WES ' 



fuch as poftage, notarial expences, and difference of ex- 

 change. 



If a bill, drawn in the Weft Indies on any part of Great 

 Britain, be noted for non-acceptance, the holder may oblige 

 the drawer, by legal procefs, to give fecurity in the ifland 

 for the amount, without waiting for the bill being protefted 

 for non-payment. See Kelly's Cambift, vol. i. 



West IJland, in Geography, one of the fmaller Philippine 

 iflands, near the fouth coaft of Mindoro. N. lat. 12° 18'. 

 E. long. 121° 12'. — Alfo, a fmall ifland at the eaft entrance 

 of the ftraits of Sunda. S. lat. 5° 27'. E. long. 106" 



20' Alfo, a fmall ifland in the Eaft Indian fea, near the 



fouth coaft of Cumbava. S. lat. 8° 49'. E. long. 119° 2'. 

 West Kiri, a town of the ifland of Weftra, in a bay on 

 the fouth coaft. N. lat. 59° 8'. W. long. 2° 51'. 



West Houghton, a townftiip in the parifli of Dean, and 

 county of Lancafter, England, contained, in 181 1, 663 

 houfes and 3810 inhabitants. 



West Penn, a townfliip of Pennfylvania, in the county 

 of Northampton, containing 947 inhabitants. 



West Point, a town of Virginia, on the York river ; 

 35 miles E. of Richmond. N. lat. 37° 30'. W. long. 

 76° 56'. 



West Point, a town of New York, on the right bank of 

 the Hudfon river, in the county of Orange. This was a 

 poft of great confequence, efpecially with refpeft to the 

 communication between the northern and the middle colo- 

 nies, and the pofleffion very defirable to the Britifli general, 

 who entered into a treaty with general Arnold the com- 

 mander to betray it. The adjutant-general of the Britirti 

 army, major Andre, was employed by fir Henry Clinton as 

 the agent on this bufinefs, and being difcovered, he was 

 executed as a fpy ; 42 miles N. of New York. N. lat. 

 41' 23'. W. long. 74°. 



West Point, a cape at the weftern extremity of the 

 ifland of Anticofti. N. lat. 49° 50'. W. long. 64° 30'. 



West River, a river of Virginia, which runs into Black 

 bay, N. lat. 36° 30'. W. long. 76° 17'. — Alfo, a river 

 of Maryland, which runs into the Chefapeak, N. lat. 38° 

 C4'. W. long. 76*^ 42' — Alfo, a river of the province of 

 Maine, which runs into Machias bay, N. lat. 44° 45'. 

 W. long. 67° 19'. 



West River, or Wantajllc, a river of Vermont, which 

 runs into the Connefticut, N. lat. 42° 50'. W. long. 

 73° 31'- 



West River Mountain, a mountain of New Hampftiire, 

 near Weft river. 



West Town, a townfliip of Pennfylvania, in the county 

 of Chefter, with 790 inhabitants. 



West IVain, the weft ftiore of Hudfon's bay. 

 WESTBROUGH, a town of Mafl^achufetts, incor- 

 porated in 1717, in the counter of Worcefter, containing 

 1048 inhabitants; 33 miles W. of Bofton. 



WESTBURY, a market-town and borough in the 

 hundred of the fame name, and county of Wilts, England, 

 is fituated at the diftance of 24 miles N.W. by W. from 

 Salifijury, and 97 miles W. by S. from London. Nothing 

 is known with certainty of its hiftory, till the reign of 

 Edward I., when it was conftituted a corporate town by 

 charter, under the jurifdiftion of a mayor, recorder, and 

 twelve capital burgefl"es. Weftbury fends two members to 

 parliament, and has done fo regularly fince the 27th year of 

 Henry VI., who renewed its charter of incorporation, and 

 facftowed upon it the additional privilege of being repre- 

 fented in the national councils. The right of eleftion is in 

 the holders of burgage tenures, being refident within the 

 borough, and not receiving alms : the mayor is the re- 



12 



WES 



turning officer. The town confifts principally of one long 

 ftreet, running nearly in a direftion north and fouth. Ac- 

 cording to the population return of the year iSii, it con- 

 tained 351 houfes, and 1790 inhabitants, who were chiefly 

 engaged in the manufafture of woollens. A market is held 

 weekly on Fridays; and two fairs annually, when there is 

 ufually a large fupply of cattle, horfes, flieep, pigs, cheefe, 

 &c. The borough and hundred of Weftbury form only 

 one parifh : for the former, a court-leet is held by the mayor 

 in November annually ; and for the latter, one in May by 

 the fteward of the lord of the manor, at which two high 

 conftables are appointed for fecuring the public peace. 

 The only public buildings in this town which demand par- 

 ticular notice, are the town-hall and the church. The hall 

 is a convenient edifice, in which the borough-courts are 

 held : it is fituated near the centre of the town, and is alfo 

 appropriated in part as a wool-hall. The church is a large 

 ancient ftrufture of ftone, with a tower in the middle. In 

 it are feveral monuments in honour of perfons of confidera- 

 ble note. 



About a mile to the fouth of Weftbury is the village of 

 Leigh, commonly called Weftbury-Leigh ; fuppofed by 

 feveral antiquaries to be the place defignated in Afler by 

 the word .^ggles, where king Alfred encamped on the 

 night previous to the battle of Ethandune. 



Hey wood houfe, fituated about two miles due north from 

 Weftbury, was built in the reign of king James I., by 

 James, lord Ley, afterwards created earl of Marlborough. 

 It was long poflefled by the family of Phipps ; but is now 



the property and feat of Abraham Ludlow, efq Beauties 



of England and Wales, vol. xv. Wiltftiire. By J. Brit- 

 ton, F.S.A. 1814. 



Westbury, a village in the hundred of Ford, and 

 county of Salop, England, fituated 8 miles W. by S. fron\ 

 Shrewfljury. In this village is a refpeftable free-fchool ; 

 and in the church, among other monuments, is one raifed to 

 the memory of general Severne, who inherited Wallop-hall, 

 in this parifli. About two miles S.W. of Weftbury is 

 Cawfe, or Caux-Caftle, which is fuppofed to have been 

 erefted by Roger Corbett, who held of earl Roger de 

 Montgomery a traft of land confifting of thirty-nine 

 manors. It is conjeftured that he gave the above name to 

 this his capital feat, in allufion to a caftle in the Pays de 

 Caux, in Normandy. As he and his fon probably joined 

 with Robert de Belefme in his rebellion, the caftle is fup- 

 pofed to have been forfeited to Henry I., who gave it to 

 Paris Fitz-John, from whom it was taken by the Welfh. 

 It was reftored to the original lords, and in the firit of king 

 John a weekly market was obtained for it, at the inftance of 

 Robert Corbett. Its proximity to the Welfti frontiers 

 rendered its tenure uncertain, and we find that it was again 

 feized by the Welfli, and reftored by Henry III. In the 

 reign of Edward III., the male line of the family becoming 

 extinft, the caftle was transferred, by marriage of a daugh- 

 ter of the houfe, to the Staffbrds, earls of Stafford ; on the 

 execution of the laft of whom, Edward, duke of Bucking- 

 ham, it was forfeited to the crown, but was reftored to his 

 fon Edward. It was ahenated in the reign of Elizabeth 

 to Robert Harcourt, from whom it defcended to lord vif- 

 count Weymouth. The fcite of this caftle is perhaps one 

 of the mott lofty and commanding in the whole range of 

 the Salopian frontier. It is an infulated ridge, rifing ab- 

 ruptly from a deep ravine on one fide, and floping towards 

 a vaft valley, bounded by the Stiper-ftones on the other. 

 The keep-mount is fingularly fteep and towering ; it muft 

 have been afcended by fteps, or by a winding path, but no 

 traces of either at prefent remain ; part of a well is ftill dif- 



tinguifliable j 



