114

CHAPTER VII.

JAMES I. TO WILLIAM AND MARY, 1603-1702.

THE burning question in Dover during the seventeenth century was undoubtedly the harbour. The violence of the frequent storms, and the constant choking of the entry by beach, rendered a considerable expenditure of money continually necessary. In 1599 a greater part of the Old Pent wall was overthrown, and the town defrayed the cost of 200 labourers and seventy carts employed in repairing the damage. The difficulty of keeping the channel clear of beach was always present, and a harbour cess was established about 1580 to meet the necessary expenditure. Personal service was demanded of the inhabitants for the same purpose, and in 1676 the "ancient custom" was revived by which the mayor used to summon every householder by beat of drum to resort to the harbour with a shovel to clear the obstruction caused by the accumulation of shingle. Every defaulter was fined a shilling for each offence. In 1612 the wall of the Great Pent was breached during a storm, and in 1656 a great hole was made in "the bay of the Town near the brick kiln," and every householder was commanded to send a man with a spade to assist in making a mud wall to prevent the incursion of the sea at that spot. In November, 1662, a certain Hugh Merrell sends a letter to Sir William Batten superscribed, "In haste, post haste,

or all's lost; port, town, and people," in which he describes "a fearful inundation," and requests that a commissioner of Trinity House should be "immediately sent down to see the danger of desolation". These are but a few instances selected from many, but they show the difficulty the authorities experienced in preserving, not only the harbour, but the town itself. Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign the mayor and jurats had started the custom of leasing the harbour droits from the Commissioners for a sum fixed every year. The amount paid varied considerably during the century, ranging from £80 to as much as £300. On the accession of James I. an effort was made by the Lord Warden to obtain money from the Treasury for the purposes of the harbour, and the Lord Treasurer's reply is worth quoting: "Certain payments will be made for Dover Haven if there be money, which comes in slowly on account of the plague, and the expenses of the royal family are great". The king however granted the usual supplies for the repairs of the harbour, but the Earl of Northampton advised James to demand a surrender of all claims the mayor and jurats might have upon "the duties, droits, and waste lands belonging to the pier". The surrender was made with the exception of "the rivage and tonnage granted by Queen Mary". The Lord Warden with several others, called his assistants, were incorporated by the king, and he gave to them all his rights and titles to the duties and waste lands belonging to the harbour. The work done by this new corporation seems to have consisted in deepening the great sluice and repairing the mole. The act for granting "passing tolls" was not renewed when it expired about 1620, and, with the exception of £300 in 1640, no public aid was granted to Dover harbour until the reign

of Charles II. Paradise Pent, which by that time had become a marsh, was then parted off, and a basin made for the back water. For the next thirty years the harbour was practically allowed to decay, and then Sir Henry Shear's report upon the state of the haven induced Parliament to re-enact the statute which levied a duty of threepence per ton on all vessels passing Dover. The tolls were to cease when the sum of £30,100 had been raised. This act was eventually prolonged to 1718. A sum of £20,876 was collected by this means and expended in cleansing, repairing and improving the harbour. It does not appear that any result commensurate with the expenditure was obtained.

Dover was one of the first places in Kent to declare against Charles I., and the castle was captured by several of the townsmen and handed over to the Parliamentary authorities as early as 1642 (p. 289). The demand made upon them for ship money in all probability accentuated their dislike to the king's government, although, as their service of ships had fallen into oblivion, no part of the kingdom could be called upon with more justice to provide funds for a national fleet. In 1634 Dover and its members were ordered to find £390, and in 1639 £330, and from the documents among the State Papers it would appear that both sums were duly paid. Another reason was the anti-popish feeling, always strong in Dover, which had received a considerable impetus in 1621 by the arrival of numerous Protestant refugees from France, driven from their own country as a result of the Protestant rebellion under the Duc de Rohan which broke out that year. The advent of these "sufferers for their religion" stirred the sympathies of the townspeople and may have helped in forming their unfavourable opinion of Charles I., who was supposed to have Catholic tenden

cies. These refugees, some 650 in number, including two ministers, formed the second foreign church in Dover, and were permitted to use St. Mary's as a place of worship. The French ministers both preached each Sunday, one before and the other after the morning service, and on Thursdays also the church was placed at their disposal. In October, 1622, the rebellion in France came to an end, and most of the fugitives (with seventy-eight exceptions) seem to have returned to their own country. The. Rev. John Reading, Curate of St. Mary's, had exhibited the greatest sympathy with these refugees, and it is somewhat astonishing to find him the largest sufferer in the town during the Revolution. He was one of the chaplainsin-ordinary to Charles I., and appears to have preached with some vehemence against the violent course pursued by Parliament. His house was raided in April, 1642, by a zealous parliamentarian militia officer, Colonel Sandys, and his library of books plundered. After the fall of the Castle he was committed to prison by command of Sir Edward Boys, and was kept in confinement for nearly two years. He was appointed to the living of Cheriton in 1644, but on the discovery of the plot for the surprise of the Castle in the royal interest he was again imprisoned, first at Dover, and eventually at Leeds. At the Restoration he recovered his benefice, and presented the Bible to Charles II. on his landing at Dover. The town was rendered defensible by command of the Constable in 1642, so as to beat off any royalist attack, and with few exceptions the inhabitants threw themselves with fervour into the arms of Parliament. In a published list of "suspected persons in Kent, under twenty are given in "Dover," one of whom, John Loome, was elected mayor in 1660. If the town had felt the rule of Charles I. heavy, it is evident that they suffered more under the Commonwealth.

In 1649 the mayor and jurats petitioned the Council of State to assist them in repairing the harbour. They claimed to have paid to the Parliament “£35,000 in plate and loans for Newcastle, Ireland, and the public faith, etc. The town was absolutely helpless, 200 houses standing empty." The most they seem to have received from the Council was a letter of thanks for their efforts in supplying men as sailors for the fleet. If the Revolution and Commonwealth had been hailed with delight, the Restoration was equally applauded, "there is such a general desire of his coming the like was never known," says a writer from Dover in 1660. The town clerk testifies to the joy he experienced by making the following entries in the Minutes of the Common Assembly in a beautifully clear hand, as legible as his ordinary handwriting is illegible:

"MEMORANDUM that the eleventh day of May 1660 the Kings most Excellent Majestie CHARLES the Second by the grace of God King of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland, Defender of the faith etc: according to the proclamation above written (that issued by Parliament on May 8 proclaiming Charles II.) was Proclaimed in this Town and port of Dover King of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland by the Mayor and Jurats of the said Towne and port accompanied with the right honourable Heneage Earl of Winchelsea, Viscount Maidstone, Governor of the Castle and Town of Dover, and divers other knights gentlemen and others of his Lordships Troops with their naked swords in their hands held up, the trained band of souldiers in Dover under the command of Captain Richard Jacob, and one compaine of souldiers from Dover Castle under the command of the said Earl, by the beate of the drumms and sounding of trumpets, all persons present being bare and uncovered, and there