some notice should be taken of what is almost a unique feature of an English church. In its list of Vicars Cranbrook had in the beginning of the eighteenth century a man of singular power and profound learning, named John Johnson, appointed to this parish in 1707 by Archbishop Tenison. Finding that the Anabaptists formed a very considerable body in the place, and that their great objection to coming into communion with the Church of England was based on the custom of infant baptism and "sprinkling," he resolved to remove if possible this stumbling-block, and with that view built a baptistery sufficiently large for an adult to stand upright in and to be "immersed." There it stands at the door of the room, as evidence of his conciliatory spirit; but the Church Registers do not disclose any evidence of the depth or reality of their scruples on the score of immersion, as only one instance is there recorded; while there are frequent entries of adult baptisms, some even of persons as old as 40 years, as in the case of one William Couchman, born in 1653, and baptized in 1694.

THE 14TH CENTURY KEY OF THE OUTER DOOR LEADING INTO A ROOM
OVER THE SOUTH PORCH IN CRANBROOK CHURCH, COMMONLY
CALLED "BLOODY BAKER'S JAIL"

Mention must now be made of the monuments of the

Church, of which there are two of colossal proportions, and of genealogical if not artistic value. The most ancient of the monuments is a large slab lying in the centre of the choir; its inscription, in Lombardic characters, telling that it was to the memory of one "Stephanus," for whom the Virgin was entreated to plead. Tarbutt thought he could identify him with an almoner of Battle Abbey, who was called "Stephanus de Cranebrook," and who died about the

year 1388. On the north wall of the chancel is a mural tablet of considerable local interest, commemorating in a long Latin inscription the distinguished career of Richard Fletcher, who was the first Vicar of Cranbrook after the Reformation. He died in 1585.

Other monuments of local interest abound on the floor and the walls; but the two most noteworthy are those connected with the Roberts* and Baker families. Of the former, one of gigantic proportions, if not artistic, is of great genealogical interest as giving the descent of twelve generations, from the Walter Roberts of Glassenbury-the victim of his loyal protection of his friend and neighbour Sir John Guildeforde in the reign of Richard III.-down to Jane, the daughter of another Walter Roberts, the sixth Baronet, who became the most unhappy of women as the wife of the profligate George, the third Duke of St. Albans.

There is a pyramidal monument of somewhat similar character on which appears inscribed the history of the Baker family of Sissinghurst, in this parish, especially the Sir John Baker whose name has been already mentioned in connection with the small room over the south porch; while on the back of the monument is recorded the pedigree of the family for about a century and a half, from 1578 to 1733. This monument now stands in the west end of the north aisle, having been placed there at the restoration of the church in 1868, when it was removed from its original position in the south aisle. There it had marked the vault of the Baker family, in connection with which the records of the parish tell a disastrous tale. In opening the vault in 1727, and enlarging it for one more coffin, the main support of the pier adjoining the chancel arch was weakened by the removal of some of the stones, and the pier collapsed and brought down with it some 50 feet of the roof on that side.

It only remains to speak of the stately Tower, with its rich peal of bells, and of the shields which appear on its

*The Roberts family had clearly no mean position in the county-Walter was Sheriff in 1464, Thomas in 1533, and another Thomas in 1622; while his son, Sir Thomas, a Baronet, was the Knight of the Shire for Kent in 1691, and again in 1695, and M.P. for Maidstone in 1702-and are still worthily represented at Glassenbury Manor.

west face. These are connected with the history of the parish, as bearing the arms of three families of mark who at one time owned important manor-houses here. The Berhams were the lords of Sissinghurst in the reign of Edward III., and appear emblazoned three bears sable; the Betenhams, of that ilk, represented by a saltire engrailed between four bears' heads erased; and the Wilsfords of Hartridge, a chevron engrailed between three leopards' heads. While a little higher than the line on which these are placed is a shield bearing the arms of Archbishop Chichele, impaling those of the See of Canterbury.

These appear to be the leading features and points of interest in this "Cathedral of the Weald," a church the possession of which may go far to reconcile Cranbrook to the loss of its cloth-weavers, since it stands as a lasting monument of a class of men who were the pious benefactors of their adopted home.

THE KNIGHT HOSPITALLERS IN KENT.

BY J. F. WADMORE.

THE Order of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, or, as it was also called, the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, is stated to have been instituted as early as the year 612* for the protection of pilgrims visiting the Holy City. It was originally more of a monastic character, but the exigencies of the time, and the incursions of the Saracens and Turks, gave it a military character, which became further developed during the Crusades. The capture of Jerusalem by Godfrey de Bouillon, Count Raymond, and others gave an importance and influence to the Order, not only by placing the Hospital on a firmer footing, but enabling it to form various settlements elsewhere, in Rhodes, Malta, and other European states.

The rules for the guidance of the Order required poverty, chastity, and obedience.† They were revised by Count Raymond de Puy himself, Master of the Order, at a council of clerical and lay brethren, and subsequently ratified by Pope Boniface in the sixth year of his Pontificate.

The Order appears to have been first introduced into England in the reign of Henry I., circa 1100, by Jordanus Brisset, Knight, who purchased a plot of land consisting of ten acres at Clerkenwell, near London, besides giving an additional ten acres towards its maintenance at Welynhall‡ in Kent. He died A.D. 1110, and both he and his wife Muriel, who died two years after, were buried at Clerkenwell. The first Prior appointed to the Order in England appears to have been Garnarius the Neapolitan. It is worthy of note that this appointment is contemporaneous with that of + Ibid., p. 493. "Wellhall, near Eltham," Hasted, vol. i., p. 470.

* Dugdale, Mon., vol. ii., p. 489.

the Sisters of the House at Buckland, of which mention is made further on in connection with Stroud. He was succeeded by Richard de Turk, whose name is mentioned in many early documents. Joseph Chancey, the twelfth in order, erected a chapel at Clerkenwell, while the names of many subsequent Priors will be found in the List of Benefactors. William Tothall, the twentieth in order, died in the year 1318,* and was succeeded by Thomas le Archer, or L'Archer, in whose time the whole Order in England appears to have fallen into financial difficulties of no ordinary sort, so much so that the entire income availed not to meet the more pressing demands of its creditors,† and the moveables of the Hospitallers at Clerkenwell were seized under a writ of " fieri facias" to meet the interest due to the Lombard and Perugian merchants, and the whole Order at that time established in England was in danger of being broken up and dissolved.

To remedy this state of things, Elian de Villeneuve, the Grand Master at Rhodes, instructed Leonard de Tybertis of Venice to act as a plenipotentiary commissioner, to enquire into, and if possible to extricate the Order from, their numerous difficulties; and Thomas le Archer, feeble with age and unwieldy with fat, was compelled to resign his office (A.D. 1328). When he and the treasurer died, Leonard de Tybertis assumed the command, taking the whole affairs into his own hands.

He had brought with him from Italy a quantity of elegant jewels, for presents to members of the Court, and by these and his credentials was fortunate enough to find favour in the eyes of "our Lord the King, and our Lady the Queen," and he succeeded in recovering a large amount of the arrears of which the indolent Thomas had been unable to obtain payment. He cut down wood on the estates and realized more than £1000 by the sale of it, and collected the rents so closely as to bring in £3000 more. By these and other means, and the security of certain jewels, he succeeded

* Malcomb's London, vol. iii., p. 254.

+ Larking.

Previously Prior of St. Gillis's Province; was elected Grand Master at Rhodes 1327, and appears to have been an able administrator and diplomatist. He died A.D. 1346.