124 



^ practice is more antient in Wiltshire 

 *' than in any of the other counties." 



*rhe invention of this art is hkewis^ 

 claimed hy many old farmers in fevour of 

 the county of Gloucester ; but I believe 

 that the good people of both these coun- 

 ties will feel the necessity of relinquishing^ 

 their pretensions to this honour, if they 

 \rill peruse the Monthly Review for Oct. 

 1788, page 384, where they will meet 

 with the following note : — ** We thank 

 " D. N. for his information concerning 

 " the antiquity of watering meadows in 

 " England, and particularly on the bor- 

 " ders of Wales. The most antient trace 

 " of the practice which he could discover 

 " in print, is in a book, entitled Water 

 " Workes, written by Rowland Vaughan, 

 '* who seems to have been the inventor of 

 *' the art, and to have practised it in great 



** perfection, 



