even known to the Romans, on account of its marshy situa tion; the tide also flowing over the greatest part of the Jand, might have occafioned the Roman way to have taken a more southern direction than the present road.

The antient name appears to have been Depeford, on account, of the ford over the Ravensbourn, till a wooden bridge was erected over that river, which was replaced, in 1628, by a stone bridge near its influx into the Thames.

Deptford was the principal seat of Gilbert de Maminot, a Norman baron, in the time of William I. His son, Walcheline de Maminot, having been appointed warden of the Cinque Ports, maintained them in favour of the empress Maud; but being reduced to the last extremity, he sur, rendered Dover castle to king Stephen. Upon the accession of Henry II, he again surrendered it to that monarch, and retired into Normandy, where he died without iffue. This nobleman was a great benefactor to the abbey of Bermondsey, to which, in the year 1157, he gave ten shillings rent out of the mill at Deptford.

Whilst the family of Maminot held this place, they erected a castle, and esteemed it the head of their barony *;

the

Thomas's watering place, one side of which represented the countenance of a bearded man, with the horns and ears of a ram, a jewel, or other ornament suspended on each side of the head, which was crowned with Jaurel; on the opposite side was the countenance of a young woman, in antient head attire, which at the same time that it covered the head, projected from it. The whole was entire, and seemed to have been fixed on a square terminus, and was one foot and an half high. It was afterwards deposited in the collection of Dr. Woodward. Hasted, in his History of Kent, has preserved a figure of this Roman remain.

*. Sir Henry Spelman informs us, that "the Saxon Theinge, or lord of the town, (whom the Normans called a Baron) had of old jurisdiction over them of his own town, (being as it were his colony); and as Cornelius Tacitus saith, did agricolis suis jus dicere. For those whom we now call Tenants, were in those antient times but husbandmen dwelling upon the soil of the lord, and manuring the same, on such conditions as the lord assigned; or else such as were their followers in the wars, and had therefore portions of ground appointed unto them in respect of that

service;

the castle, according to Mr. Hasted, had some remains visible near Saye's Court, in Bromfield, on the bank of the Thames, near the Mast Dock.

By a female heir this place came into the possession of the family of Saye, and was then called the Manor of West Greenwich; by which name it was granted by Geoffery de Saye, with the advowson of the church, &e. to the Knights Templars. His son Geoffrey regained the possession of Deptford, by an exchange of Sadlescombe, in Sussex. This honor came afterwards by another female heir to the family of Heron; it was then held by De la Pole, duke of Suffolk, from whose family it came to the crown in the reign of Henry VII. It was granted by that monarch to

Oliver

service; which portion was thereupon called a Knight's Fee; because that a servant in the war, whom the Saxons called a Knight, had it allotted unto him as the fee or wages of his service. Neither, at the first had they these their fees, but at the lord's pleasure, or for a time limited; and therefore both these kinds of military and husbandmen dwelling upon the town or colony of the ford, were, as in reason they ought, under the censure and will of their lord respecting the lands they occupied; who therefore set them laws and customs, and in what manner they should possess these their lands; and as any controversy rose about them, the lord assembling the rest of his followers, did by their opinion and assist ance judge it. Out of which usage, the Court Burons took their beginning, and the lords of towns and manours gained the privilege of holding plea and jurisdiction within those their territories over their tenants and followers; who thereapon are at this day called Sectatores, in French Suitres, or Suivre, to follow. But the Saxons themselves called this ju risdiction Sacha and Socha, signifying thereby causarum actionem, and. libertatem judicandi; for Sacha signifieth, causa, in which sense we yet use it, as when we say For God's sake; and Socha signifieth Liberty or Privilege, as Cyric-socne, libertus ecclesia. But by this manner the lords of towns, as ex consuetudine regni, came to have jurisdiction over their tenants and followers, and to hold pleas of all things touching land. But as touching cognizance of criminal matters, they had not otherwise to meddle therewith, than by the king's charters. For, as touching the king's peace, every hundred was divided into many Free-borgs, or Tithings, consisting of ten men, which stood all bound one for the other, and did amongst themselves punish small matters, in their court for that purpose, called the Lete; which was sometime granted over to the lords of“ manours, and sometimes exercised by peculiar officers. But the greater

Oliver St. John, and at the death of his son it reverted to the crown; and was granted in the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, to Sir Richard Browne, who died in poffeffion, 1604. Mary, the sole daughter of another Sir Richard Browne, bart. having married John Evelyn, Esq. in 1647, this estate went into that family, in which it still continues in the person of Sir Frederick Evelyn, bart. of Wotton, in Surrey. The manor, however, is still vested in the crown, and the stewardship has been held with that of Greenwich.

Mr. Evelyn, the author of several eminent works, particularly on gardening, made this his favourite spot; his gardens bere, are said to have been the wonder and admiration of the times; and what he prided himself upon was a hedge of holly, which he thus describes, with a great degree of enthusiasm, in one of the later editions of his Silva, published by himself in 1704. "Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind, than an impregnable hedge of about four hundred feet in length, nine feet high, and five in diameter; which I can shew in my now ruined garden at Saye's Court, (thanks to the czar of Muscovy) at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves; the taller standards, at orderly distances, blushing with their natural coral? It mocks the

greater things were also carried from thence into the Hundred Courts; so that both the streams of civil justice, and of criminal, did there meet, and were decided by the hundreds, &c. as by superior judges both to the Court Baron and Court Leet.

"

A very important lesson is conveyed to all jurymen, by one of the laws of king Ethelred, which says, "Let the courts be holden in every hundred, and let twelve men of the elder sort, together with the rive (of the hundred) holding their hands upon some holy thing, take their oath that they shall neither condemn any man that is innocent, nor quit him that is guilty."

Canute the Great ordained, "That a man was not to be delayed above three court days from having his right: for if he were, he might then resort to the county; and if he obtained it not there, within four courts, then he might seek unto the king." This is the origin of removing causes into superior courts.-Antient Government of England.

rudest

rudest assaults of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breakersEt illum nemo impune lacessit." "It is said," obferves Mr. Lysons," that Peter the Great, czar of Muscovy, to whom Mr. Evelyn lent his place at Saye's Court, whilst he was studying naval architecture in the adjoining dock-yard', in 1698, used to amuse himself by being wheeled through this hedge in a wheelbarrow. Though the royal tenant paid very little respect either to his landlord's trees or hedges, I think, by Mr. Evelyn's description of his holly, and the exulting manner in which he speaks of its being proof against the rudest hedge breakers, that the czar rather chose any other hedge than this for his amusement. The house and gardens are now demolished, and there is no trace remaining of Saye's Court,, which was pulled down in 1729; the parish workhouse is built on the site!

Deptford has to boast of having been the residence of the earl of Nottingham, lord high admiral, and the destroyer of the Spanish Armada. The Gun tavern is supposed to have been his house, over the chimney-piece of which, his armorial bearings, encircled with the Garter, are carved in wood. In Deptford was also a magnificent house belonging to Sir Thomas Smith, farmer of the customs to queen Elizabeth, and ambassador from James I. to Russia; the house was burnt down in 1618. Cowley, the poet, was a resident for some time in this town.

There are two hospitals belonging to the corporation of the Trinity House. The old hospital was built in the reign. of Henry VIII.; it was rebuilt in 1788, and the number of apartments increased from twenty-one to twenty-eight. This structure joins the church-yard of St. Nicholas. The New Hospital is situated in Church Street. Sir Richard Browne, in 1672, gave the ground, after the expiration of a short term; and Capt. Maples, in 1680, gave 1300l. towards the building. This structure has fifty-six apart ments, and forms a spacious quadrangle, the statue of captain Maples being in the centre; a plain building on the dast side serves as a chapel and hall, to which the brethren VOL. V. No. 105.

L

of

Extra. plates

of the Trinity House resort annually on Trinity Monday, in procession, and afterwards go to St. Nicholas's church. The pensioners in both hospitals consist of decayed pilots and masters of ships, or their widows. The single men and widows receive about 181. per annum; the married men about 281. Of the origin and foundation of this corporation we have given an account in Vol. II. p. 213.

Deptford received its first consequence and gradual increase of population from

THE ROYAL DOCK YARD.

Exha. This noble arsenal was founded by Henry VIII. and is lafet esteemed one of the most complete repositories for naval 0.69

stores in Europe; and the number of hands which are conconstantly employed in the several branches of this important object of national strength and security, is immense. The vast storehouse we are describing, forms a grand quadrangle on the east, west, and south sides; and à double front towards the north was added in the year 1721. A spacious storehouse parallel, and of the same length to the buildings abovementioned, having sail and rigging lofts, have been recently finished. Lord Barham, (Sir Charles Middleton) in 1780, caused a range of smaller storehouses to be erected; so that the whole extent of the yard covers about thirty-one acres; in which are a double and a single wet dock, and three slips; a bason, and two mast ponds. A large smith's shop contains twenty forges for anchors, &c. mast houses, sheds for timber, a mould loft, various workshops and houses for the officers, who are a clerk of the cheque, storekeeper, master shipwright, and assistants, clerk of the survey, master attendant, surgeon, &c.; for on account of its proximity to the metropolis, this dock yard has no commissioners, being immediately under the inspection of the Navy Board. The treasurer, of the navy usually resided here during the reigns of James I. and Charles I. The number of artificers and labourers, riggers, &c. are supposed at three thousand. In this yard

were