[A] BANBURY is pleasantly situated on the small river Charwell, and its staple commodities seem to be cheese and cakes; the former, even in Shakspeare's time, appear to have been celebrated, for Bardolph, when accused by "Slender" of robbing him of his two milled sixpences, exclaims, "You Banbury cheese." The cakes have made this town more celebrated than even its political engagements. The castle of Banbury was founded in the year 1153, by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and continued an episcopal residence till the reign of Henry VI. During the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster, when civil discord was a familiar incident in this neighbourhood, Banbury suffered much; but more particularly in the memorable engagement, called "The Battle of Banbury," fought about three miles from the town, in 1469. It took place on a plane called Danesmoor, near Edgecote. The Earl of Warwick was the commander of the Lancasterian forces, and the Yorkists were led by the Earls of Stafford and Pembroke, who had possession of the town. After one of the most determined conflicts ever recorded, the Yorkists were routed; the Earl of Pembroke and his brother were both taken and beheaded, and Edward IV. himself made prisoner a few days after. In 1642, the towns-people took part with the Parliament, but after the battle of Edgehill, this castle was taken by the royalists, under Sir William Compton, who defended it for 13 weeks against all the efforts of Sir John Fiennes, until the garrison was relieved by the Earl of Northampton. It suffered a further siege of 10 weeks, under Sir William Waller, and surrendered on honourable terms. Leland, who wrote in the Reign of Henry VIII., says, "In this castle is a terrible prison for convict men." A stone vault, with grated windows, and traces of the inner ditch, is supposed to have been the terrible prison alluded to, but very small remains exist in the present day. The free grammar-school is now wholly abandoned, and the school-house let out on lease by the corporation. This is much to be regretted, as it was formerly held in such high estimation, that the statutes of this establishment were taken as a model for St. Paul's school, London; and the statutes of the free grammar-school of Manchester, in 1524, ordain, that the grammar taught in that school, should be taught only "after the manner of the school at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, which is called Stanbridge's Grammar." Mr. Stanbridge, the celebrated grammarian alluded to, was a highly learned man, and tutor to Sir Thomas Pope. Adjoining the Ram Inn is a sulphurous well, and at a small distance from the town is a chalybeate spring. The pyrites aureus, or golden fire-stone, is frequently found in this neighbourhood. Among other interesting remains about the town is an ancient hospital, dedicated to St. John, now converted into a farm-house. This borough returns one member to parliament, as it did before the passing of the Reform Bill. The electors of the old