Her son, Sir Michael Smyth, lies
close by. The family were later ennobled and bore the title of
Viscounts Strangford.
For the outside world, however, Sir John Fogge is not Ashford's
greatest son. This honour belongs surely to Jack Cade whom Shakespeare
speaks of as the "headstrong Kentish man John Cade of Ashford," and
who, according to the poet, if headstrong, proved in the end so feeble-
minded that in Shakespeare's play we might seem to have a picture of
one suffering from general paralysis of the insane. Jack Cade, however,
was, as we are beginning to realise, a much greater and more
significant figure than Shakespeare allows us to see.
But Ashford is not made for lingering, it is all for departure, the
roads, if not the trains, lead swiftly away north, south, east and
west. As for me I went by the south-west road which said twelve miles
to Tenterden.
I went under a fine rain on a day of married white and blue, and even
before I had forgot Ashford, which was long before I crossed the Stour,
the rain had ceased, the sun shone forth and a great wind came out of
the marsh and the sea full of good tidings, so that climbing up to
Great Chart I laughed in my heart to be in England on such a day and on
such a road.
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