The South Foreland forms the eastern point of the Kentish shore : two light-houses are erected on it, in order to warn mariners who arrive from the west, of their approach to the Goodwin Sands. The North Fore land forms the north-east point of the Isle of Thanet, and is, by act 'if parliament, ascertained to be the most southern part of the port of London. This headland projects into the sea nearly in the form of a bastion, and is somewhat higher than the adjoining coast: a light-house is erected on this, as well as on the South Foreland, for the general safety of mariners, but more particularly in order to enable them to avoid striking on the Goodwin Sands. This light-house belongs to Greenwich Hospital; and every British vessel sailing round this point pays 2d. per ton, and every foreign ves sel 4d. per ton, towards its support. In this part of the coast of Kent, the sea gains so much upon the land, that above 30 acres have been lost within the memory of some now alive. All vessels passing on the south side of this foreland, are said to enter the Channel; and all the towns and harbours between London and this place, whether on the Kentish or the Essex shore, are called members of the port of London.
No circumstance connected with the progressive geo graphy of England is more interesting than that which relates to the Isle of Thanet. We trust, therefore, we shall be excused for dwelling rather at length on its ancient and present state. At this day, it is scarcely a peninsula, and yet, in the time of the Romans, it was a complete island, nearly of a circular form. At this period the sea on the south-west side, between the island and the main land of Kent, was at least four miles broad, gradually decreasing as it passed along the south side of the island, till at length its breadth contracted to two miles ; and at Sar, which was the narrowest part, it was not more than a mile and a half. Thus far flowed the South, which there met the North Sea : the latter enter ed at what was, from this circumstance, called North mutha, or North-Mouth. The direct and accustomed passage to London by sea, lay through the strait between the Isle of Thanet and the mainland of Kent, as late as the middle of the 4th century. In the time of Bede, however, the breadth of this passage was considerably diminished; for he tells us, it was then but three fur longs wide, and so shallow, that it was fordable in two places. It continued, however, a passable strait for vessels of some size, till about the time of the Norman Conquest, when the inhabitants perceiving that the tide no longer flowed with any considerable vigour, began to erect dykes to keep it out, and thus brought about the present form and condition of the island. Thus the Isle of Thanet, which was formerly separated from the main land of Kent by the entire channel of what was called the Portus Ritupensis, and was then, in its natural state, all high land, is now a peninsula, or at most a river-isle only, with the Stour-wantsome on the south, the Mill stream on the south-west, and the Nethergong-wantsome on the west. The other part of the island fronts the
East and North Seas as before; but the figure is alter ed from a circular to an irregular oval. After the junc tion of the isle to Kent, the sea, which no longer flowed with the same freedom, began to throw up immense quantities of beach on the opposite shore, which pro duced Estanore, that is, the East Stone Shore: this was originally an island, but the monks united it by a cause way to the Isle of Thanet.
Below this island, the coast of Kent, which still fronts the north, becomes marshy as it descends by Whitstable to the narrow arm of the sea called the Swale, which flows along two sides of the isle of Shepey. After this, the coast turns to the east till it reaches the point where the Medway terminates its course, by its junction with the Swale. Beyond this the fort of Sheerness projects, and the mouth of the Thames opens.
Of the rivers of England, the most celebrated and important are the Thames, the Severn, the Mersey, the Dee, the Tyne, the Tees, the Trent, and the Medway. As most of these flow through more than one county, a full and regular description of them belongs to this article, not only for that reason, but also, as without this description our account of England would be unsatisfac tory and incomplete; we shall therfore give an account of the origin, course, and termination of these rivers, and annex to that account a very brief notice of the other smaller and less celebrated rivers of this country. In the last edition of Cambden's Brittania that was publish ed by himsef, (1605,) there is a table, from which it ap pears that there are upwards of 550 rivers and rivulets in England and Wales, distinguished by particular names.
The sources of the Thames are generally admitted to be four rivulets, that rise in different parts of the Cots wold Ilills in Gloucestershire, viz. the Lech, the Colne, the Churne, and the Isis. The last, which is the most important, and which retains its name the longest, after receiving the two other streams, becomes navigable; hut for a considerable space the navigation is tedious and difficult, on account of its winding course, and its prevailing shallows. The country through which the Isis flows at first is not pleasant or interesting, as it pur sues its way almost unseen, in the middle of an unvaried plain, first towards the east, and afterwards inclining to the north. After being augmented by two small streams, it turns suddenly to the south, and the plain now expands into a spacious amphitheatre, bounded by some striking hills, in the centre of which Oxford appears in sight. At this place the Isis divides into several small channels, leaving this city on the left: the branches, however, soon reunite, and the river turns round the city towards the north-east. Below Oxford it is joined by the Cherwell, which, passing on the eastern side of that city, together with the Isis, nearly insulates it.