File:Bodleian Libraries, Walker's tour through England & Wales, a new geographical pastime.jpg

Game of 1809 entitled Walker's tour through England & Wales, a new geographical pastime; "Two or three persons may amuse themselves with this agreeable pastime, and if a double set of counters or pyramids are purchased, six may play at it. The totum must be marked 1 to 8 on its several faces, with pen and ink. The pyramids are supposed to be the travellers, who make the tour; each pyramid having four counters of the same color belonging to it, which are called markers or servants. When you find these are complete you may begin the game agreeably to the following rules. I. Each player must hold a pyramid or traveller, and four counters of the same color. II. In order to know who begins the game, each player must spin the totum, and the highest number takes the lead, then the next highest, &c. III. The first player then spins, and if he turns up no. 4, he is to place his pyramid on Canterbury, and stay there till it is his turn to spin again. IV. If in the second spinning he turn up no. 3, he is to add that to 4, his former number, and place his pyramid on no. 7 (Ipswich); and in this manner the game must be continued till the traveller reaches no. 118, which is London, when he wins the game. V. If the last spin does not exactly make the no. 118, but goes beyond it, he must then go back as many numbers as he exceeds it, and try his fortune again, till one of the players spin the lucky number. VI. When a player is obliged to wait one or more turns, he must deposit as many counters as he is directed to wait turns, which never exceeds 4. When it is his turn to spin again, instead of spinning, he must take up a counter; and so on till they are all taken up". All 118 towns are described. The first 25 descriptions are transcribed above. Folded on linen in slip case; Walker's tour through England and Wales, a new pastime; Directions for making the tour of England; Maidstone, Kent, a market town, situated on the River Medway. There is in this ancient town a manufactory for linen-thread, first introduced by the Flemings; also an excellent paper is made here, and the townsmen have a considerable trade in hops, timber, corn, orchard fruits, & c.; Rochester, Kent, a small but ancient city. Here is an Alms-house for six poor travellers, who are supplied with a supper, a bed, and a breakfast, and with four pence to carry them on their journey; but they are to stay no longer than one night; and it remarkable, that an inscription over the door intimates, that 'rogues and proctors are excepted'; Dover, Kent, a market town and sea port, situated at the narrowest part of the channel that divides England from France. Quantities of packet-boats pass from this place to France in the time of peace, and with a fair wind, the voyage is generally made in one tide. The Castle, a structure of remote antiquity, is built on the extremity of the stupendous cliffs, which form the eastern barrier to Dover town and harbour; every contrivance has been used to render it impregnable. Dover remains to be one of the chief of those ancient port towns on this coast, called the cinque ports, still distinguished by various privileges; Canterbury, an ancient city, and the metropolitan see of all England. The poorer class of inhabitants find ample employment in the silk, cotton, and wool trades; and, though some of the manufacturers have declined, the town possesses a still greater source of wealth in the cultivation of hops, which cover many hundreds of acres of land in the vicinity; Margate, Kent, was, til the year 1724, a little, mean fishing town; it is now become a fashionable resort for sea-bathing. Great quantities of corn are exported hence, and vessels are frequently passing to and from the coast of Flanders. The buildings still continue to increase in number and elegance, and the place abounds with several favourite walks, libraries, commodious shops, and places of public entertainment. The assembly room is an elegant and noble building, and commands a delightful prospect of the sea; Harwich, Essex, has always been the chief port for the packets that sail to Holland. In the Dutch wars, great use has been made of Harwich harbour, and formerly there have been seen here, 100 sail of men of war, with their attendants, and between 3 and 400 sail of colliers, all riding it at one time, and with great safety and convenience; Ipswich, Suffolk, is a place of considerable size; it boasts of great antiquity. Cardinal Wolsey was the son of a butcher of this town. By his eminent abilities, and the favour of his sovereign, Henry the Eighth, he rose to the highest dignities of church and state, the popedom excepted; an honour to which his ambition aspired, but his hopes were disappointed. Soaring beyond the condition of a subject, he lost the royal favour, and in his adversity, displayed a most strking example of the instability of all human prosperity; Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, a considerable borough and market town, most delightfully situated, and particularly famed for the salubrity of its air, which is deemed the best in England; Norwich, the capital of Norfolk. This city has undergone many revolutions, having been plundered by the Danes, restored to a prosperous condition under Edward the Confessor, besieged by William the Conqueror, and finally rendered an opulent manufacturing city, by the settlement of some emigrants from Flanders, who introduced the art of weaving crapes and bombazeens, and stuffs of various kinds, with such success as to supply not only the demand of home consumption, but also Holland, Germany, and the ports of the Mediterranean. The charitable institutions of Norwich are uncommonly numerous; Yarmouth has long been known as one of the principal sea-ports of England; is a considerable fishing town, has an excellent market place, and a very extensive and beautiful quay; Lynn, or Lynn Regis is a rich, populous place; was once inhabited but by a few poor fishermen, is now the residence of many opulent merchants. It supplies the midland counties with coals, timber, and wine; and, in return, exports corn and malt in very great quantities; Boston, Lincolnshire, a pleasant, wealthy, and populous borough and market town: the church, dedicated to St. Botolph, is an elegant Gothic structure, the tower of which is 300 feet high, which may be seen 40 miles round the country, and also serves as a guide to mariners, when they enter the dangerous channels of Boston deeps; Lincoln is a very ancient city, and is a county of itself, and has a peculiar jurisdiction, extending twenty miles around it. The cathedral is a truly magnificent fabric. Formerly no city was more rich or populous than this; it is now become much reduced, both in trade and population, and has no manufactories; Hull is a very large, busy place, of great trade; the quay is remarkably handsome. Hull was the first place to shut its gates against that unfortunate monarch Charles the First, when embroiled in a civil war with his parliament; Scarborough is built on a rocky eminence, that encircles a bay of considerable extent; the castle is a noble object; the spa is a source of wealth to the inhabitants, which, with the attractions of sea-bathing, draw crowds of polite company hither every summer. Here the traveller must stop two turns to see the place; Whitby, Yorkshire, is a sea-port town of note, and contains near 16,000 inhabitants, supported by a large foreign trade, and some manufactories; Durham, a city, situated on a singular rocky eminence, almost surrounded by the river Weare; its appearance is compact, and its figure so striking, as to occasion it to be emphatically called the English Zion; Sunderland, Durham, a sea-port and market town; is large and populous, thriving, and well built, and its sea-men are reckoned the best in the world; Newcastle, Northumberland, has, for centuries past, supplied thousands of the inhabitants of England with coals, and enjoys an immense trade in many other articles, both domestic and foreign. Stay one turn to see the coal mines; Alnwick, Northumberland, a market town, situated on the side of a hill, near the river Alne. Here Malcolm II, king of Scotland, and his son Edmund were slain, and their army routed; Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland. This being the frontier town between England and Scotland, its neighbourhood has been the scene of many bloody battles. The salmon fisheries are very considerable, and afford much amusement; it is a fine sight to see the nets thrown, and the poor rogues leaping and struggling to retain their liberty; Carlisle, Cumberland, a city, situated in the midst of fertile and extensive meadows. Here, stop to see the dexterity of the boys and girls, in making whips and fishing tackle; Whitehaven, Cumberland, is a noted sea-port and market town; the copperas and salt works are of considerable extent. The famous Paul Jones, in the American war, landed here, spiked the guns, set to fire two ships in the dock, and damaged many houses; but the vigilant inhabitants soon made him fly; Appleby, Westmoreland, a borough and market town, almost encompassed by the river Eden; Kendall, Westmoreland, built in a most beautiful valley, and watered by the river Can, or Ken; Douglas, a sea-port in the Isle of Man; Image 2