animal's skin for a saddle, and dressed himself in broad Spanish hat, velvet coat, and plaid trousers. Thence going through Dargate Common, they supped at Bossenden farm, sleeping that night in an adjacent barn. On Tuesday morning " Sir William," after threatening to shoot anyone who deserted, led his followers to Sittingbourne, where they breakasted at his expense; they then visited Newnham, Eastling, Thrawley, Seldinch, Lees, and Selling, returning on Wednesday evening to Culver's Farm.

Mr. Curling, a neighbouring farmer, having had three men enticed away from their work, obtained a warrant for their apprehension. Mears, a constable, entrusted with this warrant, proceeded in company with his brother to Culver's Farm, and demanded the men referred to. "Sir William came up to Mears, and after a short parley shot him dead. The brother fled back to Faversham, and "Sir William " and his followers retired to Bossenden Wood.

By half past one on the afternoon of Thursday, the 31st, a detachment of the 45th, then garrisoned at Canterbury, was at the scene of the murder. Courtney came out from the wood, and Lieut. Bennett stepped up to him with drawn sword, calling on him to surrender. Courtney did not answer, but fired immediately, the shot passing through Lieut. Bennett, who after making an attempt to strike Courtney, fell dead. The soldier who was covering Lieut. Bennett fired at once at Courtney, who fell and died instantly. Much excitement ensued, both parties being rendered desperate by the loss of their commanders, the soldiers fired into the wood from which the men were showing signs of advance. Seven of them were killed, and a constable named Catt, who was in the line of fire, was shot. Many were wounded, but the death list was restricted to those already mentioned-Lieut. Bennett, "Sir William" and seven of his followers, George Catt the constable, and (on the previous day) Mears the constable. After the first volley, the rioters fled in various directions. Two men were arrested for participating in the murder of Mears, and were formally sentenced to death, a sentence which was not carried out. Eight men were arrested for the murder of Lieut. Bennett. The evidence simply implicated these prisoners with the general riotous behaviour of Courtney, and the men, who pleaded guilty, were also formally condemned to death. Two of them were transported for life, while the others received sentences of imprisonment of varying lengths. Thus ended the last Kentish rebellion, the chief good result of which was, that it drew attention to the depth of ignorance in which many of the secluded districts were steeped, and led to much educational activity in the Forest of Blean.

165

Alms for Oblivion."

"TIME hath, my lord, a wallet on his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion."-Troilus and Cressida.

I HOLD no feud with Father Time,
Whatever feud he hold with me;
My reams of prose, my scraps of rhyme,
Are withered all by Father Time.
Are withered, faded, lost and gone,
Alms given to oblivion;

And I'm content that this should be,
And hold no feud with Father Time.

An idle hour had seemed a crime

In those far days when Hope was young,

And when Parnassus' height subiime
Easier looked than now to climb;

But old Experience, rathe and ripe,
Finds comfort in a lazy pipe,

While in a draught no muse has sung,
I pledge thy flight, old Father Time.

Time brought the joys, since slain by time,
He brought the hopes he stole away,
Spring mornings, glad with mask and mime
Atone for hoary winter's rime.
And still I read within his eyes
Whole volumes of sweet memories,

-I will not blame thee for a day,
Thy flight is friendly, Father Time!

Yet bear me slowly, Father Time,

For just this gracious summer hour,
Beneath the full-leaved, murmurous lime,
Far from town's noise, and smoke, and grime;
While nature's gentle anthems roll
Their subtle music through the soul,

With hints of some forgotten power
Which thou hast stolen, Father Time!

D. CHRISTIE MURRAY,

Table Talk.

GOOD people of this generation, who go into benevolent tremors when a frog is dissected, or a fly breaks its left leg, are happily ignorant of the barbarity rife thirty or forty years ago among more dignified or more complex animals than toads or terriers. The sympathy of our good mothers was expended upon dirty but interesting boys, who were articled to the trade of sweep; and indeed much unrecorded and unknown suffering was endured by these grimy lads, who were, in a sense, heroes of romance, in whose honour tales were written and poems were sung. It is not, perhaps, generally known, that the law which was passed for the amelioration of the condition of the sweeping-boys was due in no small degree to a case which happened at Deal. Somewhere about two generations ago a sweep named Baker, or Barker, with his boy, was employed at the coastguard semaphore to exercise his skill on an official flue, which had caught fire. Man and boy went to the roof; the boy entered the chimney, but complained of the difficulty of the passage. The master swore at him, and the poor lad, stimulated by his employer's energy of language, made a strong effort to pass down. He reached the room below before his master was ready to receive him, and was found crying from the pain of his burnt feet. Again did the master and boy ascend the roof; again the boy went down the chimney in a sort of sling hammock, from which keen cries for help soon issued. A rope was lowered without avail; a bow-line was equally useless-the grimy, blistered hand could not close on the cord. After awhile the chimney was broken open and the boy extracted, quite dead. Baker was placed on his trial for manslaughter, but, if we remember rightly, was acquitted. Our informant was one of the coroner's jury, and spoke warmly on the matter.

We have a letter from a friend now travelling in the East of France, who tells us of a plan of hop culture, adopted by a farmer in the department of the Vosges, which, if not altogether new, may not be uninteresting. The use of a large number of poles is dispensed with, by the substitution of iron wires. These wires, formed in pieces of about a yard in length, are joined together something after the fashion of the chain used by land surveyors. This chain is hung horizontally between two stout posts of oak, placed at each end of a line of hops, and supported, at regular intervals, by wooden props. The

hops are placed at the distance of about eight feet, and each plant is left with four shoots, which are conducted by little rods to the wire chain, along which they are trained, two in each direction. This is calculated to economise one-fifth of the original cost of the poles, and to save the time and trouble of their annual trimming, dressing, preserving, and setting-up. Of the mode of picking we are told nothing.

IN another part of the letter, our friend speaks of the forward condition of the cherry orchards in that district, and asks why it is that Kentish cherry-growers do not emulate their brethren in Vosges by producing the "Kirsch-wasser," which, in a country where vine culture is unsatisfactory and unprofitable, forms a by no means inconsiderable portion of their trade, and which many of us remember as a post prandial adjunct in or near the Quartier Latin. But let lovers of Kirsch-wasser beware. We remember-but this was on the other side of the Seine-meeting a young friend, who fascinated by this liquor, imbibed it too copiously and irregularly, preferring it to the ripe, silky Bourgogne supplied by our host of the Hotel Vendôme for eight francs a bottle. Issuing from the hotel, the young man insisted on turning to the left towards the column, with the express intention of mounting that fearful structure. Approaching it, he appeared puzzled and asked which column he should go up. The deduction was serious. Between those two (imaginary) columns the young man came to the ground.

IN the interesting account of the old water-route to London, mention is made of the island of Harty. This island, like many other tracts of the same kind, retains its name, although it is no longer insulated, and contains an interesting church, which it is now proposed to repair. In effecting this, it will be necessary to appeal rather to the interest of archæologists than solely to the piety of the churchmen, as any pastor of Harty would find that the bulk of his flock consisted of sheep, of which there is a large congregation, feeding on the lowlying coarse grass lands of the neighbourhood. Although the building is full of historical interest and associations, and the country most picturesque, very few tourists visit the place, which was anciently of so much importance, Harty being the second largest of the group known as the Sheppy Isles. Sheppy, the largest of this group, was, in the thirteenth century, connected with Harty, at Tremseth, by a bridge, which was, in the reign of the first Edward, broken down by an inundation and never rebuilt. The age of the foundation of

the Church is quite lost in the mist of ages, but a tradition that Offa, a king of Mercia, was buried there in 796 whether authentic or not, indicates its remote antiquity. The present building is of decorative character, and contains many interesting relics, the chief being a curious oaken chest, supposed to be of Flemish workmanship, on which is represented a tilting-match.

Notes and Queries.

(12.) YOKE AND HALF YOKE.-I extract the following from Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon dictionary. "A yoke, geoc-let. A little farm in some parts of Kent, called yokelet, as requiring a small yoke of oxen to till it." He refers to Dictionarium Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum. Guliel Somneri, 1659. There seems to be some analogy between half-yoke and yoke-let.-W. COXHEATH.

(13.) THE SIZE AND WEIGHT OF KENTISH BATTLEDORES. From Dr. Harpsfield's (Archdeacon of Canterbury) treatise on the divorce of Henry VIII., just published from four collated manuscripts, we learn something of the original meaning of this word, and of the spirit of Kentish housewives in Tudor times. The archdeacon was an advocate for a celibate clergy, and illustrated his objections to the marriage of priests by telling his readers that "there was one in Kent, which all to beat her yoke-mate with a wash-beetle or battledore (a laundress's washing bat); upon whom he complained grievously to the judges at the sizes, and the more to exaggerate his injury, showed them openly the said battledore.' If the wives of Kent were in the habit of turning their husbands into shuttlecocks, it is a matter of congratulation that the pastime has somewhat fallen into desuetude.

Answers to Corresponents.

J.S.W.-Thanks. It is not worth noticing.

E.E., SIGMA. Declined with thanks.

R.B.-You mistake. It was not intended to prove that Shakespeare was or was not familiar with Kent. It was only a preliminary examination

of existing opinions.

ANSWER TO ACROSTIC NO .2.-1. JesteR; 2. UmbO; 3. NewS; 4. Enemy. June-Rosy.

We have received so few answers, none of them being correct, that we presume our readers feel little interest in the acrostics, which will, therefore, be discontinued.