Most of the Cinque Ports were destined ultimately to decay from the same reason--recession of the sea, caused by what is known as the “Eastward Drift.” And the last great part that they played in the naval history of England was their gallant conduct when the Spanish Armada threatened our shores. Then we find that the ancient spirit, which had animated them in Norman times, flamed up once more--the final flicker of expiring consequence--as of old “to its full height of medieval patriotism”; and, we are told by the same authority, “though their own vessels were poor little craft, the Ports contrived to raise among themselves the sum of £43,000, and to ‘set out’ with that money a handy little squadron of thirteen sail, which did its duty under the orders of Lord Henry Seymour.” Thirteen sail would to some seem ominous; but evidently the Cinque Ports folk were not superstitious. Tradition asserts that these men, who amongst other things, and in addition to sending the thirteen ships to Drake’s Armada Fleet, watched the coast in their poor little craft and “crayers,” also prepared the material for the fire-ships which were destined to bring about, though not actually to accomplish, the final disintegration of the Spanish Fleet. That they contributed their fair share of powder and shot, and energy in manning and manœuvring the ships they had supplied there is ample evidence. They in due course received the special thanks of Queen Elizabeth for their services, and also for the part they played in the lodgement, victualling, and transporting over seas of the troops for her French and Portuguese expeditions, which had so much to do with the final checking of Spain’s power for harm against England. [Illustration: SOUTH FORELAND] Various legislative measures of modern times have taken away from the Cinque Ports many of their ancient privileges, but they still retain the one of being quite independent of county jurisdiction in many important particulars. The office of Lord Warden is an honorary one and has been at various times held by many of the most distinguished statesmen of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Amongst those who have held the post may be mentioned William Pitt, Lord Palmerston, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Granville, the Marquis of Salisbury, and Lord Curzon. On our way to Dover, however, to return to our course, we must pass Sandwich, “the settlement on the sand,” which during the fifteenth century had been gradually declining until towards the end of Henry VIII’s reign it was but a ghost of its former self. Considering Henry’s quarrel with the Holy Father at Rome it was somewhat an irony that the final blow to Sandwich’s prosperity as a port was dealt it by the sinking in the fairway of a large ship owned by the Pope. Over this the sand and mud collected rapidly, practically blocking the channel, and causing the downfall of what was at one time one of the chief ports in the south.