in all this part of
England, which the people of Poole pretend to be famous for pickling; and
they are barrelled up here, and sent not only to London, but to the West
Indies, and to Spain and Italy, and other parts. It is observed more
pearls are found in the Poole oysters, and larger, than in any other
oysters about England.

As the entrance into this large bay is narrow, so it is made narrower by
an island, called Branksey, which, lying the very month of the passage,
divides it into two, and where there is an old castle, called Branksey
Castle, built to defend the entrance, and this strength was very great
advantage to the trade of this port in the time of the late war with
France.

Wareham is a neat town and full of people, having a share of trade with
Poole itself; it shows the ruins of a large town, and, it is apparent,
has had eight churches, of which they have three remaining.

South of Wareham, and between the bay I have mentioned and the sea, lies
a large tract of land which, being surrounded by the sea except on one
side, is called an island, though it is really what should be called a
peninsula. This tract of land is better inhabited than the sea-coast of
this west end of Dorsetshire generally is, and the manufacture of
stockings is carried on there also; it is called the Isle of Purbeck, and
has in the middle of it a large market-town, called Corfe, and from the
famous castle there the whole town is now called Corfe Castle; it is a
corporation, sending members to Parliament.

This part of the country is eminent for vast quarries of stone, which is
cut out flat, and used in London in great quantities for paving
courtyards, alleys, avenues to houses, kitchens, footways on the sides of
the High Streets, and the like; and is very profitable to the place, as
also in the number of shipping employed in bringing it to London. There
are also several rocks of very good marble, only that the veins in the
stone are not black and white, as the Italian, but grey, red, and other
colours.

From hence to Weymouth, which is 22 miles, we rode in view of the sea;
the country is open, and in some respects pleasant, but not like the
northern parts of the county, which are all fine carpet-ground, soft as
velvet, and the herbage sweet as garden herbs, which makes their sheep be
the best in England, if not in the world, and their wool fine to an
extreme.

I cannot omit here a small adventure which was very surprising to m