thamstow, Woodford, Wanfted, Weft Ham, Plaiflow, Upton, &c. and this, generally fpeaking, of handsome large Houfes, from 20l. to 50l. a Year, being chiefly the Habitations of the rich Citizens, who are able to keep a Country-Houfe, as well as a Town one, or of fuch as have left off Trade altogether. This is fo apparent, that, they tell me, there are no less than 200 Coaches kept by the Inhabitants within the Circumference of the few Villages named above, besides fuch as are kept by accidental Lodgers. There have been difcerned of late Years, in the Bottom of Hackney-marsh, between Old-Ford and the Wyck, the Remains of a great Stone Causeway, which is fuppofed to have been the Highway, or great Road, from London to Effex, inftead of that which now leads over the Bridge between Bow and Stratford. That the great Road lay this Way, and that the great Causeway continued juft over the River, where now the Temple-Mills ftand, and paffed by Sir Henry Hicks's Houfe at Ruckholt, is not doubted; and that it was one of those famous Highways made by the Romans there is undeniable Proof, by the feveral Marks of Roman Work, and by Roman Coins, and other Antiquities, found there, fome of which were collected by the late Reverend Mr. Strype, Vicar of Low-Layton. The Land in the Neighbourhood of Stratford, Maryland-Point, &c. has of late Years been much improved by the Cultivation of Potatoes, which have increased fo much, as that fome hundred Acres are annually planted there; and the digging of the Land, together with the dreffing it for the Potatoes, as alfo when the Roots are dug up, prepares the Ground fo well, that whatever is fown or planted afterwards fucceeds to Admiration. But by the Culture of thefe Roots, the great Tythes of thefe Parishes are reduced to less than half of their former Value, fince it has been determined B 2 determined that the Tythe, of Potatoes belongs to the Vicar. From hence the great Road paffed up to Laytonfone, a Place known now by the Sign of the GreenMan, formerly a Lodge upon the Edge of the Foreft; and, croffing by Wanstead houfe, the noble Seat of Earl Tilney, went over the fame River, which we now cross at Ilford; and, paffing that Part of the great Forest called Henault-Foreft, came into the prefent great Road, a little on this Side the Whalebone, a Place fo called, because a Rib-bone of a large Whale, taken in the River of Thames, was fixed there in 1658, the Year that Oliver Cromwell died. According to my Intention, of effectually viewing the Sea-coafts of Effex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, I went from Stratford to Barking, a large Market town, chiefly inhabited by Fishermen, whofe Smacks ride in the Thames, at the Mouth of Barking Creek, from whence their Fish are fent up to London, to the Market at Billingsgate, in small Boats. Thefe Fishing-fmacks are very useful Veffels to the Public upon many Occafions; as particularly in time of War they are used as Prefs-fmacks, running to all the Northern and Western Coafts to pick up Seamen to man the Navy, when any Expedition is at hand,. that requires a fudden Equipment. At other times, being excellent Sailors, they are Tenders to particular Men of War, and, on an Expedition, they have been made ufe of as Machines, for the blowing up fortified Ports, as formerly at St. Malo, and other Places. The Parish of Barking is very large, and has two Chapels of Eafe, to wit, one at Ilford, and one on the Side of the Foreft, called New chapel. This Side of the County is rather rich from the Nature of its Land, than from the Number of its Inhábitants, which is occafioned by the Unhealthiness of the Air; for thefe low Marth-grounds, which, with all the South-fide of the County, have been gained, as as it were, out of the River Thames, and the Sea, where the River is wide enough to be called fo, begin here, or rather at Weft Ham, by Stratford, and extend themselves from hence Eaftward; growing wider, till we come beyond Tilbury, when the flat Country lies fix, feven, or eight Miles in Breadth, and is both unhealthy and unpleasant. However, it is very good Farming in the Marshes, because the Landlords let good Penyworths, though the Land is rich; for, it being a Place where every body cannot live, thofe that venture it will have Encouragement; and it is but reafonable they fhould. In paffing from Barking to Dagenham, we faw the Place where was the famous Breach, that laid near 5000 Acres of Land under Water; but which, after near ten Years Inundation, and the Works being feveral times blown up, was at laft effectually stopped by Captain Perry, who for feveral Years had been employed in the Czar of Mufcovy's Works, at Veronitza, on the River Don. Great Part of the Lands in thefe Levels, efpecially thofe on this Side East-Tilbury, are held by the Farmers, Cow-keepers, and Grafing Butchers, who live in and near London, and generally flock them with Lincolnshire and Leicestershire Wethers (which they buy in Smithfield, in September and October, when the Grafiers fell off their Stocks), and feed here till Chriftmas or Candlemas; and, though they are not made much fatter here than when bought in, yet very good Advantage accrues by the Difference of the Price of Mutton between Michaelmas, when cheapest, and Candlemas, when deareft; and this is what the Butchers call, by way of Excellence, right_Marsh Mutton. This Mutton is generally taken, by Perfons who are ignorant in the Choice of Meat, to be turnep-fed, becaufe the Fat generally turns yellowish; but this is a great Mistake; for the Sheep, which are fatted with B 3 Tur Turneps, are by far the best of any killed for the Markets. At the End of thefe Marfhes, clofe to the Edge of the River, ftands Tilbury-Fort, which may juftly be looked upon as the Key of the City of London: It is a regular Fortification: the Defign of it was a Pentagon, but the Water-baftion, as it should have been called, was never built the Plan was laid out by Sir Martin Beckman, chief Engineer to King Charles II. who also defigned the Works at Sheerness. The Efplanade of the Fort is very large, and the Bastions the largest of any in England. The Foundation is laid upon Piles driven down two an End of one another, fo far, till they were affured they were below the Channel of the River, and that the Piles, which were fhod with Iron, entered into the folid Chalk-rock, adjoining to the Chalk-hills on the other Side. The Works to the Land-fide are complete; the Baftions are faced with Brick. There is a double Ditch or Moat, the innermoft of which is 180 Feet broad; a good Counterfcarp, and a Covered Way marked out, with Ravelins and Tenailles; but they dave not been completed. On the Land-fide there are alfo two small Redoubts of Brick; but the chief Strength of this Fort on the Land-fide confifts in being able to lay the whole Level under Water, and fo to make it impoffible for an Enemy to carry on Approaches that Way. On the Side next the River, is a very strong Curtin, with a noble Gate called the Watergate in the Middle, and the Ditch is palifadoed. At the Place where the Water-baftion was defigned to be built, and which, by the Plan, fhould run wholly out into the River, fo as to flank the two Curtins, on each Side, ftands an high Tower, which, they tell us, was built in Queen Elizabeth's Time, and was called the Blockbouse. Before this Curtin is a Platform in the Place of a Counter Counterfcarp, on which are planted 106 Cannon, ge. nerally carrying from 24 to 46 Pound Ball; a Battery fo terrible, as to fhew the Confequence of that Place: befides which, there are fmaller Pieces planted between them; and the Baftions and Curtins alfo are planted with Guns, fo that they must be bold Fellows who will venture in the biggeft Ships to pafs fuch a Battery, if the Men appointed to ferve the Guns do their Duty. From hence there is nothing for many Miles together remarkable, but a continued Level of unhealthy Marshes, called The Three Hundreds, till we come before Leigh, and to the Mouth of the Rivers Chelmer and Blackwater, faving that the Towns of Horndon, Rayley, and Rochford, lie near the Sea-coaft, extending in the Order I have named, but are of no Note. The above Rivers, united, make a large Firth, or Inlet of the Sea, which our Filhermen and Seamen, who use it as a Port, call Malden-water. In this Inlet is Ofey or Ofyth Island, fo well known by our London Men of Pleasure for producing vast Numbers of Wild-ducks, Mallards, Teals, and Wigeons, that the Inland feems covered with them at certain times of the Year, and they go from London for the Pleasure of Shooting; and often come home with an Effex Ague on their Backs, which they find an heavier Load than the Fowls they have shot. On the Shore, beginning a little below Candy Ifland, or Leigh Road, lies a great Shoal or Sand, called the Black Tail, which runs out near three Leagues into the Sea, due Eaft; at the End of it stands a Pole or Mast, fet up by the Trinity-houfe of London, as a Sea-mark: this is called Shoe-beacon, from the Point of Land where this Sand begins, which is called Shoeberry-ness, from a Town of that Name, which ftands by it From this Sand, and on the Edge of Shoeberry before it, or South-weft of it, all along, to the Mouth of Colchester-water, the Shore is full of Shoals and Sands, BA with |