the capital city of Devonshire, situated on the river Exe, ten miles north of the British channel: W. Long. 3° 40'. N. Lat. 50° 44'. Anciently the name of this city was Issex, and Isfa Dumnoriorum. The present name is a contraction of Excester, that is, a city upon the Exe. It is large, populous, and wealthy, with gates, walls, and suburbs: the circumference of the whole is about two miles, being well supplied with water brought in pipes from the neighbourhood. The city is a county of itself; and the magistrates have extensive powers with respect to the administration of justice, both in civil and criminal cases. Formerly the sea flowed up to the city-walls; and ships loaded and unloaded at the water-gate; but the navigation of the river was so obstructed by the weeds made in it by Hugh Courtenay earl of Devon, that the merchants brought their goods from Topham by land. A channel, however, hath been since cut through the dams, and vessels of 150 tons now come up to the key. There is a prodigious woollen manufacture in this city, of serges, perpetuans, long ells, druggets, and kerseys. A large market is kept here once a week, in which goods are sometimes sold to the amount of L. 60,000.