Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/47

 The vast sum of forty thousand pounds was swallowed up in the erection of Glocester gaol; but I will venture to assert, that on attentively considering its arrangement and advantages, no rational or humane man will say the money has been injudiciously expended. Before we quitted Glocester, we paid a visit to its quay, to which vessels of one hundred tons may be navigated. The business of this port is subject to the management and supervision of a customer and comptroller, a searcher, surveyor, and two boatmen; a privilege conferred on the city by Queen Elizabeth, in the twenty-second year of her reign.

A similar rich flat to that which we had before passed through in our way to Glocester, continued to accompany us as we proceeded towards Tewksbury; offering the additional beauty of extensive orchards, which breathed their odours through the air, and enriched the scene with a widely-extended sheet of beautiful blossom. As we approached Tewksbury, our curiosity was naturally excited with respect to the scene of a battle which had proved fatal to the fortunes of the Lancastrian party, and fixed the doom of the unfortunate Henry VIth. On enquiry we found it in a field or meadow, called appropriately Bloody Meadow, about a quarter of a mile to the