$36 
and, during a fortnight’s refidence, he was 
enabled te Yurvey the whole line of the in- 
tended cit. which was then efiimated at 
enty 20,000]1.! The text beneficial altera- 
tion fuggefted and accomplifted by this 
public ipirited citizen, was the improvement 
ef fame acres of jand, on which hil ftand 
the ruins of the Dungil, Dungeez, or Dane 
Fobn, all of which tufficiently exprefs the 
epoch. and the nation by whem it was 
ere¢ted. This ancient fortrels then ftood 
in a tra&t of wafte ground, enclofed on the 
fouth by the city wall, extending between 
Riding- gate and Wincheap-gap, and bound- 
ed on the eaft and weft, by the Dover and 
Athferd roads. Until 1790 it remained an 
wneven and rugged piece of pafture, when 
Mr. S. commenced his great undertaking, 
not for his own advantage, but foiely tor the 
recreation and amufement of the. pabiic. 
After imwenfe labour, on the part of a na- 
merous body of workmen, and great perfonal 
exertions, as well as pecuniary {ecrifices, it 
at leneth aflumed a very different appear- 
auce trom. whieh it had before exhibited. 
‘Fhe grounds were levelled, the wails were 
repaired, the little hill, or rumulus, was ren- 
dered more uniform, and the whole was 
planned and laid out with a coniiderable 
deeree of tafte. To fupport the expences of 
maintaining walls and fences, aud other ne- 
ceflary repairs, this generous citizen appro- 
priated an annual falary ; and the corpora- 
tion being, by that time, fenfible-of the lin-~ 
proved value of their etiate, granted the 
ground at a pepper corn rent, to Mr. S-> tor 
the remainder of his lire. But the guardiaus 
of the poor, actuated by a narrow policy, 
having affeiied the icilee, jor what proved a 
reat advantage to the public, without being 
of any fervice to the proprictor ; this charm- 
ing ipot fell rapidly to decay. At length, 
the mayor ana aldermen having expended 
2901. in repairs, wider the judicious direc- 
tion of Mr. Alderman Bunce, another public 
ipwited man, who, after arranging their 
carters, undertook to recover this place of 
public amutement from the dilapidates ftate 
gato which it bad fallen, it was reftored by 
his exeitions to its former beauty. . Mr. 
Goefling, in his Walk in and about the City 
ef Canterbury, gives the following deteription 
of it:-—~'*The walks throughout are gravellea, 
and thofe round the lower part ol the Incio- 
fure, Shaded with poplar trees and detached 
plantations of fhrubs; aftraight walk, thirteen 
feet wide, aud i230 in length, extends be- 
tween two rows af limes, forming a Cemmu- 
nication at each end, and in the centre, with 
the hij! and the furrounding walks. Tlie 
terrace 12 feet wide, and 1840 long, 1s 
formed on the top of the rampart within the 
wall, which has been repawed, and railed 
into a parapet the whole length, and conti- 
nued {frew within a few paces of St. George’s 
vate, (over the lofty and fpacious arch acrois 
tiie Dover road, on the ipot whereon ftood 
Ridn:g-gate), to the opening at the entrance 
Wincheap ; pailing iu its courle the 
pee ae 
Account of the late James Simmons, Esq. M.. 
/ 
[Moreh 1, ; 
old watch towers, four of the areas of which, 
are planted with trees and flowering flrubs, 
eicloled with commodious feats, and defend- 
ed by handtome palitades. From the lawn 
are ferpentine walks, bordered with quick 
thern, aud fenced by potts and chains, 
#80 feet in afcent en each fide, to the fum- 
mit of the mount; which, by thefe improve- 
ments, was heightened about 18 feet. On 
its fide is a circular walk, having feats, 
which ¢onmand uninterrupted views of the 
city aud adjacent country; upon the top, a 
round gravelled piat, 26 feet in diameter, 
a ftone pillar, having in its bale four femi- 
circular niches, frontmg the ecardmal points 
of the compafs, furmounted with a fhaft, 
terminated with an ornamental urn, was 
erected by a-fubfcriptien of the mbhabitants, 
in 1803; at the fame time a neat ¢ottage 
was built, for the confant reidence of a gar- 
dener, at 60], per annum, voted in perpe~ 
tuity, by the corperaticn as his falary ior 
keeping the whole in repair. On two of the 
four marble tablets of the pillar, are the 
following infcriptions :— 
EAST TABLET. 
*¢ This field and hill were improved, and 
thefe terraces, walks, and plantations, made 
in the year 1790, for the ufe of the public, 
at the fole expence of James Simu:ons, efq. 
of this city, alderman and banker. ‘To per- 
petuate the memory of which generous tranf- 
action, aud as a mark of gratitude fer his 
other public fervices, this pillar was erected 
by voluntary fub{cription, m the year 1803.” 
WEST TABLET. ; 
« The mayor and commonalty of this an- 
cient city, in confequence of the expentive 
improvements lately made in this field, una- 
nimoufly relolved, in the year 1802, to ap- 
propriate the fame, in perpetuity, to the ule 
of the public, and to endow rt with fixty 
pounds a year, for the mamtenance and fup- 
port of the terrace, walks, aud plantations, 
peyabie out of the chamber.” ‘ 
From hence **eontinues the mimor canon,” 
the profpets of the city, the farrounding 
villages, iand the gently rifing hills, form a 
mo# beautiful and pictureique picture. 
Since this period, indeed fo lately as the 
funmer of 1805, Mr. Alderman Simmons, 
in addition to his former munrficence, added 
a beautiful orcheftra, conftructed with great 
tate, in which fometimes one, and fometimes 
two, united bands of the regiments quartered 
in the city, are fiationed, en :purpofe to en- 
tertain the inhabitants every evening during 
the fummer. ‘‘ Outhe whele, he is fuppofed 
to have expended about 2000 guineas, in his 
various improvements, and that. folely 
for the benefit of the citizens of, and ftrang- — 
ers occafionally repairing to, Canterbury. - 
‘At length, at the general ele¢tien, in 1806, 
his townfmen were enabled to exhibit a 
proper fenfe of gratitude and refpeét, by 
electing him one, of their two, reprefenta~ 
tives; and, he accordingly died, as he had _ 
lived, in their fervice, February, 1807, 
while attending his duty in parliament. | 
PROVINCIAL | 
