154 THE DOVER ROAD 



and but little else, and that the population lived in 

 hotels and drank wines, beer, and spirits all day long 

 and a great part of the night, just for the fun of the 

 thing. 



Not that mine host of the " Red Lion " was at all 

 extortionate when he entertained Henry the Fifth 

 in 1415, on his return from Agincourt. On the 

 contrary, the bill Avas decidedly reasonable, amounting 

 only to nine-and-sixpence, including wine. You 

 cannot, unhappily, dine conquering heroes of any 

 sort — much less kings — so reasonably nowadays, 

 and I suspect that, even a century or more ago, 

 when the First and Second Georges were used to 

 put up at the " George," on their way to or from 

 Hanover, prices must have ruled much higher. The 

 " Red Lion " was undoubtedly the chief inn at 

 Sittingbourne from a very early time, and it kept its 

 good repute for centuries ; for here it was that Henry 

 the Eighth stayed when " progressing " along the 

 Dover Road in 1541, and here he held what in those 

 autocratic times answered to our present Cabinet 

 Councils. If I were a licensed victualler I could wish 

 those days back again. Beside the " Red Lion " and 

 the " George," there were at this time the scarcely 

 less inferior hostelries of the " Horn," the " Saracen's 

 Head," the " Bull," and the " White Hart " ; and, 

 what with Emperors, Kings, Archbishops, Cardinals, 

 and other dignitaries, with trains of attendants 

 numbering anything from two thousand down to 

 fifty, they must all have been needed. In the 

 sixteenth century, then. Emperors and Kings were 

 the usual guests of the " Red Lion." The landlord 

 at that time sniffed at Princes and Archbishops, and 

 turned away such riff-raff as Dukes and Earls. So 

 soon, however, as 1610, we find a mere untitled 

 traveller received at the " Red Lion " ; one Justus 

 Zinzerling, a German, who came posting up the road 

 from Canterbury. We know from his own account 

 that posting was not in those days very expensive. 



