afterwards Earl of Salisbury, at the annual rent of 201. 13s. 4d. The next possessor was Edward Lord Wotton, who was owner at the time of the nuptials of Charles the First with the Princess Henrietta, which were consummated in this Abbey, on the 13th of June, 1625. Thomas Lord Wotton, who died in 1630, bequeathed this estate to Mary, his widow, for life, with remainder to his four daughters and co-heiresses: she appears to have constantly resided here; and from her the remaining buildings obtained the name of Lady Wotton's Palace. After her death, this estate was on a partition allotted to Anne, youngest daughter of the late Lord Wotton, who married Sir Edward Hales, Bart. of Wood-Church, in this county; and their descendant, the present Sir Edward Hales, Bart. of St. Stephen's, is now owner.

The immediate precincts of the Abbey included a circumference of about sixteen acres, the walls surrounding which are mostly entire. The west front extended to the length of 250 feet, and had a gate at each extremity: these gates are yet standing, together with the buildings adjoining to the principal one, which were inbabited by the Lady Wotton; but which, for a number of years, have been occupied as a public-house. ST. AUGUSTINE'S GATE, which was the grand entrance, is a very elegant structure, though the interior is most woefully dilapidated, it having been converted into a brewery. The front consists of a centre, united by octagonal towers, which rise above the roof in lofty turrets, finished by a rich cornice and battlement, and pierced by small and highly-ornamented windows: under the cornices are various heads, of much expression and character; and others, of similar execution, adorn the angles within the turrets. In the spandrils above the entrance arch, within quatrefoil recesses surrounded by circles, have been statues, now greatly broken and defaced: in the middle compartment are two handsome windows, each divided into two trefoilheaded lights, with a cinquefoil in the centre of the arch above. Between these windows, and on each side, as well as on the corresponding faces of the towers, are ornamental arches and niches, having trefoil heads, and pyramidical canopies. These connect with a cornice, charged with numerous human heads of excellent

sculpture. Above, on the flat of the gate, is a double range of trefoils, in reversed positions, separated from each other by a zigzag line; and over these is a handsome embattlement. The wooden doors have been finely carved, in a style corresponding with the ornaments of the stone-work. The vaulting within the entrance has been curiously groined, but is strangely disfigured by the smoke and steam of the brewery. The large room over it has been converted into the city Cock-pit; and so singular are the changes which the different parts of this foundation have undergone, that we find a fives-court, a bowling-green, a skittle-ground, an Hospital, and a Gaol, within the circuit of the walls. The other entrance, called the Cemetery Gate, from its communicating with the ancient burial-ground, has recently been much altered, to adapt it to the purposes of a modern dwelling, and now presents a most incongruous aspect. It never, however, was so beautiful as the former gate, though of subsequent erection; it having been built in the reign of Richard the Second, and previous to the year 1391, by Thomas Ickham, Sacrist of the Abbey, at the charge of 4661. 13s. 4d. St. Augustine's Gate was erected in the time of Abbot Fyndon, between the years 1297 and 1309, most probably at the expense of the Convent.

The remains of the ABBEY CHURCH, though so greatly reduced as to render it very difficult to trace the extent and form of the entire edifice, are extremely interesting, as they furnish us with an unquestionable specimen of early Norman architecture, and this of a rich and elegant kind. These ruins, independent of the Norman work, are chiefly confined to the mere walls of the east end and south aisle, which appear to have been rebuilt in the latter part of the fourteenth century. The west end has the name of Ethelbert's Tower; though from what cause, unless in veneration of his memory, is unknown. This, which is the ancient part, is a lofty and elegant ruin, exhibiting various ranges of semicircular arches, some of them intersecting each other, and being curiously adorned by mouldings and ornamental sculptures. The different parts display much fancy; and though the walls are very massive, yet the exuberance, and general cast, of the ornaments, give this

remain a far greater air of lightness and proportion, than is observable in most other Norman buildings. The remains of the ancient Campanile, or Bell Tower, which stood about sixty feet from the Church, towards the south, and the walls of which were of vast thickness, were wholly removed in the year 1793, though not without employing the combined efforts of 200 men.

When Augustine and King Ethelbert founded this Abbey, it was with the intention that it should be made the place of their own sepulture, and also of their successors for ever; yet this design was completely frustrated before the expiration of 160 years. Previous, however, to Archbishop Cuthbert obtaining the privilege of consecrating a burial-place within the walls of the city, all his predecessors were interred in this Abbey; namely, Augustine, Lawrence, Justus, Mellitus, Honorius, Deus Dedit, Theodore, Brithwald, Tatwyn, and Nothelm. Lambert, the next but one in succession to Cuthbert, was also buried here: and to the memory of each of these Prelates a shrine was afterwards erected within the Abbey Church. The Kings of Kent who were interred in this fabric, were Ethelbert, Eadbald, Ercombert, Lothaire, and Withred; and among the females of the blood-royal, were the Queens Bertha and Emma; and the Princess Mildreda, daughter of Lothaire. Many other persons of eminent rank have been buried here, though not a single memorial is now left to distinguish the places of their interment: among them was Juliana, Countess of Huntingdon, the rich infanta of Kent, who died in 1850, and was deposited in a Chantry Chapel of her own foundation, dedicated to St. Anne.

Before the Dissolution, the numerous buildings of this Abbey covered a great extent of ground, as may be easily traced from the unevenness of the surface, particularly towards the north-east of the ruins of the Church. On the south side was the common Cemetery, the greater part of which has been demised to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, erected here by public subscription, between the years 1791 and 1793. In digging the foundations of L113

the

The city records under the date of 1542, mention that, after the dissolution of this Abbey, the City was supplied with paving and building stones from its ruins, on paying a trifle to the gate-keeper.