HASTINGS.FROM THE BEACH.

HASTINGS.HASTINGS.

Wehave elsewhere remarked upon the origin and early history of this fashionable watering-place, and at the same time traced its connexion with those once important towns, the Cinque Ports: on the present occasion we propose to occupy our space with its modern features, and to include a brief notice of its more aristocratic neighbour, St. Leonards. The older streets, that lie close under the hill and stretch up towards London, are narrow and inconvenient; they are mostly occupied as shops, but new ranges of smart and commodious dwelling-houses have been built on every hand. For many years the visiters to Hastings had to submit to the inconveniences attendant upon a residence in a small fishing-town; but these have now been removed, and hotels and private lodging-houses, provided with all the luxuries of modern requirement, are to be found in abundance. The rapidity with which Hastings can be reached from the metropolis, while it has greatly increased the number of its visiters, has, perhaps, robbed it of part of that exclusiveness for which it was formerly distinguished. It is now the summer resort of a large and constantly-increasing number of the middle class, who derive a new stock of health from its genial breezes and bracing waves, while their expenditure forms the support of the large and constantly-increasing resident population.

Of St. Leonards, we may remark that it is quite a creature of our own day. Mr. Burton, the architect of a large part of the buildings about the Regent's-park, commenced the formation of a new town here in 1828. His plan was conceived on a bold scale, and was very fairly carried into execution. A noble esplanade extends for more than half a mile along the beach. A handsome range of buildings, called the Marina, some five hundred feet in extent, stretches along the sea-front of the town, with a covered colonnade of the same length. Other terraces and scattered villas, bearing in character a considerable resemblance to those in the Regent's-park, were also erected, together with a church, assembly-rooms, bath-houses, and hotels of large size and the most complete arrangements. There are also pleasure-grounds and other contrivances for the amusement or comfort of visiters. St. Leonards has been able to boast of a large array of noble and distinguished visiters from its earliest infancy. Her present Majesty heads the list, she having, when Princess Victoria, resided with her mother, in 1834, at the western end of the Marina. The Queen Dowager is also among the names it delights to remember. The house in which she lived is now called Adelaide House. Among its literary visitants Campbell has perhaps the first place, he having left a permanent record of his residence at it in theLines on the View from St. Leonards:—

"Hail to thy face and odours, glorious Sea!'Twere thanklessness in me to bless thee not,Great, beauteous being! in whose breath and smileMy heart beats calmer, and my very mindInhales salubrious thoughts. How welcomerThy murmurs than the murmurs of the world!Though like the world thou fluctuatest, thy dinTo me is peace, thy restlessness repose.Ev'n gladly I exchange yon spring-green lanes,With all the darling field-flowers in their prime,And gardens haunted by the nightingale'sLong trills and gushing ecstacies of song,For these wild headlands and the sea-mew's clang."With thee beneath my windows, pleasant Sea!I long not to o'erlook earth's fairest gladesAnd green savannahs—Earth has not a plainSo boundless or so beautiful as thine."

"With thee beneath my windows, pleasant Sea!I long not to o'erlook earth's fairest gladesAnd green savannahs—Earth has not a plainSo boundless or so beautiful as thine."

St. Leonards was originally a mile and a half distant from Hastings; but the old town has stretched out its arms to its youthful progeny. The Grand Parade was the first step towards uniting them; and now other places have sprung up, and they are fairly joined together. The esplanade now reaches, with hardly an interruption, from the Marine Parade at Hastings to the Marina at St. Leonards, and forms probably the finest walk of the kind in the kingdom.

The vicinity of Hastings is replete with objects of interest, and amongst them we may mention Bulverhythe, a short distance from St. Leonards, generally assigned as the landing-place of William of Normandy. East Hill, or Camp Hill, was probably the site chosen for his first encampment, whence, after a brief stay, he marched to meet the English troops under Harold. Of the events of that day our readers are already well informed; but should any of them feel disposed to spend a day in visiting the old town of Battle, they will find their labour well repaid by an inspection of the ruins of Battle Abbey; though we must caution them against the supposition that the existing remains are those of the edifice erected by the Conqueror in commemoration of his victory: they are of a later date, yet still deserving of a better fate than seems to have fallen to their share.

RYERYE(Sussex)

Tothe Cinque Ports, of which Rye and Winchilsea are appendages, we have already adverted in several articles of this work. As places where strength and vigilance were particularly necessary, and from which ships might put to sea in cases of sudden emergency, these ports were entitled, in former times, to the special attention of government, and performed great and important services to the country. Their privileges are numerous, and they are within the jurisdiction of the Constable of Dover Castle, Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Until the reign of Henry VIII., the crown seems to have had no permanent navy, but to have depended almost entirely on the Cinque Ports for the protection of our maritime frontier; and hence the origin of those privileges conferred upon them by successive sovereigns, in acknowledgment of services rendered to the State. Among these are the exemption from toll and harbour-dues, still recognised at several ports, and various other rights of minor consideration. In ancient times there were several courts of jurisdiction, extending over all the ports and their members, and intended either as courts of appeal, for persons who considered themselves aggrieved by any of the separate and local tribunals, or for regulating the grand affairs of the whole association; but these may now be considered as obsolete—their functions have dwindled to mere matters of form.

Ryeis a town and harbour of great antiquity, near the borders of the Kentish marshes. It occupies the declivity of a hill, on a peninsula, bounded on the south and west by the sea, and on the east by the river Rother. The town is composed of several well-formed and regularly built streets, and lighted with gas; and from various points the eye wanders over the channel and adjacent country, where rural and marine scenery conspire to form some of the most delightful views on the coast of England. The ancient history of Rye, during the height of its prosperity as a sea-port, abounds in incidents of a martial and romantic interest, as transmitted to us by Froissart and the ancient chroniclers of those times when the star of chivalry was still dominant in the kingdoms of Europe.

In the reign of Richard II., and again in that of Henry VI., Rye was burnt by the French, when the early records of the town are supposed to have been consumed; for, with the exception of a few fragments, all the old writings and charters which have been discovered are subsequent to that calamity. In the same conflagration, the old church is supposed to have fallen a sacrifice, and to have been rebuilt in its present form—a capacious cruciform structure with a central tower—but in a different situation, the original having stood on the spot, near Ypres tower, called the Old Church-yard. This tower, now appropriated to the purposes of a gaol, has recently undergone several alterations and improvements.

The old harbour of Rye, which in former days presented so stirring a scene of commercial activity, has dwindled like that of Sandwich, Winchilsea, and many of its prosperous contemporaries, into comparative insignificance. But in accounting for this melancholy fact, we must look to natural causes, rather than to the decay of native enterprise. The present harbour is situated on the east side of the town; and on the north—a mile and a half from the sea entrance—vessels of two hundred tons burden can still lade and unlade close to the quay. Under spirited management, and with proper funds for such an enterprise, it is believed that it might still be made to accommodate vessels of every draught and tonnage. By means of the three rivers, Rother, Tillingham, and Brede, which traverse the country, great facilities are afforded to commercial intercourse. Coal, corn, hops, bark, wood, and timber, constitute the chief articles of trade; and several sloops are constantly employed in conveying chalk from the cliffs at Eastbourne, for the burning of lime. During the season, the herring and mackarel fisheries employ a good many hands, the produce of which is chiefly sent to the London market.

The Borough of Rye has exercised the elective franchise from the earliest date of parliamentary representation. Previous to the enactment of the Reform Bill, it returned two members; but by that great public measure the town and its electoral district were limited to one representative. The government of the town is vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. The mayor is coroner for the borough and liberty, and also a justice of the peace. Courts of quarter sessions are held before a recorder, nominated by the crown; and a commission of the peace has been conferred on four gentlemen, residents of the borough, who meet in petty session twice a week in the Court-hall. The church-living, a discharged vicarage, is in the gift of the Earl of Burlington. The charitable institutions consist of a Free Grammar School, a British School, an almshouse, and some minor bequests for benevolent purposes. Corn and provision-markets are held twice a week—a cattle-market every fortnight—and annual fairs on Whitmonday and the tenth of August.

FOLKSTONE.FOLKSTONE.KENT.

Folkstoneis in the county of Kent, and lies about seventy-two miles south-east of London, and seven west-south-west of Dover. In the beautiful vignette, from a drawing by Boyes, the view is taken from the eastward, and represents the characteristics of Folkstone of the past rather than the present. Few ports in her Majesty's dominions have risen into commercial eminence so rapidly as the subject of our present Engraving. For the following description we are principally indebted to the recently published work of Mr. G. Measom. He remarks: "The town is very irregularly built in its lower and older part, having steep and narrow streets, which nevertheless are clean and well paved, and the whole is now lighted with gas. The higher portion, however, going up to the cliffs, is much more regular, and comprises several pretty terraces with lodging-houses for summer visitors, who may here enjoy all the benefits of a fine, bracing air, and sea-bathing, combined with that rural retirement so desirable in the country, and which cannot be found either at Dover, Ramsgate, or other bathing towns on this coast. The cliffs, too, command the most delightful views, south-west, over the wide level of Romney Marsh, as far as Beachy Head, while seaward stands the town and harbour at our feet, beyond which are the Straits of Dover, skirted in the horizon by the coast of France. Folkstone has two churches—one of modern erection in the upper town—and four or five places of worship for Dissenters, all of which have attached Sunday-schools; besides which there are several daily subscription-schools, and a good grammar-school. It has also a town-hall and market-house, a custom-house, a mechanics' institute, dispensary, several libraries, reading-rooms, &c., and four or five good inns.

"The port of Folkstone, not less than the town, has been vastly improved by the South-Eastern Railway Company. Even before they acquired possession of it in 1845, efforts had been made by the construction of an arm at the end of the pier to arrest the progress of shingle, which here, as at Dover, constantly choked and filled up the harbour. The first step adopted by the company was the carrying out from the south-west end of the arm of the pier of a groyne formed with piles, and which gradually led to the formation of a breakwater, about fifty feet broad at top, forming an obtuse angle with the old arm of the pier. This at once stopped the further accumulation of shingle within the harbour, which was then at vast expense cleared of the gravel and mud long collected therein, and it has since remained clear. This breakwater, moreover, has been greatly improved by constructions of masonry intended to bind the work together; and at the same time great additions and improvements have been made both in the foundations and superstructures of the original piers. In fact, Folkstone Harbour, which was before a slough of gravel and mud, almost inaccessible except at half-spring or spring tides, has, owing to these improvements, become 'a harbour having twenty feet of water considerably within the entrance, and is now capable of being entered by steamers three hours and a half after high water; while during neap tides there are occasionally four or five feet of water in the entrance at low water, and immediately outside, sufficient for a steamer to take her passengers from the pier-head and work herself clearly off.' (SeeMr. Swan's Report.) Another point of importance in connexion with this harbour, is the great ease with which it can be taken in bad weather, to which the captains of steamers bear almost individual testimony; and to this, also, we may add the superior ease with which vessels may be swung, and the facility of backing out without turning round, so as to save time in landing passengers and again leaving port. On the whole, this harbour, as now improved, is one of the finest monuments of engineering skill in this country, and confers infinite honour on Peter W. Barlow, Esq., the company's engineer, and the Directors, who so spiritedly backed the undertaking. It scarcely need be added, that the first result of these improvements was to make Folkstone suited for a regular packet station, and now for some years this port has acquired at least one-half of the traffic across the Straits, which was formerly wholly monopolised by the neighbouring port of Dover; nor, as the sea voyage is shorter, and the steamers are vastly superior, can there be any doubt that ere long it will become the chosen route of all the intelligent travelling public. Indeed, the constantly and rapidly increasing customs and harbour dues of the port, year by year, furnish of themselves a sufficient proof that Folkstone has acquired a vigour and vitality which it only requires perseverance in the inhabitants to maintain; nor can this increase in the prosperity of the town be truly ascribed to any other cause than the spirited conduct of the company, who have made it one of their most important maritime termini. The census, moreover, speaks on this subject with an eloquence that is quite unanswerable, for in 1831 Folkstone had only 2,300 inhabitants, and in 1841 but 2,900, whereas in 1851 it had upwards of 7,500; showing an increase of about 140 per cent. Facts like these speak more than all praise!"[13]

DOVER.DOVER.(from the Ramsgate Road.)

Themost favourable point of view for an artist who is desirous of obtaining a general view of Dover, is certainly that portion of the Ramsgate Road of which Mr. Bartlett has availed himself on the present occasion. Placed at a sufficient elevation to enable him to embrace a wide extent of land and water, he is still sufficiently near the town to secure that distinctness of detail which adds so much to the effect of a landscape. One of the chief points of attraction in Dover must always be the Castle, but as we shall have another opportunity of referring to that structure, in connection with our view of Dover from the Beach, we purpose now to devote our attention to the town itself.

At the period of the Conquest, Dover was unquestionably a place of considerable note. It is mentioned, with Sandwich and Romney, in the Domesday-book, as a privileged port; and is said to have enjoyed, from an earlier period, sundry privileges and immunities in common with those two towns, on consideration of supplying a certain number of ships and mariners for the defence of the adjacent coast. In the reign of King John, Dover received a charter as one of the Cinque Ports; and in several succeeding reigns, its shipping and mariners were frequently employed in the fleets assembled to convey English armies to France. As it was considered the key of England, it was surrounded with walls and strongly fortified; and as it was the principal port in the kingdom for persons taking shipping in proceeding to France, acts were passed in the reign of Edward III. and Richard II., appointing the rate of passage. Henry VIII. expended large sums in the improvement of the harbour, the entrance of which had been much choked up by shingle washed in by the sea. A pier was commenced, and carried on at a great expense, but he died before it was completed; and in the reign of his successor, the work appears to have been almost wholly suspended. In the reign of Elizabeth, further attempts were made to improve the harbour; and in 1606 an act was passed appointing eleven commissioners, who were empowered to receive certain rates, and employ the money in repairing the pier and improving the harbour. In succeeding times various plans have been tried to prevent the increase of the bar, which, after a gale of wind from the seaward, is sometimes increased so much, as to prevent all vessels, except those that are of very light draught of water, from entering or leaving the port. It is high water at Dover pier at sixteen minutes past eleven on the full and change of the moon; and the rise of the water at spring-tides is about twenty feet. Dover is much frequented in summer as a watering-place; and for the convenience which it affords, and the beautiful and interesting scenery in its neighbourhood, it is surpassed by no other town on the coast.

At a short distance from the entrance to Dover Castle is mounted the long brass gun, usually called Queen Elizabeth's pocket-pistol, which was presented to her Majesty by the United Provinces. It is twenty-four feet long; but is so much "honey-combed," that, were it fired, it would be certain to burst. Popular tradition says that it contains an inscription to this effect:—

"Sponge me well, and keep me clean,And I'll throw a ball to Calais green."

There is, indeed, an inscription on it in the Dutch language, but though it commemorates the destructive power of this long piece of ordnance, it says nothing which implies that its range was so extraordinary. The distance from Dover Castle to the church of Notre-Dame, at Calais, is rather more than twenty-six miles. This gun was cast at Utrecht in 1544, by James Tolkys, and the verses inscribed on its breech have been translated as follows:—

"O'er hill and dale I throw my ball;Breaker, my name, of mound and wall."

About a mile to the southward of the town is the celebrated cliff which is supposed to have been described by Shakspeare in King Lear.

"Gloster.—Dost thou know Dover?Edgar.—Ay, master.Gloster.—There is a cliff, whose high and bending headLooks fearfully in the confined deep:Bring me to the very brim of it.* * * * *Edgar.—Come on, sir; here's the place:—standStill.—How fearfulAnd dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eye so low!The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air,Show scarce so gross as beetles: halfway downHangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:The fishermen that walk upon the beachAppear like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark,Diminished to her cock; her cock, a buoyAlmost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more,Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sightTopple down headlong."

DOVER.DOVER.KENT.

Doveris in the county of Kent, and lies about seventy-two miles south-south-east of London. The town is situated in a valley, having on one side the cliffs on which Dover Castle is built, and on the other the eminence called theHeights; these are strongly fortified, and form the principal defence of the town and harbour. The greater part of the town lies on the western side of a small stream, called the Dour, which there discharges itself into the sea. The view in the Engraving is taken from the beach, on the eastern side of the harbour, looking towards the north-east. The row of houses seen extending in a line nearly parallel with the beach is called the Marine Parade; and, crowning the cliff, is perceived what of old was termed "the Key and Bar of England,"—Dover Castle. Its importance as a place of defence against the attacks of an invading enemy has, however, been seldom proved; and for the last three centuries the best defence of England against the invasion of her foes has been her wooden-walls.

"Britannia needs no bulwark,No towers along the steep;Her march is o'er the mountain wave,Her home is on the deep.With thunders from her native oak,She quells the floods below,As they roar on the shore,When the stormy tempests blow;When the battle rages loud and long,And the stormy tempests blow."

The height of the cliff, on which Dover Castle stands, is about three hundred and twenty feet above the level of the sea; and the area of the ground inclosed by the outward walls is about thirty-four acres. It has been supposed that the Romans, in one of Julius Cæsar's expeditions, first built a castle and established a military station at Dover; but this opinion is founded on mere conjecture, and is extremely improbable. That the Romans, at some subsequent period, had a station not far from the present keep is certain; for the remains of the walls and ditch are still perceptible. It however appears to have been but of small size, and was probably only acastrum exploratorum, or look-out station, garrisoned by a small body of soldiers detached from a neighbouring camp. Within the boundary of the exploratory camp the Romans had built a pharos, or watch-tower, the greater part of which is yet standing.

Previous to the Norman Conquest, there was undoubtedly a castle or fortress at Dover, probably near the spot where the keep or principal tower of Dover Castle now stands. Previous to the death of Edward the Confessor it appears to have belonged to Harold, afterwards King of England; for William, Duke of Normandy, who was then probably devising measures to secure to himself the English crown, refused to allow Harold to depart from Rouen, till he had taken an oath to deliver up to him "the Castle of Dover and the well of water in it," on the decease of Edward. After the battle of Hastings, the Conqueror marched without delay to Dover, took possession of the castle, and put the governor to death. It appears that he also burnt the town, which perhaps might not have received him with sufficient humility, in order to terrify others into immediate submission to his authority. The foundation of the present keep of Dover Castle was laid by Henry II. in 1153, the year before he succeeded to the English crown on the death of King Stephen. The ground plan is nearly a square, and the building, in its general appearance, bears a great resemblance to Rochester Castle, which was erected according to the designs of Bishop Gundulph—the architect of the White Tower in the Tower of London—in the early part of the reign of William Rufus. The walls of the keep of Dover Castle are from eighteen to twenty feet thick, and are traversed by galleries communicating with the principal apartments. The summit is embattled; and the top of the northern turret is 93 feet high from the ground, and about 465 feet above the level of the sea, at low water. The view from the top is extremely grand and interesting, including the North Foreland, Reculver Church, Ramsgate Pier, Sandwich, and a great part of the intermediate country, with the straits of Dover, the town of Calais, and the line of the French coast from Gravelines to Boulogne. In 1800, a bomb-proof arched roof was constructed, and several large cannon mounted on it. During the late war the fortifications were greatly strengthened, the old towers on the walls repaired, and additional quarters for soldiers constructed, in order that the garrison, in the event of invasion, might be able to withstand a regular siege.

SANDWICH.SANDWICH.(Kent.)

Her walls are crumbling down—the gate,Through which her merchants wont to pourIs all dismantled: adverse fateHas cast a blight upon her shore.Her streets and shipless haven showThe tenure of all things below.

Thehistory of Sandwich, as one of the Cinque Ports, presents a striking example of the fluctuation of trade, and the uncertain tenure by which all mercantile property is held, when supported by merely human ingenuity and enterprise. A very slight operation of nature is sufficient to paralyse the hand of ambition, and to strike the once productive landscape with sterility. Harbours, where our forefathers have counted the thickly crowded masts of stately merchantmen, are now deserted or forgotten. Many of the channels through which riches were once poured into this county, have been gradually dried up; while new ports and harbours have been opened on various parts of the coast, where commercial enterprise has fixed her abode. But, like their predecessors, these also may be deserted in their turn, and silently co-operate in that ever-progressive scheme of nature, by which, as the old and familiar scenes of our youth become changed or obliterated, others are called forth to take their place. The existence of a shoal, or the shifting of a sand-bank, may mar or diminish the prosperity of a city; and to the great local changes which this part of the Kentish coast has undergone, the decay of Sandwich, as a harbour, is chiefly to be ascribed. Where fleets of merchantmen once rode in safety; where the busy scenes of lading and unlading once offered pictures of maritime prosperity, the fishing-craft of the place can hardly find anchorage, and all the characteristics of a flourishing port have disappeared; so that it may be affirmed, with a truth too evident, that—

"The balance has shifted—prosperity's rayNo longer enlivens her harbour and bay."

The town of Sandwich includes the parishes of St. Clement, St. Mary-the-Virgin, and St. Peter-the-Apostle. St. Clement's Church is a very ancient and spacious structure, with a massive tower, a noble specimen of the Norman style of ecclesiastical architecture. St. Mary's is also a church of considerable antiquity as well as St. Peter's; but both have been considerably damaged by time and accident. The Guildhall is an ancient and handsome edifice. The Free Grammar-School, endowed with exhibitions, was founded in 1563; and among the charitable institutions are the Hospitals of St. Thomas and St. John, in which a number of aged persons of good character, but in reduced circumstances, are comfortably supported. The Hospital of St. Bartholomew is a munificent foundation, from the funds of which sixteen decayed tradesmen of respectable character, and others, members of the corporation, are supported in comparative affluence.

Sandwich was originally enclosed by walls and partly fortified. It had eight gates, one of which, called Fisher's Gate, is considered by architects and antiquaries as well deserving of inspection, for the excellence of its design and workmanship. It illustrates a period when the craft had reached its zenith in this country, and when the Templars—the Vaubans of their day—still exercised the mysteries of architecture.

Ship-building and rope-making, as well as a foreign trade with Norway, Sweden, and Russia, in iron, timber, and hemp, are still carried on in Sandwich though comparatively to a very small extent. The home trade, chiefly with Wales and Scotland, consists of flour, seed, hops, malt, fruit, &c.; but of the once celebrated woollen trade of Sandwich not a vestige is left. The weekly market-days are Wednesday and Saturday, with a cattle-market every alternate Monday, and annual fairs on the second of October and fourth of December.

RAMSGATE.RAMSGATE.

Theview of the entrance to Ramsgate harbour, engraved from a painting by E. W. Cooke, is taken from the southward, and its fidelity will immediately be recognised by every one who has seen the place. It is blowing a stiff breeze, which causes a swell; and the fishing smack, seen entering, is lowering her sails, that she may not have too muchwaywhen she gets within the harbour. To the left is the lighthouse, which stands near the end of the western pier; and the extremity of the eastern pier is perceived to the right.

The cost of Ramsgate harbour, dock, lighthouse, and other requisite buildings, is said to have amounted to £650,000. The form of the harbour is nearly circular, and its area is about forty-six acres. The length of the eastern pier, following its angles, or "cants" as they are technically termed, is about 2000 feet, and that of the western about 1500. Their general width is about 26 feet, including the thickness of the parapets; and the width of the entrance to the harbour between their heads is 240 feet. The harbour is maintained by a tonnage duty on all ships passing, whether sailing on the east or west of the Goodwin Sands, and by a duty on coals and stones discharged in the harbour.

The light displayed from the lighthouse is stationary, and is only exhibited when there is ten feet water between the pier heads. In the day time a flag is hoisted while there is the same depth of water at the entrance of the harbour. In spring tides, the depth of water increases to sixteen feet in about an hour from the time that the ten-feet signal is displayed; in about two hours to twenty feet; and in three hours, or about high water, to twenty-one feet. In neap-tides the depth of water at those periods respectively is fourteen, seventeen, and eighteen feet between the pier heads.

During the summer, Ramsgate is much frequented by visitors from London, who come by the daily steam-packets to enjoy the benefit of sea-bathing, for which the beach to the southward of the pier affords excellent opportunity. Powerful steam-packets ply every day between London and Ramsgate, and the passage up or down is usually made in seven hours. There are several excellent hotels and many convenient lodging-houses at Ramsgate, and the charges generally are moderate. At the close of the year, when the summer visitants have all retired to their several homes, another description of persons make their appearance at Ramsgate—the Torbay fishermen, who generally establish their rendezvous there from December to June, for the sake of fishing in the North Sea. It seems probable that Ramsgate, as a port, will continue to increase very considerably in importance; and, in the event of a continental war, when steam-vessels are likely to be much employed, its eligibility as a place for the embarkation of troops, and as a packet station, will doubtless not be overlooked. It not unfrequently happens, in stormy weather, that the Dover packets enter Ramsgate with safety, when they cannot approach their own harbour.

The South-Eastern Railway Company have extended their line to Ramsgate, and the route, though rather circuitous, secures a large share of patronage from that portion of the pleasure-seeking visitants of our coasts to whom the stiff breezes and heavy swell, generally found off the North Foreland, are the reverse of gratifying.

George IV., on his departure to visit his Hanoverian dominions in 1821, embarked at Ramsgate; and to commemorate the event, an obelisk was erected by subscription of the inhabitants. The popularity of Ramsgate, as a watering-place, was greatly increased by the partiality evinced for it by her present Majesty, when Princess Victoria, who, with her august mother, the Duchess of Kent, honoured it with several successive visits.

Camden, in his Britannia, gives the people of the Isle of Thanet, and more particularly the inhabitants of Ramsgate, Margate, and Broadstairs, the following character: "They are, as it were, amphibious, seeking their living both by sea and land, and turning to account both elements. They are fishermen and ploughmen, farmers and sailors; and the same man that holds the shafts of a plough, turning up a furrow on land, can also take the helm at sea. According to the season, they make nets, catch cod, herring, mackerel, and other fish; go to sea, and export their own commodities—and those very men also dung the ground, plough, sow, harrow, reap, and house the corn." The inhabitants of Ramsgate, and of the Isle of Thanet generally, no longer retain this amphibious character; the "division of labour," the advantages of which are so strikingly pointed out by political economists in the manufacture of pins, has abridged their multifarious pursuits; the same man does not now till the earth and plough the sea; and few indeed are to be found who can handle an oar as well as a flail: the consequence is, that we have better boatmen and better agriculturists.

BROADSTAIRS.BROADSTAIRS.(Kent.)

"True to the dream of fancy, Ocean hasHis darker tints; but where's the elementThat chequers not its usefulness to manWith casual terror?"

Campbell.

Thisdelightful watering-place, nearly equidistant from Margate on the north, and Ramsgate on the south, enjoys its full share of popularity; and, judging from many recent improvements, offers increasing attractions to the numerous visitors who make Thanet's "sea-girt shore" their summer residence. To those who prefer tranquillity and retirement to scenes of bustle and holiday festivity, Broadstairs will present many advantages over its more gay and animated rivals; and to the studious and contemplative nothing can be more congenial than the society which generally meet once a year in this interesting spot. To the invalid it is favourable from the same causes, offering few temptations to gaiety or indulgence, but affording every facility for retired and intellectual enjoyment. The sea-view is magnificent; and the numerous vessels which are constantly passing and repassing give a most agreeable animation to the waters in front, which are walled in by lofty cliffs, from which the visitor inhales the fresh sea-breeze, as it first strikes the land, and carries its invigorating influence through his frame.

Broadstairs has long been the periodical residence of many distinguished literary men, most of whom have acknowledged the benefit derived from its bracing climate, and verified their opinion by repeated trials. If pure air could be as readily administered as certain medicinal compounds, there would be little necessity for so often deserting the courts and counting-houses of the metropolis in search of health; but so long as this "draught" cannot be made up according to nature's prescription, it is cheering to know that on the coast it may be had ready prepared, and without "mistake" or "adulteration."

It was while overlooking a scene like that which opens upon the visitor at Broadstairs, and while sensibly feeling all the salubrious influence of the breezes, that seemed to welcome and caress him when exchanging the pleasures of town for poetry and contemplation on the coast, that the Bard of Hope broke out into these noble and impassioned lines:—

"Hail to thy face and odours, glorious Sea!'Twere thanklessness in me to bless thee not,Great beauteous being! in whose breath and smileMy heart beats calmer, and my very mindInhales salubrious thoughts. How welcomerThymurmurs, than the murmurs of the world!Tho', like the world, thou fluctuatest, to meThy din is peace, thy restlessness repose.Even gladly I exchange yon spring-green lanes,With all the darling field-flowers in their prime,And gardens haunted by the nightingale'sLong trill, and gushing extasies of song,For these wild headlands and the sea-mew's clang!"

Broadstairs appears, in addition to its attraction as bathing-quarters, to have formerly enjoyed a considerable share of trade in the fisheries; but this source of revenue having dried up, recourse was had to ship-building, which is still carried on to a small extent. Its chief dependence, however, is on the number and respectability of its visitors, many of whom retire here for several months annually with their families, and, by a liberal expenditure, do much to support the markets and to encourage local industry. The bathing-place is at the mouth of the harbour, under the cliff, and is provided with every accommodation to be found at the larger watering-places. There are two or more excellent hotels, and two extensive public libraries, commanding magnificent views of the sea and the shipping—from a fishing-boat to a seventy-four—passing to and from the Downs, at all hours of the day. The place is still further enlivened, as well as benefited, by the London steamers, which here land or embark passengers in their way to and from town.

WRECK IN KINGSGATE BAY.WRECK IN KINGSGATE BAY.(Isle of Thanet.)

"Olim Porta fui Patroni Bartholomæi,Nunc Regis jussuRegia Portavocor,Hic exscenderunt Carolus Secundus RexEt Jacobus DuxEbor. 30 Junii, 1683."

Sonamed in consequence of its having been the point at which King Charles II. and his brother, the Duke of York, disembarked on their way from London to Dover, as recorded in the preceding inscription. It consists of a narrow sloping passage, cut through the chalk cliff, and communicating with the beach for the convenience of the fishery formerly carried on in this neighbourhood. It was originally known as "St. Bartholomew's Gate," from the circumstance of its having been completed, according to tradition, on the festival of that Saint, and therefore placed under hallowed auspices. The eastern side of this portal, opposite the sea, bears, in Saxon characters,God Bless Barth'lem's Gate. It is about a mile from Broadstairs, and in the midst of scenery which Henry Lord Holland did much to embellish by great liberality and a correct taste in architecture. His marine residence here was built after the model of Cicero's villa on the shore of Baiæ, near Naples; but being subsequently purchased by some monied speculator, who had most likely never heard of Cicero, it was despoiled of its rich Italian marbles, curtailed and barbarised in its proportions, and metamorphosed into three insignificant dwellings. Around it were several fantastic buildings, intended to represent various Gothic ruins; the most considerable of which was the convent, containing the remains of a chapel and five cells, which once afforded an asylum to poor families. Nearer the cliff is a rude Gothic structure, erected on the larger of the two tumuli, called Hackendown Banks, which, according to tradition, marks the spot where a sanguinary conflict took place between the Saxons and the Danes, in which the latter were defeated. On opening these barrows, graves were found excavated in the solid chalk, of an oblong oval form, about three feet long, and covered with flat stones. In one of them were discovered three urns of coarse, black, ill-burnt earth, which, on being exposed to the air, crumbled to pieces. On a tablet erected by Lord Holland is a Latin inscription, to the memory of the Danes and Saxons, who here fought a sanguinary battle for the possession of Britain; the natives having before been perfidiously and cruelly expelled. The village of St. Peter, situated on a conspicuously wooded eminence, is much frequented by pleasure parties from the three bathing-places adjacent. The church is a fine, venerable structure, the steeple of which, of great strength and solidity, is remarkable for a rent from top to bottom, occasioned, it is said, by the shock of an earthquake, which was severely felt along this coast in 1580.

The North Foreland, the most eastern point of England, and supposed to be the "Cantium" of Ptolemy, forms a bold projection on the line of cliffs between Broadstairs and Kingsgate. On this promontory stands the North Foreland Lighthouse, which has proved an incalculable safeguard to the navigation of the Downs, which, independently of the near vicinity of the Goodwin Sands, is attended with great risk in dark and stormy weather. The lights consist of patent lamps, with large magnifying lenses twenty inches in diameter, which are lighted at sunset, and kept burning till after daybreak. From the top the view of the straits and French coast is most extensive, and on this account it is much resorted to by strangers. The date of its erection is that of the landing of King Charles at Kingsgate, already noticed.

The Goodwin Sands, which here protect the Downs from the swell of the Northern Ocean, are about seven miles from the coast, ten miles long, and two or more in breadth. They consist of a more soft, fluid, porous, spongy, but withal tenacious substance, than the neighbouring sands, and are consequently of such a quality, that when a ship strikes upon them there is but very little chance of her getting off: the nature of the sand being to swallow its prey in a few hours, while the surf, which breaks over them, frustrates all attempts to approach the ill-fated vessel. When the tide, however, has ebbed sufficiently, these sands become so hard and firm that cricket-matches have been played upon them. But woe to him who does not quit so treacherous a field at the proper moment; for on the return of the tide they are instantly converted into quicksands, that float to and fro with the waves.

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