THE DOVER ROAD 



229 



that Elizabeth herself comes when she is least expected, 

 finds it watched like a beleaguered fort, and makes a 

 rapid exit, "having brought confusion along with her, 

 and leaving doubt and apprehension behind." 



I confess that it does me good when in the course of 

 these disjointed rambles along the great roads of England 

 I can find some spot haunted by the, to me, charmed 

 figures which throng the pages of the YVaverley Novels. 

 Hitherto I have not reaped much of a harvest of joy in 

 this direction, it must be confessed ; but Deptford has 



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Cobliam Hall, Rochester. 



given me my first opportunity ; and the Dover Road, a 

 little further on, will give me my second ; with which 

 remark I think I may leave Deptford altogether, lament- 

 ing that all that can be seen of Sayes Court is now a 

 parish workhouse which stands on its site ; and marvel- 

 ling at the imperial relaxation of Peter the Great who 

 stayed here in 1698 (at the Court, not at the workhouse), 

 and who was wont to unbend a mind wearied with ship- 

 building, by being driven through the world-famous 

 hedges of the garden in a wheelbarrow. 



