88 THE DOVER ROAD 



where Prince Henry, in his turn, alluded to the knight 

 as " fat guts " ? Yes, this is the place, but how 

 changed from then ! To see Gad's Hill as it was in 

 those times it would be necessary to sweep away the 

 rows of mean cottages that form quite a hamlet here, 

 together with Gad's Hill Place, the hedges and 

 enclosures, and to clothe the hillsides with dense 

 woodlands, coming close up to, and overshadowing 

 the highway, which should be full of ruts and sloughs 

 of mud. Then we should have some sort of an idea 

 how terrible the hill could be o'nights when the rogues* 

 who lurked in the shadow of the trees pounced upon 

 rich travellers, and, tricked out in 



vizards, hoods, disguise. 

 Masks, muzzles, mufflers, patches on their eyes ; 

 Those beards, those heads of liair, and that great wen 

 Which is not natural, 



relieved them of their gold. 



And not only rogues of low estate, but others of 

 birth and education, pursued this hazardous industry, 

 so that Shakespeare, when he made the Prince of 

 Wales and Sir John Falstaff appear as highwaymen 

 on this scene, was not altogether drawing upon his 

 imagination. Thus, when the Danish Ambassador 

 was set upon and plundered here in 1656, they were 

 not poor illiterates who sent him a letter the next 

 day in which they took occasion to assure him that 

 " the same necessity that enforc't ye Tartars to 

 breake ye wall of China compelled them to wait on 

 him at Gad's Hill." But travellers did not always 

 tamely submit to be robbed and cudgelled, as you 

 shall see in these extracts from Gravesend registers 

 — " 1586, September 29th daye, was a thief e yt was 

 slayne, buryed ; " and, again, " 1590, Marche, the 

 17th dale, was a theefe yt Avas at Gad'shill wounded 

 to deathe, called Robert Writs, buried." 



Gad's Hill is not only memorable for the robberies 



* " Gad's," i.e. " rogues," Hill. 



