Margate and
Reculvers. We had expected to come a second time to Canterbury and to
visit these three points then, but were unable to carry out our plan.
Sandwich was at one time an important seaport, but lost its position
from the same cause that affected so many of the south coast towns--the
receding of the sea. It contains many of the richest bits of mediaeval
architecture in England, and a few hours in its quaint streets would
have been well repaid. Reculvers, or ancient Regulbium, was a Roman city
that was destroyed by the encroachments of the sea. Here is one of the
oldest and strangest of the ruined churches in England, now standing on
the verge of the ocean, which still continues to advance with a prospect
of ultimately wiping out the little village.

[Illustration: A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND.

From Water Color by Anderson.]

On our trip to Manchester we passed within two or three miles of
Knutsford, the delightful old town selected by Mrs. Gaskell as the scene
of her story, "Granford." Had we known of this at the time, a short
detour would have taken us through its quaint streets.

The Isle of Wight is immediately across the strait from Southampton, and
while a motor car could be transported by steamer to traverse its fifty
or sixty miles of main road, this is not very often done. It would
require one or two days to visit the interesting points in the island,
among which are Carisbrooke Castle, where King Charles I was confined as
a prisoner; Osborne House, formerly a royal residence but presented to
the nation by King Edward; and Freshwater, the home where the poet
Tennyson lived for many years.

Sherborne and Tewkesbury were both only a few miles off our route, and
had we planned rightly we could have visited with very little loss of
time these two interesting towns with their great abbey churches, which
rank in size and importance with many of the cathedrals.

Ten miles from Penzance would have brought us to Lands End--the extreme
southwestern point of England, abounding in wild and beautiful
ocean-shore scenery, but the story of dangerous hills deterred us,
though we afterwards regretted our decision. Nor could we pass again as
we did at Camelford in Cornwall within five miles of King Arthur's
Tintagel without seeing this solitary and wonderfully romantic ruin,
with the majestic--even awe-inspiring--scenery around it.

Perhaps the most interesting trip which we missed, but which would have
required more ti