remains as firm, and as upright, as at its first erection. In the pavement of the chancel is a slab, about six feet in length, inlaid with a very curious Brass of a priest in his proper vestments, standing in the centre of a cross, composed of eight trefoil arches: on the stem, which, as well as the cross, is adorned with vine leaves, and rises from four steps, is this inscription:

+hic iacet dns Jobes Lumbarde quondam Rector Ecclie de Stone. Dui obijt. xij°, die mensis marcij Anno die Mo,cçcc°.viij°.

Over the head of the priest is a scroll, pointing from his breast, with these words: miserer' mei deus sedm magnam unam tuam; and round the face of the arches, is inscribed that wellknown text from Job, c. XIX. v. xxv. so common in sepulchral memorials of this age: 'credo qd redemptor meus vivít et in novissimo die de tra surrecturus sum Et in carne mea videbo deum Saluatorem meum.'

The Chapel which adjoins the chancel was built by SIR JOHN WILLSHYRE, Knt, who was owner of Stone Castle; and Comptroller of the Town and Marches of Calais in the twenty-first of Henry the Seventh. He died in December, 1526, and lies buried here, with Dame Margaret, his wife, under a rich altar tomb, be hind which is an arched recess, adorned with niches, trefoils, quatrefoils, &c. with a cornice of grapes and vine-leaves, and the arms of Sir John, and his Lady. Various other memorials are in this Church, for the Lords of Stone Castle, and other respectable families.

Several strata of Marine Shells, both bivalve and turbinated, have been found in this part of Kent, in the Parishes of Stone, Southfleet, Dartford, and Bexley. Near the south-east boundary of this Parish, on the road leading from Greenstreet Green towards Betsum, is a stratum of the former kind, about a foot in depth, at a place called SHELL-BANK from this circumstance:

they

This Brass is engraved in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, Vol. II. and also in the Custumale Roffense.

+ See Custumale Roffense, 254,-5.

they resemble the Tellina Rugosa of Pennant; and are of a pure white,, lying closely together.

At GREENHITHE, a hamlet in Swanscombe Parish, on the banks of the Thames, is a Ferry into Essex, for horses and cattle, which formerly belonged to the Nuns of Dartford, but is now an appurtenance to Swanscombe Manor. At a short distance westward from this spot, first appears the range of Chalk Hills, which, with little intermission, continues to form the boundary of the Marshes all the way to Cliff and Cowling. The Chalk Pits behind Greenhithe, and at Northfleet, are immense; the cliffs where the chalk has been dug, presenting, in many places, a precipitous face, from 100 to 150 feet in perpendicular height. The chalk forms a very considerable branch of commerce; and along the shore are several wharfs, for the conveniency of shipping it off, both in its natural state, and when burnt into lime, for which purpose here are several large kilns. The flints also, which pervade the chalk in thin strata, are collected for sale; and vast quantities are exported to China, as supposed, for the use of the potteries. Even our own potteries in Staffordshire, consume several thousand tons annually, the flints forming a material ingredient in the composition of the Staffordshire Ware. In some parts, the chalk works are many feet below the level of the Thames; and being interspersed with houses, lime-kilns, &c. present a very singular aspect.†

INGRESS, formerly called Ince-grice, the beautiful seat of Henry Roebuck, Esq. occupies an elevated situation rising from

*British Zoology, Vol. IV. p. 88. Plate 57, f. 34.

the

"Multitudes of diluvian remains are found embedded in the strata of chalk, all of them animal: of parts belonging to fishes, teeth of different species of sharks have been met with; and the boney palates of others, resembling the strigillaria of Llwyd, are not uncommon. Infinite numbers of the various species of echini, and of several most elegant forms, together with the most curious varieties of the spines, are collected here, for the cabinets of the curious. They are called, by the chalk-men, sea-eggs, and being filled with the finest chalks, are often carried by sailors, in their voyages, as a remedy for the fluxes they are attacked

2

the Thames, and commanding a beautiful view of that river, and of the opposite parts of Essex. This estate belonged to the Nuns of Dartford, but becoming vested in the Crown, at the Dissolution, was granted out by Elizabeth, in her fifth year, and having passed through various families by purchase and otherwise, became, in the year 1737, the property of John Carmichael, Earl of Hynd+ ford, afterwards Envoy Extraordinary to the Courts of Russia and Prussia. He conveyed it, in the year 1748, to William, Viscount Duncannon, who, on the death of his father, in 1758, became Earl of Besborough, and married Caroline, eldest daughter of William, Duke of Devonshire. This Nobleman greatly improved the Man sion and surrounding grounds; but after the death of his Lady, and several of his children here, he sold the estate to John Calcraft, Esq. an Army Agent, who enlarged the grounds by new purchases, and materially added to the plantations which the Earl of Besborough had begun, and which are now extremely luxuriant. In an elegant summer-house, built in a hollow of the chalk cliffs, he also arranged a valuable collection of Roman Altars, brought from Italy; with statues, and other specimens of Roman sculpture, which were placed in different parts of the garden. He died in 1772, when Member of Parliament for Rochester, and was succeeded in the possession of this estate by his eldest son, John Calcraft, Esq. who sold Ingress, in the year 1788, to John Disney Roebuck, Esq. father of the present owner. The grounds are extremely beautiful, both in respect to home scenery, and to the prospects which they command: the views from the House are particularly fine.

NORTHFLEET

attacked with in the torrid zone: a very beautiful species of anomia, the terebratula, is very frequent. Few or none of these fossils are to be found in our seas, in a recent state; they must be sought in the most remote waters: the echini in the Red Sea, or in the seas of the more distant India. The forms, and the very substance of the shells, are preserved through the multitudes of ages in which they have been deposited; the colour alone is discharged: some have been entirely pervaded with flint, which, subtilly entering every minute pore, assumes, with the utmost fidelity, the exact figure of the recent shell.”

Pennant's Journey from London to the Isle of Wight, Vol. I. p. 54,-5.