Warwickshire and Northamptonshire to the north, Gloucestershire to the west, and Buckinghamshire to the east. The county is, in general, cold, particularly towards the north-west; and the poor suffer much for want of fuel, for most of the woods, with which it once abounded, are now cut down.

The city of Oxford is built on a rising ground at the meeting of the rivers Thames and Cherwell, and is almost surrounded by meadows. Oxford is celebrated for its university, which consists of twenty colleges and five halls, several of which stand in the streets, and give the city an appearance of great magnificence. It is supposed that there is not such another group of fine buildings, at present, in the world.

Woodstock, a small town not far from Oxford, was once the residence of the kings of England. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry the Eighth, and afterwards Queen of England, passed a good deal of her time in its palace, when she was confined by her sister, Queen Mary. Blenheim-house, near Woodstock, was built at the public expence in the reign of Queen Ann for John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, to perpetuate the memory of a victory he gained over the French, in the

year 1685, at Blenheim, or Hochstet, in Germany, in honour of which the house was named.

The chief productions of the two remaining midland counties, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, are lace, paper, straw-hats, baskets, and toys.

The

A great part of the Chiltern-hills, to the west of Buckinghamshire, is covered with woods of beech, which are very profitable, both for fuel and timber. Beyond these hills, towards the middle of the county, lies the Vale of Aylesbury, one of the richest tracts in the kingdom. town of Aylesbury, in the centre of the vale, was a royal manor in the time of William the Conqueror. The inhabitants of Aylesbury and its neighbourhood possess the art of rearing early ducklings; and I have been told that three thousand pounds worth are sometimes sold in the course of six weeks in the London markets.

ELIZABETH.

The town of Marlow, on the Thames, near the Chiltern hills, is celebrated for a manufactory of thimbles; and Eton, more to the eastward is distinguished for its public school, or college, founded by King Henry the Sixth, in the year

1440.

MOTHER.

The town of Buckingham is remarkable only for its paper mills. It is built upon the river Ouse, which runs across the north-west part of the county.

The Ouse is the principal river of Bedfordshire, and the town of Bedford stands upon it. The trade of Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, consists of different kinds of straw-work.

269

CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.

THE EIGHT EASTERN, SEVEN SOUTHERN, AND THREE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES OF ENG

LAND.

WILLIAM.

Now we must look for the eight eastern counties of England. The first is Lincolnshire.

MOTHER.

Lincolnshire, with regard to size, is the third county in England. It is separated from Yorkshire by the Humber, and the whole of its eastern side is bounded by an arm of the sea, called the Wash. This county, like Yorkshire, is divided into three districts: Lindsey, Kesteven, and Holland. Of these Lindsey is much the largest. It includes all the north-eastern part of the county, which is divided from the remainder by the river Witham. This is the highest part of Lincoln

shire, but it does not contain any eminence that deserves to be called a hill. The city of Lincoln, the capital of the county, is on the river Witham, at the extremity of this tract. It was formerly the chief residence of the Mercian kings; and though much reduced in extent and splendour, still retains an air of ancient greatness. The cathedral is one of the largest Gothic buildings in England; its great bell, called Tom of Lincoln, requires fifteen men to ring it; but it is no longer used on account of the decay of the tower that contains it. King Stephen was made prisoner at Lincoln in his war with the Empress Matilda. Boston, a large town near the mouth of the Witham, trades with London and other places.

The district of Kesteven, the most fertile part of the county, consists of the western side, from the middle to the southern extremity. Part of the fens are in Kesteven; but the remaining district, called Holland, is composed entirely of fens and marshes. Some of these have been drained and cultivated; but those left in their natural state are not unproductive; large flocks of geese are bred on them; and wild geese, wild ducks, coots, and a great variety of water-fowl, frequent them on account of the fish that are in their