benefactors; the residue of the profits of the estate was applied in relieving the sick, the impotent, and the neces sitous, whether neighbours or travellers. This seems to have been the original design of hospitals, that travellers, especially pilgrims, might be refreshed and entertained; for these purposes, they were usually erected near public roads."

About half a mile from Stroud, on the banks of the Medway, is a building called THE TEMPLE, on account of its having belonged to the Knights Templars; it is now a farm house. Little remains of the antient structure, except a spacious cellar vaulted with chalk and stone groins;

the walls are of a considerable thickness.

The jurisdiction of the corporation of Rochester extends over the north side of this street, including the church; the remainder is in the north division of the Lathe of Aylesford, and in the hundred of Shammell. Great part of the inhabitants of Stroud are supported by the fisheries; of which the oyster is most considerable. This is conducted by a company of free dredgers, established by prescription, but subject to the authority and government of the mayor and citizens of Rochester. In 1729 an act of parlia ment was obtained, for the better management of this fishery, and for confirming the jurisdiction of the said mayor and citizens, and free dredgers. The mayor holds a court of admiralty every year, to make such regulations as shall be necessary for the well-conducting this valuable branch of fishery. Seven years apprenticeship entitles a person to the freedom of this company. All persons catching oysters, not members of the fishery, are liable to a penalty. The company frequently buy brood or spat from other parts, which they lay in the river Medway, where they soon grow to maturity. Great quantities of these oysters supply the London markets, and are sent to various parts of the world.

EMINENT CURATE. JOHN HARRIS, D.D. prebendary of Rochester, rector of St. Mildred, Bread Street, London, editor of the Hist. of Kent, Lexicon Technicum, and other works.

Having passed the stately bridge over the river Medway, we arrive at the

CITY AND LIBERTY OF ROCHESTER.

This city is twenty-nine miles from the metropolis, and twenty-six from Canterbury. It is situated in a pleasant valley, on the banks of the river Medway, and has a salubrious air.

It is said to have been called Dur-brif, from the swift currency of the river on which it stands, which the Romans converted to Durobrive and Durobrivis; in the Peutinger Tables it is contracted Roibis; it was denominated Hrofcester by the Saxons, which by lapse of time has been changed to its present name.

The antient Durobrive, was one of the stipendiary cities, and many Roman remains have been dug up; particularly in the Castle Gardens and the vicinity, where abundance of coins of the emperors Vespasian, Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Constantius, and Constantine the Great, have been found. Within the walls of the great tower, or keep of the castle, coins of Vespasian, Trajan, and of the Lower Empire, have been discovered. Roman bricks are worked up in the present ruined walls of the cathedral precinct, it is therefore probable that the whole city stands on the Roman site. In levelling a part of a large artificial mount, called Bully Hill, which is situated at a small distance southward from the castle, other antiquities have been explored. These consisted of vessels of glazed earthen ware, as urns, jugs, pateræ, &c. The largest urn was of a lead colour, in height thirteen inches; and in circumference, two feet seven inches, in the widest part: it contained ashes, and human bones. The patera were of fine red earth, and of different sizes and shapes *.

The History of Rochester is incomplete till the conversion of Ethelbert, the Saxon king of Kent, to the Christian faith, in 597; soon after which, that prince caused the church of St. Andrew to be erected, and raised the city into

a bishop's see. It was still, however, considered as a military station; and Bede styles it a "Castle of the Kentishmen." In 676, Ethelred, king of Mercia, destroyed Ro. chester, and the depredations and inhumanity of the Danes were often experienced in this city; particularly in 839, when they sacked the place, and committed "unheard-of cruelties." In 885, they again attacked it, but the inhabitants being assisted by Alfred the Great, bravely withstood them, and they were driven to their ships. In 986, it was again ineffectually besieged by Ethelred, who finding himself unable to subdue the city, he desisted, and gratified his vengeance by laying waste all the lands belonging to the bishop against whom he had taken offence. In 998 the inhabitants fled with terror at the approach of the Danish fleet, and the city was once more pillaged so completely, that from this period no resistance was made to the invaders.

Rochester belonged to the crown in the time of Edward the Confessor. William I. granted it to Odo, bishop of Baieux; and it is recorded in the Domesday Book, that "The city of Roshester, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was worth 100 shillings, and the like when the bishop received it; now it is worth 20 pounds; yet he who held it paid 40 pounds."

In the year 1083, on the disgrace of Odo, Rochester, with his other possessions, were seized by the crown. Henry I. farmed it out to the citizens, at the yearly rent of 201. paid by the bailiff. He also granted to bishop Gundulph, and the church of Rochester, an annual fair, to be held on the eve and day of St. Paulinus, with other rights and immunities. In the same reign, on the seventh of May, 1130, whilst the king and his court, the archbishop of Canterbury, and other prelates, were at Rochester, on account of the consecration of the cathedral church then recently finished, the city was nearly demolished by fire. Similar misfortunes befel it in 1137, and 1379; in both the latter fires, the cathedral received some damage*.

* Custumnale Roffense, p. 164.

Henry