there is a ferry. In 1778, a plan was prepared to make a tunnel under the bed of the Thames, between Gravesend and Tilbury Fort. The engineer was a Mr. Dodd, and he undertook to render this subaqueous passage sufficiently capacious for all the purposes of land commerce, and to be illuminated by lamps, so that an uninterrupted communication might be preserved. He estimated that the undertaking would involve an outlay of £15,995. The scheme was patronized by the two counties, a subscription was opened to defray the expense of carrying it into effect, an act of parliament was obtained, and the work was commenced on the Gravesend side by the sinking of a shaft to the depth of 85 feet. Either Mr. Dodd had not the perseverance of Brunel, or the funds failed, or the estimate fell far short of the amount required, for the works progressed no further beyond the sinking of the shaft. Mr. Cruden, the historian of Gravesend, observes-"An excellent commentary on the result appears on a loose paper of the Company, probably sketched by a member of the committee, at a meeting to close the accounts-Total cost of the well, £15,242 10s. 44d." We have already stated that Tilbury Fort was erected by Henry VIII. to protect Gravesend against foreign invasion. This blockhouse was rendered an efficient citadel of defence by an Italian engineer named Genibelli, when the Spaniards meditated the capture of England. At Tilbury Fort, the great military camp was stationed to check the progress of the Spanish Armada, and here Queen Elizabeth delivered to the troops that famous harangue against the contemplated invaders. In the reign of Charles II., and of succeeding monarchs, additions were made to Tilbury Fort, and its strength and value as a fortress preserved.

The Thames at Gravesend Pier is 800 feet wide; and three miles below, at Coal-house Point, where the Lower Hope begins, its breadth is augmented to 1,290 yards: while ten miles further on at the London Stone, by Yantlet Creek, where the jurisdiction of the corporation of

VOL. II.

Y

London terminates, the river is nearly four miles anda-half across.* Leaving Yantlet, we reach the village of Leigh on the Essex side, beyond which, on the same side is Southend, a quiet little watering-place, the steamboat pier of which extends nearly a mile and-a-half from the bank. Next to Southend is Shoebury Ness, from which point the Essex coast imperceptibly disappears. At Sheerness, on the opposite shore, famous for its naval dock-yard, the Medway flows into the Thames; and that mighty river, which in its course has absorbed so many tributary streams for its own aggrandisement, upon reaching the Nore becomes itself swallowed up in

the ocean.

The entire length of the Thames from its source to the sea is as follows:-length of the Churn, 20 miles; from the junction of the Churn with the Lech, 9; to the junction of the Windrush, 14; to the junction of the Charwell, 13; to the junction of the Thame, 16; to the junction of the Rennet, 22; to London Bridge, 70; and to the sea, 56:-total, 220.

CHAPTER X.

THE DOCKS OF LONDON.

THE shipping interest constitutes one of the chief sources of revenue of this country, and its increasing prosperity gives to England a commercial pre-eminence which no other nation can approach. The insular position of England, and other local circumstances, have conspired to render her a maritime state, and her supremacy over the ocean is no vain boast-it is no boast at all-it is an indisputable truth which her well-manned fleets, whether commercial, or for the purposes of war, amply attest. Her * Rambles by Rivers.