of York which being together with the Town quite ruined and demolished by the fury of the Danes it was afterwards repaired by Odo Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who translated thither the Relicks of Wilfrid his being brought to this place from Oundle in Northampton-shire saith the Saxon Chronicle A D. 709. The principal Ornament of it at present is the Collegiate Church with its three lofty Spires A Church noted of old for St. Wilfrid's Needle where Womens honesty was tried it being a narrow hole in a Vault under Ground thro' which those that were Chaste could easily pass if we believe Tradition but the Unchast it seems stuck by the way On one side of the Church is a little College erected by Henry Bath Arch-Bishop of York over which presides a Reverend Dean my worthy Friend Dr. Wyvil and on the other side of it is a great Mount of Earth called Hilshaw cast up as is reported by the Danes In the Reign of Edward the Second the Scots having invaded this Nation burnt all before them until they came to this place which for the space of three Days they ransack'd pillaged and spoiled receiving no less than a thousand Mark of those who fled into the Church as an Asylum or Sanctuary upon condition they would not burn this place as they had done divers other Towns in the County besides this there is nothing memorable but the great number of Spurriers who being here incorporated in a Society make the best Spurs which this Nation affords Hereupon we forthwith withdrew our selves to a neighbouring Village which is called Cock-grave of great Note for a Well called St. Domingo's Well St. Domingo ' s-Well at Cock-grave which is very effectual for curing many Pains and Aches but more especially the Rickets which occasions in Summer-time a great resort of Impotent and decrepit Persons and little Children too which we observed they took in their Arms and dipped several times in the Water which is as cold as Ice and doth so pierce and chill the Body that when we went out of curiosity to bath in it the coldness of the Spring did mightily allay the Pleasure we expected not being able long to continue in it though as soon as we came out we began again immediately to be warm and were almost ready to sweat with extreamity of heat which is generally the operation of this cold Well Knarsborough Two Miles farther is Knarsborough a place where grows great quantities of Liquorice which by reason of its Marle is supposed to be a more kindly Earth for the production of that Plant but more especially it is of great repute for three Rarities the First is St. Roberts Chappel St. Roberts Chappel which is a small vaulted Hermitage hewn out of a Rock visited very frequently by the Votaries of Rome of which St. Robert there goes a Story that being a Person of great Austereness and Sanctity he begged of King John as much ground as he could plough over from six of Clock till four with two Stags which the King presently granted believing that the compass of Land could be but small which he could till in so little a time especially with such wild untractable Creatures but the the grave Hermite having tamed two Stags for the purpose went to work with the Animals and ploughed over in that time some Acres if credit may be given to the relation in memory of which great Days work himself and his Stags continue painted as they were Yoked together to this day in the Church Windows here was likewise a Priory of the Order of the holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives founded by Richard Earl of Cornwal A. D. 1218. of which St. Robert was the Tutelar Saint to which Priory as Mr. Kennet informs us he gave the Chappel of St. Robert and the Advowson of the Church of Hamstwait The Droping Well The Second is the Dropping Well into which the Water distils and trickles down from a Rock hanging over it where if any kind of Wood is put it will in a short time be covered over with a Stony Bark as hath been frequently experimented neither doth it transform Sticks but any other thing which is thrown into it for besides a wooden Dish which lying for some considerable time in this Water was all over incrustated in the inside like a smooth Hone and on the outside as rough and cragged as an Oister we brought away with us likewise a Mass of leaves and Stalks which was petrified in a lump and observed that the very Mud which lay in the bottom of the Water was just like a round congeries of Hailstones coagulated together resembling very much some which we had seen before at Ochy Hole in Somerset-shire and yet upon the top of this Rock where this Spring-Head is discovered the like operation is not at all visible nor doth the Water petrifie as below which makes some conjecture that the Water is impregnated with this Virtue by the Rock from whence by fetching so long a compass it still keeps continually trickling down The last are the Spaws lying two or three Miles from that Town upon a wide Heath The Spaws which are two Springs a little distant from each other the Water of the one is more toothsom and palatable purging most by Urine but the other is so unsavoury and loathsome both to the taste and smell that he who is not used to it is at first enforced to Stop his Nose before he can take down so many Glasses as are prescribed him of this laxtative potion We happened here at the season when there was a great confluence of the Gentry who come hither to drink the Waters from divers places whereupon we diverted our selves for some few Days in this place and lighting by chance upon some old Friends and Acquaintance who lived hereabouts they afterward conducted us very kindly on our way to Leeds which is reckoned to be distant about twelve Miles from Knarsborough Leeds This is one of the most opulent and populous Towns on this side of the Country the great Trade whereof consists in Clothing about which an incredible number of People are employed not only in this Parish which is of a large extent but in the Neighbourhood too on a Market Day it is scarce to be imagined how many Packs of Cloath are bought up and sent away at which time there is a pretty custom observed that as soon as the Merchants have done bargaining with their Chapmen they commonly go together to their Brig-end shot being a kind of Sixpenny Ordinary in a House near to the Stone-Bridge which is built over the River Are where their Market is kept which having lovingly participated together away they return every Man about his business Otely Travelling away hence through Otely a small Town belonging to the Arch-Bishop of York situated under a high and craggy Cliff called Cherin and having several times crossed over the Are which Springing out
in great Honour and Request and the Mayor and Aldermen are diligent and circumspect in the discharge of their Offices and for the more great and weighty Matters which are above their Sphere the Judges when they come their Circuit and keep the Assizes here for the County do ease them of that trouble by giving a final Determination of all When we had rode about five Miles further we came within the limits of Oxfordshire to a Town called Dorchester Dorchester built at first by Birinus Bishop of Caer-Dor which Bede calls Dorcinia and Leland Hydropolis taking its name of the Waters it stands upon sometimes Walled about and Castled but all now ruined and gone a round Hill there still appearing Here as we are told in the History of Allchester the Superstitious ensuing Ages built Birinus a Shrine teaching them that had any Cattel amiss to creep to that Shrine for help such Blindness possessed them then that they laid the Commandments of God aside to follow their own Traditions and yet so blind are their Posterity that they praise their Doings That this was a Colony of the Romans is very evident from their various Coins and Medals bearing their Stamp which have been found hereabouts and it is as certain that formerly it was a Bishop's See which Birinus the Grand Apostle of the West-Saxons placed here for in the Year 635 by the Preaching of this Holy Man King Kinegilsus and all his People received the Christian Faith to whom Oswald King of the Northumbers was God Father at the Font whereupon a Bishop's See was here fixed But besides Kinegilsus he Baptized after that Guicheline his Son too and after him Cuthred King of Kent about the Year 639. He is said to have instituted Secular Canons in his Cathedral Church who continued till in the Reign of King Stephen Alexander Bishop of Lincoln converted them to Canons Regular Upon the Death of Edward Aethelstan his eldest Son succeeded and during his whole Reign guarded these Parts from all disturbance of the Danes who in January 938 held here a Council as the Learned Mr. Kennet informs us In Civitate celeberrima quae Dornacestre appellatur and there gave a Charter subscribed by four Tributary Kings two Arch-Bishops and fourteen Bishops to the Covent of Malmsbury Upon the Death of Vlf or Wulfin Bishop of Dorchester Remigius was preferred to this See and at a Council held at London A. D. 1072. the Episcopal Seat was transferred from Dorchester as too obscure a place to the City of Lincoln from which time it began visibly to decline and is now only famous for its remains of Antiquity and for the happy conjunction of the two noted Rivers Tame and Isis The next Town of Note which was obvious in the Road was Henley Henley to which the River Thames after it hath fetch'd a great Compass doth at last approach 't is taken for a most ancient British Town from Hen old and Lhey a place and as Cambden and Dr. Plot suppose was the head Town of the People called Ancalites who submitted to Caesar The Inhabitants are generally Barge-Men and by carrying away much Corn and good store of Wood of which there is great plenty in the adjacent Villages in their Barges to London do enrich the Neighbourhood and pick out to themselves a very comfortable Subsistence After a little respite we proceeded on to Maiden-head Maiden-head which they say was thus denominated from the superstitious Adoration given to a British Maid being one of the Eleven Thousand which by the Conduct of St. Vrsula returning home from Rome were all Martyr'd at Cologne in Germany by the Tyrant Attila that most cruel Scourge to the Christians 'T is of no long Date or Standing for within this Hundred Years the Passage over the River was at a place called Babham's-End but after that a strong Bridge of Wood was once here erected it began to draw Strangers to it apace and to outshine and excel its Neighbour Bray which being now ancient gives its Name to the whole Hundred 't is not unlikely that the Bibroci were the former Inhabitants of these Parts who did willingly of their own accord come and submit themselves to Julius Caesar and the Relicts of their Name seem to make it out for Bibracte in France is easily contracted into Bray and it is not at all improbable that Caesar making an Inrode into this County did pass over the River not far from this place though Mr. Kennett I find is of Opinion that he brought his Forces over at Wallingford Windsor In this Hundred is Windsor where we arrived towards the declining of the Day This place was given away by Edward the Confessor from the Crown to the Church of Westminster but William the Conqueror taking a great Affection to it by reason of its pleasant Situation made an exchange with the Abbot of Westminster for some other Lands in the room of this and so it returned to the Crown again the Palace here to which the King and Court do resort in Summer time is inferiour to none for Sight and Pleasantness for Beauty and Magnificence throughout his Majesty's Dominions and perhaps for curious Painting exceeds at this time all other Palaces in the Kingdom being the admired Workmanship of Unimitable Seignior Verrio in the Front lies a pleasant Vale garnished with Corn-fields flourishing with green Meadows deck'd with melodious Woods and water'd with the gentle Streams of the noble River Thames behind it is a pleasant Prospect of a delightful Forest design'd on purpose by Nature for Sport and Recreation while she so liberally stocks it with numerous Herds of Deer lurking amongst the shady Thickets In fine 't is such an Elysium for Pleasure and Delight that our Kings and Princes have always chose to retire hither for their Diversion and Charles the Second was so taken with it that he yearly kept his Court here in the Summer time The Royal Castle and Chapel adjoining was rebuilt by Edward the Third who was Born in this Town for Henry the First had before erected it fortifying the same with strong Walls and Trenches he founded also a Chantry for Eight Priests neither endowed nor incorporate but maintained by an Annual Pension out of the Exchequer but Edward the Third founded this College for a Custos Twelve Secular Canons Thirteen Priests or Vicars Four Clerks Six Choristers Twenty-six Alms-Knights besides other Officers to the Honour of St. Edward the Confessor and St. George In the Chapel lie interr'd two of our Kings Henry the Eighth and Charles the First and to this Castle was committed Prisoners John King of France and David King of Scots by King Edward the Third This Castle stands upon a Hill with a stately and spacious Terrace before it and it hath a very magnificent Church dedicated by Edward the Third to St. George but brought to that present Splendor and Beauty with which it is now illustrated by King Edward the Fourth and
which King John made to Pandulphus the Popes Legate wherein he yielded his Realm Tributary and himself an obedientiary and vassal to the Bishop of Rome The Cliffs beyond Dover being united are well stored with Samphire and reach almost as far as Walmer and Deal Castles which together with Sandown Castle were built by King Henry the Eighth Walmer Deal and Sandown Castle near to which upon a flat or even plain lying full against the Sea stands Deal which of a small and poor Village is now become a place of great note and eminency hereabouts it was where Julius Cesar Landed and though Mr. Somner would have Dover to be the place where he first attempted to arrive yet saith the Accurate Mr. Kennet in his Life of Mr. Somner it is otherwise Demonstrated from Astronomical computation by the very Ingenious Mr. E. Halley who proves the Year the Day the time of Day and place the Downs The Downs where he made his first descent Deal The Town is called lower Deal to distinguish it from the upper part which being the more ancient lies about a Mile farther distant from the Sea and that which hath been the sole cause of raising it was the commodious Riding for Ships in the Downs where Merchant Men making a stop both outward and homeward Bound and taking in here many times a great part of their Provision have by degrees enstated it in a very prosperous condition and indeed its buildings have of late Years been so considerably enlarged and its Trade promoted by great Fleets of Ships who here take in Pilots to carry them up the River Thames that it hath almost quite eclipsed the splendour of Sandwich which is three or four Miles distance from it Sandwich Sandwich being another of the Cinque Ports is on the North and West side fortified with Walls and on the other side fenced with a Rampire Bulwark and Ditch it was called formerly Lundenwick either from its being very populous which the British word Lawn imports or by reason of the great Trade to and from London or from some more peculiar interest the Londoners had in this Place above all other Ports but the name of Sandwich saith Mr. Somner occurs not in any coetaneous Writer or Writing until the Year 979 when King Egelred granted it by that Name to the Monks of Canterbury for their Cloathing which Canutus after his arrival restored again to the same Monks for their sustenance in Victuals with the Addition of his Golden Crown and what perhaps was of equal value in the estimation of those Times St. Bartholomew's Arm It is supposed to have been the Daughter of Rutapis or Richborough Richborough which was an eminent Fortress of the Romans hard by and the first Presidentiary Station that Antiquity represents them to have erected within Britain but like the Mother 't is now very much gone to decay for besides what it suffered from the French in the Reigns of King John and Henry the Sixth after it was recovered again from its Sufferings the Haven being choaked up by the Sand and a great Ship belonging to Pope Paul the Fourth in the Reign of Queen Mary sinking down at the very entrance into the Haven hath ever since reduced it to so great Extremities that the mischief it is to be feared now will prove utterly incurable however it is yet beautified with three Churches and a Free School which was Built and Endowed by Sir Roger Manwood Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and what at present chiefly makes for the Town is the Dutch Colony which is here setled Not far from hence lie those dangerous Sands so much dreaded by Sailors called Goodwyn Sands Goodwyn Sands which though it is the common Opinion that they were Lands of the Earl of Goodwyn swallowed up by the Sea about A. D. 1097. yet with so great strength of Reason is this vulgar Error confuted and the true Cause of Goodwyn Sands more plainly discovered by that indefatigable Searcher into Antiquity Mr. Somner that I shall at present refer the Reader to his ingenious Discourse about this Subject printed with his Treatise of the Roman Ports and Forts in Kent and published A. D. 1693. Over against Sandwich on the other side of the River Stour is Thanet Isle of Thanet a small but very fertile Island where the chiefest Scenes both of War and Peace have been formerly laid for as Mr. Philpott observes when Hengist arrived with his Saxons to support the harassed and afflicted Britains against the Eruption of the Picts he first landed in this Island and when his Forces were broke by Vortimer at the Battel of Alresford he made Thanet his retreat and shelter when Austen the Monk arrived in England to disseminate the Christian Religion amongst the Saxons he found his first Reception in this Island How often the Danes made Thanet a Winter Station for their Navies when they invaded the Maritime Coasts of this Nation our Chronicles do sufficiently inform us and lastly when Lewis the Dauphin was called in by the mutinous English Barons to assert their Quarrel with additional Supplies against King John he laid the first Scene of War in this Island which he afterward scattered on the Face of this unhappy Nation And now being got to the utmost Limits of the Land every Wave of the Ocean ecchoed forth uno plus ultra whereupon taking our leave of these Maritime Coasts we began to withdraw again farther upon the Continent and arrived at Canterbury Canterbury a City of great Antiquity and the Royal Seat of the ancient Kings of Kent watered by the River Stour the Buildings of it at present are but mean and the Wall which encompasseth it gone much to decay and of late Years it hath declined no less in Trade than in Beauty However it is the Metropolis of the County and the Archiepiscopal See of the Primate and Metropolitan of all England and one Ornament still survives 〈…〉 Cathedral in which lie interred divers Kings of Kent whose chief Palace was here till they afterward removed their Station from hence to Reculver Reculver a little Town now by the Sea side about seven or eight Miles distant from it by the Ancients called Regullium where the Roman Captain of the Premier Band of the Vetasians lay in those days in Garrison The Episcopal See was settled here A. D. 601. according to Birchington who tells us Ang. Sacr. Tom. 12 that after Austen the Monk had planted here the Christian Religion and Baptized on one Christmas day no less than Ten thousand Men in the River Swalve he was by the Order of Pope Gregory ordained the first Arch-Bishop of this See But because the Antiquity of this City with all its Liberties and Privileges the Beauty and number of its Churches and Religious Houses before their Dissolution the Magnificence of its Cathedral with all its renowned Tombs and Monuments are so excellently described by Mr. Somner
not possible for Waggons to pass so that the Country People are forced in Harvest time to carry home their Corn upon Horses in Crooks made for that purpose which creates no small Toil and Labour to them Exmore Forrest Upon Exmore Forest are some huge Stones placed as confusedly as those upon Salisbury Plains and one of them hath Danish letters upon it directing passengers that way Hubblestow And at Hubblestow in this County was a Battel fought by the Danes where their Banner called Reafan in which they reposed all confidence of Victory and success was notwithstanding taken and Hubba their General slain Exeter Exeter is the Principal City of this Province called by the ancients Isca and Isca Damoniorum and by the Saxs on Ex or Exa 't is situate upon the Western Bank of the River Ex or Isc upon a litttle Hill gently arising with an easy ascent to a pretty height the pendant whereof lies East and West environed about with Ditches and very strong Walls having many Turrets orderly interposed and six Gates which give entrance into the City and contains about a Mile and half in Circumference The Suburbs branch forth a great way on each side the Streets are broad kept clean and and well paved the Houses are as gay within as trim without and there are contained in it fifteen 〈◊〉 and in the very highest part of the City 〈…〉 Castle called Rugemont forâ—â—◠〈…〉 VVest-Saxon Kings and afterwards of the Earls of Cornwal which Baldwin de Reduers as the Saxon Chronicle informs us A. D. 1135. holding out against King Stephen was through scarcity of Provision enforced to surrender and after the surrendery he with his whole family was banished out of the Kingdom Just without the East-gate are two pleasant Walks called Southney and Northney beset on both sides with rows of high Trees which being mounted up aloft afford a curious prospect to Topsham Topsham the place where all the Ships and Vessels of the Citizens lie at Anchor from whence since the River was stop'd up by certain Wears and Dams that Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire from some distast which he had took to the City caused here to be made all their Goods and Commodities are brought home by Land In the same quarter of the City stands the Cathedral in the precincts of whose close were in ancient times three Religious Houses as the Ingenious Mr. Tanner's Notitia Monastica doth inform us the first was a Nunnery which is now the Deans House the other was a House of Monks reported to have been built by King Ethelred about A. D. 868. the third was a Monastery of Benedictines founded by King Aethelston A. D. 932. but the Monks not long after forsook it for fear of the Danes till A. D. 968. at which time King Edgar restored them upon the removal of the Bishops See hither from Crediton A. D. 1050. the Monks were translated to VVestminster upon which about the same time Bishop Leafric Chaplain to Edward the Confessor uniting the three forementioned Monasteries into his Cathedral Church placed here some secular Canons dedicating it to St. Mary and St. Peter but the Chapter was not setled till Bishop Brewer A. D. 1235. established and endowed a Dean and twenty four Prebendaries to which have been since added four Arch-deacons In this Church are six private Chappels and a Library very handsomely built and furnished by a Phisitian of this City the Quire is curiously beautified and adorned especially with an excellent Organ the Pipes whereof as they are of a much larger size than any which ever we beheld in any Cathedral besides so likewise is its Musick no less sweet and harmonious and though this Church did through all its parts extreamly suffer in the late unhappy Civil Wars yet it hath returned to its primitive beauty and order since the return of King Charles the second in this Church as likewise in most of the other Churches and Church-yards of the City the Graves especially of the Wealthier sort are paved all over on the inside with Bricks and plaistered with white Lime where after they have interred the Corps all the company in general who were invited to the Funeral return to the House of Mourning from whence they came and there very ceremoniously take their leave of the party by whom they were invited to perform these doleful obsequies On the West side of the City runs the River over which is built a strong Stone Bridge with four Arches and about the middle of the City is the Town Hall where the Assizes and Sessions are held it being both City and County of it self in which hangs the Picture of the Royal Princess Henrietta Maria Daughter to King Charles the First who was Born here and was given by her Royal Brother King Charles the Second to this City which is governed by a Mayor Recorder two Sheriffs and four and Twenty Aldermen with all other Officers befitting the Dignity of so Honourable a place The chief Trade of it consists in Stuffs and Kerseys of which there are innumerable Packs sent away every Week for London and other places in lieu whereof all sorts of vendible Commodities are imported hither here being a knot of very eminent Merchants This City has been exposed to great Calamities and disasters straitned with sieges and exposed to the fury both of Fire and Sword the Romans had it in possession about the Reign of Antoninus and after them the East-Saxons in the Days of King Athelstan from whom the Danes having forced it Suenus raged here with Ruine and Destruction and scarce had it regained a little Strength and Beauty when it felt the fury of the Norman Conqueror after this it was besieged by Hugh Courtney Earl of Devonshire in the Civil Wars betwixt the two Houses of York and Lancaster then by Perkin Warbeck that imaginary counterfeit and pretended Prince who being a young Man of as mean a Family as Condition feigning himself to be Richard Duke of York second Son of King Edward the Fourth made strange Insurrections against Henry the Seventh after this it was pestered by the seditious Rebels of Cornwal about the Year 1549 when although the Citizens were extreamly pinched with a great scarcity of all things yet they kept the City with Courage and Fidelity till John Lord Russel came to succour and relieve it And again in the late miserable Confusions it was strictly besieged by the Parliamentarian Forces at which time it is reported by several Persons of good Credit and Repute that it being reduced to great extremities for want of Provision an infite number of Larks came flying into the Town and setled in a void green place within the Walls where they were killed in great quantities by the besieged and eaten We departed from hence to Newton-Bushel Newton-Bushel a Town well known in these Parts for its Market and from thence to King's-ware King's-ware situated below a Hill upon
their Men the English who were there placed for the defence of that Port killed at that time 240 Men all that whole Ships Crew and afterward burnt the Ship out of which they landed Now after this slaughter these Mens Bones in all probability might be gather'd up and laid there after which daily accessions of more might be made till they encreased to so vast a number as is still visible Saltwood Castle A little above the Hill within the Parish of Saltwood are to be seen the remains of an old ruinated Castle which did formerly belong to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but is now in the Tenure of Sir Philip Boteler Baronet Here it was that John Kirkeby being elected Bishop of Ely 1286 was confirmed by John Peckam Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and whither afterward proud Arch-Bishop Courtney having taken a distast at some of his Tenants for not bringing him Hay and Litter in Carts but in Sacks to Canterbury did peremptorily cite them and enjoin them this Penance that they should each one march leisurely after the Procession bare-headed and bare-footed with a Sack of Hay or Straw upon his Shoulder open at the mouth so that the stuff might appear hanging out of the Bag to all the Beholders 'T is generally believed that the Sea hath come up to the very Walls of this Castle for in the adjacent Grounds and particularly in a Field called Black-House have been digged up Anchors and Cables which puts me in mind what the Poet Ovid sings in the Person of the Samian Philosopher Pythagoras Vetus inventa est in montibus Anchora summit Adjoining to the Hyth is the Parish of Newington Newington by Hyth a Vicaridge conferred upon me some few Years ago by my most generous Patron James Brockman Esq since deceased concerning which Parish I have thought fit to add an ancient Record taken out of Doomsday Book 18 Willielmi Conquestoris sub tit terra Archiepiscopi In Limwarlaed est Hundred de Selebrichtindaene habet Archiepiscopus de terra Monachorum i Manerium Niwendene in dominio quod in T. R. E. tenuit Leofric de praeterito Archiepiscopo pro i sull se defendebat subjacebat Saltwode Nunc est appretiatum VIII lib. X s. garfumae In English thus Within the Lath of Limn and the Hundred of Selbrightenden the Arch-Bishop has of Lands allotted to the Monks one Mannor called Niwendene Newington in Demesne which in the time of Edward the Confessor Leofric held of the last Arch-Bishop and was taxed for one Hide and did his Service to Saltwood It is now valued at 81. per Annum and 10 s. Fine Bitchborough In this Parish is Bitchborough the Seat of my much Honoured Friend William Brockman Esq Son to that Worthy Gentleman before-mentioned a Seat to which Nature hath been so liberal of its choicest Blessings that there wants nothing to render it a very delightful Mansion for the House it self which not many Years ago was new Modell'd is so curiously surrounded with pleasant Hills murmuring Streams shady Groves whispering Woods and flowery Meads besides the charming Prospect of the Sea and Cliffs of France which terminating the sight do greatly enhanse the Rarity of its Situation that the most curious Eye cannot possibly find a more inviting Object to entertain it St. Nicholas Chappel In the same Parish in a Field belonging to Seen-Farme called Chappel-Field formerly stood a Chappel belonging to St. Nicholas who in the time of Popery had the same Empire saith Mr. Lambard that Neptune had in Paganism and could with his only beck both appease the rage of the Sea and also preserve from Wrack and Drowning so many as thought fit to be his humble Petitioners and therefore this was one of the Places as the Poet said Servati ex undis ubi figere dona solebant where such as had escaped the Sea were wont to leave their Gifts insomuch that if any of the Fishermen upon this Coast had hardly escaped the Storm and taken any store then should St. Nicholas have not only Thanks for that Deliverance but also one or more of the best Fishes for an Offering To which I may add farther that if the Fishermen before such Voyages did make their due Offerings at this Shrine it was a certain means to secure the Chastity of their Wives till their return but if out of niggardly and penurious Humour they neglected that Duty it was ten to one but their Punishment was that severe one which fell on poor Actaeon From Hyth there runs along a great ridge of Beach to Sandgate-Castle which glories not more in its Royal Founder King Henry the Eighth Sandgate Castle than that it was graced once with the Royal Presence of Queen Elizabeth who in her Progress to these Parts was pleased to lodge in one of the Chambers of this Castle The Castle is within the Parish of Folkstone Folkstone a Town situated upon the brow of a Hill about a Mile distant from it 'T is a Place of greater Antiquity than Beauty especially if it be allowed what is but reasonably suggested by that most Celebrated Antiquary Mr. Somner and confirm'd by the most Judicious Bishop Stilling fleet that this was the Lapis tituli of Nennius or rather Lapis populi where Vortimer desired to be Buried Scipio like as a terrour to the Saxons because of its lofty situation and not as he would have it Stonar in Thanet which lying in a low flat level subject to Inundations was a very improper place for such a daring project it was formerly of a far greater extent than it now is for there were then in it five Churches four of which were long since by the assaults of the Enemies and devastations of Men utterly dismantled besides a Nunnery founded by King Eadbald about A. D. 630. which was Destroyed during the Danish Wars only that Church which was erected by Nigellus de Munewell and devouted to St. Mary and St. Eanswith hath been as yet too hard a morsel for the Teeth of time to consume That there was formerly an Harbour adjoyning to the Town made chiefly at the great charge of the Honourable Sir Basil Dixwel Baronet the ruinous Skeleton of the demolished Peer which is as yet visible may be sufficient to evince but though the Haven be quite lost the Fishery is still kept up by a considerable Colony of Industrious Fishermen who take great quantities of Fish which is every Week bought up and conveyed away to London by the Rippers as they are called or taken in by Smacks which come hither for such lading the quickness of which Trade makes the Town mightily encrease and grow more and more Populous as well as Rich by their Industry But before I leave this place I cannot but take notice that as that great Man of his time John Salmon Prior of Ely Bishop of Norwich and Lord Chancellour of England who being sent Embassadour by Edward the Second into France at his