ADVERTISEMENT. FROM the great quantity of important Matter which connects itself with the History of the Metropolis, it has been found impossible to confine the SURVEY OF MIDDLESEX to the limits originally proposed. It is therefore intended to appropri ate Two Parts, or Volumes, to the Description of that County; the first of which is now offered to the attention of the Public ; and it may be necessary to state, that both this and the ensuing Volume, which will complete the Account of Middlesex, will be sold separately from the rest of the Work. On this principle, and for the conveniency of those who may wish to purchase the LONDON AND MIDDLESEX, a distinct Title-page is inserted in the present Number, and a proper Vignette and engraved Title will be given hereafter. From the same motives, and for the more easy reference, three Indexes are annexed, viz. of Names, Places, and general Events. In the following Volume, in addition to the proper Indexes, a List of Plates, with the requisite pages for placing them, will be given; together with a further Catalogue of those Publications that more immediately concern the Subjects of this Survey. The continued Illness of the Author, an Illness of several successive Years, and from which, till the present Summer, recovery had long seemed hopeless to him, has occasioned great Delay and irregularity in the Publication of the different Numbers of this Volume. That the next will be finished with greater rapidity, strong hopes are entertained, and the Subscribers are respectfully assured that nothing except indisposition shall be suffered to retard its regular Completion. Newman-Street, } E. W. BRAYLEY. ** The BOOK-BINDER is particularly requested to cancel the pp. 285, 286; 373, and 374, and to substitute the corresponding leaves in the present Number; and also to be careful. in putting the Plates at the End of the Volume, till the proper list is given. THE BEAUTIES OF England and Wales. PREVIOUS MIDDLESEX. IOUS to the Roman Invasion, MIDDLESEX was included in the district inhabited by the Trinobantes, or Trinovantes, who probably obtained that name from the situation of their country on the borders of the broad expanse of water formed by the Thames. Thus the Britons of the south would have given the appellation Tranovant to the Country beyond the Stream; and its inhabitants would have been called Tranovanti, Tranovantwyr, and TRANOVANTWYS, which, by an easy corruption, would, by the Romans, be pronounced Trinobantes. This tribe possessed two considerable cities, or fortified places; of which the ' eminence between the Thames and the Fleet-brook,' the centre of modern London, was the site of one: the other, and most important at that early era, was Camalodunum, now Colchester, in Essex. The Trinobantes were the first to submit to the Roman arms, to which they were induced by intestine divisions, that had originated among the native Princes some years prior to the expeditions of Cæsar. After the complete subjugation of the Island, this county was included in the division named FLAVIA CESARIENSIS; and Londinium, or Augusta, now London, became a principal Roman station, though it was not dignified with the name of a colony. This county derives its name from its relative situation to the three ancient surrounding kingdoms of the East, West, and South, SAXONS; of the first of which, that is, East-Sex, or Essex, it formed a part for about three centuries previous to the dissolution VOL. X. A of of the Heptarchy. Its shape is very irregular, but, on the whole, approaches to that of the quadrangle: on the northern side it projects considerably into Hertfordshire, where its boundaries are principally artificial; on the southern side it is separated from Surrey by an imaginary line drawn down the middle of the river Thames; ou the west it is divided from Buckinghamshire by the river Colne; and on the east from Essex by the Lea River. Its greatest extent, from east to west, is about twenty-three miles; its greatest breadth, from north to south, about seventeen. Were its figure, says Mr. Middleton, "reduced to a regular parallelogram, of equal superficies, the medium length and width would be about twenty miles by fourteen; and consequently, it contains 280 square miles, or 179,200 acres." By others its superficial . contents have been estimated at nearly 218,000 acres. MIDDLESEX, "from its gently waving surface, is particularly suited to the general purposes of agriculture, it being sufficiently sloping to secure a proper drainage, and at the same time, without those abrupt elevations, which in some places so much increase the labour and expense of tillage; and from its being entirely free from large stones, those powerful enemies to the free operations of the plough." The inequalities of the surface contribute to health, ornament and beauty; though but few parts of the county can be considered as eminently picturesque. For the most part, the ground rises from the banks of the Thames towards the north; and within a few miles from London, a range of gently swelling eminences, of which Hampstead, Highgate, and Muswell Hill, are the chief, protects the Metropolis from the northern blasts, and agreeably breaks the uniformity of the horizon. These heights afford many very pleasing and extensive prospects; and some equally extended views may be seen from the top of Harrow Hill; which, from rising in a sort of insulated manner, forms a prominent object for many miles round. This eminence is detached from a yet higher and more extensive ridge, which stretches north-eastward in interrupted swells from Pinner, Stanmore, Elstree, View of the Agriculture of Middlesex, 2nd Edit. p. 2. + Ibid. tree, Totteridge, and Barnet, to the forest scenery of Enfield Chase. The average height of these hills is about 400 feet above the level of the Thames: the southern sides are always the most productive. The banks of the Thames, Colne and Lea Rivers, and generally of the smaller streams belonging to this county, present a series of luxuriant meadows, principally composed of a rich loamy soil. Those which lie contiguous to the river Thames, are occupied, to an extent of many miles, by gardeners and nurserymen, who cultivate an immense quantity of vegetables and fruits for the supply of London and its neighbourhood. "All the land to the south of the road passing from Brentford through Hounslow to Longford, is so nearly level, as to have no more than a proper drainage; and much the greater part is less than ten feet above the surface of the River at Staines Bridge, and not more than from three to five feet above the level of the rivulets flowing through this district. From Staines, through Ashford and Hanworth Commons, to Twickenham, a distance of seven miles and a half, is a perfect level, and generally of from ten to twenty feet above the surface of the Thames."* This is a well cultivated county; the most unproductive parts are Hounslow Heath, Finchley Common, and Enfield Chase. The vast quantities of manure procured from the Metropolis, have been of great service in improving the land; and from this cause it is, that the produce is some weeks earlier within a few miles immediately contiguous to London, than at a more considerable distance. Norden says, in his Speculum Britanie, "the soil of Middlesex is excellent fat and fertile, and full of profite: it yieldeth corne and graine, not onlie in abundance, but most excellent good wheate, especially about Heston, which place may be called Granarium tritici regalis, for the singularitie of the corne. The vaine of this especiall corn seemeth to extend from Heston to A 2 Harrow Middleton's View, p. 23. + The wheat of Heston was so famous, that Queen Elizabeth, as is reported, had the most part of her provision from that place, for manchet for her Highness's own diet.' |