from them, looking, as the Woolwich Guide informs us," like the stalactites of some beautiful grotto!" Long may they hang in such beautiful order is our prayer; long may the cannon grace the arsenal, and its millions of balls stand in trim pyramids, to surprise the beholder. The day that should call them from their repose would be a disastrous one for Europe, and for humanity.

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CHAPTER VIII.

The Devil's House.-The river Roding.-Barking.-Green Street House. The Gunpowder Plot. Rainham and Hornchurch. Edward the Confessor and the nightingales of Havering atte Bower. - Dagenham Breach.Erith. Purfleet. The National Powder Magazine. The river Darent. Holmsdale.. Thomas à Becket. The Nightingales of Otford. The Ford of Darent. Dartford. John Tyler and Wat Tyler. The Martyr's Ashes. The river Cray.

PPOSITE to Woolwich, in the marshes of the Essex coast, but in the county of Kent, stands a solitary house, called by the vulgar the Devil's House. formerly belonged to the family

It

of Devall, whose patronymic has been thus perverted by the populace. This plot of land, consisting of about five hundred acres, has belonged to the parish of Woolwich and county of Kent from time immemorial; and tradition accounts for its severance from Essex in the following manner :-The body of a man having

The

been cast ashore there by the tide, was found by a fisherman of Woolwich, who immediately gave notice to the authorities of Essex. latter refused to bury it; upon which, that duty was performed by Woolwich, whose magistrates sued those of Essex, to recover the charges. The Essex magistrates were condemned to pay, but refusing to do so, the patch of land in question was seized by a royal order, and from that time incorporated with Woolwich. Tradition, in this instance vaguer even than it is wont to be, has not informed us of the name of the monarch, or given us any clue by which the date might be discovered.

A considerable rivulet, called the Roding, discharges itself into the Thames near this place, under the name of Barking Creek. It rises somewhere in the neighbourhood of Dunmow, a village familiar by name to most people on account of its gammon of bacon, given as a prize to the married couple who passed a whole twelvemonth without quarrelling, a custom of which so pleasant an account is given in "The Spectator."

Passing southwards, it gives name to a whole district of Essex, and to several villages, called after it, High Roding, Aythorp Roding, Leaden Roding, White Roding, Margaret's

Roding, Abbot's Roding, Beauchamp Roding, and Berner's Roding. One of these, Abbot's Roding, was the birthplace of the celebrated John Thurloe, Secretary of State to Oliver Cromwell, and so well known for his State Papers. His father, the Rev. Thomas Thurloe, was rector of the parish.

From the Rodings the stream flows to Chipping Ongar, an ancient market town, whose name is derived from coopen or cepan, the Saxon word to sell, and where there was formerly an ancient fortress, erected by Richard de Lacy, protector of England during the absence of King Henry II. in his Norman wars. It was pulled down in the reign of Elizabeth.

The river then passes by Kilvedon Hatch, Navestock, the ancient seat and burial-place of the Waldegraves, between the two villages of Stapleford Tarry and Stapleford Abbots; and through that fine country, lying between Epping and Hainault Forests, until it reaches Ilford. It thence flows to the town of Barking, where it receives a small stream of the

same name.

Barking Church is just visible to the passenger on the Thames, lifting up its modest turret from the low rich pasture lands in which it is situated. It was originally one of the

most ancient in England, having been founded, with a nunnery adjoining, shortly after the introduction of Christianity into England. Among the abbesses have been, Matilda, or Maud, wife of Henry I. and so well known for her benefactions in the neighbourhood of London; Matilda, the wife of King Stephen; and Mary à Becket, sister of the famous Archbishop of Canterbury of that name. Upon the dissolution of the abbey by Henry VIII. the abbess and nuns received a small pension, and the edifice fell to decay. Scarcely any vestiges of it now remain. The church is a spacious edifice, with an embattled tower, and contains many ancient monuments. Among others, one to the memory of Maurice Bishop of London, in the reign of William the Conqueror, and successor to that good bishop, William, whose memory is so dear to the Londoners.

In the low lands, lying in the district within view of the Thames, are two remarkable buildings, Green Street House and Eastbury House. The former was inhabited by Anne Boleyn before her marriage with Henry VIII. From the tower a fine view of the Thames is obtained from Greenwich to Gravesend. This part of the edifice was built by Henry to please that luckless lady; and was renovated by Mr. Mor