by nature and art, was a most convenient place of arms; and the possession of such a garrison gave confidence to the first hostile movements of the Parliament. The flame of opposition spread through every town; and no county exhibited a more decided inclination to take an active part in the sanguinary business of the season. In June and July, 1642, Lord Brooke arrayed the militia of Warwickshire, in attention to a commission received from the Parliament; and, in the month of October following, was fought the first great battle between the opposed partics, at Edgehill, on the south-east border of this county. On this eventful day Lord Brooke's own regiment, composed of prime Warwickshire men, fought in the right wing, a division that entirely broke the left of the king's army. In January, 1642-3, his lordship was appointed general and commander-in-chief (under the Earl of Essex,) of the associated counties of Warwick and Stafford. At different periods of this war the castle of Warwick sustained a siege, the town of Birmingham was fired by the troops under Prince Rupert, and many inferior skirmishes took place. It is well known that only a comparatively small part of the population of England was actively engaged in these degrading hostilities; but that Warwickshire was ready to furnish its full quota to the parliamentary faction will be evident, when we observe that Lord Brooke found no difficulty in adding to his bands, on one emergency, a hundred men from Warwick, two hundred from Coventry, and three hundred from others, "the most forward of the county, who came and offered their services."* During these scenes of violence some religious struc tures, and numerous mansions of the gentry, suffered much dilapidation; for fanatics, whether termed friends or foes, must ever be dangerous visitors. After that complete destruction of the hopes of the Royalists, which followed the battle of Naseby, Warwickshire, among other midland counties, remained under the quiet control of the Parliament, until the entire restoration of national good order.

B 4

• Account of the family of Greville, p. 92.

The

The county of Warwick is situate near the centre of England, in a north-west direction from the metropolis. In form it approaches to an oval; and is bounded on the south-east by Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. On the north-east it is sepa rated from Leicestershire by the great Roman way termed Watling Street. Staffordshire unites with its limits on the northwest. On the west lies the county of Worcester; and on the south-west is part of Gloucestershire. The greatest length of the county, as stated by Murray, is fifty-one and a quarter miles; and the greatest breadth thirty-six miles. According to Cary's map the county contains 597,477 and a half acres, at the calculation of eighty chains, statute measure, to a mile. The city and county of Coventry form a district politically distinct from Warwickshire; yet, from locality, they are necessarily included in our notice of this county; they comprise in the whole, about 18,161 acres. On the division of England into shires, Warwickshire evidently took its name from the town of Warwick. In the Saxon annals the name is written Weringscyre.

When William the Conqueror caused the truly valuable record, termed Domesday, to be formed, this county contained ten hundreds; a circumstance of division which seems to prove the consequence and great population of the district at that period. These hundreds did not exist long, under the names mentioned in Domesday; but, though they fluctuated in title, the number for some time remained nearly the same. There are now four hundreds (subdivided, for convenience, into eighteen parts.) The city and county of Coventry are, however, usually considered in the character of a fifth hundred. Warwickshire thus constituted contains one city and thirteen market-towns.* The whole is in the province of Canterbury, and in the dioceses of Lichfield and Coventry, and of Worcester. Six members are returned to Parliament by this district; two for the shire, two for the city of Coventry, and two for the town of Warwick.

Warwick

To which may be added a part of a fourteenth town-Tamworth.

1

Warwickshire is described by early writers as naturally divided into two parts, the Feldon (or Champaign,) and the Woodland.The Avon formed the line that separated these tracts, and the sylvan district was emphatically denominated Arden, which term is well known to have been common among the Celta in general for a forest however situated. The Arden of this county is perhaps justly asserted by Drayton to have been the largest of the British forests, as it extended from the banks of the Avon to the Trent on the north, and to the Severn on the west on the east the tract so termed was bounded by an imaginary line drawn from High Cross to Burton. When England was divided into shires, the counties of Worcester and Stafford took to themselves respective portions of this wild, and bestowed on the forests so claimed the names by which they are still distinguished; the part remaining with Warwickshire alone retained the title by which the whole was originally designated. But this large division has been long cleared of those thick-matted woods which formerly encumbered, rather than ornamented, its soil. A colouring, however, of its pristine character remains; and an occasional air of wildness is found, to denote the complexion of the country when occupied by the Ceangi of the Cornavii, and their numerous herds. In general aspect Warwickshire presents a face of country agreeably diversified by such an alternation of hill and valley as is equally gratifying to the eye of the pictorial traveller, and beneficial to the more important views of the agriculturist. The former often meets, in the vicinity of its streams, on the sides of its gentle hills, and in the breaks of its frequent spots of woodland, scenes to soothe or elevate his imagination. The labours of the latter are never entirely interrupted by precipitous elevations, and seldom deteriorated by expanses so flat as to be unwholesome. The highest points of land are at Corley, in Hemlingford Hundred, and the neighbourhood of Packington. From this elevated ridge the water runs on one side into the Avon, and thence to the Bristol Channel; on the other it descends to the Blythe, Tame,

Trent,

Trent, and Humber at Hull. A ridge on the south-east, including the Brailes and Edge-hills, is, also, much elevated, and commands a variety of pleasing prospects. The insulated situation of the county, and its freedom from any great inequalities of surface, render the climate mild, and vegetation early. It is observed by Mr. Murray, that "the most general winds are from the south-west, and are usually accompanied with rain; but, not unfrequently, the effects of an easterly variation are felt towards the middle of May; and it scarcely need he remarked that vegetation must in consequence suffer severely. Warwickshire, upon the whole, however, is not to be considered as subject to any particular excess of damp or frost."

The Soil, as is usual with the midland district, possesses great variety. Indeed, nearly every species is to be seen, except that incorporated with chalk and flint; and often many of these varieties occur within one field or enclosure. The greater part of the soil, however, is of a descriptiou highly amenable to the purposes of agriculture; and it may safely be asserted that few counties possess less bad, or steril land, in proportion to that which responds readily and abundantly to the husbandman's toil. The labours of Mr. Murray, the surveyor appointed by the Board of Agriculture, assist us in making with accuracy the following observations. The Hundred of Knightlow (a district chiefly in tillage,) consists principally of a red clay loam and sand, in some places upon freestone and limestone, and in others on a good sharp gravelly bottom; a strong clay loam ou limestone rock; a light sandy land, in several places mixed with sharp gravel, well adapted to turnip husbandry; and a rich clay loam on limestone and marl. The portion of this hundred, which is in grass, has for its soil a clay of desirable strength. The City of Coventry is surrounded by a red and deep sandy loam, of great richness, chiefly in grass. The same character of soil pervades nearly the whole of the tract denominated the County of Coventry: but in some instances an admixture of clay is to be perceived, and a

few

few parishes consist of what is emphatically termed strong land. Kineton Hundred is marked by a clay loam, of various strength, on limestone; and a cold clay, very strong but poor :-a tract of rich grass land, from four to five miles broad, begins at the Brails-bill, and extends beyond Gaydon and Knightcote. The soil of the Barlichway Hundred, in the neighbourhood of Warwick, and to the south and south-west of that vicinity, is frequently a strong clay loam on mart and limestone rock: the remainder of the hundred consists principally of a fine dry red clay loam, and a sandy loam, both easy of tillage, and of abundant produce. A great proportion of Hemling ford Hundred is in tillage, but the soil is perhaps less desirable than that of any other divi sion of the county. A moorish white and yellow clay, on clay and marl; and a dry sandy loam, almost equally meagre and unkind, are too frequently found, Large spots, however, act as exceptions; among which it may be observed that the land round Birmingham is often of a dry and light red sandy description, evidently well suited to the turnip system of husbandry. Towards the north-east, also, is seen a strong clay loam on marl. This stretch of land (particularly the part that borders on Leicestershire,) is in grass, and used in grazing.

So great a variety of soil is necessarily productive of different systems of agriculture. The Warwickshire farmers have been justly said to be far from neat in plonghing their land the strong clay land is ploughed in large crooked ridges, gathered very high, with a small ridge between them; and a great deal of light land is ploughed in a similar manner." To this general censure, however, many exceptions occur; and these, as it may be expected, will usually be found in the largest farms. It is truly observed by Mr. Murray, that "the country from Stratford to Warwick appears the best cultivated part of the county." The land is generally ploughed from five to eight inches in depth; and, on the clays, is cast into ridges above thirty feet broad,

* Murray's Agri. Surv. p. 66.