Beside the Manor above mentioned, and also belonging to T. L. Hodges, Esq. are those of HEMSTED AND COMBDEN, now called CAMDEN.-At Hemsted, Queen Elizabeth was entertained by Sir Thomas Guldeford in her progress through the county, on the 20th day of August, 1575. Speaking of Benenden, Hasted observes, "It has of late years had the improvement of a turnpike road, which leads through it from Cranbrook towards Rolvenden and Tenterden; before which, the roads were so deep in Winter, that within these fifty years, Sir John Norris, whilst he resided at Hemsted, was forced to have his coach drawn to church in the common waggon track, by six oxen one before the other, as the only means of conveyance to it. The soil is mostly à stiff clay, having plenty of marle at different parts throughout it, and in some parts sand." This road from Cranbrook through Benenden and Rolvenden to Tenterden, is now excellent and extremely pleasant. At this place is a well conducted Free School, of which and other charitable bequests, a particular account will be found in Hasted (vol. VII. p. 180—1); but the industrious poor, have a living and a liberal patroness in the Lady of the present owner of Hemsted.

*

The CHURCH, the situation of which has been above described, is dedicated to ST. GEORGE, and consists of a nave, side aisles and chancel, having a square embattled tower at the west end, with a beacon turret. By a storm of thunder and lightning the church was destroyed, December the 29th, 1672, and rebuilt in 1678. The present steeple was erected in 1715; the former one stood apart+ on the north side of the C

* Daughter of the Dowager Lady Twisden, of Hunton.

+ The campanile, or that particular tower allotted for the use of bells, was sometimes a distinct and separate building of itself; but more commonly adjoined to the church, so as to make part of the fabric, usually at the west end. Monast. Angl. vol. I. p. 995 line 42.

building; it was built with stone at bottom and the upper parts were composed of wood, of very curious workmanship, having a lofty spire on the top of it.* The church of Benenden was part of the possessions of Combwell Priory in Goudhurst, to which it was appropriated before the reign of Richard the Second. In this state the appropriation (together with the advowson of the vicarage) continued until the suppres sion of the Priory in the reign of Henry the Eighth, when they passed into the hands of the crown, and there remained 'till the 34th of that reign, when the King granted this rectory and advowson to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite; who alienated them shortly after to Sir Thomas Guldeford, and with his descendants they continued, in like manner as Hemsted, 'till they passed by sale with that manor to Thomas Hallet Hodges, Esq. whose son is the present proprietor of them. In the cemetery here, an honorable and just tribute to the memory of John Dean, late steward of T. L. Hodges, Esq. has been paid by that gentleman; the memorial itself is only remarkable as differing essentially from what we usually see in such places, where truth and propriety, unfortunately, are, but seldom found. Instances of absurdity in compositions of this kind are neither rare or confined to any one district or county; they are to be met with in all, and were we to set aside all that are wanting in grammar, sense, or truth, but few would remain. We shall only offer two examples in this place; the

* Hasted.

+ The following pertinent remarks on the vanity and general impropriety of epitaphs will be found in the Kentish Register for July, 1794.-"The extensive limits of the vanity of man, terminate in an Epitaph. It is, however, often a stronger testimonial of the pride of the living, than of the virtues of the dead. It should hereby seem that falshood is so inseparably blended with humanity, that it follows them even to the tomb, and triumphs still over their ashes. The great expence that frequently accompanies this monumental flattery, has often its source in the design of giving credit to im

first is that "In Memory of Jane Withers of the parish of Biddenden, Gent. beginning "Now I am dead, &c." This, though an old story and sufficiently ridiculous in its original form, is rendered still more so by the corrections and variations it has undergone in the present edition. The other is in Memory of Henry Williams, Yeoman, with the following lucid and instructive notice,

"None but my wife doth know of this
"Because our children are all-

-dismist."

It is sincerely to be regretted that some expedient has not hitherto been adopted, to restrain the effusions of our village poets within the bounds of decency and common sense: surely it cannot be matter of indifference whether these repositories of the dead, become the scenes of serious meditation or of boisterous mirth; but that they are, generally speaking, calculated to excite the latter rather than the former, cannot be disputed.

As an argument in favor of the salubrity of these parts, there are now living (May 1813) in this parish, 50 persons upwards of 70 years of age, 24 above 80, and 3 who have passed their 90th year.

BETHERSDEN contains about 4000 acres of land, is situated southward of Pluckley and at no great distance below the quarry hills. It is wholly within the Weald. The general appearance of the country about Bethersden is by no means pleasing, the situation is low, and the land for the most part flat and unvaried; the soil generally a stiff miry clay, not unproductive under good management, but of expensive culture. One of the principal objections to the farms, in this neighC 2

posture; and the eulogium graven on marble, in honor of the deceased, is most frequently a portrait which it were to be wished he had resembled, Eather than the faithful likeness of what he really was.”