land, and underneath are veins of marble,
and good flones for building, of which
large quantities are fent to London.-
Having mentioned Purbeck, we shall here
give fome account of Portland, which lies
S. of Weymouth, and was formerly an
inland, but now joined to the continent.
It is fcarce 7 miles round, and is but A
thinly inhabited. It is encompassed by a
ridge of rocks, fo that the fides are high,
and the middle low. Here's plenty of
corn and pasture, but fuel is very fcarce.
The antient inhabitants were famed for
the best fingers in England. On the east
fide ftands the only church in the inland,
fo near the fea that they have been forced
to wail the church-yard banks to an in- B
credible height, to preferve it from the
fury of the waves. The rocks about it
render it inaccefble, except on the north
fide, where it is defended by a castle; and
there is another on the oppofite fnore,
called Sandford caftle; and both of them
command the road, called Portland-race,
because of the ftrong current here. The
ifland abounds with quarries of excellent
durable stone, with which the churches,
&c of London, have been chiefly re-
built fince the great fire. It gives title of
duke to the family of Bentinck.

none. It is pleasantly fituate on the banks of the Stour, and many of the houses are handfomely built of none. It is furrounded with a great number of gentlemens feats, and has a good market on Saturday. Formerly the manufacture of Banditrings was carried on here, and now straw hats and bone lace employ great numbers. It was burnt down in Q. Elizabeth's reign, and foon after rebuilt; and on June 4, 1731, it was again reduced to afhes, with the church and other publick buildings, and alío a village beyond the bridge: It was foon after rebuilt, and by act of parliament, feveral streets and paffages are widened, particularly the market place, and pallages to the church, and the sheep market.

17. Shaftsbury, 13 miles N. W. of Blandford, and about 4 miles W of Salfbury plain, a very antient town, and ftanding on a hill has a very fine profpect. It is a great thorough-fare and poft road, which caufes it to be much frequented. CIt has 3 churches, and the houfes are most of them well built with freestone. It has a very good market on Saturday, is governed by a mayor, 12 aldermen, &c. and fends two members to parliament, who now are Cuthbert Ellifon and William Beckford, Efqrs.

D

11. Pool, 8 miles N. E. of Corfe cattle, a confiderable fea port town, situate in a great bay or inlet of the fea, which inclofes it on all fides except the north, where it is walled in, and has a gate. It is a borough and county of itfelf, governed by a mayor, &c. and fends two members to parliament, the prefent ones being Jofeph Guifton jun. and G. Trenchard. Efqrs. The houfes are generally low and built of stone. It has a good haven, carries on a confiderable trade in E fish, and is noted for the best and largest oysters in Britain. It has two markets, viz. on Monday and Thursday.

12. Winburn, 5 miles N. of Pool, a large populous town, but meanly built, fituate at the foot of an hill, having a well-frequented market on Friday.

13 Cranborn, 12 miles N. of Winburn, has a fall market on Wednesday. It is pleafantly feated, and has a chace near it many miles in length.

14. Bere, or Bere Regis, 3 miles N. W. of Wareham. a fmall town with a market on Wednesday, tho' the inhabitants are but poor and the houfes meanly built.

F

15. Middleton, or Milton Abbas, about the fame diftance N. W. of Bere, G an ancient but poor town, with a small market on Monday.

16. Blandford, 9 miles N. E. of Milton, a very ancient borough, governed by two bailiffs, which formerly fent two members to parliament, tho' now it fends

18. Sherburn, 16 miles S. W. of Shafifbury, a large, populous town, with a collegiate church, a free fchool and an almshouse. It was formerly a bithop's fee, afterwards removed to Sal.fbury. It has two very confiderable markets ca Thursday and Saturday, and the medley cloathing is carried on here. It is divided into two parts, both of which are governed by two conftables annually chofen.

19. Sturminster, 12 miles E. of Sherburn, a mean town, with a small market on Thursday.

20, 21, 22. Stalbridge, Wickhampion and Haflebury are alfo market towns.

23. Frampton, 6 miles N. E. of BA port, pleafantly fituated on the river Frome, where are abundance of tires and other fish. It has a market on Thur day.

24. Cerne, or Cerne Abbas, 5 miles N. E. of Frampton, which though bet mean town, has a very good market en Wednesday for co:n, fheep, cattle, &. It is fituate in a dry bottom, watered with a fine rivulet, in an open champain country.

In this county is a village called Her mitage, remarkable for a large piece of ground being carried, in 1585, by an earthquake, or fubterraneous wind, 40 rods from its place, leaving a pit, and retain ing the trees and hedges on it entire.

JOUR

449

1753. JOURNAL of the PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES in the POLITICAL CLUB, continued from p. 410.

Ifball next give you another Debate we had
in our Club upon the Bill for preventing
Clandeftine Marriages, which was that
we had upon what we call the third Read-
ing of the Bill, when the ufual Motion
was made, that the Bill do pass; where-
upan T. Herminius flood up, and spoke in A
Subflance thus.

Mr. Prefident,
SIR,

U

things, Sir, we cannot avoid being apprehenfive left the whole power of our government should foon center in the other houfe, or at leaft fo much as to fet it above being controlled by the crown and the commons united together. But why should I fay the crown and the commons? The commons, Sir, have no power, no conftitutional being, but what they have by their reprefentatives in this houfe; and if we confider what a large fhare of property the other house has in every county, and what a number of our cities and boroughs are become abfolutely dependent upon fome neighbouring peer, have we not reafon to fear, left the other houfe fhould become the abfolute difpofers of most of the feats in this? For this purpofe the fole power of being the ultimate and fupreme judges in all cafes of property, which we feem now to have yielded to them, must always be of great ufe; and from experience we know, that our standing order against the peer's concerning himself in the election of members to ferve for the commons in parliament, is an order which even now we find it impoffible to carry into execution; much less will it be poffible to carry it into execution after a majority of us have been returned by the influence of the other houfe: Nay, I do not know but I may live to fee it D put to the vote here, and carried by a great majority, to have this order erafed out of our journals, as being disrespectful to the other house; for the refpect due to it is already, I find, made ufe of as an argument for biaffing the votes of gentle men in this.

PON the fecond reading of this bill I was one who gave my vote for its being committed, which I did not out of any respect to the other house, for I do not think we owe them B any fuch respect, as they often upon the fecond reading reject bills fent up by us, and fome which have been very unanimoufly and deliberately agreed to in this houfe. I did fo becaufe I approved of the principle upon which the bill was pretended to be founded. I always thought that clandeftine marriages, especially such as are scan- C dalous or infamous with refpect to either of the contracting parties, fhould be prevented, if it could be done without producing greater evil, which is that of preventing marriage itfelf; therefore I was for fending the bill to a committee, in order to fee if it could be fo amended as to prevent its producing this evil, to which it plainly appeared to be liable when it made its first appearance in this house. Accordingly it has been very much altered in the committee, but far, I think, from being amended; for it is still liable not only to this evil, but to almost every bad confequence that could at first be apprehended from it, of which that of its tending towards introducing an ariftocracy E is one of the most apparent.

It is a maxim allowed, Sir, by all the best writers upon government, that power - or dominion will always follow property; and if we confider how vaftly the number of our nobility has been increased finee the beginning of this century, what extenfive poffeffions are already vested in that body, what new poffeffions may be added by the marriage of heireffes, and the now fo frequent nobilitating of rich commoners, and how independent of the crown all our landholders, especially our nobility, have been rendered, ever fince the abolishing of military tenures, and the fuppreffing of the court of wards

Now, Sir, if the other house should once get into their poffeffion the power of electing, or rather of nominating a majority of the members of this, I shall fubmit to the confideration of gentlemen, and it deferves the confideration of every commoner in the kingdom, whether our conftitution would not be entirely overturned? They might, perhaps, continue the shadow of a monarchy; but our king F would be under the neceffity of entirely fubmitting to be governed by the leaders of the other houfe; and this would add to their influence at all elections of members to ferve in this, becaufe they would thereby get the executive part of our government into their hands, and confequently the nomination to all pofts and

and liveries: I fay, if we confider these G employments in the ftate, in which we may fuppofe their fons, their brothers, LIT

GH.

October, 1753.

and

that before the paffing of this act, the crown had too great a power as to the fummoning of thofe peers who were to appear and vote at fuch trials; but it muft likewife be granted, that by this law the body of peers have got a power of protecting any one of their number, and would probably make use of this power, if they should ever form a design of incroaching both upon the crown and the commons, and ingroffing to themfeives alone the whole power of our govern. ment; and fuch a defign as this they may very probably form, if they should ever acquire fuch an influence over our elec

Btions, as to be able to return a majority of the members of this houfe; for they would probably prevail with most of the leading men in this houfe to concur in fuch a defign, by promifing to adopt them into the order of nobility; and they have the establishment of the prefent ariftocratical and tyrannical form of government in Venice as a precedent C for directing their method of proceeding.