FOLKES, Martin (1690-1754), an eminent English antiquary, was born at London, October 29, 1690. At the age of seventeen he entered at Clare College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself so much in mathematics that when only twenty-three years of age he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society. He was elected one of the council in 1716, and in 1723 Sir Isaac Newton, president of the society, appointed him one of the vice-presidents. On the death of Newton he became a candidate for the presidency, but the higher standing and superior influence of the other candidate, Sir Hans Sloane, carried the election against him. In 1733 he set out on a tour through Italy, in the course of which he found opportunity of consulting the best furnished cabinets of that country, and composed his admirable “Dissertations on the Weights and Values of Ancient Coins,” which he read before the Society of Antiquaries. Before the same society he read in 1736 his “Observations on the Trajan and Antonine Pillars at Rome,” and also communicated his “Table of English Gold Coins from the 18th year of King Edward III., when gold was first coined in England, to the present time, with their Weights and Intrinsic Values.” In 1745 he printed this work along with another on the history of silver coinage. He also contributed both to the Society of Antiquaries and to the Royal Society various other papers, chiefly on Roman antiquities, wshich were published in their transactions. In 1741 he succeeded Sir Hans Sloane as president of the Royal Society; in the following year he was made a member of the French Academy; and in 1746 was honoured with the degree of LL.I). from Cambridge and Oxford. He died in 1754.

FOLKESTONE, or Folkstone, a municipal borough, seaport, and market-town of England, county of Kent, is situated on the London and South-Eastern Railway, 7 miles W.S.W. of Dover. It is very irregularly built, part of it lying in a hollow between the chalk and greensand hills, and other portions on the hills. Folkestone is much frequented in summer for sea-bathing, and steam packets ply daily between the town and Boulogne. Many of the inhabitants are engaged in the fisheries, and there is also a considerable shipping trade. The pier-harbour is 19 acres in extent, and admits vessels of 150 tons burden. In 1861 a low-water landing-pier was erected, which enables passengers to land from the steamers at all states of the tide. The coast is defended by three martello towers, and a battery situated on the heights protects the town. During 1877 the number of vessels that entered the port was 885, with a tonnage of 154,897, and 854 cleared, with a tonnage of 153,208. Of these the number engaged in trade with foreign countries was—entered 46, with a tonnage of 9333; cleared 148, with a tonnage of 22,452. Among the public buildings may be mentioned the free grammarschool, the harbour-house, the town-hall and market-house, and the parish church, a cruciform structure in the early Gothic style, with a tower rising from the intersection. It has recently been enlarged and restored. The original church of St Eanswitha was built in 1095, and attached to it was a monastery for Benedictine monks, but the devastations of the sea compelled the removal of both to the cliff on which the church now stands. The monastery was destroyed at the dissolution of religious houses in 1535. At a very early period Folkestone was a place of some importance, and Roman remains have been found near it. It ...