"Screw Steamer" having converted this favoured spot into private property to his own entire satisfaction; next proceeds to give us a piece of information for which we were unprepared. He tells us that the £1646 funded upon the recent sale of the £40 rent charge will be found in the bricks and mortar of an union workhouse: -the money has been expended for the benefit of the poor." This must have surprised the inhabitants of Bromley, and we should wish to be enlightened as to the time and manner in which the appropriation was made. The following entry appears in the vestry book of the parish for the year 1763: "A vestry called at the request of William Scott, Esq., lessee of the half-yearly land of the parish, under the Bishop of Rochester, for an application to Parliament for enclosing the same the whole year, and extinguishing the inhabitants' and others' right of common therein; and what the parish will take as an equivalent At a subsequent meeting the parish agreed to accept £40 per annum rent on the said land, which terms were accepted by Mr Scott." And very good terms for himself they were. However, there is no help for that now:-in those days the inhabitants were ringed thro' the nose by two or three individuals, and led into all kinds of hole and corner work; but such doings cannot be permitted in our time, although, if the statement of "Screw Steamer" be correct as to this "bricks and mortar" investment of the funds, we fear that we are in a similar predicament. We never heard of it before, and therefore a searching enquiry must be set on foot. The ancient right of half-yearly commonage was vested in the inhabitant householders, and when converted into a permanent rent charge, the latter became also vested in them; again when this was recently sold to Mr Dent, the purchase money was funded for their benefit; consequently its subsequent investment ought to have been made by special and public announcement, and not treated as a mere matter of routine. This enquiry will be but the beginning of the end," and may probably lead to more important events, as connected with our parochial expenditure than are dreamt of in the philosophy" of Mr Screwsteamer.-I am Sir, your obedient servant, SCRUTATOR. Bromley, 25th June, 1862. To the Editor of the Bromley Record. Sir,-Will you permit an humble individual to say a few words, about a subject, which appears to have engrossed much thought and many words lately (I refer to Martin's Hill), as I think a few facts might alter the ill feeling that appears to exist against the present occupier, which, I for one, most sincerely lament. Why need there to be any ill feeling on the point? There is a motto which applies to this subject with inestimable force, namely, "one side of the story, &c.," and one should hear both sides before giving an opinion. Now it appears to me that there has been only a onesided view of the case taken all along in this matter. Although only a tradesman, I have the honor to be intimately acquainted with the occupier of the hill, and I have had some very interesting conversation with him on the subject in question. I feel sure he would be one of the last to prevent any person quietly enjoying the pure air and delightful scenery, which is to be found there; in fact so far from that being the case, he himself told me that he intended to have placed benches on the brow of both hills for the convenience and enjoyment of those who might be willing to avail themselves of them, in a respectable and quiet manner, but not to be insulted as himself and wife were a few Sundays ago by (I suppose they would call themselves) gentlemen, but whose faces had more the appearance of the ourang outang tribe. I from my own experience can testify to the very unbecoming conduct and language, practised there last summer, on Sunday afternoon and evenings, in fact it was remarked to me, that it was once a quiet and pleasant promenade, but it had become unfit for respectable people. From what I know of the gentleman and his family, I believe they are kindly disposed people, and exceedingly charitable to their poorer neighbours. 1 may also mention, that the other evening whilst the Rifle Corps were drilling, an invitation was given to the Captain to the effect that they were quite welcome to drill on the hill at any time they thought proper, at the same time offering the captain some refreshment. This was told me by a member of the corps who overheard the conversation. Surely Mr Editor, these facts don't look as if the occupier of the hill wished to be so arbitrary as he has been represented. By inserting these few lines you will much oblige, A LOVER OF FAIR PLAY. a GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR JULY.-Make mushroom bed for autumn bearing by mixing the droppings with a third of fresh loam which will greatly prevent fermentation-keep the atmosphere damp and as cool as possible by giving abundance of air at night and shutting up by day. Sow turnips, turnip radishes, corn salad, winter spinach, and cabbage (end of Month) for spring use. strawberries; celery, brocoli, savoys, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts and other winter greens; also plant seedling pansies, carnations, pinks, picotees and polyanthus from seed pans to the open ground. Plant HAYMAKING. There is an abundant crop of grass, bnt the season till lately has been very unfavourable for hay-making, in consequence of rain more or less, falling nearly every day or night, and very little sunshine. Nevertheless, a good quantity has been got together without much injury from the wet, but as some, and perhaps not a little, has been stacked before the damp was thoroughly dried out ; it will be necessary to watch such stacks, and if they sink rapidly or unevenly, to throw off the top or turn the stack. This is attended with some expense but if it were adopted more generally, much of unmade hay will spoil a whole stack. property would be saved. A very small quantity HOPS. The healthy appearance of this plant at present, is indicative of a fair average crop, but it is not safe to trust to appearances, so early in the season, if there be any truth in the antiquated couplet, that "Till St. Thomas's day is come and gone, HINTS FROM THE HEDGES. Abundance of hedge fruits is believed by many to betoken a severe winter, and visa versa, There was very little wild fruit last year, and we had a mild winter. This year the hedges are covered with berries, and the inference would imply, lay in a stock of fuel. The labouring classes will act wisely to provide for the winter, by becoming members of coal and clothing clubs, conducted by the gentry, in almost every parish. Births. On the 7th ult., at Beckenham, the wife of James F. Imray, Esq. of a daughter. On the 11th ult., at West Wickham, the wife of Henry C. Nevill, Esq., of a daughter. On the 12th ult., at Bromley, the wife of Mr H. J. Latter, of a daughter. On the 12th ult. at New Town, Bromley, the wife of Rev. E. Bolton, of a son. On the 12th ult., at Belmont, Lee, Kent, the wife of J. Mackrill Smith, Esq. (formerly of Bromley) of a son. On the 14th ult., a Elmstone House, Beckenham, the wife of A. Barrey Esq., of a son. On the 16th ult., at Chislehurst, the wife of W. H. Wathen, Esq., of a daughter. On the 23rd ult.. at Bromley, the wife of Mr W. W. Baxter, of a daughter. On the 27th ult., at Bromley, Kent, the wife of Samuel John Wilde, Esq., Barrister-at-law, of a son. On the 6th ult., at Eltham, Kent, the wife of Edward Waghorn, of Four, Marriages. On the 10th ult,, at Trinity Church, Bromley Common by the Rev. A. Rawson, Henry Bonham-Carter, Esq., of Keston, Kent, to Sibella Charlotte, eldest daughter of George Warde Norman, Esq., of Bromley Common, AMERICAN NEWS. "THE TIMES" of the 30th, gives the following description of American affairs. "All the anticipations most unfavourable to the Federal cause are realized by the news which now arrives from America. The North has begun to show that exhaustion which shrewd observers predicted as the consequence of its immense exertions. It has a giant's strength, but even this strength it has overtasked. It has undertaken to do in a twelvemonth what a nation with double its population and wealth might shrink from attempting, even though it had ten years of leisure before it. Everywhere we find proof that the North strained itself by excessive efforts, and stands now weakened, defeated, and almost paralyzed, while the irst fruits of its exertions are likely to Se wrested from it. The confused mass of news which we publish this morning tells one uniform story. An barrassed Government, a panicricken Exchange, a disappointed and dewildered people, Generals who have VOL. III lost their heads, armies which feel themselves moving spell-bound to destruction-such is the Federal power in the face of the roused population of the Southern States. The war appears to be passing entirely into the hands of the Confederates. In spite of levies so enormous as to have excited the wonder of Europe, and justified all the boasting of the North, the Federals are checked at every point, and avowedly from want of men. The defeat of M'CLELLAN, there can be little doubt, cost his army far more than has ever been admitted. Though nothing can be less worthy of reliance than military estimates, we may at least direct our readers' attention to the speech of Mr CHANDLER in the Senate. This gentleman declares that M'CLELLAN had re. ceived from first to last 158,000 men before the battles of June, and that his loss is to be reckoned by tens of thousands. After making allowance for Western exaggeration, we may conclude that the Federal army has suffered so severely in the Virginian campaign as to be incapable for the present of any further efforts; and this belief is justified by the present spasmodic attempt to raise new troops, and by the address of General LEE to the Confederates, in which he states that no less than 53 pieces of Artillery were taken, thus showing that the retreat of the Federals was as much a rout as any that has taken place in the war." visited on Friday the 25th, by several scientific WIDMORE. This quiet neighbourhood was gentlemen, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not, Brick-fields are a nuisance, and the smoke from the kilns injurious to health. The subject is one of great pecuniary interest to the inhabitants of Widmore, inasmuch as brickmaking, during the summer months, is their principal employment, and is also of paramount importance to those whose property is depreciated, and whose health is in danger of being ing bricks. This case was tried at Maidstone impaired by the choking gases from the burnon the 31st, and the verdict was given in favour of those who complained of the nuisance. D Kentish Worthies. ANNE BOLEYN. (Continued from page 4.) In the gay and frivolous French Court she passed seven years, emerging from childhood into womanhood, became skilled in all the arts of feminine coquetry, and returned with her widowed mistress into England in the year 1521. "The first time Henry saw her after her return" says Miss Strickland in her Lives of the Queens of England, "was in her father's garden at Hever, where, it is said, he encountered her by accident, and admiring her beauty and graceful demeanour, he entered into conversation with her, when he was so much charmed with her sprightly wit, that on his return to Westminster, he told Wolsey that he had been discoursing with a young lady who had the wit of an angel, and was worthy of a Crown.' 'It is sufficient if your Majesty finds her worthy of your love,' was the shrewd rejoinder. Henry ་ said That he feared she would never condescend in that way.' 'Great Princes,' observed Wolsey, if they chose to play the lover, have that in their power which would mollify a heart of steel.' At this time "she had a beauty," to quote the language of one of her lovers, the poet Wyatt," not so whitely, clear, and fresh, but above all, we may esteem which appeared much more excellent by her favour, passing sweet and cheerful, and was enhanced by her noble presence of shape and fashion, representing both mildness and majesty; more than can be expressed." We may add that she dressed with infinite taste, sang and played with skill and expression, was exceedingly apt at repartee, lively and coquetish, and possessed that peculiar attractiveness which belongs to so few women, and is so difficult to describe. Such was Anne Boleyn at the age of 20, as she wandered through the stately gardens of Hever, listening to her admirers, but more especially to the loving words of the brave young noble Henry, Lord Percy, the only man she ever perhaps sincerely loved. The king, however, had resolved to possess her, and "Bluff Harry" was not the man to brook a rival, so Lord Percy in 1523 was disposed of in marriage to the Lady Mary Talbot. Then the monarch declared his own illicit passion for Anne,-he the husband of Queen Katharine, the mother of his daughter, the Princess Mary,-how his suit speeded and on what conditions the fickle beauty yielded to his desires, must yet be told. At this period Henry was in his thirtyfirst year and in the prime of manhood. Had he lived in the Homeric age and died before his divorce, he might, without any great effort of imagination, have formed the hero of an epic poem. He possessed just those qualities which Englishmen admire in their -a fund of good temper, rulers at all times,occasionally broken by sudden bursts of anger, vast muscular strength, -and unabove most of his contemporaries. From the flinching courage. In stature he towered brilliant crowd of courtiers that surrounded him, he could at once be distinguished by his commanding figure, and the superior graces of his person. In an age remarkable for feats of strength, and when bodily skill was held in highest estimation, no one horse fell before him, and lance after lance excelled him in the tournament. Man and at the jousts of Tournaie held in honour of imilian. He was no less an adept in the great the lady Margaret and the emperor Max. national weapon, than in the more exclusively aristocratic pastime of the tilt yard. He drew the best bow of his age, and in the mastery of it was a match for the tallest and stoutest archers of his own guard. He spoke French, Italian, and Spanish. Of his proficiency in Latin a specimen has been preserved amongst the letters of Erasmus, and all suspicion of its genuineness is removed by the positive assertion of Erasmus, that he had seen the original with its corrections in the prince's own hand writing. In the business of the state, he was, with the exception of his great minister Wolsey, the most assiduous man in his dominions. He read and noted the dispatches of his ministers and ambassadors without the aid of secretary or interpreter. The vast number of warrants, letters, and dispatches, which every day demanded his attention and required his signature, and such a signature as was not struck off in a hurry,-is entirely at variance with the popular notion that he preferred pleasure to business of any kind, and had, according to an old writer, "as little inclination to it as a wild ox has to be yoked to the plough." Had such been the case, the business of the nation must have fallen into confusion, or come to a dead lock, and we should have seen some traces of it in the correspondence of the time. On the contrary, nothing could exceed the regularity and dispatch in every department of the state, as shewn by the documents preserved in the Record office, which have been recently calendered by Mr. Brewer, and now made public in his work, entitled "Letters and Papers of the reign of Henry VIII." Above all was the interest Henry took in the navy, and the corresponding zeal he was able to make others feel for this most important branch of the service. Men of inferior rank were sure of his favour, and attentive hearing, if they had any experience of the sea, or could communicate information on nautical subjects. Details concerning the speed, the size, and the capacity of his ships never came amiss. His delight in gorgeous pageantry and splendid ceremonial, if without any studied design, was not without advantage. Cloth of gold and tissue, new year's gifts, Christmas masquerades, and May-day mummeries, fell with heavy expense on the nobility, but afforded a cheap and gratuitous amusement to the people. The roughest of the populace were not excluded from their share in the enjoyment. Sometimes, in a boisterous fit of merriment, he would allow, and even invite, the spectators to scramble for the rich ornaments of his own dress, and those of his courtiers. Unlike his father, he showed himself everywhere. He entered with ease into the sports of others, and allowed them with equal ease to share in his own. To this hearty compliance with the national humour, which no subsequent acts however arbitrary or cruel, could altogether obliterate, to the impression produced by his frankness and good humour,-to his unquestionable courage and ability to hold his own against all comers, without the adventitious aid of his exalted position,Henry VIII. owed much of that popularity which seems unintelligible to modern notions. Such was the monarch who was now pleading his adulterous passion for Anne Boleyn. Her vanity was gratified, but as yet she had sufficient virtue to resist his dishonouring address, and falling on her knees before him made this memorable reply :-" I think most worthy and noble king, your majesty speaks these words in mirth, to prove me, without intent of degrading your princely self. Therefore, to ease you of the labour of asking me any such question hereafter, I beseech your highness most earnestly to desist, and take this my answer ('which I speak from the depth of my soul) in good part. Most noble king, I will rather lose my life than my virtue, which will be the greatest and best part of the dowry I shall bring my husband." Had she continued firm in this chaste resolve, she would have been spared the bitter remorse of hastening to her grave a virtuous and broken-hearted queen, and of tarnishing the hitherto unsullied reputation of a brave and generous king. To be Continued. A LOVE STORY. That man's a fool, who thinks by force or skill, Now mind, I will not guarantee the truth of this. I can only tell it you as he told it us. It sounds improbable, certainly, but no one can say it is impossible. What is there to prevent a lady, if she is so inclined, from No! ? But that would spoil the story. And there is no law of nature, I suppose to restrain a man who is devoid of gentlemanly feeling as he is But that would tell you what is coming. intoxicated, because I defy you to get drunk It is no good saying he was on sherry and soda water; and to lay it to the heat of the season is absurd, for it was a remarkably cool evening for August. Jenkyns is a man who has had some strange experiences, and this was not the least strange among them. Still, mind, I will not guarantee the truth of this; though by the way you don't often find a man tell the same tale twice in exactly the same way if it is not true, and I have heard him tell this twice. The first time was at a dinner at LordWell! it does not matter where. It is sometimes advisable not to mention proper names. don't think mentioning this would do any harm, though-at a dinner at Lord's cricketground, and the second time was on the occa sion of which I am speaking, when I found him drinking sherry and soda-water and smoking cheroots with three officers of marines one of whom with five gloves (lady's six and a half) and a withered rose before him, was telling I how -" after leading me on in this way, after gaining my young affections in this treacherous manner, by Jove; sir, she throws me over and marries Blubber." "It's like the sex," said the second marine. "It's woman that sejuices all mankind," said the third marine. P "It reminds me of what once happened to myself," said Jenkyns; "you know the story," he continued, turning to me. "So just order yourself some sherry and soda-water; ah! and while you are about it order some for me too, and you can pay for them both when they come, then I shan't be put out. Paying for anything always puts me out. Thank you! I'll try one of your cigars. Well gentlemen," turning to the marines, "some time ago I was staying with Sir George PHouse, Pshire. Great number of people there-all kinds of amusements going Driving, riding, fishing, shooting, everything, in fact. Sir George's daughter, Fanny, was often my companion in these expeditions, and I was considerably struck with her. For she was a girl to whom the epithet 'stunning' applies better than any other that I am acquainted with. She could ride like Nimrod, she could drive like Jehu, she could row like Charon, she could dance like Terpsichore, she could run like Diana, she walked like Juno, and she looked like Venus. I've even seen her smoke." on. "One good point in her character, at any rate," said the third marine. Just like the sex!" said the second marine. "Ah! she was a stunner," continued Jenkyns, "you should have heard that girl whistle, and laugh, you should have heard her laugh. She was truly a delightful companion. We rode together, drove together, fished together, walked together, danced together, sang together; I called her Fanny, and she called me Tom. All this could have but one termination, you know. I fell in love with her, and determined to take the first opportunity of proposing. So one day, when we were out together fishing on the lake, I went down on my knees amongst the gudgeons, seized her band, pressed it to my waistcoat, and in burning accents entreated her to become my wife." my word of honour, with a sudden shove she sent me flying into the water; then seizing the sculls, with a stroke or two she put several yards between us, and burst into a fit of laughter that fortunately prevented her from going any further. I swam up and climbed into the boat. Jenkyns!' said I to myself, Revenge! revenge!' I disguised my feelings. I laughed-bideous mockery of mirth-I laughed. Pulled to the bank, went to the house, and changed my clothes. When I appeared at the dinner table, I perceived that everyone had been informed of my duckinguniversal laughter greeted me. During dinner Fanny repeatedly whispered to her neighbour, and glanced at me. Smothered laughter invariably followed. 'Jenkyns!' said I, Revenge!" The opportunity soon offered. There was to be a balloon ascent from the lawn, and Fanny had tormented her father into letting her ascend with the aeronaut. I instantly took my plans; bribed the aeronaut to plead illness at the moment when the machine should have risen; learned from him the management of the balloon, though I understood that pretty well before, and calmly awaited the result. The day came. The weather was fine. The balloon was inflated. Fanny was in the car. Everything was ready, when the aeronaut suddenly fainted. He was carried into the house, and Sir George accompanied him to see that he was properly attended to. Fanny was in despair. "Am I to lose my air expedition?' she exclaimed, looking over the side of the car, 'some one understands the management of this thing, surely? Nobody! Tom! she called out to me, you understand it, dont you?" 'Perfectly,' I answered. Come along then,' she cried. be quick; before papa comes back.' "The company, in general endeavoured to dissuade her from her project, but of course in vain. After a decent show of hesitation, I climbed into the car. The balloon was cast off and rapidly sailed heavenward. There was scarcely a breath of wind, and we rose almost strait up. We rose above the house, and she laughed and said: "How jolly!' "We were higher than the highest trees, and she smiled and said it was very kind of me to come with her. We were so high that the people below looked mere specks, and she hoped that I thoroughly understood the management of the balloon. Now was my time. "I understand the going up part,' I answered, to come down is not so easy,' and I whistled. "What do you mean?' she cried. "Why, when you want to go faster, you throw some sand overboard,' I replied, suiting |