under notice there are still artificial dykes of such importance that the Ordnance Surveyors were not content to mark them by the single line which they use to denote the ordinary hedge and ditch, but they show these wider and deeper ditches by double lines, with an interlineal colouring of blue. These dykes were, without doubt, at one time more extensive, but have been destroyed in later times by the agricultural practice of throwing several minor enclosures into one large field.

This little village then--a 'village of the plain," perhaps at different times occupied by Briton, Saxon, Goth, and Dane, appears to have had its sacred place of worship-Blessed-end— where "sat the Druid, hoary chief," beneath the spreading oak, and afterwards the Christian priest, who not unmindful of the wise monition of St. Gregory, preserved many of the ancient customs of the pagan people; its Court of Justice, with the associated Keys gathering from time to time upon Tom-acre, or at Purr-hill; its humble dwellings centred in one spot, and protected by bank and ditch from the outer world of man and beast; its fields around cultivated by an open system of husbandry,

and girt in by thick-set woods, and by the placid stream, to which its people of the district gave the names of Pant and Blackwater. And now all is changed, blotted out for ever, its very name is lost!

William Hunter: The Young Martyr of

IN

Brentwood.

BY JOHN W. ODLING.

NDIVIDUAL lives, as well as history in general, may not be measured by days and years. The lives of multitudes who have attained to a "ripe old age" have frequently been devoid of interest and without apparent results; whilst on the other hand lives which have often been cut off in their prime have included most stirring events and have borne fruit in after years. So in the history of empires and nations, whole centuries have been less important in their influence and consequences than a few brief years in which mighty victories have been achieved or deeds-famous or infamous-have been enacted.

"We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breaths,
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."

The memory of William Hunter, the youthful

martyr, whose earthly race was so quickly run, is still verdant, though many generations have since dwelt amid the scenes of his troublous

days.

Brief as was the period during which Mary Tudor swayed the sceptre over this nation, her reign and the incidents comprised within its limits stand out, and will continue to stand out, with conspicuous boldness in the annals of English history.

At Brentwood (formerly Burntwood) one of the fairest towns of our county, William Hunter was born, and there he lived and died, or rather was sacrificed to that fertile source of evil,religious intolerance, the offspring of misguided zeal for the cause of religion.

During his childhood he had been carefully instructed in Biblical truth by godly parents. So firmly had the seed taken root that when, being an apprentice in the city of London, he was commanded to go to Mass and to receive the "blessed sacrament," he stoutly refused to comply.

The royal proclamation issued by Mary after her accession required that all the subjects of the realm should quietly embrace the religion in which

the Queen herself had been nurtured by her royal mother, Catherine of Arragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. But there were many who "bowed not the knee to Baal," and who "counted not their lives dear unto them," that they might maintain liberty of conscience in matters of personal faith. The fierce bigotry of the Queen determined to conquer or destroy, but the terror of death was powerless to these brave spirits. William Hunter was one of nearly 300 who sealed their testimony with their life's blood in the limited period of this memorable reign. Under threat of complaint to the Bishop, he retired from London to his father's house at Brentwood. But he was not allowed to escape the Argus-eyed vigilance of his foes.

One

upon

Here he was

For six weeks only he remained at home. day in the chapel he found a Bible the desk, which he began to read. espied by a "Summoner," eager to lay hands upon the heretic.

Said he "What dost thou meddling with the Bible? Canst thou understand what thou readest, and canst thou expound the Scripture?" Hunter replied: "I take not upon me to expound the Scripture, but finding the Bible here I read it to my comfort."