examined, and even to what he has heard, or perhaps seen, of the Duke's London house, that the visitor is often as much disappointed as surprised. And yet he looks around him with no ordinary interest, when he recollects that the noblest and loveliest in the land have delighted to congregate here around the Great Captain.

But in this respect it is, of course, "the Duke's room" that is turned to with the most curiosity. This sanctum is a room of but moderate size, without ornament, and very plainly and scantily furnished, but neat, accurate, and orderly in arrangement; altogether bearing very much the appearance of the single room of a military secretary in garrison. On the right is an ordinary iron camp-bedstead, with a single horsehair mattress upon it; and thereon, whatever be the season, without curtains or any paraphernalia about it, the "Iron Duke" rests when at Walmer. Over the bedstead is a small collection of books, which is seen, on a rapid glance, to have been selected for use; the best English writers of Anne's "Augustan age," both in poetry and prose-a few recent histories and biographies-some French memoirs-with military reports, official publications, and parliamentary papers, form the little library. In the centre of the room is a mahogany table, well ink-stained, at which, for two or three hours in the day, the master of the room takes his place, and plies his pen. Near it is a more portable one, so contrived as to be used for reading or writing on while in bed. These, with two or three chairs, comprise the contents of the room, and are suficiently characteristic of its owner. The window looks out upon the sea,

and a door opens upon the ramparts, upon which (until his illness two or three years back) the Duke never failed to be every morning by six o'clock, and there, for an hour or more, take his morning walk. The view from the ramparts, by the way, is a most magnificent one; from the position of the Castle, the prospect is unbroken, both south and north; while, directly in front it is only bounded by the French coast. The visitor who has thought the Duke's room characteristic, will probably, in going along the passages, be reminded, by a direction very uncommon in a private residence, of the unmistakeable plainness of style of the Duke's notes:-on every door that does not merely open into a chamber, is a printed direction, in very large letters, "Shut this door;" and he will not be surprised to learn on inquiry that it is put up by the Duke's express orders.

We are not in the habit of jotting down memoranda or recollections of the people whose houses we visit, or administering to idle curiosity about an eminent individual; but as what we have noticed is patent to any one who chooses to visit Walmer Castle, we thought ourselves at liberty to notice the only thing for which any one would care to visit the Castle. We cannot be accused of any violation of confidence; and at any rate, what we have noticed is, we hope, harmless.

The village of Walmer is a pleasant one, and an hour or two may be very pleasantly spent in its exploration. The church has some points of architectural interest, about the parish are traces of an encampment which has occupied the attention of antiquaries; and the walks around are agreeable and diversified. There are some good houses in Walmer, and altogether it seems a thriving place.

It is generally said that it was at Deal, or between Deal and Sandwich, that Cæsar landed B.C. 55, and again the following year. On the whole, we are inclined to believe it was rather at Walmer, or between Walmer and Deal. We learn from the 'Gallic War' (iv. 23.) that his ships first came to anchor off the British coast, at a place where the sea was so bound in by steep mountains, that a dart might be flung from them upon the shore. All the heights being crowded with armed natives, Cæsar deemed this by no means a suitable place for disembarking; he therefore, after waiting some hours for the remainder of his ships to arrive, weighed anchor, and

24

WALMER CASTLE.-LONDON TO MARGATE AND DEAL.

proceeded about seven miles farther, till he came to an open and level beach, where he stationed his ships and prepared to land. There seems to be little doubt that the first place Cæsar stayed at was either Dover, or somewhere close by it. It is generally admitted, since Horsley's time, that he then proceeded in a northerly direction. Now, in that direction Walmer is the first place suitable for landing that would present itself to him; and it is unlikely that he would proceed farther than was necessary, for it was the ninth hour (three o'clock) of an autumn afternoon when he weighed anchor, and he had to land a large body of heavily armed men, who would be compelled to make their way through the waves, encumbered as they were, from the sides of ships, which, as he expressly mentions, were so large that they could not be brought into shallow water, and that, too, on an unknown shore, and in the face of a large hostile army. We may fairly conclude that he would, under such circumstances, disembark as early as possible. Walmer exactly corresponds to Caesar's description. It has an open level beach, and is above seven Roman miles from Dover.

ВАТ Н.

IN the centre of the principal Bath in this good city there is a statue which never fails to attract the attention, and the bather stands astonished as he reads the following inscription in copper upon it :

BLADUD,

Son of Lud Hudibras,

Eighth King of the Britons from Brute:

A great Philosopher and Mathematician,
Bred at Athens,

And recorded the first discoverer and founder of these Baths,
Eight hundred and sixty-three years before Christ;

That is,

Two thousand five hundred and sixty-two years

To the present year,

One thousand six hundred and ninety-nine.

To this Bladud, son of Hudibras, the natives assign the credit of the foundation of the city of Bath, as well as of the baths. We, however, shall not disinter the tradition, but content ourselves with a glance at the authentic history.

It seems very doubtful whether the hot-springs of Bath were made use of by the Britons; and in all probability no settlement existed here until that made by the Romans under the Emperor Claudius, who conquered and took possession of the neighbouring country about half a century after the birth of Christ. As the station lay wholly in a valley, such a situation must have been chosen by that people for other than military purposes; and there can be no reasonable doubt, addicted as they were to the use of the warm-bath, that the hot-springs were the chief attraction of the spot. These they collected, and erected over them buildings which even the Bath of the present day cannot rival. An excavation made in 1755, near the Abbey, exposed to view a series of Roman baths of the most perfect and magnificent description. The following account of them, given in the "History of Somersetshire," will show how far beyond us were the Romans in the construction of such buildings:

:

"The walls of these baths were eight feet in height, built of wrought stone, lined with a strong cement of terras: one of them was of a semicircular form, fifteen feet in diameter, with a stone seat round it eighteen inches high, and floored with very smooth flag-stones. The descent into it was by seven steps, and a small channel for conveying the water ran along the bottom, turning at a right angle towards the present King's bath. At a small distance from this was a very large oblong bath, having on three sides a colonnade surrounded with small pilasters, which were probably intended to support a roof. On one side of this bath were two sudatories, nearly square, the floors of which were composed of brick, covered with a strong coat of terras, and supported by pillars of brick, each brick being nine inches square, and