VOYAGE FROM ENGLAND TO HAMBURGH. Commencement of these Travels-Bury St. Edmund'sGeneral Appearance of Suffolk and Norfolk-Geological Features of Great Britain-Extended view of the same subject-Yarmouth-Remains of Roman Customs-Departure from England-Island of Heligoland-Worship of Hertha-Extent of Heligoland in the Seventh, Thirteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries-Elbe River-Cuxhaven-Territories of Hanover and Denmark-Gluckstadt and Blankenese-Villas of the Hamburghers-Prospect of Altona and Hamburgh-Description of Hamburgh -State of Society-Population-Literature-Customs of the Inhabitants - Bank of Hamburgh-Price of Money -Luxurious Diet of the People-Benevolent VOL. IX. B Provision I. Commencement of these Travels. Provision for the Poor-Taverns-Government of Hamburgh-Police-Theatres-French Comedians-Recreations of the Alsterschleuse-Church of St. Michael— Asylum for Orphans-Commerce of Hamburgh. CHAP. EARLY in the spring of 1799, when Englishmen were excluded from almost every part of the European Continent by the distracted state of public affairs, four Gentlemen of Jesus College, Cambridge, left their University for Yarmouth; intending to sail thence for Cuxhaven and Hamburgh. The party consisted of Professor MALTHUS', the Rev. W. OTTER, JOHN MARTEN CRIPPS, Esq. and the Author of these Travels. It was their intention to visit Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Lapland; countries seldom seen by literary men; and, at this time, less liable than any other to those political convulsions which agitated more frequented regions. With this view, upon the 20th of May, they took leave of a Society whose Members might truly be said to live together in fraternal har (1) Author of the well-known "Essay on the Principle of Population," " &c. &c. (2) Mr. Otter was then Tutor of Jesus College: he has since distinguished himself by an admirable pamphlet, in answer to the objections urged against the Bible Society;-" A pamphlet," says the Dean of Carlisle, "remarkable for its conciseness and perspicuity, and for the mixture of plain good sense and argumentative acumen which appears in every page." See Dr. Milner's Strictures &c. p. 282. Lond. 1813. CHAP. 1. Bury St. mony; and rested the first night at Bury St. Edmund's, the Montpelier of England; a place no less remarkable for its ecclesiastical antiquities, Edmund's. than for the polished manners of its inhabitants, and the curious extraneous fossils found in its neighbourhood'. Its Abbey, once so famous, was erected soon after Christianity was planted in Great Britain: they passed the evening in examining the ruins of this stately structure, of which little now remains to attest its former magnificence, excepting the Gothic gate of the Abbot's palace, and the Saxon tower of the church. At the Tomb of Mary Queen of France', sister of Henry the Eighth, which is still shewn upon the north side of the altar of the church of St. Mary, they bade adieu to English antiquities. Appear Suffolk and Norfolk. Their journey the following day, to Yarmouth, General was through a district so much resembling ance of Flanders, that nothing was wanted to make the resemblance perfect, but the fine avenues of trees adorning the Low Countries, which serve to diversify the sameness of a level territory. Perhaps there is not a more fertile part of our island. (3) Among which occurs that very remarkable fossil, the Murex antiquus contrarius: it is also found abundantly in Norfolk, where the inhabitants use it for manure. (4) See Yates, his Antiquities of Bury, Part II. Chap. I. Lond. 1805. According to Mr. Yates, this gate was erected A.D. 1327. (5) She was the wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. I. CHAP. The fields resemble extensive gardens; and everywhere, among the standing corn, or in the pasture lands, the utmost attention to neatness was visible. In the cottages, the same disposition was conspicuous; thereby proving the great attention shewn by the landlords, to the wants and wishes of their respective tenants. Features of Great Britain. This journey from Cambridge to Yarmouth included all that the author required, towards the completion of his personal survey of the Island of Great Britain; having previously visited every other district of his native country. In tracing, as by a rapid outline, its principal features, the following remarks will perhaps be Geological found accurate. The Eastern part of our island is generally flat, and frequently swampy: there are exceptions; but flatness and marsh land are its predominant characteristics. The Southern part exhibits undulations, and frequent irregularities, over its whole extent, from the Straits of Dover to the borders of Devonshire: here the country becomes mountainous; and the promontory of Cornwall, thence projecting in a ridge of rocks sloping north and south towards the sea, is terminated, towards the west, by vast masses of Granite, heaped together with prodigious grandeur, facing the Atlantic Ocean. The Western part is principally mountainous: this |