TEWKESBURY is situated at the northern extremity of the county of Gloucester, in the lower division of the extensive hundred to Which it gives its name;^[1] it is distant one hundred and three miles from London, ten from Gloucester, eight from Cheltenham, thirteen from Evesham, fifteen from Worcester, thirteen from Malvern Wells, fourteen from Ledbury, and in the direct road from Bristol to Birmingham, from which places it is nearly equi-distant. Lon. 2.8.W. - Lat. 51.59.N.

It is surrounded by a wide and level extent of fertile meadow, pasture and arable land, Intersected by four rivers, which almost insulate the town. The most considerable of these are the Severn and the Upper or Warwickshire Avon: the former serves as a boundary to the parish for several miles, and follows the curvature of a large meadow, called the Ham, to the westward; and the latter receives the river Carron at one extremity of the town, and washes its walls almost as far

as its junction with the Swilgate, at the other - soon after which the Avon loses itself among the waters of the more majestic Severn.

Tewkesbury has by some been considered as forming part of the fine vale of Evesham, but ancient maps and the best informed of modern writers have uniformly placed it within the vale of Gloucester, to which it appears naturally to belong.^[2] The fertility of this celebrated vale was the theme of the historian's praise, and the subject of the poet's encomium, long before the bounty of nature had been aided by the present improved mode of agriculture. William of Malmsbury tells us, that it produced in great abundance fruits and grain, the joint effects of its fine soil, and the labour of its hinds - the husbandman being stimulated to work, by having his exertions rewarded with a produce of one hundred fold. "In this favoured spot you may behold", says he, "the public highways shaded and adorned with trees loaded with fruit, not placed there by the hand of man, but by the generosity of nature. The earth spontaneously brings forth her gifts, fruits of the richest taste and brightest beauty; which, almost imperishable, may be preserved from the time of their being taken in till the season of gathering again returns. Grapes, famous for their flavour, are here produced in quantities, and manufactured into wines of the highest relish, equally luscious with those of France.^[3] Numerous towns overspread the vale, which is

further enriched with populous villages, and costly places of public worship". - Drayton too, in his Polyolbion, personifying this beautiful district, makes it boast an excellence, which it may assert with justice:

"I, which am the Queen
"Of all the British vales, and so have ever been
"Since Gomer's giant brood inhabited this isle,
"And that of all the rest myself may so enstile".

From the neighbourhood being subject to inundations, some have thought the town must consequently be unhealthy; but there are few places which enjoy a purer air, and the excellent water obtained here undoubtedly adds to the salubrity of the place.

The most intelligent agriculturist^[4] who has written on the subject, says, that the soil near the town is of a deep rich loam, but varying as you proceed in different directions: he seems to consider no further proof necessary to convince us of the excellence both of its soil and its climature, than the fact of its having been selected as the site of a monastery - the clergy of former times being admirable judges in these matters.

On many of the eminences in the immediate vicinity of the town, the views are as rich and varied as can well be conceived: Malvern hills, the bases of which are thickly studded with cheerful and elegant residences, are fine features in many of the most interesting and beautiful landscapes; Bredon, and the hills of Cleeve, Stanway, and other portions of the long chain of Cotswolds, enlivened by the smiling villages and fertile meadows in the intervening vallies, present objects which the admirers of picturesque scenery could not behold without delight: many of these prospects are much heightened

by occasional glimpses of the Severn, with the "white swelling sails" of the numerous vessels floating on the bosom of that magnificent stream, and by the waters of the "soft-flowing Avon".

Mineral waters, possessing the same qualities as some of the wells at the far-famed springs of Cheltenham, are found in the immediate neighbourhood of Tewkesbury;^[5] but here, as it has been aptly observed, "No Naiad will be worshipped, 'till temples have been likewise erected to pleasure, convenience, and dissipation".^[6]