the faid Homage), are fit and qualified Perfons to be admitted by the Court to receive the ancient and accuftomed Oath, whereby to intitle themselves to have the Bacon of Dunmow delivered unto them, according to the Custom of the Manor: Whereupon, at the Court, in full and open Court, came the faid John Reynolds, and Anne his Wife, in their proper Perfons; and humbly prayed, that they might be admitted to take the Oath aforefaid: Whereupon the faid Steward, with the Jury, Suitors, and other Officers of the Court, proceeded, with the ufual Solemnity, to the antient and accustomed Place for the Administration of the Oath, and receiving the Bacon aforefaid; that is to fay, to the two great Stones lying near the Church Door within the faid Manor: where the faid John Reynolds, and Anne his Wife, kneeling down on the faid two Stones, the faid Steward did adminifter unto them the aforementioned Oath, in these Words.

You do fwear, by Custom of Confeffion,
That you never made nuptial Tranfgreffion;
Nor, fince you were married Man and Wife,
By Houfbold Brawls, or contentious Strife,
Or otherwife, in Bed or Board,

Offended each other in Deed or Word;
Or, in a Twelvemonth's time, and a Day,
Repented not in Thought any way;
Or, fince the Church Clerk faid Amen,
Wish'd your felves unmarry'd again;
But continue true, and in Defire,
As when you join'd Hands in boly Choir.

And immediately thereupon the faid John Reynolds, and Anne his Wife, claiming the faid Bacon, the Court pronounced Sentence for the fame in thefe Words;.

SINCE

NCE to thefe Conditions, without any Fear,
Both, of your own Acord, do freely fwear,

6

A whole

1

A whole Gamon of Bacon you do receive,
And bear it away with Love and good Leave:
For this is the Custom of Dunmow well known ;
Tho' the Pleafure be ours, the Bacon's your own.

And accordingly a Gamon of Bacon was delivered to the faid John Reynolds, and Anne his Wife, with the ufual Solemnity.

And allo William Parsley, of Much Eyfton in the County of Effex, and Jane his Wife, being married for the Space of three Years laft-paft, and upwards, by means of their quiet, peaceable, tender, and loving Cohabitation for the faid Space of Time, came and claimed the faid Bacon, and had it delivered unto them, according to the aforefaid Order,

Thomas Wheeler, Steward. The Flitch was alfo claimed by one John Shakefbanks, Woolcomber, and Anne his Wife, of Weathersfield, in the fame County, on Thursday, June 20, 1751.

Formerly, it is thought, the Forefts of Epping and Henault took up all the South Part of the County; but particularly we are affured, that it reached to the River Chelmer, and into Dengy Hundred; and from thence again Weft to Epping and Waltham, where it continues to be a Foreft ftill.

The Conftitution of this Foreft is best feen, as to its Antiquity, by the pleasant Grant of it from Edward the Confeffor, before the Norman Conqueft, to Randolph Peperking, one of his Favourites, who was after called Peverell, and whofe Name remains ftill in feveral Villages in this County; as particularly that of Hatfield Peverell, in the Road from Chelmsford to Witham, which is fuppofed to be originally a Park (called a Field in thofe Days); and Hartfield may be as much as to fay, a Park for Deer; for the Stags were in thofe Days called Harts; so that this was neither more nor less than Randolph Peperking's Hartfield or Deerpark.

This Randolph or Ralph Peverell had, it feems, a beautiful Lady to his Wife, who was Daughter of Ingelrick, one of Edward the Confeffor's Noblemen : he had two Sons by her, William Peverell, a famed Soldier, and Lord or Governor of Dover-castle; which he furrendered to William the Norman, after the Battle in Suffex; and Pain Peverell, his youngest, who was Lord of Cambridge. When the eldest Son delivered up the Caftle, the Lady above named was there; and the Norman fell in Love with her, and had a Son by her, who was called William, after the Father's Chriftian Name, but retained the Name of Peverell, and was afterwards, as Hiftory acquaints us, created by William I. Lord of Nottingham.

This Lady, as is fuppofed, by way of Penance for her Frailty, founded a Nunnery at the Village of Hatfield Peverell, mentioned above, where fhe lies buried in the Parifh-church, and her Memory is preferved by a Tomb-ftone under one of the Windows. The Grant I have mentioned being to be found in Camden, I shall not transcribe it here.

I fhall now, in purfuance of my firft Defign, proceed to the County of Suffolk.

From Harwich therefore, having a mind to view the Harbour, I fent my Horfes round by Maningtree, a good, but dirty Market-town, where is a Timberbridge over the Stour; or, as it is more ufually called, Maningtree water; and took a Boat for Ipswich up the River Orwell, known beft by the Name of Ipfwichwater, by which Paffage from Harwich to Ipfwich, it is about 12 Milves.

In a Creek in this River, called Lavington creek, we faw at Low-water fuch Shoals of Muffels, that great Boats might be loaded with them, and the Quantity fcarce diminished to the Eye.

Ipswich is feated at the Distance of 12 Miles from Harwich, upon the Edge of the River, which tak ng a

C

fhort

Suffolk. fhort Turn to the Weft, the Town forms there a kind of Semicircle, or Half-moon, upon the Bank of the River. It is very remarkable, that tho' Ships of 500 Tons may, upon a Spring-tide, come up very near this. Town, and many Ships of that Burden have been built there, yet the River is fcarce navigable above the Town, not even for the fmalleft Boats; nor does the Tide, which rifes fometimes 13 or 14 Feet, and gives. them 24 Feet Water very near the Town, flow much farther up the River than the Town.

No Place in Britain is qualified like Ipswich for carrying on the Greenland Fishery; whether we refpect the Cheapness of building, and fitting out their Ships and Shallops; furnishing, victualling, and providing them with all kinds of Stores; Convenience for laying up the Ships after the Voyage; Room for erecting their Magazines, Warehouses, Ropewalks, Cooperages, &c. on the eafieft Terms; and especially for the noifome Cookery, which attends the boiling their Blubber, which may be on this River, remote from any Places of Refort; then the Nearness to the Market for the Oil, when it is made; and, which above all ought to be regarded, the Conveniency that arifes from this Confideration, that the fame Wind which carries them from the Mouth of the Haven, is fair to the very Seas of Greenland.

Ipfwich was formerly much more confiderable for Trade than at prefent; but yet it may be accounted a neat and well-built Town, and much larger than many Cities; carries on ftill a confiderable Maritime Trade; and tho' it is but thinly inhabited, to what it has been, yet whoever looks into the Churches and Meetinghoufes on a Sunday, will not, even in this Particular, think meanly of it.

It has a very fpacious Market-place; in the midft of that is a fair Crofs, in which is the Corn-market. Adjoining are the Shambles or Butchery, very commodious, and vulgarly, but erroneoufly, fuppofed to

have been built by Cardinal Wolfey; for it owes its Original to a much later Date; viz. to the 40th Year of Queen Elizabeth. Behind this is the Herb-market, and in a fpacious Street a little distant is a Market for Butter, Poultry, and other Country Provisions, and another for Fish, with which the Town is ferved in great Plenty. It has five Market-days weekly; Tuefday and Thursday for fmall Meat; Wednesday and Friday for Fifh; and Saturday for all Sorts of Provifions. It has alfo five annual Fairs; one on April 23. one on May 7. and 8. one on July 25. one on the 11th and 12th of August for Cattle alfo; and the fifth on September 14. which is a very confiderable one for Butter and Cheese, to which the whole Country round refort, to furnish themselves with Winter Stores; as do alfo many of the London Dealers in those Commodities, who, however, are not fuffered to buy till after the first three Days of the Fair.

There are even now in this Town 12 Parishchurches, out of 14, which there once were; and two Chapels in the Corporation-liberty, out of feveral which have been demolifhed, befides Meeting-houfes, &c. and it once abounded with Religious Houfes, which have yielded to the Fate of the Times.

Here is alfo a fair Town-hall, with a fpacious Council-chamber, and other commodious Apartments; a Shire-hall, where the County-Seffions are held for the Divifion of Ipfwich; a large public Library, adjoining to a noble Hofpital founded by the Town, called Chrift's Hofpital, for the Maintenance of poor Children, old Perfons, Maniacs; and in it Rogues, kept to

Vagabonds, and sturdy Beggars, are it Rogues,

bour. Alfo adjoining to this is a good Free-school; and there is likewise the noble Foundation of Mr. Hen. Tooley, Anno 1556. for poor old Men and Women.

It is a Town Corporate, governed by two Bailiffs, a Recorder, 12 Portmen, four of which, befides the Bailiffs, are Juftices of the Peace, two Coroners, 24

C 2

Com