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From The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Second edition, published 1705. (With a short account of the mthor)
Robert Plot, LL.D. Son of Robert Plot, Captain of the Militia, in the County of Kent, was born in the year of our Lord 1641, at Sutton-Barn in the Parish of Borden in the said County, and educated at Magdalene-Hall in the University of Oxford.
Also wrote a book on The Natural History of Staffordshire. He was the first Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford appointed to this post by the donor of the collections Elias Ashmole in 1683. He was also "Professor of Chymistry" at the University.
He died at his house Sutton-Barn April
30, 1696.
The second edition of the book has 366 pages, with an index of 9 pages in addi- tion.
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[mprimatur hic Liber, cui titulus,
The Natural Hiftory of Oxford-fhire.
RA: BATHURST,
Vice-Cancellar. 0 XO N. April, 13. 1676.
ict EK
NATURAL HISTORY
OXFORD SHIRE,
Being an Effay toward the ACatural Hiftory
ENGLAND.
By &. ?. LL. D.
— maT PP Ym Ex Aids dvSpe7 yryidoxopw, an tn mma Kéxpumly. Arat.in Phenom.
Printed atthe TuEarerin OXFORD, andare to be had there: And inLondon at Mr.S. Millers, at the Star near the Weft-end of St. PaulsChurch-yard. 1677.
The price in fheets at the Prefs, nine fhillings. To Subfcribers, eight thillings.
ae
< adacipyy
To te molt Sapeed d Majetts of
Charles the Second.
By the Grace of GOD,
King of Great Britan, France and Ireland, Defender of the FAITH, &c.
Myy it pleafe Your MM ajefty,
= T had certainly been an unpardon- 1i|| able prefumtion for fo meana perfon as the Author of this Effay, to have prefented Your Majefty with a yet meaner difcourfe, had not the fub- SS I||| ject of tt alwaies deferved thenotice,
— and the Enquirers into it, the favor aR Princes. Thus had Ariftotle in writing his Treatife of Animalsthe afsiftance of Alexander ; Ane Pliny the Pa- tronage of Titus Vefpatian to his Natural Hiftory.
Befide, this attemt feems more juftly to belong to Your Mayetty, than any of their Hiftories to their refpective Pa- trons, it being fo far from exceeding Your Majefties Do- minions, eat it contains but an Enquiry i into one of the {malleft parts of them; wz. Your alwaies Lotal County and Untverfity of Oxford, whereas their Volumes are bounded only with the Unniverfe. b
1 ‘2 tm.
The Epiftle Dedicatory.
Yet what more particularly moved me to prefent it to Your Majefty, 1s not only Your favor to Learning in ge- neral, and efpecially to this place; but much more Your Majetties exquifit infight into the matter it felf, infomuch that though the former might have given me fomeconfi- dence of Your Majefties acceptance, yet it feems more my intereft to appeal to Your Judgment, and humbly to im- plore Your Majefties decifion, VVhether if England and Wales were thus furveyed, it would not be both for the | honor, and profit of the Nation * |
VVhichidefign, if Your Majefty think fit to difapprove, it will yet be fome fatisfaction to the Author, that he has fhewed his ready (though mifguided) zeal to ferve his Country: Butif Your Majefty fhall judge it advanta- geous to the Kingdom, or but any way worthy Your Majetties diverfion, there fhall none more induftrioufly and chearfully proceed in it, than, .
=
Your Majesties moft Loial and * nied obedient
— Subjedt,
Rob. Plot.
To the Reader.
| Hough this Effay has fwell’d to fo much greater a Bulk thant ever I expected it could poffibly have done, that [might well
have fuperfeded any further addres than that of Dedications _ yet it being but neceffary to acquaint the Reader with fome matters, rbat are general, and will ferve for all other Counties 4s well as this, I thought good to put them down briefly as followeth. And first, that though I dare not pretend the Map of Oxford- fhire prefxt to this Eflay, is fo accurate as any I fhall make hereafter, yet I dare promife the Reader it far exceeds any we bad before; for befide that it contains all the Mercat Towns, and many Parifhes o0- mitted bySaxton, Speed, &c. it /hews alfo the Villages, diftingui/h - ed by a different mark and charatter, and the Houfes of the Nobilt- ty andGentry, and others of any magnitude within the County ; and all thefe with their bearings to one another, according to the Compafs. And as for thé diftances, though I dare not promife them Mathe- matically exacé (which by reafon of the rifings and fallings of the ground, interpofitions of Woods, Rivers, &c. I think fcarce pof- fable in many places to be given at all) yet fome few of them are as true; as actual dimenfuration, and moft of them as the doctrin of Trian- gles, and the beft information, all compared together, could direct me to put them : Sothat provided they have not been moved in the Graving (as [think they bave but little) I take them all feated not far from rhe truth. 4
As for the {cale of miles, there being three forts in Oxford- fhire, thegreater, lefer, and middle miles, as almost every where elle; itiscontrived according to the middle fort of them ; for thee 7 conceive may be moft properly called the true Oxford-thire miles, which upon atiual dimenfuration at feveral places, I found to contain for the mof? part 9 furlongs and a quarter, of which about €0 anfwer a Degree: Where by the way its but expedient that the Reader take notice, that I intend not thar there are 60 of thefe miles in a degree, according tothe common account ; for reckoning 5280 feet, Cor eight
ea fur-
To the Reader. furlongs) toa mile, @ # ufual in England, nolefs than 69 will cor- refpond toa degree ; upon which account it is and no other, that of the middle Oxford-fhire miles, each containing 9 furlongs and a quarter, about 60 will do it.
According to thefe miles, the degrees of North latitude are divi- ded into minutes on each fide the Map, chiefly made off from the exadt Northern Jatitude of Oxford, collected from the many years objer- vations of Dr. Banbridg, and at Iaft concluded to be feated in the 46 minute of thes1 degree, proxime ; the52™ degree beginning at the fmall line paffing through Mixbury, Clifton, north of Dedding- ton, the two Barfords, South Nuneton, and between Hoke Nor- ton andthe Lodge: By which divifion ’tis eafie to know to a minute of a degree, nayalmof to a {econd, in what latitude every Town, Parifh, Village, and Gentlemans Houfe is feated.
Befide, for the Houfes of the Nobility and Gentry, this Map és fo contrived, that a Foreigner as well as Englith-man, at what di- france foever, may with eafe find out who are the Owners of moft of them; {0 a to be able to fay that this is fuch or fuch a Gentlemans Houfe: And allthis done by Figures put.toevery fuch Houle, which referring againto Figures of the fame value, placed in order over the Arms in the Limb of the Map, /bew in the bottom of each Shield the Nobleman or Gentlemans name, whofe houfe it is ; their re(pective Coats of Arms being always placed between the Figure and Name: which too (all but fome few) are cut in their metals, furs, or colours, as born by their Owners.
And not only the Shields, but Ordnaries, Charges, Differences, &c. where they are not too fmall: if Argent, being left white ; if Or, filled with fmall points; if Gules, lineated Gerpendiealar: ly, orin pale; if Azure, horizontally, or fels-ways ; if Vert, obliquely or bend-ways ; if Sable, both pale and fefs-ways, a may be feen in theMap, which are all the colours made ufe of there. And if ever hereafter I fhall meet with any bearing Purpure, Ten, or Sanguine; the firft fhall be repre(ented with Lines in bend finifter ; Ten, with lines falter. ways, mixt of Vert and Purpure; and San- guine, paly bendy, mixt of Gules and Purpure.
According to.thismethod, not only the Arms of the Univerfity, — all theColleges, and Towns incorporate in the County (which I have placed in the upper margin ye themap) but on the fides and bot-
tom
To the Reader. tom, thofe of the Nobility andGentry, are induStrioufly ranged in Alphabetical order, to avoid the difficulties that might otherwife have rifen about precedency: which, befide the ufe above mentioned of difcovering the Owners of the Houfes, and that they are an orna- ment to the Map, I hope may alfo have thefe other good eftetts. 1. That the Gentry hereby will be fomwbhat influenced to keep their Seats, together with their Arms, leaf? rheir Potterity hereafter, not without reflexions , fee what their Anceftors have parted with. And fecondly, Vagabonds deterr’d from making counterfeit Pafles, by puting falfe names and Seals to them, both which may be difcover- ed by fuch Maps as thefe.
To thefe add the ancient houfes of Kings, the principal Seats of ancient Baronies, ancient Ways, Fortifications, and the [ites of Religious houfes, all diftinguifh’d as defcribed by their refbective marks inthe Table for that purpofe. All which put together, make thefum of the Map, Lintend they foall in all others hereafter, fo that thofeMemento’s need nomore be repeated, fince they are deftgned to he applyed to all following Maps as well as this.
Yet thisMap, though it contains near five times as much as any other of theCounty before, partly by reafon of its being the firt I ever made, and partly becaufe, either of the pure ignorance or ab- fence of fome, and over curious pievifhnefs that I met with among ft others, is not fo perfect, I confefs, as I wifh it were; there being upon thele accounts, fome few Arms omitted, and others out of place at the foot of the Map, and perhaps here and there a Village over- look’d: wherefore I have entertained fome thoughts of cutting it a- gain, and perhaps fomwhat larger, to be hung up in Frames (with- out alteration of this for the Book) with all the defects above- mentioned fupplyed ; provided fuch Gentry as find their Arms o- mitted, or any Villages near them containing ten houfes (under which number I feldom think them worth notice) pleafe to bring in their Arms in colours, with the particular bearings and diftances of their Houfes and Villages, from the moft noted place near them, te the Porter or one of the Keepers of the Bodleyan Library, who will be ready to receive them, or any other Curiofity of Art or Na- ture, in order to the compiling an Appendix to this Work, #o be Printed apart.
Which is all concerning the Map, but that the Reader alo note, that
To the Reader. |
that the Right Honorable the Earl of Berkfhire, Lord Lovelace, &c. are defignedly left out, in regard that though they have Eftates and Seats in this County, yet their chiefeft, and places of moh com- mon refidence being elfewhere, I have chofen rather to omit them bere, and to place them in thofe that feem their more defirable Counties.
Concerning the Hiftory it felf, Ican advife little more, but that I undertook it at first for my own pleafure, the fubjeci of it being fo pleafant, and of fo great variety, that it (urprifed me to think how many Learned Ages badpaft (careful and laborious enough in compi- ling the Civil and Geographical Hiffories of England) without (o much as ever attemting that of Nature or Arts: it feeming to be a de- fign (had the Undertaker been fuitable) more highly deferving of the publicktoo, than either of theformer, tending not only to the ad- vancement of a fort of Learning fo much neglected in England, but of Trade alfo, whichL hope in fome meafure is made to appear in the following Treatife,
Which though fuffcient to juftifie my choice of this fubjet, yet 1 ventured not upon it without the joint approbation of the moft knowing in thefe matters, [uch as the Honorable Robert Boyle E/g; Dr. Willis, Dr. Wallis, Dr. Bathurft, &c. whofe celebrated names ferving to remove the groundle/s fufpitions many had of the attemt, I proceeded to givethis Specimen of it: Wherein the Reader i only defrred to take notice, that moft of the Curiofities, whether of Art, Nature, or Antiquities engraven in the Cuts, are fo certain truths, that as many aswere portable, or could be procured, are in the hands of the Author. But for fuch things as are infeparable from their places, they remain to be feen asin the History direéted, there being nothing here mention d, but what either the Author has feen bimfelf, or has recei- ved unquefiionable teftimony for it, which for the moft part, if not alwaies, the Reader willfind cited.
{n the Philofophical part, I have chiefly embraced the Principles of Dr. Willis, 2s the moft univerfally known and received, and there- fore moft likely Cin this inquifitive Age) to be the truefl; which if I bave any where mif- applied (as tis manifold odds fome where or other I may) yet Idoubt not but the Learned and fober Reader will can- didly accept of thehonefty of my endeavor in excufe of my Error. But as for the hot-beaded half-witted Cenfurer, who perhaps only looks on the Title of a Chapter,or here and there a Paragraph that makes for
bis
To the Reader.
his turn, I must and do expeét the lafh of his tongue, it being indeed his bufine/s to find out thelapfes, and decry all attemts, wherein (for- footh) he himfelf bas not been confulted: But £ would have fuch to know (that if [meet with but proportionable encouragement from the former) ’tis not all they can fay or do, foall difcourage me from my purpofe; for if Ihave erred in any thing, I fhall gladly receive the calm reproofs of my Friends, and fiill goon till [ do underfiand my bufine[s aright, in the mean time contemning the verdi& of the igno- rant and faftidious that throw words in bast.
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THE
NATURAL HISTORY Oxford fhire.
CHAP. I. Of the Heavens and Airs
ftiled, Oxr most noble Athens, The Mufes feat, and, Oné
of Englands Pillars; nay, The Sun, The Eye, &c. It would have occafion’d as ftrange 4 remark, as any to be men- tion’d inthis whole Effay, had there not fome eminent Celeftial Obfervations béen made inthis County; efpecially fince that ftu- pendous Mathematical Inftrument, now called the Zele/cope,feem: to have been known here above 300 years ago, But thefe bein chiefly matters of Art, relating either to the difcovery of the magnitude, figure, or determination of the motions of the Hea- venly Bodies, muft be referr’d (as moft proper) to the end of this Work ; it being my purpofe in this Hifory of Nature, to ob- fetve the moft natural method that may be. ~, And therefore I hall confider, firft, Natural Things, fuch as either the hath retained the fame from the beginning, or freely produces in her ordinary courfe ; as Animals, Plants, and the univerfal furniture of the World: Secondly, her extravagancies and defects, occafioned either by the exuberancy of matter, or obfti- nacy of impediments, as in Monffers. And then laftly, as fhe is reftrained, forced, fafhtoned, or determined, by Artificial Ope- tations. All which, without abfurdity, may fall under the gene- ral notation of a Natural Hiffory, things of Art (as the Lord Bacon a well obferveth) not differing from thofe of Nature in form and effence, but in the efficient only ; Man having no power
Or RD, being not undefervedly by Mr. Cambden
a De Augm. Scient, Lib. 2. cap.2, over
2 The NCatural Hiftory
~ over Nature, but inher matter and motion, i.e. to put together, feparate, or fafhion natural Bodies, and fomtimes to alter their ordinary courfe.
3. Yet neither fhall I fo ftridtly tle my felf up to this mactig) but that I fhall handle the two firft, viz. The feveral Species or natural things, and the errors of Nature inthofe refpegtive Spe- cies, together ; and the things Artificial in the end apart : Method equally begetting iterations and prolixity, where it is obferved too much, as where notatall. And thefeI intend to deliver as fuccinély as may be, ina plain, eafie, unartificial Stile, ftudiouf- ly avoiding all ornaments of Language, it being my purpofe to treatof Things, and therefore would have the Reader expect nothing lefs then Words: Yet neither fhall my Difcourfe be fo jejune, as wholly to confift of bare Narrations, for where the fubjecét has not at all, or but imperfe&ly been handled, I fhall beg leave either toenlarge, or give my opinion.
4. Since then the Celeftial Bodies are fo remote, that little can be known of them withoutthe help of Art, and that all fuch matters (according to my propofed method) muft be referred to the end of this Book: Ihave nothing of that kind to prefent the Reader with, that’s local, and feparate from Art, but theap- pearance of two Parhelia or mock-Suns, one on each fide of the true one, at Enfkam onthe 29" of May, early in the morning, inthe year 1673. With them alfo appeared a great circle of light concentrical to the true Sun, and pafling through the disks of the {purious ones, as in Zab.1. Fig.1. which though I faw not the Phenomenon, is as truly drawn (for fo it was confeft by fome that did) as I could poffibly have done it if perfonally pre- fent ; and yet fo incurious was the amazed multitude, that they could not fo muchas give me ground to guefs at the diameter of thecircle, much lefs whether it were interrupted in fome of its parts, or interfected (as they ufually oo with any other circles of a fainter colour.
5- Whether thefe appearances are caufed by reflection or re- fraction in theClouds, according to the old Philofophy; or by both, in a great annulary cake of Ice and Snow, as Des Cartes ; or by femiopaque Cylinders, as M. Hugens de Zulichem, will be too too tedious hereto difpute. Let ittherefore at prefent fufiice, that this Phenomenon is worthy our notice, in regard,
psi 1.- Uhat
Of OXFORD-SHIRE. : 1; That no circle pafies through the true Suns disk, nor the {purious ones found in the interfe&tion of two Irides, as in thofe that appeared at Rome, March 20. 1629. band in France, April9. Anno 1666. ¢ : 2, That whereas generally {uch mock-Suns appear not fo bright, nor are fo well defined as the true one is; thefe according to the agreement of all, appeared of fo even and ftrong a light,that ’twas hard to diftinguifh the true from the falfe, and perhaps might not be inferior to the Parhelia mention’d by Cardan *, or that lately were feen in Hungary. “ .
6. Whenthey appear thus bright and illuftrious, Aftrologers heretofore always prefaged a Triumvirate: thus the Triumvirate of Antonius, Augufius, and Lepidus,. with allthe evils that at~ tended it, wasreferred tothe Parhelia {cena little before; and herein Cardan is fo pofitive, that he fears not to aflerc, That after fuch anappearance, We feldom (if ever) failof one, and there- fore refers the Parbelia feen by himfelf to the Triumvirate of Henry the fecond King of France, Charles the fifth, and Solyman the Turkifh Emperor. And truly, were not thefe to be more than fufpefted of vanity, it were eafieto adapta Triumvirate to ours : But my Religion, and that God that hath exhorted us, zot to be difmayed at thefigns of Heaven, ard folemnly profeffes, that ’tiseven He that frufirates the tokens of the Lyars, and makes the Diviners mad‘, has taught me to forbear. I fhall therefore add. ~ no more concerning thefe things, but that though moft comnion- ly the Parhbelia with the true Sun, appear but three in number, yet that fomtimes more have been feen ; as four ®in France, Anno 1666. five "at Rome, Anno 1629. five’ in England, Anno 1233. and fix * Anno 1525. by Sigifimund the firft, King of Poland; which are the moft that we read were ever feen at a time, though
Des Cartes endeavors to thew ’tis poflible there may be feven. 7. And indeed this had been all I thought I fhould have men- tioned concerning the Heavens, but that even now while 1 am writing this,at Oxon: onthe 234 of November, Anno1675. about 7 at night, behold the Moon fet her Bow in the clouds, of a white
b Des Cartes Meteor. cap. 10. &» Gaffend.in Ep. adRenerium. Philof: Tran{:num.13. 4 De rerum Va- rietate lib.14.€.70. ¢ Philof:Tranf.numb.47. § Ifa. 44. V.24,25- 8% Philof. Tranf.numb.13. % Des - Cartes, Meteor. cap.1o. ' Matthew Paris, 17 Hemr. Il. * Des Cartes Meteer. cap.1o. eh» Fromond. Me- teor. Lib. 6. Art. 2.
A 2 colour,
4. The Natural Hiftory
colour, entire and well determined, which continued fofor a= bout half an hour after Ifirftfaw it. The reafon why fuch ap- pear not of diverscolours, as Rain-bows do that are made by the Sun, has been alwaies afcribed by Philofophers, to the weak- nefs of the Moons raies, not entring fo deeply into the opacity of the clouds. Butif we may give credit to! Dan: Sennertus, it has once to his knowledge happened otherwife, viz. in the year 1593, when after a great ftorm of Thunder and Lightning, — he beheld an fris Lunaris adorned with all the colours of the Rain-bow. As for ours, though I could not perceive in any partof it, that ic had the leaft fhade of any colour but white ; however, I thought it not unworthy our notice, not only for the infrequency of the thing(they never happening but at or near the Moons full, and then but fo very feldom too, that Arisfotle profeffes, that he faw but two in above fifty years; and I know feveral learned and obferving Men, that never faw fuchan Iris in their lives) butalfo becaufe of the great clemency of the wea- ther, that followed upon it at that time of the year ; there fal- ling not onedrop of rain, nor any wind ftirring for fixteen days after, but fo great a ferenity, that the wales were as clean and paffable then, as we could wifh or ever enjoyed them at Mid- fummer.
8. From the Firmament (waving all confiderations of the — pure ther, of which we know fo little, that I fhall fay nothing) I naturally defcend to the loweft Heaven, I mean that fubtile Bo- dy that immediatly incompaffes the Earth, and is filled with all manner of exhalations, and from thence commonly known by thename of the Atmofphere. Whether befide thefe exhalations, there be any peculiar fimple body, called Air, Ileave to the more fubtile Philofophers, and confider it hereonly, as *tis the fub- ject of ftorms, of thunder and wind, of Echo’s, and as it has relation to ficknefs and health. :
9. Asto Tempefts that have happen’d in this County,though perhaps there have been fome heretofore attended with as deplo- rable effects as any where elfe; yet becaufe they are no where tran{mitted to pofterity, I fhall only mention two within our memory, viz. The ftorm of wind that happen’d one night in February, Anno 1661, which though general (at leaft all over
' Seunertusin Epitom. Phyf: ™ Ey treow cartp se o'. Meteor. lib. 3. eap. 2,
England)
OF OXFORDS HIRE. 5 England )yet was remarkable at Oxon: in thefe two refpects.1.That though it forced the ftones inwards into the cavity of Al/-hallows Spire, yet ic over-threw it not. And 2'* That inthe morning, when there was fome abatement of its fury, it was yet fo vio- lent, thatit laved water out of the River Cherwell, and caft it quite over the Bridge at Magdalen College, above the furface of the River near 20 foot high; which paflage, with advantage of holding by the College walls, I had then the curiofity to go fee my felf, which otherwife, perhaps, I fhould have as hardly cre- dited as fome other perfons now may do. But thofe that have failed to the Indies can inform them what force Hurricane’s and Turbo’shave, with what violence and impetuofity they take up whole Seds of water, and furioufly mount them into the air". Now that fuch as thefe may alfo happen at Land (though per- haps for the moft part of lefs ftrength) I think we have little rea- fon to doubt,fince our own Chronicles informus, that inQ. Ma- ries time, withina mile of Nottingham, all the houfes of two little Parifhes, withtheir Churches, were wholly born down by fuch a Tempeft ; and the water, with the mud from the bottom of the River 7rent, that ran between them, carryed a quarter of a mile and caft againft Trees, with the violence whereof they were torn up by the roots. ? 10. Of much fuch another Land Hurricane, Bellarmin gives us a relation fo incredible, that he himfelf premifeth, Quod nift vi- diffem non crederem. Vidi (faies he) avehementiffimo vento effofam ingentem terre molem, eamque delatam fuper pagum quendam, ut fovea altifima confpiceretur unde eruta fuerat, tg pagus totus coopertus ty quafi fepultus manferit, ad quem terra illa divenerat®, Which be- ing fufficient (I fuppofe) to evince the poflibility of my ftory, | proceed to | 11. The fecond tempeft of Thunder and Lightning, on the 10" of May, 1666. which though terrible enough to all parts adjacent to Oxford, yet was mifchievous cnly at Medley, a well known Houfe, about a mile or fomwhat more diftant from it ; two Scholars of Wadham College, alone ina boat, and new thruft off (hore to come homewards, being ftruck off the head of the boat into the water, the one of them ftark dead, and the other
n It was obferved by au able Sca-man of Britto), that this wind was the fag-end of a Hurricane, which began in New-Engiand about three hours befure it came hither , the Sea-men obferv’ that it went directly te- wards England. © Bellarmin. de afcen{: ment. in Deum, Grad. 2+ cap: 4. \
{tuc
6 The Natural Hi flory
ftuck faft in the mud like a poft, with his feec downward, and for the prefent fo difturbed in his fenfes, that he neither knew how he came out of the boat, nor could remember either Thun- der or Lightning that did effeé&t it. Others, in another boat a- Bout ten or twenty yards diftance from the former, felt a difturb- ance and fhaking in their boat, and one of them had his chair ftruck from under him, without hurt. But of this nomore, a full relation of the accident being already given by the Reverend. and Learned D' John Wallis Savilian Profeflor of Geometry in the Univerfity of Oxford, and publith’ d in our Englifh Philofo- phical Tranfactions ?.
~ 12. What hapned before or after thofe Tempefts, I was not fo curious in thofe days to obferve,but it might indeed be wifh’d, as thelearned and obferving D' Beale advifes%, thatfome old Al- manacks were written inftead of new; that ihiea of the con- jectures of the weather to come, fome ingenious and fit Perfons would give a faithful account from divers parts of the world, not only of the Storms, with the antecedents and confequents of them, but of the whole weather of the yeats paft, on every day of the month; as it was induftrioufly begun above 300 years ago, by William Merle Fellow of Merton College, who obferved the weather at Oxford for every day of the month for 7 years together ; wiz. from Fanuary Anno Dom. 1337, to Fanuary Anno Dom. 1344. the MS copy of which Obfervations yet remain in the Bodleyan Library" ; For from hence in time we might exa- mine upon fome grounds, as the learned D' Beale well remarks, how far the pofitions of Planets, or other fymptoms or conco- mitants, are indicative of weathers, and probably be forewarn’d of Dearths,Famines, Epidemical Difeafes,¢oc. and by their caufes be inftruéted for remedies, or prevention. Certainly from fuch Calendars we might learn more in few years, then by Obferva- tions at random all thedaysof our lives; and if they might be had from foreign and remote parts *, we fhould then be in fome hopes of true Inveftigations of heats and colds, and of the breadth and bounds of coafting Rains and Winds.
13. Next the Tragedies (it being as agreeable to my Method,
as feafonable to the Difcourfe) it will not be amifs to prefent the
P Philofoph. Tranfatt. Numb. 13. 9 Philofoph. Tranfad. Num go. * MS. Digby, fel. 176. * Such ob-
fervations of the wearher every day of the month through tke whole year 367%. were made by Erafmus Bar- choline, avd are printed inter Acta Medica ‘Tho. Bartholini Obf. 1 30. Reader
of OXFORD-S HIRE. 4 Reader with fome of the {ports of Nature, and entertain him a- while with the Nymph Echo ; a Miftrefs the is indeed that is ea- fily tpoke with, yet known to few: if therefore I take pains to acquaint him with her, I hope I thall not ‘petionge a thanklefs of- fice.
14. Firft therefore, that Philechus may not be out in his choice, whenever he attempts to court her in Oxford-/bire, he muft know that of thefe there are feveral forts, and may beft, I fuppofe, be diftinguifh’d by their Objeéts, which are,
| Single, fuch as return the voice but once; and thefe again |
© Polyfyllabical , fach as return many fyllables, | words, or a whole fentence.
either are cither4 Tonical, fach as return the voice but once, nor | that neither, except adorned with fome pe- ! —culiar Mufical note.
| Manifold, and thefe return fyllables and words, the fame oftentimes repeated, and may therefore be ftiled Zau- tological Echo’s, which are caufed.
Simple
ey ad
¢ Reflexion:
1§. As for Polyfyllabical articulate Echo’s, the ftrongeft and beft I have met with here, isin the Park at Woodffock, which in the day time, little wind being ftirring, returns very diftinély feventeen fyllables, and in the night twenty ; I made experiment of it with thefe words,
_—Que nec reticere loquenti,
Nes prior ipfa loqui didicit refonabilis Echo.
In the day it would return only the laft verfe, but inthe night a- bout twelve by the clock, I could alfo hear the laft word of the formet Hemiftick [loquenti. | The objeof which Echo, or the Centrum phonocampticum, | take to be the hill with the trees on the fummit of it, about half amile diftant from Woodstock town, in the way thence tothe Right Honorable the Earl of Rochefer’s
Lodge: And the true place of the Speaker, or Centrum phonicum, the
§ The Natural Hiftory
the oppofite Hill juft without the gate at the Towns end, about thirty paces direétly below the corner of a wall inclofing fome hay-ricks, near Chaucers houfe: fome advantage I guefs it rea ceives from the rivulet that runs as it were in adire& line between the two centers, and from the pond at the foot of the obje& hill; as alfo from two other hills that run obliquely up to it: Which may better be apprehended by the profpeé of the place, asin Zab. 1. Fig. 2.
16. Thatthis Echo makes return of fo many fyllables, and of a different number in the day and night, being indifputable and matter of faé& I proceed in the next place to the reafons of thefe certainties, which poflibly to every body may not be fo plain. Firftthen, the caufes why fome Echo’s return miote, and fome fewer fyllables, I take ro lye in the different diftances of the objects (returning the voices) from the places of the fpeakers : for by experience ’tis found, that if the fpeaker be too near the obje&, the return is made fo quick uponhim, that the Echo is as it weredrowned in the voice: but if he remove farther from it, then it begins to be clear and diftind ; and if it be a polyfylla- Bical one, it firft repeats one fyllable, then two, three, four, five, or more, according asthe fpeaker removes farther off it, which I take to be the only true way of meafuring the proporti- ons of the fpaces of the ground, requifite for the return of one or morefyllables. That this istrue, I fhall ufe no arguments to perfwade, becaufe the experiment is {nbje& to every manstryal ; and if fo, itmuft neceflarily be admitted, that the reafon why. this Echo returns fo much, is becaufe ofthe great diftance of the object from the {peaker.
17. Whatdiftance is required to the return of each fyllable, is beft indeed determined by fuch a procedure, where the objet is fore-known, and the condition of the place will admit of the experiment: but both thefe being wanting here (Echo’s them- felves being generally firft known, and not the obje&s) 1 was forced to make ufe of a new analytical method, and find out the obje& by the number of fyllables already returned, which being feventeen in the day time, and twenty by night ; and having be- fore found by frequent expericnce, that according to Blancanus *, no one fyllable will be returned clearly, under the diftance of 24
® Blancani Echometria Theorem 5.
Geome-
of OX FORD-S HIRE. 9 Geometrical paces, or 120 feet, I guefs’d that tlie obje& could not be removed lefs than 400 of the former, and 2000 of the latter. For the better underftanding of which Analy/is, and for the Readers more fecure finding of the true diftance of the fpeaker in any other place, it may be convenient that he take no- tice, that all Echo's have fome one place whither they are return- ed ftronger, and more diftinét than any other, and is always the. place that lies at right angles with the obje&t, and is-nottoo near, or too faroff: forif aman ftand at oblique angles withit, the voice is better returned to fome other perfon at another place, than tothe fpeaker ; and fo if he ftand too near, or far off, al- though he do ftand at right angles with it, which is plain by the diagram, Tab. 1. Fig. 3. where
a. is the true place of the fpeaker. ab. the vocal line falling at right dngles on the object. cd. places on each hand the true place, and oblique to the object. ef, places above and below the object, whence alfo the voice _ comes obliquely to it. oh. places whence (ts true) the voice goes in right inglés to the object, but g is too far off, and h too near. }
Now the {peaker ftanding in a, and his voice going i in the ftraight line ab, and ftriking upon the obje& fo as to make right angles with ic, muft needs return to the {peaker again in the fame line, and nofarther, becaufe he is fuppos’d to ftand at the two ex- treams of the whole mix’d line of aétion: butif he ftand too near at 4, then the Echo repeats more {yllables, and diftin&ter at g than either at 4 or a, becaufeg is now the extream of the line of aétion ; for by how much the neater the {peaker is to the ob- jet, by fo much the more forcible he ftrikes it, which caufes the rebound to be fo much beyond him: and thus if he fkand as much too far off, asatg, thenthe Echo repeats more fyllables and di- ftinéter at 4, then either at @ or g, becaufe the diftance being too great from gto b, and the reflexion weak, the Echo muft needs terminate fo much the fhorter at 4; allthefe being fuppofed to take up the whole line of the voices dire& and reflex aétion. A- gain, if the {peaker ftand in ¢ obliquely to the obje&, the Echo is better heard at d, thaneitherat a orc; andfoif he ftand ard, ic is better heard atc then any other place: thus if he ftand at e
B above
10 The Natural Hiftory above the obje&, the Echo is beft heard inthe valley f, && vice verfa. Allwhich, niay be well enough made out by throwing a ball againft a wall, to which, if it be thrown in an oblique line, it returns not to the thrower but to another place ; and though the projicient do fo throw it, that it ftrikes at right angles with the wall, yet (like as in the voice) if he ftand too far off, it will fall as much too fhort in the rebound, as it will exceed if lie ftand too near. | aah 18. According to thefe grounds I carefully examined this Echo, and found, upon motion backward, forward, and to each hand, the true centrum phonicum, or place of the fpeaker, to be upon the hill at Wood/tock towns end, about thirty paces below the corner of the wall aforefaid, direétly down toward the Aings Majeflies Manor: from whence by meafure to the brow of the — hill, on which my Lord Rocheffers Lodge ftanils, are 456 Geo- metrical paces, or 2280 feet; which upon allowance of 24 Geo- metrical paces, or 120 feet to each fyllable, to my great fatisfa- étion I found to be agreeable to the return of 19 fylables, viz, one fewer than it returns inthe night, and two more than in the day. ) is The meafure I muft confefs had been much more eafie and natural, could I have began from the objeét, and fo removed backward accordingly as the Echo gradually increafed in the repe- tition of more fyllables ; for then I could have given the due proportion to each, if I had found any inequality upon the in- creafe, which Iguefs there may be, becaufe the allowance of an equality feems to fet the obje&t too far off bya fyllable or two. But it not being feafible inthis place, I was forced to take the for- mer courfe; for in the valley between the two hills, being the whole medium through which the voice paffes, and the Echo re- turnsit, there is fcarce any fuch thing as an Echo to be found ; nay, if youftand at the Manor it felf, which is not far from the true place of the {peaker, and firuate almoftas ‘high, and dire& your voice toward theplace of the obje&, you fhall not have the leaftretarn; whence ’tis moft evident that'I could not ufe that procedure here, and therefore muft defire to be held excufed from giving the proportions of fpace, which I fuppofe, accord- ingto Hircher* may decreafe, according as the number of {yl- t Magia Phonoéamptica, probl. 5.
fables:
Of OXFORD-S HIRE. il lables increafe, till I meet with an Echo fit for the purpofe.
20. Thereafon of the difference between day and night, why it fhould return feventeen fyllables in the one, and twenty in the other, may lie, I fuppofe, inthe various qualities, and confti- tution of the medium in different feafons; the Air being much more quiet, and ftock’d with exhalations in the night than day, which fomthing retarding the quick motion of the voice to the object, and its return to the fpeaker fomwhat more, (by reafon the voice muft needs be weakned in the reflexion) muft neceffari- ly give {pace for the return of more fyllables.
21. Amongft other tryals of this Echo, I difcharged a Piftol, which made a return much quicker then my voice, and (at which I ftill wonder) with amuch different found from that the Piftol made, whence I can only conclude, that the more forcibly the Air is ftricken, (as alfo in the projeCtion of a ball) the fooner the refponfe is made, and that poflibly there may be fome founds more agreeable toevery Echo, than others. And it being my Lord Bacon’s opinion, That thereare fome letters that an Echo will hardly exprefs, and particularly the letter §, which, faies he, being of an interior and hiffing found, the Echo at Pont C ha- renton would not return"; hereupon I tryed,as well as his Lord- fhip, with the word Satan, befide many others of the fame ini- tial, but found the Echo here neither fo modeft or frighted, but that, though the Devil has been bufie enough hereabout (as fhall further be fhewn near the end of this Hiftory) it would readily enough make ufe of his name.
22. Juftfuch another polfllabical Ecko we have at Magdalen College, in the water-walks, near the Bull-work called Dover Peer; itrepeats a whole Hexameter verfe, but not fo ftrongly as Woodstock: Where the true objeét of this may be, cannot fo well be found by meafure, becaufe of the many Buildings interpofing ; but I conjecture it may be about the publick Schools, or New Col- lege*. could gladly, I confefs, have affigned it fomthing fur- ther off, becaufeI fear that diftance falls fomwhat fhort of our former account, but the buildings beyond lying all lower then thofe, it muft by no means be admitted ; which makes me think, there muft be a latitude allowed in thefe matters, according to the
" Nat. Hift. Cent. 3. Numb.251. * Since, New College hath been advanced a Story higher, A. D 1675. this Echo fomwhat alter'd. : B23 dif-
%
iz The Natural Hiftory
different circumftances perhaps of time, as wellas place; and that poflibly Merfennus might not be fo much miftaken, when he afligned to each fyllable but 69 feet.
_ 23. Tonical Echo’s, fuch as return but fome one iaacicnlae Mu- fical Note, Ihave met with feveral, and do nctdoubt but they are to be met with in moft arched Buildings: though {carce ob- ferved or notedbyany. Sucha one is that in the Gate-houfe at Brafen-nofe College, which anfwers to no Notefo clearly, as to Gamut. Thecurious and well buile Gate of Univerfity College, to nonefo wellas Bmi. The like Note I met with again at Mer- ton College, in the Vault between the old and new Quadrangles, and in the large arched Vault of Queens College Gate: Whereas the ftately arched Stair-cafe leading into Christ Church great Hall, will return all the Notes through the Scale of Mufick. Thefe {muft confefs are but Echo’s improperly fo called, becanfe they will exprefs nothing that’s articulate, and therefore rather fall under the notation of a Bombus; yet their caufe being famwhat nice and fubtile, Ithought not fit to pafs them by, but to take oc- cafion from hence to advertife the Reader, that there are fome other inanimate Bodies befide the Load-ffone, that though they havenofenfe, yet have a fort of perception, which I take to be fufficiently proved from thefe Vaults, that feem to havea kind of ele&tion to embrace what is agreeable, and exclude all that is in- grate to them: thus are the very feats in Churches and Chappels affe&ted with fome peculiar Notes of the Organ; and Ihave:a friend (a Violift) whom I dare believe, that fays, his Thigh is thus fenfible of a peculiar Note, as oft ashe lights on it during his playing, Some have imputed much of this in Buildings, to the figure and accurate ftru€ture of the Arch, and that where they have different fhapes and magnitudes, ‘there will be different tuningsalfo: ButIdo not find it agreeable to experience, there being another Vault in the entrance into Merton College Chappel, much lefs, and of a fat different figure from that other before mentioned in the fame College, which returns very near, if not exaétly the fame Note: And fo do the Gates of Queens and Uni- verity Colleges, than which in height, breadth and length, there are few more different.
24. It muft therefore rather i referr’d to the pores of se ftones, whichare fitted’ to receive fome vibrations of the Air, rather
Of OXFORDSHIRE. 13 rather than others ; juft as in two Viols tuned toa VUnifon, where the ftrings being {crewed tothe fame tenfion, and. their. pores put into the fame figure, if you ftrike one, the correfponding ftring of the other Viol prefently anfwers it: becaufe the firft {tring being of fucha tenfion, and having pores of fuch a form, makes vibrations in the Air, fuitable only to the pores made by the fame tenfion in the other ftring. i
25. As for Zautological Polyphonows Echos, fuch as return a word or more, often repeated from divers objects by fimple re- fle&tion, there are none here eminent; the beft I have met with is at Ewelme, onthe fide of abank, ina Meddow fouth and by weit (about a furlong) from the Church : it returns the fame word three times, from three feveral objects of divers diftances, which TI guefs may be, 1. The Manor, 2. The Church and Hofpital, And 3°. Colonel Martins houfe. Another there is neat Oxford, a- bout the eaft-end of Chri? Church new walk, that repeats three or four fyllables twice over; and a treble one at the moft northern point of the Fortifitations in’ Nem Parks; But there being many better than thefe of the kind no doubt in other places, I thall rea ferve their confideration at large to a better opportunity, and on- ly take notice here by the way, that thefe are never of many fyl- lables 5 and thatalways, by how many more they are of, by fo many ae fewer times they repeat them, becaufe fo great diftance will be required for their objeéts, that they muft quickly be re. moved out of the reflex ation of the voice: for fuppofe but a fentence of ten fyllables, viz. Gemitu memus omne remugit, and allow, as before, for the return of each fyllable 120 feet, the firft object muft be 1206 feet off; and the fecond, with abatement for diftance, at leaft 2000 ; and the third, certainly out of the voices reach, beyond all hopes of any refponfe. Indeed, could we meet with one of Merfennus’s Echo’s, where fixty nine feet would return us a fyllable, thenfuch an Hemiflick might be re- founded three times, or perhaps a whole Hexameter twice : yet however {mallafpace may be found for the clear repetition of fuch a Verfe, I cannot think itcan poffibly be, that any Ecdo fhould repeat one eight times over : for fuppofe a {maller diftance would fuffice, then that allowed by Merfennus, as but 350 yards toa Verfe of feventeen fyllables, and allowing fome decreafe
for the obje&ts diftances; yet I do not doubt, but two or | three
14. The Natural Hiftory three of the furtheft muft needs be out of the voices aétion.
26. Muchlefs furecan any fingle obje& perform this, and yet Facobus Boiffardus, in his Topography of Rome, reports this to be true upon his own knowledge. On the Appian way Cfaies he) among /t many other vaft ruins, which fome think to have been the Caftle wherein the Pretorian Soldiers lay, thereare many Sepulchers, obtufe and folid Pyramids, doc. But the most eminent is of a round form, made of {quared white Marble, like a Tower, hollow within and open at the top, ereéted in memory of Cacilia Metella: it flands in the corner of another wall, in whofe circuit there are carved in Mar~ ble, near 200 Bulls beads, whence ’tis called, Capodi Boi. At the foot of the bill where this Tower fiands, if any man pronounce an Heroic Verfe, awonderful Echo there is, that returns it often entirely andarticulately : I my felf, fayshe, have heard it repeat the firft Verfe of Virgils Eneids diftinéily eight times, and afterward often broken and confufedly. No place in the World yields the like Echo *, dxc. And what if Ladd, nor that neither, fince befide the natural impoffibility of the thing, the induftrious Kircher, after he had ufed all imaginable care in the queft of it, came away unfuccefs- ful, and found no fuch matter *.
27. But though we have no confiderable Zautological Echo's, by a fimple refle&tion, yet we have others of no inferior account made by a double one, which alfo arifing from divers objets, though ina different manner, belong to this place. Of thefe, though there are fcarce any that will return a 7rifjl/able,occafion- ed, I fuppofe, by the nearnefs of the fecondary objects, yet a clap with the hands or ftamp of the feet, there are fome will re- turneight, nine, or ten times, the noife dying, as it were, and melting away by degrees with fuch a trembling noife, that I fom- time thought of the Epithet [tremulous] to difcriminate this fort of Echo from the reft.
28. At Heddington, inthe Garden of one M‘ Pawling Mercer of Oxon: there is a wall of about 40 yards long, built for the advantage of the Fruit, with divers Niches; to which, if you ftand but alittle obliquely, fo as to fee the Peers ftanding out be- tween each twoof them, you have the feveral objeé&ts of fuch an Echo, not above nine or ten foot diftant from each other, which return aclap withthe hand, or a monofyllable (the wind being
w Jani Facob. Boifardi, Topographia Roma,p. 65,66. * Magia Phonocamptice, Praluf: 2. quiet
Of OXFORDS HIRE. 15 quiet and till) at leaft nine, if not tenor eleven times, but fo thick and clofe, that even a dif/yHable breeds a confufion : Where by the way if it be objeéted, that (the whole wall being but 40 yards, or 120 foot long) according to the afore-limited diftance for Echo’s, a monofyllable fhould not be returned above once at moft: It is tobe noted, that thefe Echo’s made byadouble re- fle&tion, begin (quite contrary toall others) at the remoteft objeé from the corpus fonorum, whichin as many as Thave yet feen, is a diftin& wall, falling on that; on which the reft of the objects are, in right angles ; and this objeét it is, that firft terminates the voice, clap, or ftamp; and from which, by reflection, they next ftrike the ultimate {econdary object, then the penultimate and. antepenultimate; which, though nearer to the corpus fonorum in refpett of the ficuation of the objeéts, yet are ftill farther off in refpe& of the voice, or other founds motion: whence it comes to pafs, that the neareft object to the corpus fonorum is \att ftricken, and therefore repeats a fyllable as well as any of the reft, becaufe indeed in that re{pe& the furtheft from it. 29. After the voice orclap has ftricken thefe fecondary ob- jects, by way of acceffion as it were to the corpus fonorum, it is carryed again by a fecond reflection away from it toward the primary obje&, and fomtimes over it, as it appears to be in this Echo at Heddington, where the found feems as it were fomwhat refrafted, for it is heard quite out of the place, as is evident to any one that ftands in the North-eaS# corner of the Gatden and {peaks Wetwards, who will hearthe Echo rather in the Horttyard ‘on the other fide the wall, than in the Garden, which I take moft certainly to be occafioned: by this fecond refle&tion ; for let any one that fufpeéts the Echo to be really in the Hortyard, and not in the Garden, go but into it, and hefhall:there find no fach matter asan Echo. All which, is more fenfibly explained in Tab.1. Fi ig. 4. where a. a the place of the fpeakeror nicher. of any other found. i b. the primary object firft terminating the found, and reflecting it on the Peers of the other wall, ceccce. the Peers betweenevery two Niches that receive the found reflected from the primary object and make the Echo. dddddd. the lines wherein the voice is carryed back again o- ver the primary object, whereby.the Echo appears out of its place. — But
16 — Lhe Natural Hiftory —
But hereinlet itbe noted, that Iam not fo fanguine as to exclude all fears that it may be otherwife, but only fuggeft what feems moft probable at prefent, cum animo revocandi, whenever | fhall be better informed by another, or my own future experience. ©
30. At New College inthe Cloyfters, there are others of this kind, tobe heard indeed on all fides, but beft on the South and: Weft, becaufe on thofe there are no doors either to interrupt or waft the found: Thefe return a ftamp or voice, feven, eight, of nine times, which fo plainly is occafion’d by the Peers between the windows, that on the We and fhorter fide (being but 38 yards long) the returns are more quick and thicker by much than — onthe South, where the primary objet being above fifty yards removed from the corpus fonorum, and the fecondary ones propor- tionably further + the returns are much flower and more diftin&, in fo much that on that fide the Echo will return a diffyllable,where- as on the Weffide youcan have but a monofyllable only. If it be objeéted, that according to the rule, 38 yards are not enough for thereturn of a monofyllable ; 1 anfwer, that though it may be likely enough that the return of the primary objeé on that fide isnot heard, yet that there is none of the fecondary ones, or Peers between the windows,but what are diftant from the fpeak- er above 4o yards, and therefore may well retarn amonofyllable. And if again it be objected, that the interval of an Echo mutt be liberum and patens *, and it be further demanded how it comes a- bout that we have fuch Echo’s in Cloyfters, when we can have none in wells that are cover’d with houfes, becaufe thé interval is clofed at bothends, as this Cloyfter is: It muft be anfwered, that that rule holds only in narrow intervals clofed up on all fides, and not in fuch Cloyfters that are open and arched to the top ; Which may alfo be thereafon why at Magdalen College, where the Cloyfters are covered with a flat roof, they have but an in- confiderable Echo, and at Corpus Chrifii none at all ; notwithftand- ing they have all other conditions requifite.
31. IntheCloyfterat Adl-fouls College, inthe North and We fides, where no doors hinder, there is much fuch another, which to the ftamp of ones foot, or clap with the hands, anfwers four orfivetimes, witha noifenot unlike thefhaking of adoor, and innothing differing from the former, but that to the voice it
* Blancani Echometria, Theoremate, 4-
makes
\ s j | \ i i
——
a. Centrum honoc ticum c. ers Mouse.
d.the Rivulet.
e. Dood fock.
SS
Dad oS S Bn
To the right NORREY'S Baron of) \Ricot Sis MAT pal \\\ Meutenant of Oxfordsh \ This first Table int memory \ | ah favours Hated | ateft. ua, \ er) by RUP. ;
)
He ae AN LAAN |
So?
ca
od - -
]
<ehnenmrinegtline
of OXFORDS HIRE. ty makes no refponfe * : and indeed, it would be matter of won- derif it fhould, fince nc one fide of that Cloyfter comes near the diftance affigned for the return of a fyllable, whereas that at Heddington juft equals it, and one fide of Mew College much ex- ceeds it.
32: Other Echo’s there be that belong to this place, as Echo’s upon Echo’s, and fuch as my Lord Verulam’ ftiles back-Echo’s ; of which, becaufe I have met with none confiderable, Iam con- tentto pafs them by, having futhciently, as I fuppofe, by this time tired the Readers patience with too tedious a confideration of fo particular a fubje&, and make hafte to treat of the Air of Oxford-fbire, as it ftands in reference to Sicknefs or Health. But all Air of it felf being equally pure, and only accidentally good orbad, accordingly as more or lefs filled with wholfom or noxi- ous vapors afcending from the Waters, or moift Earths ; I refer its confideration to the next Chapter, to which it feems more in- timately and originally to belong: it being the opinion of Hippo- crates, and onall hands agreed, That Waters are of much more concernment in reference to health than the Air can be, becaute they areas it were part of our aliment, andthe Air notfo; and may be of themfelves fundamentally bad, whereas the Air is only fo by participation.
* There is much fach another as this, in the Ball-Court at Corpus Chrifti Coll. » Nat. Hift, Cent. 3 Naz. 249, 250.
C CHAP.
18 | The Natural Hiftory
CAP. Of the Waters.
SHAT Oxford-fbireis the beft water’d County in: England, though I dare not with too much confidence affert, yet am induced to believe there are few better; fince befide the five more confiderable Rivers of Zhame, lis, Cherwell, Even- lode, and Windrufb, there ‘are numbred no lefs than threefcore and ten at leaft of an inferior rank, befide fmaller Brooks not worthy notice: Andall thefe of fo quick a ftream, and free from ftagnation, foclear, and yet fo well impregnated with wholfom primogenial Steams of Salts and Sulphurs, that few Cf any) vappid and ftinking Exhalations can afcend from themto cor- ruptthe Air. As for ftanding Pools, Marith, or Boggy grounds, the parents (at leaft occafions) of Agues, Coughs, Catarhs, they are feweft here of any place to be found: the Soyl for the moft part lying dry, and water’d only with clear and rapid Fountains. Infhort, fo altogether agreeable is this County to Cardans * rule, Solum ficcum cum aquis currentibus falubritatem Aeris efficiunt, that had he wanted an inftance for confirmation, he might have found one here moft fuitable tohis purpofe. And if plenty of whol- fom Fifh, fpontaneous produétions of odoriferous Plants, and the fcarcity of filthy Reprils, be cogent Arguments of the good- nefs of Waters, Soyls, and confequently of Air, as heretofore they have been accounted, I know not the place can make better pretences, as fhall be fhewn more at large in their proper places. 2. Befide its clearnefs from peftiferous vapors, I take the fharpnefs we find this Air to be of, to be no {mall argument of its healthand purity. Arisfotle, ’tis true, thought Air mode- rately warm, but its conftant return toa brisk coldnefs, after it has been heated either by fire, the Sun, or warm exhalations, gives us ftrong fufpitionsthat ’tis naturally cold: All natural Bodies, after they have fuffered violence, returning of themfelves to their innate condition. To whichadd, that the Air on the tops of high Mountains, above the reach of the Clouds and o- ther warm Exhalations, as ’tis found to be clear, fo ‘tis very
2 Comment. in Hippoc. de Aere, aquis, Cy locis.
cold ;
Of OXFORD-S HIRE. i9 cold ; whence Ithink it may not be i/ogically concluded, That the colder the Air, the nearer to putity, and confeguentially more healthy : Which is alfo very fuitable to the do&rine of Hip- pocrates, who {peaking concerning the healthy Eee ofc ties, fays, That fuch which are placed to coldwinds, " aparry wd re USwre re onAneaTE % oper os ‘bid. © aArRug yAuKcWery ----- gas 4 ng~ ards vyiens, 2% oxaness. i.e. that though their Waters are harfb and cold, yet for the moft part they are fweet, and the Inhabitants healrby and brisk, found, and free from defluxions. And fo indeed in the mdin I find them hete, of avery chearful humor, aftable, and courteous in their Deportment; neither {paring, nor profufe in their Entertainments, but of a generous temper, fuitable to the fweet and healthful Air they live in: Whereas the Inhabitants of fenny and boggy Countries, whofe Spirits are clogg’d with perpetual Exhalations, are generally of a more flupid, and unpleafant conver- fation.
3. That the qualities of Waters and Soyls, together with the
fituations of places to the refpective Quarters of thé World, make them more or lefs healtchy,according to the great ° Hippocra- tes, thereisnodoubt. But to thefe I muft beg the favor of ad- ding, not only more {wafive but more irrefragable proof: I mean, the great age and conftant health of perfons that have been lately, and are now living here: Richard Clifford, not long fince of Bol- fcot inthis County, died at 114 yeats of age: Brian Stephens, bornat Cherlbury, but Inhabitant of Woodftock, dyed laft year at 103. Where alfo there now lives one George Green (but born at Enfham) inhishundtedth year: at Kidlington one M"* Hill was born, and lived there above an hundred years: and at Oxford there is living, befide feveral near it, a Woman (commonly called Mother George) now in her hundredth yéar current. The pleafant fituation of which City is fuch, and fo anfwerable to the great Reputation it ever had in this refpe&t, that it muft not by any means be patft by in filence.
4. Seated it is ona tifing Ground, in the midft of a pleafant and fruitful Valley of a large extent, at the confluence, and ex- tended between the two Rivers of Jfs and Cherwell, with which itis encompafs’d onthe Eaf, Weft, and South; as alfo, with a ridge of Hills ata miles Cor fomwhat more) diftance, in the form
2 Hippocr. cei wipay, vdivwy rim. ’ Id. ibid,
C 2 of
20 The Natural Hiftory
of a Bow, touching more then the Eaf and Wef points with the ends, fothat the whole lies in form of a Theater: Inthe Area ftands the City mounted on afmall hill, adorned with fo many Towers, Spires and Pinnacles, and the fides of the neighboring
- Hills fo fprinkled with Trees and Villa’s, that no place Ihave yet
feen has equall’d the Profpe& *. ’Twas the fweetnefs and com- modioufnefs of the place, that (no queftion) firft invited rhe great and judicious King Alfred, to {ele it for Zhe Mufes Seat; and the Kings of England ever fince (efpecially when at any time fore’d from London by War, Plague, or other inconveniencies) fo frequently to remove hither, not only their Royal Courts, but the Houfes of Parliament, and Courts of Judicature: Many Synods and Convocations of the Clergy have been alfo for the fame reafon held here ; of which, as they have promifcuoufly happened in order of time, take the following Catalogue.
A Catalogue of Parliaments, Councils, and Terms that have been held at ERG
A Parliament held at Oxford, in the fe of King Ethelred, anno 1002,
A Parliament at Oxford, under King Canutus, an. 1018.
A Parliament at Oxford, under King Harold Harefoot, anno 1036.
a Conference at Oxford, see King William Rufus, a7. 1088.
A Conference at Oxford, in the time of Hing Stephen.
A Council at Oxford, heldagainft the Waldenfes, temp. Hen.2. an, 1160.
A Council at Oxford, under King Hen. 2. temp. Tho. Becket Archiep. Cant. az.1166.
A general Council at Oxford, at which Hing Hen. 2. made his Son John Aing of Ireland, an. 1177.
A Parliament at Oxford, called Parliamentum magnum, temp. He 24: @2. 1185.
A Council at Oxford, temp. Rich. 1.
A Conference at Oxford, in the time of King John.
* Ab amenitate fitus Bellofitum dictum.
Of OXFORD-S AIRE. 21
A Parliament held at Oxford, temp. Hen. 3. an. 1218. which
firfi gave occafion to the Barons Wars.
A Council at Oxford, under Steph. Langton Arch-Bifbop of Can- terbury, am. 1222.
A Council at Oxford, an, 1227.
A Council at Oxford, under Stephen Arch-Bifhop of Canterbu- ry, and bis Suffragans, an. 1230. 14 Hen. 3.
A Council at Oxford, temp. Hen. 3. an. 1233.
A Council at Oxford, under Edmund Arch-Bifbop of Cant.
A Council held at Oxford, by the Bifbops, temp. Hen, 3. an. 1241.
ATerm kept at Oxford, 31 Hen. 3.
A Council at Oxford, temp. Hen. 3. a7. 1247.
A Council held by the Bifhops at Oxford, an. 1250.
A Parliament held at Oxford, called Parliamentum infanum, 4a Hen. 3.
— A Council at Oxford, av. 1258.
A Parliament at Oxford, an. 1261.
A Parliament at Oxford, an.1264.
A Council at Oxford, under John Peckham Arch-Bifhop of Can- terbury, an. 1271.
A Council held at Oxford, under Robert Winchilfea Arch-Bifbop of Canterbury, an. 1290.
A Parliament fummon’ dat Oxford, 4 Edw. 3.
A Parliament at Oxford, 19 Novemb, an, 1382.
A Parliament at Oxford, 6 Rich. 2.
A Term kept at Oxford, 11 Rich. 2.
ATerin kept at Oxford, 16 Rich. 2.
A Convocation of the Clergy at Oxford, by Tho. Arundel Arch-Bifbop of Canterbury, a7. 1395.
A Parliament at Oxford, 1Car.1. 1625.
A Parliament fummon’d at Oxford, temp. Car. 1. am.1644. The Terms kept at Oxford, eodem temp. it being the Kings Head- Quarters in the late Civil War.
A Parliament at Oxford, 13 Car. 2. an. 1665.
The Term kept at Oxford, eodemtemp. the Plague being then at London.
22 The Natural Hiftory
5. Of thefe there is an imperfeé& Lift in a MSS. ° in Corpus Chrifii College Library Oxon. in which there are alfo mentioned three Synods held in St. Maries Church: A Provincial Chapter of the Fryars Preachers, and a Council held at Oxon. whofe Votes were written by Abraham Woodball. There is alfo a Provincial Council at Oxford, mention’d in the Catalogue fet before the De- crees of Gratian. But thefe beating no date, and tn all likely- hood the fame with fome of the afore-mentioned ; I pafs onto another Parliament, which though not at Oxford, yet was held inthis County, and therefore 1 fuppofe not improper for this place. However, I hall rather venture the danger of impro- priety and mifplacing, then omit the taking notice of fo confi- derablea Meeting, itbeing the firft Parliament held in the County, and doubtlefsin England; called it was at Shifford, now a {mall _ Village in the Pamihicats Bampton, and fhewing now nothing adequate to fo great an Affeinbly.
6. Thereisa MSS. in Sir Robert Cottons Libraty, that gives an account of this Parliament, which, it faies, confifted of the chief of all Orders of the Kingdom, and was called at Sifford (now Shifford) in Oxford-/bire, byKing Alfred, whete the King as Head confulted with the Clergy, Nobles; and others, about the maners and government of the people, where he delivered fome grave admonitions concerning the fame: The words of the MSS. are thefe,
Ac Sippops recen Danep manie, ‘pele Biycopy, ec rele Bocleped, Epler pnuse, ec Cnihcey esloche:- Sep par Eple Elypic of Selage much pise, 4 ec Alpped Enzlehins,
Enzle sepling,on England he pay Cynz, hem he gan lepen, ypohi hepen mihcen hu hi hepe by leben rcolden.
i.e. There fate at Shiftord many hanes, many Bifbops, and many learned Men, wife Earls, and awful Knights: there was Earl Et- frick very learned in the Law, and Alfred, Englands Herd/-man, Englands Darling ; he was King of England, he taught them that could hear him how they foould live.
7. To which perhaps may be added, the great Council of Kyrilington held there not long after, in az. 977, at which were prefent King Edwardthe Martyr, and S' Dunfian Arch-Bifhop of Canterbury ; and at which died Sidemannus Bilhop of Crediton. This Council by Sir Henry Spelman ® is taken to be the fame men- tioned by Wigornienfis held at Ayrtlinege, which he guefles to be
© MSS. fol.C.p.173. 4 H. Spelman Cowcil. Tom. 1+ 47. 977. p: 4.93: now
Of OXFORDSHIRE. , now Harlage in Cambridge-foire ; but I rather believe it was held here, not only for the fake of the name, which remains the fame to this day, but becaufe of the one and only Conftitution made there, viz. Thar ir foould be lawful for the Country People to go in Pilgrimage to St. Mary of Abington ; athing in all likelyhood not fo defirable to the People of Cambridge-fhire, as to ours of Ox- ford-fbirefo near the place: Befide, the great reputation that this place was of inancient times, feems to juftifie my plea, it enjoy- ing as great Privileges, and perhaps being a fitter place in thofe days for the reception of fuchan Affembly, then Oxford it felf ; for I find ic part of the Poffeflions of the Kings of England, from whom it came to Henry, Son of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lan- cafter, and Father to Henry, the firft Duke of Lancaster, by whofe Daughter and fole Heir Blanch, it cameto John of Gaunt Duke of Aguitane and Lancaffer, and was free, a Thelonio, paffa- gio, laftagio, pacagio, Fallagio, tallagio, tollagio, cariagio,ts' terragio, per totum Regnum, asi find it in an old Charter in the poffeffion of the Right Worthipful Sir Thos Chamberleyne, now Lord of the Town, whofe fingular civilities in imparting this, and fonie o- ther matters hereafter tobe mention’d, I cannot but in gratitude ever acknowledge. i |
8. From whence (after fo long, but I hope not unpleafant di- gteffion) Ireturnto the Beautiful Oxford again, a place of fo fweetand wholfom an Air, that though it muft not be compared with that of Montpellier, yet upon my own knowledge it has proved fo advantagiousto fome, that it has perfeétly recovered them of deep Confumptions ; and particularly a worthy Friend of mine, who though he came hither fufficiently fpent, yet with- out the help of any other Phyfick, within few Months felt afen- fible amendment ; and in fewer Years became of as fanguine 2 complexion as the reft of his friends, chat had almoft defpatred of him.
9. Some have thought the Smal/ Pox here more then ordina- tily frequent, and. it muft indeed be confeft, That we are per- haps as often, though not fo féverely infefted as fome other places ; for generally here they are fo favorable and kind, that bethe Nurfe but tolerably good, the Patient feldom mifcarries. But admitthe Obje&ion be truly made, That it is more fubject to
the Small. Pox than other neighboring Cities about, yet if by fo much
24. The Natural Hiftory _ much the lefs it feel the rage of the Plague, 1 think the edge of the charge is fufficiently rebated. ’Tis reported amongft the ¢ ob- fervations of an ingenious Perfon that refided long in the Ifland Fapan, That though the Air be very falubrious there, yet the Small Pox and Fluxes are very frequent, but the Plague not fo much as ever heard of; which has often made me refle& on the year 1665, when the Peffilence was {pread ina maner all over. the Kingdom, that even then, though the Court, both Houfes of Parliament, and the Term were kept at Oxford, the Plague notwithftanding was not there atall.
10. Others again, tell us of the Black Afsife held in the Caftle here, an. 1577. when a poyfonous ffeam broke forth of the Earth, and fo mortally feifed the {pirits of the Judges, Sheriffs, Fustices, Gentry and Furies, befide great numbers of others that attended the bufinefs, that they fickned upon it and almoft all of them dyed: butlet it not be afcribed to ill fumes and exbalations afcending fromthe Earth and poyfoning the Air, for fuch would. have equally affe€ted the Prifoners as Judges, but we find not that they dyed otherwife then by the halter, which eafily perfwadeés me to be of the mind of my ‘Lord Verulam, who attributes it wholly to the fmell of the Goad, where the Prifoners had been long, clofe, and naftily kept.
11. ’Tistrue, that Oxford was mich: more unhealthy hereto-
fore then now it is, by reafon the City was then muchlefs, and the Scholars many more, who when crowded up in fo narrow a {pace, and the then flovenly Towns-men not keeping the ftreet clean, but killing all maner of Cattle within the walls, did ren- der the place much more unhealthy. Hence ’tis, that we find fo many refcripts of our Kings prohibiting madlationem grofarum beftiarum infra muros, to quod vici mundentur a fimis ty fimariis, bearing date 13 Hen. 3. 29 Edw.1. 12 Edw.3. 37 Hen. 6.8 and allalledging the reafon, quiaper has maffationes, toc. aer ibidem in- jicitur, becaufe by the killing fuch maner of Cattle, and laying the dung in the ftreets, the Air was infected. Moreover, about thefe times the Js and Cherwell, through the carelefnefs of the Towns-men, being filled with mud, and the Common-thoars by this means ftopt, did canfe the afcent of malignant vapors whenever there happened to bea Flood ; for befide its ftirring
‘© Philefoph. Tranfact. num. 49. ¢ Nat. Hift. Cent, to. uum. 914. 8 MS8S.in Arch. Bib. Bod. fol. 90391. | the
OFOXFORD-S AIRE. 25 the infe&tious mafs, great part of the waters could not timely pafs away,, but ftagnating in thelowcr Meddows, could not bur increafe the noxious putrid fteams. But the former being long ~ fince remedyed by the care of the Univerfity, and the latter by the piety and charge of Richard Fox Bifhop of Winchefier, and Found - et of C.C.C.Oxon. who in the year 1517. cleanted the Rivers, and cut more Trenches for the waters free paflage"; the Town hath ever fince continued ina healthful condition: though I can- not but believe, but were there yet more Trenches cut in fome of the Meddows, the Air might be fomwhat better’d ftill, e{pe- cially during the Winter feafon, when I fear fomtimes Floods ftayalittletoo long, and that not only near Oxford, but in Ot- moors and all along the Jis from Enfham to North-moor, Shifford, Chimly, and. Rotcot, which brings me again to the general confide- ration of the Waters as well of the whole County as City.
12. That the healthinefs of Waters confifts in their due impre- gnation with Sa/rs and Sulphurs, and their continuance fo, tn their continual motion, 1s indifputably evinced from the ftinking evaporations of them upon any flagnation. Now that the Rivers here abound with thefé, will be altogether as manifeft as that they run, if we confider but the Springs they receive and Earths they wath. TheJés, ’tis true, till it comes to New-bridge, re- ceives not (that I find) any eminently /alt or fulphureous waters ; but there it admits the zitrous Windrufh, fo wellimpregnated with that absterfive falt, that no place yields Blanketing {o notorioufly white, as is made at Witney, a Mercat Town onthatRiver, and upon this account the moft eminent in England for that kind of Trade; though I am not ignorant, that fome add another caufe joyntly contributing with the afore-mentioned, to the excellency of thefe Blankets ; of which more at large when I come to treat of Arts. |
13. Somwhat lower, about Ca/sington, it receives the Even- lode, a River whofe Banks, efpecially near the Fountain heads, are very well faturated with both the Minerals : witnefs the wa- ters that rife a little above Sir Z4omas Pennyfion’s, in the Parith of Cornwell, from a fort of Earth that may well pafs for a Marle : and the brinifh Bog near Churchill-mill, which though upon the furface of the ground feems to have no communication with the
b Hift. & Antiq. Univer[. Oxon Lib-1. fag. 245. .
ad -
26 The Natural Hiftory
adjoyning Rivulet, yet being fo near, and the Glebe all there- about being to be prefumed of a like nature, it muft needs lick fome of the Mineral in its paflage. About Hingham I was told of a fulpbureous Earth, and that fome of the Waters there were of fuch an odour; but whether true or no, Iam fure on the o- ther fide the water, ata place called Bould in the Parith of Jd- bury, itismanifeftly fo; which being not far from the River, at leaft not from the Stream that runs by Fofcot, and fo into it, in all likelyhood may impart to the waters hereabout no mean quan- tity of itsmore volatile parts. Upon the Cherwell we have a falt _ Spring runs immediatly into it ; and perhaps the /u/phureous Glebe of Deddington may fomwhere reach the River. The Banks of the Thame are fo well fated with fome kind of acid, that no well- water in the whole Town of the name, will either brew, or lather with foap: But none of thefe give a tindfure fo high, that they can be perceived by the moft exquifite palate,but only fo far forth as may conduce to adue fermentation, and to keep them living ; And yet without doubt from hence itis, that the Zhames water at Sea, in eight months time, acquires fo {pirituous and attive a quality, that upon opening fome of the Cask, and holding the candle near the bung-hole, its fteams have taken fire like Spirit of wine, and fomtimes endanger’d firing the Ship’. Hence ’tis alfo that its ftench is no abfolute corruption, and that after a third or fourth fermentation, it equals the waters of the Well in the Haven of Brunduftum *, and ftinks no more ; and though the Mariners are fomtimes forced to drink it and hold their nofes, yet upon that account they do not ficken ; whereas all other wa- ters, asfar as hasbeen hitherto obferved, become irrecoverable upon ftinking, and dangerous to drink.
14. Cardan in his Comment upon Hippocrates*, takes the plenty and goodnefs of the Fifth, to be a fure indication of the wholfomnefs of waters. And our Country-man, the ingenious D‘ Browne *, {peaking of the great fecundity of the River Zibi/cus, admits it into confideration, whether its exceeding fertility may not be afcribed to the faline Tin@ures tt receives from the naturaf falt Mines it licks by the way : which opinions if approved, as rationally they may be, fhew the health of our waters and the
Philofoph. Tranfal?. Num.27. pag. 495. * Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. 2. cap.103. * De Acre quis & locis Super Text.3. * General Defcription of Hungary,pag: 10.
reafon
Of OXFORD-SHIRE. 27 reafon of ittoo: for though we muft not compare our Js with Tibifcus or Brodrack, ; theone whereof is faid to confift of two parts of water, and one of Fifb; and the other fo replenifh’d with them, that in Summer when the River is low, the People fay, The water fmells of Fifo: yet in the year 1674. it gave fo ample teftimony of its great plenty, thatintwo days appointed for the Fifhing of M*‘ Major and the Bayliffs of the City, it afforded be- twixt Swithins-Wear, and. Woolvercot-bridge (which I guefs may be about three miles diftant) ifteen hundred Jacks, befide other Fifth; which great fecundity, as it argues the goodnefs of the Element, {o ’tisno whether to be referr’d, as to its original caufe, ‘ but to the various Sa/ts upon which depend the propagation of all forts of Species’s '; and as far as concerns this part of the Ani- mal Kingdom, are plentifully to be found at the bottoms of fome Rivers.
15. And I faid the rather at the bottoms of Rivers; not only becaufe Bodies from Salts have their folidity and weight, and therefore may well be prefumed to refide in the loweft places : but becaufe I find it the joynt agreement of all the Water-men hereabout that I have yet talk’d with, that the congelation of our Rivers is always begun at the bottom, which however furprizing it may feem to the Reader, is neither unintelligible nor yet ridiculous : for befide matter of fac wherein they all confent, viz. that they frequently meet the Lce-meers (for fo they calk the cakes of Ice thus coming from the bottom) in their very rife, and fomtimes in the under-fide including ftenes and gravel brought with them ab imo, it feems upon confideration alfo confonant to reafon : for that congelations come from the conflux of Salts, before difpers’d atlarge, is as plainasthe vulgar experiment of freezing a pot by thefire ; and thatinduration and weight come alfo from thence, futficiently appears from the great quantities of them that are al- ways found in ftones, bones, te/faceows, and all other weighty bo- dies". Now whatever makes things compact and ponderous, mutt needs be indued with the fame qualities it-felf, and therefore af- fet fuitable places ; fothat why ftanding Pools fhould freez at the top, might poffibly have proved the greater difficulty of the two, had notthe Learned D' Willis already cleared the point, by fhewing us, that all ftanding waters are more or lefs ina ftate of
1 Willis, de Ferment.cap.2. Willis de Ferment. cap.2. ” Willis de Ferment. cap, 12.
D 2 putre-
28 The Natural Hiftory
putrefaction®, with their faltsand fulphurs ready for flight, and in that pofture catch’d~by the adventitious cold, are probably fo congealed at the top of the water. How confonant to truth this Zheory may be, I leave to the Readers judgment and future experience, and by the way would have him take notice, that as this, fo my other opinions hereafter to be mentioned, are not magifterially laiddown, foasto juftle out better whenever they can be brought, but fairly to havetheir tryal, and folive or dye. But as to the matter of Faét, as Icannot but think it hard that fo many people fhould agree in afalfity, fo methinks ’tis as diffi- cult they fhould miftake in their judgments, fince I was told by one of the fobereft of that calling, that he once knew a Hatchet cafually fall over-board into the River near Wallingford, which was afterwards brought up, and found in one of thefe Le- meers.
16, And fo much for the /a/ts that give lifeto the waters, mul- tiply the Fi/2, and are the caufe of congelations, for the watry Plants it feems have their vegetation from none of thefe, but a higher principle, which fome will have to bea volatile Niter, brought along with the fhowers in their paflage through the Air. That /ubaqueous Plants havea proportionable growth to thofe on the Land after a fhower of rain, is alfo the general voice of the Barge-men; and herein Iam the rather inclin’d to believe them, becaufe ’tis a matter fo much their intereft to obferve ; our water- men here inthefe thallow Rivers, praying notfo much for rain to fillthem when low, as that weeds may alfo grow to help keep the waters when they have them, which will otherwife too foon glide away, totheirno {mall detriment. Some have thought this vi- sorous fhooting of the aqueovs Plants, fo prefently fenfible af- ter plentiful fhowers, to proceed rather from the foyls brought with them from the hills, and impregnated with /falts fit to pro- mote vegetation; but the contrary is evident from the former Paragraphs, for with fuchas thefe the Rivers are daily fated, and yet this brisk vegetation is wanting tillit rains: whence I guefs that terrestrial and fubaqueous Plants (that Ifay not fuch as delight in uliginous places) have their fprightful fhooting from different principles ; and if to the former I fhould affign a more fix’d, and to the latter a volatile falt, perchance] might not be much
° Willis de Ferment cap. &. out
Of OXFORD-S HIRE. 29 out of the way: but it being not fomuch my bufinefs to find the reafons of phenomena, asto give the Reader fuch hints as may lead his greater fagacity to do it ; I forbear faying more, do manum de tabula, only advertifing him, that what has been faid of the Is may be indifferently applyed to the reft of the greater Rivers, of whichneither haveI any thing more to add, but an unufual accident that happened to the Cherwell, An. 166%, which without one drop of rain, or any other vifible caufe here, but from great . and fudden fhowers that fell in Morthampton-(bire, {welled to that vatt height, that in two hours time, not only the Medows were o’re-flown, Magdalen College cellar drowned, and their raifed Water-walkscover’d; but the River //s driven back as far as fvy- Hincksey, at leaft a mile from the confluence of the two Rivers.
17. But amongit the many {maller Rivulets, perchance it may not be unworthy notice. (1.) That thetwo confiderable Rivers of Stour and Oufe, though but {mall here and running but little way init, yet rife in this County; the one at Swalcliff, which goes in- to the Severn Seain the wef? ; and the other at Fritwell, whence it runs into the Sea between Lincoln-fhire and Norfolk in the eaff of England. And (2.) that the Fountain-heads of the River Rea lye for the moft part in a plain Country, having little more to feed them,than juft a.declivity to facilitate their paflage ; which feems toargue, that all running waters owe not their continuance to ~ -rainand dews, colleéted as they fay, on the fpungy tops of hills, and fent forth again fomwhere in the declivity. And fodo's a a {mall Spring at Cleydon, that rifes in the ftreet on the /outh fide of the Town, which continues running all the year, but nioft plentifully like the Scatebra of Pliny”, in the dryeft weather : to which adda Wellat Ewelme, alfo fouth of the Chutch, whofe Springs run loweft in the Winter feafon, and advance in the Summer remarkably higher ; as I am credibly informed from Lambourn in Berk-foire, all the Springs in that Town moft con- ftantly do. But I decline all engagement inthis great Contro- verfie concerning the origin of Springs, till my Travels have fupplyed me with more, and morecertain evidences, as well for the one as other part of the queftion.
18. That Land-fprings, and fuch as tun but once perhaps iti | many years, have their rife and continuance from plentiful fhow-
P Nat. HiSt. Lib, 2. cap. 103. ers,
30 — Lhe NCatural Hiftory
ers, J think we have little reafon to doubt, fince we have them notatall, or but very weak in any Summer, or the dryer Winters : fuch are thofe that fore-tell (and naturally enough) the fcarcity and dearnefs of Corn and Victuals ; whereof that of Afenton, near Henly upon Thames, is one of the moft eminent that I know of in England; and. no queftion is the {ame mentioned by Johannes Eu- feb. Nierembergius ?, in his Book (as he calls it) of the Miracles of _ Nature. In Britannia territorio Chiltrenft funt fontes multi, toc. by which, Ifuppofe, he muft mean the Chiltern Country of Oxford- frire, Thereare, {ays he, many Springs, which in fertile years are always dry 5 but before any defect, as the Harbingers of an approach- ing dearth, thefewaters get loofe, and asit were breaking prifon, they quickly unite into a forcible fiream. And {o they did lately, in An. 1674.with that violence,that feveral Mills might have been driven | with the Current; and had not the Town of Henly made fome diverfion for them, their Fair Mile mutt have been drowned for aconfiderabletime. Of thefe there are many in the County of Kent, which 1 know not for what reafon they call Nailbourns there, and prefcribe them (fome will) a certain time for their running, as once In feven, ten, or fifteen years. But the certain natural principle of fuch Springs, altogether depending upon an uncertain caufe, no heed is to be given to fuch kind of ftories, they being equally as vain as the perfons that broach’d them.
19. Befide thefe conftant and intermitting Rivulets, that al- ways difcharge themfelves into Seas or Lakes, we have others here of a peculiar kind that empty themnfelves into neither of them; butas they firft rofe out of the Earth, fo prefently after a fhort ftay on it, ingulf themfelves again, and are no more feen. Two of thefe there are at Shot-over Foref, both rifing as IT take iton the north fide of the hill; the one not far from Hed- dington Quarry-pits, is conftantly fed witha double Spring, yet after ithas run abouttwo Bows fhoot, is received by a rocky fub- terraneous indraught, and appears no more: for though fome have thought ic to come forth again at the Pool of a Mill not far from it, yet after diligent fearch I could find no fuch matter. Ano- ther there is not far from Foref#-ill, and I think in the Grounds of Sir Zimothy Tyrrill, whichfomtimes in Winter runs wich that violence,and. has worn its /z-/et to fuch a capacity, that it ean and
has received an Ox, @ De Miracul. Nat. hb.2.¢. 26.
20, Other
Of OXFORDS HIRE. 31
20. Other waters again are of fo flowa pace, that they feem rather to fweat than run out of the Earth, part whereof being {pent in exhalation, and the reft in fating the dry neighboring Earth, do neither reach the Sea, are received in Lakes, nor {wallowed up like the former, but of themfelves are ftopt upon the very furface. And yet Ihave obferved, and believe rightly too, that thefe are the moft durable Land fprings we have, wit- nefs that famous one of this kind at Nettlebed, which I know not from what old Witch heretofore, by way of derifion, they call Mother Hibblemeer ; whereas if we confider how ferviceable fhe has been, being never known to fail them in the dryeft Summer, and that ina Country fo uncapable of Wells, that there’s no fuch thing to be found in the Parifh, fhe rather merits the efteem of the Nymph of the place.
21. InWefiphaliathey have a Spring they call their Bolderborn', from a noife that it makes at the exit of the water ; whether ours may deferve the name, I know not, but {uch a one there is in the Parith of Glympton, in a wood about a mile fouth-weft from the Church, ina place where there are ftones in the form of Cockles upon which account hereafter I fhall mention it again, The Springs, as | remember, are in number three, and the moft fourbern one of thefe ’tis that hasthe humming noife, much like that of an empty bottle held with the mouth againft the wind, which per- haps may bea refemblance fo befitting our purpofe, that it may help’to explain the caufeas well as the found: for provided the channel be large within, and the paflage forth fomwhat narrow like a bottle, the collifion of the water againft the lips of the orifice, may well makea noife ina large vault within, efpecially if the waters be indued witha {pirit, as peradventure anon may be proved like enough.
22. Whichis all I haveto fay concerning the flux of Rinulees, but that one there is at Sommerton makes a {mall Cafcade, or fall of water about feven foot high; which were it not in the high- way, butina Gentlemans Garden, fomeufe might be made on’t for divers good purpofes, but as the cafe ftands I-think it can have none, except for experiments of petrifications, for which fure it cannot but be very excellent, fince the living blades of grafs of not above half a years growth, within that {mall time
* Varenii Geog: lib, 1, cap. 17. prop. 15: are
32 The Natural Hiftory
are all covered with ftone, and hang down the bank like fo many Uicles ; and the Earth it felf over which it glides, as ’twere foli- ated over with a cruft of {tone like the Mo/co petrofo of Ferrante Imperato*. Which brings meto a clofer confideration of waters, as they are eminently endued with any peculiar qualities, of Pe- trification, Saltnefs, or Medicinal ule; of which in their order as briefly as may be.
23. Of Perrifying waters, though I doubt not but their kinds are as various,as the effects they produce ; and the effects again, as the fubjetts they work on; yetI am inclinedto believe that they all agree thus far, that they proceed in the main from the fame {tock and linage, and are all more ot lefs of the kindred of Salts, which fublimed and rarified in the bowels of the Earth into an invifible {team, are received by the waters as their moft agreeable vehicle, and brought hither tous at the rifing of Springs, as in- vifibly as the particles of filver or gold, when each is diffolved in its proper menftruum: where meeting perchance with an am- bient Air, much colder and chilling than any under ground, in alllikelyhood are precipitated, and thrown down on fuch fub: jets, as they cafually find at the place of their exit, which they prefently cloath with a cruft of ftone; or elfe (where precipita- tion or cohefion will not futtice) they pafs with the waters through the pores of the fubjeéts, and are left behind in them juft as ina filter.
24. The reafon of which difference may probably be, that fome of thefe petrifying {teams or atoms, may be grofs and more bulky than fome others are, and cannot be held up in the watry vebicle, without fuch a heat as they have under ground, but fall, and by reafon of their bignefs, do not penetrate, but adhere to their fubje&ts ; whereas others that are fine, more minute and fub- tile, are eafily fupported ina volatile condition, and pafs with the waters into the clofeft zexzures.
25. If any body doubt whether ftones, and fo petrifcations, arife from Sa/ts, let him but confult the Chymifis, and afk, Whe- ther they find notall indurated Bodies, fuch as ftones, bones, fhells, and the like, moft highly fated with the /aline principle? Some mixture of Earth and Sulphur ’tis true there is in them, which give the opacity that moft ftones have ; from which, accordingas
8 Dell Hift. Natural. lib.27. cap. 8.
they
of OXFORD-S HIRE. 33 they aré more or leis free, they have proportionable transparency, and fom hardnefs-too; asthe beft of gems, the Diamant, evinces. And if he thall ask what Sa/¢s are the apteft to perform this feat of petrification, though the difficulty of the quéftion thight wel! excufe mé, yet ’le venture thus far to give him an anfwer, That I have frequently feen at Whitflable in Kent, how their Coperas ot Vitriol is made out of ftones that ’tis more then probable were firft made out of that: to the Spirit of which Vitriol if you add Oyl of Zartar, they prefently turn into a fix'd and fomiwhat hard fubftance, not much inferior or unlike to fome incruflations ; which feems to conclude, that from thefe two, all {uch like con- cretions are ptobably made; and that could we but admit that Ocean of Tartar, which Plato‘ placed in the center of the Earth, and thought the origin cf all our Springs, the bufinefs of petrif- cations were {uliciently clear. To which I alfo add in the be- half of Vitriol, what’s matter of faét, and prevails with me mucli, That where-ever I find ftrong Vitriol waters, the petrifying ones are feldom fat off; whichas far as I have obferved, I believe may be reduced to thefe three kinds that prefently follow.
1, Sucli as purely of themfelves are petrifyed, the very body of water being turned into ftone as it drops fromthe rocks, which we therefore commonly call Lapides fil- fatitios, and fhall accordingly treat of them in the Chapter of Stones, thefe not ftriély coming under petri- fications, where befide the water and faxeows odour, there is always required a fubje& to work on of a diftin& fpecies from either of the two ; as in
2. Such as petrife by incruftation,and ate only fuperficial, of
3. Suchas petrifie per minima, or totum per totum ; of both which I fhall inftantly treat, but of the laft more at large in the following Chapter. |
26. Incruftations, are petrifications made by fuch waters as let fall their ftony particles, which becaufe either of their own big- nefs, or clofenefs of the pores and texture of the Body on whick they fall, are fixt only to the /uperficial parts, as it were, by ag- gregation, and do not enter the folid body; of which I have met with feveral in Oxford-fbire, and particularly at Sommerton, as was above-mentioned, where the grafs, being one of the fluvia-
¢ Anton. Galataus de finminum gensribe.
E 2 e@ tilia,
a. The Natural Hiftory
tilia, is covered over with afoft ftone ; and yet fo, thatbroken | off, the grafs appeared (for any thing I could fee) as frefh and ereen as any Other not cruffed, nothing of the blade being alter’d or impaired, which isthe neareft incruflation lever yet faw: for though fome of thefe petrified blades of grafs hung down at leaft a foot inlength, yet flipping them off from about the root, I could take the grafs by the end, and pull it clean out as it were from a fheath of ftone, fo little of cobefion had the one to the other: the reafonof which I guefs may be, thatthe pores of the Plant poffeft with its own juice, and already furnith’d with a congenial falt, might well refufle adventitious ones.
27. And yet far otherwife is it, but juft onthe other fide the River at North-A/bton, ina Field north-west of the Church, where either the petrifying water, or plants, are fo different from what before I had found them at Sommerton, that though there too the work be begun by adhefion, yet the roots of rufbes, graf’, mof, toc. are in awhile fo altogether eaten away, that nothing remains af- ter the petrification is compleated, but the figures of thofe Plants with fome augmentation.
28. And petrifications of this kind I frequently meet with, that happen on things of much different fubftances, as fhells, nuts, leaves of trees, and many times on their moft Jigneous parts. In the Parith of S' Clements in the Suburbs of Oxford, about a quarter of a mile diftant, on the right hand of the firft way that turns eaft-ward out of Marffon-lane, thereis a ditch, the water whereof incruflates the fticks that fall out of the hedge, and fome other | matters it meets with there: butthisis fo inconfiderable, that I fhould nothave mention’d it, but that it has been taken notice of by fo many before, that my filence herein would have looked like a defect. Much better for this purpofe is the water of a Pump at the Cro/s-Jnn near Carfax, in the City it felf, which not only incruftates boards fallen into it, but inferts it felf fo intimately in- to the pores of the wood, that by degrees rotting itaway, there is in theend the fucceffion of a perfeé ftone ; and that not with- out fome courfe reprefentation of the very lineaments of the wood itfelf: Which though I muft confefs to be of fomwhata higher kind of petrification than incruftation, yet it being wholly performed by acceflion of parts, and: continual intrufion into the open pores of rotten wood, will not amount to the warranty of a different /fecies. 20, A.
Of OXFORD-S.ATRE: 35 -29. Acurious pattern I have of this kind, ina piece of wood, given me by M‘ Pomfret School-mafter of Wood/lock (whofe care in my enquines I muft not forget) wherein nature has been fo. - féafonably taken in her operation, thatthe method the ufes is ea- - fily difcovered ; for being interrupted in: the midft of her work; one may plainly fee how the ftony atoms have intruded themfelves, as well at the center as /uperficies, and fo equally too into all parts. alike, that ’tis hard to difcern in any: pee of it, whether ftoneé or wood obtain the better fhare.
30. Petrifications of this-kind are aivays friable, and thoughi fomtimes they faintly fhew the grain, yet never, that I could fee, keep the colour,of the wood ; inthe fire they are as incombu/lible as any other f{tone, and lofe nothing of their extenfion, but theit colour for the moft part feems to alter toward white: in diftil- led Vinegar they remain indiffoluble , though not without the niotion (as M* Hook" well cbferves) that the fame fpirit has when it corrodes Corals, yielding many little bubbles, which in all pro- bability (as he fays) are nothing elfe but {mall parcels of Air dri- ven out of its fubftance by that infinuating Menfiruum, it till re- taining the fame extenfion: but in agua fortis, the Sommerton cruft was-wholly diffolved into a white fubftance, not unlike the white wafb uled by Plaisterers. All of them incteafe the bulk of the fubje& on which they work; and moft of them, as the inge- nious M' Hooke alfo further notes, feem to have been nothing more but rotten wood, beforethe petrifcation began;.
31. But fome others I have feenof a fat nobler kind, that fhew themfelves likely to be petrifications per minima, and per-+ formed witha fteamfo fine, as permeates the very fchematifm and texture of the body, that even to a Microfcope feems moft folid, and mutt in all likelyhood beas tenuiows as the fubtilett effuviums that come from a Magnet; fome whereof are fo unlike rotten wood, thatthey keep the colour and texture of heart of Oak,and are fome of them fo hard that they cut Glafs: and with one of them, that feems formerly to have beeri apiece of Ground-afb, I ttrook fire to light thecandle whereby I write this, © But I have nothing more to fay of it here, becaufe 1 guefs the change not to have been wrought by mater; that therefore I offer not vio- lence to the Chapter of Earths, by which I think this, and alt
* Micograph. Ob/. 17. ; i E 2 : other
36 The Natural Hiftory
other of the kind, 1 have met with in Oxford-/bire have been per- formed; I forbear,and proceed to the other /alt waters ‘that are more emiricn ety fuch, and do not ‘petrifie.
32. And amongftrhem, we muft remember to reckon all fach asare unfit for rafbing, and will not take Soap; for though thefe to our taft are not fenfibly falt, yet to our touch (as the Learn- e1Willis “ notes) they are harfh and unpleafant; which they have
from their too great impregnation with Salts: But what isa much - more certain evidence of it, we do not find any but inftantly latbers, except fuch as hold an acid falt, and difcover themfelves fuch upon evaporation, To which miay be added .this very eafie Experiment, That if to fimple water, and fuchas before would lather well, yowadd fome few drops of Spirit of Vitriol, or fome fuch like acid, it prefently refufes to mix with foap: The reafon of which feenis indeed to be no other, but the congrefs of the acid falt of the water, with the fix’d and alcalizate one of the foap, which it fu wholly fubdues to its own inclinations, that it will not permit it any longer to hold the oily parts of the /oap, or mix
them with the water; but now vifibly increafed both in quantity |
and weight, by the confiderable acques# of this new prifoner, it may alfo perhaps fo fill up the pores and little cells of the water, that the excluded /ulpbur or oily parts of the foap (as in their fe- parate nature) are forced tothe furface.
33. Many of thefe waters are every where Fisund and accord- ing tofome, all Pump watersarefuch ; butthat they aré miftaken, my experience has taught me, for I have met with fome that will lather very well.
34. At Henly they are troubled with many of them, but not fo much as they are at 7hame; for there they have a way to let them ftand two days, within which time (as I was informed by my worthy Friend M‘ Munday, Phyfitian there) the Vitriol, or whatever other acidit be, falls down to the bottom of the Vef- fels that hold them, and then they will wath as well as one can dcfire. But atZhame, where there is never a Well in the whole Town whofe water will wath, or (whichis worfe) brew: This Experiment, for I caufed it to betryed, will by no means fuc- ceed; fothat were they not fupplyed by the adjoyning Rivulet, the place. muft needs be in a deplorable condition. The reafon, I
w De Ferment. cap. 9.
fuppofe,
Of OXFORD-SHIRE. 37 fuppofe, why the acid will not fall, as it do’s at Henly and fome other places, is becaufe thefe waters, befide their falt,- in all pro- bability alfo hold a crude Sulphur, whofe vifcous particles do fo tenacioufly embrace it, that it will not admit of any feparation ; which may alfo perhaps bea hint to the caufe why their Beer will ftink within fourteen days whenever they attempt to brew with this water, for where a Sulphur is any thing great in quantity, and its body opened and exalted by the heat in brewing, and the dttive fpirituous particles of Mault, (as I guefs the cafe may have itfelf here) the frame of that mixtion may probably be loofed, wherein the fpirits firft taking their flight, the Su/pdur will next begin to evaporate, whofe fteams being {martly aculeated by the falt, that then bears the chief {way in the fubje&, caufe the ftink of the Beer thatis brewed with fuch water. -
35. Other waters there are that are palatably alt, aid fuffi- ciently ftinking without being brewed, and. fuch is that before- mentioned near Céurchill-mill; but I think within the bounds of the Parifh of Hingham ; The waterasit ftands looks of a greenifh colour, as moft of the palatably /a/t waters do, and to it refort all the Pigeons in the Country ; which fhould they not do, 1 fhould much wonder, fince befides its faltnefs it has fuch a ftink, that it equals the falt/ione, and roafted dog too: fo'that fhould the Pro- prietor but builda Dove-houfe here, he might honeftly rob all his neighbors of their flights; but that he may not put it to fo invi- dious a ufe, I fhall diverthim anon bya more profitable way.
36. Astothe al that impregnates this water, I do not take itto bea fimple one, but fome Mineral concrete both of falt and
fulphur ; for without thefe two be in their exaltation, and become fo far fluid as to endeavor adivorce from each other, it could ne- ver acquire fo noifoma {mell. Which concrete fhould I call a falt Marine, peradventure I might not be much miftaken ; for if you take but a {mall quantity of thrice calcined Bay fall, and diffolve it in a pint of Well-water, upon diffolution you will have much fuchan odour, as has been obferved by alate Author in afhort account of the Sulphur Well at Knarsborough*.
37. Not hinders itat all that the Sea is fo remote, fince whe ther brings have any communication with it or no, fuch marine falts may be had very well ; for if the Sea grow /a/t by the Earth
* Simpfons Hydrolog. Chym part. a, that
|
38 The Natural Hiftory
that it licks, which I take to be as certain as that ’tis not fo by torrefaction ; then if it be poflible we may have fuch Earths, as give the Sea thofe falino-fulphureows tinétures, it’s altogether as poffible we may have fuch waters too, without any neceflity of fuch communication.
38. If itbe objetted, That the waters of the Sea fend fot no fuch ftench as we find thefe do, let it be confidered that the flux of the one, and ftagnation of the other, may well occafion. fuch a difference ; whil’ ft the Sea-waters are in their motion, ’tis
true their falts and fulphurs fo.involve one another, that their’
mutual imbraces hinder all evaporations ; but whenever they come to ftand but awhile, as they do moft times in the holds of Ships, then their /u/phurs evaporate with as great a ftink, as can be fup- pofed ours have hereat Land ; and this the Ships pump doth fre- quently witnefs, tothe greatcontent of all that travel by Sea, it
being a fure indication of the Ships health, which abundantly
recompences the inconvenience of the ftench.
39. Such another I have heard of in the Parifh of Chadling- _ ton, in the grounds of one M* Ravlifon there, not differing in any thing at all from the former, but only it’s fomwhat ftronger of the marine falt: this I muft confefsI faw not my felf, yet having my information from fo knowing a Perfon, and of fo unqueftion-
able fidelity as Sir Z/ ue iE I doubt notat all the truth of
thething.
—648. A Salt fring er is alfo at Clifton: near Deddington, with- in a Quoitscaft of the River fide: but its /aline particles are fo fubtilized in the water, that they fcarcely can at all be perceived by the palate, and yet it lays them down plentifully enough on the ftones and Earth over which it paffes.. What fort of /a/t this is, I care not to determine, becaufe it will be difficult not to miftake ; for upon evaporation of about a gallon, it yielded a falt of aurinoxstaft: whichat firft I muft confefs was fo furpri-
zingtome, that I could not but think, that during my abfeace, —
fome waggith fellow had either put a trick on me, orelfe that I might have ufed fome unfit veffel; whereupon I caufed a new earthen pot to be bought, well glafed, and then repeated the Ex- periment very carefully, but found in che end all had been honeft about me, for I had a /a/t again of the very fame taft.
At. How this fhould come about I cannot divine, unlefs from
ot De ce)
! i i | i
|
Of OXFORDSHIRE. 49 the {weat of the Bodies of Animals, it being much ufed in cuti- cular Difeafes; but this 1 think neither can well be, becaufe ’tis a conftantly running fpring, and would fure carry off what might be left of chat nature: I therefore wholly leave it to the Readers greater perfpicacity, and fhall content my felf with this fatisfa- ion, that however improbable the thing may feem, that in the mean time ’tis an improbable truth.
42. have often fince wifh’d; that I had tryed this water with afolution of Alum, and feen whether it would have given any thing of that milky precipitation itdo’s with Urines; which be- ing then quite out of my head, is left tothe tryal of fome inge- nious perfon that lives thereabout; though before-hand I muft tell him, that I believe it will not fucceed becaufe the urinows {ub-
-ftance feems not to be copious enough.
43. Divers might be the ufes of thefe waters, and particularly of the two firft, as good, or perhaps better than that at Clifto, for cuticular Difeafes of Men and Beafts; fome whereof I have known carryed out of thefe Inland Countrys to the Sea fide: whereas ’tis likely they might (Cin all the Diftempers for which we have recourfe thither) with much more eafe have hada re- medy at home.
44. But far more profitable muft they furely be, if imployed to improve poor and barren Lands, which no queftion might be done by cafting them onit. in Che/bire?, near the Salt-pits of Nantwich, ’tis yearly pratticed thus to brine their Fields; which though never done, but after the fall of great ftore of Rain-waters into their pits, which before they can work again muft be gotten out, and with it fome quantity of their brine too, yet even with thefe but brackifh waters do they fo feafon their adjoyning Lands, that they receive a much more profitable return, then they could have done from any foil or dung.
45. In Cornwall and Devonfhire, fo confiderable are their im- provements by fea-fand, that it’ is carryed to all partsas far as they have theadvantage of the water, and afterwards 10 or 12 miles up higher into the Country on horfes backs: At which y _muft confefs I marvel not atc all, fince we are informed by an in- telligent Gentleman of thofe parts*, that where-ever this fand is
¥ Sir Hugh Plar’s Fewel-houfe of Art and Nature, cap.104. % Philofoph. Tranfac. Num. 113- . ufed,
4.0 Lhe Natural Hiftory —
ufed, the feed is much and the ftraw little, (1 have feen, faies he in fuch a Place, good Barly, where the ear has been equal in length with the fialk it grew on) and after the Corn is off, that the grafs _ 1n fuch places turns to C/over. Some of the beft of this fand, he faies, lies under Oufe or Mud about a foot deep ; and who ons but ce may be fuch a Sand under the briny Bog near Church- bill-mill, or at Chadlington? 1 am fure the falt (bring at Clifton comesfromafand; if fo, and the Farmers thereabout get fuch Cornand C lucie grap, I hope I fhall not want the thanks of the Country.
46. However, Idonot doubt but the water will be feiviocsbles either to caft on their Land, as at Nantwich, or to fteep their | Corn inbefore they fow it, to preferve it from all the inconve- niencies formerly prevented by brining and liming it, and to | {trengthen it in its growth.
47. Sit Hugh Plat* tellsus, of a poor Country-man who paf- fing overanarm of the fea with his Seed-corn ina fack, by mif- chance at his landing fell into the water, and fo his Corn being left there till the next E44, became fomwhat brackifh ; yet fuch was the neceflity of the Man, that (notwithftanding he was out of all hope of any good fuccefs, yet not being able to buy any other) he fowed'the fame upon his plowed grounds ; and in fine, when the Harveft time came about, he reaped acrop of goodly Wheat, fuch as in that year not any of his Neighbors had the like. ;
48. Now let the Owners or Farmers of thefe fprings fit down and confider of what has been faid, and if they fhall think fir, make tryal of them, wherein, if they meet with fuccefs, I only beg of them (whicli I fhall gladly accept as the guerdon of my. labors) that they would be as free of it to their poor Neighbors that have lean grounds and ill penny-worths, as God has been to them by me his weak inftrument in the difcovery. )
49. Having {poke of fuch waters as cure faulty grounds, and cuticular diftempers by external application, it followeth, that we _ treatof fuch asare, or may be taken inwardly, and deferve the repute of Medicinal waters. The firft, and perchance the beft of thefe, 1 found at Deddington, a {mall Mercat Town, within the Clofe of one, Mr. Lane, where not long fince “ieee a Well,
mts loco cipata.
he: jc | and
of OXFORD-S HIRE. gi and paffling through a blew Clay, adorned with fome glittering fparks; and meeting by the way with pyrites argenteus, and a bed of Belemnites, or (as they call them) Thunder-bolts, He came within few yards to this water, of a ftrong fulphureows fmell, the moft like of any thing I can think of, to the water that has been ufed in the fcouring a foul gun: in weight lighter than pure Spring-water by an 37s. ina quart, and yet after leve- raltryals,{ found it fo highly impregnated witha vitrioline falt as wellas fu/phur, that two grains of the powder of galls would turn a gallon of water into a dusky red, inclining to purple; nor did they only fo alter the fre and pofition of the particles, as to give a different colour and confiftence, as it happens in waters but meanly fated ; but in a quarter of an hour did fo eondenfe and conftipate the pores of the watery vehicle, that the excluded particles of the Minerals appeared ina feparate ftate, curdled in the Veflel, and of fo weighty a fubftance, that they ublided to the bottom ina dark blue colour.
go, The fediment being great in quantity, 1 en upon a! hot Irons, and fome other ways, to fee whether the falts or ful- phur, either by colour, {cintillation, or odour, might not by that means betray themfelves ; but with {mall fuccefs : whereupon I betook me to diftillation, putting about a quart into a glafs body, to which fitting a head and clean receiver, I gave an eafie heat, till there was diftilled off about three or four ounces, which. when poured out, 1 found had neither {mell, taft, or any other properties, that might diftinguifh it from any other (pring water diftilled: for with galls it would make no more alteration than any. other fimple common water would. Then ordering the fire to be flackned, to fee what precipitate it would let fall; upon filtration of whatremained. in the body, 1 procured only a pale calx of a gritty fubftance, fhewing, as it dryed in the Sum, many tran- fparent particles intermix’d : in taft it had a faint pleafant piercing, with a gentle warmth diftufed on the tongue ; but pour- ing on it Spirit of Vitriol, Oyl of Tartar, tec. 1 could not perceive any manifeft ebullition, fo asto judge whether the /a/t contained in this refidence, were either of the acid or /ixiviate kind.
51. Wherefore to come cloler to the point, and taking dire~ ions from that accurate, fevere, and profound Philofopher, the
Honorable Robert Boyle Efq; the gloty of his Nation, and pride F of
42 ~The Natural Hiftory
of his Family; and to whofe moft fignal Encouragement of the Defign in hand, thefe Papers, in great part, owe their birth: I took good Syrup of Violets, impregnated with the tinéture of the Flowers, and drop’d fome of it intoa glafs of this wager as it came from the Well; whereupon, quite contrary to my expe&a- tion, notonly the Syrup, but the whole body of the water turn- ed notof ared, butabrisk green colour, the Index of a /ixivi- ate, and not that acid Vitriol, which I before had concluded on fromthe infufion of galls. The Phenomenon at firft was very- furprifing, till] had further weighed the cautious Expreffions of that Noble Author’, and found, that he reftrains the Experiment of the Syrup of Violets, turning red with acids, with provifion always they be diftilled Liquors; and what he feems to hintin a former Experiment *, that /ulphureous falts, (fuch as the Vitriol of this water will anon more plainly appear to be) being of a quite contrary nature, may have different effects: which may alfo be the reafon why this /ulphureows water, notwithftanding it moft certainly pofleffes an acid fa/t,will yet as certainly lather with foap, and raife a greater /ud than other waters commonly do; and if put into milk, though boiled up to the height, will said feparate the more grofs fromthe ferows parts of it: effects fo u- fually following upon fuch applications, that perhaps till now they have always been fuppofed, never as yet tohave happened otherwife..
52. But Experience, that great baffler of /Peculation, affuresus the contrary to be pofiible enough, and brings matter of faé to confute our fuppofitions in the very tryal of this water, wherein the great quantity of Vitriol, is yet fo clofe lock’d up by the vif- cous particles of Su/pbur, and thereby rendered fo dull and un- active,that it cannot exert its enmity to (as D' Mayow‘) or friend- ly embraces with (as D' Willis *) the alcalizate falt it finds in the foap ; orfocomprefsthe pores of the milk, as thereby to caufe a precipitation: but having as it were thus put onthe nature of a fxd falt, a&s notupon itslike, nor longer enjoys the eat power of an acid.
53. Andunder this vizorof a fed Alcali ic was, that itatted its part, and with Syrup of Violets, gave a green tincture ; unlefs
b Hift. of Clee EG: 20. * Ibid. Exper.10o. © De Thermis Bathonienfibus, {ub finem. 4 De Fer- ment. cap. 1% “ye &:
we
Of OXFORD-SHIRE. 43 we niay allow its falttobe a volatile Alcali, with which alfothat Syrup turns to the fame colour : toadmit fuch a thought ’tis true is very hard, yet finding buta mile off, at CJifton as above- mentioned, a Spring ftrangely fated with fucha kind of falr; 1 adventur’d to try another Experiment of the aforefaid Honorable Author , and according as he direéts*, made a folution of /ud/i- mate in fair water (the only Criterion I yet know of, that plain- ly diftinguifhes the two Alcali’s) to which I added this Well- water, in great, {mall, and the intermediate quantities; but it anfwer’d not atall the defign of the Experiment, not giving the tawny, much lefs the white precipitate: Whence ’tis eafie to con- clude, that this alfo fucceeds only in difcriminating Chymical falts, as that. great Virtuofo well obferves, and not in the immediate pro+ duéts of Nature. |
64. One thing more I could not but obferve, that notwith- ftanding the powers of the Vétriol are thus reftrained in reference to its acting on foap and milk, that yet it has its ufual effect upon Tron: for the corrofion of the Pump-rod I muft believe to pro- ceed from Vitrid/, till any one upon better grounds can convince me, that tis likely it may be from fomwhat elfe ; and yet this neither do I conceive to be done, but by fuch fteams as afcend inthe Well, and are freed from the fhackles of Su/phur, much queftioning whether the Pump-rod under, or near the bottom of the water, be eaten fo or no.
ss. Tothisadd, that although the Sulphur do’s exercife fuch dominion over, and fo clofely knits up the Vitriol, whil’ft toge- ther in the water, yet it may and do’s too, let goitsholds and like, what is reported by Henricus ab Heers of his Spadacrene, and the Sauvenir by Frambefarius, can hardly be kept within any bounds, but expires through glaffes ftopt never fo clofe; ’tis true, I had not the conveniency there of putting it under the Hermetick feal, but {o eafiea paflage it made through a good cork cover’d over with wax, and both bound down with a double leather, that in fix miles riding it loft all its virtues, not giving then any tincture with galls, and having but a faint putrid {mell of the Su/phur: Whether it loft in weight or bulk, as well as vo- Jatile Spirits, 1 muft acknowledge I was not then enough curious toobferve ; but imagine it might, fince ’tis plain from its not
© Hift. of Colours. Exper. 40.
F 2 tinging
44, The Natural Hiftory
tinging with galls, that not only the Sulphur, but alfo the Vitrio=: line particles exhale with it, and corporeally feiz on the next a- greeable fubje&, which ’tis manifeft they did on the above-men- tioned Punip-rod.
56. Befide the more confiderable ingredients of Vitriol and Sulphur, tis evident that this water alfo holds fome fmall quan~ tity of Naphtha, one ofthe liquid Bitwmens, which flies not away like the two former, but after feparation of the parts, made ei- ther by precipitation with galls, or infenfible evaporation, remains {wiming onthe topinathin skin, variegated as it were with the colours of the Rain-bow, muchafter thefame maner as ’tis fre- quently feen upon waters ftanding in boggy grounds, or fuch places where we dig the bituminows Earths called Peats: But whe- ther this will burn at all, or with any fuch bright flame exceed- ing that of fulphur, as‘ Hen. ab Heers affirms of fuch a film that covers the waters of his Spadacrene, if keptallnight, I have left to fome ingenious perfon thereabout, that has twikh more fkilland ~ leifure totry.
57. AtBanbury, another Mercat Town about four miles hence, at D' Lanes Phyfitian there, Brother to the above-named M' Lane of Deddington, and my very good Friend ; there ig alfo another fulphur Well, much like the former in tafte, but not altogether of fo ftrongafmell, holding, Ifuppofe, either much more /a/t than that, oralefs tenacious fulphur: for here I found not the energy of the Vitriol fo fetter'd by the vigorous particles of fulphur, but that it had power to make that hoftile or friendly congrefs with the Jixiviat falt of foap, and fend the oily part to float at top, making no lather or mixtion with it; and alfo fo to conftipate the pores of boiled milk, as to feparate its parts into curds and whey. The quantity of /a/t appeared upon evaporation made by the faid D" Lane finceI wasthere, but how much to a quart or gallon he fent me no word. This water has alfo a volatile part, collected by the faid Dottor, which I did not find that Ded- dington water had ; upon the tongue it feems to havea little pricking, but nothing that I could perceive of a faltith taft, wherefore trying further with a convenient Menfiruum, it at laft confeft it felf to he Flores fulphuris, precipitating with the fame ebullition, fmell, and colour, that fome others did I had ne the fhops.
* Hen. ab Heers Spadasrene, cap. 4.
a An-
Of OXFORD-S AIRE. 45 68. Another of thefe of a /udphureows {mell that will not take foap, and turns milk, I found at Bould in the Parifh of Idbury, in part of the pofleflions of one M" Loggan, a worthy Gentleman, (whofe affiftance in the tryal of this water, and furtherance in my other bufinefs, I cannot without ingratitude ever forget :) which differs from the former only in this, that befides its tinging red with powder of Galls, with fpirit of Urin it turns white, which (as I had obferved before at Banbury) that would not do: whence Thave ground to fufpeét, that over and befide the ingredients of that, here muft in all likelyhood be fomthing of Alum 3 and in this opinion] amthe more confirmed, fince I am infberhed, by the Controverfie between D' Wittie and M' Sympfon, that Vitriol and Alum are {omtimes found together, as inthe Cliff near the Scarborow Spaw. And thatin Sweden © there isa fingle ftone of a yellow colour, intermixed with ftreaks of white, and very ‘weighty, that affords Sulphur, Vitriol, Alum, and Minium ; now that fuch aftone is here, though I dare not affert, yet qieftion- lefs there may be fomthing not fo altogether unlike, but whenever there is occafion of digging ee again; the ftones and earth may deferve examination * sg. I fhould next have ptoceeded to the waters impregnated with Vitriol only, butthat I am called back to Deddington again by another water of afetid odour, inftench much exceeding all before-mentioned. This Imet with ina fmall Clofe behind a Barn, within a furlong or lefs of that at Mr. Lanes, having the Houfe where the Dutchy-Court is kept to the Eaft, and the Guild Weft, and belonging to Ch. Ch. Coll. in Oxon, in fmell fo per- feétly refembling that of rotten eggs, and accordingly fo ftrongly affecting the fenfe, that I could not fo much as put it tomy mouth without danger at leaft of {training to vomit. Sucha one as this is mentioned by Georgius Agricola", at the Caftle of Steure- wald in the Bifhoprick of Hildefbeim, within a mile of Ha/da; where, fays he, there is another Spring that fends fortha ftink, gqualis est Wieae bombarde ex/linfi: a defcription fo agreeable alfo to our fulphur well at Deddington, that as I could not at firft bat wonder, that two fuch waters fhould be found at places fo far afunder, fo ftrangly alike ; fo it gave me a hint, that thefe 8 Philofoph. Tranfult. Num. 21. Vid.Olai Wormii, Mufeum de eodem,cap.9. * At Snowdown-hill, iz Carnarvan-shire, there ave alfo_fuch Stones. Dr. Merrets Pinax rerum Nat. p.217. & Lib, De Natu-
ra eorurn quce offluunt ex Lerras
waters
46 — Lhe Natural Hiflory waters in all probability might receive their tinétures from the fame Minerals, and that their difference might only lye in the diftances they have from the Mineral bed, or more Colanders the one may pafs through than the other. Agricola obferves, that the water at Steurewald {melling like ours, much like rotten eggs, not only comes forth of a Marble Quarry, but that the belchings of fuch as drink it fafting, give alfo the odour of brayed Mar- ble. Whether ours have either fuch a paflage or effect, I muft confefs I cannot inform the Reader ; my Purfe not affording me to trythe one, nor my Stomach the other: However, I could wifh ithad not been ftop’d up, as I hear it is fince my being. there, not only for the ufe it might have, but chat Perfons better qualified than I, might have made the Experiments.
60. Of Vitriolate and Ferrugineous fprings,there are alfo plen- ty inthis County, one at Nerher-Worton, and another at North- Wefton*, within lefs than a Bolts-fhot of each of their Churches ; both of thefe, befide their tinging with galls, \ct fall a fediment of arufycolour; only withthis difference, that Mether-Worton {pring is much the quicker and clearer, though I doubt not the other might be very well amended, were but little charge be~ ftowed onit. F
61. At Shipton under Which-wood there is another of thefe, at an Inn there whofe fign is the Red-hor/e, but fo weakly impregna- ted with the Mineral, that it {carce tinges fenfibly with the powder of galls, yet lays down the rufly fediment in as great quantities as any of the reft; and I have met with fome at other places that have plentifully enough yielded this, which by no means could ever be brought to confefs any thing of Vitriol, which has begot- tena ftrong fufpition in me, that this rufly tindture may probably be the effuvium of fome other Body, different from, and not of the chalybeat kind: for were it fo, I cannot imagin but the /alt of Mars muft needs be difcovered.. However, herein 1 will not be pofitive, but propound it only as the fubje& of a feverer refearch. |
62. And of thefe I wastold of avery odd one in the Parifh of Heddington, near a place called the Wyke (1 think) now ftopd up, that in the winter time would ftrike with galls, but not in the fummer: whereof may be given this very eafie reafon ; that
ia ‘found another fince, near Whites-Oak iz the Parifh of North-Leigh.
during
Of OXFORD-S HIRE. 4y during the time of winter, the pores of the Earth being ftopt, and the Mineral thereby not permitted to exhale, the warer is then impregnated withit, and givesthe tincture; whereas in the /um- mer {eafon it expires fo much, that the depauperated water can fhew nothing of it. That waters do thus alter according to the Seafons of the Year, I found alfo to be manifeft fromthe waters of Deddington, which I found fomtimes lighter, and at othet times heavyer than common water, and to give much different /e- diments at divers tryals with the fame materials. And this I thought convenient to note, not only to excite Men to more cri- tical Obfervations, but thatthe curious Explorator may not be ftartled, in cafe he find them at any time not exactly toanfwer.
63. Inthe Park at. Cornbury, not far from the Lodge, ina pit newly digged, there rifes a fPring alfo of a Vitriol kind , co- louring the mud and earth under it very black ; into this pit, it being defigned for a confervatory of Fifh, they put over night fome of feveral forts, but found them next day in the morning all dead ; which gave me good ground to fufpeé (having juft be- fore met with a relation of Dr. Witties’, That Carps put into a Copper Brewing-veffel to be preferved but for one night, were all found dead in like maner,in the morning) that here might be fomthing of that nature too; and thatthe Vitriol wherewith this water is fated, might rather be that of Venus than Mars : And in thefe thoughts I was the more confirmed, when quickly after was informed, of an odd kind of fteam that rofe hereabout of a fuitable effeét. But of this no more, leaving its further confideration to the Right Honorable and ingenious Proprietor of the place, and my -fingular good Lord, Hezry Earl of Clarendon, a moft effeéual encourager of this defign.
64. To thefe I muft add another fort of waters, which though in taft they refemble milk, nuit yet I believe be reduced to this Head,: for 1 find, notwithftanding their eminent {weetnefs, they allrefufe to lather with foap, and therefore conclude them to hold. fome Acid: Of thefe we have feveral within the City of Oxford, one at a Pump over-againft the Crofs Inn, another near the Mount in New College Garden, and athirdat the Pump at Buckley Hall, now the dwelling houfe of one Mr. Bowmana Book-feller, and feveral other places *: All which, notwithftanding their /adfeous
i Anfwer to HydrologiaChym.p. 25. * Iheard of fuob another fomuhere near W ardington. taft,
48 “ The Natural Hiftory taft, Iguefs may be impregnated with fomthing of Vitriol, which though of it felf it be a {mart acid, yet its edge being rebated with a well concotted fulphur, turns {weet, and becomes of that more palatable guft. And herein perhaps I have not guefs’d a- mils, fince we are informed by as eminent, as ’tis a vulgar Expe- riment, thattheaufterity that Vitriol gives in the mouth, is cor- rected by the fumes of Zabacco taken quickly after it; whofe [ul- phureous particles, faysthe Learned Willis*, mixing with the faline pontic ones of the Vitriol, create fuch a pleafant and mellifluous taf. 65. There are alfo two {mall and very weak /prings, of a la- cteous colour but no fuchtaft, inthe way from South-/foke leading to Goreing, by the River fide ; not many years fince of great re- pute in thofe parts for Medicinal ufe, but now quite deferted ; whether upon account of the ineffectual ufe of them, or rere they are but temporary {prings, /ub Fudice lis eff : The people will tell you they were very foveraign, and never ceafed running till fome advantage was made of the water, and that Providence till then with-held them not. This water iflues forth from a fat whitifh Earth, and has alwaysa kind of un@uous fkin upon it, yet tothe taft I thought it feemed dry and /fiptical, ‘as if it pro- ceeded fromakind of Lime-ftone, further within the Earth, antl not to be feen.
26. Buthoweversthe cafe may have it felf there, itis notfo dubious, that ata Well in Oddington, there is a water of the calcarious kind,and proceeding fure from fome neighboring Lime- ftone, which befide its dry and restrictive taft, more fignally evi- . dences it felf, in the providential cure of a local Difeafe amongft Cattle, frequently catch’d by their grafing on Ormoor, and there- fore by the Inhabitants thereabout commonly called by the name of the Moor-Evil: The Difeafe is a kind of flux of the belly, and corre{ponds (in aMan) to what we calla Dyfentery, whereby the Cattle fo {pend themfelves, thatin little time from well and good. liking, they fall ina maner to fkin and bone; ‘and fo dye away un- lefs prevented ; which is certainly done by giving them dry meat, and fuffering them to drink of ths water‘only.
67. Befidethefe we have many other waters, not apparently (atleaft to fenfe) of any Mineral virtue, yet without doubt have their sinéiure from {ome fubterraneous fteam, of amuch finer than
* De Anima Brutorum,cap. 12. De Guftatu, ordi-
Of OXFORD-S HIKE. 49 ordinary, and therefore unknown fexture. Suck are thofe in many places accounted fo foveraign for the Eyes, and cure of in- veterate Ulcers, after the ineffectual tryals of the belt Chirurgi-
ns: Thefefor the moft part, and perhaps not undefervedly, are commonly ftiled Holy-wells, not only for the good they have for- merly done, but for that they feem to be the immediate gift of God, and defigned for the poor.
68. Avery eminent one of thefe there is inthe Parifh of Sand- ford, not far from Great Tew, which within the memory of many thereabout, hath done great cures upon putrid and fetid old fores, a long time before given over for incurable. Thefe waters have with them, according tothe obfervations of the ingenious Door Beal',a kind of attive fri€tion, but intermingling with their afpe- rities iuch a pleafant titillation, as invites the Patient to rub on the terfive water, and will alialong recompence the pain of fearch- ing the wound, with fuch fpeedy and indulgent degrees of fana- tion, as mitigates the torment with variety of pleafures.
60, And thus (as | am informed by perfons of unqueftionable fidelity, that have often ufed them for their eyes, arid in fome o- ther cafes) do the waters of St. Croffés in the Suburbs of Oxford, whofe Well was heretofore, and in fomeé meafure yet remains, fo confiderable for fuch like papoles! that the great refort of peo- pleto it has given occafion of change to the name of the Parith, which to this very day we call now nothing but Holy-well.
7o. Butof much greater Fame was the Well of St. Edward, without St. Clements at Oxford, now quite ftop’d up; butas ’tis remembred by fome of the antienteft of the Parifh,was in the field about a furlong S$. S. Weft of the Church ; this at leaft was be- lieved to be fo effectual in curing divers diftempers, and there- upon held to be of fo great fanéfity, that here they made vows, and brought their alms and oferings; a cuftom, though common e- nough in thofe days, yet always forbidden by our Anglican Coun- cils™, under the name of wilpeoppunga [Wilveorthunga | more right- Jy tranflated Well-worfhip than Will-worfhip, as is plainly made appear by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond", out of an old Saxon Penitential, and a Saxon Homily of Bifhop Lupus ; where the word pil is rather fhewed to fignifie fontem, than voluntatem. Againft thefe /uperfiitions {o ordinary in thofe days, there are fe-
' Philof: Tran[at- Num.57. ™ Canonibus [ub Edgaro.Can.60. % Annotat.on Epift. Coloff c. 2. v.23. vera]
50 The Natural Eitftory
veral probibitions in the fore-cited Penitential and Homily, And of which kind are alfo divers Injunctions to be teen in the Office of Lincoln, of Oliver Sutton ; andamongft them, one particularly againft the worfhip of this Well of St. Edward, without St. Cle- ments in Oxford, and St. Laurence’s Well at Peterburgh, doc.
71. And fo much for the Waters, with the Minerals they hold ; and perhaps too much too in fuch like matters,may fome Man fay, for an unfkilful Lawyer ; However, fince what has been faid, has not been magiflerially impofed, but modeftly only, and timeroufly conjeétur'd ; and fince I have not invaded another Mans profe//on, by fo much as naming the Difeafes they may probably cure, ex- cept where they have a known reputation already, Ihope I may evade the imputations of rafhnefs, cr putting my fickle into an- other Mans Harvett. |
CHAP,
Of OXFORD-S HIRE: 51
CHAP, Itt. of the Earths,
County and plentiful, the Plains garnifbed with Corn-fields
and Meddows, and the Hills befet with Woods ; flored ine- very place not only with Corn and Fruits, but alfo with all kind of Game for houndand hawk, andwell water’d with Rivers plentiful of Fifo. Which general defcription of the Soi/, though in the main it be true to this day, yet if we come to a more particular and clofe confideration of it, we thall find, that though Oxford- foire almoft ‘in every part, where the induftry of the Hufband- man hath any thing fhewed it felf, doth produce Corn of all forts plentifully enough; yet it has much more caufe to brag of its Med- dows, and abundance of Paflures, wherein (as in Rivers) few Countrys may be compared, perhaps none preferr’d. Andas to matter of Fruits, \thinkI may better affert of it what Giral- dus do's of Ireland, Pafcuis tamen quam frugibus, gramine, quam grano, fecundior C omitatus, than groundlefly to commend it over- much. :
2. The Hills, ’tis true, before the late unhappy Wars, were well enough (as he fays) befet with Woods, where now ’tis fo Icarcy, that ’tisa common thing to fell itby weight, and not on- ly at Oxford, but at many other placesin the Northern parts of the fhire; where if brought to Mercat, it is ordinarily fold for about one fbilling the hundred, but if remote from a great Town, it may behad for feven pence: And thus it is every where butin the Chiltern Country, which remains to this day a woody Traét, and is (as I have very good ground to think) fome of the wefern part of the great Fore/ mnopeserpals, or Anopeverleze, reaching, fays Leland?, from befide Portus Limenus in Kent,a 120 miles wefward, which happily falls out to be about this place: To which had Cefar ever arrived, he had never fure left us fuch an account, as we find in his Commentaries concerning our Woods : Materia, {ays he, cujufque generis, ut inGallia, preter Abietem ty fagum4, i.e.
° Britan.in Oxfordfrire. ® Lelandi Comment. in Cyg. Cant. in verbo Limenus. 9 De Bello Gallico, Lb.5. [ubinitium. G2 that
CY sans D-SHIRE, fays Mr. Cambden®, is a fertile
52 The Natural Hiftory
that there was here all maner of wood, asin France, except the Fir and Becch: of the laft whereof there is fuch plenty in the C Ail- tern, that they have now there-about fcarce any thing elfe; but it lies fo far from Oxford, and fo near the River fide, which eafily conveys it to London Mercat, that tis fcarce beneficial tothe reft of the County.
3. Astothe qualifications a the Soil in refpe& of Corn, I find them in goodnefs to differ much, and not only according to their feveral compofitions (being in (ome places black, or reddifh earth: in others aclay or chalky ground, fome mixt of earthand fand, clayand fand, graveland clay, doc.) but chiefly according to the depth of the mould or uppermoft coat of the earth, and the nature of the ground next immediatly under it: for let the up- permoft mould be never fo rich, if it have not fome depth, or fuch a ground juft underneath it, as will permit all fuperfluous moifture to defcend, and admit alfo the bot and comfortable fleams to afcend, it. will not befo fertileas a much leaner foil that enjoys thefe con- ditions.
4. Thus have I often-times feen in this County, in all appear- ance a very good /oi/, and fuch indeed as would otherwife have been really fo, lefs fertile becaufe of its fhallownefs, and a _ cold /iff clay, or clofe free-/ione next under-neath it, than a much poorer Land of fome confiderable depth, and lying overa fand or gravel, through which all fuperfluows moisture might defcend, and not ftand, as upon clay or fone, to chill the roots and make the Corn languifh.
5. Where by the way let it be noted, that I faid a cold fliff clay or clofe free-ftone ; for if there be under a fhallow mould, a clay that’s mixed (as ’tis common in the blew ones of this County) either with pyrites aureus, or brafs lumps ; or the ftones be of the warm calcarious kind, it may neverthelefs be fruitful in Corn, be- caufe thefe, Ifuppofe, do warm the ground, and give fo much ftrength, that they largely recomipepes what was wanting in depth.
6. More poffibly might have been added to this general ac- count of Earths, and nota little inftruétive to the Farmers of the Country, but Y found moft of them froward and to flight my © Quere’s ; let them therefore thank themfelves if I am not fo ob- living : Befide, it feems a bufinefs a little befide my defign, there-
: fore
Of OXFOR-D-S HIKE. 53 fore in haft ] proceed to a more particular Confideration of Earths (as before of Waters) holding fome Spirit, Bitumen, or concrete Juice , and as they are ufeful in Zrades, or are otherwife neceflary, convenient, or ornamental.
7. But herein I fhall not fhew my felf either fo angry or igno- rant, or fo much either difrefpe& my fubjeé&, or the civilities of the Gentry for thefake of the clowns, as not in the next place to treat of fuch Earths whofe moft eminent ufes relate to Husbandry, fince they alfo hold fome concrete Juices (whereby they become improvements of fuch poor barren Lands) and are therefore very fuitable to my prefent purpofe.
8. The beft of thefe we call commonly Marls, whettof though ’twas believed there were none in Oxford-/hire, yet Imet with no lefs than three feveral forts, and in quantities fufficient enough forufe. The Britifb Marls were very famous of old, whereof Pliny® numbers feveral forts ; and of principal note were the Leucargille, whereby, he fays, Britan was greatly enriched : And of this kiad, that I guefs may be one, lately difcovered by the much Honored, and my truly noble Friend, Thomas Stonor Efq: of Watlington-Park, of which he already has had good expe- rience: of colour it is wbitifb, a little inclining to yellow, not very fat, and of fo eafie diffolution, that it may be laid on the ground at any time of the year, and may be as good, I fup- pofe, for paflureas arable; this be found at a place near Blunds- Court, but I think within the Parith of Shiplake, where upon an- other account finking a deep pit, among{t other matters he met with this Marl.
9. Since that, there has lately been another difcovered by that eminent Virtuofo Sir Thomas Penny/fion, in his own Grounds in the Parifh of Cornwell, about a quarter of a mile north-weft of his Houfe, of ablue colour, and fo abfterfive, that it would readily enough take {pots out of cloaths, and gave its owner fome ground to hope, that pofflibly it might be fit for the Fudlers ufe ; but he guickly, upon tryal, difcovered an incurable fault that the Men of that Trade will never pardon: however, I take it to be fo rich a Marl, that it may amply recompence the induftry of its
Mafler, if laidon itsneighboring barren Hills; which! aduife may be done about the beginning of Winter, that the Frofts and t Plin, Nat. Hift. ib. 17. ¢ap. 6, 7
Rain
54. The Natural Hiftory
Rain may the better feparate its parts, and fit it to incorporate with that hungry Soil.
10. Which condition I fuppofe may not at all be required, in the manure of a light and hollow fort of Marl, lately found by the worfhipful and induftrious Improver, George Pudfey Efq; of Elsfeld: for in water it diflolves almoft as foonas Fullers earth, and is naturally of it felf fo hollow and {fpungy, that one would think it were always inthe very ferment, and may therefore be ufed at any fit time of year: of colour when dry, it is of a whitifh gray, intermixed with fand, and very friable, and may _ inall probability be the very fame, with the Marga candida are- nofa friabilis, of Hildefbeim, mention’d by HKentmannus*, and out of him by ZLachmund. Of juft fuch another Mar! as this, brittle and dufty when dry, but fat when wet, we are inform’d there is at Wexford in the Kingdom of Ireland, by D' Gerrard Boat‘ fom- time Phyfitian there; only that zhet is blue, and rhis a whitith gray, and may therefore be fitter for Pafture than Arable. It being obferved inthe Counties of Sufex and Kent, where Marls are moft plenty of any places of England, that the gray fuic with Paftures,and the b/ue (fuch perhaps as Sir Zhomas Pennyftons) with Arable beft. | | |
11. It may therefore be expedient, that thefe new found Marls be thus agreeably tryed, and though they anfwer not expe- étation the firft year, as fome fay they will not’, let not their Owners be thus difcouraged, but ftill continue to make frequent. tryals, of divers proportions of Earth, at all feafons of the year, with all kinds of Grain upon all forts of Soil, till they find out the moft fuitable and neceflary circumftances, fo fhall they in time attain toa knowledge beyond the expeétation, and perchance imitation of their Neighbors. But I forbear to 1n- ftru& fuch Ingenious Perfons, as the Owners of the above- named Marl-pits are: the Orator being accounted little lefs than a fool, that went about in his Speech to teach Hannibal to fight.
12. But befide thefe, we have another fort of Earth, of a fat clofe texture,and greenifh colour, fo well impregnated with fome kind of fa/t, that put inthe fire, it prefently decrepitates with no
s Kentman.nomenclat. rer. fof-cap 3. de Margis. * Boats Nat. Hist. of Ireland, cap.12. © Plin. Nat Hift. lib. 17. cap. 8. lefs
of OXFORD-S HIRE. 55 lefs noife than alt it felf 3 and.in water, after a quick and fub- tile folution, leaves behind it a kind of brackith raft, which 1 thought might proceed froma fort of Vitricl, and perhaps true enough, though the water would not tinge with powder of galls: ittakes greafe out of cloaths extreamly well, and would it but whiten, as Fullers earth doth, I fhould notdoubt to pronounce it the fame with the viridis Saponaria, found near Beichling in Thurinsia, and mentioned by HKentmannus in his collection of Fofils“. This we have in great plenty in Shot-over Fore, where ’tis always met with before they come to the Ochre, from which it is feparated but by athin Lron crust, and may peradventure be asftrickt a concomitant of yellow Ochre, as € bryfocolla (another green Earth) is faid tobe of Gold. At prefent ’tis accounted , of {mall orno value, butin recompence of the fignal favors of ics prefent Proprietor, the Right Worfhipful Sir Timothy Tyrvil, who in perfon was pleafed to fhew me the pits, I am ready to difcover a ufe ic may have, that may poffibly equal that of his Ochre. Which brings me next to treat of fuch Earths as are found in Oxford-fire, and are ufefulin Trades.
13. And amongft thefe the Ochre of Shotover, no doubt, may challenge a principal place, it being accounted the beft in its kind in the world, of a yellow colour and very weighty, much ufed by Painters fimply of it felf, and as often mix’d with the reft of their colours. This by Pliny*, and the Latines, was anciently called Sil, which we have now changed for the modern word Ochra, taken up as fome think from the colour of the Earth, and the Greek word eyege, Pallidus ; or as others, and they perhaps morerightly, fromthe River Ochra that tuns through Brunfwick, whofe Banks do yield great quantities of it’; and from whence in all likelyhood we received the name, upon the arrival of the Angles and Saxons in Britan.
14. They dig it now at Shotover on the caf fide of the Hill, on the right hand of the way leading from Oxfordto Whately, though queftionlefs it may be had in many other parts of it ; The vein dips from Eafi to West, and lies from feven to thirty feet indepth, and between two and feven inches thick; enwrapped it is within ten folds of Earth, all which muft be paft through before they come at it; for the Earth is here, as at moft other
w Cap. 1. Deterris, * Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 33. cap. 12. ¥ Encelins de re Metal. lib, 2.) cap. 20- places,
56 The Natural Hiftory places, Ithink I may fay of a bulbous nature, feveral folds of divers colours and confiftencies, {till inalnciaes one another, not unlike the feveral coats of a Zulip root, or Onyon. The 1. mext the turf, i a reddifb earth. 2. a pale blue clay. . ayellow fand. . a white clay. . an iron flone. . awhite, and fomtimes 4 reddifo Maum. . agreen, fat, oily kind of clay. . athin iron-coloured rubble. 9. agreenclay again. 10. another iron rubble, almoft like Smiths cinders. And then the yellow Ochre, which is of two parts. 1. The ftone Ochre, which we may alfo call native, be- — caufe ready for ufe as foon as ’tisdug: and 2, ClayOchre, which becaufe of the natural inequality in its goodnefs, they wafh and fteep two or three daysin water, and then beat 1t with clubs on a plank into thin broad cakes, of an equal mixture both of good and bad ; then they cut it into {quares like Tiles, and put it on hurdles laid on treftles to dry, which when throughly done ’tis fit for the Merchant.
1g. Where perhaps by the way it may be worthy our notice, how different either the Ochres, or opinions of men concerning them, are now,. from what they formerly were: for whereas Diofcorides (as quoted by Wormius*) commends to our choice the © lighteft earthy Ochre, highly before the other of ffome: We on the contrary, and not without reafon; prefer the fone Ochre as far before the clay.
16. Iwas told of a yellow Ochre fomwhere between Duckling- ton and Witney, that ferves them thereabout for inferior ufes + and met with it befide at fome other places, but none fo good 28 this at Shotover; thatat Garfington being full of blue ftreaks, and a{mall parcel (that was fhewn me) taken up about Pyrton inteiy mixeda little too much with red, as if it were now in the tranf-— mutation (fo much fpoke of by Naturalifis) by the earth and funs heat ; firft into Rubrick, or Ruddle, and thence at laft into pnigitis, — or elie lack ch alk. % Ol: Wormii Mufeum.cap,4. * Encel.dere Metal. cap.20-
17. ‘Now
CONT NU DB ww
Of OXFORDSHIRE. ~— fy i7. Now that Nature indeed proceeds in this method, Yam almoft perfwaded by what I have found in Shorover-bill; and elfe- where near it for withintwo beds next under the Ochre (nothing but a white Sand interceding) there lies another of a much red» der hue, which firft receiving the fteams of the earth, is now in the way of becoming a rudd/e, and in procefs of time when it grows aduff, may at laft make a change into a black chalk; which I fhould not fo eafily have béen induced to believe, but that at Whately Towns end, near the foot of the hill, where lately fome attempts weré made for Coal, they met with avein of fuch kind of chalk, which perhaps long before might have been nothing but ruddle, and as long before that, a yellowOchre. But whe- ther Nature proceed thus or no; or fuppofe thefe are not (as fome have thought) the feveral gradations of the fame indivi- dual, yet however, I fhall not be guilty of mif-placing, fince all three belong to the Paimrers Trade.
18. To which may be added a fort of Ceruleum, which in Englifb we may render native blue, becaufe naturally produced by the fteam of fome Mineral, latent under the afore-mentioned Marl at Blunds-Court, amongft which it is found in very good plenty ; but yet fothinly coating the little cavities of the earzh, and fome other bodies (of which hereafter) to which it fticks, that no quantitiés can be gotten for the Painters ufe, for whom it would otherwife be very fit, as upon tryal has been found by the worthy M' Stonor. Kentmannus” indeed tells us of a cine- reous fort of Earth fomwhere neat Padua,that affords fuch a blue; but! guefs that ours cannot be (nor perhaps is that) the immedi» ate production of the ambient Earth, but rather of fome mineral ot metal below it ; of which moré at large in a fitter place.
19. Hithet alfo may be referr’d a gritty fort of Umbers,found inall parts of the County where there are Quarries of Stone: a courfer kind of them I met with near Wirney, and a fomwhat finer at Bladen Quarry ; thefe fomtimes are found in the feams of the Rocks, and fomtinrés again in the body of thé Stone; and not- withftanding their gritty texture, yet prove ufeful enough to drefers of Leather. But yet amuch finer than either of the for- mer, has been lately taken up at Waterperry, in the ground, and near the Houfe of the Right Worfhipful Sir Zomas Curfon, of fo
& Kentmande terris, dap. t.
H tick
58 The Natural Hiftory rich and beautiful a colour, that perhaps it might better have been placed among the Ochres, but that mix’d with Oyl,, it turned darker than that they call Englif’, and much more fo- than the fpruce-Ochre of Shotover Rottth
20. Befidethefe, we have another jie Earth, of a white co- Jour, porous and friable, infipid and without fcent, diffoluble in water; and tinging it, of a milky colour, and fomtimes raifing — akind of ebullition in it ; found frequently in the liffoms or feams of the Rocks, or fticking to the hollow roofs of them : in fhort; fo altogether agreeable to what Conradus Gefner © (and out of him Boetius de Boot , Calceolarius, Aldrovandus, and Olaus Wormius) calls Lac Lune, that tcould not but think it the very fame. And to put all out of doubt, Itryed the Experiment of Daniel Major (who wrote no lefs than.a whole Treatife concerning it) and found according to him, that with Lacca, though I could get none good, it gave the aa fo florida whitenefs, that I dare pro- nounce it a good Cofmenicks and upon that very fcore have given it place here.
or, Lobferved it firft near the Worcefler road, shout mid-way between Holton and Sir Timothy Zyrrils, where the Stones taken up, for I know not what ufe, as alfo at {ome places. in Whately field, were all ina maner covered with it. And I met with it again near Hajfeley, in the fields between that and little. Milton, and quickly after at. long Hanborough, upon-ftones. provided for walling there : I enquired of the Quarry-men what it might be, whether they had made any ufe, or obfervations of it, but all I could get would amount to no more, but that it was a fign of a very good Lime-ftone.
22. Which alfo it feems is its, pa amongft our Neighbors in Ireland, where (we are “told) the beft Lime-flone is of agray colour, and if broken, hasa white duft that flies away. from it. Buctif we may believe Olaus Wormius, ’tisa fign alfo of fomthing much better than that, who apprehends it to be nothing lefs than a certainefteckof Metallick vapors: Oritur, (faies he, {peaking of Lac Lune.) avaporibus metallicis, qui indies fubtiles vebunt exhala- tiones, que ubi per faxa in cavitates exfudaverint, humido evocata, quod ficcum eft remanet (o in medullam banc raram, teneram, ty fria- bilem concre{it. © Towhich Daniel Major not ‘palsy agrees, but
© De figuris Lapidum,cap.6. 4 Boats Net. Hift, of Irel ¢.20. fect. 4. © Ol. Wormii Mufeum, cap. 4. * ) ; more
of OXFORD-S HIRE. 59 more particulatly adds, that the matter of this Earth proceeds fromthe metallick vapours of filver ore, by fome fermentation raifed and fublimed, and thencondenfed on the fides of the Rocks.
23. Of which, fays Gener’, there are two forts; the one grofsand gritty, becaufe immature and crude; the other more perfectly concoged, whiter, lighter, and fofter: And of both _ thefe wealfo find here, but whether indicative of filer ore, as in the mentioned places by 7ohban: Daniel Major®, is the great queftion. In anfwer whereunto I cannot but add, that though I fhould be very unwilling, that any Owner, Farmer, or others, fhould hazard their Fortune upon my weak judgment, without the advice of ancient and experienced Bermen ; yet that at Shot- over, befide Lac Lune, there are other Symbols of /i/ver Ore.
24. Whereof, if any heed may be given to Pliny, the Ochre before-mention’d may be accounted one: Jn argenti ly ari me- tallis nafcuntur etiam optima pigmenta Sil (y ceruleum ; where by Sil he means fuch yellow Ochre, than which, there is no place we know of inthe world that has greater plenty, or of equal worth. Towhich we may add afort of Lron-flone, which is not Tron-ore, found peradventure in as great quantities here, as it is upon the hills near Schemnitzin Hungary , the greateft Mine- town in that Kingdom: where it{eems it is notonly a fign of the Ore, butisalfo of greatufe in melting of it; whereof faies Dr. Brown, in his Journey thither, that of a liver-colour is counted beft", Now that we have fuch an Ore, though I dare not pro- mife, yet provided we had in the greateft plenty, the liver-co- lour’d Lron-ffone (1 dare fay it) would not fail us.
25. Butif Lac Lune alone may bea fufficient Index, and if we arenot miftaken in the thing it felf, as I verily think we can- not be, none of the places already mention’d can fhew it in quantity and goodnefs too, equal to a Quarry in the Parifh of Cornwell, fouth wefi and by wef about a hundred yards from the Right worfhipfal Sir Zhomas Pennyftons houfe ; where it is found fo well concoéted, and of fo great purity, that the driven Snow never appeared whiter ; and yet in fo great quantity too, that I cannot guefs the Mineral, or whatfoever other metal it be, that
f De figuris Lapidum. cap.2. % De Lage Lune differtatio Medica. Edit. 4uno1667. Account of his Travels. pag. 92.
H 2 gives
60 The Natural Hiftory
gives fo great a fteamasthis, canlie very deep, or be very poor: Yet I fhall not prefume to advife its owner, the eminent Virtuofo Sir Thomas PennySton, any further to dig in queft of it, than ac- cording as he fhall want Stone upon other occafions, to fink his Pit for the future, perpendicular to the Horizon, whereas now he takes it as it rifes in plano: Sothat in time, when he is gotten through the Rock, a more certain judgment may be paft on what lies under, with little charge or damage to him: Where if in time he finde a Treafure, I am fure the Difcoverer will not want his reward, from fo Ingenious, and every way fo accomplifh’d a Perjon, at leaft in fuch proportion as has alwaies been allowed by the Societies of the Mines Royal, and Mineral Battery-works.
26. Befide the notice it gives of Mines, and ufe it has in cover- ing the blemifhes of the Face, like the Earth Quez of China, men- tion’d by ' Hircher ; its Medicinal ules are very great. For by Georgius Agricola, and Fernante lmperato; the former whereof calls it Stenomarga*, and the latter Agaricus Mineralis': it is — thought to have the virtues of the Samian Earth, and to be very beneficial in ftopping of blood, and womens difeafes. Boetins™ holds it to be a good narcotick, and that it fafely may be given to procure fleep. And Ge/ner” affirms it to be commonly fold by the Apothecaries of Lucern, and ufed by Chirurgians to dry gleet- ing fores ; and that given to Nurfes, it increafes their milk, and quickly makes their Brefts apparently fwell. And upon this ac- count it ferves measa feafonable tranfition to pafs next to the Earths of Medicinal ule.
27. Of which the moft likely Ihave met with yet, is dug a- mongft the clay they ufe for bricks, in the Parifh of Nerttlebed, not far from the Wind-mill, of as red acolour as Bolus Armenus, but not like that difcolouring the hands; ftrongly adbering, if put to the tongue, but whether provocative of fweat or no, I have not hitherto been able to perfwade a tryal. However, let it prove never fo good, I’le not promife the owner any great profic, becaufe of the humor we have of defpifing our own, and only admiring and efteeming thofe things that are far fetched and dearly bought.
28. But quite of another mind was that famous Phyjitian,
i China illuftrata. * De Natur. Fofil. \ Dell’ Hift. Natural. Lib.¢. cap. 4- ™ De Lapid. G Gem- mis.cap.229- ™ De Figuris Lapidum, cap. 2. i Mr. Henry
Of OXFORD-S HIRE. 61 mr. Henry Sayer of Magdalene € ollege Oxon, who commonly made ufe of a cinereous Earth, fomwhat tending to yellow, and finely chamlerted, that he found at the Quarries, in the gullies of the Rocks inthe Parifh of Heddington : with which, as 1am inform- ed by my worthy Friend Mr. Crofs once his Apothecary, and {till living, he didas frequently, and as well procure Sweats, as with any of the Forreign earths whatever.
29. Tothefe may be added a-whitifh fat earth, formerly of fome ufe in external applications, which they fetch’d, whil’ft the waters continued in requeft, from the orifice of the afore-men- tioned /pring at Goreing, and phanfied it at leaft, to be a very good remedy for the ach of Corns, and fome other fuch mala- dies: but as foon as the waters began to fail, the earth too (though {till there remain enough) began to decline in its reputation, and is now of very little, if of any efteem.
30. There is another white earth of fome ufe in this Coun- try, which fome will have alfo, as well as Lac Lune, to deferve the name of amineral Agaric: it grows forthe moft part within round hollow Flints, to be had almoft every where in the Chiltern Country, and good to ftop fluxes boiled in milk; and I was told by aneminent Phyfitian, has been ufed in Confumptions with good fuccefs. The ftone in which it grows they call here a Chalk Egg, and is the fame with the Geodes of the ancient Naturalifts, of _ which, becaufe further in the Chapter of stones, I [ forbear to add more concerning it here.
31. Hither alfo muft be referred not only the earths that are found to be foveraign for Mans prefervation, but according to the Logicalrule of contraries, {uch as often have been his deftru- &ion too: Whereof there are fome in the Parifh of North Leigh, that fend forth fuch fudden and deadly fteams, that they kill be- fore the Patient can give the leaft notice, of which they have had. two very deplorable examples.
32. The firft whereof happened in August, about twenty years fince, when two men of the place imployed to dig a well, firft fickned, and wifely withdrew from the work: whereupon it was undertaken by two others of Woodffock, men of greater refolu- tion and lefs wifdom ; who before they could do any thing con- fiderably in it, funk down and irrecoverably dyed in the well 7 which quickly being perceived by a woman above, a Miller hard
by
62 The Natural Hiftory
by was called to their affiftance, who as unhappily as willing- ly defcending to them, alfo fuddenly fell down upon them, and dyed: To whom,after fome deliberation taken, another ventures down with a roap about his middle, but he fell from the Lad- der in juft the fame manner, and though prefently drawn up by the people above, yet was fcarcely recover’d in an hour or more.
33. And now again but lately, on the 20" of Augu/ 1674. upon a buckets falling cafually into a well, onthe fouth fide of the Zown, about a furlong from the former, a woman calls her neighbor, a lufty ftrong man, to go down by a Ladder to fetch up her bucket, who altogether unmindful of the former acci- dent, foon granted (as it proved) her unhappy requeft; for by that time he came half way down, he fell dead from the Ladder into the water: the woman amazed, calls another of her Neighbors, a lufty young man of about eight and twenty, who haftily defcending to give his affiftance, much about the fame place alfo fell from the Ladder, and dyed, without giving the leaft fign of his change, fo fuddenly mortal are the damps of this earth. |
34. Dr. Boat®, in his Natural Hiflory of Ireland, gives ac- count of anaccident that happen’d at Dublin, ina well there fo very like ours,that they fcarcely differ in any circumftance. And we have arelationin our Philofophical Tranfadctions °, of fuch kind
of damps that happen’d in Coal-mines belonging tothe Lord |
Sinclair in Scotland. Now though we muft not conclude from hence, that here muft therefore needs be Coal; yet, conjoyned with others I know hereabout, I take it not to be fo unlikely a fign, but that of all others I know of in the County, I guefs this may be the moft probable place.
35. For though I think thofe poyfonous and killing teams
may indeed more immediatly have their rife froma Pyrites, or Coperas fione, found here in great plenty where-ever they dig; a piece whereof brought me by a friend from thence, upon taft, proved a Vitriol fo ftrong and virulent, that prefently from my mouth it fo affected my ftomach, that I confefs fora while 1 was fearful of danger: yet, it being the common confent of Natu- ralifis, thatfuch Pyrites are nothing but the efflorecence of Mine- © Cap. 18. fect. 4. p Philof:Tranfadt. Num. 3.
| rals,
Of OXFORD-S AIRE. 63 rals, latent underneath them in the bowels of the earth, a conjeCture thereby is not made the lefs valid.
36. Withthe Pyrites cinereus, or Coperas fione, not unlikely there may alfo be fome mixture & Arfenic, which advances its malignity to that deadly ftrength, that no man may approach un- der painof death: Butthat for the future, the infenfible inva- fions of this fecret enemy may for ever be avoided ; let all work- men, and {uch as upon any account whatever have occafion to dig or go down in thefe wells, firft chrow down into them a peck of cood Lime, which flaking in the water, and fuming out at the top, willfo eftedually difpel all fuch poifonous vapors, that they may fafely go down, and ftay fome time unhurt. »
37. From thefe mifchievous ones of Vitriol and Arfenic, 1 proceed to fome other more innocent /a/ts, before promifed more fully to be handled here, with which fome earths being peculiar- ly qualified, areaccordingly difpofed to petrife bodies. How all petrifications are performed by falts, and. petrifications per minima, by their fubtileft teams, I fuppofe has already fufficiently been fhewn, asalfo how waters moft probably effe& them: Itremains only therefore now to be proved, that earths as well as waters, da afford fuch fteams as permeate alfo the moft folid zexture.
38. Towhich purpofe I met with a curious inftance in the Fields between Clifton and Nuneham-Courtney, of aftone thar reprefents a found piece of Ath, cut both parallel and tranfverfly _to the pores, and retaining the grain and colour fo well and live- dy, that no body at fight believes it to be other than a firm and fo- lid piece of wood ; and yet this was taken out of grounds there- about, as far from water as one need to wifh. In fhort, the ver- fion feems{o very perfect, its fubje&t appearing to have been ve- ry found and free from rottenncfs, that either we muft own fuch petrifications as this, to betruly fuch, and totum per totum, or elfe allow that ftones may grow in grain and colour exaétly like wood.
39. Butthat the latter of thefe may not fo far take place (though he poffibility of the thing muft not be denyed) as to exclude a pofhibility.of its being fomtimes otherwife 5 1 take leave to in- tance inanother petrification made alfo by an earth, and not by
water, that feems tocarry a neceflity with it, of its fubjegis once
being folid wood: for befide, that it fhews the clofe grain of Oak, and
64. ~The Natural Hiftory |
and therefore by Naturalifls called Dryites: it was taken up in great quantities too, and out of fome of the pieces, (whereof Ihave one) it may be plainly feen where twigs have come forth, the knots ftill remaining where they were cut off; fo that unlefs we fly to the fPorts of Nature, and allow er to imitate almoft all thingsin ftone, we cannot well avoid a confent, that this was fomtime really Wood, It was cafually dug up in the Parith of Wendlebury, ina gravelly ground not far from the Church, and is, 1 believe, the fame Earth mentioned fo good for this purpofe in our Philofophical Tranfactions 4,
46. Thus having confidered the principal Earths ufed in Hu/- bandry , Painting, Medicine, isc. 1 proceed in the next place to treat of fome cthers, lefsin value, and put to inferior ufes: A- mongft which we may reckon the very uppermoft Turf; which befide for Bowling-greens, and Grafs-walks in Gardens, is here not unfrequently ufed by Thatchers, and laid on Mud-walls, and the tops of Houfes, in the place and manner of thofe we call Ridge-tiles; notthat itis fo good as Zhatching (though fome fay — it better refifts che winds) but becaufe in fome places Wood is fo fearce, that they cannot get /praiésto faften on Thatch; or elfe the people fo poor that they care not to buy theni.
41. Alfo at fome other places for want of Wood, they hiake ufe of another fort of Zurf for fewel, not the upper Green- fword, but an inferior ftringy bituminous Earth, cut out like Bricks, for the moft part from moorifh boggy grounds ; in fome Coun- tries called Peat-pits, in others Mofeéss The beft of this Turf that 1 have feen in Oxford-fbire, 1 met with at Mr. Warcups in the Parifh of North-Moor, but dug as! was informed in Stanton-Harcourt, about a mile diftance 5. Weft from the Church: it lies but one fpits depth within the ground, and is fuppofed to be at leaft © four foot thick: They cut it in March, and lay the pieces called Peats to dry onthe grafs, fomtimes turning them; which when reafonably well done, they then pile up like Wheelwrights felleys, feaving every where empty {paces between,that the Air and Wind paffingthroughthem, they at length may become dry enough for the fire. They think that the fringy roots, that together with the Bitumen, make upthe Peats, do never flourifh above the fur- face : if fo, 1am fomthing confirmed in an opinion, thatthere are
a Num. 6. many
Of (O MAOR DS ALR E. OF pany fubterraneous Plants not noted, of which I intend adili= gentenquiry ". After the Peatsare taken out, they fill up the ground again with the grafly earth that was firft cut up. And at Cowley, where they alfo digthem, they ufually leave the depth of one fpade-graft at the bottom, asa foundation whereon they may. srowagain, which in the {pace of twenty or thirty years, ’tis obferv’d they willdo in the North of England* .
42. The f{carcity allo of fireing has induced fome People to burn a fort of black fubfiance, of a grain fomwhat like rotten wood half burnt, but participating alfo of a Mineral nature, and therefore by Authors called Metallophytum, or Lignum foffile*: - putinto water, it willnot fwim; and into frre, it confumes but flowly, andfends forth very unpleafant fumes: itis foundin a Quarry called Langford-pits, in the Parifh of Hidlington, not far from Thrup, about eighteen foot deep under the Rock, where there lies abed about four inches thick. Butat Ducklington 1 met with a much finer kind, and richerin bitumen; for though on the out fide it looks like wood, yet broken, it fhews afmooth and fhining fuperficies, not unlike to ffone-pitch, and putin the fire, has not near foill a fmell. This was dug, and kindly be- {towed upon me by the Worfhipful William Bayly E{q; who told mebefide of an Aluminous earth that he fomwhere alfo found in hisground. Asforthe fubftance, Lignum fofile it is thought to be originally a cretaceous earth, turned to what itis by /ubterra- neous heats, which probably at Hidlington may indeed be great, becaufe reflected by the Quarry above it, for that it was never formerly wood, notwithftanding its fpecious and outward like- nefs, 1s plain, from i its never being found with roots or boughs, or any other figns of wood.
43. At Marfb Balden Heath, and Nbc Cis, they have a fort of earth of duétile parts, which put in the fire fcarcely cracks, and has been formerly ufed by Potters, but upon what account I know not, now negletted. Thereis alfoaClay near Little Milton that might very well ferve for the Potters ufe. And at Shotover-hill there is a white clay, the fourth fold of earth in the way to the Ochre, which during the late wars, in the fiege of Oxford, was wholly ufed for making Zobacco-pipes there ; and is
r Vid. Nich. Stenonis Prodrom. ™ They dig prety good Peats alfo near the Wyke at Heddington ; and in aboggy ground Eaft-ward of Elsfield C hutch. s O/ Wormii, Mufeeun lib.2,cap. 6
I | till
66 The NCatural Hiftory
ftill in part put to that fervice,mixed. with another they have from Northampton-feire. Itisalfo of excellent ufe to Statuaries, for making Moddels, Gargills, or Anticks; and containing a hard, buc very {mall grit ; in polifbing Silver, it comes near to Tripela,
44. And fo do’s an anonymous very white earth, found in the feams of the Quarries at Zeynton, which at firft 1 concluded a crude Alabafter, becaufe I found near it a piece that was perfe& : but reducing itintoa very fine powder, and putting it over a quick fire, it would not boil like A/abasfer daft, nor keep the colour, but turned reddifh. Many othertryals were made with it, in ls : ficks, Polifhing, Painting, oc. but my endeavors fucceeded in no- thing fo well, asin poli/bing {maller filver Veflels, that could not endure burnifhing well; to which it gavea more glorious bright- nef{s than Zripela would, though perhaps not fo lafting ; and not — far behinde that of burnifh’d Plate.
45S. And yet neither this, nor the former will polifh brafs, nor any thing elfe that is not of its colour, which has lately engaged . my thoughts ina Query, whether inall other Metals the rule does hold: for I find, that fulphur gives alufter to Gold; and that nothing does brighten Copper fo well, asa fort of ftuff they call rotten ftone, allo fomthing of its colour. fa
46. At Teynton alfo, within a fpit of the furface, they dig a fort of earth they there call Lam, of a whitifh colour inclining to yellow ; which mixt with fand, and fome other earth, es the beft earthen floors for ground-rooms and barns: it diffolves as quick as Fullers-earth, and were it not for afault which might - polflibly be help’d, it may ferve their turns perhaps as well as any they ufe.
47. Tothefe may be added another whitifb earth, which cor-_ tuptly | fuppofe from its colour iscalled Which-earth ; mixed with ftraw, they ufe it for fide-walls and ceilings, and with horfe- dung it makes mortar for laying of ftones: it feems to be a natu- ral mixture of Jime and fand, found at Thame, Waterperry, and Adwell, and flakes in water (like Gypfum) without any heat.
48. At Miltonnear Adderbury, Great Tew, and Stunsteld, | met alfo with another fort of fpungy chalk, which though it will not flake like the former ; yet at Milton and Adderbury ufed for point- ing, feems to binde the ftones of their walls very well : and theirs at Great Tew being fomwhat finer, ferves as well to white their
, rooms
of OXFORD-S HIRE. 67 rooms within (as I faw at Swerford) as to point walls without : but at Stunsfeld there was no body knew of its ufe.
4.9. Other earths there are that I find in this County,for whofe names, as wellas matures, 1am quite at alofs; whereof there is one in Sit Thomas Pennyftons Park, which for the ftrangenefs of its qualities deferves the firft place. Of colour it is extreamly white, of little taft, and lefsfmell; lying in veins ina yellowifh clay, like a medulla about the bignefs of ones wrift: taken out withaknife, it fallsinto a fine powder, fomwhat gritty, but of fo very greata weight, that its double at leaft to any other earth of its bulk ; put in the {cale againft white Marble dust, it equall’d
its weight, and exceeded that of Alabaffer by almoft a fourth part : fetin fandin a glafs retort, and driven with a quick and {trong fire, it fublimed to the fides of the glafs a little, but ftill preferved its colour and weight, till put between two Crucibles, one invert- ed upon the other; well luted, and ftrongly forced in a wind- furnace for about two hours, it loft above the moiety ofits weight: for as I wellremember, of three ounces put in, there came not out full one anda half, and yetnothing fublimed in the top of the Crucible: the colour ftill remained as white as ever, and the bulk (as near as 1 could guefs) the fame, but now of a ftrong /al/t and urinous taft; which after folution, filtration, and evaporation, came at laft, to what people as little underftood, as what became of its ponderous ingredient.
so. Wetryed it alfo at Cornwell, in Sir Thomas PennySton’s Laboratory, becaufe of its weight with divers fuxing falts, in hopes of fome kind of metalline fubftance, but all, as before, to little | purpofe. So that! cannot tell what to divine it fhould be, ex- ceptthe Gur of the Adeptifts congealed, which they defcribe in their Booksto be much fuch a thing, which for want of more
_timeto {pend in its fervice, I leave to the difcovery of future ages.
51. Inthe Chalk-pits almoft every where in the South-eatt parts of Oxford-fhire, they finde afort of iron-colour’d terra /a- pidofa, inthe very body of the chalk, which 1 think they call fron-moulds, and particularly at a place between Brightwell and Berrick, of anovalfigure: how they cameto be of that fhape, oratall grow, in afubftance of fo different a nature as chalk, 1 confefs to be a problem beyond my knowledge, as well as the
133 ufe
68 The Natural Hiftory ufe they may probably have, which Talfo remit to pofterity to find. |
52. They have an earth about Zeynton of a yellowith colour, adornedall over with glittering fparks, which unlefs they are particles of the /pecular (fone, or Englifh Zalc, with the former mutt be reckoned amoneft the unknown earths.
53. Towhich add another kind of terra lapidofa found about Thame, at the bottom of their Quarries, itis much of the colour of the Turkifb Rufma, hollow and {pungy, and full of fhining - grains like afort of Pyrites, but of what nature or ufe I can no where find. Nor of another fort of Clay found at Hampton-Gay, holding a grit of a golden colour, much of the nature of Pyri- tes aureus, only ’tis not found like that in great pieces, which by our modern Naturalifts are called Bra/s Jumps.
54- And thus I had concluded the Chapter of Earths, but that Ithink it belongs to this place to mention alfo fuch accidents as attend them ; and therefore muft not be altogether filentof an eminent Proffedi about a mile from Zeynton, where from a Hill North-eafi from thence, ten Mercat towns ina clear day may plain- ty befeen. Nor of afmall Earth-quake, that on the nineteenth of February, 1665. was obferved at divers places near Oxford; as at Blechington, Stanton St.fohbns, yc. But it fhall futfice juft to mention it, Relations (with the concomitants) of it, being al- ready publifhed : * one by the Honorable Robert Boyle Efq; and the other by the Learned Dr. John Wallis.
* Philof-‘Tranfact. Num. 10) 11.
CHAP, |
Of OXFORDSHIRE. + 69
CHAP. IV. Of Stones.
S in the Chapters of Waters and Earths, 1 treated only of fuch as eminently held fome falt or fulpbur, and were fome way or other ufeful to Man: I intend in like man-
ner inthis of Stones ftri&ly to obferve the fame method, and take notice only of fuch as either plainly fhew thofe Minerals, and fupply the necefities; or are forthe ornament, or delight of Man- kind.
2. How all ones are chiefly made out of fa/ts, with a mixture of earth and fomtimes of fulphur, was formerly hinted in ano- ther place. It remains only that I confider them in a more par- ticular manner, and fhew which they be, and where they are, that hold any of thefe principles mote fignally than other, which I fuppofe by their effeéts may beft be difcover’d.
3. In the Road from Oxford toward London, not far beyond Tetfworth, ina hollow way on therifing of a hill, 1 found a foft ftone there-about called Maume, of a whitifh colour; whofe falt is fo free from the bonds of fu/phur, that with the frofts and rain it flakes like /ime: perhaps half the firing ufed to burn away . the fulphur in other ime-fione, might ferve the turn here, An Ex- periment fo very likely to be beneficialto the Country, that 1 left it with the Son of the ingenious Improver, Sir Zhomas Tipping, asa thing not unworthy of his Fathers tryal; but whether he have at all, or but unfuccefsfully made any, [ have not yet had the favor to hear, |
4. Inthe wayto Whitfeld, as rod thither from Tet/worth, 1. found the ways mended with this kinde of fone, I fuppofe be- caufe they could get no other, for certainly otherwile there were nothing more unfit, than a ftone of fo loofe and open a /alt : much rather with fuch fhould they mend their Lands than High- ways, thatlike Jime, marles, and chalk, will flake in the Winter ; which 1 take for fo furea mark of its improving quality, that 1 can- not but commend it tothe tryal of the Country.
5» And for their encouragement, let me farther tell them, that at a place called Horntonin the North of this County, they com-
monly
70 — The Natural Hiftory
monly ufe the chippings of the stone dug therein the Quarry, for improvement of the Land, and that not without apparent {uccefs : and yet the ftoneis of a much harder kind, than this at Zet/- worth and in the way to Whitfeld, "
6. Amongft fome MSS. notes of Natural things, | met with one of aftone at Oriel College, commonly called (fays the Author) The fweating flone, at which the Birds were conftantly pecking and licking; asl guefs (if ever there were any fuch thing) for — fome kind of faltnefs they found come from it: I fay, if ever there were any fuch thing, for I find it notin this ew, norre-_ mains there any tradition of it inthe o/dCollege. therefore pafs it by without further notice.
7. However, in fhort, all ftones have fo much /a/t in them,. that in fome meafure they are an improvement of Land, for though it be fo clofelock’d up with fulphur, that the greatett frofts and tain will not make the ftones run, yet there js {till fuch an emifli- onof faline fteams, that fome earrhs have their whole fertility from them. Thus have I feen Fields cover’d with Flints and Pebbles,produce better Corn than where there were none, which perhaps may be a better reafon than what 1s brought by Pliny", why the Foreign C o/oni that came to Syracufeto inhabit there,and — prattife Hufbandry ; after they had cleared the ground of all the ftones, could have no Corn, till they had laid them again on the very fame Ereyne from whence they had taken them but juft before.
8, The like may be obferved in walls and buildings, where fe- veralforts of vegetables, yea trees of great bignefs, will thrive and profper remote from the earth, without any further nourifh- ment, than that they have from the fertile ftones, and lime they are laid with, alfo made out of Sones.
9. If it be objeGted that Pebblesand Flints alfo hold a fulphur, as wellas a alt, and that in all probability Corn and other Vege- tables may receive their flourifhing verdure, rather from the warm comfortable fteams of that, then the others of /a/t, I thall not fo much as contend about it, but gladly accept of the oppor- tunity by this means to pafs from foxes holding fa/t only, to fuch as have alfo a mixture of fulphur.
to, And fuch are all that with sfee/, or any other fit body,
® Lib. 17. cap. 4.
will
Of OXFORD-S HIRE. m1 will ftrike fire, and therefore by avery fit name called Pyrites, un- der which genus may be reckon’d not only Pyrizes ftrictly taken, but Flints, Pebbles, Sand, and whatever elfe by any quick and fudden attrition may have its parts kindled into {parks : of which as many as I find eminent in their kind, or are fit for ufes, as briefly as may be.
11. And amongft them (as I think moft due) for the preroga- tive of itscolour, J affign the firft place to the Pyrites aureus, or golden fire-ftone, whereof they find great plenty in digging of Wells about Banburyand Cleydon, and fomwhere in the River at Clifton near Dorchefier : Some of them are taken up in great 'umps (and are therefore alfo called Bra/? lumps) of uncertain form, whereof I had very rich ones out of the Well of one Boreman of —Cleydon. Butthole from Clifton aforefaid feem:to be laminated,
and fome of them fhot into angles like Briftol Diamants, and are mentioned by Aldrovandus™, which he calls, Pyrites cum fluoribus adnafcentibus, and cujus partes coherent tanquam lapilli anguloft. Thefe ftrike fire in great plenty, and for that reafon formerlyhave been much ufed for Carabines and. Pistols, whil’ft Wheel-locks were ‘in fathion ; and are alfovery weighty, and perhaps hold metal, which , were it not for the too great proportion of fulpbur (whence fuch Minerals, faith the Learned willis* , have chiefly their concretion) that carryeth 1t away while it melteth in the Crucible, by over volatilizing it, which the Mine-men therefore term the Robber, might otherwife be procured with advantage to the owner. 12. At Afton Rowant, Nettlebed, and Henly, and indeed ali along the Chiltern Country, they have another fort of Marcha- fite, within fide of a golden, and without of a darkith rufty co- lour, and therefore at fome of the afore-mentioned places called commonly Crow-iron: this fort, if broken and laid in the air, or any other moift place, diffolves into a alt that taftes like iak, and is no queftion the Pyrites of Kentmannus’, which for that reafon he terms atramentiparens. And fucha one is the Pyrites found at North-Leigh, brought me thence by my worthy Friend Dr. Per- rot, which not only like the former gave the taft of ink, but ex- pos’d tothe airawhile, became cover’d with a white downy fals of the very fame taft, which I take to be fuch a natural atramentum
w Lib. 4. cap.3. % De Ferment.cap.9. ¥ Tit. 2..cap.de Succis efflore/centibue.
72 The Natural Hiftory album, as isfaid by the fame Kentmannus, Efflorefcere é pyrite Gof- lariano, (9 Radebergenft*.
13. Next to thefe, in order of nature as well as dignity, comes the filver Marchafite under confideration, of a white gliftering colour, andto be had inthe bottom ofthe River between Clif- ton and Burcot : this ftrikes fire as wellas the golden Pyrites, but notwithftanding it was expofed in the fitteft places, yet would never, that Icould perceive, fend forth any efforefcence. An- other fort of them I met with at Deddington, taken out of the afore-mentioned fulphur Well there, of as glorious a colour as the former ; but feveral times tryed on the beft Steel I could get, would never yield the leaft {park of fire: whence I rather con- cluded it to be argentum felium, or Cat-filver, butthat it would not thine inthe dark, or confume in the fire: However, it may pafs for a Sterile nitidum, {fo often mentioned by Naturalifis, it — being a glorious nothing, of no kind of ufe.
14. That Flints, Pebbles, and Sands, are alfo Pyrites, needs no further evidence than that they ftrike fire, a thing fo obvious to the meaneft Obferver, thatto {pend time to prove it, would be loft time to the Reader; itfhall fuffice therefore to enumerate the feveral kinds of each, and chiefly to infift upon fuch as have ufes.
15. All along the Chiltern Country of Oxford-/bire, Flints areas plentiful as any where elfe ; amongft them the black one, well polifh’d, will fupply the place of the Lydian ftone ; and at Henly they ule them in making of Glafs, of which more anon in the Chapter of Arts. They are found befide of divers other co- lours, and fome of them fo tranfparent, that they feem not only to imitate, butto be the very fame with Achats.. 1 have one, found at Dorchefler, about an inch and half {quare, of a flefhco- Jour, and fo tranfparent, that tt may well enough deferve the name of Sardachates. Such as this were alfo fhewn me, by the truly Ingenious, the Right Honorable Zames Lord Norreys of Ri- cot, and found, asI think his Lordfhip told me, fome where thereabout, andare I do not queftion the very fame ftones, that Kentmannus * indeed places in his Title of Flints, yet calls them, Pellucentes Sarde colore. 3
16, Of Pebbles there are fome alfo tran(parent, to be had a-
* Tit. 2.cap. Sorys & de fuccisefflorefcent. % Kentman. tit. 8. | bout
Of OXFORDSALERE. 43 bout Finstock and Nuneham-Courtney; 1 found them alfo in the way between Mew-yate and Enfbam, but none comparable to what was fhewn me by that great Virtuofo, the Right Worfhipful Sir Anthony Cope of Hanwell, the moft eminent Artif and Naturalist while helived, if not of England, moft certainly of this County; whoie Houfe me thought feemed to be the real New Arlantis, which my Lord Vifcount Verulam had only in fanfie. The Pebble I remember was about the breadth of ones hand, of a flatform, © and yet not much lefs than an inch in thicknefs, fo clear and pel- lucid, that no Chryftal that ever Ifaw yet excell'dit; fo that had notits Maffer, the cautious Artis#, took care to leave on it part of ics outward coat, few would have believed ithad ever been 2 Pebble.
17. Thefe Pebbles when tranfparent, make an excellent ingre- dient for the Gla/s-works ; and fo do thofe which are white,though not ¢ranfparent, called by fome Authors by the name of Quocoli, and perhaps not much different in nature from the Cuogolo of Ferrante Imperato”, and {uch are the Pebbles gathered at Tefino °; _ with which they make the pureft Glafs at the Moran.
18. Thereare about Goreing and Nuneham-Courtney, a fort of Pebbles of a blue-black colour, that if polifh’d, might fupply the place of Zouch. And about Fawler and Stunsfield area red- difh kind, very hard, and for the moft part of an oval Figure, fo excellent for pitching of freets and flables, and for Painters mullars, that none can be found more fit and durable.
ig. After confideration of Flints and Pebbles apart, let us now take a view of them jointly together, for fo I found them at Caverfbam, and Greenvil, and in the way from Pu/oill to Stonor-hou/e, in clufters together of divers colours, and uni- ted into onebody, by a petrifed cement as hard as themfelves, and moft of them I believe capable of politure *. But the beft of all arein the Clofe at Stonor, of which there ate fome fo large and clofe knit, that could the Ingenious Proprietor, Thomas Sto- nor Efq; find a way to flit and polifh them without too much charge, he might make him rich Chimney-pieces and. Tables of them, fo far excelling Porphyrie and Marble, that perhaps they might compare with the beft 7afper or Achat. For havefeen fuch as thefe found about Hampfled, curioufly wrought into handles of
b Dell’ Hift. Nat. lib. 24. cap. 16: © Anton. Neri, lib: 1. cap.2. _* There is a Quarry of this Soutli of Wolvercor Church, but the Cement {0 foft, chat it will not polish. | knives,
a4. The Natural Hiftory
knives by that eminent Artift Sir Anthony Cope, to which few Achats might be compared, perchance none preferr’d, either in the polifh or variety of colours.
20. The Ingenious Mr. Ray, amoneft other Gleeeatians made in his Journey through Jtaly,dc. tells us, That in the Church of the Benediéfines at Ravenna, the Monks did fhew him two Marble pillars, for which they faid, the Venetians ofter’d them no lefs than their utmoft weight in Silver. Butthe like he fays, he had feenelfewhere, atthe Library at Zurich, and at Verona in our Ladies Chappel, in the Garden of Seignior Horatio Guifli: their generation at firft, fayshe, was outof a mafs of {mall Flints and Pebbles, united by a cementas hard as themfelves, and capa- ble of politure; which cement, he guefles, was feparated by de- grees from a fluid wherein the ftones formerly lay: which 1 take to be adefcription fo agreeable to ours, that nothing more need be faid to promote their tryal.
21. Hither alfo muft be reduced a courfer fort of Smiris, dug up in the pits at Wbately Towns end, of acinereous colour, hard
and rough, and ftriking fire as well as a Flint. The beft fort of —
Smiris{erves for feveralufes ; but ours is fit only to cut the hard- er fortof ftones, that the fand commonly ufed will not fo well do, and perhaps for fome other inferior ufes.
22. And tothefe muft be added the feveral forts of Sands, which upon violent motions all {trike fire, and are commonly, and fomtimes promifcuoufly ufed, for Building, Hour-glaffes, and cutting of Stone. But fome there are of a more peculiar and confiderable ufe, and fuch is that dug in the Parifh of Hingham, which after ’tis wafhed and duly ordered, fo perfectly refembles Calis-fand, that it ferves andisfold for the very fame: it isnot found in every place, but they have figns (like Miners) to know where it lies ; viz. a fort of ftuff that looks almoft like rotten wood, whichif they meet with under the Turf, they feldom fail of the Sand alittle deeper; which they firft cleanfe from rubbith, and the greater ftones, by putting it through acourfe fieve, then they wath it in atrough and lay it a drying ; which when fufiici- ently done, they feparate again by a finer fieve, the courfer part of itfromthe finer: the courfer ferves for wheting of thes, but the finer fort for fcouring pewter, for which purpofe it feems ‘tis fo very excellent, that the Retailers fell it fora penny a
pound,
Of OXFORD-SHIRE. 45 pound, which amounts to above twenty fhillings a bufhel.
23. Other fands there are alfo of very good ufe, to give a confiftency and body to gla/?; the naturally whireft are at Nert/e- bed and Shot-over, but the fineft by much at Finffock and Ledwell, which when waftied and cleanfed , at leaft equal the former. The firft of thefe has been tryed with fuccels at the Glafs-houfe at Henly : and any of the reft, perhaps, might prove as good Tarfo as any they have from hare or is ufed in ltaly, were they but in place where they might be tryed.
24. From Sands,1 proceed to Lapis arenarius, Pak led Free-ffone, and ufed in Building ; of which we have as great plenty and variety in Oxford-/bire, peradventure as in any other part of England. The Quarry at Heddington, {carce two miles from Oxford, fupplies us continually with a good fort of /fone, and fit for all ufes but that of fre; in which, that of Zeynton and Hornton excel it. Inthe Quarry it cuts very foft and eafie, and is worked accordingly forall forts of Building ; very porous,and fit to imbibe lime and fand, but hardening continually as it lies to the weather. | ag. Of itin general, there are two forts; one that they call Free-sfone, and the other Rag-flone: but thefe again are fubdi- vided into feveral /Pectes, according as they are cut or put to di- vers ufes. The Free-ftone,if cutcubically into vety great blocks, _isthenby way of eminence called nothing bat Free-flone ; but if cut into oblong, or other forts of /quares, of alefler bulk, they then call it A/fBler; and the fragments of thefe of inequilateral, multangular Figures, Scabble-burs. The two firft are ufed in principal Buildings, and thelaft, if {quared, is fomtimes mixed with A/Bler in Range-work, or by it felf in that they call Planten- workin the meaner Buildings: but when not fquared at all; is commonly thrown in amongft Rag-flone for walling; for which only, and making /ime, that fecond fort is good, except it rifes flat inthe bed, and then ’tis worth the while to hew it for paving.
26. Ot the fone afore-mentioned confifts the grofs of our Buildings ; but for Columns, Capitels, Bafes, Window-lights, Door- cafes, Cornifbing, Moiildinas, doc. in the chiefeft work they ufe Burford-ftone, which is whiter and harder, and carries by much a finer Arris, than that at Heddington: but yet is not fo hard as
K 2 that
46 The Natural Hiftory that at Zeynton, nor will it like that endure the fire, of which they make Mau/t-kills, and hearths for Ovens, but then they take care to furbed the ftone, i. e. fet it edg-ways, contrary to the pofture it had in the bed, for otherwife there will be fome danger of its flying.
27. Befide the fire, itendutes the weather, for of this mix- ed with another fort dug near Whately, on the Worcefter road fide, as it pafles betwixt Holton and Sir Timothy Tyrrills, are all the oldett Colleges in Oxford built ; as Baliol, Merton, Exeter, Queens, Canterbury (now part of Cb. Ch.) College, Durham (now Trinity) College, New College, Lincoln, All Souls, Magdalen, Brafen-nofe, and the outermoft Quadrangle of Sz. Zohn Bapt. Coll. yet it en- dures not the weather fo well as Heddington, by reafon, I fup- pofe, of afaltit has in it, which the weather in time plainly dif- folves, as may be feen by the Pinnacles of Mew College Chappel, made of this ftone, and thus melted away.
28. And yet the moifture of water has no fuch power over it, but that they make of it Troughs and Cifferns, and now of late Me/h-fats for Brewing ; firft hinted, ’tistrue, by Mr. Bayly of Ducklington, but prattifed by one Mr. Veyfey of Teynton, who had the firft made him by one Strong a Mafon, which it feems did an- {wer expectation fo well, that it has fince obtained in many other places. Of thefe, that generous and courteous Gentleman, Sir Compton Read of Shipton under Whichwood, has one that holds a- bout fixty five bufhels, drawn home with no lefs than one and twenty horfes ; they ordinarily me/d in it three quarters of Mault, but can, when at any time neceflity requires, me/d five at atime : the dimenfions of which Veflel of one fingle ftone, taken within the hollow and abating its thicknefs, becaufe of its vaft unufual magnitude, I thought fictonote, and give as followeth ;
long, 2 yards 3.
broad, 1 yard ;. and ‘an inch.
deep, 1 yard }. yet much larger than this might be had from the Quarry, were there ufefor them, or could portage be contrived; for as 1 was informed by many credible witnefles, there was one fingle ftone dug in this Quarry, containing .no lefs than three hundred tuns.
And another in the year 1673. meafured by Mr. Vey/ey, of an Aundred
of OXFORDS HIRE. a7 hundred and three tuns , accounting fixteen foot cubic to the tun,
29. Other Quarries there arealfo of confiderable ufe, as Bla- den, Little Milton, Barford, and Hornton, whereof the laft has the beft Fire-ftone of anyin the County; fomeof it feems to have Iron-colour’d veins, that receive (as have feen) a toler- able polifh, and is the sfone I mention’d before, whofe chippings (laid on it) improve their land, by reafon I fuppofe of the falt there isin it, which may alfo bethe caufe it endures jire fo well.
30. At Cornbury Park there was a fort of fone, the Quarry whereof is now quite exhaufted, that never would {weat in the moifteft weather, of which the pavement of the Ha//in the houfe there, ftill remains asa fufticient teftimony: of this, did it rife in great blocks, might poflibly have been made very good Mill- fiones, the not fweating being a principal qualification in all Stones whatever ufed for Corn-mills.
31. But before we take leave of materials for Building, we muft not forget that the Houfes are covered, for the moft part in Oxford-fbire (not with tiles) but /lat-/lone, whereof the lighteft, and that which imbibes the water leaft, is accounted the beft. And fuch is that which they have at Stunsfeld, where it is dug firft in thick cakes, about Michaelmafs time, or before, to lye all the winter and receive the frofts, which make it cleave in the (pring following into thinner plates, which otherwife it would not do fokindly, But at Bradwell (near the Grove) they dig a fort of flat-fione, naturally fuch, withoutthe help of winter, and fo ftrangely great, that fomtimes they have them of feven foot long, and five foot over: with thefe they commonly make mounds for their Clofes, and Ihave feen a {mall hovel, that for its whole co- vering has required no more than one of thefe stones > and fome of themare of fo hard and clofe a texture, that I have known them by Painters of very good kill, preferr’d before Marble for grinding their colours.
32. To fone ufed in Building they fomtimes add Lime, which becaufe for the moft part, is here made of flone, muft alfo be handled in this place ; for which they count the hardeft rag-/fone beft, butany will make it, fays the Learned Willis*, except fuch
4 De Ferment. cap. 10.
aS
78 The Natural Hiftory | as is made up of a reddifh kind of gravel: the beft fign of it here, as well asin Jreland, has been fufficiently hinted in the former Chapter, tobe that white and fbungy kind of matter, that fticks to the flones in the caverns of the Rocks, and fo plentifully found at Cornwell and Whately ; at Hanborough, Fawler, and in Cornbury Park. Notbut thatvery good Lime may be had from ftone that fhews not the leaft of this fign, as at Bladen Quarry, and many other places, but that none makes better then the ftone that has it ; except hereafter it may be found true here, what Lachmund © aflerts of the Bifboprick, of Hildefbeim, where the beft (he fays) is made of the hardeft ftone, quod varia in fe Conchylia continet, fet full of petrified fhell-fith: for if fo, our beft Lime- fione muft be at Charleton and Langley ; at Little Milton, and Shot- over Forres#, inthe Quarry there on the north fide of the Hill, not far from the way to Sir Timothy Tyrrills;, at all which places, the ftone is ftuck full of Cockles, Efcallops, and Opsters, of which more anon in the following Chapter.
33. Befide the ftone that is ufed for the fubfance, there is o- ther that ferves for the ornament of Building, a fort of gray Marble dug inthe Parifh of Blechington, in the Lordfhip of the Right Honorable Arthur Earl of Anglefey, Lord Privy Seal: Of this there are feveral Chimny-pieces and Pavements, in his Lord- foips Houfe there, well worth the notice; as alfo at the Right Honorable the Earl of Clarendon’s at Cornbury. And of this are the Pillars of the Portico’s at St. 7obns € ollege in Oxford. They make befide of it Zomb-sStones and Tables, and of late alfo Mill- fiones, good enough for the Oyl-mills ; but not for the Corn-mills, becaufe of its fuppofed fweating, to which this is fubje&t in rainy weather, like all other Marbles.
34. Some other /fones there are of inferior ufe, which yet muft by no means be paft by in filence ; whereof I know onefo like the Tripoli-fione, in colour, confiftence, and for all its ufes, that I~ cannot but think it of the very fame kind: to /lver it gave that very lafting brightnefs, that another piece of Plate that was try- — ed againft it, receiv’d from the Gold-fmiths Tripoli-fione, and proved tt felf in all refpeéts fo much the very fame ; that would any thing pleafe us not far fetch’d, perhaps there might be no fur- ther need of fending any more to Africa for it.
© Lach.’Opvamyeghic, Sect. 3. ¢ap. i.
35. Nor
Of OXFORDSHIRE. 49
35. Nor mutt I forget