Suffolk, one of the largest English shires, being the twelfth in size, is a seaboard county on the east coast, and is the most easterly county in England, and derives its name from having been occupied by the South folk of the East English, who established their kingdom here : the North folk occupying the other part of their kingdom, whence its name of Norfolk. Suffolk is of a crescent shape, joining on to the south of the oval of Norfolk : its seacoast is low, and forms its eastern and south-eastern border. On the north it is divided from Norfolk by the Yare, Waveney, and Little Ouse rivers; on the west the Lark separates it from Cambridgeshire ; and on the south the Stour is the boundary between it and Essex. The greatest length is 57 miles, and the greatest breadth is 48 miles; the area now is 946,001 acres, having been altered by the addition of 773 acres from Haverhill, in Essex, and the transfer of Gorleston with 2,166 acres and part of Runham, 345 acres, to Norfolk; the population in 1801 was 214,404; 1811, 233,963; 1821, 271,541; 1831, 296,317 ; 1841, 315,073; 1851, 337,215 ; 1861,337,070; 1871, 348,869; 1881, 356,893; and in 1891 374,781, consisting of 182,176 males and 192,605 females. The number of houses in 1891 were, inhabited, 79,738 ; uninhabited, 5,644; building, 303.

The average rainfall of Suffolk is about 23 inches, yearly, or 2,300 tons of rain water per acre yearly. This, however, is much below the average for the whole of England (36 inches yearly), so that Suffolk must be esteemed one of the dry counties. Observations of the daily rainfall are made at about twenty-five places in the county. In 1878 the least rain was measured at Ashbocking vicarage (19 inches), which appears to be one of the driest spots in England, and the most at Carlton Colville (32 ½ inches). Suffolk, like Norfolk, suffers from cold easterly winds in winter and (especially) in spring.

The extreme north-west of the county runs into the Fen district in the valley of the Lark, near Mildenhall. Then we have low chalk hills between Thetford and Newmarket, forming a very poor barren soil. The chalk continues eastward till it passes under the beds of London clay and crag, which form the south-east of the county from Aldborough and Ipswich to Sudbury. The long easterly slope of the chalk is overlaid, however, by many beds of clay and sand of recent age, so that Suffolk has a soil of an extremely varied nature, admitting of the cultivation in some part or other of nearly every product which will grow in our island, and requiring a thorough knowledge of agriculture on the part of the farmer in order to crop each district to the best advantage. The shore is mostly low and marshy, and defended by sandbanks and crag cliffs.

In the North Sea the flood tidal wave enters from the Atlantic Ocean between the coast of Norway and the British Isles, and passing through various channels, enters the Pentland Firth ; on quitting which it divides into two branches, of which the western swells along the Scottish and English coasts, making high water in all their rivers and harbours successively until it arrives in the Thames. Near the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts the streams of tide run nearly parallel to the shore; off Wells the flood runs to the eastward till 9 o’clock, or three hours of high water on the shore; 4 miles off Cromer and the same distance off Hasborough, the flood stream runs alongshore to the southward till 10h. 15m. 0r. 1h. 45m. before high water at Harwich, and the ebb in a contrary direction. At 2 ½ miles off Lowestoft the flood stream continues to run to the S.S.W. till 1h. 30m. before high water at Harwich, and at Orfordness till about high water at Harwich ; the flood setting W.S.W. and the ebb E.N.E.

Time of High Water on Full and Change Days at the principal places on the coast of Suffolk, arranged according to the apparent progress of the wave, with the rise of the tide at Neaps and Springs. *

* By the rise of the tide is meant its vertical rise above the mean low water level of Spring tides.

It has been observed that heavy southerly gales reduce the depth of water in the Barnard and Pakefield Channels 2 or 3 feet below that shown.

The rivers are many of them available for inland navigation. The northern districts are supplied by the Waveney and the Yare, navigable from Bungay, and running by Beccles to the sea at Yarmouth, which is the chief port for North Suffolk, though a good deal of traffic is carried on by the Lake Lothing cut, from the Waveney to Lowestoft, which is one of the most rising ports on the coast. The north-western district is watered by the Little Ouse, Lark and Linnet, which are feeders of the Great Ouse, and run down to the port of Lynn. The southern border is supplied by the Stour, which is navigable from Sudbury, and flows to the port of Harwich, in Essex. The Orwell, or Gipping, which joins the estuary of the Stour, flows from the middle of the county at Stowmarket (to which place it is navigable) to Ipswich. Further north the Deben is navigable for some miles up the country to Woodbridge, but its springs are as high up as Debenham. The Alde, or Ore, is a small winding river, of which Orford is the port. The Blyth is a small navigable river in the north, running up to Halesworth, and of which Southwold is the port: thus most of the towns in Suffolk have river navigation, and there is hardly a part of the county 10 miles from a navigable stream. Harwich is much used as a port, and so are those of Ipswich, Lowestoft and Yarmouth : Woodbridge, Orford, Aldeburgh and Southwold are of minor importance, but none of the havens on this coast can be considered good, being so much obstructed by banks and shifting sands. For East Suffolk the chief places of trade are Harwich, Ipswich, Lowestoft and Yarmouth, the first and last places lying out of the shire. Aldeburgh, Southwold, Felixstowe and Lowestoft are freqnented as watering places, and many of the small towns along the coast are fishing stations.

The communications by railway are entirely controlled by the Great Eastern Company, whose line to Yarmouth, via Chelmsford and Colchester, enters the south-eastern border of the county, close to Manningtree, and on the way to Ipswich sends off a branch at Bentley, westward to Hadleigh; at Ipswich the line divides, one portion running north-west-by-west and leaving the county below Diss has branches from Haughley, through Bury, to Newmarket and from Mellis to Eye, while the other portion goes north-east through Woodbridge, Saxmundham and Halesworth to Beccles, where it leaves the county, having in its course sent out branches from Westerfield to Felixstowe, from Wickham to Framlingham westwards and a short line eastward to Snape; the remaining branches being from Saxmundham to Aldeborough and from Beccles to Lowestoft on the east and Bungay and Tivetshall on the west, while from Halesworth the Southwold railway runs off to the coast. From Marks Tey, through Chapel, another branch of the Great Eastern system passes to Sudbury and northwards, through Bury to Thetford, the Colne Valley railway leaving it at Chapel, and running to Halstead and Haverhill, to which latter place a Great Eastern branch runs along the southern border of this county, starting from Long Melford, and continuing on to Cambridge, to which place the Bury and Newmarket branch also runs and has a north-westerly branch through Fordham to Ely, and another branch from Fordham to Mildenhall, while the line from Thetford through Brandon to Ely runs along the north border of the county.

The county is intersected by good roads, but except the Lothing Cut has no canals, though, as noticed previously, it has many navigable rivers.

The productions of the county are cement stone (for Roman cement), lime, marl, whiting, bricks, salt, gun-flints, corn, malt, hops, flax and cattle; the breeds of horses and pigs have some fame.

The fisheries are on a considerable scale. The herring fishery begins about a fortnight before Michaelmas and lasts till Martinmas: before the commencement of the herring season many of the fishermen are employed in the mackerel fishery, Lowestoft being the chief fishing town and of rising importance. The number of boats registered under Part IV. of the “Merchant Shipping Act, 1894,” in 1899 in the port of Lowestoft being 482, with an aggregate tonnage of 18,806 tons and employing 3,500 hands, and in the port of Ipswich in 1898, 56, with an aggregate tonnage of 455 tons, and employing 190 men and boys.

The tillage of Suffolk is in a high condition, though the soil generally is not rich, and is susceptible of great improvement. It is estimated that there are about 46,000 acres of rich loam, 80,000 acres of marsh land, 450,000 acres of heavy loam or wet clay, 150,000 acres of sand on a subsoil of crag and occasionally rich, and 100,000 acres of poor sand, on chalk. The tillage, of course, varies according to the nature of the soil; but the Suffolk farmers bear a high character for practical and scientific skill in all departments. The makers of agricultural implements at Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds, Leiston, Peasenhall and Stowmarket have great reputations ; railway plant of every description is produced at Ipswich. Artificias manures are extensively manufactured at Ipswich and Stowmarket; coprolites are largely worked in Suffolk, and used in the manufacture of manures; at Stowmarket is a gun cotton manufactory, and at Brandon gun-flints are produced from flint, which is considered more durable and certain in its fire than any other; extensive brick and tile works are at Stowmarket and Woolpit; malting is carried on in the county very extensively. The other manufactures are small, and include cotton, silk, velvet, flax, linen, woollen, horsehair seating, cocoa nut fibre mats and rugs, and rabbit skin dressing: coach and ship building is likewise carried on.

Suffolk is divided into East and West Suffolk, each, under the “Local Government Act, 1888,” separate Administrative Counties, and it has ancient divisions known as Geldable portions, or portions in which the Sovereign holds the chief rights, and the franchises, in which the lords have the chief rights of issues and forfeitures: the franchises are those of St. Etheldred, including the hundreds of Calford, Colneis, Loes, Plomesgate, Thredling and Wilford; St. Edmunds, including the hundreds of Babergh, Blackbourn, Cosford, Lackford, Risbridge, Thedwestry and Thingoe, and the half hundred of Ixning, and the Dukedom of Norfolk, including scattered manors and parishes, the chief territories of the duke being in Norfolk. The sessions for St. Edmunds are held at Bury and for St. Etheldred at Woodbridge. St. Edmunds was the territory of the great abbey at Bury, and it still returns a separate grand jury at the assizes. The Duke of Norfolk appoints a coroner and returns all writs in his franchise.

Suffolk is in the south-eastern circuit; the spring assizes, for the county are held at Ipswich, and the summer at Bury St. Edmunds : quarter sessions are held at Bury, Ipswich, and Woodbridge respectively : there are 19 petty sessional divisions, 11 in East Suffolk and 8 in West Suffolk.

The Municipal boroughs are Aldeburgh, population in 1891, 2,159; Beccles, a manufacturing town, 6,669; Bury St. Edmunds, 16,630, an inland capital and shire town; Eye, 2,064 ; Ipswich, a flourishing seaport and shire town, 57,360 ; Lowestoft, a considerable fishing haven and popular watering place, 23,347 ; Southwold, a fishing and bathing place, 2,311 ; Sudbury, 7,059; of these Ipswich, Bury St. Edmonds, and Sudbury have separate Courts of Quarter Sessions, and with Eye and Southwold have separate Commissions of the Peace; other towns are Bungay, 3,558 ; Hadleigh, 3,229; Stowmarket, 4,341 ; Woodbridge, a haven in the south, 4,477; Brandon, 2,334; Clare, 1,657; Debenham, 1,219; Framlingham, 2,525; Halesworth, 2,316; Haverhill, 4,587; Lavenham, 1,908 ; Mildenhall, 3,732; and Saxmundham, 1,371. The number of Civil Parishes is 511, and the number of ecclesiastical parishes is 528 and parts of 8 others, mostly in the diocese of Norwich and archdeaconry of Suffolk, but some are in the archdeaconry of Sudbury in the diocese of Ely.

The archdeaconry of Suffolk is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Bosmere, Carlford, Claydon, Colneys, Dunwich (North and South Districts), North Hartismere, South Hartismere, Hoxne, Ipswich, Loes, Lothingland, Orford, Samford, South Elmham, Stow, Wangford and Wilford. The archdeaconry of Sudbury is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Blackburne, Clare, Fordham, Hadleigh, Horningsheath, Lavenham, Mildenhall, Sudbury, Thedwastre, Thingo, and Thurlow.

The hundreds are twenty-one, which are as follows:

The registration districts are :—

The County Lunatic Asylum, at Melton, near Woodbridge, standing about one mile from the village, on the road to Wickham Market, is a large building of red brick ; formerly a House of Industry for the Loes and Wilford Hundreds, and was purchased by the County Magistrates in 1827, and opened in 1829 for the reception of pauper lunatics : in 1886 two wings and a water tower were added, gas mains laid throughout and a laundry built, at a cost of about £42,000. In 1890 water works were erected near the railway station, the water supply being obtained from borings. Additional land was purchased in 1900 for the purpose of erecting buildings to hold 280 patients in addition to the 600 already provided for ; a house for the medical superintendent, and dwellings for the staff. Lord Rendlesham, chairman of committee of visitors; Jas. Richard Whitwell M.B. and C.M. resident physician and superintendent, Stephen Geo. Longworth L.R.C.P, and L.R.C.S.Irel. and Alfred Yarker Richardson M.B. and B.S. assistant medical officers ; Rev. Winwood Swaffield Furze A.K.C.L. chaplain ; A. Townshend Cobbold esq. County hall, Ipswich, clerk to the committee of visitors ; Henry Gaffney, clerk and steward.

The Suffolk General Hospital, at Bury St. Edmunds, was established in 1826; the present building, originally an armoury, is a plain but commodious structure, enlarged in 1846, and rebuilt 1864, at a cost of £13,000, and has 80 beds. Marquess of Bristol, president: A. Beckford Bevan and H. G. Barclay esqrs. treasurers ; Robert Macnab M.D. consulting medical officer; Robert Harry Lucas M.R.C.S. Eng. Charles Scott KilnerM.B., C.M., D.P.H. and Joseph Spier Hinnell BA., M.D., B C. medical officers; George Master M.B., B.C., M.R.C.S.Eng, assistant medical officer ; Sydney Valentine Hercules Underhill M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.Lond, house surgeon; Rev. Walter Molesworth Edwards, chaplain; Henry Bonner, secretary; Miss Mary Harris, matron.

East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital and Dispensary, Ipswich, was founded in 1835, and is a building of white brick and stone, with a central portico: in 1869 the building was extended on the west side by the addition of a children’s wing, erected in memory of the late John Patteson Cobbold esq. M.P. : in 1898 a Jubilee wing was built on the east side, at a cost of about £6,000: there are beds for 122 inpatients : about 9,000 out-door cases receive treatment in the course of the year, and about 800 in-patients: art operating theatre, from designs and plans of Mr. Frederick Barnes F.R.I.B.A, was added in 1889 at a cost of about. £300, and in 1890 a chapel of red brick was erected at a cost of £550. Christopher Mercer Durrant M. D. and John Henry Bartlett M.D. hon. consulting medical staff; Reginald Kennedy Casley M.D., F.S.S., E. Hollis M.D., C.M. William, Alfred Elliston M.D. Branford Edwards L.R.C.P.Lond. Richard William Brogden M.B., B.S. and Herbert Henry Brown M.D. hon. medical staff ; Walter William Sinclair M.B., C.M. ophthalmic surgeon; Llewelyn Wynne Davies M.B., Ch.B. house surgeon; Edmund William Martyn Wynn Westcott M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.Lond, assistant house surgeon ; Rev. William John Garould B.A. chaplain ; T. Edgar Mayhew A.C.A. secretary and collector; J. C. Culf, dispenser ; Miss Deane, matron.

Her Majesty’s Prison, a massive structure in Grimwade street, St. Helen’s street, Ipswich, began in 1786, has since undergone considerable enlargement, in consequence of the extra space required since the passing of the Prisons Act, both county and borough prisoners being now brought here : extensive alterations were made in 1883, by which the prison was separated from the County Hall, in which the assizes, quarter sessions and county courts are held. The Old house, standing on the borough grounds, and formerly occupied by the late governor of the Borough gaol, has received additions, and is now occupied by the present governor : a new entrance lodge was added in 1884. Rev. John Powell, chaplain; George Haynes Hetherington L.R.C.P.Lond, medical officer; Charles Benson, clerk and storekeeper ; James Reader Groves, chief warder.

Tin Framlingham College at Framlingham, founded in 1864 as a memorial to H.R.H. Albert Prince Consort K.G. at a cost of upwards of £25,000, and incorporated by Royal Charter, was opened 10 April, 1865, and is an edifice in the Gothic style, from designs by Mr. Frederick Peck, architect, crowning the summit of a hill, and standing in grounds of 19 acres, about ten minutes’ walk from the Framlingham station on the Great Eastern railway : the principal facade includes a clock tower, and the buildings comprise a chapel, a dining hall for 300 boys, chemical laboratory, library, gymnasium, carpenter’s shop, swimming and tepid plunge baths &c. and residence for the headmaster : a stained window was placed in the chapel in 1883 by the boys, four others have since been added, and on the terrace in front of the principal entrance is a statue by Durham of the Prince Consort, 8 feet in height, placed on a pedestal of granite, and presented by Sir Thomas Lucas, at a cost of £1,000: the college is a centre for the Cambridge Local Examinations, and is managed by a body of 26 governors. The Rev. Oliver Digby Inskip MA., LL.D, of Trinity College, Dublin, is headmaster.

The Colonial College, Hollesley Bay, Woodbridge, has been established under the auspices of the Agents-General of the Colonies and other distinguished persons for the training of young gentlemen intending to become colonists; the estate extends over 2,500 acres of varied soil; Robert Johnson, resident director ; C. G. Freer Thonger M.R.A.C. professor of agriculture; Claud M. Hutchinson B.A. professor of natural science; John J. Hedges M.S.E. professor of surveying; E. Lionel Stroud M.R.C.V.S. professor of veterinary science; Honiton Coates M.D., D.P.H., L.R.C.P. Lond., M.R.C.S.Eng, resident medical officer; Herbert Jenkins, sec. and bursar.

The Suffolk Reformatory, for boys, at Thorndon, near Eye, was established in 1856 by the late Sir E. C. Kerrison bart. : the buildings were destroyed by fire in 1867 : the new building was designed by his wife, Lady Caroline Kerrison, and approved by the Home Secretary: the Reformatory was taken over by the county in 1887, and now contains the full complement of eighty-four boys, who are employed on the land ; there is also a class for boys who learn shoemaking ; Frederick William Gill, master; Mrs. Agnes Louisa Gill, matron.

Parliamentary Representation of Suffolk

Suffolk formerly returned four members in two divisions, but under the provisions of the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,” it now returns five members from five divisions.

No. 1.-The Northern or Lowestoft division comprises the sessional divisions of Beccles, Bungay and Mutford and Lothingland, so much of the municipal borough of Great Yarmouth as is included in the county of Suffolk, the municipal boroughs of Lowestoft and Southwold and the parishes of Benacre, Blyford, Blampton, Chediston, Covehithe, Easton Bavents, Frostenden, Halesworth, Henham, Henstead, Holton, Reydon, Rumburgh, Sotherton, South Cove, Spexhall, Stoven, Uggeshall, Wangford, Westhall, Wissett and Wrentham in Blything petty sessional division.

No. 2.-The North Eastern or Eye division comprises the sessional divisions of Blything (except so much as is comprised in division No. 1), Framlingham, Hartismere and Hoxne and the municipal borough of Eye.

No. 3.-The North Western or Stowmarket division comprises the sessional divisions of Blackbourn, Lackford, Newmarket (except so much as is comprised in division No. 4), Stowmarket and Thingoe and Thedwestry (except so much as is comprised in division No. 4), the municipal borough of Bury St. Edmunds and so much of the municipal borough of Thetford as is included in the county of Suffolk.

No. 4.-The South or Sudbury division comprises the sessional divisions of Boxford, Hadleigh or Cosford, Melford and Risbridge, so much of the municipal borough of Sudbury as is included in the county of Suffolk, the parishes of Cowlinge, Lidgate and Ousden, in Newmarket sessional division, and the parishes of Brockley, Chedburgh, Chevington, Depden, Hargrave, Rede, Whepstead and Wickhambrook in Thingoe and Thedwestry petty sessional division.

No. 5.-The South Eastern or Woodbridge division comprises the sessional divisions of Bosmere and Claydon, Samford and Woodbridge and the municipal boroughs of Aldeburgh and Ipswich.

Military

Bury St. Edmunds is the depot of Regimental District No. 12, the Suffolk Regiment, which comprises the 1st & 2nd battalions (12th Foot), 3rd battalion (West Suffolk Militia), & 4th battalion (Cambridge Militia); the head quarters of the 3rd is at Bury St. Edmunds & the 4th at Ely, Cambridgeshire.

The Brigade Comprises the:—

1st Volunteer Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, headquarters, Norwich.

2nd Volunteer Battalion,Norfolk Regiment,head quarters, Yarmouth.

3rd Volunteer Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, head quarters, East Dereham.

4th Volunteer Battalion,Norfolk Regiment,head quarters, Norwich.

Fairs & Markets

Aldringham, pleasure fair, December 11 & 12.

Barrow, pleasure fair, May t Beccles, market day, Fri. (corn).

Brandon, market day, Thur. (corn).

Bungay, market day, Thur. (corn).

Bury St. Edmunds, cattle fair, first Tues. in December; market days, Wed. & Sat. the former principally for corn & cattle & the latter chiefly for provisions.

Cavendish, fair, June 11.

Clare, market day, Mon. for grain & cattle.

Eye, pleasure fair on Whit Monday; market day, Mon. for corn.

Framlingham, market day, Sat. for corn & provisions & a gala in lieu of the ancient fairs is held on Whit Tuesday Hadleigh, market day, Mon. for cattle, sheep, pigs & general produce.

Halesworth, market day, Tues. for corn.

Haverhill, market day, Fri. for corn.

Ipswich, St. George’s stock fair on the first Tues. in May ; lamb fair on August 22 ; & Handford fair on the third Tuesday in May; market day, for corn & cattle, Tues. & provisions, sat.

Lakenheath, fair for cattle & toys, first Thur. after Midsummer day.

Lowestoft, fairs, May 13 & October 11 for small wares market day, Wed.

Long Melford, cattle fair on Thur. in Whitsun week & a pleasure & pedlery fair on the Fri.

Mildenhall, market day, Fri.

Nayland, fair on the first Wed. after October 2.

Saxmundham, market day for grain on wed.

Snape Bridge, horse fair, August 11.

Southwold, fair on Trinity Mon. & two following days.

Stowmarket, market day, Thur. for corn, cattle, sheep, pigs & horses.

Sudbury, market day for corn & cattle on Thur. & a general market on sat.

Great Thurlow, fair, October 11.

Woodbridge, fairs, the third Friday in March & Michaelmas day & the following day; the Lady fair held in March is celebrated for its annual show of entire horses; market day for corn & cattle, Thur.

Woolpit, horse & cattle fair 16th Sept. & next day.

The following Table shows the acreage under each kind of crop, and the number of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs in the County of Suffolk, as taken from the Agricultural Returns, 1899 :—

The County Councils of Suffolk

Under the above Act, East and West Suffolk, after the 1st April 1889, for the purposes of the Act, became respectively separate and distinct administrative counties (sec. 46—1-b), each governed by a County Council, consisting of a chairman, aldermen and councillors elected in manner prescribed by the Act (sec. 2).

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

The police for the county is under the control of standing joint committees of the Quarter Sessions and the County Councils, appointed as therein mentioned (secs. 9 & 46). The county coroners are elected by the County Councils, 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 clerk of the County Councils (sec. 83—1).

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

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SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND EXTENT

SUFFOLK is a maritime county, bounded on the east by the German Ocean; on the west by Cambridgeshire; on the north by Norfolk, from which it is separated by the Little Ouse, and the Waveney rivers; and on the south by Essex, from which it is divided by the river Stour.

It extends fifty-eight miles in length from east to west; and the mean breadth from north to south is about thirty miles.

Suffolk is in general a level country; bordering on the sea coast, it is mostly sandy; and is distributed into arable, heath, and marsh land. The inland part of the county is chiefly a strong, clayey loam, and is generally fertile; that part called High Suffolk is extremely stiff and tenacious. The north-western part of the county is open and sandy, and is chiefly in warrens and sheep-walks, interspersed with some poor arable land.

NAME, AND ANCIENT HISTORY

Suffolk, which signifies South-folk, or Southern people, was so called by the Saxons, on account of its being inhabited by the southern branch of the East Angles, and to express its situation with respect to the northern people of that nation, in the county of Norfolk.

This county, at the invasion of the Romans, was part of the territory inhabited by the Iceni; and Mr. Camden, from the similitude of the names of several villages, is of opinion, that it was the district in which they principally resided. Here were two Roman stations on the western side of the county, upon the military way called Ermine-Street, and the remains of fortifications, barrows, and Roman coins, have been found here in as great plenty as in the other parts of England. After the Romans forsook the island, the Saxons were invited over by Vortigern, the British king, to assist him and his people against the Scots and Picts, and by their help he soon drove out the enemy; but they themselves refusing to retire, settled in the kingdom, and, under them, the Icenian territories became the kingdom of the East Angles. Afterwards Sweyne, king of Denmark, advanced into this county, and spared neither the towns nor the churches, unless redeemed by the inhabitants with great sums of money. When William the Conqueror was settled on the throne, he divided the manors of this county among his officers.

But the celebrity of Suffolk, and particularly that of St. Edmund’s Bury, was reserved for the time of the Saxons. The history of St. Edmund seems to be that of a weak, but well-disposed prince, entirely under the influence of an ambitious and designing priesthood. The death of this meek monarch is veiled under equal uncertainty with his life. Our ancient chronicles make him the innocent cause of his own death, and of a more dreadful visitation of the Danes than this country had experienced before. Lodbrog, a king of Denmark, we are told, was very fond of hawking, and one day, while enjoying that sport, his favourite bird fell into the sea: anxious to save his hawk, Lodbrog leaped into the first boat that presented itself; but this being carried away by a sudden storm, after encountering many dangers, was driven up the mouth of the river Yare, as far as Reedham, in Norfolk. Being conducted to Edmund, who kept his court at Caistor, he was most courteously received, and being fond of hawking, the king ordered Berne, his own falconer, to accompany Lodbrog when he went upon that sport. This Berne, being jealous of the stranger’s skill, one day took the opportunity of murdering him, and burying his body, which was discovered soon after by the running backward and forward of his favourite greyhound. This, and other circumstances, having fixed the guilt of Berne, he was most unaccountably condemned by King Edmund to be turned adrift alone in Lodbrog’s boat, without oar or sail. Being wafted in safety to Denmark, Berne was seized, and carried to Inguar and Hubba, the sons of Lodbrog, who questioning him concerning their father, the villain assured them he had been put to death by Edmund’s command. In revenge for this, the sous soon raised twenty thousand men to invade his dominions. This armament is said to have sailed in 865; but landing in the north of England, they do not seem to have reached Suffolk till 870, when Inguar gained possession of Thetford, then King Edmund’s capital; and after a sanguinary battle and much negotiation, Edmund resolved to surrender to the superior force sent against him; but, as from religious motives, he still refused to accede to the terms of his enemies, they bound him to a tree at Hoxne, pierced his body with arrows, and his head being cut off, it was thrown into a neighbouring thicket, where, after a long search, it was found by some of his faithful subjects, being in the possession of a wolf, who, holding it up between his fore feet, very civilly delivered up his charge, which, being immediately joined to the body, the whole was interred at Hoxne; but not without the attendance of the wolf, who afterwards withdrew to his native woods.

The apology for reciting these legendary tales, is their intimate connexion with a part of this county, but particularly Bury St. Edmund’s, where even the arms of the town have been formed to commemorate the savage protector of the royal monarch’s head, and which has also furnished a number of artists with a favourable subject for the exercise of their various abilities. Two fine specimens of painted glass were in the possession of Sir Thomas Grey Cullum, hart, of Bury; one exhibited a bust of St. Edmund crowned, and inscribed in black letter, Sct. Ed. The other shews the wolf holding the head between his paws. Underneath, in black letters, are the words heer! heer! heer! said to have been the exclamation of the head-when his friends were looking for it; and above is this inscription: In salutem fidelium. These ancient performances are in fine preservation, the colours uncommonly brilliant, and the designs remarkable for clearness and precision. Other examples of this nature appear in the engravings to Yates’s Monastic History. After the course of some years, the ecclesiastics having reported that miracles were wrought at the grave of St. Edmund, at Hoxne, a large church was constructed for the reception of his body, at Beodriusworth, or Bury; it was immediately removed to this place; and as some ecclesiastics immediately devoted themselves to a monastic life under the supposed protection of the royal saint and martyr, to these circumstances St. Edmundsbury owed its rise, and its growing consequence. Even Canute heaped grants and privileges upon this convent, and its abbot, and took it under his special protection. Many royal and noble personages were afterwards drawn to Bury from motives of piety, and the fame of its abbey. Henry I. in 1132, came here to pay his devotions, out of gratitude for his deliverance from a tempest on his return from France. Richard I. before and after his departure for the Holy Land, paid a visit to St. Edmund’s shrine. Bury was also visited by Queen Elizabeth, in August 1578, in her journey through Norfolk and Suffolk.

POPULATION

The population of the whole county, according to the returns of 1821, consisted of 270,542 persons; and the number of houses were 42,773. Suffolk sends sixteen members to the Imperial parliament, viz. two for the county, and two for each borough.

CLIMATE AND SOIL

Suffolk is unquestionably one of the dryest climates in the kingdom; but the frosts are severe, and the north-east winds in the spring are sharp and prevalent. In these northern latitudes and insular situations, the most humid countries are the most free from frost and snow, till you arrive on the western coasts of Ireland, where the rains are incessant, and frost almost unknown. Severe winters and dry springs have a strong influence on agriculture; but, on the whole, the climate of this county must be reckoned favourable.

Respecting soil, a greater diversity is not to be found in any county in the kingdom, nor is this difference any where more distinctly marked. The whole, however, may be conveniently divided into four sorts, —clay, sand, loam, and fen.

CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS

The most general division of this county is into two parts; the first called the Franchise, or liberty of St. Edmund, comprehends the western part of the county; and the second, called Geldable Land, contains the eastern part; and each part furnishes a distinct grand jury at the county assizes. There are two other general divisions of this county, into High Suffolk and Low Suffolk; and it is farther divided into twenty-one hundreds, viz. Babergh, Blackbourne, Cosford, Hartismere, Hoxne, Lackford, Plomsgate, Resbridge, Stow, Thredwestry, Thredling, Blything, Bosmere and Claydon, Calford, Colneis, Loes, Mutford and Lothingland, Samford, Thingoe, Wangford and Wilford. It has no city, but contains seven boroughs, viz. Aldborough, Dunwich, Eye, Ipswich, Orford, Sudbury, and Bury St. Edmund’s; and twenty-one other market towns; viz. Beccles, Bildeston, Brandon, Botesdale, Bungay, Clare, Debenham, Framlingham, Hadley, Haverhill, Ixworth, Lavenham, Lowestoft, Mendlesham, Mildenhall, Needham, Nayland, Saxmuudham, Southwold, Stow-Market, and Woodbridge. Suffolk is now included in the Norfolk circuit, the province of Canterbury, and the diocese of Norwich.

RIVERS

Water is very plentiful all over this county, for there are not only rivers in almost every part, but a great number of fine springs and rivulets. The principal rivers are the Stour, the Lesser Ouse, the Waveney, the Deben, the Ald, and the Blithe.

The Stour, which is one of the principal rivers, rises not far from Haverhill, on the borders of Cambridgeshire, and passes with some windings in a southern or eastern direction to Sudbury, and from thence, after being joined by the Brett, near Nayland, eastward to its mouth, divides Essex from this county to Harwich and falls into the Orwell.

This river passes through a very pleasant part of the two counties it traverses. At Manningtree it receives the tide, and increasing greatly in breadth, presents a beautiful object at high water to the. fine seat and grounds of Mistly Thorn, the effect of which is, however, considerably lessened by its muddy channel and contracted stream, during the ebb. At Harwich the Stour and the Bret fall into the sea beneath the batteries of Landguard-fort, on the shore of this county.

The Little Ouse rises near Blow-Norton, near the source of the Waveney on the northern edge, of this county, and running by Thetford, Brandon, and other places, joins the Larke in the fens.

The Waveney likewise rises at Lopham ford, near Blow-Norton, not far from the spring head of the Little Ouse, but runs a contrary way, that is, easrt-north-east, passing by Dis, Harleston, and Beccles, till at length it falls into the Yare near Yarmouth.

The Deben rises near Mendlesham, and running south-east, and passing by Debenham and Woodbridge, two other market towns of this county, falls into the German Sea, eleven miles south-east of Woodbridge.

The Orwell finds its source, in the centre of this county, near Stow-market, pursuing a south-east direction to Ipswich, and from thence making a curve almost to the south to meet the Stour, opposite to Harwich.

The banks of this river are in general picturesque, and more particularly so when it becomes an æstuary below the ancient town of Ipswich, to which place it is navigable by ships of considerable burthen. The banks are then steep, beautifully fringed with wood, and adorned with several fine seats. The navigation of this channel from Ipswich Quay is delightful at high water, terminating at the point where Landguard-fort fronts the ports of Harwich.

The Ald rises in Knoddishall, and running south-east, passes by Aldborough and Orford, and falls into the German Sea, about a mile north of Aldborough.

The Blithe has its source near Laxfield, from whence running east-north-east to Hazleworth, it passes from thence, almost directly east, to Southwold, where it falls into the German Sea.

There are other less considerable rivers in this county; as the Ore, which falls into Hollesley Bay, the Berdan, the Bret, the Bourn, and the Larke.

It has been observed, as to those solid advantages which must be the result of good water-carriage, that northerly, the Grand Junction canal is now so complete, as to extend quite across the country to Liverpool, and that a parallel one to join the Cam and the Stour together, has been some time in contemplation, by which a direct aquatic communication between Lynn and London, through or near Cambridge, will be opened, and consequently carried completely to London whenever the navigation to join the Stour shall be finished. Hence it has been suggested, that a short cut from the Soham Lode to the Larke river, which runs to Bury St. Edmund’s, would be attended with less expence, and certainty of success, by pouring into its lap the terrestrial treasures of this fertile region. In the north-eastern counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, where the greatest deficiency of water has existed, in case of a new navigation, its continuation to Thetford, is substantially recommended; because the line of communication will not only be as straight as an arrow, but will comprehend Bury St. Edmund’s. This place, so near the termination of the Stow-market and Ipswich navigation, the canal passing through, would thus fill up an hiatus, and the whole of that course of country might enjoy the benefit of aquatic conveyance and dispatch.

ROADS

The roads in this county have been uncommonly good for many years past; so that a traveller is nearly able to move in a post-chaise by a map, and almost sure to find excellent gravel roads. Many of the cross-roads in most directions are equal to turnpikes. The improvements in this respect within the last thirty years, are almost inconceivable.

ENCLOSURES

Many modern enclosures have been made by act of parliament, which examples, in favourable times, will no doubt be followed, the success being such as to encourage the practice. As to landed property, there is no estate in Suffolk that can be considered as overgrown.

RENT, AND SIZE OF FARMS

In the district of strong wet loam, there have been many small farms from 20l. to 100l. a year intermixed with others from 150l. to 300l. and more. In the sand districts, where they are larger, they have risen to 900l. a year and more; that of West Wood Lodge, near Dunwich, has been estimated as the finest farm in the county. As to rents, there are low rents paid by certain modes of management, with more difficulty to the tenant than would attend much higher ones under a change of conduct.

FARM-HOUSES AND COTTAGES

The farm-houses have been much improved within the last thirty years. Too many, however, have been built of lath and plaster, and the barns have been complained of as being larger and more numerous than necessary. —The durability of brick and mortar, compared with lath and plaster, and wattle and clay, has of late years been more justly appreciated.

In building of cottages, some very respectable individuals have most laudably distinguished themselves. The old cottages in Suffolk have been represented as deficient in contrivance for warmth and convenience; the doors very commonly opening immediately from the external air into the keeping room, and sometimes directly to the fireside. The deficiency of gardens is too general. Their general rent is from 40s. to 3l. per annum. The new cottages are much improved, and the comforts of the poor at home have been represented as greater than in most counties in England. The result of the incorporated hundreds, it is said, has been highly conducive not only to the diminution of the poor-rates, but to the happiness of the poor themselves.

LEASES

The more common terms for these in Suffolk, have been seven, fourteen, and twenty-one years. Much land is occupied by tenants at will. Few counties have been more improved by leases of twenty-one years than this has been, especially in the sandy districts, which have been converted from warren and sheep-walks into cultivated enclosures. Leases, however, are not absolutely necessary on lands so rich as to want no exertions; but even in this case, the general management is more likely to be spirited, when the tenant has a certainty of reaping the benefit of his expenditure for a long term.

TITHES AND TENURES

It has been observed, that there is as great a variety in the circumstance attending the receipt of tithes in Suffolk as in most other districts in the kingdom. They are gathered in kind by some; and the compositions admitted by others vary in proportion to, the liberality and situation in life of the possessors. In general, they are considered as favourable to the occupier, and do credit to the moderation and feelings of the clergy, who frequently content themselves with compositions under the real value. But the mode, even thus qualified, is liable to great objections.

The great mass of this county is freehold property; but copyholds are numerous, and some of them large. Of college leases scattered in various parts, nothing particular is to be noticed.

IMPLEMENTS

Ploughs. —The Norfolk wheel-plough, and the little light swing-plough of Suffolk, are the common implements. The latter is a good tool for depths not exceeding four inches, but is ineffectual for more considerable depths..

The Horse-Rake. —This is common, and is drawn by one horse, for clearing spring-corn stubbles, instead of the corn dew-rake drawn by a man. But to substitute the sickle, and bind in sheaves, is deemed a superior practice.

The Drill Roller. —This tool, invented in Norfolk, has been much used in Suffolk. Its object is to save the expence of dibbling, by making little channels four inches and a half asunder, across a clover-lay after ploughing; the wheat seed is then sown broadcast, and is covered by a bush-harrow. For light soils that require pressure, it is a good implement; but inferior to dibbling.

Threshing Mills. —Though there was not one of these in the county in Mr. Arthur Young’s time, they have been multiplied Surprisingly since that period. Mr. Howlett made a very great improvement in them, by constructing a moveable machine, which may be wheeled a mile and set to work in an hour. The first price of this, including a winnowing-machine, was 160 guineas.

The Extirpator. —This was invented for destroying weeds, and clearing ploughed lands for seed. This machine, which some call the Scalp-plough, is drawn by two or three horses, according to the quality and depth of the soil it is to be used upon; but before this is used, the land should be ploughed over once. It will work on all lands, and may be used by any person that knows how to manage a plough. It will easily plough an acre an hour, and not distress the horses. Scarifiers and Scufflers. —These are equally as anplicable to the broad-cast system as any other. Those made by Mr. Cook are so contrived, that by a diagonal variation in which it is used, one, two, or three teeth might be worked in a nine-inch interval. Scufflers are various, having been improved by many different persons.

DIBBLING

The practice of this is well established in this county, and increases every year. In the maritime sand district, many thousand acres are thus put in. The ground being rolled with a light barley-roller, a man, walking backwards on the flag, as the furrow-slice is called, with a dibber of iron, the handle about three feet long, in each hand, strikes two rows of holes, about four inches from one row to the other, on each flag; and he is followed by three or four children, to drop the grains, three, four, or five in each hole. In this way, from six to seven pecks of seed are deposited, at very equal depths, in the centre of the flag. A bush-harrow follows to cover it. There are several circumstances which tend to render this method superior to the common. The treading so equally is very beneficial upon light soil, and in dry weather hurtful upon none. The seed is laid in at an equal and good depth; and it is all in the flag itself, and not dropt in the seams, where weeds, if any, will arise; and there is some saving in seed. The fact is, that the crops are superior to the common, and the sample more equal. It is not common to hoe, except only one row is put in instead of two. Some use a frame which strikes many holes at a time, but the work is not so well done, and the practice not equally approved. The vast system of well-paid employment for the poor, which this practice carries with it, is a point of immense importance.

CARRIAGES

Waggons have been universal in Suffolk; the modern and greatest of all improvements, is that of substituting one-horse carts, or cars generally speaking, long unknown. Carts also have been much too heavy, and badly constructed. They have been calculated to contain from 36 to 40 bushels, and were drawn by three, four, or five horses, according to weight of load.

CATTLE

Sheep. —The Norfolk breed of sheep spreads over almost every part of the county; and as the most famous flocks are about Bury—much more celebrated than any in Norfolk—it has been observed, that they ought rather to be called the Suffolk breed. This race is so well known, that it would be useless to give a particular description of them; it is, however, proper here to note their principal excellencies and defects. Among the former is the quality of the mutton; it being admitted at Smithfield, that as long as cool weather lasts, it has, for the table of the curious, no superior in texture or grain, flavour, quantity, and colour of gravy, with fat enough for such tables. In tallow they reckon no sheep better. In fatting, at an early age, they are superior to many breeds, though said to be not equal to some others. The wool is fine, being in price per pound the third sort in England. Their activity in bearing hard driving, for the fold, is much spoken of. In hardiness and success as nurses, they are also much esteemed in this county. Such are their excellencies; the defects with which they are reproached are a voracity of stomach, which demands more food, in proportion to their weight, than some other breeds; and the consequent circumstances of being necessarily kept very thin on the ground: a want of that disposition to fatten, which keeps stock in great order on middling, and extraordinary fat on good food: both circumstances, resulting from an ill-formed carcass: a rigid back; large bones; a thin chine; and heavy offals; a restless and unquiet disposition, which makes them difficult to keep in any other than the largest walks, commons, or fields; a texture of flesh that will not keep in hot weather so long as that of South Down, and consequently said to be inferior in price at that season; a loose ragged habit of wool, losing if not in high keep.

These ill qualities have so much foundation in facts, that other breeds are introducing rapidly into both Suffolk and Norfolk, and promise speedily to be well established. It is proper to observe, that of all these objections to the Norfolk breed, there is none more notorious, or more susceptible of direct proof, than the number kept on a given quantity of ground; which in these two counties, is fewer than is kept on similar land of some other breeds. This is an object of importance; whatever merit or advantage is Attained by keeping 500 sheep on a farm of 750 acres, sinks much, if 750 of some other breeds might be kept on the same land. The first and greatest of the national interests, as well as the profit of the individual, is intimately concerned in such a position.

In the management of their flocks, our farmers have no point so interesting as the almost entire reliance for the winter support on turnips. In some counties, large flocks are kept without turnips: here they have not an idea of the possibility of such a conduct.

Cows. —The cows of Suffolk have long been celebrated for the great quantity of their milk, which, we believe, much exceeds, on an average, that of any other breed in the island, if quantity of food and size of the animal are taken into the account.

The breed is universally polled; that is, without horns; the size small; few rise, when fattened, to above 50 stone (14lb.) The points commonly admired are, a clean throat, with little dew-lap; a snake head; clean thin legs, and short; a springing rib and large carcass; a flat loin, the hip bones to lie square and even; the tail to rise high from the rump. This is the description of some considerable dairy-men.-But if we were to describe the points of certain individuals, which were very famous for their quantity of milk, it would vary in several points; and these would be such as are applicable to great numbers.

A clean throat, with little dew-lap; a thin clean snake head, thin legs; a very large carcass; rib tolerably springing from the centre of the back, but with a heavy belly; back-bone ridged; chine thin and hollow; loin narrow; udder large, loose, and creased when empty; milk-veins remarkably large, and rising in knotted puffs to the eye: this is so general, that we scarcely ever saw a famous milker that did not possess this point. A general habit of leanness, hip-bones high, and ill covered, and scarcely any part of the carcass so formed and covered as to please an eye that is accustomed to fat beasts of the finer breeds. But something of a contradiction to this, in appearances, is, that many of these beasts fatten remarkably well; the flesh of a fine quality; and in that state will feel well enough to satisfy the touch of skilful butchers. The best milkers known have been either red, brindle, or yellowish Cream-Coloured.

The quantity of milk given, is very considerable indeed. There is hardly a dairy of any consideration, in one district, that does not contain cows which give, in the height of the season, that is, in the beginning of June, eight gallons of milk in the day; and six are common among many, for a large part of the season. For two or three months a whole dairy will give, for all that give milk at all, five gallons a day, on an average, if the season is riot unfavourable, which, for Cows of this size, is very considerable. When the quantity of milk in any breed is very great, that of butter is rarely equal. It is thus in Suffolk; the quantity of milk is more extraordinary than that of butter. The average of all the dairies of the district may be estimated at three firkins, and three-fourths of a wey of cheese per cow, clear to the factor's hands, after supplying the consumption of the family.

Horses. —The Suffolk breed of horses is no less celebrated than the cows. They are found in most perfection in the district of the county that is upon the coast, extending to Woodbridge, Debenham, Eye, and Lowestoft. The best of all were found some years ago upon the Sandlings, south of Woodbridge and Orford. Amongst the great farmers in that country, there was, fifty years ago, a considerable spirit of breeding, and of drawing team against team for large suras of money. It is to be regretted that such a spirit of emulation was lost. We remember many of the old breed, which were very famous, and, in some respects, and uglier horse could not be viewed: sorrel colour, very low in the fore-end; a large ill-shaped head, with slouching heavy ears;” a great carcass, and short legs; but short-backed, and more of the punch than the Leicestershire breeders will allow. These horses could only walk and draw; they could trot no better than a cow; but their power in drawing was very considerable. Of late years, by aiming at coach horses, the breed is much changed to a handsomer, lighter, and more active horse. It is yet an excellent breed; and if the comparison with others, and especially the great black horse of the midland counties, be fairly made, there is no doubt of their beating them in useful draft, that of the cart and the plough. But the fair comparison is this: let a given sum be invested in the purchase of each breed; and then, by means of which will a thousand tons of earth be moved to a given distance, by the smallest quantity of hay and oats? It. is the oats and hay that are to be compared, not the number or size of the cattle. A spirited and attentive breeder, upon a farm of 1000 or 1500 acres of various soils, that would admit two or three stallions, and thirty or forty capital mares, might, by breeding in and in, with close attention to the improvements wanted, advance this breed to a very high perfection, and render it a national object. But then, query, whether the same expence and attention would not produce a breed of cattle that would, by training, supersede the use of horses? Of all the branches of live stock, perhaps nothing is in such an imperfect state as working oxen; in every thing that concerns them, we are really in the infancy of agriculture.

Hogs. —Of the hogs of Suffolk we shall only observe, that the short white breed of the cow district has very great merit; well-made, thick, short noses, small bone, and light offals; but not quite so prolific as some worse made breeds.

Rabbits. —The warrens in this county have been extremely numerous, especially in the western sand district; but within the last thirty years, great tracts of them have been ploughed up, and converted to the better use of yielding corn, mutton and wool. About forty years ago rabbit-skins were at five shillings a dozen, but gradually rose to twelve. During the late war they fell to seven shillings, which has been considered as an event favourable to agriculture. A warren near Brandon, is said to have returned above forty thousand rabbits in a year, when estimating the skin at seven-pence, and the flesh at threepence, it made ten-pence per head. The expences of their feed have been lessened, since faggots, which the rabbits peel, have been partly substituted for the hay, once thought necessary for them during the snows.

EMINENT AND LITERARY CHARACTERS

Several men of eminence have been born in this county; we can do little more, however, than barely enumerate their names. —Dr. William Alabaster, a divine, was born at Hadleigh. He was a great Hebraist, and was enthusiastically fond of the Cabala. He wrote besides some theological pieces tinctured with mysticism, a Latin tragedy entitled Roxana, acted at Cambridge by the students. Dr. Alabaster was also the author of a Lexicon Pentaglotton, in folio. He died in the year 1640. —Dr. Richard Aungerville, bishop of Durham, was born at St. Edmund's Bury in 1281. He was tutor to Edward III., lord high chancellor and treasurer of England in 1333 and 1336. He founded a library at Oxford, and wrote a discourse on the right use of books. Died at Durham in 1345.

—The learned biographer, John Bale, bishop of Ossory in Ireland, was born at Cove in this county, and died in the year 1563, aged 67. His Scriptorum illustrium Majoris Britanniœ, &c., printed at Basle in 1557, is his best work. He was originally a Carmelite monk; but renouncing his vows he turned protestant, and became a zealous opponent of the ancient religion. —John Boyce, a divine, and one of the translators of the Bible in the reign of James I., was born at Nettlestead, January 3, 1560: he assisted Sir Henry Saville in publishing the works of St. Chrysostom, and died January 14, 1643. —Dr. Ralph Brownrig, bishop of Exeter, was born at Ipswich; suffered greatly in the rebellion, and died in the year 1659. His sermons were printed in two folio volumes in 1674. —William Burkitt, author of the well-known Commentary on the New Testament, is said to have been born at Hitcham in this county; but the General Biographical Dictionary gives him to a place of that name in Northamptonshire. Burkitt was born in 1650, and died at Durham in 1703. His Commentary is a very useful, plain, and practical illustration of the New Testament. —William Butler, a physician of considerable eminence, but more remarkable as a humourist, and an eccentric practitioner, was born at Ipswich about 1535, and died in 1618. —Edward Capell, editor of a valuable edition of Shakspeare, was born at Trostan, near Bury, in 1713: died in the year 1781. —Thomas Cavendish, or Candish, was born at Trimley in this county: he was an enterprising but imprudent man, and wasted the immense sums which he took as prizes from the Spaniards in the most lavish manner. He sailed round the world; but his last voyage proving unsuccessful, it is said he died of grief on the coast of Brazil soon after the year 1592—Sir John Cavendish, a native of the village of that name, was lord chief justice of the King’s Bench in the reign of Edward III.; but was beheaded by a rebellious rabble in the reign of Richard II. From this judge descended William Cavendish, first duke of Devonshire. He wrote an ode on the death of Queen Mary; and an allusion to the Bishop of Cambray’s Supplement to Homer: he died in the year 1707—Before this William might have been mentioned Sir William Cavendish, knight, usher to Cardinal Wolsey, whose life he wrote: he died in the year 1557—William Clagett, divine, author of sermons and controversial pieces, was born at St. Edmund’s Bury in 1646, and died in 1688. —The Rev. John Covel, author of a work entitled “The Antient and Present State of the Greek Church, &c.” was born at Horningsheath in 1638: died in 1722. —The Rev. Habakkuk Crabb, a modest, pious, and useful divine among the Dissenters; but persecuted and illtreated by the Calvinists, was born at Wattisfield, at which place he was a teacher, but was compelled by the nonconformists, among whom he had laboured during many years, to leave them. He afterwards settled at Royston, where he died in the year 1795. His sermons were published after his death. —The Rev. Sir John Cullum, bart. author of the History and Antiquities of Hawkstead, was born at Bury in 1733, and died in 1785. —John Eachard, an eminent divine, and a great wit, was born in this county about 1636, and died in 1697. —Lawrence Echard, divine and historian, author of many valuable works, was born about 1671: died in 1730. —Thomas Eliot, author of a Latin and English Dictionary: died in 1546. —Dr. William Enfield, the well-known compiler of that truly useful book “The Speaker,” and author of numerous valuable works, was born at Sudbury in 1741, and died in 1797. He was a Unitarian of the old school, and was greatly esteemed by those who knew him. —Thomas Firmin, a most benevolent and amiable merchant and linen manufacturer, was born at Ipswich in 1632. Mr. Firmin was a pious Unitarian; and so much was he respected for his knowledge and unlimited beneficence to the poor, that the greatest divines of his day were proud to be ranked among the number of his friends; even the late Mr. John Wesley, though he charged him with error on the score of the Trinity, was compelled to make the following concession, when speaking of him in a memoir in one of the early volumes of the Arminian Magazine: “I dare not say Mr. Firmin was not a good man.”—This was admitting a great deal, in a Methodist concerning a. Socinian. If Mr. Firmin’s good works were indeed “filthy rags,” one hardly knows how to designate the “fine linen of those modern saints who think him damned for his heresy, notwithstanding he so closely copied the example of Him who “went about doing good. „Mr. Firmin died in 1697. —Giles Firmin, one of the ejected ministers, was born in this county, and died in the same year with his namesake above mentioned. He wrote several works, particularly “The Real Christian. „He also practised physic, first in New England, and afterwards at home. —Thomas Gainsborough, a celebrated portrait and landscape painter, was born at Sudbury in 1727: died in 1788. He had a brother a dissenting minister, and a very ingenious mechanic: and another, his eldest, who was also a good artist. —Dr. Stephen Gardiner, a celebrated prelate and statesman, was born at Bury St. Edmund’s in 1483. It is difficult to speak of this person so as not to give offence to some one; for he possessed a strange mixture of character. That he was a man of great learning no one will doubt; but his crafty ambition spoiled him; and his conduct towards the Protestants, notwithstanding the long, deep, and cruel persecution he had himself previously undergone, was base and sanguinary in the extreme: alike abhorrent to the principles of the Catholic as to the Reformed church. His conduct, however, has been ridiculously exaggerated and misrepresented: he died in 1555. —Stephen Hawes, a poet, and groom of the chamber of Henry VII. but in what year I find not. —William Jenkins, ejected from Christ-church, in Newgate-street, for nonconformity: he died in Newgate in 1684: he was born at Sudbury in 1612. —Joseph Keble, lawyer, and author of several law books, born in 1632, died in 1710. —John Lydgate, an Augustine monk of St. Edmund’s Bury, in the reign of Henry VI.: he was a disciple of Chaucer, and a poet of considerable merit. In Lawton’s Orchet, a Metrical Chronicle in the Lansdowne MSS. (No. 204) A. D. 1581, Lydgate is mentioned as a favourite poet, and worthy of equal praise to Chaucer. He wrote a poem called “The Fall of Princes and died in the year 1440. —Dr. William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Fressingfield in, 1616: he suffered by the Puritans, and was one of the seven bishops sent to the Tower by James II. He wrote a curious dialogue in Latin against the Calvinists, called “The Predestined Thief,” also “Modern Politics, &c. &c. “— He contributed 1400l. towards rebuilding St. Paul’s, and died in the year 1693. —Anthony Sparrow, Bishop of Exeter, and afterwards of Norwich, was born at Depden, and died in 1685. The Puritans ejected him in 1643, for refusing to take the covenant: he wrote several useful works. —The celebrated Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, was born at Ipswich in 1471. His princely state of living became almost proverbial; and his unbounded ambition and sudden fall are known to every one. He founded Christ Church college, Oxford, and built Hampton Court Palace, he died in 1530. —William Wotton, a learned divine, was born at Wrentham in 1666, and died in 1726. He wrote “Reflections on Antient and Modern Learning,” and other works.

TITLES CONFERRED BY THE COUNTY

The Howard family are Earls of Suffolk; —Ipswich, gives the title of Viscount to the Fitzroys; —Sudbury, that of Baron to the same family; —Brandon, that of Duke to the Hamiltons; —Eye, that of Baron to the Cornwallises; —Ickworth, the same to the Herveys; Orford, that of Earl to the Walpoles; —Brome, that of Viscount to the family of Cornwallis; —the Germaine family are Barons of Bolebrooke; —the Fitzroys Barons of Euston; —the Rouses, the same of Dennington; —the Thurlows, of Thurlow.

QUARTER SESSIONS

These are held at Beccles, January 10, April 10, July 10, October 16—Woodbridge, January 12, April 12, July 12, October 13—Ipswich, January 12, April 14, July 14, October 20—Bury, January 17, April 17, July 17, October 23.