mented that its beauties had never met the protection of taste till within these six years.

Tewksbury enjoys a situation similar to that of Glocester. A wide and flat extent of productive meadow, pasture, and arable land, stretches round it on all sides, intersected by four rivers, which nearly insulate the town. Of these the Severn is the chief, who follows the curvature of a meadow to the west of the town; but the little classical Avon, more affectionate, washes its walls, and admits in its channel vessels of seventy tons burthen. Its waters, together with those of the Swilyate, which are united to them, lose themselves in the Severn a small distance below the town. An active cotton-stocking manufactory finds employment for a great portion of the lower order of females here, who are animated to industry by the considerable profits which reward their exertions. Those who weave the plain stocking, make from 9s. to 128. per week; and the manufacturers of the striped goods from 21s. to 258. To the honour of the working classes of the fair sex, it must be admitted, that if their earnings do not amount to so large a sum as those of the male manufacturer, yet their exemplary management of them renders the pittance of more use to their families than the greater gains of the husband; and

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hence it is observable, that in all places (as at Tewksbury) where the women are actively and lucratively employed, there is more comfort, decency, and cleanliness, in the mansions of the working order, than can be found in those manufacturing towns, where are opportunities of larger earnings, but all on the side of the men :-the remark was made by V. who with the gallantry of a foreigner added, that the sex had as yet neither found their level nor their value in this country. The town is a corporate one, and returns two members to parliament, under a charter granted by James II. which confirms and extends the privileges of its more ancient deed of incorporation, and vests the elective franchise in the freeholders and freemen of the body corporate, which amounts to nearly six hundred, a number that almost renders Tewksbury an open borough. Its name is said to be a corruption of Dodo, the founder of the first monastery here; an etymology which puts us in mind of the French wit's derivation of lacquey, or the English one's of pipkin.

Many vestiges of antiquity are scattered through the town of Tewksbury; amongst the rest a compleat specimen of the domestic architecture of the time of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, usually called the Brick-nog building, with projecting stones and pyramidal roof. Its population amounts to

4199 persons. An admirable House of Industry, built under an act passed in 1792, upon a good plan, and subject to wise regulations, gives comfort and finds employment for that unhappy class of society, the impotent and unprotected poor; and at the same time considerably lessens those assessments for their support which are so oppressive at other places.

On quitting Tewksbury, the champain country through which we had hitherto pursued our journey, swells into a hill, from whose summit we obtained a fine view to the left of the Malvern hills, which, starting suddenly out of a flat surface, carry their proud crest to a great height above the horizon for some miles, and then, dropping as rapidly as they rose, unite again with the level country. These summits form a line of incomparable beauty and variety; whilst their broad declivity to the east is overspread with the town of Malvern-Wells, seen from afar, and their roots are lost to the eye by the intervention of luxuriant woods. On each side of us we saw the pear, thickly powdered with its chaste blossom, and growing to an enormous size, promising an abundant supply of fruit for the manufacture of that delicious perry, whose praises would form a worthy subject for the muse of a second Phillips. Far and wide also, on every side, the

cherry is cultivated to that extent as to overwhelm completely the Worcester and neighbouring markets in the season with its produce.

As we proceeded, our interesting companions, the Malvern hills, assumed different situations in relation to us; sometimes bounding our view to the left, and at others lifting themselves in front, according as our road varied its direction; but on approaching the beautiful village of Severn-Stoke, and mounting to the head of another lofty rise of ground, we caught the extremity of their elevation, and threw our eye beyond them into the recesses of Worcestershire, over a magnificent sweep of country, bounded only by the distant heights of Shropshire. The imposition of a double toll at the turnpike-gate on entering Worcester from Tewksbury is recompensed in the improvement lately made in the city at this quarter, by which the traveller escapes the dangers of a narrow street and a sharp turning, and is led into the heart of Worcester through the Close, under the walls of its venerable cathedral.

We could not but allow that Worcester well deserved the praise of elegance which has been bestowed upon it; for no city has a greater appearance of comfort and neatness, owing to its uncommonly-large proportion of good private houses.

Its chief street in particular, chequered with shops and handsome buildings, is striking even to the eye that has been accustomed to contemplate the architectural wonders of Bath. Amongst the shops which ornament the High-street, that of Messrs. Flight and Bar particularly engaged our attention, by the rich exhibition it affords of articles from their elegant manufactory; where that exquisite porcelain is made, generally known by the name of Worcester china, inferior to the French only in lightness and transparency. The civility of the proprietors allowed us not only to survey, at our leisure, the process which produces this ware, but also submitted to our inspection every article of any rarity or value which this large collection contains. Amongst others, we were presented with some coffee-cups, made by the order of the Grand Seignor, and intended to furnish a golden stand enriched with diamonds. Each contains about a third as much as a common tea-cup could hold, and its price is ten guineas; but the largeness of the sum dwindled, in our estimation, into nothing, when we observed the surpassing beauty of the paintings which cover their sides, and represent the brilliant success of Lord Nelson at the Nile, in different points of view. The set will consist of forty-six of these beautiful specimens of British china manu