Arrived at Dover, England, at 11 o'clock, A. M. Mr. Webster and myself concluded to take coach for London after visiting the Castle. We first ascended to one of the square towers, in height 134 steps, from which in a clear day the French shore is to be seen, and a most agreeable view into the country. The town of Dover seems under foot, and even the steeples scarce as high as the foot of the hill. We next visited Julius Cæsar's tower, (said to have been built by him,) old and in ruins; on the plains of it is a battery of twenty four pounders, one of brass, 24 feet long, called Queen Elizabeth's pocket-piece, given her by Holland at the time of its emancipation from Spain. It is curiously ornamented with the arms of England and Holland; was cast in 1544; weighs six tons, and carries a twelve pound shot seven miles. The well is 375 feet deep. The original key supposed to be eighteen hundred years old, is 21 inches long, and weighs three or four pounds. We also saw a sword of state five feet long, the handle twelve inches. At the coffee-house met James Teal, a son of the widow of the late Gov. Belcher of Massachusetts by her first husband. He wished to convey intelligence of his residence here to his mother in New England; his letters have miscarried for some time past.
SOURCE: George Atkinson Ward, Journal and Letters of the Late Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty, etc., An American Refugee in England from 1775 to 1784, p. 30
