1862.] KENTISH BOTANY, - 89 



Since Bede wrote iu 710 what a change has taken place in 

 the ecclesiastical condition of Thanet ! Minster^ the ancient 

 metropolis of Thanet, and still venerable for its antiquities, is 

 certainly the most ancient, but is no longer the most conside- 

 rable town in the island. Unless the visitor were reminded of 

 its departed greatness, dignity, and glory, he might pass it by as 

 only one of the many interesting villages of England, 



The myriads who now resort to this popular watering-place 

 probably have little sympathy with raedifeval matters, whether 

 civil or sacred. They come to renovate their physical and men- 

 tal energies by rest or relaxation, or by taking exercise, and by 

 enjoying fresh air, which is abundant -in this isle. But the 

 pleasure of a residence here, whether for one week or two months, 

 would be much enhanced by x'cmembering, or by being reminded, 

 that this island was once a forest, that the ancient Britons issued 

 out of this and other contiguous woods to oppose the Roman 

 forces under their most celebrated leader -that here Hengist 

 first got a footing in England, from the feeble Vortigern, the 

 King of Kent, if not of England (Britain). Hence Thanet is 

 the cradle of the Anglo-Saxon race. The babe was a strong and 

 healthy bantling, and therefore could bear rough rocking. 



But whatever we, as practical people, may think of the anti- 

 quarian and ethnological character of Thanet, as Christians, as 

 believers in the ever-blessed Gospel, we cannot feel other than 

 warmly attached to a portion of our land, first visited by the 

 zealous missionaries of the Cross, and from which, as from a 

 centre, the light of truth, the knowledge of salvation by Jesus 

 Christ shone into the darkest corners of pagan England, and 

 gladdened many a humble heart. If Canterbury be entitled to 

 the honour of having the first Christian church, Thanet, and 

 probably Minster, may claim the second. 



The visitors to Thanet in those days were like white crows, few 

 and far between. Monks and lay-brothers with their picturesque 

 costume have vanished centuries ago. Minster, the capital of 

 the island, and the site of the oldest church in England excepting 

 St. Martin's in Canterbury, has been shorn of its ancient gran- 

 deur by the demolition of its wealthy and splendid monastery, 

 and it now offers only its fine church to distinguish it from hun- 

 dreds of English villages equally picturesque, but none equally 

 famed for traditionary and written monkish legends, smacking 



N. S, VOL. VI. N 



