216 



THE DOVER ROAD 



XXXIX 



The Dover Road, after leaving Canterbury, loses 

 very much of that religious character, picturesquely 

 varied with robbery and murder, which is its chiefest 

 feature between Southwark and the Shrine of Saint 

 Thomas ; for, although many foreign pilgrims landed 

 at Dover to proceed to the place where the martyr 

 lay, encased in gold and jewels, their number was 

 nothing to be compared with 

 that of the crowds who came 

 into Canterbury from London, 

 or along the Pilgrims' Road 

 from the West Country; and 

 consequently the wayside shrines 

 and oratories were fewer. The 

 greater part of the sixteen miles 

 between Canterbury and Dover 

 is bare and exposed downs, 

 with here and there a little 

 village nestling, sheltered from 

 the bleak winds, in deep valleys ; 

 but the first two miles, between 

 the city and the coast, are 

 now becoming gay with the 

 geranium-beds, the lawns and gardens of Canterbury 

 villadom. 



At the first milestone is Gutteridge Gate, where 

 the old toll-house remains beside the " Gate " inn, 

 and where bacchanalian countrymen gather on Sunday 

 evenings in summer, drinking pots of ale as the sun 

 goes down, and recaUing to the artistic passer-by 

 Teniers' pictures of boors, as they shout and bang the 

 wooden tables and benches with their pewter pots. 

 Looking back at such a time down the long, straight 

 road ascending from Canterbury, there come many 



WILLIAM CLEMENTS 



