ment to that part of the town in which it is erected. It cost nearly £30,000, of which one third was allowed by the Commissioners for building New Churches, and the remainder was raised, partly by subscriptions, and partly by a parish rate imposed for that purpose. The organ, communion plate, &c. were given by individual inhabitants.

In addition to its Churches, Margate has Chapels and Meeting-houses for Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers, the latter being in the building called Draper's Hospital. The charitable institutions are numerous; among them the Royal Sea-bathing Infirmary, founded in 1792, under the patronage of his present Majesty, is particularly deserving of commendation. It is a neat uniform building, situated at Westbrook, near the town, which receives a great number of patients, and enables them to enjoy, at a very trifling expence, the benefits of sea-bathing, which in many diseases, particularly those of a scrofulous nature, are incalculable. A National School has been established for the education of 400 children of both sexes. Draper's Hospital, about a mile to the east of the town, founded by a benevolent Quaker, named Michael Yoakley, affords a comfortable asylum to eight poor widows, whose funds are increased by the small sums laid out by visitors, who frequently go to drink tea in their neat apartments, and purchase pincushions and other little articles manufactured by the industrious inmates:-and a variety of minor charities dispense assistance to the indigent' and diseased.

As the love of pleasure attracts at least as many visitors to Margate as the pursuit of health, it may be supposed that the places of amusement are numerous; they comprise a Theatre, tastefully fitted up, and ably managed; very handsome Assembly Rooms; several Libraries and Reading Rooms, furnished with the publications and newspapers of the day, and at which music and singing offer their attractions in the evening; weekly Concerts, Balls, &c.; beside which the neighbouring country affords very beautiful walks and rides; every village possesses some peculiar charm, among which may be mentioned Ranelagh Gardens, at St. Peter's, where public breakfasts and

tea parties frequently take place; Minster, having two gardens, similarly employed; Shady Grove, and Shallows, devoted to the same purposes, but on a smaller scale. Excursions by sea to Dover, Deal, and other places on the coast, also form a considerable part of the rational enjoyments of the company. The Bathing Rooms are commodious, and being furnished with the newspapers, musical instruments, &c. afford an agreeable lounge to many persons who from timidity or other causes do not bathe; this, however, may be done with the greatest safety and delicacy by means of the Machines, invented by an ingenious Quaker, named Beale, who is said, with the frequent fate of projectors, to have ruined himself by an invention which has proved highly beneficial to his successors.

Although Margate derives its principal support from its fashionable visitors, its trade in a commercial point of view is by no means contemptible. Its imports consist of iron, timber, tar, tin, and hemp, from Memel and Riga, coals from Newcastle and Sunderland, and a variety of articles from other places; and its chief exports are of fish, corn, &c. to the metropolis. A daily intercourse is carried on with London during the season by the Steam Packets; and its harbour constantly exhibits departing or returning vessels.

Two weekly Markets are held here, and a handsome Market-house, over which is the Town-hall, has been lately erected; it is enclosed by iron gates, and is neatly kept, and well supplied. Many improvements, among which are a handsome Esplanade; a new carriage road across the Marine Parade, which latter is to be considerably widened; and very extensive excavations in the cliffs for the formation of new and more commodious Baths, are either completed or in progress; and the inhabitants of Margate appear determined to ensure a continuance of the patronage which they have hitherto experienced, by continued efforts to deserve it.

MILTON

Is a very ancient town, which formed part of the possessions of the Saxon monarchs, and remained vested in the crown until the time of Charles I, by

whom it was alienated. Its situation near the Swale exposed it to the frequent incursions of the Danes, and towards the close of the ninth century, Hastings, one of their chiefs, attempted to establish himself in the vicinity, by building a fortification at Kemsley Downs, about half way between the present town and the mouth of the creek; the remains of this fortification are still visible, consisting of a high rampart and broad ditch, enclosing a square of about 100 feet each way; from its having been long overgrown with trees and underwood, it has acquired the appellation of Castle Rough. Here was a Palace of the Saxon kings, which was burnt by Earl Godwin, together with the town, about 1052; but at the time of the Domesday Survey, Milton had again become a place of considerable consequence.

A

The Church is large and handsome, having a fine tower of flint at the west end; it contains some ancient tombs and brasses. The Market-house is near the centre of the town, and not far from this building is the Court-house, an ancient edifice, in which the public business of the place is transacted, and beneath which is the Gaol. The government of Milton is exercised by a Portreeve, chosen annually by all the inhabitants who pay poor's rates. weekly Market, granted by Edward II, is held on Saturday, and considerable business is done in corn, &c.; but the principal support of the inhabitants is derived from the oyster fishery, which is under the management of a Company of Free Dredgers," and whose produce is well known and highly esteemed under the name of Native Miltons. The population, in 1821, was 2012; 40 miles from London.

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NEWENDEN is a small village near the Rother, which here divides Kent from Sussex. Camden and other antiquaries suppose it to have arisen from the ruins of the British city of Caer Andred, which was destroyed by the Saxons in 491; and the exact site of the ancient city is described as being indi

* The Saxon termination Den is frequently found in the names of places situated in the Weald, and is supposed to signify a woody place, or valley sinking abruptly from the general level of the surrounding country, in opposition to those valleys which gradually decline from, and are bounded by gently-rising hills.

cated by the remains of a deep ditch and bank, enclosing an area of about twenty acres, on an elevated spot, still called Castle-Toll, about a mile from the present village, where Roman coins, &c. have been found at various periods. Newenden now consists of no more than a few houses surrounding the small but ancient Church; the inhabitants are about 150, and it is 47 miles distant from London.

NEWINGTON, a little village, 36 miles from the metropolis, on the high road to Dover, is supposed by some writers to occupy the site of the Roman Durolevum, but this opinion has been controverted by others, who place that station at Ospringe, near Feversham. It is certain, however, that the road called Watling Street crossed this parish, and many Roman remains have been found in the neighbourhood, particularly at a place called Crock-field, on account of the great number of urns and other vessels which have been dug up there, and which has thence been looked upon as a common burial-place for the soldiers stationed at the adjacent military posts. The Church is finely situated on a rising ground, about half a mile from the village, surrounded by wellwooded hills; it is in part of Norman architecture, and has a square tower, constructed of flints and ragstone. The inhabitants of Newington, in 1821, were 629.

NORTHFLEET, two miles from Gravesend, is chiefly distinguished for its extensive lime and chalk works, beside which a ship-building yard, and a manufactory of Roman cement, give employment to many of the inhabitants, whose number, in 1821, was nearly 2000. The Church is a large and ancient structure, having a nave, aisles, and chancel, with a low tower; it is a peculiar of the Archbishop of this diocese.

OTFORD, a village three miles from Sevenoaks, had formerly a splendid Palace, the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury, from a very early period until the reign of Henry VIII, to whom Cranmer surrendered it; very small remains of its ancient grandeur are now to be seen. This was a favourite retirement of Becket, and here he is said to have wrought many

miracles, the most useful of which was the production of a spring of fine water," where before there was none, by striking his staff on the ground; this is still in use, and is called "Thomas a-Becket's Well." The Church is a neat modern building; and the population of the parish was, in 1821, 630 persons. In the neighbourhood of Otford, two battles have been fought; in one of which, in 774, Aldric, King of Kent, was defeated by Offa, King of Mercia; and in the second, in 1016, the Danes, under Canute, were totally routed by Edmund Ironside.

PENNENDEN HEATH, about four miles from Maidstone, is celebrated as the spot on which many County Meetings have been held, in ancient times as well as in modern days. Here, in 1076, the great assembly convened to hear the complaints made by Archbishop Lanfranc, against Odo, Earl of Kent, determined in favour of the former, and adjudged the latter to restore a great part of the lands of which he had robbed the Archiepiscopal See, as well as that of Rochester. This is also the spot where malefactors are executed; and here the election of Members for the County takes place, and the Kentish yeomanry have distinguished themselves in many an arduous contest.

PENSHURST, a village about six miles from Tuubridge Wells, derives its celebrity from the adjoining Castle, a noble mansion, which has been the residence of the illustrious family of Sydney from the reign of Edward VI, by whom it was granted to Sir William Sydney, who had been his tutor. His grandson, Sir Philip Sydney, born here in 1554, was the boast and wonder of his age; a poet, a statesman, and a warrior, his virtues were equally eminent as his talents; and, to adopt the expression of one of his biographers," he had homage from all eyes, commanded attention from every ear, and won the affection of all hearts." He was killed at the battle of Zutphen, September 22, 1586, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. His brother, Sir Robert, afterwards Earl of Leicester, was equally eminent as a statesman and a soldier; and their sister Mary, who became Countess of Pembroke, is celebrated in