aff, and every year relieves over one hundred and fifty
thousand poor sick people, besides maintaining a convalescent home, with
seventy beds, at Kettlewell, Swanley, Kent.[2]

[Illustration: ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS
_E. Scamell. Photo._]

The hospital chapel, converted into a parish church after the
Dissolution, had fallen into a very dilapidated state towards the end of
the eighteenth century. In the year 1789 the restoration of the building
was committed to Mr. George Dance, then architect and surveyor to the
hospital. He made a considerable alteration in the interior by
ruthlessly destroying the old work, for which he substituted an
octagonal structure, within the rectangular plan, allowing the external
walls to remain in their original form, with the square tower which
still stands at the western end--the whole enveloped in a coating of
cement. The internal erection was entirely in wood, ingeniously carved
and coloured to resemble stone; but the false economy of it was soon
manifested in dry-rot, which spread to such an alarming extent that a
reconstruction became necessary. The rebuilding was taken in hand in
1823 by Mr. Thomas Hardwick, who had a much better knowledge of pointed
architecture than his predecessor. He removed the whole of the timber,
substituting stone and iron for it, and while adhering to Mr. Dance's
general design, improved upon it by introducing fresh details of his
own, more in harmony with the fabric in which it was enclosed. The
church has since been restored, but the incongruity is still obvious
enough, especially from the outside, where the octagon projects above
the ancient walls, and the small pentagonal chancel beyond them at the
eastern end.

[Illustration: BRASS OF WILLIAM AND ALICE MARKEBY]

The entrance is by a low Tudor doorway in the tower, which still bears
traces of the original work. On the pavement of the vestibule there is
an interesting brass, with the figures of William Markeby and his wife,
and an inscription which now reads: "Hic jacent Will'mo Markeby de
Londiniis gentlemo' qui obiit XI die Julii A. D'ni MCCCCXXXIX et Alicia
uxor ei," the concluding words "quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen"
having been erased.[3] There are two other ancient memorials in this
part of the church which call for special notice, viz.: on the north
wall, within the present vestry, a niche contains the figure of an angel
bearing a shield of arms, beneath which another sh