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MIDDLESEX is the smallest of the counties, except one (Rutland), in England; yet in its population it is exceeded only by the largest county (York). It is one of the highest grandeur and importance in the United Kingdom, as containing the metropolis of the British empire, besides the city of Westminster, and as being the seat of royalty, all the departments of government, and the legislative - as also from its having within its boundaries residences belonging to the chief nobility of the land. It is bounded on the north by Hertfordshire; on the south by the river Thames, which separates it from the county of Surrey; on the west by Buckinghamshire, from which it is separated by the Colne; and on the east by Essex, its boundary line at this part being the river Lea. In length, from the south-east to north-west, it is about twenty-three miles; and in breadth it does not exceed fifteen miles: in circumference it is estimated at about one hundred miles, and its area as containing two hundred and eighty-two square miles, or 180,480 statute acres.
SOIL and AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. - The prevailing SOILS in Middlesex are loam and clay, or sand and gravel more or less intermixed with loamy clay. In the immediate vicinity of the metropolis the clay has in many parts been dug up to a considerable depth, for the composition of bricks; and almost innumerable buildings have arisen on the very spots where the land has been thus excavated. The CLIMATE in general is considered salubrious, owing to the greater proportion of soil being naturally dry, and the less elevated districts efficiently drained, and consequently free from unwholesome exhalations. The arable lands are for the most part spread out into common fields, although above twenty thousand acres are now enclosed. The corn grown in this county is nearly confined to wheat and barley; rye and oats being but partially cultivated: the greater portion of the upland meadow and pasture lands is very productive; and in the art of hay-making, the Middlesex farmers are superior to any others in the island. The banks of the Thames, Colne and Lea rivers, and generally of the smaller streams that water this county, present a series of luxuriant meadows, principally composed of a rich loamy soil; those contiguous to the Thames are occupied, to an extent of many miles, by nurserymen and gardeners, who cultivate an immense quantity of fruit and vegetables for the London market. The quantity of live stock kept in this county is less, probably, than in any other, in proportion to the number of acres. Middlesex, from its undulating surface, is peculiarly suited to the purposes of agriculture, being sufficiently sloping to secure a proper drainage, without having any abrupt elevations; at the same time the inequalities of the surface contribute to health, embellishments and beauty. From the banks of the Thames, the ground, in most places, rises towards the north; and within a few miles of London, a range of gently swelling eminencies (of which Hempstead, Highgate and Muswell Hill are the chief), protect the metropolis from the severity of the northern blasts. From these heights many pleasing and extensive prospects are obtained; and some equally comprehensive may be had from Harrow Hill, which, from rising in an almost insulated manner, forms a prominent object at the distance of several miles: this eminence is detached from a yet higher and more extensive ridge, stretching from Pinner, Stanmore, Elstree, Totteridge and Barnet to Enfield Chace. The roads throughout the county, both public and parochial, are in general good; those for many miles around the capital, are incomparably excellent, and kept in repair at a vast expense: where the flatness of the surface does not admit the advantages of draining, the roads are constructed in what is termed the 'barrel' form.
MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, &c. - The MANUFACTURES of this county are more numerous and varied than a superficial observer would be led to believe: the principal, however, have their seat in the metropolis, where are establishments for the manufacture of such articles of elegance and luxury as are required to be of superior workmanship, and which are not only supplied to the country, but exported to all parts of the world. In the manufacture of silk goods, in all its branches, it stands unrivalled; for the drawing of wire from all the metals, and the making of pins and needles, its fame has long been established; fancy articles, in worsted, silk, and gold and silver, (as laces, fringes, &c.), with beautiful and rich productions from the frame of the embroiderer, are branches in which the London artizan fearlessly challenge competition. The cutlery and hats of London sustain a high character, and the manufacture of watches and jewellery is of unrivalled extent. The trade arising from the consumption of food, in the metropolis, is also immense, and influences the traffic not only of its own county, but others more distantly situated. The breweries of the capital are upon a scale of unequalled magnitude, and the porter is celebrated in every quarter of the globe; the distilleries, likewise, are extraordinary establishments, and their produce is distributed throughout the entire kingdom. Sugar refining is a business in which a great number of firms have great capitals and numerous hands employed - their establishments are chiefly located in the eastern division of the metropolis. Although the trade and commerce of London are so intimately connected, in a greater or less degree, with the prosperity of Middlesex, and, indeed, the country at large, yet other places in the county have resources within themselves of high consideration. In some towns are large bleaching and calico printing works; in others, extensive iron foundries, soaperies and distilleries; valuable tanneries and roperies are to be seen in different parishes; while paper mills, chemical works, potters and various other manufactories of minor consequence, are occasionally met with. The entire, with the addition of its agricultural treasures, and the splendour of its two great cities, combine to render the county of Middlesex the most important and opulent, as it is the most interesting, of all other counties in the British Empire.
HERTFORDSHIRE is an inland county of an extremely irregular form, and its boundaries are of the like character. Its most distant extremities lie in a direction nearly north east and south-west; its shortest, south-east and north-west. Upon the north it is bounded, for a few miles, by the county of Cambridge, and its north-eastern angle also meets the latter county; for a considerable distance it is bounded on the east by Essex, and its southern boundary is formed (with some palpable indentions) by Middlesex; upon the western side are the counties of Bucks and Bedford - the latter county likewise extending to, and meeting Cambridgeshire on the north. Some difficulty exists in ascertaining with precision the dimensions of Hertfordshire: measured, however, from Royston, upon its N.N.E. confines, to the extremity of its most southerly indenture with Bucks, its length is about thirty-six miles; and its greatest breadth, taken in an oblique direction, from Bishops Stortford on the east, to Berkhampstead, upon the confines of Buckinghamshire, on the south-west, is about thirty miles: but its medium length may be grossly estimated at thirty miles, and its breadth at twenty-five miles. Its ambit is calculated at somewhat between one hundred and thirty and one hundred and forty miles, and the government returns state the area to comprise 528 square miles or 337,920 statute acres. In size it ranks as the thirty fifth county in England, and in population as the thirty-fourth.
SOIL, and CLIMATE, PRODUCE and MANUFACTURES. - The SOILS of this county mix and run into each other in a very remarkable manner, so that they cannot be traced and named with any great certainty: the prevailing ones are loam and clay; the former is met with in almost all its gradations, and is more or less intermingled with flints, or sand. The vales through which the rivers or brooks take their course are composed of a rich sandy loam, with the exception of a small quantity of peat, or marshy moor. The principal clay district is on the north-east or Essex side; yet even here the upper surface is in general a strong wet loam. The only parts where the soils may be considered sterile are in the parishes of North Holt and North Mims, and the lower part of that of Hatfield; but these, of late years, have been much improved under the management of the agriculturist. The chalky soil prevails generally on the northern side of the county; but indeed the basis of the whole county is chalk, either more or less pure, though the depths at which it is found vary. The CLIMATE of Hertfordshire is considered as most salubrious; and the air is generally mild; to delicate constitutions its temperature has been pronounced soothing and efficacious. These advantages, with the general beauty of the country, the goodness of the roads, and the almost uninterrupted fertility of the soil, have been the means of making this county a favourite residence, and inducing great numbers of wealthy persons to purchase lands for building villas - thereby causing estates to multiply in a manner unknown in the distant counties. The general aspect of Hertfordshire is extremely pleasant; and though its eminences are not enough elevated, nor its vales sufficiently depressed and broken, to claim a decisive character of picturesque or romantic beauty, yet its surface is so diversified as to constitute a considerable degree of fine scenery.
PRODUCE. - By far the greatest proportion of Hertfordshire is under tillage; - as a corn county, it is considered as one of the first in England: the produce in wheat, barley and oats is very considerable; large quantities of turnips are also grown and artificial grasses cultivated to a very great extent. The meadows are very productive in many parts, and the various streams which intersect the land are extremely favourable to irrigation. In the south-west corner of the county are many orchards; apples and cherries are their principal produce, which always finds a ready market in London. The quantity of waste lands is but inconsiderable; many acres of these are appropriated as sheep down. As the land in this county is chiefly arable, live stock has become an object of very inferior regard: the Suffolk breed is considered the best; the sheep are mostly ewes of the South Down and Wiltshire kinds. The horses are of various kinds, but the Suffolk breed appears to have the preference. The chief MANUFACTURES of Hertfordshire, at one time, were cotton and silk; the former has much declined, nor is the latter carried on extensively. When the article was more worn than of late years, Berkhampstead employed many female hands in making black lace; but the principal employment of the labouring females, in most parts of the county, is platting straw for hats, bonnets, &c. A very considerable quantity of malt is made in various places; and there are also many flour mills and lime kilns. Paper is manufactured in several towns.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE is an inland county, being bounded on the east by Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex, on the west by Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire, on the north by the latter county and by Bedfordshire, on the south by Berkshire, and on the south-east by Middlesex. Its length from north to south, is about forty-five miles, and its greatest breadth, crossing a slip of Hertfordshire which intersects it on the east, to the extreme of its western side, nearly twenty-three miles: its circumference is 138 miles, containing 740 square miles. Buckinghamshire ranks as the thirty-third county in extent and the thirty-first in population.
SOIL, PRODUCE and CLIMATE. - The face of the county is exceedingly varied: the southern parts are occupied by the Chilton hills, and their appendages, and are chiefly composed of chalk, intermixed with flints; but they have been rendered productive by the great attention given to the cultivation and improvement of the land. The prolific vale of Aylesbury spreads through the middle of the county, furnishing rich pasturage to vast numbers of cattle, and supporting a continuity of dairy and grazing farms; the more northern parts are diversified with gentle sand-hills, interspersed with pasture and meadow land, with a small proportion of arable. The SOIL of this part of the county is principally composed of rich loam, strong clay, chalk, and loam upon gravel. The great weight of butter annually made on the dairy farms is mostly purchased by the London dealers, who contract for it half-yearly; and the skim and butter milk are appropriated to fattening numerous herds of swine. Great assiduity is evinced in the breeding of early ducks, and the suckling calves, for the metropolitan markets. The southern division of the county produces large quantities of fine beech; near a sixth part of the land on both sides of the road to Oxford and the Thames is supposed to be covered with that species of wood. The soil in the Chilton district is chiefly devoted to the growth of wheat, barley, oats, beans and sainfoin. The county has long been famed for its produce of corn and cattle, 'Buckinghamshire bread and beef' having in olden times been a common expression. The mineral productions of Buckinghamshire are unimportant: at Wavendon are some excellent pits of fullers' earth - near Newport, a good stratum of marble - limestone near Ditton - at Brill, ochre, necessary to painters - and umber in the northern parts of the county. The CLIMATE of Buckinghamshire has been pronounced to be as favourable to health and longevity as any other in the kingdom; the air on the Chilton hills is remarkably salubrious, and even in the vales it is more sanatory (sic) than in the low grounds of other counties.
MANUFACTURES and TRADE. - The chief manufactures of this county are those of thread lace, paper and straw plat - the first mentioned affording employment to a great proportion of the females of the humbler class; many very young children are also occupied in this interesting branch - they furnish the edgings and narrower descriptions of laces; and there are throughout the county various schools wherein the bobbin pillow is kept in activity, to the exclusion of the assiduity of the sempstress: the lace manufacture of this shire has suffered severely, however, for a series of years past - the article produced from the machines of Nottingham having shorn it, to a lamentable extent, of its former prosperity. The straw plat manufacture, of which Dunstable (Bedfordshire) is the principal seat, extends for some distance into this county. Besides its manufactures, the trade of Buckinghamshire is of a general and agricultural nature, having a moderate traffic in grain, malt, timber, &c. The Grand Junction canal is of considerable importance to its trade - communicating with the metropolis, and, by its navigable cuts, also with the principal towns in this and the adjacent counties.
OXFORDSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, on the east by Buckinghamshire, on the south by Berkshire, and on the west by Gloucestershire. On the north-east the river Charwell separates Oxfordshire from Northamptonshire, while the county of Warwick lies contiguous to the north-west. This county is of a very irregular figure: near to Oxford it is not more than seven miles across; yet in the more northern part, at no great distance from that city, its diameter is thirty-eight miles: proceeding northwards it assumes the resemblance of a cone, and terminates at what is designated the 'Three-shire Stone' in a complete point or apex. Its more elongated part is comprised in the space from above Oxford, on the north-west, to Caversham, on the south - the whole of which portion is inserted between the counties of Buckingham and Berks. Its greatest length is forty-eight miles, and its circumference about one hundred and thirty; containing nearly 752 square miles, or 481,280 statute acres. In size Oxfordshire ranks as the thirty-second county in England, and in population as the thirtieth.
Overhead View of Oxford
SOIL and CLIMATE, PRODUCE and MANUFACTURES. - The SOIL of Oxfordshire may be considered, for the most part, extremely fertile, yielding abundant crops of corn and grass; it is naturally dry, and entirely exempt from fens, bogs and stagnant waters. The north corner is chiefly strong deep land, partly arable and partly pasture; the south-west contains the forest of Whichwood, a great part of which is woodland. About Oxford the soil is various - some parts of it being light and sandy, and others deep and rich; on the banks of the Thames the soil is chiefly in pasture. In the extensive bed of gravel on which Oxford stands, and which forms one of the geological features of England, are found many extraordinary fossils. The CLIMATE of this county is considered as healthful as that of any other in England, and the quick and limpid streams render the air clear and wholesome. It is colder upon and near the Chiltern hills than in other parts; but not more severe than is conducive to health. There are not any high hills in this county, except the Chiltern range; the rest are only gentle eminencies, which tend to diversify the landscape without obstructing tillage. The system of agriculture is in general good; that of Norfolk is well understood, and is in prevalent practice. On the grass farms much cheese is made, of a good quality, though in general of the thin kind called 'toasting' cheese. The cows are principally of the old Gloucester kind, and the South Down sheep have begun to exclude the long-woolled breed; many boars are fed for the purpose of making brawn and sausages, which form a considerable article of trade at Oxford and other parts of the county. The MANUFACTURES are those of blankets at Witney; paper, at Burford and other places; plush, or shag, at Banbury, and an article of pastry for which it has been famous, called 'Banbury cakes'. The malting trade is carried on extensively, in several towns; and at Woodstock are manufactured gloves, and articles of polished steel: the former branch still flourishes - but the latter is almost lost, from the cheapness of the Birmingham and Sheffield wares.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE is an inland county, lying obliquely across the middle of England, and is in contact with more surrounding shires than any other in the kingdom. To the north and north-west it has the counties of Lincoln, Rutland and Leicester, from the two former and part of the latter of which it is separated by the river Welland; to the west it has Warwickshire, to the south, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire; to the east Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, with a small part of Cambridgeshire. Its greatest length is sixty miles, and its breadth only about twenty-five: its circumference has been variously laid down, from one hundred and twenty five miles to two hundred and sixteen; in the returns to parliament its area is stated to comprise 1,017 square miles or 650,880 statute acres. In size it ranks as the twenty-second county in England, and in population as the twenty-seventh.
SOIL and CLIMATE, PRODUCE and MANUFACTURES. - The general excellence of the Northamptonshire SOILS is ascribed partly to their sufficient depth, and partly to the looseness and porous nature of the stony substratum: they consist of a deep strong loam, in greater proportion than that of any other; a brownish or greyish loam, in the vicinity of Daventry; the red land, consisting of brown and snuff-coloured loams, an extensive tract to the north-west of Northampton, and other parts; the white or grey loams, south of the Nen; the light thin soils of the upland district, near Stamford; and the soils of the natural meadows and pasture lands of the vales, and of the fen lands north of Peterborough. The highest ground in this county is in the neighbourhood of Daventry, where the Nen and Charwell, which flow into the eastern sea, and the Leam, terminating its course in the western, rise within a small compass; about Towcaster, in the south, the country is likewise hilly, and the soil intermixed with clay and a sort of gritstone. CLIMATE. - The air of Northamptonshire is esteemed equal, if not superior, to that of any county in the kingdom; and to this is attributed the circumstance of so many of the nobility and gentry having seats in it: Nordern, in his account of it, says - 'so full is it of gentry, that it may be called the Herald's Garden'. That small tract of country about Peterborough termed 'Fenland' is, however, often overflowed by great falls of water from the uplands, in rainy seasons; but the inhabitants do not suffer the water to continue a sufficient time on the ground, even in winter, to affect the salubrity of the atmosphere.
The PRODUCTS of Northamptonshire are in general the same with those of other farming counties: horned cattle, and other animals useful to man, are fed to extraordinary sizes; horses, of the large black breed, are also reared; and many flocks of sheep are grazed on the elevated grounds: woad, for dyers' use, is cultivated in some parts. The greatest defect of this shire is the scarcity of fuel; yet it still possesses some considerable remains of its old forests - particularly those of Rockingham in the north-west, and of Salcey and Whittlebury in the south: by the construction of the Union canal, however, coals have been introduced into the county from the Trent; and they are also obtained from Lynn, in Norfolk, by means of the Nen. In the agricultural appropriation of this county, about 300,000 acres are said to be arable, 250,000 pasturage, and about 80,000 uncultivated, including the woodlands; within the latter, however, numerous deer, horses, cattle and sheep are fed; a great proportion of the cattle and sheep are afterwards fattened on the rich grazing land of the county, and sent to the London markets. The prevailing system of husbandry is grazing, and several of the farmers are justly noted for their skilful management of land and stock. From Northampton westward a great quantity of cheese is made; and in that part of the county south of the Coventry and London road are numerous dairies; the produce of these is chiefly butter, some of which is sold in London as 'Epping butter'. This county does not abound in fruit trees, though there are a few productive orchards in different parts of it; and around Northampton there is much garden ground of acknowledged superior quality, beside orchards of different kinds of fruit. Northampton is universally regarded as a fine and pleasant county; its surface is peculiarly advantageous for cultivation, as its does not present either dreary wastes or rugged mountains, and is everywhere regular for all the purposes of husbandry and tillage. The MINERAL productions include neither coal nor any of the metals; but limestone is found in almost every part of the shire, and is used, in some instances, to form enclosures, and in making and repairing roads, but more generally is converted into lime. Freestone is raised at Brackley, at Kingsthorpe and some other places; and a whitish kind of slate, employed in roofing, is quarried in considerable quantities at Collyweston, near Stamford. Good brick and tile clay is raised in different districts of the county. The MANUFACTURES are not of much importance: in some of the towns silk stockings are wove, and in others the female working class are engaged in lace-making and wool-spinning. The manufacture of woollen fabrics was at one period more extensive than at present; this branch is now confined to the production of moreens, tamies and calimancoes. Shoes for the supply of the army and navy, the London market, and for exportation, are manufactured rather extensively at Wellingborough, Northampton, and the neighbourhood of those towns; woolstapling constitutes the principal branch of trade at Towcaster, and at Daventry whips are made in considerable quantities. The imports to Northamptonshire principally consist of lean cattle, store sheep, coal, iron, deals and leather - the latter to an amount of some consideration.
HUNTINGDONSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by the counties of Northampton and Cambridge, in the east by Cambridgeshire, on the south by Bedfordshire, and on the west by the latter county and also by Northampton. The limits of this county are chiefly artificial - the river Nene, on the Northamptonshire border, with the Kings-delf, the Old West Water and the Ouse river on the Cambridgeshire side, being the principal exceptions. In the general form it is an irregular square; an elongated portion on the south intersecting the counties of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, and a prominent apex cutting into Northamptonshire on the north-west. The county extends north to south about thirty miles, and from east to west twenty-three; its circumference is about one hundred, and its area comprises 370 square miles or 236,800 stature acres. In size it ranks as the thirty-eighth county in England and in population as the thirty-ninth.
SOIL, PRODUCE and CLIMATE. - The SOIL of this county is in general fertile, though it varies much. The east and south-east parts are of a shallow staple upon lime-stone rock, with a small intermixture of cold woodland clayey soil. The other parts of the county, however, are made up of a strong loam of red land, and of a cold woodland clay: the red land is a rich sandy loam, intermixed with keal - iron-stone is also found amongst it; this soil is esteemed most fertile. The under stratum of the whole county, at different depths, is a very strong blue clay. From the varieties of soil here mentioned, and part of the county being enclosed and part open fields, different modes of culture are necessarily adopted. The north-east part is composed of fens, joining those of Ely - the fens consist of about 44,000 acres; the skirty lands bordering on them afford luxuriant grazing. The mode of management of the fen lands has been much improved of late years, and the fen men are the most expert of any in the world at ploughing. The CLIMATE is regarded as very healthy, making allowance for the space occupied by the fens, and for those parts of the county that are but scantily supplied with pure waters from springs or rivers; the upland parts of the county are considered as by far the most salubrious.
PRODUCE - The borders of the Ouse, along the south-east quarter of the county, consist of most fertile and beautiful meadows - amongst these, Portsholme Mead, near Huntingdon, is particularly celebrated; the middle and western parts are fruitful in corn, and sprinkled with woods; but, in general view, the county may be said to be bare of timber. The breed of sheep is of a mixed description, nearly approaching to the Leicestershire and Lincolnshire species, with which the native breeds have been much crossed; the neat cattle are the refuse of the Lancashire, Leicestershire, and Derbyshire breeds. From the open state of the country, dairy farming is not much followed; and in the southern district the cows are kept principally for the purpose of suckling calves, to supply the London markets. The village of Stilton gives name to a very rich and yet delicate kind of cheese; it has been affirmed, however, that this generally admired article is not the product of that neighbourhood, but of the vicinity of Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire. No MANUFACTURES are carried on in this county, and hardly anything bearing a reference to them, except wool-stapling and spinning the yarn: the latter is the chief business of the women and children in the winter season; in the summer they seek a more profitable employ in the fields. The brewing trade furnishes another means of employment, though to no great extent, the produce being wholly for home consumption. There are a considerable number of corn mills throughout the county; in some of the towns the currying of leather is a moderate branch, and in the vicinity of others, bricks are made in rather large quantities.
BEDFORDSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north-east and north-west by Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire; on the west by Buckinghamshire, which county also, with Hertfordshire, forms its southern boundary; and its eastern extremity is met by Cambridgeshire, as well as Hertfordshire. The form of the county is an irregular oval, being about thirty-five miles in length, twenty broad, and its circumference ninety-six - containing an area of four hundred and sixty-three square statute miles. Bedfordshire ranks as the thirty-seven county in England, both in size and population.
SOIL, PRODUCE, and CLIMATE, &c. - Bedfordshire, although never romantic, and seldom picturesque, is pleasingly diversified by hill and valley, and some of its prospects combine every concomitant of landscape scenery - for example, the fine view from Totterhoe castle, near Dunstable; those from Millbrook church-yard and Ridgmont are also well harmonised and lovely. The downs between Barton and Streatly, and those from Luton and Dunstable, command a rich scenic picture; the umbrageous vicinity of Woburn, too, has often employed the pencil of the artist. The CLIMATE has no peculiarities: in the lower parts of the county the temperature is mild, and on the elevated chalky downs the air is bracing and salubrious; but when the north-east winds rush in from Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, their influence is keen and ungenial. The diversified SOILS common to all the uplands of the kingdom are found in Bedfordshire: chalk prevails in the southern division, beneath which is a narrow stratum of flint, covering a bed of clay - the whole resting on a chalky rock. The high chalky downs of Dunstable and Luton comprise nearly four thousand acres of indifferent pasturage. The vale of Bedford is a very fertile tract; and the meadows on the margin of the Ouse, and other streams, are verdant and luxuriant from the frequent overflowings. But the most singular geological feature of Bedfordshire is the belt of sand extending across the country, from Leighton Buzzard on the south-west to Potton on the north-east - its length being twenty-five miles, its breadth varying from three to five: this tract after deducting the loam and clay abounding in the hollows and around the bases of the sandy hills, and likewise the peat moss interspersed, will include thirty thousand acres of sand; the colour is mostly a brownish yellow, which tinge is caused by the iron it contains; the patches of black, and others of white and grey, which occur, are so barren as to produce nothing but heath, or ling, as it is termed here; and many of the sand hills rise to such a height as to render tillage impracticable: still many portions, hitherto sterile, are yielding to the persevering efforts applied for their cultivation. The villages of Sandy and Gritford, with the vicinity of Potton, are indebted to the rich sandy loams of their low lands for the fame they have attained in the culture of culinary vegetables; the onions of Sandy are excelled only by those of Spain: cucumbers are reared in the open air, and so abundant and excellent are these and other vegetables, that they are in great demand in the London market, and are sent around the country to a distance of sixty miles. Large plots of ground adapted to horticulture are also found adjacent to Biggleswade, Campton, Clophill and Maulden. The agriculture of this county owes much to the zeal, the science and the wealth of the late Francis Drake of Bedford; and the sheep-shearing gatherings of Woburn Abbey were mainly instrumental in effecting, also, a great improvement in the breeding of sheep and cattle. The principal woodlands are contiguous to Ampthill, but there are considerable plantations in other parts.
MANUFACTURES and TRADE. - The chief manufactures of this county are thread lace making, the platting of straw, and forming the same into hats and bonnets: the principal seat of the straw trade is Dunstable and Luton, in which are several manufactories, and indeed at all the leading markets great quantities of plat are brought for sale. The lace trade has much declined since machinery has been adapted to the manufacture of this article, and may be said almost to have superseded the patient labours of those who produce this beautiful texture for ornamental dress from the pillow. Bedfordshire enjoys a trade of some importance in corn, timber and seed; besides a material one derived from the culture of succulent vegetables, to which the soil of whole parishes is appropriated, and the produce disseminated through the neighbouring country, while much finds its way to the metropolitan markets. Near to Woburn that useful cleansing material fullers' earth is obtained in considerable quantities, which is conveyed upon the Grand Junction canal to different places on its line. A short distance from Dunstable are extensive freestone and limestone quarries. Independent of the declension of its lace branch, this county experiences but little fluctuation in its trade.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by the county of Lincoln; on the north-west by those of Northampton, Huntingdon and Bedford; on the south by Hertfordshire and Essex; on the east by Suffolk, and on the north-east by Norfolk. Its limits, for all the northern half, are rivers, and their communicating branches, so intermixed as with difficulty to be traced; the southern half has an indented and undistinguished boundary line on the adjacent counties. Its greatest length is nearly fifty miles, and its breadth, at the south, and widest extremity, about twenty-five, in circumference it is 130 miles, and contains 858 square miles, or about 550,000 acres. In size Cambridgeshire ranks as the twenty-sixth county in England, and in population as the thirty-third.
SOIL, PRODUCE and CLIMATE. - The SOIL is diversified consisting principally of a mixture of clay and sand, and of a strong black mould and gravel. The rich marshes in the vicinity of Wisbeach, consist of a mixture of sand and clay, or silt; in the fens, of a strong black earth or moor, lying upon gravel or turf moor, very favourable for the culture of oats and coleseed. In the uplands the soils vary, being composed of chalk, gravel loam, and tender clay, and clay upon gravel. Notwithstanding the immense expense and labour which have been bestowed in draining the fens, there is still a large extent in a waste and unimproved condition: in this part the application of the land is various; where the soil is preserved from the floods, or only subject to occasional inundations, it has all the fertility of water meadows - the crops of oats are particularly abundant, the produce frequently being from fifty to sixty bushels per acre. The northern part of the county, including the Isle of Ely, is mostly fen land, and quite level, intersected by numerous canals and ditches; this description of land comprises nearly half of the large agricultural district called 'the Bedford Level', 'The Great Level', which includes a tract of 400,000 acres, has been from an early period divided into three districts, viz. the North Level, the Middle Level and the South Level. From and even during the time of James I, various commissions have been granted, and acts passed, for draining the fen lands. In 1667 an act vested upwards of eighty thousand acres in 'the Corporation of Bedford Level', which consists of a governor, six bailiffs, twenty conservators and commonalty, all proprietors of fen lands. The south-western part of the county is the most agreeable, being raised in its surface and watered by the Cam: some very fine butter is made on the dairy farms in this district, and the valley through which the Cam flows, which is much in demand in London, and there sold under the name of 'Cambridge butter'. The vicinity of Cottenham (a village near Cambridge) is famous for a peculiar kind of new cheese, of a singularly delicious flavour; the superiority of this cheese is not ascribed to any particular mode in the management of the dairies, but solely to the nature of the herbage on the commons. In this part of the county many calves are suckled for the London market; in some of the parishes, bordering on Essex, saffron is cultivated; and hemp and flax are produced in other parts of the county. The south-eastern division, reaching from Gogmagog hills to Newmarket, is bleak, heathy and thinly inhabited - being connected with that vast tract of land, which, extending southwards into Essex, and northward across Suffolk into Norfolk, forms one of the largest plains in the kingdom. The southern portion of the county, consisting chiefly of elevated land, exhibit a remarkable contrast to the north division, and is productive of fine wheat, barley and oats; though the heaths and commons that intersect this district, furnish sustenance to many thousand sheep: the number kept in the county may be averaged at 153,000. The quantity of wood land is not very considerable, the whole extent of timber scarcely amounting to 1,000 acres. The CLIMATE of Cambridgeshire is much more salubrious than it was formerly: the air is now pure and healthy, excepting in the more northern parts, which are rendered damp by the vast tracts of fenny ground; these, however, having been submitted to extensive drainage, which has been going on for many years, the impurity of the air has been greatly diminished, and the climate happily and materially improved.
MANUFACTURES are scarcely known in this county, with the exception of a sort of white bricks for cleaning iron, brass, &c. and coarse pottery ware; but the general trade of some of the towns is very considerable, and the commerce arising from agricultural produce of great importance. Wisbeach possesses a valuable trade in the export of corn, and of oil from the seed mills in its neighbourhood. Cambridge may be said to be sufficiently famous by its University as to dispense with other distinctions. Newmarket, partly in this county and partly in Suffolk, is the most celebrated place in all England for horse races, for which its extensive and finely turfed heath is peculiarly adapted. Charles II built a seat here for the sake of this diversion; and the town still derives its sole consequence and support from the attendance of nobility and gentry at the several meetings.