ITINERARIES. 



139 



we passed through Hambleton, a small village, and had a 

 view of Brayton Bargh (which is a hillock covered with 

 wood,) upon occasion whereof we were told a proverbial 

 saying or rhyme ; 



" If Brayton Bargh, and Hambleton Hough, and Burton Breame, 

 Were all in thy belly, it would never be teame." 



At Pontefract, a large town, we saw the ruins of that 

 noted castle* there, which, though built upon a firm rock, 

 is so utterly demolished from the foundation, that there 

 is little or nothing of the walls remaining. We saw the 

 free-school, but a mean building. In Dr. Johnson's 

 garden we found divers plants which were new to us, viz., 

 Solidago saracenica \_Senecio saracenicus, Linn.,] a kind 

 of melitot-trefoil, a plant like Mmci^ula lobelij, [Silene 

 armeria, Linn. ?] with a triangular seed-vessel, called by 

 herbarists, Vaccaria, [^Saponaria vaccaria, Linn. ?] Scro- 

 pJmlaria Tradescanti, and some others. The doctor was 

 not then at home, else it is likely we might have observed 

 more. At Pontefract, every fortnight, on Saturday, is a 

 market or fair kept for all sorts of cattle, from Lady- day 

 to Michaelmas. Great plenty of liquorice \Glycy'rrldza 

 glabra, Linn.,] and the best in England, is planted 

 about this town;t also, skirrets [Sium sisarum, Linn.] 

 Pierpoint's house in this town is worth the taking notice of. 



August the 3d, we rode to Knaresborough, twenty miles, 

 but long ones, the way mountainous. We passed through 

 Castlefyrth (Castleford), an antient town, about three miles 

 from Pontefract, where are sometimes digged up antient 

 Roman coins, some we gathered up among the people 

 who had found them. We passed also the river Calder 

 at Medley bridge ; by the way we had a prospect of 

 Leadston Hall, belonging to Sir John Lewis, and another 

 great house of the Blands on the right hand. Then we 

 rode through a bushet, or common, called Rodwell Hake, 



* Messieurs Bucks have published a print of this famous castle, from a 

 drawing taken during the siege. — G; S. 



f This plant is stUl grown at Pontefract, and in the town tliey prepare 

 the liquoj-icc, which is sold in the shops under the name of Pontefract oi* 

 Pomfret cakes. — E. L. 



