is innkeeper was a man of evidently high "social status," and, as
he himself said, "wise and well taught." The Stour flows on to the sea,
whose generally low shores are not far away, with the Isle of Thanet to
the northward and London's watering-place of Ramsgate on its outer
verge. Here is Pegwell Bay, noted for its shrimps, and a short distance
westward from Ramsgate is Osengal Hill, from which there is a fine view,
the summit being covered by the graves of the first Saxon settlers of
Thanet. To the northward a short distance is the sister watering-place
of Margate, near the north-eastern extremity of Thanet and ninety miles
from London: its pier is nine hundred feet long. On the extremity of
Thanet, about three miles from Margate, is the great lighthouse of the
North Foreland.

[Illustration: FALSTAFF INN, CANTERBURY.]

THE CINQUE PORTS.

Off the mouth of the Stour and the Goodwin Sands, and thence down the
coast to Dover, is the narrowest part of the strait between England and
France. This is a coast, therefore, that needed defence from the
earliest times, and the cliff-castles and earthworks still remaining
show how well it was watched. The Romans carefully fortified the entire
line of cliffs from the Goodwin Sands to Beachy Head beyond Hastings.
There were nine fortresses along the coast, which in later times were
placed under control of a high official known as the "Count of the Saxon
Shore," whose duty was to protect this part of England against the
piratical attacks of the Northern sea-rovers. These fortresses commanded
the chief harbors and landing-places, and they marked the position of
the famous Cinque Ports, whose fleet was the germ of the British navy.
They were not thus named until after the Norman Conquest, when John de
Fiennes appeared as the first warden. The Cinque Ports of later English
history were Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney, and Hastings, each of which
had its minor ports or "limbs," such as Deal, Walmer, Folkestone, Rye,
Winchelsea, and Pevensey, that paid tribute to the head port and enjoyed
part of its franchises. The duty of the Cinque Ports was to furnish
fifty-seven ships whenever the king needed them, and he supplied part of
the force to man them. In return the ports were given great freedom and
privileges; their people were known as "barons," were represented in
Parliament, and at every coronation bore the canopy over the sovereign,
carrying it on silver staves having small silver