in Law, a person who has the charge of anything; but it more commonly signifies one who has the custody and education of such persons as have not sufficient discretion to take care of themselves and their own affairs, as children and idiots.

or Warden, of the Cinque Ports, is an officer who has the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports, with all the power which the admiral of England has in other places.

Camden relates, that the Romans, after they had established their empire in our island, appointed a magistrate, or governor, over the eastern parts, where the Cinque Ports are situated, with the title of Comes littoris Saxonicis per Britanniam, having another, who bore the like title, on the opposite side of the sea. Their business was to strengthen with munitions the sea-coast against the outrages and robberies of barbarians; and the same antiquary considers our warden of the Cinque Ports to have been instituted in imitation of this officer.