a large, elegant, and well built town of Somersetshire, 146 miles from London. It consists principally of four streets paved and lighted; the market-place is spacious, and has a handsome market-house, with a town hall over it, which was finished in 1773. It has an extensive woollen manufacture; and in 1780 a silk manufacture was introduced. Its castle, the ruins of which remain, was in 1645 defended for the parliament by colonel Blake against an army of 10,000 men under lord Goring, but was dismantled by Charles II. In 1655 the duke of Monmouth made this place his head-quarters. Its church, which is large and beautiful, is a fine specimen of the florid Gothic style of architecture. The tower, which is lofty, is of excellent workmanship, crowned at the top with four flatly pinnacles, 32 feet high. The whole perhaps is not equalled in the kingdom. Taunton is pleasantly seated on the river Tone, which is navigable to Bridgewater; is reckoned the best town in the county; and sends two members to parliament. W. Long. 3. 17. N. Lat. 50. 59.