although legal process from the courts of Westminster has still to be executed by the bodar of Dover Castle, who is an officer of the lord-warden. The courts of Brotherhood and Guestling, held in turn yearly in each port, used to determine the mode of rendering the naval service to which they were bound, and still meet occasionally, for certain purposes, at New Romney; the court of Shepway was the only one in which their freemen could be impleaded, and was originally held at Shepway-cross, near Hythe, but afterwards removed to various places, all, however, within the jurisdiction; the court of Chancery, now disused, was held at Dover; and in that town are still held the court of Admiralty, and the court of Lodemanage, for regulating pilots. The Admiralty court was once held on the open shore at Sandwich, but was removed to Dover at least as early as the thirteenth century.

The ships of the Cinque Ports formed for many ages a most important part of every English fleet; the records of each reign shew how well they performed their duty, and accordingly we find them frequently rewarded by charters and immunities. As one instance, Edward I., by his charter of May 20, 1277, gave them jurisdiction over the distant port of Yarmouth, in return for their aid against Llewelyn; but this supremacy was strenuously resisted, was by a charter of Elizabeth, 1576, limited to a co-ordinate jurisdiction, and has long been abandoned (in 1663); the last great charter (that of Charles II., Dec. 23, 1668,) gives the limit of their rule as from Shore-beacon, Essex (at the mouth of the Thames,) to the Red Cliff, at Seaford. They had, however, almost a monopoly of the trade with France and Spain, and down to a comparatively late period they were careful to distinguish their ships and men from any others. Thus in the Cinque Ports' Register, under the year 1514, we read, "Every person that goeth into the navie of the portis shall haue a cote of white cotyn, with a red crosse, and the

armes of the portis underneathe, that is to say, the halfe lyon and the halfe ship." They looked on themselves as peculiarly "King's Men"-the Royal Navy of the time-and assumed a superiority over the mariners of other ports, which often led to fierce battles. The Ports continued distinct from other places until the passing of the Municipal Corporations Reform Act, by the

operation of which many of the peculi- Arms of the Cinque Ports. arities of their local government, and most

of their exclusive privileges, have been abolished.

The office of lord-warden of the Cinque Ports has ever been held by men of high rank, and some of the first names in Eng

lish history are to be found on the roll; but, like the Ports themselves, it has now ceased to have any political importance, and is generally bestowed on the prime minister for the time being on the occasion of a vacancy. Thus it has been held by William Pitt, and the earl of Liverpool, and, more appropriately, by the late duke of Wellington; it is now enjoyed by Earl Granville, whose official residence is Walmer Castle, near Deal.

Of the present state of the Ports little need be said. They return eight members to parliament, who are still styled barons, and have the right (not exercised, however, of late) to an important place at coronations; and they are yet distinct from the counties in which they are situate, and have gaols, coroners, &c., of their own; but as far as commerce and navigation are concerned, they have long been the mere shadows of what they once were, being in many cases eclipsed by their members, which have risen in proportion as the head Ports have decayed. For instance, Margate and Ramsgate have ten times the population and trade of their legal superior, Sandwich, though Ramsgate is still governed by a deputy from the mayor of that town. Dover, Hythe, and Hastings, however, enjoy some importance as sea-bathing resorts.

Up to the coronation of George IV. in 1821 they bore canopies with silver bells over the sovereign in the procession, and received them for their fee. In ancient times these were usually bestowed on the shrine of some saint, very commonly on that of St. Thomas at Canterbury; more recently, they have been broken up and sold, but a few of the bells are to be found preserved in the town-halls of one or two of the ports. The barons were formerly sixteen in number, but they were reduced one half by the operation of the Reform Act of 1832.

INDEX.

Albinus Clodius, emperor in Gaul, Anlaf Cuaran, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100,

Battle Abbey, foundation of, 153, Britons, the, incorrectly described by