Oxfordshire, sometimes called Oxon, is an inland shire; it lies along the north shore of the Thames, the windings of which it follows, and it is, therefore, very irregular in shape, being in some places only 7 miles across, and in others, as in the north-west, 28; its greatest length is about 50 miles; it Tuns in a north-west and south-east direction, having its longest dimensions on the river side; it contains 485,322 acres, and had a population in 1861 of 170,944; in 1871, 177,975; in 1881, 179,559; and in 1891,191,191, viz., males, 92,366; females, 98,825; the number of houses were-inhabited, 40,972; uninhabited, 3,104; building, 199, additions having been made from Northants and Berks.

The county in the Pre-Roman era formed part of the territory of the Dobuni, but was included by the Romans in the province of Britannia Prima. Notable Druidical remains exist at Little Rollright, near Chipping Norton, while Roman remains exist at Dorchester, Chadlington, Alcester and Bicester, a Roman villa at North Leigh, and portions of Watling street and Icknield street traverse or enter the county. Soon after the departure of the Romans it was conquered by the Saxons and became part of the Mercia kingdom; battles were fought at Bensington, Banbury, Eynsham and Brampton; a small portion (Bampton and neighbourhood) being held by the king of Wessex, numerous battles took place between the rival kings, notably at Bicester, Burford and Bensington. In the seventh century St. Birinus of Rome was created first Bishop of Dorchester, and included both kingdoms in his diocese. In the Danish-incursions this county suffered severely; Oxford and Thame were destroyed; numerous earthworks of this period remain. At the Norman conquest the county submitted quietly with the exception of Oxford, and the prosperity of the latter place consequently declined until the founding of Oseney Abbey on the Isis, to which the residence of the Bishop was removed from Dorchester. The Bishopric was afterwards transferred to Lincoln, and again removed to Oxford and separately endowed by Henry VIII.

Oxfordshire is bounded on the north by Warwickshire and by the river Cherwell and Northamptonshire, on the east by Buckinghamshire, on the south by the Thames and Berkshire, and on the west by Gloucestershire; it is a county having a very varied surface, from the lowlands of the river to high and bare chalk hills; it belongs partly to the secondary formations and partly to the chalk, and is traversed by the Chiltern Hills from south-east to north-east, and by other ranges. The soil on the river bank is a rich black mould; in north Oxfordshire it is a very fertile red earth or clay; in the midland district it is a decomposed stone brash or limestone, with sand and loam; and in the Chilterns, or south-east, it is a sandy loam laid on the chalk. The rivers are numerous, and mostly belong to the basin of the Thames, which is the chief water-way; this river is popularly called the Thames throughout its course, but is really the Isis until after its junction with the Thame; it enters the county at Lechlade, being navigable for vessels of ninety tons; its winding course forms the boundary of the county down to Henley. The Thame flows from Buckinghamshire past Thame and crosses Oxfordshire, past Dorchester, to its junction with the Isis between Day’s lock and Shillingford bridge; after this junction the Isis is properly called the Thames. The Windrush rises in Gloucestershire, in the Cotswold Hills, passes Burford and Witney, to the Isis. The Cherwell comes from Northamptonshire, enters Oxfordshire in the north near Claydon, and runs to the Isis near Oxford. The Evenlode rises in Worcestershire, and after receiving the Glyme, near Woodstock, falls into the Isis about 4 miles from Oxford. The river Ray falls into the Cherwell. The Oxford canal enters the county at Claydon, 6 miles north of Banbury, and passes near the Cherwell to Oxford; it was begun in 1769 and completed in 1790. It is 91 miles long, extending from the city of Oxford in the south to Longford in Warwickshire in the north, where it joins the Coventry canal. By the river Thames and the various canals Oxfordshire has water communication with nearly every part of England.

Railway communication is effected mostly by the several branches of the Great Western; from its main line it sends off branches from Twyford by Shiplake to Henley, and from Didcot to Oxford, and by the line from Didcot through Newbury to Winchester direct connection is established with the South of England From Oxford are lines in connection with the Great Western to Chipping Norton, Evesham, Worcester, Droitwich, Kidderminster, Dudley and Wolverhampton; to Warwick and Birmingham, passing Kidlington (the junction for Blenheim and Woodstock) and Banbury; from Oxford also are branches to Thame, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury and Winslow, joining the North Western at the latter place and the main line of the Great Western at Maidenhead. Lines are now open from Cheltenham to Chipping Norton and from the latter to Banbury.

From Watlington a line was made to Princes Risborough by the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway Company, but is now owned by the Great Western railway.

From Yarnton, on the Oxford and Worcester section of the Great Western, is a branch line through Witney and Burford to Lechlade and Fairford, Gloucestershire, taking in its route the fertile agricultural district of the Colne Valley.

The London and North Western railway has a line from Bletchley, through Bicester, to Oxford; and from Verney junction on this line is a branch through Buckingham and Brackley to Banbury.

The county is connected with the whole of the Southern system of railways by the Great Western, South Western and South Eastern lines.

The climate of Oxfordshire is healthy, but rather colder than other southern parts of England Large cops are raised of wheat, barley, oats, turnips, lentils, rape, cabbages, carrots, potatoes, chicory and rhubarb. In the many rich meadows on the banks of the river and streams cattle are fed; cheese is made. Many of the hills are wooded, and a good deal of copse wood is sent down the river; on the hills sheep are fed; some good hogs are also bred. The mineral productions are some coarse building stone, flints, Oxford clay (now little used for pottery), lime, slate and ochre (from Shotover Forest).

The manufactures are blankets at Witney; plush, shag and girth weaving and agricultural implements, portable engines &c. at Banbury, which is also famous for its cakes; and gloves and polished steel at Woodstock: tweeds are made at Chipping Norton, and there are paper mills on the banks of the Thames; lace is made by the country women. Chair making and turning are carried on to some extent, principally at Stokenchurch and Chinnor, near Tetsworth.

Oxfordshire contains 288 civil parishes and parts of eighteen others, and is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Oxford, subdivided into the rural deaneries of Aston, Bicester, Chipping Norton, Cuddesdon, Deddington, Henley, Islip, Oxford and Witney. The shire town is Oxford. There are fourteen hundreds. The county is in the Oxford circuit and has one court of quarter sessions and ten petty sessional divisions.

The Municipal boroughs are-Oxford City, population in 1891, 45,742; Banbury, 12,768; Chipping Norton, 4,222; Henley, 5,288 and Woodstock, 1,628. Other towns are Bicester, 3,343; Burford, 1,346; Thame, 3,334; Watlington, 1,734; Witney, 3,110.

Oxford is a well-built city on the Thames; distinguished for its University, and is also the see of a bishop.

Dorchester was the Roman station Durocina, and the seat of the bishop of the West Saxons and Mid-English.

The Registration districts are—

The Oxford County Lunatic Asylum, at Littlemore, near Oxford, is a large stone building; Richard Henry Heurtly Sankey M.R.C.S.Eng, resident medical superintendent; Charles Howard Stewart L.R.C.P.Lond, assistant medical officer; Rev. Hayman Alfred James Cummings T.A.K.C.L. chaplain; T. M. Davenport, clerk to the committee; William Thompson, steward and clerk to the asylum.

Her Majesty’s Prison, erected in 1805, at a cost of about £19,000, from designs by Mr. Blackburn, architect, stands immediately within the southern precincts of Oxford Castle, and has incorporated with it some portion of the ancient fortress. The prison was enlarged in 1858 by converting the governor’s residence into a ward for female prisoners, and erecting a new house for the governor; John Pullan, chief warder in charge; Rev. Joseph Knight Newton, chaplain; Henry Banks Spencer, M.D. medical officer.

Parliamentary Representation

Oxfordshire formerly returned three members for the undivided county, but under the provisions of the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,” it is now in three divisions, with one member for each division.

No. 1. the Northern or Banbury division, comprises the sessional divisions of Banbury and Bloxham, Chadlington and Wootton North and the Municipal borough of Banbury.

No. 2. the Mid or Woodstock division, comprises the sessional divisions of Bampton East, Bampton West, Ploughley and Wootton South, so much of the municipal borough of Oxford as is included in the county of Oxford, the parishes of Beckley, Cutslow, Elsfield, Forest Hill, with Shotover and Shotover Hill place, Hampton Gay, Hampton Poyle, Horton-cum-Studley, Noke, Stanton St. John, Stowood, Studley and Wood Eaton; in Bullingdon sessional division, so much of the parishes of Headington, Marston, St. Clement’s, St. Giles and Woolvercott as is not included in the Municipal borough, and so much of the parishes of Cowley and Iffley as is included in the Parliamentary borough and not in the Municipal borough of Oxford.

No. 3, the Southern or Henley division, comprises the sessional divisions of Henley, Watlington and Bullingdon (except so much as is comprised in division No. 2), the Municipal borough of Henley, and so much of the Municipal borough of Abingdon as is included in the county of Oxford.

By the above mentioned Act the representation of the boroughs of Banbury and Woodstock were merged in that of the county and the representation of the city of Oxford reduced to one member; the university still returns two members.

County Members

Mid division, Godfrey Rathbone Benson esq. M.A. Norfolk house, Norfolk street, Strand, London W C & Oxford & Cambridge club, London S W.

Northern division, Sir Bernhard Samuelson bart. F.R.S., J.P. Bodicote Grange, Banbury; & 56 Prince’s gate & Reform club, London S W.

Southern division, Hon. Francis Parker M.A. Wilton house. Hobart place & Carlton club, London S.W.

Military

Oxford is the depot, of Regimental District No. 43, shich comprises the 1st battalion (43rd foot) & 2nd battalion (52nd foot) of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, to which are attached the Royal Bucks Militia & the Oxford Militia, comprising respectively the 3rd & 4th battalions; the Bucks Militia is stationed at High Wycombe; the barracks for the depot & the Oxford Militia are in Cowley parish.

Yeomanry Cavalry.

2nd Yeomanry Brigade.

Oxfordshire (Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars.)

Head quarters, 32 New Inn Hall street.

Volunteers

Home Counties Infantry Brigade.

Formed of the 1st, 2nd & 3rd Volunteer Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment 2nd Volunteer Battalion the Oxfordshire Light Infantry 1st Bucks Rifle Corps.

The 1st Volunteer Battalion Royal Berks Regiment.

2nd Volunteer Battalion Oxfordshire Light lntantry, head quarters, 53 St. John street, Oxford.

1st (Oxford University) Volunteer Battalion Oxfordshire Light Infantry.

Fairs & Markets

Bampton, August 26 & 27, for horses.

Banbury, every alternate Thursday, the Thursday after Old Twelfth day (the horse fair commences on the preceding Monday) the 1st Thursday after Old Michaelmas day (for hiring servants), (holiday fair) & the 2nd Thursday before Christmas; 3rd Thursday in September for horses. Market day, Thursday.

Bicester, Friday in Easter week, 1st Friday in June & July, August 5 & 6, Friday before & 1st Friday after October 11 & Friday after December 11. Market day, Friday, & a cattle market on the 1st & 3rd Friday in every month.

Burford, last Saturday in April, & September 25 for horses, cattle, sheep, cheese & toys. Market day, Saturday for corn &c.

Charlbury, January 1, & a cattle fair the 1st Monday in every month.

Chipping Sodbury, 1st Wednesday in every month, chiefly for cattle & sheep: Wednesday before & after October 10, for hiring servants. Market day, Wednesday, chiefly for grain.

Crowmarsh Gifford, August 2, for horses.

Doddington, November 22.

Dorchester, Easter Tuesday, for pleasure.

Henley-upon-Thames, March 7, Holy Thursday, Thursday after Trinity Sunday, & (for hiring servants) the Thursday after September 21. Market day, Thursday.

Nettlebed, Monday before October 29.

Oxford, St. Giles’ fair the 1st Monday & Tuesday after 1st September (Feast of St. Giles), if that day falls on Monday the fair is held on the Monday & Tuesday following; also one on Thursday before Michaelmas for toys. Market day, Wednesday.

Thame, Easter Tuesday for horses, cattle & pigs, & October 11 & two following days for hiring servants. A Christmas fat cattle market on the 1st Tuesday after December 6. Market day, Tuesday.

Watlington statute & pleasure fairs on the Saturday before & the Saturday after Old Michaelmas day.

Witney, Thursday in Easter week, Thursday after July 9, Thursday after August 24, Thursday following the first Sunday after September 8, Thursday before October 10 & Thursday after December 1 for cattle & cheese. Fortnightly cattle & pig market & weekly corn market on Thursdays.

Woodstock, 1st Tuesday in October, for hiring servants. Market day, Tuesday, & cattle market the 1st Tuesday in each month.

The following Table shows the acreage under each kind of crop, and the number of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs in Oxfordshire, as taken from the Agricultural returns, 1893: —

County Police

Head Quarters, Oxford.

Chairman of Police Committee, Charles Edward Thornhill esq. Oxford.

Chief Constable, Lieut.-Col. The Hon. E. A. Holmes a Court, Oxford.

Deputy Chief Constable, Richard Fernsby, Oxford.

The force consists of 1 chief constable, 1 deputy chief constable, 6 superintendents, 5 inspectors, 10 sergeants & 86 constables.

Oxford County Council

Local Government Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Vic. c. 41.

Under the above Act, Oxfordshire, except a certain borough, see below (a), after the 1st April, 1889, for the purposes of the Act, became an administrative county (sec. 46), governed, by a County Council, consisting of chairman, aldermen and councillors (the number of councillors being determined by the Local Government Board) to be elected in manner prescribed by the Act (sec. 2).

The chairman is, by virtue of his office, a justice of the peace for the county, without qualification (sec. 46).

”The police for the county are under the control of a standing joint committee of the Quarter Sessions and the County Council, appointed as therein mentioned (sec 9).

The coroners for the county are elected by the County Council, and the clerk of the peace appointed by such joint committee, and may be removed by them (sec. 83—2).

The clerk of the peace for the county is also clerk of the County Council (sec. 83—1).

The administrative business of the county (which would, if this Act had not been passed, have been transacted by the justices) is now transacted by the County Council.

(a) The following borough shall be, for the purposes of this Act, an administrative county in itself, called a County Borough (sec. 31), of which the Municipal Corporation shall have the power of a County Council-The City of Oxford.

The Council meet at the County hall, Oxford, on the second Wednesdays in February, March, May & November & the first Wednesday in August.

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SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND EXTENT

OXFORD is an inland county, bounded on the north by Warwickshire and Northamptonshire; on the east by Buckinghamshire, on the south by Berkshire, and on the west by Gloucestershire. The river Cherwell separates Oxfordshire from Northamptonshire on the N. E. While the county of Warwick lies contiguous to the N. W.; Oxfordshire is of a very irregular figure; near the centre of the county of the city of Oxford it is not more than seven miles across, yet in the more northern part, at no great distance, its diameter is thirty-eight miles. Proceeding northward, it assumes the resemblance of a cone, and terminates at what is called the Three Shire Stone, in a complete point or apex.

Its circumference is about 130 miles, containing about 450,000 acres of land.

CLIMATE AND SOIL

The air is reckoned as healthy as that of any other county in England, for the soil, which is naturally dry, being free from bogs, fens, and stagnant waters, and abounding with quick limpid streams, necessarily renders the air clear and wholesome. The county is cold upon, and near the Chiltern Hills, and Mr. Young, as an Agriculturist, describes this county as containing three distinctions of soil.

NAME AND ANCIENT HISTORY

This county receives its name from the city of Oxford, generally supposed to have been derived from the Saxon word Oxenford, a ford or passage for oxen over the river here. Some writers, however, have supposed the name of the city was Ousford, a ford over the Ous. Oxfordshire was anciently inhabited by the Dobune; but on the invasion of Britain by the Romans, it became a part of the pro vince termed Britannia Prima. During the Heptarchy it belonged to Mercia, and suffered greatly from the Danes. By William the Norman it was divided among his Barons.

POPULATION

According to the returns of 1811, there were 22,000 inhabited houses, 59,132 males, and 60,059 females, making a total of 119,191 persons.

Oxfordshire returns nine members to Parliament; viz. two for the county, two for the university, two for Woodstock, and one for Banbury.

ROADS

The roads in Oxfordshire within the last half century, have been improved beyond all precedent. The two great turnpikes that crossed the county by Witney and Chipping Norton, by Henley and Wycombe, were formerly repaired with stones as large as they could be brought from the quarry, and when broken left so rough as to be calculated for dislocation rather than use. The cross roads were impassable without great danger. But a noble change has taken place, by turnpikes which cross the country in every direction, so that when you are at one town you have a turnpike road to every other town. The parish roads are also much improved; the turnpikes very good, and where gravel is to be had, excellent.

RIVERS

The rivers of Oxfordshire form the most pleasing feature; natural historians have stated their number at not less than threescore and ten, and have not exaggerated. Each valley of length has its stream, and no district in England is better watered than this. The Thame, the Isis, the Charwell, the Evenlode, and Windrush, among these claim the first rank; but the great pride of the country is, that confluence of the former two which constitute the river Thames. According to Mr. Skrine, after the Colne and Lech have added their tributary forces, the navigation of this river under the name of Isis properly commences: but it is understood to be long very imperfect from its winding course and its prevailing shallows. The county which it first traverses between Oxford and Berks, is by no means pleasant, as it pursues its way almost unseen in the midst of a plain, first towards the east and afterwards inclining to the north. In this level the Windrush joins it from Burford and Witney; and the more pleasant stream of the Evenlode, pursuing nearly the same direction from the north west, descends from Whichwood Forest, and the great riding of Charlbury, united at last with a smaller stream which forms the great lake in Woodstock park. The Isis thus augmented turns suddenly to the south, washing the ruined walls of Godstow Nunnery. The vale now expands into a spacious amphitheatre, bounded by some striking hills, in the centre of which the majestic towers, domes, and spheres of Oxford, burst upon the sight, appearing proudly ranged behind the thick shade of the venerable groves. Here the Isis divides itself into various small channels as it traverses the meadows of Witham, leaving Oxford on the left, and passing through several handsome stone bridges connected by a grand causeway, which forms its principal approach from the west. These streams soon re-uniting, the river turns round the city towards the north-east, and crossed by an ancient stone bridge, glides beautifully through the enamelled and ornamented meads of Christ Church. A superb walk of elms beneath this spacious college fronts its meadow, over the deep foliage of which the Gothic buildings of Christ church appear in stately pride, as they display themselves gradually with a succession of all the numerous towers of the University, in the descent of the Isis, A little lower it is joined by the Charwell, flowing from the north of Banbury, and passing on the eastern side of Oxford through the arches of the magnificent bridge of Magdalen.

The country becomes now for a while more enclosed, and the numerous plantations surrounding Lord Harcourt’s noble seat of Nuneham, are finely opposed by the thick woods of Bagley, in Berkshire. The Chiltern Hills, occupy all along the back-ground at a distance, forming a waving line towards the south, sometimes clothed with thick woods of beech, and at others protruding their chalky sides into the plain. The windings of the river through this great level are frequent, but its direction is mostly southward, a little inclined to the east as it passes through the long straggling town of Dorchester. Somewhat below this, the Thame advances from the north-east to meet it, passing through the ancient bridges of Wheatley and Dorchester, and joining the Isis a little above the point, where the more modern pile of Shillingford bridge crosses both combined. At this junction the Thames first took its name. The Isis, Dr. Sibthorpe observes, may be considered rather as a poetical than a strict appellation, for that part of the river Thames which runs near Oxford. In the old MSS. grants from the crown, the river here spoken of under the title of Isis, is positively called the Thames, and he had in his possession a very ancient grant from the Crown of the Manor of Sutton, to the famous Roger Mortimer, giving him a right of fishery in the river Thames, and describing its boundaries by the names which they have yet retained in the parish of Stanton Harcourt.

After it quits Wallingford, the scenery assumes a thousand fresh graces of aspect. The river now forms an indented valley through the range of the Cotteswold hills, which losing insensibly their downish character, become at last adorned with most of the varied beauties of nature and art. High beech woods cover their sides and summits, while rich meadows attend the descent of the river. Towns and villages are sprinkled about in all directions, and magnificent seats appear on the heights that overhang the Oxfordshire and Berkshire banks. The valley formed by the Thames, near Reading, extends into a rich plain, full of verdure, woods, and population. The Kennet here joins its tributary waters, and somewhat lower the Loddon brings a further increase. The Thames thus augmented, swells into a majestic river full of commercial craft, and glides in a broad silver mirror through the plain, till it becomes engulphed amidst the fine chain of hills surrounding Henley. A more beautifully marked country than this cannot easily be formed by the most romantic fancy; and nature has placed this British paradise within forty miles of the capital of our country, to decorate the banks of its principal river. The Thames throughout divides the counties of Oxford and Buckingham from Berkshire. Among the splendid seats of our nobility that of Lord Malmesbury bears a strong pre-eminence, covering several bold hills with its plantations. Immediately below, the handsome town of Henley covers the Oxfordshire banks, whose lofty flint tower and elegant stone bridge form distinguished objects from which ever side they are viewed. The Thames afterwards flowing between Middlesex and Surrey, and by Essex and Kent, forms a junction with the Medway at the Nore, where both combined are lost in the German Ocean.

The Charwell rises in Northamptonshire, and enters Oxford near Claydon, a village on the northern extremity of the county; whence it rims to the south by Banbury, and falls into the Thames or Isis, a little below Oxford.

The Evenlode rises in the north-east part Of Worcestershire, near a town of its own name, not far from Stowe-in-the-Wold a market-town in Gloucestershire; and running south east, enters Oxfordshire, not far from the shire-stones; and passing by Charlbury, falls into the Thames, about four miles above Oxford.

The Windrush rises in Coteswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, and running south-east enters Oxfordshire not far from Burford, and passing Witney, falls into the Thames at Northmoor, five miles to the west of Oxford.

The Thame rises near Tring in Hertfordshire, and crossing Buckinghamshire touches the borders of Oxfordshire at Thame, as before observed.

FISHING

The edible fish produced by the Thames, while it remains with Oxfordshire, are chiefly pike, chubb, barbel, perch, eels, roach, dace, and gudgeons. Salmon are sometimes found as straggling visitors, even in the higher precincts of the river; and Dr. Plott mentions, as a curious native of the Isis, a fish, locally termed the Pride, of the long cartilaginous smooth kind, having a mouth cut neither perpendicularly downward, nor transversely, but hollowed as it were between two cheeks, without an under jaw. On the top of its head it has one and on each side seven holes, that supply the place of gills. It moves by a winding impulse of its body, without the help of any other fins but those at the tail. The great quantity of the more valuable sort of fish formerly met with in this river is confirmed, by the mention made by this writer of fifteen hundred jacks, besides other fish, taken in the course of two days. The increase of drainage certainly operates in producing a decrease of the fish.

CANALS

The Birmingham canal is of immense importance to Oxfordshire, immediately connecting London, through Oxford, with Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool, and with the Wednesbury collieries.

This canal commences at Longford, in the northern extremity of Warwickshire, on the edge of the Coventry canal, between Claydon and the three-shire stone, and passing through the villages of Anstey, Brinklow, Newbold, and Hill Morton, enters Northamptonshire, and running near Barby and Braunston, again returns to Warwickshire near Wolthamcote, and passing Lower Shackburg and Wormleighton, enters Oxfordshire near Claydon, passes Banbury, Alderbury, Somerton, Heyford, Purcell, Shepton in Charwell, Begbrook, Wolvershott, and joins the Isis at Oxford. In the last 30 miles this canal has a fall of 186 feet.

FARM HOUSES AND COTTAGES

In the former there is nothing material to distinguish them from those of the neighbouring counties. To the latter there are gardens, and good ones, to nine-tenths of them in the county. Some years since the cottagers had no potatoes; now all have them; formerly they liked cabbage only with their bacon, now the potatoe is adopted. Sir Christopher Willoughby’s cottages have not had their rents raised for a century; but about Henley cottagers pay from three to five pounds per annum.

The exertions of the Bishop of Durham, in building cottages, have been highly meritorious. Six pairs of them, raised by his Lordship, have each a very good garden and conveniences for pigs. Two guineas is the rent paid for them, as rent in money is not the object, but to place the cottager in such a state of ease and comfort as shall tend to habits of industry, sobriety, and honesty. Every labourer, employed by the Bishop, is permitted to lodge, after harvest, in the bailiff’s hands, ll. 11s. 6d., and in consequence of his readiness to make this reserve, he is allowed, the following winter, to purchase barley at two shillings a bushel under the market price, or any other product of the farm at a proportionable deduction. But his Lordship has also established a village shop at Mongewell, at which the working people, and all the other poor, may buy whatever they want at a reduced price for ready money. The wives and daughters, also, receive as much flax as they please, which being returned after it is spun into thread, they are paid the full price for spinning it, according to the fineness of the spinning. This is woven into cloth, and sold to the cottagers two-pence a yard lower than the common price. The following good effects are also enumerated by Mr. Arthur Young as resulting from the attachment of land to cottages. “It has not, in one instance, failed of giving an industrious turn, even to some who were before idle and profligate. Their attention, in nursing up young trees, has been so much beyond what a farmer, intent upon greater objects, can or will bestow, that the value of the orchards is increased to forty shillings per acre on land, which was of less than half the value in its former state. And the poor’s rates have, from this cause, fallen to four-pence in the pound, whilst, other parishes are assessed from two and six-pence to five shillings in the pound. The. stock of some of these cottagers consists of a cow, a yearling heifer, or a mare to breed, a sow and, thirty or forty geese. This, therefore, has been the means of bringing a supply of poultry and fruit to the market; of increasing population and making the land produce double the rent a farmer can afford to give.“

Combining these advantages of very light rents, good gardens, plenty of pigs, stocks of bees, (one originally given to each cottage,) and the farm products at an easy price, these families are placed in a situation productive of good morals. None of them require any aid from the parish.

The size of farms varies so much that it is difficult to speak on that head; but they may be considered generally speaking, as less than in most parts of England, and Mr. Young thought them too small to be consistent with good husbandry. In the forest district there are many farms, from 20 to 80l. per ann.; but the average of the rest is from 250l. to 300l. In the rich Thame district, farms do not exceed 300 acres.

LEASES

Some individuals may be found who grant leases for fourteen, or even for twenty one years; but in general seven years form the extent of the allotted term. In the neighbourhood of Chipping Norton none are granted, or next to none. The longest is six years, prescribing the six crops; but commonly nothing more than an agreement violable in many cases at six months’ notice. Many of the great landholders in all parts of the county, will grant no lease whatever, and in several districts the tenant is happy to avail himself of a permission to cultivate with legal security the four crops usually successive on his land. This system operates prejudically on the public weal, but it has been presumed, that the day must undoubtedly come, when the Oxfordshire landlord and renter will perceive that the advancement of public benefit is a mutual accommodation to themselves.

TITHES

These are various in this county: a few Rectors have one in fifteen, and others one in twenty. This arose from different endowments; half the tithe was settled on the Rector, and the other half, perhaps, given to some religious house, and on the suppression of monasteries came into lay-hands. In most of the enclosures about Bicester, one-ninth, and one-fifth, have been given for tithe. The Commissioners fixed the bushels payable by each person according to the quality of the land, and the price is regulated every year on that of Oxford market, at Lady Day and Michaelmas. The usual composition for arable land, may be stated at one-fourth of the rent.

IMPLEMENTS

Threshing Mills are general in this county; but the fashionable scarefiers and scufflers of London have been tried and exploded. The plough most generally used, is the two-wheeled one, the beam resting on a pretty high fore carriage; and the one-wheeled plough the beam low. The skim coulter is also used, and for certain objects found very useful. The skim plough has also been much admired, for ploughing turnip land for barley, and clover lay for wheat. The threshing mills are generally of great power.

ENCLOSURES

These have been the capital improvement of the county; for, proportionably to the extent of it, more land has been taken in, in the course of half a century, than in any other county in England. Though enclosures have doubled rents, the latter are paid with more ease than formerly, and the produce of food for man is greatly increased. Stone walls are used at Wendleburg, and these are made durable against frosts by having a foot thick in the middle laid with mortar or road dust, &c.

In riding over the forest of Whichwood, Mr. Young found many beautiful scenes, particularly where the nut fair, is held; a glen by Mr. Dacre’s lodge, and others approaching Blandford Park. There are vales also of the finest turf. Several of these scenes want nothing but water to form the most pleasing and finished landscapes. Lord Francis Spencer, whilst ranger, made several roads by way of ridings; but an enclosure, it is thought, would make a large tract of good land productive to the public. The morals of the county too are said to demand it, this vicinity being filled with poachers, deer stealers, thieves, and pilferers, of every kind, so that Oxford gaol would be quite uninhabited, were it not for this fertile source of crimes. The poor rates too in the parishes that surround the forest, and have a right of commonage, are higher than in others under similar circumstances, except in that of being cut off from the forest.

WASTES

Except the dreary district of Otmoor, and the extensive wilds appertaining to the forest of Whichwood, the waste land of Oxfordshire is comparatively small. The common of Otmoor is situate near Islip, and contains about 4000 acres, the whole of which lie nearly on a level, and are completely inundated in wet seasons. Eight adjoining townships possess a right of commonage on this dismal tract; but as this right is possessed without stint, the abuses are very great. The cottager appears to reap the greatest benefit from Otmoor; though he turps out little except geese; but the coarse aquatic sward of this waste is well suited to the wants of his flock. In the purlieus of Whichwood forest there are extensive tracts of waste ground, the commonage of which is confined by right to horses and sheep. The other commons of this county are chiefly to be found among the Chiltern hills.

CATTLE

The intelligence relative to cattle in this county is not locally interesting. It has no breed of its own, nor any peculiar race so prominent as to afford much information that is particularly valuable. Much of the county is arable, and in the very narrow districts, where grass prevails, there is not any thing remarkable in the breed or appearance of the cattle. Many boars are fed for the purpose of making brawn, which, with matting, forms a considerable article of trade at Oxford and other parts of the county.

MANUFACTURES

Witney, formerly noted for the weaving manufactory, has declined considerably; not one-fourth of the number of people being now employed as formerly were. Add to this, their earnings are very low. However, the spinning jennies, and other machinery, especially the spring looms, being introduced, afforded at least a temporary relief, gave a turn to business, and till the late peace, rendered the place very flourishing; still the low wages precluded the poor of this place from every thing but a very small share in that prosperity which pervaded the kingdom, and so greatly raised the general wages of labour. At Thame a little lace is made, and the polished steel manufactory at Woodstock has been completely out rivalled by the machinery of Birmingham and Sheffield. That of gloves and leather breeches has been more fortunate. The employment of women on the south side of the county is lace making; but in the middle, and northward side, spinning is the general occupation.

LITERATURE AND LEARNED MEN

Baron Carleton Dudley was born 1573, and died Viscount Dorchester in 1631. —Chillingworth was born at Oxford in 1602. Sir William Davenant the poet was born at Oxford in 1605. —Sir George Etherege, another dramatic writer, was born about 1636, and died in 1683. —Dr. Peter Heylin was born at Burford in 1609, and died in 1662. —Sir John Holt was born in 1642, and died in 1710, his integrity and uprightness as a judge has been long acknowledged by his grateful countrymen. —Dr. John Owen was born at Hadham in 1616; he was Chaplain to Cromwell. —John Philips, author of The Splended Shilling, was born at Brampton in 1676. —Dr. Edward Pocock, a learned critic and commentator, was born at Oxford in 1604, and died in 1691—Anthony Wood, an eminent antiquary and biographer, was born at Oxford in 1632, and died in 1695.

NEWSPAPERS

Two newspapers, the Oxford Journal and the Oxford Herald, are published in this city weekly; the first, and older of the two, having been established 64 years. The first newspaper published at Oxford was Mercurius Rusticus, which commenced on the 22d of April, 1642. This was succeeded by the Mercurius Aulicus, Mercurius Britannicus, Mercurius Pragmaticus, and Mercurius Politicus, the last of which was discontinued about the middle of April, 1660. These were followed by the Parliamentary Intelligencer, Mercurius Publicus, the Public Intelligencer, and the Oxford Gazette. The last commenced on the 7th of November, 1665, the King and Queen and the Court being then at Oxford but when this removed to London, the newspaper in question assumed the name of the London Gazette, the first number of which appeared on the 5th of February, 1666.

CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS

This county is divided into fourteen hundreds viz. Bampton, Banbury, BinfieId, Bloxam, Bullington, Chedlington, Dorchester, Ewelme, Langtree, Lewknor, Pirton, Plogghley, Thame, and Woolon; haying one City and University, two boroughs, Banbury and Woodstock, ten market-towns, and 207 parishes. The diocese of Oxford is in the province of Canterbury. It is included in the Oxford circuit.