DOVER HARBOUR 245 



primarily owing to his unfortunate preference for the 

 foreigner that we owe the Norman invasion and 

 conquest of England ; but for all his mildness, it is 

 extremely unlikely that this saintly invertebrate would 

 not have resented the talk of " unearned increment " in 

 his day. He was sufficiently considerate, however, so it 

 would seem, to reduce the rents in his town of Dover, 

 seeing that, although a thriving place, it had had the 

 misfortune to be burned. The entry in Domesday 

 Book goes on to say that here was a Guildhall, and a 

 mill at the entry of the port, much in the way of 

 shipping ; and here, at this mention of the port Ave find 

 our most eloquent text. 



It seems, then, that when Caesar came off here, the 

 site ujDon which almost half the present town of 

 Dover is built was under water. The peculiar site 

 of Dover can perhaps most readily be noted by one 

 who climbs the bare chalk hills that bear on their 

 summits the defences known as the Western Heights. 

 Keeping to rearward of the Citadel, and walking 

 round the shoulders of these hills, one sees that a 

 deep and narrow valley runs down to the sea-beach, 

 contracting almost to the likeness of a narrow gorge 

 where the old town commences, and widening again 

 where it meets the sea. Here, where the site broadens, 

 and where steep streets give place to flatness, rolled the 

 tides up the little estuary of the River Dour when 

 Caesar's triremes anchored off the primitive port, and 

 antiquaries point out the place, near the present Round 

 Tower Street, where, so late as 1509, a tower was raised, 

 to which vessels lying in the harbour were moored by 

 iron rings. This is almost the only natural feature of 

 Dover that has changed during nineteen centuries. 

 Walk to the outmost verge of the Admiralty Pier and 

 look back upon the town, and you will see it lying in 

 the hollow, with the gaunt and horrid stucco houses 

 of its " front " hiding the old streets that crouch 

 behind in narrow ways. You will see the Castle 

 Hill and the Western Heights, twin eminences guarding 



