MapNames of PlacesCounty Number of Miles FromDist.
Lond.		Popul
ation.
24BenningworthpaLincolnWragby6Horncastle9Louth9145373
29BewridgetoNorthumbMorpeth2Rothbury12Blyth1129053
31Bensinton[A]paOxfordWallingford2Nettlebed6Dorchester3461266
14BentfieldhamEssexStanstead2B. Stortford4Saff. Walden934505
33BenthallpaSalopWenlock3Madeley6Wellington7150525
15BenthamhamGloucesterGloucester5Cheltenham5Painswick7104
44Benthampa & toW.R. YorkSettle12Ingleton5Lancaster132473957
16BentleypaHantsFarnham4Alton6Odiham642728
35Bentleyto & libStaffordWalsall2S. Coldfield7Lichfield812099
36BentleypaSuffolkIpswich6Manningtree12Harwich1869363
39BentleyhamWarwickAtherstone3Coleshill7Birmingham16106270
46BentleytoW.R. YorkDoncaster2Arksey1Thorne101641144
10Bentley, FennypaDerbyAshborne3Wirksworth8Derby16142308
14Bentley, GreatpaEssexColchester9Manningtree9Harwich1360978
10Bentley, HungrytoDerbyAshborne6Derby10Uttoxeter913692
14Bentley, LittlepaEssexManningtree5Colchester9Harwich1060438
42Bentley,Up. & L.hamWorcesterBromsgrove3Redditch3Birmingham14113
29Benton, LittletoNorthumbNewcastle4N. Shields6Blyth9278
29Benton, Long[B]paNorthumb...4...6...92785547

[A] BENSINGTON was an ancient British town, taken from the original inhabitants by Ceaulin, in the year 572. The west Saxons held the place for two centuries, and appear to have constructed a castle for its defence; but it was reduced by Offa, king of the Mercians, who defeated his rival in a sanguinary contest. To the west of the church are a quadrangular A Mercian King. bank and trench. Three sides of the embankment are much defaced. Plot mentions an "angle of King Offa's palace near the church;" by which he probably alludes to the same spot. In this village are several modern buildings. The church, which is gothic, has been built at different times. In the brick flooring of the nave are some ancient stones, with mutilated brasses. Here is a Sunday-school supported by subscription; and a meeting-house for methodists.

[B] LONG BENTON. A dreadful calamity occurred at Heaton Colliery, in this neighbourhood, on the morning of May 3, 1815, when, by Dreadful accident. the sudden influx of water from an old mine, Mr. Miller, (the under-viewer, who left a wife and eight children), 22 workmen, 42 boys, and 37 horses, perished; and 25 widows, with about 80 children, were left to bemoan the sudden death of their husbands and fathers. Steam-engines were immediately employed, and every exertion was made for the recovery of the bodies; notwithstanding which, it was not till the 6th of January, in the following year, that the first body was found. It was that of an old man employed on the waggon-way: and a fact worthy of notice is, that the waste-water in which he had been immersed had destroyed the woollen clothes, and corroded the iron parts of a knife the deceased had in his pocket, yet his linen and the bone-haft of his knife remained entire. Shortly after, Mr. Miller, and a few others, were discovered: they had met a similar fate, having been overtaken by the water about a hundred yards from the shaft to which they had been hastening to save themselves. But the lot of these eight persons may be considered fortunate, when compared with the unhappy beings left at work towards the rise of the mine, and as yet unconscious of their dreadful situation. About the 16th of February, the higher parts of the workings were explored; and now a scene truly Fifty-six lives lost in a mine. horrible was presented to view: for here lay the corpses of 56 human beings, whom the water had never reached, being situated 35 fathoms above its level. They had collected together near the crane, and were found within a space of 30 yards of each other; their positions and attitudes were various; several appeared to have fallen forwards from off an inequality, or rather step, in the coal on which they had been sitting; others, from their hands being clasped together, seemed to have expired while addressing themselves to the protection of the Deity; two, who were recognized as brothers, had died in the act of taking a last farewell by grasping each other's hand: and one poor boy reposed in his father's arms. Two slight cabins had been hastily constructed by nailing up deal boards, and in one of these melancholy habitations three of the stoutest miners had breathed their last. A large lump of horse flesh, wrapped up in a jacket, nearly two pounds of candles, and three others, which had died out when half-burned, were found in this apartment, if it can be so called. One man, well known to have possessed a remarkably pacific disposition, had retired to a distance to end his days alone, and in quiet. Another had been placed to watch the rise or fall of the water; to ascertain which, sticks had been placed, and was found dead at his post. There were two horses in the part of the mine to which the people had retired; one had been slaughtered, its entrails taken out, and hind quarters cut up for use; the other was fastened to a stake, which it had almost gnawed to pieces, as well as a corfe or coal basket that had been left within its reach. That these ill-fated people perished for want of Cause of their death. respirable air, and not from hunger and thirst, is certain; for most of the flesh cut from the horse, with a considerable quantity of horse-beans, were unconsumed, and a spring of good water issued into this part of the colliery; besides, the unburned remains of candles afford evidence of a still stronger nature; and by these data the coroner's jury was enabled to pronounce a verdict accordingly. The overman had left the chalk-board, in which it is usual to take down an account of the work done, together with his pocket-book, in an empty corfe; on these some memorandum might have been expected to be noted: but no writing subsequent to the catastrophe appeared on either.—The bodies of those men which had lain in wet places were much decayed; but where the floor was dry, though their flesh had become much shrivelled, they were all easily recognised by their features being entire.

MapNames of PlacesCounty Number of Miles FromDist.
Lond.		Popul
ation.
45Bents-GreenW.R. YorkSheffield3Bakewell13Castleton12163...
16BentworthpaHantsAlton5Alresford8Basingstoke852592
12BenvillehamDorsetBeaminster4Crewkherne6Yeovil8130...
23BenwelltoNorthumbNewcastle2Corbridge14Hexham182761278
6BenwickchapCambridgeMarch6Chatteris6Peterborough681526
42BeoleypaWorcesterBromsgrove8Redditch3Birmingham11112673
38BeptonpaSussexMidhurst3Petersield9Chichester1053166
14BerdinpaEssexStanstead6Saff. Walden9Bis. Stortford636342
15BerdwickhamGloucesterBristol8Marshfield4Sodbury597...
14Bere-ChurchpaEssexColchester2Coggeshall10Aberton352142
12BerehamDorsetBlandford7Shaftesbury8Sturminster5109...
16Bere-LayhamHantsNewport7Niton2Shanklin1093...
36Bergholt, EastpaSuffolkHadleigh6Ipswich8Manningtree3631360
14Bergholt, WestpaEssexColchester4Witham13Halstead1010786
15Berkeley[A]m.t. & paGloucesterDursley 6 Chepstow 13 Thornbury 7 114 3899
34BerkeleypaSomersetFrome3Bath12Warminster7103531

[A] BERKELEY. This ancient, but small town, is situated upon a pleasant eminence in the beautiful vale of Berkeley, almost east from the Severn. In the Domesday book, it is termed a royal domain and free borough. A nunnery is said to have existed here in the reign of Edward the Confessor; the frail sisters of which were dispossessed of their estates, including the manor, by the craft of Earl Godwin, who found means to introduce into the community a profligate young man, by whom the nuns were seduced. This conduct being reported to the King, the nunnery was The nunnery. dissolved, and its possessions granted to the Earl. The Conqueror afterwards bestowed the manor on Roger, surnamed De Berkeley, a chieftain who had accompanied him to England. Roger, his grandson, taking part with Stephen, against Henry II., was deprived of his lands; and Berkeley was given by that monarch to Robert Fitzharding, Governor of Bristol, in reward for his eminent services. This nobleman was descended from the Kings of Denmark, and in his posterity the extensive manor of Berkeley, one of the largest in England, is still vested. Berkeley church appears to be of the age of Henry II., though it has undergone various alterations. Near the pulpit is a curious tomb, in memory of Thomas, second Lord Berkeley, and Margaret, his first wife. Here also are various other monuments of this family. The tower, which stands at some distance from the church, was constructed about seventy years ago. In the churchyard is the well known ludicrous epitaph, written by Dean Swift, in memory of "Dickey Pearce, the Earl of Suffolk's fool." Berkeley Castle appears to have been founded by Roger de Berkeley, soon after the The castle. Conquest; but various important additions were made to it during the reigns of Henry II., Edward II., and Edward III. The form of the castle approaches nearest to that of a circle; and the buildings are included by an irregular court, with a moat. The keep is flanked by three semi-circular towers, and a square one of subsequent construction: its walls are high and massive: the entrance into it is under an arched doorway, with ornamental sculpture in the Norman style, similar to one at Arundel Castle. This fortress has been the scene of various memorable transactions; the most remarkable, perhaps, was that of the murder of Murder of Edward II. Edward II., in September, 1327, thus noticed by Gray:—

"Mark the year, and mark the night,
When Severn shall re-echo with affright,
The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs that ring;
Shrieks of an agonising King!"

Tradition states, that when the murder of King Edward had been determined on, Adam, Bishop of Hereford, at the instigation of the Queen, wrote to the keeper the following words; which, not possessing the distinctness imported by punctuation, were capable of a double construction:

"Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est."
Edward the King kill not to fear is good.

The keeper, easily divining the wicked wishes of his employer, put his royal master to death. According to another account, when the death of this unfortunate, but weak sovereign, had been resolved on by the Queen and Mortimer, her infamous paramour, he was removed from Kenelworth to Berkeley Castle, by Sir John Maltravers and Sir Thomas Gourney, to whose keeping he had been previously committed. Thomas, second Lord Berkeley, then owner of the castle, treated him with civility and kindness, but was, in a short time, obliged to relinquish his fortress to the government of Maltravers and Gourney, by whom the King was soon afterwards murdered, in the most brutal and savage manner. "His crie," says Holinshed, "did move many within the castell and town of Birckelei to compassion, plainly hearing him utter a waileful noyse, as the tormentors were about to murder him; so that dyvers being awakened thereby, (as they themselves confessed,) prayed heartilie to God to receyve his soule, when they understode by his crie what the matter ment." A small apartment, called the dungeon room, over the flight of steps leading into the keep, is shewn as the place where the cruel deed was committed: at that time, all the light it received was from arrow slits; the windows have been since introduced. A plaister cast kept here, and said to have been moulded from the King's face after death, is, in reality, a cast from his effigies on the tomb at Gloucester. Berkeley Castle, during the civil wars, was held for the King; and frequent skirmishes took place in the town and neighbourhood. In 1645 it was besieged, and surrendered to the Besieged by the Parliament. parliament, after a defence of nine days. In the apartments, which are mostly low, dark, and void of proportion, are preserved a numerous assemblage of portraits, chiefly of the Stratton branch, the bequest of the last heir of that family. Besides these portraits, here are several miniatures of the Berkeleys, of considerable antiquity, and so far curious. A few landscapes, by Wouvermans, Claude, Salvator Rosa, &c. complete the Berkeley collection. Edward Jenner, an English physician, celebrated for having introduced the practice of vaccination, as a preventive of the small-pox, Edward Jenner. was the youngest son of a clergyman, who held the rectory of Rochampton, and the vicarage of this place, and the son was born here, May 17, 1749. Being destined for the medical profession, he was, after a common school education, placed as an apprentice with a very respectable surgeon, at Sodbury, in his native country. He visited London, to finish his studies, by attending the lectures of the celebrated anatomist John Hunter. Returning to the country, he settled here, as a practitioner of the various branches of his profession. A situation like this afforded but little leisure or opportunity for acquiring distinction, and an occasion presented itself for obtaining a larger field for observation, improvement, and emolument: this, however, he was induced to decline. The circumstances of the transaction are thus related by Dr. Lettsom, in his address to the London Medical Society:—"Dr. Jenner happened to dine with a large party at Bath, when something was introduced at the table which required to be warmed by the application of the candle, and doubts were expressed by several persons present, whether the most speedy way would be to keep the flame at a little distance under, or to immerse the substance into it. Jenner desired that the candle might be placed near him, and immediately putting his finger into the flame, suffered it to remain some time; next he put his finger above it, but he was obliged to snatch it away immediately. 'This, gentlemen,' said he, 'is a sufficient test.' The next day he received a note from General Smith, who had been of the party the preceding day, and who was before that time an utter stranger, offering him an appointment in India, which would insure him, in the Anecdote. course of two or three years, an annual income £3,000. The offer was referred to his brother, and Jenner, from his attachment to him, declined it." He had already obtained the reputation of a man of talent and science, when he made known to the world the very important discovery which has raised him to an enviable situation among the benefactors of the human race. His investigations concerning the cow-pox were commenced about the year 1776, when his attention was excited by the circumstance of finding that some individuals, to whom he attempted to communicate the small-pox by inoculation, were insusceptible of the disease; and on inquiry he found that all such patients, though they had never had the small-pox, had undergone the casual cow-pox, a disease common among the farmers and dairy-servants in Gloucestershire, who were not quite unacquainted with its preventive effect. Other medical Discovery of vaccination by the cow-pox. men were aware of the prevalence of this opinion; but they treated it as a popular prejudice, and Jenner seems to have been the first who ascertained its correctness, and endeavoured to derive from it some practical advantage. He discovered that the variolæ vaccinæ, as the complaint has been since termed, having, in the first-instance, been produced by accidental or designed innoculation of the matter afforded by a peculiar disease affecting the udder of a cow, could be propagated from one human subject to another by inoculation, to an indefinite extent, rendering all who passed through it secure from the small-pox. He made known his discovery to some medical friends, and in the month of July, 1796, Mr. Cline, surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital, introduced vaccination into the metropolis. So singular and anomalous a fact as the prevention of an infectious disease by means of another, in many respects extremely differing from it, could not but be received with hesitation; and a warm controversy took place on the subject among the medical faculty. This ultimately proved advantageous both to the discovery and the discoverer, as it terminated in establishing the truth of the most important positions which he had advanced, and left him in full possession of the merit due to him as a successful investigator of the laws of nature. The practice of vaccine inoculation was adopted in the army and navy, and honours and rewards were conferred on the author of the discovery. The diploma constituting him doctor of medicine, was presented to Jenner as a tribute to his talents, by the University of Oxford; he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society, Jenner's subsequent fame. and of other learned associations; and a parliamentary grant was made to him of the sum of £20,000. The extension of the benefits of vaccination to foreign countries spread the fame of the discoverer, who received several congratulatory addresses from continental potentates. The emperor of Russia, when in this country in 1814, sought an interview with Dr. Jenner, treated him with great attention, and offered to bestow on him a Russian order of nobility. He also visited the King of Prussia, Marshal Blucher, and the Cossack General, Count Platoff, the latter of whom said to him, "Sir, you have extinguished the most pestilential disorder that ever appeared on the banks of the Don." On receiving his diploma, Dr. Jenner practised as a physician at Cheltenham, during the season, and that watering-place was his principal residence till he became a widower, when he removed to Berkeley, to spend in retirement the evening of his life. He died suddenly in consequence of apoplexy, January 26, 1823, and was interred in the parish church of this town.

Market, Wednesday.—Fair, May 14, for cattle and pigs.