or its productions. It is bounded by Middlesex on the north, by Kent on the east, by Sussex on the south, and by Hants and Berkshire on the west. Its shape would be nearly a parallelogram, had it not been for its great northern inequalities, the windings of its boundary, the river Thames, and its contraction by the projection of the county of Berks. Surrey is, however, to be reckoned among the middle sized counties, measuring from east to west, thirty-nine miles; and from north to south nearly twenty-five miles, containing in the whole about four hundred and eighty-one thousand nine hundred and forty seven acres. It is divided into thirteen hundreds, and contains fifteen market towns and boroughs, and has one hundred and fifty parishes in the diocese of Winchester, and province of Canterbury. The county sends fourteen members to parliament, two knights of the shire, and two members for each of the following boroughs: Guildford, Southwark, Haslemere, Ryegate, Bletchingly, and Gatton; and pays eighteen parts out of five hundred and thirteen of the land-tax; providing also eight hundred men for the national militia. Surrey received its present name from the Saxon Suct and Rea, on the south of the river; indicating its situation on the south of the Thames. Its inhabitants, in conjunction with those of Hants, were denominated Regni by the Romans. During the Saxon Heptarchy it constituted part of the kingdom of Sussex, and so continued till England was embodied into one kingdom by king Egbert. The parts of this county in the more immediate vicinity of the capital, are in general most delightful, the various parts being beautifully diversified with hills, vallies, and woods. In many places the air is exceedingly mild and healthy, which is the reason why there are so many elegant seats belonging to the gentry and citizens of London. The soil is fertile, and produces large crops of corn and hay, together with great quantities of very valuable wood, particularly box and walnut. It is also remarkable for pro ducing large quantities of Fullers earth, an article very useful to the makers of woollen cloth. The great proportion of waste land in Surrey, is, however, such a deformity, that it cannot be said to rank with some of the finer cultured counties. The vast heaths, commons, and fen wastes, in the interior, produce a bleak and barren appearance, and degenerate into open downs, sandy, and steril, except when broken by a few fertile and pleasant spots*. It is, on the whole, a dry country, its soil being composed of chalk and gravel; whence it is generally healthy, and, where cultivated, pleasant. The principal rivers in Surrey are, the THAMES; the WEY, which rising near Alton in Hampshire, enters this county on the west of Godalming, whence it becomes navigable, and continues its course northward to Woking, where it divides itself into two branches, which afterwards form one stream at Weybridge, where it falls into the Thames. Pope distinguishes this river as, "The chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave." The MOLE rises near Oakley, and after running eastward along the coast of Sussex, turns north-west, and passing Dorking, hides itself for some distance under ground. Hence Pope calls it, The sullen Mole that hides his diving flood! The accurate fact is, that a tract of soft ground, near two miles in length, called the Swallows, in very dry seasons, absorbs the waste water in caverns in the sides of the banks; but not so as to prevent a constant, though diminished stream from taking its course in an open channel above ground, winding round in the vallies from Dorking to Leatherhead; though not of that breadth as when it crosses the road at Mickleham; beyond which, at Burford Bridge, its channel, in very hot seasons, is sometimes dry. * It is computed that the commons and wastes in this county amount to ninety-six thousand acres, capable of improvement. The Mole, then proceeding from Leatherhead to Cobham, enters the Thames at East Moulsey, on the south side of Hampton Bridge. The WANDLE is only a small stream, rising at Carshalton, near Croydon; after which it continues its course, and falls into the Thames near Wandsworth. It is famous for trout, and is celebrated by Pope as "The blue transparent Vandalis.” The most curious plants are, Birds-foot, in the fields near Cobham. Wild rue, on Leith Hill. Thorow-wax, near Croydon. Maiden pinks, near Esher. smelling toad-flax, in the hedges near Farnham. Self-heal, near Kingston. Buckthorn, in the hedges near Leatherhead; and on the Downs near Dorking, are wild black cherries, from which the inhabitants make wine little inferior to French claret. The inhabitants of Surrey, like those of most other counties, differ in their manners. in proportion to their situation; those in the interior parts devoting their time chiefly to husbandry, and are harmless sober people; but those who live near London may be considered as partaking both of the virtues and vices of the capital, there being a constant intercourse kept up between them. The natural productions of this county are a mineral water at Epsom, formerly in great repute; but the cheapness of its salts has much diminished the use of this water. We have already described the purging waters at Dulwich, Sydenham, St. George's, and Bermondsey Spas. Those at Streatham are still used for similar purposes. There are also chalk pits, producing a variety of extraneous fossils. The manufactures, trade, &c. exclusive of that of Southwark, are numerous and important in their commercial objects; and consist of vast distilleries, starch works, calico printing, bleaching, dying, paper making, and other considerable branches of employment, which have induced a vast increase of population; whilst that of the remoter dis tricts of the county, where agriculture only is followed, is scanty and insignificant. The land throughout the county consists more of arable than pasture; that near the metropolis is mostly appropriated for milch cows; much hay is made on the banks of the Thames, and in its neighbourhood are rye, tares, clover, and turnips, used chiefly as green fodder; the more inland parts produce grain and pulse; the deep sandy districts are planted with potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. On the banks of the Thames also, much land is devoted to the purposes of nurseries and gardening, especially about Battersea, Wandsworth, Barnes, Mortlake, Putney, Richmond, &c. The land is in general much divided, the farms being moderate, and the proportion of enclosed common field land greater than in other counties. Surrey is not remarkable for its animals: the cows are chiefly from Yorkshire and Durham; the oxen are bred from Welsh and Herefordshire cattle; and the sheep are principally from Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and South Down. The small native breeds are, however, much valued; among these the sheep fed on Banstead Down, produce the celebrated mutton, which has excited the praise of our eminent poets. The house lambs are very fine, and are very profitable; and the hogs fed on the refuse of the distilleries and starch manufactories, are so numerous, that nearly four thousand are annually sent to the London markets. AS CALLICO PRINTING is more immediately connected with the county of Surrey, its history and the ingenious process of that manufacture is worthy of attention. Augsbourg, in Germany, is said to have been the first European city where the inhabitants attempted to imitate those productions of the East, denominated by the name of Chintz. The neatness of the German soon exceeded that of the original manufacture, and as France was found to afford a ready market for these elegant garments, the manufacturers endeavoured to adapt them to the taste of that gay people, by introducing borders and other decorations of of beaten gold and silver. After some time the French themselves acquired the ability of manufacturing for themselves, and the art of callico printing was introduced into England about the latter end of the seventeenth century, being most probably brought here, with many other valuable branches of manufacture, by the distressed subjects of Louis XIV. who were expatriated in consequence of the cruel edict of Nantes, set forth by that inconsiderate momarch against the Protestants. The perfection of ingenious discovery, however, is proverbial with respect to Great Britain, at least it was so in this instance; for during the last forty years of the eighteenth century, the vast improvement in callico, both in design and execution, that, till the destructive French war, this country was enabled, from the excellence of this manufacture, to stand pre-eminent in all the foreign markets; and we trust that ere long the ravage of mankind by war and bloodshed, will again give place to the benign influence of peace and mutual commerce; and that this, as well as other articles of British manufacture, will be duly appreciated, and ingenuity amply rewarded. The first operation the cloth undergoes after it is received by the printer, is that of boiling in water with an infusion of American ash, to prepare it for the bleaching it must undergo in the different stages of printing. This alkali is cleansed away by rincing in vitriol and water, and the vitriol is, in its turn, detached by a copious application of pure water; after which the goods are dried and calendered, and are then fit for printing. It is not in our recollection, that any other manufacture of so many distinct branches as that of printing linen, has been carried on under one roof; for here the designer of the pattern, the ingenious cutter on wood, the colour maker, the printer, the boiler, the penciller, and a variety of others in subordinate capacities, occupying their different stations, receive and pass the goods in their progressive state, till they are fit to return to the draper from whom the linen was first received. |
