116 



The next morning the party walked to Chatham, where they went on 

 board the Prince Royal man-of-war, which surpassed the vessels by 

 which she was surrounded, 



" Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi." 



The inspection of this vessel seems to have afforded the party the 

 greatest pleasure, since Johnson tells us that everything he saw was 

 so far beyond his expectations, that he would not dare to attempt a 

 description, nor, if he dared, would he be able to give it. 



In the Isle of Sheppey they met with an adventure. The party 

 slept at Queenborough ; and as they were preparing to start in the 

 morning, they were waited upon by a person who informed them that 

 the Prefect of the place (called the Mayor) wished to have a word 

 with three or four of their number. To this, says Johnson, we assent- 

 ed, and proceeded to his house, where, salutations having been ex- 

 changed, the Mayor made a speech to the effect, that ancient kings 

 of England having been pleased to confer upon that town certain 

 great privileges, in order that the little island might be the better pre- 

 served from damage ; it is therefore my duty, continued his worship, 

 being responsible for the public safety of this place, to demand the 

 purpose of your coming to this Island. Not that there is anything in 

 your appearance calculated to excite suspicion in the smallest degree, 

 but it is against the ancient laws of this place to allow so many men 

 to remain here without knowing what they are up to. Explain 

 therefore, in a friendly way, the purport of your visit. Then John 

 Buggs, to whom the office was delegated, briefly informed his worship, 

 although he said he did not think he had anything to tell worth the 

 notice of so great a man, that he and his friends were students of 

 Medicine and the Materia Medica ; that they had come for the pur- 

 pose of seeing what rare plants were growing in the Island ; and that 

 with no other view had they undertaken a pedestrian journey to such 

 a distance from London. But Mr. Styles, with admirable tact, after 

 confirming what had before been stated, added that independently of 

 that cause for their visit, the pleasure of seeing so eminent a man as 

 the Mayor would of itself have been a sufficient inducement for their 

 coming, especially as he was known to be so well versed in nautical 

 affairs, he being a captain in the Royal Navy. And so the Prefect, 

 being fully satisfied by these and similar explanations, after a short 

 conversation with the party upon medical and naval matters, treated 

 his visitors to some of his best ale, in which he courteously drank 

 to their health, and they, duly impressed with a sense of his condescen- 



