226 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



there has been some history. For here, to begin with, 

 in 1 581, Elizabeth went on board Drake's ship, the 

 Golden Hind, in which that greatest of English seamen 

 had circumnavigated the globe. On board the Golden Hind 

 the queen dined, and after dinner knighted the captain. 



The Toilet. 



I read that the ship was afterwards laid up in a yard 

 here, and converted into a sort of dining-house for 

 London visitors ; in which case all I can say is that I 

 hope that they recollected in what sort of sanctuary of 

 heroism they were dining and drank the health reverently 

 of the great man who made English commerce possible, 

 and so, indirectly, enabled them to pay the bill. 



Eleven years after Elizabeth had dined at Deptford 

 the greatest perhaps of our Elizabethan dramatists was 



