A WALK THROUGH _LEICESTER_; BEING A GUIDE TO STRANGERS, CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN AND ITS ENVIRONS, WITH REMARKS UPON ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 

 "Within this hour it will be dinner-time, Till that I'll view the manners of the town, Peruse its traders, gaze upon its buildings, And then return and sleep within mine inn. "

 SHAKESPEARE. 

 LEICESTER, PRINTED BY T. COMBE, AND SOLD BY T. HURST, PATER-NOSTER-ROW, LONDON, 1804. 

ADDRESS. 

The Editor of the following pages, while he has been solicitous tofurnish those who _travel_ with a POCKET CICERONE, feels at the same timea wish that it may not be unacceptable to those who are _at home_. Thelatter, though, in the subject of this survey, they trace an old, afamiliar scene, will still feel that it possesses that interest which thenative spot binds around the mind, and when they point out to theirintelligent visitors and curious friends the most memorable objects oftheir antient and honourable Town, it is his wish that this littlecompanion may be found useful; he, therefore, while he rejoices in theirsupport and feels their liberality, inscribes it with respect andgratitude, to the

 INHABITANTS OF LEICESTER. 

A WALKTHROUGH_LEICESTER_. 

To the traveller who may wish to visit whatever is deemed most worthy ofnotice in the town of Leicester, the following sketch is devoted. And asthe highly cultivated state of topographical knowledge renderssuperficial remark unpardonable in local description, we shall endeavorto produce, at the various objects of our visit, such information andreflections as a conductor, not wholly uninformed, may be expected tooffer to the curious and intelligent, while he guides him through alarge, commercial, and, we trust, a respectable town; the capital of aprovince which can honestly boast, that by its rich pasturage, its flocksand herds, it supplies England with the blessings of agriculturalfertility; and by the industry of its frame-work-knitters, affords anarticle that quickens and extends the operations of commerce. 

We now request our good-humoured stranger to accept of such our guidance;whether he be the tourist, whose object of inquiry is generalinformation--or the man of reflection, who, wherever he goes, whether incrouded towns or solitary fields, finds something to engage hismeditation--or the mercantile rider, who, when the business of hiscommissions is transacted, quits his lonely parlour for a stroll throughthe streets--we shall endeavor to bring before his eye as much ofinterest as our scenes will afford: and as for the diligent antiquary, weassure him we will make the most of our Roman remains; and we hope hewill not quarrel with the rough forest stones of our streets, when wepromise him they shall conduct him to the smoother pavement of Romanmosaic. 

What may have been the name of the town we are about to traverse, beforethe establishment of the Romans, cannot be ascertained; for the Britonshad no written monuments, and it cannot be expected that tradition shouldhave survived the revolutions, which, since that period, have taken placein this island. King Leir, and whatever surmises may have been foundedon the similarity between his name and the present name of the place, maysafely be left to those who are more fond of the flights of conjecturethan the solid arguments of truth. 

After the establishment of the Romans, Leicester became one of their mostimportant stations; was known, we are well assured, by the name of RATAE, and was a colony, composed of the soldiers from the legions, havingmagistrates, manners, and language the same as Rome itself. Under theSaxon dynasty it obtained the name of LEICESTER, compounded of _castrum_, or _cester_, from its having been a Roman military station, and _leag_, or _lea_, a pasture surrounded by woods, for such was antiently the sciteof the town. This name it has preserved, with less alteration in themode of spelling than almost any other town in the kingdom, through thebarbarous reigns of the Saxon kings, the oppressive system of the feudaltimes, the dark gloom of monkish superstition, and the fatal revolutionsoccasioned by the civil commotions of later ages. 

Such is, most probably, the true etymology of the name of the place weare now proceeding to survey; for which purpose we will suppose thevisitor to set forward from the Three Crowns Inn, along a strait widestreet, called

GALLOWTREE-GATE, (corruptly pronounced _Goltre_), from its having formerly led to theplace of execution, the left side of which is the scite of the antientcity walls. 

At the bottom of this street, a building, formerly the assembly-room, butnow converted to purposes of trade, with a piazza, under which is amachine for weighing coals, forms the centre of five considerablestreets. The

HUMBERSTONE-GATE, on the right, leads to a range of new and handsome dwellings, calledSPA-PLACE, from a chalybeate spring found there, which, though furnishedby the proprietor with neat marble baths and every convenient appendagefor bathing, has not been found sufficiently impregnated with mineralproperties to bring it into use. The Humberstone-Gate is out of thelocal limits of the borough, and subject to the concurrent jurisdictionof the county and borough magistrates; though in the reigns of Edward VI. And Elizabeth, attempts were made to bring it exclusively under themagisterial power of the town. It is part of the manor possessed by theBishops of Lincoln, in the twelfth century, and is still called the_Bishops' Fee_. 

Southward from the Humberstone-Gate to the Goltre-Gate, very considerableadditions, consisting of several streets, have lately been made to thetown. 

Advancing forward, the visitor, on passing the weighing machine, entersthe

BELGRAVE-GATE, a street of considerable extent, in the broader part of which stands whatmay justly be deemed one of the most valuable curiosities of the place;it is a _milliare_, or Roman mile-stone, forming part of a small obelisk. This stone was discovered in 1771, by some workmen, digging to form arampart for a new turnpike-road from Leicester to Melton, upon the fossroad leading to Newark, and at the distance of two miles from Leicester. Antiquarians allow it to be the oldest _milliare_ now extant in Britain;and perhaps the inscription upon it is older than most others that havebeen found upon altars, or other monuments of Roman antiquity in thisisland. It is about three feet long, and between five and six incircumference. The inscription, when the abbreviations are filled up, may be read thus--

 Imperator Caesar, Divi Trajani Parthici Filius Divus, Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus, Potestate IV. Consulatu III. A Ratis II. 

 Hadrian Trajanus Augustus, Emperor & Caesar, the son of the most illustrious Trajan Parthicus, In the 4th year of his reign, and his 3d consulate. From Ratae (Leicester) 2 miles. 

Such is the inscription on this _milliare_, which our industriousantiquaries seem faithfully to have extracted from among the ruins oftime and the injuries of accident; an object, which exhibits a curiousinstance of the civilization introduced by the Roman arms into thisisland; for the erection of marks to denote the distance from place toplace, is an accommodation, at least to the travelling stranger, whichunpolished nations never devised; and which the inhabitants of Britainnever generally enjoyed from the final departure of the Roman legions, till the last century, when mile-stones were again erected along ourprincipal turnpike roads. The unlearned visitor, it is confessed, willbe apt to view, with some degree of disappointment, the object of whichwe are speaking, and about which much busy conjecture, and learnedantiquarian research has been employed; for indeed, its appearance isneither singular nor striking, the engraving being but slight, and theletters rudely formed. But the ingenious observer will esteem it avaluable curiosity; not only because it clears up the long doubtedquestion, whether the RATAE of Antoninus's Itinerary was the presentLeicester, but because it is one of those objects which assist thereflecting mind in connecting the past with the present; and, byconfirming from sensible evidence the records of history, give greaterweight and effect to the lessons she may teach. 

The situation in which this stone is at present placed, has often beenthought improper; for it is undoubtedly exposed to injuries from thewantonness of play, and is so little conspicuous from its place in theobelisk, that nothing appears necessarily to attract the attention of thestranger. A situation more private, though not wholly so, would be moreproper; such a one as the garden of the Infirmary would afford: it wouldthere have all the publicity the curious could wish, and all the securitythe antiquary could desire. 

Our visitor, continuing his walk along this street, which, as he probablywill know, is on the great road from the metropolis to the north-westpart of the kingdom, arrives at a scene of busy traffic. Here, amongnumbers of newly-erected dwellings (proofs of the increasing populationof the town) is the public and principal wharf on the navigable canal, near which is an iron foundery. This canal was formed, in consequence ofa bill passed in 1791, for the purpose of opening a communication withthe Loughborough canal, and through that, with the various navigations, united to the Trent. The line of the canal from Leicester toLoughborough is near sixteen miles in extent, and serves to supplyLeicester with coal, lime, and the greater part of all the other heavyarticles, which the consumption of a place, containing sixteen thousandinhabitants, requires. 

The rates of tonnage, according to the act, from Loughborough toLeicester, are--

For coals 1s. 2d. Per ton. Iron, timber, &c. 2s. 6d. 

Quantity of the articles brought by this canal:

 _tons_Coal annually consumed in Leicester and its vicinity 35, 000Ditto forwarded to other canals 18, 000Merchandize for Leicester 4, 000Ditto sent down (chiefly wool) 1, 600

Thus, whether we consider the saving of corn, &c. Consumed by the horsesemployed in land carriage, the comparative cheapness of the conveyance, or the improved state of our roads, relieved from such heavy weights, itmust be acknowledged that this canal adds more than might have beenexpected to the convenience of Leicester, and the greater part of itscounty. Indeed, these _water-roads_, as navigable canals may be termed, reflect the greatest honour on the ingenuity of man, exemplified in theirformation, and prove most strikingly to the thinking mind, how boundlessare the advantages of civilized life, and how inviolable the securityafforded to property by laws, wisely framed and judiciously enforced. 

The view from this spot, across the Abbey Meadow, extending on theopposite side of the canal, with the ruins of the Devonshire mansion, commonly termed the _Abbey_, from its being the scite of _St. Mary dePratis_, will, by most visitors, be considered, at least, as verypleasing; but as we mean to conduct our traveller to that place, weshall, at present, forbear to particularize it. 

We shall immediately, along a lane, called Arch-deacon's Lane, about themiddle of which is a Meeting house, with a small burial ground, belongingto the General Baptists, guide our stranger to

ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH. 

This structure is rendered venerable by its tower, whose pinnacles andtrefoil-work, with the niche, or tabernacle, on the corner of the southwall of the church, would have even shown it, had not its date beenconfirmed by Bishop Alnwicke's register, 1441, to have been the work ofthe era of the regular gothic. From this tower, a ring of ten bells, well known for their excellence, sound in frequent peals of harmony alongthe meadow and river below. 

This, when the other churches of Leicester were given to the abbey byRobert Bossu, was annexed as a prebend to the cathedral of Lincoln, bythe bishops of that diocese to whom it then belonged. The right ofpresentation is vested in the person holding the prebend, and the parish, with the neighbouring dependent parish of Knighton, is exempted from thejurisdiction of the Arch-deacon of Leicester. The inside of the churchis handsome; the nave and side aisles are supported by gothic arches, whose beauty and symmetry are not concealed by aukward galleries. Theorgan was erected by the parishioners in 1773. 

Several elegant modern monuments adorn the walls, and in the north aisleis the alabaster tomb of Bishop Penny, many years abbot of theneighbouring monastery of St Mary de Pratis. In the church-yard themilitary trophies of a black tomb commemorate Andrew Lord Rollo. Thisnobleman was an instance of the attraction which a martial life affordsto an elevated mind, for he entered the service at the age of forty, whengenerally the habits and inclinations of life are so fixed, as scarcelyto admit any change. After many years of severe and dangerous services, he died at Leicester, as the inscription informs us, on his way toBristol, for the recovery of his health, 1765. 

It is to be observed of this and the other churches in this place, thatthe entrance is by a descent of several steps; a circumstance provingincontestibly, that the ground without has been considerably raised, since no reason could induce the founders of these sacred edifices tosink the floors beyond the natural level; nor is the surface of thechurch-yards alone, higher than the floors of the churches; so caused bythe continued interment of the dead: but the general level of thepavements of the streets is also higher; from which it must be inferred, that the ground on which the present houses are built has been everywhere raised, and that very considerably. That the rubbish produced bybuildings, and particularly the consumption of fuel, should produce thiseffect, is what any one may readily believe; and the Bishop of Llandaffcalculates in his Chemical Essays, that the quantity of coal consumedannually in London, would raise an area of ten miles square, a full inch. 

But notwithstanding it may safely be affirmed that a much greaterquantity of fuel is at present consumed, and more rubbish producedannually in Leicester, than at any other period whatever, yet the seemingparadox may easily be proved, that little, if any alteration in the levelof the town is made now. For the demand of all the refuse of the yardsfor the purposes of agriculture, and the ordinary attention paid tosweeping the streets, prevent any accumulation of soil: the change oflevel then, of which our churches afford such indubitable proofs, canonly have taken place when the streets were unpaved, and made thereceptacle of every kind of offal from the houses; and when the yards, uncleared for the purposes of improved agriculture, were choaked byaccumulated filth; the whole almost ever yielding in abundance thosenoxious steams, the loathsome parent of pestilences, which, in formerdays, frequently proved the scourges of our larger towns, and too oftenspread their contagion to the villages. Hence the entrance into ourchurches, among other good sentiments, may excite in the reflective minda gratitude for the improved comforts the inhabitants of large towns nowenjoy; and the same circumstances may also call forth the exertions ofbenevolence to promote still greater cleanliness, and to remove from thehabitations of man those effects of filthiness, which, in proportion totheir extent, are always offensive, and sometimes fatal. 

Westward from this church-yard, extends a street strait and wide, butmeanly built, called

SANVY-GATE. 

Here nothing can be traced worthy of observation, except the etymologiststops to glean the remark that _Sanvy_ is derived from _sancta via_, theantient name of the street, so denominated from the solemn processionthat passed through it on Whitsun Monday, in its way from St. Mary's toSt. Margaret's. In this procession the image of the Virgin was carriedunder a canopy, with an attendant minstrel and harp, accompanied byrepresentatives of the twelve apostles, each denoted by the name of thesacred character he personated, written on parchment, fixed to hisbonnet; these were followed by persons bearing banners, and the virginsof the parish. Among other oblations they presented in St. Margaret'sChurch two pair of gloves; one for the Deity, and one for St. Thomas ofIndia. 

The stranger, having visited St. Margaret's Church, may proceed up the

CHURCH-GATE, about the middle of which he will pass through an area of about an acreand a half, the property of Sir Nigel Gresley, Bart. Now used as a woodyard; but formerly given by Queen Elizabeth to the freemen of Leicester, for the practice of public sports, and especially archery; whence, fromthe butts, or shooting marks erected in it, it is called _Butt-close_. 

There is good reason to believe that plots of ground were once destinedto the like purposes in almost every village, and butts erected for thepractice of that art, to which several of the most important victories ofthe English were certainly owing. The use of the _arbalest_, orcross-bow, was certainly very antient in Europe, and was the weapon thatproved fatal to Harold at the battle of Hastings: but the long bow wasnot familiar to the English, or, perhaps, not known in Europe, till thereturn of Edward the First from the Holy Land, where he became sensibleof its superior advantages from his conflicts with the Saracens. 

From this period till the time of Charles the First, frequent orders wereissued by the kings, and acts of parliament were passed, enforcing andregulating the exercise of the long bow. Persons of all ages, from sevenyears old and upwards, were obliged by penalties to appear at statedtimes, each with his bow of a length equal to his own height, and, atleast, a brace of arrows, to try his skill and strength before the buttsnear their respective places of residence; and by a statute of Henry theEighth, no one under twenty-four was allowed to shoot at any mark, at aless distance than eleven score, or 220 yards, a distance of greaterlength than our _Butt-close_ is at present; yet it is certain that theadjoining orchard once formed part of it, and other encroachments mayhave been made on it, probably at the north end. 

The great execution that may be done by the bow, from the rapidity of itsdischarges, and the confusion a flight of arrows is likely to occasion, especially among cavalry, has inclined some to contend that it is aweapon in excellence superior to the musket. But the difficulty ofprocuring, in any great quantity, the proper wood for the formation ofbows, the expense of arrows, and, above all, the long practice andtraining, even from infancy, necessary to form an archer capable ofdrawing _an arrow a cloth-yard long_, {23} will ever secure thepreference to the latter weapon, which, though as commonly used, perhapsless certain of hitting the mark, is however capable of doing muchexecution at double the distance to which the bow will carry {24}. 

Crossing the Butt-close, to the alley on the right, we pass the_Presbyterian_, or GREAT MEETING HOUSE, built, as appears by a date onthe walls, 1708; the congregation of which was first established in 1680. The seats are calculated to accommodate eight hundred persons. An organwas erected here in 1800, a valuable advantage to the choir, who form amusical society, cultivated with great care, and justly celebrated forits excellence. 

In an opposite lane, now called Causeway-lane, but formerly St. John's, leading to the Town Goal, the scite of St. John's Chapel, is a smallplace of worship appropriated to the service of the _Romish Church_. Itis secluded from observation, being situated behind the house of theofficiating priest, and is a neat miniature representation of thepeculiar decorations with which the members of that religion adorn theplaces where they offer up their public devotions. 

Opposite the Great Meeting is a Meeting House newly erected by a societyof_ Independents_, which will seat six hundred persons; and in theadjoining lane, which has undergone a nominal degeneracy from _St. Peter's_ to _Woman's Lane_, is another, erected 1803, by a societycalling themselves _Episcopalian Baptists_. Between these two latterbuildings, is an area used as a _Bowling Green_, and _Tea Garden_, withmany small structures erected for the general purposes of amusement; itis known by the name of the _New Vauxhall_. Among this variousassemblage of edifices stands one, which from its size will attract theattention of visitors; it is a spacious House for the reception ofLunatics, under the direction of Dr. Arnold. From hence we pass anirregular street, now called the

SWINE MARKET, formerly _Parchment Lane_; which may afford interest to the mind tho' notto the eye; for the reflective Traveller will not regard as unimportantthe humble dwellings of those Manufacturers whose industry supplies thecommercial wealth of the nation. 

From this street we arrive at a spot still called the

EAST-GATES, tho the gates of the ancient town were, some years ago, taken down torender the passage more commodious. In the massy wood of these gateswere found balls of a large size, which probably had lodged there eversince the assault made upon the town by king Charles's forces in 1695, when according to a note in the pocket-book of one Simmonds, aquarter-master in the King's army, which is now preserved in the Harleianlibrary, "Col. Bard's Tertia fell on with scaling ladders, some near aflanker, and others scaled the horne work before the draw-bridge on theeast side. "

We now advance along the

HIGH-STREET, observing on the right hand, about half way up, a lofty hexagon turret, whose top is glaz'd for the purpose of a prospect seat. It bears on theinside, marks of considerable antiquity, and is a remain of the mansionof Henry Earl of Huntingdon, called _Lord's Place_. It has a windingstair-case of stone, with a small apartment on each story, and is nowmodernized with an outward coating of brick. 

From hence we enter a street, which was formerly upon the great northroad; it leads to Ashby-de-la-zouch, and changing its denomination atdifferent places, intersects the town from the southern extremity, wherestands the Infirmary, to the North Bridge, a space of a mile and oneeighth; where it is crossed by High-Street and St. Nicholas' Street, ittakes the name of

HIGH-CROSS-STREET, from a plain doric pillar bearing the name of High Cross, and whichformed some years ago one of the supporters of a light temple lookingbuilding of the same name, that served as a shelter to the country peoplewho here hold a small market on Wednesdays and Fridays for the sale ofbutter, eggs, &c. Here the members of parliament are proclaimed, andhere also may be seen on Michaelmas day, the grotesque ceremony of thepoor men of Trinity Hospital, arrayed like ancient Knights, having rustyhelmets on their heads and breast-plates fastened over their blacktaberdes proclaiming the fair. 

Some paces lower the massy stone front of an edifice adorned withrusticated pillars points to the eye the _County Goal_, erected in theyear 1791, at the expense of six thousand pounds. The spectator mayprehaps be led into a reflection on the violation of propriety, when hesees the Roman Fasces and Pileus encircled by heavy chains decorating anEnglish prison. Under these symbols the name of the Architect is fullyconspicuous, and it may be observed as an example of sudden vicissitude, that the builder of this fabrick became, as a debtor, its firstinhabitant. 

This prison, to which the county bridewell is now added, was erected, upon the scite of the old goal, some years after the benevolent Howardvisited Leicester, and is built with solitary cells after the planrecommended by that celebrated philanthropist. 

The mention of a character so widely expanding beyond the customarysphere of human action irresistibly arrests the attention of the heartthat glows into admiration at striking examples of virtue, and of thehead that feels interest in tracing the motives which influence theconduct of man. 

Separated from the county prison, by a lane called _Free-School Lane_, isa rude heavy building, adorned with the Royal Arms. This is the FREEGRAMMAR SCHOOL, the aera of whose original foundation has been thoughtuncertain; but upon the authority of the learned topographer Leland, itis ascertained to have been founded by one of the three Wigstons interredin the collegiate church in the Newark, and who, according to the samewriter, was a Prebendary of that church. This, if not the same person, was brother to him who founded the Hospital dedicated to St. Ursula, nowcalled _Wigston's Hospital_. The master of that Hospital, had formerlythe privilege of recommending, if not appointing the master and usher ofthe school, but this right is now exercised by the Mayor and seniorAldermen. --The present building was erected by the Mayor and Burgesses, in the fifteenth of Elizabeth, who granted them for that purpose, thematerials of the adjoining church of St. Peter. 

On the opposite side of the street projects the gabel end of a buildingonce part of the _Blue Boar_, afterwards _Blue Bell_ inn, in ancienttimes undoubtedly the principal inn of the place. The old over-hangingwindow gave light to a chamber in which stood the bedstead, which hasbeen celebrated by the name of _King Richard's Bedstead_, from thecircumstance of his having slept in it a few nights preceding BosworthFight. 

Antiquaries have spoken of this bedstead as belonging to the king ratherthan to the master of the house; and this opinion has been thoughtfavoured by the circumstance of a large sum in gold coin, partly ofRichard's reign, accidentally discovered in its double bottom. Thebedstead is of oak, highly ornamented with carved work, and is now, inthe possession of Tho. Babington Esq. M. P. There seems but little reasonto suppose that a Royal General while attending the march of his Army, should unnecessarily encrease his baggage by so cumbrous a piece offurniture, or that a Sovereign, guarded by nearly all the military forceof the Nation, should find it expedient to hide his gold like a privateunprotected person. The bedstead therefore, it may safely be inferred, belonged, not to a monarch, but to the master of a good inn; and themoney was secreted in it by some person anxious to secure his propertyfrom the dangers threatened by times of civil distraction. 

At the bottom of _Blue Boar Lane_, which takes it name from the inn, is asmall Alms-house, founded 1712, by Matthew Simons Esq. For six Widows, and endowed with 20_l. _ 10_s. _ annually. 

The next observable object in the High Cross Street, is the TOWN GOAL. It is a commodious building, with a handsome stone front, and built afterthe plan of Howard--the Architect, Mr. W. Firmadge. 

In taking down the old Goal for the erection of the present edifice, inthe year 1792, incorporated with the walls of the cells were discoveredthe remains of the chapel of St John, supposed to have been destroyedduring the contests between Henry the Second and his Son. A regularstone arch belonging to this chapel, of a circular form, with ornamentsof cheveron work, was carefully taken from among the ruins of the oldgoal, and preserved by that industrious Antiquary and Historian ofLeicester, Mr. Throsby. 

The small Hospital of St. John, to which this chapel belonged, joins theprison; it supports six Widows who subsist on a very scanty stipendarising from various annual donations. Bent's Hospital, being the groundfloor of the same building, supports four Widows on an endowment equallysmall. 

We are now approaching one of the most valuable traces which Leicesteraffords of our Roman Conquerors, a relick of their tesselated floors;preserved with great attention, in the cellar of Mr. Worthington, opposite the town prison. It was discovered in the year 1675, about fourfeet and a half under the surface of the earth, which beneath was foundto consist of oyster shells to a considerable depth; it was sunk from itsoriginal portion on one side being considerably inclined from thelevel. --This pavement, which is an octagon three feet diameter, represents a Stag looking intently upon the modestly-inclined countenanceof a figure seemingly female, with her arm resting affectionately againsthis neck; in front stands a boy, whose wings and bow plainly indicate himto be a Cupid; he appears about to discharge an arrow at the breast ofthe female; a circumstance which renders it very certain that the subjectmust be the amours of some fabulous personages, but assuredly not _Dianaand Actaeon_; nor yet as some Antiquaries have hastily supposed, _Cypressus_ lamenting the death of his favourite stag. Indeed in thewhole of the _Metamorphoses_, no story cm be found bearing the slightestresemblance to the subject before us. 

The elegant and picturesque Gilpin has chosen to denominate this pavement"a piece of miserable workmanship, " which can only be owing to the mannerin which he injudiciously viewed it. By placing the light in a properposition, the spectator will observe that the effect of the whole piecegives the idea of good design, shade, and relief; and will be clearlyconvinced that it could not have been wrought by a hand which had notmade considerable progress in the art of painting, as is evident from therounding of the arm of the female, the foreshortening of the stag's horn, and the animated expression of each countenance. The tesserae are ofvarious sizes, mostly square, but where a narrow line of light wasrequired, as in the strait Grecian nose of the female, they are small andlong. They appear to be a composition, and are of three or four distinctshades, the darkest a brown approaching to black, the next a warm or redbrown, and the lightest, which forms the ground work, an ochery white. 

The admirers of this art, so much practised by the Romans as a decorationof their magnificent buildings, an art which has survived so long as tohave obtained an established manufactory in modern Rome, will ascertainthe pavement in question to be one of the first specimens of antientmosaic, and will, with gratified attention, here behold form and shadecalled up from that unmanageable material, a piece of baked earth. 

The commonly received opinion of these pavements having been the floorsof baths, as founded on the circumstance of their being discovered threeor four feet under the surface of the earth, is not conclusive; for thesoil has been raised by accidental accumulation; and had not this beenthe case, the depth of three or four feet would not have been sufficientfor a Bath as it could not have allowed room for submersion. Neitherdoes the vault with a floor and walls of tesselated work, and pipes inthe roof, discovered near Leicester in the reign of James the first, thememory alone of which is preserved by our indefatigable topographer, Mr. Nichols, render such an opinion in any respect more certain; but thatsome of them were floors of sitting rooms may be justly inferred, fromthe flues constructed under them for the purpose of conveying heat. 

In examining the specimens of the mosaic art, we are tempted to draw afar different conclusion from that adopted by the truly learned author ofthe _Munimenta Antiqua_, who strongly adduces the number of _fragile_ (ashe terms them) tesselated floors found in Britain, as a proof of theslightness of the superstructures erected by the Romans. Now, surely itis not to be expected that a people whose architecture in their owncountry was so strikingly characterized by massiveness & splendor, should, in this island, which though a distant was a durable conquest, and improved by all their arts and industry, have departed from theirusual principles. And farther, the taste and costly magnificencediscoverable in these curious remains must lead to the conclusion thatthey could not have committed them to slight or ordinary buildings, forthey were decorations which the experience of more than fourteen hundredyears has scarcely surpassed. Even the looms of modern Brussels, inelegance and beauty of pattern, cannot fairly outvie the Mosaic Carpetsof the antient Romans. 

The next object that engages the eye is the church of _All Saints_, projecting on the west end into the street, exhibiting in its clock anhumble copy of the machinery of St Dunstan's, in London. It is a smallneat church with three aisles and a low tower, and nothing in itsarchitecture attracts regard. This vicarage with that of _St Peter's_, which was annexed to it in the reign of Elizabeth, includes the antientparish of _St Michael_, and part if not the whole, of that of _St. Clement_. 

A monument in this church-yard commemorates a character greatlydistinguished by his large donations to the poor--_Ald. Gabriel Newton_. 

Of the prevalence of alms-giving in Leicester, this parish, together withthe rest, bears full testimony, in a long list of benefactors, from theRoyal Grant of Charles the first of forty acres of land in Leicesterforest, to poor housekeepers, (which now produces annually 33l. 11s. 4d{42}) to the donor of the penny wheaten Loaf. From the returns toParliament in the present reign, when accounts were made of all thecharitable donations in the kingdom, it appears that there are donationsin the parishes of Leicester, in land and money (including the endowmentsof the lesser Hospitals) mostly vested in the trust of the Corporationand by them distributed, to the annual amount of upwards of 800l. --seeNichols. --

A short space below the church is the spot where formerly stood the NorthGates; here a narrow lane, which once obtained the name of St. Clements, from its leading to that church, but which is now degraded into_Dead-mans Lane_, is the passage to a Meeting House, belonging to theSociety of Quakers. The street continuing in a right line, now takes thename of

NORTH-GATE STREET. 

and conducts us to a bridge over the Canal, beyond which is the _North_or _St. Sunday's Bridge_. This is an elegant stone structure, erected in1796 and when viewed from the Abbey meadow below, it forms with the treesand slopes beyond it a very pleasing scene. Its three arches are smallsegments of a large circle. 

At the foot of the bridge in an area enclosed by a low wall, anddistinguished by a few scattered grave-stones, the church-yard of _St. Leonard_ meets the eye. The church, of which no trace remains, wasdemolished by the Parliament Garrison in the reign of Charles the first;as from its convenient situation it might have covered the approach ofthe enemy, and given them the command of the bridge. The parish stillremains distinct, and the occasional duty is performed by the minister ofSt. Margaret's. 

We cannot leave the North Bridge, without remarking that near this spotonce stood an establishment, which as it related to a privilegeexclusively royal, that of coining money, has ever been thought to conferhonor on the places where it was allowed to be exercised. It isundoubtedly proved from the series of coins that has been collected, thatmoney was coined at the _Mint at Leicester_, in regular succession fromthe reign of the Saxon king Athelstan, down to Henry the second. The_Monetarii_, or Governors of the mint, were entitled to considerableprivileges and exemptions, being _Socmen_, or holders of land in the Soc, or franchise of a great Baron, yet they could not be compelled torelinquish their tenements at their lord's will. They paid twenty poundsevery year, a considerable sum, as a pound at the time of the conquest, contained three times the weight of silver it does at present. Thesepounds consisted of pennies, each weighing one _ora_ or ounce, of thevalue of 20 pence. Two thirds of this sum were paid to the king, and theother third to the feudal Baron of Leicester. 

The Leicester coins of Athelstan and Edmund the first have only a rosewith a legend of the king's name, that of the Moneyer, and Leicester;from Etheldred the second, they bear the impress of the royal head andsceptre, with the same stile of legend unchanged. 

In this series of Leicester coins, which has been engraved with accurateattention in the valuable work of Mr. Nichols, the triangular helmets, uncouth diadems, and rudely expressed countenances of our SaxonSovereigns, exhibit, when opposed to a plate of Roman coinage, a strikingcontrast to the nicely delineated features of the laurelled Caesars. Inno instance of comparison does the Roman art appear more conspicuous. The great quantity of coins of that scientific people which have beenfound at Leicester, is an additional testimony of its consequence as aRoman town; these, unfortunately upon being found at different periods, have paffed into various hands, and altho' some few gentlemen here havemade collections, yet it is to be regretted that by far the greater partof the coins have been taken from the town. Had those found in the lastcentury been thrown together into one cabinet, Leicester might haveexhibited at this time a respectable series of Roman coinage, both inbrass and silver, from the emperor Nero, down to Valens. Leaving thosewhose taste shall so direct them, to pursue the train of reflections towhich this most curious subject may lead, we return to our route. Fromthe North Budge two streets branch out, that on the left the

WOOD-GATE, leading to the Ashby-de-la-Zouch road, and that on the right, the

ABBEY-GATE, conducting us to the Abbey. 

The name of _Abbey_, so dear to painting, poetry, and romance, naturallyraises in the mind an idea of the picturesque and the aweful; but we arenow approaching no gothic perspectives, no "long drawn aisles and frettedvaults, " and scarcely able to bring a single instance of assimilation, wevisit indeed an Abbey only in name; yet we visit a spot well adapted tothe purposes to which it was appropriated. Sequestered, surrounded bypleasing objects, and dignified by the not uncertain evidences ofhistory, it offers to the thinking mind all those interesting sensationswhich a review of past times, important events, and manners now no more, can possibly produce. 

An antient brick wall with a small niche of stone is the first indicationof its boundaries. This is said by Leland, to have been built by BishopPenny who was Abbot of this Monastery in 1496. This prelate continued inhis Abbacy till he was translated to the See of Carlisle, and even then, when spared from his episcopal duty, he delighted to dwell among hisbrethren in this religious retreat, and was interred in the neighbouringchurch of St. Margaret. Tracing the wall, we enter the grounds by amodern gateway, and perceive, among orchards, gardens, and potatoeplantations (the land being occupied by a Gardener and Nursery-man) thefront wall, facing the north west, of the mansion, once belonging to theEarls of Devonshire, which, as Mr. Grose has ascertained from a MS. Inthe British Museum, was built out of the ruins of the Abbey, long afterits dissolution. The massy stone stanchions of the windows of this housewhich still remain entire, and the firmness of the walls, shew thedurability of the materials. They still retain the traces of that fireby which the forces of Charles the first on their retreat northward aftertheir defeat at Naseby, destroyed that mansion, a few days before, thequarters of the king himself. 

In these gardens, nearly thirty acres in extent, no traces now remain ofthe refectory, the cells of the Abbot and twelve Canons, the structuresraised in the year 1134, by the great Robert Bossu, Earl of Leicester;neither is there, as might have been hoped, one vestige of that noblechurch, believed to have been built by Petronilla, the wife of his sonRobert Blanch-mains, and adorned with the pious donation of a braid ofher hair wrought into a rope, to suspend the lamp in the great choir; anoffering at which some of our modern females who sacrifice their tresseswith other views, may perhaps smile. Nor has the diligence of theenquiring Antiquary been more successful in the discovery of any tracesof the tomb of Cardinal Wolsey, that great example of fallen ambition;who, after a life of more than princely magnificence, stripped of hishonours, deprived of his eight hundred attendants, came here, sick, almost solitary, and a prisoner, performing a wearisome journey on anhumble mule, to crave of the Abbot "_a little earth for charity_. "

But, however barren this spot may seem to be of antient relicks, it isnot wholly destitute of objects calculated to revive in the thinkingmind, the events to which we have been alluding; for in the small gardenor court before the main front of the present ruins are still to be seenthe delapidated towers of that gate-way thro' which Wolsey entered inmelancholy degradation, and thro' which other great, more prosperous, andoften royal visitors were admitted with their stately trains. 

Returning by the first entrance, and passing this interesting gate-way, and the antient stone wall of the Abbey, overhung with profuse ivy, thevisitor will find himself well recompensed for the trouble of a traversealong the Abbey meadow, from the Bleach-yard at the angle of the wall, tothe navigation bridge at the bottom of North-gate street. 

On crossing the antient bed of the Soar, the eye will immediately takeits flight over a fine level plain containing at least five hundred acresof perhaps the richest soil in the kingdom, for that may truly be said ofthe _Abbey Meadow_. The right of this tract is vested partly in a numberof proprietors who claim the hay, and partly in the inhabitants ofLeicester, who possess the privilege of here pasturing their cows till acertain period of the year. 

This ample area was formerly used as a race ground, but that annual sportis now removed to the South-side of the town, having been here frequentlyincommoded by the floods from the Soar. 

It has lately, at various reviews been dignified by a display of thatadmirable patriotism, which, while it reflects honor on the British namein general, is found in particular to glow with equal zeal and firmnessin the breasts of the Volunteers of Leicester and its County. 

The view to the North-ward is simply ornamented by the church and villageof Belgrave, whose inhabitants in 1357, in consequence of a dispute withthe Abbot concerning the boundaries of the Stocking Wood, blockaded theNorth Bridge, and the Fosse, with a determination of depriving the Monksof their usual supply of provision from their _Grange_, or Farm atStoughton. This view forms a pleasing contrast to the towering churchesand close grouped houses of Leicester. The eye of taste will howeversoon turn from these objects and dwell with greater pleasure on the nobleivied walls bounding the Abbey domains; it will proceed to contemplatethe mingling angles of its ruins, and in the back ground, the rich topsof the woods in the neighbourhood of Beaumont Leys. This scene however, will not serve merely to amuse the eye, but will naturally lead the wellinformed visitor to interesting and affecting thoughts, while hecontemplates the spot in which, in former times, were acted all thestriking rites of the Romish Church, tho' he may lament the superstitiouserrors into which a dark and ignorant age had plunged mankind, he neednot join with the destroyer of these venerable institutions in lordingthen memory with odious crimes, nor deem them even wholly useless. Pityand a regard to truth will lead him to acknowledge that, tho' theirworship was less pure than the reformed service now happily establishedin this Island, yet it was calculated, by its address to the senses, tokeep alive the remembrance of the faith of the Gospel, and to prevent thewarring Baron and his rude vassals from relapsing into heathenism. Letit also be remembered, that Monks, odious as we are wont to considerthem, were at one time, the only inhabitants of Christendom, who were atall acquainted with such sciences as then peered above the mists ofoverwhelming ignorance. Of history, they may be said to be the modernfathers, and tho' perhaps, like the age in which they lived, in somerespects, blind themselves, they led, not indirectly to the enlighteningof the present age. But in their own times they were far from useless;their monasteries were ever ready to receive the wearied traveller, andmany persons of family, tho' of broken fortunes were honorably maintainedat their board. The poor were gratuitously relieved from their kitchens, and that in a manner, upon the whole, more favorable to religion andmorality than they are now by those parish rates, which the abolition ofmonasteries, and the partition of their property among privateindividuals, have rendered so oppressively necessary. To these valuablepurposes the revenues of our Abbey were fully competent, for it possessedthe advowsons of thirty six parish churches in Leicester and its County, which together with lands in various places, and rights in particulardistricts, produced annually for its disposal more than one thousandpounds. 

Quitting the Abbey meadow, and passing the North lock, we still continueour walk along pleasing rural scenes. The sweeps of the river which herebeautifully meanders, wash, almost closely, a large extent of town, affording an agreeable prospect on the left, and a slope finelydiversified with groves and pasturage descends gently to the meadows onthe right. Approaching the Bow-Bridge, we pass a plot of groundinsulated by the Soar, called the Black Friars, once the scite of amonastery belonging to the Augustine or Black Friars, of which no tracesnow remain. That arm of the river which flows under the west bridge, isby some supposed, from its passing under the scite of the old Roman town, to be a canal formed by that people for the convenience of theirdwellings. It is now called the _New Soar_, and whether it canauthentically boast the honor of being a Roman work, the antiquary mayperhaps endeavour in vain to decide. A tunnel or Roman sewer, wasdiscovered in 1793, at an equal distance between the Roman ruin, calledJewry Wall, and the river, and in a direct line towards the latter, whichcontained some curious fragments of Roman pottery. 

Tho' it be the leading purpose of this survey to point out existingobjects, those who lament the loss of such antient remains as were justlyto be prized, will pardon a brief tribute to the memory of _Bow-Bridge_. That single arch of stone, richly shadowed with ivy, spanned, at thecorner of this island, the arm of the Soar. Its beautiful curve, unbroken either by parapet or hand-rail, well merited the name with whichsome Antiquaries have graced it, the _Rialto Bridge_. On the top of thebow, feeding on the mould which time had accumulated upon the stonyridge, flourished a spreading hawthorn; this with the stream below, whensparkling under the reflection of the western sun, the broken shrubbybanks, and the distant swell of Brad-gate Park hill, formed a picturewhich has often allured the eye; a picture, that, as it repeatedlyarrested the painter's hand, we can hardly say is now no more. 

Of this Bridge, the learned author of the _Desiderata Curiosa_, who hasmistaken it for the adjoining one of four arches, has given a plate inwhich is represented a troop of horsemen with banners, carrying the deadbody of Richard the third, thrown upon a horse, over a bridge which neverexceeded three feet; a width fully sufficient for the purpose for whichit seems to have been constructed, that of affording a foot passage fromthe monastery of the Augustines to a spring of pure water some yardsdistant. This spring till within a few years, was covered with a largecircular stone, having an aperture in the centre, thro' which the monkslet down their pitchers into the water, and retained the name of _St. Austin's Well_. 

But tho' not over this bridge, yet over the adjoining one, known also, probably from its vicinity to the other, by the name of _Bow-Bridge_, themonster Richard really passed, proud, angry, and threatening, mounted onhis charger to meet Richmond; and over it, the day after the battle, hisbody was brought behind a pursuivant at arms, naked and disgraced, andafter being exhibited in the Town-Hall, then situated at the bottom ofBlue-Boar Lane, was interred in the church of the Grey-Friars near St. Martins. 

The name of this king excites in the mind a sensation of horror;--andtho' it required the overwhelming evidence of human depravity furnishedby the French revolution, to make the author of the "Historic Doubts, "believe his crimes possible, the concurrent testimonies both ofLancastrian and Yorkist Chroniclers, too well demonstrate them. Tho' thelatter may have endeavoured to soften the picture, and Shakespear mayhave thrown upon it the darkest shades by working up his deformity ofbody and mind into a picture of diabolical horror, the original, theundoubted traits are preserved by both parties; traits, which so far frombeing peculiar to Richard, marked likewise the other characters of thecontending houses. Nor did he deviate widely from the manners of thetimes when he "_waded thro' slaughter to a throne_. "

A pleasing woody road leads from Bow-Bridge to Danett's Hall, the seat ofEdward Alexander, M. D. The ground here rising in a gentle slope obtainsa command of the town, and that the dryness of the soil and agreeablenessof the situation, mark it as a desirable spot for residence, even thetaste of the antient Romans may prove; for in the plot of ground known bythe name of the "great cherry orchard, " remains a relic of one of theirhouses. This is a fragment of a tesselated floor, discovered a few yearsago, but covered over by a former possessor of the estate. It iscomposed of tesseroe of various sizes, forming an elegant geometricalpattern, but how far it extends, has not yet been ascertained. 

Among the great number of these pavements found at Leicester, are threevery perfect ones discovered in the ground belonging to Walter RudingEsq. Adjoining the old Vauxhall, near the west bridge--they also arecomposed in curious and exact patterns, and form entire squares; but arenow filled up. Of these, together with that in the great cherry orchard, very accurate plates are given in Nichols. 

To the westward of Danett's Hall, and West-cotes, the seat of Mr. Ruding, is a lane or bridle road, commonly called the Fosse, but various reasonslead to the belief that it is not part of the antient Roman road of thatname. The unvarying testimony of tradition has clearly proved that theroad from the town westward lay, in the reign of Richard the third, overBow-Bridge. By attending to the Fosse, which runs nearly in the line ofthe Narborough road by West-cotes, it will seem likewise necessary toconclude that the approach to Leicester, in the time of the Romans, wasalso over a bridge situate near that spot; for as it is certain that theFosse did pass thro' Leicester, and the Romans in forming their roadsscrupulously adhered to the strait line, they would cross the old Soarnear this place. 

When the Romans penetrated into Britain under the reign of Claudius, theyfound it almost in every part, crowded with woods, and infested withmorasses; and as the natives well knew how to avail themeslves of thesefastnesses, the island could never be considered as effectually conqueredtill it was rendered accessible to the march of the legions, and meanswere provided for speedy communication of intelligence from even the mostdistant parts of the provinces. On this account their Cohorts earlyapplied themselves to the task of forming roads; nor did they cease theirlabours till in the time of Antoninus, they had opened passages thro' theisland in all directions. In the reign of that emperor, these works, connected with others which they had already constructed on thecontinent, formed a great chain of communication, which, passing thro'Rome, from the Pict's wall, or north west, to Jerusalem, nearly thesoutheast point of the empire, was drawn out to the length of 4080 Roman, or as Mr. Reynolds has shewn, of so many British statute miles. Alongthese roads proper relays of horses were stationed at short distances, and it seems that couriers could travel with ease above an hundred milesa day. Two of these roads, as already observed, passed thro' Leicester. One, the _Via Devana_, leading from Camalodunum, or Colchester, in Essex, to _Deva_, of west Chester, a distance of about two hundred miles, hasbeen lately discovered by some ingenious and able Antiquaries of theUniversity of Cambridge. 

It enters Leicestershire in the neighbourhood of Rockingham; continues astrait road for many miles till it nearly reaches Leicester, and passingthro' the town it is found to leave the county near Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The other road, called the _Via_ _Fossata_ or Fosse, always known, andevery where remarkable, traverses the island in a north-east direction, from near Grimsby on the coast of Lincolnshire, passes thro' Bath, andterminates at Seaton, a village situated on the coast of Devonshire, adistance of more than two hundred and fifty miles. This road entersLeicesteshire at a place called Seg's Hill, on the wolds, or antientlywild and uncultivated parts of the county; from thence it passes thevillage of Thurmaston and approaches the East gates of Leicester, by thestreet called the Belgrave Gate. On the south-west of the town it isagain recognized in the Narborough road, and from that village itproceeds again a solitary lane till it enters Warwickshire at High Cross, where it crosses the no less celebrated Roman road, the Watling-Street. It is well known that in the formation of these roads, the Romans sparedno cost and labour. From the remains of some of them it appears thatupon a bed of sand they spread a coating of gravel, upon which thepebbles, and sometimes hewn or squared stones were laid, firmly compactedtogether in a bed of cement. This, we have reason to believe, was thestructure of such of the roads in this island as are distinguished by thetitle of _Street_, a word derived from the Latin _Strata_, meaning formedof layers. But such pains were not, it is probable, taken in all cases;and from the name of one of the roads passing thro' Leicester, the_Fosse_, an abbreviation of the Latin _Via Fossata_, meaning the wayditched, or dug, we cannot but conclude that it was a road raised by thespade and formed with a rampart, and probably covered with gravel in themanner of our present turnpike roads. The same may also be said of the_Via Divana_, whose rampart, now covered with grass, the ingeniousdiscoverers observed in many places. 

When the Saxons subdued this island, after the departure of the Romans, to preserve a ready communication between distant places formed no partof then rude and simple policy. Hence the best roads of the Romans wereneglected by them, and since the Romans had either forbidden, or theinclination of the Britons had dissuaded them from erecting villages onthe line of public roads, those roads became useless, and their lastingmaterials are only to be found, tho' not distinguished, in thefoundations of the neighbouring habitations. As it would always be moreeasy to carry away the materials of a Roman road than dig for them in aquarry, it has happened that those materials have been in general sointirely removed, as to leave almost no where any other trace, thanhistory and tradition, of their existence. 

From the departure of the Romans in 445, to the beginning of theeighteenth century, the roads of this Island received little or noimprovement from the legislative powers, except by an order in the reignof Henry the second, that roads should be cleared of woods and made openthat travellers might have leisure, if they should find it prudent, toprepare to resist the almost armies of robbers which were spread over theface of almost every county. Roads, being no longer regulated by anysystem, to pass from place to place so as to avoid as well as might bethe inconveniences of woods, bogs, and sloughs, became the only businessof the traveller. It was thus by accident the line of our present roadswas formed, and to this their frequent circuits and other inconveniencesare owing. 

During the period above mentioned they were in general so bad as to beuseless for the passage of any other carriages than carts, and for theseonly in the summer season; so that the people inhabiting the same countryas the Britons, who are said to have had numbers and great variety ofcars of all kinds, were so exclusively confined to the use of horses andmules, that scarcely any other mode of conveyance was known even inLondon, and this so late as in the reigns of Elizabeth and James thefirst; for it is certain that when the great Shakespeare fled from hiscountry and came to town, his first means of subsistence were thepittances he might earn by holding the horses of the persons who had comefrom different parts of London to see the plays then performed at theBankside Theatre. 

It is not indeed to be asserted that till the eighteenth century ourroads never received any repairs, for necessity would frequently call forsomething of the kind in most places; nor yet that Toll Bars wereantiently wholly unknown; for it is certain that a Gate or Bar was firsterected in the reign of Edward the first, at a place now called HolbornBars in London, for the purpose of collecting tolls for the repairs ofthe roads. But it must be allowed that the art of constructing a goodand firm road was ill understood, and worse attended to; and when, in thebeginning of the last century, turnpike roads were first made, it wasimagined that the only good form was that of a ridge and furrow lyingacross the road on the line of its direction. Turnpike gates were alsoin many places considered as such impositions that even in the beginningof the reign of George the second, some persons contested the payment, several were frequently seen together, especially at newly erected gates, suffering an interruption in their journey rather than submit to whatthey deemed an imposition. Every one who understands the trueconveniences of life will rejoice, that both the formation and repairs ofroads, and also the usefulness of turn-pike tolls are now betterunderstood; that even countries once held to be inaccessible are now openat all times and at all seasons to the traveller, and that most of ourroads are now so well suited to the purposes not only of convenience butof pleasure, that we have no reason to lament the destruction of theRoman ways, or even not to think that we have within these few yearsgreatly surpassed them in the expedition of our mails and all theconveniences and comforts of travelling. 

On this western side of the town, where its environs afford theattraction of woody scenery, the stranger is invited to prolong hisstroll round _Ruding's Walk_. This walk, tho' a continuation of theplantation that encloses West-cotes, is liberally left open by itspossessor, who generously shares with the public the pleasure of his cooland shady scenery. Where the walk, after winding thro' a flourishingshrubbery, enters a grove of tall and venerable elms, the churches andbuildings of the town, broken by the intermediate trees of the paddock, and the long line of distance varied by villages, scattered dwellings andcorn-mills, unite in a rich and pleasing prospect. 

On turning towards the West, the lover of contrast may for a moment callto his imagination the dark, heavy, and almost impenetrable forest whichcovered these lands in the twelfth century, and depicture figures of theinhabitants of Leicester bearing from thence their allowed load of wood, the supply for their hearths, and for this privilege, paying at the Westbridge, their toll of _brigg silver_ to their feudal Baron. To thispicture he will oppose the present scene of pasturage, flocks, and freehusbandmen, cultivating the earth under the protection of just and equallaws. The slightest glance at past ages is a moral study, that rendersus not only satisfied but grateful. 

We cannot pass West-cotes, without noticing an object in the possessionof Mr. Ruding, highly interesting to the admirers of the fine Arts. Thisis a picture in painted glass, representing Mutius Scaevola affordingPorsena an astonishing proof of his resolution by burning that hand whichhad assassinated the secretary instead of the king. The exquisitefinish, and perfect preservation of this small piece bespeak it of theantient Flemish school, whose artists according to Guicciardini, inventedthe mode of burning their colours into the glass so as to secure themfrom the corrosion of water, wind, or even time. There is no departmentof the delightful art of painting that so much excites wonder as this. When, in examining this piece, it is considered that every tint anddemi-tint of the highly relieved drapery, every stroke of the distanttents and towers, was laid on in a fusile state; that delicate command ofskill which could prevent the shades from liquefying into each other, andarrest every touch in its assigned place, so as to produce the effects ofthe most finished oil painting, cannot be sufficiently admired. 

Entering the town we pass the Braunston Gate, to the bridge of the samename, crossing the old Soar, and soon arrive at the West bridge, whichcrosses the new Soar. From hence the canal, taking the name of UnionCanal, proceeds toward Market Harborough. On the corner of an old houseupon the bridge, is an antient wooden bracket, which formerly supported abell, by some supposed to have been used by the mendicant brothers of theneighbouring monastery of St. Augustine, who here took their station tobeg alms, or, which is more probable, it might have been the bellbelonging to the porter of the gate which stood here. 

The street called Apple-gate, that leads us to the church of St. Nicholas, will not be passed without interest by those who recollect thaton this spot, where the ground rises in a gentle ascent from the river, the Legions of Rome established their town; and we are now arrived at anobject which brings them more forcibly to remembrance, a massy archedwall, commonly termed, from its bounding the quarter antiently inhabitedby the Jews, the _Jewry Wall_. 

This ruin, so minutely described by many Antiquaries, will afford tocurious and learned observers, a valuable specimen of the mode ofbuilding practised by the Romans, but the uses for which it was designed, will, most probably, for ever elude their researches. They will nothowever, forbear their conjectures concerning it; of these, two haveobtained most credit; one, that it was a temple of the Roman Janus; andthe other, the Janua, or great Gate-way, of the Roman town. The latterseems chiefly supported by the assertion of the learned Leman, that theline of the Fosse, having joined the Via Devana, runs thro' this spot. But whoever minutely examines the arches, will not easily overcome theobjections which the work affords to oppose this opinion; or assign areason why a city no larger than our Ratae should have a Gateway with somany openings; nor does any satisfactory answer occur to the query why agate should be placed in what seems to have been the central part of theantient city. And perhaps all the evidence for the other opinion restsupon the dark sooty coat that encrusts the interior of the arches; anappearance which the smoak of the town would easily produce in onecentury. Indeed, little, it seems, can be concluded from the presentoutside of the work; for as we cannot conceive that the Romans would haveelected so rough an edifice, it must be supposed that the present remainswere originally coated with workmanship more worthy of such polishedbuilders. If, however we must indulge a conjecture, we shall be led toimagine, from the slight remain of ornament, which is only the fragmentof a niche, that this wall was either part of a Roman temple or bath. Still however such an opinion rests, and must rest, on nothing butconjecture, since the remains are too scanty to afford sufficient datafor a settled opinion. Thus may we take our leave of this remarkableobject, which, tho' incontrovertibly of Roman origin, and likely to existwhen the church built with its stolen spoils shall be no more, mustcontinue for ever, as it is at present, an interesting mystery. 

The adjoining church of St. Nicholas is a small edifice of very rude andconsequently very antient construction. It has evidently been built atdifferent periods. It consists only of two aisles, the north one havinglong since been taken down; the south aisle is gothic, and the other, properly the nave, is of that massy unornamented style, in use before andat the conquest; from the circumstance of its being built with thematerials of the neighbouring Roman work, it will perhaps be noanachronism to assign to it a date prior to that period. The tower isalso Saxon; and the spire having been damaged by the wind is now takendown. 

The area, eastward of the churchyard, is called _Holy Bones_; bones ofoxen having been there dug up in sufficient numbers to induce the beliefthat it was once a place of sacrifice. The church of St. Augustine whichstood on this spot, is supposed to have been destroyed before theconquest. 

At the corner of this area is a charity school, established on the bountybequeathed by Ald. Gabriel Newton, for the clothing and educating thirtyfive boys; and in the terms of the founder's will, "instructing them intoning and psalmody. "

In a lane not far from St. Nicholas' church, called Harvey Lane, is themeeting house of the Calvinistic Baptists, which is capable of containing500 persons. 

From St. Nicholas' street, we again arrive at the High-Cross, and proceedsouthward, along High-Cross-Street. In this street, in the house of Mr. Stephens, are the remains of a chantry or chapel, established for thepurpose of saying masses for the dead, once belonging to St. Martinschurch. They consist of a range of windows, exhibiting in curiouslypainted glass, a regular series of sacred history. 

The next object, worthy of attention, at which we arrive, is an elegantgothic building, with an inscription "_Consanguinitarium_, 1792. " Itconsists of five neat dwellings, to which is annexed a yearly stipend ofupwards of 60l. And was built by John Johnson, Esq. A well-knownArchitect as a perpetual home for such of his relations as may not befavored by successful fortune. 

Turning down a narrow alley, called Castle Street, we arrive at aspacious area, on the right of which is a charity school, built in 1785, belonging to the parish of St. Mary, which clothes and educates 45 boysand 35 girls. 

The visitor will now have a full view of St. Mary's church, antientlyknown by the distinguishing addition of _infra_ or _juxta Castrum_, abuilding in which he will perceive, huddled together, specimens ofvarious kinds of architecture, from the Norman gothic of the northchancel, to the very modern gothic of the spire; a mixture which evincesthe antiquity of the church, marks the disasters of violence, accident, and time, and proves that the neighbourhood of the castle, within whoseouter ballium or precincts it stood, was often most dangerous. Thatthere was a church, on this spot in the Saxon times, seems almostcertain, from some bricks apparently the workmanship of that people, found in the chancel; and the cheveron work round the windows of thischancel proves that the first Norman Earl of Leicester, Robert deBellomont, when he repaired the mischiefs of the Norman conquest, orrather of the attack made by William Rufus upon the property of theGrentemaisnells, constructed a church on a plan nearly like the present, and adorned it with all the ornaments of the architecture of his times. This Earl founded in it a college of twelve canons, of whom the Dean wasmost probably one, and among other donations for their support, heendowed it with the patronage of all the other churches of Leicester, St. Margaret's excepted. These, his son and successor, Robert, surnamedBossu, converted into regular canons, and removed them, with greatadditional donations to the Abbey in the meadows. He seems however tohave continued an establishment of eight canons in the collegiate church, tho' with revenues comparatively small, since their income, at thedissolution of the monasteries, was valued only at 23l. 12s. 11d. Thatthe number of these canons remained unchanged at the time of thedissolution, appears probable from the circumstance of seven cranes and asocket for an eighth being still found in a kind of press, or ark, as itis called, in the vestry, for the purpose of suspending the priests'vestments. 

The inside of the church is spacious and commodious, and has lately beenrendered still more so by converting the gothic arches of the south sideof the nave into one bold semicircular arch whose span is 39 feet, anderecting a gallery in the wide south aisle, said to have been built byJohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster. 

In the great choir or chapel called Trinity choir, at the east end of thegreat south aisle, (for the aisles of our churches were formerly oftendivided into chapels, but of which in this church no traces now remain), was held a _Guild_ or Fraternity, called _Trinity Guild_, founded in thereign of Henry the Seventh, by Sir Richard Sacheverel, Kt. And the goodLady Hungerford. Collections were made four times a year, of thebrethren and sisters belonging to this Society, whatever it might be, forAntiquaries have not rendered the point sufficiently clear, but fromtheir meetings being held in churches, it is most probable that they wereof a religious nature. The money when collected was applied to meetvarious expenses, but chiefly to pay the wages of their priest, perhapstheir confessor, and to supply their great feast held annually on TrinitySunday, for which, according to the account of the steward and wardens, the following articles were purchased, A. D. 1508. 

 s. D. 

A dozen of Ale 1 8A fat Sheep 2 4Seven Lambs 7 0Thirty Chickens 1 11Two gallons of Cream 0 80. 5qr. Of Malt 2 0Fourteen Geese 4 3

From a curious and ingenious Mathematical Essay on the comparative pricesof similar articles in different ages, presented to the society ofAntiquaries, we have here the pleasure of offering to the attention ofour visitor, the following valuable remarks. 

 "The generality of readers when they look into the records of antient times, are forcibly struck by the seeming lowness of the prices of every article of common demand, when compared with the modern prices. When they find that an ox was formerly sold for a few shillings, and the price of a quarter of corn calculated in pence, they are led to envy the supposed cheapness of those ages, and to bewail the distressing dearness of the present. Nothing however can be more absurd than the whining complaints founded upon such facts; for since the cheapness of living depends not so much upon the price given for every article of prime necessity, as upon the means by which, to use a common expression, the purchase may be afforded, we must, if we wish to form a proper judgment on the subject, rightly compare these means as they existed in different ages, otherwise our conclusions will be not only idle, but sometimes mischievous. 

 "It is very certain that money is a commodity, no less than the articles it is employed to purchase, and like them, its absolute value is depreciated or lowered by abundance. Since the discovery of America, the quantity of gold and silver brought into general circulation, and of late, the general and extensive use of paper money which represents real specie, produces the same effect as would arise from a still greater encrease of it. From this natural depreciation alone of the value of coin, it follows that were all other circumstances to have continued the same, the relative value of money would have decreased, or a greater number of pieces of the same denomination would be now required to produce the same effect as formerly, and therefore that it will be necessary to multiply any sum of money of the present age, into some certain number, in order to learn the effect of the same sum in an assigned preceding age. "

From this multiplication it is demonstrated that the price of the dozenof Ale, for which the Trinity Guild paid 20d. Is equivalent to somethingmore than 6d. A quart;--the fat sheep at 2s. 4d. To 1l. 11s. 4d. --theseven lambs at 7s. To 16s. Each;--the thirty chickens at 23d. To rathermore than 2s. 6d. The couple;--the two gallons of cream at 8d. To 2s. 8d. A quart;--the half quarter of malt at 2s. To 3l. 4s. The quarter;--thefourteen geese at 4s. 3d. To nearly 5s. Each. 

In the reign of the Norman kings, articles, but especially corn, weredearer than at present. In Henry the sevenths reign meat was cheaper, but other articles dearer than at present. We now return to the churchof St. Mary. 

In the year 1783, the spire which had several times been injured bylightening, was so much shattered by a fresh stroke as to require to betaken down to the battlements. It was rebuilt under the direction of anarchitect, of the name of Cheshire at an expense, exclusive of the oldmaterials, of 245l. 10s. The height of the spire from the ground 61yards. In this church, in which for many years he officiated as curate, is interred the Rev. W. Bickerstaffe, a man of great simplicity ofmanners, and urbanity of disposition; who by his laborious and minuteresearches materially assisted the Topographers of Leicester. 

Near the north door of this church is a passage leading under an oldfashioned building forming a gate-way into an area called the castleyard. That the present structure was the gate-way of the castle when itwas tenable as a place of defence, cannot, for a moment be imagined; butthat there was always an entrance at this place we are well assured, forthe adjoining building on the left is known by the name of the Porter'sLodge, and it must therefore be concluded that the present was built uponthe scite of the antient gate-way, and that it was constructed with thetimbers and other materials taken in later ages from some part of thecastle which had been taken down. 

At this gateway was preserved, till within a few years past, an antientceremony expressive of the homage formerly paid by the magistrates ofLeicester, to the feudal Lords of the castle. The mayor knocking foradmittance at the gate was received by the constable of the castle, whilethe mace was sloped in token of homage; he then took an oath ofallegiance to the king as heir to the Lancastrian property; the latterceremony, agreeable to one of the corporation charters, is stillperformed, but in private. The office of constable of the castle, whichin the beginning of the reign of Mary, was held by Henry duke of Suffolk, with the annual fee of sixty shillings and eight pence, is now retainedonly nominally. 

Opposite the gate-way stands a building most probably erected by thefirst of the Bellomonts, tho' the modern front which meets the eyeeffectually conceals all the outward traces of antiquity. The inside ofthe edifice however is a room exceedingly curious. Its area is large, being about seventy-eight feet long, twenty-four high and fifty-onebroad. It is framed into a sort of aisles, by two rows of tall and massyoaken pillars, which serve to support a large and weighty covering ofslate. This vast room was the antient hall of the castle, in which theearls of Leicester, and afterwards the dukes of Lancaster, alternatelyheld their courts, and consumed in rude but plenteous hospitality, at thehead of their visitors, or their vassals, the rent of their estates thenusually paid in kind. On the south end appear the traces of a door-way, which probably was the entrance into a gallery that has often, amongother purposes, served as an orchestra for the minstrels and musicians offormer days. This hall, during the reigns of several of the Lancastrianprinces was the scene of frequent Parliaments, whose transactions ourprovincial historians have carefully recorded. At present it is usedonly for the holding the assizes and other country meetings, to whichpurpose it is, from its length, so well adapted, that, tho' the businessof the civil and crown bars is carried on at the same time at theopposite ends of the room, the pleadings of the one do not in the leastinterrupt the pleadings of the other. 

The reflecting visitor, who may choose to compare the uses to which thisplace is now applied, with the purposes for which it was built, will notfail to derive from the comparison so very favorable to the presenttimes, a satisfaction most worthy the benevolent heart. Instead of therude licentious carousals of the Bellomonts, when the baron domineered, even in drunkenness, over his assembled slaves, we often see large bodiesof the inhabitants of the county, men worthy of freedom and possessingit, assembled to consider with decorum, and to decide with unawed, unbiassed judgment, upon measures of no little importance to the kingdomof England. And instead of the savage violence, or idiot folly whichmostly dictated the award of every kind of property, in those feudaltimes, we see happily substituted the fair examination of the witnesses, the eloquent pleadings of the barristers, the learned observations of theJudge, and the impartial decisions of the Jury, nobly co-operating toinvestigate truth, and to decide, according to right, the means alike ofhappiness and virtue. In what manner, and by what degrees this happychange was effected, the following well authenticated anecdote may serveto shew. 

Robert de Bellomont, the first earl, sitting in the apartment of the keepof his castle at Leicester, heard a loud shout in the neighbouringfields. Enquiring into the cause, he found that it was given by thepartizans of a combatant who was then fighting a duel with his nearrelation to ascertain the right to a certain piece of land in St. Mary'sfield. The cruelty and absurdity of such a mode of decision seems tohave been forcibly impressed upon the mind of the earl, by this affectingcircumstance; and he agreed with the burgesses and inhabitants ofLeicester, on the payment of one penny for every house that had a gableor gavel in the High-street (a payment afterwards known by the term_gavel pence_) that all pleas of the above mentioned nature should bedetermined by a jury of twenty four persons. 

From the county hall, or castle, as it is commonly called, a road to theright leads to an antient gate-way strongly built and once furnished witha port-cullis, and every requisite for defence. The embattled parapetbeing much decayed, was taken down a few years ago, and its roof is nowreduced to one of an ordinary form. When this alteration was made, thearms of the dukes of Lancaster by whom the gate-way was undoubtedly builtwere destroyed on the outside; but on the inside, at the spring of thearch, two mutilated figures, one of a lion, the other of a bear, doubtless some of their devices, still remain. The lion passant, it iswell known, formed part of the arms of that family, and the muzzled bearwas a symbol used on the seal by Edward the first in his transactionswith Scotland. Nothing can be more probable than that the Lancastrianprinces would ornament their buildings with a figure which would serve topreserve the memory of their descent from so renowned a monarch. 

The stranger must now be requested to pass thro' the uninviting doorwayof the adjoining public house; and he will be led by an easy ascent up tothe _mount_, or perhaps the scite of the keep of the castle, which tho'lately lowered considerably for the purpose of converting it into aBowling-green, yet affords a pleasant station for a view of the environsof Leicester, and is the spot from which the best idea can be formed ofthe antient form and boundaries of the fortifications. 

It is well known that the fast Saxons built few or no castles, for havingnearly exterminated the Britons, during the long continued warfare thatpreceded their conquest of that people, they had no occasion for strongfortresses to secure the possession of the territories they had acquired;and in the later ages of their dynasty they were too indolent andignorant to undertake such works with spirit and effect, notwithstandingthe frequent and sudden inroads of the Danes, rendered such places ofretreat highly necessary, and the great Alfred earnestly recommendedtheir construction. Hence the places of defence found in this island atthe conquest, were few in number, and those generally too slight toresist the continued attacks of time. For this reason the antiquary neednot endeavour to extend his researches after the state of the castle ofLeicester beyond the time of the arrival of William the Norman. On thedivision of the provinces made by that monarch, Leicester became part ofthe royal demesne; a castle was erected to ensure the submission of theinhabitants, and the wardenship of it entrusted to Hugh Grentemaisnellbaron of Hinckly, who possessed considerable property in theneighbourhood. This castle, like other Norman works of the same kind, would have its barbican or out-work, defending the gate and bridge overthe outer ditch would be commanded by a strong wall, eight or ten feetthick, and between twenty and thirty high, with a parapet, and crennelsat the top, towers at proper distances, and a gate-way opening into thetown. It would, we may presume, extend from the river below the Newarkround by St. Mary's church, and then, turning towards the river again, whose waters were brought by a cut across the morass lying on the westside, to wash that part of the wall, and fill the ditch, would thusenclose what was called the outer Bayle or Ballium. Within this, at adistance not now to be ascertained, but probably not less than eighty oran hundred yards, another, similar, but perhaps stronger fortification, would extend from, and to the river, and this entered at the gatesalready described, would enclose the inner Bayle, where stood the loftymassy keep, the hall, and all the apartments and rooms belonging to thenoble and potent owners. Although the curious will be inclined to joinin the pathetic laments of the writer of the memoirs of Leicester, (Throsby) that the just position of the castle and its extent in formertimes cannot be known; yet strong probability will almost authorize us tobelieve that the account here given does not vary very widely from thetruth; for these conjectures are directly confirmed by the well stillopen on the top of the castle hill or keep, and by the entire remains ofa large cellar, forty-nine feet long and eighteen wide, nearly adjoiningthe great hall, on the west. That more traces should not be discoverablewill not appear surprising when we consider what effects may be producedby the decays of time and accident, by the accumulation of soil, andencroachments of buildings. 

During the disputes concerning the succession, on the death of theConqueror, the Grentemaisnells seized Leicester castle, and held it forduke Robert. This subjected it to the fury of the successful partizansof William Rufus, and the castle lay for some time in a dismantled state. In the next reign it was granted by Henry to his favourite Robert firstearl of Leicester, who repaired the damages and it became the principalplace of residence of himself and the second earl, Robert Bossu. Thethird earl Robert surnamed Blanchmains, encreased his property and power, by his marriage with Petronilla, or Parnel, the heiress of theGrentemaisnells, but the violent temper of this earl involved him indisputes with king Henry the second, whose forces under the command ofthe Chief Justiciary, Richard de Lucy, took Leicester and its castle byassault, and reduced both to an almost uninhabited heap of ruins. Blanchmains regained however the favor of his king and was restored tohis estates, but both he and his son, Robert Fitz-Parnel engaging in thecrusades, the town of Leicester was but ill rebuilt, and the castleremained in a state of delapidation for many years. Fitz-Parnel dyingwithout issue, the _honor_ of Leicester, as part of the Bellomont estateswere called, passed into the family of Simon de Montfort, in consequenceof his marriage with one of the sisters of Fitz-Parnels. But theMontfort earls of Leicester, both father and son, were too much engagedin the busy transactions of their times to pay much attention to theirproperty at Leicester. After the death of the latter, in the Battle ofEvesham, the Leicester property was conferred by Henry the third on hissecond son Edmond earl of Lancaster, whose second son Henry, heir andsuccessor to Thomas earl of Lancaster, beheaded at Pontefract, in theyear 1322 made Leicester his principal place of residence, and under himand the two next succeeding earls, the castle recovered and probablysurpassed its former state of splendor. 

When the dukes of Lancaster ascended the throne, Leicester tho'frequently honored with their presence, received no permanent benefit, and tho' several parliaments were held there in the reign of Henry thesixth, the castle had so far decayed in the time of Richard the third, that that monarch chose rather to sleep at an inn a few evenings beforehis fall, than occupy the royal apartments in the castle. From this timethe castle seems to have made constant progress to decay, so that in thereign of Charles the first, orders, dated the ninth of his reign, wereissued to the sheriff Wm. Heyrick, Esq. Of Beaumanor (as appears frompapers in the possession of that family) "to take down the old pieces ofour castle at Leicester, to repair the castle house, wherein the audithath been formerly kept, and is hereafter to be kept, and wherein ourrecords of the honor of Leicester do now remain; to sell the stones, timber, &c. But not to interfere with the vault there, nor the stallsleading therefrom. "

From others of the same papers it appears that the timber sold for 3l. 5s. 8d. The freestone, and iron work for 36l. 14s. 4d. And that therepairs above ordered cost about 50l. Thus was the castle reduced tonearly its present state, and tho' the Antiquary may in the eagerness ofhis curiosity lament that so little of it now remains, yet he must surelyrejoice in his reflecting moments that such structures are not nownecessary for the defence of the kingdom, and that the fortunes of thenoblemen are now spent in a way calculated to encourage the arts andpromote industry, rather than in maintaining in these castles a set ofidle retainers, ever ready to assist them in disturbing the peace of therealm, and still more ready to insult and injure the humble inhabitantsin then neighbourhood. 

Descending from the castle mount, and passing thro' the south gale-way ofthe castle yard, the visitor enters a district of the town called theNewark, (New Work) became the edifices it contained were new whencompared with the buildings of the castle. They owed their foundation toHenry, the third earl of Lancaster, and his son Henry first duke of thattitle. By these two noblemen they were nearly finished, and what waswanting towards their completion was afterwards added by John of Gaunt. They must then have formed a magnificent addition to the antient dignityof the castle. The remains of the walls which enclosed this area enableus to affirm that its form was a long square, bounded on the north by thecastle, on the east by the streets of the suburbs of the town, on thesouth by the fields, and on the west by the river. 

Judging from what remains of these walls, we feel inclined to maintainthat they were rather calculated to enclose, than strongly protect, thebuildings they surrounded; for if the walls now standing be the originalwalls, they were not capable of resisting the modes of attack usuallypractised in the age in which they were built; nor is the gate-way thatstill remains entire, formed with towers to command, or with grooves fora port-cullis to defend, the entrance. Indeed if the state of Englandduring the age of the founders be considered, magnificence rather thangreat strength might be expected to be their object, and magnificenttruly were the buildings of the Newark. The gate-way now known by thename of the Magazine, from the circumstance of its being the arsenal ofthe county, is large and spacious, yet grandly massive; and the form ofits arches, which partake of the style of the most modern gothic, tho'built at the time when, according to the opinions of the most learnedAntiquaries, that truly beautiful species of architecture was notgenerally established, prove the ready attention of the founders to theprogress of the arts. 

This gate-way led to an area, which tho' nearly surrounded by buildings, was much more spacious than the present wide street, an area worthy thedukes of Lancaster. On the south another gate, similar to the Magazinenow standing, opened into the court opposite the strong south gate of thecastle, and on the west rose a college, a church, and an hospital, whichcompleted the grandeur of the Newark. These latter buildings formed alesser quadrangle or court, having on the north the present old, orTrinity Hospital, built and endowed for an hundred poor people, and tenwomen to serve them. On the south stood a church dedicated to St. Mary, and cloysters; the former called by Leland "not large but faire;" the"floures and knottes in whose vault were gilded, " he says, by the richcardinal of Winchester; the latter, (the cloysters, ) were both "large andfaire;" the houses in the compace of the area of the college for thePrebendaries (standing on the west side) the same author says, "be verypraty, " and the walls and gates of the college occupying the east side ofthe court, he says, "be very stately. " Nor did the princes of Lancasterlimit their designs to magnificent structures; this college was as wellfilled as the hospital, for it contained a dean and twelve prebendaries;thirteen vicars choral, three clerks, six choristers and one verger, inall thirty-six persons; and the endowment was adequate to theestablishment, for the revenues at the dissolution amounted to 595l. 12s. 11d. Among the various donations to this college, the following takenfrom the Parliamentary rolls of the year 1450, will not be found unworthythe attention of the curious. The king (Henry the seventh) grants to thedean and Canons of the church collegiate of our lady at Leicester, "atunne of wynne to be taken by the chief botteller of England in our portof Kingston upon Hull, " and it is added "they never had no wynne grantedto them by us nor our progenitors afore this time to sing with, norotherwise. "

When it is considered that the castle just surveyed occupies a stationmost pleasant as well as commanding; that from the buildings of theNewark it derived all the splendor which the arts and taste of the timescould bestow, and that its adjoining a large, well fortified, and not illbuilt town was calculated to contribute most essentially to theconvenience of its possessors, it will appear to have been one of themost agreeable residences in the kingdom for such powerful noblemen aswere the dukes of Lancaster; nor will the visitor be surprised to findthat it was occasionally used as a seat by the kings, its owners. 

But of all the periods of its history that will surely appear mostinteresting, in which Henry de Gresmond, first earl of Derby, and on thedeath of his father, earl and then duke of Lancaster, already renownedthro' Europe for his atchievements in arms, aud crowned with laurels fromthe fields of Guienne, where he taught the English how to conquer atCrecy and Agincourt, returned to reside at Leicester, and to add to thedistinction of wise and brave the still more valuable title of _good_, which he was about to earn by the practice of almost every virtue at thisplace. Then indeed was Leicester castle the scene of true splendor andmagnificence, for it was the scene of bounty influenced by benevolenceand guided by religion, of taste supported by expense yet directed byjudgment and regulated by prudence, and of elegance such as the mostaccomplished knight of that most perfect age of chivalry might beexpected to display. This nobleman died of a pestilential disorder atthe castle, in the year 1361, greatly lamented by the inhabitants ofLeicester. The order of his funeral appointed by himself, and curiouslyrecorded by our local historians, is a pleasing proof of his good senseand piety; the body being taken in a hearse from St. Mary's near thecastle, to his collegiate church as he directed, "without the pomp ofarmed men, horses covered, or other vanities"--and the rank of thedeceased alone denoted by the magnitude of five tapers, each weighing onehundred pounds, and fifty torches. 

The buildings of the Newark continued nearly in the state alreadydescribed till the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538, when RobertBoone the last dean, terrified by the power of the tyrant Henry, andalarmed by the unjustifiable rigours of the king's commissioners, surrendered his house and received with the rest of his brethren, trifling pensions for life, from this period the buildings of the collegebeing unsupported by any fund sunk into decay, or were applied topurposes widely different from the intention of the founders. Thechurch, cloysters, and gate-way are entirely removed, with the exceptionof two arches of the vault under the former, which are still to be seenfirm and strong in a cellar of the house, now a boarding school. 

The old hospital itself seems also to have been infected with thecontagion of ruin, for tho' spared by the rapacious hand of Henry, thenumber of poor in the house 64 men and 36 women, are reduced from theiroriginal allowance of seven pence weekly, to the now scanty stipend oftwo shillings, which arises from the rents of lands and tenements inLeicester, and its vicinity. The house has been reduced to its presentform by contracting the dimensions of the old one; for that standing inneed of considerable repairs, his present Majesty, to whom, as heir tothe dutchy of Lancaster, the expensive privilege of repairing it belongs, gave the produce of the sale of an estate at Thurnby in thisneighbourhood, which had escheated to the crown, for that purpose. 

At the east end is a small chapel in which prayers are read twice a day, and where some mutilated monumental figures, probably of the Huntingdonfamily, are still to be seen. 

Nothing farther remains to be noticed concerning this interesting part ofthe town, except that the south gateway was beaten down by the king'sforces at the storming of the place in the spring of the year 1645, whenthey left only a part of the jamb on the eastern side standing. One ofthe prebendal houses on the west side of the antient quadrangle of thecollege has, within these few years, been purchased for the vicaragehouse of St. Mary's parish. Opposite the old hospital a house has beenlately erected as an Asylum for the reception and education of poorfemale children. 

From the Newark, in a lane opposite to which called Mill-Stone lane, is aMeeting-House of the Methodists, we proceed along South gate or

HORSEPOOL-STREET, At the end of this street, situated on a gentle eminence affording thedesirable advantages of a dry soil and open air, we perceive one of thoseedifices which a country more than nominally christian must ever becareful to erect, a house of refuge for sick poverty. The Infirmary, which owes the origin of its institution to W. Watts, M. D. Was built in1771, nearly on the scite of the antient chapel of St. Sepulchre, and isa plain neat building with two wings, fronted by a garden, the entranceto which is ornamented with a very handsome iron gate the gift of thelate truly benevolent Shuckbrugh Ashby, Esq. Of Quenby. The house isbuilt upon a plan which for its convenience and utility received theapprobation of the great Howard, whose experience and observationqualified him for a competent judge. It is calculated to admit, exclusive of the fever ward, 54 patients, without restriction to countyor nation. Its funds, notwithstanding the exemplary liberality it hasexcited, are, owing to the pressure of the times, scarcely adequate toits support. Adjoining the Infirmary is an Asylum for the reception ofindigent Lunatics. 

At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the Infirmary, are someremains of a Roman labour, called the _Raw Dikes_, these banks of earthfour yards in height, running parralel to each other in nearly a rightline to the extent of 639 yards, the space between them 13 yards, weresome years ago levelled to the ground except the the length of about 150yards at the end farthest from the town. It was a generally receivedopinion that they were the fortifications of a Roman camp, till thesupposition of their having been a _cursus_ or race course, was startedby Dr. Stukely. If it is to be admitted that they formed an area forhorse races, of which the Romans are known to have been extravagantlyfond, we may imagine that the sport here practiced consisted in horsesrunning at liberty without riders between the banks; traces of such arace run in an enclosed space may be found in the _Corso dei Barberi_, now practiced in the streets of Florence; {125} the Italians having inmany instances preserved the original customs of the Romans. But thequestion must still hang in a balance whether the Raw Dykes were thescene of Roman games, or

 _The massy mound, the rampart once_ _Of iron war in antient barbarous times_. 

From the Infirmary, if the visitor wishes to close his walk, he may enterthe town by the Hotel; if he feel inclined to extend it, he will findhimself recompensed by the pleasure his eye may receive from a lengthenedstroll up the public promenade, called the _New Walk_. This walk threequarters of a mile long, and twenty feet wide, was made by publicsubscription in 1785; the ground the gift of the corporation. 

Following the ascent of the walk, we gain on the left a pleasing peep upa vale watered by the Soar, where the smooth green of the meadows iscontrasted and broken by woody lines and formed into a picture by thechurch and village of Aylestone, and the distant tufted eminancesdecorated by the tower of Narborough. A little imagination might givethe scene a trait of the picturesque, by placing among the meadows nearAylestone, the white tents and streaming banners of king Charles' camp, there pitched a few days before his attack on the garrison of Leicester;or it might advance the royal army a little nearer to its station in St. Mary's field, from whence the batteries against the town were firstopened. Still continuing to ascend, the walk affords along its curvingline many stations from which the town with its churches appears inseveral pleasing points of view. 

Returning by the London toll-gate if the traveller wishes to obtain afull view of a fine prospect, he will turn aside from the road, and mountthe steps of one of the neighbouring mills. From such a station theclustered buildings of the town extend before the eye in full unbrokensweep; beyond it the grounds near Beaumont Leys varied in their tints bytufted hedge-rows, and streaky cultivated fields, blend into the greysoftness overspreading those beautiful slopes of hill into which theeminences of Charnwood forest, Brown-rig, Hunter's hill, Bradgate park, Bardon and Markfield knoll, rise and fall. These hills, running fromhence, in a northern direction compose the first part of the chain orridge, that, from the easy irregularity and elegant line it here displaysrises at length into the more grand and picturesque hills that form thepeak of Derbyshire. The abbey and the adjacent villages pleasingly varythe scene on the right, from whence it melts away into the blue distanceof the neighbourhood of Melton, the north-east part of the county. 

As we descend along the London road, watching the hills more and more hidby the town, the road bends into a curve, and here takes the name ofGranby Street; many ranges of buildings having been here erected withinthe last fifteen years. Turning to the left, we again arrive at the townby the entrance into _Hotel Street_. 

That ingenuity of improvement not only in the conveniences, but therecreations of life, which has lately advanced so rapidly as well in theprovincial towns as in the capital, led the inhabitants of Leicester intoa plan for the erection of new edifices appropriated to the purposes ofpublic amusement. The considerable buildings, which in this place arrestthe stranger's eye were accordingly erected by J. Johnson, Esq. Architect, on subscription shares. 

The front of the

HOTEL, which name it bears, having been originally designed for that purpose, may from the grandeur of its windows, its statues, bassi relievi, andother decorations, be justly considered as the first modern architecturalornament of the town. Here a room, whose spacious dimensions, (beingseventy-five feet by thirty-three, ) and elegant decorations, adapt it ina distinguished manner for scenes of numerous and polished society, isappropriated to the use of the public balls. Its coved ceiling isenriched with three circular paintings of Aurora, Urania, and Night, fromthe pencil of Reinagle, who has also graced the walls with paintings ofdancing nymphs. Beside the eight beautiful lustres, branches of lightsare held by four statues from the designs of Bacon. 

Uniting under the same roof, every convenience for the gratification oftaste, and the amusement of the mind, a coffee room handsomely furnishedand supplied with all the London papers, affords the gentlemen of thetown and country as well as the stranger, to whom its door is open, anagreeable and commodious resort, while on the opposite side a spaciousbookseller's shop furnishes the literary enquirer with a series of allthe new publications. 

Adjoining the hotel, a small theatre built also by Mr. Johnson, neatlyand commodiously fitted up, nearly on the plan of the London houses, furnishes the inhabitants of Leicester with a more complete display ofthe dramatic art than they had before enjoyed, and has been the means ofgratifying them by the talents of several performers of the first rateexcellence. The popular pieces of the London stage, are here everyseason represented in a manner pleasing to the town and honorable to themanager. 

Proceeding thro' a street which now only nominally retains a trace of themonkish establishments that formerly occupied its ground, being calledFriar Lane, we observe a charity school, for 35 boys and 30 girls, erected 1791, belonging to the parish of St. Martin. At the farther andless handsome end of this street is the Meeting House of the GeneralBaptists. Passing down the New Street, part of the scite of themonastery of the Grey Friars, we arrive at

ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, At what period after the demolition of Leicester in the reign of Henrythe second, the church of St. Martin, antiently St. Crosse, was rebuilt, cannot be accurately stated. The chancel, which is the property of theking, rented by the vicar, and was erected after the main fabrick, isascertained to been have built in the reign of Henry the fifth, at theexpense of 34l. And as the addition of spires to sacred edifices was notintroduced into England from the east till the beginning of the reign ofHenry the third, the date must be fixed between the two interveningcenturies, and if the spire was built with the church not very earlyafter the introduction of that ornament of our churches, as the handsome, solid form of St. Martin's bespeaks considerable practice and expertnessin the art. 

The church originally consisted only of a nave and two aisles; the southaisle, where the consistory court is held, which is formed by a range ofgothic arches whose clustered columns unite strength with lightness, wasadded after the erection of the others. In contemplating the inside ofthis church, it is curious to draw a brief parallel between its presentplain yet handsome appearance, and its catholic magnificence before thezeal of the reformation, justly excited, but intemperate in itsdirection, had, during its career against Romish absurdities destroyedalmost every trace of ornament in our churches. And whilst we survey itspresent few decorations, its brass chandeliers depending from the elegantcieling of the nave, the beautiful oak corinthian pillars of its altarpiece, which is ornamented with a picture of the ascension by FrancescoVanni, (the gift of Sir W. Skeffington Bart. ) and its excellent organ, wecan scarcely forbear lamenting the violence with which the magnificentrange of steps was torn from its high altar, then hung with draperies ofwhite damask and purple velvet. 

Its two other altars, {135} its chapels of _our Lady_ and _St George_, one at the east, the other at the west end of the south broad aisle, werealso destroyed; the sculptured figures that adorned the pulpit, thetabernacles, and brazen eagles demolished, and, as the parochial recordstestify, 20d. Was paid for "cutting the images heads, and taking down theangels wings. " In the succeeding century after this sacred structure hadexhibited this scene of demolition, it became a theatre of war. Hitherfled part of the Parliamentary garrison, after being driven by theroyalists from their fortress in the Newark; making a citadel of achurch, which, on the arrival of the enemy to storm the hold was pollutedwith the bleeding bodies of Englishmen slain by Englishmen, who pursuedtheir victory by chacing the defeated into the Market-Place, where thestragglers were slaughtered. 

From this anecdote of civil discord we are led to contemplate the morerationally excited bravery of the present times, by the sight of the oldcolours of the 17th or Leicestershire regiment of foot, which aresuspended over the royal arms at the east end of nave. They werepresented to the corporation by Lieut. Col. Stovin, of that regiment, andhow much their intrepid defenders suffered in guarding them, may be knownfrom their worn and tattered appearance. 

As it is the most curious and useful branch of antiquarian research toread the manners and sentiments of an age in its public solemnities andpastimes, we will not leave the church without a wish for a betterinvestigation of an obscure and singular custom, that antient carnival ofLeicester, "_the riding the George_. " The horse of this chivalroussaint, which, when the reformation had overthrown the monkish mummeriesthat so inconsistently blended religion with pastime, was sold for twelvepence, stood at the west end of the south aisle, harnessed in all thetrappings of Romish splendor. Notice of the day appointed for thisfestivity was annually given by the master of St. George's Guild; sportsof every variety animated the town, and that the jubilee, was, in thestrictest sense _general_, is proved from the summons issued in the 17thof Edward the fourth, ordering _all_ the inhabitants to attend the mayor, to _ride the George_. Mention of the celebration is recorded so late asthe 15th of Henry the eighth. 

The stranger who is an admirer of sacred harmony will not pass withoutparticular notice, the Organ of St. Martin's. A spirited subscription in1774, furnished the church with this noble ornament. It was built by thecelebrated Snetzler, and esteemed one of the best specimens of his art. It has three sets of keys, from F in alt, to GG. The stops in the greatorgan are, the stopped diapason, two open diapasons, flute, andprincipal, trumpet and baffoon, all entire, the 12th, 15th, sesqui-altera, cornet and clarion. In the ch. Organ, are two diapasonsand principal. In the swell two diapasons, principal, hautboy andtrumpet. 

A range of antient stone building bounding the west side of the churchyard is an hospital founded about the year 1516, by W. Wigston, Merchantof the staple at Calais, and mayor of Leicester, for 12 men and 12 women, their pay about 3s. Weekly. It has a master and confrater. The Chapelhas a large gothic window of painted glass. 

On the north side of the hospital is a building called _the TownLibrary_, established 1632 by the corporation, at the motion of the thenbishop of Lincoln. It consists of about 948 vols. Chiefly the Latinclassics and historians, to which no modern additions whatever have beenmade. 

The building adjoining the Library which is the hall formerly belongingto the guild or fraternity of St. George, which, together with the CorpusChrisri guild, the principal establishment of that kind in the town, wasfounded in St. Martin's church, was purchased, on the dissolution ofguilds and chantries by the corporation, and is the guild-hall of theborough. It is adorned with several portraits among which is that of SirThomas White, Kt. Citizen and merchant Taylor of London, who among manymagnificent charities, bequeathed 10, 000l. In the trust of thecorporation to be lent without interest in sums of 50l. And 40l. To everyfreeman of Leicester for the term of nine years; a charity of peculiarvalue as it affords a perpetual incitement to the exertions of risingindustry. 

The magistracy of Leicester is an institution of great antiquity andrespectability, being a corporation by prescription, dating itsestablishment from immemorial usage before its first charter in the reignof king John. It consists of 72 members; 24 aldermen, 48 common councilmen; the officers are a recorder, town-clerk, bailiff, and steward. 

By forming cities and towns into corporations, and conferring on them theprivileges of municipal jurisdiction, the first check was given to theoverwhelming evils of the feudal system; and under their influencefreedom and independence began to peep forth from amid the rigours ofslavery and the miseries of oppression. 

To be free of any corporation was not then, as at present merely to enjoysome privileges in trade, or to exercise the right of voting onparticular occasions, but it was to be exempt from the hardships offeudal service; to have the right of disposing both of person andproperty, and to be governed by laws intended to promote the generalgood, and not to gratify the ambition and avarice of individuals. Theselaws, however rude and imperfect, tended to afford security to propertyand, encourage men to habits of industry. Thus commerce, with everyornamental and useful art, began first in corporate bodies, to animatesociety. But in those dark ages, force was necessary to defend theclaims of industry; and such a force these municipal societies possessed;for their towns were not only defended by walls and gates vigilantlyguarded by the citizens, but oft-times at the head of their fellowfreemen in arms, the mayor, aldermen, or other officers marched forth infirm array to assert their rights, defend their property and teach theproudest and most powerful baron that the humblest freeman was not to beinjured with impunity. It was thus the commons learned and proved theywere not objects of contempt; nay that they were beings of the samespecies as the greatest lords. 

It is pleasingly curious to observe in these times the shadow of thesemblance of this most useful military power preserved as at Leicester, in the array of a few of the poor men of Trinity hospital, clad in piecesof iron armour, attending the beadle while he proclaims a fair; nor is itless so to recollect that the feasts annually given by the mayor wereonce held in imitation of the rude hospitality of the Barons whose feastsnot a little contributed to give a consequence to the commons of England, and to humanize the haughty chief by shewing him that respectabilitymight belong to those who did not wield the sword, and that men mighthave dignity even tho' they had no pretensions to the glare of titles andthe illusions of birth. Thus will the intelligent observer find, thatcorporate bodies were the true sources of law, liberty and civilization, and by rendering the occupation of trade respectable they may be deemedthe first origin of that commerce which has rendered Great Britain themost powerful and most happy nation of the earth. 

These few reflections we will suppose to have occupied the time duringthe short walk from St. Martin's church to the

MARKET-PLACE. 

In this spacious area, which is surrounded by handsome and well-furnishedshops, and whose public ornaments are the plain but respectable buildingcalled the _Exchange_, built in 1747, where the town magistrates transacttheir weekly business, and a small octagon edifice enclosing a reservoirof pure water, the _Conduit_, erected in 1709, we must, having completedthe circuit of the town, offer our farewell to our visitor. 

Here closing our little tour, which has engaged us in an imaginaryacquaintance with the intelligent stranger, we beg he will accept afriendly adieu: and a wish, that as he quits the town thro' which we haveconducted him, and which we have endeavoured to represent in a view notunworthy the attention of a mind that seeks for more than mere passingideas of amusement, he may not consider that time as prodigally spentwhich he has passed in his WALK THROUGH LEICESTER. 

APRIL, 1804

MANUFACTORYOFTHE TOWN. 

The Manufactory of Stockings in this town and county, is the largest inthe world; besides wove worsted hose, which are the staple article of theplace, a great variety of cotton hose are now made, which from theircheapness, obtain a sale in this, and most other countries. 

The machine by which these hose are made, was first invented in the year1590, by the Rev. W. Lee, of Calverton, in Nottinghamshire, who exhibitedit before Queen Elizabeth, but not meeting with that encouragement he sojustly deserved, immediately left the country, and carried it to France, where he would have established it at Rouen, had it not been for themurder of the French king which prevented the execution of a grant ofprivilege and reward in favor of Mr. Lee and his art. 

Soon after Mr. Lee died under great disappointment at Paris, and severalof his workmen returning to London, laid the foundation of StockingWeaving in this county. The manufactory has been gradually increasing, but within these last ten years has rapidly advanced to its presentflourishing state. The number of workmen employed in this branch is notless than 20, 000 who produce from the raw material about 15, 000 dozen perweek. 

* A full account of this manufactory, in all its branches, is preparingfor the press, and will be published in the course of the summer. 

ERRATUM. 

The reader is requested to correct the account of St. Martin's organ, asfollows. 

Great organ, two open and a stop diapason, principal, 12th, 15th, ses-quialtia, cornet, clarion, trumpet. Choir organ, two diapasons, principal, 15th, flute, bassoon. Swell, two diapasons, principal, cornet, hautboy, trumpet. 

 [Combe, Printer, Leicester. ]

HOTEL LIBRARY. 

 T. COMBE, BOOKSELLER, Has on Sale the best Literary Productions, in elegant and other Bindings, and every new Work of Merit may be seen at the Library

 AS SOON AS PUBLISHED. 

 Any quantity of Books purchased, or taken in exchange. 

 _Printing_, _Binding & all sorts of Stationary_. 

Gold Paper, Ornaments and Borders--Coloured Papers andPasteboards--Bristol and Ivory Boards--Whatman's Drawing Papers--Newman'sColours--Middletons Pencils--Varnish, Perfumery, Patent Medicines, andother Articles. 

 A CIRCULATING LIBRARY, _which collects all the varieties of the Day_. 

Map of Leicester

 [Picture: The 1802 map of Leicester published by T. Combe]

Footnotes:

{23} "He had a bow bent in his hand, Made of a trusty tree;An arrow of a cloth-yard long, Up to the head drew he. "

 CHEVY CHACE. 

{24} See an Essay on this subject by the Hon. Daines Barrington in theArchaeologia. 

{42} This sum is now distributed under the title of wood and coal money. 

{125} See Starke's Travels. 

{135} These altars, dedicated to St. Dunstan and St. Catherine stood, one where the present vestry is, the other in Heyrick's Chancel, socalled from its containing the monuments of that antient family. 

Transcriber's Notes

Original spelling, punctuation and grammar have been retained in thistranscription. The following, however, have been corrected:

page 35: "to to which this chapel" has been corrected to "to which thischapel"

page 35: "joins the the prison" has been corrected to "joins the prison"

page 43: "bridge over the the Canal" has been corrected to "bridge overthe Canal"

page 74: "a good and firm rood" has been corrected to "a good and firmroad"

page 75: "usefulness of urn-pike tolls" has been corrected to "usefulnessof turn-pike tolls"

page 90: "comparative prises of similar articles" has been corrected to"comparative prices of similar articles"

page 93: "the prssent age" has been corrected to "the present age"

page 97: "whieh meets the eye" has been corrected to "which meets theeye"

page 107: "death of he Conqueror" has been corrected to "death of theConqueror"

page 109: "Henry the the third" has been corrected to "Henry the third"

page 118: "supported by expesne" has been corrected to "supported byexpense"

Also note that "have paffed into various hands" (page 47) and "trumpetand baffoon" (page 139) are both as in the book, with the old printer'sff for ss usage.