་ ས

quarters, before they marched to Blackheath to attack London. Here, also, Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet's son, began his insurrection. Being joined by many of the principal inhabitants, over whom his influence from his own character, as well as his father's, was considerable, the whole town fell under the displeasure of Queen Mary. It lost, in consequence, all the privileges of self-government which it had enjoyed from a very early age, and remained disfranchised until the second year of Elizabeth, when the Queen, by letters patent, restored their rights, and granted some additional privileges, among which was a confirmation of their ancient prescriptive right of sending two burgesses to parliament, the granting to the mayor the authority of a justice of the peace, and the exemption of the townsmen from foreign sessions. Several other charters have been granted to the town by James I, Charles I, and George II. The manor belongs to the Earls of Romney, who have a seat in the neighbourhood of the town called the Mote.

Maidstone is a small, quiet, simple, and pleasant-looking town. The chief trade is in hops. It is considered the county town of Kent, and here the assizes are held, and on some, now happily rare, occasions criminals are executed.

There is a small bridge over the Medway. The river is navigable for barges of fifty or sixty tons, and the tide flows up to the town, although the river is so narrow. Close by, the Lenn, one of the streams mentioned by old Michael Drayton as "bearing the limber train of the Medway," falls into the parent river.

There are several antiquities at Maidstone which are worth notice. On the eastern bank of the river, at a short distance from the parish church, are the remains of St. Mary and All Saints' College, built by Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the close of the fourteenth century. The gate is the only part that gives

any idea of the beauty or grandeur of the original building, which is now converted into a farm-house. Near the High Street are the remains of another ancient foundation, called the Friary, supposed to have been part of a convent of Franciscans founded by Edward III. and the Earl of Cornwall in 1331.

"The church," says Hughson, "is spacious and handsome, and consists of a nave, aisle, and chancel, with an embattled tower, in which are eight bells. On the tower formerly stood a spire that was destroyed by lightning in 1730. The walls are also embattled and supported by buttresses. The whole is enlight

ened by large windows, divided by mullions, with rich tracery above; the east window is particularly handsome. The chancel was rebuilt by Archbishop Courtenay in 1395, who then altered the dedication of the church to All Saints, it having been previously dedicated to the Blessed Virgin." The Archbishop was buried in the middle of the chancel, in a grave between five and six feet deep, where his skeleton was found in the year 1794, in consequence of a search made for it by the Rev. Mr. Denne, who was one of the Dry-as-dusts who had carried on a long controversy about these very bones. The one party

contended that they lay in Maidstone, and the other that they were buried in Canterbury. Mr. Denne made search accordingly, and gained the victory.

Maidstone was the birth-place of Thomas Trapham, surgeon to Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, and the man employed to prepare the body of Charles I. for interment. He it was who used the coarse and infamous expression relating to that office, "I have sewed on the head of a goose." Maidstone also gave birth to Andrew Broughton, secretary to the High Court of Justice, and employed in that capacity to read to the unfortunate Charles the charge preferred against him, and the sentence of the Court. He was one of those excepted at the restoration from the Act of Indemnity. He fled to Switzerland, and died at Vevay at an advanced age.

From Maidstone to Tunbridge, a distance as the crow flies of about twelve miles, but by the windings of the Medway of eighteen or twenty, the river takes its course through a beautiful country, abounding with small villages, and almost covered with luxuriant hop grounds. The Medway receives at Yalding, about half way between the two towns, the waters of the "clear Beule," or Beult, a little

trout stream, which runs for about fifteen miles. This district is one of the finest in the fine county of Kent, and towards the end of May, when its abundant cherry and apple trees are in bloom, scenting the breeze with their odorous treasures, appears redolent of peace and plenty. But to the gossiping traveller it offers nothing to stay him long ;-men cannot always prattle of waving woods, enamelled meads, or hedge-rows green; so, having pointed out the district to the lover of seclusion and rural scenery, we pass on our way to the busier haunts of men, in search of the places where the great and good have been born or have died, where philosophers have preached and poets sung, or remarkable men have strutted away their little hour ere the grave engulphed them.

Among the pleasant villages in the ride from Maidstone to Tonbridge are Baring, Teston, Farleigh, Nettlestead, Yalding, Lillyhoe, and Wateringbury; and among the country seats which arise on every commanding knoll, amid every green refreshing coppice, are Hailes Place, Barham Court, and Mereworth Castle, surrounded by very extensive woods, and affording a most delightful prospect over the Medway and its rural banks. This place formerly gave name to an ancient family who held the manor