Chapter XLIII

Dover Castle possesses the longest and most continuous, if not quite the most stirring, military history of any fortress within these narrow seas. Described picturesquely by ancient chroniclers as "the very front door of England," or, as "clavis Angliae et repagulum," it is, and in very truth has ever been, since its foundation, the main bulwark of Britain against foreign foes. At what precise period a Castle was first raised here is a question that has never yet and probably never will be settled. The Romans built their lighthouse here, with another on the topmost point of the Western Heights, but the first Castle is not supposed to have been built before the time of Edward the Confessor, and the first reference to it is found in that oath which Harold swore to the Duke of Normandy, that he would yield up to him both the fortress and the well which was contained in "_castellum Dofris_." Of this building nothing now appears to be left, and the earliest portion of the present Castle is Henry the Second's Keep.

[Sidenote: DOVER CASTLE]

But whatever the size and strength of the Castle that stood here in Harold's day, it would seem to have been formidable enough to induce William the Conqueror to seek a landing elsewhere. He landed at Pevensey, and it was not until after Hastings and the fall of Romney that he turned and took Dover from the rear. The Castle was then made the seat of government for Kent, and one of those fierce fighting Bishops, Odo, half-brother of the Conqueror, installed. The Kentish people, revolting in 1074, endeavoured in vain to seize it; it was held against Stephen, and eventually surrendered to him; and here within the gloomy walls of the Saxon stronghold he died in 1154. No sooner was Henry the Second crowned than his advisers urged the rebuilding of the Castle, and to this period belong the Keep and the Inner Ward. Sixty years later the fortifications of Henry's reign received their first shock of war when, England having been given by the Pope to Louis, the son of Philip Augustus, King of France, that Prince endeavoured to take the gift. But hateful though John, King of England, might be, Englishmen were neither content that their allegiance should be transferred without reference to themselves, nor willing to become again the prey of invaders. Therefore, they bade Prince Louis to take the Pope's present if he could, and held Dover Castle against his forces. England, divided against itself, had permitted Louis to land, and even to be crowned in London, but the Constable of Dover Castle at that time, Hubert de Burgh, was a patriot to be won over neither by threats nor promises, and he held the Castle against all comers. The siege was undertaken in earnest. Louis sent over to France for all the artillery that the time could produce. It consisted of battering-rams and stone-throwing machines, and in this way it was sought to breach the walls. A wooden shelter for the attacking force was constructed and built up to the outer walls of the inland face of the Castle, and under cover of this device the soldiers worked the battering-rams until the defences shook again. The garrison retorted by flinging heavy stones and fire-balls on the shelter, and would either have demolished or burnt it had it not been for an ingenious invention which the French had imported. This consisted of a series of tall wooden towers called _malvoisins_, and ill-neighbours, indeed, they were, for they were established on the edge of the Castle ditch, where, overlooking the outer ward, and being filled with archers whose practice soon slackened the defenders' fire, they would soon have brought the siege to a close, had not the death of the English King removed internal quarrels and aroused a united spirit of patriotism throughout England which boded ill for the prospects of the French prince. The invaders retired from London and the southern counties which they had held, not so much by force of arms as by favour of disaffected Englishmen; they gave up the siege of Dover Castle, and presently re-embarked for France.

The struggles between a despotic King and a rapacious nobility which had caused these troubles in the reign of John were soon resumed, and Dover Castle became alternately the hold of one party or the other. The most notable incident in these events was that of 1265, when the Barons held the Castle and had fourteen knights of the King's party imprisoned in the Keep. Prince Edward attacked the Castle from without, and the prisoners, bursting out from their cells and rushing upon their gaolers from within, forced the garrison to surrender.

It was in the time of Edward the First that Dover Castle reached its full development. That was the grand era of castle-building in England, when military engineering was practised without reference to ordnance, and had attained to a remarkable ingenuity. Like all Edwardian Castles, that of Dover is concentric and has three wards, enclosed within high curtain walls strengthened with a great number of defensible towers. The outer ward had no less than twenty-seven of these towers, among which the Constable's Tower and gateway is first for size and beauty.

It is a long, steep, and dusty climb to Dover Castle from the town. Halfway up, the visitor of forty years ago would be attracted by the tinkling of a small bell, and, looking round, his gaze would fall upon haggard creatures, gaunt and unkempt, who crouched behind iron bars and piteously adjured him to "remember the poor debtors." Poor devils! condemned by the brutality of obsolescent laws to moulder in captivity in expiation for pitiful debts. But brutal though we were until comparatively recent years, we must not believe Victor Hugo when he says that in 1820 the grim picturesqueness of the Castle Hill was enhanced by the spectacle of three malefactors' bodies, tarred and obscene, which swung in the winds of Heaven. That picturesque detail is more romantic than truthful; but the man who, like Victor Hugo, could write seriously in another place of the Firth of Forth as "_la premiere de la quatrieme_" is not to be taken for either geographer or historian.

All these evidences of a brutal age are gone, and Dover Castle is remarkable nowadays chiefly for the extraordinary way in which old and new are grafted one upon another. Side by side with the Norman Keep are modern magazines and military storehouses, while the curtain walls of the wards give support to repositories of Royal Artillery shot and shell. Even the roof of the Keep is put to practical purpose by the War Department, for it has been vaulted and strengthened to carry a battery of heavy cannon. The Keep is of three floors; on the third floor are the State apartments in which Charles the First welcomed his Queen, and where, seventeen years later, he bade her a sad adieu. They are gloomy rooms, heavy with suspicion of danger, conspiracy, and intrigue, and are approached by a staircase flanked with secret guard-rooms; the walls pierced with arrow-slits, scarcely to be distinguished in the darkness of the place, even when you are bidden to look for them.

It is strange to read in the struggles between Charles and the Parliament with what laxity fortresses were often held for either side. Dover Castle is a case in point. It was held for the King by a small force whose discipline and courage were so to seek that it needed but the daring of a Dover merchant and a few followers to capture it. With this exploit ends the story of the warlike doings here, and all that is left to tell relates only to Marlborough's French prisoners, who were for years cooped up within these walls pining and eating away their hearts for very love and despair of ever reaching _la belle France_, whose outlines they could dimly see from the narrow embrasures of their foreign prison.

For from Dover Keep the Eye of Faith may discern the coast of France, twenty-one miles across the Silver Streak; but there be those to whom, if visible at all, that coast seems like nothing so much as filmy clouds resting upon the water, and there are but few days when the sun and the absence of sea-mists enable the Englishman's straining eyes clearly to discern that land.

The famous well of Dover Castle still exists, enclosed in the massive walls, and still nearly three hundred feet deep, despite the rubbish and unmentionable abominations cast into it by the prisoners, who chiefly occupied the second floor in which are the Norman Chapel and two large rooms, their walls still bearing traces of the prisoners' handiwork in the shape of inscriptions. Here is the Armoury, with matchlocks, Brown Besses, muskets, and rifles; obsolete and in use. Here, too, are the pikes issued to the peasantry when all England armed to resist Napoleon's threatened invasion. Down below (you can see it from those embrasures) is "Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol," familiar, even to those who have never seen it, by the popular rhyme--

Load me well and keep me clean,
And I'll carry a ball to Calais Green;

and all around are batteries old and new.

The sentry on Dover Keep at night, when all the world is still, has leisure for contemplation. When the moon rises in solemn majesty on summer nights and makes a lane of silvery glory across the Channel; when the winking light from Cape Grisnez shows where the French coast lies, and the glow from the lighthouse on the Admiralty Pier marks the harbour at his feet; when Dover lamps burn yellow beside the moonrays, and the high-road to London lies stark and white in the valley of the Dour, then may the sentry on his eyrie hear, between the ghostly tapping of the halyards on the flagstaff, the tramp of the ages. Forty centuries looked down upon the French in Egypt; the sentry on Dover Castle looks upon nineteen hundred years of invasion and foreign expeditions. There, where Dover streets now stand, rode Caesar's galleys and there our ancestors bled for their country. Down that white highway, so still at this midnight hour, have marched many generations of archers, men-at-arms, and soldiers of a more recent era, to return, covered with wounds and glory; and across that shining sea have sailed fleets innumerable. For a distance of four hundred feet below him run a series of fortified galleries and platforms, built in the Castle Keep or excavated through the solid chalk down to sea-level; while level with him, rise the Western Heights, rich in heavy ordnance, across the town. Here, then, is the end of the Dover Road, looking out across the sea; and he must needs be dull of brain who does not perceive the epic fitness of its ending.

THE END

INDEX.

Alkham, 238

Bapchild, 144, 162

Barham, 233

Barham Downs, 1, 96, 218, 222-233, 236

Barham Family, 233-235

Barham, Rev. Richard Harris, 80, 234

Becket, Thomas a, 13, 18, 19, 95, 134, 151, 186, 194, 197, 207-213, 216,
233

Bell Grove, 44

Bexley, 45

Bexley Heath, 44, 45-47

Blackheath, 18, 24-35

Black Prince, The, 185, 204-207

Black Robin's Corner, 236

Borough, The, 7-18

Bossenden Woods, 179-182

Boughton-under-Blean, 172, 173, 179, 181

Bridge, 217

Broome Park, 236

Buckland, 241

Cade, Jack, 6, 31

Caesar, Julius, 1, 96, 145, 148, 218-226, 244-246

Canterbury, 3, 74, 97, 174, 183, 187-216, 228

Canterbury Pilgrims, 11-18, 172, 183-186, 194-197, 207-213, 216

Caroline, Princess of Wales and Queen, 25, 56

Chalk, 66, 81-86

Charles II, 33, 68, 70, 89, 90, 121

Charlton, 34, 35

Chatham, 126-140, 200

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 11, 172, 183, 184

"Church Ales", 82

Clavell, John, 87

Cleves, Anne of, 117-119

Coaches:--
"Blue-eyed Maid", 8
"Defiance", 3
"Eagle", 3
"Express", 3, 4
"Foreign Mail", 3
"Phoenix", 3
"Royal Mail", 3
"Tally-ho", 3, 216
"Telegraph", 3
"Union", 3
"Worthington's Safety", 3

Coaching, 3-5, 23, 39, 45, 58, 92, 216

Coal and Wine Dues, 50

Cobham Park, 61, 97

"Coldharbours", 228-230

Colet, Dean, 185, 209-212

Courtenay's Rebellion, 175-183

Crayford, 47-49

Crook Long, 45

Cycling Records, 201

"Danes" Holes, 46

Dartford, 49-60, 97, 118, 200

Denton, near Canterbury, 233-236

Denton by Gravesend, 79-81

Deptford, 23

Dickens, Charles, 81, 87, 90-93, 102-104, 106, 126, 141

_Don Juan_, 37-39, 213, 243

Dover, 220, 242-257

Drellingore Stream, 239

Dunkirk, 181-183

Elizabeth, Queen, 6, 23, 26, 119

Erasmus, Disiderius, 185, 209-212

Falstaff, Sir John, 87, 93

Faversham, 146, 166, 170-172

Gad's Hill, 86-95

Gravesend, 4, 18, 60, 62, 66-70, 86, 91

Greenhithe, 60, 62, 89

Greenstreet, 163

Greenwich Park, 25

Gundulf, Bishop, 54

Gutteridge Gate, 216

Harbledown, 173, 183-186, 194

Hengist and Horsa, 48

Henry V, 30, 154

Henry VIII, 117-119, 151, 195-197

Hermits, 55, 151-153, 161, 163, 171

Hernhill, 168, 181

Highwaymen, 25, 36-40, 71, 87-90, 217

Hops, 163

Horn's Cross, 62

Huggens' College, 66

_Ingoldsby Legends_, The 80, 134, 234-236

"Ingoldsby Abbey", 80

Inns (mentioned at length):--
"Blue-eyed Maid," Southwark, 8
"Bull," Dartford, 55, 107
"Bull," Rochester, 107
"Bull," Shooter's Hill, 36
"Crispin and Crispianus," Strood, 101, 171
"Crown," Rochester, 119
"Falstaff," Canterbury, 187
"Falstaff," Gad's Hill, 90, 94
"George," Sittingbourne, 155
"George," Southwark, 7, 8
"Golden Cross," New Cross, 22
"Gun," Sittingbourne, 156
"Half Moon," Southwark, 8
"Key," Key Street, 148
"Lion," Sittingbourne, 155, 160
"Lord Nelson," Chalk, 86
"Red Lion," Canterbury, 189-192
"Red Lion," Dunkirk, 181, 182
"Red Lion," Sittingbourne, 154
"Rose," Canterbury, 174, 189
"Rose," Sittingbourne, 155
"Spur," Southwark, 8
"Tabard," Southwark, 8, 12, 13, 18
"White Hart," Sittingbourne, 156, 157

James II, 70, 121, 170

"Jezreel, James Jershom", 137-140

John's Hole, 62

Kearsney, 2, 38, 240

Kent Street, 9

Key Street, 97, 148

Kidbrook, 34, 35

London Bridge, 2, 5-7, 12, 19, 30, 44, 200

Lydden, 238

Marlowe, Christopher, 23

"Milestones on the Dover Road", 19

Milton-next-Gravesend, 77-79

Milton-next-Sittingbourne, 146, 153, 159

"Mockbeggars", 230

Moor Street, 141

Murston, 153, 161

Nevison, John, 90

New Cross, 21, 23, 200

Newington, 142-149, 226

Northfleet, 61, 62-64, 66, 97

"Old England's Hole", 223

Old Kent Road, 5, 19-22, 200

Old-Time Travellers, in general, 11-18, 22, 56, 70-77, 87-90, 115-122,
183-186, 190-201

Old-Time Travellers:--
Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Consort, 199-201
Bassompierre, Marshal de, 70
Cossuma Albertus, Prince, 89
Dalkeith, Countess of, 198
Grosley, M., 73-77
Henrietta Maria, Princess, 198
Moritz, Pastor, 56
Nivernais, Duc de, 104, 190-194
Peel, Sir Robert, 199
Rochefort, M. Jouvin de, 71
Sorbiere, M. Samuel de, 72
Zinzerling, Herr Justus, 154

Ospringe, 97, 145, 149, 161, 165

Pepys, Samuel, 36, 121

Pilgrims, 11-18, 161, 172, 183-186, 207-213

Preston, 166

Radfield, 163

Rainham, 140-142

River, 240

Rochester, 95, 97, 102-125, 200

Rochester Castle, 54, 106, 114

Rochester Cathedral, 54, 105, 108-113

Romans, The, 27, 47, 60, 76, 95-99, 144-148, 199, 218-233, 244

Rosherville Gardens, 64

St. Radigund's Abbey, 240

St. Thomas a Watering, 18

St. William of Perth, 111

Schamel, Hermitage of, 151-153

Shooter's Hill, 35-40

Shoulder of Mutton Green, 44

Sittingbourne, 97, 144, 150-161

Southwark, 7-18

Spielman, Sir John, 51-53

Springhead, 61, 65

Stone, 62

Strood, 60, 61, 94, 97, 100-102

Swanscombe, 60

Tappington, Everard, 236

Telegraph Hill, 11

Telegraph Tower, Southwark, 9-11

Temple Ewell, 238, 240

Teynham, 163

Thom, John Nichols (calling himself "Sir William Percy Honeywood
Courtenay"), 174-183

Tong, 163

Tramps, 41-44

Turnpike Gates, 62, 216

Turpin, Dick, 90

Tyler, Wat, 27-30, 57

Watercress, 65

Watling Street, 34, 47, 60, 95-99, 144-148, 214, 223

Watts, Richard, 119

Welling, 44

White Hill, 49

Wolsey, Cardinal, 31, 195

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The real names of these two brothers are unknown. They took the names by which they are known in history from the banners under which their men fought; banners which bore the cognizance of a white horse: Hengist and Horsa being merely the Jutish-Saxon words for "horse" and "mare." The Danish, indeed, still use the word "hors" for mare, and a survival of the old badge of these fierce pagans is still to be met with in the familiar white horse of Brunswick-Hanover. The prancing steed that remains to this day the Kentish device, with its dauntless motto "Invicta," is also a survival from the days when Hengist and Horsa founded the first Saxon kingdom in Britain.

[2] He meant Harbledown, Boughton, and Ospringe: Green-street, Sittingbourne, Newington, and Rainham.

[3] "Gad's," _i.e._ "rogues," Hill.

[4] One of the many originals of "Samivel's father" put forward. One was supposed to have been at Bath, another at Dorking; and others still have claims to have originated this humorous character.

[5] Collectors for "Hospital Saturday" funds come within the meaning of this unrepealed Act.

[6] He was here also in 1661, giving a very amusing account of how he was entertained, and how he kissed and sang and danced: it is too long, though, for quotation here. But look it up.

[7] Mr. Gladstone has said, most notoriously, that to be "hemmed in" is not to be "surrounded." But that was part of the political game of bluff, and may not be regarded as a contribution to philology.

[8] An excellent story is told of the cold that rages up here in the winter. It belongs to coaching times, and was told by a coachman who had a new guard with him one frosty night, when the temperature was going down to 15 deg.; a cockney guard who was unused to exposure, and who, moreover, had not the experience which led the Jehu to wrap himself up in layers of flannel, a many-caped coat, and three or four waistcoats. "Ain't it cold?" asked the guard several times, climbing over the coach roof with numbed hands and blue nose. "Cold!" returned the coachman, "not at all." "That's all very well," says the guard, "but your eyes are watering like hanythink." "Oh! are they?" rejoins the coachman, "I suppose that's the perspiration!"

[9] There are "Mockbeggars" in Kent, as in most other counties. There is one near Rochester. Some old buildings pulled down in 1771 at Brighthelmstone were called Mockbeggars. Local opinion held the belief that there had been a Mendicant Priory, but this was not generally credited. The name seems to have been generally applied to objects wearing at some distance the appearance of an hospitable mansion, to which travellers would be drawn out of their road only to meet with a disappointment in finding an empty house, or no house at all. Two such places, so called, are to be instanced: one is an isolated rock at Bakewell in Derbyshire, presenting from the road the semblance of a house, to which it is said beggars and tramps wend their way, only to be mocked by a freak of nature: seeking for bread they find, literally, a stone. The other is an old Tudor mansion, called Mockbeggar Hall, at Claydon in Suffolk, standing in a conspicuous situation, near the road leading from Ipswich to Scole; a place to which mendicants would naturally be attracted, in expectation of finding inhabitants there, but which has, according to tradition, remained so long unoccupied as to have earned its name a hundred years, or more, ago.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

The notation [symbol] is used to represent various geometric shapes.

The following misprints have been corrected:
"conjuction" corrected to "conjunction" (page 24)
"ong" corrected to "long" (page 77)
"ot" corrected to "to" (page 78)
"botton" corrected to "bottom" (page 238)
"Admiraly" corrected to "Admiralty" (page 249)
"Rebell on" corrected to "Rebellion" (index)

Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.

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