BERKSHIRE.—­ABINGDON.

(From Piers Plowman’s MSS. 1400.)

And there shall come a king and confess you religious,
And beat you as the Bible telleth, for breaking of your rule,
And then shall the Abbot of Abingdon and all his issue for ever
Have a knock of a king, and incurable the wound.

WILTSHIRE.—­SALISBURY CATHEDRAL,

  As many days as in one year there be,
  So many windows in this church you see,
  As many marble pillars here appear
  As there are hours throughout the fleeting year,
  As many gates as moons one here does view,
  Strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true.

  A noble park near Sarum’s stately town,
  In form a mount’s clear top call’d Clarendon;
  There twenty groves, and each a mile in space,
  With grateful shades, at once protect the place.

  Chippenham.—­On a Stone.

  Hither extendeth Maud Heath’s Gift,
  For where I stand is Chippenham Clift.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

An owl shall build her nest upon the walls of Gloucester,
And in her nest shall be brought forth an ass.

The Severn sea shall discharge itself through seven mouths,
And the river Usk shall burn seven months.
Merlin.

YORKSHIRE.

Robin Hood in Barnesdale stood,
An arrow to head drew he,
“How far I can shoot,” quoth he, “by the rood
My merry men shall see.”

SURREY.—­ON THE MARKET HOUSE, FARNHAM.

You who do like me, give money to end me,
You who dislike me, give as much to mend me. 
And Mole that like a nousling mole doth make
His way still underground till Thames he over-take.

          
                                                              Spenser.

The chalky Wey that rolls a milky wave.
Pope.

SOMERSETSHIRE.

What ear so empty is, that hath not heard the sound
Of Tannton’s fruitful Deane; not matched by any ground.
Drayton.

“Stanton Drew,
One mile from Pensford, and another from Chew.”

Bristol Castle.

The castle there and noble tower,
Of all the towers of England is held the flower.

Redcliffe Church.

Stay curious traveller, and pass not bye,
Until this fetive (elegant) pile astound thine eye,
That shoots aloft into the realms of day,
The Record of the Builder’s fame for aie—­
The pride of Bristowe and the Western Lande.

          
                                                                Chatterton.

WALES.—­GLAMORGANSHIRE.

When the hoarse waves of Severn are screaming aloud,
And Penline’s lofty castle involv’d in a cloud,
If true, the old proverb, a shower of rain,
Is brooding above, and will soon drench the plain.