Summer Rambles.—A Corner Of Kent.

grown with ivy , standing on a hill , a mile or tAvo to the south . Getting nearer to it , across a swamp intersected by numerous ditches , which bears evident traces of having been the bed of the sea in time not very remote , the dim outline gradually gains in clearness , till at last , on climbing an

elevation of about sixty or seventy feet , we suddenly find ourselves in the mist of a ruin unique in aspect , and of astounding pi * oportions . It is a ruin such as is not to be found in any other part of England at the present day . Walls from twenty or thirty feet in height , and no less than ten feet

thick , inclose a regular parallelogram of about six acres in extent , the whole of Avhich is UOAV used as a cornfield . The corn grows luxuriously Avithin the old Roman castle , draAving nourishment , very likely , from the decaying skulls of the conquerors of the world which lie buried beneath .

Still more luxuriously grows the ivy AA'hich covers the grand old- heap of ruins from base to top . Removing * bits of the ivy Ave find legions of snails betAveen it and the massive Roman Avail . The

snails have made numerous holes in the compact limestone , all above an inch deep , proving , as expert antiquarians tell us , that they have been there more than a thousand years . It seems that the saliva of snails contains a slight acid , sufficient to sink a hole of this depth in the course of ten

centuries . We do not knoAV what most to admire , the Avonderful energy of the men of Rome who built these Avails two thousand years ago , or that of the snails , Avho do not think a thousand years to much to make holes in them an inch deep ! But Ave have no doubt the snails will be conquerors in the end .

There is a splendid prospect from the top of the north wall ofthe ancient castrum , still some thirty feet high and about 500 feet long . Here , almost in a glance , the eye may take in a piece , and a not inconsiderable one , of English history for the last eighteen centuries . There came Aulus

Plautius , A . D . 47 , and stormed this hill on which Ave UOAV stand , and posted on it some of his guards to fightKingArviragusandthebarbarians . Soon after -there arose the castrum , and around it the city of Rutupium , a combined Portsmouth and Brighton . Not only Avas there an excellent harbour , but there Avere excellent oysters , Avell known to Juvenal : —

" Eutupinove edita fundo Ostrea . " * Thus Rutupium flourished as long as the Romans Avere there , and even a good Avhile after . The Saxon Kings , too , liked the place , and built themselves a fine palace among the thick Avails where

UOAV the corn is growing luxuriantly , and the snails are sitting under the ivy , engaged in the SIOAV work of tunnelling . King Ethelbert here received St . Augustine and tidings of the Gospel of Christ , in the year 596 ; and after him several more

Saxon Kings sat in the hall at Rutupium , corrupted by this time , according to Bede , into Reptacester . So it Avent on till toAvards the end of the seventh century , Avhen the sea began gradually retreating from the Avails of the Roman castrum and city . Thereupon the Saxon Kings

ceased to inhabit the place , and many of the inhabitants likewise fled , Avhile nearly all that were left fell under the fury of Swayn , A . D . 990 . The Dane put every man and woman to the sword , and razed the walls of the city , but Avas not strong enough , in all his Viking fury , to break the walls

of the Roman castrum . There they stand now , as they stood a thousand years ago , in wind and storm , unhurt by the elements , and unhurt even by the destroying hand of man . About the middle of last century , when the harbour of Ramsgate was being built , the contractors tried hard to get " material" from the big Avails , but found the

work too tough . It was easier , they discovered , to cut the solid rock than the masonry put together by Roman hands ; so they desisted , and the OAvners thereupon turned the castrum into a cornfield . In the course of centuries the OAvnership of the old city and regal residence—of no

more value to unromantic landlords than any other piece of ground—passed through many hands . Forming originally part of the inheritance of the Veres , Earls of Oxford , it Avas alienated from that family in the reign of Queen Elizabeth , and became the property of a Mr . Gaunt . The Gaunts sold

it to one Tkurbarae , whose daughter brought it as a marriage portion to a Mr . Rivett , who , not liking the look of the old walls , disposed af all the lands to the Farrer family , Avho again disposed of them to one Peter Fector , of Dover . In the last deed of conveyance of the grand old heap of ruins is thus described : —

" And also all those walls and ruins of the ancient Castle of Rutupium , UOAV known by the name of Richborow Oastle , with the site of the ancient port and city of Rutupium . '" Whether the ancient port and city of Rutupium still belong to Peter Fector of Dover , or not ,

Ave are unable to say . But Ave should not be at all surpiised to read some day in the Times an advertisement , announcing that the estate once belonging to the Emperor Claudius , and subsequently to King Ethelbert , and other distinguished and highly respectable personswas " to be let or

, sold . "— "Applications to Moses Abraham and Son . " About a mile and a half south of Rutupium , or Richborough Castle , lies the old Cinque Port of SandAvich , a walk to Avhich , straight from the Roman cityis not Avithout interest . Sandwich is

, the continuation of Rutupium , for where the history of the one place ceases that of the other begins . When the sea commenced retreating from the old Roman city many of the inhabitants , wisely considering that it was not in their power to retain the waves , determined to follow them .