2 RAMBLES ROUND FOLKESTONE. 



very probably, the woad- stained Briton, and the 

 hoary Druid watched from thence the proud fleet of 

 the Eomaus nearing the shore ; and since then Saxon 

 and Dane, and Frenchman have in their turn paid 

 hostile visits and left unwelcome tokens behind. 

 On that platform, in the days when it stretched 

 much further seaward than now, was erected the 

 first Keligious House in Britain, presided over by no 

 less a person than Eanswythe, daughter of Eadbald, 

 King of Kent, but ages ago it was washed away by 

 the hungry waves ; and the original parish church 

 shared the same fate. 



Vessels, equipped and manned by our forefathers, 

 started again and again from below in obedience to 

 the summons of the Warden of the Cinque Ports, 

 even up to the time of the Armada, and after ; then 

 gradually the warlike tendencies died out, and not a 

 hundred years ago the whole locality was a great 

 smuggling depot. They smuggled English guineas 

 across to France, and they smuggled tobacco, silks, 

 and spirits back to England, and that so daringly 

 that the cargoes were openly displayed on the beach. 

 Clefts and caves abound in the chalk cliffs which 

 were excavated for hiding places, and the curiously 

 built old houses in the ancient part of the town, the 

 intricate passages, and the trap doors, which rouse 

 the curiosity of the visitors, are thus easily accounted 

 for. But now quieter times are come, the fishing 

 smack and the collier, with an occasional cargo of 

 timber are all that find ingress and egress at the 

 port, and there is leisure for grander things. To the 

 Naturalist, who has learnt to 



Look OH Nature as a volume 



Ever open to inspection, 



