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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Walk through Leicester, by Susanna Watts
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: A Walk through Leicester
+       being a Guide to Strangers
+
+
+Author: Susanna Watts
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 24, 2008  [eBook #25895]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WALK THROUGH LEICESTER***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1804 T. Combe edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+                                       A
+                                      WALK
+                                     THROUGH
+                                    _LEICESTER_;
+                                      BEING
+                               A GUIDE TO STRANGERS,
+                                    CONTAINING
+                                  A DESCRIPTION
+                                      OF THE
+                              TOWN AND ITS ENVIRONS,
+                              WITH REMARKS UPON ITS
+                             HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
+
+
+    "Within this hour it will be dinner-time,
+    Till that I'll view the manners of the town,
+    Peruse its traders, gaze upon its buildings,
+    And then return and sleep within mine inn."
+
+                                                              SHAKESPEARE.
+
+                     LEICESTER, PRINTED BY T. COMBE,
+                               AND SOLD BY
+                   T. HURST, PATER-NOSTER-ROW, LONDON,
+                                  1804.
+
+
+
+
+ADDRESS.
+
+
+The Editor of the following pages, while he has been solicitous to
+furnish those who _travel_ with a POCKET CICERONE, feels at the same time
+a wish that it may not be unacceptable to those who are _at home_.  The
+latter, though, in the subject of this survey, they trace an old, a
+familiar scene, will still feel that it possesses that interest which the
+native spot binds around the mind, and when they point out to their
+intelligent visitors and curious friends the most memorable objects of
+their antient and honourable Town, it is his wish that this little
+companion may be found useful; he, therefore, while he rejoices in their
+support and feels their liberality, inscribes it with respect and
+gratitude, to the
+
+                        INHABITANTS OF LEICESTER.
+
+
+
+
+A WALK
+THROUGH
+_LEICESTER_.
+
+
+To the traveller who may wish to visit whatever is deemed most worthy of
+notice in the town of Leicester, the following sketch is devoted.  And as
+the highly cultivated state of topographical knowledge renders
+superficial remark unpardonable in local description, we shall endeavor
+to produce, at the various objects of our visit, such information and
+reflections as a conductor, not wholly uninformed, may be expected to
+offer to the curious and intelligent, while he guides him through a
+large, commercial, and, we trust, a respectable town; the capital of a
+province which can honestly boast, that by its rich pasturage, its flocks
+and herds, it supplies England with the blessings of agricultural
+fertility; and by the industry of its frame-work-knitters, affords an
+article that quickens and extends the operations of commerce.
+
+We now request our good-humoured stranger to accept of such our guidance;
+whether he be the tourist, whose object of inquiry is general
+information--or the man of reflection, who, wherever he goes, whether in
+crouded towns or solitary fields, finds something to engage his
+meditation--or the mercantile rider, who, when the business of his
+commissions is transacted, quits his lonely parlour for a stroll through
+the streets--we shall endeavor to bring before his eye as much of
+interest as our scenes will afford: and as for the diligent antiquary, we
+assure him we will make the most of our Roman remains; and we hope he
+will not quarrel with the rough forest stones of our streets, when we
+promise him they shall conduct him to the smoother pavement of Roman
+mosaic.
+
+What may have been the name of the town we are about to traverse, before
+the establishment of the Romans, cannot be ascertained; for the Britons
+had no written monuments, and it cannot be expected that tradition should
+have survived the revolutions, which, since that period, have taken place
+in this island.  King Leir, and whatever surmises may have been founded
+on the similarity between his name and the present name of the place, may
+safely be left to those who are more fond of the flights of conjecture
+than the solid arguments of truth.
+
+After the establishment of the Romans, Leicester became one of their most
+important stations; was known, we are well assured, by the name of RATAE,
+and was a colony, composed of the soldiers from the legions, having
+magistrates, manners, and language the same as Rome itself.  Under the
+Saxon dynasty it obtained the name of LEICESTER, compounded of _castrum_,
+or _cester_, from its having been a Roman military station, and _leag_,
+or _lea_, a pasture surrounded by woods, for such was antiently the scite
+of the town.  This name it has preserved, with less alteration in the
+mode of spelling than almost any other town in the kingdom, through the
+barbarous reigns of the Saxon kings, the oppressive system of the feudal
+times, the dark gloom of monkish superstition, and the fatal revolutions
+occasioned by the civil commotions of later ages.
+
+Such is, most probably, the true etymology of the name of the place we
+are now proceeding to survey; for which purpose we will suppose the
+visitor to set forward from the Three Crowns Inn, along a strait wide
+street, called
+
+
+
+GALLOWTREE-GATE,
+
+
+(corruptly pronounced _Goltre_), from its having formerly led to the
+place of execution, the left side of which is the scite of the antient
+city walls.
+
+At the bottom of this street, a building, formerly the assembly-room, but
+now converted to purposes of trade, with a piazza, under which is a
+machine for weighing coals, forms the centre of five considerable
+streets.  The
+
+
+
+HUMBERSTONE-GATE,
+
+
+on the right, leads to a range of new and handsome dwellings, called
+SPA-PLACE, from a chalybeate spring found there, which, though furnished
+by the proprietor with neat marble baths and every convenient appendage
+for bathing, has not been found sufficiently impregnated with mineral
+properties to bring it into use.  The Humberstone-Gate is out of the
+local limits of the borough, and subject to the concurrent jurisdiction
+of the county and borough magistrates; though in the reigns of Edward VI.
+and Elizabeth, attempts were made to bring it exclusively under the
+magisterial power of the town.  It is part of the manor possessed by the
+Bishops of Lincoln, in the twelfth century, and is still called the
+_Bishops' Fee_.
+
+Southward from the Humberstone-Gate to the Goltre-Gate, very considerable
+additions, consisting of several streets, have lately been made to the
+town.
+
+Advancing forward, the visitor, on passing the weighing machine, enters
+the
+
+
+
+BELGRAVE-GATE,
+
+
+a street of considerable extent, in the broader part of which stands what
+may justly be deemed one of the most valuable curiosities of the place;
+it is a _milliare_, or Roman mile-stone, forming part of a small obelisk.
+This stone was discovered in 1771, by some workmen, digging to form a
+rampart for a new turnpike-road from Leicester to Melton, upon the foss
+road leading to Newark, and at the distance of two miles from Leicester.
+Antiquarians allow it to be the oldest _milliare_ now extant in Britain;
+and perhaps the inscription upon it is older than most others that have
+been found upon altars, or other monuments of Roman antiquity in this
+island.  It is about three feet long, and between five and six in
+circumference.  The inscription, when the abbreviations are filled up,
+may be read thus--
+
+                              Imperator Caesar,
+                     Divi Trajani Parthici Filius Divus,
+                         Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus,
+                   Potestate IV. Consulatu III. A Ratis II.
+
+                          Hadrian Trajanus Augustus,
+     Emperor & Caesar, the son of the most illustrious Trajan Parthicus,
+             In the 4th year of his reign, and his 3d consulate.
+                       From Ratae (Leicester) 2 miles.
+
+Such is the inscription on this _milliare_, which our industrious
+antiquaries seem faithfully to have extracted from among the ruins of
+time and the injuries of accident; an object, which exhibits a curious
+instance of the civilization introduced by the Roman arms into this
+island; for the erection of marks to denote the distance from place to
+place, is an accommodation, at least to the travelling stranger, which
+unpolished nations never devised; and which the inhabitants of Britain
+never generally enjoyed from the final departure of the Roman legions,
+till the last century, when mile-stones were again erected along our
+principal turnpike roads.  The unlearned visitor, it is confessed, will
+be apt to view, with some degree of disappointment, the object of which
+we are speaking, and about which much busy conjecture, and learned
+antiquarian research has been employed; for indeed, its appearance is
+neither singular nor striking, the engraving being but slight, and the
+letters rudely formed.  But the ingenious observer will esteem it a
+valuable curiosity; not only because it clears up the long doubted
+question, whether the RATAE of Antoninus's Itinerary was the present
+Leicester, but because it is one of those objects which assist the
+reflecting mind in connecting the past with the present; and, by
+confirming from sensible evidence the records of history, give greater
+weight and effect to the lessons she may teach.
+
+The situation in which this stone is at present placed, has often been
+thought improper; for it is undoubtedly exposed to injuries from the
+wantonness of play, and is so little conspicuous from its place in the
+obelisk, that nothing appears necessarily to attract the attention of the
+stranger.  A situation more private, though not wholly so, would be more
+proper; such a one as the garden of the Infirmary would afford: it would
+there have all the publicity the curious could wish, and all the security
+the antiquary could desire.
+
+Our visitor, continuing his walk along this street, which, as he probably
+will know, is on the great road from the metropolis to the north-west
+part of the kingdom, arrives at a scene of busy traffic.  Here, among
+numbers of newly-erected dwellings (proofs of the increasing population
+of the town) is the public and principal wharf on the navigable canal,
+near which is an iron foundery.  This canal was formed, in consequence of
+a bill passed in 1791, for the purpose of opening a communication with
+the Loughborough canal, and through that, with the various navigations,
+united to the Trent.  The line of the canal from Leicester to
+Loughborough is near sixteen miles in extent, and serves to supply
+Leicester with coal, lime, and the greater part of all the other heavy
+articles, which the consumption of a place, containing sixteen thousand
+inhabitants, requires.
+
+The rates of tonnage, according to the act, from Loughborough to
+Leicester, are--
+
+For coals                1s. 2d. per ton.
+Iron, timber, &c.        2s. 6d.
+
+
+
+Quantity of the articles brought by this canal:
+
+                                                          _tons_
+Coal annually consumed in Leicester and its vicinity      35,000
+Ditto forwarded to other canals                           18,000
+Merchandize for Leicester                                 4,000
+Ditto sent down (chiefly wool)                            1,600
+
+
+
+Thus, whether we consider the saving of corn, &c. consumed by the horses
+employed in land carriage, the comparative cheapness of the conveyance,
+or the improved state of our roads, relieved from such heavy weights, it
+must be acknowledged that this canal adds more than might have been
+expected to the convenience of Leicester, and the greater part of its
+county.  Indeed, these _water-roads_, as navigable canals may be termed,
+reflect the greatest honour on the ingenuity of man, exemplified in their
+formation, and prove most strikingly to the thinking mind, how boundless
+are the advantages of civilized life, and how inviolable the security
+afforded to property by laws, wisely framed and judiciously enforced.
+
+The view from this spot, across the Abbey Meadow, extending on the
+opposite side of the canal, with the ruins of the Devonshire mansion,
+commonly termed the _Abbey_, from its being the scite of _St. Mary de
+Pratis_, will, by most visitors, be considered, at least, as very
+pleasing; but as we mean to conduct our traveller to that place, we
+shall, at present, forbear to particularize it.
+
+We shall immediately, along a lane, called Arch-deacon's Lane, about the
+middle of which is a Meeting house, with a small burial ground, belonging
+to the General Baptists, guide our stranger to
+
+
+
+ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH.
+
+
+This structure is rendered venerable by its tower, whose pinnacles and
+trefoil-work, with the niche, or tabernacle, on the corner of the south
+wall of the church, would have even shown it, had not its date been
+confirmed by Bishop Alnwicke's register, 1441, to have been the work of
+the era of the regular gothic.  From this tower, a ring of ten bells,
+well known for their excellence, sound in frequent peals of harmony along
+the meadow and river below.
+
+This, when the other churches of Leicester were given to the abbey by
+Robert Bossu, was annexed as a prebend to the cathedral of Lincoln, by
+the bishops of that diocese to whom it then belonged.  The right of
+presentation is vested in the person holding the prebend, and the parish,
+with the neighbouring dependent parish of Knighton, is exempted from the
+jurisdiction of the Arch-deacon of Leicester.  The inside of the church
+is handsome; the nave and side aisles are supported by gothic arches,
+whose beauty and symmetry are not concealed by aukward galleries.  The
+organ was erected by the parishioners in 1773.
+
+Several elegant modern monuments adorn the walls, and in the north aisle
+is the alabaster tomb of Bishop Penny, many years abbot of the
+neighbouring monastery of St Mary de Pratis.  In the church-yard the
+military trophies of a black tomb commemorate Andrew Lord Rollo.  This
+nobleman was an instance of the attraction which a martial life affords
+to an elevated mind, for he entered the service at the age of forty, when
+generally the habits and inclinations of life are so fixed, as scarcely
+to admit any change.  After many years of severe and dangerous services,
+he died at Leicester, as the inscription informs us, on his way to
+Bristol, for the recovery of his health, 1765.
+
+It is to be observed of this and the other churches in this place, that
+the entrance is by a descent of several steps; a circumstance proving
+incontestibly, that the ground without has been considerably raised,
+since no reason could induce the founders of these sacred edifices to
+sink the floors beyond the natural level; nor is the surface of the
+church-yards alone, higher than the floors of the churches; so caused by
+the continued interment of the dead: but the general level of the
+pavements of the streets is also higher; from which it must be inferred,
+that the ground on which the present houses are built has been every
+where raised, and that very considerably.  That the rubbish produced by
+buildings, and particularly the consumption of fuel, should produce this
+effect, is what any one may readily believe; and the Bishop of Llandaff
+calculates in his Chemical Essays, that the quantity of coal consumed
+annually in London, would raise an area of ten miles square, a full inch.
+
+But notwithstanding it may safely be affirmed that a much greater
+quantity of fuel is at present consumed, and more rubbish produced
+annually in Leicester, than at any other period whatever, yet the seeming
+paradox may easily be proved, that little, if any alteration in the level
+of the town is made now.  For the demand of all the refuse of the yards
+for the purposes of agriculture, and the ordinary attention paid to
+sweeping the streets, prevent any accumulation of soil: the change of
+level then, of which our churches afford such indubitable proofs, can
+only have taken place when the streets were unpaved, and made the
+receptacle of every kind of offal from the houses; and when the yards,
+uncleared for the purposes of improved agriculture, were choaked by
+accumulated filth; the whole almost ever yielding in abundance those
+noxious steams, the loathsome parent of pestilences, which, in former
+days, frequently proved the scourges of our larger towns, and too often
+spread their contagion to the villages.  Hence the entrance into our
+churches, among other good sentiments, may excite in the reflective mind
+a gratitude for the improved comforts the inhabitants of large towns now
+enjoy; and the same circumstances may also call forth the exertions of
+benevolence to promote still greater cleanliness, and to remove from the
+habitations of man those effects of filthiness, which, in proportion to
+their extent, are always offensive, and sometimes fatal.
+
+Westward from this church-yard, extends a street strait and wide, but
+meanly built, called
+
+
+
+SANVY-GATE.
+
+
+Here nothing can be traced worthy of observation, except the etymologist
+stops to glean the remark that _Sanvy_ is derived from _sancta via_, the
+antient name of the street, so denominated from the solemn procession
+that passed through it on Whitsun Monday, in its way from St. Mary's to
+St. Margaret's.  In this procession the image of the Virgin was carried
+under a canopy, with an attendant minstrel and harp, accompanied by
+representatives of the twelve apostles, each denoted by the name of the
+sacred character he personated, written on parchment, fixed to his
+bonnet; these were followed by persons bearing banners, and the virgins
+of the parish.  Among other oblations they presented in St. Margaret's
+Church two pair of gloves; one for the Deity, and one for St. Thomas of
+India.
+
+The stranger, having visited St. Margaret's Church, may proceed up the
+
+
+
+CHURCH-GATE,
+
+
+about the middle of which he will pass through an area of about an acre
+and a half, the property of Sir Nigel Gresley, Bart. now used as a wood
+yard; but formerly given by Queen Elizabeth to the freemen of Leicester,
+for the practice of public sports, and especially archery; whence, from
+the butts, or shooting marks erected in it, it is called _Butt-close_.
+
+There is good reason to believe that plots of ground were once destined
+to the like purposes in almost every village, and butts erected for the
+practice of that art, to which several of the most important victories of
+the English were certainly owing.  The use of the _arbalest_, or
+cross-bow, was certainly very antient in Europe, and was the weapon that
+proved fatal to Harold at the battle of Hastings: but the long bow was
+not familiar to the English, or, perhaps, not known in Europe, till the
+return of Edward the First from the Holy Land, where he became sensible
+of its superior advantages from his conflicts with the Saracens.
+
+From this period till the time of Charles the First, frequent orders were
+issued by the kings, and acts of parliament were passed, enforcing and
+regulating the exercise of the long bow.  Persons of all ages, from seven
+years old and upwards, were obliged by penalties to appear at stated
+times, each with his bow of a length equal to his own height, and, at
+least, a brace of arrows, to try his skill and strength before the butts
+near their respective places of residence; and by a statute of Henry the
+Eighth, no one under twenty-four was allowed to shoot at any mark, at a
+less distance than eleven score, or 220 yards, a distance of greater
+length than our _Butt-close_ is at present; yet it is certain that the
+adjoining orchard once formed part of it, and other encroachments may
+have been made on it, probably at the north end.
+
+The great execution that may be done by the bow, from the rapidity of its
+discharges, and the confusion a flight of arrows is likely to occasion,
+especially among cavalry, has inclined some to contend that it is a
+weapon in excellence superior to the musket.  But the difficulty of
+procuring, in any great quantity, the proper wood for the formation of
+bows, the expense of arrows, and, above all, the long practice and
+training, even from infancy, necessary to form an archer capable of
+drawing _an arrow a cloth-yard long_, {23} will ever secure the
+preference to the latter weapon, which, though as commonly used, perhaps
+less certain of hitting the mark, is however capable of doing much
+execution at double the distance to which the bow will carry {24}.
+
+Crossing the Butt-close, to the alley on the right, we pass the
+_Presbyterian_, or GREAT MEETING HOUSE, built, as appears by a date on
+the walls, 1708; the congregation of which was first established in 1680.
+The seats are calculated to accommodate eight hundred persons.  An organ
+was erected here in 1800, a valuable advantage to the choir, who form a
+musical society, cultivated with great care, and justly celebrated for
+its excellence.
+
+In an opposite lane, now called Causeway-lane, but formerly St. John's,
+leading to the Town Goal, the scite of St. John's Chapel, is a small
+place of worship appropriated to the service of the _Romish Church_.  It
+is secluded from observation, being situated behind the house of the
+officiating priest, and is a neat miniature representation of the
+peculiar decorations with which the members of that religion adorn the
+places where they offer up their public devotions.
+
+Opposite the Great Meeting is a Meeting House newly erected by a society
+of_ Independents_, which will seat six hundred persons; and in the
+adjoining lane, which has undergone a nominal degeneracy from _St.
+Peter's_ to _Woman's Lane_, is another, erected 1803, by a society
+calling themselves _Episcopalian Baptists_.  Between these two latter
+buildings, is an area used as a _Bowling Green_, and _Tea Garden_, with
+many small structures erected for the general purposes of amusement; it
+is known by the name of the _New Vauxhall_.  Among this various
+assemblage of edifices stands one, which from its size will attract the
+attention of visitors; it is a spacious House for the reception of
+Lunatics, under the direction of Dr. Arnold.  From hence we pass an
+irregular street, now called the
+
+
+
+SWINE MARKET,
+
+
+formerly _Parchment Lane_; which may afford interest to the mind tho' not
+to the eye; for the reflective Traveller will not regard as unimportant
+the humble dwellings of those Manufacturers whose industry supplies the
+commercial wealth of the nation.
+
+From this street we arrive at a spot still called the
+
+
+
+EAST-GATES,
+
+
+tho the gates of the ancient town were, some years ago, taken down to
+render the passage more commodious.  In the massy wood of these gates
+were found balls of a large size, which probably had lodged there ever
+since the assault made upon the town by king Charles's forces in 1695,
+when according to a note in the pocket-book of one Simmonds, a
+quarter-master in the King's army, which is now preserved in the Harleian
+library, "Col. Bard's Tertia fell on with scaling ladders, some near a
+flanker, and others scaled the horne work before the draw-bridge on the
+east side."
+
+We now advance along the
+
+
+
+HIGH-STREET,
+
+
+observing on the right hand, about half way up, a lofty hexagon turret,
+whose top is glaz'd for the purpose of a prospect seat.  It bears on the
+inside, marks of considerable antiquity, and is a remain of the mansion
+of Henry Earl of Huntingdon, called _Lord's Place_.  It has a winding
+stair-case of stone, with a small apartment on each story, and is now
+modernized with an outward coating of brick.
+
+From hence we enter a street, which was formerly upon the great north
+road; it leads to Ashby-de-la-zouch, and changing its denomination at
+different places, intersects the town from the southern extremity, where
+stands the Infirmary, to the North Bridge, a space of a mile and one
+eighth; where it is crossed by High-Street and St. Nicholas' Street, it
+takes the name of
+
+
+
+HIGH-CROSS-STREET,
+
+
+from a plain doric pillar bearing the name of High Cross, and which
+formed some years ago one of the supporters of a light temple looking
+building of the same name, that served as a shelter to the country people
+who here hold a small market on Wednesdays and Fridays for the sale of
+butter, eggs, &c.  Here the members of parliament are proclaimed, and
+here also may be seen on Michaelmas day, the grotesque ceremony of the
+poor men of Trinity Hospital, arrayed like ancient Knights, having rusty
+helmets on their heads and breast-plates fastened over their black
+taberdes proclaiming the fair.
+
+Some paces lower the massy stone front of an edifice adorned with
+rusticated pillars points to the eye the _County Goal_, erected in the
+year 1791, at the expense of six thousand pounds.  The spectator may
+prehaps be led into a reflection on the violation of propriety, when he
+sees the Roman Fasces and Pileus encircled by heavy chains decorating an
+English prison.  Under these symbols the name of the Architect is fully
+conspicuous, and it may be observed as an example of sudden vicissitude,
+that the builder of this fabrick became, as a debtor, its first
+inhabitant.
+
+This prison, to which the county bridewell is now added, was erected,
+upon the scite of the old goal, some years after the benevolent Howard
+visited Leicester, and is built with solitary cells after the plan
+recommended by that celebrated philanthropist.
+
+The mention of a character so widely expanding beyond the customary
+sphere of human action irresistibly arrests the attention of the heart
+that glows into admiration at striking examples of virtue, and of the
+head that feels interest in tracing the motives which influence the
+conduct of man.
+
+Separated from the county prison, by a lane called _Free-School Lane_, is
+a rude heavy building, adorned with the Royal Arms.  This is the FREE
+GRAMMAR SCHOOL, the aera of whose original foundation has been thought
+uncertain; but upon the authority of the learned topographer Leland, it
+is ascertained to have been founded by one of the three Wigstons interred
+in the collegiate church in the Newark, and who, according to the same
+writer, was a Prebendary of that church.  This, if not the same person,
+was brother to him who founded the Hospital dedicated to St. Ursula, now
+called _Wigston's Hospital_.  The master of that Hospital, had formerly
+the privilege of recommending, if not appointing the master and usher of
+the school, but this right is now exercised by the Mayor and senior
+Aldermen.--The present building was erected by the Mayor and Burgesses,
+in the fifteenth of Elizabeth, who granted them for that purpose, the
+materials of the adjoining church of St. Peter.
+
+On the opposite side of the street projects the gabel end of a building
+once part of the _Blue Boar_, afterwards _Blue Bell_ inn, in ancient
+times undoubtedly the principal inn of the place.  The old over-hanging
+window gave light to a chamber in which stood the bedstead, which has
+been celebrated by the name of _King Richard's Bedstead_, from the
+circumstance of his having slept in it a few nights preceding Bosworth
+Fight.
+
+Antiquaries have spoken of this bedstead as belonging to the king rather
+than to the master of the house; and this opinion has been thought
+favoured by the circumstance of a large sum in gold coin, partly of
+Richard's reign, accidentally discovered in its double bottom.  The
+bedstead is of oak, highly ornamented with carved work, and is now, in
+the possession of Tho. Babington Esq. M.P.  There seems but little reason
+to suppose that a Royal General while attending the march of his Army,
+should unnecessarily encrease his baggage by so cumbrous a piece of
+furniture, or that a Sovereign, guarded by nearly all the military force
+of the Nation, should find it expedient to hide his gold like a private
+unprotected person.  The bedstead therefore, it may safely be inferred,
+belonged, not to a monarch, but to the master of a good inn; and the
+money was secreted in it by some person anxious to secure his property
+from the dangers threatened by times of civil distraction.
+
+At the bottom of _Blue Boar Lane_, which takes it name from the inn, is a
+small Alms-house, founded 1712, by Matthew Simons Esq. for six Widows,
+and endowed with 20_l._ 10_s._ annually.
+
+The next observable object in the High Cross Street, is the TOWN GOAL.
+It is a commodious building, with a handsome stone front, and built after
+the plan of Howard--the Architect, Mr. W. Firmadge.
+
+In taking down the old Goal for the erection of the present edifice, in
+the year 1792, incorporated with the walls of the cells were discovered
+the remains of the chapel of St John, supposed to have been destroyed
+during the contests between Henry the Second and his Son.  A regular
+stone arch belonging to this chapel, of a circular form, with ornaments
+of cheveron work, was carefully taken from among the ruins of the old
+goal, and preserved by that industrious Antiquary and Historian of
+Leicester, Mr. Throsby.
+
+The small Hospital of St. John, to which this chapel belonged, joins the
+prison; it supports six Widows who subsist on a very scanty stipend
+arising from various annual donations.  Bent's Hospital, being the ground
+floor of the same building, supports four Widows on an endowment equally
+small.
+
+We are now approaching one of the most valuable traces which Leicester
+affords of our Roman Conquerors, a relick of their tesselated floors;
+preserved with great attention, in the cellar of Mr. Worthington,
+opposite the town prison.  It was discovered in the year 1675, about four
+feet and a half under the surface of the earth, which beneath was found
+to consist of oyster shells to a considerable depth; it was sunk from its
+original portion on one side being considerably inclined from the
+level.--This pavement, which is an octagon three feet diameter,
+represents a Stag looking intently upon the modestly-inclined countenance
+of a figure seemingly female, with her arm resting affectionately against
+his neck; in front stands a boy, whose wings and bow plainly indicate him
+to be a Cupid; he appears about to discharge an arrow at the breast of
+the female; a circumstance which renders it very certain that the subject
+must be the amours of some fabulous personages, but assuredly not _Diana
+and Actaeon_; nor yet as some Antiquaries have hastily supposed,
+_Cypressus_ lamenting the death of his favourite stag.  Indeed in the
+whole of the _Metamorphoses_, no story cm be found bearing the slightest
+resemblance to the subject before us.
+
+The elegant and picturesque Gilpin has chosen to denominate this pavement
+"a piece of miserable workmanship," which can only be owing to the manner
+in which he injudiciously viewed it.  By placing the light in a proper
+position, the spectator will observe that the effect of the whole piece
+gives the idea of good design, shade, and relief; and will be clearly
+convinced that it could not have been wrought by a hand which had not
+made considerable progress in the art of painting, as is evident from the
+rounding of the arm of the female, the foreshortening of the stag's horn,
+and the animated expression of each countenance.  The tesserae are of
+various sizes, mostly square, but where a narrow line of light was
+required, as in the strait Grecian nose of the female, they are small and
+long.  They appear to be a composition, and are of three or four distinct
+shades, the darkest a brown approaching to black, the next a warm or red
+brown, and the lightest, which forms the ground work, an ochery white.
+
+The admirers of this art, so much practised by the Romans as a decoration
+of their magnificent buildings, an art which has survived so long as to
+have obtained an established manufactory in modern Rome, will ascertain
+the pavement in question to be one of the first specimens of antient
+mosaic, and will, with gratified attention, here behold form and shade
+called up from that unmanageable material, a piece of baked earth.
+
+The commonly received opinion of these pavements having been the floors
+of baths, as founded on the circumstance of their being discovered three
+or four feet under the surface of the earth, is not conclusive; for the
+soil has been raised by accidental accumulation; and had not this been
+the case, the depth of three or four feet would not have been sufficient
+for a Bath as it could not have allowed room for submersion.  Neither
+does the vault with a floor and walls of tesselated work, and pipes in
+the roof, discovered near Leicester in the reign of James the first, the
+memory alone of which is preserved by our indefatigable topographer, Mr.
+Nichols, render such an opinion in any respect more certain; but that
+some of them were floors of sitting rooms may be justly inferred, from
+the flues constructed under them for the purpose of conveying heat.
+
+In examining the specimens of the mosaic art, we are tempted to draw a
+far different conclusion from that adopted by the truly learned author of
+the _Munimenta Antiqua_, who strongly adduces the number of _fragile_ (as
+he terms them) tesselated floors found in Britain, as a proof of the
+slightness of the superstructures erected by the Romans.  Now, surely it
+is not to be expected that a people whose architecture in their own
+country was so strikingly characterized by massiveness & splendor,
+should, in this island, which though a distant was a durable conquest,
+and improved by all their arts and industry, have departed from their
+usual principles.  And farther, the taste and costly magnificence
+discoverable in these curious remains must lead to the conclusion that
+they could not have committed them to slight or ordinary buildings, for
+they were decorations which the experience of more than fourteen hundred
+years has scarcely surpassed.  Even the looms of modern Brussels, in
+elegance and beauty of pattern, cannot fairly outvie the Mosaic Carpets
+of the antient Romans.
+
+The next object that engages the eye is the church of _All Saints_,
+projecting on the west end into the street, exhibiting in its clock an
+humble copy of the machinery of St Dunstan's, in London.  It is a small
+neat church with three aisles and a low tower, and nothing in its
+architecture attracts regard.  This vicarage with that of _St Peter's_,
+which was annexed to it in the reign of Elizabeth, includes the antient
+parish of _St Michael_, and part if not the whole, of that of _St.
+Clement_.
+
+A monument in this church-yard commemorates a character greatly
+distinguished by his large donations to the poor--_Ald. Gabriel Newton_.
+
+Of the prevalence of alms-giving in Leicester, this parish, together with
+the rest, bears full testimony, in a long list of benefactors, from the
+Royal Grant of Charles the first of forty acres of land in Leicester
+forest, to poor housekeepers, (which now produces annually 33l. 11s. 4d
+{42}) to the donor of the penny wheaten Loaf.  From the returns to
+Parliament in the present reign, when accounts were made of all the
+charitable donations in the kingdom, it appears that there are donations
+in the parishes of Leicester, in land and money (including the endowments
+of the lesser Hospitals) mostly vested in the trust of the Corporation
+and by them distributed, to the annual amount of upwards of 800l.--see
+Nichols.--
+
+A short space below the church is the spot where formerly stood the North
+Gates; here a narrow lane, which once obtained the name of St. Clements,
+from its leading to that church, but which is now degraded into
+_Dead-mans Lane_, is the passage to a Meeting House, belonging to the
+Society of Quakers.  The street continuing in a right line, now takes the
+name of
+
+
+
+NORTH-GATE STREET.
+
+
+and conducts us to a bridge over the Canal, beyond which is the _North_
+or _St. Sunday's Bridge_.  This is an elegant stone structure, erected in
+1796 and when viewed from the Abbey meadow below, it forms with the trees
+and slopes beyond it a very pleasing scene.  Its three arches are small
+segments of a large circle.
+
+At the foot of the bridge in an area enclosed by a low wall, and
+distinguished by a few scattered grave-stones, the church-yard of _St.
+Leonard_ meets the eye.  The church, of which no trace remains, was
+demolished by the Parliament Garrison in the reign of Charles the first;
+as from its convenient situation it might have covered the approach of
+the enemy, and given them the command of the bridge.  The parish still
+remains distinct, and the occasional duty is performed by the minister of
+St. Margaret's.
+
+We cannot leave the North Bridge, without remarking that near this spot
+once stood an establishment, which as it related to a privilege
+exclusively royal, that of coining money, has ever been thought to confer
+honor on the places where it was allowed to be exercised.  It is
+undoubtedly proved from the series of coins that has been collected, that
+money was coined at the _Mint at Leicester_, in regular succession from
+the reign of the Saxon king Athelstan, down to Henry the second.  The
+_Monetarii_, or Governors of the mint, were entitled to considerable
+privileges and exemptions, being _Socmen_, or holders of land in the Soc,
+or franchise of a great Baron, yet they could not be compelled to
+relinquish their tenements at their lord's will.  They paid twenty pounds
+every year, a considerable sum, as a pound at the time of the conquest,
+contained three times the weight of silver it does at present.  These
+pounds consisted of pennies, each weighing one _ora_ or ounce, of the
+value of 20 pence.  Two thirds of this sum were paid to the king, and the
+other third to the feudal Baron of Leicester.
+
+The Leicester coins of Athelstan and Edmund the first have only a rose
+with a legend of the king's name, that of the Moneyer, and Leicester;
+from Etheldred the second, they bear the impress of the royal head and
+sceptre, with the same stile of legend unchanged.
+
+In this series of Leicester coins, which has been engraved with accurate
+attention in the valuable work of Mr. Nichols, the triangular helmets,
+uncouth diadems, and rudely expressed countenances of our Saxon
+Sovereigns, exhibit, when opposed to a plate of Roman coinage, a striking
+contrast to the nicely delineated features of the laurelled Caesars.  In
+no instance of comparison does the Roman art appear more conspicuous.
+The great quantity of coins of that scientific people which have been
+found at Leicester, is an additional testimony of its consequence as a
+Roman town; these, unfortunately upon being found at different periods,
+have paffed into various hands, and altho' some few gentlemen here have
+made collections, yet it is to be regretted that by far the greater part
+of the coins have been taken from the town.  Had those found in the last
+century been thrown together into one cabinet, Leicester might have
+exhibited at this time a respectable series of Roman coinage, both in
+brass and silver, from the emperor Nero, down to Valens.  Leaving those
+whose taste shall so direct them, to pursue the train of reflections to
+which this most curious subject may lead, we return to our route.  From
+the North Budge two streets branch out, that on the left the
+
+
+
+WOOD-GATE,
+
+
+leading to the Ashby-de-la-Zouch road, and that on the right, the
+
+
+
+ABBEY-GATE,
+
+
+conducting us to the Abbey.
+
+The name of _Abbey_, so dear to painting, poetry, and romance, naturally
+raises in the mind an idea of the picturesque and the aweful; but we are
+now approaching no gothic perspectives, no "long drawn aisles and fretted
+vaults," and scarcely able to bring a single instance of assimilation, we
+visit indeed an Abbey only in name; yet we visit a spot well adapted to
+the purposes to which it was appropriated.  Sequestered, surrounded by
+pleasing objects, and dignified by the not uncertain evidences of
+history, it offers to the thinking mind all those interesting sensations
+which a review of past times, important events, and manners now no more,
+can possibly produce.
+
+An antient brick wall with a small niche of stone is the first indication
+of its boundaries.  This is said by Leland, to have been built by Bishop
+Penny who was Abbot of this Monastery in 1496.  This prelate continued in
+his Abbacy till he was translated to the See of Carlisle, and even then,
+when spared from his episcopal duty, he delighted to dwell among his
+brethren in this religious retreat, and was interred in the neighbouring
+church of St. Margaret.  Tracing the wall, we enter the grounds by a
+modern gateway, and perceive, among orchards, gardens, and potatoe
+plantations (the land being occupied by a Gardener and Nursery-man) the
+front wall, facing the north west, of the mansion, once belonging to the
+Earls of Devonshire, which, as Mr. Grose has ascertained from a MS. in
+the British Museum, was built out of the ruins of the Abbey, long after
+its dissolution.  The massy stone stanchions of the windows of this house
+which still remain entire, and the firmness of the walls, shew the
+durability of the materials.  They still retain the traces of that fire
+by which the forces of Charles the first on their retreat northward after
+their defeat at Naseby, destroyed that mansion, a few days before, the
+quarters of the king himself.
+
+In these gardens, nearly thirty acres in extent, no traces now remain of
+the refectory, the cells of the Abbot and twelve Canons, the structures
+raised in the year 1134, by the great Robert Bossu, Earl of Leicester;
+neither is there, as might have been hoped, one vestige of that noble
+church, believed to have been built by Petronilla, the wife of his son
+Robert Blanch-mains, and adorned with the pious donation of a braid of
+her hair wrought into a rope, to suspend the lamp in the great choir; an
+offering at which some of our modern females who sacrifice their tresses
+with other views, may perhaps smile.  Nor has the diligence of the
+enquiring Antiquary been more successful in the discovery of any traces
+of the tomb of Cardinal Wolsey, that great example of fallen ambition;
+who, after a life of more than princely magnificence, stripped of his
+honours, deprived of his eight hundred attendants, came here, sick,
+almost solitary, and a prisoner, performing a wearisome journey on an
+humble mule, to crave of the Abbot "_a little earth for charity_."
+
+But, however barren this spot may seem to be of antient relicks, it is
+not wholly destitute of objects calculated to revive in the thinking
+mind, the events to which we have been alluding; for in the small garden
+or court before the main front of the present ruins are still to be seen
+the delapidated towers of that gate-way thro' which Wolsey entered in
+melancholy degradation, and thro' which other great, more prosperous, and
+often royal visitors were admitted with their stately trains.
+
+Returning by the first entrance, and passing this interesting gate-way,
+and the antient stone wall of the Abbey, overhung with profuse ivy, the
+visitor will find himself well recompensed for the trouble of a traverse
+along the Abbey meadow, from the Bleach-yard at the angle of the wall, to
+the navigation bridge at the bottom of North-gate street.
+
+On crossing the antient bed of the Soar, the eye will immediately take
+its flight over a fine level plain containing at least five hundred acres
+of perhaps the richest soil in the kingdom, for that may truly be said of
+the _Abbey Meadow_.  The right of this tract is vested partly in a number
+of proprietors who claim the hay, and partly in the inhabitants of
+Leicester, who possess the privilege of here pasturing their cows till a
+certain period of the year.
+
+This ample area was formerly used as a race ground, but that annual sport
+is now removed to the South-side of the town, having been here frequently
+incommoded by the floods from the Soar.
+
+It has lately, at various reviews been dignified by a display of that
+admirable patriotism, which, while it reflects honor on the British name
+in general, is found in particular to glow with equal zeal and firmness
+in the breasts of the Volunteers of Leicester and its County.
+
+The view to the North-ward is simply ornamented by the church and village
+of Belgrave, whose inhabitants in 1357, in consequence of a dispute with
+the Abbot concerning the boundaries of the Stocking Wood, blockaded the
+North Bridge, and the Fosse, with a determination of depriving the Monks
+of their usual supply of provision from their _Grange_, or Farm at
+Stoughton.  This view forms a pleasing contrast to the towering churches
+and close grouped houses of Leicester.  The eye of taste will however
+soon turn from these objects and dwell with greater pleasure on the noble
+ivied walls bounding the Abbey domains; it will proceed to contemplate
+the mingling angles of its ruins, and in the back ground, the rich tops
+of the woods in the neighbourhood of Beaumont Leys.  This scene however,
+will not serve merely to amuse the eye, but will naturally lead the well
+informed visitor to interesting and affecting thoughts, while he
+contemplates the spot in which, in former times, were acted all the
+striking rites of the Romish Church, tho' he may lament the superstitious
+errors into which a dark and ignorant age had plunged mankind, he need
+not join with the destroyer of these venerable institutions in lording
+then memory with odious crimes, nor deem them even wholly useless.  Pity
+and a regard to truth will lead him to acknowledge that, tho' their
+worship was less pure than the reformed service now happily established
+in this Island, yet it was calculated, by its address to the senses, to
+keep alive the remembrance of the faith of the Gospel, and to prevent the
+warring Baron and his rude vassals from relapsing into heathenism.  Let
+it also be remembered, that Monks, odious as we are wont to consider
+them, were at one time, the only inhabitants of Christendom, who were at
+all acquainted with such sciences as then peered above the mists of
+overwhelming ignorance.  Of history, they may be said to be the modern
+fathers, and tho' perhaps, like the age in which they lived, in some
+respects, blind themselves, they led, not indirectly to the enlightening
+of the present age.  But in their own times they were far from useless;
+their monasteries were ever ready to receive the wearied traveller, and
+many persons of family, tho' of broken fortunes were honorably maintained
+at their board.  The poor were gratuitously relieved from their kitchens,
+and that in a manner, upon the whole, more favorable to religion and
+morality than they are now by those parish rates, which the abolition of
+monasteries, and the partition of their property among private
+individuals, have rendered so oppressively necessary.  To these valuable
+purposes the revenues of our Abbey were fully competent, for it possessed
+the advowsons of thirty six parish churches in Leicester and its County,
+which together with lands in various places, and rights in particular
+districts, produced annually for its disposal more than one thousand
+pounds.
+
+Quitting the Abbey meadow, and passing the North lock, we still continue
+our walk along pleasing rural scenes.  The sweeps of the river which here
+beautifully meanders, wash, almost closely, a large extent of town,
+affording an agreeable prospect on the left, and a slope finely
+diversified with groves and pasturage descends gently to the meadows on
+the right.  Approaching the Bow-Bridge, we pass a plot of ground
+insulated by the Soar, called the Black Friars, once the scite of a
+monastery belonging to the Augustine or Black Friars, of which no traces
+now remain.  That arm of the river which flows under the west bridge, is
+by some supposed, from its passing under the scite of the old Roman town,
+to be a canal formed by that people for the convenience of their
+dwellings.  It is now called the _New Soar_, and whether it can
+authentically boast the honor of being a Roman work, the antiquary may
+perhaps endeavour in vain to decide.  A tunnel or Roman sewer, was
+discovered in 1793, at an equal distance between the Roman ruin, called
+Jewry Wall, and the river, and in a direct line towards the latter, which
+contained some curious fragments of Roman pottery.
+
+Tho' it be the leading purpose of this survey to point out existing
+objects, those who lament the loss of such antient remains as were justly
+to be prized, will pardon a brief tribute to the memory of _Bow-Bridge_.
+That single arch of stone, richly shadowed with ivy, spanned, at the
+corner of this island, the arm of the Soar.  Its beautiful curve,
+unbroken either by parapet or hand-rail, well merited the name with which
+some Antiquaries have graced it, the _Rialto Bridge_.  On the top of the
+bow, feeding on the mould which time had accumulated upon the stony
+ridge, flourished a spreading hawthorn; this with the stream below, when
+sparkling under the reflection of the western sun, the broken shrubby
+banks, and the distant swell of Brad-gate Park hill, formed a picture
+which has often allured the eye; a picture, that, as it repeatedly
+arrested the painter's hand, we can hardly say is now no more.
+
+Of this Bridge, the learned author of the _Desiderata Curiosa_, who has
+mistaken it for the adjoining one of four arches, has given a plate in
+which is represented a troop of horsemen with banners, carrying the dead
+body of Richard the third, thrown upon a horse, over a bridge which never
+exceeded three feet; a width fully sufficient for the purpose for which
+it seems to have been constructed, that of affording a foot passage from
+the monastery of the Augustines to a spring of pure water some yards
+distant.  This spring till within a few years, was covered with a large
+circular stone, having an aperture in the centre, thro' which the monks
+let down their pitchers into the water, and retained the name of _St.
+Austin's Well_.
+
+But tho' not over this bridge, yet over the adjoining one, known also,
+probably from its vicinity to the other, by the name of _Bow-Bridge_, the
+monster Richard really passed, proud, angry, and threatening, mounted on
+his charger to meet Richmond; and over it, the day after the battle, his
+body was brought behind a pursuivant at arms, naked and disgraced, and
+after being exhibited in the Town-Hall, then situated at the bottom of
+Blue-Boar Lane, was interred in the church of the Grey-Friars near St.
+Martins.
+
+The name of this king excites in the mind a sensation of horror;--and
+tho' it required the overwhelming evidence of human depravity furnished
+by the French revolution, to make the author of the "Historic Doubts,"
+believe his crimes possible, the concurrent testimonies both of
+Lancastrian and Yorkist Chroniclers, too well demonstrate them.  Tho' the
+latter may have endeavoured to soften the picture, and Shakespear may
+have thrown upon it the darkest shades by working up his deformity of
+body and mind into a picture of diabolical horror, the original, the
+undoubted traits are preserved by both parties; traits, which so far from
+being peculiar to Richard, marked likewise the other characters of the
+contending houses.  Nor did he deviate widely from the manners of the
+times when he "_waded thro' slaughter to a throne_."
+
+A pleasing woody road leads from Bow-Bridge to Danett's Hall, the seat of
+Edward Alexander, M.D.  The ground here rising in a gentle slope obtains
+a command of the town, and that the dryness of the soil and agreeableness
+of the situation, mark it as a desirable spot for residence, even the
+taste of the antient Romans may prove; for in the plot of ground known by
+the name of the "great cherry orchard," remains a relic of one of their
+houses.  This is a fragment of a tesselated floor, discovered a few years
+ago, but covered over by a former possessor of the estate.  It is
+composed of tesseroe of various sizes, forming an elegant geometrical
+pattern, but how far it extends, has not yet been ascertained.
+
+Among the great number of these pavements found at Leicester, are three
+very perfect ones discovered in the ground belonging to Walter Ruding
+Esq. adjoining the old Vauxhall, near the west bridge--they also are
+composed in curious and exact patterns, and form entire squares; but are
+now filled up.  Of these, together with that in the great cherry orchard,
+very accurate plates are given in Nichols.
+
+To the westward of Danett's Hall, and West-cotes, the seat of Mr. Ruding,
+is a lane or bridle road, commonly called the Fosse, but various reasons
+lead to the belief that it is not part of the antient Roman road of that
+name.  The unvarying testimony of tradition has clearly proved that the
+road from the town westward lay, in the reign of Richard the third, over
+Bow-Bridge.  By attending to the Fosse, which runs nearly in the line of
+the Narborough road by West-cotes, it will seem likewise necessary to
+conclude that the approach to Leicester, in the time of the Romans, was
+also over a bridge situate near that spot; for as it is certain that the
+Fosse did pass thro' Leicester, and the Romans in forming their roads
+scrupulously adhered to the strait line, they would cross the old Soar
+near this place.
+
+When the Romans penetrated into Britain under the reign of Claudius, they
+found it almost in every part, crowded with woods, and infested with
+morasses; and as the natives well knew how to avail themeslves of these
+fastnesses, the island could never be considered as effectually conquered
+till it was rendered accessible to the march of the legions, and means
+were provided for speedy communication of intelligence from even the most
+distant parts of the provinces.  On this account their Cohorts early
+applied themselves to the task of forming roads; nor did they cease their
+labours till in the time of Antoninus, they had opened passages thro' the
+island in all directions.  In the reign of that emperor, these works,
+connected with others which they had already constructed on the
+continent, formed a great chain of communication, which, passing thro'
+Rome, from the Pict's wall, or north west, to Jerusalem, nearly the
+southeast point of the empire, was drawn out to the length of 4080 Roman,
+or as Mr. Reynolds has shewn, of so many British statute miles.  Along
+these roads proper relays of horses were stationed at short distances,
+and it seems that couriers could travel with ease above an hundred miles
+a day.  Two of these roads, as already observed, passed thro' Leicester.
+One, the _Via Devana_, leading from Camalodunum, or Colchester, in Essex,
+to _Deva_, of west Chester, a distance of about two hundred miles, has
+been lately discovered by some ingenious and able Antiquaries of the
+University of Cambridge.
+
+It enters Leicestershire in the neighbourhood of Rockingham; continues a
+strait road for many miles till it nearly reaches Leicester, and passing
+thro' the town it is found to leave the county near Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
+The other road, called the _Via_ _Fossata_ or Fosse, always known, and
+every where remarkable, traverses the island in a north-east direction,
+from near Grimsby on the coast of Lincolnshire, passes thro' Bath, and
+terminates at Seaton, a village situated on the coast of Devonshire, a
+distance of more than two hundred and fifty miles.  This road enters
+Leicesteshire at a place called Seg's Hill, on the wolds, or antiently
+wild and uncultivated parts of the county; from thence it passes the
+village of Thurmaston and approaches the East gates of Leicester, by the
+street called the Belgrave Gate.  On the south-west of the town it is
+again recognized in the Narborough road, and from that village it
+proceeds again a solitary lane till it enters Warwickshire at High Cross,
+where it crosses the no less celebrated Roman road, the Watling-Street.
+It is well known that in the formation of these roads, the Romans spared
+no cost and labour.  From the remains of some of them it appears that
+upon a bed of sand they spread a coating of gravel, upon which the
+pebbles, and sometimes hewn or squared stones were laid, firmly compacted
+together in a bed of cement.  This, we have reason to believe, was the
+structure of such of the roads in this island as are distinguished by the
+title of _Street_, a word derived from the Latin _Strata_, meaning formed
+of layers.  But such pains were not, it is probable, taken in all cases;
+and from the name of one of the roads passing thro' Leicester, the
+_Fosse_, an abbreviation of the Latin _Via Fossata_, meaning the way
+ditched, or dug, we cannot but conclude that it was a road raised by the
+spade and formed with a rampart, and probably covered with gravel in the
+manner of our present turnpike roads.  The same may also be said of the
+_Via Divana_, whose rampart, now covered with grass, the ingenious
+discoverers observed in many places.
+
+When the Saxons subdued this island, after the departure of the Romans,
+to preserve a ready communication between distant places formed no part
+of then rude and simple policy.  Hence the best roads of the Romans were
+neglected by them, and since the Romans had either forbidden, or the
+inclination of the Britons had dissuaded them from erecting villages on
+the line of public roads, those roads became useless, and their lasting
+materials are only to be found, tho' not distinguished, in the
+foundations of the neighbouring habitations.  As it would always be more
+easy to carry away the materials of a Roman road than dig for them in a
+quarry, it has happened that those materials have been in general so
+intirely removed, as to leave almost no where any other trace, than
+history and tradition, of their existence.
+
+From the departure of the Romans in 445, to the beginning of the
+eighteenth century, the roads of this Island received little or no
+improvement from the legislative powers, except by an order in the reign
+of Henry the second, that roads should be cleared of woods and made open
+that travellers might have leisure, if they should find it prudent, to
+prepare to resist the almost armies of robbers which were spread over the
+face of almost every county.  Roads, being no longer regulated by any
+system, to pass from place to place so as to avoid as well as might be
+the inconveniences of woods, bogs, and sloughs, became the only business
+of the traveller.  It was thus by accident the line of our present roads
+was formed, and to this their frequent circuits and other inconveniences
+are owing.
+
+During the period above mentioned they were in general so bad as to be
+useless for the passage of any other carriages than carts, and for these
+only in the summer season; so that the people inhabiting the same country
+as the Britons, who are said to have had numbers and great variety of
+cars of all kinds, were so exclusively confined to the use of horses and
+mules, that scarcely any other mode of conveyance was known even in
+London, and this so late as in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the
+first; for it is certain that when the great Shakespeare fled from his
+country and came to town, his first means of subsistence were the
+pittances he might earn by holding the horses of the persons who had come
+from different parts of London to see the plays then performed at the
+Bankside Theatre.
+
+It is not indeed to be asserted that till the eighteenth century our
+roads never received any repairs, for necessity would frequently call for
+something of the kind in most places; nor yet that Toll Bars were
+antiently wholly unknown; for it is certain that a Gate or Bar was first
+erected in the reign of Edward the first, at a place now called Holborn
+Bars in London, for the purpose of collecting tolls for the repairs of
+the roads.  But it must be allowed that the art of constructing a good
+and firm road was ill understood, and worse attended to; and when, in the
+beginning of the last century, turnpike roads were first made, it was
+imagined that the only good form was that of a ridge and furrow lying
+across the road on the line of its direction.  Turnpike gates were also
+in many places considered as such impositions that even in the beginning
+of the reign of George the second, some persons contested the payment,
+several were frequently seen together, especially at newly erected gates,
+suffering an interruption in their journey rather than submit to what
+they deemed an imposition.  Every one who understands the true
+conveniences of life will rejoice, that both the formation and repairs of
+roads, and also the usefulness of turn-pike tolls are now better
+understood; that even countries once held to be inaccessible are now open
+at all times and at all seasons to the traveller, and that most of our
+roads are now so well suited to the purposes not only of convenience but
+of pleasure, that we have no reason to lament the destruction of the
+Roman ways, or even not to think that we have within these few years
+greatly surpassed them in the expedition of our mails and all the
+conveniences and comforts of travelling.
+
+On this western side of the town, where its environs afford the
+attraction of woody scenery, the stranger is invited to prolong his
+stroll round _Ruding's Walk_.  This walk, tho' a continuation of the
+plantation that encloses West-cotes, is liberally left open by its
+possessor, who generously shares with the public the pleasure of his cool
+and shady scenery.  Where the walk, after winding thro' a flourishing
+shrubbery, enters a grove of tall and venerable elms, the churches and
+buildings of the town, broken by the intermediate trees of the paddock,
+and the long line of distance varied by villages, scattered dwellings and
+corn-mills, unite in a rich and pleasing prospect.
+
+On turning towards the West, the lover of contrast may for a moment call
+to his imagination the dark, heavy, and almost impenetrable forest which
+covered these lands in the twelfth century, and depicture figures of the
+inhabitants of Leicester bearing from thence their allowed load of wood,
+the supply for their hearths, and for this privilege, paying at the West
+bridge, their toll of _brigg silver_ to their feudal Baron.  To this
+picture he will oppose the present scene of pasturage, flocks, and free
+husbandmen, cultivating the earth under the protection of just and equal
+laws.  The slightest glance at past ages is a moral study, that renders
+us not only satisfied but grateful.
+
+We cannot pass West-cotes, without noticing an object in the possession
+of Mr. Ruding, highly interesting to the admirers of the fine Arts.  This
+is a picture in painted glass, representing Mutius Scaevola affording
+Porsena an astonishing proof of his resolution by burning that hand which
+had assassinated the secretary instead of the king.  The exquisite
+finish, and perfect preservation of this small piece bespeak it of the
+antient Flemish school, whose artists according to Guicciardini, invented
+the mode of burning their colours into the glass so as to secure them
+from the corrosion of water, wind, or even time.  There is no department
+of the delightful art of painting that so much excites wonder as this.
+When, in examining this piece, it is considered that every tint and
+demi-tint of the highly relieved drapery, every stroke of the distant
+tents and towers, was laid on in a fusile state; that delicate command of
+skill which could prevent the shades from liquefying into each other, and
+arrest every touch in its assigned place, so as to produce the effects of
+the most finished oil painting, cannot be sufficiently admired.
+
+Entering the town we pass the Braunston Gate, to the bridge of the same
+name, crossing the old Soar, and soon arrive at the West bridge, which
+crosses the new Soar.  From hence the canal, taking the name of Union
+Canal, proceeds toward Market Harborough.  On the corner of an old house
+upon the bridge, is an antient wooden bracket, which formerly supported a
+bell, by some supposed to have been used by the mendicant brothers of the
+neighbouring monastery of St. Augustine, who here took their station to
+beg alms, or, which is more probable, it might have been the bell
+belonging to the porter of the gate which stood here.
+
+The street called Apple-gate, that leads us to the church of St.
+Nicholas, will not be passed without interest by those who recollect that
+on this spot, where the ground rises in a gentle ascent from the river,
+the Legions of Rome established their town; and we are now arrived at an
+object which brings them more forcibly to remembrance, a massy arched
+wall, commonly termed, from its bounding the quarter antiently inhabited
+by the Jews, the _Jewry Wall_.
+
+This ruin, so minutely described by many Antiquaries, will afford to
+curious and learned observers, a valuable specimen of the mode of
+building practised by the Romans, but the uses for which it was designed,
+will, most probably, for ever elude their researches.  They will not
+however, forbear their conjectures concerning it; of these, two have
+obtained most credit; one, that it was a temple of the Roman Janus; and
+the other, the Janua, or great Gate-way, of the Roman town.  The latter
+seems chiefly supported by the assertion of the learned Leman, that the
+line of the Fosse, having joined the Via Devana, runs thro' this spot.
+But whoever minutely examines the arches, will not easily overcome the
+objections which the work affords to oppose this opinion; or assign a
+reason why a city no larger than our Ratae should have a Gateway with so
+many openings; nor does any satisfactory answer occur to the query why a
+gate should be placed in what seems to have been the central part of the
+antient city.  And perhaps all the evidence for the other opinion rests
+upon the dark sooty coat that encrusts the interior of the arches; an
+appearance which the smoak of the town would easily produce in one
+century.  Indeed, little, it seems, can be concluded from the present
+outside of the work; for as we cannot conceive that the Romans would have
+elected so rough an edifice, it must be supposed that the present remains
+were originally coated with workmanship more worthy of such polished
+builders.  If, however we must indulge a conjecture, we shall be led to
+imagine, from the slight remain of ornament, which is only the fragment
+of a niche, that this wall was either part of a Roman temple or bath.
+Still however such an opinion rests, and must rest, on nothing but
+conjecture, since the remains are too scanty to afford sufficient data
+for a settled opinion.  Thus may we take our leave of this remarkable
+object, which, tho' incontrovertibly of Roman origin, and likely to exist
+when the church built with its stolen spoils shall be no more, must
+continue for ever, as it is at present, an interesting mystery.
+
+The adjoining church of St. Nicholas is a small edifice of very rude and
+consequently very antient construction.  It has evidently been built at
+different periods.  It consists only of two aisles, the north one having
+long since been taken down; the south aisle is gothic, and the other,
+properly the nave, is of that massy unornamented style, in use before and
+at the conquest; from the circumstance of its being built with the
+materials of the neighbouring Roman work, it will perhaps be no
+anachronism to assign to it a date prior to that period.  The tower is
+also Saxon; and the spire having been damaged by the wind is now taken
+down.
+
+The area, eastward of the churchyard, is called _Holy Bones_; bones of
+oxen having been there dug up in sufficient numbers to induce the belief
+that it was once a place of sacrifice.  The church of St. Augustine which
+stood on this spot, is supposed to have been destroyed before the
+conquest.
+
+At the corner of this area is a charity school, established on the bounty
+bequeathed by Ald. Gabriel Newton, for the clothing and educating thirty
+five boys; and in the terms of the founder's will, "instructing them in
+toning and psalmody."
+
+In a lane not far from St. Nicholas' church, called Harvey Lane, is the
+meeting house of the Calvinistic Baptists, which is capable of containing
+500 persons.
+
+From St. Nicholas' street, we again arrive at the High-Cross, and proceed
+southward, along High-Cross-Street.  In this street, in the house of Mr.
+Stephens, are the remains of a chantry or chapel, established for the
+purpose of saying masses for the dead, once belonging to St. Martins
+church.  They consist of a range of windows, exhibiting in curiously
+painted glass, a regular series of sacred history.
+
+The next object, worthy of attention, at which we arrive, is an elegant
+gothic building, with an inscription "_Consanguinitarium_, 1792."  It
+consists of five neat dwellings, to which is annexed a yearly stipend of
+upwards of 60l. and was built by John Johnson, Esq. a well-known
+Architect as a perpetual home for such of his relations as may not be
+favored by successful fortune.
+
+Turning down a narrow alley, called Castle Street, we arrive at a
+spacious area, on the right of which is a charity school, built in 1785,
+belonging to the parish of St. Mary, which clothes and educates 45 boys
+and 35 girls.
+
+The visitor will now have a full view of St. Mary's church, antiently
+known by the distinguishing addition of _infra_ or _juxta Castrum_, a
+building in which he will perceive, huddled together, specimens of
+various kinds of architecture, from the Norman gothic of the north
+chancel, to the very modern gothic of the spire; a mixture which evinces
+the antiquity of the church, marks the disasters of violence, accident,
+and time, and proves that the neighbourhood of the castle, within whose
+outer ballium or precincts it stood, was often most dangerous.  That
+there was a church, on this spot in the Saxon times, seems almost
+certain, from some bricks apparently the workmanship of that people,
+found in the chancel; and the cheveron work round the windows of this
+chancel proves that the first Norman Earl of Leicester, Robert de
+Bellomont, when he repaired the mischiefs of the Norman conquest, or
+rather of the attack made by William Rufus upon the property of the
+Grentemaisnells, constructed a church on a plan nearly like the present,
+and adorned it with all the ornaments of the architecture of his times.
+This Earl founded in it a college of twelve canons, of whom the Dean was
+most probably one, and among other donations for their support, he
+endowed it with the patronage of all the other churches of Leicester, St.
+Margaret's excepted.  These, his son and successor, Robert, surnamed
+Bossu, converted into regular canons, and removed them, with great
+additional donations to the Abbey in the meadows.  He seems however to
+have continued an establishment of eight canons in the collegiate church,
+tho' with revenues comparatively small, since their income, at the
+dissolution of the monasteries, was valued only at 23l. 12s. 11d.  That
+the number of these canons remained unchanged at the time of the
+dissolution, appears probable from the circumstance of seven cranes and a
+socket for an eighth being still found in a kind of press, or ark, as it
+is called, in the vestry, for the purpose of suspending the priests'
+vestments.
+
+The inside of the church is spacious and commodious, and has lately been
+rendered still more so by converting the gothic arches of the south side
+of the nave into one bold semicircular arch whose span is 39 feet, and
+erecting a gallery in the wide south aisle, said to have been built by
+John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster.
+
+In the great choir or chapel called Trinity choir, at the east end of the
+great south aisle, (for the aisles of our churches were formerly often
+divided into chapels, but of which in this church no traces now remain),
+was held a _Guild_ or Fraternity, called _Trinity Guild_, founded in the
+reign of Henry the Seventh, by Sir Richard Sacheverel, Kt. and the good
+Lady Hungerford.  Collections were made four times a year, of the
+brethren and sisters belonging to this Society, whatever it might be, for
+Antiquaries have not rendered the point sufficiently clear, but from
+their meetings being held in churches, it is most probable that they were
+of a religious nature.  The money when collected was applied to meet
+various expenses, but chiefly to pay the wages of their priest, perhaps
+their confessor, and to supply their great feast held annually on Trinity
+Sunday, for which, according to the account of the steward and wardens,
+the following articles were purchased, A.D. 1508.
+
+                                      s.        d.
+
+A dozen of Ale                        1         8
+A fat Sheep                           2         4
+Seven Lambs                           7         0
+Thirty Chickens                       1         11
+Two gallons of Cream                  0         8
+0.5qr. of Malt                        2         0
+Fourteen Geese                        4         3
+
+From a curious and ingenious Mathematical Essay on the comparative prices
+of similar articles in different ages, presented to the society of
+Antiquaries, we have here the pleasure of offering to the attention of
+our visitor, the following valuable remarks.
+
+    "The generality of readers when they look into the records of antient
+    times, are forcibly struck by the seeming lowness of the prices of
+    every article of common demand, when compared with the modern prices.
+    When they find that an ox was formerly sold for a few shillings, and
+    the price of a quarter of corn calculated in pence, they are led to
+    envy the supposed cheapness of those ages, and to bewail the
+    distressing dearness of the present.  Nothing however can be more
+    absurd than the whining complaints founded upon such facts; for since
+    the cheapness of living depends not so much upon the price given for
+    every article of prime necessity, as upon the means by which, to use
+    a common expression, the purchase may be afforded, we must, if we
+    wish to form a proper judgment on the subject, rightly compare these
+    means as they existed in different ages, otherwise our conclusions
+    will be not only idle, but sometimes mischievous.
+
+    "It is very certain that money is a commodity, no less than the
+    articles it is employed to purchase, and like them, its absolute
+    value is depreciated or lowered by abundance.  Since the discovery of
+    America, the quantity of gold and silver brought into general
+    circulation, and of late, the general and extensive use of paper
+    money which represents real specie, produces the same effect as would
+    arise from a still greater encrease of it.  From this natural
+    depreciation alone of the value of coin, it follows that were all
+    other circumstances to have continued the same, the relative value of
+    money would have decreased, or a greater number of pieces of the same
+    denomination would be now required to produce the same effect as
+    formerly, and therefore that it will be necessary to multiply any sum
+    of money of the present age, into some certain number, in order to
+    learn the effect of the same sum in an assigned preceding age."
+
+From this multiplication it is demonstrated that the price of the dozen
+of Ale, for which the Trinity Guild paid 20d. is equivalent to something
+more than 6d. a quart;--the fat sheep at 2s. 4d. to 1l. 11s. 4d.--the
+seven lambs at 7s. to 16s. each;--the thirty chickens at 23d. to rather
+more than 2s. 6d. the couple;--the two gallons of cream at 8d. to 2s. 8d.
+a quart;--the half quarter of malt at 2s. to 3l. 4s. the quarter;--the
+fourteen geese at 4s. 3d. to nearly 5s. each.
+
+In the reign of the Norman kings, articles, but especially corn, were
+dearer than at present.  In Henry the sevenths reign meat was cheaper,
+but other articles dearer than at present.  We now return to the church
+of St. Mary.
+
+In the year 1783, the spire which had several times been injured by
+lightening, was so much shattered by a fresh stroke as to require to be
+taken down to the battlements.  It was rebuilt under the direction of an
+architect, of the name of Cheshire at an expense, exclusive of the old
+materials, of 245l. 10s. the height of the spire from the ground 61
+yards.  In this church, in which for many years he officiated as curate,
+is interred the Rev. W. Bickerstaffe, a man of great simplicity of
+manners, and urbanity of disposition; who by his laborious and minute
+researches materially assisted the Topographers of Leicester.
+
+Near the north door of this church is a passage leading under an old
+fashioned building forming a gate-way into an area called the castle
+yard.  That the present structure was the gate-way of the castle when it
+was tenable as a place of defence, cannot, for a moment be imagined; but
+that there was always an entrance at this place we are well assured, for
+the adjoining building on the left is known by the name of the Porter's
+Lodge, and it must therefore be concluded that the present was built upon
+the scite of the antient gate-way, and that it was constructed with the
+timbers and other materials taken in later ages from some part of the
+castle which had been taken down.
+
+At this gateway was preserved, till within a few years past, an antient
+ceremony expressive of the homage formerly paid by the magistrates of
+Leicester, to the feudal Lords of the castle.  The mayor knocking for
+admittance at the gate was received by the constable of the castle, while
+the mace was sloped in token of homage; he then took an oath of
+allegiance to the king as heir to the Lancastrian property; the latter
+ceremony, agreeable to one of the corporation charters, is still
+performed, but in private.  The office of constable of the castle, which
+in the beginning of the reign of Mary, was held by Henry duke of Suffolk,
+with the annual fee of sixty shillings and eight pence, is now retained
+only nominally.
+
+Opposite the gate-way stands a building most probably erected by the
+first of the Bellomonts, tho' the modern front which meets the eye
+effectually conceals all the outward traces of antiquity.  The inside of
+the edifice however is a room exceedingly curious.  Its area is large,
+being about seventy-eight feet long, twenty-four high and fifty-one
+broad.  It is framed into a sort of aisles, by two rows of tall and massy
+oaken pillars, which serve to support a large and weighty covering of
+slate.  This vast room was the antient hall of the castle, in which the
+earls of Leicester, and afterwards the dukes of Lancaster, alternately
+held their courts, and consumed in rude but plenteous hospitality, at the
+head of their visitors, or their vassals, the rent of their estates then
+usually paid in kind.  On the south end appear the traces of a door-way,
+which probably was the entrance into a gallery that has often, among
+other purposes, served as an orchestra for the minstrels and musicians of
+former days.  This hall, during the reigns of several of the Lancastrian
+princes was the scene of frequent Parliaments, whose transactions our
+provincial historians have carefully recorded.  At present it is used
+only for the holding the assizes and other country meetings, to which
+purpose it is, from its length, so well adapted, that, tho' the business
+of the civil and crown bars is carried on at the same time at the
+opposite ends of the room, the pleadings of the one do not in the least
+interrupt the pleadings of the other.
+
+The reflecting visitor, who may choose to compare the uses to which this
+place is now applied, with the purposes for which it was built, will not
+fail to derive from the comparison so very favorable to the present
+times, a satisfaction most worthy the benevolent heart.  Instead of the
+rude licentious carousals of the Bellomonts, when the baron domineered,
+even in drunkenness, over his assembled slaves, we often see large bodies
+of the inhabitants of the county, men worthy of freedom and possessing
+it, assembled to consider with decorum, and to decide with unawed,
+unbiassed judgment, upon measures of no little importance to the kingdom
+of England.  And instead of the savage violence, or idiot folly which
+mostly dictated the award of every kind of property, in those feudal
+times, we see happily substituted the fair examination of the witnesses,
+the eloquent pleadings of the barristers, the learned observations of the
+Judge, and the impartial decisions of the Jury, nobly co-operating to
+investigate truth, and to decide, according to right, the means alike of
+happiness and virtue.  In what manner, and by what degrees this happy
+change was effected, the following well authenticated anecdote may serve
+to shew.
+
+Robert de Bellomont, the first earl, sitting in the apartment of the keep
+of his castle at Leicester, heard a loud shout in the neighbouring
+fields.  Enquiring into the cause, he found that it was given by the
+partizans of a combatant who was then fighting a duel with his near
+relation to ascertain the right to a certain piece of land in St. Mary's
+field.  The cruelty and absurdity of such a mode of decision seems to
+have been forcibly impressed upon the mind of the earl, by this affecting
+circumstance; and he agreed with the burgesses and inhabitants of
+Leicester, on the payment of one penny for every house that had a gable
+or gavel in the High-street (a payment afterwards known by the term
+_gavel pence_) that all pleas of the above mentioned nature should be
+determined by a jury of twenty four persons.
+
+From the county hall, or castle, as it is commonly called, a road to the
+right leads to an antient gate-way strongly built and once furnished with
+a port-cullis, and every requisite for defence.  The embattled parapet
+being much decayed, was taken down a few years ago, and its roof is now
+reduced to one of an ordinary form.  When this alteration was made, the
+arms of the dukes of Lancaster by whom the gate-way was undoubtedly built
+were destroyed on the outside; but on the inside, at the spring of the
+arch, two mutilated figures, one of a lion, the other of a bear,
+doubtless some of their devices, still remain.  The lion passant, it is
+well known, formed part of the arms of that family, and the muzzled bear
+was a symbol used on the seal by Edward the first in his transactions
+with Scotland.  Nothing can be more probable than that the Lancastrian
+princes would ornament their buildings with a figure which would serve to
+preserve the memory of their descent from so renowned a monarch.
+
+The stranger must now be requested to pass thro' the uninviting doorway
+of the adjoining public house; and he will be led by an easy ascent up to
+the _mount_, or perhaps the scite of the keep of the castle, which tho'
+lately lowered considerably for the purpose of converting it into a
+Bowling-green, yet affords a pleasant station for a view of the environs
+of Leicester, and is the spot from which the best idea can be formed of
+the antient form and boundaries of the fortifications.
+
+It is well known that the fast Saxons built few or no castles, for having
+nearly exterminated the Britons, during the long continued warfare that
+preceded their conquest of that people, they had no occasion for strong
+fortresses to secure the possession of the territories they had acquired;
+and in the later ages of their dynasty they were too indolent and
+ignorant to undertake such works with spirit and effect, notwithstanding
+the frequent and sudden inroads of the Danes, rendered such places of
+retreat highly necessary, and the great Alfred earnestly recommended
+their construction.  Hence the places of defence found in this island at
+the conquest, were few in number, and those generally too slight to
+resist the continued attacks of time.  For this reason the antiquary need
+not endeavour to extend his researches after the state of the castle of
+Leicester beyond the time of the arrival of William the Norman.  On the
+division of the provinces made by that monarch, Leicester became part of
+the royal demesne; a castle was erected to ensure the submission of the
+inhabitants, and the wardenship of it entrusted to Hugh Grentemaisnell
+baron of Hinckly, who possessed considerable property in the
+neighbourhood.  This castle, like other Norman works of the same kind,
+would have its barbican or out-work, defending the gate and bridge over
+the outer ditch would be commanded by a strong wall, eight or ten feet
+thick, and between twenty and thirty high, with a parapet, and crennels
+at the top, towers at proper distances, and a gate-way opening into the
+town.  It would, we may presume, extend from the river below the Newark
+round by St. Mary's church, and then, turning towards the river again,
+whose waters were brought by a cut across the morass lying on the west
+side, to wash that part of the wall, and fill the ditch, would thus
+enclose what was called the outer Bayle or Ballium.  Within this, at a
+distance not now to be ascertained, but probably not less than eighty or
+an hundred yards, another, similar, but perhaps stronger fortification,
+would extend from, and to the river, and this entered at the gates
+already described, would enclose the inner Bayle, where stood the lofty
+massy keep, the hall, and all the apartments and rooms belonging to the
+noble and potent owners.  Although the curious will be inclined to join
+in the pathetic laments of the writer of the memoirs of Leicester,
+(Throsby) that the just position of the castle and its extent in former
+times cannot be known; yet strong probability will almost authorize us to
+believe that the account here given does not vary very widely from the
+truth; for these conjectures are directly confirmed by the well still
+open on the top of the castle hill or keep, and by the entire remains of
+a large cellar, forty-nine feet long and eighteen wide, nearly adjoining
+the great hall, on the west.  That more traces should not be discoverable
+will not appear surprising when we consider what effects may be produced
+by the decays of time and accident, by the accumulation of soil, and
+encroachments of buildings.
+
+During the disputes concerning the succession, on the death of the
+Conqueror, the Grentemaisnells seized Leicester castle, and held it for
+duke Robert.  This subjected it to the fury of the successful partizans
+of William Rufus, and the castle lay for some time in a dismantled state.
+In the next reign it was granted by Henry to his favourite Robert first
+earl of Leicester, who repaired the damages and it became the principal
+place of residence of himself and the second earl, Robert Bossu.  The
+third earl Robert surnamed Blanchmains, encreased his property and power,
+by his marriage with Petronilla, or Parnel, the heiress of the
+Grentemaisnells, but the violent temper of this earl involved him in
+disputes with king Henry the second, whose forces under the command of
+the Chief Justiciary, Richard de Lucy, took Leicester and its castle by
+assault, and reduced both to an almost uninhabited heap of ruins.
+Blanchmains regained however the favor of his king and was restored to
+his estates, but both he and his son, Robert Fitz-Parnel engaging in the
+crusades, the town of Leicester was but ill rebuilt, and the castle
+remained in a state of delapidation for many years.  Fitz-Parnel dying
+without issue, the _honor_ of Leicester, as part of the Bellomont estates
+were called, passed into the family of Simon de Montfort, in consequence
+of his marriage with one of the sisters of Fitz-Parnels.  But the
+Montfort earls of Leicester, both father and son, were too much engaged
+in the busy transactions of their times to pay much attention to their
+property at Leicester.  After the death of the latter, in the Battle of
+Evesham, the Leicester property was conferred by Henry the third on his
+second son Edmond earl of Lancaster, whose second son Henry, heir and
+successor to Thomas earl of Lancaster, beheaded at Pontefract, in the
+year 1322 made Leicester his principal place of residence, and under him
+and the two next succeeding earls, the castle recovered and probably
+surpassed its former state of splendor.
+
+When the dukes of Lancaster ascended the throne, Leicester tho'
+frequently honored with their presence, received no permanent benefit,
+and tho' several parliaments were held there in the reign of Henry the
+sixth, the castle had so far decayed in the time of Richard the third,
+that that monarch chose rather to sleep at an inn a few evenings before
+his fall, than occupy the royal apartments in the castle.  From this time
+the castle seems to have made constant progress to decay, so that in the
+reign of Charles the first, orders, dated the ninth of his reign, were
+issued to the sheriff Wm. Heyrick, Esq. of Beaumanor (as appears from
+papers in the possession of that family) "to take down the old pieces of
+our castle at Leicester, to repair the castle house, wherein the audit
+hath been formerly kept, and is hereafter to be kept, and wherein our
+records of the honor of Leicester do now remain; to sell the stones,
+timber, &c. but not to interfere with the vault there, nor the stalls
+leading therefrom."
+
+From others of the same papers it appears that the timber sold for 3l.
+5s. 8d. the freestone, and iron work for 36l. 14s. 4d. and that the
+repairs above ordered cost about 50l.  Thus was the castle reduced to
+nearly its present state, and tho' the Antiquary may in the eagerness of
+his curiosity lament that so little of it now remains, yet he must surely
+rejoice in his reflecting moments that such structures are not now
+necessary for the defence of the kingdom, and that the fortunes of the
+noblemen are now spent in a way calculated to encourage the arts and
+promote industry, rather than in maintaining in these castles a set of
+idle retainers, ever ready to assist them in disturbing the peace of the
+realm, and still more ready to insult and injure the humble inhabitants
+in then neighbourhood.
+
+Descending from the castle mount, and passing thro' the south gale-way of
+the castle yard, the visitor enters a district of the town called the
+Newark, (New Work) became the edifices it contained were new when
+compared with the buildings of the castle.  They owed their foundation to
+Henry, the third earl of Lancaster, and his son Henry first duke of that
+title.  By these two noblemen they were nearly finished, and what was
+wanting towards their completion was afterwards added by John of Gaunt.
+They must then have formed a magnificent addition to the antient dignity
+of the castle.  The remains of the walls which enclosed this area enable
+us to affirm that its form was a long square, bounded on the north by the
+castle, on the east by the streets of the suburbs of the town, on the
+south by the fields, and on the west by the river.
+
+Judging from what remains of these walls, we feel inclined to maintain
+that they were rather calculated to enclose, than strongly protect, the
+buildings they surrounded; for if the walls now standing be the original
+walls, they were not capable of resisting the modes of attack usually
+practised in the age in which they were built; nor is the gate-way that
+still remains entire, formed with towers to command, or with grooves for
+a port-cullis to defend, the entrance.  Indeed if the state of England
+during the age of the founders be considered, magnificence rather than
+great strength might be expected to be their object, and magnificent
+truly were the buildings of the Newark.  The gate-way now known by the
+name of the Magazine, from the circumstance of its being the arsenal of
+the county, is large and spacious, yet grandly massive; and the form of
+its arches, which partake of the style of the most modern gothic, tho'
+built at the time when, according to the opinions of the most learned
+Antiquaries, that truly beautiful species of architecture was not
+generally established, prove the ready attention of the founders to the
+progress of the arts.
+
+This gate-way led to an area, which tho' nearly surrounded by buildings,
+was much more spacious than the present wide street, an area worthy the
+dukes of Lancaster.  On the south another gate, similar to the Magazine
+now standing, opened into the court opposite the strong south gate of the
+castle, and on the west rose a college, a church, and an hospital, which
+completed the grandeur of the Newark.  These latter buildings formed a
+lesser quadrangle or court, having on the north the present old, or
+Trinity Hospital, built and endowed for an hundred poor people, and ten
+women to serve them.  On the south stood a church dedicated to St. Mary,
+and cloysters; the former called by Leland "not large but faire;" the
+"floures and knottes in whose vault were gilded," he says, by the rich
+cardinal of Winchester; the latter, (the cloysters,) were both "large and
+faire;" the houses in the compace of the area of the college for the
+Prebendaries (standing on the west side) the same author says, "be very
+praty," and the walls and gates of the college occupying the east side of
+the court, he says, "be very stately."  Nor did the princes of Lancaster
+limit their designs to magnificent structures; this college was as well
+filled as the hospital, for it contained a dean and twelve prebendaries;
+thirteen vicars choral, three clerks, six choristers and one verger, in
+all thirty-six persons; and the endowment was adequate to the
+establishment, for the revenues at the dissolution amounted to 595l. 12s.
+11d.  Among the various donations to this college, the following taken
+from the Parliamentary rolls of the year 1450, will not be found unworthy
+the attention of the curious.  The king (Henry the seventh) grants to the
+dean and Canons of the church collegiate of our lady at Leicester, "a
+tunne of wynne to be taken by the chief botteller of England in our port
+of Kingston upon Hull," and it is added "they never had no wynne granted
+to them by us nor our progenitors afore this time to sing with, nor
+otherwise."
+
+When it is considered that the castle just surveyed occupies a station
+most pleasant as well as commanding; that from the buildings of the
+Newark it derived all the splendor which the arts and taste of the times
+could bestow, and that its adjoining a large, well fortified, and not ill
+built town was calculated to contribute most essentially to the
+convenience of its possessors, it will appear to have been one of the
+most agreeable residences in the kingdom for such powerful noblemen as
+were the dukes of Lancaster; nor will the visitor be surprised to find
+that it was occasionally used as a seat by the kings, its owners.
+
+But of all the periods of its history that will surely appear most
+interesting, in which Henry de Gresmond, first earl of Derby, and on the
+death of his father, earl and then duke of Lancaster, already renowned
+thro' Europe for his atchievements in arms, aud crowned with laurels from
+the fields of Guienne, where he taught the English how to conquer at
+Crecy and Agincourt, returned to reside at Leicester, and to add to the
+distinction of wise and brave the still more valuable title of _good_,
+which he was about to earn by the practice of almost every virtue at this
+place.  Then indeed was Leicester castle the scene of true splendor and
+magnificence, for it was the scene of bounty influenced by benevolence
+and guided by religion, of taste supported by expense yet directed by
+judgment and regulated by prudence, and of elegance such as the most
+accomplished knight of that most perfect age of chivalry might be
+expected to display.  This nobleman died of a pestilential disorder at
+the castle, in the year 1361, greatly lamented by the inhabitants of
+Leicester.  The order of his funeral appointed by himself, and curiously
+recorded by our local historians, is a pleasing proof of his good sense
+and piety; the body being taken in a hearse from St. Mary's near the
+castle, to his collegiate church as he directed, "without the pomp of
+armed men, horses covered, or other vanities"--and the rank of the
+deceased alone denoted by the magnitude of five tapers, each weighing one
+hundred pounds, and fifty torches.
+
+The buildings of the Newark continued nearly in the state already
+described till the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538, when Robert
+Boone the last dean, terrified by the power of the tyrant Henry, and
+alarmed by the unjustifiable rigours of the king's commissioners,
+surrendered his house and received with the rest of his brethren,
+trifling pensions for life, from this period the buildings of the college
+being unsupported by any fund sunk into decay, or were applied to
+purposes widely different from the intention of the founders.  The
+church, cloysters, and gate-way are entirely removed, with the exception
+of two arches of the vault under the former, which are still to be seen
+firm and strong in a cellar of the house, now a boarding school.
+
+The old hospital itself seems also to have been infected with the
+contagion of ruin, for tho' spared by the rapacious hand of Henry, the
+number of poor in the house 64 men and 36 women, are reduced from their
+original allowance of seven pence weekly, to the now scanty stipend of
+two shillings, which arises from the rents of lands and tenements in
+Leicester, and its vicinity.  The house has been reduced to its present
+form by contracting the dimensions of the old one; for that standing in
+need of considerable repairs, his present Majesty, to whom, as heir to
+the dutchy of Lancaster, the expensive privilege of repairing it belongs,
+gave the produce of the sale of an estate at Thurnby in this
+neighbourhood, which had escheated to the crown, for that purpose.
+
+At the east end is a small chapel in which prayers are read twice a day,
+and where some mutilated monumental figures, probably of the Huntingdon
+family, are still to be seen.
+
+Nothing farther remains to be noticed concerning this interesting part of
+the town, except that the south gateway was beaten down by the king's
+forces at the storming of the place in the spring of the year 1645, when
+they left only a part of the jamb on the eastern side standing.  One of
+the prebendal houses on the west side of the antient quadrangle of the
+college has, within these few years, been purchased for the vicarage
+house of St. Mary's parish.  Opposite the old hospital a house has been
+lately erected as an Asylum for the reception and education of poor
+female children.
+
+From the Newark, in a lane opposite to which called Mill-Stone lane, is a
+Meeting-House of the Methodists, we proceed along South gate or
+
+
+
+HORSEPOOL-STREET,
+
+
+At the end of this street, situated on a gentle eminence affording the
+desirable advantages of a dry soil and open air, we perceive one of those
+edifices which a country more than nominally christian must ever be
+careful to erect, a house of refuge for sick poverty.  The Infirmary,
+which owes the origin of its institution to W. Watts, M. D. was built in
+1771, nearly on the scite of the antient chapel of St. Sepulchre, and is
+a plain neat building with two wings, fronted by a garden, the entrance
+to which is ornamented with a very handsome iron gate the gift of the
+late truly benevolent Shuckbrugh Ashby, Esq. of Quenby.  The house is
+built upon a plan which for its convenience and utility received the
+approbation of the great Howard, whose experience and observation
+qualified him for a competent judge.  It is calculated to admit,
+exclusive of the fever ward, 54 patients, without restriction to county
+or nation.  Its funds, notwithstanding the exemplary liberality it has
+excited, are, owing to the pressure of the times, scarcely adequate to
+its support.  Adjoining the Infirmary is an Asylum for the reception of
+indigent Lunatics.
+
+At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the Infirmary, are some
+remains of a Roman labour, called the _Raw Dikes_, these banks of earth
+four yards in height, running parralel to each other in nearly a right
+line to the extent of 639 yards, the space between them 13 yards, were
+some years ago levelled to the ground except the the length of about 150
+yards at the end farthest from the town.  It was a generally received
+opinion that they were the fortifications of a Roman camp, till the
+supposition of their having been a _cursus_ or race course, was started
+by Dr. Stukely.  If it is to be admitted that they formed an area for
+horse races, of which the Romans are known to have been extravagantly
+fond, we may imagine that the sport here practiced consisted in horses
+running at liberty without riders between the banks; traces of such a
+race run in an enclosed space may be found in the _Corso dei Barberi_,
+now practiced in the streets of Florence; {125} the Italians having in
+many instances preserved the original customs of the Romans.  But the
+question must still hang in a balance whether the Raw Dykes were the
+scene of Roman games, or
+
+    _The massy mound, the rampart once_
+    _Of iron war in antient barbarous times_.
+
+From the Infirmary, if the visitor wishes to close his walk, he may enter
+the town by the Hotel; if he feel inclined to extend it, he will find
+himself recompensed by the pleasure his eye may receive from a lengthened
+stroll up the public promenade, called the _New Walk_.  This walk three
+quarters of a mile long, and twenty feet wide, was made by public
+subscription in 1785; the ground the gift of the corporation.
+
+Following the ascent of the walk, we gain on the left a pleasing peep up
+a vale watered by the Soar, where the smooth green of the meadows is
+contrasted and broken by woody lines and formed into a picture by the
+church and village of Aylestone, and the distant tufted eminances
+decorated by the tower of Narborough.  A little imagination might give
+the scene a trait of the picturesque, by placing among the meadows near
+Aylestone, the white tents and streaming banners of king Charles' camp,
+there pitched a few days before his attack on the garrison of Leicester;
+or it might advance the royal army a little nearer to its station in St.
+Mary's field, from whence the batteries against the town were first
+opened.  Still continuing to ascend, the walk affords along its curving
+line many stations from which the town with its churches appears in
+several pleasing points of view.
+
+Returning by the London toll-gate if the traveller wishes to obtain a
+full view of a fine prospect, he will turn aside from the road, and mount
+the steps of one of the neighbouring mills.  From such a station the
+clustered buildings of the town extend before the eye in full unbroken
+sweep; beyond it the grounds near Beaumont Leys varied in their tints by
+tufted hedge-rows, and streaky cultivated fields, blend into the grey
+softness overspreading those beautiful slopes of hill into which the
+eminences of Charnwood forest, Brown-rig, Hunter's hill, Bradgate park,
+Bardon and Markfield knoll, rise and fall.  These hills, running from
+hence, in a northern direction compose the first part of the chain or
+ridge, that, from the easy irregularity and elegant line it here displays
+rises at length into the more grand and picturesque hills that form the
+peak of Derbyshire.  The abbey and the adjacent villages pleasingly vary
+the scene on the right, from whence it melts away into the blue distance
+of the neighbourhood of Melton, the north-east part of the county.
+
+As we descend along the London road, watching the hills more and more hid
+by the town, the road bends into a curve, and here takes the name of
+Granby Street; many ranges of buildings having been here erected within
+the last fifteen years.  Turning to the left, we again arrive at the town
+by the entrance into _Hotel Street_.
+
+That ingenuity of improvement not only in the conveniences, but the
+recreations of life, which has lately advanced so rapidly as well in the
+provincial towns as in the capital, led the inhabitants of Leicester into
+a plan for the erection of new edifices appropriated to the purposes of
+public amusement.  The considerable buildings, which in this place arrest
+the stranger's eye were accordingly erected by J. Johnson, Esq.
+architect, on subscription shares.
+
+The front of the
+
+
+
+HOTEL,
+
+
+which name it bears, having been originally designed for that purpose,
+may from the grandeur of its windows, its statues, bassi relievi, and
+other decorations, be justly considered as the first modern architectural
+ornament of the town.  Here a room, whose spacious dimensions, (being
+seventy-five feet by thirty-three,) and elegant decorations, adapt it in
+a distinguished manner for scenes of numerous and polished society, is
+appropriated to the use of the public balls.  Its coved ceiling is
+enriched with three circular paintings of Aurora, Urania, and Night, from
+the pencil of Reinagle, who has also graced the walls with paintings of
+dancing nymphs.  Beside the eight beautiful lustres, branches of lights
+are held by four statues from the designs of Bacon.
+
+Uniting under the same roof, every convenience for the gratification of
+taste, and the amusement of the mind, a coffee room handsomely furnished
+and supplied with all the London papers, affords the gentlemen of the
+town and country as well as the stranger, to whom its door is open, an
+agreeable and commodious resort, while on the opposite side a spacious
+bookseller's shop furnishes the literary enquirer with a series of all
+the new publications.
+
+Adjoining the hotel, a small theatre built also by Mr. Johnson, neatly
+and commodiously fitted up, nearly on the plan of the London houses,
+furnishes the inhabitants of Leicester with a more complete display of
+the dramatic art than they had before enjoyed, and has been the means of
+gratifying them by the talents of several performers of the first rate
+excellence.  The popular pieces of the London stage, are here every
+season represented in a manner pleasing to the town and honorable to the
+manager.
+
+Proceeding thro' a street which now only nominally retains a trace of the
+monkish establishments that formerly occupied its ground, being called
+Friar Lane, we observe a charity school, for 35 boys and 30 girls,
+erected 1791, belonging to the parish of St. Martin.  At the farther and
+less handsome end of this street is the Meeting House of the General
+Baptists.  Passing down the New Street, part of the scite of the
+monastery of the Grey Friars, we arrive at
+
+
+
+ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH,
+
+
+At what period after the demolition of Leicester in the reign of Henry
+the second, the church of St. Martin, antiently St. Crosse, was rebuilt,
+cannot be accurately stated.  The chancel, which is the property of the
+king, rented by the vicar, and was erected after the main fabrick, is
+ascertained to been have built in the reign of Henry the fifth, at the
+expense of 34l.  And as the addition of spires to sacred edifices was not
+introduced into England from the east till the beginning of the reign of
+Henry the third, the date must be fixed between the two intervening
+centuries, and if the spire was built with the church not very early
+after the introduction of that ornament of our churches, as the handsome,
+solid form of St. Martin's bespeaks considerable practice and expertness
+in the art.
+
+The church originally consisted only of a nave and two aisles; the south
+aisle, where the consistory court is held, which is formed by a range of
+gothic arches whose clustered columns unite strength with lightness, was
+added after the erection of the others.  In contemplating the inside of
+this church, it is curious to draw a brief parallel between its present
+plain yet handsome appearance, and its catholic magnificence before the
+zeal of the reformation, justly excited, but intemperate in its
+direction, had, during its career against Romish absurdities destroyed
+almost every trace of ornament in our churches.  And whilst we survey its
+present few decorations, its brass chandeliers depending from the elegant
+cieling of the nave, the beautiful oak corinthian pillars of its altar
+piece, which is ornamented with a picture of the ascension by Francesco
+Vanni, (the gift of Sir W. Skeffington Bart.) and its excellent organ, we
+can scarcely forbear lamenting the violence with which the magnificent
+range of steps was torn from its high altar, then hung with draperies of
+white damask and purple velvet.
+
+Its two other altars, {135} its chapels of _our Lady_ and _St George_,
+one at the east, the other at the west end of the south broad aisle, were
+also destroyed; the sculptured figures that adorned the pulpit, the
+tabernacles, and brazen eagles demolished, and, as the parochial records
+testify, 20d. was paid for "cutting the images heads, and taking down the
+angels wings."  In the succeeding century after this sacred structure had
+exhibited this scene of demolition, it became a theatre of war.  Hither
+fled part of the Parliamentary garrison, after being driven by the
+royalists from their fortress in the Newark; making a citadel of a
+church, which, on the arrival of the enemy to storm the hold was polluted
+with the bleeding bodies of Englishmen slain by Englishmen, who pursued
+their victory by chacing the defeated into the Market-Place, where the
+stragglers were slaughtered.
+
+From this anecdote of civil discord we are led to contemplate the more
+rationally excited bravery of the present times, by the sight of the old
+colours of the 17th or Leicestershire regiment of foot, which are
+suspended over the royal arms at the east end of nave.  They were
+presented to the corporation by Lieut. Col. Stovin, of that regiment, and
+how much their intrepid defenders suffered in guarding them, may be known
+from their worn and tattered appearance.
+
+As it is the most curious and useful branch of antiquarian research to
+read the manners and sentiments of an age in its public solemnities and
+pastimes, we will not leave the church without a wish for a better
+investigation of an obscure and singular custom, that antient carnival of
+Leicester, "_the riding the George_."  The horse of this chivalrous
+saint, which, when the reformation had overthrown the monkish mummeries
+that so inconsistently blended religion with pastime, was sold for twelve
+pence, stood at the west end of the south aisle, harnessed in all the
+trappings of Romish splendor.  Notice of the day appointed for this
+festivity was annually given by the master of St. George's Guild; sports
+of every variety animated the town, and that the jubilee, was, in the
+strictest sense _general_, is proved from the summons issued in the 17th
+of Edward the fourth, ordering _all_ the inhabitants to attend the mayor,
+to _ride the George_.  Mention of the celebration is recorded so late as
+the 15th of Henry the eighth.
+
+The stranger who is an admirer of sacred harmony will not pass without
+particular notice, the Organ of St. Martin's.  A spirited subscription in
+1774, furnished the church with this noble ornament.  It was built by the
+celebrated Snetzler, and esteemed one of the best specimens of his art.
+It has three sets of keys, from F in alt, to GG.  The stops in the great
+organ are, the stopped diapason, two open diapasons, flute, and
+principal, trumpet and baffoon, all entire, the 12th, 15th,
+sesqui-altera, cornet and clarion.  In the ch. organ, are two diapasons
+and principal.  In the swell two diapasons, principal, hautboy and
+trumpet.
+
+A range of antient stone building bounding the west side of the church
+yard is an hospital founded about the year 1516, by W. Wigston, Merchant
+of the staple at Calais, and mayor of Leicester, for 12 men and 12 women,
+their pay about 3s. weekly.  It has a master and confrater.  The Chapel
+has a large gothic window of painted glass.
+
+On the north side of the hospital is a building called _the Town
+Library_, established 1632 by the corporation, at the motion of the then
+bishop of Lincoln.  It consists of about 948 vols. chiefly the Latin
+classics and historians, to which no modern additions whatever have been
+made.
+
+The building adjoining the Library which is the hall formerly belonging
+to the guild or fraternity of St. George, which, together with the Corpus
+Chrisri guild, the principal establishment of that kind in the town, was
+founded in St. Martin's church, was purchased, on the dissolution of
+guilds and chantries by the corporation, and is the guild-hall of the
+borough.  It is adorned with several portraits among which is that of Sir
+Thomas White, Kt. citizen and merchant Taylor of London, who among many
+magnificent charities, bequeathed 10,000l. in the trust of the
+corporation to be lent without interest in sums of 50l. and 40l. to every
+freeman of Leicester for the term of nine years; a charity of peculiar
+value as it affords a perpetual incitement to the exertions of rising
+industry.
+
+The magistracy of Leicester is an institution of great antiquity and
+respectability, being a corporation by prescription, dating its
+establishment from immemorial usage before its first charter in the reign
+of king John.  It consists of 72 members; 24 aldermen, 48 common council
+men; the officers are a recorder, town-clerk, bailiff, and steward.
+
+By forming cities and towns into corporations, and conferring on them the
+privileges of municipal jurisdiction, the first check was given to the
+overwhelming evils of the feudal system; and under their influence
+freedom and independence began to peep forth from amid the rigours of
+slavery and the miseries of oppression.
+
+To be free of any corporation was not then, as at present merely to enjoy
+some privileges in trade, or to exercise the right of voting on
+particular occasions, but it was to be exempt from the hardships of
+feudal service; to have the right of disposing both of person and
+property, and to be governed by laws intended to promote the general
+good, and not to gratify the ambition and avarice of individuals.  These
+laws, however rude and imperfect, tended to afford security to property
+and, encourage men to habits of industry.  Thus commerce, with every
+ornamental and useful art, began first in corporate bodies, to animate
+society.  But in those dark ages, force was necessary to defend the
+claims of industry; and such a force these municipal societies possessed;
+for their towns were not only defended by walls and gates vigilantly
+guarded by the citizens, but oft-times at the head of their fellow
+freemen in arms, the mayor, aldermen, or other officers marched forth in
+firm array to assert their rights, defend their property and teach the
+proudest and most powerful baron that the humblest freeman was not to be
+injured with impunity.  It was thus the commons learned and proved they
+were not objects of contempt; nay that they were beings of the same
+species as the greatest lords.
+
+It is pleasingly curious to observe in these times the shadow of the
+semblance of this most useful military power preserved as at Leicester,
+in the array of a few of the poor men of Trinity hospital, clad in pieces
+of iron armour, attending the beadle while he proclaims a fair; nor is it
+less so to recollect that the feasts annually given by the mayor were
+once held in imitation of the rude hospitality of the Barons whose feasts
+not a little contributed to give a consequence to the commons of England,
+and to humanize the haughty chief by shewing him that respectability
+might belong to those who did not wield the sword, and that men might
+have dignity even tho' they had no pretensions to the glare of titles and
+the illusions of birth.  Thus will the intelligent observer find, that
+corporate bodies were the true sources of law, liberty and civilization,
+and by rendering the occupation of trade respectable they may be deemed
+the first origin of that commerce which has rendered Great Britain the
+most powerful and most happy nation of the earth.
+
+These few reflections we will suppose to have occupied the time during
+the short walk from St. Martin's church to the
+
+
+
+MARKET-PLACE.
+
+
+In this spacious area, which is surrounded by handsome and well-furnished
+shops, and whose public ornaments are the plain but respectable building
+called the _Exchange_, built in 1747, where the town magistrates transact
+their weekly business, and a small octagon edifice enclosing a reservoir
+of pure water, the _Conduit_, erected in 1709, we must, having completed
+the circuit of the town, offer our farewell to our visitor.
+
+Here closing our little tour, which has engaged us in an imaginary
+acquaintance with the intelligent stranger, we beg he will accept a
+friendly adieu: and a wish, that as he quits the town thro' which we have
+conducted him, and which we have endeavoured to represent in a view not
+unworthy the attention of a mind that seeks for more than mere passing
+ideas of amusement, he may not consider that time as prodigally spent
+which he has passed in his WALK THROUGH LEICESTER.
+
+APRIL, 1804
+
+
+
+
+MANUFACTORY
+OF
+THE TOWN.
+
+
+The Manufactory of Stockings in this town and county, is the largest in
+the world; besides wove worsted hose, which are the staple article of the
+place, a great variety of cotton hose are now made, which from their
+cheapness, obtain a sale in this, and most other countries.
+
+The machine by which these hose are made, was first invented in the year
+1590, by the Rev. W. Lee, of Calverton, in Nottinghamshire, who exhibited
+it before Queen Elizabeth, but not meeting with that encouragement he so
+justly deserved, immediately left the country, and carried it to France,
+where he would have established it at Rouen, had it not been for the
+murder of the French king which prevented the execution of a grant of
+privilege and reward in favor of Mr. Lee and his art.
+
+Soon after Mr. Lee died under great disappointment at Paris, and several
+of his workmen returning to London, laid the foundation of Stocking
+Weaving in this county.  The manufactory has been gradually increasing,
+but within these last ten years has rapidly advanced to its present
+flourishing state.  The number of workmen employed in this branch is not
+less than 20,000 who produce from the raw material about 15,000 dozen per
+week.
+
+*  A full account of this manufactory, in all its branches, is preparing
+for the press, and will be published in the course of the summer.
+
+
+
+
+ERRATUM.
+
+
+The reader is requested to correct the account of St. Martin's organ, as
+follows.
+
+Great organ, two open and a stop diapason, principal, 12th, 15th,
+ses-quialtia, cornet, clarion, trumpet.  Choir organ, two diapasons,
+principal, 15th, flute, bassoon.  Swell, two diapasons, principal,
+cornet, hautboy, trumpet.
+
+                                              [Combe, Printer, Leicester.]
+
+
+
+
+HOTEL LIBRARY.
+
+
+                                T. COMBE,
+                               BOOKSELLER,
+
+Has on Sale the best Literary Productions, in elegant and other Bindings,
+and every new Work of Merit may be seen at the Library
+
+                          AS SOON AS PUBLISHED.
+
+          Any quantity of Books purchased, or taken in exchange.
+
+             _Printing_, _Binding & all sorts of Stationary_.
+
+Gold Paper, Ornaments and Borders--Coloured Papers and
+Pasteboards--Bristol and Ivory Boards--Whatman's Drawing Papers--Newman's
+Colours--Middletons Pencils--Varnish, Perfumery, Patent Medicines, and
+other Articles.
+
+                          A CIRCULATING LIBRARY,
+
+_which collects all the varieties of the Day_.
+
+Map of Leicester
+
+        [Picture: The 1802 map of Leicester published by T. Combe]
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+
+{23}  "He had a bow bent in his hand,
+   Made of a trusty tree;
+An arrow of a cloth-yard long,
+   Up to the head drew he."
+
+                                                              CHEVY CHACE.
+
+{24}  See an Essay on this subject by the Hon. Daines Barrington in the
+Archaeologia.
+
+{42}  This sum is now distributed under the title of wood and coal money.
+
+{125}  See Starke's Travels.
+
+{135}  These altars, dedicated to St. Dunstan and St. Catherine stood,
+one where the present vestry is, the other in Heyrick's Chancel, so
+called from its containing the monuments of that antient family.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's  Notes
+
+
+Original spelling, punctuation and grammar have been retained in this
+transcription.  The following, however, have been corrected:
+
+page 35: "to to which this chapel" has been corrected to "to which this
+chapel"
+
+page 35: "joins the the prison" has been corrected to "joins the prison"
+
+page 43: "bridge over the the Canal" has been corrected to "bridge over
+the Canal"
+
+page 74: "a good and firm rood" has been corrected to "a good and firm
+road"
+
+page 75: "usefulness of urn-pike tolls" has been corrected to "usefulness
+of turn-pike tolls"
+
+page 90: "comparative prises of similar articles" has been corrected to
+"comparative prices of similar articles"
+
+page 93: "the prssent age" has been corrected to "the present age"
+
+page 97: "whieh meets the eye" has been corrected to "which meets the
+eye"
+
+page 107: "death of he Conqueror" has been corrected to "death of the
+Conqueror"
+
+page 109: "Henry the the third" has been corrected to "Henry the third"
+
+page 118: "supported by expesne" has been corrected to "supported by
+expense"
+
+Also note that "have paffed into various hands" (page 47) and "trumpet
+and baffoon" (page 139)  are both as in the book, with the old printer's
+ff for ss usage.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WALK THROUGH LEICESTER***
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