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132 COMMERCE was certainly favoured in this respect; but we want some other reason. We find accordingly that the freedom and security of the city counted for a great deal in the Middle Ages. So too it was an easy port to reach from the Low Countries and the mouth of the Elbe, which opened to it the way to the most important cities of the Hanseatic League. Again, for ships going to France or to other ports down Channel the short cut through what is now practically dry ground between the mainland of Kent and the Isle of Thanet, rendered at least the first part of a voyage a very safe and easy performance for even the frailest craft. There were harbours of refuge farther on at Dover, at Hythe, and at Kye or Winchelsea, where ships could lie till the weather allowed of a short MINCING LANE
