It’s a real place. Dorking that is – south London, or at least south of London. It’s also the title of an alarmist book from 1871. I came accross it earlier today. It describes the fall of Britain to the Germans. The Germans of the Iron Chancellor, as opposed to the more familiar “scary” Germans of Herr Schicklgruber.
If you are of the alarmist bent (comme io) you’ll see a lot to like in the booklet. Here’s how it begins:
You ask me to tell you, my grandchildren, something about my own share in the great events that happened fifty years ago. ‘Tis sad work turning back to that bitter page in our history, but you may perhaps take profit in your new homes from the lesson it teaches. For us in England it came too late. And yet we had plenty of warnings, if we had only made use of them. The danger did not come on us unawares. It burst on us suddenly, ’tis true; but its coming was foreshadowed plainly enough to open our eyes, if we had not been wilfully blind. We English have only ourselves to blame for the humiliation which has been brought on the land.
You can download the whole book here. It’s a PDF, free download from my googlepages. Right click and ’save target as’.
