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for about two centuries, and after whose extinction it passed to the Malmains, Bohuns, and Bambres. The latter built a spacious castle which was possessed in succession by the Earls of Arundel and the Lords of Abergavenny. From them it came to the Le Despencers, whose heiress Lady Mary Fane was created Baroness Le Despencer by King James I. The son of this lady was made Earl of Westmoreland by the same monarch, and his grandson erected the present castle. Smart, now an almost forgotten versifier, wrote a poem upon the hops of Kent, in which he mentions this castle.

Nor shalt thou Mereworth remain unsung,

Where noble Westmoreland, his country's friend,
Bids British greatness love the silent shade;
Where piles superb, in classic elegance
Arise, and all is Roman like his heart.

The famous Palladio of Italy, so often taken as a model by our English architects in their designs for the country-houses of our nobility and gentry, is the structure that was imitated by Mr. Colin Campbell, when he built this under the direction of Lord Westmoreland. It formerly contained, and perhaps does still contain, a valuable collection of pictures.

Tonbridge, or the town of bridges, is seated

upon the Medway, and four nameless streams, which here pour their waters into that river. From the bridges over these waters the town obtained its name. Here the Medway ceases to be navigable, and up to the year 1740, it was not navigable further than Maidstone, but an act was then passed by which the improvement was carried into effect at a considerable expense.

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Tonbridge Castle, now in ruins, was built about forty years after the Conquest, by Richard de Clare, Earl of Brionne in Normandy. His own castle of Brionne had been destroyed by the famous Robert the Devil, familiarized

by name, at least, to the public of late years, by the opera bearing his unenviable soubriquet; and Rufus, in compensation for that loss, gave him a square league of land at Tonbridge, upon which he erected a new castle more magnificent than the old one. The possessor of this estate in the reign of Henry VIII. was Edward De Bohun, Duke of Buckingham, who having been executed for treason, his estates were forfeited to the crown. Since that time the castle has been suffered to fall to decay. Tonbridge, though small, is a flourishing town. Its church is a handsome and spacious edifice, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and contains several monuments of the neighbouring families, but none of them remarkable. The Grammar School, in the patronage of the Skinner's Company of London, was founded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by Sir Andrew Judde, a native of the town, and Lord Mayor of London. In this school was educated Sir Sidney Smith, the gallant hero of Acre, buried in a strange land, and as yet without a monument to his memory in England.

We are now approaching the source of the Medway; the stream has become a mere brook; an active man might, without much difficulty, jump over it and it soon loses its name in that

of the many small streams which unite together to form it. But 'ere we bid it farewell, upon one part of its banks we must linger with a fond delay the groves of Penshurst, where Sidney, the darling of his age, was born,-where that other Sidney, the stern republican, lived and wrote, where Sacharissa lived, and where Waller sung. Penshurst Place is an extensive pile, disposed in the form of a quadrangle, enclosing a spacious court, and comprehending a great hall, chapel, gallery, and numerous suites of apartments. The state rooms are furnished and decorated with much magnificence; and the place contains a valuable collection of old portraits, including all the illustrious members of an illustrious house. The park includes more than four hundred acres, gently diversified with hill and dale, from which may occasionally be seen the two small confluent streams of the Medway and the Eden. Near a fine sheet of water called Lancup Well, stands the noble oak, about twenty-two feet in circumference, which is said to have been planted at the birth of the gallant Sir Philip.

Penshurst was granted by King Edward VI. to Sir William Sidney, the Lord Chamberlain of his household. Philip was the son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and

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was born on the 26th of November 1544. Before he had attained his twenty-ninth year, when he returned to England after his continental travels, he had acquired a reputation all over Europe as the most gallant gentleman and most accomplished scholar of his age. The King of France, Henry III. appointed him one of the gentlemen of the royal chamber. The Poles put him in nomination for the throne of that country, and Queen Elizabeth delighted to honour him. The Prince Palatine of the Rhine having been offered the high honour of the Garter, gave Sidney his procuration to receive his stall, and take possession of it in

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