a borough and port town of England, in the county of Kent, situated in E. Long. o° 25', N. Lat. 51° 10'. It sends two members to parliament, styled barons of the Cinque ports, whereof Dover is the chief. The number of voters is about 1600. It contained 14,845 inhabitants in 1801, and 19,128 in 1811.

By the Romans this town was named Dubris, and by the Saxons Dofra, probably from the British word Dour, which signifies water. The convenience of its situation drew the attention of the Roman governors, who ruled here while they possessed this part of the island; and there still remain indubitable testimonies of their care and respect for this important place. For the defence of the town, the Romans, or, according to some, Arviragus, a British king, their confederate, by cutting out walls with infinite labour in the solid rock, constructed a stony fortress; and, as its venerable remains still prove, erected also a light-house, for the benefit of navigation. The Saxons, Danes, and Normans, had a very high opinion of this place; and when the barons invited over the young prince, afterwards Louis VIII. of France, his father Philip Augustus conceived a bad opinion of the expedition, because the castle and port of Dover were held for King John, though a great part of the kingdom had submitted to Louis. In its most flourishing state, the fortress was impregnable, and the town a very opulent emporium. It had 21 wards, each of which furnished a ship for the public service, 10 gates, 7 parish churches, many religious houses, hospitals, and other public edifices. The decay of the town was brought on by that of the harbour. To recover this, Henry VIII. spent no less than 63,000l. in constructing piers; and 5000l. in building a castle between this and Folkstone, called Sandgate, where the shore was flat, and the landing easy. Notwithstanding all this expense, however, it was again choked up in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by whom it was again cleared at a vast expense, so that ships of some hundred tons could enter it. After that time it again declined, notwithstanding many efforts for its relief, and great assistance from time to time given by parliament for this purpose. At present the harbour is capable of receiving vessels of 400 or 500 tons; and as the packets to France and Flanders are stationed here in time of peace, it is still a place of some consequence, and the people are active and industrious.

Dover Straits, the narrow channel between Dover and Calais, which separates our island from the opposite continent. Britain is supposed by many to have been once peninsulated, the present straits occupying the site of the isthmus which joined it to Gaul. "No certain cause (says Mr Pennant*) can be given for the mighty convulsion which tore us from this continent; whether it was rent by an earthquake, or whether it was worn through by the continual dashing of the waters, no Pythagoras is left to solve the fortuna locorum:

* Arctic Zoology, vol. I. Intro., p. ii.

Fidi ego, quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus Esse fretum.

But it is most probable, that the great philosopher alluded to the partial destruction of the Atlantica insula, mentioned by Plato as a distant tradition in his days. It was effected by an earthquake and a deluge, which might have rent asunder the narrow isthmus in question, and left Britain, large as it seems at present, the mere wreck of its original size. The Scilly isles, the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands, and perhaps the Faroe islands, may possibly be no more than fragments of the once far-extented region. I have no quarrel about the word island. The little isthmus, compared to the whole, might have been a junction never attended to in the limited navigations of very early times. The peninsula had never been wholly explored, and it passed with the ancients for a genuine island. The correspondency of strata on part of the opposite shores of Britain and France, leaves no room to doubt but that they were once united. The chalky cliffs of Blancenez between Calais and Boulogne, and those to the westward of Dover, exactly tally: the last are vast and continued; the former short, and the termination of the immense bed. Between Boulogne and Folkestone (about six miles from the latter) is another memorial of the junction of the two countries; a narrow submarine hill, called the Rip-raps, about a quarter of a mile broad, and ten miles long, extending eastwards towards the Goodwin sands. Its materials are boulderstones, adventitious to many strata. The depth of water on it, in very low ebbs during spring tides, is only fourteen feet. The fishermen from Folkestone have often touched it with a fifteen feet oar; so that it is justly the dread of navigators. Many a tall ship has perished on it, and sunk instantly into twenty-one fathoms water. In July 1782, the Belleisle of sixty-four guns struck, and lay on it during three hours; but, by starting her beer and water, got clear off.

"These celebrated straits are only twenty-one miles wide in the narrowest part. From the pier at Dover to that at Calais is twenty-four. It is conjectured, that their breadth lessens, and that they are two miles narrower than they were in ancient times. An accurate observer of fifty years remarks to me, that the increased height of water, from a decrease of breadth, has been apparent even in that space. The depth of the channel at a medium in highest spring tides is about twenty-five fathoms. The bottom either coarse sand or rugged scars, which have for ages unknown resisted the attrition of the currents. From the straits both eastward and westward is a gradual increase of depth through the channel to a hundred fathoms, till soundings are totally lost or unattended to. The spring tides in the straits rise on an average twenty-four feet, the neap tides fifteen. The tide flows from the German sea, passes the straits, and meets, with a great rippling, the western tide from the ocean between Fairleigh near Hastings and Boulogne; a proof that, if the separation of the land was effected by the seas, it must have been by the overpowering weight of those of the north."

a town of Delaware in North America. It is the chief town of the county of Kent in the Delaware state, and is the seat of government. It stands on Jones's creek, a few miles from the Delaware river, and consists of about 100 houses, principally of brick. Four streets intersect each other at right angles, in the centre. centre of the town, whose incidencies form a spacious parade, on the east side of which is an elegant state-house of brick. The town has a lively appearance, and drives on a considerable trade with Philadelphia. Wheat is the principal article of export. The landing is five or six miles from the town of Dover.