which he wrote: “If the affection to my natural producer blind not the judgement of this my Survey; for aire and soil it equalls the best, and farre exceeds her neighbours the next Counties: for although the Climate be cold, and toucheth the degree of Latitude 54, yet the warmth from the _Irish Seas_ melteth the Snow, and dissolveth the Ice sooner there than in those parts that are farther off; and so wholesome for life that the inhabitants generally attain to many years. The soil is fat, fruitfull, and rich, yielding abundantly both profit and pleasures of man. The Champion grounds make glad the hearts of their Tillers; the Medows imbroidered with divers sweet-smelling flowers; and the Pastures make the Kine’s udders to strout to the Paile, from whom and wherein the best Cheese of all Europe is made.” No apology can be necessary for giving this opinion of his native county in _Memorials of Old Cheshire_, as it shows the estimation in which he held it three hundred years ago. Speed did not forget his old home and the church where he was baptized, for he presented a silver chalice to the church. Unfortunately this has disappeared, and one of the chalices now in use bears the inscription: “This Cup was given in exchange for one given to Farndon Church by John Speed.” The assassination of his patron, Lord Brooke, in September 1628, and the death about the same time of his wife, with whom he had spent fifty-seven years of his life, made a great impression upon Speed, and he died 28th July 1629, and was buried in St. Giles’ Church, Cripplegate, where a monument was erected to his memory, on which was inscribed: “Civis Londinensis mercatorum scissorum fratris servi fidelissimi regiarum majestatum Elizabethæ, Jacobi, and Caroli nunc superstitis.” His portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery. He published his _Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain_ in 1606, accompanied with the first set of maps ever published in England. His _History of Great Britain_ appeared in 1644 after his death, and beneath the plate of his portrait is a long Latin inscription, of which a portion is given above. In this he is described as a “Geographer of our lands, a faithful historian of the antiquity of Britain, and a most elegant delineator of sacred genealogy.” This last is an allusion to an elaborate work of his entitled, _The Cloud of Witnesses; or, The Genealogies of Scripture confirming the truth of the Sacred History, &c._ Farndon and the county of Cheshire may well be proud of her son, who (to use Mr. Hulbert’s words) “by his character, talents, industry, and perseverance gained friends among the most distinguished individuals in the kingdom for learning and transcendent abilities; and who was a man of genuine enlightened piety, and made his talents and his studies subservient to the cause of virtue and true religion.” [Illustration: Facsimile of Speed’s Autograph] SOME CHESHIRE CUSTOMS, PROVERBS, AND FOLK-LORE