own
to us, that the estates of Earl Goodwin, the father of Harold, who died
in the year 1053, were situated here, and some have conjectured that
they were overwhelmed by the flood mentioned in the Saxon chronicle,
_sub anno 1099_. The last remains of an island, consisting, like
Sheppey, of clay, may perhaps have been carried away about that time.

[Illustration: Fig. 35.

Shakspeare's Cliff in 1836, seen from the northeast.]

There are other records of waste in the county of Kent, as at Deal; and
at Dover, where Shakspeare's Cliff, composed entirely of chalk, has
suffered greatly, and continually diminishes in height, the slope of the
hill being towards the land. (See fig. 35.) There was an immense
landslip from this cliff in 1810, by which Dover was shaken as if by an
earthquake, and a still greater one in 1772.[416] We may suppose,
therefore, that the view from the top of the precipice in the year 1600,
when the tragedy of King Lear was written, was more "fearful and dizzy"
than it is now. The best antiquarian authorities are agreed, that Dover
Harbor was formerly an estuary, the sea flowing up a valley between the
chalk hills. The remains found in different excavations confirm the
description of the spot given by Caesar and Antoninus, and there is clear
historical evidence to prove that at an early period there was no
shingle at all at Dover.[417]

_Straits of Dover._--In proceeding from the northern parts of the German
Ocean towards the Straits of Dover, the water becomes gradually more
shallow, so that, in the distance of about two hundred leagues, we pass
from a depth of 120 to that of 58, 38, 18, and even less than 2 fathoms.
The shallowest part follows a line drawn between Romney Marsh and
Boulogne. From this point the English Channel again deepens
progressively as we proceed westward, so that the Straits of Dover may
be said to part two seas.[418]

Whether England was formerly united with France has often been a
favorite subject of speculation. So early as 1605 our countryman
Verstegan, in his "Antiquities of the English Nation," observed that
many preceding writers had maintained this opinion, but without
supporting it by any weighty reasons. He accordingly endeavors himself
to confirm it by various arguments, the principal of which are, first,
the proximity and identity of the composition of the opposite cliffs and
shores of Albion and Gallia, which, whether flat and sandy, or steep and
chalky, correspo