has altogether disappeared, and houses have been built over the spot. There stood once a hospital for lepers, and like so many similar institutions, it was dedicated to St. Bartholomew; and heaps of bones thrown up by the implements of modern labour, prove that a large cemetery must have been near the hospital.

During some centuries that mysterious and dreadful disease, the leprosy, prevailed in our land to a most alarming extent; and in days when superstition, as well as humanity, prompted to the building of religious houses, its unfortunate victims were not forgotten. In the ninth century there were no less than nineteen thousand hospitals for this disease in our land, nor does the malady seem to have abated in virulence during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Though very accurately described by the physicians of those days, yet the disease is little understood, and it is doubtful whether it was native to Europe or introduced from the East.

Osborne and Godwin, two monks of the neighbouring Priory of St. Martin's, are said to have erected St. Bartholomew's Hospital in the year 1152; but other records state that it was built by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, with the consent of the prior and his brethren, and granted on condition that the society should daily pray for the souls of all the members of the priory, their predecessors and successors.

The piece of land on which the ecclesiastics reared their edifice was called Thega, and is on the western side of the London road, exactly opposite to the Wesleyan Chapel. The house was intended for ten brethren and ten sisters, but the number was soon reduced to eight of each. The persons who sought refuge in houses of this kind were not from among the classes of the rich and the noble, and would aid little by their donations towards its support. The records which contain the orders to be observed by the heads of the house and the patients, as well as a list of its lands, are now in good preservation in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford.

The attendance of the brethren and sisters on sufferers of this kind must, if faithfully and kindly rendered, have been one of great self-denial, and could never have been persevered in, year after year, without the influence of some strong motive. In actions like these, doubtless, a variety of motives would mingle. The feeling of kindness and pity, which would prompt the compassionate heart to soothe the woes of humanity, was greatly strengthened by the desire of pleasing God, and by the belief, then so prevalent, that eternal salvation was secured by a life of seclusion and religious services. Many became the inmates of the religious house on the same principle as that afterwards declared by the pious Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, who, in the sixteenth century, wrote, "I have thought in times past that if I had been a friar in a cowl, I could not have been damned, nor in fear of death." Even in those days of mistaken motives, we may, however, assuredly infer that the duties of benevolence were performed by some under the influence of the love of that Saviour who has said that the cup of cold water given to a disciple for His sake, should not be given in vain. He only who knows the hearts of men knows how far mistaken piety mingled with true and humble faith, or how far worldly motives alone prompted to the effort; but there are few who, in any age or country, would not find it a daily and hourly sacrifice to devote themselves wholly to the care of those who were suffering from so loathsome and infectious a malady. The founders of the house seem to have acted very liberally and considerately for the patients. They had a regular allowance of pork, barley, and beer; and on various festivals, including that of their own

birthday, they received an extra allowance of money. Pancakes were also distributed among them, and the alms given on the festival of their patron saint were theirs. Ground was allotted to them for cultivation, and seeds purchased for them; and we are not surprised to find among the orders for their own conduct, that they were required, after their first sleep, to sit up in their beds and say a paternoster; that on their first admission they were to be sprinkled with holy water, and led to the altar; and that a lamp was ordered to be kept continually burning before the crucifix.

This hospital was suppressed, with the other religious houses of Dover, by Henry VIII., though the disease was probably lessened by medical skill, or the king, with all his avarice, would hardly have turned out upon the world persons afflicted with a malady of this nature.

The noisy revelry of a fair, still held on this spot, is the only remembrancer of this old hospital, the fair having been granted to the house in former years as a means of increasing its revenues.

Walking hence into the streets of Dover, we in a few minutes descry the gray tower of the parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, bearing evident marks of its antiquity. This church was in all probability built by the secular canons of the priory of St. Martin, about the close of the reign of the Saxon kings. Most writers on the town of Dover describe it as of Saxon architecture; but though doubtless many a Saxon hand helped to rear it, yet it ought probably to be characterized as a Norman structure. "Though many writers," says Mr. Rickman, "speak of Saxon buildings, those which they describe as such, are either known to be Norman, or are so like them that there is no real distinction. It is most likely that in some obscure country churches some real Saxon of a much earlier date may exist; hitherto, however, none has been ascertained to be of so great an age.”

There is no doubt but that the canons of the priory of St. Martin built several of the old churches of Dover; and one can but admire the determined perseverance by which they accomplished their purpose, while we wonder whence they derived their means of rearing edifices so costly. Many of the materials for building, as well as much of the labour, were probably furnished by their own tenants. Some of the canons were doubtless men of wealth, and brought their riches as an endowment to the house in which they sought refuge from the world. The proceeds of their ecclesiastical fairs were of much importance, and probably they received some payments for the performance of those plays called Religious Mysteries, which these canons, in common with many others, are known to have acted for the edification of the inhabitants of Dover. The sale of pardons and indulgences would also prove an extensive source of profit in times when men believed that their sins could be expiated by the payment of money to the church. The pilgrims who shared the hospitality of the institution would not fail, when rich, to deposit their alms there in token of gratitude; nor were some of the methods used in modern times to obtain subseriptions for building churches altogether unknown in those days. If they had not fancy fairs and bazaars for this purpose, yet they knew how to obtain help from the laity, by inviting them to the purchase of the useful or ornamental in aid of this object. writer in the Archaeological Journal,' alluding to a similar subject, remarks:-" The sale of articles to increase the building-funds of a church was not unattempted in the fourteenth century; and by resorting to this method John de Wisbeach, a simple monk of Ely, was able to procure money enough to build the chapel of the Virgin Mary, attached to that cathedral. For twenty-eight years and thirteen months, as the chronicle states, he was not ashamed to take whatever he could procure for the continuance of the work, not only by asking, but by begging through the country, and thus passing his life in various labours in furtherance of his pious designs." This monk was accustomed to carry a pack at his back, containing such wares as he was licensed by his order to expose for sale; and though we have no record that such labours were performed in the somewhat earlier days of the canons of St. Martin's Priory, yet this fact proves that ways and means were not wanting to men of the olden times, when zeal prompted to activity and duty.

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The church of St. Mary the Virgin was restored about ten years since, and earlier alterations and additions combined with this have left but a small portion of the building in its original condition; but the old tower, some massive columns and arches, yet remain of the olden times. Plain

ness, simplicity, and strength appear to have been the characteristics of the edifice, and a low, semicircular-arched doorway still forms the main entrance, though it is sadly disfigured by a modern wooden frontispiece. On how many sabbath mornings has the bell sounded from out

that old tower, and summoned hither the men of past generations, aз it calls the men of modern times, reminding us of the poet's description!

"But now his steps a welcome sound recalls;
Solemn the knell from yonder ancient pile

Fills all the air, inspiring joyful awe;

Slowly the throng move o'er the tomb-paved ground

The aged man, the bowed down, the blind,

Led by the thoughtless boy; and he who breathes

With pain, and eyes the new-made grave well-pleased;

These, mingled with the young and gay, approach

The house of God; these, spite of all their ills,
A glow of gladness feel: with silent praise
They enter in."

The much larger population of Dover than that of the time of the building causes the more frequent tolling of the bell in token of the departure of some spirit to another world. We listen to it now with sympathy for the bereaved; but we no longer believe, as most probably did the men who reared the tower, that that sound brings an important benefit. "It is said," says Durandas, "that the wicked spirits that be in the region of the air, fear much when they hear the bells ringen; and this is the cause why the bells be ringen when it thundereth, to the end that the foul fiends and wicked spirits should be abashed and flee and cease from moving the tempest." That bell no longer bids us, as it did the men of old, to pray for the departed spirit, or to rejoice in its sound as scaring away the demons from those who are just departing. The Bible has become the common heritage of us all, and we can trust our dying ones to the care of Him who has promised to go with the Christian through the dark valley of death, and to land him safe in heaven.

The canons of the neighbouring priory had this church entirely under their jurisdiction, receiving all its emoluments, and providing priests for the service of the mass. It was taken from them by William, the son of Ageri, with the cognisance of Odo, Bishop of Baieaux, the Warden of the Cinque Ports. It then fell into the hands of King John, and in the time of Henry II. into the possession of the Abbot of Pontifex, until the society of the Maison Dieu hospital claimed and retained it till their house was suppressed.

Although King Henry VIII. and his commissioners were very resolute in the suppression of monastic institutions, they were not equally careful in suppressing the Roman Catholic faith; for in the year 1537, though the priory had long been used for other than religious purposes, yet Popish ceremonies were performed in this church. The churchwardens' accounts of those days present various items for "setting up the Paschal Lamb at Easter," for the "Paschal Taper," for "Processions of Angels," for the "Judas' Candle," for two persons to watch the sepulchre;' and record payments made to the clerk for his dirge and grace, and for vespers, dirges, masses, and various other services of the Popish religion.

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After the suppression of the religious houses, this church remained in the hands of the king until the people of Dover petitioned to have it for a place of worship; and as the tithes were of little value, their request was granted. The altar and images were then pulled down; a sale was made of the silver plate, the priests' vestments, the organ pipes, timber, lead, and all that covetous and ruthless hands could seize, under pretence of using the money in repairing and beautifying the structure. But scarcely had the good people of Dover settled themselves in their new mode of worship, than Queen Mary ascended the throne, and the churchwardens were obliged to procure a mass-book, candlesticks, tapers for various festivals, a pix, a cross, a holy loaf, and hallowed fire, and to pay for setting up and watching the sepulchre at Easter. The married priests were driven from the church; and it was long before any others could be found to succeed to their office. Bishop Thornton was the first who performed mass there at this period.

Again, in the time of Queen Elizabeth the Protestant service was resumed in this old church; but in the year 1585 a desecration of the sacred place commenced by its being made the place for the election