but it still continues in many respects subservient to Sandwich.

The Castle of Deal stands at the southern end of the town, and, together with that of Sandown, at the northern extremity, and Walmer, about a mile off, was built by Henry VIII. for the defence of this coast. They are all on a similar plan, consisting of an immense round tower in the centre, connected with four outworks, of a semicircular form, surrounded by a deep ditch, and having additional batteries next the sea. Walmer Castle is appropriated for the residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports for the time being; that distinguished office is at present held by the Duke of Wellington.

Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the most learned lady of the last century, was born at Deal in 1717; and under the superintendence of her father, the Rev. N. Carter, acquired the rudiments of that almost universal knowledge, as well as of that Christian piety, by which she was afterwards so eminently distinguished. She particularly delighted and excelled in Greek, and her translation of Epictetus is acknowledged to be the best English version of that author; Hebrew and Latin she understood well; Arabic sufficiently to read it with ease; of French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Portuguese, she was perfectly mistress; was a proficient in astronomy; and extensively acquainted with every branch of ancient and modern history. Her poems are elegant in language, and admirable in sentiment; and her humility and benevolence were equal to her learning and talents. She died at London, in February, 1806, in the 89th year of her age.

DEPTFORD.

This town was anciently called West Greenwich, and is seated on the Thames, about four miles from London. It is divided into the two parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Paul; the church of the former is an ancient building, with a square tower; the latter is an elegant edifice, with a fine spire, and was one of the fifty new churches erected by Queen Anne. There are several places of worship for Dissenters of various denominations.

The principal object of attention at Deptford is its

Royal Dock-yard, which, with the attached buildings, covers a space of thirty acres, and has every requisite for building, fitting-out, and repairing, ships of the line. Since the peace, however, the greater number of the persons formerly employed here have been discharged; and the business and importance of the town have very much declined in consequence; but it has still several private yards, for building and repairing merchant vessels, barges, boats, &c.

In Deptford are two hospitals, both devoted to the reception of decayed pilots and master mariners, or their widows; one, called the Trinity House, is situated near the church of St. Nicholas, and receives 21 pensioners, each of whom is allowed a monthly stipend; this establishment is under the immediate superintendence of the Trinity Company, a wellknown body, incorporated by Henry VIII. in 1515, at the instance of Sir Thomas Spert, comptroller of the navy, and commander of that monarch's great ship called the Henry Grace de Dieu. The objects of the incorporation are declared to be "for the increase and encouragement of navigation, the good government of seamen, and the better security of merchant ships;" and in order to enable them to carry these into effect, the brethren are invested with extensive powers, the principal of which are, to examine all persons previously to their appointment as masters in the Royal Navy; to appoint pilots for the Thames, and to settle the rates of pilotage; to erect light-houses, &c.; to grant licences to poor seamen to ply as watermen on the Thames; to superintend the deepening and cleansing that river, and to dispose of the ballast obtained from it; to hear, determine, and punish, all complaints, disputes, and offences, in the merchants' service; and to buy lands, and receive donations, for charitable purposes: and they annually distribute several thousand pounds to poor seamen, their widows and orphans. The Corporation is of the highest respectability, and is governed by a Master, four Wardens, eight Assistants, and eighteen Elder Brethren, selected from the commanders of the Royal Navy, the East India and merchants' service, and generally two or three noblemen and members of the Administration. The busi

ness of the society is principally transacted at their House in London, but that at Deptford is their original seat; and they are styled, in the royal grant of incorporation, "The Master, Wardens, and Assistants, of the Guild or Fraternity of the Most Glorious and Undivided Trinity, and of St. Clement, in the parish of Deptford Strond, in the county of Kent." They go by water, annually, on Trinity Monday, in grand procession, from the Trinity House on Tower Hill to Deptford, where they are received with great ceremony.

The second institution, also under the direction of this society, is called Trinity Hospital, and was founded in 1685, for the reception of 38 persons of the before-mentioned description.

Near Deptford was the manor house of Say's Court, once the residence of John Evelyn, Esq., the celebrated philosopher and naturalist; and here he received and lodged the Czar Peter the Great, when that extraordinary man worked as a shipwright in the Dock-yard. Evelyn had a fine and extensive garden here, and a noble hedge of holly, of which he was justly proud; but his visitor, who, notwithstanding his elevated mind, was in many respects a perfect barbarian, was particularly fond of being wheeled through this hedge in a barrow, which operation, frequently repeated, of course utterly destroyed it; and drew from the philosophical host only this observation, "Thanks to the Czar for spoiling my garden!"

The population of Deptford is included with that of Greenwich in the parliamentary returns of 1821; but is supposed to be about 12,000 persons.

DOVER.

From the situation of this town with respect to the opposite coast, little doubt can be entertained that, long previous to the invasion by the Romans, the site of its Castle was occupied by a British fortress; and Mr. King, in his learned work entitled Munimenta Antiqua, observes, on this subject, "The real existence of such a prior strong hold may not only be concluded from its situation on the summit of a cliff, so very proper for the purpose, more than 300 feet in height, and from the peculiar form of part

of the outlines still remaining, but may also be very fairly inferred from the ancient tradition, which says, that here Arviragus, the British chief, fortified himself, when he refused to pay the tribute imposed by Julius Cæsar; and that here, afterwards, King Arthur also held his residence."

Other authors attribute the foundation of this fortress to Cæsar; but his Commentaries do not afford any ground for such a supposition; and we may therefore be permitted to discredit their assertion, although there is every reason to believe, from the importance of its situation, and from the remains of the ancient pharos, or light-house, still in existence, that it was one of the earliest fortifications erected by the Romans in this country. From the materials of which this latter building is composed, an ingenious hypothesis has been raised by Mr. King, intended to prove that it could not have been reared prior to the time of Agricola, under whose government this island was first circumnavigated, towards the close of the first century of the Christian era. The present height of this building is about 40 feet; it displays indubitable marks of Roman workmanship, but is in a state of great dilapidation, being roofless, and much damaged in other respects.

Very near to this edifice are the remains of a Church, said to have been built by Lucius, King of Britain, in the second century; but although the original building might have been erected at this early period, the present ruins do not indicate so remote an antiquity; and it is probable that, as in the case of St. Martin's Church, at Canterbury, the materials of a former edifice may have been employed, at a much later period, in the erection of a second, which has in its turn sunk into decay.

Antoninus, in his Itinerary, mentions Dover as Portum Dubris, probably a corruption of the British Dwfyrrha, a hill, or steep place; and a Roman road ran directly from hence, through Canterbury and Rochester, to London; a part of this road can still be traced on Barham Downs.

This was one of the earliest places seized by the Saxons after their arrival in this island; and under the Kentish monarchs, as well as after the dissolution of the Heptarchy, its importance is testified by the

care with which its ancient fortifications were preserved, and new ones erected; especially under the reign of Edward the Confessor, when Earl Godwin was the governor. Immediately after the battle of Hastings, the Conqueror laid siege to this Castle, and although it surrendered to him after a slight resistance, he put to death the governor, Stephen of Ashburnham, and the second in command, and burnt the town, in order to terrify others into submission. He then granted the custody of the Castle to his brother Odo, who retained it until his disgrace; when the King committed the care of it to John de Fiennes, a potent baron, who associated to himself, in this important trust, several other nobles, on whom he bestowed a large portion of the lands granted to him by William for that purpose, and by which means a garrison of 1000 men, well-armed, was constantly maintained here.

Henry II. rebuilt the Keep, and otherwise materially strengthened the fortifications; and, although with a very small garrison, Hubert de Burgh, in the reigns of John and Henry III., twice resisted all the efforts of the Dauphin of France, with a large army, to obtain possession of it.

From this period we do not find anything material in the history of this Castle, except the constant care of successive sovereigns, and especially of Henry VIII., in securing and improving its means of defence, until the commencement of the Civil War, in 1642, when, on the night of the first of August, a zealous partisan of the Parliament, named Drake, executed the daring and successful enterprise of seizing it, by the assistance of ten or twelve persons only. By means of ropes and scaling ladders he led his little party to the top of the cliff next the sea, which, in the persuasion of its being inaccessible, had been left unguarded. On arriving here they immediately advanced, disarmed the centinels, and threw open the gates. The governor, taken by surprise, and concluding that Drake was at the head of a large body of troops, surrendered at discretion; while the heroic captor dispatched a messenger to the Earl of Warwick, who commanded the Parliamentary forces at Canterbury, with intelligence of his success, and a request for some assistance to