GENERAL A COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. THE VOYAGE OF DON MANOEL GONZALES, (LATE MERCHANT) OF THE CITY OF LISBON IN PORTUGAL, TO GREAT BRITAIN: CONTAINING AN HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL. POLITICAL, AND ECCLESIASTICAL ACCOUNT OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND; WITH A CURIOUS COLLECTION OF THINGS PARTICULARLY RARE, BOTH IN NATURE AND ANTIQUITY. TRANSLATED FROM THE PORTUGUESE MANUSCRIPT. (From the Harleian Collection, Vol. I. p. 9.) CHAPTER I.-Containing the Reasons of the Author's Voyage to England, &c. IN my infancy, my parents, being on both fides defcended from new Chriftians, to appear more devout and attached to the established church, and fo the better to fcreen themselves from the eye of the Portugueze inquifition, put me on the habit of a jefuit, and determined to breed me a scholar at least, if not a father of that fociety. In confequence of this refolution, I, as foon as age would permit, was fent to their public fchool of St. Antoaon, or St. Anthony the Great, at Lisbon, where not only languages, but all the liberal fciences are taught; and in a few years was to determine, whether I would enter into the fociety, or fucceed to my father's business of a merchant, who then was declining, both with age and infirmities of body. My tutor laid close fiege to my affections, well knowing that, as then I was the only furviving child of my parents, all their fubftance (and they were accounted rich) would center with me in their fociety for ever, could Ì be perfuaded to become a jefuit: to whom I had almost yielded; till my mother interpofing, with folid reafons convinced me, that for the prefent it would be better, both for her and myfelf, to enter into partnership with my father, alledging that I was not yet fo capable to judge how an ecclefiaftical life, under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, might confift with my growing inclinations and propenfity of nature; that as the whole paternal eftate would be feized on for their own ufe, upon my father's death, the must be ruined, or become obfequious VOL. II. B to 149133 to the fociety for a mean fubfiftence, or perchance be obliged to end her days in a monaftic confinement: and again, that should I happen to give them any provocation, or break their orders or rules, I might be unjefuited, expelled their fociety, and excluded both from my inheritance, and all means of living. And then, fhe added, that if in after-life my inclinations continued, when youth was conquered, and the world could yield me no pleasure, I might then do as I pleased; and it would yet be time enough to retire. Thus advised, I no longer appeared at St. Anthony's, nor in my student's drefs; yet my bookish inclination continued: But the course of my ftudies was changed, for inftead of Ariftotle's Philofophy, School Divinity, and Cafuiftry, I now relished nothing but Voyages, Travels, and Geography; and fuch other books as would lead me into a juft notion of the world, and aflift me in that state of life I then had just entered into. As for languages, I had been very happy in taking them at fchool; fo that I was at no lofs in reading authors of diverse nations, except the English: for though the English factory at Lisbon is both the richest and the largest, and there is alfo an Englifh college, an English nunnery, and two Irifh colleges, and a nunnery of that nation also, who speak the English tongue; and I may add, though our greatest dealings in the mercantile way are with the fubjects of Great Britain, none of the natives endeavour to teach or learn their language. Therefore my next step towards obtaining true ideas of a nation I, in all probability, was to deal with during my life, was to fearch not only for Portugueze and Spanish, but for French and Italian authors; yet I could find none in any of these languages, that are any other than mere fuperficial accounts, and, in my opinion, no way capable to convey just ideas of fo deferving a people, nor fufficient to inftruct a foreigner how to manage an advantageous commerce with them. For fo long as we are kept ignorant of any country, and traffic with its natives only by factors of their own nation, fettled among us, we must take only what they pleafe to import, and at their own times and price, to our own great lofs: whereas a merchant, that is thoroughly acquainted with the product, manufacture, and genius of the nations he traffics with, has the advantage to fupply himself with the best commodities, in the best seasons, and at the cheapest rates. Confequently, I, refolving to merchandife with Great Britain, refolved alfo, first to learn the language, and then to make a voyage to the island itself. I foon made myfelf master of as much of the English tongue, as to enable me to attempt my intended voyage, without the incumbrance and the accidents that often befal gentlemen, who are obliged to trust all to an interpreter. Having gained my parents' consent, I embarked with their bleffing, on board the packet, on the 23d of April, being St. George's day, commonly called the patron of England; and, after a pleasant voyage of feven days, we arrived fafe at Falmouth, the 30th of April 1730, N. S. CHAPTER II.-A Chorographical Defcription of England *. BEING thus accompanied and inftructed, it was to be my peculiar care to improve my journey to the uses I first intended, at my departure from Lisbon; and, in particular, to render it, for the future, fubfervient to my mercantile way of life: Therefore I began to take minutes of the foil, produce, and manufactures of every county through In the original this is the ninth chapter, feven chapters being filled with a hafty and imperfect history of England, which can nowife intereft the reader. which we paffed; and made my particular obfervations on the genius of the people, their different methods of dealing; and diftinguished the feveral cities, towns, and villages, which are most remarkable for trade and navigation; of all which, take the following true, though rude and unpolifhed account.-I begin with Cornwall, the county in which I landed. Cornwall is the most western county of England, and is fo wafhed by the fea on the north, fouth, and weft, and the river Tamer on the east, that it is a perfect peninfula fhaped like a horn. I prefently found the people of this county valued themselves upon fome pretenfions above the other part of the nation, which I was informed was their ability in wreftling, and ftrength of body; their having moft of the old British blood in their families; and their peculiar honour of giving title of Duke without creation to the eldest fon of the King of Great Britain. This is not the most fruitful part of England, the foil being for the most part mountainous, thin, and rocky underneath: yet the vallies are fat with corn and good pasture; the hills are rich in tin and copper mines; and they every where abound in wild fowls, efpecially the dainty woodcock. Nor muft I forget their produce of eringo, famphire, fine flate, and marble. But their chief metal and manufacture is tin. When the ore is brought above ground in the stone, it is broke with hammers, and then carried to the ftamping mills, which make it ready for other mills, whereby it is ground to powder. After it is washed and cleared from earth, &c. it is melted at the blowing-houses into pigs of three or four hundred weight, marked with the owner's name, and the value is fet upon it at the coining-house, where it is affayed, to know what it is worth. The times for coining or making it, are Midfummer and Michaelmas; and for fuch as have not their tin then ready, there is a poft-coinage at Lady-day and Christmas. The ftamp is, the feal of the duchy of Cornwal. The tinners are regulated by Stannary laws, fo called from Stannum, the Latin word for tin; and the trials of their causes are by juries, returned by the mayors of the stannary towns; for which purpose, courts are held by the Lord Warden of the ftannaries, who has also a deputy. When all the legal duties are fatisfied, the tinner may fell his tin where he will; only, if the King, or the Duke of Cornwall, have a mind to be purchasers, they have a right of prcemption. The coinage towns are Lefkard, Leftwithiel, Truro, Helfton, and Penfance; and the tinners are reckoned at least 100,000. The mundic, in which the tin lies as in its bed, yields fuch a quantity of lapis calaminaris, for making brafs, that instead of importing copper and brass, which yearly here tofore did amount to 100,000l. they now export as much, if not more. In this county alfo is carried on a great trade for pilchards, which are caught be tween July and November, of which the merchants export vaft quantities to foreign markets, and for which they fit them by fuming, preffing, and pickling: These are falted but not gutted, the entrails being reckoned the best part; and, after having been piled in heaps in a cellar for ten days, and preffed, to drain off the fuperfluous moisture of the blood and falt, they are barrelled up with pickle, for France; but without it, for Spain, Italy, and other hotter countries. We pafs through this county into Devonfhire, travelling eastward; which being not fo much incompaffed with the fea, is of a more pure air; and both the roads are better, and the foil more fruitful; though Devonshire has many both hills and woods. Its commodities are corn, cattle, wool, &c. and its manufactures, kerfes, ferges, druggets, perpetuanas, long-ells, fhalloons, narrow cloths, &c. as alfo bonelace. B 2 That That part called the South-hams is famous for its noble/rough cyder: In other parts of it mines of tin have been formerly discovered in fuch abundance, that in King John's time the coinage of Devonshire was fet to farm for 100l. a-year, when Cornwall paid but 661. 18s. 4d.; and it has four ftannary towns, with as many ftannary courts, and towns of coinage; which are Plympton, Tavistock, Ashburton, and Chagford; but there is very little tin dug in this country now. Veins of loadstone are found here, which I was told, a learned naturalist says gene rally run east and weft, contrary to the received opinion, that the loadftone gave a a northerly direction; because its natural pofition in the mine is fupposed to be north and fouth. Here are quarries of good stone for building, and alfo of flate for covering houses; and of the latter great quantities are exported. Proceeding ftill eastward, we entered the pleasant and fruitful county of Dorset, or Dorsetshire, which not only produceth great plenty of corn, pasture, cattle, wild fowl and fish, but hemp and flax; and great quantities of cloth are made here, both woollen and linen. Nor can any fhire match its plenty of excellent ftone in the quarries at Portland and Purbeck, (in the last of which marble has been dug up fometimes); and from Blacknore Forest may be brought fufficient timber to ferve the whole county: And what a conveniency this is to the inhabitants, appears, from the elegance of the buildings, not only of the gentlemen's feats, but in their towns. Many kinds of earth, that are useful, are dispersed up and down the county: particularly, the best tobacco pipe-clay, which, as I was told, would fell at London for 30s. a-ton. From hence we travelled into Somerfeffhire, fo called from its being the warmest county in the whole island of Britain. It is a very rich, plentiful, populous and pleafant county, famous among the graziers for its large fheep and oxen; and among merchant-adventurers, for its commodious havens. But the roads in winter are very foul and bad for travellers. It abounds with grain of all kinds, of which it fupplies home and foreign markets with vast quantities. Its hills afford mines of coal, lead, and copper. Wood thrives here, as well as in any shire in the kingdom; and teazles (a fort of thistles used by the cloth-dreffers) grow scarce any where else. Ocre is dug up, on and about Mendip hills; and of lapis calaminaris (without which, and copper, there is no making of brafs) more is dug up here than in all the kingdom befides. As this county is rich in pasture, no wonder it yields fuch great quantities of cheefe, of which the best and biggest in England are made, at Chedder, and reckoned as good as Parmefan; and it is worthy both the obfervation and imitation of fuch as defire to excel in this branch of trade, that the whole milk of the parish is, by the agreement of the parishioners, preferved for the making of it. Its oxen are as large as thofe of Lancashire and Lincolnfhire; and the grain of the flesh is faid to be finer. Its vales feed and fatten a prodi gious number of fheep, and of the largest fize. Its mastiff dogs are the boldest of all others of the kind at baiting the bull, a fport in which the ruder fort of people among them, and fome of the low-bred gentry, take perhaps too much delight, as well here, as in other parts of this nation. All forts of cloth is manufactured here; as broad and narrow kerfeys, druggets, ferges, duroys and fhalloons, together with ftockings and buttons; and in the foutheaft parts of the fhire are made great quantities of linen. The value of the woollen manufacture alone here, in the first hands, has been rated at a million a-year; and if a calculation was made of its other manufactures: and its produce by mines, tillage, feeding, grazing, dairies, &c. it would undoubtedly exceed any county of the kingdom in riches, both natural and acquired, Yorkshire not excepted; due allowance being made for |