The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-11-18

LETTERS FROM ABROAD.

The railway from Liverpool to London deserves
the highest praise. The road itself Is perfectly
and smooth, end the Of the most Convenient
and comfortable description you eau imagine The
speed Is not great as upon the Great Western
Railway; yet you travel quite fast enough for bust
meas or pleasure. We made the trip to London GOO
miles) in about eight hours, including stoppages.--
The tunnels are numerous, and some Of them mile
or two in length.
but little to say until have seen more Of it. SO
far it has not equalled my expectations It's vastness
is the only thing that very greatly surprises me,
less it be the home. feeling have experienced from
the first moment of my arrival do not feel as if
were stranger in tho slightest degree 1 walk
every where and return TO my lodgings without in
quiry, and without missing my way.
The day after my arrival in this mighty Babylon
Of modern times was Prince Albert's birthday.
had opportunity of hearing the bells ring out their
merry chimes, and Of seeing the Queens celebrated
corps. the Coldstream Guards; she may well be
proud of them, that is a" fixed fact" In the
ing there was an illumination in small way. The
great mass of the people paid little attention to the
matter.
On Sunday morning attended divine service at
Westminster Abbey, and of all the cold, lfeless,
mechanical sermonizers that have listened to- that
fat priest takes The lead The music, however,
made amends in some degree for his short-comiDg
But must leave the wonders of London for some
J future occasion, and sliP to Dover rapidly
as possible.
The railway from London to Dover, although
very excellent one does not equal the Liverpool and
Birmingham by any means. The tunnels of which
there are seven are monuments of labor and inge-
nuity. The Merstham, nineteen miles from London,
is one mile and sixty yards in length the Bletchng-
ley, three quarters of mile the SaltwOod, half
mile; the one at Abbot's Cliff is mile long, the
one under the Shakespeare Cliff, near Dover, extends
1881 yards, or about three quarters of mile. The
works between Folkestone and Dover are of prodi-
gious magnitude The removal of million of tons
from the chalk cliff, by means of $1,000 pounds of
gunpowder, must have produced no small sensation
In this part of the world.
| There are numerous Incidents occurrences, and
antiquities, that make the town of Dover peculiarly
interesting to the traveller, we'll the historian
and antiquarian. The earliest account we have of
the place is in the time of julius Cesar, who subdu-
ed the country. The Saxons succeeded the Ro-
mans, and in A. d. 700, Widred, King of Kent, ex-
| tended the town wall, and erected public buildings,
the ruins Of which still remain. In 1850, Dover
| furnished Edward the Confessor with twenty ships
of war. In 1896 it was pillaged and partly burnt by
the French to make amends for the severe losses of
the inhabitants, Edward the First established mint
hama CHI aftor ,taI all
sengers to the continent should embark at this port
The harbor is an artificial construction; and those
who are employed to keep it in state of preserva-
ton, have to contend with stupendous difficulties
There several churches here of great antiquity
some of them erected prior to the conquest in l066.
| The most interesting of all the sights of Dover,
the heights, the batteries, and the far famed Cas-
tie. The barracks have an under ground commune
cation with the town-a Military Shaft; at the end of
arched passage are three flights ofspiral steps Zone
hundred and ninety nine to reach the barrack yard)
which wind round large shaft tower, open at the
top to admit the light, and sunk the solid rock One
of the forts was built by Henry VII about the year
1920; Meats bulwark and Guilford battery we're also
erected by him, and have underground communi-
cation with the castle, by of a circular flight Of
steps cut in the solid rock.
| Dover Castle in point of antiquity ranks among
the most ancient The first works were erected long
before the time of julius Cesar. The Watch
tower or Lighthouse, is supposed to have been built
soon after the cruci6xtion of the Saviour Its e1-
ter.r shape is octagon, and its interior square
the sides about fourteen feet thick. 1t has been
so much impaired by the lapse of time that it is quite
impossible 10 determine its original heght-the part
now standing is about forty feet high There is a
church adjoining the Pharos, built by Lucius, who
was appointed monarch the petty Kings of Brit
TAIN by the Emperor AureIus. The church is in
the form OF cross and built in the year l6I.-
The apdeted pile still retains evident proofs of ia
ancient workmanship. Roman tiles appear in every
part of it, well in the Lighthouse which adoins
it.
The Castle is composed of Roman, Saxon and
Norman fortifcations and at some little distance
might rather be taken for fortified city, rather than
a single fortress When seen from the opposite coas,
appears to t its towering head far above the clouds
| The Gay visited it the weather was delightfully."-
pleasant From the edge of the Cliff on the eastern
side of the castle elevated nearly 400 feet above the
ocean, the eye wanders over beautiful e1papse Of
waters. Directly before you is the coast Of Ia bell.
France, with its lofty cliffs, houses, fields and wild,
extent Of country distinctly visible. On the right lie.
the town Of Boulogne, with its lofty tower erected by
the mighty Napoleon; twenty-five or three miles tc
the left the low ground. is the town of Calais it.
towers and ba,tlemens clearly by the naked eye
1t while gazing across the channel that first be-
gan TO realize that was in foreign land.
The views from the Castle wall are highly rictu.
rescue. The eye roams over fertile valies, smiling
fields, and lofty hills. The interior of the Cast,
wall cannot be described in letier-it would require
volume 10 do iusttoe 10 this wooJerfuI ronun,,t =,