gh a solid chalk-stone rock, one
hundred feet below the surface. The Saxons, on their entrance into Kent,
upwards of 1,300 years ago, excavated several of these retreats; and
during the discord, horrid murders, and sanguinary conflicts with the
native Britons, for nearly five hundred years, used these underground
recesses, not only as safe receptacles for their persons, but also
secure depositaries for their wealth and plunder. After these times,
history informs us the caves were frequently resorted to, and occupied
by the disloyal and unprincipled rebels, headed by Jack Cade, in the
reign of Henry VI., about A.D. 1400, who infested Blackheath and its
neighbourhood, (as also mentioned by your correspondent;) since then by
several banditti, called Levellers, in the rebellious times of Oliver
Cromwell. The cave consists of three rooms, which are dry, and
illuminated; in one of which, at the end of the principal entrance, is a
well of soft, pure, and clear water, which, according to the opinion of
several eminent men, is seldom to be met with. The internal structure is
similar to the cave under the ruins of Reigate Castle, built by the
Saxons; where the barons of England, in the year 1212, with their
followers, (frequently amounting to five hundred persons,) held their
private meetings, and took up arms, previous to their obtaining Magna
Charta at Runny Mead, near Egham, in Surrey.

C.J.T.

* * * * *

STANGING.

_(For the Mirror.)_

This odd custom is now _vice versa_. The stang is of Saxon origin, and
is practised in Lancashire, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, for the
purpose of exposing a kind of gyneocracy, or, the wife wearing the
galligaskins. When it is known (which it generally is) that a wife falls
out with her spouse, and beats him right well, the people of the town or
village procure a ladder, and instantly repair to his house, where one
of the party is powdered with flour--face blacked--cocked hat placed
upon his cranium--white sheet thrown over his shoulders--is seated
astride the ladder, with his back where his face should be--they hoist
him upon men's shoulders--and in his hands he carries a long brush,
tongs, and poker. A sort of mock proclamation is then made in doggerel
verse at the door of all the alehouses in the parish, or wapentake, as
follows:--

"It is neither for your sake nor my sake
That I ride stang;
But it is for Nancy Thomson,
Who did her h