them, and captured all the ships and killed the men. As they afterwards returned homeward with the booty, a large fleet of pirates met them, and then fought against them that same day, and the Danish men had the victory."

The convulsions of the Conquest passed, Edward II. occupied the throne; and Harwich, walled and armed, was a prosperous port, when, at home and abroad, the conspiracy against the king was taking deadly form. On the 24th September, 1326, Queen Isabella landed at Harwich, from Dordt. She was

accompanied by the Earl of Kent, and her wellappointed army was speedily reinforced by the Earls of Leicester and Norfolk. A chapter of sanguinary incidents followed: Edward fled to the Welsh, leaving the Bishop of Exeter in charge of the capital. Him the citizens seized, struck off his head, and cast his body into the Thames. The aged Earl of Winchester was surrendered into the Queen's hands at Bristol. Sir William Trussell sentenced him; and after being hung, disembowelled, and beheaded, his mangled quarters were cast to the dogs of Bristol. The ruin of the younger Spencers followed, and the tragedy was consummated by

Edward's untimely end at Berkeley Castle. In due course the young King turned upon the adulterous Queen and her paramour; hung Mortimer at the Elms, and shut up Isabella in her house at Risings.

In 1339, the French made a sharp attempt upon Harwich, attacking with eleven ships, and endeavouring to set it on fire. After a smart engagement they were driven off. The next year the avenger came in the person of King Edward, who sailed from the harbour with 260 vessels, and fell upon the French fleet of 400 sail at Sluys. The battle was characterised by the utmost rancour and desperation, and after eleven hours of murderous slaughter was undecided, when the French, making a movement to withdraw, under cover of the closing twilight, the battle was resumed, and ended in the destruction of the French fleet, of which only thirty vessels effected their retreat. The French lost 12,000 men, Edward 4,000. During the battle a great ship, a Hull galley, was overwhelmed by a shower of stones, and went down with all on board. Edward took many guns from the enemy, and was complimented by the title of the King of the Seas. On his return, he landed at Harwich,

and doubtless received a most hearty welcome from the burghers.

Harwich boasts other royal visits, interesting only to the burghers at the time. A.D. 1579, Queen Elizabeth was so well pleased with the loyal welcome and liberality of the burghers, that, on taking her leave, she enquired of the officials what they required of her; the reply, "Nothing but to wish your Majesty a good journey," elicited the complimentary remark, "A pretty town, and wants nothing."

In 1666-7, during the deplorable and cruelly sanguinary Dutch war, Harwich maintained its numerous fortifications intact, and when the enemy landed 3,000 men to storm fort Landguard, Captain Dorrell, the commander, gave them so hot a reception that they beat a precipitate retreat to their boats. Ten years

later we find the fortifications still kept up, the principal approach to the town being defended by a drawbridge and ravelin.

During the Dutch war a royal shipbuilding yard was in full activity at Harwich, and was maintained throughout the French wars, but when Europe settled down after Waterloo, the Government withdrew its interest, and the

industry passed into private hands. But with peaceful days the stir and profits of the old time have also passed away, and doubtless it would take many long years to reconcile the townspeople to these changed and comparatively unprofitable times.

Old Bow Bridge.

BY JOHN T. PAGE.

HE point where Bow Bridge spans the river

ΤΗ Lea is about three miles from the city of

London. It may, therefore, be considered as forming the connecting link between the County of Essex and the great heart of England.

Turning to the "Annals" of old John Stow, written in 1631, we find the original structure characterised as "a rare piece of worke," and also the statement that "before the time the like had never beene seene in England." The time referred to was somewhere between the years 1106 and 1118, and our county historian, Morant, thus succinctly details the conception of the bridge by Matilda or Maud, the pious Queen of Henry I., who frequently journeyed from London to Barking Abbey. The ancient road from this Country to London was by Old Ford; that is, through the Ford there, without a Bridge. But that passage being difficult and dangerous; and many persons losing their lives, or being thoroughly wetted,