reasons why those of Kent desire moderation in the assessment of purveyance for Her Majesty’s household. It is a maritime county, compelled to watch the beacons, and keep watch and ward on the coast, and on every approach or show of the enemy, driven to put on arms or keep the field, oftener than any other shire of the realm. The Royal Navy continually lies in harbour within the shire, and the storehouses at Deptford, Woolwich, Rochester, Chatham, etc., are chiefly served by the shire by commission, as well with victuals as timber, labourers; carriage, etc., for building and repairing ships. Within the shire are the castle and blockhouses at Gravesend, Upnor, Quinboro’, Sandown, Deal, Walmer and Dover, Mote’s Bulwark, Archcliffe Bulwark, and Sandgate ¹⁸  also royal houses at Greenwich, Eltham, Dartford, and Canterbury, towards the reparation of which the county is burdened by commission, both for provisions and carriage. The shire, being the only high street or way by which all corners and goers into and out of the realm pass, is greatly charged with provisions, horses and carriages, and the personal attendance of the best sort, some of which services have cost 3,000 li.  It has lately borne, and during the war is likely to bear, a great burthen of the soldiers of other shires, who lie there for wind and shipping, and are often billeted in towns and villages, and many times not paid for. . The cities of Rochester and Canterbury, and the Port towns and their members, being a large portion of the shire, are not, by virtue of their privilege, to be drawn to any contribution, so that the whole burden of these preparations must lie upon the residue of the inhabitants.
   It was a heavy burden, and it did not grow lighter as the years advanced. In August 1599, the ‘army of Kent, to be furnished by Kent and Sussex,’ reached the respectable total of 10,000 foot and 680 horse,²⁰  of which Kent itself supplied 6,000.²¹  An ‘attempt of the enemy in Kent’ was again being prepared for,²²  Canterbury was to be the headquarters of this force, the field pieces there were to be viewed.²³  Sir Robert Sidney, governor of Flushing, was required ‘to send over 300 of the best and most ancient soldiers in his garrison, and land them at Margate or the Downs to join the forces in Kent, collected there to withstand such attempts as the King of Spain’s army may make.’²⁴  In addition to this, in 1,000 the queen asked for a levy in Kent of 50 foot for service in Ireland,²⁵  and in16001 ^25a 300 men were again levied in Kent and sent to the Low Countries, shipping and victuals being provided to Sandwich.
   In the Bye and Main plots which followed the establishment of the house of Stuart in England, Lord Cobham and his brother, George Brooke, were implicated. Their evidence, when on trial, brought Sir Walter Ralegh to his ruin—a result for which the plots are even more memorable than for the king’s narrow escape from capture at Greenwich.
   In Parliament Kentish representatives showed a sturdy front to the king. In 1622 Sir Peter Heyman, as member for Hythe,²⁶ spoke so boldly against the
   ¹⁹  A list of the ‘townes of warre, castles, bulwarks and fortresses in the county of Kent,’ 1607-8, with their charges, gives valuable details as to their garrisons then. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. (MSS. of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu), 67.) Bulwark at Higham: Captain, 2 souldiers, 1 porter, and 5 gunners. Castle of Sanhill, near Sandwich: Captain, 1. souldiers, 1 under-captain, 1 soldier, 2 porters, and 10 gunners. The turffe bullwarke nere the Castle of Sandwich: Captain, 2 souldiers, and 2 gunners. The little bullwarke of turife in the Castle of Deale in the Downes: Captain, 8 souldiers, 1 under gunner and 1 souldier, 2 porters and 16 other gunners. The Claie bullwarke: Captaine, 2 souldiers, and a gunners. Walmer buiwarke: 1 porter, 1 gunner. The Castle of Walmer: Captaine, 1 souldiers, 1 under captain, 2 porters, and 10 gunners. Dover; the Castle of Dover; The Lord Warden of the Sincke Ports, Constable of the Castle; the buliwarke of the under castle of Dover: Captaine, 1 souldier, and 2 gunners; the black bulwarke in the cliffe of Dover: Captaine, 2 soldiers, 1 porter, 2 gunners. The bullwarke of Archcliffe nere the peire of Dover and the Castle of Sandgate near Portsmouth : Captaine, 5 soldiers, 1 under captain, 2 porters, and 8 gunners.
   ²⁰ Ibid. Rep. iii, App. 51.                      ²¹  Ibid. Rep. xv, App. v, 74.   
   ²²  Ibid. 77.                                             ²³  Ibid.
   ²⁴  Ibid. 75. Sir Robert Sidney was a younger brother of Sir Philip Sidney, and had been member of Parliament for Kent in 1597.
   ²⁵  Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. V,  139.       ^25a  Ibid.
   ²⁶  Cal. S.P. Dom. 1619-23, p. 252.