As a fpecimen of the defcription of Berkshire, we shall take part of what the authors fay of Reading.

"Reading has had a market of much note, from time immemorial. It is a great mart for corn, of which 50,000 quarters are faid to be fold annually. The chief corn market is on Saturday. The Wednesday's market is chiefly for butchers' meat, and other provifions. There are four annual fairs, Feb. 2, May 1, July 25, and Sept. 21. Many thousand tons of cheese are brought to the September fair, from the dairy country, and fold in the Forbery. The fair, on the 25th of July, (St. James's day,) was granted by a charter of King Henry II. The founder granted the abbot and convent a fair, at the feftival of St. Lawrence, (Auguft 10,) now difufed. A new markethoufe has lately been built for the fale of butchers' meat and vegetables.

"The clothing manufacture is faid to have been introduced at Reading fo early as the reign of Edward I. and many stories are told of Thomas Cole, a rich clothier of that period; it is certain that it flourished in this town, during the 15th and 16th centuries in the civil war it fell to decay, and never revived. There is now no manufacture of any confequence carried on at Reading; but it is a place of great trade, which has of late years been much increased by the navigable canal, brought thither from Newbury. There are feveral excellent wharfs on the Kennet. The principal articles of exportation are hoops, bark, wool, corn, malt, and flour. The malting trade is very extenfive, and it is faid that upwards of 20,000 facks of flour are fent annually to the metropolis. The high bridge over the Kennet was rebuilt in 1785; the fame year the town was paved by act of parliament. The ftreets are, for the moft part, fpacious

and well built.

"The manor of Reading was given to the abbot and convent by the founder's charter. After the diffolution, it was for fome time in the crown, was fettled on Anne of Denmark, Queen of James I. as part of her jointure, and, after her death, on Charles, Prince of Wales; who, fome years after he came to the throne, granted all manerial rights and privileges appertaining to the borough to the corporation.

"The manor of Colley, or Coley, was at an early period in the Vachells, an ancient family, who appear to have refided at Reading as early as the year 1309. John Vachell was one of the knights of the fhire in 1324: his grandfon, or great grandfon, fettled at Coley; and it continued in his defcendants + till

* "Anno 1638."

the

+ "It is probable, they were tenants of the abbey: after the diffolution, (anno 1544), Henry VIII. granted to Thomas

Vachell

the death of Tanfield Vachell efq. one of the reprefentatives in parliament for the borough of Reading, which happened in 1705. After this, Coley came by purchase to Colonel Thompson, whofe daughter brought it in marriage to Sir Philip Jennings Clerk. It became afterwards, by purchafe, the property of William Chamberlayne efq. late folicitor to the treafury, whofe fon has lately fold it to John Mac Connell efq. Coley-houfe, the family feat of the Vachells, was for a few days the refidence of King Charles I. during the civil war *.

"The manor of Whitley, a confiderable eftate in the parish of St. Giles, which had belonged to the abbey of Reading, was granted by Queen Mary to Sir Francis Englefield; became afterwards the property of the Vachells; was included in Colonel Thompson's purchase of the eftates of that family, and has from him defcended to the prefent proprietor, Mifs Frances Jennings.

"Whitley-Park (the abbot's park, mentioned by Leland, as being at the entrance of Reading town) was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Francis Knollys. It was afterwards a feat of the Kendricks; William Kendrick efq. of Whitley, was created a baronet in 1679: the title is extinct. Whitley-Park is now the property of Sir William Johnfon bart.

"The manor of Southcote, a hamlet in the parish of St. Mary, has belonged, for more than two centuries, to the family of Blagrave. The manor-houfe was built by John Blagrave, the mathematician: it is probable, that he purchased the manor of the Windfors, who pelle fed it as early as the year 1558 +. At a much earlier period it seems to have been in the family of Belet. Michael Belet had free-warren in Southcote in 1338. During the civil war, Southcote was the refidence of Sir John Blagrave, nephew to the mathematician, at whofe houfe the Earl of Effex is fuppofed to have been posted on his advance to the fiege of Reading. Daniel Blagrave, his younger brother, represented the borough of Reading in parliament; he was one of the judges of King Charles I. and, upon the Reftoration, fecured his fafety by flight the family is now extinct in the male line. The manor and manfion of Southcote, now unoccupied, are the property of John Blagrave efq. of Calcot, in the parish of Tyle hurft, who married a daughter of the late Anthony Blagrave, of Southcote, the laft heir male of that family. Mr. Blagrave,

Vachell efq. all the abbot and convent's lands in Coley, of which, by the name of the manor of Coley, he is stated to have died feifed in 1554. The defcendants of Mr. Vachell removed, after the fale of Coley, to Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire." * "See p. 332. "Efch. Ph. and Mary."

K

"Cart. 12 Edw. III."

BRIT. CRIT, VOL. XXVIII. AUG. 1806.

of

of Calcot, was the fon of Thomas Blagrave efq. of Watchfeld, in Shrivenham, and, it is probable, was defcended from a family of that name, who, at an early period, poffeffed the manor of Blagrave, in Lambourn. The Blagraves, of Southcote, are faid to have been defcended from a Staffordshire family.

"The manor or farm of Battle, in the parish of St. Lawrence, which had belonged to Reading abbey, was granted to Sir Francis Knollys, in whofe family it continued, in a direct line, till the death of the late Sir Francis Knollys, of Fern-Hill, near Windfor. It is now the property of Francis Knollys efq. late Francis Prankard, who fucceeded in eftablishing his claim to the eftates of Sir Francis, as the nearest of kin, in the female line, and has fince taken the family name.

"There are three parish churches in the town of Reading, St. Lawrence's, St. Mary's, and St. Giles's.

"St. Lawrence's church appears to have been rebuilt, or confiderably repaired, in 1434. Among the relicks belonging to this church in 1517, was "a gridiron of filver, gilt, with a bone of St. Lawrence therein, weighing three quarters of an ounce, the gift of Thomas Lynd efq." In this church lies buried John Blagrave, the celebrated mathematician, author of the Mathematical Jewell, and other works, for which he engraved the plates himself; he died in 1611: his monument has his effigies, a half length, under an arch, habited in a cloak and ruff, holding a globe in one hand, and a quadrant in the other; underneath is the following infcription:

"Johannes Blagravus,

Totus Mathematicus,
Cum matre fepultus."

which he directed by his will: his heirs added fome very indif. ferent English verfes. Mr. Blagrave bequeathed 1ool. for the purpofe of making a colonnade on the fouth fide of the church, which was performed by the corporation, pursuant to his intentions in 1619, as appears by an infcription, in which the donor is ftyled, "Generofus mathefiofque encomiis celeberrimus." The church contains no other monument worthy of notice. There are a few memorials for the Hungerfords, of Wiltshire, and a quaint epitaph on a mural monument in the chancel, to the me mory of Richard Fynnemore, or Finmore, brother, it is probable, of William Finmore, who lies buried at North Hinkley *; and it seems to have been composed by the fame hand who wrote the infcription on his monument: "Under thy feet, reader, lie the remains of Richard Fynnemore, his father's Benjamin, and his brother's Jofeph; who, coming from Oxon to the burial of a friend, found here his own grave, Feb. 6, 1664.”

"St. Lawrence's is a vicarage without either tithes or glebe; before the reformation the vicar had his lodging in the abbey, the fame allowance of bread and beer as the monks, feven-pence a week for his commons, 20s. yearly for his cloathing, a certain portion of dues and oblations, and a horse kept for him in the abbey ftables. The vicar's income now arifes from the rent of pews, cafual emoluments, and a few fmall benefactions. In 1640, the patronage was given by King Charles I. through the intereft of Archbishop Laud, to the prefident and fcholars of St. John's College in Oxford. Dr. John Pordage, who was vicar of St. Lawrence in 1645 and 1646, was an enthusiast of much celebrity, Baxter places him at the head of the Behmenifts; his fon Samuel was a dramatic poet: Thomas Gilbert and Simon Ford, his fucceffors in the vicarage of St. Lawrence, were both writers; but their publications were not of much importance.

"The chapel of St. Edmund in this parish, near the weft end of Friar-ftreet, was built in 1204 by Lawrence Burgefs, bailiff of Reading, by permiffion of the abbot, on condition of his giving an endowment for its fupport; the founder built a hermitage near it, in which he died. This chapel was defecrated in the time of Abbot Thorne, as appears by a memorial pre fented against him, in 1479, to King Edward IV. for various inftances of mifconduct: the memorial ftates, that this chapel, wherein were laid the bones of many Christian people, was then become a barn; it does not appear that it was ever restored to its former facred ufe. In 1546 it was reprefented in a furvey as a barn very neceffary for the king's farm of Battle; this barn was tanding about 40 years ago.

"In the church-wardens' accounts for this parish, which begin in the reign of Henry VII. are many very curious entries, from which the following are felected; fome of thefe are not printed among the copious extracts made by Mr. Coates for his Hiftory of Reading.

"1499. Payed for horfemete for the horfys for the kynges of Colen, on May-day, 6d.

To mynftrells the fame day 12d.

"1507. Paid for brede, ale, and beer, that longyd to the playe in the Forbery.

Received Sunday before Bartholomew day for the play in the Forbery, 23s. 8d.

"1514. Payd for a gallon of ale, for the ringers at the death of the king of Scots, zd.

"1516. Received of the young men for the kyng play, 43s. 11d.

"1518. of the tree of the kyng play, late ftonding in the mercat place, 12d.

"1528. Received of the kyng game at Whytfontide, 42s. 9d. $5 1541.

"1541. Paid to Loreman for playing the p'phett (prophet) on Palm Sunday, 2d.

1543. Paid for horfe heyr to the dean, and for his labour to play the play in th' abbaye."

"It appears that, fo lately as Queen Elizabeth's reign, the church-wardens made gatherings at the king's ale. Thefe extracts illuftrate what is called the king-game, or Kingham, in the church-wardens' accounts at Kingston upon Thames *. The kings of Cologne are, by a legend of the Romish church, fuppofed to be the wife men who made their offerings to the infant Jefus, and afterwards travelled to Cologne, where they were all buried this legend gave rife to a kind of rude drama, which feems to have been a great favourite both before and after the Reformation. The king play is mentioned alfo in the churchwardens' account for the parish of St. Giles: thofe for the parish of St. Mary make mention of gatherings at May-games and morrice dances, and at Hoctyde.

:

"St. Mary's church was rebuilt about the year 1551; moft of the materials for that purpofe were purchafed from the abbeychurch, then pulled down. In this church is no monument worthy of notice, excepting that of William Kenrick, or Kendrick, faid to be defcended from the Saxon kings; he was brother of John Kendrick, the great benefactor to this town, and grandfather, it is probable, of Sir William Kendrick, created a baronet in 1679; the monument is the work of John and Matthias Christmas, two brothers, who were artists of fome eminence in the reign of King Charles I.

"Sir Francis Englefield having, in 1545, purchafed the impropriate rectories of this parish and St. Giles's, with that of the neighbouring parish of Tylchurft, gave them, in 1556, to their refpective churches for the celebration of maffes and obits; for which reafon they became forfeited to the crown, in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1573 the queen granted the great and fmall tithes of St. Mary's and St. Giles's to the ref pective vicars of the feveral parishes and their fucceffors. thefe endowed vicarages are in the gift of the crown.

"Chriftopher Fowler, vicar of St. Mary's, who was ejected for nonconformity in 1662, wrote feveral controversial tracts; his fucceffor, Peter Mews, who had been an officer in the royal. army, was afterwards bishop of Winchefter: after his promotion to that fee he did fignal fervice in his old profeffion, having the command of the artillery in the battle fought with the Duke of Monmouth's army at Sedgmoor. He quitted this vicarage in 1667, being fucceeded by Dr. William Lloyd, afterwards bishop

* "See Environs of London, vol. I.”

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