crease of the town through various ages. These divisions are called "boroughs," and, if we understand rightly, are as old as the time of Alfred; having been connected, as we may conclude, with his distributing various districts into communities, the members of which entered into a pledge among themselves to keep the peace, and to prevent the laws from being broken; and, indeed, hence the legal manorial form, styled "View of Frankpledge," which is still observed, is derived. The four of these ancient divisions into which the parish of Maidstone is apportioned, are as follows, viz. the borough of Wyke, the borough of Maidstone, the borough of Stone, and the borough of Westree. It is singular in these, that we have the borough of Wyke mentioned as distinct from the borough of Maidstone. However, the earliest reference to them I can find is in the Manor Book of Maidstone parish for the years 1510 and 1511, No. 1025, in the Lambeth Library; in the latter of which years we have Wyke, Maidstone, and Stone mentioned, but from some cause Westree is omitted, which is not material. We have then this fact, that this part of the parish was in Alfred's time called the "Wyke," to obtain which name there must have been an ancient "vicus," that is, village or town, of the Romans at the spot; for it is not to be believed that the Saxons ever gave the name, except in reference to the Latin term vicus, before existing at the place.
   11. The name of the street, "Week Street," extending from this quarter (I mean, from the assigned spot of the station), nearly a mile to the south-east, is also in point. This street, in its course to the south-east, gave name to the Manor of Wyke, which is somewhat remote from the supposed site of our Roman station; and if the said Manor Rental of 1511, to which I have just referred, be understood rightly, was not in the borough of Wyke: as will be further shown presently. In the