*LEWES, (Sussex) 40 cm. 50 mm. from London, is famous for a bloody battle near it, wherein K. Henry III. was defeated and
taken prisoner by the Barons, headed by Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester, who then entered and plundered it. It is so
ancient, that we read the Saxon K. Athelstan appointed two mint-houses here, and that in the R. of Edward the Confessor it
had 127 burgesses. Here was formerly a priory, which after the Diss. fell into the hands of the Earls of Dorsetshire It is
a pleasant T. and one of the largest and most populous in the Co. It stands in an open champain country, on the edge of
the most delightful South-downs. It is an ancient Bor. by prescription, by the stile of constables and inhabitants. The
constables are chosen yearly, at a court-leet held alternately by the Ds. of Norfolk and Dorset, and Ld. Abergaveny. It
has sent burgesses to Pt, ever since the 26th of Edward I. It has 6 ps. which have each their Ch. and consist chiefly of
the seats of the Pelhams, Gages, and Shelleys, and other gentlemen, whose gardens join to one another, though they lie for
most part up and down the hill, in the most romantick situation. It has handsome streets, and two fair suburbs. It carries
on a good trade, and the r. Ouse runs through it, which brings goods in boats and barges from a port 8 m. off. On this r.
are several iron-works, where cannon are cast for merchant-ships, besides other useful works of that kind. A ch. sc. was
opened here in 1711, where 20 boys are taught, cloathed, and maintained, at the expence of a private gentleman, by whom
they were also furnished with books; and 8 boys more are taught here at the expence of other gentlemen. Here are horse
races, almost every summer, for the K's. plate of 100 l. The roads here are deep and dirty; but then it is the richest
soil in this part of England. The Mt. here is on Saturday, and the Fairs April 23, Whitson-Tuesday, and St. Matthew's-day.
From a wind mill near this T. there is a prospect which is hardly to be matched in Europe; for it takes in the sea for 30
m. W. and an uninterrupted view of Bansted-Downs, which is full 40 m. Bet. this T. and the sea there is the best winter
game that can be for a gun, and several gentlemen here keep packs of dogs; but the hills hereabouts are so steep, that it
is extremely dangerous to follow them, though their horses will naturally run down a precipice safely, with a bold and
skilful rider. On the E. side of this T. there has been a camp, and it had formerly a wall, of which few remains are now
to be seen, with a castle, long since demolished. The timber of this part of the Co. is prodigious large. The trees are
sometimes drawn to Maidston, and other places on the Medway, on a sort of carriage called a tug, drawn by 22 oxen a little
way, and then left there for other tugs to carry it on; so that a tree is sometimes 2 or 3 years drawing to Chatham;
because, after the rains once set in, it stirs no more that year, and sometimes a whole summer is not dry enough to make
the roads passable. It is cheap living here; and the T. not being under the direction a corp. but governed by gentlemen,
it is reckoned an excellent retreat for half-pay officers, who cannot so well confine themselves to the rules of a
corporation.