all England, and his son Athelwolf
were present; and in this record it is styled _Kyningenstum famosa ilia
locus_. Some of our Saxon kings were also crowned here; and adjoining
the church is a large stone, on which, according to tradition, they were
placed during the ceremony. Many interesting relics have from time to
time been discovered in illustration of these historical facts, and till
the year 1730, the figures of some of the above kings and that of king
John (who chartered the town) were preserved in a chapel adjoining the
above spot. In that year, however, the chapel fell, and with it were
demolished the royal _effigies_.[2] Mr. Lysons, with his usual accuracy,
enumerates nine kings who were crowned here.

Kingston formerly sent members to parliament, till, by petition, the
inhabitants prayed to be relieved from the burden!

At Hampton Wick, the village on the opposite bank, resided the witty but
profligate Sir Richard Steele, in a house which he whimsically
denominated "the hovel;" and "from the Hovel at Hampton Wick, April 7,
1711," he dedicated the fourth volume of the _Tatler_ to Charles, Lord
Halifax. This was probably about the time he became surveyor of the
royal stables at Hampton Court, governor of the king's comedians, a
justice of the peace for Middlesex, and a knight.

* * * * *

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Austin, appointed by King
Ethelbert, on his conversion to Christianity, about the year 598. Before
the coming of the Saxons into England, the Christian Britons had three
Archbishops, viz. of London, York, and Caerleon, an ancient city of
South Wales. The Britons being driven out of these parts, the
Archbishoprick of London became extinct; and when Pope Gregory the Great
had afterwards sent thither Augustine, and his fellow-labourer to preach
the Gospel to the then heathen Saxons, the Archiepiscopal See was
planted at Canterbury, as being the metropolis of the kingdom of Kent,
where King Ethelbert had received the same St. Augustine, and with his
kingdom was baptized, and embraced the doctrines of Christianity before
the rest of the Heptarchy. The other Archbishoprick of Caerleon was
translated to St. David's in Pembrokeshire, and afterwards wholly to the
See of Canterbury; since which, all England and Wales reckon but two
Archbishops, Canterbury and York. The following Archbishops have died at
Lambeth Palace;--Wittlesey,