*WOODSTOCK-NEW, (Oxfordshire) on a little brook 7 m. N. from the city, 51 cm. 60 m. from London, implies, by its name, a situation in a woody part of the Co. yet has been a royal seat. K. Ethelred is said to have called a council here; and it must have been as early as the days of K. Alfred, who, according to a MS. in the Cotton library, translated Boctius de Consolatione Philosophiae at this palace. K. Henry I. made some additions to it, and walled round the park, (said to be the first that was ever inclosed in England) where, instead of deer, he kept lions, tygers, panthers, &c. K. Henry II. built that labyrinth here, called Rosamond's-Bower, with a house in it, to secrete his concubine, Rosamond Clifford, from his jealous Q. who nevertheless found her out, and rated her so sharply, that she died not long after, and there is a tradition that she was poisoned. 'Tis now much more famous for the parliamentary settlement of the honour and manor of the T. and its H. on the late ever victorious JOHN DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, and his descendants, male and female, as a reward for his glorious victories in 1704 over the French and Bavarians at Schellemberg, &c. particularly at Blenheim, to perpetuate the memory of which battle, the most signal that was ever won, and of the greatest importance to the common cause of Europe, a stately palace, by the name of Blenheim-House, was erected here, at the publick charge, which is, perhaps, one of the noblest seats of any subject in Europe, and in a situation the most delightful in England. The ascent to it is over a bridge of one arch, of 190 feet diameter, (like the Rialto at Venice) which alone cost above 20,000 l. The gardens of it take up 100 acres; the offices, some of which are very grand and sumptuous, are large enough to accommodate 300 persons, and the out-houses to lodge a regiment of soldiers. The chapel, salons, galleries, and other apartments of the main building, are extravagantly magnificent, and the stair-case, statues, paintings, and furniture, are surprizingly fine, especially the tapestry hangings, in which all the D's. principal battles are most curiously wove. The lofty gallery is painted by Sir Ja. Thornhill, and the cieling by La Guerre. Over the pediment of the front of the house is a marble busto of Lewis XIV. taken from one of the gates of Tournay. To describe the many particulars of the grandeur and ornaments of this palace, would take up whole pages of this work. The D's. descendants are obliged, by way of homage for the tenure of it, to present a standard to the sovereign yearly, on the 2d of Angust, the day on which the battle at Blenheim was fought. At the entrance into the castle from the T. the Dss.-dowager erected a noble triumphal arch to the D's. memory, and a vast obelisk in the chief avenue of the park, on which is inscribed (as it was penned by his grace's chaplain, Dr. Hare, afterwards Bp. of Chichester) the best and most masterly compendium of the D's. campaigns and character, that ever was recorded of the military virtues and triumphs of any of the heroes of Greece or Rome. Through this park runs the Roman consular-way, called Akeman-Street, in a raised bank, entering it at Wotton-Gate, and going out of it at Mapleton-Well. The T. which is about half a m. from Blenheim-House, was the birthplace of Edmund, son of K. Edw. I. surnamed from hence Edmund of Woodstock; Edw. the Black Prince, his brother, surnamed Thomas of Woodstock; and the poet Chaucer, for the honour of whose birth other Ts. have contended, as did seven in Greece for that of Homer. It was the prison of Q. Eliz. after, by her sister Q. Mary's order, ste was removed hither from the Tower; and it gives title of Visc. to the D. of Portland. It sent members to Pt. twice in the R. of Edward I. but no more till Q. Mary's R. when after having sent to her three first Pts. it again intermitted till the 13th of Eliz. from which it continued sending till the 16th of Charles I. and then sent no more till the 6th of Charles II. from which time it has always had 2 representatives in Pt. who are elected by the burgesses and freemen, in number about 400, and returned by the mayor, who, with a recorder, 4 ald. and 16 C. C. govern the T. which is well paved, has very good inns, and a mf. of fine steel chains for watches, and other things of polished-steel. Its Mt. is T. and Fairs March 25, Whitson-M. July 21, Sept. 21, and Dec. 6. The resort of our sovereigns to this place, in time past, being discontinued, it fell to decay; wherefore, in order to recover it, a statute was passed in Pt. the 18th of Eliz. to make it a staple of wool. In the 27th of that R. Mr. Richard Cromwell, citizen and skinner of London, founded a school here, where are also 3 almshs. With its 2 hamlets, the T. contains near 250 houses. There was an eccho in the park, which, according to Dr. Plot, when little wind was stirring, repeated 17 syllables very distinctly, and in the night 20. He says the object of it was the hill with the trees on the top of it half a m. from the T. in the way to the Earl of Rochester's-Lodge, and the true place for the speaker on the opposite hill, just without the gate at the end of the T. near Chaucer's house; but it has been impaired by the removal of buildings. Here are annual horseraces. From June to Holy-rood-day here used to be venison in the greatest perfection, and cheap, there being seldom less than 5000 head of deer in the park at a time.