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are called parallels of the length of the day, and are eleven 
in number; the uppermoft is the tropic of Capricorn, and 
is marked at both ends with its proper character. The 
others next below are numbered eight, nine, ten, eleven, 
and that with twelve is the equinoxial line, and has at 
one end the fign Aries, at the other end the fign Libra. 
The other lines below thefe are marked thirteen, four¬ 
teen, fifteen, fixteen; and the lowermofl: line is the tro¬ 
pic of Cancer, diftinguilhed at both ends with, its proper 
character. By the (hadow of a Imall ball, which is fixed 
on the ltile, the lengths of days are pointed out; as for 
example, when the lhadow of the ball falls on the upper 
line, the day is the Ihorteft; when it falls on. the next 
lower line, marked eight, the day is eight hours long; 
when on the line {narked nine, the day is nine hours 
long; and fo of the reft; and, when the fhadow of the 
ball arrives at the lowermofl: line, the day is the longeft. 
The vertical or upright lines are called azimuth-lines, and 
are marked at the bottom with the letters that denote the 
points of the compafs ; fo that, when the ihadow ot the 
ball falls on any one of thefe lines, it fhows the fun is 
upon that point of the compafs which the letters denote 
that correfpond with the line. 
. In Milton are the remains of an ancient chantry cha¬ 
pel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the apoftles Peter 
and Paul. It was founded and endowed in the reign of 
Edward II. by Aymer de Valence earl of Pembroke, for 
the health of his l'oul, and the fouls of his anceftors; and 
was to confift of a mailer and two chaplains, to whom a 
manfion was alfigned. The chapel, built of flint and 
rag-ftones, is only (landing; the upper part is converted 
into lodging-rooms, and below is the receptacle for holy 
water. A brick building, not long fince eroded, conceals 
the Gothic eaft window; but, at the weft end, the win¬ 
dow-frames and mullions, with (tone mouldings, may be 
traced, though altered into a more fquare and modern 
form, when the chapel became a dwelling-houfe. All 
the other parts of this chantry are deftroyed ; and on the 
fcite thereof are feveral buildings, particularly a large inn 
called the New Tavern, which has adjoining to it a gar¬ 
den and bowling-green, that commands a fine view of the 
part of the Thames called the Hope, and feveral miles 
beyond it. The chalky clift's which rife boldly on the^ 
Kentifti lhore, with the more diftant profped of the Eflex 
hills, on the oppofite coaft, add to the beauty of thefeene. 
About a mile from Milton, to the eaft of the road lead¬ 
ing to Chalk, ftands the manor-houfe of Denton, a paro¬ 
chial dilcrift. The eftate was in the priory of St. An¬ 
drew, Rochefter, and granted by Henry VIII. to the dean 
and chapter of that cathedral. There are confiderable 
remains of the, church; the farm-yard is a part of the old 
cemetery, and by a cart-lodge built againft the north wall 
the door-way and windows are on that fide (topped up. 
An engraving of it is inferred in Biblioth. Topograph. 
Britann. No. vi. p. x. John Wildbore was the redtor in 
1523 and 1524, and he leems to have been the laft perfon 
inftituted to this benefice. In his time there was a par- 
fonage-houfe ; this and the chancel were prefented as 
wanting repairs through his default; afterwards a curate 
fupplied the church, and fervice was performed in it in 
the laft century. 
When the traveller returns into the turnpike-road. 
Chalk church, which ftands on a little eminence between 
the 23d and 24th mile ftones, is one of the firft objedts 
tooft likely to catch his eye. The houfes in this parilh, 
all of them at a diftance from the church, do not exceed 
thirty ; and, as the diftridt is very fmall, it is not likely 
that they were ever more numerous, though the church 
is thought to have been formerly larger. The porch is 
remarkable for its capricious ornaments ; but the date of 
them cannot .from that circumftance be inferred, becaufe 
the like chimerical and prepofterous dreflings are to be 
feen in buildings far more ancient than the church, from 
the ftyle of architedture, appears to be. On the crown of 
the arch of the door-way is the figure of a jolly tippling 
Vol, XV. No. 1052. 
t o 
fellow, holding a jug in his hands, and looking with :t 
waggifh and laughing countenance to a grotefque figure, 
in the attitude of a pofture-mafter, placed above the centre 
of the moulding, as if pleafed witlrhis fportive perform¬ 
ances, and wilhing to drink with him. (For other inftances 
of ludicrous devices in facred places, lee the article Lon¬ 
don, vol. xiii. p. 545, 554. and Plate VII. r.) Between 
thefe figures is a recels, ornamented with a neat pointed 
Gothic arch and rofes, in which formerly ftood an image 
of the Virgin Mary, to whom the church is dedicated, 
though generally the image of the tutelar faint was placed 
in the chancel. It being, whillt popery prevailed, the 
practice for every perlon who entered the church to make 
their obedience to an image fituated as this is, it is afto- 
nilhing that objects fo extremely offenfive fliould have 
been buffered to remain. In the nave, on a brafs plate, 
fixed in a done, is an infcription to the-memory of Wil¬ 
liam Martyn, who died May 26, 1416, and of Ilabella his 
wife. Weaver relates, from its appearing on divers places 
on the glafs, as alfo in the ftruhture, tiiat Martyn was a 
good benefador to the church. 
After pafling through Chalk turnpike, the road on the 
left hand leads to Higham, Cliffe, Cowling, and into the 
Hundred of Hoo, which is the narrow trad of land fitu¬ 
ated between the Thames and Medway. Ety-mologifts 
conjedure it to have taken its name from the Saxon word 
ho, or hoh, which fignifier. fometimes a heel, and fometimes 
the ham of the leg (whence the word hough , to hough or 
hamftring), becaule it runs out into a kind of a point like 
a heel, or lies in a bend between the two rivers like a 
ham. But Mr. Pennant, in his account of Luton LIoo, 
in Bedfordihire, luggefts that Hoo fignifies a high fitua- 
tion, and that it is applicable to the part of this diftrifit 
which gives name to the whole. Holingflied the hiftorian, 
who was a ICentilh man, has obferved, according to Har¬ 
ris, that Hoo, in his time, was nearly an illand: and of 
the Hundred of Hoo he laid the people had this prover¬ 
bial rhime: 
He that rideth in the Hundred of Hoo, 
Befides pilfering feamen, fnall find dirt enow. 
Within this hundred is a parilh, which, as juft noticed, 
bears the fame name, but which was anciently more fre¬ 
quently denominated St. Werburgh, from the faint to 
whom the church is dedicated. Mr. Bridges, in his Hif- 
tory of Northamptonfliire, remarks, that St. Werbur°-h, 
or Werburge, was the daughter of king Wulphere, and 
fet over a monaftery of nuns at Wedon in that county, 
by her uncle king Ethelred. By this authority we are 
likewife informed, that St. Werburge is celebrated b<-- 
fome*writers for driving a way the geele that ufed to infefi; 
the neighbourhood; and the vulgar (uperftitious now 
obferve, that no wild geele are ever feen to lettle and 
graze in Wedon field. Not far from this is Lillechurch, 
which fee, vol. xii. p. 707. 
MIL'TON, or Mid'dleton, as it was anciently called; 
or Milton next Sittingbourne, as it has been called 
more recently, to diftinguilh it from the preceding Mil- 
ton near Gravelend; is a market-town and parifli in 
Kent, of very remote antiquity, as it formed part of 
the demefnes of the Saxon kings; hence it has been 
alfo called the “ Royal Town of Middleton.” it is fitu¬ 
ated twelve miles from Maidftone, and thirty-nine from 
London, on the acclivity of a hill, about half a mile from 
the high road. Hoping down to a fmali creek which falls 
into the river Swale, about two miles to the north-weft. 
The vicinity of this town to the Swale, which feparates 
the iile of Sheppey from the main land, was The caufe of 
its being frequently plundered by the Danes during their 
piratical incurfions in the ninth century. Here their ve¬ 
teran chief, Haftings, endeavoured to eftabliili himfelfin 
the time of Alfred; and the remains of his encampment 
or fortrefs are ftill to be leen in the marines of Kemfley 
Downs, between Milton church and the mouth of the 
creek. It confift? of a high rampart and broad ditch, in- 
5 K- doling 
