22 THE DOVER ROAD 



man, how long before your 'bus starts ? " And, after 

 all, I suppose one must not be satirical at the expense 

 of that very worthy person the British matron ; for, 

 to a superficial glance, a sketch-block may be not 

 unlike an omnibus way-bill ; and who but a mad 

 impressionist would see sketchable material in an ugly 

 gasometer ? And who other than a reckless Bohemian 

 would be so far indifferent to public opinion as to sketch 

 outside a gin-palace ? 



The Old Kent Road of from seventy to eighty 

 years ago presented a very different aspect from that 

 with which those are familiar who travel nowadays 

 up and down its great length in tramcars. It was 

 distinctly rural. The few houses that were to be 

 seen here in coaching days were chiefly inns, with 

 swinging signs creaking, and horse-troughs lining the 

 roadside, and the " Kentish Drovers," that now wears 

 much the same appearance as any other London public- 

 house, was a veritable rustic house of call for country- 

 men driving their sheep and cattle to London markets. 

 " The Bricklayers' Arms " (a 'scutcheon, needless to 

 say, unknown to heraldry), " The World Turned 

 Upside Down," the " Thomas a Becket," and the 

 " Golden Cross," at New Cross, were scarcely less 

 rural. It was at the " Golden Cross " that Pitt and 

 Dundas, overtaken on the road from Dover to London 

 by bad weather, put up for the night, and drank seven 

 bottles of port before they went to bed. 



Imagine, though, the condition of the roads, and 

 locomotion upon them, when two Cabinet Ministers 

 could think it not only convenient, but merely prudent, 

 to halt for the night when so near London as New 

 Cross ! The Londoner who can take 'bus, tram, or 

 train, and reach the City in less than half-an-hour, 

 can scarce picture the necessity which faced those 

 distinguished travellers. 



