they dig they find under them a certain black water upon which swims a fat oily matter and therein are little Fishes which the Diggers catch on the very top of Pendlehill grows a peculiar plant called Cloudesberry as though it came out of the Clouds this Hill some years ago did the Country near it much harm by reason of an extraordinary deal of water gushing out of it it is also famous for an infallible sign of rain whensoever the top of it is covered with a mist there are three great Hills here not far distant from each other seeming to be as high as the Clouds which are Ingelburrough Penigent and this Pendle In the Reign of Q. Mary Bishop Bonner put out a Mandate to the Priests within his Diocess commanding that comely Roods or Images should again be set up in all Churches the same injunction was published in other Diocesses in pursuance whereof the Churchwardens of Cockram in Lancashire had agreed with a Carver to make them a Rood to set up in their Church at a certain price the Carver accordingly made one but the Image being of an ugly grim countenance they disliked it and refused to pay the Workman who thereupon brought them by a Warrant before the Mayor of Lancaster who was a favourer of the Protestant Religion when they came before him he asked them why they did not pay the man according to agreement they replied they did not like the grimness of his Visage saying They had a Man formerly with a handsome face and would have had such another now well said the Mayor though you like not the Rood the poor mans labour has been never the less and it's pity he should lose by it But I 'le tell you what you shall do pay him the money you promised him and if it will not serve you for a God
died about the midst of the Reign of King James In 1614. Such great Inundations of Water happened in Lincolnshire and the parts adjacent that the Sea entred 12 miles into the Land I have a Letter by me saith Mr. Clerk dated July 7. 1606. written by one Mr. Bovy to a Minister in London where he thus writes Touching News you shall understand that Mr. Sherwood hath received a Letter from Mr. Arthur Hildersham which containeth this following Narrative That at Brampton in the Parish of Torksey near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire an Ash-Tree shaketh both in the Body and Boughs thereof and there proceeds from thence sighs and groans like those of a man troubled in his sleep as if it felt some sensible torment Many have climbed to the top thereof where they heard the groans more plainly than they could below One among the rest being atop spoke to the Tree but presently came down much astonished and lay groveling on the Earth Speechless for 3 hours and then reviving said Brampton Brampton thou are much bound to pray The Author of this News is one Mr. Vaughan a Minister who was there present and heard and saw these Passages and told Mr. Hildersham of it The Earl of Lincoln caused one of the Arms of the Ash to be lopped off and a hole to be bored into the Body and then was the sound or hollow voice heard more audibly than before but in a kind of Speech which they could not comprehend nor understand In 1666. Oct. 13. there was an extraordinary and dreadful Storm of Thunder in Lincolnshire accompanied with Hailstones much bigger than Pigeons and some as large as Pullets Eggs immediately after there followed a terrible storm and Tempest attended with a very unusual noise and with such violence that at Welborn it threw most of the Houses to the ground brake down some and tore up other Trees by the Roots scattering abroad much Corn and Hay but by Divine Providence only one Boy was killed in that Town It went thence to Willingore the next Town overthrowing some houses and killing 2 Children with the fall it fell so violently on the Church of the next Town to this that it presently dashed the Spire Steeple to pieces and rent the Stone and Timberwork of the Church so violently that but a little of the Wall and only the Body of the Steeple was left standing it threw down many Houses Trees and out-houses in this Town as well as in two others far distant It was observed to move only in a channel or small breadth and if it had been considerably broader could not but have ruined a great part of the Country to some that saw it at a distance before it came near them it had the appearance of Fire and was by some observed to move in a kind of circle though at the same time it kept its general course along It passed also through Nottinghamshire some of the Hailstones being measured were 9 Inches about this Whirl-Wind extended above 60 Yards in breadth In the Forrest of Sherwood it broke down and overthrew at least 1000 Trees it brake one short off in the Body which was three Foot in Diameter it overthrew divers Wind Mills some Boats in the River and in one Town consisting of 50 Houses it left but 7 standing The same Evening over Derby Town and some other places there appeared a fiery Sword hanging in the Air over them The Thursday after in the Evening there were strange Fires seen hanging over Nottingham Town sinsomuch that some of the Inhabitants coming homeward from a Country Market thought the Town to be on Fire in three several places these Informations saith Mr. Clerk I had from Eye-Witnesses worthy of Credit About April 26. 1661. at Spalding Bourne and several other places in Lincolnshire it rained Wheat some grains whereof were very thin and hollow but others of a more firm substance and would grind into fine flower several Pecks of it were taken up out of Church Leads and other houses that were leaded several Inhabitants who were Eye-Witnesses brought up a considerable quantity to London There is a Proverb in this Country As mad as the baiting Bull of Stamford the Original whereof was thus occasioned William Earl of Warren Lord of this Town in the time of King John standing upon the Castle Walls of Stamford saw two Bulls fighting for a Cow in the Meadow till all the Butchers Dogs great and small pursued one of the Bulls being mad with noise and multitude quite through the Town this sight so pleased the Earl that he gave all those Fields called the Castle Meadows where first the Bull-duel began for a common to the Butchers of the Town after the first grass was eaten upon condition they find a Mad Bull the day 6 weeks before Christmas-day for the continuance of the sport every year some think that the men must be as mad as the Bull who can take delight in so dangerous a pastime whereby Gods providence more than mans care is to be observed that no more mischief is done The Horrid Murther of K. EDWARD 2. Pa. 78. The Dreadfull Tempest in Devonshire Pa. 55. The County of Lincoln hath three Divisions wherein are 30 Hundreds and hath in it 35 Market Towns 630 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Lincoln It elects 12 Parliament men and gives the Title of Earl to Edward Lord Clinton as Stamford doth to Henry Lord Gray MIDDLESEX hath Hartfordshire on the North Buckinghamshire on the West Essex parted with the Ley on the East Kent and Surrey severed by the Thames on the South The Air is generally very healthful especially about Highgate where the expert Inhabitants report That divers who have been long visited with sickness not curable by Physick have in short time recovered by that sweet salutary Air The Soil is very fruitful pleasantly beautified on all sides with sumptuous Houses and pretty Towns Harrow-Hill is the highest in all this County under which there lie a long way together Southward exceeding rich and fruitful Fields especially about Heston a small Village which yieldeth such fine flower for Manchet that the Kings Bread was formerly made thereof and therefore Q. Eliz. received no Composition Money from the Villages thereabout but took her Wheat in kind for her own Pastry and Bakehouse Hampton Court a Royal Pallace and the neatest of all the Kings Houses is in this Shire it is a Work of admirable magnificence a City rather in shew than the Pallace of a Prince for stately Port and gorgeous Building saith Weaver not inferiour to any in Europe It was built out of the ground by that Pompous Prelate Cardinal Woolsey in ostentation of his Riches one so magnificent in his expences that whosoever considers his House-building would admire that he had any thing for his House-keeping or House-furnishing He bestowed this on K. Hen. 8. who for the greater grace thereof erected it to be an honour Princes having Power to confer dignities
suspence what to do yet at last her fear prevailing she delivered Secretary Davison Letters under her Hand and Seal to get a Commission under the great Seal ready drawn upon occasion who telling her it was ready and the Seal put to it she was very angry rebuking him sharply for his hastiness yet Davison though charged with secrecy imparteth the matter to some Privy Counsellors and persuade them that the Queen commanded the Commission should be put in Execution Hereupon Beal Clerk of the Council is sent down with Letters without the Queens knowledge wherein the Earl of Shrewsbury and others are ordered to see her put to death according to Law The Battell of Bosworth with the Miserable Death of Crookbackt Richard Pa. 129. The County of Northampton is divided into 20 Hundreds wherein are 13 Market Towns 326 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Peterborough It elects 9 Parliament Men and gives the Title of Earl to James L. Compton NOTTINGHAMSHIRE hath Yorkshire on the North Lincolnshire on the East Leicestershire on the South and Derbyshire on the West It abounds in Liquorice Fish Fowl Corn Coals Water and Grass Nottingham the principal Town which giveth name to this Shire is seated on the side of an Hill it is pleasantly fighted having on the one hand fair and large Meadows by the Rivers side and on the other Hills with a gentle and easie ascent It is large and well built standing on a stately climbing Hill and for a spacious and fair Market-place compares with the best Many strange Vaults hewed out of the Rock are seen in this Town whereof those under the Castle are of special Note one for the story of Christs passion engraven on the Walls by David a K. of Scots while he was Prisoner there another wherein the L. Mortimer was surprised in the minority of K. Edward 3. still called Mortimer's Hole these have stairs and rooms artificially made out of the Rocks Also in that Hill are Dwelling-Houses with winding Stairs Windows Chimneys upper and lower Rooms all wrought out of the hard Rock The Castle was strong and kept by the Danes against the Mercians and West Saxons who jointly beseiged it and for the further strengthening of this Town K. Edward the elder walled it about whereof some parts yet remain from the Castle to the West-gate and thence the foundation may be perceived to the North where in the midst of the way ranging with the Bank stands a Gate of Stone Its Circuit contained about 2220 paces In the Wars between K. Stephen and Maud the Empress these Walls were thrown down by Robert Earl of Glocester and the Town also suffered much by Fire but recovering its former estate it hath ever since encreased in Beauty and Wealth Robbin Hood if not by birth yet by his chiefest abode was this Countryman Camden saith he was the gentlest Thief that ever was This Gallant accompanied with little John and 100 stout Fellows more molested all Passengers on the highway of whom our Poet gives this Character From wealthy Abbots Chests and Churls abundant store What oftentimes he took he shar'd amongst the poor No Lordly Bishop came in lusty Robbin's way But that before he went his pass to him must pay The Widdow in distress he graciously reliev'd And remedi'd the wrongs of many a Virgin griev'd But I cannot tell who made him a Judge or gave him Commission to take where it might best be spar'd and give where it most wanted His Principal residence was in Sherwood Forrest in this County though he had another haunt near the Sea in the North-riding in Yorkshire where Robbin Hood's Bay still retaineth his name not that he was a Pyrate but a Land-Thief and retired to these unsuspected Parts for security One may wonder he escaped the hands of Justice dying in his Bed for ought we find to the contrary for the King setting forth a Proclamation to have him apprehended it happened he fell sick at a certain Nunnery in Yorkshire called Birkleys and desiring there to be let Blood was betrayed and made bleed to death It is said that he was of Noble Blood at least made Noble no less than an Earl for some deserving services but having wasted his Estate in riotous courses meer penury forced him to take this course in which he was rather a merry than mischievous Thief and may be said to be honestly dishonest complementing Passengers out of their Purses and never murdered any thing but Deer and this popular Robber generally feasted the Neighbours with his Venison he seldom hurt any man never any Woman spared the poor and made prey only of the rich He played his pranks in the Reign of Richard 1. about 1195. We must not forget that two Ayrs of Lannards were lately found in Sherwood Forrest these Hawks are the natives of Saxony and it seems being old and past flying at the Game were let or did let themselves loose where meeting with Lanarets enlarged on the same Terms the did breed together and proved as excellent in their kind when as managed as any which were brought out of Germany In the last Year of Q. Mary 1568. such a marvellous Tempest of Thunder happened within a Mile of Nottingham that it beat down all the Houses and Churches in two Towns thereabout cast the Bells to the outside of the Church-Yards and some Webs of Lead writhen as if it had been Leather were thrown 400 Foot into the Field The River of Trent runs between the 2 Towns the water whereof with the mud at the bottom was carried a quarter of a Mile and cast against Trees with the violence whereof Trees were pulled up by the roots and cast 12 score off also a Child was taken out of a Mans Hand and then let fall 200 Foot off of which fall it died five or six men thereabout were slain and neither flesh nor skin perished also there fell some Hail-stones that were 15 Inches about Upon Jul. 6. 1662. several Persons being in a field near Nottingham in Thundring Weather saw a Wind-Mill at some distance from them which seemed to be all in a flame insomuch that the spectators thought it had been burnt and consumed but when they came near it they found that it was not in the least prejudiced by the Fire only one Rake head was burnt in the Mill. This County is divided into 8 Hundreds wherein are 9 Market Towns 168 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of York It elects 8 Parliament men and gives the Title of Earl to Charles L. Howard NORTHUMBERLAND hath Durham on the South Cumberland on the South-West the Germane Ocean on the East and Scotland on the North and East the soil is not very fruitful it chiefly abounds in Fish Fowl and Sea-coal This County was formerly reckoned a Kingdom and several Kings reigned therein among whom we read of Ethelburg who in the year 617. was King thereof and married his Daughter to one Edwin a Pagan this Edwin
thing descend save a stone or some metalline substance And that the Meer Llynsavathan within two Miles of Brecknock was once a fair City till swallowed up by an Earthquake which is not improbable because all the high ways of this Shire do lead thither and Ptolomy speaks of a City called Loventrium hereabout which is not now to be found they say likewise that at the end of Winter when after a long frost the Ice of this Lake breaks it makes a fearful noise like Thunder Giraldus Cambrensis reporteth there is a Fountain in Carmarthenshire which conformable to the Sea Ebbs and Flows twice in 24 hours There are in this County strange Vaults under ground supposed to be the Castles of People who were conquered in the Wars Dr. Ferrar was Bishop of St. Davids in K. Edward 6. time but in the Reign of Queen Mary he was sent for and examined about his Faith by the Bishop of Winchester who told him that the Queen and Parliament had altered Religion and therefore required him to embrace the same to which he answered That he had taken an Oath never to consent or agree that the Bishop of Rome should have any Jurisdiction in this Realm The Bishop of Winchester called him froward Fellow and false Knave and so returned him to Prison again He was afterward examined before Henry Morgan pretended Bishop of St. Davids who requiring him to subscribe to several Articles he refused it or to recant any thing whereupon he read the Sentence of Condemnation against him then he was degraded and deliver'd to the secular Power by whom he was carried to Caermarthen there to be burned a little before his Execution there came one to him who much lamented the painfulness of his Death to whom Dr Ferrar answered That if he saw him once stir or move in the pains of his burning he should then give no credit to the Doctrine he had taught and he was as good as his word standing so patiently in the midst of the Flames that he never moved holding up his stumps till one with a staff dashed him on the head whereby he fell down and quietly resigned his Spirit to God There was at Bangor in Carnavanshire a great Monastery in which were many religious Monks who lived by the sweat of their Brows and the labour of their hands far unlike the Monks since Out of this Monastery the Monks went to Westchester to pray for the good success of their friends against the Heathen Saxons continuing 3 days in fasting and Prayer Elfride the Saxon King seeing them so fervent in their Prayers asked what kind of men they were and being told that they prayed for their Enemies then said he Though they carry no weapons yet they fight against us and with their Prayers and Preaching prosecute us therefore after he had overcome the Brittains he commanded his Souldiers to fall upon the unarmed Monks of whom he murthered 1100 only 50 of them escaping But God left not their death long unrevenged for this cruel King was soon after killed in the field by the Christian Edwin who succeeded him in the Kingdom It is said that there is a Lake in Snowden-Hills in this County which hath a floating Island therein but it seems it swims away from the sight of those who endeavour to discover it they tell also of Fishes found here which have but one Eye which yet men with two Eyes could never behold The highest hill in Denbyshire called Moilenly hath a Spring of clear Water on the Top In 1660. a very great well near Chirk Town in this County was dried up In Flintshire is that excellent Well called St. Winifrids Well or Holy well so famous for cure of Aches and Lameness When K. Richard 2. came to Flint castle being there received by Henry Duke of Lancaster as he was going from thence they let loose a Greyhound of the Kings as was usual whenever the King got on Horseback which Greyhound used to leap upon the Kings Shoulders and fawn very much upon him but at this time he leaped upon the Duke of Lancaster and fawned upon him in the same manner as he used to do on his Master the Duke asked the King what the Dog meant or intended It is an ill and unhappy O men to me said the King but a fortunate one to you for he acknowledges thee to be King and that thou shalt reign in my stead This he said with a presaging mind upon a light occasion which yet in short time came to pass It is reported that in an Island in Glamorganshire there appeareth a Chink in a Rock or Cliff to which if you lay your Ear you may easily hear a noise like Smiths at work one while blowing of the Bellows another while striking of the Hammer the grinding of Iron Tools the hissing of Steel Gads yea the puffing noise of a Fire in a Furnace There is also at Newton on the Bank of the River Ogmore in this Shire a Well where at full Sea in the Summer you can scarce get a dishful of Water whereas at the Ebb you may easily get a pail-full On the top of a hill called Mynd-Morgan is a Monument with a strange character which the Inhabitants thereabout say if any man read the same he will dye shortly after whereby I suppose they mean that it is impossible to be read There is a Lake in Merionethshire near Bala containing near 160 Acres of ground into which the River Dee runs and goes through it without mixing their Waters This Pemble-Meer doth not swell with all the Waters and Land-floods which fall from the Mountains unto it but a small blast of Wind will make it mount above its bounds and Banks I know not whether it be worth relating what is known for a truth of a Market Town called Dogelthy in this Shire 1. That the Walls thereof are 3 miles high that is The Mountains that surround it 2 That men come into it over the water but go out of it under the water because they go in over a fair Bridge but the water falling from a Rock is conveyed in a wooden Trough under which Travellers must make shift to pass 3. The Steeple thereof doth grow therein since the Bells if they have more than one hang in an Yew-tree 4. There are more Ale-Houses than Houses for Tenements are divided into 2 or 3 Tipling-Houses and Barns without Chimneys are used to that purpose In the Year 1661. Dec. 20. about Sunsetting the Inhabitants of Weston in Montgomeryshire discovered a great number of Horsemen about 400 paces from them marching two a Breast in Military order upon the Common and were half an hour before the Reer came up seeming to be about 500 in all the spectators were amazed thinking them to be an Army of Roundheads going to release the Prisoners at Montgomery there being at that time several Ministers and Gentlemen in Prison and therefore several of them went to the top of the next