[Illustration: CANTERBURY.]
Leaving the estuary of the Medway, still farther east in Kent, in the
vale of the Stour, is the ancient cathedral city of Canterbury, whereof
Rimmer says it "is one of the most delightful cities in England for an
antiquary." Its cathedral is approached through the quaint narrow street
of Mercery Lane, where once stood the Checquers Inn that was the resort
of Chaucer's pilgrims. At the end of this lane is the principal entrance
to the cathedral close--Prior Goldsmith's Gate, commonly called Christ
Church Gate, built in 1517: it was formerly surmounted by turrets, but
these have been partly taken down. The arms of Becket are carved upon
the gateway, and beyond it rise the gray towers of the venerable
cathedral. On the east side of the close is Broad Street, where part of
the old city-walls are still preserved. This was the site of St.
Augustine's monastery, and Lanfranc, the first archbishop after the
Conquest, rebuilt the cathedral church, which was continued by his
successor, Anselm. It was in this church that Becket was murdered in
1170, and "in the glorious choir of Conrad" his corpse was watched by
the monks on the following night. This choir was burned down four years
later, but afterwards rebuilt. The present cathedral consists of work
extending from Lanfranc's time until that of Prior Goldstone in the
fifteenth century, thus exhibiting specimens of all the schools of
Gothic architecture. Canterbury Cathedral is among the largest churches
in England, being five hundred and twenty-two feet long, and its
principal entrance is by the south porch. The nave is striking, and in
the choir the eye is immediately attracted by its great length, one
hundred and eighty feet--the longest in the kingdom--and by the singular
bend with which the walls at the eastern end approach each other. The
architecture is antique, and the interior produces an impression of
great solemnity. The north-western transept is known as the Transept of
the Martyrdom, where Becket was slain just after Christmas by four
knights in 1170. A small square piece cut out of one of the flagstones
marks the spot, and there still remain the door leading from the
cloisters by which Becket and the knights entered the cathedral, and the
part of the wall in front of which the assassinated archbishop fell.
There is an attractive window in this transept, the gift of Edward IV.
The cathedral is full of monuments, and in Trinity Chapel, behind the
choir, where Becket had sung his first mass when installed as
archbishop, was the location chosen for his shrine, but it long ago
disappeared. Here is also the monument of Edward the Black Prince, with
his effigy in brass, and suspended above it his helmet, shield,
sword-scabbard, and gauntlets. Henry IV. is also buried in Canterbury,
with his second wife, Joan of Navarre; Cardinal Pole is entombed here;
and in the south-western transept is the singular tomb of Langton,
archbishop in the days of Magna Charta, the stone coffin so placed that
the head alone appears through the wall. In the crypt was Becket's tomb,
which remained there until 1220, and at it occurred the penance and
scourging of Henry II. The cathedral has two fine western towers, the
northern one, however, not having been finished until recently. The
central tower, known as "Bell Harry," rises two hundred and thirty-five
feet, and is a magnificent example of Perpendicular Gothic. In the close
are interesting remains of St. Augustine's Monastery, including its fine
entrance-gate and guest-hall, now part of St. Augustine's College, one
of the most elaborate modern structures in Canterbury. The monastery had
been a brewery, but was bought in 1844 by Mr. Beresford Hope and devoted
to its present noble object. On the hill above St. Augustine, mounted by
the Longport road, is the "mother church of England," St. Martin's,
which had been a British Christian chapel before the Saxons came into
the island, and was made over to Augustine. The present building
occupies the site of the one he erected.
Close to the old city-wall is Canterbury Castle, its venerable Norman
keep being now used as the town gasworks. There are many old houses in
Canterbury, and its history has been traced back twenty-eight hundred
years. It was the Roman colony of Durovernum. Among its quaint houses is
the Falstaff Inn, still a comfortable and popular hostelrie, having a
sign-board supported by iron framework projecting far over the street.
Adjoining is the West Gate--the only one remaining of the six ancient
barriers of the city built by Archbishop Sudbury, who was killed in 1381
by Wat Tyler's rebels. This gate stands on the road from London to
Dover, and guards the bridge over a little branch of the Stour; the
foundations of the lofty flanking round towers are in the river-bed. The
gate-house was long used as a city prison. It was in this weird old city
that Chaucer located many of his Canterbury Tales, that give such an
insight into the customs of his time. The landlord of the Tabard Inn in
Southwark, whose guests were of all ranks, proposed a journey to
Canterbury after dinner, he to adjudge the best story any of them told
on the road. Chaucer's characters were all cleverly drawn and lifelike,
while his innkeeper was a man of evidently high "social status," and, as
he himself said, "wise and well taught." The Stour flows on to the sea,
whose generally low shores are not far away, with the Isle of Thanet to
the northward and London's watering-place of Ramsgate on its outer
verge. Here is Pegwell Bay, noted for its shrimps, and a short distance
westward from Ramsgate is Osengal Hill, from which there is a fine view,
the summit being covered by the graves of the first Saxon settlers of
Thanet. To the northward a short distance is the sister watering-place
of Margate, near the north-eastern extremity of Thanet and ninety miles
from London: its pier is nine hundred feet long. On the extremity of
Thanet, about three miles from Margate, is the great lighthouse of the
North Foreland.
[Illustration: FALSTAFF INN, CANTERBURY.]