excellent in their kinds, efpecially bacon and cyder; and its rivers afford as great plenty of fish, especially falmon from the Severn, together with lampreys and congereels. But, to give a truer idea of this county, we fhall confider it in three parts, according to its ufual divifion, viz.

1. Cotefwould, the hilly part of the county, bordering on Warwickshire, Oxfordfhire, and Berkshire. It is not very fertile, and lics expofed to the winds and cold, fo that its corn is flow in coming out of the ground; from whence arose the proverb in this county, It is as long in coming as Cotefwould barley: but then it is healthy, and feeds a multitude of fheep, whofe wool is exceeding fine, and fo improved by the inhabitants, that they may be reckoned as golden fleeces to the county, many of whofe towns are fo eminent for the cloathing manufacture, that they have no others fit to be named with it. It has been computed that before English wool began to be clandeftinely exported to France, fifty thoufand cloths were made yearly in this fire, which are estimated at ten pounds a cloth, the fine with the coarfe; and the number of fheep kept in the county, of which moft are fed in this part of it, is computed at four hundred thoufand. It is faid, that the fine Spanish wool came originally from the Cotefwould fheep; one of the English kings, either Richard I. or Edward I. having made a prefent of the breed to the then King of Spain.

2. The Vale, which is the middle part of the county, and spreads into a fruitful plain lying on both fides of the Severn, is a quite different clime from the Cotefwould, where, if it be true that there are eight months in the year winter, and four too cold for fummer, here it is certain are eight months fummer, and four too warm to deferve the name of winter. It is in this part of the county that excellent cheese is made, which is the fattest and most agreeable to the palate of any in England; though that which is fo called in London, comes, for the moft part out of Wiltshire; the real cheese of this county going more to Bristol than to London.

3. The foreft of Dean, which is the most weft part of the county, lies between the Severn and the Wye. It was heretofore covered with wood, and contained thirty thousand acres of it, being twenty miles long, and ten broad; and it was then fuch a harbour for robbers, efpecially towards the banks of the Severn, that in the reign of Henry VI. an act of Parliament was made on purpose to reftrain them. But fince so many rich veins of iron have been difcovered, and forges eftablished here by acts of Parliament for working it, which require vast quantities of wood to fupport them, the woods are not only reduced to narrower bounds, but many towns and villages have been built in the foreft, as is ufual where any manufacture is carried on; infomuch, that here are three hundreds, twenty-three parish churches, three market-towns, one mayor-town, one castle, and one abbey. Where the woods are still preserved, the oaks are reckoned the beft in England; the foil, which is a wet clay, being proper for the growth of them. The oak timber of this foreft was anciently fo famous, that most of that employed in building of English fhips was fetched from hence: and this was fo well known to the Spaniards, that their invincible armada, which was fent in 1558 to invade England, was ordered exprefsly to destroy this foreft, in hopes thereby of quite ruining the English navigation. Formerly, I was told, the valleys of this county, which now are with more profit to the owners turned into orchards, were full of vineyards. In a word, this county abounds in corn, wood, wool, iron, fteel, cyder, falmon, and cheese.

We ftill kept within land, and arrived in Monmouthshire, which was formerly a Weifh county. Its air is temperate and healthy, the east parts are woody, and the weft parts are a little mountainous; but in the general it is fruitful enough, and the

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hills feed cattle, fheep, and goats, while the valleys produce plenty of grafs and corn, efpecially the latter, of which here is as good wheat as in any county of the kingdom, and yet lands never fell for more than twenty-one years purchafe. The Briftol merchants fend their fhips hither to take off great quantities of its corn for Portugal and other countries. Coals are fo cheap here, that it is common to fee a good fire in the meaneft cottage; for a horfe load cofts but 2d. at the mouth of the pit."

The principal manufacture of the county is flannel. The gentlemen here generally fpeak English, though the current language of the vulgar is Welfh. The natives were formerly reckoned a valiant and courageous people, and the most skilful archers of all the Welsh borderers; yet they were cruelly harraffed after the Normans came into England by the lords of the marshes, to whom feveral of the English kings granted all they could conquer here for their own.

Our next route was into Herefordshire, which, they fay, has also been a Welsh county; and its prodigious quantities of orchards and fruit trees, the very hedges being full of them, have obtained to this county the agreeable name of the Orchard of England. This county abounds with all things neceffary for life; but more especially with corn, wool, ialmon, and cyder; and its wool and cyder is generally counted the beft in England; yet this cyder, fo much admired, is made of the red-ftreak-apple, which is fcarce eatable; and grows no where fo well as in this county.

After a fhort stay we arrived in Worcestershire, whofe air and foil are fo kindly, that it is inferior to none of its neighbours, either for health or pleasure, the former being sweet all over the county, the latter rich both in tillage and pasturage, the hills being covered with flocks of fheep, and the valleys abounding in corn and rich meadows. Neither is it lefs happily accommodated with water; for it has in all parts very fine rivers, as the Severn, Stour, Avon, Teme, &c. which furnish it plentifully with filh of the moft delicious kinds. The noble Severn directs the courfe of its rich ftream from north to fouth through the very middle of the county; and the Avon from Warwickshire runs into that river through the fouth part of the fhire. Its commodities befides corn, cattle, cheese, wool, cloth, stuffs, cyder, lampreys, &c. are perry and falt, and the latter fuch in a peculiar manner. Its perry is made of pears, and the best kind of it is very palateable, especially if it be three or four years old, when it is racy and fpiritous. Hops are latély very much cultivated in this fhire, which commodity, and their falt, are fent down the Severn in a fort of veffels called troughs, of which at leaft twenty are constantly employed to Bristol, Bridgewater, and other places, Somerfetshire and Dorsetshire being chiefly fupplied with the latter by this traffic.

Still returning to the north-east we entered Warwickshire, whofe air is excellent, the foil rich, and its principal commodities are corn, malt, wool, wood, iron, coal, and cheese.

'Tis divided into two parts, the Felden, and the Woodland; that on the fouth fide, and this on the north fide of the Avon; by which it is certain, that as the former was a champaign, the other was a woody country. The first afforded all the pafture, and corn grounds; and the fecond was of little ufe, befides fuel; but the iron works, in the adjacent countries, have fo confumed the wood, that they have long fince made way for the plough; and at prefent, what by marle, and other good contrivances, all this part yields abundance of corn; fo that the Felden, which ufed to fupply the other with corn, cheese, and butter, is now turned, in a great measure, into palturing. The foil of both is good, and produces excellent corn and cheese, especially the latter, which has fo much the preference, that the very name of it given to that of other counties, which is not so good, is enough to carry it off.

Of late years this county has been alfo diftinguished by a filk manufactory of ribbons and other fmall wares at Coventry; as also for hard wares at Birmingha.n; whose proprietors have their warehouses at London.

The next county eastward is Northamptonfhire. Here I found the foil very fruitful both in tillage and pafturage, but it is not well ftocked with wood, nor (by reason of its distance from the fea) can it be fupplied with coal as duly as other counties, fo that winter fuel, as I was informed here, is exceeding dear. It abounds with sheep and other cattle, wool, pigeons, and faltpetre; and they fay it has been obferved, that there is lefs wafte ground in this than in any other county of England, there being but one barren heath in it, and that near Whittering. 'Tis a plain level country, and so populous, that from fome places may be feen no lefs than thirty fteeples at one view. Its manufactures are ferges, tammies, fhalloons, boots and fhoes.

Our next progrefs was into Huntingtonfhire, which I was informed, having formerly been a very woody country, and harbouring much game, was fo called from its being moft proper for hunting. It ftill abounds with willows, marfhy on the north-east side, but plentiful of pafture; and though it must be allowed inferior, both as to the foil and produce, to many other counties, it is pleasant, diverfified with hills, and yields plenty of corn and cattle.

Keeping ftill to the aft we paffed into Cambridgeshire, in which is feated another famous univerfity of the English nation. The air and foil of this county are very different, according to its different parts: the air is very good about Cambridge, and all the fouth and east parts, but damp and foggy, and therefore not fo wholesome, in the ifle of Ely, and other northern low watery tracts, that are part of the great level of the fens, called Bedford-level, and often fubject to inundations. The foil, however, in general, is very fruitful; the dry barren parts being improved in fome places from five to thirty fhillings an acre by the cinque-foil (that grafs which the French call Saint-foin, because they brought it from the Holy Land) and the low fpungy parts, by draining the fens. Its chief commodities are excellent corn, especially barley, of which they make vaft quantities of malt, cattle, butter, faffron, colefeed, hemp, fish, and wild-fowl. The principal manufactures of this county are paper and baskets.

N. B.-See an account of the univerfity of Cambridge hereafter.

At last we arrived in the maritime county of Suffolk, looking to the northern ocean; whofe air is very clear and wholesome, fweet and pleasant, even near the fea-fhore, because the beach is generally fandy and fhelly, which shoots off the fea-water, and keeps it from ftagnation and flinking mud. The phyficians, as they told me, reckon it as good an air as any in the kingdom.

The foil is various; that near the fea is fandy, and full of heaths, yet abounds with rye, pcafe, and hemp, and feeds great flocks of fheep. That called High Suffolk, or the Woodlands, which is the inner part of the country, though it abounds with wood, yet has a rich deep clay and marle, which produces good pafture, that feeds abundance of cattle. The part which borders on Effex and Cambridge likewife affords excellent pafture; and about Bury and fo to the north and north-weft, 'tis fruitful in corn, except towards New-market, which is for the moft part green heath. 'Tis faid, that the feeding cattle and fheep on turnips, which practice has now obtained almost the general. approbation of the English graziers and farmers, was an improvement first set on foot in this county.

Its chief commodities are butter and cheese, the latter of which is fomewhat the worle for the fake of inriching the former; but it is much the better for long voyages, by reafon of its drynefs, and the fea fo mellows it, that it has been fold for twelve pence a pound.

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a pound. The butter, which is made here in great quantities, and conveyed to many parts of England, is incomparable; it is packed up in firkins, according to the ftatute, and fold in markets and fairs for all ufes both by fea and land, but more particularly to the cheesemongers of London. Here alfo I met with fome manufactures of woollen and linen cloth.

Keeping now to the fea-coaft we entered the county of Norfolk, which has a greater variety of foil, than is, perhaps, in any other county, and in that respect it is called (justly enough) the reprefentative of all England, for the best and worst of foils; but even the latter, i. e. fens and marshlands, and the fandy heaths, are exceeding profitable; the former affording rich pafture for cattle, and the latter feeding great flocks of hardy ftrong fheep, of a peculiar kind to this county, called Norfolks, and vaft numbers of filver hair'd rabbits. The light, deep, and clay grounds, are very fruitful in rye and peafe, wheat and barley; and near Waifingham, they produce faffron. On the banks of its rivers, and its rivulets, are many fine meadows and pastures; and near its towns are many Iprings, groves, and coppices: fome villages are faid to keep no lefs than five thoufand fheep. The lord of every town orders how many, and what fort of fheep the people fhall have, directs their walks both in winter and fummer, where they fhall be folded for the fake of their dung, and how they shall be driven from place to place. Its product confifts chiefly in corn, wool, honey, and faffron; the beft faffron growing near Walfingham : And the manufactures of this county are chiefly ftuffs, crapes, and stockings.

Proceeding northerly, we came into Lincolnshire, which is usually divided into three parts, viz. Holland on the fouth-eaft fide, Keftevan on the fouth-weft, and Lindsey on the north, which laft is much the biggeft; for its divifion takes in all that lies north of Lincoln city, and of the Fofs-Dyke, which King Henry I. cut betwixt the Witham and Trent.

The first is a foft marfhy ground, abounding with rivers and fens, and has therefore a bad air.

The fecond has an air more wholesome, as it is lefs affected by the fogs from the fens; and a foil more fruitful.

The third is generally reckoned healthy, especially on the weft fide.

The inland country produces corn, the fens colefeed, and the richest pastures; fo that their cattle are bigger than in any county except Somerset, which took a breed from thence about threefcore years ago, and has much improved the size by their richer pastures. And their horfes are reputed to be no ways inferior to the Yorkshire breed.

Once more we left the fight of the fea-fhore, aud entered the inland county of Leicester, which enjoys both a good air and a good foil, that produces wheat, barley, peas, and oats; but its moft natural and plentiful crops are beans, especially in that part of Sparking ho hundred, which lies about the village, called from thence Barton in the beans, where they are fo luxuriant, that towards harveft time, when I faw them, they looked like a foreft. The Norfolkians are not fonder of dumplins, than the Leiceftrians are of beans; which though they are in other countries food only for horfes or hogs, unless eaten when they are green, in this they are esteemed good for men all the year round. Perhaps they are more tender and sweeter here than in other places, for this reafon in the very nature of things, viz. that where any grain thrives beft, 'tis always the sweetest and wholesomest of the kind. The people have not only a pleasure of eating, but a profit of felling them to their neighbours, who indeed deride them by the name of bean bellies, and have a proverb which fays, shake a Leicestershire

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man by the collar, and you shall hear the beans rattle in his belly; but the yeomen fmile at what is faid to rattle in their bellies, while they know good filver thereby rings in their pockets.

There are no manufactures in this county, except it be stockings, which has been of late much encouraged; fo that the shepherd and husbandman engross almost all to themselves; for as the latter fupplies other counties with its corn and pulfe, the former fends its wool into many parts of England, which fetches them good money.

The great want of fuel, in the inland country especially, is fupplied by a very rich coal mine, at a place called Cole Orton, from whence 'tis fold at good rates to the neighbouring counties.

Their fheep are of the Lincolnshire breed, fomewhat bigger than thofe of Cambridge and Norfolk; and the country is pretty well stocked with deer, for which here are feveral parks.

Moft of the gentlemen here are graziers, and in fome places the latter are fo rich, that they grow gentlemen, it being common here for graziers to rent farms in this county from 5ool. to 2000l. a-year.

The horfes bred, or rather fed here, are the largest in England, being generally the black fort for the coach and dray, of which great numbers are continually fent up to London.

Adjoining to Leicestershire on the north road is the county of Nottingham,, which, excepting the large foreft of Sherwood, is an exceeding fruitful place, especially on the fouth-eaft, and the weft fide is woody, and full of good coal. The chief commodities are cattle, corn, malt, wool, coal, wood, liquorice, cheese, butter, leather and tallow. It also yields marle of feveral forts, and a stone not unlike alabafter, only fofter; which, when burnt, makes a plafter harder than that of Paris, wherewith they generally floor their upper rooms. The chief manufactures are ftockings, glafs, and earthen wares; and 'tis noted for fine strong ale, a liquor made of malt and hops much admired by the English.

To the weft of Nottinghamfhire lies Derbyshire, an inland county, and according to its different parts, deferving of a different character; for the east and fouth parts, which are full of gentlemen's feats and parks, are well cultivated and fruitful in all kinds of grain, especially barley, which makes many of the inhabitants maltsters, who have a good trade both for their malt and ale. The weft part on the other fide of the Derwent is barren, confifting of nought but bleak hills and mountains, except fome fields of oats, and is therefore called the Peak, from the Saxon word Peaeland, which fignifies an eminence; nevertheless there is fome grafs on the hills, and plenty in the vales, which feed great flocks of fheep and other cattle; yet by reafon of its fubterraneous riches in mines and quarries, this tract is almost as profitable to the inhabitants as the other part; for its mountains and quarries yield great quantities of the best lead, antimony, mill-ftones, fcythe-ftones, and grindítones, marble, alabaster, a coarse fort of chrystal, azure, fpar, green and white vitriol, allum, pit-coal, and iron; for the forming of which, here are forges, where fuch quantities of wood are confumed every day, as well as what is ufed at the lead mines and coal delfs, that the country has very little, if any, left. This peak abounds with wonders or curiofities, which the inhabitants generally reduce to feven: viz. 1. The famous palace of the Duke of Devonshire, called Chatfworth-house. 2. Mam-tor, a wonderful mountain. 3. Eden-hole. Buxton-wells. 5. Weeding-well, or Tide's-well. 6. Pool's-hole. 7. The devil's a➡e, or peak's a-e.

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