NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, a county of England, bounded on the cast 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 25,611 houses, and 149,350 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 fandy; 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, tallow, butter, cheese, coal, marl, cattle, malt, liquorice, stockings, glas, earthen wares, and strong ale. 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 flags; 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, referring only a hundred deer in the whole walk. The duke of Newcastle is now steward and keeper. The principal town is