[426] It would be out of place here to discuss the vexed question of the places, respectively, whence Cæsar started from France, and where he landed in England. We can only say that, having read the several memoirs on this subject, by Halley, d’Anville, Dr. Guest, Master of Caius Coll., Cambr., the Astronomer Royal, and Mr. Lewin, we are inclined to think that the essay by the last-named writer (London, 1859) is the most consistent with the language of Cæsar himself. In the following pages, therefore, his views have been generally adopted.
[427] By the Passengers Act, which applies to all British possessions, except India and Hong Kong, the space allowed in passenger ships to each statute adult is not to be less than 15 clear superficial feet in the poop or in the upper passenger-deck, nor less than 18 clear superficial feet on the lower passenger-deck; and the height between decks is not to be less than 6 feet for the upper passenger-deck, nor less than 7 feet for the lower passenger-deck. Each person of twelve years and upwards, and two children between one and twelve years, count as an adult.
By the 16 and 17 Vict. cap. 84, however, the governors of colonies may, by proclamation, reduce this space to 12 superficial feet in the case of passengers, being natives of Asia and Africa, sailing from their governments.
[428] Cæs. B. G. iv. 32, 33.
[429] It seems a reasonable conjecture that in the name of Romney (i.e., Roman marsh or island) we have a relic of Cæsar’s invasion.
[430] Cæs. B. G. v. 2.
[431] Cæs. B. G. v. 1.
[432] The “Invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar,” by Thomas Lewin, Esq., M.A., 1859.
[433] Cæs. B. G. v. 19; and Roach Smith’s “Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver, and Lymne. Lond. 1850.”
[434] It is generally supposed that Cassivelaunus, in execution of a well concerted plan, retired, followed by Cæsar, from the banks of the Stour along the southern side of the chalk hills running from Wye to Dorking, and then down the right bank of the Mole to the nearest point of the Thames at “Coway stakes,” situated between Walton and Shepperton. In the year 1855, the author of this work purchased the principal property in the latter parish, and a few years afterwards that of Halliford, so named from the ford at Coway, where the Romans are supposed to have crossed the Thames. Since then he has resided almost constantly in the Manor-house of Shepperton, which, on the authority of Stukeley and of other antiquaries, occupies the site where Cæsar pitched his camp after the final defeat of the ancient Britons. The paddock, about fourteen acres in extent, attached to his house, is said to have derived its name from the fact that there the battle between the Romans and Britons raged in its greatest fury, and that there it ended, with great carnage, in the overthrow of Cassivelaunus. In the recent Ordnance maps, as well as in some maps of an ancient date, this paddock is described as “War-close field, from which there has been dug spears, swords, and great quantities of human bones.”