236 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



prevent Sir Henry Lee from rising, and ask for his 

 blessing". Having duly received which, the king went 

 on to London, and his very faithful servant, having 

 seen the desire of his eyes, was gathered to his fathers. 

 After Blackheath and Scott (so literary is this part 

 of the Dover Road) comes Shooter's Hill and Dickens. 

 And Dickens is the veritable genius of the road. His 

 memory burns by the way — as all but the wicked man 

 who has not read Pickzvick and David Copperfield will 



<-■' " ^ •-'-- ,^v«(ife 



Walking lip the Hill. 



remember — and indeed A Talc, of Two Cities. For in the 

 .second chapter of that wonderful book the very spirit of 

 the Dover Road in George the Third's time is caught as 

 if by magic. Who (having e)'cs) cannot see " the Dover 

 Road on a Friday night late in November in the year of 

 our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five 

 — the Dover Road, lying beyond the Dover Mail, as it 

 lumbered up Shooter's Hill".'' The coachman (whose 

 name was Tom) towelling the tired horses — especially 



