THE ISLE OF RUIM. 24? 



turned it at once into a frequented watering-place, 

 It is the fashion nowadays rather to laugh at Ramsgate. 

 Marine painters know better. Few harbours are livelier 

 with red and brown sails ; few coasts more enjoyable 

 than the cliff walk looking across towards the Goodwins, 

 the low shore by Sandwich, the higher ground about 

 Deal and Dover, and the dim white line of Cape 

 Blancnez in the distance. 



Broadstairs, close by the lighthouse on the North 

 Foreland (the Cantium Promontorium of Eoman geo- 

 graphy), is still newer as a place of public resort. But as 

 a fishing village it dates back to the middle ages, when 

 the little chapel of " Our Lady of Bradstow " stood in 

 the gap of the cliffs, and was much addressed by 

 anxious sailors rounding the dangerous point after the 

 silting up of the Wantsum. Ships as they passed 

 lowered their top-sails to do it reverence. Under Henry 

 VIII. a small wooden pier was thrown out to protect the 

 fishing boats ; and about the same time, as part of the 

 general scheme of coast defence inaugurated by the 

 king, a gate and portcullis were erected to close the gap 

 seaward, in case of invasion. The archway and 

 portcullis groove remain to this day, with an inscription 

 recording their repair in 1795 by Sir John Henniker. 

 The railway has turned Broadstairs into a minor rival of 

 Ramsgate and Margate a.nd ' a favourite resort for 

 gentry/ where ' those who require quietness, either 

 from ill health or a retiring disposition/ says a local 

 guide-book, may enjoy ' the united advantages of 

 tranquillity and seclusion.'. Hundreds of retiring souls 

 indeed may be observed on the beach, any day during tho 



