uted to be the oldest. Here, in the year 600, St. Augustine preached
before the cathedral was built. Neither should St. John's hospital,
with its fine, half-timbered gateway be forgotten; nor the old grammar
school, founded in the Seventh Century.

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY.]

Our stay in the old town was all too short, but business reasons
demanded our presence in London on Monday, so we left for that city
about two o'clock. We varied matters somewhat by taking a different
return route, and we fully agreed that the road leading from Canterbury
to London by way of Maidstone is one of the most delightful which we
traversed in England. It led through fields fresh with June verdure,
losing itself at times in great forests, where the branches of the trees
formed an archway overhead. Near Maidstone we caught a glimpse of Leeds
Castle, one of the finest country seats in Kent, the main portions of
the building dating from the Thirteenth Century. We had a splendid view
from the highway through an opening in the trees of the many-towered old
house surrounded by a shimmering lake, and gazing on such a scene under
the spell of an English June day, one might easily forget the present
and fancy himself back in the time when knighthood was in flower, though
the swirl of a motor rushing past us would have dispelled any such
reverie had we been disposed to entertain it. We reached London early,
and our party was agreed that our pilgrimage to Canterbury could not
very well have been omitted from our itinerary.

IV

A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS

I had provided myself with letters of introduction from the American
Automobile Association and Motor League, addressed to the secretary of
the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and shortly after my
arrival in London, I called upon that official at the club headquarters.
After learning my plans, he referred me to Mr. Maroney, the touring
secretary, whom I found a courteous gentleman, posted on almost every
foot of road in Britain and well prepared to advise one how to get the
most out of a tour. Ascertaining the time I proposed to spend and the
general objects I had in view, he brought out road-maps of England and
Scotland and with a blue pencil rapidly traced a route covering about
three thousand miles, which he suggested as affording the best
opportunity of seeing, in the time and distance proposed, many of the
most historic and picturesque parts of Britain.

In