Very few of our counties contain so many perfect examples of structures such as it is our purpose to depict. THE BARONIAL HALLS of Kent, and the ANCIENT CHURCHES of Kent, are among the most remarkable, picturesque, and unimpaired EDIFICES of the kingdom. Upon Kent, therefore, we shall draw rather extensively for the present Work; and although necessarily discursive, we may derive from the vast store of wealth with which it supplies us, ample to excite and interest the lover of picturesque beauty and antiquity. Its proximity to the Metropolis--from which, if we measure distances by time, it is separated by little more than two hours--supplies a sufficient motive for the selection of COBHAM HALL, and the several striking objects in its immediate vicinity. It is situated about four miles south-east of Gravesend, nearly midway between that town and Rochester; but a mile or so out of the direct road. The narrow coach-paths which lead to it are shaded by pleasant hedge-rows, and run between lines of hop-gardens--our English vineyards, infinitely more graceful and beautiful accessories to the landscape than the stunted grape-shrubberies of France. The mansion stands in the midst of scenery of surpassing loveliness; alternating hill and valley, rich in “patrician trees” and “plebeian underwood;” dotted with pretty cottages, and interspersed with primitive villages; while, here and there, are scattered “old houses” of red brick, with their carved wooden gables and tall twisted chimneys; and glimpses are caught, occasionally, of the all-glorious Thames. A visit to Cobham Hall, therefore, furnishes a most refreshing and invigorating luxury to dwellers in the Metropolis; and the liberality of its noble owner adds to the rich banquet of Nature as rare a treat as can be supplied by Art; the Hall,--independent of the interest it derives from its quaint architecture--its fine, although not unmixed, remains of the Tudor style--contains a gallery of pictures by the best masters of the most famous schools, large in number and of rare value.[47] Before we commence our description of the Hall, the Demesne, the Church, the College, and the village of Cobham,[48] it is necessary that we supply some information concerning the several families, under whose guardianship they have flourished. Cobham Hall has not descended from sire to son through many generations. Its present lord is in no way, or at least very remotely, connected with the ancient family who for centuries governed the “men of Kent;” and who, at one period, possessed power second only to that of the sovereign. That race of bold barons has been long extinct, the last of them dying in miserable poverty; and if their proud blood is still to be found within their once princely barony, it runs, probably, through the veins of some tiller of the soil.