42 



special carriage was kindly set apart for their use by the 

 railway authorities. The excursionists were reinforced at 

 various stations along the line by members of the Society ; 

 and the morning, which up to this time had been dull and 

 lowering, began to brighten up, and raised in a correspond- 

 ing degree the hopes of the excursionists. On arriving at 

 Dover the party were joined by several of the members re- 

 siding there ; but the hopes of not a few of the Canter- 

 burians were damped by the intelligence that the Palmer- 

 ston could not proceed to sea, in consequence of the heavy 

 swell on the coast, and the great difficulty under such 

 circumstances of landing at Dungeness. A personal 

 inspection of the marine element by a number of the party 

 Convinced all, save one or two " old salts " among the 

 members, that it was a prudent step to abandon for that 

 day the sea excursion. Several of the old frequenters of 

 the pier on being appealed to for their opinion on the 

 matter, declared that all the appearances were those of 

 approaching "dirty" weather; and how "dirty" it 

 proved may be learned from the account, in another column, 

 of the eflfects of the gale of Thursday night and Friday 

 morning. The Dover Regatta was to have been held on 

 the same day ; but after mature deliberation it was post- 

 poned, and the decision of the committee in that case had 

 considerable weight with those who had the charge of 

 matters at Dover. On the whole, perhaps, it was the wisest 

 course which could have been adopted - though certainly an 

 hour after noon, the sea looked calm and quiet enough. 

 There was, however, no choice left ; and the whole of the 

 party, therefore, took the train to Folkestone, where they 

 arrived after a somewhat tedious delay near the harbour 

 about half-past eleven o'clock, when the whole of 

 the excursionists (by this time reinforced by the pre- 

 sence of several of the Folkestone members) took 

 their way to the undercliff, under the able guidance 

 of Mr. Dowker. We should have said that previous 



