Dover
Dover stands as the gateway to England. Over the years, many
travellers have passed through on their way to the continent, and
some have paused for long enough to give us their impressions –
although not always complimentary!
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), writing in 1724 in
A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN,
was unimpressed by Dover. 'Neither Dover nor its Castle has
anything of note to be said of them,’ he remarked, adding that
the harbour and the pier were 'ill repaired, dangerous and good
for little.'
But by 1823, William Cobbett (1763-1835) in his
RURAL RIDES, found the town of Dover to be 'like other
sea-port towns; but really much more clean, and with less
blackguard people in it than / ever observed in any
sea-port before. It is a most picturesque place, to be
sure.'
More recently, in 1982, the American, Paul
Theroux (1941-), gathering material for his book THE
KINGDOM BY THE SEA, observed that 'Dover had a slight
continental tang' 'the town had a slightly garlicky
flavour. '
Sea front
In 1851, the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold
(1822-1888) brought his new wife to Dover where the couple stayed
before setting off for their honeymoon on the continent. That
night, looking out from his window, Arnold captured the scene in
verse. From this came the poem, DOVER BEACH, which was
eventually published in 1867.
The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full,
the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; - on
the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the
cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in
the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the
night-air!
Only, from the long line of
spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd
land,
Listen! you hear the grating
roar
Of pebbles, which the waves draw back, and
fling,
At their return, up the high
strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again
begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and
bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
St Mary's Church
In 1816, Lord Boron (1788-1824) left England
for good. He had become a villain in the popular imagination,
accused of adultery, cruelty, incest and sodomy - and probably
feared for his safety. In April, he came to Dover and stayed for
two nights before sailing for Ostend. Such was his reputation that
local women are said to have disguised themselves as chambermaids
at the inn where he was staying, in order to see the infamous
aristocrat for themselves. Waiting for the wind to change, Boron
passed the time by visiting St Mary's churchyard where Charles
Churchill - a well-known poet had been buried in 1764. The
experience moved him to write an elegy when he reached Lake Geneva
later that year. The grave is no longer there, but the poem
remains.
Churchill’s Grave
I stood beside the grave of him who blazed
The comet of a season, and I saw
The humblest of all sepulchres, and gazed
With not the less of sorrow and of awe
On that neglected turf and quiet stone,
With name no clearer than the names unknown,
Which lay unread around it.
Dover Harbour
In 1818 BORON began his famous poem DON JUAN which contains
several references to Dover, including this
Don Juan now saw Albion’s earliest beauties,
Thy cliffs dear Dover! harbour and hotel;
Thy custom house, with all its delicate duties;
Thy waiters running mucks at every bell;
Thy packets, all whose passengers are booties;
To those who upon land or water dwell;
And last, not least, to stranger uninstructed;
Thy long bills whence nothing is deducted.
(FROM DON JUAN, CANTO 10 LXIX)
Shakespeare Cliffs
Did William Shakespeare (1564-1616) ever visit
Dover? We cannot be sure but there is a scene in his play KING
LEAR which takes place near the town. The old Earl of
Gloucester, who bas been cruelly blinded, comes to Dover, wanting
to end his wretched life. He knows of a cliff overlooking the sea
and asks to be led there. The man he asks is - unknown to him - his
son, Edgar, whom he had earlier banished. Filled with pity for his
father, Edgar makes him believe he does in fact climb the cliff and
throw himself off. Of course, Gloucester is unharmed - but there
are some powerful descriptions of the view from the top of the
cliff.
'Come on, sir; here's the place: stand still. How
fearful
And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles; half way down
Hangs one that gathers sampire, dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.
The fishermen that walk upon the beach
Appear like mice, and yond tall anchoring bark
Diminish'd to her cock, her cock a buoy
Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge,
That on th'unnumber'd idle pebble chafes,
Cannot be heard so high.
KING LEAR Act IV Scene VI (/608)
Samphire Hoe
Samphire Hoe is an amazing place. Made from the material dug to
create the Channel Tunnel and originally known as the Lower
Shakespeare Cliff site, the famous quotation from King Lear above
was the source of inspiration for the new name. In 1994 Eurotunnel
and the Dover Express organized a competition to name this ‘newest
piece of England’. Hundreds of entries were received from which the
judges chose Samphire Hoe.
Rock Samphire grows on the Hoe. For many years it was an
important local plant, being collected and eaten.
Dover Castle
Ian Fleming (1908-1964) - who has may links
with the area describes Dover Castle as 'the wonderful
cardboard castle' in his James Bond novel MOONRAKER,
published in 1955.
Lord Warden Square
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was a frequent
visitor to East Kent. He knew the Lord Warden Hotel well enough to
mention the proprietors - Mr and Mrs Birmingham - by name in his
short piece THE CALAIS NIGHT MAlL of 1865. He tells of
being in Dover, waiting on board the night packet 'for the
South-Eastern Train to come down with the Mail. He describes
the 'many gay eyes of the Marine Parade' twinkling in the
distance and then the arrival of the train itself: "A screech,
a bell, and two red eyes come gliding down the Admiralty
Pier.' Only when the mail and the train's passengers are
safely on board can the packet set sail for France.
White Cliffs
A magnificent view awaits those who climb the cliffs above the
town, as Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855)
discovered. She had travelled with her brother, the poet, on a
visit to France in 1802, and had been seasick on the return journey
from Calais. So the pleasures of Dover acted as a great
restorative, as she recalls in her diary entry for 30th August
1802.
It was very pleasant to me, when we were in harbour
at Dover, to breathe the fresh air, and to look up and
see the stars among the Ropes of the vessel. The next
day was very hot. We both bathed, and sat upon the
Dover Cliffs, and looked upon France with many a
melancholy and tender thought. We could see the
shores almost as plain as if it were but an English lake.
East Cliff
George Eliot - the pen name adopted by the
novelist Marian Evans (1819-1880) - stayed at Sydney Villas, East
Cliff, for five weeks in the spring of 1855. She set herself a
rigorous routine, translating in the mornings, walking up Castle
Hill or along the beach in the afternoons, and then returning to
her lodgings to read and translate again. She wrote in a letter
that she was enjoying the 'perfect quiet' and 'a
bright sun shining on cliff and softly rounded hill and fringed
sea.' When she left for London in April, it was to go and live
with George Henry Lewes, who had finally separated from his
wife.
The other sonnet expresses his pleasure in seeing familiar
country sights again, after the political turmoil of Europe.
Peace greets us; - rambling on without an aim
We mark majestic herds of cattle free
To ruminate couched on the grassy lea,
And hear far-off the mellow horn proclaim
The season's harmless pastime.
(AFTER LANDING THE VALLEY OF DOVER- Nov.1820)
Admiralty Pier
On 7th November 1820, William Wordsworth
(1770-1850), with his wife and sister, Dorothy, landed in Dover -
to their great relief. Their boat had struck the rocks just outside
Boulogne, leaving them stranded. Fortunately they had been rescued
by carts once the tide had turned - but the experience had not been
a happy one. Wordsworth's delight at being safely back in England
inspired him to write two sonnets. One opens with the poet standing
on the Pier, looking back at the town.
From the Pier's head, musing, and with increase
Of wonder, I have watched this seaside Town,
Under the white cliff's battlemented crown,
Hushed to a depth of more than Sabbath peace.
(AT DOVER - 1820)