The chief is THAMISIS, compounded of two rivers, Thame and Isis; whereof
the former, rising somewhat beyond Thame in Buckinghamshire, and the
latter near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, meet together about
Dorchester in Oxfordshire; the issue of which happy conjunction is
Thamisis, or Thames; hence it flieth betwixt Berks, Buckinghamshire,
Middlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex: and so weddeth itself to the Kentish
Medway, in the very jaws of the ocean. This glorious river feeleth the
violence and benefit of the sea more than any river in Europe; ebbing
and flowing, twice a day, more than sixty miles; about whose banks are
so many fair towns and princely palaces, that a German poet thus truly
spake:
Tot campos, &c.
We saw so many woods and princely bowers,
Sweet fields, brave palaces, and stately towers;
So many gardens drest with curious care,
That Thames with royal Tiber may compare.
2. The second river of note is SABRINA or SEVERN: it hath its beginning
in Plinilimmon-hill, in Montgomeryshire; and his end seven miles from
Bristol; washing, in the mean space, the walls of Shrewsbury, Worcester,
and Gloucester, and divers other places and palaces of note.
3. TRENT, so called from thirty kind of fishes that are found in it, or
for that it receiveth thirty lesser rivers; who having his fountain in
Staffordshire, and gliding through the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln,
Leicester, and York, augmenteth the turbulent current of Humber, the
most violent stream of all the isle. This Humber is not, to say truth, a
distinct river having a spring-head of his own, but it is rather the
mouth or aestuarium of divers rivers here confluent and meeting
together, namely, your Derwent, and especially of Ouse and Trent; and,
as the Danow, having received into its channel the river Dravus, Savus,
Tibiscus, and divers others, changeth his name into this of Humberabus,
as the old geographers call it.
4. MEDWAY, a Kentish river, famous for harbouring the royal navy.
5. TWEED, the north-east bound of England; on whose northern banks is
seated the strong and impregnable town of Berwick.
6. TYNE, famous for Newcastle, and her inexhaustible coal-pits. These,
and the rest of principal note, are thus comprehended in one of Mr.
Drayton's Sonnets:
Our floods' queen, Thames, for ships and swans is crown'd
And stately Severn for her shore is prais'd;
The crystal Trent, for fords and fish renown'd;
And Avon's fame to Albion's cliffs is rais'd.
Carlegion Chester vaunts her holy Dee;
York many wonders of her Ouse can tell;
The Peak, her Dove, whose banks so fertile be,
And Kent will say her Medway doth excel:
Cotswold commends her Isis to the Tame:
Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood;
Our Western parts extol their Willy's fame,
And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account