By the assistance of two honest merchants who resided there, (Mr. Sambourn and Mr. Parker) his Majesty threw off his disguise,put himself into an equipage more becoming his rank: and on the 30th of October was met, on his journey to Paris, by his mother, the Queen dowager of Great Britain, his brother the Duke of York, the Duke of Orleans, and other nobles of France, with a great retinue of English and French gentlemen, on horseback, and was thus conducted with joy and triumph into the city, where he was honourably entertained at the royal palace of the Louvre, during the greater part of his abode in that kingdom. Boscobel still continues an interesting monument of this portion of the life of the second Charles. The house is nearly in its original state, but some of the parts have been much changed. An outbuilding has been converted into a sitting parlour, the principal entrance has been removed, and an area, in the front of the house, has been laid out as a pleasure ground. But whatever could be traced, relative to the King's concealment, has been carefully preserved. The places in which he was concealed are chiefly in, and adjoining to, a large chimney. A flight of a few steps conducts into what was then used as a cheese loft, in which there is a trap door into what is denominated, from the circumstance of his Majesty's having for a considerable time concealed himself there,-THE SACRED HOLE. The large wainscotted parlour is in nearly its original form. In a pavement before the house, are the following words, inscribed in white pebble stones. Sext. Id. Sept. 1651. In hac domo, Carolus Secundus, tutela quinque fratrum de stirpe Penderell, potitus est, eorumque denique ope incolumis evasit, The Royal Oak, said to have sprung from an acorn of the original oak that sheltered his Majesty, stands near the middle of a large field, adjoining the garden. For the wall, which formerly surrounded it, are substituted iron rails; and the following inscription, on a brass plate, is affixed to the tree, From many circumstances it may be reasonably concluded that the present is the original tree. H Feliciss, arborem quam in asilum Quercus amica Jovi. Boscobel house is now the property of Thomas Evans, Esq. BOTEVYLE. A township in the parish of Church Stretton, and in the hundred of Munslow. 2 miles north-east of Church Stretton. BOTTEREL (ASTON.) See Aston Botterel. BOULDON. A township in the parish of Holdgate, and in the lower division of the hundred of Munslow. 11 houses, 60 inhabitants. BOUNDARIES OF THE COUNTY. See appendix. BOWDLER. See Ashford Bowdler, and Hope Bowdler. BOYCOT. A township in the parish of Pontesbury, and in the Pontesbury division of the hundred of Ford. 7 miles south-west of Shrewsbury. BRACE MEOLE; or MEOLE BRACE. A parish in the borough of Shrewsbury, a vicarage discharged, in the diocese of Hereford, the deanery of Pontesbury, and archdeaconry of Salop. The parish of Meole Brace contains 213 houses, 1348 inhabitants, but in this parish is the workhouse, or house of industry, for all the town parishes. It contains 290 inhabitants, all ascribed to Meole Brace in the return. BRADNEY. A township in the parish of Worfield, and in the Bridgnorth division of the hundred of Brimstry, 4 miles north-east of Bridgnorth. BRAGGINGTON. A township in the parish of Alberbury, and in the Ford division of the hundred of Ford. 11 miles west of Shrewsbury. BRATTON. A township in the parish of Wrockwardine, and in the Wellington division of the hundred of Bradford, South. About 13 miles north north-west of Wellington. BRIDGNORTH. A market and borough town most romantically situated on the eastern confines of the county, and intersected by the river Severn. The part which stands on the eastern banks of the river is designated by the appellation of the Low Town, and that which lies on its western banks is called the High Town. The latter extends along the flat of the hill, rising sixty yards above the level of the river. A connection is formed between these two parts by a stone bridge of six arches; and the whole town is within a franchise or liberty exempt from all county contributions and services. Its singular situation strikes the eye of a traveller by its similitude to the city of Jerusalem, and to the seaport town of Gibraltar. The air of Bridgnorth is uncommonly salubrious, and on this point it has been asserted that it is equal even to Montpelier. It is remarked, that there are few consumptive people in the town; and there is this convenience in the situation, that if the air of the Upper Town be too sharp for the constitution, that of the Lower Town is much milder. Dr Hollins, an eminent physician in Shrewsbury, father to Dr. Hollins, physician to George the second, observed that when any epidemick distemper was abroad, Bridgnorth was sooner free from it than any other place he knew. Dr. Anthony Weaver, late an eminent physician of this place, made the same remark. Part of the ruins of a castle built by Robert de Belesme, the third Norman Earl of this county, are yet standing. The present edifice was erected on the site of the former structure, but a part of the square tower, now standing 17 degrees out of its perpendicular, is almost the only relick left. It was about seventy feet high, and the interior from north to south, twenty four feet nine inches in length, by twenty feet three inches in breadth. The bridge, which is a very handsome and spacious structure, consisting of six arches, and formerly of seven, has lately undergone considerable repair, by Mr. Thomas Simpson, of Shrewsbury, and Mr. John Smallman, of Quatford. The Low Town consists of several avenues-one of which leads from the bridge, called Bridge Street; another opens on the east into Mill Street, thus named on account of its approach to the Town Mills, granted by King Henry the third, to the burgesses of this place. In this avenue are several respect |