*SALISBURY, (Wiltshire) 70 cm. 83 mm. from London, rose from the ruins of Old-Sarum, and is a large, well-built, clean
city, by the conflux of the Bourne, Nadder, Willy, and Avon; the waters of the two last running through its streets in
canals, that are handsomly bricked. It is the see of a Bp. whose cathedral was begun, anno 1219, by Bp. Poor; who having
sent for architects from abroad, it was so forwarded by his successors, that it was finished, anno 1258, and consecrated
in presence of K. Hen. III. and many of the nobility and prelates. The fabric, which cost above 26,000 l. is the most
elegant and regular in the Km. being built in form of a lanthorn with its spire of free-stone in the middle, the tallest
in England, being 410 feet, which is as high again from the ground as the monument in London. On the outside there is no
wall, only buttresses. Its windows are said to be as many in number as the days in the year. There are 8 bells, which are
hung in a steeple erected by itself in the Ch.-yard; the walls of the spire, which are little more than 4 inches thick,
being judged too weak for such a weight of metal; so that there is only one little bell in the Ch. which rings when the
Bp. comes to the choir. The roof of the chapter-house, which is an octagon, 150 feet in circumference, bears all upon one
little pillar in the centre, which seems too feeble to support it, and is therefore the more curious; so that, it is
supposed, it can hardly be matched in Europe. Round the frieze under the windows, the history of the Old Testament is
carved in stone. The cathedral stands in that, called formerly Merrifield, now the Close, without the liberty of the city,
and is surrounded by genteel houses of the canons, prebendaries, &c. and boarding-schools for young gentlemen and ladies,
there being more of the latter educated in this city, than in any other in England. Here are three other Chs. and a fine
T.-house in the Mt.-place, which is spacious enough for the muster of 3 or 4 batallions. The streets are generally
spacious, and built at right angles. The city was first incorporated by Hen. III. and increased so, after the deserting of
Old-Sarum, the building of the cathedral, and the turning of the western road through this city by a grant from Ed. III.
that it soon became one of the most thriving cities in England. It is governed by a mayor, high-steward, recorder, deputy-
recorder, 24 ald. and 30 C.C. with a T.-clerk, and 3 serjeants at mace. In the council chamber there is a picture of Q.
Ann, drawn by the late Mr. Dahl, and purchased by the corp. from the October club, who put it up in the great room, where
they used to meet till her death, at that called the Bell, now the Crown-Tavern, in King-Street, Westminster. Besides the
mf. of flannels, druggets, and the cloths called Salisbury-Whites for the Turky-trade here, it is noted for the mf. of
bone-lace and of scissars; by all which commodities, and by its Fairs, Mts. boarding-schools, assizes, sessions, and
especially the cathedral, this may be deem'd as flourishing a city as any in the Km. that depends entirely on a home-
trade. Here is an assembly of the ladies every Tu. A stage-coach flies hence to London every day in the summer, and here
is a printing-press. Besides 3 ch. scs. in which 170 children are educated and cloathed, and taught to earn their bread,
it has a hos. or coll. for 10 widows of poor clergymen; wherein lived the mother of Dr. Henry Sacheverel, who was
impeached and silenced by Pt. for his seditious sermon before the Ld.-mayor of London at St. Paul's-Cathedral, on the 5th
of Nov. 1709. The said hos. was built, in 1683, by its Bp. Dr. Seth Ward, who had before contributed very largely towards
the making the Avon navigable from hence to Christchurch, which was begun in October 1675; and it was on this Bp's.
petition to K. Cha. II. that the office of chancellor of the most noble order of the garter, which had been originally
annexed to the Bps. of this see, but vested in the laity above 130 years, was restored to himself, and his successos in
this see. The Bp's. palace here was sold by the Pt's. adherents, after the civil wars, to one Vanling, a rich taylor of
London, who pulled it down, and sold the materials. It is said, that no less than 28 of its Bps. are interred in its
cathedral. There is a remarkable monument in it of Ld. Stourton, who having in the R. of Q. Mary I. killed a gentleman and
his son at his own table, and thereby forfeited the usual grace of the crown to noblemen to be beheaded, was executed at
the gallows; and when his friends pressed for his burial in this cathedral, the Bp. would not aeree to it, unless, as a
farther infamy, they would consent, that the silken halter in which he was hanged should be placed over his grave in the
Ch. as a monument of his crime; which was done accordingly; and where the halter used to hang, there is now a wire. This
city has given title of E. to several families, but now to the Cecils. The navigation from Christchurch could not be
brought nearer than 2 m. from this city, because the stream was too strong, The Mts. here are Tu. and S. Fairs on Jan. 6,
Tu. after Epiphany, Ladyday and the M. before it, Whit-Tu. Th. after Michaelmas, Octob. 2, and Dec. 29, besides the
fortnight Fairs for cattle, from 10 days before Christmas to Lady-day. Here were formerly several religious houses. Its
cathedral had at first 50 prebends, now reduced to 41. In that part of the suburbs, called Harnham, a college was built by
its Bp. anno 1260, where several scholars studied U.-learning, who retired hither by reason of disturbances that had
happened at Oxford. There are no vaults in the Chs. nor cellars in the whole city, by reason of springs; for the water
often rises up in the graves that are dug in the cathedral, and is sometimes 2 foot high in the chapter-house. The Plain
of Salisbury extends 25 m. E. to Winchester, and 28 W. to Weymouth; and in some places it is from 35 to 40 in breadth.
There are so many cross-roads on it, and so few houses to take directions from, that the late E. of Pembroke's father
planted a tree at the end of every m. from hence to Shaftsbury, for the traveller's guide. That part of it about the city
is a chalky Down, like East-Kent. The other parts are noted for feeding numerous flocks of sheep, some of which contain
from 3000 to 5000 each; and several private farmers hereabouts have 2 or 3 such flocks. By folding the sheep upon the
lands here, after they are turned up with the plough, they become abundantly fruitful, and bear very good wheat, as well
as rye and barley. On this plain, besides the famous monument of Stonehenge, 6 m. N. of the city, there are the traces of
many old Roman and British camps, and other remains of the battles, fortifications, sepulchres, &c. of the ancient inh. of
this Km.