for the difference in extent. As to foreign trade, surely no fhire but Middlefex will compare with one that has the city of Bristol to boast of; not to mention the coasting trade in the little ports of Bridgewater and Minhead.

We then entered Wiltshire, the northern part of which is full of pleasant rifings, and watered with clear ftreams. It was once overspread with woods, which are now in a manner quite deftroyed. The foil of this part of the country being clay, is confequently troublesome fometimes to travellers; but here is a great variety of delightful profpects, to make them amends. And my tutor told me, that a good author of their own made this remark of Wiltshire: "That an ox, left to himself, would, of all "England, chufe to live in the north of this county, a fheep in the fouth part of it, "and a man in the middle between both; as partaking of the pleasure of the plain, "and the plenty of the deep country." The foil of the vale is very fruitful, and affords great quantity of as good cheese as any in England; and though that of the hills is in fome places chalky, and barren enough, yet its cheapness makes it beneficial to the neighbouring farmers. I have been told on the fpot, that on the downs betwixt Sandy-lane and Marlborough, and between the Devizes and Salisbury, hundreds of acres have been rented at a groat an acre per annum. But the numerous flocks of fheep fed there turn much more to the profit of the proprietors. The abundance of wool which these sheep produce, invited the inhabitants to fall very much into the clothing trade; and the best broad cloths, both white and dyed, in England, are made in the weft and north parts of this county, and indeed, in the south and east parts too, but not in such quantities.

Fuel is not very plenty in this county, which has no coal pits, nor indeed much wood: 'Tis productive, however, of all forts of grain, especially wheat.

From Wiltshire we departed for Hampshire or Hantshire, by some called the county of Southampton. This is the county where I faw, what my tutor had before told me, the tract of land, called New Foreft, which was enlarged by William the Conqueror at the destruction of feveral towns and villages, and 36 parishes, being computed 50 miles in compafs; and became remarkable for the death of two of his fons and a grandson, who loft their lives ftrangely in this forest.

The air of this county is moft pure and piercing, especially the downs, of which there is a ridge that runs almost athwart it, and affords plenty of game. The foil is various as to its fertility, the hilly parts being barren, like other downs, and fit only for fheep; but the lower grounds are fruitful in corn and herbage. It produces great quantities of all manner of grain, particularly wheat and barley, with which it fupplies the flourishing markets of Farnham, Bafingstoke, and Reading; and their teams of horses, many of which are fit for the best coach in the kingdom, fhew the wealth of the farmer. The arable ground, though very ftony, is fruitful; for the stones lie loose upon the foil: and those who are well skilled in agriculture affirm, that they keep it warm, and that therefore, the taking them away would do more hurt than good. This county is particularly famous for its honey, with which they make most excellent mead and metheglin. Hampshire bacon is allowed by all to be the best in England, the fwine being fupplied with acorns in plenty, from the New Foreft, and other woods, in which they are fuffered to run at large: And the delicacy of their flesh is attributed to their not being pent up in ftyes. Kerfey and cloth are made here; and though not in fo great plenty as in Wiltshire, Somerfetfhire, and Gloucefterfhire, yet there is enough made, not only for home confumption, but for a foreign trade. Its fea-coafts furnish oyfters, lobsters, and other falt water fish. And indeed, both for profit and pleasure, there is not a more inviting county in Great Britain.

Adjoining

Adjoining to Hampshire is the inland county of Berks; whofe air is generally healthy and fweet; the foil fertile enough, where 'tis cultivated; and the whole county, which is one of the most pleafant in England, is well ftored with cattle and timber, particularly oak and beech, in the western parts, and in Windfor Foreft; which alfo abounds with wild fowl, and other game; as its rivers Thames and Kennet, the one on the north, the other on the fouth fide of it, do with fifh, especially fine large trout and cray-fifh. It has been obferved, that land is dearer here, than in other parts the fame distance from London. The chief manufactures of this county are woollen cloth, fail cloth, and malt; their being great crops of barley in the west part of the county, particularly the vale of White-horse, fo named from the bare fide of a chalky hill reprefenting that animal, which the inhabitants once a-year, about mid-fummer, take fome pains in trimming, to keep it to its fhape and colour, and then conclude the day with mirth. 'Tis fuppofed by fome, that the ground there was formed into this figure by the Saxons, who had the White-horfe for their arms.

Having regaled ourselves four days with the fowl and delicious fish of Berkshire, we paffed into Surrey, which I could not find to be remarkable for any particular trade or manufacture, excepting the corn market at Croydon, and the several branches of trade carried on in the borough of Southwark: but as that borough is contiguous to London, I shall remark their trade together. In general, I obferve this to be a healthy, pleasant county; and therefore it boafts of feveral royal palaces, and many feats of the nobility and gentry. But the air, as well as the foil, of the middle and extreme parts is vastly different, the air being mild in the latter, which is very fruitful in corn and hay, with a fine mixture of woods and fields, especially on the fouth about Holmfdale, and on the north towards the Thames; but the air is bleak in the heart of the county, which, except a delightful spot indeed here and there, is all open fandy ground, and barren heath: for which reason, the county is not unaptly compared to a coarfe cloth with a fine lift or hem. In some places there are long ridges of hills or downs, with warrens for rabbits and hares, and parks for deer; and its rivers, the chief of which, befides the Thames, are the Mole, the Wey, and the Wandle, abound with fish. And the chief commodities of this county, befides its corn, are box-wood, walnuts, and fullers-earth, which laft is fold at a groat a bufhel at the pits near Ryegate, and is fent up to London for the use of the woollen manufactures all over England. N.B. This earth is prohibited exportation by the fame laws, and under the fame penalties as wool itself.

Our tour through Surrey was pretty agreeable in regard to the many fine seats which we met with, but I was more pleased to turn off into Suffex, a maritime county upon the English channel; whofe downs near the coaft are charming, and its vallies, or the Wild of Suffex, as it is commonly called, very plentiful, efpecially in oats. The downs are very high green hills, well known to travellers, efpecially fuch as deal in wool or fheep; there being great numbers bred here, whofe wool, which is very fine, is too often exported clandeftinely to France by farmers and jobbers, who are called owlers. Many parts of the downs being a fat chalky foil, are, on that account, very fruitful, both in corn and grafs. The middle part of the county is delightfully chequer'd with meadows, pastures, groves, and corn-fields, that produce wheat and barley. The north quarter is fhaded with woods, from which they make abundance of charcoal; and they fupply timber for the navy docks, and fuel for the iron works, there being not only plenty of ore on the caft fide towards Kent, but many great forges, furnaces, and watermills, for both caft and wrought iron, which, though it is faid to be more brittle than the Spanish, yet cannon are caft with it; and the beft gunpowder in the world is

made

made in this county. A great deal of its meadow ground is turned into ponds and pools, to drive hammer-mills by the flashes. Here we were regaled with the delicious bird, called the wheat-ear, for which this county is particularly famous. 'Tis no bigger than a lark, and is taken by digging a hole in the ground, into which they put a fnare of horse-hair, and then cover the hole, very near, with the turf, turning the graffy fide downwards; this bird being fo very timorous, that the fhadow even of a cloud frightens them into thefe little cavities. They are fo fat, that, when caught, they cannot be carried many miles without being tainted: and even in plucking them they must be handled as little as poffible: and they are fatest when the wheat is ready to be cut down.

I was told, that in winter the roads were fo deep in fome parts, that they were obliged to draw their coaches with oxen.

We at last arrived in Kent, which is the most eastern county on the English channel, and of which I had retained great notions, from the account my tutor had given of its having been an entire kingdom of itself in the time of the heptarchy; and how the Kentish men obliged William the Conqueror to confirm their ancient privileges. This county ftands as it were in a corner, and may properly be divided into three parts, according to the nature of its foil; viz. the downs, which may be faid to have health without wealth; the marfhy parts, which have wealth without health; and the middle, which enjoy both health and wealth. But,

The county, in general, abounds with plantations of hops, fields of corn, pastures, and woods of oak, beech, and chefnuts, and fine orchards of cherries and pippins; and, about Boxley, Foots Cray, North Cray, &c. are many woods of birch, from whence the broom-makers are fupplied, who live in Kent Street, Southwark. The cattle here, of all forts, are reckoned larger than they are in the neighbouring counties; and the Weald of Kent is noted for its large bullocks, as well as for its great timber for fhipping. Here are feveral parks of fallow deer, and warrens of greyish rabbits.. Here are mines of iron, and pits of marle and chalk; woad, and madder, for dyers; wool, flax, faintfoyn; and on the cliffs, between Folkftone and Dover, is plenty of famphire..

From Kent we croffed the water at Greenwich, and arrived at Limehoufe, in the county of Middlefex. This is but a finall county, but pleasant, fruitful, and dignified with the city of London, the capital of the nation, and the city of Westminster, which is the feat of the British monarchs. It abounds with rich and pleafant villages; and may in one word compleat its character, when I declare it to be my opinion, that here are more ingenious men, and more money spent in costly apparel, eating, drinking, plays, operas, and other diversions and gaieties of life, than in any other tract of land of the fame circumference in the whole world befides.

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As to the produce, manufactures, and trade of this county, I am informed, that the whole county almoft is cantoned out into corn or pafture, and garden grounds near the city. The manufactures are chiefly confined to the city or fuburbs, of which hereafter: But it is amazing to see in the neighbouring fields the immenfe, tale of bricks and tiles which are daily making for the fupply of new buildings. The trade being wholly carried on in the port of London, it will be more properly remarked when I give an account of that great and opulent city.

Having ftaid fome time in London, we proceeded on our journey crofs Bow-bridge, which divides Middlesex from Effex, a county fo called, as has been before related, from the Eaft Saxons, by whom it was inhabited.

The air is generally temperate; but near the fea and the Thames, among the hundreds, it is moift; and the inhabitants are subject to agues. It abounds with corn, cattle, wood, and wild-fowl; and the north parts of it, efpecially about Saffron-Walden, produce great quantities of faffron; the best in the world: The foil in fome places thereabouts being fo rich, that after three crops of faffron it yields good barley, for near twenty years together, without dunging. In other parts it produces hops.

It is particularly obferved of this county, that, generally fpeaking, the foil is best where the air is worst, and è contra; for the parts next to the fea and the Thames among the fenny hundreds, which are fo aguish, abound with rich pastures and corn lands; whereas the inland parts, though healthy, are many of them gravelly and fandy, and not fo good either for corn or grafs, but more productive of furze, broom, brakes; yet there are others of clay and loam foils, which bear excellent corn and pafturage. No county affords provifions of all forts in greater plenty than this, both by land and water, for the fupply not only of its own inhabitants, but of the city of London. Many good and ferviceable horses are bred in the marshes. Abundance of fat oxen and fheep are alfo brought from thence to their markets; and corn is weekly fent up to that city in great quantities. Great dairies of cows are alfo kept here, which bring forth calves admired for the whiteness and delicacy of their flesh, infomuch that, As good as an Effex calf, is a common proverb, with the citizens, to denote what they like, as is the other faying, As valiant as an Effex lion, to ridicule what they defpife.

About forty-five miles north-east of London, in this county, is carried on the great manufacture of Colchester baize, fo famous throughout Spain, Portugal, and their American plantations; which are brought to London in waggons containing eighty or ninety hundred weight each, drawn with fix horses only; the roads being fo very hard and level. N.B. The Effex farmers buy lean calves at Smithfield market, London, and having fatted them, bring them to the fame place to fell again.

Hertfordshire, is an inland county, and abounds in grafs, wood, and corn fields, covered with loofe ftones. As there is little or no manufacture in this fhire, which is full of maltfters, millers, dealers in corn, &c. fo their trade would be inconfiderable, was it not for its being every way a great thoroughfare, and for its neighbourhood to London, which makes the chief market-towns to be much frequented, for the fale of wheat, barley, and all forts of grain, not only the growth of this, but several other counties. Wheat, barley and malt are its chief commodities. And the barley of Hertfordshire is so much prized in London, that many hundred quarters are fold by that name in a year, of which not a grain was ever fown in this county.

From Hertfordshire we travelled into Bedfordshire, which we found to be a fruitful country; especially the north parts, which yield plentiful crops of plump, white, and ftrong barley, which, made into malt, is frequently fold in London, and other parts, for that of Hertfordshire. It has forefts and parks well ftored with deer, fat paftures with cattle, produces great quantities of butter and cheese, with fuller's earth, and woad for dying, and has plenty of poultry. Its chief manufactures are bone-lace, and ftraw-hats.

The woad, for which this county is famous, is the plant with which the ancient Britons used to dye their bodies, that they might appear the more terrible to their enemies; but rather, as fome think, to preferve them from the inclemency of the weather. It is cultivated here after this manner: it is fown every year, and the old woad, except what they fave for feed, is plucked up. The beginning of March is the feafon

I

feafon for fowing it, and the middle of May for cropping it. It is beft in a dry year; but more plentiful in a wet one. It is cropped commonly four or five times a-year as it comes up; but the first crop is beft, and every one after it gradually worse. When gathered it is immediately ground fmall in a mill, till it becomes fit to ball; and when bailed, it is laid upon hurdles to dry; and then ground into powder. After this it is spread on a floor, and watered, which is called couching; and then it it turned every day till it is perfectly dry and mouldy, which is called filvering. After filvering, it is weighed, and put into a bag containing two hundred weight, and then fent to the dyer to try it, who fets a price on it according to its goodnefs. The beft is commonly valued at 181. a ton.

Adjoining to Bedfordshire is the county of Bucks, taking its name from beech trees, in which it abounds, as I am told, more than any other part of England. Confequently this fhire is diverfified with pleasant woods and fine ftreams, which render it a defireable country; befides the quality of its air, which is generally good, especially on the Chiltern-hills, so that there is not a better in the whole ifland: and even in the vale, where it is not altogether fo good, it is much better than in other low dirty counties. Its chief rivers are the Thames, the Oufe, and the Colne. The foil, being generally marle or chalk, is very fruitful, especially in corn; and though it is ftony on the Chiltern-hills, yet amidst thofe ftones there come up good crops of choice wheat and barley. It abounds too with phyfical plants, perhaps more than any other county. As the land in

the vale is proper for grazing, fo it abounds with cattle. There are fome graziers here, who perhaps have 4 or 500l. a-year in land of their own, and yet rent three times as much, which they keep all in their own management: and it is very certain, that one fingle meadow, called Buryfield, in the manor of Quarendon, was let not many years ago for 800l. a-year. But the foil here, though fo good to feed fheep, is too rich to breed them; and it is common to give rol. for a ram to breed. The fheep of the vale of Alesbury are the biggeft in England, and their mutton is very good; yet whoever has eaten of that of Banftead, Bagfhot, and Tunbridge, muft own there is better. The beef here is fo good, that Buckinghamfhire bread and beef was formerly a proverb; meaning, that the former was the finest, and the latter the fattest in England.

The manufactures of this hire are paper and bone-lace; the former made at Wycomb mills, and the latter at Newport-Pagnel, where the lace is very little inferior to that of Flanders. And here I can't forbear remarking how far the English degenerate from their native capacity of improving manufactures, in the particular cafe of paper, which, notwithstanding they have greater plenty of the beft rags, they commonly make out of old rotten materials, the fhavings and cuttings of paper, till it will not bear the weight of the prefs; and fell their best rags abroad fo cheap, that the Dutch, French and Genoele, are able to import paper, made chiefly of English rags, cheaper and always better than any that is made in England, which is a great overfight.

My tutor, who was an Oxonian, having brought us to the confines of Oxfordshire, affured me that it would be worth my while to fee and spend a few days in the famous city and univerfity of Oxford; to which I readily condefcended, but shall refer my minutes of that agreeable feat of learning to its proper place; and, at prefent, I only obferve, that Oxfordshire enjoys a fweet healthful air, and is a very plentiful country; for the plains are judiciously difpofed into corn-fields and meadows, and its few hills exalt their heads with lofty woods, and harbour great plenty of all forts of game. I did not meet with any particular manufacture in the whole county.

From Oxford we departed for Gloucefterfhire, which abounds with all forts of grain, cattle, fowl and game, and every thing that other counties produce, and altogether as

excellent