13 ftroyed the Colony; but she was afterwards overthrown herself in a great Battle, 60,000 Britons flain, andherself and Daughters most inhumanly treated and difgraced, by thofe great Reformers of the World, who, in her Cafe, forgot not only the Honour due to the Sex, but that which the truly Brave fhew to the Brave in Misfortune. Being obliged to come thus far into the Uplands, I made it my Road to pafs thro' Witham; a pleafant, well-fituated Market-town, in which, and in its Neighbourhood, are many Gentlemen of good Fortune and Families. Nearer Chelmsford, hard by Boreham, is the famous Seat of Beaulieu, in which King Henry VIII. very much delighted. It is the largest Edifice in the County next Audley-end. The Product of all this Part of the Country is Corn, as that of the marshy feeding Grounds is Grafs, where their chief Bufinefs is Breeding of Calves, which I need not say are the beft and fatteft, and the largest Veal in England, if not in the World. Colchester, the Iciani of the Romans, according to Mr. Salmon, is pleasantly fituated upon an Eminence above the River Coln. It is a large and populous Town, adorned with handfome Streets, and, though it cannot be faid to be finely built, yet there are Abundance of good Houfes in it. In the Conclufion of the great Civil War it suffered a severe Siege, which, as it made a refolute Defence, was turned into a Blockade, wherein the Garrison, and Inhabitants also, fuffered the utmost Extremity of Hunger, and were at last obliged to furrender at Difcretion; when their two chief Officers, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Life, were cruelly fhot to Death under the Caftle-wall for their Bravery. The battered Walls, the Breaches in the Turrets, and the ruined Churches, ftill fhew Marks of this Effex. Siege, except that the Church of St. Mary (where they had the Royal Fort) is rebuilt; but the Steeple, which was two Thirds battered down (the Befieged having a large Culverin upon it, which did much Execution), remains ftill in that Condition. The Lines of Contravallation, which furrounded the whole Town, and the Forts of the Befiegers, remain very vifible in many Places. The River Coln, which paffes through the Town, encompaffes it on the North and Eaft; and ferved, in time of War, for a complete Defence on thofe Sides. There are three Bridges over it, and it is navigable" within three Miles of the Town, for Ships of large Burden; a little lower it may receive even a Royal Navy; and up to that Part called the Hythe, clofe to the Houses, it is navigable for Hoys, and fmall Barks; for which it is indebted to three Acts of Parliament paffed for that Purpofe, one in the Reign of King William III. one in that of King George I. and the other in that of King George II. The Hythe is a long Street, paffing from Weft to Eaft, on the South-fide of the Town, and is fo populous towards the River, that it may be called, The Wapping of Colchefter. There is one Church in that. Part of the Town, a large Quay by the River, and a good Custom-house. The Town chiefly fubfifts by the Trade of making. Bays, though indeed all the Towns around carry on the fame Trade; as Kelvedon, Witham, Coggfhall, Braintree, Bocking, &c. and the whole Country, large as it is, may be faid to be employed, and in Part maintained, by the Spinning of Wool, for the Bay-Trade of Colchester, and its adjacent Villages. The Town of Colchester has been supposed to contain about 40,00o People, including the Out-villages within its Liberty, of which there are many, the Liberty of the Town being of a large Extent. It is governed by a Mayor, High-Steward, a Recorder, or his Deputy, Deputy, eleven Aldermen, a Chamberlain, a Townclerk, Affiftants, and eighteen Common-councilmen ; and fends two Members to Parliament. There are in Colchester eight Churches, befides those which are damaged, and five Meeting-houfes, whereof two for Quakers; befides one Dutch, and one French Church. Its other public Edifices are, 1. Bay-Hall, where the Goodnefs of the Manufacture of Bays made in this Town is afcertained by a Corporation established for this Purpose, confifting of a Set of Men, called Governors of the Dutch Bay-hall. 2. The Guildhall of the Town, called by them the Moot-ball; contiguous to which is the Town-gaol. 3. The Work-house for the Poor. 4. A Grammar Free-School; which has good Allowance for the Mafter, who is chofen by the Town. 5. The Caftle of Colchester is a Monument of the Antiquity of the Place, being built, as the Walls of the Town alfo are, with Roman Bricks; and the Roman Coins dug up here, and plowed up in the Fields adjoining, confirm it. The Inhabitants boaft, that Helena, the Mother of Conftantine the Great, firft Chriftian Emperor of the Romans, was born there: but it would be hard to make it out. Mr. Camden fays, That this Caftle was, in his Time, ready to fall with Age; and yet it has ftood a large Number of Years fince, and perhaps is not much worse than it was then, although it received feveral Cannon-fhot in the last Siege of the Town, which made no Impreffion upon it, as the Befiegers found, and therefore left off firing againft it, and the rather, as the Garrifon made no great Use of it against them. The Queen's-Head in the Market-place, and the Stable, are alfo Roman Buildings. There was likewife a Roman Military Way from Colchester, by Braintree, Dunmow, and farther that Way. 6. Two Charity-fchools, fupported by Subfcription. From open as Effex. From Colchester I took a Turn down to the Coast. The Land running out a great Way into the Sea, South, and South-eaft, makes that Promontory of Land, called the Nafe, well known to Seamen who ufe the Northern Trade. Here one fees a Sea an Ocean, without any oppofite Shore, though it be no more than the. Mouth of the Thames. This Point, called the Nafe, and the North-eaft Point of Kent near Margate, called the North-Foreland, make the Mouth of the River, and the Port of London, and is above 60 Miles over. But, as it is pretended by fome, that, according to the prefent Ufage of the Custom houfe, the Port of London is not allowed to extend fo far, 'tis thought proper to infert the Clause taken from the Act of Parliament, establishing its Extent. To prevent all future Differences and Difputes, touching the Extent and Limits of the Port of London, the faid Port is declared to extend, and be accounted, from the Promontory, or Point, called the • North-Foreland, in the Ifle of Thanet, and from thence Northward, in a right Line, to the Point called the NASE, beyond the Gunfleet, upon the • Coaft of Effex; and fo continued Weftward throughout the River Thames, and the feveral Channels, • Streams, and Rivers falling into it, to London bridge; faving the ufual and known Rights, Liberties, and Privileges of the Ports of Sandwich and Ipfwich, and ⚫ either of them, and the known Members thereof, and ⚫ of the Customers, Comptrollers, Searchers, and their Deputies, of and within the faid Ports of Sandwich and Ipfwich, and the feveral Creeks, Harbours, and Havens, to them, or either of them, refpectively belonging, within the Counties of Kent and Effex. Notwithstanding which, the Port of London, as in Ufe fince the faid Act, is understood to reach no farther than Gravefend in Kent, and Tilbury point in Effex; and and the Ports of Rochester, Milton, and Feverfham, belong to the Port of Sandwich. In like manner the Ports of Harwich, Colchester, Wyvenhoe, Malden, Leigh, &c. are faid to be Members of the Port of Ipfwich. This Observation may fuffice for what is needful to be said upon the fame Subject, when I come to fpeak of the Port of Sandwich, and its Members, and their Privileges with respect to Rochester, Milton, Feverfham, &c. in my Circuit through the County of Kent. At Walton, under the Nafe, they find on the Shore Copperas-ftones in great Quantities; and there are feveral large Works called Copperas-houses, where it is made with great Expence. From hence we go back into the County about four Miles, because of the Creeks which lie between; and, turning East again, come to Harwich, on the utmost Eaftern Point of this large County. Harwich is a Town ftrong by Situation, and may be made more fo by Art. The Harbour or Road is one of the secureft in England, and covered at the Entrance by Landguard-fort, and a Battery of Guns to the Seaward, juft as at Tilbury, and which fufficiently defend the Mouth of the River. Though the Entrance or Opening of the River into the Sea is very wide, especially at High-water, at leaft two Miles, if not three, over; yet the Channel, in which the Ships must keep and come to the Harbour, is deep, narrow, and lies only on the Side of the Fort; fo that all Ships which come in, or go out, muft come within Gunfhot of the Fort. The Fort is on the Suffolk Side of the Bay, but ftands fo far into the Sea, upon the Point of a Sand, or Shoal, running out towards the Effex Side, that, in a manner, it covers the Mouth of the Haven and our Surveyors of the Country affirm it to be in the County of Effex. The making this Place, which was formerly no other than a Sand in the Sea, folid enough for : the |