ITINERARIES. 



165 



blue or sea-green, spotted with black ;) at the driving every 

 year, they take commonly above an hundred dozen young, 

 which they sell at five shillings the dozen. The colour of 

 the puit is near that of a sea-mew, i. e. white and some- 

 what flecked, only the head is perfectly black ; about the 

 bigness of a teal or widgeon. They come to this meer 

 the beginning of March, and are all gone by the latter 

 end of July or before. They usually drive them about 

 the 6th or 8th of June, sooner or later. They have 

 sometimes divided, and part removed to another meer not 

 far off, but this not often. At Derrington, three miles 

 from Nantwych, Sir Henry Delves has a very fair house, 

 and a large pool or meer near it by the road-side ; and 

 we saw among others, these gentlemen's houses by the 

 way, viz., Sir Thomas Whitgrave's at Whitgrave, Mr. 

 Cope's at Ranton Priory, Mr. Holland's at Adbaston. 

 At Nantwych there is a fair church ; the town is governed 

 by ten constables ; they have a custom like that in Scot- 

 land ; when any one is dead, a bellman goeth about the 

 streets the morning that the dead person is to be buried, 

 tinkhng a bell he has in his hand, and now and then 

 makes a stand, and invites the people to come to the 

 funeral at such an hour. From Nantwych to West 

 Chester, by Beeston castle, twenty miles. By the way, 

 at Bickly, we saw a pool in my Lord Cholmondeley's 

 ground, which was made by the falling in of the earth 

 about the year 1657, Cujus historiam descripsit, D. F. JF.* 

 Beeston castle was strongly situate upon an high rock, 

 but is now quite fallen down and ruined. We could not 

 find any of those plants, which, in ' Phytol. Brit.' are 

 mentioned to grow wild there, and suppose none such 

 are to be found. By the way we observed, Sir Thomas 

 Wilbraham's house at Woodhay, and Lord Cholmonde- 

 ley's at Cholmondely, a very stately timber building. At 

 Chester we were shown a fair altar with an inscription, 

 which we copied, and which was dug up in the cellar of 



* Dominus Eranciscus WiUughby, ut videtur. 



