ld fquare Tower, called Mirefleur, fuppofed to be that mentioned in the Romance of Amadis de Gaul; and joining to it a Plain, where Knights and other Gentlemen use to meet, at fet Times and Holidays, to exercise on Horse-back.

We left London in a Coach, in order to fee the remarkable Places in its Neighbourhood.

The first was Theobalds belonging to Lord Burleigh the Treasurer: In the Gallery was painted the Genealogy of the Kings of England; from this Place one goes into the Garden, ehcompaffed with a Ditch full of Water, large enough for one to have the Pleasure of going in a Boat, and rowing between the Shrubs; here are great Variety of Trees and Plants; Labyrinths made with a great deal of Labour; a Jet d'eau, with its Bafon of white Marble; and Columns and Pyramids of Wood and other Materials up and down the Garden. After feeing thefe, we were led by the Gardener into the Summer-house, in the lower Part of which, built femicircularly, are the twelve Roman Emperors in white Marble, and a Table of Touchftone; the upper Part of it is fet round with Cifterns of Lead, into which the Water is conveyed through Pipes, fo that Fish may be kept in them, and in Summer Time they are very convenient for Bathing; in another Room for Entertainment yery near this, and joined to it by a little Bridge, was an oval Table of red Marble. We were not admitted to fee the Apartments of this Palace, there being nobody to fhew it, as the Fa

T 3

mily

mily was in Town attending the Funeral of their Lord §,

Hodfon, a Village,

Ware, a Market Town,

Puckeridge, a Village; this was the first Place where we obferved that the Beds at Inns were made by the Waiters,

Camboritum, Cantabrigium, and Cantabrigia, now called Gambridge, a celebrated Town, fo named from the River Cam, which, after washing the Westernfide, playing through Islands, turns to the Eaft, and divides the Town into two Parts, which are joined by a Bridge; whence its modern Name: Formerly it had the Saxon one of Grantbridge. Beyond this Bridge is an ancient and large Castle, faid to be built by the Danes: On this Side, where far the greater Part of the Town ftands, all is fplendid; the Streets fine, the Churches numerous, and thofe Seats of the Mufes, the Colleges, moft beautiful; in these a great Number of learned Men are fupported, and the Studies of all polite Sciences and Languages flourish.

I think proper to mention fome few things about the Foundation of this Univerfity, and its Colleges. Cantaber, a Spaniard, is thought to have first inftituted this Academy, 375 Years before Chrift; and Sebert King of the Eaft-Angles, to have reftored it, A, D. 630. It was afterwards fubverted in the Con

§ Lord Treasurer Burleigh died August 4, 1598.

fufion under the Danes, and lay long neglected; till, upon the Norman Conquest, every thing began to brighten up again: From that Time, Inns and Halls for the convenient Lodging of Students began to be built, but without any Revenues annexed to them.

The firft College, called Peter-house, was built and endowed by Hugh Balfam, Bishop of Ely, A. D. 1280; and in Imitation of him, Richard Badew, with the Affiftance of Elizabeth Burk, Countess of Clare and Ulfter, founded Clare-Hall, in 1326; Mary de St. Paul Countefs of Pembrake, PembrokeHall, in 1343; the Monks of Corpus Chrifti, the College of the fame Name, though it has befides that of Bennet; John Craudene, Trinity-Hall, 1354; Edmond Gonville in 1348, and Jahn Caius, a Physician in our Times, Gonville and Caius College; King Henry VI. King's College, in 1441; adding to it a Chapel, that may justly claim a Place among the most beautiful Buildings in the World; on its right Side is a fine Library, where we saw the Book of Pfalms in Manufcript upon Parchment, four Spans in Length, and three Broad, taken from the Spaniards at the Seige of Cadiz, and thence brought into England with other rich Spoils. Margaret of Anjou, his Wife, founded Queen's College, 1448, at the fame Time that John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, built Jefus College; Robert Woodlarke, CatherineHall, 1456; Margaret of Richmond, Mother of King Henry VII. Chrift's and St. John's College about 1506; Thomas Audley Chancellor of England Magdalen College, much increafed fince both in Buildings

Buildings and Revenue by Christopher Wray, Lord Chief Juftice; and the most potent King Henry VIII. erected Trinity College for Religion and polite Letters; in this Chapel is the Tomb of Dr. Whitacre, with an Infcription in Gold Letters upon Marble; Emanuel College built in our own Times by the most honourable and prudent Sir Walter Mildway, one of her Majesty's Privy-Council: And lastly, Sidney College, now firft building by the Executors of the Lady Frances Sidney, Countess of Suffex.

We must note here, that there is a certain Sect in England, called Puritans: Thefe, according to the Doctrine of the Church of Geneva, reject all Ceremonies anciently held, and admit of neither Organs nor Tombs in their Places of Worship, and entirely abhor all Difference in Rank among Churchmen, fuch as Bifhops, Deans, &c. they were firft named Puritans by the Jefuit Sandys. They do not live separate, but mix with those of the Church of England in the Colleges.

Potton, a Village..

Ampthill, a Town; here we faw immenfe Numbers of Rabbits, which are reckoned as good as Hares, and are very well tafted.

We paffed through the Towns of Woburn, Leighton, Ailesbury, and Wheatly.

* She was the Daughter, Sifter and Aunt, of those eminent Knights Sir William, Sir Henry, and Sir Philip Sidney.

Oxonium,

Oxonium, Oxford, the famed Athens of England; that glorious Seminary of Learning and Wisdom, whence Religion, Politenefs, and Letters, are abundantly dispersed into all Parts of the Kingdom: The Town is remarkably fine, whether you confider the Elegance of its private Buildings, the Magnificence of its public ones, or the Beauty and Wholesomeness of its Situation; which is on a Plain, encompaffed in fuch a Manner with Hills fhaded with Wood, as to be sheltered on the one Hand from the fickly South, and on the other from the bluftering Weft, but open to the Eaft that blows ferene Weather, and to the North the Preventer of Corruption; from which, in the Opinion of fome, it formerly obtained the Apellation of Bellofitum. This Town is watered by two Rivers, the Cherwell, and the Ifis, vulgarly called the Oufe; and though these Streams join in the fame Channel, yet the Ifis runs more entire, and with more Rapidity towards the South, retaining its Name, till it meets the Thame, which it seems long to have fought, at Wallingford; thence, called by the compound Name of Thames, it flows the Prince of all British Rivers; of whom we may justly say, as the Antients did of the Euphrates, that it both fows and waters England.

The Colleges in this famous University are as follow:

In the Reign of Henry III. Walter Merton, Bifhop of Rochefter, removed the College he had founded in Surrey,