Summer Rambles.—A Corner Of Kent.

They accordingly fixed upon a dry spot , close to the new shore , at the commencement ofthe Roman Watling-street , and building there a toAvn , called it Sanchvic—the termination "Vic" signifying an inlet or cove . The UBAV city , very favourably situated for commercial purposessoon prospered

, greatly ; so much so , indeed , that the Danes took the trouble of plundering and partly burning it A . D . 852 . It rose again before long , and Avas again ransacked by Sea-King Anlaf in 993 , and a third time A . D . 1006 . The Danish sea-kins's each

time got rich booty , and began liking SandAvich so well that the } '" made it the permanent station of their fleets . On Canute ' s accession to the throne of England he increased the place , conferring upon it at the same time important privileges , which added so much to its prosperity that a Avriter of

the eleventh century calls it the most celebrated of all the ports of England— " Sandwic qui est omnium portunm famosissimns . " So : ' t continued for about three hundred years , Avhen the sea , no respecter of persons as of cities , began to retreat from SandAvich as it had retreated from Rutupium .

At the commencement ofthe fifteenth century the sands had nearly silted up the harbour , and Avhac was left of a navigable channel in the current of the river Stour was destroyed not long after by a singular accident . Sandwich Avas always full of priests and monks , the greater part of tho land in

and around the town belonging to the convent of Christchurch , Canterbury , one of tlie richest communities of this ecclesiastical region . As a matter of course , there AA'erc frequent embassies to and from Rome , and on one occasion the Pope , Paul IV ., sent his biggest ship to SandAvich as a mark of particular respect . The ship—Leland calls it a

" caryke —proved unmanageable when nearaig the harbour ; probably the Pontiff ' s lieges AA ere bad sailors ; at any rate the big vessel sank right in the midst of the only bit of navigable channel that Avas left , and couqjletely blocked it up . It was in vain that the monks of Canterbury said

prayers day and night ; the " caryke " refused to moA e , and kept sticking * in the mud . There it sticks to this day . A Dutchman in the reign of Queen Mary offered to lift the big ship by some clever contrivance of his OAVII , but the monks Avould not let him ; suspected him in fact of heresy ,

and drove hi \ n away ignominiously . The toAvn , haA r ing * no harbour , and being cut off from all communication Avith tho sea , would in all likelihood have sunk at once to utter decay , but for the advent of a bod } - of these very heretics so much hated by the priests . The religious

persecution in the Netherlands having driven over to England a large number of Avorkers in serges , baizes , and flannel , Queen Elizabeth gave orders that a body of them , numbering four hundred and six , should settle at SandAvich . They did establish themselves accordingly , and when her Majesty visited the town in 1572 they showed that they Avere in a flourishing condition by offering her a

Summer Rambles.—A Corner Of Kent.

fine gold cup and a splendid dinner , " Avheare she AA'as very merrye , and did eate of dyvers disshes Avithout anjr assaye , and caused certen to be reserved for her and carried to her lodginge . " This visit of Queen Elizabeth is about the last thing English history has to tell about the old Cinque

Port and borough of Sandwich . Notwithstanding its Royal patronage and Aveaviug industiy , the place sank into gradual decay , until it Avas reduced to its present state of insignificance . Were it not for that genial member of the Montagu family Avho invented the world-famous stratifications of

bread and ham , the name Sandwich AVOUUI be utterly unknown at the present moment . As it is , SandAvich cannot be forgotten as long * as there are sandwiches . A promenade through the streets of Sandwich completes the chapter of English history

commencing at the neighbouring Rutupium . Unlike the latter , Sandwich has no massive ruins to SIIOAV , with cornfields among them , but it has plenty of grass . Grass in fact is grOAving iu eA ery street , at eA ery door-step , nay , at the A ery tops of the houses . The castleAvhich

Falcon-, bridge once defended against Ecbvard IV ., is utterly gono , its foundations overgroAvn Avith grass , aud even the Avails of the town have crumbled to pieces aud been changed into grass-plots . There never Avas such another city under grassa very Herculanenm hidden in herbsinstead of

, lava aud ashes . But from out this Avealth of green leaves there peep an uncommon number of churches and other ecclesiastical structures , telling the tale of that old connection of the town Avith

the monks of Canterbury . There are St . Clement's Church , and St . Mary ' s Church , and St . Peter's Church , each sf them large enough to hold the entire population of SandAvich ; and besides them there are St . John ' s Hospital , and St . Thomas ' s Hospital , and St . Bartholomew ' s

Hospital , big enough , between them , to shelter all the Sandwichians , dead and alive , born Avithin the last five hundred years . Truly the monks of Canterbury Christ Church Avere not idle here at the commencement of Watling-street , and but for that fatal " caryke" of Paul IV . might have

proved the everlasting benefactors of the old Cinque Port . However , the Pope's big ship , aud the orthodox lmwillingness of getting it pulled from the mud by a non-believer in the Pope , spoilt it all , and in consequence the poor old Cinque Port is UOAV ling high and dry on shore

y , IAVO miles from the sea , overgrown Avith grass .. The SandAvichians ne \ r ertheless are still proud of the ancient motto of their borough , engraven on the common seal , — Qui servare grege-m cocli solet indico regem . "—Spectator .

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LAUGHTER , sleep , and hope , are the three bounties with which kind mother nature compensates us for the troubles cf a life , which few , perhaps , would accept if they were asked beforehand .