168 ENGLAND. 



i 



the towers over the gates ; and from thence there is a prospect of 

 Flintshire, and'the mountains of Wales. 



Warwick is a town of great antiquity, and appears to have been of 

 eminence even in the time of the Romans. It stands upon a rock of 

 freestone, on the banks of the Avon : and a way is cut to it through 

 the rocks, from each of the four cardinal points. The town is popu- 

 lous, and the streets are spacious and regular, and all meet in the 

 centre of the town. 



The city of Coventry is large and populous. It was formerly 

 surrounded by a strong wall, and had twelve noble gates. It has a 

 handsome town-house, and three parish churches, the steeple of one 

 pf which (St. Michael's) is esteemed a master-piece of architecture. 



Salisbury is a large, neat, and well-built city, situated in a valley, 

 and watered by the Upper Avon on the west and south, and by the 

 Bourne on the east. The streets are generally spacious, and built at 

 right angles. The cathedral, which was finished in 1358, at the ex- 

 pence of above 26,000/. is, for a Gothic building, the most elegant and 

 regular in the kingdom. It is in the form of a lantern, with a beau^, 

 tiful spire of freestone in the middle, which is 410 feet high, being 

 the tallest in England. The length of the church is 478 feet, the 

 breadth is 76 feet, and the height of the vaulting 80 feet. The church 

 has a cloister, which is 150 feet square, and of as fine workmanship 

 as any in England. The chapter-house, which is an octagon, is 150 

 feet in circumference ; and yet the roof bears all upon one small pillar 

 in the centre, so much too weak, in appearance, for the support of 

 such a prodigious weight, that the construction of this building is 

 thought one of the greatest curiosities in England. 



The city of Bath took its name from some natural hot baths, for 

 the medicinal waters of which this place has been long celebrated, 

 and much frequented. The seasons for drinking the Bath waters' 

 are the spring and autumn ; the spring season begins with April, and 

 ends with June ; the autumn season begins with September, and 

 lasts to December ; and some patients remain here all the winter. 

 In the spring, this place is most frequented for health, and in the au- 

 tumn for pleasure, when at least two thirds of the company, consist- 

 ing chiefly of persons of rank and fortune, come to partake of the 

 amusements of the place. In some seasons there have been no less 

 than 8000 persons at Bath, besides its inhabitants. Some of the build- 

 ings lately erected here are extremely elegant, particularly Queen's- 

 square, the North and South Parade, the Royal Forum, the Circus, 

 and Crescent. 



Nottingham is pleasantly situate on the ascent of a rock, overlook- 

 ing the river Trent, which runs parallel with it about a mile to the 

 south, and has been made navigable. It is one of the neatest places in 

 England, and has a considerable trade. 



Manchester, situate at the confluence of the rivers Irk and Irwell 

 in Lancashire, though considered only as a village or market-town, 

 exceeds in population every other town or city in England except the 

 metropolis; the number of its inhabitants in 1801 being 84,020. This 

 it owes to its immense cotton manufactories, which, beside the towns- 

 people, are said to give employment to fifty or sixty thousand per-^ 

 sons. 



Birmingham in Warwickshire, and Sheffield in the southern part 

 of Yorkshire, contain extensive manufactories of different kinds of 

 hardware and cutlery ; and both (the former especially) are in con- 



