Proceded to Worcester 16 Miles, and parted with General and Mrs. Gage,
who went to Bath, our Roads very good and a fine Country, the Severn frequently
in sight, whose banks are very pretty. Worcester is a very fine City and a
County Town of the same Name. The principal Street called Foregate is a very
fine extensive Street. The Cathedral is an Ancient Building from the top of
which, you have a fine View of the Severn and Country round the Town,
which you likewise see to great Advantage and a very handsome, pretty place it
is, something larger than New York. In the Cathedral you are shown St.
Wulstan's Tomb, who was the founder in the year 1084. you are likewise shown
King John's, and Prince Arthur's Monuments, Son to Henry 7th. Doctor Johnston,
formerly at Westminster, is now Bishop of Worcester. The China Manufactury at
this place is well worth seeing, where China of the first and finest patterns
are made, Many Setts have been sold to the King, and the justest Imitation of
old China taken, and the most Elegant fashions of the newest samples to be had,
It is almost the only work of the nature that has throve in England. From
Worcester and Broomsgrove 14 Miles, Good Road and a pleasant Country, past
thro' Droitwich a small village, where there is a great Manufactury of Salt
made from Salt Springs, and larger quantities might be made if they had a Vent
for it, Broomsgrove is a Village of no great Note, their Manufactories consist
only in some Linen. To Birmingham which is Warrickshire 13 Miles. a good
Country and nothing Remarkable on the Road but Lickey Common, or hill, from
whence you see Birmingham, and have a prospect of a fine Country. To Litchfield
16 Miles: you pass thro' Yinton, Sutton-Coldfield, and over Hill Common, from
whence you have a fine View of Litchfield, and a fine Country. Lord Arnhams Seat and Shinston Village you
pass but none of them Considerable, Litchfield is a good Country Town, is with
Coventry a Bishops See, has an old Cathedral, said to be of an hundred Years
standing, but not remarkable for anything else. From Litchfield to Birmingham,
by Stratton, Aldridge, and the Beacon, is 20 Miles. From the Beacon there is a
very fine View, but the day was so dull that we could see but a short distance.
Two Miles from Birmingham, is Mr. Boltons Manufactory, where we saw the
process of Button making, Watch Chains, Trinkets, Tea Table Furniture, Ornamental
Figures, Curious Machinery, &c. There are 800 Souls daily employed in this
Manufactory, but many of whom are Children, and Women; Steel, Silver and inlaid
Swords are made there, with Buckles in dif ferent Metals, all in the greatest
perfection. Birmingham, is a large Town but sends no Memberers to Parliament,
and is the greatest hard Ware Manufacturing Town in the Kingdom, and perhaps in
the World. The Paper Manufactory is likewise worth Notice, we were shown the
different process a Snuff Box goes thro', Toothpick Cases, Salvers, Tea boards,
Panels for Coaches, &c. is likewise made of Paper, which is there worked to
as great perfection as in France. The Water Navigation is brought from the
Severn, to Birmingham about 50 Miles, by which all the Coal for the Consumption
of the Inhabitants and Manufactories, is brought in Boats that carry from 22 to
27 tons, and delivered at the Wharf, at 4.4 per hundred, whereas when brought
by land Carriage, it was never less than 6 or 7 per hundred. 200 Boats at least
are employed in this business, and pay a Toll of per Ton. The Canal is about 16
feet broad and 6 or 7 deep.
The plating and Gilding for Coffins, Picture frames, bordering for Rooms,
is there done by Stamps and dies, with incredible expedition and Cheapness.
From Birmingham to Henley is 14 miles, bad Road but fine Country, to Stratford
8 Miles, and 2 from Henley, is a handsome House of a Mr. Hottains. To Shipton
is 11 miles; to the Chapel Inn is 10 Miles, Hilly and deep Country, past by a
house of Mr. Shildons, called Weston in Oxfordshire. From Chapel Inn to
Woodstock 10 Miles, good road and fine Country, Breakfasted at the Bear, took
Horse and went to see Blenheim Park, and Waters, Bridges, Cascades, &c.
which are certainly the Noblest I have seen. Lord Litchfields about 3 Miles
from Blenheim, called Ditchley, we viewed, it's an Elegant House, and has many
fine paintings, returned thro' the Park over a new bridge to Blenheim House,
which has four fronts, but one of them and the Principal, faces the Obelisk,
and a fine Avenue, is a Crescent. You enter the House by a Spacious Hall, with
a bust of the great Duke Marlborough fronting you. You go on the left hand
thro' a Gallery to a Suite of Rooms which are Elegantly furnished. The Virgin
and Child, with St. John and St. Nicholas, one on each side, and a Magdalen,
are very fine Paintings; in the blue Drawing Room are six Capital Pictures,
said to be worth two thousand Guineas each, and a seventh, our Saviour taken
from the Cross, by Raphael, worth two thousand seven hundred. Three Tapiestry
Rooms represent Gobelin work, the first the four Cardinal Virtues, the other
two, the great Dukes several Battles. The Library is a most Magnificent Room,
183 feet 5 Inches long, and 21 feet 9 Inches wide, at the upper end is a Statue
of Queen Ann, of white Marble, most Elegantly finished by the famous Sculpture
Rysbrack, reckoned as fine a Statue as any in England. At the other end is a
bust of Alexander the Great, which his Grace gave two thousand Guineas for,
brought from some Ruins in Egypt. There are in the Library 24,000 Volumes, said
to cost 30 thousand pounds, the Saloon is a fine Room, on the Ceiling is
painted the great Duke in a Triumphal Chariot with Eagle on his Staff. The
Panels represent the figures and Dress of different Nations, and all below of
different Coloured Marble. The Hall is lighted by Sky lights very finely. In
the Chapel is a Monument of 1st Duke of Marlborough, and his Duchess, in white
Marble, with their two Sons, done in white Marble, on a black ground, Supported
by Fame and History, at the bottom a bas Relief, the Taking Marshal Tallard
Prisoner. From Woodstock to Oxford 8 miles, good road and fine Country. Mr.
Burt good enough to attend us thro' the Town, went first to the Bodleian
Library, which is a fine building, and incloses one hundred fifty thousand
Volumes, from thence we went to Radcliffe Library, a donation to that Seminary
of Learning from Bishop Radcliffe. It is a very fine oval building, and very
Elegant within, Lighted in a great measure by a very fine Dome, closed at the
top, but has very few Books in it. All Souls College, is a very fine
Quadrangular building, in a Gallery of which are many fine Paintings, with a
noble Statue in Brass of the Earl of Pembroke, who was Chancellor of Oxford in
James Ist time. There is likewise a very fine Library in this College, as well
as in all the rest, and a handsome Chapel. New College is of the preceeding
form, Elegantly built, with a fine Library left by Governor Codrington, of
Barbadoes, whose bust is there well done.
SOURCE: New York Historical Society, Publisher, Collections of
the New York Historical Society for the Year 1883: The Kemble Papers, Vol.
1 1773-1789, p. 23-7
