the stock (as I may say) whereon other colours are grafted. Yea, it giveth them truth and fruitfulness, who without it prove fading and hypocritical. This herb doth greatly impair the ground it groweth on; profitable to such to set, who have land to let without impeachment of waste, it being long before it will recover good grass therein. I have placed woad, which groweth in all rich places, in this county, because, as I am informed, it groweth naturally therein, hardly to be destroyed, especially about Glastonbury; insomuch that a learned critic,* and my worthy good friend, had almost persuaded me, that from this glastum that town taketh its denomination. MASTIFFS. Smile not, reader, to see me return to coarse creatures amongst the commodities of this county. Know, they are not, like apes, the fools and jesters, but the useful servants in a family, viz. the porters thereof. Pliny observes, that Briton breeds cowardly lions and courageous mastiffs, which to me seems no wonder; the former being whelped in prison, the latter at liberty. An English mastiff, anno 1602, did in effect worst a lion, on the same token that prince Henry allowed a kind of pension for his maintenance, and gave strict order, "That he that had fought with the king of beasts should never after encounter any inferior creatures."+ Our English mastiffs are in high reputation beyond the seas; and the story, is well known, that when an hundred molossi were sent hence a present to the pope, a lack-Latin cardinal, standing by when the letter was read, mistook molossos for so many mules. Surely, had Britain been then known to the ancient Romans, when first, instead of manning, they dogged their Capitol, they would have furnished themselves with mastiffs fetched hence for that purpose, being as vigilant as, more valiant than, any of their kind; for the city of St. Malo in France is garrisoned with a regiment of dogs, wherein many ranks are of English extraction. Hence it is that an author tells me, that it passeth for the blazon of this county, "Set the Band-dog on the Bull."‡ It seems that both the gentry and country folk in this shire are much affected with that pastime, though some scruple the lawfulness thereof. 1. Man must not be a barrater, to set the creatures at variance. 2. He can take no true delight in their antipathy, which was the effect of his sin. 3. Man's charter of dominion empowers him to be a prince, but no tyrant, over the creatures. 4. Though brute beasts are made to be destroyed,§ Mr. John Langley, late schoolmaster of Paul's. * Drayton, in his Polyolbion. § 2 Peter ii. 12. † Stow's Annals, p. 336. they are not made to be tormented. Others rejoin, that God gave us the creatures as well for our pleasure as necessity; that some nice consciences, that scruple the baiting of bulls, will worry men with their vexatious cruelties. All that I dare interpose is this, that the tough flesh of bulls is not only made more tender by baiting, but also thereby it is discoloured from oxbeef, that the buyer be not deceived. MANUFACTURES. Taunton Serges are eminent in their kind, being a fashionable wearing, as lighter than cloth, yet thicker than many other stuffs. When Dionysius sacrilegiously plundered Jove's statue of his golden coat (pretending it too cold for winter, and too hot for summer,) he bestowed such a vestment upon him as to fit both seasons. They were much sent into Spain, before our late war therewith, wherein trading (long since complained of to be dead) is now lamented generally buried, though hereafter it have a resurrection. may THE BUILDINGS. Of these the churches of Bath and Wells are most eminent. Twins are said to make but one man, as these two churches constitute one bishop's see. Yet, as a twin oft-times proves as proper a person as those of single births; so these severally equal most, and exceed many, cathedrals in England. We begin with Bath, considerable in its several conditions: viz. the beginning, obstructing, decaying, repairing, and finishing thereof. 1. It was begun by Oliver King, bishop of this diocese, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, and the west end most curiously cut and carved with angels climbing up a ladder to heaven. But this bishop died before the finishing thereof. 2. His death obstructed this structure, so that it stood a long time neglected, which gave occasion for one to write on the church wall with a charcoal: "O church, I wail thy woeful plight, Whom king, nor cardinal, clerk, or knight, Have yet restored to ancient right." Alluding herein to bishop King, who began it; and his four successors, in thirty-five years, viz. cardinal Adrian, cardinal Wolsey, bishop Clark, and bishop knight, contributing nothing to the effectual finishing thereof. 3. The decay and almost ruin thereof followed, when it felt in part the hammers which knocked down all abbeys. True it is, the commissioners proffered to sell the church to the townsmen under 500 marks. But the townsmen, fearing if they bought it so cheap to be thought to cozen the king, so that the purchase might come under the compass of concealed lands, refused the proffer. Hereupon the glass, iron, bells, and lead (which last alone amounted to 480 tons) provided for the finishing thereof, were sold, and sent over beyond the seas, if a shipwreck (as some report) met them not by the way. 4. For the repairing thereof, collections were made all over the land, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, though inconsiderable, either in themselves, or through the corruption of others. Only honest Mr. Billet (whom I take to be the same with him who was designed executor to the will of William Cecil Lord Burghley) disbursed good sums to the repairing thereof; and a stranger, under a feigned name, took the confidence thus to play the poet and prophet on this structure: "Be blithe, fair Kirck, when Hempe is past, (Subscribed Cassadore.) By Hempe understand Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, queen Mary, king Philip, and queen Elizabeth. The author, Í suspect, had a tang of the cask; and, being parcel-popish, expected the finishing of this church at the return of their religion; but his prediction was verified in a better sense, when this church 5. Was finished by James Montague, bishop of this see, dis-. bursing vast sums in the same, though the better enabled thereunto by his mines at Mendip; so that he did but remove the lead from the bowels of the earth to the roof of the church, wherein he lies interred under a fair monument. This church is both spacious and specious, the most lightsome as ever I beheld, proceeding from the greatness of the windows, and whiteness of the glass therein. All I have more to add is only this, that the parable of Jotham* is on this church most curiously wrought (in allusion to the Christian sirname of the first founder thereof)-how the trees, going to choose them a king, proffered the place to the olive. Now when lately one Oliver was for a time commander-in-chief in this land, some (from whom more gravity might have been expected) beheld this picture as a prophetical prediction, so apt are English fancies to take fire at every spark of conceit. But seeing since that Olive hath been blasted root and branches, this pretended prophecy with that observation is withered away. As for the cathedral of Wells, it is a greater, so darker than that of Bath; so that Bath may seem to draw devotion with the pleasantness, Wells to drive it with the solemnity thereof; and ill-tempered their minds who will be moved with neither. The west front of Wells is a masterpiece of art indeed, made of imagery in just proportion, so that we may call them "vera et spirantia signa. England affordeth not the like: for the west end of Exeter beginneth accordingly: it doth not like Wells persevere to the end thereof. * Judges ix. 8. As for the civil habitations in this county (not to speak of Dunstar castle, having a high ascent, and the effect thereof, a large prospect by sea and land) Mountague, built by Sir Edward Philips, master of the Rolls, is a most magnificent fabric. Nor must Hinton St. George, the house of the Lord Poulet, be forgotten, having every stone in the front shaped doul-ways, or in the form of a cart-nail. This I may call a charitable curiosity, if true what is traditioned, that, about the reign of king Henry the Seventh, the owner thereof built it in a dear year, on purpose to employ the more poor people thereupon. THE WONDERS. Wockey Hole, in Mendip-hills, some two miles from Wells. This is an underground concavity, admirable for its spacious vaults, stony walls, creeping labyrinths, the cause being un-imaginable, how and why the earth was put in such a posture, save that the God of nature is pleased to descant on a plain hollowness with such wonderful contrivances. I have been at but never in this hole; and therefore must make use of the description of a learned eye-witness.* 'Entering and passing through a good part of it with many lights, among other many strange rarities, well worth the observing, we found that water which incessantly dropped down from the vault of the rock, though thereby it made some little dint in the rock, yet was it turned into the rock itself, as manifestly appeared even to the judgment of sense, by the shape, and colour, and hardness; it being at first of a more clear and glassy substance than the more ancient part of the rock, to which no doubt but in time it hath been and will be assimilated: and this we found not in small pieces, but in a very great quantity, and that in sundry places, enough to load many carts; from whence I infer, that as in this cave, so no doubt in many other (where they searched) the rocks would be found to have increased immediately by the dropping of the water, besides that increase they have from the earth in the bowels thereof; which still continuing as it doth, there can be no fear of their utter failing." MEDICINAL WATERS. BATH well known in all England and Europe over; far more useful and wholesome, though not so stately, as Dioclesian's bath in Rome (the fairest amongst 856 in that city, made only for pleasure and delicacy), beautified with an infinity of marble pillars (not for support but ostentation), so that Salmuth saith, fourteen thousand men were employed for some years in building thereof. Our bath waters consist of 1. Bitumen (which hath the predominancy); sovereign to discuss, glutinate, dissolve, open obstructions, &c. * Dr. Hakewell, in his Apology, lib. v. p. 69. 2. Nitre; which dilateth the bitumen, making the solution the better, and water the clearer. It cleanseth and purgeth both by stool and urine, cutteth and dissolveth gross humours. 3. Sulphur; in regard whereof they dry, resolve, mollify, attract, and are good for uterine effects, proceeding from cold and windy humours. But how these waters come by their great heat, is rather controverted than concluded amongst the learned. Some impute it to wind, or airy exhaltations, included in the bowels of the earth, which by their agitation and attrition (upon rocks and narrow passages) gather heat, and impart it to the waters. Others ascribe it to the heat of the sun, whose beams, piercing through the pores of the earth, warm the waters, and therefore anciently were called Aqua Solis, both because dedicated to, and made by, the sun. Others attribute it to quick lime, which we see doth readily heat any water cast upon it, and kindleth any combustible substance put therein. Others refer it to a subterranean fire kindled in the bowels of the earth, and actually burning upon sulphur and bitumen. Others impute the heat (which is not destructive, but generative, joined with moisture) to the fermentation of several minerals. It is the safer to relate all than reject any of these opinions, each having both their opposers and defenders. They used also inwardly, in broths, beer, juleps, &c. with good effect. And although some mislike it, because they will not mix medicaments with aliments, yet such practice beginneth to prevail. The worst I wish these waters is, that they were handsomely roofed over (as the most eminent baths in Christendom are) which (besides that it would procure great benefit to weak persons) would gain more respect hither in winter time, or more early in the spring, or more late in the fall. The right honourable James earl of Marlborough undertook to cover the Cross-bath at his own charge; and may others follow his resolution, it being but fit, that where God hath freely given the jewel, men bestow a case upon PROVERBS. it.* "Where should I be born else than in Taunton Dean."] This is a parcel of ground round about Taunton, very pleasant and populous (as containing many parishes); and so fruitful, to use their phrase, with the zun and zoil alone, that it needs no manuring at all. The peasantry therein are as rude as rich; and so highly conceited of their good country (God make them worthy thereof!) that they conceive it a disparagement to be born in any other place; as if it were eminently all England. * Dr. Fuller's benevolent wish has since been amply realized.—ED. |