found, sometimes so large as to be esteemed as great curiosities in natural philosophy.

GRAVESEND. In Domesday Book this was written GRAVES-HAM, which implies the residence of the greve or ruler. It is called in the Textus Roffensis, Gravesande. A third etymology imagines it to have been derived from the Saxon Graf, a coppice, and ande, the wood end. But we disclaim strained etymologies, though we have given the above as great uncertainties.

This, like other domains in the vicinity, was held by Odo, half brother to William I. Upon his disgrace the family of Cramaville, or Cremille, came into possession. In the reign of Edward II. the whole escheated to the crown. Edward III. granted it to Robert de Ufford, earl of Suffolk, an eminent statesman and warrior, and one of the first knights of the Garter. His grandson reconveyed it to his sovereign, who granted it to his new foundation of the Abbey of St. Mary of Graces on Tower Hill, which grant was confirmed by Richard II. The manor, after the dissolution, came into various hands, till it was sold by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, in pursuance of a licence from queen Elizabeth, to Thomas Gawdye and James Morice; Sir Thomas Gawdye, in the twenty-fifth of this reign, being possessed of the sole right, alienated the whole to William Brooke, lord Cobham, on the attainder of whose son, in the reign of James I. it reverted to the crown, and that king granted it to Lodowick, son of Esme Stuart, duke of Lenox and Richmond; by a female it came into the family of Bligh, earls of Darnley; John earl of Darnley, is the present lord of the manor, and high steward of the corporation*.

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* The lords of the manor of Gravesend have a right to hold a court for the regulation of the boats and water-carriage between Gravesend and London. This court is called, in an old roll, dated in the thirty-third year of Elizabeth, now in the possession of the earl of Darnley, Curia Cursus Aqua: in that year it appears to have been held by William Lambarde, steward to William, lord Cobham. This court has not been held for a

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By its situation on the banks of the Thames, and being the first port in that river, Gravesend is advantageously placed for trade; it is distant twenty-two miles from London, seven from Dartford, and seven from Rochester. The parishes of Gravesend and Milton were incorporated in the tenth year of queen Elizabeth, and are governed by a mayor, high steward, twelve jurats, and twenty-four common councilmen. The town has a market every Wednesday and Saturday, and a fair on the 23d of April and 24th of October. The manor, whilst in possession of the abbot and monks, and "he being willing," as Harris relates, "to promote the interest of the town, obtained of king Richard II. a grant to the men of Gravesend and Milton of the exclusive privilege of conveying passengers from thence to London, on the conditions that they should provide boats on purpose, and carry all persons, either at two-pence per head with his bundle, or the whole boat's fare should be four shillings *." This charter has been confirmed by succeeding princes, and under proper regulations they still enjoy this advantageous privilege. The fare is now one shilling each passenger. The boats are large and commodious; they are obliged to depart on the ringing of a bell a quarter of an hour, to London with every flood, and

great number of years; notwithstanding which, in the several acts for regulating the navigation of the river Thames, there is in general a reservation of the rights of the Heirs of the duke of Richmond, and Lenox, which clause was added in respect to this water-court at Gravesend.→ Hasted's Kent.

* This sole right to the ferry between London and Gravesend, seems to have been attained from prescription as early as the year 1293, as appears from a printed record in the Registum Roffense; the watermen, who it seems had long possessed it, were then ordered to take in future "but one halfpenny of a person passing, as they did formerly, and not to exact fares, hurtful to, and against the will of the people." This restraint to such a small sum as a halfpenny, seems absurd in modern days; but when it is considered, that even after the year 1300, a quarter of wheat could be bought for four shillings, a bull for seven shillings and sixpence, a fat mutton for one shilling, and an ewe sheep for fourpence, the restriction will not appear unreasonable.-Pococke's Gravesend. Re gistum Roffense. Beauties of England, &c.

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from Billingsgate on the like signal with every ebb. In the year 1380 this town was burnt, and several of the inhabitants carried away by the French and Spaniards, who came up the Thames in row-gallies. For its future security, Henry VIII. raised a platform of guns to the east of the town, and erected Tilbury Fort on the Essex shore, which, as a regular fortification, has a battery commanding the river mounted with above one hundred pieces of cannon, carrying balls from twenty-four to forty-six pound weight.

To remove the inconveniencies attending the ferry from Gravesend into Essex, denominated THE LONG FERRY, at which all horses, carriages, cattle, troops, &c. as are obliged to pass, an ingenious plan was proposed, in the year 1798, by Mr. Dodd, an engineer, to form a circular passage, or Tunnel, under the bed of the Thames, between Gravesend and Tilbury, sufficiently capacious for all the purposes of land commerce, and to be illuminated by lamps, so that an uninterrupted communication might be preserved. This scheme was patronized by the two counties, a subscription was opened to defray the expence of carrying it into effect, and the work was commenced on the Gravesend side, under a strong impression that it would be successfully completed. Various obstacles, however, impeded its progress to such a degree, as occasioned the whole concern to be relinquished.

The corporation of London claim the right of conservancy of the rivers Thames and Medway, within certain li-mits, and two courts of conservancy for Kent are generally held every year at Gravesend, which is commonly supposed to be the extremity of the port of London. Its immediate jurisdiction, however, extends to about one mile below the town, to the extremity of the parish of Milton, beyond which coals pay no duty to that city.

Queen Elizabeth ordered the lord mayor of London, the åldermen, and all the companies, to receive all eminent strangers and ambassadors at Gravesend in their formalities; and attend them to London in their barges, if they went by water; if they went by land they were to meet them on VOL. V. No. 109.

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