THE DOVER ROAD 



233 



1400 Henry the Fourth met Manuel, Emperor of Con- 

 stantinople, who came to ask for aid against the Sultan 

 Bajazet ; and sixteen years later the Emperor Sigismund 

 was received here and conducted in state to Lambeth. 

 Henry the Fifth, after one long triumphal procession the 

 whole way from Dover, was met here on Blackheath b)- 

 the mayor and five hundred citizens of London, and 

 hailed Victor of Agincourt. The mayor and aldermen 

 had " got them all on " on this occasion (I refer to 

 their scarlet robes and red and white hoods), and 

 were doubtless prepared, with the help of conduits 

 running wine, pursuivants-at-arms, cloth of gold, and 

 emblazoned trappings, to give the conquering hero the 

 reception he deserved. But Henry on this occasion 

 seems to have borne his honours with exemplary 

 modesty ; and whether he was surfeited by the sweets of 

 a triumph which had already lasted sixty-four miles, or 

 whether he was bilious from the Channel passage and a 

 long ride on horseback, he nipped all the worthy mayor's 

 preparations in the bud. In point of fact, according to 

 Holinshed, " the king, like a grave and sober personage, 

 and as one remembering from Whom all victories are 

 sent, seemed little to regard such vaine pompe and shews 

 as were in triumphant sort devised for his welcoming 

 home from so prosperous a journie ; insomuch that he 

 would not suffer his helmet to be carried before him, 

 whereby might have appeared to the people the blowes and 

 dints that were to be scene in the same ; neither would 

 he suffer any ditties to be made and sung by minstrels 

 of his glorious victorie, for that he would have the praise 

 and thanks altogether given to God." A pious decision, 

 but one which must have been extremely unsatisfactory 

 to town councillors who had launched forth in the way of 

 dress and decorations, and to the thousands of Londoners 

 who had flocked out to Blackheath to see the show. 



The next royalty I find on Blackheath is Henry the 

 Eighth, whose name is constantly cropping up in Kent 

 and Sussex, and curiously enough, generally in connec- 



