house, on which is a sailing vessel: the park iş computed to be thirteen miles round.

Passing Palethorp, and the little town of Ollerton, they visited Rufford, a spacious old mansion, belonging to Sir George Saville, the approach to which is through avenues of ancient limes and beech. Here James and Charles I. used occasionally to lodge, when they came on hunting expeditions to the forest of Shirewood. The rooms are ornamented with a variety of paintings.

Leaving this seat, they soon reached Nottingham, a fair, well-built, populous town, with a castle, formerly so strong that it never was taken by storm. After the civil wars, however, Cromwell ordered it to be demolished. On the restoration, it fell into the hands of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, who began the present building, and left sufficient revenues to complete it. In the park are some excavations in the rocks, supposed by Stukeley to be habitations of the ancient Britons.

The stocking manufacture is the principal support of Nottingham, and in this branch it is unrivalled.

Two miles off is Clifton, the seat of a very ancient family, of the same name, through the grounds of which the Trent runs. The house has lately been modernized.

Wollaton Hall, the seat of Lord Middleton, lies three miles from Nottingham, on the Derby road. It stands on an elevated spot, and makes a fine appearance at a distance. The building is square, with a square tower at each angle, adorned with pinnacles. The views from hence are extremely fine. Strangers, it seems, are not permitted to see the inside, even when the family is absent, a piece of gloomy inhospitality, which our author deservedly reprobates.

Proceed through Bradmore and Bunny to Lough

borough, and so to Leicester. From the last-named place to Market Harborough is little worth notice. In this neighbourhood is the celebrated water of Holt Nevil.

The next stage was Northampton, a fine town, standing on a gentle ascent, at the foot of which runs the river Nen, which is here navigable. The Roman station, Eltanori, is said to have been very near, and many vestiges of that nation have been discovered in this vicinity.

Northampton has been the scene of many memorable events. Parliaments were frequently held here; and in the reign of Henry III. an attempt was made to remove the University of Oxford hither.

The castle, now only known by its ruins, was built by an earl of Northampton, in 1084. A small portion of the outer walls still serves as a fence to the area, now a field.

In 1675, the greatest part of the town was consumed by fire, but afterwards rebuilt with addi. tional splendor. The king gave one thousand loads of wood towards rebuilding the church of AllSaints; and James Compton, earl of Northampton*, was a liberal benefactor on this occasion, forgetting the injuries his family had received in the civil wars, from the inhabitants of this place.

The churches of St. Peter, St. Sepulchre, and St. Giles, are of great antiquity, especially the former, whose Saxon ornaments well deserve the notice of the curious traveller.

Shoes and stockings are manufactured here to a considerable extent. The population is very considerable, and unfortunately every resident has a

In some families there seems to be an hereditary dignity of mind. The Comptons have ever been distinguished for gene rosity and magnanimity.

vote in the election of members for the town, which has given rise to scenes of venality and dissipation, disgraceful to a free country.

Six miles off is Castle Ashby, the seat of the Earl of Northampton. It is a large pile, surrounding a handsome square court, with a beautiful screen on one side, the work of Inigo Jones.

About five miles to the west of Northampton is Althorpe, the seat of Earl Spencer. It stands in a low situation, but contains some noble apartments, and an almost unrivalled collection of paintings. The library is equally famous for its store of choice books.

Not far from hence is Holdenby House, built by Sir Christopher Hatton, and, for a time, the prison of Charles 1. It is now in ruins.

In the road from Northampton to London, and about a mile from the town, stands one of the crosses built by Edward I. in memory of his queen, which having been repeatedly repaired, is now in good preservation.

Proceeding by Horton and Stoke Goldington, they came to Newport Pagnell, a town lying on the Ouse, which in floods was almost impassable, till within the memory of man. Here, and in the neighbourhood, great quantities of thread-lace are made.

Leaving Newport, they travelled on to Woburn, a small town, famous for the fine seat, park, and plantations, of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey. The house was almost wholly rebuilt by the late duke, on the site where the ancient abbey stood, and is worthy of being the residence of one of the richest noblemen in this country. It is a large quadrangle, inclosing a spacious court. The pictures are numerous, and many of them are extremely fine.

About a mile from Dunstable, the next stage, is a large round area, of nine acres, called Maiden

Bower, surrounded with a ditch and rampire, which Dr. Stukeley insists is a British work, though the Roman road, and the number of coins found in it, seem to give it to that nation.

Dunstable, the Magiovinium and Magintum of antiquity, stands at the intersection of the Wat ling Street and the Iknild Street. The present town is said to have been built by Henry I. and was formerly famous for its priory. Here a neat manufacture of articles in straw is carried on, which likewise employs many hands in the environs.

Passing through Market Street and Redburn, they came to St. Albans, a large town, rich in antiquities, which rose out of the ruins of Old Verulam, originally a British, afterwards a Roman station. Considerable fragments of the Roman walls still remain.

The abbey church stands on an eminence, and is one of the most noble and venerable remains of the piety of our ancestors of any in the kingdom. In it stood the shrine of St. Alban, splendidly adorned, and here lies the body of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and many other distinguished personages.

In the church of St. Michael is a monument to the memory of the immortal Bacon, Lord Verulam, with a fine figure of this great scholar sitting in a chair.

St. Albans has been the scene of many notable exploits. Two bloody battles between the houses of York and Lancaster were fought here: a period of our history, which ought to make us reflect with gratitude on the happiness we now enjoy, and resolve to maintain inviolate the laws and liberties by which we are secured.

"And now," says Mr. Bray, "being come almost within sight of London, I take my leave of the reader, satisfied if my endeavours to amuse him have not been altogether fruitless,"

TOUR

IN IRELAND,

MADE BETWEEN THE YEARS

1776 AND 1779.

BY

ARTHUR YOUNG, Esq. F.R.S.

THE beneficial labours of Mr. Young, in the service of agriculture and his country, will long be preserved in the memory of a grateful posterity, and justly entitle him to the highest distinction from his contemporaries.

His tour in Ireland embraces a wide field of remark on the civil and agricultural state of that island, and therefore only to a very limited degree falls within our plan; yet we should feel ourselves wanting in attention to the public, did we not enrich our collection with a summary of the scenes that fell under the review of such an intelligent author, particularly as travels in the sister island are neither numerous nor satisfactory.

On June 19, 1776, Mr. Young arrived at Holyhead, on his first visit to Ireland, and after a tedious passage of twenty-two hours, landed next day at Dunlary, about four miles from Dublin, which city far exceeded his expectations, in its grandeur, regularity, and accommodations. The front of the parliament-house is grand, and the apartments are VOL. II.

Z