a county of England, bounded on the east by Lincolnshire, on the south-east and south by Leicestershire, on the west by Derbyshire, and on the north and north-west by Yorkshire. It extends in length 48 miles, 25 in breadth, and 110 in compass; containing 560,000 acres, 8 hundreds, 9 market-towns, 168 parishes, 450 villages, about 17,460 houses, and 95,000 inhabitants. No county in England enjoys a pleasanter and healthier air. As for the soil, it differs widely in different parts of the county. Towards the west, where lies the forest of Sherwood, it is sandy; and therefore that part of the county is called by the inhabitants the Sand; but the south and east parts, watered by the Trent and the rivulets that fall into it, are clayey; and for that reason are called by the inhabitants the Clay. The latter is fruitful both in corn and pasture; but the former produces little besides wood, coal, and some lead. The county has a variety of commodities and manufactures, as wool, leather, tal- The principal rivers are the Trent and Idle. The Trent, whose name is supposed to be derived from the French or Latin word signifying thirty, either because it receives thirty smaller rivers, or has thirty different sorts of fish in it, is inferior to no river in England, but the Severn, Thames, and Humber. It enters the county on the south-west, and passes through it to the north-east, where it enters Lincolnshire, and after a long course falls at last into the Humber. The Idle rises in Sherwood-forest; and after traversing the northern part of the county, falls into the Trent upon the borders of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The spacious forest of Sherwood lies in the west part of the county, and indeed takes up the greatest part of it. It was formerly so thick that it was hardly passable; but now it is much thinner. It feeds an infinite number of deer and hares; and has some towns in it, of which Mansfield is the chief. It abounds in coal, and a road lies through it for thirty miles together. Since the reign of King Edward I., the nobility and gentry have had grants of it. It was governed by a great number of officers under the late earl of Chesterfield, chief forester; whose ancestor, Sir John Stanhope, had a grant of it, with liberty to destroy and kill at pleasure, reserving only an hundred deer in the whole walk. The duke of Newcastle is now steward and keeper. The principal town is Nottingham, which gives name to the county. It is a handsome town, and a county of itself by charter. The name is derived from the Saxon word Nottinghamham, which signifies caves, from the caves and apartments anciently dug in the rocks on which the town stands. These, being soft, easily yield to the spade and pickaxe; whence the townsmen have excellent cellars for the vast quantities of malt liquors made here, and sent, as well as their malt, to most parts of England. The situation of the town is very pleasant, having meadows on one hand, and hills of a gentle, easy ascent, on the other. It is well supplied with fuel, both wood and coal, from the forest; and with fish by the Trent, which runs about a mile to the south of it, and has been made navigable for barges: so that they receive by it not only great quantities of cheese from Warwickshire and Staffordshire; but all their heavy goods from the Humber, and even from Hull. Over the Trent is a lately stone-bridge of 19 arches, where the river is very large and deep, having received the addition of the Dove, the Derwent, the Irwell, and the Soar, three of them great rivers of themselves, which fall into it after its passing by Burton in Staffordshire.

The town is of great antiquity, and it had formerly a strong castle, in which the Danes, in the time of the heptarchy, held out a siege against Ruthred king of Mercia, Alfred, and Ethelred his brother, king of the West Saxons.

Soon after the conquest, William either repaired this fortres or built a new one on the same spot, in the second year of his reign, probably to secure a retreat on his expedition against Edwin Earl of Chester and Morcar Earl of Northumberland, who had revolted. He committed the custody of it to William Percy, his natural son, who has by some been considered as the founder. It stands on a steep rock, at Nottingham, the foot of which runs the river Leen.

Deering, in his history of Nottingham, seems very justly to explode the story of the place called Mortimer's-hole, having been made as a hiding-place for him; and from his description of it, shows that it was meant as a private passage to the castle, to relieve it with men or provisions in a siege. He says that it is one continued stair-case, without any room, or even a place to sit down on. It was by this passage that Edward III. got into the castle and surprized Mortimer and the queen; and from hence, and his being carried away through it, it has its name.

Edward IV. greatly enlarged the castle, but did not live to complete the buildings he begun. Richard III. finished them.

It was granted by James I. to Francis Earl of Rutland, who pulled down many of the buildings; but it was still of so much strength, that Charles I. in 1642, pitched on it as the place for beginning his operations of war. He set up his standard, first on the walls of the castle, but in two or three days removed it to a close on the north-side of the castle, without the wall, on a round spot; after which it was for many years called Standard-close, and since, from the name of one who rented it, Nevil's close. Where the standard was fixed, there stood a post for a considerable time. It is a common error that it was erected on a place called Derry-mount, a little further north than the close just mentioned; this is an artificial hill raised on purpose for a wind-mill, which formerly was there. The castle was afterwards sequestrated by the parliament, and the trees in the park cut down.

This castle was so strong that it was never taken by storm. After the civil war, Cromwell ordered it to be demolished. On the restoration, the duke of Buckingham, whose mother was daughter and heir of this Francis Earl of Rutland, had it restored to him, and sold it to William Cavendish, marquis and afterwards duke of Newcastle. In 1674, he began the present building, but died in 1676, when the work was not far advanced. However, he had the building of it so much at heart, that he left the revenue of a considerable estate to be applied to that purpose, and it was finished by Henry his son. The expense was about £4,000. It is one of the seats of the present duke of Newcastle.

In the park, west of the castle, and facing the river Leen, are some remains of an ancient building (if it may be so called) cut and framed in the rock. Dr Stukeley gives it, as he does most things, to the Britons. Many other ancient excavations have been found in other parts of the rocks.

The frames for knitting stockings were invented by one William Lee of this county, about the beginning of the last century; but he not meeting with the encouragement he expected (a case too common with the first inventors of the most useful arts), went with several of his workmen to France, on the invitation of Henry IV. The death of that king, and the troubles which ensued, prevented attention being given to the work. Lee died there, and most of his men returned to England. Other attempts were made to steal the trade, without better success, and it has flourished here ever since, and is now carried on to a very considerable extent. It is noted for its horse-races on a fine course on the north side of the town. The corporation is governed by a mayor, recorder, six aldermen, two coroners, two sheriffs, two chamberlains, and twenty-four common-council men, eighteen of the senior-council, and six of the junior, a bell-bearer, and two pinders, one for the fields and the other for the meadows. The town being within the jurisdiction of the forest, the former of these pinders is town-woodward, and attends the forest courts. It has three neat churches, the chief of which is St Mary's; and an almshouse, endowed with 100l. a-year, for twelve poor people; with a noble town house, surrounded with piazzas. A considerable trade is carried on in glass and earthen wares, and frame-stockings, besides the malt, and malt-liquors, mentioned above. Marshal Tallard, when a prisoner in England, was confined to this town and county. In the duke of Newcastle's park there is a lodge of rocks hewn into a church, houses, chambers, dove-houses, &c. The altar of the church is natural rock; and between that and the castle there is an hermitage of the like workmanship. Upon the side of a hill there is a very extraordinary fort of a house, where you enter at the garret, and ascend to the cellar, which is at the top of the house. Here is a noted hospital founded by John Plunkett, Esq; in the reign of Richard II. for thirteen poor old widows. There are four handsome bridges over the Trent and Lind. To keep these in repair, and for other public purposes, the corporation has good estates. This town and Winchelsea both give title of earl to the noble family of Finch. Here David king of Scots, when a prisoner in England, resided; and under-ground is a vault, called Mortimer's hole, because Roger Mortimer earl of March is said to have absconded in it, when he was taken and hanged by order of Edward III. W. Long. t. 5. N. Lat. 53°.