to eight; Stephen to fourteen; and Henry the Second to sixteen days. During the said time of the fair, the shops were shut up, and no business was allowed to be transacted throughout the whole city, in Southampton, or, in short, within the distance of seven leagues from the hill in every direction. On the eve preceding the festival of St. Giles, (September the tenth, N. S.) when the fair began, the Mayor of the city gave up the keys of the four city gates, and with them his authority, to a temporary Magistrate appointed by the Bishop, and did not resume the same until the fair was concluded. In the mean time, collectors were appointed at Southampton, and Redbridge, and on all the roads leading to the city, to exact the appointed duties upon all merchandise that was brought here for sale. This fair was in the highest repute of any throughout the Kingdom; merchants resorted to it not only from the most remote parts within land, but also from places beyond the sea, It formed a kind of temporary city, which was entirely mercantile; consisting of whole streets appropriated to the sale of particular commodities, and distinguished by their several names; as the Drapery, the Pottery, the Spicery, the Stannery, &c. At length, in the reign of Henry the Sixth, this celebrated mart was observed to be on the decline; the stand ap pointed for those who brought certain articles for sale from Cornwall, not being occupied. Since that period, various causes, and, among others, the decay of the city itself, have gradually reduced this fair to its present insignificancy." St. Mary Magdalen's Fair is now the greatest, and a vast quantity of money is here annually circulated on a single day.

Various improvements in the general appearance of this city have been made since the year 1770, when the act for paving, cleansing, and repairing it, was passed, The buildings are chiefly disposed in parallel streets, branching off at right angles from the

Hig

* Milner's Winchester, Vol. I. p. 200. We cannot conclude the description of this city, without acknowledging the very material assistance we have derived from that work; which, considered only in respect to its immediate relation to the History and Antiquities of Winchester, forms a very honorable monument of the talents and industry of its reverend author,

High Street, which runs through the centre. The number of houses which compose the city and suburbs, omitting those of the parish of St. Maurice, is stated, in the returns under the Population Act, at 847; the number of inhabitants, including the inmates of the College, at 6171: if to these are added 2000 for the number of soldiers that are generally in the Barracks, or King's House, the total of the population will amount to 8171. For the recreation of the superior classes, a neat Theatre has been recently built; additional amusement is derived from the Race-Ground, which lies between three and four miles to the north of the city. A County Hospital, or Infirmary, was established at Winchester as early as the year 1736, and has been the means of relieving a great number of people. The present building consists of a centre, and two wings: the plan on which it is managed, is highly judicious and honorable.

About three miles north-east from Winchester, is AVINGTON, anciently Abyngton, a seat and manor of Earl Temple, eldest son of the Marquis of Buckingham, who obtained it by marriage with the Lady Anna Eliza Brydges, only daughter and heiress of James, last Duke of Chandos, on whose death, in 1789, that title became extinct. The manor was originally Royal demesne, and was given, by King Edgar, to the Monastery of St. Swithin, at Winchester, in the year 961; and continued in the possession of that house till the Dissolution, when it became the property of the Clerks of Micheldever, in this county, in whom it remained till the reign of Elizabeth, and then passed to the Bruges, or Brydges. This family, a branch of a very noble one of the same name on the Continent, was settled at Brugge Castle, in Shropshire, at the time of the Conquest. Sir Thomas Brugge married Alice, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Berkeley, by Alice,' his wife, daughter of Thomas, Lord Chandos, sister and heiress of Sir John Chandos, Lord Chandos, one of the original Knights of the Castle; and of whom our History speaks so highly for his conduct in the French wars, under Edward the Third. From this marriage arose the connection between the families of Bruges and Chandos; the united honors of which have descended, in an uninterrupted line, to the present time.

In the year 1554, Sir John Bruges, or Brydges, was created, by Queen Mary, Baron Chandos, of Sudeley Castle, in Glocestershire; and in 1714, the Honorable James Brydges, ninth Lord Chandos, was created Marquis and Earl of Caernarvon, and Duke of Chandos. James, his grandson, third and last Duke of Chandos,* acquired the house and property of Avington, on the death of Mrs. Brydges, relict of George Brydges, Esq. son of George Rodney Brydges, Esq. fourth son of Sir Thomas Brydges, in the county of Somerset, who married Anna Maria Brudenell, the infamous and notorious Countess of Shrewsbury, whose former husband, Francis, Earl of Shrewsbury, died in consequence of a wound he received in a duel with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham,+ during the fighting of which, the Countess is reported to have held the horse of her gallant, disguised as a page. During her residence at Avington, Charles the Second was frequently her guest; and hence Avington became the scene of the licentious pleasures of that profligate Monarch, at the time he was meditating to establish his Royal residence in the Palace at Winchester. fore the old house was dismantled, but a very short time before the unexpected death of the late Duke of Chandos, Nell Gwynn's Dressing-Room was still shown. The old Green-House was the Banquetting-Room in which Charles was entertained.

Be

The present Mansion is mostly of brick; and though not yet completed, has been greatly improved since it came into the possession of Earl Temple; it having been previously dismantled, by the late Duke, for the purpose of adding two wings; but on the sudden

By the maternal line, the Blood Royal of England flows in the veins of the descendants of this family; the mother of the late Duke of Chandos, and of Lady Caroline Leigh, relict of James Leigh, Esq. of Addlestrop, in Glocestershire, being the first wife of Henry, second Duke of Chandos, and one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Lord Bruce, afterwards Earl of Ailesbury, who descended through heiresses of the great houses of Grey, Duke of Suffolk, Seymour, and Saville, from Mary, Queen Dowager of France, and daughter of Henry the Seventh.

+ See Beauties, Vol. I. p. 388.

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