t was the best exit out of that England into Normandy,
the natural port of the capital Winchester, and its whole record is
full of glory. It was in a very real sense the gate of England. Hither
came the great ships from the South and the East, from the ports of
Normandy and Anjou, from Bayonne and Venice, with wine and Eastern
silks, leather from Cordova, swords and daggers from Toledo, spices
from India, and coloured sugars from Egypt. Here the merchants
disembarked to trade in the capital or to attend the great fair of St
Giles; hither came the pilgrims, thousands upon thousands, to follow
the old road from Winchester to the Shrine of St Thomas at
Canterbury; while out of Southampton streamed the chivalry of the
Crusades; hence "cheerly to sea" sailed the fleets of Coeur de Lion for
Palestine, of Edward III. for France, the army that won at Crecy, the
army that won at Agincourt. All the glory of mediaeval England
Southampton has seen pass by.

That the abandonment of Guienne and Aquitaine by the English was a
severe blow to Southampton is certain, but still it had the Venice
trade, the "Flanders Galleys" laden with the spoil of the East, the
wines of the Levant, the "fashions of proud Italy"; and the real
decline of Southampton dates from the moment when Venice too was
wounded even to death by the discovery of the Cape route to the East
and the rise of Portugal.

As it happens we have at the time of her greatest prosperity a
description of the town from the hand of Leland. "There be," he writes,
"in the fair and right strong wall of New Hampton, eight gates. Over
Barr Gate by north is the _Domus Civica_, and under it the town prison.
There is a great suburb without it, and a great double dyke, well
watered on each hand without it. The East Gate is strong, not so large
as Barr Gate, and in its suburb stands St Mary's Church, to the South
Gate joins a Castelet well ordinanced to beat that quarter of the
haven. There is another mean gate a little more south called God's
house gate, of an hospital founded by two merchants joined to it; and
not far beyond it is the Water Gate, without which is a quay. There are
two more gates. The glory of the Castle is in the dungeon, that is both
fair and large and strong, both by work and the site of it. There be
five parish churches in the town. Holy Rood Church standeth in the
chief street, which is one of the fairest streets that is in any town
in England, and it is well builded fo