"And Chatham! though it is not thine to show

The lofty forest, or the verdant lawn;

Yet niggard silence shall not grudge thee praise!
The lofty forests, by thy sons prepared,

Become the warlike navy, brave the floods,

And give Britannia empire o'er the main."-CHRISTOPHER SMART.

W

HILST the bill for the proposed railway from London to Chatham is passing the standing orders of either house of Parliament, we must content ourselves with making the excursion by steam-boat to Gravesend ; journeying thence by the railway on the banks of the canal to Stroud, where we shall find a floating bridge ready to carry us across the river to Chatham, within a few yards of the High Street. The ride through the dreary tunnel, with the dark waters of the canal beneath us, and an insecure chalk roof above

our heads, enlivened as it is by occasional shrieks from the engine's vaporous lungs, and the unceasing rattle of the train, is apt to make one feel somewhat nervous; and the first glimpse of bright daylight that breaks upon us, relieves us from a natural anxiety as to the chances we run of being crushed by the fall of some twenty tons of chalk from above, or of being precipitated into twenty feet

SIR JOHN HAWKINS'S HOSPITAL-CHATHAM CHEST.

of water beneath, with the doors of the carriages locked, and no "nautilus belt" round our waists, and not even a child's caul in our pocket. This relief, however, is but temporary, for the light only breaks in through a gap in the tunnel, which some more experienced passenger informs us we are only half out of. However, the journey is brought to a close without any accident; and we embark on board the steamer that is to deposit us on the Chatham shore. On our way we catch a glimpse of Rochester bridge, with the sun-lit walls of the tall Castle rising up behind it, and the green hills that border the Medway stretching away into the extreme distance. The old city of Rochester is passed, and we near the Chatham fortifications, and obtain a sight of the Saluting Battery. The steamer heaves to some little distance beyond the Old Victualling office, (now degraded into a coal-wharf,) beside a neat little pier that almost adjoins the Sun hotel. We make our way at once to the High Street, which possesses all the peculiar characteristics of the leading thoroughfare of a small seaport-town. Turning to the right, on the opposite side of the way, we come up with the Hospital for decayed Mariners and Shipwrights, founded two centuries and a half since, by Sir John Hawkins,-to whose honour be it said, Vice-Admiral of the little British fleet that, in the reign of Elizabeth, subdued the braggart Armada; and,-to whose disgrace, the first Englishman, after the discovery of the American continent, who trafficked in slaves. About twenty years since the hospital was rebuilt, and there are at present twelve pensioners on the foundation, each occupying a separate house, and receiving a small allowance weekly. The management of the charity is vested in twenty-six governors.

To Sir John Hawkins, in conjunction with Sir Francis Drake, the foundation of the famous Chatham Chest is attributed. This was a voluntary subscription, on the part of the seamen belonging to the royal navy, for the relief of their aged and destitute companions; and the first recipients of this mutual bounty were the sufferers in the engagements with the Spanish Armada. The best intentions of men are, however, often frustrated, if only for a time; and thus it was with this charity, into the management of which so many abuses had crept, that after a searching inquiry the "Chest" (originally there was a chest, locked with five locks) was removed,

GUNDULPH'S CHAPEL-MECHANICS

INSTITUTE.

in 1802, to Greenwich, and placed under the control of the commissioners of Greenwich Hospital.

Passing up the narrow lane opposite, we alight upon the remains of a much more ancient charitable institution, an Hospital for lepers, founded shortly after the conquest by Bishop Gundulph, and of which only a small portion of the chapel attached is at

present in existence. This has been furbished up, and added to, and the building now serves as a chapel of ease. The revenues of the charity, at the present day, support four pensioners,

two of whom are in orders. Our pious ancestors paid

more attention to the orthodoxy of their poorer brethren, and to their relief in time of want and sickness, than to the cultivation of their intellects; there was the convent wicket for the hungry, hospitals for the sick and aged, and confessors for the sinful; but learning was confined to the priesthood, and, with a few rare exceptions, without the pale of the church all was ignorance and superstition. Now-a-days we need not travel far in search of a striking contrast to this state of things, for only a few steps further on is a neat, though plain- looking building, styled the Chatham Mechanics' Institute, one of the many signs of the general diffusion of knowledge at the present time.

Yonder steep lane, called Hamon Hill, will lead us to an elevated spot, from whence we may gaze for miles around, catching, on the one hand, a view of the river Medway, here and there washing the banks of a marshy island, as it flows on in its tortuous course towards the famous arsenal of Sheerness, the place of its bridal with old Father Thames, sung by Spenser in his "Faerie Queen." tells us that

"a solemn feast was there
To all the sea-gods and their fruitful seed,
In honour of the spousals which then were
Betwixt the Medway and the Thames agreed.
Long had the Thames (as we in records read),
Before that day, her wooed to his bed;

But the proud Nymph would for no worldly meed,

He

BRIDAL OF THE THAMES AND MEDWAY.

Nor no entreaty, to his love be led,

Till now at last, relenting, she to him was wed."

He pictures the bride,

"Clad in a vesture of unknow en gear

And uncouth fashion, yet her well became,

That seemed like silver, sprinkled here and there
With glittering spangs, that did like stars appear;
And waved upon, like water chamelot,

To hide the metal, which yet everywhere

Bewrayed itself, to let men plainly wot

It was no mortal work that seemed, and yet was not. "Her goodly locks adown her back did flow

Unto her waist with flowers bescattered,

The which ambrosial odours forth did throw
To all about, and all her shoulders spread
As a new spring; and likewise on her head
A chapelet of sundry flowers she wore,

From under which the dewy humour shed
Did trickle down her hair, like to the hoar

Congealed little drops which do the morn adore."

Passing over Spenser's concise, yet beautiful description of the various sea-nymphs that attend upon the bride, let us return to the bridegroom,

"The noble Thames with all his goodly train."

The poet tells us, that he

"full fresh and jolly was,

All decked in a robe of watchet hue,

On which the waves, glittering like crystal glass,
So cunningly enwoven were, that few

Could weenen whether they were false or true;
And on his head, like to a coronet

He wore, that seemed strange to common view,
In which were many towers and castles set,

That it encompassed round, as with a golden fret.

*

And round about him many a pretty page
Attended duly, ready to obey;

All little rivers, which owe vassalage

*

Then came his neighbour floods, which nigh him dwell,

And water all the English soil throughout,

They all on him this day attended well,

And with meet service waited him about."

On our left hand the square tower of Rochester Castle rears its dark front, reminding us of the times of feudal tyranny, when

THE LINES-FORT PITT.

the Saxon carl groaned beneath the yoke of the Norman conqueror ; and directly beneath us lie the bustling and crowded towns of Chatham and Brompton. Those zigzag embankments, which enclose almost a town within their circuit, are the famous Lines, and the building on the summit of the elevated ground on which we stand is called Fort Pitt. This strong redoubt, constructed during the

American war, from its situation commands the upper part of the river Medway; but now, since the din of war has passed from our shores, is occupied by invalid soldiers returned from India, and as a general military hospital. The curiosities brought home by these men, and here deposited, form an interesting museum, to which the public were formerly admitted, without introduction, on two days in the week. When the ground was broken for the erection of this fortress, in 1779, the workmen came upon the foundation of a building, evidently of Roman origin, not more than four or five inches below the surface, comprising a range of small apartments, the largest not exceeding ten feet square, the inner walls of which were painted over with red, blue, and green spots.

Higher up the river, beyond Rochester Bridge, and situated also on a commanding eminence, is Fort Clarence, now used merely as a military prison, for which purpose it has recently been fitted up. This is another of those fortresses constructed during the war,