READING, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Reading, county of BERKS, 36 miles (S. E. by S.) from Abingdon, and 39 (W. by S.) from London, on the road to Bath, containing, according to the last census, 13,264 inhabitants, since which period the population has increased to upwards of 16,000. This place, which is unquestionably of very great antiquity, is supposed to have derived its name either from the British word Redin, signifying fern, with which the soil abounded, or from Rlnjd, a ford, and Ing, a meadow, which, from its situation on a tract of land intersected by the river Kennet, appears to be the more probable. It is noticed, in 871, by Asser, the biographer of Alfred, as a fortified town taken from the Saxons by the Danes, to which, after their defeat at Engkfield, by Earl Ethelwolf, they retired, and were pursued by that Saxon nobleman, who was killed in attempting to take the town, in a sally of the besieged inhabitants. During the reign of Alfred, and occasionally in that of his successors, the Danes appear to have held possession of the town, which, on the invasion of Sweyn, King of Denmark, to revenge the massacre of his countrymen, in the reign of Ethelred, was burnt to the ground, in 1006, together with the nunnery founded there by Elfrida, in expiation of the murder of her step-son, Edward the Martyr. From this calamity it appears to have recovered prior to the Conquest, for in the Norman survey it is noticed as forming part of the royal demesne. In 1121, Henry I. founded a magnificent monastery, for monks of the Benedictine order, which he endowed with an ample revenue, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the "Virgin Mary, and St. John the Evangelist. He invested it with the dignity of a mitred abbey, bestowed on the abbots the privilege of coining money, of conferring the honour of knighthood, and many other important privileges. Henry was a frequent visitor at the abbey during his life, and after his death was interred in the abbey church, as was also his consort, Adeliza. Stephen, his successor, erected a strong castle here, which, after having been one of his garrisons during his contest with Matilda, was, in 1153, given: up to her son Henry, who, on his accession to the throne, ordered it, together with several other fortresses which had been erected in the preceding reign, to be demolished. This monarchj in 1163, presided at a judicial combat which took place here, on an island to the east of Caversham bridge, between Henry de Essex, the royal standard-bearer, and Robert de Montfort, who accused his antagonist of treasonable cowardice in a battle with the Welch near Chester. Essex being vanquished, his estates were forfeited to the crown, but his life being spared, he became a monk in this abbey. Henry II. visited the town on several other occasions, and in 1185 had an interview here with Herodius, patriarch of Jerusalem, who presented to him the keys of the holy sepulchre, and the royal banner of Jerusalem, and endeavoured, but without success, to induce him to undertake an expedition to recover Palestine from the Saracens. In ] 209, the professors and students of Oxford, disgusted with the severity with which they had been treated by the king's officer, iii a dispute with the townspeople, retired hither, where they continued to prosecute their studies, till, on expiation being made, they returned to their ancient seats. In 1212, a council was held by the legate of the Pope, for'the purpose of effecting a reconciliation between King John and the bishops, whom he had driven into exile; and various civil and ecclesiastical councils were also held here in this and the following reign. Edward III. held a grand tournament here in 1346, and in 1359, his son, John of Gaunt, was married, in the abbey church, to Blanche, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster. In 1389, a reconciliation was effected between Richard II. and his barons, through the mediation of John of Gaunt, who assembled here a great council for that purpose; in 1440, and 1451, parliaments were held in this town; and in 1452, and 1466, the grand parliament adjourned to this place from Westminster, on account of the plague. Henry VIII'. frequently visited Reading, and in 1541 took up his residence for some time at the abbey. Edward VI., and the queens Mary and Elizabeth, were frequent visitors, and the latter had a canopied pew appropriated to her use in the parish church of St. Lawrence. In the beginning of the reign of Charles I., the courts of Chancery, King's Bench, and Common Pleas, with the court of Exchequer, and the courts of Wards and Liveries, were held at Reading, in Michaelmas term, in the year 1625, and again in 1635, in consequence of the prevalence of the plague, which was then raging in the metropolis, and a commission under the great seal, for putting in force the laws against the Popish recusants, was read in the conrts here. At the commencement of the parliamentary war in this reign, the town was garrisoned for the parliament, but was abandoned by the governor on the approach of the royal forces in 1642; after which it was held by the king's troops, till taken for the parliament by the Earl of Essex, in the following year, after a siege of eight days. After the battle of Newbury, Essex marched to Reading, where he remained for two .days; on his departure, it was again garrisoned for the king, who, on his visit in 1644, ordered the military works which had been erected, to be demolished: there are still many extensive remains of the outworks in the Forbury. The inhabitants suffered severely from the contributions levied by both parties, who had alternate possession of the town. In 1688, some Irish and Scottish troops belonging to the army of James II. were posted at Reading, from which they fled on the approach of the Dutch troops under the Prince of Orange; but returning soon after, a skirmish took place in the town, in which the only officer in the prince's army who lost his life in the expedition, was killed: the anniversary of this battle, which was called " Reading Fight," was annually commemorated till about the year 1788, when it was discontinued. The town is pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Kennet, which, after passing through it, divides into two branches, uniting again previously to its confluence with the Thames. It is in the form of an equilateral triangle, and consists of four principal streets intersected by several smaller: the houses are in gener ral well built of brick, and many of them are spacious and handsome.; but there are several constructed of lath and plaster, -with high gables, most of which are of the date of the fifteenth century, and were formerly roofed with thatch. The town is well paved, and lighted with gas by a company established by an act obtained in 1825, and amply supplied with water by a joint stock company, originally established in 1694, for the distribution of the water from the Kennet, by machinery, which has been greatly improved since the beginning of the present century, when a lofty brick tower was erected on the bank of the Kennet, and a large reservoir constructed at the upper end of Castle-street, for supplying that part of the town. In addition to the bridges over the different branches of the river, a handsome stone bridge of one arch, ornamented with balustrades,