provide tea, coffee, and buns. The children are expected to bring a mug each. A band will be in attendance, and Sir John hopes as many of his friends and neighbours will honour him with their company on this occasion as can do so conveniently.

ST. MARY CRAY.

TREAT TO RIFLEMEN AND WORKPEOPLE. On Wednesday the 18th, Mr Joynson, Jun., gave a substantial treat to the Rifle corps of At about seven o'clock in the evening the this district, and also to the public at large. Bromley Rifle Corps Band played through the village and up to Mr Joynson's pleasant residence, where a plentiful repast was provided for them. The gardens and grounds of Mr Joynson, were thrown open to the public, and as might have been expected, were thronged with delighted people, who were also invited indiscriminately to partake of the substantial fare and goodly cheer. The band performed a "concord of sweet sounds" in the garden, and the lovers of Terpsichore lightly footed it over the lawn, while the more meditative roamed amid the bowers in silent joy. Songs and music, and social merriment, held the guests captive until a late hour, when all retired, having spent a happy and agreeable evening, with the conviction that he is the most respected and best served master, who acts on the principle that servants have heads and hearts as well as hands.

THE VALLEY OF CRAY CHURCH CHORAL UNION. We are glad to announce the formation and practical working of this Choral Union, for the improvement of choirs and the music in the respective churches which_are united. By the zealous exertions of the Rev. G. L. Langdon, of St. Paul's Cray, five parishes are at present under training by Mr Griffiths, choir-master and organist of the association, and the different classes shew great attention to his instructions. At present about 130 members are receiving a course of training to fit them for the choirs of the churches.

PAPER MILLS The extensive paper mills at this place have lately been very much enlarged, in order to meet the increasing demand for first class paper, of the kinds made by Messrs. Joynson, the proprietors. A great quantity of expensive machinery for drying, pressing, &c., is being placed in the newly erected building, and a boiler of enormous dimensions arrived from Messrs. Horton, Son, and Kindrick, on Tuesday the 12th. It was brought from the manufactory by steam power, and great was the sensation produced as it passed through the quiet villages to St. Mary Cray. The tidings of its coming travelled much faster than the boiler itself, which was 18 hours on the road, and the people in the line of route left their work to go to meet it, so that by the time it reached St. Mary Cray a great concourse had collected The Lilliputians were not more wonder-struck at sight of Mr Gulliver's telescope than were the rustics of these rural districts in seeing this gigantic tube of iron, weighing 21 tons, moving along without any horses. Some considerable difficulty in consequence of the great length of the boiler, occurred in turning the sharp corners here and there on the road, which was soon overcome by using leverage to lift the end of the boiler and carriage sufficiently to allow it to pass. Want of water, where there was none to be got, was likely at some part of the journey to impede their progress, but they managed to get to a farm house by the road side and obtain sufficient to help them on to where a NATURAL PHENOMENA OF JULY. stream run close by the road, from which they took a good supply and travelled on, JULY is the hottest month of the year. The arriving at St. Mary Cray about 4 o'clock. direct influence of the sun, indeed, is diminishBIOLOGY. Mr Sheldon Chadwick has re-ing; but the earth and air have been so cently given a series of demonstrations of the bios logos in this village to large attendances. Several of the youths from the audience were put into a state of coma and made to move to music, "grave or gay," enacting various scenes suggested by the operator who seemed to have them perfectly at his command. Many of the experiments were highly provocative of risibility, and the fun grew fast and furious." We venture to give no opinion of tais science, our duty as journalists is simply record the fact, but, if it be true, it is desirable that so important a science should be taken out of the hands of quacks and charlatans. and be made useful in some remedial way to the human race.

thoroughly heated, that the warmth which they retain, more than compensates for the gradual diminution of the solar rays. The effects of this weather upon the face of nature, soon become manifest.

All the flowers of the for

Whilst

mer month lose their beauty, and the whole
plant hastens to decay. Many plants, however,
do not begin to flower until July. The lily is
one of the principal garden ornaments of this
month, and gives an agreeable sensation of
coolness, by its whiteness, to the eye.
the animal creation, seem oppressed with langour
during this hot season, and either seek the
recesses of woods, or resort to pools and streams,
for cooling their bodies, and quenching their
thirst; the insect tribe, are peculiarly active and

vigorous. These minute creatures are for the most part annual, being hatched in the spring, and dying on the approach of winter.

The excessive heats of this period of the year cause such an evaporation from the surface of the earth and waters, that, after some continuance of dry weather, large heavy clouds are formed, which, at length, let fall their collected fluid in extremely copious showers, which frequently beat down the full grown corn, and sometimes deluge the country with sudden floods.

JOHN WARNER,
BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, 1666.

The reconstruction of Bromley College Chapel, the foundation stone of which was laid on the 22nd May, as reported in our columns, affords us an opportunity of submitting to our readers a biographical sketch of this remarkable man. In 1637, King Charles the First advanced him to the See of Rochester, and under various vicissitudes of fortune, he died Bishop of Rochester on the 11th October, 1666, "eighty-six years old," as he states in his will, dated 4th September, 1666. By that will he founded Bromley College, a foundation in the language of Hasted, our Kentish historian "as unexampled at the time of its institution, as it has been without compare since," a handsome monument in a small chapel at the east end of the north aisle of Rochester Cathedral marks the spot near which his mortal

remains are interred.

John Warner was born in London, where the labours of his earlier life were usefully employed in the service of the church; yet considering his great munificence in his bequests to Canterbury, and Rochester Cathedrals, and especially, in his foundation of Bromley College, for Clerical Widows, and his long connection with the See of Rochester, he is entitled to rank high among Kentish Worthies.

On the eastern wall on the north side of Bromley Church is an elaborate monument erected to the memory of Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, in 1756-to Dr. Pearce we are indebted for many particulars carefully collected, in relation to Dr. Warner's history, some of which we present to our readers.

John Warner was born in St. Clement's After Dane's, Strand, about the year 1580. some grammatical education in which he made rapid progress, he was sent to Oxford in 1598, and in the year following was elected demy of Magdalen College; he took the degree of B.A. in 1602; commenced M.A. in June 1605, in which he was elected to a fellowship. year

In 1610 he resigned his fellowship in consequence, it is supposed, of a fortune (£16,000,) which came to him from his Godmother. In 1614, he was presented to the Rectory of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, by Archbishop Abbot,

In the

in

of

which he resigned in 1616, and remained
without preferment till 1625, when the Arch-
bishop gave him the Rectory of St. Dionis,
Backchurch, in Fenchurch Street.
interim he had taken both his degrees
Divinity at Oxford and Abbot continuing
his esteem collated him to the prebend
the first stall in the Cathedral of Canterbury.
He was also appointed Governor of Sion Col-
lege, London, and was made Chaplain to Charles
the First. In the second year of this Monarch's
reign; Dr. Warner preached before him whilst
the Parliament was sitting during passion week,
on Matthew xxi. 28, and took such liberties
with the proceedings of that Parliament as very
highly provoked some of the members who hap-
pened to be present. Some measures appear to
have been taken against him, but the dissolu-
tion of the Parliament soon after protected him,
yet, we are told, that a pardon from the King was
necessary, which pardon was extant in Dr.
Pearce's time.

In 1633, he attended the King on his corona-
tion in Scotland, and the same year was colla-
ted by him to the Deanery of Lichfield; in
1637, the King advanced him to the Bishopric
of Rochester, and notwithstanding the small
revenue attached to this See, Dr. Warner re-
signed his deanery, and his prebend, besides a
donative of £200 per annum in Kent (probably
Barham, or Bishops-bourne,) of which it is said
he was parson-in 1640 he assisted the King
with £1500 on the Scotch invasion of England,
and gave his attendance when there was only
one prelate present besides himself in the council
In the same year he had the
held at York.
courage to oppose the præmunire in the House
of Peers, and asserted the rights of the Bishops
With equal zeal he
sitting in Parliament.
joined in the declaration made by some others
of his brethren on May 14, 1641, to maintain
and defend, as far as lawfully they might with
their life, power, and estate the true reformed
Protestant religion expressed in the doctrine of
the Church of England against all Popery and
Popish innovation within this realm, and main-
tain and defend His Majesty's royal person,
honour and estate; also the power and privi-
lege of Parliaments, the lawful rights and liber-
ties of the subjects, and endeavour to preserve
the union and peace between the Kingdoms of
England, Scotland, and Ireland.

This opposition appeared fruitless, and in August of the same year he, with 12 other Bishops, was impeached for acting in the convocation of 1640, making their Canons and constitutions, and granting His Majesty a benevolence. ***

After the death of Charles the First, our prelate published several sermons against that illegal Act-he refused any tax or loan to the Parliament; his estate was sequestered, his books seized, and he fled into Wales;

for three years he wandered about, yet wherever opportunity offered, he continued the duties of his Episcopal functions.

ment, he is alike indifferent-he is found displaying high moral courage, at every step of his career, under conscious rectitude, in every After His Majesty's garrisons were given up, change of circumstances-and in the last act of he was forced to compound for his temporal es- his life he is seen looking forward to the maintate, now four years sequestered, at the rate of tenance of that Church he had so long and so a tenth-part real and personal, but consistently faithfully served, as well as to the care of the refused all oaths to the usurping government-widows and children of his fellow-labourers-the having thus recovered a considerable portion of working clergy. The history of the Church his estate, he devoted it to the assistance of his scarcely exhibits in its long list of sincere men suffering brethren. Bishop Kennet in his life a more noble character than that of Bishop of Somner, relates that Warner on one occasion Warner. irritated by a suggestion that he was considered by his friends, too parsimonious, produced a roll of distressed Clergy, whom in their ejectments, he had relieved, with no less than £8000-he sent £100 to Charles the Second, and was about to send more, when his servant betrayed him, and discovered the matter to Cromwell.

On the Restoration, Bishop Warner was replaced in the See of Rochester, which he held till his decease. It is supposed that he lived on the profits, small as they were, of his Bishopric; whilst the produce of his temporal estates was accumulating-he gave away large sums, it is known, during his life, and by his will he bequeathed about £20,000, including the sum of £5,500, which his executors paid for founding Bromley College; this sum was appropriated to the purchase of the site and the erection of the first square of houses usually called the Old College.

The Will of Bishop Warner was carried into effect through the medium of an Act of Parliament, r. 22nd Car: II, which taking an estimate of the cost of work and the value of money of that period, has limited the amount to be appropriated for the "maintenance and repaire of Bromley College, to the small sum of Five Pounds only.

This defect in legislation, however, has of late, attracted the attention of well-wishers to this excellent Institution; for two small legacies have been lately receivad and invested to form the nucleus of a " Repairing Fund," upon which, ere long, large demands will necessarily be made. Exertions are being made among the friends of the Clergy of the Church of England to augment this Fund, to at least £5,000, as an invested

sum.

To the Editor of the Bromley Record.
MARTIN'S HILL.

Sir,-The correspondent of your contemporary, who writes under the soubriquet of "Screw Steamer," considers himself, I have no doubt, wonderfully facetious in travestieing our cognomen, and in sneering at the "law writers of bygone days." Had he been satisfied with this ebullition of gamin wit, it would have been passed over in silence, as unworthy of notice, but when he deliberately asserts that in "talking of ancient custom, we write without knowledge, as the furrows are yet traceable, where on those same hills, within recollection grew a fine waving crop of oats; meaning thereby to intimate that such an interruption is inconsistent with the public right, we are bound to expose his ignorance, lest some nervous people might be misled by so erroneous a conclusion. We are sorry, however, that we cannot do this without again referring to these great authorities the "law writers of bygone days," whom he treats with such supercilious contempt, and whom he will not hold in any higher esteem, when told, upon the authority reasonableness or unreasonableness of a custom, "is not of so insignificant a personage as Sir Edward Coke, that the always to be understood of every unlearned man's reason, but of artificial and legal reason, warranted by authority of law"-(1 Inst.: 62.) Now it is quite evident that the reasoning of "Screw Steamer;" as to the "traceable furrows and waving crop of oats being sufficient legal proof destroy the public right, brings him within that category of interruption to establish a private ownership, and thereby of persons whom the chief justice of England has desighis amour propre, still it is a duty that we owe to the pubnated "unlearned;" and however offensive it may be to lic, to check him, as well as others of his class, in the propagation of such an error. This will be effected by a very trite quotation from the same eminent judge:-"it is to be custom, cannot be lost by interruption of the possession for (1 Inst.: 114.) It is clear, therefore, that this solitary 10 or 20 years, but by interruption in the right only." boasted possession of a "waving crop of oats" by the occupier of the Hill, will not prejudice the public right of enjoyment, which has been exercised both previously and subsequently to that event. But as this high authority may probably have no weight against the profounder judgement of some modern legal charlatans, we will illustrate the relative merits of both, by an admirable story, told by Dickens, of the pothouse Politician, who, in declaiming against the by stating that the Lord Chancellor received £14,000 a year abuses of our public expenditure, supported his proposition, for his services, whilst he knew a legal celebrity, a member of his own spouting club,-and a man, in his opinion, more competent, who would gladly undertake the same office at one third of that sum, nay, sooner than his country should be so burthened, for even a less amount. Not a doubt of it, and there would be found many men of equal calibre to follow so patriotic an example:-however, let us be thankthat our ancient usages and customs, are not as yet confided to the tender mercies of any such distinguished legal lumi

known that the title being once gained by prescription, or

The character of Bishop Warner presents an embodiment of Christian qualities. Under every vicissitude of life, from affluence to comparative poverty, in him, is found a firm resolve to preserve his integrity. True to the service of his Creator, faithful to his sovereign, and consi-naries. At present these customs are engrafted upon, and

derate towards his fellow creatures, he maintains the even tenor of his way; he imperils his Berty and his fortune for his sovereign's sake, st he holds out a helping hand to his needy rethren in the Church-to the smiles of the Court, or to the frowns of an enraged Parlia

form part of our common law, and can only be abolished by an act of the Legislature; so that it will he much safer for "Screw Steamer" and his advisers not to meddle "with

things which they don't understand. Ne Sutor ultra crepldam. Let the inhabitants of Bromley, therefore, bestir themselves before it is too late, and keep a vigilant look out for the detection of any chicanery which may be resorted to for robbing them of their vested rights in Martin's Hill.