matical instruments are likewise principally or solely executed here, and some of them in greater perfection than in any other country. The porter brewery, a business of very great extent, is also chiefly carried on in London. To its port are likewise confined some branches of foreign commerce, as the vast East India trade, and those to Turkey and Hudson's Bay. "Thus London has risen to its present rank of the first city in Europe with respect to opulence; and nearly, if not entirely so, as to the number of inhabitants. Paris and Constantinople may dispute the latter with it. Its population, like that of all other towns, have been greatly overrated, and is not yet exactly determined; but it is probable that the residents in London, Westminster, Southwark, and all the out-parishes, fall short of 600,000.” It may be just remarked, that the sketch which we have now given of the BRITISH METROPOLIS, however short, will serve to impart a just idea of its wealth, magnificence, and dimensions, either to those who reside in it, or to those who visit it from the country. AMBULATOR; OR, A TOUR ROUND LONDON. The Distances on the Kent Roads are computed from London Bridge; on the Croydon, Reigate, and Epsom Roads from Westminster Bridge; on the Kingston Road from the Stone's End in the Borough; on the Brentford Road from Hyde Park Corner; on the Uxbridge and Edgware Roads from Tyburn Turnpike; on the Barnet Road from where Hickes's Hall stood in St. John's Street; on the Ware Road from Shoreditch Church; and on the Essex Road from Whitechapel Church. A. from St. Alban's, and 22 from London, is pleasantly situated on a hill, on the east side of the river Bulborne. Domesday book informs us that the town was given by Egelwine the black and Winifled his wife, to the monks of St. Alban's; hence its name. King John confirmed the grant to the Abbey towards supplying the monks with clothing. At the dissolution the whole manor reverted to the crown; James I. conveyed it to Francis Combe, Esq. who dying without issue, endowed a school here, and devised the manor, &c. to Trinity College, Oxford, and Sidney College, Cambridge, for the education of his own and his wife's kindred for ever*. Langley Bury, near this village, was built by Lord Chief Justice Raymond, who took his title of Baron Langley from this place, his son, the late Baron, bequeathed it to Sir John Filmer, Bart. It is the residence of Sir Beaumont Hotham. See Cecil Lodge. These ACTON, a village, five miles from London, on the road to Uxbridge. The parish is supposed to derive its name from the quantity of oak timber it produced; ac, in the Saxon language, signifying an oak; and the hedge-rows still abound with that tree. Half a mile from East Acton, are three wells of mineral water, which, about the middle of the last century, were in repute for their medicinal virtues. The assembly-room was then a place of fashionable resort; and the neighbouring hamlets of East Acton and Friar's Place were filled with persons of all ranks, who came to reside there during the summer season. wells have long ago lost their celebrity, fashion and novelty having given the preference to springs of the same nature, at a greater distance from the metropolis. The site of the wells is the property of the Duke of Devonshire; and the assembly-room, being nearly in ruins, is about to be converted into two tenements. At Acton resided Francis Lord Rous, one of Cromwell's Peers; and, on the site of his house, now stands a modern mansion, called the Bank House, the property of Samuel Wegg, Esq. Richard Baxter, the non-conformist divine, resided also, many years, in a house + near the church, where he constantly attended divine service, and sometimes preached; having a licence for so doing, provided he uttered nothing against the doctrines of the church of England. The great and good Sir Matthew Hale was his cotemporary at Acton, and intimate with him. This is the more * Abbot's Langley is famous, as the birth-place of Nicholas Breakspeare, son of a servant to St. Alban's Abbey. For his great literary endowments he was elected Abbot of St. Rufus, near Valentia; Bishop of Alba, in the neighbourhood of Rome; and, at length, Cardinal and Pope, by the title of Adrian IV. the only Englishman who attained to that dignity. This Pope is styled the Apostle of Norway, for the great pains he took in converting that barbarous nation to the christian faith. The accounts of his arrogance, &c. must be received with caution. + This house was purchased, some years ago, by Mr. Wegg, and pulled down. pleasing to observe, as that age was not remarkable for religious candour and moderation. The celebrated parliamentary General Skippon resided also in a house near the church, which is now the property of James Stratton, Esq. On the left hand of the entrance of the village from London, are the house and extensive grounds of the late Lieutenant General Morris. Among several monuments in the church, is one to the memory of Anne Lady Southwell, who died in 1636. On each side of the monument hangs a wooden tablet, inscribed with panegyrical verses, of which the following may serve as a specimen : The South wind blew upon a springing well, Whose waters flow'd, and the sweet stream did swell At the entrance of Acton, on the London side, is a con duit made for the benefit of the public, and endowed by Thomas Thorney, in 1612, with a rent charge of 20s. per, ann. to keep it in repair; the overplus to be distributed to the poor, for which they no doubt bless his memory. ADDINGTON, a village, three miles to the E. of Croydon, at the foot of a range of hills, to which it gives the name of Addington Common. On the brow of the hill, toward the village, is a cluster of small tumuli, about twenty-five in number, and in them have been found Roman urns, &c. In this parish is Addington Place, a handsome seat, now in the occupation of Charles Thel lusson, Esq. but is the property of James Trecothick, Esq. who holds it by a tenure of making his Majesty a mess of pottage at his coronation. The origin of this tenure is from Tezelin, the Conqueror's cook, holding a carucate here, by the service of cooking up in an earthen platter, in the King's kitchen, at his coronation, a mess denominated deligrout. ADDINGTON, near Croydon, Kent. Here is a very copious circle of stones, supposed a Druidical temple. Addington Place is the residence of John Shuter, Esq. Near this place are the seats of F. Newbery, Esq. A. Adair, Esq. J. Claxton, Esq. T. Leverton, Esq. and James Bourdieu, Esq. ADDISCOMBE PLACE, near Croydon, a handsome seat, the property of Captain Charles Clarke, is let to the Earl of Liverpool for his life. His Lordship has not only beautified the house, but greatly improved the plantations. On the east front of the house is this inscription in Roman capitals: "Non faciam vitio culpave minorem-I will not reduce the estate by any vice or folly of mine," a maxim which were it always observed by the great, would conduce in no small degree to the benefit of the community. ALBAN's, St. an ancient borough in Herts, 21 miles from London. It is seated on the Ver, a N. W. branch of the Coln. This was once the Metropolis of Britain, and the residence of British Princes before the invasion of Julius Cæsar. It was then called Verulamium. When the Romans had achieved their conquest, they added walls to the ordinary British defence of earth, ramparts and ditches; and erected Verulam city into a municipium, or city enjoying equal privileges with the Roman capital; which so attached the British citizens to the Roman Go. vernment, that this place consequently felt the vengeance of Queen Boadicea, who destroyed 70,000 of them in the most cruel manner! Suetonius Paulinus, the then Governor of Britain, in return for her barbarity, attacked her forces, gained a complete victory, and put 8,000 to the sword! Verulam was then rebuilt, and its inhabitants enjoyed their privileges till the Dioclesian persecution, A. D. 304, when the city was again rendered famous for the martyrdom of its citizen St. Alban. When the Saxons gained footing in Britain, Verulam was among their first conquests, being by them denominated Werlamcester and Watlingacester, from the famous Roman causeway on which it stands. Many vast fragments of the Roman masonry remain, and the area of the station, according to Dr. Stukeley's measurement, is 5200 feet in length, and 3000 in breadth. At present it is inclosed in two fields; but vestiges of the buildings, are still to be traced, particularly at a place distinguished by an immense fragment of the wall, called Gorhambury Block. After various revolutions, this vast city fell to decay; and from its ruins rose the present St. Alban's. The latter town is situated on a spot of ground, formerly a wood, named Holmhurst. It received its greatest prosperity from the stately Abbey in honour of St. Alban, whose relics were miraculously discovered by Offa, King of Mercia, after his unprovoked murder of St. Ethelbert, King of the East Angles, whom he had invited to his court to be his son-in-law. From Offa's compunction arose this magnificent Abbey and Monastery for Benedictine or black monks," whose abbot was dignified with a mitre, |