276 THE EXETER ROAD 



of secretly - landed French sailors, and his Majesty 

 forthwith hustled on board an open boat which was 

 then to be rowed across the Channel to Cherbourg. 

 According to this remarkable statement, the English 

 coastguards had 'been heavily bribed to assist in this 

 affair. It was magnificent, but it was not war — nor 

 even business. As an elaborate joke, the project has 

 its distinctly humorous aspects, as one vividly conjures 

 up a picture of ' Farmer George,' helplessly sea-sick, 

 leanino; on the o;unw\ale of the row-boat, with the 

 equally unhappy sailors toiling away at rowing those 

 seventy miles of salt water. Then, too, the thought 

 of that essentially unromantic King compelled to cut 

 a ridiculous figure as a kind of modern travesty of 

 the imprisoned Richard Lionheart, raises a smile. But, 

 although Napoleon, who was not a gentleman, may 

 very possibly have entertained this rather character- 

 istic notion, he certainly never attempted to put it 

 into execution, and the road to Weymouth is by so 

 much the poorer in incident. 



But to return to the ' King's Arms,' which figures 

 in Mr. Thomas Hardy's story. Here it was, looking 

 in wdth the crowd on the street, that Susan saw her 

 long-lost husband presiding as Mayor at the banquet, 

 the beofinnino; of all his troubles. 



Although the stranger who has no ties with Dor- 

 chester to helj) paint it in such glowing colours as 

 those used by that writer, wdio finds it ' one of the 

 cleanest and prettiest towns in the West of England,' 

 cannot subscribe to that description, the town is of a 

 supreme interest to the literary pilgrim, who can 

 identify many spots hallowed by Mr. Hardy's genius. 



