1623. To the Prince's players by Mr.:

£ s. d;

Bailiff's appointment

0 10 0

1625. To the King's players because they should not play in the town

hall for the space of five yeares 1626. To the King's players to for

bear to play in the towne

0 10 0

0 10 0

The following is taken from the Athenæum, Vol. 2. p 422. A few days ago some labourers digging the foundation of a new building near the Thames side at Kingston, came to two human skeletons, lying face to face, one upon the other; the surface of the earth covering them was five feet in depth, and consisted of a hard bound street dirt, which becoming firm as the soft part of the bodies decayed, had left a cavity or mould for the skeletons to rest in, as compact as stone itself. No buttons nor any other ornament could be found in the cavity, which must have been the case had they been buried with their clothes on. The workmen

workmen and many others thought they were the bodies of two men who were hung in Kingston market-place about eighty years since for robbing the church; but Mr. Wm. Roots, a gentleman conver ant in antiquarian pursuits, has taken pains to prove they must have lain much longer than this, the ground having been in the possession of one family upwards of a hundred years, and that part to a certainty never disturbed since it has so belonged, and there are people now living who witnessed the execution of these men, and who assert that one was both short and elderly, the other middle aged and sized; and on examining the skeletons, they must both have been at least six feet in height, and considerably under thirty, as neither had cut their Dentes sapientiæ, and what is very remarkable, besides these every tooth was perfect in all the jaws, Mr. Roots, who has preserved the jaws, is led to think they must have been deposited here after some engagement, as fifteen years ago an old-fashioned sword was taken up eight feet under the surface, within twenty yards of the same spot, and their being strong buill young men, strengthens this opinion. The last engagement near this place was in 1648, when Charles the first was a prisoner in

the

the Isle of Wight, and in which Lord Francis Villiers was pursued to the banks of the river and killed; and it is very probable that many of his adherents died in this engagement, which ended in the entire defeat of the royalists; and that part of the river where the bodies where found is in a direct line with the place where the battle was fought. called Surbiton Common. The bridge being lower down the river, and in the possession of the Parliament's forces, under Colonel Pritty, it is most probable that many of the vanquished, endeavouring to ford the river, where slain, and buried on its bank; and as. Kingston, indeed, has been, from its proximity to the metropolis, the seat of many engagements even prior to this, no doubt seems to remain but they where the bodies of men slain in battle; and from the circumstance of the sword having been found so near, many other bodies in all probability rest in quiet hard by, until accident shall once more throw up their remains to set conjecture afloat.

On the 14th of May 1661, from the hours of five to seven in the Morning, were seen Three Suns by several Persons near the Town, one appeared easterly a little distance from the true

Sun,

Sun, the other more southerly; all three were of equal magnitude and equal distance from each other; some affirm that when they first appeared their position was triangular, but afterwards they stood in a direct line, and as the true Sun arose in splendour, the other two by degrees disappeared.

The following Extracts are Selected from Mr. G. Roots, who translated the Charters.

In the year of our Lord 1445, and in the 23d year of King Henry the Vth. on the eve of the Purification, a great part of the belfry of Kyngeston was burnt, and a person died in the church, through fear of a spirit which he saw there.

On the first day of the month of October, in the year of our Lord 1467, and in the seventh year of King Edward the IVth. the King held a great council with the Lords at Kingston upon Thames, where the Lady Margaret, sister of King Edward, agreed to conclude a marriage with Charles, Duke of Burgundy. The Earl of Warwick was not there, being in the north.

Kingston upon Thames, 1696.

A petition of the bailiffs, lords of the manor, and tenants of the same, and other the freemen and inhabitants of Kingston upon Thames, in the county of Surrey, was presented to the house and read; setting forth, That the poor of the said town daily increase, and are become very burdensome to the inhabitants: that there are large commons. belonging to the said town, clear of timber, and of little use; which, if employed by sowing flax, hemp, &c. would employ their poor, and ease the inhabitants, who are willing to build conveniences for teaching and employing the poor, and their children; which may not only be a comfortable subsistence to themselves, but an advantage to the nation: and praying leave to bring in a bill, empowering them to enclose as much of their commons as they, from time to time, shall find cause to employ for the uses of their poor; and that such enclosures may be exempted from all taxes and tythes.

But it was never presented.

Manor.

The manor of Kingston was a royal demesne, both in the reign of the Confessor and William

the