off to Rochester, and on 3 June reached Blackheath; but defeat followed defeat, and by the 12th Fairfax was in a position to take his army out of Kent, leaving ‘two or three troops of horse to settle the county, with the assistance of their committees, who had been driven from thence and, returning victorious, knew well enough how to deal with those who had revolted from them.’⁷⁷  By 6 June Dover Castle had been relieved by Rich. On 8 June Canterbury had surrendered to Ireton. Deal, Walmer and Sandown held out longer, but were blockaded into subjection by Rich; they were described next year as being much battered by last summer’s leaguer.’ ⁷⁸
   Peter Pett described the ‘party risen‘ as ‘not only desperate in their resolucion but unplacable in their malice’⁷⁹  and in July 1649 a competent force was despatched into Kent and Canterbury under Colonel Tomlinson to prevent another rising,⁸⁰  which was hourly expected. In June the royal children, the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester, had been removed to Penshurst, where they were ‘treated with as much respect as the lady (the Countess of Leicester) pretended she durst pay to them.’⁸¹
   In 1650 and 1651 the Kentish militia were called out, ‘to prevent the designs of the royalists, the Scotch having now entered England . . . they have some hope from your county.’⁸²  Concentration of troops was also ordered in expectation of the landing of a foreign force upon the coast of Kent.⁸³  But royalist Kent was patriotic, and after the unexpected collision in the Downs between Dutch and English fleets, 19 May 1652, the men of Dover and Deal received the thanks of the Council for their energy in volunteering to man the fleet at Deptford.⁸⁴  Troops were ordered to march to Deal for its safety when the Dutch fleet appeared off Kent. After Blake’s successful action, 28 September, against Tromp, a large number of English wounded were landed, and those unable to travel were put in the charge of the mayor of Dover.⁸⁵  The town found it no easy matter to deal with the large number of Dutch prisoners assigned to it.⁸⁶
   In 1655 an insurrection was again feared in Kent,⁸⁷  but the proposed rising came to nothing. The Protector’s death, however, was the signal for such activity on the part of the royalist party that in a few months troops were sent into the county with instructions to secure all disaffected persons and keep vigilant watch over the coast.⁸⁸
   It was on 25 May 1660 that King Charles II landed at Dover, and great preparations had been made in Kent for his reception and solemn progress
   ⁷⁷  Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion, xi, 59.        ⁷⁸ Cal. S.P. Dom. 1649-50, p. 109.
   ⁷⁹  Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. i, 4 59-60.      ⁸⁰  Cal. S.P. Dom. 1649-50, pp. 251, 253.
   ⁸¹  Clarendon, op. cit. xiv, 85.                                 ⁸²  Cal. S.P. Dom. 1650, p.451; 1651, p. 376.
   ⁸³  Ibid. 377.                                                              ⁸⁴  Ibid. 1651-2, p. 257.              ⁸⁵ Ibid. 428.
   ⁸⁶ Ibid. 284. In the spring of 1653 it had a visitor of another sort. On 14 Feb. 1653, the mayor wrote to the Council, apologetically informing them that he and the lieutenant of the castle had allowed ‘Henry Stuart’ to land for rest and refreshment, at the petition of his tutor, Richard Lovell, ‘the said Henry Stuart being indisposed through three nights’ watching and distemper at sea.’ The boy was on his way to Holland. Ibid. 1652-3, p. 164.
   ⁸⁷  Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebn. xiv, 124.
   ⁸⁸  Cal. S.P. Dom. 1659-60, pp. 54, 168, 330. Sir John Boyce, Thomas Engham, Capt. John Bowes, and Sir William Mann were to be disposed at Dover Castle: old Mr. Boyce, Mr. Sumner, the Proctor, and Mr. Masters of Powles at Deal Castle, and kept in safe custody. Colonel Thomas Colepeper was also imprisoned.