[A] ALCESTER is situated at the confluence of the two small rivers, Alne and Arrow, having a bridge over each. It is supposed to have been a Roman station; Roman coins, urns, and similar relics, A Roman station. having been frequently found here. The Roman way of Icknield Street also passed through it, and from its situation it is deemed the Alana of Richard of Cirencester. It was anciently a borough by prescription, Many relics of antiquity found. and of some note in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it became the property of the Beauchamps, and afterwards of the Grevilles. The church is a fine gothic structure; the market is well supplied with corn; and the manufacture of needles is very extensive. Here is a Free School, founded by Walter Newport, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and various alms-houses and small charities, originating in different benefactors. Traces of the site of Traces of an abbey founded by King Stephen. an abbey, founded in the reign of King Stephen, to the north of the town, are still visible.

Market, Tuesday.—Mail arrives 9½ A.M., departs 8½ P.M.—Inn, Angel.—Fairs, March 20, June 23, Tuesday before April 5, May 18, 2nd Tuesday in July, for cheese.

[B] ALDBOROUGH. Fair, September 4.

[C] ALDBOURN. Market, Tuesday.

[D] ALDEBURGH is pleasantly situated in the valley of Slaughton, and bounded on the eastern side by the sea, which has made considerable encroachments, and nearly washed a street away. The river Ald runs on the south side, and forms a convenient quay. The town is mean in construction, and chiefly inhabited by fishermen and seafaring people. Soles, lobsters, and other fish are abundant. It is remarkable as the birth-place of the late Rev. George Crabbe, emphatically styled Birth place of the Rev. George Crabbe, the poet. Biographical sketch of his life. the Poet of the Poor, who was born December 24, 1754. His father was an officer in the Customs, and at first gave him an education, merely suitable to follow the same pursuit; but when his prospects brightened, he removed his son to a classical seminary, where he was instructed for a surgeon and apothecary, to which profession he was in due time apprenticed, but relinquished all views of establishing himself in practice. At a very early period he became a versifier; and among his precocious attempts was a prize poem, on Hope, which was inserted in the Lady's Magazine, then published by Mr. Wheeble. Crabbe came to London, in 1778, with £3. in his Crabbe's arrival in London, 1778. pocket, and made versification his chief study. His first published work was The Candidate, a poem, in quarto, which came into the world anonymously, in 1780, and was favourably received. A short time afterwards, his poverty and poetry induced him to seek the His first published work well received. patronage of Edmund Burke, to whom he submitted a large quantity of miscellaneous composition; he had no introduction to Mr. Burke, excepting his own letter, stating his circumstances; no recommendation but his distress, and yet his application was attended with success. His patron introduced him to some of the first men in the country, and soon after became the means of benefiting his fame and fortune; he selected from young Crabbe's works, The Library and The Village, suggesting at the same time certain corrections and improvements. Among the eminent persons to whom he was thus introduced, was the Right Hon. Charles James Fox, Sir Joshua Reynolds, at whose mansion he first Crabbe's introduction to eminent persons. beheld, and was made known to, Dr. Johnson, who gave the young poet his opinion of The Village. Mr. Burke having directed Mr. Crabbe's views to the church, in 1781 he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Norwich, and priest by the same dignitary in the following year; he was next appointed domestic chaplain to the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle. As Mr. Crabbe had not received a university education, he was offered a degree by Trinity College, Cambridge, but eventually received the grant from the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, and thus became a Bachelor of Laws. Burke also Promoted to the church. introduced Mr. Crabbe to Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who presented him to rectories in Dorset and Lincoln consecutively. He had previously a curacy at Strathorn, a village near Belvoir Castle, where he married and became a father; he was universally respected for his talents and virtues, and died at Trowbridge, at seven o'clock in the morning of Died at Trowbridge 1132. the 8th of February, 1832. The publications of Mr. Crabbe have placed him high on the roll of British Poets.

Market, Wednesday and Saturday.—Fairs, March 1, and May 3, for toys.—Inn, White Lion.—Mail arrives at 9½ A.M. departs 5½ P.M.

MapNames of PlacesCounty Number of Miles FromDist.
Lond.		Popul
ation.
27AldebypaNorfolkBeccles3Yarmouth11Lowestoft7112530
18AldenhampaHertsWatford3St. Albans6Elstree3171494
41AlderburytoWiltsSalisbury3Downton4Farley3801323
27AlderfordpaNorfolkReepham3Norwich9Aylesham710840
15AlderleypaGloucesterWickwar4Wooton2Tetbury8108200
7AlderleypaChesterMacclesfield5Knutsford5Congleton81721338
4Aldermaston[A]paBerksReading10Newbury8Kingsclere549636
42AlderminsterpaWorcesterEvesham10Stratford-Av.5Shipston-Sto.689454
41AldertonpaWiltsMalmsbury6Tetbury7Chippenham8103213
15AldertonpaGloucesterWinchcomb3Cheltenham7Tewkesbury7102330
28AldertonpaNorthampTowcester4Northampton9Sto. Stratford958162
36AldertonpaSuffolkWoodbridge7Orford9Ipswich1279575
7AlderseytoChesterChester8Tarporley8Malpas5175138
16AldershottpaHantsFarnham3Odiham4Bakewell9138424
7Aldfordto & paChesterChester5Malpas10Tarporley9177710
45AldfieldtoW.R. YorkRipon3Ripley4Borobridge7208133
14AldhampaEssexCoggeshall4Colchester6Neyland648407
36AldhampaSuffolkHadley2Stow-Market9Ipswich866318
38AldingbournpaSussexChichester4Arundel7Bognor562833
22AldinghampaLancasterUlverstone5Dalton4Lancaster15277884
21Aldington[B]paKentHythe6Ashford7New Romney860732

[A] ALDERMASTON. Fairs, May 6, July 7, for horses and cattle, and October 11, for pedlery.

[B] ALDINGTON. Elizabeth Barton, commonly called the Holy Maid of Kent, a religious impostor, lived in the reign of Henry VIII. She was a servant at Aldington, and having been for a long The History of the Holy Maid of Kent. time afflicted with convulsions, which distorted her limbs and countenance, and threw her body into the most violent agitations, acquired a power of counterfeiting the same appearances whenever she pleased. Richard Master, who then held this living, with other ecclesiastics, thinking her a proper instrument for their purpose, induced her to pretend that all she said and did, was by a supernatural impulse, and taught her to act her part in the most perfect manner. Thus she pretended to be honoured with visions; to hear heavenly voices and most ravishing melody; she declaimed against the wickedness of the times, against heresy and innovations; exhorting all persons to frequent the church, to hear masses, to make frequent confessions, and to pray to our lady, and all saints. This artful management, with her apparent piety, virtue, and austerity of life, completely deceived even Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher, and Archbishop Warham, the last of which appointed commissioners to examine her, to whom she was instructed to say, in her counterfeit trances, that she should never recover till she went to visit the image of the Virgin Mary, in a chapel dedicated to her in this parish, which was done. After that she pretended that she was called to be a nun, and the Archbishop being fully satisfied with the reports, had her placed in the nunnery of St. Sepulchre, Canterbury, Holy Maid of Kent. where she alleged she had visions and revelations of a divine nature, so as to completely impose upon the public. The main object of the priests, her managers, was directed publicly to announce how God had revealed to her, "that in case the king should divorce Queen Catherine of Anjou, and take another wife during her life, his royalty would not be of a month's duration, but that he should die the death of a villain," which created considerable excitement, and much controversy: encouraged by the lenity of the government, the ecclesiastics in this conspiracy, resolved to publish the revelations of the nun throughout the kingdom. They had communicated them to the Pope's Ambassadors, and exhorted Queen Catherine to persist in her resolutions. At length this The imposture detected. confederacy became a serious affair, and Henry ordered the maid and her accomplices to be examined in the Star Chamber, where they confessed all the particulars of the imposture; and afterwards, upon a scaffold erected at Paul's Cross, were compelled to hear their confession publicly read; they were confined in the Tower until the meeting of parliament, by whom the whole affair was pronounced to be a conspiracy against the king's life, and crown. The nun, and her confederates, were Herself and confederates executed at Tyburn. eventually attainted of high treason, and executed at Tyburn, April 20th, 1534, where she confessed the imposture, laying the blame on her accomplices, the priests; craving pardon of God, and the King.

MapNames of PlacesCounty Number of Miles FromDist.
Lond.		Popul
ation.
42AldingtonhamWorcesterEvesham3Moreton10Alcester1096104
35AldridgepaStaffordWalsall3Sut. Coldfield4Lichfleld61161804
36AldringhampaSuffolkAldeburgh2Saxmundha5Dunwich794362
38AldringtonpaSussexBrighton5Steyning6Worthing755615
9Aldstone Moor[A]to & paCumberlandCarlisle25Kirk Oswald12Haltwhistle102726858
15AldsworthpaGloucesterNorthleach4Fairford6Burford478353
16AldwarktoDerbyWirksworth4Ashbourn6Winster614597
44AldwarktoN. R YorkBorobridge5Easingwold4Knaresboro9202190
45AldwarketoW. R YorkRotherham2Sheffield4Barnsley8172
28Aldwinckle-all Saints p NorthampThrapston 3 Kettering 10 Oundle 5 76 247
28Aldwinckle-St PeterpaNorthamp...3...10...576171
4Aldsworth[B]paBerksEast Ilsley4Wallingford7Newbury1150268