Defoe, speaking of Dover in the seventeenth century, remarks: "The packets for France go off here, in time of peace, as also those for Ostend, and all those ships which carry freights from New York to Holland, and from Virginia to Holland, come generally hither and unlade their goods . . . and pay the duties . . . and so they go away for Holland." In the days of Henry VIII an old traveller, Nicander Nucius of Corcyra, writes: "I now proceed to state those things which occurred from Calais and the passage itself to the British Island of England. . . . Having gone on board ship straightway at first we moved out of the harbour by rowing. And a gentle breeze blowing from land, low waves came rippling and smiling as it were under our stern. And it being now night, we being borne along by the tide, were accomplishing our voyage in smooth water, but it fell out not as our master conjectured. . . it being now midnight a certain wind called the north wind sprung up, the sea was suddenly ruffled, perhaps having undergone a change from the time of night, or this being produced by the mere will of fortune. The sound of the approaching storm was now heard, cleaving the waters of the ocean; and being tossed by huge waves rapidly succeeding each other, and undergoing every species of danger, and being within a hair breadth of sinking, we entertained slender hopes of being saved; and although a side wind fell upon us, yet however towards sunset, we reached the promontory of the island, and came to land in the harbour of Dover." This all sounds very true. Crossing the Channel can still be just about what it was when Henry VIII himself sailed in the Great Harry to visit the Field of the Cloth of Gold! THE END. BIBLIOGRAPHY AINSWORTH, H.: Beau Nash, or Bath in the Eighteenth Century AINSWORTH, H.: Windsor Castle ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE AUSTIN, A.: Haunts of Ancient Peace BARING GOULD, G.: A Book of the West BARING GOULD, G.: The Book of Wales BELL'S CATHEDRAL HANDBOOKS (various authors, a volume for every cathedral) BORROW, G.: Wild Wales BROWNE, SIR T.: Antiquities of Norwich Cathedral CAMBRENSIS, G.: Itinerary through Wales CAMM, DOM BEDE: Forgotten Shrines CASTLE, A. AND E.: A Bath Comedy CHRIST CHURCH LETTERS COBBOLD, REV. R.: History of Margaret Catchpole CONVERSE, F.: Long Will CRAKE, A. D.: Last Abbot of Glastonbury CORNISH, C. J.: The Isle of Wight DEFOE, D.: Tour of Great Britain DE QUINCEY, T.: Poets of the Lake District DITCHFIELD: English Villages DITCHFIELD: Vanishing England DUGDALE: Antiquities of Warwickshire EVELYN'S DIARY FITZ GERALD, E.: Letters GIBBS, J. A.: A Cotswold Village GISSING, G.: Broadway GONZALES, MANUEL: Travels in England HARRIS, M. D.: An Old English Town. (Coventry) BENTZNER, P.: Short Description of England HOWELLS, W. D.: Certain Delightful English Towns HUGHES, T.: Tom Brown at Rugby HUGHES, T.: Scouring the White Horse JAMES, G. P. R.: Arrah Neil JAMES, HENRY: Portraits of Places JOCELIN OF BRAKELONDE'S CHRONICLE OF BURY ST. EDMUND JONES: Legends of the West Coast KINGSLEY, C.: Hereward the Wake. A Tale of the Fens LEYLAND, J.: The Shakespeare Country MACFARLANE: Camp of Refuge. (The Fen Country) MARSHALL, EMMA: In the East Country MARSHALL, EMMA: Under Salisbury Spire MARSHALL, EMMA: Winchester Meads MARTIN, J. J.: May Fair. Boston Four Hundred Years Ago MASSON: Glastonbury MATTHEW PARIS' CHRONICLE MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER'S CHRONICLE METHUEN'S LITTLE GUIDES TO ALL THE COUNTIES OF ENG RAINE, ALLEN: Hearts of Wales RAWNSLEY, H. D.: Literary Associations with the English Lakes RIBTON-TURNER, J.: Shakespeare's Land ROGER OF WENDOVER'S CHRONICLE SCOTT, W.: Kenilworth Castle SEGUIN, L. G.: Rural England SIZER: The Wooing of Osyth SOMNER: Antiquities of Canterbury STANLEY, A. P.: Memorials of Canterbury STANLEY, A. P.: Memorials of Westminster STOW: Survey of London STUBBS, CHARLES: Cambridge STUBBS, CHARLES: In a Minster Garden STUBBS, CHARLES: Memorials of Ely TAINE, H. A.: Notes on England TIMBS, J.: Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls in England and Wales WINTER, WILLIAM: Shakespeare's England WINTER, WILLIAM: Grey Days and Gold WILLIAM OF MALMSBURY'S CHRONICLE YONGE, C. M.: The Caged Lion |