190 THE DOVER ROAD 



such a man, who conceived Lant'ranc's Avork to have 

 gone bej^ond repair. To this creature, Charles Austin, 

 their own diocesan architect, who should have been 

 earnest to preserve, rather than to destroy, they i^ave 

 instructions for the pulling down of the Norman Avork 

 and for its replacement by an exact copy of the 

 Perpendicular tower. The thing was done in 1832. 

 So httle beyond repair and so sturdily strong was that 

 Norman tower, that it Avas necessary to bloAV it up 

 Avith gunpoAA'der. A German invading Goth and 

 malignant destroyer could do no more. 



The AA^ork of demolition and the building of the 

 ncAV tower was done at a cost of £25,000, The architect 

 pocketed £1,250 as commission, and all Avho care for 

 architecture hsixe lost one of the very fcAv Norman 

 Cathedral toAv^ers knoAvn in England. But then, hoAv 

 exactly those toAvers match, and how satisfied must 

 be all good people Avho Avould sacrifice everything for 

 the sake of uniformity ! 



The main thoroughfare of Canterbury, to which the 

 old West Gate giA^es access, has undergone no little 

 rebuilding since the days of gables and timber fronts, 

 and yet it retains in the aggregate much of that old- 

 AA'orld air for Avhich we reasonably look in a Cathedral 

 city. Long and narroAV the street remains ; quaint 

 are many of the buildings that line it. Across it, 

 under narrow bridges, floAV tAvo branches of the little 

 river Stour. 



An amusing incident belonged to the " Red Lion." 



One of the most outstanding historical figures upon 

 the DoAxr Road is that no less kindly than courtly 

 Ambassador, the Due de NiA^ernais. That cultured 

 Frenchman Avas employed by his soA^ereign, Louis the 

 Fifteenth, in negotiating a Treaty of Peace Avhich should 

 conclude that disastrous contest to France, the ScA'cn 

 Years' War. An exchange of Ambassadors AA^as effected 

 betAveen Great Britain and France ; the Duke of 

 Bedford crossing the Channel to Calais in the early 

 part of September, 1762, the Due de NiA'crnais voyaging 



