The circumference of Wilts is upwards of 150 miles. Its contents are about 1372 square miles, or 878,000 acres. It is divided into 29 hundreds, containing 304 parishes, one city, 25 market towns, 15 boroughs, and about 27,000 houses. It returns 34 members to parliament : two for each borough, two knights for the county, and two citizens for Salisbury. The population may be estimated at about 150,000.

In the external appearance of the south-east, and north-west sides of the county, there is a very striking difference. The former, being composed of a broken range of chalk-hills, which entering the county from Berkshire, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire, terminates in an irregular line of bold breaks, and disjointed masses, running from the north-east to the southwest. The latter, generally termed North Wilts, consists of a rich tract of vale land, stretching north-east, and south-west, through the county, under the base of the chalk-hills, but rising gradually north-west, till it unites with the high lands of Gloucestershire.

Most of this part of the county was formerly overspread with extensive forests, as appears by some of our old maps; in which we find the

names

names of Bradon, Pewisham, Blakemore, and Savernake-forests; but the chief of these, have long since fallen beneath the axe of the husbandman.-The Forest of Savernake, near Marlborough, may be regarded as a very fine specimen of the manner in which the soil was originally covered.

The principal rivers of Wilts are, the Thames, the Upper Avon, the Lower Avon, the Nadder, the Willey, the Bourne, and the Kennet.

The fountain of the Thames is in Gloucestershire, about two miles from Cirencester, between that town and Tetbury. It enters this county on the northern side, and swelled by tributary rills, crosses the Ikenild-way, (one of the Roman roads) at Cricklade, and flows eastward into Berkshire.

Many disputes have arisen respecting the name of this noble river, previous to its union with the Thame in Oxfordshire; some asserting its proper name to be Isis; others insisting, that it never obtained that name, but with pedants, &c. As I cannot discover that any important advantages will result from the enquiry, whether we determine its name to be the Thames, or the Isis, I will not dive into its controversial waters: yet, as the opinion of different authors, on con

tested

tested points, are often amusing, I shall make a short extract from an article in the Monthly Review, (September 1793,) in which an account is given of Mr. Ireland's Picturesque Views on the River Thames; I am more particularly induced to this, as these judicious observations accord with my own opinion.

"Mr. Ireland commences his narrative with an account of the source of this celebrated, and, as Holingshed calls it, good river, in which he briefly notices the controversy respecting its name, and assigns his reasons for doubting its ever having received, in any part of its course, the name of Isis, and for giving to the whole that of the Thames. But, in opposition to Mr. Ireland, we shall here introduce a quotation from the ancient chronicler just mentioned; which, while it gives his reason for affixing to this river, the epithet good, strenuously asserts that Isis was a name sometimes given to that part of it, which is near its source.-'I do affirm, that this famous stream hath its head, or beginning, out of the side of a hill, standing in the plain of Cotswold, about one mile from Tetbury, where it was sometime named Isis, or Ouse. From hence it runneth directly toward the east, as all good rivers should.'-Holingshed's word, sometimes, appears

to us to explain the whole matter.

From the

country people, who lived near this part of the stream, it obtained a provincial name; though those who wrote, or spoke of the river in general, included its whole course under that name by which it is now known."

The Avon, called for the sake of perspicuity, the Lower Avon, has its source likewise in Gloucestershire, close upon the borders of this county. On its entrance into Wiltshire, it crosses the Fosse-way (another Roman road, which leads from Cirencester to Bath) and flowing southward to Malmsbury, was, as Ethelwerd observes, formerly the boundary of the WestSaxon and Mercian kingdoms, and the theatre of several considerable battles fought between their respective monarchs. Leaving Malmsbury, it continues its course by Great Somerford and Dantsey to Chippenham, where it flows in a wide stream, having had its current enlarged by the Calne, and other rivulets. From Chippenham, bending to the west, it passes Melksham to Bradford, where its waters are applied to a variety of operations in the manufacture of broad cloth. It leaves Wilts, in the neighbourhood of Bradford, and entering Somersetshire, directs its course towards Bath.

The

The Upper Avon, rises among the hills near the centre of the county, and flows southward through a number of small villages, to Amesbury and New Sarum, where it receives the united streams of the Willey and the Nadder; and running through Downton, crosses Hampshire, and discharges itself into the British Channel, at Christ Church.

The Willey, rises near Warminster, and flowing through Heytesbury, courses the south-side of the plains, and gives name to Willey, a small village, and Wilton, formerly the county town: then mingling its waters with the Nadder, it runs into the Upper Avon, on the west-side of Salisbury.

The Nadder, rises on the southern edge of the county, near Shaftsbury, in Dorsetshire, and winding, like an adder, (whence it seems to derive its name; the Saxon Nædone, signifying a Nadder, and not an Adder, as corruptly written) flows by Wardour castle, the village of Hache, and some others of less note, to the south-east of Wilton, where it empties itself into the Willey.

The Bourne, is only occasional; flowing generally about October, and ceasing in the spring. It rises near Great Bedwin, and running to the south