'DOVER, a parliamentary and municipal borough in the e. of Kent, 66 m. e.s.e. of London, and the head-quarters of the south-eastern district of the British army, is not only a charmingly situated watering-place, but, being the nearest point of the English coast to France, is a seaport of rapidly growing importance. Within the last few years £750,000 have been expended by the government in constructing a magnificent pier, which, running out a distance of 2,100 ft. seawards, terminates iu a fort fitted to bear two guns of heavy caliber, so mounted, that they will completely sweep the channel. This granite isthmus affords a safe anchorage for vessels in the stormiest weather, and travelers for Calais, about 25 m. distant, or Ostend, for which planes passenger and cargo steamers leave twice a day, are enabled to embark pr land in any state of the tide, or even when a furious gale is raging. Works which will cost over a million ster ling are contemplated by the government to carry out a scheme for the erection of Dover bay into a naval rendezvous and coaling-station. The fortifications comprise Dover castle, which occupies a commanding position on the chalk cliffs, 375 ft. above the level of the sea, and in the construction of which Saxons and Normans displayed no small amount of ingenuity; the western heights, fort Burgoyne, the south front, the drop redoubt, the citadel, the western outworks, and the north center bastion. No special
trade is attached to the town, which transacts a miscellaneous maritime business with the French and Belgian ports, and offers excellent harbor accommodation for every variety of shipping. Pop. of borough, which returns two members to parliament (1871), 28,506. D. is well sheltered by the cliffs, and ends landward in a charming valley lead ing to what is known as "The Garden of Kent." In Roman days it was known as. Dubris; the Normans called it Dovere; the French, Douvres; whilst in legal documents of this day the town is Dovar, all four terms being variations of the word "Dour," the name of the small river which runs through the town. Fortified and walled by William the Conqueror, during whose reign it was nearly burned down, noted as the place of king John's submission to the pope, besieged by the French, held during the civil war by the parliamentarians, threatened by the first Napoleon, and celebrated as the head quarters of the lord wardens of the. claque ports, D. holds a distinguished place in English history. Three submarine cables connect it with the continent, and, if the designs of eminent French and English civil engineers are practicable, a tunnel will soon be constructed under the channel, which will bring France within half an hour's jour ney from Dover.