attended by Hackney coaches from London; and the multitudes of people affembled in some years, have been fo great, that upwards of fixty coaches have plyed at one time; though at prefent, their number feldom exceeds eight or ten. But diminifhed as is the trade of this once celebrated mart, it still retains a large bufinefs in wool, hops, leather, cheese, and iron; and two days (September the 25th and 26th) are ap propriated to the fale of horses. The booths are erected in regular streets, containing fhops of numerous trades; and in favourable weather, a large concourfe of people attend for feveral miles round. At the entrance of the fair, by the road fide, stands the THEATRE; a fpacious and lofty edifice of wood,fitted up very conveniently; where during the three weeks allowed for the fair, performances are exhibited every evening, by the Norwich Company of Comedians. A most melancholy accident occurred here on the 27th of September, 1802. During the performance, when the Theatre was uncommonly crowded, fome ill-defigned perfons gave an alarm of fire; in confequence of which, the whole houfe was thrown into the utmost confufion; and, through the too hafty, but natural efforts of the audience to escape, a fcene of the moft distreffing and fhocking description enfued. Five perfons were trodden to death, and a great number feverely hurt and bruifed but neither the exertions of the magiftrates, nor the liberal offers of the manager, could lead to a difcovery of the villanous alarmists. A court for the prompt administration of justice, is always held during the fair; in which the mayor, or his deputy prefides as judge, to determine controverfies and to preferve decorum. He is attended by eight fervants, called Red-coats, who are employed in the duty of constables. Remarkable and grand Common Days held by the Corporation of Cambridge. January. Grand common day, the day after Plough Monday. Queen's birth day celebrated. Grand common day, Hock Tuesday, or Tuesday fortnight Horfe fair day at Stourbridge. Grand common day, the mayor and officers fworn. R CAMBRIDGESHIRE. WHICH during the Heptarchy compofed part of the kingdom of East Anglia; is bounded on the north west by the counties of Northampton, Huntingdon, and Bedford; on the fouth by Hertfordshire and Effex; on the east by Suffolk; on the north east by Norfolk; and on the north by Lincolnshire. Its greatest length is about 50 miles; its greatest breadth, at the fouthern and widest extremity, is somewhat more than 25 ; its circumference is about 130. It contains nearly 443,300 acres, 17 hundreds, 163 parishes, 7 market towns, about 16,450 houses, and 89,400 inhabitants. The limits on the northern half are chiefly rivers, and their communicating branches; on the fouthern the boundaries are wholly artificial. It fends 6 members to Parliament; viz. 2 for the county, 2 for the University, and 2 for the town of Cambridge; pays 9 parts of the Land-tax, and provides 480 men for the national militia. The principal rivers of Cambridgeshire are the Ouse and the Granta, or Cam. The Oufe enters the county between Fenny Drayton and Erith; thence it runs eaftward through the fens, till, at fome distance above, Denny Abbey, it affumes a northerly direction, and paffing Stretham, Ely, and Littleport, flows into Norfolk. The Cam has three branches, the chief of which rifes near Ashwell, in Hertfordshire; and en ters this county to the west of Gilden-Morden, thence flowing to the north-east, it receives feveral rivulets; and near Grantchefter has its current enlarged by the united waters of its fifter ftreams, which flow into this county from Effex. Hence taking a northerly courfe, the Cam glides through the walks of the principal colleges at Cambridge, and, having paffed feveral villages, falls into the Qufe at Harrimere, in the parish of Stretham. Befides the above rivers, whofe channels appear to have been marked out by nature, there are numerous ftreams in north part of Cambridgeshire, which were dictated by the conveniences, and formed by the industry of man. These interfect the county in various directions; and by carrying off the furplus waters of the fens, have been the means of bringing many thoufand acres into cultivation. The chief drains are the old and new Bedford rivers, which are navigable for upwards of twenty miles, in a straight line across the county from Erith to Denver. The county of Cambridge, though flat, bleak, and open, is much diversified. The elevated fpots on which the towns and villages are built in the northern divifion of the county, appear like iflands rifing from the midst of low and level marshes; and the churches being generally erected on the highest parts, may be diftinguished at the distance of feveral miles. The cottages are, in many places, nothing more than mud walls covered with thatch or reed. The fouth-eaftern divifion, reaching from Gogmagog-Hills to Newmarket, is bleak, heathy, and thinly inhabited; being connected with that vaft track of land, which, extending fouthwards into Effex, and northwards acrofs Suffolk into Norfolk, forms one of the largest plains in the kingdom. The fouth and fouthweft parts of the county, which principally confist of elevated land, exhibit a remarkable and pleafing contrast to the northern divifion. The foil of Cambridgeshire is yaried; confifling about Wisbeach of a mixture of fand and clay; in the fens, of a strong black-earth, lying on a gault or gravel; in the uplands, of chalk, gravel, loam, and tender clay, The greatest part of the land is open field; but inclofures are rapidly taking place, new bills for that purpose being obtained every feffion of Parliament. The application of the land is extremely various. In thofe parts which have been preserved from the floods, or are fubject but to occafional overflows, it has all the fertility of water-meadows. The crops of oats are particularly exube rant; great quantities of wheat and cole-feed are also grown; while many thousand acres, particularly on the north-west fide, are appropriated to pafture. Some very fine butter is produced in this county; and the vicinity of Cottenham is famous for a kind of new cheese, of a fingularly delicious flavour. The fouth and fouth-western parts are productive of fine wheat, barley, and oats; though the heaths and commons that interfect these districts furnish fuftenance for many thousand fheep, chiefly of the Norfolk and Weft Country kinds. In fome of the parishes bordering on Effex, faffron is cultivated. Cambridgeshire, with the exception of a few parishes on the east and north-east fide, which belong to the Sees of Norwich and Rochefter, was taken from the See of Lincoln, by Henry I. in 1114, and made into a feparate diocese for the newly erected Bishopric of Ely. It is included in the Norfolk circuit of the judges. BARNWELL, a village fituated about half a mile north. eaft of Cambridge, formerly contained a Priory called Barnwell Abbey, the fite of which is now occupied by a farm house. The ancient walls ftill furround a portion of the grounds, and feveral buildings formerly belonging to the Priory are now |