1604.]  Prefent State of Society Manners, 6c. at Taunton, 
fined either to the feet or hands; but net 
when it approaches the vital part. By 
inferting this in your next, you will much 
oblige your’s, and many other conftant 
readers, ' OBSERVER. 
Rickmanf-worth, Herts, May 16, 1804- 
— eee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
The PRESENT STATE Of SOCIETY, MAN- 
NERS, &c. af TAUNTON. 
(Continued from No. 115, p. 4.19-) 
HE next improvement of the town 
J was effected by the Market-Hou/fe 
AG, obtained in 1768. The market was 
formerly held in the center of the town, on 
a triangular fpot of ground, cailed the 
Ifland and the Cornhil; on which ftood 
the Guildhall, an affembly-room, feveral 
rows of ftalls and ftandings, and fome old 
houfes ; moft, if not all of which, to the 
number of fourte:n, were occupied as pub- 
Jic-houfes. Under the powers and autho- 
rity of the ‘* Market-Houfe Aéct”’ thefe 
edifices were taken down, an opening was 
left at once beautiful and falubricus, and 
on the fcite was ereéted and finifhed, in 
1772, a new market-houfe, on a model 
formed by the late Copleftone Warre 
Bamfylde, efq. This is an elegant build- 
ing, the front of which looks to the north, 
The houfe is laid out into different apart- 
ments, for the purpofes of juftice, amufe- 
ment, and pleafure. ‘wo large wings, 
called arcades, accommodate the farmers 
and tradefmen; while the butchery is 
conftituted by moveable fiandings, placed 
in rows, on the area before the market- 
houfe. ‘This area, which is open and fpa- 
cious, is incloied with pofts and chains, 
and in the middle of it runs to the north 
a large pavement of broad ftones, 216 
feet long and 18 feet wide, called. the 
Parade. Another advantage arifing from 
the Act was lighting the town, by erecling 
glafs lamps in the four principal ftreets, 
according to a power invelted by it in the 
truftees. 
A more recent and confiderable altera- 
tion in the ftate of a principal part of the 
town, at once highly commodious and or- 
nimental, has been effected by the opera- 
tion of a bill, which Sir Benjamin Ham- 
net Obtained to be carried into an a&t of 
parliament in 1788; by which he was 
au horiled to purchafe and pull down two 
houfes in the Fore-{treet, with feveral 
other contiguous buildings, and to lay 
open a paflage in adirect line to St. Mary 
Migdalen’s church, not lefs than 36 feet 
327 
wide, and to form a new ftreet. Before 
this, the curious and elegant tower of St. 
Mary Magdalen’s church was almoft hid 
from view by buildings, and the acces to 
the church was throwgh a narrow lane, « 
which did not permit a carriage to pafs, 
without incommoding and endangering the 
foot-paffengers ; and oppofite to the great 
entrance to the church {tood an old ruin- 
ous alms-houle, difpleafing to the eye and 
offenfive to the fmell. Sir Benjamin Ham- 
met, under the fanétion of this A€t, at his 
own coft and rifk, has opened a {pacious 
avenue tothe church, and built a ftreet, 
called Hammet-Street, of bandfome houfes, 
terminating in a large area, before the 
great door, and exhibiting the fine Gothic 
tower, to the full view of the fpeétator, 
from the Parade. Vhe accommodation 
to the public is great, and the effect does 
honour to the tafte that detigned it. 
The improvements which have been 
thus given to the town are fu commodious. 
and beautiful, fo pleafing to the eye and 
fo conducive to health; fo agreeableand 
ufeful, in point of convenience and morals ; 
and fo captivating to the traveller; that 
pofterity muft hold in grateful refpect the 
tafte which conceived them, and the pub- 
lic {pirit fronr which they originated.— 
The town, by thefe intprovements, now 
affords what for many years it wanted, 
houfes for the reception of genteel families 
out of trade. Many circumftances in- 
vite the fettlement of fuch in it: princi- 
pally a large market on Saturday, well 
furnifhed with fifk, both from the fouth 
and north channels, and plentifully ftored 
with. poultry, and all kinds of provifi ns, 
of the quality fo rich a vale as Taunton- 
Dean may be expeéted to produce ; which, 
at the advanced prices to which the arti- 
cles of food have arifen, are cheap in pro- 
portion compared with many markets in 
other parts of the kingdom. The tolls of 
the market are farmed at more than rool. 
per annum, which ferves to g.ve the rea- 
der an idea of the number of ftandings 
occupied by the butcheis, and of the quan- 
tity of other provifions, fold out of bafkets 
or at ftalls. Another market, chiefly con- 
fifting of fith, butcher’s meat, vegetables 
and fruits, isheld on Wednefday. The 
produce of the rich and extenfive gardens 
near the town, and the ficfh of the cattle 
fattened on its paftures, are expofed to fale 
almoft every day in the week. But it is 
an agreeable anJ fingular circumftance, 
that there is not one butcher’s fhop inthe 
town ; all the meat being foid from move- 
able ftandings. 
The 
