BOOK V. from his pen, among which was his humorous description of a journey to Bath.

He was suspected of being the author of a work* which called forth Dr. King's "Praises of Jack of Eton, commonly called Jack the Giant, collected into English metre, after the manner of Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, John Burton, and others."

Inscription The following curious, but well-written inscription was formerly in Worplesdon church, and has been preserved by Mr. Symes. It commemorated the virtues of William Smith, bailiff, &c. of Queen Elizabeth's manor of Worplesdon, who died in 1591.

"If love of prince, if countryes dear regard,

If wisdom, wealth, or strength had been of force,
If friendly wishes could thy life have spared,
Thou hadst yet lived; but death hath no remorse.
Thy wofull wife in tears her days hath spent,
Thy children 5 with sorrow downe are throwne;
Thy loveing nieghbours doe for thee lament,
poore
distressed for thy lack doe groane.
The widow, orphant, and the fatherlesse,
To whom thou wast a comfort and a stay,

The

With griefe their woe and anguish did expresse,
When direful fate did wrap thy corpse in clay.
Yet though thy body here interred doe lye,
The grave cannot thy virtuous deeds obscure,
Thy life hath purchased to posterity

An honest fame which ever shall endure.
Here lye thy bones, converted now to dust,
Thy soule no doubt, prepared here soe well,
Ascended hath the mansion of the just,
In endlesse joy and blisse with them to dwell."

Phileleutherus Londinensis.

WISLEY is a very small parish, on the bank of the CHAP. II. river Wey, near Byfleet. The manor is the property Wisley. of Lord King. In this parish are one hundred and forty-one inhabitants, occupying nineteen houses.

The benefice is a rectory, not mentioned in the valor Church. of Edward I. though there was a church here at the time of the general survey. It is in the gift of Earl Onslow. The church is small, and apparently of Norman architecture. The font is a neat octagonal basin. There are no monuments.

CHAPTER II.

SURVEY OF THE HUNDRED OF WOTTON.

Hundred of

THIS hundred is now better known by the name of "the hundred of Dorking," having, in modern times, derived Wotton. this appellation from its chief town. It is bounded on the west by Blackheath; on the north by Copthorn; on the east by Reigate; and on the south by the county of Sussex. This hundred was granted in the eighteenth year of James I. together with those of Blackheath and Woking, to Sir Edward Zouch, and passed in the same manner to Earl Onslow, the present proprietor of the franchise. It comprehends the parishes of

BOOK V.

Dorking.

Etymology.

The elegant and picturesque market town of DORKING is situated twenty-four miles from London, near the river Mole, in a sandy vale, sheltered on the north by the ridge of chalky down which runs across this county, and on the great road from London to Brighthelmstone. It consists of three streets, the east, west, and south; and the greater part of the town is clean, and well watered from the springs that abound here. It has a plentiful weekly market on Thursday, and a fair on the eve and day of the feast of the ascension. These are recorded among the claims of John, earl of Warren, in 1279, and were probably granted to one of his ancestors. Here are two small streams, which joining before they reach the town, form the rivulet, known by the name of Pipbrook, that runs parallel with the town, on the north side, and empties itself into the Mole, under Box hill. In 1821, the parish of Dorking contained three thousand eight hundred and twelve inhabitants, and seven hundred and forty-one houses.

The etymology of the name of this parish appears long to have been a subject of much dispute. Salmon, an authentic topographical writer of the last century, mentions" the common error of the maps, in writing it with an a; for it should be Dorking, as many gentlemen of the town assert." In his New Survey of England, published, in 1726, he says, "I crave no favour for writing it with an o, Dorking, because I am well assured it is not yet out of use, in conveyances and public writings. There are two villages in Essex, near Tilbury fort, called Thurrack, and one in Hertfordshire, named Thorocking, which signifies an oak, consecrated to Thor, the Saxon idol, whence our Thursday. That our ancestors dedicated trees and groves to the worship of their gods, is plain from Tacitus, Lib. de Morib. Germ.