Britannia, volume the first, or, An illustration of the Kingdom of England and dominion of Wales by a geographical and historical description of the principal roads thereof, actually admeasured and delineated in a century of whole-sheet copper-sculps : accomodated with the ichnography of the several cities and capital towns, and compleated by an accurate account of the more remarkable passages of antiquity : together with a novel discourse of the present state / by John Ogilby ...

In the Delineation or Decyphering these Roads upon Copper-Sculptures:

1. We have Projected them upon imaginary Scrolls, the Initial City or Town being always at the Bottom of the outmost Scroll on the Left Hand; whence your Road ascends to the Top of the said Scroll; then from the Bottom of the next Scroll ascends again, thus constantly ascending till it terminate at the Top of the outmost Scroll on the Right Hand, as by the Succession of Figures representing the Miles, most plainly appears.

2. The Road it self is express'd by double Black Lines if included by Hedges, or Prick'd Lines if open; but if the Road be describ'd altogether by Black Lines or Prick'd Lines throughout the whole Plate, then the Distinction aforesaid of En∣clos'd and Open is omitted.

3. The Scale by which the said Road is Protracted, is according to one Inch to a Mile, or the 63’360th. Part of a Mile; the said Miles being exprest by double Points, and numbred by the Figures 1, 2, 3, &c. Each subdivided into 8 Furlongs, represented by the single Points included between the said double Ones.

4. The several Deviations or Turnings out of the Road to adjacent Places on ei∣ther

Hand, are exprest by a short double Line, and are generally inscrib'd, to such a Place, and sometimes the reputed Distance of the said Place in Miles is likewise signify'd by Figures affixt.

5. Capital Towns are describ'd Ichnographically, according to their Form and Ex∣tent; but the Lesser Towns and Villages, with the Mansion Houses, Castles, Churches, Mills, Beacons, Woods, &c. Scenographically, or in Prospect.

6. Bridges are usually noted with a Circular Line like an Arch, but are general∣ly imply'd where the Rivers or Brooks crost are not drawn through the Road.

7. Rivers are Decypher'd by a treble wav'd Line or more, and the lesser Rills or Brooks by a single or double Line, according to their Eminency.

8. Ascents are noted as the Hills in ordinary Maps, Descents e contra, with their Bases upwards.

9. Whatever is posited upon or within the Scroll, is presum'd to bear the same Scale as the Road it self.

10. The several Inclinations of the Road to the one or th' other Hand, are na∣turally express'd accordingly, and the Points of Bearing are Collected from the pe∣culiar Compass of each Scroll, the Flower-de-luce shewing the North; and when a Compass is repeated in the self same Scroll, a straight transverse Line expresses to what Part of the Scroll either of the said Compasses belong.

In the Illustration or Historical Part, respecting the General and Particular History, the first thing occuring is the Point of Bearing from the Initial to the Terminating Town of the Road; wherein We have advisedly vary'd from the Positions of former Maps; The Original of which Compil'd by Mr. Saxton about an Hundred years a-go, were Projected according to the Meridian of the Magnetick Needle (in England) which then vary'd 12 Degrees from North to East; since which, it has gradually inclin'd to the true Meridian, which in England it respected Anno 1658. but in France Anno 1666. and now varies with Us about 3 Degrees 15 Minutes to the West.

Secondly, the Direct Horizontal Distance, by which We understand the nearest Interval between the two Places, which We have cursorily Collected from the Horizontal Protraction of the said Roads, with convenient Deductions for the several Hills and smaller Deflexures of the Way: And upon these two Points, with the included Difference in the Heavens, depends that necessary Investigation of the Quantity of a Degree upon the Superficies of the Earth, which Ptolomy reckons 500 Stadia; Snellius in his Eratosthenes Batavus, almost 67 Miles; Fernelius by the Revolutions of a Wheel, 68 Italian Miles and 96 Paces; Our Mr. Norwood in his Experiment from YORK, more than 69 Miles and an half; the Learned Mr. Oughtred about 66 Miles and a quarter; the Accurate Mr. Picart above 69 Miles, viz. 57064 Toises of Paris of 6 Foot, equal to 365’184 English Feet, and the Vul∣gar Computation only 60 Miles: This, if accurately adjusted, (and We hope much, even from Our own Dimensurations) would conduce infinitely to the Regulation of Latitudes and Longitudes: In the first of Which, some have deviated more than a whole Degree in the Position of Barwick, and others 3 or 4 Degrees in the later, in Asserting the Distance between the Lands-End and North-Foreland.

Thirdly, The Vulgar Computation, which (though variously accounted) We have thought fit should also accompany the Dimensuration, by the Inequality of which, the Peruser may easily observe the Erroneous and Irregular Consequences necessarily following a Dependance thereon, which, in some Parts near equals, in others, an∣swers only 3 quarters, and sometimes but Two Thirds of the Dimensuration; About LONDON the very Roman Miles seeming to be retain'd, but even after 20 Miles distance, resolving into the former Proportions, and not gradually as they are more remote from the City according to Vulgar Belief: Now whence these Computations arose is altogether uncertain, the nearest Conjecture is, that they seem to exclude the whole Length of the Towns, and to be the Distance from the End of one Town to the Beginning of the Next, not regarding the Fractional Parts of a Mile, but taking the lesser Integer, which in a well inhabited Road will come near the Matter.

Lastly, The Tables of Computation and Dimensuration, having Explain'd them in the Printed Relation, pag. 1. We shall onely Illustrate by this Example out of the Aber∣istwith Road: From LONDON to Acton in the Colums under Computation is 6 Miles, under Dimensuration 8 M. 3 F. From Acton to Uxbridg in the 2d. Line of the first

Colume, under Computation 9 Miles; in the same Line and Colume, under Dimen∣suration 10’1. but from LONDON to Uxbridg, in the same Line and 2d. Colume, under Computation 15 Miles, under Dimensuraeion 18’4. caeteris paribus.

In the Particular History We have precisely Trac'd the Delineation, onely We have Collected at the Beginning of each Plate, the Acute and forward Ways issuing out of the Road, as they follow successively from the Town Commenc'd at, and at the end of the Plate, the Obtuse or Backward Ways falling in with the said Road from the Initial Town, but being likewise Acute or Forward from the Terminating Town, whence We have successively recounted them.

In the Historical Account of Places, We have faithfully Collected the most Materi∣al Antiquities from the best Authorities, and in the Modern Account the Reader will meet with much of Novelty and much of Utility; neither have We confin'd Our selves to the Road immediatly, but have briefly Touch'd upon the more Remarkable Adjacents also, inso∣much, that there is scarce one Market Town of Ten in the Kingdom that has mist an Illustra∣tion. The principal Variations of Bearing We have added in the Margent by the com∣mon Letters, expressing the 32 Points of the Compass, as N. for North, N. b. E. for North by East, N. N. E. for North North-East, N. E. by N. for North-East by North, and N. E. for North-East, & sic de caeteris; the Numbers annext shewing the Miles and Furlongs, whereat the Bearing Commences; and the several Towns and Villages pass'd through, are in like manner Inserted in the Margent, with the Miles and Furlongs representing the Midle of the said Town or Village.

To conclude, Having already given the State of Maps and Itineraries, the Reasons, Account and Uses of the Undertaking, with it's Explanation in respect of Dimensuration, Delineation and Illustration; We conceive We may modestly declare, That as to the Volume in Hand, considering the ACTUAL DIMENSURATION of so ma∣ny Thousand Miles of Roads, through the several Counties of the Kingdom, the Protraction, Delineation and Engravement thereof in 100 Royal Whole-Sheet Copper-Plates, the accomodating them with the Ichnographies of Capital Towns, and an His∣torical Discourse, wherein the more Remarkable Passages of Antiquity meet with an Ac∣curate and Novel Illustration of the present State; nothing of this Nature requiring so vast a Charge and such infinite Labor and Disquisition was ever yet Attempted, or perchance so much as Thought of, either at Home or Abroad. But as to the Whole Work, the Tri∣ple Account of this florishing Kingdom, adding to the former, the Ichnographical and Historical Description of Cities, accurately and elaborately Perform'd, the Chorographical and Topographical Description of Counties, Examin'd and Adjusted by the strictest Rules of Dimensuration, Historical Truths asserted, and Scenographical Ornaments added; We may be bold to Challenge the Universe for a Paralel, and Commend it an Undertaking worthy the Patronage of the Greatest Princes or Potentates whatsoever.