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diff --git a/31394-h/31394-h.htm b/31394-h/31394-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c0cbc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/31394-h/31394-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14691 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land, by William R. Hughes, F.L.S. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + .blockquot2{margin-left: 50%; text-align: justify;} + .blockquot3{margin-right: 40%; text-align: justify;} + .bigger {font-size: 125%; margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + table.crispin {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/i_241.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + table.cobb {width: 600px; text-align: center; background-image: + url("images/i_320.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 70%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .secsig {margin-left: 5%; text-align: left;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {text-align: justify; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + .hang2 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 6em; margin-right: 4em; text-align: justify;} + + .cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left; margin: -0.2em 0.1em 0; margin-top: 0%; + padding: 0; line-height: .75em; font-size: 300%; text-align: justify;} + .cap {text-align: justify;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land, by William R. Hughes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land + +Author: William R. Hughes + +Illustrator: F. G. Kitton + +Release Date: February 25, 2010 [EBook #31394] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WEEK'S TRAMP IN DICKENS-LAND *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> +<h2>A WEEK'S TRAMP</h2> + +<h3>IN</h3> +<h1>DICKENS-LAND</h1> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span> + +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="600" height="390" alt="The Marshes, Cooling." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Marshes, Cooling.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A WEEK'S TRAMP</h2> + +<h3>IN</h3> +<h1>DICKENS-LAND</h1> + +<div class='center'>TOGETHER WITH<br /> + +<b>Personal Reminiscences of the 'Inimitable Boz'</b><br /> + +THEREIN COLLECTED.</div> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>WILLIAM R. HUGHES, F.L.S.</h2> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +<i>WITH MORE THAN A HUNDRED<br /> +ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. G. KITTON<br /> +<small>AND OTHER ARTISTS.</small></i><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, <span class="smcap">Limited</span>.<br /> +<small>BOSTON: ESTES AND LAURIAT.</small><br /> +<small>1891.</small><br /></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<div class='copyright'> +<span class="smcap">Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,<br /> +London & Bungay.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +[<i>All Rights reserved.</i>]<br /></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<div class='center'> +TO<br /> +<br /> +<big>MY WIFE AND DAUGHTERS,</big><br /> +<br /> +EMILY AND EDITH,<br /> +<br /> +I DEDICATE<br /> +<br /> +THIS RECORD OF "A WEEK'S TRAMP,"<br /> +<br /> +TO REMIND THEM OF<br /> +<br /> +THE MANY PLEASANT READINGS FROM DICKENS<br /> +<br /> +WE HAVE ENJOYED TOGETHER<br /> +<br /> +AT HOME.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>"'I should like to show you a series of eight +articles, Sir, that have appeared in the Eatanswill +Gazette. I think I may venture to say that you +would not be long in establishing your opinions on a +firm and solid basis, Sir.'</p> + +<p>"'I dare say I should turn very blue long before I +got to the end of them,' responded Bob.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Pott looked dubiously at Bob Sawyer for +some seconds, and turning to Mr. Pickwick said:—</p> + +<p>"'You have seen the literary articles which have +appeared at intervals in the Eatanswill Gazette in the +course of the last three months, and which have excited +such general—I may say such universal—attention +and admiration?'</p> + +<p>"'Why,' replied Mr. Pickwick, slightly embarrassed +by the question, 'the fact is, I have been so much +engaged in other ways, that I really have not had an +opportunity of perusing them.'</p> + +<p>"'You should do so, Sir,' said Pott with a severe +countenance.</p> + +<p>"'I will,' said Mr. Pickwick.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'They appeared in the form of a copious review of +a work on Chinese metaphysics, Sir,' said Pott.</p> + +<p>"'Oh,' observed Mr. Pickwick—'from your pen I +hope?'</p> + +<p>"'From the pen of my critic, Sir,' rejoined Pott +with dignity.</p> + +<p>"'An abstruse subject I should conceive,' said Mr. +Pickwick.</p> + +<p>"'Very, Sir,' responded Pott, looking intensely +sage. 'He <i>crammed</i> for it, to use a technical but expressive +term; he read up for the subject, at my +desire, in the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>.'</p> + +<p>"'Indeed!' said Mr. Pickwick; 'I was not aware +that that valuable work contained any information +respecting Chinese metaphysics.'</p> + +<p>"'He read, Sir,' rejoined Mr. Pott, laying his hand +on Mr. Pickwick's knee, and looking round with a +smile of intellectual superiority, 'he read for metaphysics +under the letter M, and for China under the +letter C; and combined his information, Sir!'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Pott's features assumed so much additional +grandeur at the recollection of the power and research +displayed in the learned effusions in question, that +some minutes elapsed before Mr. Pickwick felt emboldened +to renew the conversation."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>The above perennial extract from the immortal +<i>Pickwick Papers</i> suggests to some extent the nature +of the contents of this Volume. It is the record of +a pilgrimage made by two enthusiastic Dickensians +during the late summer of 1888, together with "combined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span> +information,"—not indeed "crammed" from the +ninth edition just completed of the valuable work +above referred to, but gathered mostly from original +sources,—respecting the places visited, the characters +alluded to in some of the novels, personal +reminiscences of their Author, appropriate passages +from his works (for which acknowledgments are due +to Messrs. Chapman and Hall), and some little +mention of the thoughts developed by the associations +of "Dickens-Land."</p> + +<p>Although the pilgrimage only extended to a week, +and every spot referred to (save one) was actually visited +during that time, it is but right to state that on three +subsequent occasions the author has gone over the +greater part of the same ground—once in the early +winter, when the blue clematis and the aster had given +place to the yellow jasmine and the chrysanthemum; +once in the early spring, when those had been succeeded +by the almond-blossom and the crocus; and +again in the following year, when the beautiful county +of Kent was rehabilitated in summer clothing, thus +enabling him to verify observations, to correct possible +errors arising from first impressions, and to gain new +experiences.</p> + +<p>As our head-quarters were at Rochester, and most +of the city and other parts were taken at odd times, it +has not been found practicable to preserve in consecutive +chapters a perfect sequence of the records +of each day's tramp, although they appear in fairly +chronological order throughout the work. "A preliminary +tramp in London" will possibly be dull to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> +those familiar with the great Metropolis, but it may be +useful to foreign tramps in "Dickens-Land."</p> + +<p>Availing myself of the privilege adopted by most +travellers at home and abroad, I have made occasional +references to the weather. This is perhaps excusable +when it is remembered that the year 1888 was a very +remarkable one in that respect, so much so indeed, +that the writer of a leading article in <i>The Times</i> of +January 18th, 1889, in commenting on Mr. G. J. +Symons' report of the British rainfall of the previous +year, remarked that "seldom within living memory +had there been a twelve-month with more unpleasantness +in it and less of genial sunshine." We +were specially favoured, however, in getting more +"sunshine" than "unpleasantness," thus adding to the +enjoyment of our never-to-be-forgotten tramp.</p> + +<p>Upwards of three years have elapsed since this book +was commenced, and the limited holiday leisure of a +hard-working official life has necessarily prevented its +completion for such a lengthened period, that it has +come to be pleasantly referred to by my many +Dickensian friends as the "Dictionary," in allusion to +the important work of that nature contemplated by +Dr. Strong, respecting which (says David Copperfield) +"Adams, our head-boy, who had a turn for mathematics, +had made a calculation, I was informed, of the +time this Dictionary would take in completing, on the +Doctor's plan, and at the Doctor's rate of going. He +considered that it might be done in one thousand six +hundred and forty-nine years, counting from the +Doctor's last, or sixty-second, birthday."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> + +<p>My hearty and sincere acknowledgments are due +to the publishers, Messrs. Chapman and Hall, not +only for the very handsome manner in which they +have allowed my book to be got up as regards +print, paper, and execution (to follow the model of +their Victoria Edition of <i>Pickwick</i> is indeed an +honour to me), but especially for their great liberality +in the matter of the Illustrations, which number more +than a hundred. These were selected in conference +by Mr. Fred Chapman, Mr. Kitton, and myself, and +include about fifty original drawings by Mr. Kitton, +from sketches specially made by him for this work. +Of the remainder, six are from Forster's <i>Life of +Dickens</i>, fifteen from Langton's <i>Childhood and Youth +of Charles Dickens</i>, seven from <i>Charles Dickens by +Pen and Pencil</i>, ten from the Jubilee Edition of +<i>Pickwick</i>, and five from Rimmer's <i>About England +with Dickens</i>. A few interesting fac-similes of handwriting, +etc., have also been introduced. Surely such +an eclectic series of Dickens Illustrations has never +before been presented in one volume.</p> + +<p>To Messrs. Chapman and Hall, Mr. Robert +Langton, F.R.H.S., Messrs. Frank T. Sabin and +John F. Dexter, Messrs. Macmillan and Co., and +Messrs. Chatto and Windus (the proprietors of the +above-mentioned works), the author's acknowledgments +are also due, and are hereby tendered. Mr. +Stephen T. Aveling has kindly supplied an illustration +of Restoration House as it appeared in Dickens's time, +and Mr. William Ball, J.P., generously commissioned +a local artist to make a sketch of the Marshes, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> +forms the frontispiece to the book, and gives a good +idea of the "long stretches of flat lands" on the Kent +and Essex coasts.</p> + +<p>To those friends whom we then met for the first +time, and from whom we subsequently received help, +the author's most cordial acknowledgments are due, +and are also tendered, for kind information and +assistance. They are a goodly number, and include +Mr. A. A. Arnold, Mr. Stephen T. Aveling, Mr. +William Ball, J.P., Mr. James Baird, Mr. Charles Bird, +F.G.S., Major and Mrs. Budden, Mr. W. J. Budden, +Mr. R. L. Cobb, Mr. J. Couchman, The Misses +Drage, Mrs. Easedown, Mr. Franklin Homan, Mr. +James Hulkes, J.P., and Mrs. Hulkes, Mr. Apsley +Kennette, Mrs. Latter, Mr. J. Lawrence, Mr. C. D. +Levy, Mr. B. Lillie, Mr. J. E. Littlewood, Mr. J. N. +Malleson, Rev. J. J. Marsham, M.A., Mrs. Masters, +Mr. Miles, Mr. W. Millen, Mr. Geo. Payne, F.S.A., +Mr. William Pearce, Mr. George Robinson, Mr. T. +B. Rosseter, F.R.M.S., Dr. Sheppard, Mr. Henry +Smetham, Dr. Steele, M.R.C.S., Mr. William Syms, +Mrs. Taylor, Miss Taylor, Mr. W. S. Trood, Major +Trousdell, Rev. Robert Whiston, M.A., Mr. W. T. +Wildish, Mr. Humphrey Wood, Mr. C. K. Worsfold, +and Mrs. Henry Wright. The late Mr. Roach Smith, +F.S.A., took much interest in my work and gave valuable +assistance. Mr. Luke Fildes, R.A., and Mrs. Lynn +Linton generously contributed very interesting information. +The Right Honourable the Earl of Darnley, +Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens, Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A., +and Lady Head, also kindly answered enquiries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss Hogarth has at my request very kindly consented +to the publication of the original letters of the +Novelist—about a dozen—now printed for the first +time.</p> + +<p>My sincere thanks are due to Mr. E. W. Badger, +F.R.H.S., the friend of many years, for valuable help.</p> + +<p>To my old friend and fellow-tramp, Mr. F. G. Kitton, +with whose memory this delightful excursion will ever +be pleasantly connected, my warmest thanks are due +for reading proofs and for much kind help in many +ways. "He wos werry good to me, he wos." As Pip +wrote to another "Jo," "<span class="smcap">woT larX</span>" we did have.</p> + +<p>Last, but not least, my cordial thanks are due to +Mr. Charles Dickens for much kind information and +valuable criticism.</p> + +<p>So long as readers continue to be, so long +will our great English trilogy of cognate authors, +Shakespeare, Scott, and Dickens, continue to be read. +Indeed as regards Dickens, a writer in <i>Blackwood</i>, +June, 1871 (and <i>Blackwood</i> was not always a sympathetic +critic), said:—"We may apply to him, without +doubt, the surest test to which the maker can be +subject: were all his books swept by some intellectual +catastrophe out of the world, there would still exist +in the world some score at least of people, with all +whose ways and sayings we are more intimately acquainted +than with those of our brothers and sisters, +who would owe to him their being. While we live +Sam Weller and Dick Swiveller, Mr. Pecksniff and +Mrs. Gamp, the Micawbers and the Squeerses, can +never die. . . . They are more real than we are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span> +ourselves, and will outlive and outlast us, as they +have outlived their creator. This is the one proof of +genius which no critic, not the most carping or +dissatisfied, can gainsay."</p> + +<p>So long also, the author ventures to think, +will pilgrimages continue to be made to the shrines +of Stratford-on-Avon, Abbotsford, and Gad's Hill +Place, and to their vicinities. The modest aim of +this Volume is, that it may add a humble unit +in helping to keep <i>his</i> memory green, and that it +may be a useful and acceptable companion to pilgrims, +not only of our own country, but also from that +still "Greater Britain," where "All the Year <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'round'">Round</ins>" +the name of Charles Dickens is almost a dearer +"Household Word" than it is with us.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span class="smcap">William R. Hughes.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='secsig'> +<span class="smcap">Wood House, Handsworth Wood</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">near <span class="smcap">Birmingham</span>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><i>30th September, 1891.</i></span><br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><small>CHAP.</small></td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'> </td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Preface</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>I.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Introductory</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>II.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">A Preliminary Tramp in London</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>III.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Rochester City</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>IV.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Rochester Castle</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>V.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Rochester Cathedral</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>VI.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Richard Watts's Charity, Rochester</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>VII.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">An Afternoon at Gad's Hill Place</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>VIII.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens and Strood</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>IX.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Chatham:—St. Mary's Church, Ordnance Terrace, The House on the Brook, The Mitre Hotel, and Fort Pitt. Landport:—Portsea, Hants</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>X.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Aylesford, Town Malling, and Maidstone</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>XI.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Broadstairs, Margate, and Canterbury</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>XII.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Cooling, Cliffe, and Higham</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>XIII.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Cobham Park and Hall, The Leather Bottle, Shorne, Chalk, and the Dover Road</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>XIV.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">A Final Tramp in Rochester and London</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'> </td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Index</span></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_427">427</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span></p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of illustrations heading"> +<tr><td align='left'><img src="images/i_020a.png" width="131" height="264" alt="Statue 1" title="" /> +</td><td align='left'><h2>LIST</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2></td><td align='left'><img src="images/i_020b.png" width="122" height="257" alt="Statue 2" title="" /> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' valign='top'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Marshes, Cooling</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i><br />(from a Sketch by <i>E. L. Meadows</i>)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <i><a href="#Page_iv">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Headpiece, "Humour"</span> (From two Statuettes of "Mr. Pickwick" and "Sam Weller" in Crown Derby Ware)</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>Engraved by <i>R. Langton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Golden Cross</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Young Dickens at the Blacking Warehouse</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. Barnard</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Fountain Court, Temple</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>C. A. Vanderhoof</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Staple Inn, Holborn</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Barnard's Inn</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dickens's House, Furnival's Inn</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#furnivals">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">No. 48, Doughty Street</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>J. Grego</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Tavistock House, Tavistock Square</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>J. Liddell</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">No. 141, Bayham Street</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">No. 1, Devonshire Terrace</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>D. Maclise, R.A.</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Fac-simile of Letter, Charles Dickens</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Apotheosis of "Grip" the Raven</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>D. Maclise, R.A.</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#raven">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"<span class="smcap">My magnificent order at the Public House</span>"</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Phiz</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bull Inn, Rochester—"good house, nice beds"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Staircase at "the Bull"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Elevated Den" in the Ball-room, "Bull Inn"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Old Rochester Bridge</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#bridge">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Guildhall, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Guildhall">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Moon-faced" Clock in High Street</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#moonfaced">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">In High Street, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#high">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Eastgate House, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#eastgate">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Mr. Sapsea's House, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#sapseahouse">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Mr. Sapsea's Father</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>(After sketch by <i>H. Wickham</i>)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Restoration House, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#restoration">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Old Rochester Theatre, Star Hill</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>W. Hull</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Castle from Rochester Bridge</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#castle">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Keep of Rochester Castle</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Interior of Rochester Castle</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Rochester Castle and the Medway</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Rochester Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Rochester Cathedral, Interior</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Crypt, Rochester Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Phiz</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Minor Canon Row, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">College Gate (or "Chertsey's" Gate), Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#college">125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Prior's Gate, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Deanery Gate, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Vines and Restoration House, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Restoration House, as it appeared in Dickens's time</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>(Engraved from a Drawing by an Amateur)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">St. Nicholas' Burying-ground</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Memorial Brass in Rochester Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Six Poor Travellers"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Richard Watts's Almshouses, Rochester</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Fac-similes of Signatures of Charles Dickens and Mark Lemon</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#signatures">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Six Poor Travellers" from the Rear</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Dormitory in the "Six Poor Travellers": Gallery leading to the Dormitories</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#gallery">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Satis House</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>(From a Photograph)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#satis">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Watts's Monument in Rochester Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>R. Langton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Rochester from Strood Hill</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>C. Marshall</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Sir John Falstaff" Inn, Gad's Hill</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">"The Empty Chair." Gad's Hill, Ninth of June, 1870</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i> (from the Drawing by <i>S. L. Fildes, R.A.</i>)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Counterfeit Book-backs on Study Door</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>R. Langton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place from the Rear</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>J. Liddell</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"<span class="smcap">The Grave of Dick, the best of Birds</span>"</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Well at Gad's Hill Place</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Porch, Gad's Hill Place</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>J. Liddell</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Cedars, Gad's Hill</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>E. Hull</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">View from the Roof of Dickens's House, Gad's Hill</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Fac-similes of <i>Gad's Hill Gazette</i> and Final Notice</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_199">199</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Temple Farm, Strood</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">At Temple Farm, Strood</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Crypt, Temple Farm</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_215">215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Crispin and Crispianus," Strood</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#crispin">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Old Quarry House, Strood</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Frindsbury Church</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Rochester from Strood Pier</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">St. Mary's Church, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>W. Dadson</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">No. 11, Ordnance Terrace, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>E. Hull</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The House on the Brook, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Giles's School, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Mitre Inn, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Navy-Pay Office, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Fort Pitt, Chatham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Birthplace of Charles Dickens, Portsea</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>(From a Photograph)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">St. Mary's Church, Portsea</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>R. Langton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Aylesford</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Aylesford Bridge</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The High Street, Town Malling</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cob Tree Hall</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#cobb">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cricket Ground, Town Malling</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Medway at Maidstone</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#medway">307</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Chillington Manor House, Maidstone</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#manor">310</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Kit's Coty House</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Kit's Coty House and "Blue Bell"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>(From the Painting by Gegan)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Hop-picking in Kent</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">"Bleak House," Broadstairs</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Old Look-out House, Broadstairs</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[xx]</a></span><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Falstaff," Westgate, Canterbury</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Dane John" from the City Wall, Canterbury</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bell Harry Tower, Canterbury Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Scene of the Martyrdom, Canterbury Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">"Bits" of Old Canterbury</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>C. A. Vanderhoof</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_342">342</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">"The Little Inn," Canterbury</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_345">345</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Graves of the Comport Family, Cooling Churchyard</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cooling Church</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>C. A. Vanderhoof</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Gateway, Cooling Castle</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cliffe Church</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cobham Hall</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dickens's Châlet, now in Cobham Park</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>J. Liddell</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The "Leather Bottle," Cobham</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Old Parlour of the "Leather Bottle"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>E. Hull</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cobham Church</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>Herbert Railton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_390">390</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Shorne Church</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_392">392</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Curious Old Figure over the Porch, Chalk Church</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">"There's Milestones on the Dover Road"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_400">400</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Doorway, Rochester Cathedral</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>" " </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_407">407</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Fac-similes of Charles Dickens's Handwriting</span> 1837, 1850, 1854, 1870</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> </td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_418">418</a>-<a href="#Page_420">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Grave in Westminster Abbey</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><i>F. G. Kitton</i></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'> <a href="#Page_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' valign='top'><div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Tailpiece, "Pathos"</span></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'>(From two Plaques of the "Old Man" and "Little Nell" in Wedgwood Ware)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Engraved by <i>R. Langton</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_xx">xx</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Tailpieces"> +<tr><td align='left'><img src="images/i_023a.png" width="156" height="244" alt="Old Man" title="" /> +</td><td align='left'><img src="images/i_023b.png" width="160" height="244" alt="Little Nell" title="" /> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2>A WEEK'S TRAMP</h2> + +<h3>IN</h3> + +<h2>DICKENS-LAND.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCTORY.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"So wishing you well in the way you go, we now conclude with the +observation, that perhaps you'll go it."—<i>Our Mutual Friend.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Among</span> the many interesting books that have been published +relating to Charles Dickens since his death, more than +twenty years ago (it seems but yesterday to some of his +admirers), there are at least half a dozen that describe the +"country" peopled by the deathless characters created by his +genius.</div> + +<p>Probably the pioneer in this class of literature was that +comprehensive work, <i>Dickens's London, or London in the +Works of Charles Dickens</i>, by my friend, that thorough +Dickensian, Mr. T. Edgar Pemberton, 1876; this was followed +by a very readable volume, <i>In Kent with Charles Dickens</i>, by +Thomas Frost, 1880; then came a dainty tome from Boston, +U.S.A., entitled, <i>A Pickwickian Pilgrimage</i>, by John R. G.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +Hassard, 1881. Afterwards appeared <i>The Childhood and +Youth of Charles Dickens</i>, by Robert Langton, 1883, beautifully +illustrated by the late William Hull of Manchester, the +author, and others—a work developed from the <i>brochure</i> by +the same author, <i>Charles Dickens and Rochester</i>, 1880, which +has passed through five editions. Next to Forster's <i>Life +of Dickens</i>, Mr. Robert Langton's larger work undoubtedly +ranks—especially from the richness of the illustrations—as a +very valuable original contribution to the biography of the +great novelist. Another handsome volume, containing the +illustrations to a series of papers in <i>Scribner's Monthly</i>—written +by B. E. Martin—entitled <i>About England with +Dickens</i>, came from the pen of Mr. Alfred Rimmer, 1883, +and included additional illustrations drawn by the author, +C. A. Vanderhoof, and others. Yet another little <i>brochure</i> +recently appeared, called <i>London Rambles en zigzag with +Charles Dickens</i>, by Robert Allbut, 1886. Lastly, there +was published in the Christmas Number of <i>Scribner's +Magazine</i>, 1887, an article, "In Dickens-Land," by Edward +Percy Whipple, in which this veteran and appreciative critic +of the eminent English writer's works points out that, "In +addition to the practical life that men and women lead, +constantly vexed as it is by obstructive facts, there is an +interior life which they <i>imagine</i>, in which facts smoothly give +way to sentiments, ideas, and aspirations. Dickens has, in +short, discovered and colonized one of the waste districts of +'Imagination,' which we may call 'Dickens-Land,' or +'Dickens-Ville,' . . . better known than such geographical +countries as Canada and Australia, . . . and confirming us +in the belief of the <i>reality</i> of a population which has no <i>actual</i> +existence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<p>It must not be assumed that the above list exhausts the +literature on the subject of "Dickens-Land," many references +to which are made in such high-class works as Augustus J. C. +Hare's <i>Walks in London</i>, and Lawrence Hutton's <i>Literary +Landmarks of London</i>.</p> + +<p>Since the above was written, a very interesting and prettily +illustrated article has appeared in the <i>English Illustrated +Magazine</i> for October, 1888, entitled "Charles Dickens and +Southwark," by Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry, who is second to none +as an enthusiastic admirer and loyal student of Dickens. +There is also a paper in <i>Longman's Magazine</i> for the same +month, by the delightful essayist A. K. H. B., called "That +Longest Day," in which there are several allusions to Dickens +and "Dickens-Land." It, however, lacks the freshness of his +earlier writings. Surely he must have lost his old love for +Dickens, or things must have gone wrong at the Ecclesiastical +Conference which took place at Gravesend on "That Longest +Day." Altogether it is pitched in a minor key.</p> + +<p>None of these contributions (with the exception of Mr. +Langton's book), interesting as they are, and indispensable +to the collector, attempt in any way to give personal +reminiscences of Charles Dickens from friends or others, +nor do they in any way help to throw light on his everyday +life at home, beyond what was known before.</p> + +<p>The circumstances narrated in this work do not concern the +imaginary "Dickens-Land" of Mr. Whipple, but refer to the +actual country in which the imaginary characters played their +parts, and to that still more interesting actual country in which +Dickens lived long and loved most—the county of Kent.</p> + +<p>On Friday, 24th August, 1888, two friends met in London—one +of them, the writer of these lines, a Dickens collector of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +some years' experience; the other, Mr. F. G. Kitton, author +of that sumptuous work, <i>Charles Dickens by Pen and +Pencil;</i> both ardent admirers of "the inimitable 'Boz,'" and +lovers of nature and art.</p> + +<p>We were a sort of self-constituted roving commission, to +carry into effect a long-projected intention to make a week's +tramp in "Dickens-Land," for purposes of health and +recreation; to visit Gad's Hill, Rochester, Chatham, and +neighbouring classical ground; to go over and verify some of +the most important localities rendered famous in the novels; +to identify, if possible, doubtful spots; and to glean, under +whatever circumstances naturally developed in the progress +of our tramp, additions in any form to the many interesting +memorials already published, and still ever growing, +relating to the renowned novelist. The idea of recording our +reminiscences was not a primary consideration. It grew out +of our experiences, generating a desire for others to become +acquainted with the results of our enjoyable peregrinations; +and the labour therein involved has been somewhat of the +kind described by Lewis Morris:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"For this of old is sure,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That change of toil is toil's sufficient cure."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>We mixed with representatives of the classes of domestics, +labourers, artizans, traders, professional men, and scientists. +Many of those whom we met were advanced in years,—several +were octogenarians,—and there is no doubt that we have been +the means of placing on record here and there an interesting +item from the past generation (mostly told in the exact words +of the narrators) that might otherwise have perished. This is +a special feature of this work, which makes it different from all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +the preceding. In every instance we were received with +very great kindness, courtesy, and attention. The replies to +our questions were frank and generous, and in several cases +permission was accorded us to make copies of original +documents not hitherto made public.</p> + +<p>Considering that almost every inch of ground connected +with Dickens has been so thoroughly explored, we were, on +the whole, quite satisfied with our excursion: "the results +were equal to the appliances."</p> + +<p>By a coincidence, the month which we selected (August) +was Dickens's favourite month, if we may judge from the +opening sentences of the sixteenth chapter of <i>Pickwick:</i>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is no month in the whole year, in which nature wears a +more beautiful appearance than in the month of August. Spring has +many beauties, and May is a fresh and blooming month, but the +charms of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the +winter season. August has no such advantage. It comes when we +remember nothing but clear skies, green fields, and sweet-smelling +flowers—when the recollection of snow, and ice, and bleak winds, +has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared +from the earth,—and yet what a pleasant time it is. Orchards and +cornfields ring with the hum of labour; trees bend beneath the thick +clusters of rich fruit which bow their branches to the ground; and +the corn, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in every light breath +that sweeps above it, as if it wooed the sickle, tinges the landscape +with a golden hue. A mellow softness appears to hang over the +whole earth; the influence of the season seems to extend itself to +the very wagon, whose slow motion across the well-reaped field, is +perceptible only to the eye, but strikes with no harsh sound upon +the ear."</p></div> + +<p>By another coincidence, the day which we selected to +commence our tramp was Friday—the day upon which most +of the important incidents of Dickens's life happened, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +appears from frequent references in Forster's <i>Life</i> to the +subject.</p> + +<p>Provided with a selection of books inseparably connected +with the subject of our tour, including, of course, copies of +<i>Pickwick</i>, <i>Great Expectations</i>, <i>Edwin Drood</i>, <i>The Uncommercial +Traveller</i>, Bevan's <i>Tourist's Guide to Kent</i>, one or two local +Handbooks, one of Bacon's useful cycling maps, with a sketch +map of the geology of the district (which greatly helped us +to understand many of its picturesque effects, and was kindly +furnished by Professor Lapworth, LL.D., F.R.S., of the +Mason College, Birmingham), and with a pocket aneroid +barometer, which every traveller should possess himself with +if he wishes to make convenient arrangements as regards +weather, we make a preliminary tramp in London.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>A PRELIMINARY TRAMP IN LONDON.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"We Britons had at that time particularly settled that it was treasonable +to doubt our having and our being the best of everything: otherwise, +while I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might +have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, +narrow, and dirty."—<i>Great Expectations.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Some</span> sixty or seventy years must have elapsed since Dickens +(through the mouthpiece of Pip, as above) recorded his first +impressions of London; and although he lived in it many +years, and in after life he loved to study its people in every +stratum of society and every phase of their existence, it +seems doubtful, apart from these studies, whether he ever really +liked London itself, for in the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i>, on +"The Boiled Beef of New England," in describing London as +it existed subsequently, he contrasts it unfavourably in some +respects, not only with such continental cities as Paris, +Bordeaux, Frankfort, Milan, Geneva, and Rome, but also +with such British cities as Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Exeter, and +Liverpool, with such American cities as New York, Boston, +and Philadelphia, and with "a bright little town like Bury +St. Edmunds." Nevertheless, it is indubitable that his writings, +beyond those of any other author, have done wonders<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +to popularize our knowledge of London,—more particularly +the London of the latter half of the last and the first half of +the present century,—and that those writings have given it a +hold on our affections which it might not otherwise have +acquired. In almost all his works we are introduced to a fresh +spot in the Metropolis, perhaps previously known to us, but to +which the fidelity of his descriptions and the reality of the +characters peopling it, certainly give a historical value never +before understood or appreciated. In <i>The Life of Charles +Dickens</i>, written by his devoted friend, John Forster, may be +found a corroboration of this view:—</div> + +<p>"There seemed," says this biographer, "to be not much to +add to our knowledge of London until his books came upon +us, but each in this respect outstripped the other in its +marvels. In <i>Nickleby</i>, the old city reappears under every +aspect; and whether warmth and light are playing over what +is good and cheerful in it, or the veil is uplifted from its darker +scenes, it is at all times our privilege to see and feel it as it +absolutely is. Its interior hidden life becomes familiar as its +commonest outward forms, and we discover that we hardly +knew anything of the places we supposed that we knew the +best."</p> + +<p>What Scott did for Edinburgh and the Trossachs, Dickens +did for London and the county of Kent. His fascination for +the London streets has been dwelt on by many an author. +Mr. Frank T. Marzials says in his interesting <i>Life of Charles +Dickens:</i>—</p> + +<p>"London remained the walking-ground of his heart. As +he liked best to walk in London, so he liked best to walk at +night. The darkness of the great city had a strange fascination +for him. He never grew tired of it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Sala records that he had been encountered "in the +oddest places and in the most inclement weather: in Ratcliff +Highway, on Haverstock Hill, on Camberwell Green, in +Gray's Inn Lane, in the Wandsworth Road, at Hammersmith +Broadway, in Norton Folgate, and at Kensal New Town. A +hansom whirled you by the 'Bell and Horns' at Brompton, +and there was Charles Dickens striding as with seven-leagued +boots, seemingly in the direction of North End, Fulham. +The Metropolitan Railway disgorged you at Lisson Grove, +and you met Charles Dickens plodding sturdily towards the +'Yorkshire Stingo.' He was to be met rapidly skirting the +grim brick wall of the prison in Coldbath Fields, or trudging +along the Seven Sisters' Road at Holloway, or bearing under +a steady press of sail through Highgate Archway, or pursuing +the even tenor of his way up the Vauxhall Bridge Road."</p> + +<p>That his feelings were intensely sympathetic with all classes +of humanity there is amply evidenced in the following lines, +written so far back as 1841, which Master Humphrey, "from +his clock side in the chimney corner," speaks in the last page +before the opening of <i>Barnaby Rudge:</i>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Heart of London, there is a moral in thy every stroke! as I look +on at thy indomitable working, which neither death, nor press of life, +nor grief, nor gladness out of doors will influence one jot, I seem to +hear a voice within thee which sinks into my heart, bidding me, as I +elbow my way among the crowd, have some thought for the meanest +wretch that passes, and, being a man, to turn away with scorn and +pride from none that bear the human shape."</p></div> + +<p>On a sultry day, such as this of Friday, the 24th August, +1888, with the thermometer at nearly 80 degrees in the shade, +one needs some enthusiasm to undertake a tramp for a few +hours over the hot and dusty streets of London, that we may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +glance at a few of the memorable spots that we have visited +over and over again before. This preliminary tramp is therefore +necessarily limited to visiting the houses where Dickens +lived, from the year 1836 until he finally left it in 1860, on +disposing of Tavistock House, and took up his residence at +Gad's Hill Place. In our way we shall take a few of the +places rendered famous in the novels, but it would require a +"knowledge of London" as "extensive and peculiar" as that +of Mr. Weller, and would occupy a week at least, to exhaust +the interest of all these associations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 558px;"> +<img src="images/i_033.png" width="558" height="620" alt="The Golden Cross." title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Our temporary quarters are at our favourite "Morley's," in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +Trafalgar Square, one of those old-fashioned, comfortable +hotels of the last generation, where the guest is still known +as "Mr. H.," and not as "Number 497." And what is very +relevant to our present purpose, Morley's revives associations +of the hotels, or "Inns," as they were more generally +called in Charles Dickens's early days. Strolling from Morley's +eastward along the Strand, to which busy thoroughfare there +are numerous references in the works of Dickens, we pass on +our left the Golden Cross Hotel, a great coaching-house half +a century ago, from whence the Pickwickians and Mr. Jingle +started, on the 13th of May, 1827, by the "Commodore" +coach for Rochester. "The low archway," against which Mr. +Jingle thus prudently cautioned the passengers,—"Heads! +Heads! Take care of your heads!" with the addition of a +very tragic reference to the head of a family, was removed +in 1851, and the hotel has the same appearance now that it +presented after that alteration. The house was a favourite +with David Copperfield, who stayed there with his friend +Steerforth on his arrival "outside the Canterbury coach;" +and it was in one of the public rooms here, approached by +"a side entrance to the stable-yard," that the affecting +interview took place with his humble friend Mr. Peggotty, +as touchingly recorded in the fortieth chapter of <i>David +Copperfield</i>. The two famous "pudding shops" in the Strand, +so minutely described in connection with David's early days, +have of course long been removed:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"One was in a court close to St. Martin's Church—at the back +of the Church,—which is now removed altogether. The pudding at +that shop was made of currants, and was rather a special pudding, +but was dear, two pennyworth not being larger than a pennyworth +of more ordinary pudding. A good shop for the latter was in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +Strand,—somewhere in that part which has been rebuilt since. It +was a stout pale pudding, heavy and flabby, and with great flat +raisins in it, stuck in whole at wide distances apart. It came up +hot at about my time every day, and many a day did I dine off it."</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 423px;"> +<img src="images/i_035.png" width="423" height="567" alt="Young Dickens at the Blacking Warehouse." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Young Dickens at the Blacking Warehouse.</span> +</div> + +<p>Nearly opposite the Golden Cross Hotel is Craven Street, +where (says Mr. Allbut), at No. 39, Mr. Brownlow in <i>Oliver +Twist</i> resided after removing from Pentonville, and where +the villain Monks was confronted, and made a full confession +of his guilt.</p> + +<p>"Ruminating on the strange mutability of human affairs," +after the manner of Mr. Pickwick, we call to mind, on the +same side of the way, Hungerford Stairs, Market, and Bridge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +all well remembered in the days of our youth, but now +swept away to make room for the commodious railway +terminus at Charing Cross. Here poor David Copperfield +"served as a labouring hind," and acquired his grim experience +with poverty in Murdstone and Grinby's (<i>alias</i> Lamert's) +Blacking Warehouse. Hungerford Suspension Bridge many +years ago was removed to Clifton, and we never pass by it +on the Great Western line without recalling recollections of +poor David's sorrows.</p> + +<p>Next in order comes Buckingham Street, at the end house +of which, on the east side (No. 15), lived Mrs. Crupp, who let +apartments to David Copperfield in happier days. Here he +had his "first dissipation," and entertained Steerforth and +his two friends, Mrs. Crupp imposing on him frightfully as +regards the dinner; "the handy young man" and the +"young gal" being equally troublesome as regards the +waiting. The description of "my set of chambers" in +<i>David Copperfield</i> seems to point to the possibility of Dickens +having resided here, but there is no evidence to prove it. +At Osborn's Hotel, now the Adelphi, in John Street, Mr. +Wardle and his daughter Emily stayed on their visit to +London, after Mr. Pickwick was released from the Fleet +Prison.</p> + +<p>Durham Street, a little further to the right, leads to the +"dark arches," which had attractions for David Copperfield, +who "was fond of wandering about the Adelphi, because it +was a mysterious place with those dark arches." He says:—"I +see myself emerging one evening from out of these arches, +on a little public-house, close to the river, with a space before +it, where some coal-heavers were dancing." Nearly opposite +is the Adelphi Theatre, notable as having been the stage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +whereon most of the dramas founded on Dickens's works were +first produced, from <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> in 1838, in which +Mrs. Keeley, John Webster, and O. Smith took part, down +to 1867, when <i>No Thoroughfare</i> was performed, "the only +story," says Mr. Forster, "Dickens himself ever helped to +dramatize," and which was rendered with such fine effect +by Fechter, Benjamin Webster, Mrs. Alfred Mellon, and +other important actors. He certainly assisted in Madame +Celeste's production of <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i>, even if he had +no actual part in the writing of the piece.</p> + +<p>Mr. Allbut thinks that the residence of Miss La Creevy, the +good-natured miniature painter (whose prototype was Miss +Barrow, Dickens's aunt on his mother's side) in <i>Nicholas +Nickleby</i>, was probably at No. 111, Strand. It was "a private +door about half-way down that crowded thoroughfare."</p> + +<p>We proceed onwards, passing Wellington Street North, +where at No. 16, the office of the famous <i>Household Words</i> +formerly stood; <i>All the Year Round</i>, its successor, conducted +by Mr. Charles Dickens, the novelist's eldest son, now being +at No. 26 in the same street.</p> + +<p>A little further on, on the same side of the way, and almost +facing Somerset House, at No. 332, was the office of the once +celebrated <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, on the staff of which Dickens +in early life worked as a reporter. The <i>Chronicle</i> was a great +power in its day, when Mr. John Black ("Dear old Black!" +Dickens calls him, "my first hearty out-and-out appreciator, +. . . with never-forgotten compliments . . . coming in the +broadest of Scotch from the broadest of hearts I ever knew,") +was editor, and Mr. J. Campbell, afterwards Lord Chief-Justice +Campbell, its chief literary critic. The <i>Chronicle</i> died in 1862.</p> + +<p>The west corner of Arundel Street (No. 186, Strand, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +now stand the extensive premises of Messrs. W. H. Smith +and Son) was formerly the office of Messrs. Chapman and +Hall, the publishers of almost all the original works of Charles +Dickens. After 1850 the firm removed to 193, Piccadilly, +their present house being at 11, Henrietta Street, Covent +Garden. They own the copyright, and publish all Dickens's +works; and they estimate that two million copies of <i>Pickwick</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +have been sold in England alone, exclusive of the almost +innumerable popular editions, from one penny upwards, +published by other firms, the copyright of this work having +expired. The penny edition was sold by hundreds of +thousands in the streets of London some years ago.</p> + +<p>This statement will probably be surprising to the remarkable +class of readers thus described by that staunch +admirer of Dickens, Mr. Andrew Lang, in "Phiz," one of his +charming <i>Lost Leaders</i>. He says:—</p> + +<p>"It is a singular and gloomy feature in the character of +young ladies and gentlemen of a particular type, that they +have ceased to care for Dickens, as they have ceased to +care for Scott. They say they cannot read Dickens. When +Mr. Pickwick's adventures are presented to the modern +maid, she behaves like the Cambridge freshman. 'Euclide +viso, cohorruit et evasit.' When he was shown Euclid he +evinced dismay, and sneaked off. Even so do most young +people act when they are expected to read <i>Nicholas +Nickleby</i> and <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>. They call these master-pieces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +'too gutterly gutter'; they cannot sympathize with +this honest humour and conscious pathos. Consequently the +innumerable references to Sam Weller, and Mrs. Gamp, and +Mr. Pecksniff, and Mr. Winkle, which fill our ephemeral +literature, are written for these persons in an unknown tongue. +The number of people who could take a good pass in Mr. +Calverley's <i>Pickwick</i> Examination Paper is said to be +diminishing. Pathetic questions are sometimes put. Are we +not too much cultivated? Can this fastidiousness be anything +but a casual passing phase of taste? Are all people +over thirty who cling to their Dickens and their Scott old +fogies? Are we wrong in preferring them to <i>Bootles' Baby</i>, +and <i>The Quick or the Dead</i>, and the novels of M. Paul +Bourget?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_039.png" width="500" height="370" alt="Fountain Court, Temple." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fountain Court, Temple.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<p>But this by the way. Turning down Essex Street, we +visit the Temple, celebrated in several of Dickens's novels—<i>Barnaby +Rudge</i>, <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i>, <i>Great Expectations</i>, +and <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>,—but in none more graphically +than in <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, in which is described the +fountain in Fountain Court, where Ruth Pinch goes to +meet her lover, "coming briskly up, with the best little laugh +upon her face that ever played in opposition to the fountain; +and beat it all to nothing." And when John Westlock +came at last, "merrily the fountain leaped and danced, and +merrily the smiling dimples twinkled and expanded more and +more, until they broke into a laugh against the basin's rim, +and vanished." As we saw the fountain on the bright August +morning of our tramp, the few shrubs, flowers, and ferns +planted round it gave it quite a rural effect, and we wished +long life to the solitary specimen of eucalyptus, whose +glaucous-green leaves and tender shoots seemed ill-fitted to +bear the nipping frosts of our variable climate.</p> + +<p>Coming out of the Temple by Middle Temple Lane, we +pass on our left Child's Bank, the "Tellson's Bank" of <i>A Tale +of Two Cities</i>, "which was an old-fashioned place even in the +year 1780," but was replaced in 1878 by the handsome building +suitable to its imposing neighbours, the Law Courts. +Temple Bar, which adjoined the Old Bank, and was one of +the relics of Dickens's London, has passed away, having +since been re-erected on "Theobalds," near Waltham Cross.</p> + +<p>"A walk down Fleet Street"—one of Dr. Johnson's +enjoyments—leads us to Whitefriars Street, on the east side +of which, at No. 67, is the office of <i>The Daily News</i>, edited by +Dickens from 21 Jany. to 9 Feby., 1846, and for which he +wrote the original prospectus, and subsequently, in a series of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +letters descriptive of his Italian travel, his delightful <i>Pictures +from Italy</i>. St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street is supposed +to have been that immortalized in <i>The Chimes</i>.</p> + +<p>It was in this street many years before (in the year 1833, +when he was only twenty-one), as recorded in Forster's <i>Life</i>, +that Dickens describes himself as dropping his first literary +sketch, <i>Mrs. Joseph Porter over the Way</i>, "stealthily one +evening at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a dark +letter-box in a dark office up a dark court in Fleet Street; +and he has told his agitation when it appeared in all the +glory of print:—'On which occasion I walked down to +Westminster Hall, and turned into it for half an hour, because +my eyes were so dimmed with joy and pride, that they could +not bear the street, and were not fit to be seen there.'" The +"dark court" referred to was no doubt Johnson's Court, as +the printers of the <i>Monthly Magazine</i>, Messrs. Baylis and +Leighton, had their offices here. This contribution appeared +in the January number 1834 of this magazine, published by +Messrs. Cochrane and Macrone of 11 Waterloo Place.</p> + +<p>Turning up Chancery Lane, also celebrated in many of +Charles Dickens's novels, we leave on our left Bell Yard, +where lodged the ruined suitor in Chancery, poor Gridley, +"the man from Shropshire" in <i>Bleak House</i>, but the yard has, +through part of it being required for the New Law Courts +and other modern improvements, almost lost its identity.</p> + +<p>On our right is Old Serjeant's Inn, which leads into +Clifford's Inn, where the conference took place between +John Rokesmith and Mr. Boffin, when the former, to the +latter's amazement, said:—"If you would try me as your +Secretary." The place is thus referred to in the eighth +chapter of <i>Our Mutual Friend:</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Not very well knowing how to get rid of this applicant, and +feeling the more embarrassed because his manner and appearance +claimed a delicacy in which the worthy Mr. Boffin feared he himself +might be deficient, that gentleman glanced into the mouldy little +plantation or cat preserve, of Clifford's Inn, as it was that day, in +search of a suggestion. Sparrows were there, dry-rot and wet-rot +were there, but it was not otherwise a suggestive spot."</p></div> + +<p>Symond's Inn, described as "a little, pale, wall-eyed, woebegone +inn, like a large dust-bin of two compartments and a +sifter,"—where Mr. Vholes had his chambers, and where Ada +Clare came to live after her marriage, there tending lovingly +the blighted life of the suitor in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, poor +Richard Carstone,—exists no more. It formerly stood on the +site of Nos. 25, 26, and 27, now handsome suites of offices.</p> + +<p>Lincoln's Inn, a little higher up on the opposite side of the +way, claims our attention, in the Hall of which was formerly +the Lord High Chancellor's Court, wherein the wire-drawn +Chancery suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce in <i>Bleak House</i> +dragged its course wearily along. The offices of Messrs. +Kenge and Carboy, of Old Square, Solicitors in the famous +suit, were visited by Esther Summerson, who says:—"We +passed into sudden quietude, under an old gallery, and drove +on through a silent square, until we came to an old nook +in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep broad +flight of stairs like an entrance to a church." Mr. Serjeant +Snubbin, Mr. Pickwick's counsel in the notorious cause of +Bardell <i>v.</i> Pickwick, also had his chambers in this square. +We then enter Lincoln's Inn Fields, and pay a visit to No. +58, on the furthest or west side near Portsmouth Street. +This ancient mansion was the residence of Dickens's friend +and biographer, John Forster, before he went to live at Palace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +Gate. It is minutely described in the tenth chapter of <i>Bleak +House</i> as the residence of Mr. Tulkinghorn, "a large house, +formerly a house of state, . . . let off in sets of chambers +now; and in those shrunken fragments of its greatness lawyers +lie like maggots in nuts." The "foreshortened allegory in +the person of one impossible Roman upside down," who +afterwards points to the "new meaning" (<i>i. e.</i> the murder of +Mr. Tulkinghorn) has, it is to be regretted, since been whitewashed. +On the 30th November, 1844, here Dickens read +<i>The Chimes</i> to a few intimate friends, an event immortalized +by Maclise's pencil, and, as appreciative of the feelings of the +audience, Forster alludes "to the grave attention of Carlyle, +the eager interest of Stanfield and Maclise, the keen look of +poor Laman Blanchard, Fox's rapt solemnity, Jerrold's skyward +gaze, and the tears of Harness and Dyce."</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a> +<img src="images/i_044.png" width="600" height="405" alt="Staple Inn, Holborn." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Staple Inn, Holborn.</span> +</div> +<p>That celebrated tavern called the "Magpie and Stump," +referred to in the twenty-first chapter of <i>Pickwick</i>,—where that +hero spent an interesting evening on the invitation of Lowten +(Mr. Perker's clerk), and heard "the old man's tale about the +queer client,"—is supposed to have been "The old George the +IVth" in Clare Market, close by. Retracing our steps through +Bishop's Court (where lived Krook the marine-store dealer, +and in whose house lodged poor Miss Flite and Captain +Hawdon, <i>alias</i> Nemo) into Chancery Lane, we arrive at the +point from whence we diverged, and turn into Cursitor Street. +Like other places adjacent, this street has been subjected +to "improvements," and it is scarcely possible to trace +"Coavinses," so well known to Mr. Harold Skimpole, or +indeed the place of business and residence of Mr. Snagsby, +the good-natured law stationer, and his jealous "little woman." +It will be remembered that it was here the Reverend Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +Chadband more than once "improved a tough subject":—"toe +your advantage, toe your profit, toe your gain, toe +your welfare, toe your enrichment,"—and refreshed his own. +Thackeray was partial to this neighbourhood, and Rawdon +Crawley had some painful experiences in Cursitor Street.</p> + + + +<p>Bearing round by Southampton Buildings, we reach Staple +Inn,—behind the most ancient part of Holborn,—originally a +hostelry of the merchants of the Wool-staple, who were +removed to Westminster by Richard II. in 1378. At No. +10 in the first court, opposite the pleasant little garden +and picturesque hall, resided the "angular" but kindly Mr. +Grewgious, attended by his "gloomy" clerk, Mr. Bazzard, and +on the front of the house over the door still remains the +tablet with the mysterious initials:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 188px;"> +<img src="images/i_045.png" width="188" height="114" alt="Mysterious initials" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>but our enquiries fail to discover their meaning. Dickens +humorously suggests "Perhaps John Thomas," "Perhaps Joe +Tyler," and under hilarious circumstances, "Pretty Jolly too," +and "Possibly jabbered thus!" They are understood to be +the initials of the treasurer of the Inn at the date above-mentioned. +It is interesting to state that the Inn has been +most appropriately restored by the enterprising Prudential +Assurance Company, who have recently purchased it; and on +the seat in the centre of the second Court (facing Holborn), +under the plane trees which adorn it, were resting a few wayfarers, +who seemed to enjoy this thoughtful provision made +by the present owners. We can picture in one of the rooms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +on the first floor of P. J. T.'s house (very memorable to the +writer of these lines, some brief part of his early life having +been passed there), the conference described in the twentieth +chapter of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, between Mr. Grewgious and his +charming ward,—so aptly pourtrayed by Mr. Luke Fildes in +his beautiful drawing, "Mr. Grewgious experiences a new sensation,"—as +well as all the other scenes which took place here.</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 379px;"> +<img src="images/i_046.png" width="379" height="500" alt="Barnard's Inn" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>Turning into Holborn through the Archway of Staple Inn, +and stopping for a minute to admire the fine effect of the +recently restored fourteenth-century old-timbered houses of +the Inn which face that thoroughfare, a few steps lower down +take us to Barnard's Inn, where Pip in <i>Great Expectations</i> +lodged with his friend Herbert Pocket when he came to +London. Dickens calls it, "the dingiest collection of shabby +buildings ever squeezed together in a rank corner as a club for +tom-cats." Simple-minded Joe Gargery, who visited Pip here, +persisted for a time in calling it an "hotel," and after his +visit thus recorded his impressions of the place:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The present may be a werry good inn, and I believe its +character do stand i; but I wouldn't keep a pig in it myself—not in +the case that I wished him to fatten wholesome and to eat with a +meller flavour on him."</p></div> + +<p>A few plane trees—the glory of all squares and open spaces +in London, where they thrive so luxuriantly—give a rural +appearance to this crowded place, while the sparrows tenanting +them enjoy the sunbeams passing through the scanty +branches.</p> + +<p>Our next halting-place, Furnival's Inn, is one of profound +interest to all pious pilgrims in "Dickens-Land," for there +the genius of the young author was first recognized, not only +by the novel-reading world, but also by his contemporaries +in literature. Thackeray generously spoke of him as "the +young man who came and took his place calmly at the head +of the whole tribe, and who has kept it."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 301px;"><a name="furnivals" id="furnivals"></a> +<img src="images/i_048.png" width="301" height="550" alt="Dickens House by Furnival's Inn" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Furnival's Inn in Holborn, which stands midway between +Barnard's Inn and Staple Inn on the opposite side of the way, +is famous as having been the residence of Charles Dickens in +his bachelor days, when a reporter for the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +He removed here from his father's lodgings at No. 18, Bentinck +Street, and had chambers, first the "three pair back" (rather +gloomy rooms) of No. 13 from Christmas 1834 until Christmas +1835, when he removed to the "three pair floor south" (bright +little rooms) of No. 15, the house on the right-hand side of +the square having Ionic ornamentations, which he occupied +from 1835 until his removal to No. 48, Doughty Street, in +March 1837. The brass-bound iron rail still remains, and the +sixty stone steps which lead from the ground-floor to the top<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +of each house are no doubt the same over which the eager +feet of the youthful "Boz" often trod. He was married from +Furnival's Inn on 2nd April, 1836, to Catherine, eldest +daughter of Mr. George Hogarth, his old colleague on the +<i>Morning Chronicle</i>, the wedding taking place at St. Luke's +Church, Chelsea, and doubtless lived here in his early matrimonial +days much in the same way probably as Tommy +Traddles did, as described in <i>David Copperfield</i>. Here the +<i>Sketches by Boz</i> were written, and most of the numbers of the +immortal <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, as also the lesser works: <i>Sunday +under Three Heads</i>, <i>The Strange Gentleman</i>, and <i>The Village +Coquettes</i>. The quietude of this retired spot in the midst of a +busy thoroughfare, and its accessibility to the <i>Chronicle</i> offices +in the Strand, must have been very attractive to the young +author. His eldest son, the present Mr. Charles Dickens, +was born here on the 6th January, 1837.</p> + +<p>It was in Furnival's Inn, probably in the year 1836, that +Thackeray paid a visit to Dickens, and thus described the +meeting:—</p> + +<p>"I can remember, when Mr. Dickens was a very young man, +and had commenced delighting the world with some charming +humorous works in covers which were coloured light green +and came out once a month, that this young man wanted an +artist to illustrate his writings; and I remember walking up +to his chambers in Furnival's Inn, with two or three drawings +in my hand, which, strange to say, he did not find suitable."</p> + +<p>How wonderfully interesting these "two or three drawings" +would be now if they could be discovered! Of the +score or so of "Extra Illustrations" to <i>Pickwick</i> which have +appeared, surely these (if they were such) which Dickens "did +not find suitable," combining as they did the genius of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +Dickens and Thackeray, whatever their merits or defects +may have been, would be most highly prized.</p> + +<p>John Westlock, in <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, had apartments in +Furnival's Inn, and was there visited by Tom Pinch. Wood's +Hotel occupies a large portion of the square, and is mentioned +in <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i> as having been the Inn +where Mr. Grewgious took rooms for his charming ward Rosa +Bud, from whence he ordered for her refreshment, soon after +her arrival at Staple Inn to escape Jasper's importunities, "a +nice jumble of all meals," to which it is to be feared she did +not do justice, and where "at the hotel door he afterwards +confided her to the Unlimited head chamber-maid."</p> + +<p>The Society of Arts have considerately put up on the house +No. 15 one of their neat terra-cotta memorial tablets with the +following inscription:—</p> + +<div class='center'> +CHARLES<br /> +DICKENS,<br /> +<b>Novelist</b>,<br /> +Lived here.<br /> +B. 1812,<br /> +D. 1870.<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 241px;"> +<img src="images/i_051.png" width="241" height="450" alt="No. 48, Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square. Dickens's Residence 1837-9." title="" /> +<span class="caption">No. 48, Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square.<br /> +Dickens's Residence 1837-9.</span> +</div><p>We proceed along Holborn, and go up Kingsgate Street, +where "Poll Sweedlepipe, Barber and Bird Fancier," lived, +"next door but one to the celebrated mutton-pie shop, and +directly opposite the original cats'-meat warehouse." The +immortal Sairey Gamp lodged on the first floor, where +doubtless she helped herself from the "chimley-piece" whenever +she felt "dispoged." Here also the quarrel took place +between that old lady and her friend Betsey Prig anent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +that mythical personage, "Mrs. Harris." We pass through +Red Lion Square and up Bedford Row, and after proceeding +along Theobald's Road for a short distance, turn up John +Street, which leads into Doughty Street, where, at No. 48, +Charles Dickens lived from 1837 to 1839. The house, +situated on the east side of the street, has twelve rooms, is +single-fronted, three-storied, and not unlike No. 2, Ordnance +Terrace, Chatham. A tiny little room on the ground-floor, +with a bolt inside in addition to the usual fastening, is pointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +out as having been the novelist's study. It has an outlook +into a garden, but of late years this has been much reduced in +size. A bill in the front window announces "Apartments +to let," and they look very comfortable. Doughty Street, now +a somewhat noisy thoroughfare, must have been in Charles +Dickens's time a quiet, retired spot. A large pair of iron +gates reach across the street, guarded by a gate-keeper +in livery. "It was," says Mr. Marzials in his <i>Life of +Dickens</i>, "while living at Doughty Street that he seems, in +great measure, to have formed those habits of work and +relaxation which every artist fashions so as to suit his own +special needs and idiosyncrasies. His favourite time for +work was the morning between the hours of breakfast and +lunch; . . . he was essentially a day worker and not a night +worker. . . . And for relaxation and sedative when he had +thoroughly worn himself with mental toil, he would have +recourse to the hardest bodily exercise. . . . At first riding +seems to have contented him, . . . but soon walking took the +place of riding, and he became an indefatigable pedestrian. +He would think nothing of a walk of twenty or thirty miles, +and that not merely in the vigorous hey-day of youth, but +afterwards to the very last. . . ."</p> + + + +<p>It was at Doughty Street that he experienced a bereavement +which darkened his life for many years, and to which +Forster thus alludes:—</p> + +<p>"His wife's next younger sister Mary, who lived with them, +and by sweetness of nature even more than by graces of +person had made herself the ideal of his life, died with a +terrible suddenness that for a time completely bore him down. +His grief and suffering were intense, and affected him . . . +through many after years." <i>Pickwick</i> was temporarily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +suspended, and he sought change of scene at Hampstead. +Forster visited him there, and to him he opened his heart. +He says:—"I left him as much his friend, and as entirely +in his confidence, as if I had known him for years."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 331px;"> +<img src="images/i_053.png" width="331" height="500" alt="Tavistock House, Tavistock Square. Dickens's Residence 1851-60." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Tavistock House, Tavistock Square.<br /> +Dickens's Residence 1851-60.</span> +</div> + +<p>Some time afterwards, we find him inviting Forster "to join +him at 11 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> in a fifteen-mile ride out and ditto in, lunch +on the road, with a six o'clock dinner in Doughty Street."</p> + +<p>Charles Dickens's residence in Doughty Street was but of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +short duration—from 1837 to 1840 only; but there he completed +<i>Pickwick</i>, and wrote <i>Oliver Twist</i>, <i>Memoirs of Grimaldi</i>, +<i>Sketches of Young Gentlemen</i>, <i>Sketches of Young Couples</i>, and +<i>The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby</i>. His eldest +daughter Mary was born here.</p> + +<p>In proper sequence we ought to proceed to Dickens's third +London residence, No. 1, Devonshire Terrace, but it will be +more convenient to take his fourth residence on our way. +We therefore retrace our steps into Theobald's Road, pass +through Red Lion and Bloomsbury Squares, and along Great +Russell Street as far as the British Museum, where Dickens +is still remembered as "a reader" (merely remarking that it +of course contains a splendid collection of the original impressions +of the novelist's works, and "Dickensiana," as is +evidenced by the comprehensive Bibliography furnished by +Mr. John P. Anderson, one of the librarians, to Mr. Marzials' +<i>Life of Dickens</i>), which we leave on our left, and turn up +Montague Street, go along Upper Montague Street, Woburn +Square, Gordon Square, and reach Tavistock Square, at the +upper end of which, on the east side, Gordon Place leads us +into a retired spot cut off as it were from communication with +the rest of this quiet neighbourhood. Three houses adjoin +each other—handsome commodious houses, having stone +porticos at entrance—and in the first of these, Tavistock +House, Dickens lived from 1851 until 1860, with intervals at +Gad's Hill Place. This beautiful house, which has eighteen +rooms in it, is now the Jews' College. The drawing-room on +the first floor still contains a dais at one end, and it is said +that at a recent public meeting held here, three hundred and +fifty people were accommodated in it, which serves to show +what ample quarters Dickens had to entertain his friends.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Hans Christian Andersen, who visited Dickens here in 1857, +thus describes this fine mansion:—</p> + +<p>"In Tavistock Square stands Tavistock House. This and +the strip of garden in front are shut out from the thoroughfare +by an iron railing. A large garden with a grass-plat +and high trees stretches behind the house, and gives it a +countrified look, in the midst of this coal and gas steaming +London. In the passage from street to garden hung pictures +and engravings. Here stood a marble bust of Dickens, so +like him, so youthful and handsome; and over a bedroom +door were inserted the bas-reliefs of Night and Day, after +Thorwaldsen. On the first floor was a rich library, with a +fireplace and a writing-table, looking out on the garden; +and here it was that in winter Dickens and his friends acted +plays to the satisfaction of all parties. The kitchen was +underground, and at the top of the house were the bedrooms."</p> + +<p>It appears that Andersen was wrong about the plays being +acted in the "rich library," as I am informed by Mr. Charles +Dickens that "the stage was in the school-room at the back +of the ground-floor, with a platform built outside the window +for scenic purposes."</p> + +<p>With reference to the private theatricals (or "plays," as +Andersen calls them, including <i>The Frozen Deep</i>, by Wilkie +Collins, in which Dickens, the author, Mark Lemon, and others +performed, and for which in the matter of the scenery "the +priceless help of Stanfield had again been secured"), on a +temporary difficulty arising as to the arrangements, Dickens +applied to Mr. Cooke of Astley's, "who drove up in an open +phaeton drawn by two white ponies with black spots all over +them (evidently stencilled), who came in at the gate with a +little jolt and a rattle exactly as they come into the ring when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +they draw anything, and went round and round the centre +bed (lilacs and evergreens) of the front court, apparently +looking for the clown. A multitude of boys, who felt them +to be no common ponies, rushed up in a breathless state—twined +themselves like ivy about the railings, and were only +deterred from storming the enclosure by the Inimitable's eye." +Mr. Cooke was not, however, able to render any assistance.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Arthur Ryland of The Linthurst, near Bromsgrove, +Worcestershire, who was present at Tavistock House on the +occasion of the performance of <i>The Frozen Deep</i>, informs me +that when Dickens returned to the drawing-room after the +play was over, the constrained expression of face which he +had assumed in presenting the character of Richard Wardour +remained for some time afterwards, so strongly did he seem to +realize the presentment. The other plays performed were +<i>Tom Thumb</i>, 1854, and <i>The Lighthouse</i> and <i>Fortunus</i>, 1855.</p> + +<p>The following copy of a play-bill—in my collection—of one +of these performances is certainly worth preserving in a permanent +form, for the double reason that it is extremely rare, +and contains one of Dickens's few poetical contributions, <i>The +Song of the Wreck</i>, which was written specially for the occasion.</p> + +<div class='center'> +The smallest Theatre in the World!<br /> +<br /> +TAVISTOCK HOUSE.<br /> +——————————————————————————————<br /> +<i>Lessee and Manager</i> — — — <span class="smcap">Mr. Crummles.</span><br /> +——————————————————————————————<br /> +On Tuesday evening, June 19th, 1855, will be presented, at exactly<br /> +eight o'clock,<br /> +An entirely New and Original<br /> +Domestic Melo-drama, in Two Acts, by Mr. Wilkie Collins,<br /> +now first performed, called<br /> +<br /> +THE LIGHTHOUSE.<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>The Scenery painted by Mr. Stanfield, R.A.<br /><br /> +</div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Cast"> +<tr><td align='left'>Aaron Gurnock, the head Light-keeper</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Crummles.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Martin Gurnock, his son; the second Light-keeper </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Wilkie Collins.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jacob Dale, the third Light-keeper</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Mark Lemon.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Samuel Furley, a Pilot</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Augustus Egg, A.R.A.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Relief of Light-keepers, by</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Charles Dickens, Junior</span>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Edward Hogarth</span>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Alfred Ainger</span>, and</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. William Webster</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Shipwrecked Lady</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Miss Hogarth.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phœbe</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Miss Dickens</span>,</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='center'>Who will sing a new Ballad, the music by Mr. Linley, the words<br /> +by Mr. Crummles, entitled<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +THE SONG OF THE WRECK.<br /> +<br /> +I.<br /></div> + +<div class='poem'> +"The wind blew high, the waters raved,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">A Ship drove on the land,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A hundred human creatures saved,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Kneeled down upon the sand.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Three-score were drowned, three-score were thrown</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Upon the black rocks wild;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And thus among them left alone,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They found one helpless child.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br />II.</div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A Seaman rough, to shipwreck bred,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Stood out from all the rest,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And gently laid the lonely head</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Upon his honest breast.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And trav'ling o'er the Desert wide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">It was a solemn joy,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To see them, ever side by side,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The sailor and the boy.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></div> + +<div class='center'><br />III.</div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In famine, sickness, hunger, thirst,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The two were still but one,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Until the strong man drooped the first,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And felt his labours done.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Then to a trusty friend he spake:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">'Across this Desert wide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O take the poor boy for my sake!'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And kissed the child, and died.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br />IV.</div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Toiling along in weary plight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Through heavy jungle-mire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">These two came later every night</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To warm them at the fire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Until the Captain said one day:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">'O seaman good and kind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To save thyself now come away</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And leave the boy behind!'</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br />V.</div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The child was slumb'ring near the blaze:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">'O Captain let him rest</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Until it sinks, when <span class="smcap">God's</span> own ways</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Shall teach us what is best!'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">They watched the whiten'd ashey heap,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They touched the child in vain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">They did not leave him there asleep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">He never woke again."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /> +——————————————————————————————<br /> +Half an hour for Refreshment.<br /> +——————————————————————————————<br /> +<br />To conclude with<br /> +The Guild Amateur Company's Farce, in one act, by Mr. Crummles<br /> +and Mr. Mark Lemon;<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span><span class="smcap">Mr. NIGHTINGALE'S DIARY.</span><br /></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Nightingale</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Gabblewig, of the Middle Temple</td><td align='left' rowspan='6'><img src="images/i_059-bracket_large.png" width="7" height="116" alt="Large Bracket" title="" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Charley Bit, a Boots</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Poulter, a Pedestrian and cold water drinker</td><td align='left' valign='middle'><span class="smcap">Mr. Crummles.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Captain Blower, an invalid</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Respectable Female</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Deaf Sexton</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tip, Mr. Gabblewig's Tiger</td><td align='left' rowspan='2'><img src="images/i_059-bracket_small.png" width="6" height="29" alt="small Bracket" title="" /> +</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr Augustus Egg, A.R.A.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christopher, a Charity Boy</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Slap, Professionally Mr. Flormiville, a country actors</td><td align='left' rowspan='3'><img src="images/i_059-bracket_medium.png" width="8" height="80" alt="Medium Bracket" title="" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Tickle, Inventor of the Celebrated Compounds</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Mark Lemon.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Virtuous Young Person in the confidence of Maria</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lithers, Landlord of the Water-lily</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Wilkie Collins.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rosina, Mr. Nightingale's niece</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Miss Kate Dickens.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Susan her Maid</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Miss Hogarth.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='center'>————————————————<br /> + +Composer and Director of the music, <span class="smcap">Mr. Francesco Berger</span>, who<br /> +will preside at the pianoforte.<br /> + +Costume makers, <span class="smcap">Messrs. Nathan</span> of Titchbourne Street, Haymarket.<br /> + +Perruquier, <span class="smcap">Mr. Wilson</span>, of the Strand.<br /> + +Machinery and Properties by <span class="smcap">Mr. Ireland</span>, of the Theatre Royal,<br /> +Adelphi.<br /> + +<i>Doors open at half-past seven. Carriages may be ordered at a quarter<br /> +past eleven.</i><br /><br /><br /> +</div> + +<p>It was from Tavistock House that Dickens received this +startling message from a confidential servant:—</p> + +<p>"The gas-fitter says, sir, that he can't alter the fitting of +your gas in your bedroom without taking up almost the ole +of your bedroom floor, and pulling your room to pieces. He +says of course you can have it done if you wish, and he'll do +it for you and make a good job of it, but he would have to +destroy your room first, and go entirely under the jistes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>The same female, in allusion to Dickens's wardrobe, also +said, "Well, sir, your clothes is all shabby, and your boots +is all burst."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 390px;"> +<img src="images/i_060.png" width="390" height="490" alt="No. 141, Bayham Street, Camden Town, where the Dickens Family lived in 1823." title="" /> +<span class="caption">No. 141, Bayham Street, Camden Town,<br /> +where the Dickens Family lived in 1823.</span> +</div> + +<p>Among the important works of Charles Dickens which were +wholly or partly written at Tavistock House are:—<i>Bleak +House</i>, <i>A Child's History of England</i>, <i>Hard Times</i>, <i>Little +Dorrit</i>, <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i>, <i>The Uncommercial Traveller</i>, +and <i>Great Expectations</i>. <i>All the Year Round</i> was also determined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +upon while he lived here, and the first number was +dated 30th April, 1859.</p> + +<p>Tavistock House is the nearest point to Camden Town, +interesting as being the place where, in 1823, at No. 16 (now +No. 141) Bayham Street, the Dickens family resided for a +short time<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> on leaving Chatham. There is an exquisite +sketch of the humble little house by Mr. Kitton in his +<i>Charles Dickens by Pen and Pencil</i>, and it is spoken of as +being "in one of the then poorest parts of the London +suburbs." We therefore proceed along Gordon Square, +and reach Gower Street. At No. 147, Gower Street, +formerly No. 4, Gower Street North, on the west side, was +once the elder Mr. Dickens's establishment. The house, +now occupied by Mr. Müller, an artificial human eye-maker +("human eyes warious," says Mr. Venus), has six rooms, +with kitchens in basement. The rooms are rather small, +each front room having two windows, which in the case of +the first floor reach from floor to ceiling. It seems to be +a comfortable house, but has no garden. There is an old-fashioned +brass knocker on the front door, probably the +original one, and there is a dancing academy next door. +(Query, Mr. Turveydrop's?) The family of the novelist, which +had removed from Bayham Street, were at this time (1823) in +such indifferent circumstances that poor Mrs. Dickens had to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +exert herself in adding to the finances by trying to teach, and +a school was opened for young children at this house, which +was decorated with a brass-plate on the door, lettered <span class="smcap">Mrs. +Dickens's Establishment</span>, a faint description of which +occurs in the fourth chapter of <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, and of +its abrupt removal "for the interests of all parties." These +facts, and also that of young Charles Dickens's own efforts +to obtain pupils for his mother, are alluded to in a letter +written by Dickens to Forster in later life:—</p> + +<p>"I left, at a great many other doors, a great many circulars +calling attention to the merits of the establishment. Yet +nobody ever came to school, nor do I ever recollect that +anybody ever proposed to come, or that the least preparation +was made to receive anybody. But I know that we got on +very badly with the butcher and baker; that very often we +had not too much for dinner; and that at last my father was +arrested."</p> + +<p>This period, subsequently most graphically described in +<i>David Copperfield</i> as the "blacking bottle period," was the +darkest in young Charles's existence; but happier times and +brighter prospects soon came to drown the recollections of +that bitter experience.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a> +<img src="images/i_063.png" width="600" height="377" alt="No. 1, Devonshire Terrace, Regent's Park.—Dickens's Residence 1839-50." title="" /> +<span class="caption">No. 1, Devonshire Terrace, Regent's Park.—Dickens's Residence 1839-50.</span> +</div> + +<p>Walking up Euston Road from Gower Street, we see St. +Pancras Church (not the old church of "Saint Pancridge" in +the Fields, by the bye, situated in the St. Pancras Road, +where Mr. Jerry Cruncher and two friends went "fishing" on +a memorable night, as recorded in <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i>, when +their proceedings, and especially those of his "honoured parent," +were watched by young Jerry), and proceed westward along +the Marylebone Road, called the New Road in Dickens's time, +past Park Crescent, Regent's Park, and do not stop until we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +reach No. 1, Devonshire Terrace. This commodious double-fronted +house, in which Dickens resided from 1839 to 1850, is +entered at the side, and the front looks into the Marylebone +Road. Maclise's beautiful sketch of the house (made in 1840), +as given in Forster's <i>Life</i>, shows the windows of the lower and +first floor rooms as largely bowed, while over the top flat of +one of the former is a protective iron-work covering, thus +allowing the children to come out of their nursery on the +third floor freely to enjoy the air and watch the passers-by. +In the sketch Maclise has characteristically put in a shuttlecock +just over the wall, as though the little ones were playing +in the garden. Forster calls it "a handsome house with a +garden of considerable size, shut out from the New Road by +a brick wall, facing the York Gate into Regent's Park;" and +Dickens himself admitted it to be "a house of great promise +(and great premium), undeniable situation, and excessive +splendour." That he loved it well is shown by the passage in +a letter which he addressed to Forster, "in full view of +Genoa's perfect bay," when about to commence <i>The Chimes</i> +(1844); he says:—"Never did I stagger so upon a threshold +before. I seem as if I had plucked myself out of my proper +soil when I left Devonshire Terrace, and could take root no +more until I return to it. . . . Did I tell you how many +fountains we have here? No matter. If they played nectar, +they wouldn't please me half so well as the West Middlesex +water-works at Devonshire Terrace."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jonathan Clark, who resides here, kindly shows us +over the house, which contains thirteen rooms. The polished +mahogany doors in the hall, and the chaste Italian marble +mantel-pieces in the principal rooms, are said to have been +put up by the novelist. On the ground floor, the smaller<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +room to the eastward of the house, with window facing +north and looking into the pleasant garden where the plane +trees and turf are beautifully green, is pointed out as having +been his study.</p> + +<p>Mr. Benjamin Lillie, of 70, High Street, Marylebone, +plumber and painter, remembers Mr. Dickens coming to +Devonshire Terrace. He did a good deal of work for him +while he lived there, and afterwards, when he removed to +Tavistock House, including the fitting up of the library +shelves and the curious counterfeit book-backs, made to +conceal the backs of the doors. He also removed the furniture +to Tavistock House, and subsequently to Gad's Hill +Place. He spoke of the interest which Mr. Dickens used to +take in the work generally, and said he would stand for hours +with his back to the fire looking at the workmen. In the +summer time he used to lie on the lawn with his pocket-handkerchief +over his face, and when thoughts occurred to him, +he would go into his study, and after making notes, would +resume his position on the lawn. On the next page we give +an illustration of the courteous and precise manner—not +without a touch of humour—in which he issued his orders.</p> + +<p>Here it was that Dickens's favourite ravens were kept, in +a stable on the south side of the garden, one of which died +in 1841, it was supposed from the effects of paint, or owing +to "a malicious butcher," who had been heard to say that he +"would do for him." His death is described by Dickens in +a long passage which thus concludes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"On the clock striking twelve he appeared slightly agitated, but +he soon recovered, walked twice or thrice along the coach-house, +stopped to bark, staggered, exclaimed, '<i>Holloa, old girl!</i>' (his +favourite expression), and died."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 514px;"> +<img src="images/i_066.png" width="514" height="600" alt="Letter to Mr. Lillie. Friday Tenth May 1861" title="" /> +</div> + + +<p>In an interesting letter addressed to Mr. Angus Fletcher, +recently in the possession of Mr. Arthur Hailstone of +Manchester, Dickens further describes the event:—"Suspectful +of a butcher who had been heard to threaten, I had the body +opened. There were no traces of poison, and it appeared he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +died of influenza. He has left considerable property, chiefly +in cheese and halfpence, buried in different parts of the +garden. The new raven (I have a new one, but he is comparatively +of weak intellect) administered to his effects, and +turns up something every day. The last piece of <i>bijouterie</i> +was a hammer of considerable size, supposed to have been +stolen from a vindictive carpenter, who had been heard to +speak darkly of vengeance down the mews."</p> + +<p>Maclise on hearing the news sent to Forster a letter, and +a pen-and-ink sketch, being the famous "Apotheosis." The +second raven died in 1845, probably from "having indulged +the same illicit taste for putty and paint, which had been fatal +to his predecessor." Dickens says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Voracity killed him, as it did Scott's; he died unexpectedly by +the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the last upon the meat as it +roasted, and suddenly turned over on his back with a sepulchral cry +of '<i>Cuckoo!</i>'"</p></div> + +<p>These ravens were of course the two "great originals" of +which Grip in <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> was the "compound." There +was a third raven at Gad's Hill, but he "gave no evidence +of ever cultivating his mind." The novelist's remarkable +partiality for ravens called forth at the time the preposterous +rumour that "Dickens had gone raving (raven) mad."</p> + +<p>Here Longfellow visited Dickens in 1841, and thus referred +to his visit:—"I write this from Dickens's study, the focus +from which so many luminous things have radiated. The +raven croaks in the garden, and the ceaseless roar of London +fills my ears."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 502px;"><a name="raven" id="raven"></a> +<img src="images/i_068.png" width="502" height="600" alt="Apotheosis of "Grip" the Raven. Drawn by D. Maclise, R.A." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Apotheosis of "Grip" the Raven. Drawn by D. Maclise, R.A.</span> +</div> + +<p>Dickens lived longer at Devonshire Terrace than he did +at any other of his London homes, and a great deal of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +best work was done here, including <i>Master Humphrey's +Clock</i> (I. <i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>, II. <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>), +<i>American Notes</i>, <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, <i>A Christmas Carol</i>, <i>The +Cricket on the Hearth</i>, <i>Dombey and Son</i>, <i>The Haunted Man</i>, +and <i>David Copperfield</i>. <i>The Battle of Life</i> was written at +Geneva in 1846. All these were published from his twenty-eighth +to his thirty-eighth year; and <i>Household Words</i>, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +famous weekly popular serial of varied high-class literature, +was determined upon here, the first number being issued on +30th March, 1850.</p> + +<p>From Devonshire Terrace we pass along High Street, and +turn into Devonshire Street, which leads into Harley Street, +minutely described in <i>Little Dorrit</i> as the street wherein +resided the great financier and "master-spirit" Mr. Merdle, +who entertained "Bar, Bishop, and the Barnacle family" at +the "Patriotic conference" recorded in the same work, in +his noble mansion there, and he subsequently perishes "in +the warm baths, in the neighbouring street"—as one may +say—in the luxuriant style in which he had always lived.</p> + +<p>Harley Street leads us into Oxford Street, and a pleasant +ride outside an omnibus—which, as everybody knows, is the +best way of seeing London—takes us to Hyde Park Place, +a row of tall stately houses facing Hyde Park. Here at +No. 5, (formerly Mr. Milner Gibson's town residence) Charles +Dickens temporarily resided during the winter months of +1869, and occasionally until May 1870, during his readings +at St. James's Hall, and while he was engaged on <i>Edwin +Drood</i>, part of which was written here; this being illustrative +of Dickens's power of concentrating his thoughts even near +the rattle of a public thoroughfare. In a letter addressed +to Mr. James T. Fields from this house, under date of 14th +January, 1870, he says:—"We live here (opposite the Marble +Arch) in a charming house until the 1st of June, and then +return to Gad's. . . . I have a large room here with three +fine windows over-looking the park—unsurpassable for +airiness and cheerfulness."</p> + +<p>A similar public conveyance takes us back to Morley's by +way of Regent Street, about the middle of which, on the west<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +side, is New Burlington Street, containing, at No. 8, the well-known +publishing office of Messrs. Richard Bentley and Son, +whose once celebrated magazine, <i>Bentley's Miscellany</i>, Dickens +edited for a period of two years and two months, terminating, +1838, on his resignation of the editorship to Mr. W. Harrison +Ainsworth; and we also pass lower down, at the bottom of +Waterloo Place, that most select of clubs, "The Athenæum," +at the corner of Pall Mall, of which Dickens was elected a +member in 1838, and from which, on the 20th May, 1870, he +wrote his last letter to his son, Mr. Alfred Tennyson Dickens, +in Australia; and a tenderly loving letter it is, indicating the +harmonious relations between father and son. It expresses +the hope that the two (Alfred and "Plorn") "may become +proprietors," and "aspire to the first positions in the colony +without casting off the old connection," and thus concludes:—"From +Mr. Bear I had the best accounts of you. I told him +that they did not surprise me, for I had unbounded faith +in you. For which take my love and blessing." Sad to say, +a note to this (the last in the series of published letters) +states:—"This letter did not reach Australia until after these +two sons of Charles Dickens had heard, by telegraph, the +news of their father's death."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> +<p>At Morley's we refresh ourselves with Mr. Sam Weller's +idea of a nice little dinner, consisting of "pair of fowls and a +weal cutlet; French beans, taturs, tart and tidiness;" and +then depart for Victoria Station, to take train by the London, +Chatham and Dover Railway to Rochester.</p> + +<p>The weather forecast issued by that most valuable institution, +the Meteorological Office (established since Mr. +Pickwick's days, in which doubtless as a scientist and +traveller he would have taken great interest), was verified to +the letter, and we had "thunder locally." On our way down +Parliament Street, we pass Inigo Jones's once splendid +Whitehall—now looking very insignificant as compared with +its grand neighbours the Government Offices opposite—remembering +Mr. Jingle's joke about Whitehall, which seems to +have been Dickens's first thought of "King Charles's head":—"Looking +at Whitehall, Sir—fine place—little window—somebody +else's head off there, eh, Sir?—he didn't keep a +sharp look out enough either—eh, Sir, eh?"</p> + +<p>We also pass "The Red Lion," No. 48, Parliament Street, +"at the corner of the very short street leading into Cannon +Row," where David Copperfield ordered a glass of the very +best ale—"The Genuine Stunning with a good head to it"—at +twopence half-penny the glass, but the landlord hesitated +to draw it, and gave him a glass of some which he suspected +was <i>not</i> the "genuine stunning"; and the landlady coming +into the bar returned his money, and gave him a "kiss that +was half-admiring and half-compassionate, but all womanly +and good [he says], I'm sure."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_072.png" width="500" height="397" alt=""My magnificent order at the Public House" (vide "David Copperfield")." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"My magnificent order at the Public House" (vide "David Copperfield").</span> +</div> + +<p>The Horse-Guards' clock is the last noteworthy object, and +reminds us that Mark Tapley noticed the time there, on the +occasion of his last meeting with Mary Graham in St. James's +Park, before starting for America. It also reminds us of Mr. +Micawber's maxim, "Procrastination is the thief of time—collar +him;"—a few minutes afterwards we are comfortably seated +in the train, and can defy the storm, which overtakes us +precisely in the manner described in <i>The Old Curiosity +Shop:</i>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It had been gradually getting overcast, and now the sky was +dark and lowering, save where the glory of the departing sun piled +up masses of gold and burning fire, decaying embers of which +gleamed here and there through the black veil, and shone redly +down upon the earth. The wind began to moan in hollow murmurs, +as the sun went down, carrying glad day elsewhere; and a train of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +dull clouds coming up against it menaced thunder and lightning. +Large drops of rain soon began to fall, and, as the storm clouds +came sailing onward, others supplied the void they left behind, and +spread over all the sky. Then was heard the low rumbling of +distant thunder, then the lightning quivered, and then the darkness +of an hour seemed to have gathered in an instant."</p></div> + +<p>We pass Dulwich,—where Mr. Snodgrass and Emily +Wardle were married,—a fact that recalls kindly recollections +of Mr. Pickwick and his retirement there, as recorded in the +closing pages of the <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, where he is described +as "employing his leisure hours in arranging the memoranda +which he afterwards presented to the secretary of the once +famous club, or in hearing Sam Weller read aloud, with such +remarks as suggested themselves to his mind, which never +failed to afford Mr. Pickwick great amusement." He is +subsequently described as "somewhat infirm now, but he +retains all his former juvenility of spirit, and may still be +frequently seen contemplating the pictures in the Dulwich +Gallery, or enjoying a walk about the pleasant neighbourhood +on a fine day."</p> + +<p>Although it is but a short distance—under thirty miles—to +Rochester, the journey seems tedious, as the "iron-horse" does +not keep pace with the pleasurable feelings of eager expectation +afloat in our minds on this our first visit to "Dickens-Land"; +it is therefore with joyful steps that we leave the train, +and, the storm having passed away, find ourselves in the cool +of the summer evening on the platform of Strood and +Rochester Bridge Station.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>ROCHESTER CITY.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"The silent High Street of Rochester is full of gables, with old beams +and timbers carved into strange faces. It is oddly garnished with a +queer old clock that projects over the pavement out of a grave red +brick building, as if Time carried on business there, and hung out his +sign."—<i>The Seven Poor Travellers.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"The town was glad with morning light."—<i>The Old Curiosity Shop.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Mudfog</span>, Our Town, Dullborough, the Market Town, and +Cloisterham were the varied names that Charles Dickens +bestowed upon the "ancient city" of Rochester. Every reader +of his works knows how well he loved it in early youth, and +how he returned to it with increased affection during the +years of his ripened wisdom. Among the first pages of the +first chapter of Forster's <i>Life</i> we find references to it:—"That +childhood exaggerates what it sees, too, has he not tenderly +told? How he thought that the Rochester High-street must +be at least as wide as Regent Street which he afterwards discovered +to be little better than a lane; how the public clock +in it, supposed to be the finest clock in the world, turned out to +be as moon-faced and weak a clock as a man's eyes ever saw; +and how in its Town Hall, which had appeared to him once +so glorious a structure that he had set it up in his mind as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +the model from which the genie of the Lamp built the palace +for Aladdin, he had painfully to recognize a mere mean little +heap of bricks, like a chapel gone demented. Yet, not so +painfully either when second thoughts wisely came. 'Ah! +who was I, [he says] that I should quarrel with the town +for being changed to me, when I myself had come back, so +changed, to it? All my early readings and early imaginations +dated from this place, and I took them away so full +of innocent construction and guileless belief, and I brought +them back so worn and torn, so much the wiser and so much +the worse!'"</div> + +<p>It would occupy too much space in this narrative to +adequately give even a brief historical sketch of the City of +Rochester, which is twenty-nine miles from London, situated +on the river Medway, and stands on the chalk on the margin +of the London basin; but we think lovers of Dickens will +not object to a recapitulation of a few of the most noteworthy +circumstances which have happened here, and which are not +touched upon in the chapters relating to the Castle and +Cathedral.</p> + +<p>According to the eminent local antiquary, Mr. Roach +Smith, F.S.A., the name of the city has been thus evolved:—"The +ceastre or chester is a Saxon affix to the Romano-British +(DU)RO. The first two letters being dropped in +sound, it became Duro or Dro, and then ROchester, and it +was the Roman station Durobrovis." The ancient Britons +called it "Dur-brif," and the Saxons "Hrofe-ceastre"—Horf's +castle, of which appellation some people think Rochester is a +corruption.</p> + +<p>Rochester is a place of great antiquity, and so far back as +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 600 it seems to have been a walled city. Remains of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +the mediæval Wall exist in very perfect condition, at the +back of the Eagle Inn in High Street, and in other parts of +the city. In 676 Rochester was plundered by Ethelred, +King of Mercia; and in 884 the Danes sailed up the Medway +and besieged it, but were effectually repulsed by King Alfred. +About 930, when three Mints were established there by +Athelstan, it had grown to be one of the principal ports of +the kingdom. William the Conqueror gave the town to his +half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Fires in 1130 and 1137 +nearly destroyed it.</p> + +<p>Not a few royal and distinguished personages have visited +Rochester on various occasions, among others Henry VIII., +who came there in 1522, accompanied by the Emperor +Charles V. Queen Elizabeth came in 1573, when she stayed +five days, and attended the Cathedral service on Sunday. +She came again in 1583, with the Duke of Anjou, and showed +him her "mighty ships of war lying at Chatham." King +James I. also visited the city in 1604 and 1606. On the +latter occasion His Majesty, who was accompanied by +Christian IV., King of Denmark, attended the Cathedral, and +afterwards inspected the Navy. Charles II. paid it a visit +just before the restoration in 1660, and again subsequently. +It is believed that on both occasions he stayed at Restoration +House (the "Satis House" of <i>Great Expectations</i>) hereafter +referred to. Mr. Richard Head presented His Majesty with +a silver ewer and basin on the occasion of the restoration. +James II. came down to the quiet old city December 19th, +1688, and sojourned with Sir Richard Head for a week at +a house (now No. 46 High Street), from whence he ignominiously +escaped to France by a smack moored off Sheerness. +Mr. Stephen T. Aveling mentioned to us that "it is curious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +that Charles the Second 'came to his own' in Rochester, and +that James the Second 'skedaddled' from the same city."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +Her Majesty when Princess Victoria stayed at the Bull Inn +in 1836 for a night with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, +on their way from Dover to London. It was a very +tempestuous night, some of the balustrades of Rochester +Bridge having been blown into the river, and the Royal +Princess was advised not to attempt to cross the bridge.</p> + +<p>"On the last day of June 1667 (says Mr. W. Brenchley +Rye in his pleasant <i>Visits to Rochester</i>), Mr. Samuel Pepys, +after examining the defences at Chatham shortly after the +disastrous expedition by the Dutch up the Medway, walked +into Rochester Cathedral, but he had no mind to stay to the +service, . . . 'afterwards strolled into the fields, a fine walk, +and there saw Sir F. Clarke's house (Restoration House), +which is a pretty seat, and into the Cherry Garden, and here +met with a young, plain, silly shopkeeper and his wife, a +pretty young woman, and I did kiss her!'" David Garrick +was living at Rochester in 1737, for the purpose of receiving +instruction in mathematics, etc., from Mr. Colson. In 1742, +Hogarth visited the city, in that celebrated peregrination +with his four friends, and played hop-scotch in the courtyard +of the Guildhall. Dr. Johnson came here in 1783, and +"returned to London by water in a common boat, landing at +Billingsgate."</p> + +<p>The city formerly possessed many ancient charters and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +privileges granted to the citizens, but these were superseded +by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.</p> + +<p>The Guildhall, "marked by a gilt ship aloft,"—"where the +mayor and corporation assemble together in solemn council +for the public weal,"—is "a substantial and very suitable +structure of brick, supported by stone columns in the Doric +order," and was erected in 1687. It has several fine portraits +by Sir Godfrey Kneller and other eminent painters, including +those of King William III., Queen Anne, Sir Cloudesley +Shovell, Richard Watts, M.P., and others. The Corporation +also possess many interesting and valuable city regalia, +namely, a large silver-gilt mace (1661), silver loving-cup +(1719), silver oar and silver-gilt ornaments (typical of the +Admiralty jurisdiction of the Corporation) (1748), two small +maces of silver (1767), sword (1871—the Mayor being +Constable of the Castle), and chain and badges of gold and +enamel (1875), the last-mentioned commemorating many +historical incidents connected with the city.</p> + +<p>Emerging from the railway station of the London, Chatham +and Dover Company at Strood, a drive of a few minutes (over +the bridge) brings us to the first object of our pilgrimage, +the "Bull Inn,"—we beg pardon, the "Royal Victoria and +Bull Hotel,"—in High Street, Rochester, which was visited +by Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Tupman, Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Winkle, +and their newly-made friend, Mr. Jingle, on the 13th May, +1827. Our cabman is so satisfied with his fare ("only a bob's +worth"), that he does not, as one of his predecessors did, +on a very remarkable occasion, "fling the money on the +pavement, and request in figurative terms to be allowed the +pleasure of fighting us for the amount," which circumstance +we take to be an improving sign of the times.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + +<p>Changed in name, but not in condition, it seems scarcely +possible that we stand under the gateway of the charming old +inn that we have known from our boyhood, when first we +read our <i>Pickwick</i>, what time the two green leaves of <i>Martin +Chuzzlewit</i> were putting forth monthly, and when the name +of Charles Dickens, although familiar, had not become the +"household word" to us, and to the world, that it is now.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_079.png" width="500" height="424" alt="Bull Inn Rochester Good house Nice beds. vide Pickwick." title="" /> +</div> + +<p>We look round for evidence—"Good house, nice beds"—"(vide +<i>Pickwick</i>)" appear on the two sign-boards fixed on +either side of the entrance-gate. Only then are we quite +sure our driver has not made a mistake and taken us to +"Wright's next door," which every reader of <i>Pickwick</i> +knows, on the authority of Mr. Jingle, "was dear—very dear—half +a crown in the bill if you look at the waiter—charge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +you more if you dine out at a friend's than they would if you +dined in the coffee-room—rum fellows—very."</p> + +<p>Haunches of venison, saddles of mutton, ribs of beef, York +hams, fowls and ducks, hang over our heads in the capacious +covered gateway; cold viands are seen in a glass cupboard +opposite, and silently promise that some good fare, like that +which regaled Mr. Pickwick and his friends, is still to be +found at the Bull. In the distance is seen the large old-fashioned +coach-yard, surrounded by odd buildings, which on +market days (Tuesdays) is crowded with all sorts of vehicles +ancient and modern. On our right is the kitchen, "brilliant +with glowing coals and rows of shining copper lying well +open to view."</p> + +<p>By the kindness of Mr. Richard Prall, the town-clerk, beds +have been secured for us, and the landlord meets us at the +door with a hearty welcome. We are conducted to our rooms +on the second floor looking front, on reaching which a strange +feeling takes possession of us. Surely we have been here +before? Not a bit of it! But the bedrooms are nevertheless +familiar to us; we see it all in a minute—the writer's apartment +is Mr. Tupman's, and his friend's is Mr. Winkle's!</p> + +<p>"Winkle's bedroom is inside mine," said Mr. Tupman, after +that delightful dinner of "soles, broiled fowl, and mushrooms," +in the private sitting-room at the Bull, when all the other +Pickwickians had, "after the cosy couple of hours succeeding +dinner, more or less succumbed to the somniferous influence +which the wine had exerted over them," and he and Mr. +Jingle alone remained wakeful, and were discussing the idea +of attending the forthcoming ball in the evening.</p> + +<p>It is an unexpected and pleasant coincidence that we are +located in these two rooms, and altogether a good omen for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +our tramp generally. They are numbered 13 and 19, and the +reason why the numbers are not consecutive is because 19 +(Mr. Winkle's room) is also approached by a back staircase. +Mr. Pickwick's room, as befitted his years and his dignity as +G.C.M.P.C., is a larger room, and is number 17. They are all +comfortable chambers, with "nice beds."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_081.png" width="500" height="393" alt="Staircase at "The Bull"" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The principal staircase of the Bull, which is almost wide +enough to drive a carriage and four up it, remains exactly +as it was in Mr. Pickwick's days, as described by Dickens and +delineated by Seymour. We could almost fancy we witnessed +the memorable scene depicted in the illustration, where the +irascible Dr. Slammer confronts the imperturbable Jingle. +The staircase has on its walls a large number of pictures and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +engravings, some curious and valuable, a few of which are +of purely local interest. A series of oil paintings represent +the costumes of all nations. There is a copy of "The Empty +Chair," from the drawing of Mr. Luke Fildes, R.A., and also +one of the scarce proof lithographs of "Dickens as Captain +Bobadil," after the painting by C. R. Leslie, R.A.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lawrence informed us that some years ago "The +Owl Club" held its meetings at the Bull—a social club, reminding +us strongly of one of the early papers in <i>Bentley's +Miscellany</i>, illustrated by George Cruikshank, entitled the +"Harmonious Owls," which has recently been reprinted in +the collection called <i>Old Miscellany Days</i>, in which paper, by +the bye, are several names from Dickens.</p> + +<p>In one of the cheerful private sitting-rooms, of which there +are many, we find a portrait of Dickens that is new to us. +Never have we seen one that so vividly reproduced the +novelist as one of us saw him, and heard him read, in the +Town Hall at Birmingham, on the 10th of May, 1866. It is a +vignette photograph by Watkins, coloured by Mr. J. Hopper, +a local artist, representing the face of the novelist in full, +wearing afternoon dress—black coat, and white shirt-front, with +gold studs—the attitude being perfectly natural and unconstrained, +and a pleasant calm upon the otherwise firm features. +The high forehead is surmounted by the well-remembered +single curl of brown hair, the sole survival of those profuse +locks which grace Maclise's beautiful portrait. The bright +blue eyes, with the light reflected on the pupils like diamonds, +seem to follow one in every direction. The lines, of course, +are marked, but not too strongly; and the faint hectic flush +which was apparent in later years—notably when we saw him +again in Birmingham in 1869—shows signs of development.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +The beard hides the neck, and the white collar is conspicuous. +Altogether it is one of the most successful portraits we +remember to have seen. As witness of its popularity locally, +we may mention that we saw copies of it at Major Budden's +at Gad's Hill, at the Mitre Hotel, Chatham, and at the +Leather Bottle Inn, Cobham. We are also informed that +Mr. Henry Irving gave a good sum for a copy, in the spring +of last year. Mr. Lawrence, our host, by good fortune, +happening to possess a duplicate, kindly allows us the opportunity +of purchasing it ("portable property" as Mr. Wemmick +remarks), as an addition to our Dickens collection which it +adorns. "Beautiful!" "Splendid!" "Dickens to the life!" +are the comments of friends to whom we show it, who +personally knew, or remembered, the original.</p> + +<p>Here is the ball-room, entered from the first-floor landing +of the principal staircase, and the card-room adjoining, +precisely as it was in Mr. Pickwick's days:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It was a long room with crimson-covered benches, and wax +candles in glass chandeliers. The musicians were confined in an +elevated den, and quadrilles were being systematically got through +by two or three sets of dancers. Two card-tables were made up in +the adjoining card-room, and two pair of old ladies, and a corresponding +number of old gentlemen, were executing whist therein."</p></div> + +<p>A very little stretch of the imagination carries us back +sixty years, and, <i>presto!</i> the ball-room stands before us, with +the wax candles lighted, and the room filled with the <i>élite</i> of +Chatham and Rochester society, who, acting on the principle +of "that general benevolence which was one of the leading +features of the Pickwickian theory," had given their support to +that "ball for the benefit of a charity," then being held there, +and which was attended by Mr. Tracy Tupman, in his new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +dress-coat with the P. C. button and bust of Mr. Pickwick in +the centre, and by Mr. Jingle, in the borrowed garments of +the same nature belonging to Mr. Winkle.</p> + +<p>"P. C.," said the stranger.—"Queer set out—old fellow's +likeness and 'P. C.'—What does 'P. C.' stand for? 'Peculiar +Coat,' eh?" Imagine the "rising indignation" and impatience +of Mr. Tupman, as with "great importance" he explains the +mystic device!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_084.png" width="500" height="384" alt="The "Elevated Den" in the Ball Room: ("Bull" Inn)" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Everybody remembers how, declining the usual introduction, +the two entered the ball-room <i>incog.</i>, as "Gentlemen +from London—distinguished foreigners—anything;" how Mr. +Jingle said in reply to Mr. Tupman's remark, "Wait a +minute—fun presently—nobs not come yet—queer place—Dock-yard +people of upper rank don't know Dock-yard people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +of lower rank—Dock-yard people of lower rank don't know +small gentry—small gentry don't know tradespeople—Commissioner +don't know anybody."</p> + +<p>The "man at the door,"—the local M.C.,—announces the +arrivals.</p> + +<p>"Sir Thomas Clubber, Lady Clubber, and the Miss +Clubbers!" "Commissioner—head of the yard—great man—remarkably +great man," whispers the stranger in Mr. +Tupman's ear.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Bulder, Mrs. Colonel Bulder, and Miss Bulder," +are announced. "Head of the garrison," says Mr. Jingle. +"They exchanged snuff-boxes [how old-fashioned it appears +to us who don't take snuff], and looked very much like a +pair of Alexander Selkirks—Monarchs of all they surveyed."</p> + +<p>More arrivals are announced, and dancing begins in earnest; +but the most interesting one to us is Dr. Slammer—"a little +fat man, with a ring of upright black hair round his head, +and an extensive bald plain on the top of it—Dr. Slammer, +surgeon to the 97th, who is agreeable to everybody, especially +to the Widow Budger.—'Lots of money—old girl—pompous +doctor—not a bad idea—good fun,' says the stranger. 'I'll +dance with her—cut out the doctor—here goes.'" Then comes +the flirtation, the dancing, the negus and biscuits, the coquetting, +the leading of Mrs. Budger to her carriage. The volcano +bursts with terrific energy. . . .</p> + +<p>"'You—you're a shuffler, sir,' gasps the furious doctor, 'a +poltroon—a coward—a liar—a—a—will nothing induce you +to give me your card, sir?'" and in the morning comes the +challenge to the duel. It all passes before our delighted +mental vision, as we picture the circumstances recorded in +the beloved <i>Pickwick</i> of our youth upwards.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here also is the bar, just opposite the coffee-room, where +the "Tickets for the Ball" were purchased by Mr. Tupman +for himself and Mr. Jingle at "half a guinea each" (Mr. +Jingle having won the toss), and where Dr. Slammer's friend +subsequently made inquiry for "the owner of the coat, who +arrived here, with three gentlemen, yesterday afternoon." We +find it to be a very cosy and comfortable bar-room too, +wherein we subsequently enjoy many a social pipe and +pleasant chat with its friendly frequenters, reminding us of +the old tavern-life as described in Dr. Johnson's days.</p> + +<p>The coffee-room of the Bull, in which we take our supper, +remains unaltered since the days of the Pickwickians. It +is on the left-hand side as we enter the hotel from the +covered gateway—not very large, but warm and comfortable, +with three windows looking into the High Street. Many +scenes in the novels have taken place in this memorable +apartment—in fact, it is quite historical, from a Dickensian +point of view.</p> + +<p>Here it was that the challenge to the duel from Dr. +Slammer to Mr. Winkle was delivered; and, when Mr. +Winkle appeared, in response to the call of the boots, that +"a gentleman in the coffee-room" wanted to see him, and +would not detain him a moment, but would take no denial, +"an old woman and a couple of waiters were cleaning the +coffee-room, and an officer in undress uniform was looking +out of the window." Here also the Pickwickians assembled +on that eventful morning when the party set out, three in a +chaise and one on horseback, for Dingley Dell, and encountered +such dire mishaps. "Mr. Pickwick had made his +preliminary arrangements, and was looking over the coffee-room +blinds at the passengers in the High Street, when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +waiter entered, and announced that the chaise was ready—an +announcement which the vehicle itself confirmed, by forthwith +appearing before the coffee-room blinds aforesaid." +Subsequently, as they prepare to start, "'Wo-o!' cried Mr. +Pickwick, as the tall quadruped evinced a decided inclination +to back into the coffee-room window."</p> + +<p>It is highly probable that the descriptions of "the little +town of Great Winglebury," and "the Winglebury Arms," in +"The Great Winglebury Duel" of the <i>Sketches by Boz</i>, one of +the earliest works of the novelist, refer to the city of Rochester +and the Bull Inn, for they fit in very well in many respects, +although it <i>is</i> stated therein that "the little town of Great +Winglebury is exactly forty-two miles and three-quarters from +Hyde Park Corner."</p> + +<p>The Blue Boar mentioned in <i>Great Expectations</i>—one of +the most original, touching, and dramatic of Dickens's novels—is +indubitably the Bull Hotel. Although there is an inn +in High Street, Rochester, called the Blue Boar, its description +does not at all correspond with the text. We find +several instances like this, where, probably for purposes of +concealment, the real identity of places and persons is +masked.</p> + +<p>Our first introduction to the Blue Boar is on the occasion +of Pip's being bound apprentice to Joe Gargery, the premium +for whom was paid out of the twenty-five guineas given to +Pip by Miss Havisham. Pip's sister "became so excited by +the twenty-five guineas, that nothing would serve but we must +have a dinner out of that windfall at the Blue Boar, and +that Pumblechook must go over in his chaise cart, and bring +the Hubbles and Mr. Wopsle." The dinner is duly disposed +of, and although poor Pip was frequently enjoined to "enjoy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +himself," he certainly failed to do so on this occasion. "Among +the festivities indulged in rather late in the evening," says +Pip, "Mr. Wopsle gave us <i>Collins's Ode</i>, and 'threw his +blood-stain'd sword in thunder down,' with such effect, that +a waiter came in and said 'The Commercials underneath sent +up their compliments, and it wasn't the Tumblers' Arms!'" +from which we gather that the said dinner took place in a +private sitting-room (No. 3) over the commercial room, on +the opposite side of the gateway to the coffee-room.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that on Pip's attaining "the second +stage of his expectations," Pumblechook had grown very +obsequious and fawning to him—pressed him to take refreshment, +as who should say, "But, my dear young friend, +you must be hungry, you must be exhausted. Be seated. +Here is a chicken had round from the Boar, here is a tongue +had round from the Boar, here's one or two little things had +round from the Boar that I hope you may not despise. +'But do I,' said Mr. Pumblechook, getting up again the +moment after he had sat down, 'see afore me him as I ever +sported with in his times of happy infancy? And may I—<i>may</i> +I—?' This 'May I?' meant might he shake hands? +I consented, and he was fervent, and then sat down again."</p> + +<p>Returning to the coffee-room, we discover it was the +identical apartment in which the unexpected and very peculiar +meeting took place between Pip and "the spider," Bentley +Drummle, "the sulky and red-looking young man, of a heavy +order of architecture," both "Finches of the Grove," and +rivals for the hand of Estella. Each stands shoulder to +shoulder against the fire-place, and, but for Pip's forbearance, +an explosion must have taken place.</p> + +<p>Through the same coffee-room windows, poor Pip looks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +under the reverses of his great expectations in consequence of +the discovery and subsequent death of his patron. The "servile +Pumblechook," who appears here uninvited, again changes +his manner and conduct, becoming ostentatiously compassionate +and forgiving, as he had been meanly servile in the time +of Pip's new prosperity, thus:—"'Young man, I am sorry to +see you brought low, but what else could be expected! what +else could be expected! . . . This is him . . . as I have rode +in my shay-cart; this is him as I have seen brought up by +hand; this is him untoe the sister of which I was uncle by +marriage, as her name was Georgiana M'ria from her own +mother, let him deny it if he can.' . . ."</p> + +<p>Dickens takes leave of the Blue Boar, in the last chapter +of the work, in these words:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The tidings of my high fortunes having had a heavy fall, had got +down to my native place and its neighbourhood, before I got there. +I found the Blue Boar in possession of the intelligence, and I found +that it made a great change in the Boar's demeanour. Whereas the +Boar had cultivated my good opinion with warm assiduity when I +was coming into property, the Boar was exceedingly cool on the +subject now that I was going out of property.</p> + +<p>"It was evening when I arrived, much fatigued by the journey I +had so often made so easily. The Boar could not put me into my +usual bedroom, which was engaged,—probably by some one who had +expectations,—and could only assign me a very indifferent chamber +among the pigeons and post-chaises up the yard. But, I had as +sound a sleep in that lodging as in the most superior accommodation +the Boar could have given me, and the quality of my dreams was +about the same as in the best bedroom."</p></div> + +<p>The visitors' book in the coffee-room, at the Bull—we +never shall call it "The Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel"—abounds +with complimentary remarks on the hospitable treatment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +received by its guests; and there are several poetical +effusions, inspired by the classic nature of "Dickens-Land." +One of these, under date of the 18th September, 1887, is +worth recording:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"The man who knows his Dickens as he should,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Enjoys a double pleasure in this place;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He loves to walk its ancient streets, and trace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The scenes where Dickens' characters have stood.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He reads <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In Jasper's Gatehouse, and, with Tope as guide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Explores the old cathedral, Durdles' pride;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Descends into the Crypt, and even would</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ascend the Tower by moonlight, thence to see</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Fair Cloisterham reposing at his feet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And passing out, he almost hopes to meet</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Crisparkle and the white-haired Datchery.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The gifted writer 'sleeps among our best</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And noblest' in our Minster of the West;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yet still he lives in this, his favourite scene,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Which for all time shall keep his memory green."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="bridge" id="bridge"></a> +<img src="images/i_091.png" width="500" height="398" alt="Old Rochester Bridge" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>We follow Mr. Pickwick's example as regards early rising, +and, taking a turn before breakfast, find ourselves on Rochester +Bridge. Nature has not much changed since the memorable +visit of that "truly great man," who in the original announcement +of <i>The Pickwick Papers</i> is stated with his companions +to have "fearlessly crossed the turbid Medway in an open +boat;" but the march of civilization has effaced the old +bridge, and lo! three bridges stand in the place thereof. The +beautiful stone structure (temp. Edward III.) which Mr. +Pickwick leant over, having become unsuitable, was blown up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +by the Royal Engineers in 1856, and a handsome iron bridge +erected in its place. The débris was removed by Mr. J. H. +Ball, the contractor, who presented Dickens with one of the +balustrades, others having been utilized to form the coping +of the embankment of the esplanade under the castle walls. +The iron bridge was built by Messrs. Fox and Henderson, +the foundations being laid in 1850. The machinery constituting +"the swing-bridge or open ship canal (fifty feet +wide) at the Strood end is very beautiful; the entire weight +to be moved is two hundred tons, yet the bridge is readily +swung by two men at a capstan." So says one of the Guide +Books, but as a matter of fact we find that it is not now used! +The other two bridges (useful, but certainly not ornamental) +belong to the respective railway companies which have +systems through Rochester, and absolutely shut out every +prospect below stream. What <i>would</i> Mr. Pickwick say, if his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +spirit ever visited the ancient city? Nevertheless, we realize +for the first time, with all its freshness and beauty (although +perhaps a little marred by the smoke of the lime-kilns, and +by the "Medway coal trade," in which it will be remembered +Mr. Micawber was temporarily interested, and which "he +came down to see"), the charm of the prospect which Dickens +describes, and which Mr. Pickwick saw, in the opening of the +fifth chapter of the immortal <i>Posthumous Papers:</i>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Bright and pleasant was the sky, balmy the air, and beautiful the +appearance of every object around, as Mr. Pickwick leant over the +balustrades of Rochester Bridge, contemplating nature, and waiting +for breakfast. The scene was indeed one, which might well have +charmed a far less reflective mind, than that to which it was presented.</p> + +<p>"On the left of the spectator lay the ruined wall, broken in many +places, and in some, overhanging the narrow beach below in rude and +heavy masses. Huge knots of sea-weed hung upon the jagged and +pointed stones, trembling in every breath of wind; and the green ivy +clung mournfully round the dark and ruined battlements. Behind it +rose the ancient castle, its towers roofless, and its massive walls +crumbling away, but telling us proudly of its old might and strength, +as when, seven hundred years ago, it rang with the clash of arms, or +resounded with the noise of feasting and revelry. On either side, the +banks of the Medway, covered with corn-fields and pastures, with +here and there a windmill, or a distant church, stretched away as far +as the eye could see, presenting a rich and varied landscape, rendered +more beautiful by the changing shadows which passed swiftly across +it, as the thin and half-formed clouds skimmed away in the light of +the morning sun. The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, +glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on; and the oars of +the fishermen dipped into the water with a clear and liquid sound, as +their heavy but picturesque boats glided slowly down the stream."</p></div> + +<p>It was over the same old bridge that poor Pip was pursued +by that "unlimited miscreant" Trabb's boy in the days of his +"great expectations." He says:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Words cannot state the amount of aggravation and injury +wreaked upon me by Trabb's boy, when, passing abreast of me, +he pulled up his shirt-collar, twined his side hair, stuck an arm +akimbo, and smirked extravagantly by, wriggling his elbows and +body, and drawling to his attendants: 'Don't know yah; don't +know yah, 'pon my soul, don't know yah!' The disgrace [continues +Pip] attendant on his immediately afterwards taking to crowing and +pursuing me across the bridge with crows, as from an exceedingly +dejected fowl who had known me when I was a blacksmith, culminated +the disgrace with which I left the town, and was, so to speak, +ejected by it into the open country."</p></div> + +<p>There is generally a stiff breeze blowing on the bridge, and +the fact may probably have suggested to the artist the positions +of the characters in the river scene, one of the plates of +<i>Edwin Drood</i>, where Mr. Crisparkle is holding his hat on +with much tenacity. One other reference to the bridge occurs +in the <i>Seven Poor Travellers</i>, where Richard Doubledick, in +the year 1799, "limped over the bridge here with half a shoe +to his dusty foot on his way to Chatham."</p> + +<p>After a Pickwickian breakfast in the coffee-room of "broiled +ham, eggs, tea, coffee, and sundries," we take a stroll up the +High Street. We do not know what the feelings of other +pilgrims in "Dickens-Land" may have been on the occasion +of a first visit, but we are quite sure that to us it is a perfect +revelation to ramble along this quaint street of "the ancient +city," returning by way of Star Hill through the Vines, all +crowded with associations of Charles Dickens. <i>Pickwick</i>, +<i>Great Expectations</i>, <i>Edwin Drood</i>, and many of the minor +works of the eminent novelist, had never before appeared so +clear to us—they acquire new significance. The air is full of +Dickens. At every corner, and almost at the door of every +house, we half expect to be met by one or other of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +characters who will claim acquaintance with us as their +friends or admirers. We are simply delighted, and never tire +of repeating our experience in the pleasant summer days of +our week's tramp in "Dickens-Land."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;"><a name="Guildhall" id="Guildhall"></a> +<img src="images/i_094.png" width="399" height="550" alt="The Guildhall: Rochester" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 396px;"><a name="moonfaced" id="moonfaced"></a> +<img src="images/i_095.png" width="396" height="500" alt="The "Moonfaced" Clock in High Street" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 469px;"><a name="high" id="high"></a> +<img src="images/i_096.png" width="469" height="500" alt="In High Street: Rochester" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"><a name="eastgate" id="eastgate"></a> +<img src="images/i_097.png" width="550" height="415" alt="Eastgate House" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Starting from the Bull, and walking along the somewhat +narrow but picturesque street towards Chatham,—"the streets +of Cloisterham city are little more than one narrow street by +which you get into it and get out of it: the rest being mostly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +disappointing yards with pumps in them and no thoroughfare—exception +made of the Cathedral close, and a paved Quaker +settlement, in color and general conformation very like a +Quakeress's bonnet, up in a shady corner,"—we pass in +succession the Guildhall, the City Clock, Richard Watts's +Charity, the College Gate (Jasper's Gatehouse), Eastgate +House (the Nuns' House), and, nearly opposite it, the +residence of Mr. Sapsea, which, as we ourselves discover, was +also the residence of "Uncle Pumblechook." The latter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +buildings are about a quarter of a mile from Rochester Bridge, +and are splendid examples of sixteenth-century architecture, +with carved oaken-timbered fronts and gables and latticed +bay-windows. Eastgate House—the "Nuns' House" of +<i>Edwin Drood</i>, described as "a venerable brick edifice, whose +present appellation is doubtless derived from the legend of +its conventual uses"—is especially beautiful, and its "resplendent +brass plate on the trim gate" is still so "shining +and staring." The date, 1591, is on one of the inside beams, +and the fine old place abounds with quaint cosy rooms with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +carved oak mantel-pieces, and plaster enrichments to the +ceilings, as well as mysterious back staircases and means of +exit by secret passages. Charles II. is said to have been +entertained here by Colonel Gibbons, the then owner, when +he visited Chatham and inspected the <i>Royal George;</i> but +this has been recently disputed. For many years during +this century, the house has been occupied as a Ladies' School, +and the old pianos used for practice by the pupils are there +still, the keys being worn into holes. We wonder whether +Rosa Bud and Helena Landless ever played on them! Looking +round, we half expect to witness the famous courting +scene in <i>Edwin Drood</i>, and afterwards "the matronly Tisher +to heave in sight, rustling through the room like the legendary +ghost of a dowager in silken skirts, [with her] 'I trust I disturb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +no one; but there <i>was</i> a paper-knife—Oh, thank you, I am +sure!'" An excellent local institution, called "The Rochester +Men's Institute," has its home here. The house has been +immortalized by Mr. Luke Fildes in one of the illustrations +to <i>Edwin Drood</i> ("Good-bye, Rosebud, darling!"), where, in +the front garden, the girls are cordially embracing their +charming school-fellow, and Miss Twinkleton looks on approvingly, +but perhaps regretfully, at the possible non-return +of some of the young ladies. Mrs. Tisher is saluting one +of the girls. There is a gate opening into the street, with +the lamp over it kept in position by an iron bracket, just as +it is now, heaps of ladies' luggage are scattered about, which +the housemaid and the coachman are removing to the car +outside; and one pretty girl stands in the gateway waving +a farewell to the others with her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>We feel morally certain that Eastgate House is also +the prototype of Westgate House in the <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, +although, for the purposes of the story, it is therein located +at Bury St. Edmund's. The wall surrounding the garden is +about seven feet high, and a drop from it into the garden +would be uncommonly suggestive of the scene which took +place between Sam Weller and his master in the sixteenth +chapter, on the occasion of the supposed intended elopement +of one of the young ladies of Miss Tomkins's Establishment—which +also had the "name on a brass plate on a gate"—with +Mr. Charles FitzMarshall, <i>alias</i> Mr. Alfred Jingle. +The very tree which Mr. Pickwick "considered a very +dangerous neighbour in a thunderstorm" is there still—a +pretty acacia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 489px;"><a name="sapseahouse" id="sapseahouse"></a> +<img src="images/i_099.png" width="489" height="550" alt="Mr. Sapsea's House." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Mr. Sapsea's House.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 342px;"> +<img src="images/i_100.png" width="342" height="400" alt="Mr. Sapsea's Father." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Mr. Sapsea's Father.</span> +</div> + +<p>The house opposite Eastgate House was of course Mr. +Sapsea's dwelling—"Mr. Sapsea's premises are in the High<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +Street over against the Nuns' House. They are of about the +period of the Nuns' House, irregularly modernized here and +there." A carved wooden figure of Mr. Sapsea's father in his +rostrum as an auctioneer, with hammer poised in hand, and a +countenance expressive of "Going—going—gone!" was many +years ago fixed over a house (now the Savings Bank) in St. +Margaret's, Rochester, and was a regular butt for practical +jokes by the young officers of the period, although they never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +succeeded in their attempts to pull it down. To us the house +appears to be an older building than Eastgate House, with +much carved oak and timber work about it, and in its prime +must have been a most delightful residence. The lower part +is now used as business premises, and from the fact that it +contains the little drawers of a seedsman's shop, it answers +very well to the description of Mr. Pumblechook's "eminently +convenient and commodious premises"—indeed there is not a +little in common between the two characters. "Mr. Pumblechook's +premises in the High Street of the market town [says +Pip] were of a peppercorny and farinaceous character, as the +premises of a corn chandler and seedsman should be. It +appeared to me that he must be a very happy man indeed +to have so many little drawers in his shop; and I wondered +when I peeped into one or two of the lower tiers, and saw +the tied-up brown paper packets inside, whether the flower<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +seeds and bulbs ever wanted of a fine day to break out of +those jails, and bloom." Part of these premises is used as +a dwelling-house, and Mr. Apsley Kennette, the courteous +assistant town-clerk, to whom we were indebted for much +kind attention, has apartments on the upper floors of the +old mansion, the views from which, looking into the ancient +city, are very pretty. There is a good deal of oak panelling +and plaster enrichment about the interior, restored by Mr. +Kennette, who in the course of his renovations found an +interesting wall fresco.</p> + +<p>He has had painted most appropriately in gilt letters over +the mantel-piece of his charming old panelled chamber of +carved and polished oak (with its quaint bay-window looking +into the street) the pathetic and sombre lines of Dante +Gabriel Rossetti:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"May not this ancient room thou sitt'st in dwell<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In separate living souls for joy or pain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nay, all its corners may be painted plain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Where Heaven shows pictures of some life spent well;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And may be stamped a memory all in vain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Upon the site of lidless eyes in Hell."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="restoration" id="restoration"></a> +<img src="images/i_102.png" width="600" height="402" alt="Restoration House." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Restoration House.</span> +</div> + +<p>The beautiful residence in Maidstone Road, formerly Crow +Lane, opposite the Vines, called Restoration House, is the +"Satis House" of <i>Great Expectations</i>—"Miss Havisham's up-town." +"Everybody for miles round had heard of Miss +Havisham up-town as an immensely rich and grim lady, who +lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, +and who led a life of seclusion." There is a veritable Satis +House as well, on the opposite side of the Vines alluded to +elsewhere. Restoration House, now occupied by Mr. Stephen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +T. Aveling, is a picturesque old Elizabethan structure, partly +covered with ivy, having fine oak staircases, floors, and wainscoted +rooms. Charles II. lodged here in 1660, and he +subsequently presented to his host, Sir Francis Clarke, several +large tapestries, representing pastoral scenes, which the present +owner kindly allowed us to see. The tapestry is said to have +been made at Mortlake. It was the usual present from +royalty in those days—just as Her present Majesty now gives +an Indian shawl to a favoured subject. Like many houses of +its kind, it contains a secret staircase for escape during times +of political trouble.</p> + +<p>Mr. Aveling very kindly placed at our disposal the manuscript +of an interesting and "true ghost story" written by +him relating to Restoration House, which is introduced at +the end of this chapter.</p> + +<p>Many names in Dickens's novels and tales appear to us +as old friends, over the shops and elsewhere in Rochester. +Looking through the list of Mayors of the city from 1654 to +1887, we notice nearly twenty of the names as having been +given by Dickens to his characters, viz. Robinson, Wade, +Brooker, Clarke, Harris, Burgess, Head, Weller, Baily, Gordon, +Parsons, Pordage, Sparks, Simmons, Batten, Saunders, +Thomson, Edwards, and Budden. The name of Jasper +also occurs as a tradesman several times in the city, but we +are informed that this is a recent introduction. In the +Cathedral burying-ground occur the names of Fanny Dorr<i>ett</i> +and Richard Pordage. Dartle, we were informed, is an old +Rochester name.</p> + +<p>The population of the "four towns" of Rochester, Strood, +Chatham, and New Brompton, at the census of 1891, was +upwards of 85,000. The principal industries of Rochester<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +are lime and cement making, "the Medway coal trade," and +boat and barge building.</p> + +<p>Rochester is very well off for educational institutions. In +addition to the Board schools, there is the King's (or +Cathedral) Grammar School founded by Henry VIII., a +handsome building in the Vines. The tuition fee commences +at £15 per annum for boys under 12, and there is a +reduction made when there are brothers. There are two or +three annual competitive Scholarships tenable for a period of +years, and there are also two Exhibitions of £60 a year to +University College, Oxford. There is also Sir J. Williamson's +Mathematical School in the High Street, founded in +1701, having an income of £1500 a year from endowments, +and the teaching, which has a wide range, includes physical +science. The fees are very small, commencing at about £5 +per annum, and there are foundation Scholarships and +"Aveling Scholarships" to the value of £20 per annum.</p> + +<p>In addition to the famous Richard Watts's Charity, which +is described in another chapter, the city possesses several +other important charities, viz.:—St. Catherine's Charity on +Star Hill, founded by Simon Potyn in 1316, which provides +residences for sixteen aged females, with stipends varying +from £24 to £28 each; St. Bartholomew's Hospital in New +Road, which was founded in 1078 by Bishop Gundulph for +the benefit of lepers returning from the Crusades (the present +Hospital was erected in 1858, and is supported by voluntary +contributions); Sir John Hawkins's Hospital for decayed +seamen in Chatham, founded in 1592, and provides for twelve +inmates with their wives; and Sir John Hayward's Charity +on the Common, founded in 1651, which provides an asylum +for twelve poor and aged females, parishioners of St. Nicholas.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not least noteworthy among the numerous objects of +interest in the "ancient city" are the beautiful gardens +belonging to several of the houses in the High Street, +particularly those of Mr. Syms and Mr. Wildish. The fresh +green turf, the profusion of flowers, and the rich growth of +foliage and fruit, quite surprise and delight the stranger. +Mr. Stephen T. Aveling's garden is a marvel of beauty to be +seen in a town. "The Cloisterham gardens blush with +ripening fruit."</p> + +<p>Some of the old-fashioned cries of street hawkers, as "hot +rolls," "herrings," "watercresses," and the like, similar to +those in the London of Charles Dickens's early days, still +survive at Rochester, and are very noticeable and quaint in +the quiet morning.</p> + +<p>As illustrative of the many changes which have been +brought about by steam, even in the quiet old city of +Rochester, Mr. Syms called attention to the fact that fifty +years ago he could count twenty-eight windmills on the +surrounding heights, but now there are scarcely a dozen to +be seen.</p> + +<p>In Rochester we heard frequent mention of "Gavelkind," +one of the ancient customs of Kent, whereby the lands do not +descend to the eldest son alone, but to the whole number of +male children equally. Lambarde, the eminent lawyer and +antiquary (born 1536), author of <i>A Perambulation of Kent</i>,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +says:—"I gather by <i>Cornelius Tacitus</i>, and others, that +the ancient Germans, (whose Offspring we be) suffered their +lands to descend, not to their eldest Sonne alone, but to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +whole number of their male Children: and I finde in the +75th Chapter of <i>Canutus</i> Law (a King of this Realm before +the Conquest), that after the death of the Father, his Heires +should divide both his goods, and his lands amongst them. +Now, for as much as all the next of the kinred did this +inherit together, I conjecture, that therefore the land was +called, either <i>Gavelkyn</i> in meaning, <i>Give all kyn</i>, because it +was given to all the next in one line of kinred, or <i>Give +all kynd</i>, that is, to all the male Children: for <i>kynd</i> in Dutch +signifieth yet a male Childe." The learned historian suggests +a second possible origin of this curious custom from the writ +called "Gavelles," to recover "the rent and service arising +out of these lands."</p> + +<p>The remarkable custom of "Borough English," whereby the +youngest son inherits the lands, also survives in some parts of +the county of Kent.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert Langton has done good service by giving in +his delightful book, <i>The Childhood and Youth of Charles +Dickens</i>, an illustration by Mr. W. Hull, of the old Rochester +Theatre, which formerly stood at the foot of Star Hill, and in +which Jingle and Dismal Jemmy—"rum fellow—does the +heavy business—no actor—strange man—all sorts of miseries—dismal +Jemmy, we call him on the circuit"—were to play +on the morrow after the duel. It exists no more, for the Conservative +Association has its club-house and rooms on the +site of the building. The theatre is referred to in <i>Edwin +Drood:</i>—"Even its drooping and despondent little theatre +has its poor strip of garden, receiving the foul fiend, when +he ducks from its stage into the infernal regions, among +scarlet beans or oyster-shells, according to the season of +the year." And again in <i>The Uncommercial Traveller</i>, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +"Dullborough Town," when the beginning of the end had +appeared:—</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 389px;"> +<img src="images/i_107.png" width="389" height="575" alt="Old Rochester Theatre, Star Hill." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Old Rochester Theatre, Star Hill.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It was To Let, and hopelessly so, for its old purposes; and there +had been no entertainment within its walls for a long time, except a +Panorama; and even that had been announced as 'pleasingly +instructive,' and I knew too well the fatal meaning and the leaden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +import of those terrible expressions. No, there was no comfort in +the Theatre. It was mysteriously gone, like my own youth. Unlike +my own youth, it might be coming back some day; but there was +little promise of it."</p></div> + +<p>We did not stay at the Bull during the whole of our visit, +comfortable lodgings in Victoria Street having been secured +for us by the courtesy of Mr. Prall, the landlady of which, +from her kindness and consideration for our comfort, we are +pleased to recognize as a veritable "Mrs. Lirriper."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>Among many reminiscences of Charles Dickens obtained +at Rochester, the following are the most noteworthy:—</p> + +<p>We had an interesting chat with Mr. Franklin Homan, +Auctioneer, Cabinet-maker, and Upholsterer of High Street, +Rochester. Our informant did a good deal of work for +Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill Place, and remarked "he was +one of the nicest customers I ever met in my life—so +thoroughly precise and methodical. If anything had to be +done, he knew exactly what he wanted, and gave his instructions +accordingly. He expected every one who served him to +be equally exact and punctual."</p> + +<p>The novelist wrote to Mr. Homan from America respecting +the furnishing of two bedrooms, describing in detail how he +wished them fitted up—one was maple, the other white with +a red stripe. These rooms are referred to in another chapter. +The curtains separating them from the dressing-rooms were +ordered to be of Indian pattern chintz. When Dickens came +home and saw them complete, he said, "It strikes me as if +the room was about to have its hair cut,—but it's my fault, +it must be altered;" so crimson damask curtains were +substituted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the little billiard-room near the dining-room was a one-sided +couch standing by the window, which did not seem to +please the master of Gad's Hill Place. He said to Mr. +Homan one day, "Whenever I see that couch, it makes me +think the window is squinting." The result was that Mr. +Homan had to make a window-seat instead.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, when our informant was waiting in the +dining-room for some orders from Miss Hogarth, he saw +Dickens walking in the garden with a lady, to whom he was +telling the story of how as a boy he longed to live in Gad's +Hill Place, and determined to purchase it whenever he had +an opportunity.</p> + +<p>Mr. Homan mentioned that the act drop painted by +Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., for <i>The Lighthouse</i> and the scene +from <i>The Frozen Deep</i>, painted by the same artist, which +adorned the hall at Gad's Hill Place, and which fetched such +enormous sums at the sale, were technically the property +of the purchaser of Tavistock House, but he said, "Perhaps +you would like to have them, Mr. Dickens," and so they +continued to be the property of the novelist.</p> + +<p>The valuation for Probate was made by Mr. Homan, and +he subsequently sold for the executors the furniture and +other domestic effects at Gad's Hill Place. The art collection +was sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods. There +was a very fine cellar of wine, which included some magnums +of port of rare vintage. Mr. Homan purchased a few bottles, +and gave one to a friend, Dr. Tamplin of London, who had +been kind to his daughter. At a dinner-party some time +afterwards at the Doctor's, a connoisseur being present, the +magnum in question was placed on the table, the guests being +unaware from whence it came. Reference was made to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +choice quality of the wine. "Yes," said the connoisseur, "it +<i>is</i> good—very fine. I never tasted the like before, except +once at Gad's Hill Place."</p> + +<p>Mr. Homan recollects seeing among the plate two oak +cases which were not sold, containing the silver figures for +dining-table emblematic of spring, summer, and autumn. +These were the presents of a Liverpool admirer who wished +to remain anonymous. The incident is alluded to in Forster's +<i>Life</i>, the correspondent being described as "a self-raised man, +attributing his prosperous career to what Dickens's writings +had taught him at its outset of the wisdom of kindness and +sympathy for others, and asking pardon for the liberty he +took in hoping that he might be permitted to offer some +acknowledgment of what not only had cheered and stimulated +him through all his life, but had contributed so much +to the success of it." The letter enclosed £500, but Dickens +declined this, intimating to the writer that if he pleased +to send him any small memorial in another form, he would +be glad to receive it.</p> + +<p>The funeral was conducted by Mr. Homan, who mentioned +that Dickens's instructions in his Will were implicitly followed, +as regards privacy and unostentation. It was an anxious +time to him, in consequence of the changes which were made +in the arrangements, the interment being first suggested to +take place at St. Nicholas's Cemetery, then at Shorne, then +at Rochester Cathedral, and finally at Westminster Abbey. +The mourners, together with the remains, travelled early in +the morning by South Eastern Railway from Higham Station +to Charing Cross, where a procession, consisting of three +mourning-coaches and a hearse, was quietly formed. There +was neither show nor public demonstration of any kind. On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +reaching Westminster Abbey, about half-past nine o'clock, +the procession was met by Dean Stanley in the Cloisters, +who performed the funeral service. A journalist being by +accident in the Abbey at the time of the funeral, Mr. Homan +remarked that he became almost frantic when he heard who +had just been buried, at having missed such an opportunity.</p> + +<p>Mr. Homan possesses several souvenirs of Gad's Hill Place, +presented to him by the family, including Charles Dickens's +walking-stick, and photographs of the interior and exterior of +the house and the châlet.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We were courteously received by the Rev. Robert Whiston, +M.A., who resides at the Old Palace, a beautiful seventeenth-century +house, abounding with oak panelling and carving, +on Boley Hill, bequeathed in 1674, by Mr. Richard Head, +after the death of his wife, to the then Bishop of Rochester +and his successors, who were "to hold the same so long as +the church was governed by Protestant Bishops." This +residence was sold by permission of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, +together with the mansion at Brinley, in order to +help to pay for the new palace of Danbury in Essex.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whiston was a friend of Charles Dickens, and is one +of the oldest inhabitants of Rochester. He was formerly +Head-Master of the Cathedral Grammar, or King's, School of +Henry VIII., an office which he resigned in 1877. Many +years previously, Mr. Whiston published <i>Cathedral Trusts +and their Fulfilment</i>, which ran through several editions, and +was immediately followed by his dismissal from his mastership, +on the ground that he had published "false, scandalous, +and libellous" statements, and had libelled "the Chapter of +Rochester and other Chapters, and also the Bishop." Much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +litigation followed—appeals to the Court of Chancery, the +Court of Queen's Bench, and Doctors' Commons, which +resulted in his replacement in office; and then a second +dismissal, followed by his pleading his own cause for five +days at Doctors' Commons against eminent counsel, and +after three years of litigation he was fully reinstated in his +office. The result at Rochester, for which Mr. Whiston +contended, was "an increase of £19 for each of the twenty +scholars, and of £35 for each of the four students, a total of +£520 a year, and the restoration of the six bedesmen of the +Cathedral, with £14 13<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> a year each, who had disappeared +since 1810, making altogether £608 a year." Reforms were +effected at other cathedrals, and handsome testimonials—one +from Australia—were presented to Mr. Whiston.</p> + +<p>A characteristic paper, entitled "The History of a certain +Grammar School," in No. 72 of <i>Household Words</i>, dated 9th +August, 1851, gives a sketch of Mr. Whiston's labours, and +of the reforms which he effected. He is thus referred to:—</p> + +<p>"But the Reverend Adolphus Hardhead was not merely a +scholar and a schoolmaster. He had fought his way against +disadvantages, had gained a moderate independence by the +fruits of early exertions and constant but by no means +sordid economy; and, while disinterested enough to undervalue +abundance, was too wise not to know the value of +money. He was an undoubted financialist, and never gave +a farthing without doing real good, because he always +ascertained the purpose and probable effect of his charity +beforehand. While he cautiously shunned the idle and +undeserving, he would work like a slave, with and for those +who would work for themselves; and he would smooth the +way for those who had in the first instance been their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +pioneers, and would help a man who had once been successful, +to attain a yet greater success."</p> + +<p>Anthony Trollope, in <i>The Warden</i>, also thus refers to +this gentleman:—"The struggles of Mr. Whiston have met +with sympathy and support. Men are beginning to say that +these things must be looked into."</p> + +<p><i>Punch</i> has also immortalized Mr. Whiston, for in the +issue of 29th January, 1853, there is a burlesque account with +designs of "A stained glass window for Rochester Cathedral." +The design is divided into compartments; each containing a +representation in the mediæval fashion of a "Fytte" in "Ye +Gestes of Maister Whyston ye Confessour."</p> + +<p>Mr. Whiston had dined at Gad's Hill several times, and +said that nothing could be more charming than Dickens's +powers as a host. Some years after his death, by a fortunate +circumstance, a large parcel of letters, written by the novelist, +came into the hands of Mr. Whiston, who had the pleasure +of handing them to Miss Hogarth and Miss Dickens, by +whom they were published in the collection of letters of +Charles Dickens.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>Thomas Millen of Rochester informed us that he knew +Charles Dickens. His (Millen's) father was a hop-farmer, +and about the years 1864-5 lived at Bridgewood House, on +the main road from Rochester to Maidstone. One afternoon +in the autumn, Dickens, accompanied by Miss Hogarth and +his daughters, Mary and Kate, drove along the road, and +stopped to admire a pear tree which was covered with ripe +fruit. Millen happened to be in the garden at the time, +and while noticing the carriage, Dickens spoke to him, and +referred to the very fine fruit. Millen said, "Will you have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +some, sir?" to which Dickens replied, "Thank you, you are +very good, I will." He gave him some pears and some roses. +Dickens then said, "You have not the pleasure of knowing me, +and I have not the pleasure of knowing you. I am Charles +Dickens; and when you pass Gad's Hill, I shall take it +as a favour if you will look in and see my place." Millen +replied, "I feel it to be a great honour to speak to you, sir. +I have read most of your works, and I think <i>David Copperfield</i> +is the master-piece. I hope to avail myself of your kind +invitation some day." Dickens laughed, wished Millen +"Good-day," and the carriage drove on towards Maidstone.</p> + +<p>"Some little time after," said Millen, "I was going to visit +an uncle at Gravesend, and drove over with a one-horse trap +by way of Gad's Hill. As I came near the place, I saw Mr. +Dickens in the road. He said, 'So you are here,' and I +mentioned where I was going. He took me in, and we went +through the tunnel, and by the cedars, to the châlet, which +stood in the shrubbery in front of the house. He showed me +his work there—a manuscript on the table, and also some +proofs. They were part of <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, which was +then appearing in monthly numbers; and on that morning +a proof of one of the illustrations had arrived from Mr. +Marcus Stone. It was the one in which 'Miss Wren fixes +her idea.' I was then about sixteen or seventeen, and +Dickens said, 'You are setting out in life; mind <i>you</i> always +fix your idea.' He asked me what I was going to be, and I +said a farmer. He said, 'Better be that than an author or +poet;' and after I had had two glasses of wine, he bade me +'good-bye.'"</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We were kindly favoured with an interview by the Misses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +Drage, of No. 1 Minor Canon Row, daughters of the late Rev. +W. H. Drage, who was Curate of St. Mary's Church, Chatham, +from 1820 to 1828, and lived during that time in apartments +at No. 3 Ordnance Terrace, next door to the Dickens family. +Afterwards their father was Vicar of St. Margaret's, Rochester, +for many years, and resided in their present home. About +the year 1850, the Vicar, being interested in the daughter of +one of his parishioners, whom he was anxious to get admitted +into a public institution in London—a penitentiary or something +of the kind—wrote to Miss (now the Baroness) Burdett +Coutts, who was a patroness or founder, or who occupied +some position of influence in connection therewith. In answer +to the reverend gentleman's application, a letter was received +from Charles Dickens, then residing at Devonshire Terrace, +who appeared to be associated with Miss Burdett Coutts in +the management of the institution, proposing to call at Minor +Canon Row on a certain day and hour. The letter then +concluded with these remarkable words:—"I trust to my +childish remembrance for putting your initials correctly."</p> + +<p>The letter was properly addressed "The Rev. <i>W. H.</i> +Drage," and it is interesting to record this circumstance as +showing Dickens's habitual precision and excellent memory. +The future novelist was about eleven years old when he left +Chatham (1823), consequently a period of twenty-seven years +or more must have elapsed since he knew his father's neighbour +as Curate there; yet, notwithstanding the multiplicity +and diversity of his occupations during the interim, his +recollection after this long period was perfectly accurate.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to add that the interview took +place (probably Dickens came down from London specially), +and that the Vicar obtained admission for his <i>protégée</i>. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +younger Miss Drage, who was in the room at the time of +Dickens's visit, particularly noticed what a beautiful head the +novelist's was, and in her enthusiasm she made a rough sketch +of it while he was talking to her father.</p> + +<p>In conversation with the present Mr. Charles Dickens on +a subsequent occasion regarding this circumstance, he informed +me that there was an institution of the kind referred +to, "A Home," at Shepherd's Bush, in which his father took +much interest. Forster also says in the <i>Life</i> that this +Home "largely and regularly occupied his time for several +years."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We heard from a trustworthy authority, <i>Y. Z.</i>, at Rochester, +some particulars respecting an interesting custom at Gad's +Hill Place. On New Year's Eve there was always a dinner-party +with friends, and a dance, and games afterwards. +Some of the games were called "Buzz," "Crambo," "Spanish +Merchant," etc. Claret-cup and other refreshments were +introduced later, and at twelve o'clock all the servants came +into the entrance-hall. Charles Dickens then went in, shook +hands with them all round, wished them a Happy New Year +("A happy new year, God bless us all"), and gave each half-a-sovereign. +This custom was maintained for many years, +until a man-servant—who used to travel with Dickens—disgracefully +betrayed his trust,—robbed his master, in fact,—when +it was discontinued, and the name of the man who +had thus disgraced himself was never allowed to be mentioned +at Gad's Hill.</p> + +<p>The same authority spoke of the long walks that Dickens +regularly took after breakfast—usually six miles,—but he +gave these up after the railway accident at Staplehurst, which,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +it will be remembered, occurred, on the "fatal anniversary," +the 9th June, 1865. During one of these walks, he fell in +with a man driving a cart loaded with manure, and had a +long chat with him, the sort of thing he frequently did (said +our informant) in order to become acquainted with the brogue +and feelings of the working people. When Dickens went on +his way, one of the man's fellow-labourers said to him, "Do +you know that that was Charles Dickens who spoke to you?" +"I don't know who it was," replied the man, "but he was a +d——d good fellow, for he gave me a shilling."</p> + +<p>Our informant also referred to a conversation between +Dickens and some of his friends at Gad's Hill, respecting the +unhappy marriages of actors. Twenty such marriages were +instanced, and out of these only two turned out happily. He +said that Charles Dickens at home was a quiet, unassuming +man. He remembers on one occasion his saying, in relation +to a war which was then going on, "What must the feelings +of a soldier be, when alone and dying on the battle-field, and +leaving his wife and children far away for ever?"</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + + +<div class='center'><br />A TRUE GHOST STORY RELATING TO MISS HAVISHAM'S HOUSE.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I live in an old red-brick mansion, nearly covered with ivy—one +of those picturesque dwellings with high-pitched roofs and ornamental +gables, which were scattered broadcast over England in the days +of good Queen Bess. Every stranger looking at it exclaims, 'That +house must have a history and a ghost!' Many a story has been +told of the ghost which has from time to time been seen, or said to +have been seen, within its walls; and many a servant has, from fear, +refused service in this so-called haunted house.</p> + +<p>"On the 28th May, one thousand six hundred and sixty, Charles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +the Second sojourned and slept here. This being the eve of 'The +Restoration,' a new name was given to the then old house, which +name it has since retained. Charles, having knighted the owner (Sir +Francis Clarke), departed early the next morning for London.</p> + +<p>"There are secret passages <i>in</i> the house, and, under ground, <i>from</i> +the house. From the room in which the king slept, a secret passage +through one of the lower panels of the wainscot, leads to various +parts of the house. This passage is so well concealed that I occupied +the house some years before it was discovered. I had occasion to +make a plan of the house, and the inside and outside not agreeing, +disclosed the space occupied by the unexplored passage. The +jackdaws had forestalled me in my discovery, and had had undisturbed +possession for two centuries, having got access through a +hole under the eaves of the roof. They had deposited <i>several bushels</i> +of sticks. They had not been the only tenants, as skeletons and +mummies of birds, etc., were also found.</p> + +<p>"I came into possession of this old house in December 1875, and +on the 27th of April, 1876, slept in it for the first time. At ten +o'clock on that night, my family retired to rest; having some letters +to write, I sat up later. At a quarter to twelve, I was startled by a +loud noise—a sort of rumbling sound, which appeared to proceed from +the hall. I left my writing and went to the hall, and found that the +noise proceeded from the staircase, but I could see nothing unusual.</p> + +<p>"The staircase is one of those so often described as being 'wide +enough to drive a carriage and pair up,' with massive oak posts and +balustrades. The walls are covered with tapestry, given to the house +by 'The Merry Monarch,' after his visit. An oak chest or two, and +some high-backed chairs on the landings, picture to one a suitable +habitation for a ghost. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I had no belief +in ghosts, and commenced an investigation of this extraordinary +noise.</p> + +<p>"Could it be rats, or mice, or owls? No; the noise was ten +times louder than could possibly proceed from these creatures; +besides, I knew there were no rats in the house. The clever builder +of the house had filled all the space between the ceilings and floors +with silver sand, which rendered it impossible for a rat or mouse to +make passages. To prick a hole in a ceiling is to have a continuous +stream of sand run down, as from an hour-glass.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The noise was repeated, but much louder (two drum-sticks upon +a large drum would not have made more noise), and I was able to +localize it, still I could see nothing. I thought some one had fallen +on the stairs, and I shouted 'Who is there?' A reply came +'Hush!'—first softly, and then very loud—too loud for a human +voice. As no person was visible, I was puzzled, and went up-stairs +by a back staircase, and ascertained that none of my family had left +their bedrooms, and that certainly no trick was being played me.</p> + +<p>"The same rumbling, rolling sound was repeated; and as I stood +on the top of the great staircase, I felt a little uncomfortable, but not +frightened. The noise seemed to proceed from a large carved oak +coffer or chest (as old as the house), which stood on a landing, about +half-way up the stairs. I approached the chest, and from it appeared +to come again the word 'Hush!' Could it be the wind whistling +through a crack? No; it was far too loud for any such explanation. +I opened the lid of the chest and found it empty. Again the noise, +now from <i>under</i> the chest. I was just strong enough to move the +chest; I turned it over and slid it down the stairs on to the next +landing. Again the noise, and again the 'Hush!' which now +appeared to come from the floor where the coffer had stood.</p> + +<p>"I felt I would rather have had some one with me to assist in my +investigation, and to join me in making the acquaintance of the +ghost; but, although my sensations were probably the most uncomfortable +I ever experienced, I was determined, if possible, to unearth +the mystery.</p> + +<p>"The light was imperfect, and I went to another part of the house +for a candle to enable me to examine the floor. In my absence the +noise was repeated louder than ever, and not unlike distant thunder. +On my return, I was saluted with 'Hush!' which I felt convinced +came from a voice immediately under the floor. By the light of the +candle I examined the dark oak boards, and discovered what appeared +to be a trap door about two feet six inches square. The floor +at some time had been varnished, and the cracks, or joints of the +trap, had been filled and sealed with the varnish. I now hoped I +had found the habitation of my troublesome and noisy guest. I +procured a chisel and cut the varnished joint, and found that there +was a trap door, as I supposed. By the aid of a long screwdriver I +was able to move the door, but at that moment a repetition of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +noise, immediately under me, made me hesitate for a moment to try +and raise it. With feelings better imagined than described, I raised +the lid, and looked into a dark chasm. All was still, and I heard the +cathedral bell tolling the hour of midnight. A long African spear +was in the corner near me, and I struck this into the opening. I +tied a string to the candlestick to lower it into the opening, but at +this moment I was startled, and was for the first time nervous, or +I may say, frightened; but this had better remain for another chapter.</p> + +<p>"So far I have not in the smallest degree exaggerated or overdrawn +any one of the matters I have recounted. Every word has +been written with the greatest care to truth and accuracy.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"S. T. A."<br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>To cut our ghost story short, without adding another +chapter, Mr. Aveling, on looking into the dark chasm by the +meagre light of the lowered candle, beheld, to his amazement, +the reflection of his own face in the water of a large cistern +underneath the staircase, the house having formerly been +supplied from the "large brewery" a short distance off. The +unearthly noise was no doubt caused by air in the pipes, +through which the water rushed when suddenly turned on by +the brewers, who were working late at night. In <i>Great +Expectations</i> it is stated that:—"The brewery buildings had +a little lane of communication with it" [the courtyard of +Satis House], "and the wooden gates of that lane stood open" +[at the time of Pip's first visit, when Estella showed him over +the premises], "and all the brewery beyond stood open, away +to the high enclosing wall; and all was empty and disused. +The cold wind seemed to blow colder there, than outside the +gate; and it made a shrill noise in howling in and out at +the open sides of the brewery, like the noise of wind in the +rigging of a ship at sea."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>ROCHESTER CASTLE.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"I took up my hat, and went out, climbed to the top of the old Castle, and +looked over the windy hills that slope down to the Medway."—<i>The +Seven Poor Travellers.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">To</span> the lover of Dickens, both the Castle and Cathedral of +Rochester appeal with almost equal interest. The Castle, +however, which stands on an eminence on the right bank of +the river Medway, close to the bridge, claims prior attention, +and a few lines must therefore be devoted to an epitome of its +history in the ante-Pickwickian days.</div> + +<p>Tradition says that the first castle was erected by command +of Julius Cæsar, when Cassivelaunus was Governor of Britain, +"in order to awe the Britons." It was called the "Castle of +the Medway," or "the Kentishmen's Castle," and it seems, +with other antagonisms, to have awed the unfortunate Britons +pretty effectively, for it lasted until decay and dissolution +came to it and to them, as to all things. It was replaced +by a new castle built by Hrofe (509), which in its turn +succumbed to the ravages of time.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 575px;"><a name="castle" id="castle"></a> +<img src="images/i_122.png" width="575" height="432" alt="The Castle from Rochester Bridge" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester (1077), whose name still +survives here and there in connection with charities and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +other ways in the "ancient city," appears to be entitled to the +credit of having commenced to build the present massive +square Tower or Keep, the surviving portion of a magnificent +whole, sometimes called "Gundulph's Tower," "towards which +he was to expend the sum of sixty pounds," and this structure +ranks as one of the most perfect examples of Norman architecture +in existence. Other authorities ascribe the erection to +Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, half-brother to +William the Conqueror, who is described by Hasted as "a +turbulent and ambitious prelate, who aimed at nothing less +than the popedom." Later, in the reign of William Rufus, it +was accounted "the strongest and most important castle of +England." It was so important that Lambarde, in <i>A +Perambulation of Kent</i>, says:—"It was much in the eie of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +such as were authors of troubles following within the realme, +so that from time to time it had a part almost in every +Tragedie."</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert Collins, in his compact and useful <i>Visitors' +Handbook of Rochester and Neighbourhood</i>, quoting from +another ancient historian, says that "In 1264, King Henry +III. [who in 1251 held a grand tournament in the Castle] +'commanded that the Shyriffe of Kent do set aboute to +finish and complete the great Tower which Gundulph +had left imperfect.'" About 1463, Edward IV. repaired +part of the Castle, after which it was allowed to fall into +decay. The instructions to the "shyriffe" were no doubt +necessary; for although £60 would probably go a great way +in the time of Bishop Gundulph, the modern æsthetic builder +would do very little indeed for that sum, towards the erection +of such an impregnable fortress as Rochester Castle, the +walls of which vary from eight to thirteen feet in thickness, +whatever his progenitor may have done in 1077.</p> + +<p>The Keep—the last resort of the garrison when all the +outworks were taken—is considered so beautiful that it is +selected, under the article "Castle" in the last edition of +the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, as an illustration of Norman +architecture, showing "an embattled parapet often admitting +of chambers and staircases being constructed," and showing +also "embattled turrets carried one story higher than the +parapet." There is also a fine woodcut of the Castle at +p. 198 of vol. v. of that work.</p> + +<p>The Keep is seventy feet square and a hundred feet high, +built of the native Kentish ragstone and Caen stone; and the +adamantine mortar or cement used in its construction was +made with sand, evidently procured at the seaside some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +distance from Rochester, for it contains remains of cardium, +pecten, solen, and other marine shells, which would not be +found in river sand. Mr. Roach Smith suggested that probably +the sand may have been procured from "Cockle-shell +Hard," near Sheerness. He called our attention to the fact +that in Norman mortar sand is predominant, and in Roman +mortar lime or chalk.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_124.png" width="500" height="508" alt="Rochester Castle" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The roof and the chambers are gone,—the Keep remains as +a mere shell,—and where bishops, kings, and barons came and +went, flocks of the common domestic pigeon, in countless +numbers, fly about and make their home and multiply. One +almost regrets the freedom which these graceful birds possess,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +although to grudge freedom to a pigeon is like grudging +sunshine to a flower. But though the damage to the walls is +really trifling, as they will stand for centuries to come, still +the litter and mess which the birds naturally make is considerable +and unsightly, and decidedly out of keeping in such a +magnificent ruin. The pigeons exhibit what takes place when +a species becomes dominant to the exclusion of other species, +as witness the pest of the rabbits in New Zealand. With +profound respect to his Worship the Mayor and the Corporation +of Rochester, to whom the Castle and grounds now +belong, the writer of these lines, as a naturalist, ventures to +suggest that the Castle should be left to the jackdaws, its +natural and doubtless its original tenants, which, although of +higher organization, have been driven out by superior numbers +in the "struggle for existence," and for whom it is a much +more appropriate habitat in keeping with all traditions; and +further, that the said pigeons be forthwith made into pies for +the use and behoof of the deserving poor of the ancient city +of Rochester.</p> + +<p>Mention has been made of the fact that the Castle and +grounds are the property of the Corporation of Rochester. +They were acquired by purchase in 1883 from the Earl of +Jersey for £8,000, and the occasion was celebrated by great +civic rejoicings.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The Corporation are not only to be congratulated +on the wisdom of their purchase ("a thing of +beauty is a joy for ever"), but also on the excellent manner +in which the grounds are maintained—pigeons excepted. +The gardens, with closely-cut lawns, abound with euonymus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +laurustinus, bay, and other evergreens, together with many +choice flowers. The single red, or Deptford pink (<i>Dianthus +Armeria</i>), grows wild on the walls of the Castle. There is a +tasteful statuette of her Majesty, under a Gothic canopy, near +the entrance, which records her Jubilee in 1887. The inscriptions +on three of the four corners are appropriately chosen +from Lord Tennyson's <i>Carmen Sæculare:</i>—</p> + +<div class='center'> +To commemorate the<br /> + +<b><big>Jubilee of Queen Victoria</big></b>,<br /> + +1887.<br /> + +<span class="smcap">L. Levy, Mayor.</span><br /> + +"Fifty years of ever-broadening commerce!"<br /> + +"Fifty years of ever-brightening science!"<br /> + +"Fifty years of ever-widening empire!"<br /> +</div> + +<p>There is free admission to the grounds through a handsome +modern Norman gateway, but a trifling charge of a few pence +is made for permission to enter the Keep, which has convenient +steps ascending to the top. From the summit of the +Keep, there are magnificent views of the valley of the river +Medway, the adjacent hills, Rochester, Chatham, and the +vicinity. The Cathedral, Jasper's Gatehouse, and Restoration +House, are also noteworthy objects to the lover of Dickens. +As Mr. Philips Bevan says, and as we verified, the views inside +at midday, when the sun is streaming down, are "very peculiar +and beautiful."</p> + +<p>Dickens's first and last great works are both associated +with the Castle, and it is referred to in several other of his +writings. We can fancy, more than sixty years ago, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +eager and enthusiastic Pickwickians, in company with their +newly-made acquaintance, Mr. Alfred Jingle, seated outside +the four-horse coach,—the "Commodore," driven possibly by +"Old Chumley,"—dashing over old Rochester Bridge, to +"the lively notes of the guard's key-bugle," when the sight +of the Castle first broke upon them.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Magnificent ruin!' said Mr. Augustus Snodgrass, with all the +poetic fervour that distinguished him, when they came in sight of +the fine old Castle.</p> + +<p>"'What a study for an antiquarian!' were the very words which +fell from Mr. Pickwick's mouth, as he applied his telescope to +his eye.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, fine place!' said the stranger, 'glorious pile—frowning +walls—tottering arches—dark nooks—crumbling staircases—'"</p></div> + +<p>Little did poor Mr. Winkle think that within twenty-four +hours <i>his</i> feeling of admiration for Rochester Castle would be +turned into astonishment, for does not the chronicle say that +"if the upper tower of Rochester Castle had suddenly walked +from its foundation and stationed itself opposite the coffee-room +window [of the Bull Hotel], Mr. Winkle's surprise +would have been as nothing compared with the perfect +astonishment with which he had heard this address" (referring +of course to the insult to Dr. Slammer, and the challenge in +the matter of the duel).</p> + +<p>It was on the occasion of "a visit to the Castle" very soon +afterwards that Mr. Winkle confided in, and sought the good +offices of, his friend Mr. Snodgrass, in the "affair of honour" +which was to take place at "sunset, in a lonely field beyond +Fort Pitt." Poor fellow! how eagerly he tried, under a +mask of the most perfect candour, and how miserably he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +failed, to arouse the energies of his friend to avert the +impending catastrophe.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 389px;"> +<img src="images/i_128.png" width="389" height="500" alt="Interior of Rochester Castle" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Snodgrass,' he said, stopping suddenly, 'do <i>not</i> let me be +baulked in this matter—do <i>not</i> give information to the local +authorities—do <i>not</i> obtain the assistance of several peace officers +to take either me or Doctor Slammer of the 97th Regiment, at +present quartered in Chatham Barracks, into custody, and thus prevent +this duel;—I say, do <i>not</i>.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Snodgrass seized his friend's hand as he enthusiastically +replied, 'Not for worlds!'</p> + +<p>"A thrill passed over Mr. Winkle's frame, as the conviction that +he had nothing to hope from his friend's fears, and that he was +destined to become an animated target, rushed forcibly upon him."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>The state of the case having been formally explained to +Mr. Snodgrass, they make arrangements, hire "a case of +satisfaction pistols, with the satisfactory accompaniments of +powder, ball, and caps," and "the two friends returned to +their inn." The next ground which they traversed together +to pursue the subject was at Fort Pitt. We will follow +them presently.</p> + +<p>In <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i> there is no direct reference +to the Castle itself, but the engraving of it, with the Cathedral +in the background, after the pretty sketch by Mr. Luke Fildes, +R.A., will ever be associated with that beautiful fragment.</p> + +<p>Another reference is contained in the preface to <i>Nicholas +Nickleby</i>, where Dickens says:—"I cannot call to mind now +how I came to hear about Yorkshire schools when I was a +not very robust child, sitting in by-places near Rochester +Castle, with a head full of 'Partridge,' 'Strap,' 'Tom Pipes,' +and 'Sancho Panza.'"</p> + +<p>A sympathetic notice of the Castle is also contained in the +<i>Seven Poor Travellers</i>. It begins:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Sooth to say, he [Time] did an active stroke of work in Rochester +in the old days of the Romans, and the Saxons, and the Normans, +and down to the times of King John, when the rugged Castle—I will +not undertake to say how many hundreds of years old then—was +abandoned to the centuries of weather which have so defaced the +dark apertures in its walls, that the ruin looks as if the rooks and +daws had picked its eyes out."</p></div> + +<p>And this, the most touching reference of all, occurs in +"One Man in a Dockyard," contributed by Dickens<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> to +<i>Household Words</i> in 1851:—</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There was Rochester Castle, to begin with. I surveyed the +massive ruin from the Bridge, and thought what a brief little practical +joke I seemed to be, in comparison with its solidity, stature, strength, +and length of life. I went inside; and, standing in the solemn +shadow of its walls, looking up at the blue sky, its only remaining +roof, (to the disturbance of the crows and jackdaws who garrison +the venerable fortress now,) calculated how much wall of that thickness +I, or any other man, could build in his whole life,—say from +eight years old to eighty,—and what a ridiculous result would be +produced. I climbed the rugged staircase, stopping now and then +to peep at great holes where the rafters and floors were once,—bare +as toothless gums now,—or to enjoy glimpses of the Medway +through dreary apertures like sockets without eyes; and, looking from +the Castle ramparts on the Old Cathedral, and on the crumbling +remains of the old Priory, and on the row of staid old red-brick +houses where the Cathedral dignitaries live, and on the shrunken +fragments of one of the old City gates, and on the old trees with +their high tops below me, felt quite apologetic to the scene in +general for my own juvenility and insignificance. One of the river +boatmen had told me on the bridge, (as country folks do tell of such +places,) that in the old times, when those buildings were in +progress, a labourer's wages 'were a penny a day, and enough too.' +Even as a solitary penny was to their whole cost, it appeared to +me, was the utmost strength and exertion of one man towards the +labour of their erection."</p></div> + +<p>Dickens always took his friends to the Keep of Rochester +Castle. He naturally considered it as one of the sights of +the old city. It was equally attractive to his friends, for a +curious adventure is recorded in Forster's <i>Life</i>, in connection +with a visit which the poet Longfellow made there in 1842, +and which he recollected a quarter of a century afterwards, +and recounted to Forster during a second visit, together with +a curious experience in the slums of London with Dickens. +The first of these adventures is thus described by Forster:—"One +of them was a day at Rochester, when, met by one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +those prohibitions which are the wonder of visitors and the +shame of Englishmen, we overleapt gates and barriers, and +setting at defiance repeated threats of all the terrors of law, +coarsely expressed to us by the custodian of the place, +explored minutely the castle ruins." Happily such a circumstance +could not now take place, for, by the present excellent +regulations of the Corporation of the city of Rochester, every +visitor can explore the Castle and grounds to his heart's +content.</p> + +<p>On arriving at either railway station, Strood or Rochester +Bridge, the Castle is the first object to claim attention. +Our attention is constantly directed to it during our stay +in the pleasant city; it is a landmark when we are on the +tramp; and it is the last object to fade from our view as we +regretfully take our departure.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>My fellow-tramp favours me with the following note:—</p> + + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">The Dedication of Rochester Castle to +the Public.</span></div> + +<p>"I well remember the day of public rejoicing in the +picturesque city of Rochester, on the occasion of the ceremony +of formally presenting the old Castle and grounds to the +inhabitants. I had received instructions from the manager +of the <i>Graphic</i> newspaper to make sketches of the principal +incidents in connection with the day's proceedings, and I +reached my destination just in time to obtain from the +authorities some idea of the nature of those proceedings. +With this object in view, I made my way through the surging +crowd to the Guildhall, where, in one of the Corporation +rooms, I found a large assembly of local magnates in official<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +attire, including the Mayor, who was vainly endeavouring to +properly adjust his sword, an operation in which I had the +honour of assisting, much to his Worship's satisfaction, I +hope.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_132.png" width="500" height="328" alt="Rochester Castle and the Medway" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"The streets of Rochester were thronged with excited +people, and the houses were gaily decked with flags and +bunting. When everything was ready, an imposing procession +was formed, and proceeded to the Castle grounds, +preceded by a military band; on arriving there, an address +was read from the pagoda to an attentive audience, the +subsequent proceedings being enlivened by musical strains.</p> + +<p>"It had been announced that, in the evening, the old Keep +would be illuminated by the electric light, and I made a +point of being present to witness the unusual sight. The +night was very dark, and the ivy-clad ruin could barely be +distinguished; presently, a burst of music from the band was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +immediately followed by a remarkably strong beam of light, +which shot into the darkness with such effect as to fairly +startle those present. Then it rested on the grey walls of the +huge pile, bathing in brightness the massive stones and +clinging ivy, the respective colours of each being vividly +apparent. But the most striking feature was yet to come. +The hundreds of pigeons which inhabited the nooks and +crannies of the old Keep, being considerably alarmed by this +sudden illumination of their domain, flew with one accord +round and round their ancient tenement, now in the full blaze +of light, now lost in the inky darkness beyond, and fluttering +about in a state of the utmost bewilderment. Methinks even +Mr. Pickwick, had he been present in the flesh, would have +been equally amazed at this remarkable spectacle."</p> + +<div class='sig'> +F. G. K.<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"That same afternoon, the massive grey square tower of an old Cathedral +rises before the sight of a jaded traveller. The bells are going for +daily Vesper Service, and he must needs attend it, one would say, from +his haste to reach the open Cathedral door. The choir are getting on +their sullied white robes, in a hurry, when he arrives among them, +gets on his own robe, and falls into the procession filing in to Service. +Then, the Sacristan locks the iron-barred gates that divide the +Sanctuary from the Chancel, and all of the procession having scuttled +into their places, hide their faces; and then the intoned words, +'<span class="smcap">When the wicked man</span>—' rise among the groins of arches and +beams of roof, awakening muttered thunder."—<i>Edwin Drood.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> readers of Dickens are first introduced to Rochester +Cathedral, in the early pages of the immortal <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, +by that audacious <i>raconteur</i>, Mr. Alfred Jingle:—</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Old Cathedral too—earthy smell—pilgrims' feet worn away the +old steps—little Saxon doors—confessionals like money-takers' +boxes at theatres—queer customers those monks—Popes, and Lord +Treasurers, and all sorts of old fellows, with great red faces, and +broken noses, turning up every day—buff jerkins too—matchlocks—sarcophagus—fine +place—old legends too—strange stories: capital."</p></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a> +<img src="images/i_135.png" width="600" height="381" alt="Rochester Cathedral" title="" /> +</div> +<p>But it was through the medium of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, and +under the masked name of Cloisterham, that all the novel-reading +world beyond the "ancient city" first recognized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +Rochester Cathedral—and indeed the ancient city too—as +having been elevated to a degree of interest and importance +far beyond that imparted to it by its own venerable history +and ecclesiastical associations, numerous and varied as they +are. The early portion of the story introduces us to +Cloisterham in imperishable language:—</p> + + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"An ancient city Cloisterham, and no meet dwelling-place for any +one with hankerings after the noisy world. . . . A drowsy city +Cloisterham, whose inhabitants seem to suppose, with an inconsistency +more strange than rare, that all its changes lie behind it, and +that there are no more to come. . . . In a word, a city of another and +a bygone time is Cloisterham, with its hoarse cathedral bell, its hoarse +rooks hovering about the cathedral tower, its hoarser and less distinct +rooks in the stalls far beneath. . . ."</p></div> + +<p>The particulars in this chapter mainly relate to <i>The +Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>, which Longfellow thought "certainly +one of Dickens's most beautiful works, if not the most beautiful +of all," but a few words may not be inappropriate respecting +some of the principal events connected with the Cathedral. +It was founded<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 604, by Ethelbert, King of Kent, and +the first bishop of the See (Bishop Justus) was ordained by +Augustine, the Archbishop of the Britons. The See of +Rochester is therefore, with the exception of Canterbury, at +once the most ancient and also the smallest in England.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral, as well as the city, suffered from the attacks +of Ethelred, King of Mercia, and in 1075, "when Arnot, a +monk of Bec, came to the See, it was in a most deplorable +condition." Bishop Gundulph, who succeeded him, and by +whose efforts the Castle was erected, replaced the old English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +church by a Norman one (1080), and made other improvements. +The Cathedral suffered from fire in 1138 and 1179. +Its great north transept was built in 1235, and the great +south transept in 1240. In 1423, the parish altar of St. +Nicholas, in the nave, was removed to a new Church for the +citizens on the north side of the Cathedral. In 1470, the +great west window was inserted. The Norman west front +has a richly sculptured door of five receding arches, containing +figures of the Saviour and the twelve apostles, and statues of +Henry I. and his Queen, Matilda. There are monuments in +the Cathedral to St. William of Perth, a baker of that town, +who was murdered near here by his servant, on his way +to the Holy Land (1201), and was canonized, to Bishop +Gundulph, Bishop John de Sheppey, Bishop de Merton (the +founder of Merton College, Oxford), and to many others.</p> + +<p>According to Mr. Phillips Bevan, "the chapter-house is +remarkable for its magnificent Decorated Door (about 1344), of +which there is a fac-simile at the Crystal Palace. The figures +represent the Christian and the Jewish Churches, surrounded +by Fathers and Angels. The figure at the top is the pure +soul for whom the angels are supposed to be praying."</p> + +<p>Various alterations and additions have been made from +time to time, the last of which appears to be the central +tower, which is terribly mean and inappropriate, and altogether +out of place with the ancient surroundings. It was built by +Cottingham in 1825.</p> + +<p>We pass, at various times, several pleasant hours in the +Cathedral and its precincts, admiring the beautiful Norman +work, and recalling most delightful memories of Charles +Dickens and his associations therewith.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 438px;"> +<img src="images/i_138.png" width="438" height="600" alt="Rochester Cathedral Interior" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Among the many friends we made at Rochester, was Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +Syms, the respected Manager of the Gas Company, and an old +resident in the city. To this gentleman we are indebted for +several reminiscences of Dickens and his works. He fancies +that <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i> owed its origin to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +following strange local event that happened many years ago. +A well-to-do person, a bachelor (who lived somewhere near +the site of the present Savings Bank in High St., Rochester, +Chatham end), was the guardian and trustee of a nephew +(a minor), who was the inheritor of a large property. Business, +pleasure, or a desire to seek health, took the nephew to the +West Indies, from whence he returned somewhat unexpectedly. +After his return he suddenly disappeared, and +was supposed to have gone another voyage, but no one ever +saw or heard of him again, and the matter was soon forgotten. +When, however, certain excavations were being made for +some improvements or additions to the Bank, the skeleton of +a young man was discovered; and local tradition couples the +circumstance with the probability of the murder of the nephew +by the uncle.</p> + +<p>Mr. Syms thought that the "Crozier," which is probably a +set off to the "Mitre," the orthodox hotel where Mr. Datchery +put up with his "portmanteau," was probably the city coffee-house, +an old hotel of the coaching days, which stood on the +site now occupied by the London County Bank. "It was a +hotel of a most retiring disposition," and "business was +chronically slack at the 'Crozier,'" which probably accounts +for its dissolution. Another suggestion is that the "Crozier" +may have been "The Old Crown," a fifteenth-century house, +which was pulled down in 1864. He could not identify the +"Tilted Wagon," the "cool establishment on the top of +a hill."</p> + +<p>It is generally admitted that "Mr. Thomas Sapsea, +Auctioneer, &c.," was a compound of two originals well +known in Rochester—a Mr. B. and a Mr. F., who had many +of the characteristics of the quondam Mayor of Cloisterham.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +Mr. Sapsea's house is the fine old timbered building opposite +Eastgate House, which has been previously alluded to.</p> + +<p>The "Travellers' Twopenny" of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, where +Deputy, <i>alias</i> Winks, lodged, Mr. Syms thought to have been +a cheap lodging-house well known in that locality, which +stood at the junction of Frog Alley and Crow Lane, +originally called "The Duck," and subsequently "Kitt's +Lodging-house." But, like less interesting and more important +relics of the past, this has disappeared, to make way +for modern improvements. It had been partly burnt down +before. To satisfy ourselves, we go over the ground, which is +near Mr. Franklin Homan's furniture establishment.</p> + +<p>We are reminded, in reference to <i>Edwin Drood</i>, that the +chief tenor singer never heads the procession of choristers. +That place of honour belongs to the smaller boys of the +choir. An enquiry from us, as to what was the opinion of +the townsfolk generally respecting Dickens, elicited the reply +that they thought him at times "rather masterful."</p> + +<p>We are most attentively shown over the Cathedral and its +surroundings by Mr. Miles, the venerable verger. This +faithful and devoted official, who began at the bottom of the +ladder as a choir boy in the sacred edifice at the commencement +of the present century, is much respected, and has +recently celebrated his golden wedding. Few can therefore +be more closely identified with the growth and development +of its current history. Pleasant and instructive it is to hear +him recount the many celebrated incidents which have marked +its progress, and to see the beautiful memorials of past +munificence or affection erected by friends or relatives, which +he lovingly points out. It is in no perfunctory spirit, or as +mere matter of routine, that he performs his office: we really<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +feel that he takes a deep interest in his task, which makes it a +privilege to walk under his guidance through the historic +building, and into its famous crypt, so especially associated +with Jasper and Durdles.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 475px;"> +<img src="images/i_141.png" width="475" height="355" alt="The Crypt, Rochester Cathedral." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Crypt, Rochester Cathedral.</span> +</div> + +<p>We enter "by a small side door, . . . descend the rugged +steps, and are down in the crypt." It is very spacious, and +vaulted with stone. Even by daylight, here and there, "the +heavy pillars which support the roof engender masses of +black shade, but between them there are lanes of light," and +we walk "up and down these lanes," being strangely reminded +of Durdles as we notice fragments of old broken stone ornaments +carefully laid out on boards in several places. Formerly +there were altars to St. Mary and St. Catherine in the crypt +or undercroft, but Mr. Wildish's local guide-book says:—"They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +seem not to have been much frequented; consequently these +saints were not very profitable to the priests."</p> + +<p>We "go up the winding staircase of the great tower, toilsomely +turning and turning, and lowering [our] heads to +avoid the stairs above, or the rough stone pivot around which +they twist." About ninety steps bring us on to the roof of +the Cathedral over the choir, and then, keeping along a +passage by the parapet, we reach the belfry, and from thence +go on by ladder to the bell-chamber, which contains six bells—dark—very—long +ladders—trap-doors—very heavy—almost +extinguish us when lowering them—more ladders from bell-chamber +to roof of tower. The parapet of the tower is very +high; we can just see over it when standing on a narrow +ledge near the top-coping of the leaded roof. There are a +number of curious carved heads on the pinnacles of the tower, +and the parapet, to our surprise, appears to be about the same +height as the top of the Castle Keep. A panoramic view +of Cloisterham presents itself to our view (alas! not by +moonlight, as in the story), "its ruined habitations and sanctuaries +of the dead at the tower's base; its moss-softened, +red-tiled roofs and red-brick houses of the living, clustered +beyond."</p> + +<p>We are anxious to go round the triforium, but there is no +passage through the arches; it was closed, we are told, at the +time of the restoration, about fifteen years ago, when the walls +of the Cathedral were pinned for safety. The verger, on +being asked, said he did not call to mind that Dickens ever +went round the triforium or ascended the tower. If this is so, +then much of the wonderful description of that "unaccountable +sort of expedition," in the twelfth chapter of <i>Edwin +Drood</i>, must have been written from imagination.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + +<p>As it is Sunday, and as the summer is nearly over, Mr. +Miles, with a feeling akin to that which George Eliot has +expressed regarding imperfect work:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"but God be praised,</span><br /> +Antonio Stradivari has an eye<br /> +That winces at false work and loves the true,"—<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>apologetically explains that one-half the choir are absent on +leave, and perhaps we shall not have the musical portion of +the service conducted with that degree of efficiency which, as +visitors, we may have expected. Nevertheless we attend the +afternoon service; and Mendelssohn's glorious anthem, "If +with all your hearts," appeals to us with enhanced effect, from +the exquisite rendering of it by the gifted pure tenor who +takes the solo, followed by the delicate harmonies of the +choir, as the sound waves carry them upwards through and +around the arches, and from the sublime emotions called +into being by the impassioned appeal of the Hebrew prophet.</div> + +<p>We study "the fantastic carvings on the under brackets of +the stall seats," and examine the lectern described as "the +big brass eagle holding the sacred books upon his wings," and +in imagination can almost call up the last scene described in +<i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>, where Her Royal Highness, +the Princess Puffer, "grins," and "shakes both fists at the +leader of the choir," and "Deputy peeps, sharp-eyed, through +the bars, and stares astounded from the threatener to the +threatened."</p> + +<p>Upon being interrogated as to whether he knew Charles +Dickens, our guide immediately answers with a smile—"Knew +him! yes. He came here very often, and I knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +him very well. The fact is, they want to make me out to +be 'Tope.'" And indeed there appears to be such a relevancy +in the association, that we frequently find ourselves addressing +him as "Mr. Tope," at which he good-humouredly laughs. +He further states that Dickens was frequently in Rochester, +and especially so when writing <i>Edwin Drood</i>, and appeared +to be studying the Cathedral and its surroundings very +attentively.</p> + +<p>The next question we put is:—"Was there ever such a +person as Durdles?" to which he replies, "Of course there +was,—a drunken old German stonemason, about thirty years +ago, who was always prowling about the Cathedral trying to +pick up little bits of broken stone ornaments, carved heads, +crockets, finials, and such like, which he carried about in +a cotton handkerchief, and which may have suggested to +Dickens the idea of the 'slouching' Durdles and his inseparable +dinner bundle. He used to work for a certain Squire +N——." His earnings mostly went to "The Fortune of +War,"—now called "The Life-Boat,"—the inn where he +lodged.</p> + +<p>Mr. Miles does not remember the prototypes of any other +"cathedraly" characters—Crisparkle and the rest—but he +quite agrees with the general opinion previously referred to +as to the origin of Mr. Sapsea. He considers "Deputy" (the +imp-like satellite of Durdles and the "Kinfreederel") to be +decidedly a street Arab, the type of which is more common +in London than in Rochester. He thinks that the fact of +the rooms over the gatehouse having once been occupied by +an organ-blower of the Cathedral may have prompted Dickens +to make it the residence of the choir-master. He also throws +out the suggestion that the discovery in 1825 of the effigy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +of Bishop John de Sheppey, who died in 1360, may possibly +have given rise to the idea of the "old 'uns" in the crypt, +the frequent object of Durdles's search, <i>e.g.</i> "Durdles come +upon the old chap (in reference to a buried magnate of +ancient time and high degree) by striking right into the coffin +with his pick. The old chap gave Durdles a look with his +open eyes as much as to say, 'Is your name Durdles? Why, +my man, I've been waiting for you a Devil of a time!' and +then he turned to powder. With a two-foot rule always in +his pocket, and a mason's hammer all but always in his hand, +Durdles goes continually sounding and tapping all about and +about the Cathedral; and whenever he says to Tope, 'Tope, +here's another old 'un in here!' Tope announces it to the +Dean as an established discovery."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a> +<img src="images/i_146.png" width="600" height="415" alt="Minor Canon Row: Rochester" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>On the south side of the Cathedral is the curious little +terrace of old-fashioned houses, about seven in number, called +"Minor Canon Row"—"a wonderfully quaint row of red-brick +tenements" (Dickens's name for it is "Minor Canon +Corner"),—chiefly occupied by the officers and others attached +to the Cathedral. Here it was that Mr. Crisparkle dwelt with +his mother, and where the little party was held (after the +dinner at which Mr. Luke Honeythunder, with his "Curse +your souls and bodies—come here and be blessed" philanthropy, +was present, and caused "a most doleful breakdown"), +which included Miss Twinkleton, the Landlesses, Rosa Bud, +and Edwin Drood, as shown in the illustration, "At the +Piano." The Reverend Septimus Crisparkle's mother, who +is the hostess (and celebrated for her wonderful closet with +stores of pickles, jams, biscuits, and cordials), is beautifully +described in the story:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"What is prettier than an old lady—except a young lady—when +her eyes are bright, when her figure is trim and compact, when her +face is cheerful and calm, when her dress is as the dress of a china +shepherdess: so dainty in its colours, so individually assorted to +herself, so neatly moulded on her? Nothing is prettier, thought +the good Minor Canon frequently, when taking his seat at table +opposite his long-widowed mother. Her thought at such times may +be condensed into the two words that oftenest did duty together in +all her conversations: 'My Sept.'"</p></div> + +<p>The backs of the houses have very pretty gardens, and, +as evidence of the pleasant and healthy atmosphere of the +locality, we notice beautiful specimens of the ilex, arbutus, +euonymus, and fig, the last-named being in fruit. The +wall-rue (<i>Asplenium ruta-muraria</i>) is found hereabout. There, +too, is a Virginia creeper, but we do not observe one growing +on the Cathedral walls, as described in <i>Edwin Drood</i>. Jackdaws +fly about the tower, but there are no rooks, as also +stated. Near Minor Canon Row, to the right of Boley Hill +(or "Bully Hill," as it is sometimes called), is the "paved +Quaker settlement," a sedate row of about a dozen houses +"up in a shady corner."</p> + +<p>"Jasper's Gatehouse" of the work above mentioned is +certainly an object of great interest to the lover of Dickens, +as many of the remarkable scenes in <i>Edwin Drood</i> took +place there. It is briefly described as "an old stone gatehouse +crossing the Close, with an arched thoroughfare passing +beneath it. Through its latticed window, a fire shines out +upon the fast-darkening scene, involving in shadow the +pendent masses of ivy and creeper covering the building's +front." There are <i>three</i> Gatehouses near the Cathedral, a +fact which proves somewhat embarrassing to those anxious +to identify the original of that so carefully described in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +the story. A short description of these may not be uninteresting.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="college" id="college"></a> +<img src="images/i_148.png" width="500" height="529" alt="College Gate—(or Chertsey's Gate) Rochester." title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 449px;"> +<img src="images/i_149.png" width="449" height="500" alt="Prior's Gate: Rochester" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">a</span>) "College Yard Gate," "Cemetery Gate," and "Chertsey's +Gate," are the respective names of what we know as "Jasper's +Gatehouse." It is a picturesque stone structure, weather-boarded +above the massive archway, and abuts on the High +Street about a hundred yards north of the Cathedral. Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +of the old houses near have recently been demolished, with +the result that the Gatehouse now stands out in bold relief +against the main thoroughfare of the city. No "pendent +masses of ivy" or "creeper" cover it. The Gate was named +"Chertsey" after Edward Chertsey, a gentleman who lived +and owned property near in the time of Edward IV., and +the Cathedral authorities still continue to use the old name, +"Chertsey's Gate." The place was recently the residence of +the under-porter of the Cathedral, and is now occupied by +poor people. There are four rooms, two below and two above.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">b</span>) "Prior's Gate" is a castellated stone structure partly +covered with ivy, standing about a hundred yards south +of the Cathedral, and is not now utilized in any way. +There is only one room, approached by a winding staircase +or "postern stair." The Gate was formerly used +as a school for choristers, until the new building of the +Choir School was opened in Minor Canon Row about three +years ago.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">c</span>) The "Deanery Gatehouse" is the name of a quaint +and very cosy old house, having ten rooms, some of which, +together with the staircase, are beautifully panelled; its +position is a little higher up to the eastward of the College +Yard Gate, and adjoining the Cathedral, while a gateway +passage under it leads to the Deanery. The house was +formerly the official residence of the Hon. and Reverend +Canon Hotham, who was appointed a Canon in residence in +1808, and lived here at intervals until about 1850, when the +Canonry was suppressed. Of all the Gatehouses, this is the +only one suitable for the residence of a person in Jasper's +position, who was enabled to offer befitting hospitality to +his nephew and Neville Landless. Formerly there was an +entrance into the Cathedral from this house, which is now +occupied by Mr. Day and his family, who kindly allowed us +to inspect it. We were informed that locally it is sometimes +called "Jasper's Gatehouse." The interior of the drawing-room +on the upper floor presents a very strong resemblance +to Mr. Luke Fildes's illustration, "On dangerous ground." +Accordingly, to settle the question of identity, I wrote to +Mr. Fildes, whose interesting and courteous reply to my +inquiries is conclusive. Before giving it, however, I may +mention that my fellow-tramp, Mr. Kitton, suggested, more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +particularly with reference to another illustration in <i>Edwin +Drood</i>, viz., "Durdles cautions Mr. Sapsea against boasting," +that, for the purposes of the story, the Prior's Gate is placed +where the College Yard Gate actually stands.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_151.png" width="600" height="450" alt="Deanery Gate. Rochester" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +"<span class="smcap">11, Melbury Road, Kensington, W.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<i>25th October, 1890.</i></span><br /></div> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"The background of the drawing of 'Durdles +cautioning Sapsea,' I believe I sketched from what you call +A., <i>i. e.</i> The College Gate. I am almost certain it was not +taken from B., the Prior's.</p> + +<p>"The room in the drawing, 'On dangerous ground,' is +imaginary.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do not believe I entered any of the Gatehouses.</p> + +<p>"The resemblance you see in the drawing to the room +in the Deanery Gatehouse (C.), might not be gained by +actual observation of the <i>interior</i>.</p> + +<p>"In many instances an artist can well judge what the +interior may be from studying the <i>outside</i>. I only throw +this out to show that the artist may not have seen a thing +even when a strong resemblance occurs. I am sorry to leave +any doubt on the subject, though personally I feel none.</p> + +<p>"You see I never felt the necessity or propriety of being +locally accurate to Rochester or its buildings. Dickens, of +course, meant Rochester; yet, at the same time, he chose +to be obscure on that point, and I took my cue from him. +I always thought it was one of his most artistic pieces of +work; the vague, dreamy description of the Cathedral in the +opening chapter of the book. So definite in one sense, yet +so locally vague.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"Very faithfully yours,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Luke Fildes</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='secsig'> +"<span class="smcap">W. R. Hughes, Esq.</span>"<br /> +</div></div> + +<p>The College Yard Gate (<span class="smcap">a</span>) must therefore be regarded +as the typical Jasper's Gatehouse, but, with the usual novelist's +license, some points in all three Gatehouses have been +utilized for effect. So we can imagine the three friends in +succession going up the "postern stair;" and, further on in +the story, we can picture that mysterious "single buffer, Dick +Datchery, living on his means," as a lodger in the "venerable +architectural and inconvenient" official dwelling of Mr. Tope, +minutely described in the eighteenth chapter of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, +as "communicating by an upper stair with Mr. Jasper's,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +watching the unsuspecting Jasper as he goes to and from +the Cathedral.</p> + +<p>Chapters twelve, fourteen, and twenty-three refer to +Jasper's Gatehouse, and its proximity to the busy hum of +human life, in very vivid terms, especially chapter twelve:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Among these secluded nooks there is little stir or movement +after dark. There is little enough in the high tide of the day, but +there is next to none at night. Besides that, the cheerfully frequented +High Street lies nearly parallel to the spot (the old Cathedral rising +between the two), and is the natural channel in which the Cloisterham +traffic flows, a certain awful hush pervades the ancient pile, the +cloisters, and the churchyard after dark, which not many people +care to encounter. . . . One might fancy that the tide of life was +stemmed by Mr. Jasper's own Gatehouse. The murmur of the tide +is heard beyond; but no wave passes the archway, over which his +lamp burns red behind the curtain, as if the building were a +Lighthouse. . . .</p> + +<p>"The red light burns steadily all the evening in the Lighthouse on +the margin of the tide of busy life. Softened sounds and hum of +traffic pass it, and flow on irregularly into the lonely precincts; but +very little else goes by save violent rushes of wind. It comes on to +blow a boisterous gale. . . . John Jasper's lamp is kindled, and his +Lighthouse is shining, when Mr. Datchery returns alone towards it. +As mariners on a dangerous voyage, approaching an iron-bound +coast, may look along the beams of the warning light to the haven +lying beyond it that may never be reached, so Mr. Datchery's wistful +gaze is directed to this beacon and beyond. . . ."</p></div> + +<p>The sensation of calm in passing suddenly out of the busy +High Street of Rochester into the subdued precincts of the +Cathedral, as above described, is very marked and peculiar, +and must be experienced to be realized.</p> + +<p>Among the many interesting ancient buildings in "the +lonely precincts" may be mentioned the old Episcopal Palace +of the Bishops of Rochester. My friend Mr. George Payne,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +F.S.A., Hon. Sec. of the Kent Archæological Society, who now +lives there, writes me that:—"it is impossible to say when it +was first built, but it was rebuilt <i>circa</i> 1200, the Palace which +preceded it having been destroyed by fire. Bishop Fisher +was appointed to the See in 1504, and mainly resided at +Rochester. The learned prelate here entertained the great +Erasmus in 1516, and Cardinal Wolsey in 1527. In 1534 +Bishop Fisher left Rochester never to return, being beheaded +on Tower Hill, June 22nd, 1535. The front of the Palace has +been coated with rough plaster work dusted over with broken +tile, but the rear walls are in their original state, being wholly +composed of rag, tufa, and here and there Roman tiles. The +cellars are of the most massive construction, and many of the +rooms are panelled."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i_154.png" width="550" height="372" alt="The Vines and Restoration House" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The Monks' Vineyard of <i>Edwin Drood</i> exists as "The +Vines," and is one of the "lungs" of Rochester, belonging to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +the Dean and Chapter, by whom it is liberally leased to the +Corporation for a nominal consideration. It was a vineyard, +or garden, in the days of the monks, and is now a fine open +space, planted with trees, and has good walks and well-trimmed +lawns and borders. Remains of the wall of the city, +or abbey, previous to the Cathedral, constitute the northern +boundary of "The Vines." There are commodious seats for +the public, and it was doubtless on one of these, as represented +in the illustration <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'entited'">entitled</ins> "Under the Trees," that Edwin +Drood and Rosa sat, during that memorable discussion of +their position and prospects, which began so childlike and +ended so sadly. "'Can't you see a happy Future?' For +certain, neither of them sees a happy Present, as the gate +opens and closes, and one goes in and the other goes away." +A fine clump of old elms (seven in number), called "The +Seven Sisters," stands at the east end of the Vines, nearly +opposite Restoration House, and it was under these trees +that the conversation took place.</p> + +<p>So curiously exact at times does the description fit in with +the places, that we notice opposite Eastgate House the +"Lumps of Delight Shop," to which it will be remembered +that after the discussion Rosa Bud directed Edwin Drood to +take her.</p> + +<p>Dickens's last visit to Rochester was on Monday, 6th June, +1870, when he walked over from Gad's Hill Place with his +dogs; and he appears to have been noticed by several persons +in the Vines, and particularly by Mr. John Sweet, as he stood +leaning against the wooden palings near Restoration House, +contemplating the beautiful old Manor House. These palings +have since been removed, and an iron fence substituted. The +object of this visit subsequently became apparent, when it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +was found that, in those pages of <i>Edwin Drood</i> written a few +hours before his death, Datchery and the Princess Puffer held +that memorable conference there. "They have arrived at the +entrance to the Monks' Vineyard; an appropriate remembrance, +presenting an exemplary model for imitation, is +revived in the woman's mind by the sight of the place," in +allusion of course to a present of "three shillings and sixpence" +which Edwin Drood gave her Royal Highness on a previous +occasion to buy opium.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a> +<img src="images/i_156.png" width="600" height="388" alt="Restoration House, Rochester, as it appeared in Dickens's time. (From a sketch by an Amateur.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Restoration House, Rochester, as it appeared in Dickens's time. (From a sketch by an Amateur.)</span> +</div> + +<p>The extensive promenade called the Esplanade (where +in 1889 we saw the Regatta in which, after a series of annual +defeats, Rochester maintained its supremacy), on the east +side of the river Medway, under the Castle walls, pleasantly +approached from the Cathedral Close, is memorable as having +been the spot described in the thirteenth chapter where +Edwin and Rosa met for the last time, and mutually agreed +to terminate their unfortunate and ill-assorted engagement.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"They walked on by the river. They began to speak of their +separate plans. He would quicken his departure from England, and +she would remain where she was, at least as long as Helena remained. +The poor dear girls should have their disappointment broken to them +gently, and, as the first preliminary, Miss Twinkleton should be +confided in by Rosa, even in advance of the reappearance of Mr. +Grewgious. It should be made clear in all quarters that she and +Edwin were the best of friends. There had never been so serene an +understanding between them since they were first affianced."</p></div> + +<p>We are anxious to identify Cloisterham Weir, frequently +mentioned in <i>Edwin Drood</i>, but more particularly as being +the place where Minor Canon Crisparkle found Edwin's watch +and shirt-pin. The Weir, we are told in the novel, "is full +two miles above the spot to which the young men [Edwin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +and Neville] had repaired [presumably the Esplanade] to +watch the storm." There is, however, no Weir nearer than +Allington, at which place the tide of the Medway stops, and +Allington is a considerable distance from Rochester, probably +seven or eight miles. How well the good Minor Canon's +propensity for "perpetually pitching himself headforemost into +all the deep water in the surrounding country," and his "pilgrimages +to Cloisterham Weir in the cold rimy mornings," +are brought into requisition to enable him to obtain the watch +and pin.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"He threw off his clothes, he plunged into the icy water, and +swam for the spot—a corner of the Weir—where something glistened +which did not move and come over with the glistening water drops, +but remained stationary. . . . He brought the watch to the bank, +swam to the Weir again, climbed it, and dived off. He knew +every hole and corner of all the depths, and dived and dived and +dived, until he could bear the cold no more. His notion was that he +would find the body; he only found a shirt-pin sticking in some mud +and ooze."</p></div> + +<p>Our failure to identify Cloisterham Weir exhibits another +instance where, for the purposes of the story, an imaginary +place is introduced. To Mr. William Ball is due the credit +for subsequently suggesting that Snodland Brook and Snodland +Weir may have possibly been in Dickens's mind in +originating Cloisterham Weir; so we tramped over to inspect +them. Near the village, the brook (or river, for it is +of respectable width) is turbid and shallow, but higher up—a +mile or so—we found it clearer and deeper, and we heard +from some labourers, whom we saw regaling themselves by the +side of a hayrick, that a local gentleman had some years ago +been in the habit of bathing in the stream all the year round.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i_159.png" width="550" height="414" alt="St. Nicholas' Burying Ground" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The ancient Church of St. Nicholas (1423) is on the north +side of the Cathedral. In front of it is a narrow strip of ground, +enclosed with iron railings, formerly the burial-ground of the +Church, but now disused, referred to in <i>Edwin Drood</i> as "a +fragment of a burial-ground in which an unhappy sheep was +grazing." In this enclosure, which is neatly kept, there +are a weeping willow at each end, and in the centre an +exquisite specimen of the catalpa tree (<i>Catalpa syringifolia</i>), +the floral ornament of the Cathedral precincts. At the +time of our visit it is in perfect condition, the large cordate +bright green leaves, and the massive trusses of labiate flowers +of white, yellow, and purple colours (not unlike those of the +<i>Impatiens noli-me-tangere</i> balsam, only handsomer) are worth +walking miles to see. It is a North American plant, and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +its native country sometimes grows to a height of forty feet. +The specimen here described is about twenty feet high, and +was planted about fifteen years ago.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>On the opposite side of the way is the old cemetery of St. +Nicholas' Church, originally part of the Castle moat, but which +was converted to its present purpose about half a century ago. +This quiet resting-place of the dead has intense interest for the +lover of Dickens, as it was here that he desired to be buried; +and his family would certainly have carried his wishes into +effect, but that the place had been closed for years and no +further interments were allowed. Pending other arrangements +at Shorne, an admirable suggestion was made in the <i>Times</i>, +which speedily found favour with the nation in its great +affection for him, namely, that he should rest in Westminster +Abbey; and, the Dean of Westminster promptly and wisely +responding to the suggestion, it was at once carried into effect.</p> + +<p>As we pause, and look again and again at the sheltered +nook in the old cemetery sanctified by his memory, and +adorned by rich evergreens and other trees, among which the +weeping willow and the almond are conspicuous, we quite +understand and sympathize with Dickens's love for such a +calm and secluded spot.</p> + +<p>The Dean and Chapter of Rochester, it will be recollected, +were anxious that the great novelist's remains should be +placed in or near their Cathedral, and that wish might have +been gratified, except, as just explained, that the public +decreed otherwise. However, they sanctioned the erection, +by the executors, of a brass, which enriches the wall of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +south transept of the edifice, and which has the following +inscription:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i_161.png" width="550" height="148" alt="Charles Dickens Plaque" title="" /> +</div> + + +<p>The unfinished novel of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, which, as we have +seen, is so inseparably connected with Rochester Cathedral, +has been <i>finished</i> by at least half a dozen authors, probably to +their own satisfaction; but it is a hard matter to the reader +to struggle through any one of them. However, there is a +little <i>brochure</i> in this direction which we feel may here be +appropriately noticed. It is called, <i>Watched by the Dead: +A Loving Study of Charles Dickens's half-told Tale</i>, 1887, and +was written by R. A. Proctor, F.R.A.S., the Astronomer, +whose untimely death from fever in America was announced +after our return from our week's tramp. The author had +evidently studied the matter both lovingly and attentively, +and starts with the assumption that it is an example of what +he calls "Dickens's favourite theme," which more than any +other had a fascination for him, and was apparently regarded +by him as likely to be most potent in its influence on others. +It was that of "a wrong-doer watched at every turn by one +of whom he has no suspicion, for whom he even entertains a +feeling of contempt," and Mr. Proctor has certainly evolved a +very suggestive and not improbable conclusion to the story. +Instances of Dickens's favourite theme are adduced from +<i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, where Haredale, unsuspected, steadily waits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +and watches for Rudge, till, after more than twenty years, +"At last! at last!" he cries, as he captures his brother's +murderer on the very spot where the murder had been committed; +from <i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>, where Sampson and +Sally Brass are watched by the Marchioness—their powerless +victim as they supposed, and by whom their detection is +brought about; from <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, where Ralph Nickleby +is watched by Brooker; and from <i>Dombey and Son</i>, where +Dombey is watched by Carker, and he in turn is watched by +good Mrs. Brown and her unhappy daughter. Instances of +this kind also appear in <i>David Copperfield</i>, <i>Bleak House</i>, +and <i>Little Dorrit</i>.</p> + +<p>Reasoning from similar data, Mr. Proctor concludes that +Jasper was watched by Edwin Drood in the person of +Datchery, and thus he was to have been tracked remorselessly +"to his death by the man whom he supposed he had +slain." The <i>dénouement</i> as regards the other characters seems +also not improbable. Rosa Bud was to have married Lieutenant +Tartar, and Crisparkle, Helena Landless. Neville was +to have died, but not before he had learned to understand the +change which Edwin's character had undergone. As to +Edwin Drood himself, "purified by trial, strengthened though +saddened by his love for Rosa," Edwin would have been one +of those characters Dickens loved to draw—a character +entirely changed from a once careless, almost trivial self, to +depth and earnestness. "All were to join in changing the +ways of dear old Grewgious from the sadness and loneliness +of the earlier scenes" in the story, "to the warmth and light +of that kindly domestic life for which, angular though he +thought himself, his true and genial nature fitted him so +thoroughly." This attempt to solve <i>The Mystery of Edwin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +Drood</i> will amply repay perusal. It was probably one of the +last works of this very able and versatile author.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It is right to state that Mr. Luke Fildes, R.A., the +illustrator of <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>, with whom we +have had the pleasure of an interview, entirely rejects this +theory. He does not favour the idea that Datchery is Edwin +Drood; his opinion is that the ingenuous and kind-hearted +Edwin, had he been living, would never have allowed his +friend Neville to continue so long under the grave suspicion +of murder. Nay more: he is convinced that Dickens intended +that Edwin Drood should be killed by his uncle; and +this opinion is supported by the fact of the introduction of +a "large black scarf of strong close-woven silk," which +Jasper wears for the first time in the fourteenth chapter of the +story, and which was likely to have been the means of death, +<i>i. e.</i> by strangulation. Mr. Fildes said that Dickens seemed +much surprised when he called his attention to this change of +dress—very noticeable and embarrassing to an artist who had +studied the character—and appeared as though he had unintentionally +disclosed the secret. He further stated that it +was Dickens's intention to take him to a condemned cell in +Maidstone or some other gaol, in order "that he might make +a drawing," "and," said Dickens, "do something better than +Cruikshank;" in allusion, of course, to the famous drawing +of "Fagin in the condemned cell." "Surely this," remarked +our informant, "points to our witnessing the condemned +culprit Jasper in his cell before he met his fate."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Fildes spoke with enthusiasm of the very great kindness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +and consideration which he received from Dickens, and the +pains he took to introduce his young friend to the visitors at +Gad's Hill, and in London at Hyde Park Place, who were his +seniors. He was under an engagement to visit Dickens,—had +his portmanteau packed in fact, almost ready to start on his +journey—when he saw to his amazement the announcement +of his death in the newspapers—and it was a very great shock +to him. Not long afterwards, Mr. Fildes said, the family, +with much kind thoughtfulness, renewed the invitation to him +to stay a few days at Gad's Hill Place, and during that time +he made the imperishable drawing of "The Empty Chair."</p> + +<p>Bearing in mind the above circumstances coming from so +high an authority, a missing link has been supplied, but—<i>The +Mystery of Edwin Drood</i> is still unsolved!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>RICHARD WATTS'S CHARITY, ROCHESTER.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"Strictly speaking, there were only <i>six</i> Poor Travellers; but being a +Traveller myself, though an idle one, and being withal as poor as I +hope to be, I brought the number up to seven. . . . I, for one, am +so divided this night between fact and fiction, that I scarce know +which is which."—<i>The Seven Poor Travellers.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> most unique Charity ever described in fiction, or +founded on fact, well deserves a few pages to be devoted +to a record of its interesting history and present position. +We therefore occupy a short time in examining it on +Thursday morning, before our visit to the Marshes.</div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 381px;"> +<img src="images/i_166.png" width="381" height="550" alt="The "Six Poor Travellers"" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Except for <i>The Seven Poor Travellers</i>, which was the title +of the Christmas Number of <i>Household Words</i> issued in +1854, it is possible that few beyond "the ancient city" would +ever have heard, or indeed have cared to hear, anything about +the Worshipful Master Richard Watts or his famous Charity; +now, as all the world knows, it is a veritable "household +word" to readers and admirers of Dickens. In the narrative, +he, as the first Traveller, is supposed to have visited Rochester, +and passed the evening with the six Poor Travellers, and +thus to have made the seventh. After hearing the story of +the Charity "from the decent body of a wholesome matronly +presence" (this was Mrs. Cackett, a former matron, who is said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +to have been very much astonished at her appearance in the +drama of <i>The Seven Poor Travellers</i>, which she subsequently +witnessed at the Rochester Theatre), he obtains permission +to treat the Travellers to a hot supper. The inn at which the +first Traveller stayed was doubtless our old acquaintance, the +Bull, "where the window of his adjoining bedroom looked +down into the Inn yard, just where the lights of the kitchen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +redden a massive fragment of the Castle wall." Here was +brewed the "wassail" contained in the "brown beauty," the +"turkey" and "beef" roasted, and the "plum-pudding" +boiled. As Mr. Robert Langton says, "the account of the +treat to the poor Travellers is of course wholly fictitious, +although it is accepted as sober truth by many people, both +in Rochester and elsewhere."</p> + +<p>It is not our purpose to criticize the seven pretty stories +which make up this Christmas Number, part of the first of +which only relates to Watts's Charity; but we will venture +to affirm that the concluding portion of that story, referring +to "Richard Doubledick," "who was a Poor Traveller with +not a farthing in his pocket, and who came limping down +on foot to this town of Chatham," is one of the most touching +instances of Christian forgiveness ever recorded, and hardened +indeed must he be who reads it with dry eyes.</p> + +<p>To what extent Dickens himself was affected by this beautiful +tale, is shown by the following extract from a letter +addressed by him, on 22nd December, 1854, to the late +Mr. Arthur Ryland, formerly Mayor of Birmingham, now +treasured by his widow, Mrs. Arthur Ryland, who kindly +allowed a copy to be taken:—</p> + +<p>"What you write with so much heartiness of my first Poor +Traveller is quite delightful to me. The idea of that little +story obtained such strong possession of me when it came +into my head, that it cost me more time and tears than most +people would consider likely. The response it meets with is +payment for anything."</p> + +<p>It is also interesting to record that many years afterwards +Mr. Ryland read this story at one of the Christmas gatherings +of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, and subsequently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +received from an unknown correspondent—Sergeant A——, +of the 106th Light Infantry, then stationed at Umballa, East +Indies, who had noticed an account of the reading in a newspaper—a +letter under date of 15th July, 1870, asking to be +favoured with a copy of the story; "for," said the writer, +"we have just started a Penny Reading Society (if I may +call it so), and I'm sure that story would be the means of +reclaiming many men from their vices—I mean drinking and +low company." The story was of course sent, and Mr. +Ryland subsequently communicated the circumstances to the +present Mr. Charles Dickens, who replied—"I wish my dear +father could have seen the sergeant's letter; it would have +pleased him, I am sure."</p> + +<p>As we proceed along the High Street, on the north side +towards Chatham, a walk of only a few yards from the Bull +brings us to a curious Tudor stone-built house of two stories, +with latticed windows and three-pointed gables. Under a +lamp in the centre, which is over the "quaint old door"—the +door-sill itself being (as is usual with some old houses) a +little below the street, so that we drop by a step or two +into the entrance-hall—is a tablet containing the following +inscription:—</p> + +<div class='center'> +(CENTRE.)<br /> +<span class="smcap">Richard Watts, Esquire</span>,<br /> +by his Will dated 22nd August, 1579,<br /> +founded this Charity<br /> +for Six Poor Travellers,<br /> +who, not being Rogues or Proctors,<br /> +May receive gratis for one Night<br /> +Lodging, Entertainment,<br /> +and Fourpence each.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></div> + +<p>"In testimony of his munificence, in honour of his memory, +and inducement to his example, the Charitable Trustees of +this City and Borough have caused this stone to be renewed +and inscribed, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1865."</p> + +<p>And on the left and right-hand sides respectively of the +preceding appear smaller tablets, with the following inscriptions:—</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='center'>(LEFT.)<br /> +<br /> +The Charitable Trustees<br /> +of this City and<br /> +Borough appointed<br /> +by the Lord High<br /> +Chancellor,<br /> +16 December, 1836,<br /> +are to see<br /> +this Charity<br /> +executed.<br /></td><td align='center'>(RIGHT.)<br /> +<br /> +Pagitt <img src="images/i_169.png" width="50" height="40" alt="Arms" title="" /> + Somers<br /> +Thomas Pagitt,<br /> +second husband of<br /> +Mary, Daughter of<br /> +Thomas Somers<br /> +of Halstow,<br /> +Widow of Richard Watts,<br /> +Deceased <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1599.<br /> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + + +<p>We enter the old-fashioned little parlour, or office, on the +left-hand side, "warm in winter and cool in summer. It has +a look of homely welcome and soothing rest. It has a +remarkably cosy fireside, the very blink of which, gleaming +out into the street upon a winter's night, is enough to warm +all Rochester's heart." The matron receives us politely, and +shows us two large books of foolscap size with ruled columns, +one of these containing a record of the visitors to the Charity, +and the other a list of the recipients thereof. A little +pleasantry is caused by one of us entering his name in the +wrong book, but this mistake is promptly rectified by the +matron, who informs us that we are scarcely objects for relief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +as "Poor Travellers." She then kindly repeats to us the two +legends respecting the origin of the Charity, the first of which +is tolerably well known, but the other is less familiar. Before +recording these, it may be well to give an extract from the +will of Master Richard Watts (a very curious and lengthy +document), which was industriously hunted up by the late +Mr. Charles Bullard, author of the <i>Romance of Rochester</i>, +and by him contributed to the <i>Rochester and Chatham +Journal</i>, of which it fills a whole column.</p> + +<p>The will (dated, as previously stated, August 22nd, 1579) +directs, <i>inter alia</i>, that "First the Alms-house already erected +and standing beside the Markett Crosse, within the Citty of +Rochester aforesaid, which Almshouses my Will Purpose +and Desire is that there be reedified added and provided +with such Roomes as be there already provided Six Severall +Roomes with Chimneys for the Comfort placeing and abideing +of the Poore within the said Citty, and alsoe to be made +apt and convenient places therein for Six good Matrices or +Flock Bedds and other good and sufficient Furniture to +harbour or lodge in poore Travellers or Wayfareing Men +being noe Common Rogues nor Proctors, and they the said +Wayfareing Men to harbour and lodge therein noe longer +than one Night unlesse Sickness be the farther Cause thereof +and those poore Folkes there dwelling shall keepe the House +sweete make the Bedds see to the Furniture keepe the same +sweete and courteously intreate the said poore Travellers +and to every of the said poore Travellers att their first comeing +in to have fourpence and they shall warme them at the +Fire of the Residents within the said House if Need be."</p> + +<p>The reason for the exception in the testator's will as +regards rogues is sufficiently obvious, and therefore all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +point of this singular bequest lies in the word "Proctors." +Who were they? One of the legends has it that the obsolete +word "Proctors" referred to certain sturdy mendicants who +swarmed in the south of England, and went about extracting +money from the charitable public under the pretence of +collecting "Peter's Pence" for the Pope; or, as the compiler +of Murray's <i>Handbook to the County of Kent</i> suggests, "were +probably the bearers of licences to collect alms for hospitals," +etc. Possibly the worthy Master Richard Watts +objected to the levying of this blackmail; or he may in his +walks have been subjected to the proctors' importunities, and +consequently in his will rigorously debarred them in all +futurity from any share in his Charity.</p> + +<p>The other legend is that Master Watts, being grievously +sick and sore to die, sent for his lawyer, who in those days +acted as proctor as well,—Steerforth in <i>David Copperfield</i> +calls the proctor "a monkish kind of attorney,"—and bade +him prepare his will according to certain instructions. The +will was made, but not in the manner directed, and subsequently, +on the testator regaining his health, he discovered +the fraud which the crafty lawyer or proctor had tried to +perpetrate—which was, in fact, to make himself the sole +legatee. In his just indignation he made another will, and +in it for ever excluded the fraternity of proctors from benefiting +thereby. The reader is at liberty to accept whichever +of the two legends he chooses. It is right to say that Mr. +Roach Smith utterly rejects the second story. He says +proctors were simply rogues, although some of them may +have been licensed.</p> + +<p>The following is a foot-note to Fisher's <i>History and +Antiquities of Rochester and its Environs</i>, MDCCLXXII.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a> +<img src="images/i_172.png" width="600" height="421" alt="Watts' Almshouses: Rochester" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is generally thought that the reason of Mr. Watts's +excluding proctors from the benefit of the Charity, was that +a proctor had been employed to make his will, whereby he +had given all the estates to himself; but I am inclined to +believe that the word proctor is derived from procurator, who +was an itinerant priest, and had dispensations from the Pope +to absolve the subjects of this realm from the oath of allegiance +to Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign there were many +such priests."</p> + +<p>When the identity of Miss Adelaide Anne Procter, the +gifted author of the pure and pathetic <i>Legends and Lyrics</i> +(who had been an anonymous contributor to <i>Household +Words</i> for some time under the <i>nom de plume</i> of "Mary +Berwick"), became known to Charles Dickens, he sent her a +charming and kindly letter of congratulation and appreciation, +dated 17th December, 1854 (just at the time that the +Christmas stories of the <i>Seven Poor Travellers</i> were published), +which thus concludes:—</p> + +<p>"You have given me so much pleasure, and have made +me shed so many tears, that I can only think of you now in +association with the sentiment and grace of your verses. +Pray accept the blessing and forgiveness of Richard Watts, +<i>though I am afraid you come under both his conditions of +exclusion</i>."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="signatures" id="signatures"></a> +<img src="images/i_174.png" width="400" height="345" alt="Signatures: Charles Dickens and Mark Lemon" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>We are informed that the original bequest of the testator +was only £36 16<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> per annum, being the rent of land; +but now, owing to the improved letting of the land, for +building and other purposes, the Revenues of the Charity are +upwards of £4,000 per annum. The "fourpence" of the +foundation would be equal to some three shillings and fourpence +of our money. The trustees, about sixteen in number,—one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +of whom has filled the office for fifty years—have +very wisely and prudently obtained an extension of their +powers; and the Court of Chancery have twice (in 1855 +and 1886) sanctioned schemes for the administration of the +funds, which have largely benefited Rochester in many ways. +As witness of this, there are a series of excellent almshouses +on the Maidstone Road (which cost about £6,000), with +appropriate entrance-gates and gardens, endowed for the +support and maintenance of townsmen and townswomen. +We subsequently go into several of the rooms, all beautifully +clean, and in most cases tastefully decorated by the inmates +with a few pictures, prints, and flowers, and find that the +present occupants are ten almsmen and six women. We +have a chat with one of the almsmen,—a hearty old man, +once the beadle of St. Margaret's Church,—who rejoices in +the name of Peter Weller, and whom we find to be well +up in his <i>Pickwick</i>. There are a resident head-nurse and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +three other resident nurses in the establishment, who occasionally +go out to nurse the sick in the city. In addition to +these almshouses, a handsome new hospital has been erected +in the New Road, and partly endowed (£1,000 a year) out +of the funds. Contributions are also made annually from +the same source towards the support of the Public Baths, +and for apprenticing deserving lads. Such is the development +of this remarkable Charity.</p> + +<p>The matron calls our attention to many interesting names +in the Visitors' book. Under date of the 11th May, 1854, are +the signatures, in good bold writing, of Charles Dickens and +Mark Lemon; and in subsequent entries, extending over +many years, appear the names of Wilkie Collins, W. H. Wills, +W. G. Wills, Walter Besant, Thomas Adolphus Trollope, +J. Henry Shorthouse, Augustus J. C. Hare, and other well-known +<i>littérateurs</i>. As usual, there are also numerous names +of Americans, including those of Miss Mary Anderson and +party.</p> + +<p>There are many curious remarks recorded in this book, +such as an entry dated 26th June, 1857, which says:—"Tossed +by, and out of the Bull with a crumpled horn, as no +one would lend me five shillings, therefore obliged to solicit +the benefit of this excellent charity." There is an admirable +testimony in Latin, by the late Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. +Wordsworth, to the usefulness of the institution, which, dated +23rd August, 1883, is as follows:—"<i>Esto perpetua obstantibus +Caritatis Commissionariis.</i>" His Lordship's remark was +probably in allusion to the fact that the Charity Commissioners +were (as we were afterwards informed) inclined, +some time ago, to abolish the Charity, but this proceeding +was stoutly and successfully resisted by the trustees. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +the most gratifying records which we see in the book consist +of several entries by recipients of the Charity themselves, who +have subsequently come again after prosperous times in the +capacity of visitors, and thus testified to the benefits received. +Here is one:—"Having once enjoyed the Charity, I wish it +a long life."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 387px;"> +<img src="images/i_176.png" width="387" height="500" alt="The "Six Poor Travellers" from the Rear" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<p>A clerk has the responsibility of making a careful selection +of six from the number of applicants, and this appears to be +no light task, inasmuch as the "prescribed number of Poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +Travellers are forthcoming every night from year's end to +year's end," and sometimes amount to fifty in a day. In +selecting the persons to be admitted, care is taken that, +unless under special circumstances, the same person be not +admitted for more than one night, and in no case for more +than two consecutive nights. A glance over the register +shows that the names include almost all trades and occupa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>tions; +and, as regards the fact of a great many coming from +Kentish towns, Dartford, Greenwich, Canterbury, Maidstone, +etc., we are informed, in reply to our enquiry, that this is no +criterion of the real residence, because the place where the +traveller last lodged is always entered. The matron told us +a story of a clever attempt to obtain admission by a Poor +Traveller "with a tin whistle and very gentlemanly hands," +who subsequently turned out to be a reporter from the +<i>Echo</i>, in which paper there afterwards appeared an account +of the Charity, called <i>On Tramp by an Amateur</i>.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"><a name="gallery" id="gallery"></a> +<img src="images/i_177.png" width="475" height="534" alt="A Dormitory in the "Six Poor Travellers" and Gallery Leading to the Dormitories" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>We are shown over the premises—scrupulously neat and +clean—and observe that there are excellent lavatories with +foot-pans, and a pair of slippers provided for each recipient. +We afterwards see the six Poor Travellers who have had their +supper, and are comfortably smoking their pipes in a snug +room, and we have a pleasant and interesting chat with them. +They are much above the condition of ordinary tramps, and +are lodged in six separate bedrooms, or "dormitories" which +open out of a gallery at the back part of the building, +a very curious structure, remaining just as it was in the +days of Queen Elizabeth. For supper, each man is allowed +half a pound of cooked meat, a pound of bread, and half-a-pint +of porter, and receives fourpence in money on leaving. +It is right to state that we heard complaints in the city +relating to the evil effects of a number of poor travellers +being attracted to the Charity daily, when but a few can +obtain relief.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="satis" id="satis"></a> +<img src="images/i_179.png" width="450" height="299" alt="Satis House." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Satis House.</span> +</div> + +<p>Respecting the Worshipful Master Richard Watts himself +very little is known, except that he was appointed by Queen +Elizabeth in 1560 to be the surveyor and clerk of the works +for the building of Upnor Castle; that he was paymaster to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +the Wardens of Rochester Bridge for some years previously; +that he was recorder of Rochester, and represented the city +in Parliament from 1563 to 1571, and that he resided at +"Satis House," which stood on the site of the modern residence +bearing the same name, now occupied by Mrs. Booth, +a little to the south of the Cathedral, but which must not, +however, be confounded with the Satis House of <i>Great +Expectations</i>, this latter, as has been previously explained, +being identical with Restoration House, in Crow Lane. +When Queen Elizabeth visited Rochester in 1573, Watts +had the honour of entertaining Her Majesty there, on the last +day of her residence in "the ancient city"; and to his expressions +of regret at having no better accommodation to +offer, the Queen was pleased generously to reply, "Satis," by +which name the house has ever since been known. Estella, +in <i>Great Expectations</i>, gives another view of the origin of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +name. She says:—"Its other name was Satis; which is +Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or all three—or all one to me—for +enough: but it meant more than it said. It meant, +when it was given, that whoever had this house, could want +nothing else. They must have been easily satisfied in those +days, I should think." Archbishop Longley was born there +in 1794.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 168px;"> +<img src="images/i_180.png" width="168" height="400" alt="Watts's Monument in Rochester Cathedral. Over the Memorial Brass of Charles Dickens." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Watts's Monument in Rochester Cathedral.<br /> +Over the Memorial Brass of Charles Dickens.</span> +</div> + +<p>There is a monument to the proctor-hating philanthropist +on the wall of the south transept of the Cathedral over the +brass to Charles Dickens, surmounted by a very curious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +painted marble half-figure effigy with flowing beard, of +"worthy Master Richard starting out of it, like a ship's figurehead." +Underneath is the following epitaph:—</p> + +<div class='center'> +Sacred to the Memory of<br /> +<b>Richard Watts, Esq.</b>,<br /> +a principal Benefactor to this City,<br /> +who departed this life Sept. 10, 1579, at<br /> +his Mansion house on Bully Hill, called <span class="smcap">Satis</span><br /> +(so named by <span class="smcap">Q. Elizabeth</span> of glorious memory),<br /> +and lies interr'd near this place, as by his Will doth<br /> +plainly appear. By which Will, dated Aug. 22, and<br /> +proved Sep. 25, 1579, he founded an Almshouse<br /> +for the relief of poor people and for the reception<br /> +of six poor Travelers every night, and for<br /> +imploying the poor of this City.<br /> +<br /> +<big>* * * * * *</big><br /> +<br /> +The Mayor and Citizens of this City,<br /> +in testimony of their Gratitude and his Merit,<br /> +have erected this Monument, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1736.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Richard Watts, Esq.</span>,<br /> +then Mayor.<br /> +</div> + +<p>Over and over again, in the various roads and lanes which +we traverse, in the county famous for "apples, cherries, hops, +and women," we have ample opportunities of verifying the +experience of Dickens, and indeed of many other observers +(including David Copperfield, who met numbers of "ferocious-looking +ruffians"), as to the prevalence of tramps, not all of +whom appear eligible as recipients of Watts's Charity! Our +fraternity seems to be ubiquitous, and had we the purse +of Fortunatus, it would hardly suffice to satisfy their requirements. +What a wonderfully thoughtful, descriptive, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +exhaustive chapter is that on "Tramps" in <i>The Uncommercial +Traveller!</i> We believe Rochester and Strood Hill must +have been in Dickens's mind when he penned it. Every +species and every variety of tramp is herein described,—The +surly Tramp, The slinking Tramp, The well-spoken +young-man Tramp, The John Anderson Tramp, Squire +Pouncerby's Tramp, The show Tramp, The educated Tramp, +The tramping Soldier, The tramping Sailor, The Tramp +handicraft man, Clock-mending Tramps, Harvest Tramps, +Hopping Tramps and Spectator Tramps—but perhaps the +most amusing of all is the following:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The young fellows who trudge along barefoot, five or six together, +their boots slung over their shoulders, their shabby bundles under +their arms, their sticks newly cut from some roadside wood, are not +eminently prepossessing, but are much less objectionable. There is +a tramp-fellowship among them. They pick one another up at +resting stations, and go on in companies. They always go at a fast +swing—though they generally limp too—and there is invariably one +of the company who has much ado to keep up with the rest. They +generally talk about horses, and any other means of locomotion than +walking: or, one of the company relates some recent experiences of +the road—which are always disputes and difficulties. As for example. +So as I'm a standing at the pump in the market, blest if there don't +come up a Beadle, and he ses, 'Mustn't stand here,' he ses. 'Why +not?' I ses. 'No beggars allowed in this town,' he ses. 'Who's a +beggar?' I ses. 'You are,' he ses. 'Who ever see <i>me</i> beg? Did +<i>you?</i>' I ses. 'Then you're a tramp,' he ses. 'I'd rather be that +than a Beadle,' I ses. (The company express great approval.) +'Would you?' he ses to me. 'Yes, I would,' I ses to him. 'Well,' +he ses, 'anyhow, get out of this town.' 'Why, blow your little +town!' I ses, 'who wants to be in it? Wot does your dirty little +town mean by comin' and stickin' itself in the road to anywhere? +Why don't you get a shovel and a barrer, and clear your town out +o' people's way?' (The company expressing the highest approval +and laughing aloud, they all go down the hill.)"</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is worthy of consideration, and it is probably more than +a mere coincidence, to observe that some of the reforms +which have been effected in the management of the now +munificent revenues of Richard Watts's Charity were instigated +as a sequence to the appearance of Dickens's +imperishable stories, published under the title of <i>The Seven +Poor Travellers</i>. The Rev. Robert Whiston, with whom we +chatted on the subject, is of opinion that the late Lord +Brougham is entitled to the credit for reforms in this and +other charities.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>AN AFTERNOON AT GAD'S HILL PLACE.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"It was just large enough, and no more; was as pretty within as it was +without, and was perfectly arranged and comfortable."—<i>Little Dorrit.</i><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="hang2">"This has been a happy home. . . . I love it. . . ."—<i>The Cricket on the +Hearth.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">A never-to-be-forgotten</span> day was Saturday, the twenty-fifth +of August, 1888, a day remarkable, as were many of the +closing days of the summer of that year, for its bright, sunny, +and cheerful nature. The sky was a deep blue—usually +described as an Italian sky—broken only by a few fleecy, +cumulus clouds, which served to bring out more clearly the +rich colour of the background. There was a fine bracing air +coming from the north-west, for which the county of Kent is +famous. Truly an enjoyable day for a holiday! and one +that Dickens himself would have loved to describe. So after +a desultory stroll about the streets of Rochester, one of many +delightful strolls, we make our first outward tramp, and that +of course to Gad's Hill. By the way, much attention has +been devoted to the consideration of the derivation of the +name, "Gad's Hill." It is no doubt a corruption of "God's +Hill," of which there are two so-called places in the county,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +and there is also a veritable "God's Hill" a little further +south, in the Isle of Wight.</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_185.png" width="400" height="202" alt="Rochester from Strood Hill." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Rochester from Strood Hill.</span> +</div> + +<p>Crossing Rochester Bridge, we enter the busy town of +Strood, pass through its long thoroughfare, go up the Dover +Road,—which was the ancient Roman military road afterwards +called Watling Street, until a little above Strood it +turned slightly to the left, passing through what is now +Cobham Park,—and leave the windmill on Broomhill to the +right. The ground rises gently, the chalk formation being +exposed here and there in disused pits. A portion of the +road higher up is cut through the Thanet sands, which rest +on the chalk. Again and again we stop, and turn to admire +the winding valley of the Medway. As we get more into +the country and leave the town behind, we find the roadsides +still decked with summer flowers, notably the fine dark blue +Canterbury bell—the nettle-leaved Campanula (<i>Campanula +Trachelium</i>)—and the exquisite light-blue chicory (<i>Cichorium +Intybus</i>); but the flowers of the latter are so evanescent that, +when gathered, they fade in an hour or two. This beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +starlike-blossomed plant is abundant in many parts of Kent. +We pass on the right the pretty high-standing grounds of Mr. +Hulkes at the "Little Hermitage," and notice the obelisk +further to the right on still higher land, erected about fifty +years ago to the memory of Charles Larkin (a name very +suggestive of "the eldest Miss Larkins") of Rochester,—"a +parish orator and borough Hampden"—by his grateful +fellow-citizens.</p> + +<p>A walk of less than three miles brings us to the "Sir John +Falstaff"—"a delightfully old-fashioned roadside inn of the +coaching days, which stands on the north side of the road a +little below 'Gad's Hill Place,' and which no man possessed +of a penny was ever known to pass in warm weather."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kitton relates in <i>Dickensiana</i> the following amusing +story of a former waiter at the "Falstaff":—</p> + +<p>"A few days after Dickens's death, an Englishman, deeply +grieved at the event, made a sort of pilgrimage to Gad's Hill—to +the home of the great novelist. He went into the +famous 'Sir John Falstaff Inn' near at hand, and in the +effusiveness of his honest emotions, he could not avoid taking +the country waiter into his confidence.</p> + +<p>"'A great loss this of Mr. Dickens,' said the pilgrim.</p> + +<p>"'A very great loss to us, sir,' replied the waiter, shaking +his head; 'he had all his ale sent in from this house!'"</p> + +<p>One of the two lime-trees only remains, but the well and +bucket—as recorded by the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i> in the +chapter on "Tramps"—are there still, surrounded by a +protective fence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a> +<img src="images/i_187.png" width="600" height="362" alt="The "Sir John Falstaff" Inn, Gad's Hill." title="" /> +<span class='caption'>The "Sir John Falstaff" Inn, Gad's Hill.</span></div> + +<p>We have but little time to notice the "Falstaff," for our +admiring gaze is presently fixed on Gad's Hill Place itself, +the house in which Dickens resided happily—albeit trouble<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +came to him as to most men—from the year 1856 till his +death in 1870. Everybody knows the story of how, as a little +boy, he cherished the idea of one day living in this house, +and how that idea was gratified in after-life. It is from +the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i>, in the chapter on "Travelling +Abroad," and the repetition is never stale. He says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"So smooth was the old high road, and so fresh were the horses, +and so fast went I, that it was midway between Gravesend and +Rochester, and the widening river was bearing the ships, white-sailed +or black-smoked, out to sea, when I noticed by the wayside a very +queer small boy.</p> + +<p>"'Holloa!' said I to the very queer small boy, 'where do you +live?'</p> + +<p>"'At Chatham,' says he.</p> + +<p>"'What do you do there?' says I.</p> + +<p>"'I go to school,' says he.</p> + +<p>"I took him up in a moment, and we went on. Presently, the +very queer small boy says, 'This is Gad's Hill we are coming to, +where Falstaff went out to rob those travellers, and ran away.'</p> + +<p>"'You know something about Falstaff, eh?' said I.</p> + +<p>"'All about him,' said the very queer small boy. 'I am old (I +am nine), and I read all sorts of books. But <i>do</i> let us stop at the top +of the hill, and look at the house there, if you please!'</p> + +<p>"'You admire that house?' said I.</p> + +<p>"'Bless you, sir,' said the very queer small boy, 'when I was not +more than half as old as nine, it used to be a treat for me to be +brought to look at it. And now, I am nine, I come by myself to +look at it. And ever since I can recollect, my father, seeing me +so fond of it, has often said to me, 'If you were to be very persevering, +and were to work hard, you might some day come to live +in it.' Though that's impossible!' said the very queer small boy, +drawing a low breath, and now staring at the house out of window +with all his might.</p> + +<p>"I was rather amazed to be told this by the very queer small boy; +for that house happens to be <i>my</i> house, and I have reason to believe +that what he said was true."</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a> +<img src="images/i_189.png" width="600" height="422" alt="Gadshill Place" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Gadshill Place</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Lynn Linton, the celebrated novelist, who resided at +Gad's Hill as a child, has very kindly given us her personal +recollections of it sixty years ago, and of the interesting +circumstances under which Charles Dickens subsequently +purchased the property;—which will be found at the end of +this chapter.</p> + +<p>Before seeking permission to enter the grounds of Gad's +Hill Place, which are surrounded by a high wall, and screened +externally by a row of well-topped lime-trees, we retrace our +steps for a few minutes, in order to refresh ourselves with a +homely luncheon, and what Mr. Richard Swiveller would call +a "modest quencher," at the Sir John Falstaff. It may be +certain that not much time is consumed in this operation. +We then take a good look at the remarkable house opposite, +the object of our pilgrimage, which has been made well +known by countless photographs and engravings. It is a +comfortable, but a not very attractive-looking red-brick house +of two stories, with porch at entrance, partly covered with ivy. +All the front windows, with the exception of the central ones, +are bayed, and there are dormer windows in the roof, which is +surmounted by a bell-turret and vane. What a strange +fascination it has for admirers of Dickens when seen for the +first time! According to Forster, in his <i>Life</i> of the novelist, +the house was built in 1780 by a well-known local character +named James Stevens, who rose to a good position. He was +the father-in-law of the late Professor Henslow, the Botanist, +of Cambridge. Dickens paid for it the sum of £1,790, and the +purchase was completed on Friday, 14th March, 1856. The +present owner is Major Austin F. Budden,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> of the 12th Kent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +Artillery Volunteers, who, we find, in the course of subsequent +conversation, had also done good municipal service, +having filled the office of Mayor of Rochester for two years,—from +1879 to 1881,—and that he was elected at the early age +of twenty-eight.</p> + +<p>We ring the bell at the gate which shuts the house out +from view, and are promptly answered by a pleasant-speaking +housemaid, who takes our cards on a salver, and ushers us +into the library. We are requested to enter our names in the +visitors' book, and this is done with alacrity. We are under +the impression that we shall only be allowed to see the hall +and study, a privilege allowed to any visitor on presentation +of a card; but fortunately for us the courteous owner appears, +and says that, as he has half an hour to spare, he will show +us entirely over the house. He is better than his word, and +we, delighted with the prospect, commence our inspection of +the late home of the great novelist with feelings of singular +pleasure, which are altogether a new sensation. Do any +readers remember, when perusing the Waverley novels in +their youth, a certain longing (as the height of their ambition, +possibly gratified in after-life) to see Abbotsford, +the home of the "Wizard of the North"? <i>That</i> is a feeling +akin to the one which possesses us on the present occasion, +a feeling of veneration almost amounting to awe as we recall,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +and seem to realize, not only the presence of Charles Dickens +himself, but of the many eminent literary, artistic, and histrionic +characters—his contemporaries—who assembled here, +and shared the hospitality of the distinguished owner. +"Dickens penetrates here—where does not his genial sunshine +penetrate?"</p> + +<p>Turning over the leaves of the visitors' book, Major Budden +calls our attention to the signatures of Americans, who +constitute by far the majority of visitors. Among the more +recent appears the name of that accomplished actress, Miss +Mary Anderson—herself a great admirer of Charles Dickens—who +came accompanied by a party of friends. We also +found her name, with the same party, in the visitors' book at +Richard Watts's Charity in Rochester. Major Budden spoke +also of the great enthusiasm always exhibited by our American +friends in regard to Dickens, some of whom had told him +more than once that it was the custom to instruct their +children in a knowledge of his works: they read them, in +fact, in the schools.</p> + +<p>The library, or study, is a very cosy little room, made famous +by Mr. Luke Fildes's picture of "The Empty Chair." It is +situated on the west side of the porch, looking to the front, +with the shrubbery in the distance; and among the most +conspicuous objects contained in it are the curious counterfeit +book-backs devised by Dickens and his friends, and +arranged as shelves to fit the door of the room. They +number nearly eighty, and a selection is given below of a +few of the quaintest titles, viz.:—</p> + +<p>The Quarrelly Review. 4 vols.</p> + +<p>King Henry the Eighth's Evidences of Christianity. 5 vols.</p> + +<p>Noah's Arkitecture. 2 vols.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a> +<img src="images/i_193.png" width="600" height="400" alt="PG from the Drawing of S. L. Fildes "The empty chair" Gad's Hill Ninth of June 1870." title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>Chickweed.</p> + +<p>Groundsel (by the Author of Chickweed).</p> + +<p>Cockatoo on Perch.</p> + +<p>History of a Short Chancery Suit. 21 vols.</p> + +<p>Cats' Lives. 9 vols.</p> + +<p>Hansard's Guide to Refreshing Sleep (many volumes).</p> + +<p>The Wisdom of our Ancestors—I. Ignorance. II. Superstition. +III. The Block. IV. The Stake. V. The Rack. +VI. Dirt. VII. Disease.</p> + +<p>Several of the titles were used for a similar purpose at +Tavistock House, London—Dickens's former residence.</p> + +<p>We cannot help, as we sit down quietly for a few minutes, +wondering how much of <i>Little Dorrit</i>, <i>Hunted Down</i>, <i>A Tale +of Two Cities</i>, <i>Great Expectations</i>, <i>The Uncommercial Traveller</i>, +<i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, and <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i> (which +were all issued between 1856 and 1870) was written in this +famous room, to say nothing of those heaps of exquisite +letters which so helped, cheered, interested, or amused many +a correspondent, and have delighted the public since.</p> + +<p>In the hall, which has the famous parquet floor laid down +by Dickens, is still hanging the framed illumination, artistically +executed by Owen Jones, and placed there immediately +after Dickens became the "Kentish freeholder on his native +heath" as he called it. It is as follows:—</p> + +<div class='center'> +This House,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,<br /> +stands on the summit of Shakespeare's Gad's Hill,<br /> +ever memorable for its association with<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Sir John Falstaff, in his noble fancy.<br /></span></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 369px;"> +<img src="images/i_195.png" width="369" height="500" alt="Counterfeit Book-backs on Study Door." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Counterfeit Book-backs on Study Door.</span> +</div> + +<p>"But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning by four o'clock +early at Gad's Hill. There are pilgrims going to Canterbury +with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat +purses; I have vizards for you all; you have horses for +yourselves."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> +<p>From the hall we enter the dining-room, a cheerful apartment +looking on to the beautiful lawn at the back, which has +at the end the arched conservatory of lilac-tinted glass at top, +in which the novelist took so much interest, and where he +hung some Chinese lanterns, sent down from London the day +before his death. We are informed that in this building he +signed the last cheque which he drew, to pay his subscription +to the Higham Cricket Club. The door of the dining-room +is faced with looking-glass, so that it may reflect the contents +of the conservatory. Among these are two or three New +Zealand tree-ferns which Dickens himself purchased. In the +dining-room Major Budden pointed out the exact spot where +the fatal seizure from effusion on the brain took place, on the +afternoon of Wednesday, 8th June, 1870, and where Dickens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +lay: first on the floor to the right of the door on entering, +and afterwards to the left, when the couch was brought down +(by order of Mr. Steele, the surgeon of Strood, as we subsequently +learned), upon which he breathed his last.</p> + +<p>The drawing-room faces the front, and, like the dining-room, +has been lengthened, and opens into the conservatory. +In fact, Dickens was always improving Gad's Hill Place. +There is a memorable reference to the conservatory by +Forster in the third vol. of the <i>Life</i>. He says:—</p> + +<p>"This last addition had long been an object of desire with +him, though he would hardly, even now, have given himself +the indulgence but for the golden shower from America. +He saw it first in a completed state on the Sunday before his +death, when his youngest daughter was on a visit to him.</p> + +<p>"'Well, Katey,' he said to her, 'now you see <span class="smcap">positively</span> +the last improvement at Gad's Hill,' and every one laughed +at the joke against himself. The success of the new conservatory +was unquestionable. It was the remark of all +around him, that he was certainly, from this last of his +improvements, drawing more enjoyment than from any of its +predecessors, when the scene for ever closed!"</p> + +<p>This room is a long one, and, in common with all the +others, gives us, under the auspices of the brilliantly fine +day, some idea of the late owner's love of light, air, and +cheerfulness. That the situation is also a healthy and +bracing one is confirmed by the fact, that in a letter written +on board the <i>Russia</i>, bound for Liverpool, on the 26th April, +1868, after his second American tour, he speaks of having +made a "Gad's Hill breakfast."</p> + +<p>Our most considerate cicerone next takes us into several +of the bedrooms, these being of large size, and having a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +dressing-room marked off with a partition, head-high, so that +no cubic space is lost to the main chamber. As illustrative +of Charles Dickens's care for the comfort of his friends, it is +said that in the visitors' bedrooms there was always hot +water and a little tea-table set out, so that each one could +at any time make for himself a cup of the beverage "that +cheers but not inebriates." The views from these rooms are +very charming. Mr. W. T. Wildish afterwards told us, that +during the novelist's life-time, Mr. Trood, the landlord of +the Sir John Falstaff, once took him over Gad's Hill Place, +and he was surprised to find Dickens's own bath-room covered +with cuttings from <i>Punch</i> and other comic papers. I have +since learned that this was a screen of engravings which had +originally been given him.</p> + +<p>The gardens, both flower and vegetable, are then pointed +out—the approach thereto from the back lawn being by +means of a flight of steps—as also the rosary, which occupies +a portion of the front lawn to the westward. The roses are +of course past their best, but the trees look very healthy.</p> + +<p>In the flower garden we are especially reminded of +Dickens's love for flowers, the China-asters, single dahlias, +and zinnias being of exceptional brightness. As to the +violets, which are here in abundance, both the Neapolitan +and Russian varieties, the Major shows us a method of +cultivating them, first in frames, and then in single rows, so +that he can get them in bloom for nearly nine months in +the year!</p> + +<p>Adjoining the lawn and vegetable garden is "the much-coveted +meadow," which the master of Gad's Hill obtained by +exchange of some land with the trustees of Sir Joseph +Williamson's Mathematical School at Rochester, and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +which he planted "a number of limes and chestnuts, and +other quick-growing trees." Four grass walks meet in the +centre of the vegetable garden, where there is a fine old +mulberry tree.</p> + +<p>It is stated in Forster's <i>Life</i> of the novelist (Vol. iii. +p. 188) that Dickens obtained the meadow by exchange of +some land "with the Trustees of Watts's Charity." But this +is not right. The distinguished historian of the Commonwealth, +and the faithful friend of the novelist all through +his life, is so habitually accurate, that it is an exceptional +circumstance for any one to be able to correct him. However, +I am indebted to Mr. A. A. Arnold, of Rochester, for the +following authentic account of the transaction.</p> + +<p>Dickens was always anxious to obtain this meadow (which +consists of about fourteen acres), and, believing that the +Trustees of Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School +at Rochester were not empowered to sell their land, he +purchased a field at the back of his own shrubbery from +Mr. Brooker, of Higham, with a view—as appears from the +following characteristically courteous and business-like letter—to +effect an exchange.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place,</span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent.</span></span><br /> +<i>Monday, Thirtieth June, 1862.</i><br /></div> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,</p> + +<p>"Reverting to a proposal already made in general +terms by my solicitor, Mr. Ouvry, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, +to Messrs. Essel and Co., I beg to submit my application +to you in detail.</p> + +<p>"It is that you will have the kindness to consider the +feasibility of exchanging the field at the back of my property<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +here (marked 404 in the accompanying plan), for the plot of +land marked 384 in the said plan.</p> +</div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/i_200.png" width="450" height="324" alt="Gad's Hill Place from the rear." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Gad's Hill Place from the rear.</span> +</div> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"I believe it will appear to you, on inquiry, that the land +I offer in exchange for the meadow is very advantageously +situated, and is of greater extent than the meadow, and +would be of greater value to the Institution, whose interests +you represent. On the other hand, the acquisition of the +meadow as a freehold would render my little property +more compact and complete.</p> + +<p>"I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,<br /></p> +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">Your faithful and obedient Servant,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='secsig'> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"To the Governors of</span><br /> +Sir Joseph Williamson's Free School,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Rochester."</span><br /> +</div></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>The offer fell through at the time; but it was renewed in +1868 in a different form, and eventually the field was sold +(by permission of the Charity Commissioners) to Charles +Dickens at an "accommodation" price—£2,500—which really +exceeded its actual market value.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i_201.png" width="300" height="348" alt="The Grave of Dick" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But to resume our inspection. The whole of the back +of the house, looking southward, is covered by a Virginia +creeper (<i>Ampelopsis quinquefolia</i>) of profuse growth, which +must be an object of singular beauty in the autumn when +the crimson tints appear. As it now stands it is beautifully +green, and there is scarcely more than a leaf or two here +and there marking autumnal decay. The two famous +hawthorn trees were blown down in a gale some years +ago.</p> + +<p>In a quiet corner under a rose-tree (<i>Gloire de Dijon</i>), +flanked by a <i>Yucca</i> in bloom, the bed underneath consisting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +of deep blue lobelia, is a touching little memorial to a +favourite canary. This consists of a narrow little board, +made like a head-stone, and set aslant, on which is painted +in neat letters the following epitaph:—</p> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /> +This is<br /> +the grave of<br /> +DICK,<br /> +the best of birds,<br /> +born<br /> +<span class="smcap">at Broadstairs</span>,<br /> +<i>Midsummer</i>, 1851,<br /> +died<br /> +<span class="smcap">at Gad's Hill Place</span>,<br /> +<i>4th October, 1866</i>.<br /> +</div> + +<p>No one can doubt who was the author of these simple lines. +"Dick," it should be said, "was very dear both to Dickens +and his eldest daughter," and he has been immortalized in +Forster's <i>Life</i>. There is a very humorous account given of +the attacks which the cats in the neighbourhood made upon +him, and which were frustrated by an organized defence. +The following is the passage:—</p> + +<p>"Soon after the arrival of Dickens and his family at Gad's +Hill Place, a household war broke out, in which the commander-in-chief +was his man French, the bulk of the forces +engaged being his children, and the invaders two cats." +Writing to Forster, Dickens says:—"'The only thing new +in this garden is that war is raging against two particularly +tigerish and fearful cats (from the mill, I suppose), which are +always glaring in dark corners after our wonderful little +Dick. Keeping the house open at all points, it is impossible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +to shut them out, and they hide themselves in the most +terrific manner: hanging themselves up behind draperies, like +bats, and tumbling out in the dead of night with frightful +caterwaulings. Hereupon French borrows Beaucourt's gun, +loads the same to the muzzle, discharges it twice in vain, +and throws himself over with the recoil, exactly like a +clown. . . . About four pounds of powder and half a ton +of shot have been fired off at the cat (and the public in +general) during the week. The funniest thing is, that immediately +after I have heard the noble sportsman blazing away at +her in the garden in front, I look out of my room door into +the drawing-room, and am pretty sure to see her coming in +after the birds, in the calmest manner possible, by the back +window.'"</p> + +<p>Passing on our way the large and well-lighted servants' +hall, over which is the bachelors' room,—whence in days gone +by that rare literary serial, <i>The Gad's Hill Gazette</i>,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> issued from +a little printing press, presented by a friend to the sixth son +of the novelist, who encouraged his boy's literary tastes,—we +next see the stables, as usual, like everything else, in +excellent order. A small statue of Fame blowing her golden +trumpet surmounts the bachelors' room, and looks down upon +us encouragingly.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> +<p>Our attention is then turned to the well, which is stated +to be two hundred and seventeen feet deep, in the shed, or +pumping-room, over which is the Major's mare, "Tell-tale," +cheerfully doing her daily twenty minutes' task of drawing +water, which is pumped up to the cistern on the roof for the +supply of the house. There is said to be never less than +twenty feet of water in the well.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_204.png" width="500" height="366" alt="The Well at Gad's Hill Place" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>It may be interesting to mention that Gad's Hill Place +("the title of my estate, sir, my place down in Kent"), which +is in the parish of Higham, and about twenty-six miles from +London, stands on an elevation two hundred and fifty feet +above mean sea-level. The house itself is built on a bed +of the Thanet sands. The well is bored right through these +sands, which Mr. W. H. Whitaker, F.R.S., of H. M. Geological +Survey (who has kindly given me some valuable +information on the subject), states "may be about forty feet +thick, and the water is drawn up from the bed of chalk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +beneath. This bed is of great thickness, probably six +hundred or seven hundred feet, and the well simply reaches +the level at which the chalk is charged with water, <i>i. e.</i> something +a little higher than the level of the neighbouring river." +The chalk is exposed on the lower bases of Gad's Hill, such +as the Railway Station at Higham, the village of Chalk, the +town of Strood, etc.</p> + +<p>There are humorous extracts from letters by Dickens in +Forster's <i>Life</i> respecting the well, which may appropriately +be introduced. He says:—</p> + +<p>"We are still (6th of July) boring for water here, at the +rate of two pounds per day for wages. The men seem to +like it very much, and to be perfectly comfortable.". . . And +again, "Here are six men perpetually going up and down the +well (I know that somebody will be killed), in the course of +fitting a pump; which is quite a railway terminus—it is so +iron, and so big. The process is much more like putting +Oxford Street endwise, and laying gas along it, than anything +else. By the time it is finished, the cost of this water +will be something absolutely frightful. But of course it +proportionately increases the value of the property, and +that's my only comfort. . . . Five men have been looking +attentively at the pump for a week, and (I should hope) may +begin to fit it in the course of October." The depression +caused by the prospect of the "absolutely frightful" cost of +the water seems to have continued to the end of the letter, for +it thus concludes:—"The horse has gone lame from a sprain, +the big dog has run a tenpenny nail into one of his hind feet, +the bolts have all flown out of the basket carriage, and the +gardener says all the fruit trees want replacing with new +ones."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 327px;"> +<img src="images/i_206.png" width="327" height="500" alt="The Porch, Gad's Hill Place." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Porch, Gad's Hill Place.</span> +</div> + +<p>Two of the Major's dogs are chained in the places +formerly occupied by Dickens's dogs, "Linda" and "Turk." +The chains are very long, and allow the animals plenty of +room for exercise. The space between the two permitted a +person to walk past without their being able to come near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +him; and, as an instance of Dickens's thoughtful kindliness +even to the lower animals, two holes were made in the wall so +that the dogs could get through in hot weather, and lie in the +shade of the trees on the other side. On the back gate entering +into the lane at the side of the house was painted, +"Beware of the dogs!" This caution appears to have been +very necessary, for we heard more than once the story of an +intrusive tramp who trespassed, and going too near the dogs, +got sadly mauled. Dickens, with characteristic goodness, +sent him at once to Chatham Hospital, and otherwise healed +his wounds.</p> + +<p>We are next conducted round the grounds, and have an +opportunity of examining the front of the house more in +detail. The porch is flanked by two cosy seats, the pretty +little spade-shaped shields, and lateral angular ornamental +supports on the back of which, we are informed, were constructed +of pieces of wood from Shakespeare's furniture given +to Dickens by a friend. A large variegated holly grows on +either side of the porch, and a semi-circular gravel walk leads +to the door. There is a closely-cut lawn in front, and opposite +the hollies are two fine specimens of <i>Aucuba Japonica</i>—the +so-called variegated laurel.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a> +<img src="images/i_208.png" width="500" height="382" alt="The Cedars, Gad's Hill." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Cedars, Gad's Hill.</span> +</div> + +<p>It will be remembered that the master of Gad's Hill had a +tunnel excavated under the Dover Road (which runs through +the property), so as to approach the "shrubbery" previously +referred to, without having to cross the open public road. We +did not learn who constructed the tunnel, but it was designed +either by his brother, Mr. Alfred L. Dickens, who died at +Manchester in 1860, or by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henry +Austin. The entrance to the tunnel is by a flight of about +twenty steps, flanked by two beautifully-grown specimens of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +<i>Cedrus deodara</i>, the "deodar," or god-tree of the Himalayas. +The tunnel itself is cut through the sands, and, being only a +little longer than the width of the road, it is not at all dark, +but very pleasant and cool on a hot day. A corresponding +flight of steps leads us into the shrubbery, which is shut +off from the main road by iron railings only. Both ends +of the tunnel are covered with ivy, which has the effect of +partially concealing the openings. Readers of Forster's +<i>Life</i> will recollect that the Swiss châlet presented to +Dickens by his friend Fechter the actor, and in which he +spent his last afternoon, formerly stood in the shrubbery. +The châlet now stands in the terrace-garden of Cobham +Hall.</p> + +<p>Before we reach the exact place we have an opportunity +of examining the two stately cedar trees (<i>Cedrus Libani</i>) +which are the arboreal gems of the place. Major Budden +informs us that they are about one hundred and twenty-eight +years old, and were planted in their present position +when they had attained about twenty years' growth. Some +idea of their luxuriance may be formed when it is mentioned +that the girth of each tree exceeds sixteen feet, and the longest +branch of one of them measures eighty-four feet in length. +In consequence of the habit of these trees "fastigiating" at +the base, a very numerous series of lateral ramifying branches +is the result. These branches spread out in terraces, and the +rich green foliage, covered with exudations of resin, seems as +though powdered silver had been lightly dusted over it. +Each tree extends over a circular area of about eighty feet +of ground in diameter. Under one of the cedars is the +grave of "the big and beautiful Linda," Dickens's favourite +St. Bernard dog. One of the trees has been injured, a large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +branch over-weighted with snow having broken off some +years ago.</p> + +<p>Two or three noble ash trees also grace this spot, running +straight up in a column some thirty-five feet before shooting +out a canopy of branches and leaves. There are also a few +Scotch firs, the trunks well covered with ivy, and a pretty +specimen of the variegated sycamore. The undergrowth of +laurel, laurustinus, briar, privet, holly, etc., is very luxuriant +here, and the vacant ground is closely covered with the wood +anemone (<i>Anemone nemorosa</i>), which must form a continuous +mass of pearly white flowers in spring-time.</p> + +<p>The ground formerly occupied by the châlet is pointed +out to us, its site being marked by a bed of rich scarlet +nasturtiums. It will be recollected that Dickens describes the +interior of the building in a letter to an American friend, +which is thus recorded in Forster's <i>Life:</i>—</p> + +<p>"Divers birds sing here all day, and the nightingales all +night. The place is lovely and in perfect order. . . . I have put +five mirrors in the châlet where I write, and they reflect and +refract, in all kinds of ways, the leaves that are quivering at +the windows, and the great fields of waving corn, and the +sail-dotted river. My room is up among the branches of +the trees; and the birds and the butterflies fly in and out, +and the green branches shoot in at the open windows, and +the lights and shadows of the clouds come and go with +the rest of the company. The scent of the flowers, and +indeed of everything that is growing for miles and miles, is +most delicious."</p> + +<p>But the glory of Gad's Hill Place is reserved for us until +the close of our visit, when Major Budden very kindly takes +us up to the roof, which is approached by a commodious flight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +of steps; and here, on this exceptionally fine day, we are +privileged to behold a prospect of surpassing beauty. Right +away to the westward is the great Metropolis, its presence +being marked by the usual pall of greyish smoke. Opening +from the town, and becoming wider and wider as the noble +river approaches its estuary, is the Thames, now conspicuous +by numerous vessels, showing masts and white +and brown sails, and here and there by the smoky track +of a steamer.</p> + +<p>We remember how often the city and the river have been +the scene of many and many an exploit in Dickens's novels. +Northward are the dreary marshes, the famous "meshes" of +<i>Great Expectations</i>, hereafter to be noticed. Then far to +the eastward runs the valley of the Medway, the picturesque +city of Rochester thereon being crowned by those conspicuous +landmarks, its magnificent Castle and ancient Cathedral. In +the background is the busy town of Chatham, its heights being +capped by an enormous square and lofty building erected +by the sect called "Jezreelites," whatever that may be. We +were informed that the so-called "immortal" leader had +just died, and it has since been reported that the gloomy +building is likely to be converted into a huge jam factory. +Beyond, and nearly seven miles off, is the high land +called "Blue Bell," about three hundred feet above mean +sea-level, and all along to the south the undulating grounds +and beautiful woodland scenery of Cobham Park complete +the picture.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a> +<img src="images/i_212.png" width="600" height="382" alt="View from the Roof of Dickens's House at Gad's Hill" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>As Major Budden points out in detail these many natural +beauties of the district, we can quite understand and sympathize +with Dickens's love for this exquisite spot; and we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +heartily congratulate the present owner of Gad's Hill Place +on the charming historical property which he possesses, and +which, so far as we can perceive (all honour to him), is +kept in the same excellent condition that characterized it +during the novelist's lifetime. What is particularly striking +about it is at once its compactness, completeness, and +unpretentiousness.</p> + +<p>Descending to the library, whence we started nearly three +hours previously, we refresh ourselves with a glass of water +from the celebrated deep well—a draught deliciously cool +and clear—which the hospitable Major presses us to "dilute" +(as Professor Huxley has somewhere said) in any way we +please, but which we prefer to drink, as Dickens himself +drank it—pure. Before we rise to leave the spot we have so +long wished to see, and which we have now gone over to our +hearts' content, we sadly recall to memory for a moment the +"last scene of all that ends this strange, eventful history,"—that +tragic incident which occurred on Thursday, 9th June, +1870, when there was an "empty chair" at Gad's Hill Place, +and all intelligent English-speaking nations experienced a +personal sorrow.</p> + +<p>And so with many grateful acknowledgments to our kind +and courteous host, who gives us some nice flowers and +cuttings as a parting souvenir, we take our leave, having +derived from our bright sunny visit to Gad's Hill Place that +"wave of pleasure" which Mr. Herbert Spencer describes as +"raising the rate of respiration,—raised respiration being +an index of raised vital activities in general." In fine, the +impression left on our minds is such as to induce us to +feel that we understand and appreciate more of Dickens's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +old home than any illustration or written description of it, +however excellent, had hitherto adequately conveyed to us. +We have seen it for ourselves.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>The reminiscences which follow are from Mrs. Lynn +Linton and three of Charles Dickens's nearest neighbours.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />GAD'S HILL SIXTY YEARS AGO.</div> + +<p>The early love which Charles Dickens felt for Gad's Hill +House, and his boyish ambition to be one day its owner, had +been already anticipated by my father. As a boy and young +man, my father's heart was set on this place; and when my +grandfather's death put him in sufficient funds he bought it. +Being a beneficed clergyman, both of whose livings were in +the extreme north of England, he could not live in the house; +but he kept it empty for many years, always hoping to get +leave of absence from the Bishop for a term long enough to +justify the removal of his large family from Keswick to +Rochester. In 1831 a five years' leave of absence was +granted; and we all came up by coach to this Mecca of +my father's love. We were three days and three nights on +the road; and I remember quite distinctly the square courtyard +and outside balcony of the old Belle Sauvage Inn, +where we put up on our arrival in London. I remember, +too, the powerful scent of the Portugal laurel and the bay-tree +which grew on the right-hand side of Gad's Hill House as +we entered—brought out by the warm damp of the late +autumn afternoon. In our time all the outhouses had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +leaden figures on the top. There was a cupola with an +alarm bell, which one night was rung lustily, to the terror +of the whole neighbourhood, and the ashamed discovery +among ourselves that rats were not burglars. In the shrubbery +were two large leaden figures of Pomona and Vertumnus, +standing on each side of the walk leading up to the arbour. +We had then two arbours—one opposite the house at the +end of the green walk, and another in a dilapidated state +further in the shrubbery. They were built of big flint stones, +many of which had holes in them, where small birds made +their nests. I remember in one was a tomtit which was +quite tame, and used to fly in and out while we were watching +it. The two cedars, which I believe are still there, were a +little choked and overshadowed by a large oak-tree, which +my father cut down. Between seventy and eighty coaches, +"vans," and mail-carts passed our house during the day, +besides private carriages, specially those of travellers posting +to or from Dover. Regiments, too, often passed on their +way to Gravesend, where they embarked for India; and +ships' companies, paid off, rowdy and half-tipsy, made the +road really dangerous for the time being. We used to lock +the two gates when we heard them coming, shouting and +singing up the hill; and we had to stand many a mimic +siege from the blue-jackets trying to force their way in. +Sweet-water grapes grew and ripened in the open air over +the wash-house; and the back of the house was covered with +a singularly fine and luscious jargonelle pear. The garden +was rich in apples. We had many kinds, from the sweet +and pulpy nonsuch, to the small tight little pearmain and +lemon pippin. We had nonpareils, golden pippins, brown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +and golden russets, Ribstone pippins, and what we called a +port-wine apple—the flesh red, like that of the "blood-oranges." +The small orchard to the right was as rich in +cherry-trees, filberts, and cobnuts. In the garden we had a +fig-tree, and the mulberry-tree, which is still there, was in +full bearing in our time. The garden altogether was wonderfully +prolific in flowers as well as fruits—roses as well as +strawberries and apples; and the green-house was full of +grapes. Nightingales sang in the trees near the house, and +the shrubbery was full of song birds. We had a grand view +from the leads, where we used sometimes to go, and whence +I remember seeing a farmyard fire over at Higham—which +fire they said had been caused by an incendiary. There +was a Low Church clergyman in the neighbourhood who +might have been Chadband or Stiggins. He was fond of +some girls we knew, and called them his "lambs." He used +to put his arm round their waists, and they sat on his knees +quite naturally. I myself heard him preach at Shorne +against the institution of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. He +said it was not only superstitious but irreligious; as pancakes +meant "pan Kakon," all evil. This I, then a girl of thirteen +or so, heard and remember. When my father died his +property had to be sold, as he did not make an eldest son. +Mr. W. H. Wills, the trusty friend of Charles Dickens, and +editor of <i>Household Words</i> and <i>All The Year Round</i>, was +also a friend of mine. We met at a dinner, and he spoke +to me about Gad's Hill, but as if he wanted to buy it for +himself. He was afraid to mention Charles Dickens's name, +lest we should ask too much. So he told me afterwards. I +had been left executrix under my father's will, being then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +the only unmarried daughter; and I took the news to our +solicitor and co-executor, Mr. Loaden. He wrote to Mr. +Wills, and the sale was effected. We scored a little triumph +over the "ornamental timber." Mr. Dickens objected to our +price; the case was submitted to an arbitrator, and we got +more than we originally asked. But there was never one +moment of pique on either side, nor a drop of bad blood as +the consequence. It was always a matter for a laugh and a +joke between Mr. Wills and myself. When we first went +to Gad's Hill there was a fish-pond at the back; but my +father had it filled up, lest one of his adventurous little ones +should tumble in. Officers used to come up from Chatham +to the Falstaff, and have pigeon matches in our big field; and +one of the sights which used to delight our young eyes, was +the gallant bearing and gay uniforms of the Commandant +at Chatham, when he and his staff rode by. We were great +walkers in those days, and used to ramble over Cobham +Park, and round by Shorne, and down to the dreary marshes +beyond Higham. But this was not a favourite walk with us, +and we girls never went there alone. The banks on the +Rochester road—past Davies's Straits—were full of sweet +violets, white and purple; and the fungi, lichens, flowers, and +ferns about Shorne and Cobham yet linger in my memory +as things of rarest beauty. We always thought that the +coachman, "Old Chumley," as he was called, was old Weller. +He was a fine, cheery, trustworthy man; and once when my +father was in London, he had one of my sisters and myself—girls +then about fifteen and thirteen—put under his charge to +be delivered to him at the end of the journey. The dear old +fellow took as much care of us as if he had been our father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +himself. I remember my brothers gave him a new whip, and +he was very fond of us all.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +E. L. L.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>* * * We had at a subsequent visit to Gad's Hill +Place, on the invitation of our hospitable friends, Major and +Mrs. Budden, the pleasure of a long and interesting conversation +with Mr. James Hulkes, J.P., of the Little Hermitage, +Frindsbury, a Kentish man, who came to live here more than +sixty years ago, and who was thus a very near neighbour +of Charles Dickens during the whole of the time that he +resided at Gad's Hill Place. We were shown into a delightful +room at the back of the house, overlooking the shrubberies +of the mansion—in the distance appearing the high ground +on which stands the monument to Charles Larkin. The room +is a happy combination of part workshop, with a fine lathe +and assortment of tools fitted round it—part study, with a +nice collection of books, engravings and pictures (some of +hunting scenes) on the walls—and part naturalist's den, with +cases of stuffed birds and animals, guns and fishing-rods—the +fragrant odour of tobacco breathing friendly welcome to +a visitor of smoking proclivities. The varied tastes of the +owner were sufficiently apparent, and a long chat of over two +hours seemed to us but a few minutes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hulkes said he just remembered the road from Strood +to Gad's Hill being cut through the sands down to the chalk. +It was for some time afterwards called "Davies's Straits," +after the Rev. George Davies, the then Chairman of the +Turnpike Road Board, and the term indicated the difficulty +and expense of the operation. Before the new road was cut,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +the old highway constituting this part of the Dover Road +was very hilly and dangerous.</p> + +<p>Reverting to the subject of Charles Dickens, our relator +remarked, "I fear I cannot be of much use to you by giving +information about Mr. Dickens, as I only knew him as a +kind friend, a very genial host, and a most charming +companion; to the poor he was always kind—a deserving +beggar never went from his house unrelieved." What indeed +could be said more! These few simple words, spoken so +earnestly after a period of nearly twenty years, sufficed to +bring before us the lost neighbour whose memory was so +warmly cherished by his surviving friend.</p> + +<p>John Forster, in the <i>Life</i>, speaks of Mr. Hulkes as being +"one of the two nearest country neighbours with whom the +[Dickens] family had become very intimate," and mentions +that both Mr. and Mrs. Hulkes were present at the wedding of +the novelist's second daughter, Kate, with Mr. Charles Alston +Collins. Mr. Hulkes spoke of the pleasant parties at Gad's +Hill Place, at which he met Mr. Forster, Mr. Wilkie Collins, +Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, Mr. Marcus Stone, Mr. H. F. Chorley, +and many others; and observed that, on the occasion of +charades and private theatricals there, Charles Dickens was +always in fine form. He showed us an original manuscript +programme (of which we were allowed to take a copy), +written on half-a-sheet of foolscap; and from the fact that +"<i>Gads Hill Gazette</i> Printing Office" appears in the corner +it would seem that it was printed on the occasion for the +guests. It is as follows:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>—</p> + + +<div class='right'><br /> +<i>December 31st, 1863.</i><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'> +"A night's exploit on Gad's Hill."—<i>Shakespeare.</i><br /> +<br /> +<b>Her Majesty's Servants</b><br /> +will have the honour of presenting<br /> +Three Charades!!!<br /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Each Charade is a word of two syllables, arranged in three Scenes. +The first scene is the first syllable; the second is the second syllable; +the third scene is the entire word.</p></div> + +<div class='center'> +(<i>At the end of each Charade the audience is respectfully invited to<br /> +name the word.</i>)<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<b>Charade 1!</b></div> + +<div class="hang2">Scene I.—The awful end of the Profligate Sailor.</div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene II.—On the way to foreign parts.</div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene III.—Miss Belinda Jane and the faithful policeman +(Division Q).</div> + + +<div class='center'><br /><b>Charade 2!!</b></div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene I.—Archery at Castle Doodle.</div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene II.—Fra Diavolo a Dread Reality.</div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene III.—The Choice of a too Lowly Youth.</div> + + +<div class='center'><br /><b>Charade 3!!!</b></div> + +<div class="hang2">Scene I.—The Pathetic History of the Poor Little Sweep.</div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene II.—Mussulman Barbarity to Christians.</div> + +<div class='hang2'>Scene III.—Merry England.</div> + +<div class='sig'> +<i>Gad's Hill Gazette</i> Printing Office.<br /> +</div> + +<p>The various parts were taken by Dickens and his family, +and the entire word of the last Charade is supposed to be +"May Day."</p> + +<p>In connection with charades, Mr. Hulkes alluded to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +Dickens's remarkable facility for "guessing a subject fixed +on when he was out of the room, in half a dozen questions;" +and related the story of how at the young people's game of +"Yes and No," he found out the proper answer to a random +question fixed upon by Mr. Charles Collins, one of the +company, in his absence, which was, "The top-boot of the +left leg of the head post-boy at Newman's Yard, London." +The squire sometimes took a stroll with his neighbour, but +observed "he was too fast a walker for me—I couldn't keep +up with him!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hulkes possesses a nearly complete "file" (from 1862 +to 1866) of the <i>Gad's Hill Gazette</i>, to which he was one of the +subscribers, and which was edited by the novelist's son, Mr. +Henry Fielding Dickens, and, as before stated, printed at +Gad's Hill Place. It chronicled the arrivals and departures, +the results of cricket matches and billiard games, with +interesting gossip of events relating to the family and the +neighbourhood. Occasionally there was a leading article, +and now and then an acrostic appeared. Among the subscribers +were the novelist and his family, The Lord Chief +Justice, The Dean of Bristol, Lady Molesworth, Mrs. Milner +Gibson, M. Stone, A. Halliday, J. Hulkes, C. Kent, W. H. +Wills, H. F. Chorley, Edmund Yates, etc. The number for +January 20th, 1866, contains a humorous correspondence on +the management of the journal between "Jabez Skinner" and +"Blackbury Jones." Mr. H. F. Dickens kindly allows a copy +of the number for December 30th, 1865, to be reproduced, +which is interesting as giving an account of the Staplehurst +accident, and also the notice issued when the journal was +discontinued.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[<a href="images/i_p_199.png">199</a>]</span></p> + +<div class='tnote'><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> Copies of the original fascimilies can be +seen by clicking on the Gazette's page numbers</div> + +<h3>THE<br /></h3> + +<h2>GAD'S HILL GAZETTE</h2> +<div class='bigger'> +<div class='right'> +Edited by H. F. Dickens<br /></div> +<div class='center'> +December 30th 1865 Price 2d<br /> +</div></div> + +<div class='center'>————————————————————</div> +<div class='bigger'>We are very glad to meet our subscribers +again after such a long lapse of +time, and we hope that they will patronise +us in the same kind and indulgent +manner as they did, last season.<br /> + +In the circulars, we announced that +some great improvements were to be +made in the Gazette— We are sorry +that they cannot appear in this number +(as our suppliers of type have disappointed +us) but we hope that next +week, we shall be able to publish this +journal in quite a different form.<br /> + +Hoping that our subscribers will excuse +us this week, we beg to wish them all +A Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!</div> + +<div class='center'>———————</div> +<div class='bigger'> +<div class='center'>Christmas at Gad's Hill.</div> + + During the past week, Gad's Hill has resounded +with the sounds of festivity and merriment.<br /> + +<div class='right'> +(Continued on the next page)<br /></div></div> +<div class='center'>————————————————————</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[<a href="images/i_p_200.png">200</a>]</span></p> + +<div class='bigger'> As is usually the case, the house has +been filled with the guests who have +come to taste of Mr Dickens' hospitality. +These consisted of Mr Mad, and +Master Fechter, Mr & Mrs C. Collins, Mr +Mrs and Master C. Dickens junr, Mr Morgan +(who suddenly appeared on Christmas +Day, having just returned from America) +Mr M. Stone, Mr Chorley and +Mr Dickenson.<br /> + + The latter gentleman has not yet entirely +recovered from the effects of a +most disastrous railway accident in +which he was a sufferer, and had it not +been for the courage and intrepidity +of Mr Dickens, he would not now be +spending his Christmas at Gad's Hill. +A short time before the accident occurred, +Mr Dickenson had a dispute with a French +gentleman about the opening of the window +when the former offered to change places, if +the open window was disagreeable to his fellow +traveller—this they did.—<br /> + + Then came the accident, accompanied by all +its frightful incidents. The French gentleman +was killed, Mr Dickenson was stunned and +hurled with great violence under the debris +of a carriage.</div> +<div class='center'>————————————————————</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[<a href="images/i_p_201.png">201</a>]</span></p> + +<div class='bigger'> Mr Dickens, who was in another compartment, +managed to crawl out of the window +and then, caring little for his own safety, busied +himself in helping the wounded. Whilst +engaged in doing this, he passed by a carriage, +underneath which he saw a gentleman +(Mr Dickenson) lying perfectly still, and bleeding +from the eyes, ears, nose and mouth.<br /> + + He was immediately taken to the town +of Staplehurst where he so far recovered as to +be able to return to London, that evening.<br /> + + Next morning he was suffering from a very +severe concussion of the brain and was ill for +many weeks—But to our subject.<br /> + + On Christmas Day, Mr, Mrs & Miss Malleson +came to dinner. At about 9, an +ex tempore dance began and was kept +up till about 2 o'clock Tuesday morning. +During the week, billiards has +been much resorted to. (See next page)<br /> + + All the visitors are still here, except +Mr Fechter and family who left on December +26th, and Mr Morgan (who +is to return on 31st. Talking of Mr Fechter, +our readers will be glad to hear +that he has made a most decided success +in his new piece entitled—The +Master of Ravenswood—</div> +<div class='center'>————————————————————</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[<a href="images/i_p_202.png">202</a>]</span></p> +<div class='bigger'> +<div class='center'>Sporting Intelligence.<br /> +Billiards</div> + + Of all the matches that have been +played during the past week the most +important was a Great Handicap on +Christmas Day, the prize being a pewter. +Annexed is an account of it.<br /> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Scores"> +<tr><td align='left'>Stone</td><td align='right'> Scratch</td><td align='left'> C Dickens jun </td><td align='right'> 20</td><td align='left'> Harry</td><td align='right'>30</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fechter </td><td align='right'>5</td><td align='left'> Dickenson</td><td align='right'>20</td><td align='left'> C Dickens </td><td align='right'>35</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Morgan</td><td align='right'>10</td><td align='left'> Collins</td><td align='right'>30</td><td align='left'> Plorn</td><td align='right'>40</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Our space will not allow us to enter +into the minute details of this match +suffice it to say that Mr Dickenson won +but that as regards good play, he was +excelled by Mr Stone (who, however, +was so heavily weighted that he could +not win. Great credit is due to Mr Ch +Dickens junr for the way in which he +handicapped the men.</p> + + On Saturday 30th a match is to be played +between The Earl of Darnley and Mr +M Stone. +</div> +<div class='center'>—————</div> +<div class='center'>————————————————————</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[<a href="images/i_p_203.png">203</a>]</span></p> + + +<div class='right'> +Gad's Hill Gazette Office.<br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">January—1867.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p> In a circular issued last August, we announced +that a final number of the Gad's Hill Gazette was to be published +this Xmas. We are grieved however to state, that the +shortening of the Wimbledon School holidays (in which establishment +the Editor is a pupil) has rendered this impossible.</p> + +<p>It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we find ourselves +obliged to conclude the publication of our Journal in +this sudden and unexpected manner, but we feel sure that +the great indulgence of the Public will overlook this, as it +has done many other great errors in the Gad's Hill Gazette.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, we beg to take leave of our Subscribers in +our public capacity of Editor, thanking them for their kindness +in supporting our Journal, and wishing them all</p> + +<div class='center'> +—"A Happy New Year."—<br /> +</div> +<div class='sig'><img src="images/i_226.png" width="200" height="61" alt="Signature: A. F. Dickens" title="" /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">(Signed) Sole Editor</span><br /></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Hulkes had a number of pleasant recollections of +Gad's Hill Place, and of Charles Dickens and his family. +"As a girl," said this lady, "I was an admiring reader of his +works, and I longed to see and know the author; but little +did I think that my high ambition would ever be gratified." +That a warm friendship existed between his admirer and +Charles Dickens, who subsequently became her near neighbour, +is evidenced by the fact that, in reply to her request, he +allowed this lady the great privilege of reading the catastrophe +of that exquisitely-pathetic and nobly-altruistic story of <i>A +Tale of Two Cities</i>, some weeks before its publication, as +appears from the following letter:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent</span>.<br /> +"<i>Sunday evening, Sixteenth Oct., 1857.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. Hulkes</span>,</p> + +<p> "My daughter has shown me your note, and it has +impressed me with the horrible determination to become +a new kind of Bluebeard, and lay an awful injunction of +secrecy on you for five mortal weeks.</p> + +<p>"Here is the remainder of the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>. Not +half-a-dozen of my oldest and most trusty literary friends +have seen it. It is a real pleasure to me to entrust you with +the catastrophe, and to ask you to keep a grim and inflexible +silence on the subject until it is published. When you have +read the proofs, will you kindly return them to me?</p> + +<p>"With my regard to Mr. Hulkes,</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">"Believe me always,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Faithfully yours,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='secsig'>"<span class="smcap">Mrs. Hulkes.</span>"</div></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Hulkes said that when Dickens went to Paris in +1863, he jokingly said to her, "I am going to Paris; what +shall I bring you?" She replied, "A good photograph of +yourself, as I do not like the one you gave me; and I hear +the French people are more successful than the English, or +their climate may help them." And he brought a photograph +of himself, of which there were only four printed. +It now graces Mrs. Hulkes' drawing-room, and represents +the novelist very life-like in full face, head and bust. The +photograph was taken by Alphonse Maze, and has been +exquisitely engraved in Mr. Kitton's <i>Charles Dickens by Pen +and Pencil</i>.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hulkes mentioned a curious and interesting circumstance. +On the night before the funeral of her friend, Miss +Dickens sent down to the Little Hermitage to ask if she +could kindly give her some roses. Mrs. Hulkes cut a +quantity from one of the trees in the garden (Lamarque, +she believes), and the tree never bloomed again, and soon +after died. No doubt, as she observed, it bled to death from +the excessive cutting. It was the second case only of the +kind in her experience as a rose-grower during very many +years.</p> + +<p>Charles Dickens also took interest in his friend's son (their +only child, who has since finished his University career), +and this gentleman prizes as a relic a copy of <i>A Child's +History of England</i>, which was presented to him, with the +following inscription written in the characteristic blue ink—"Charles +Dickens. To his little friend, Cecil James +Hulkes. Christmas Eve, 1864." In a letter to Miss Hogarth, +written from New York, on Friday, 3rd January, 1868, he +says:—"I have a letter from Mrs. Hulkes by this post,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +wherein the boy encloses a violet, now lying on the table +before me. Let her know that it arrived safely and retaining +its colour."</p> + +<p>There are many interesting relics of Gad's Hill Place now +in the possession of the family at the Little Hermitage, +notably Charles Dickens's seal with his crest, and the initials +C. D., his pen-tray, his desk, a photograph of the study on +8th June, 1870 (a present from Miss Hogarth), the portrait +above referred to, an arm-chair, a drawing-room settee, a +dressing-table, and a library writing-table.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>On another occasion we were favoured with an interview +by Mr. J. N. Malleson, of Brighton, who formerly resided at +the Great Hermitage, Higham, and who was a neighbour of +Charles Dickens for many years. Mr. Malleson came to the +Great Hermitage in 1859, and a day or two after Christmas +Day in that year—having previously been a guest at the +wedding of Dickens's second daughter Kate, with Mr. Charles +Alston Collins—he met the novelist, who, stopping to chat +pleasantly, asked his neighbours where they dined at Christmas? +"Oh, Darby and Joan," said our informant. Dickens +laughingly replied:—"That shall never happen again"; and +the following year, and every year afterwards, except when +their friend was in America, Mr. and Mrs. Malleson received +and accepted invitations to dine at Gad's Hill Place. On +the exception in question, the family of Dickens dined at +the Great Hermitage.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>In the autumn of the year 1889 we had a most interesting +chat with Mr. William Stocker Trood, at his residence, +Spearcehay Farm, Pitminster, pleasantly situated in the vale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +of Taunton, for many years landlord of the Sir John Falstaff +at Gad's Hill. The first noteworthy circumstance to record +is that his name is not <i>Edwin</i> Trood, as commonly supposed, +but William Stocker, as above stated, Stocker being an old +family name. This fact disposes of the supposition that the +former two names, with the alteration of a single letter, gave +rise in Dickens's mind to the designation of the principal +character in <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>. The name of +"Trood" is by the substitution of one letter easily converted +into Drood, and that word is perhaps more euphonious with +"Edwin" as prefixed to it; but "William Stocker" is not +by any means easily converted into "Edwin." The idea that +"Edwin Drood" is derived from "William Stocker Trood" +may therefore be dismissed as a popular fallacy. It may be +mentioned, however, <i>en passant</i>, that Mr. Trood had a brother +named Edward, who sometimes visited him at the Falstaff, +and also a son who bore the name of his uncle.</p> + +<p>We found our informant to be wonderfully genial, hale and +hearty, although in his eighty-fifth year. He had a perfect +recollection of Charles Dickens, and remembered his first +coming to Gad's Hill Place. Before the house was properly +furnished and put in order, both Mr. and Mrs. Dickens sometimes +slept at the Falstaff; and afterwards, when visitors +were staying at Gad's Hill Place, and the bedrooms there +were full, some of them slept at the Inn; in particular, John +Forster, Wilkie Collins, and Marcus Stone. He said Mr. +Dickens was a very nice man to speak to, and Mrs. Dickens +was a very nice lady. They were always kind and pleasant +as neighbours, but Mr. Dickens did not talk much. Said +Mr. Trood:—"When I was at Higham, Mr. Dickens used to +say no one could put in a word; I had all the talk to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +myself." The sons were all very pleasant; in fact, he +liked the family very much indeed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Trood sometimes acted as local banker to Charles +Dickens, and used to cash his cheques for him. Only the +day before his death, he cashed a cheque for £22, and was +subsequently offered £24 for it by an admirer of Dickens +who desired the autograph; but to his credit it should be +mentioned that he did not accept the offer.</p> + +<p>Our informant next spoke of the wonderful partiality +of Dickens to cricket; he would stand out all night if he +could watch a cricket match. The matches were always +played in Mr. Dickens's field, and the business meetings +of the club were held monthly at the Falstaff. Mr. Trood +was Treasurer of the club. Occasionally there was a +dinner.</p> + +<p>A circumstance was related which made a profound impression +on our friend. The family at Gad's Hill Place were +very fond of music, and on one occasion there were present +as visitors two great violinists, one a German and the other an +Italian, and it was a debated question among the listeners +outside the gates, where the music could be distinctly heard, +which played the better. Mr. Trood had just returned from +Gravesend in the cool of the summer evening, about ten +o'clock, and stood in the road opposite listening, "spellbound," +to the delightful music. Miss Dickens played the +accompaniments.</p> + +<p>Mr. Trood spoke with a lively and appreciative recollection +of the Christmas sports that were held in a field at the back +of Gad's Hill Place, and of the good order and nice feeling +that prevailed at those gatherings, although several thousand +people were present. Among the games that were played,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +the wheeling of barrows by blind-folded men seemed to +tickle him most.</p> + +<p>Our octogenarian friend also spoke of the great love of +Dickens for scarlet geraniums. Hundreds of the "Tom +Thumb" variety were planted in the beds on the front lawn +and in the back garden at Gad's Hill Place.</p> + +<p>Soon after the terrible railway accident at Staplehurst, +Dickens came over to the Falstaff and spoke to Mr. Trood, +who congratulated him. Said Dickens, "I never thought I +should be here again." It is a wonderful coincidence to +record, that a young gentleman named Dickenson, who +subsequently became intimate with the novelist, changed +places (so as to get the benefit of meeting the fresh air) with +a French gentleman in the same carriage who was killed, and +Mr. Dickenson escaped! The accident happened on the 9th +June, 1865, and Dickens died on the "fatal anniversary," 9th +June, 1870.</p> + +<p>Mr. Trood confirmed his daughter's (Mrs. Latter's) account +of the <i>fraças</i> with the men and performing bears, given in +another chapter, adding, "That <i>was</i> a concern."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>The beautiful city of Exeter is not far from Taunton, and +we naturally avail ourselves of the opportunity of stopping +there for a few hours, and stroll over to see the village of +Alphington. It was here, in the year 1839, that Charles +Dickens took and furnished Mile End Cottage for his father +and mother and their youngest son. He thus describes the +event in a letter to Forster:—"I took a little house for them +this morning (5th March, 1839), and if they are not pleased +with it I shall be grievously disappointed. Exactly a mile +beyond the city on the Plymouth road there are two white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +cottages: one is theirs, and the other belongs to their landlady. +I almost forget the number of rooms, but there is +an excellent parlour with two other rooms on the ground +floor, there is really a beautiful little room over the parlour +which I am furnishing as a drawing-room, and there is a +splendid garden. The paint and paper throughout is new +and fresh and cheerful-looking, the place is clean beyond all +description, and the neighbourhood I suppose the most +beautiful in this most beautiful of English counties." The +negotiations with the landlady and the operation of furnishing +the house are most humorously pourtrayed in the same +letter.</p> + +<p>The cottage is also described in <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, which +he was writing at the time. Mrs. Nickleby, in allusion to her +old home, calls it "the beautiful little thatched white house +one storey high, covered all over with ivy and creeping +plants, with an exquisite little porch with twining honeysuckles +and all sorts of things."</p> + +<p>Fifty years have passed since the parents of the novelist +went to live at Alphington, which, notwithstanding the subsequent +growth of the city, still continues to be a pretty suburb +with fine views of the Ide Hills to the westward, and Heavitree +to the eastward. Our efforts to obtain any reminiscences +of the Dickens family in the village were quite unsuccessful—so +long a time had elapsed since their departure—although, +to oblige us, the vicar of the place kindly made enquiries, +and took some interest in the matter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES DICKENS AND STROOD.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"So altered was the battle-ground, where thousands upon thousands had +been killed in the great fight."—<i>The Battle of Life.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"Keep me always at it, I'll keep you always at it, you keep somebody +else always at it. There you are, with the Whole Duty of Man in a +commercial country."—<i>Little Dorrit.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> town of Strood,—the Roman <i>Strata</i>,—which stands on +the left bank of the river Medway, has, like the city of +Rochester, its interesting historical associations. Its Church, +dedicated to St. Nicholas, stands high on the north side of +the London road leading to Gad's Hill, and has a brass of +T. Glover and his three wives. At one time there was a +hospital for travellers, founded by Bishop Glanville (<i>temp.</i> +Richard I.), near the Church. The most interesting remains +are, however, those of the Temple Farm, distant about half +a mile south, formerly (<i>temp.</i> Henry II.) the mansion of the +Knights Templars of the Teutonic order, to whom it, together +with the lands thereto belonging, was given by that monarch. +The gift was confirmed by King John and by Henry III. +(1227); but the unfortunate brethren of the order did not +retain possession more than a century, for in the reign of +Edward II. they were dispossessed of their lands and goods,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +under pretence of their leading a vicious course of life, but in +reality to satisfy the avarice of their dispossessors. The +present building dates from about James I., has one fine room +overlooking the river, and underneath is a spacious vault +called by Grose the "Preceptory," excavated out of the chalk, +and having fine groined stone arches and aisles—the walls are +of very great thickness. Near Frindsbury Church—in which +are three most interesting wall-paintings of St. William the +Baker of Perth, St. Lawrence, and another figure, all three +discovered on the jambs of the Norman windows only a +few years ago—stands the Quarry House, a handsome old +red-brick mansion, "described as more Jacobean than +Elizabethan," built in the form of a capital E, each storey +slightly receding behind the front level of that beneath it, +the top tapering into pretty gables, the effect being enhanced +by heavy buttresses.</div> + +<p>There is a dreadful legend of the ancient people of Strood +common to several other parts of the kingdom, <i>e.g.</i> Auster +in Dorsetshire, which the quaint and diligent Lambarde, +quoting from Polydore Virgil, evidently regarded as serious, +and takes immense pains to confute! It relates to St. +Thomas à Becket and his contention with King Henry II., +whereby he began to be looked upon as the King's enemy, +and as such began to be "so commonly neglected, contemned, +and hated:—</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a> +<img src="images/i_236.png" width="600" height="354" alt="Temple Farm Strood" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"That when as it happened him upon a time to come to +<i>Stroude</i>, the Inhabitants thereabouts (being desirous to dispite +that good Father) sticked not to cut the tail from the +horse on which he road, binding themselves thereby with a +perpetuall reproach: for afterward (by the will of God) it so +happened, that every one which came of that kinred of men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +which plaied that naughty prank, were borne with tails, even +as brute beasts be."</p> + + +<p>Surely had the credulous historian lived in Darwinian +times, he might have recorded this as a splendid instance of +"degeneration"!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/i_237.png" width="450" height="392" alt="At Temple Farm Strood" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>In a lecture delivered here some years ago, the Rev. Canon +Scott Robertson, Editor of <i>Archæologia Cantiana</i>, gave a +graphic picture of "Strood in the Olden Times." To this +we are much indebted for the opportunity of giving an +abstract of several of the most interesting details.</p> + +<p>In the thirteenth century Strood and Rochester were the +scene of a severe struggle between Simon de Montfort, Earl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +of Leicester, the leader of the Barons in their war against +Henry III. to resist the aggressive encroachments of the King +on the liberties of the subject, and the supporters of that +monarch.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_238.png" width="400" height="331" alt="Crypt Temple Farm" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Simon de Montfort, who was a Strood landowner, and +possessed of other large properties in Kent, took the lead, +followed by several other nobles, in the siege of Rochester. +Their first obstacle was the fortified gate-house at the Strood +end of Rochester Bridge, and for some time their efforts were +in vain, till at length, by means of small ships filled with +inflammable matter, set on fire and driven towards the centre +of the wooden bridge, causing "actual or expected ignition of +the timbers," the King's soldiers were dismayed and retreated. +The Earl of Gloucester simultaneously reached the south end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +of the city, and the Barons took possession thereof, sacking +the town, monastery, and Cathedral Church. The garrison +of the Castle shut themselves up in the strong Norman +Keep, and held it till relieved by Prince Edward, the King's +son.</p> + +<p>The Castle was subsequently taken by Simon de Montfort +after the Battle of Lewes (1264), where Henry III. was taken +prisoner and brought to Rochester, and a Proclamation was +issued transferring the custody of the Royal Castle to the +Barons.</p> + +<p>At the Battle of Evesham (1265) Simon de Montfort was +slain; and the King, on becoming master of the situation, +imposed a fine, equivalent to about £1,500 of our money, on +Strood, because it was the headquarters of Simon during his +assault on Rochester. The fine caused much ill-feeling +between the two towns, which lasted until the reign of +Edward I. Such was Strood in the olden times.</p> + +<p>Long years have since passed, and the amenities of +an industrial age have succeeded to these turmoils. The +town of Strood appears to be flourishing, and now possesses +large engineering works, cement manufactories, flour mills, +and other extensive industries.</p> + +<p>Allusion has been previously made to a very entertaining +<i>brochure</i>, entitled <i>Charles Dickens and Rochester</i>, by Mr. +Robert Langton, F. R. Hist. Soc. of Manchester (himself, we +believe, a Rochester man). In it there is scarcely any +reference to Strood, although the sister-town, Chatham, is +freely mentioned. Our enquiries at Strood, on the Tuesday +and subsequently, resulted in the discovery of many most +interesting memorials of Charles Dickens in connection with +that town, enough almost to fill a small volume. There was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +a general impression that Dickens had no great liking for +Strood, and yet it was a doctor from that town who was one +of his most intimate friends, and who attended him in his last +illness; it was a builder in Strood who executed most of the +alterations and repairs at Gad's Hill Place; it was a Strood +contractor who gave him the souvenir of old Rochester +Bridge; it was at Strood that an eminent local scientist lived, +who was incidentally, but very importantly, associated with +him in the movement connected with the Guild of Literature +and Art; and it was at a quiet roadside inn at Strood that +he sometimes called to refresh himself after one of those +long walks, alone or with friends, for which he was famous.</p> + +<p>Let us reverse the order of the above, and give a recollection +from the last-mentioned. The "Crispin and Crispianus" +is a very old-fashioned inn, which stands on the north side +of the London road just out of Strood, and was, as we were +informed, erected some centuries ago. It is a long building, +of brick below, with an overhanging upper floor and weather-boarded +front, surmounted by a single dormer window. +The sanded floor of the common parlour is, as the saying +goes, "as clean as a new pin." Round the room is a settle +terminating with arms at each side of the door, which is +opposite the fireplace. Mrs. Masters, the cheerful and +obliging landlady, who has lived here thirty years, describes +Dickens to us (as we sit in the seat he used now and then +to occupy), when on one of his walks, as habited in low shoes +not over-well mended, loose large check-patterned trousers +that sometimes got entangled in the shoes when walking, a +brown coat thrown open, sometimes without waistcoat, a belt +instead of braces, a necktie which now and then got round +towards his ear, and a large-brimmed felt hat, similar to an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +American's, set well at the back of his head. In his hand he +carried by the middle an umbrella, which he was in the habit +of constantly swinging, and if he had dogs (a not unfrequent +occurrence), he had a small +whip as well. He walked in +the middle of the road at a +rapid pace, upright, but with +his eyes cast down as if +in deep thought. When he +called at the Crispin for refreshment, usually a glass of ale +(mild sixpenny—bitter ale was not drawn in those days), or +a little cold brandy and water, he walked straight in, and sat +down at the corner of the settle on the right-hand side where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +the arm is, opposite the fire-place; he rarely spoke to any one, +but looked round as though taking in everything at a glance. +(In <i>David Copperfield</i> he says, "I looked at nothing, that I +know of, but I saw everything.") Once he and a friend were +sheltering there during a thunderstorm (by a coincidence, a +storm occurs at the time we are here), and while Dickens +stood looking out of the window he saw opposite a poor +woman with a baby, who appeared very worn, wet, and +travel-stained. She too was sheltering from the rain.</p> +<div class='center'> <a name="crispin" id="crispin"></a><table class="crispin" summary="crispin"> +<tr><td align='left'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /> +<div class='blockquot2'> +<p>"Call her in here," said Dickens. Mrs. Masters obeyed.</p> + + +<p>"Now," said he, "draw her some brandy."</p> + +<p>"How much?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," he answered, "draw her some."</p> + +<p>The landlady drew her four-pennyworth, the quantity +generally served.</p></div> +</td> +</tr></table></div> + +<p>"Now," said Dickens to the woman, "drink that up," which +she did, and soon seemed refreshed. Dickens gave her a +shilling, and remarked to Mrs. Masters that "now she will go +on her way rejoicing." The story is a trivial one, but the +units make the aggregate, and it sufficiently indicates his +kindness of heart and thoughtfulness for others.</p> + +<p>In some of his walks Dickens was accompanied either by +his sister-in-law, Miss Hogarth, or by friends who were staying +at "Gad's" (or the "Place," as it was sometimes called). +Mrs. Masters, whose recollections of Dickens are very vivid, +said—"Lor! we never thought much about him when he +was alive; it was only when his death took place that we +understood what a great man he was." Alas! it is not the +first instance that "a prophet is not without honour, save in his +own country, and in his own house." The news of his death +was a great shock to Mrs. Masters, who heard of it from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +Edward, son of Mr. W. S. Trood, the landlord of the Sir +John Falstaff, as he was bearing the intelligence to Rochester +within half-an-hour after the event.</p> + +<p>In passing we should mention, that the Crispin and Crispianus +has been immortalized in the chapter on "Tramps," +in <i>The Uncommercial Traveller</i>, where, in reference to the +handicrafts of certain tramps, Dickens imagines himself to be +a travelling clockmaker, and after adjusting "t'ould clock" in +the keeper's kitchen, "he sees to something wrong with the +bell of the turret stable clock up at the Hall [Cobham Hall]. . . . +Our task at length accomplished, we should be taken +into an enormous servants'-hall, and there regaled with beef +and bread, and powerful ale. Then, paid freely, we should be +at liberty to go, and should be told by a pointing helper to +keep round over yinder by the blasted ash, and so straight +through the woods till we should see the town-lights right +afore us. . . . So should we lie that night at the ancient sign +of the Crispin and Crispianus [at Strood], and rise early next +morning to be betimes on tramp again."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> +<p>We are also indebted to Mrs. Masters for an introduction +to our next informant, Mr. J. Couchman, master-builder +and undertaker of Strood, who, though advanced in years +and tried by illness, is very free and chatty; and from him +and his son we obtained some interesting facts. He had +worked for Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill Place, from the +date of his going there ("which," says Mr. Couchman, "was on +Whitsun Monday, 1856,") until the 11th June, 1870, two days +after the sad occurrence "which eclipsed the gaiety of nations."</p> + +<p>From Mr. Couchman's standpoint as a tradesman, it is +interesting to record his experience of Dickens in his own +words. "Mr. Dickens," he says, "was always very straightforward, +honourable, and kind, and paid his bills most regularly. +The first work I did for him was to make a dog-kennel; +I also put up the châlet at Gad's Hill. When it was +forwarded from London, which was by water, Mr. Fechter +[whose name he did not at first remember] sent a Frenchman +to assist in the erection. The châlet consisted of ninety-four +pieces, all fitting accurately together like a puzzle. The +Frenchman did not understand it, and could not make out +the fitting of the pieces. So I asked Mr. Henry [Mr. Henry +Fielding Dickens, the novelist's sixth son, the present Recorder +of Deal] if he understood French. He said 'Yes,' and +told me the names of the different pieces, and I managed it +without the Frenchman, who stayed the night, and went away +next day." In conversation, we suggest that the circumstance +of the châlet having been made in Switzerland may +have embarrassed the Frenchman, he not having been accustomed +to that kind of work. In his letter to Forster of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +7th June, 1865, Dickens says:—"The châlet is going on +excellently, though the ornamental part is more slowly put +together than the substantial. It will really be a very pretty +thing; and in the summer (supposing it not to be blown +away in the spring), the upper room will make a charming +study. It is much higher than we supposed."</p> + +<p>Mr. Couchman also took down the châlet after Charles +Dickens's death, and erected it at the Crystal Palace at +Sydenham, where it remained for a short time, and was +subsequently presented to the Earl of Darnley by several +members of the Dickens family. His lordship afterwards +ordered him to fit it up at Cobham Hall, where, as previously +stated, it now stands. The woods of which it is constructed +he believed to be Baltic oak and a kind of pine, the lighter +parts being of maple or sycamore. We saw it subsequently.</p> + +<p>Several contracts were entered into by Mr. Couchman with +Charles Dickens for the extension and modification of Gad's +Hill Place, notably during the year 1861. We are favoured +with a sight of an original specification signed by both parties, +which is as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='center'>"Specification of works proposed to be done at Gad's Hill House, +Higham, for C. Dickens, Esq.</div> + +<p>"<i>Bricklayer.</i>—To take off slates and copings and heighten brick +walls and chimneys, and build No. 2 new chimneys with stock and +picking bricks laid in cement. No. 2 chimney bars, to cope gable +ends with old stone. No. 2 hearthstones. No. 2 plain stone chimney-pieces. +No. 2—2 ft. 6 in. Register stoves. To lath and +plaster ceiling, side walls, and partitions with lime and hair two +coats, and set to slate the new roof with good countess slates and +metal nails.</p> + +<p>"<i>Carpenter.</i>—To take off roof, to lay floor joist with 7 × 2½ in. +yellow battens; to fix roof, ceiling, joist and partitions of good fir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +timber, 4 ft. × 2 ft.; to use old timber that is sound and fit for use; +to close board roof, lead flat and gutters; to lay 1 in. × 9 in. white +deal floors, to skirt rooms with 8 in. × ¾ in. deal; to fix No. 4 pairs of +1¾ in. sashes and frames for plate-glass as per order. <i>All the sashes +to have weights and pulleys for opening.</i> To fix No. 2—6 ft. 6 in. × +2 ft. 6 in. 1½ in., four panel doors, and encase frames with all necessary +mouldings; to fix window linings, and 1½ in. square framings +and doors for No. 2 dressing-rooms; to fix No. 2, 7 in. rim locks. +No. 2 box latches, sash fastenings, sash weights, to fix 4 in. O. G. +iron eaves, gutter with cistern heads, and 3 in. iron leading pipes.</p> + +<p>"<i>Plumber, Glazier, and Painter.</i>—To take up old lead guttering, +and lay new gutters and lead flats with 6lb. lead, ridge and flushings +with 5lb. lead; to paint all wood and iron-work that requires painting +4 coats in oil, the windows to be glazed with good plate glass; to +paper rooms and landings when the walls are dry with paper of the +value of 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per piece, the old lead to be the property of the +plumber. <i>The two cisterns to be carried up and replaced on new roof, +the pipes attached to them to be lengthened as required by the alterations; +and a water tap to be fitted in each dressing-room.</i></p> + +<p>"All old materials not used and rubbish to be carted away by the +contractor. All the work to be completed in a sound and workman-like +manner to the satisfaction of C. Dickens, Esq., for the sum +of £241. The roof to be slated and flat covered with lead in one +month from commencing the work. The whole to be completed—paper +excepted—and all rubbish cleared away by the 30th day of +November, 1861.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"(Signed) <span class="smcap">J. Couchman</span>,</span><br /> +"Builder.<br /> +</div><div class='secsig'> +"<i>High Street, Strood</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"<i>Sep. 10th, 1861.</i>"</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>Then follows in Dickens's own handwriting:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>The above contract I accept on the stipulated conditions; the +specified </i>time<i>, in common with all the other conditions, to be strictly +observed.</i></p> + +<div class='sig'> +"(Signed) <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens.</span><br /> +</div><div class='secsig'> +"<i>Gad's Hill Place,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"<i>Saturday, 21st Sep., 1861.</i>"</span><br /> +</div></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>What is most interesting to notice in the above specification, +is the careful way in which Dickens appears to have +mastered all the details, and the very sensible interlineations +given in italics which he made, (1) as to the sashes and +weights, (2) as to the two cisterns, and especially (3) in the +final memorandum as to <i>time</i>.</p> + +<p>It is also worthy of remark, that the work <i>was</i> completed in +the specified time, the bill duly sent in, and the next day +Dickens sent a cheque for the amount.</p> + +<p>Another contract, amounting to £393, was executed by Mr. +Couchman, for extensions at Gad's Hill. On its completion, +Mr. Dickens paid him by two cheques. He went up to +London to the Bank (Coutts's in the Strand) to cash them. +The clerk just looked at the cheques, the signature apparently +being very familiar to him, and then put the usual question—"How +will you have it?" to which he replied, "Notes, +please."</p> + +<p>It appears that, as is frequently the case in large establishments, +orders were sometimes given by the servants for work +which the master knew nothing about until the bill was +presented; and to prevent this, Dickens issued instructions +to the tradesmen that they were not to execute any work +for him without his written authority. The following is an +illustration of this new arrangement:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 1em;">"<span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent</span>.</span><br /> +"<i>Thursday, 5th Nov., 1858.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Mr. Couchman</span>,</p> + +<p> "Please to ease the coach-house doors, and to put up +some pegs, agreeably to George Belcher's directions.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>."<br /> +</div></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>It should be mentioned that George Belcher was the coachman +at the time.</p> + +<p>Mr. Couchman recalls an interesting custom that was +maintained at Gad's Hill. There were a number of tin check +plates, marked respectively 3<i>d.</i> and 6<i>d.</i> each, which enabled the +person to whom they were given to obtain an equivalent in +refreshment of any kind at the Sir John Falstaff. The +threepenny checks were for the workmen, and the sixpenny +ones for the tradesmen. The chief housemaid had the distribution +of these checks to persons employed in the house, +the head-gardener to those engaged in the gardens, and the +coachman to those in the stables. On one occasion, our +informant remembers when his men were engaged upon some +work at Gad's Hill, such checks were given out to them, and +that he also had one offered to him; but, recollecting that +his position as a master scarcely entitled him to the privilege, +he stated his objections to the housemaid, who said in reply +that it was a pity to break an old custom, he had better have +one. "So," says our informant, "I had a sixpenny ticket with +the others, and obtained my refreshment."</p> + +<p>He has in his photographic album a carte-de-visite of +Charles Dickens, by Watkins. It is the well-known one in +which the novelist is represented in a sitting position, dressed +in a grey suit; and the owner considered it a very good +likeness. He also showed us a funeral card which he thought +had been sent to him by the family of Dickens at the time of +his death, but judging by its contents, this seems impossible. +It is, however, well worth transcribing:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>—</p> +<div class='bbox'> +<div class='center'> +To the Memory of<br /> +<b>Charles Dickens</b><br /> +(England's most popular author),<br /> +who died at his Residence,<br /> +Higham, near Rochester, Kent,<br /> +June 9th, 1870.<br /> +Aged 58 years.<br /> + +<br /> +<small>He was a sympathizer with the poor, suffering, and<br /> +oppressed; and by his death one of England's<br /> +greatest writers is lost to the world.</small></div> +</div> +<p>Mr. Couchman confirms the verbal sketch of Dickens +as drawn by his neighbour, Mrs. Masters, and states that +Dickens used to put up his dogs ("Linda" and "Turk"), +"boisterous companions as they always were," in the stables +whenever he came to see him on business.</p> + +<p>Mr. William Ball, J.P., of Hillside, Strood, kindly favoured +us with many interviews, and generally took great interest +in the subject of our visit to "Dickens-Land," rendering +invaluable assistance in our enquiries. This gentleman is the +son of Mr. John H. Ball, the well-known contractor, who +removed old Rochester Bridge; he is also a brother-in-law of +the late gifted tenor, Mr. Joseph Maas, to whom a handsome +memorial tablet, consisting of a marble medallion of the +deceased, over which is a lyre with one of the strings +broken, has since been erected on the east wall of the south +transept of Rochester Cathedral. By Mr. Ball's considerate +courtesy and that of his daughters, we are allowed to +see many interesting relics of Charles Dickens and Gad's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +Hill.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> When Mr. Ball's father removed the old bridge in +1859, it will be remembered that he offered to present the +novelist with one of the balustrades as a souvenir, the offer +being gracefully and promptly accepted, as the following +letter testifies:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent</span>.</span><br /> +"<i>Thursday, eighth June, 1859.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> + +<p> "I feel exceedingly obliged to you for your kind and +considerate offer of a remembrance of old Rochester Bridge; +that will interest me very much. I accept the relic with +many thanks, and with great pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Do me the favor to let it be delivered to a workman who +will receive instructions to bring it away, and once again +accept my acknowledgments.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;">"Yours faithfully,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div><div class='secsig'> +"<span class="smcap">Mr. John H. Ball.</span>"<br /> +</div></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> +<p>The present Mr. William Ball, then a young lad, was the +bearer of the gift, and on being asked by us why he didn't ask +to see the great novelist, replies, "Yes, I ought to have done +so, but I was afraid of the dogs!"</p> + +<p>The balustrade, which was placed on the back lawn at Gad's +Hill, was mounted on a square pedestal, on the sides of which +were representations of the four seasons, and a sun-dial +crowned the capital. Something like it, but a little modified, +appears in one of Mr. Luke Fildes's beautiful illustrations +to the original edition of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, entitled "Jasper's +Sacrifices." Three more of the balustrades now ornament +Mr. Ball's garden at Hillside.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ball the elder was invited to send in a tender for the +construction of the tunnel at Gad's Hill previously mentioned, +but it was not accepted, as appears from a letter addressed to +him by Mr. Alfred L. Dickens (Charles Dickens's brother), of +which we are allowed to take a copy:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"8, <span class="smcap">Richmond Terrace</span>,</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Whitehall, S.W.</span></span><br /> + +"<i>August 30th, 1859.</i><br /> +</div> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p> "I am very sorry that absence from home has prevented +my replying to your note as to the tender for the +Gad's Hill tunnel before.</p> + +<p> "I much regret that the amount of your tender is so +much higher than my estimate, that I cannot recommend my +brother to accept it.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 10em;">"I am,</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-right: 8em;">"Dear Sir,</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Yours faithfully,</span><br /> + +"<span class="smcap">Alfred L. Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Mr. Ball.</span>"</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>Among the Dickens relics at Hillside, we are shown by +Mr. Ball the pretty set of five silver bells presented by his +friend Mr. F. Lehmann, to the novelist, who always used +them when driving out in his basket pony-phaeton. They +are fastened on to a leather pad, and make a pleasant musical +sound when shaken. They are of graduated sizes, the largest +being somewhat smaller than a tennis-ball, and appear to be +in the key of C: comprising the Tonic, Third, Fifth, Octave, +and Octave of the Third.</p> + +<p>There is also a hall clock with maker's name—"Bennett, +Cheapside, London." This was the "werry identical" clock +respecting which Dickens wrote the following characteristically +humorous letter to Sir John Bennett:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"Since my hall clock was sent to your establishment +to be cleaned it has gone (as indeed it always had) +perfectly well, but has struck the hours with great reluctance, +and after enduring internal agonies of a most +distressing nature, it has now ceased striking altogether. +Though a happy release for the clock, this is not convenient +to the household. If you can send down any confidential +person with whom the clock can confer, I think it may have +something on its works that it would be glad to make a clean +breast of.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"Faithfully yours,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>."<br /> +</div></div> + +<p>Included among the relics are a very handsome mahogany +fire-screen in three folds, of red morocco, with Grecian key-border, +a musical Canterbury, and a bookcase. But the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +most interesting object from an art point of view is an +India proof copy, "before letters," of Sir Edwin Landseer's +beautiful picture of "King Charles's Spaniels," the original of +which is said to have been painted for the late Mr. Vernon in +two days, and is now in the National Gallery. The engraving +of the picture is by Outram. It has the initials in pencil +"E. L.," and a little ticket on the frame—"Lot 445," that being +the number in the auctioneer's catalogue.</p> + +<p>The following is the story as recently told by Mr. W. P. +Frith, R.A., in his most interesting and readable <i>Autobiography +and Reminiscences</i>, 1887:—</p> + +<p>"His" [Sir Edwin's] "rapidity of execution was extraordinary. +In the National Gallery there is a picture of Two +Spaniels, of what is erroneously called the Charles II. breed +(the real dog of that time is of a different form and breed +altogether, as may be seen in pictures of the period), the size +of life, with appropriate accompaniments, painted by him in +two days. An empty frame had been sent to the British +Institution, where it was hung on the wall, waiting for its +tenant—a picture of a lady with dogs—till Landseer felt the +impossibility of finishing the picture satisfactorily. Time had +passed, till two days only remained before the opening of the +Exhibition. Something must be done; and in the time +named those wonderfully life-like little dogs were produced."</p> + +<p>Mr. Ball has also an interesting photograph of the "Last +Lot," some bottles of wine, evidently taken on the occasion of +the sale at Gad's Hill Place after Dickens's death, the auctioneer +being represented with his hammer raised ready to fall, +and a smile upon his face. Among the crowd, consisting +principally of London and local dealers, may be seen two +local policemen with peaked caps, and auctioneer's porters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +in shirt-sleeves and aprons. The sale took place in a large +tent at the back of the house and close to the well, which can +be readily seen through an opening in the tent.</p> + +<p>The next person whom we meet at Strood is Mr. Charles +Roach Smith, F.S.A., the eminent archæologist, who has +achieved a European reputation, and from whom we get +many interesting particulars relating to Dickens. We heard +some idle gossip at Rochester to the effect that Mr. Roach +Smith always felt a little "touchy" about the satire on +archæology in <i>Pickwick</i>, <i>in re</i> "Bill Stumps, his mark." +That, however, we took <i>cum grano salis</i>, because this gentleman, +from his delightful conversation and frank manner, is +evidently above any such littleness. He is, however, free +to confess, that Dickens had not much love for Strood, but +infinitely preferred Chatham.</p> + +<p>There had been but little personal intercourse between +Dickens and Mr. Roach Smith, though each respected the +other. Our informant says that, soon after the novelist came +to Gad's Hill Place, Mrs. Dickens called and left her husband's +card, which he, whether rightly or not, took as an intimation +that the acquaintance was not to be extended. He spoke +with all the enthusiasm of a man of science, and rather +bitterly too, of a certain reading given by Dickens at Chatham +to an overflowing house, whereas on the same evening a +distinguished Professor of Agriculture (a Mr. Roberts or +Robinson, we believe), who came to instruct the people at +Ashford (one of the neighbouring towns) by means of a +lecture, failed to secure an audience, and only got a few +pence for admissions. The learned Professor subsequently +poured forth his troubles to Mr. Roach Smith, from whom he +obtained sympathy and hospitality. We venture to remind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +our good friend that the public in general much prefer +amusement to instruction, at which he laughs, and says that +in this matter he perfectly agrees with us. He expresses his +strong opinion as to Dickens's reading of the "Murder of +Nancy" (<i>Oliver Twist</i>), which he characterizes as "repulsive +and indecent."</p> + +<p>The most important communication made to us by Mr. +Roach Smith is that contained in volume ii. of his recently +published <i>Reminiscences and Retrospections, Social and Archæological</i>, +1886. As this interesting work may not be generally +accessible, it is as well to quote the passage intact. It has +reference to the Guild of Literature and Art, for the promotion +of which Dickens, Lord Lytton, John Forster, Mark Lemon, +John Leech, and others, gave so much valuable time and +energy, in addition to liberal pecuniary support. The following +is the extract:—</p> + +<p>"Of Mr. Dodd I knew much. He was one of my earliest +friends when I lived in Liverpool Street—I may say, one of +my earliest patrons; and the intimacy continued up to his +death, a few years since. The story of his connection with +the movement for a dramatic college, and of his rapid +separation from it, a deposition by order of the projectors +and directors, forms a curious episode in the history of our +friendship; and especially so, as I had an important, though +unseen, part to sustain.</p> + +<p>"In the summer of 1858 I was summoned to Mr. Dodd's +residence at the City Wharf, New North Road, Hoxton, to +give consent to be a trustee, with Messrs. Cobden and Bright, +for five acres of land, which Mr. Dodd was about to give for +the building of a dramatic college, which had been resolved +on at a public meeting, held on the 21st of July in this year,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +in the Princess's Theatre, Mr. Charles Kean acting as chairman. +'I give this most freely,' said Mr. Dodd to me, 'for it is to +the stage I am indebted for my education; to it I owe whatsoever +may be good in me.' That there was much good in +him, thousands can testify; and thousands yet to come will be +evidence to his benevolence. Of course, I felt pleased in being +selected to act as a trustee for this gift. I conceived, and I +suppose I was correct, that Mr. Dodd intended that his gift +was strictly for a dramatic college, and for no other purpose, +then or thereafter. Having expressed my willingness and +resolution to be faithful to the trust, I said, 'I presume, Mr. +Dodd, you stipulate for a presentation?' He looked rather +surprised; and asked his solicitor, who sat by him, how they +came to overlook this? Both of them directly agreed that this +simple return should be required.</p> + +<p>"I must leave such of my readers as feel inclined, to search +in the public journals for the correspondence between the +directors and Mr. Dodd up to the 13th of January, 1859, when, +at a meeting held in the Adelphi Theatre, Lord Tenterden in +the chair, it was stated that Mr. Dodd evinced, through his +solicitor, a disposition to fence round his gift with legal +restrictions and stipulations, which apprised the committee of +coming difficulty; and the meeting unanimously agreed to +decline Mr. Dodd's offer of land. Previously and subsequently +to this, Mr. Dodd was most discourteously commented on +and attacked in the newspapers, the editors of which, however, +sided with him. I was told that the stipulation for a +presentation was the great offence; but I should think that +the provision made against the improper use of the land must +have been the real grievance. In the very last letter I +received from Mr. Dodd, not very long anterior to his death,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +he says that Mark Lemon told him that Charles Dickens +had said he had never occasion to repent but of two things, +one being his conduct to Mr. Dodd. That Dickens, +Thackeray, and others sincerely believed they were taking +the best steps for accomplishing their benevolent object, there +can be no doubt; their judgment, not their heart, was wrong. +The scheme was based upon a wrong principle, as was shown +by its collapse in less than twenty years, after the expenditure +of very large subscriptions, and the patronage of the Queen. +Articles in <i>The Era</i> of the 22nd July, 1877, leave no doubt, +while they clearly reveal the causes of failure."</p> + +<p>It may be mentioned that the Mr. Henry Dodd above +referred to, appears to have been a large city contractor, or +something of that kind. According to Mr. Roach Smith, +what with him led on to fortune was a long and heavy fall of +snow, which had filled the streets of the city of London, and +rendered traffic impossible. The city was blocked by snow, +and there was no remedy at hand. Mr. Dodd boldly undertook +a contract to remove the mighty obstruction in a given +time. This he did thoroughly and within the limited number +of days. Afterwards he appears to have undertaken brick-making +and other works on a very large scale. In the +opinion of Mr. Roach Smith, Mr. Dodd was the origin of +the "golden dustman" in <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, whom every +reader of Dickens remembers as Mr. Nicodemus, <i>alias</i> Noddy +Boffin.</p> + +<p>Speaking of Dickens's readings, our informant relates +a conversation with Charles Dickens's sixth son, Mr. Henry +Fielding Dickens. The former gentleman asked the latter +whose model he took?</p> + +<p>"Oh, my father's," said Mr. Henry Dickens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I would not take any man's model," said Mr. Roach +Smith, "I would take my own." And judging from the perfect +intonation and thoroughly musical rhythm of his voice, there +is no doubt whatever that his model, whoever it may have +been, was one of very high standard.</p> + +<p>We have since learnt that Mr. Roach Smith is the President +of the Strood Elocution Society, an almost unique institution +of its kind. It has been established upwards of thirteen years; +and at the weekly meetings "the various readers are subjected +to an exhaustive and salutary criticism by the members +present." Mr. Roach Smith has always taken immense +interest in the progress of this Society. Miss Dickens occasionally +helped at the above meetings.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roach Smith kindly favours us with the following +extract from the third and forthcoming volume of his <i>Retrospections</i> +with reference to the late Mr. J. H. Ball, of Strood, +which may appropriately be here introduced:—</p> + +<p>"Although I have said that I was the gainer by our acquaintance, +yet now and then I had a chance of serving him. +Soon after the death of the great novelist, Charles Dickens, +and when people were speculating as to what would become +of his residence at Gad's Hill, Mr. Ball, wishing to purchase it, +commissioned me to call on the executrix, Miss Hogarth, +and offer ten thousand pounds, for which he had written +a cheque. I accordingly went, and sent in my card. Miss +Hogarth, fortunately, could not see me; she was hastening to +catch the train for London, the carriage being at the door, +and not a moment to be lost; but she would be happy to see +me on her return in a day or two. I then wrote to Mr. +Forster, the other executor; and received a reply that the +place was not for sale. I kept him ignorant of the sum that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +Mr. Ball was willing to give, and thus saved my friend some +thousands of pounds, . . . for the house and land were not +worth half the money."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_259.png" width="400" height="436" alt="Old Quarry House Strood" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>After some further conversation with our kind octogenarian +friend, who insists on showing us hospitality notwithstanding +his sufferings from a trying illness, we take our departure +with many pleasant memories of our visit.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> +<p>We have, after one or two unsuccessful attempts, the good +fortune to meet with Mr. Stephen Steele, M.R.C.S. and L.S.A.,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +of Bridge House, Esplanade, Strood, who was admitted a +member of the medical profession so far back as the year +1831, and has therefore been in practice nearly sixty years. +It will be remembered that this experienced surgeon was sent +for by Miss Hogarth, to see Dickens in his last illness. He +is good enough to go over and describe to us in graphic and +sympathetic language the whole of the circumstances attending +that sorrowful event. Previously to doing so, he gives us +some interesting details of his recollections of Charles Dickens. +Dr. Steele had occupied the onerous post of Chairman of the +Liberal Association at Rochester for thirty years, and believes +that in politics Dickens was a Liberal, for he frequently +prefaced his remarks in conversation with him on any subject +of passing interest by the expression, "We Liberals, you +know—"</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 337px;"> +<img src="images/i_262.png" width="337" height="400" alt="Frindsbury Church" title="" /> + +</div> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Dickens discharged his conscience of +his political creed in the remarks which followed his address<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +as President of the Birmingham and Midland Institute,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> delivered +27th September, 1869, when he said—"My political +creed is contained in two articles, and has no reference to any +party or persons. My faith in the 'people governing' is, on +the whole, infinitesimal; my faith in the 'people governed' +is, on the whole, illimitable." At a subsequent visit to +Birmingham on the 6th January, 1870, when giving out the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +prizes at the Institute, he further emphasized his political +faith in these words:—"When I was here last autumn, I +made a short confession of my political faith—or perhaps, I +should better say, want of faith. It imported that I have +very little confidence in the people who govern us—please to +observe 'people' with a small 'p,'—but I have very great confidence +in the People whom they govern—please to observe +'People' with a large 'P.'"</p> + +<p>A few days after Charles Dickens's first visit, my friend Mr. +Howard S. Pearson, Lecturer on English Literature at the +Institute, addressed a letter to him on the subject of the +remarks at the conclusion of his Presidential Address, and +promptly received in reply the following communication, +which Mr. Pearson kindly allows me to print, emphasizing his +(Dickens's) observations:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent</span>.</span><br /> +"<i>Wednesday, 6th October, 1869.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> + +<p> "You are perfectly right in your construction of my +meaning at Birmingham. If a capital P be put to the word +People in its second use in the sentence, and not in its first, +I should suppose the passage next to impossible to be mistaken, +even if it were read without any reference to the whole +spirit of my speech and the whole tenor of my writings.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Faithfully yours,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">H. S. Pearson, Esquire.</span>"</p></div> + +<p>Dr. Steele had dined several times at Gad's Hill Place, and +was impressed with Dickens's wonderful powers as a host. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +never absorbed the whole of the conversation to himself, but +listened attentively when his guests were speaking, and +endeavoured, as it were, to draw out any friends who were +not generally talkative. He liked each one to chat about his +own hobby in which he took most interest. Our informant +was also present at Gad's Hill Place at several theatrical +entertainments, and especially remembers some charades +being given. After the performance of the latter was over, +Dickens walked round among his guests in the drawing-room, +and enquired if any one could guess the "word." Says the +doctor, "We never seemed to do so, but there was always a +hearty laugh when we were told what it was. There was +a good deal of company at Gad's Hill at Christmas time."</p> + +<p><i>À propos</i> of private theatricals at Gad's Hill Place, Mr. T. +Edgar Pemberton, in <i>Charles Dickens and the Stage</i>, calls +attention to the fact that "Mr. Clarkson Stanfield's <i>Lighthouse</i> +Act drop subsequently decorated the walls of Gad's +Hill Place; and although it took the painter less than a +couple of days to execute, fetched a thousand guineas at the +famous Dickens Sale in 1870." A cloth painted for <i>The +Frozen Deep</i>, which was the next and last of these productions, +also had a foremost place in the Gad's Hill picture-gallery.</p> + +<p>Dr. Steele mentions a conversation once with Dickens +about Gad's Hill and Shakespeare's description of it. He (the +doctor) considers that Shakespeare could not have described +it so accurately if he had not been there, and Dickens agreed +with him in this opinion. Possibly he may have stayed at the +"Plough," which was an inn on the same spot as, or close to, +the "Falstaff." The place must have been much wooded at +that time, and Shakespeare might have been there on his way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +to Dover. A note in the <i>Rochester and Chatham Journal</i>, +1883, states that "Shakespeare's company made a tour in +Sussex and Kent in the summer of 1597."</p> + +<p>Dr. Steele, in common with his friend Charles Dickens, +strongly deprecated the action of certain parties in Rochester, +by voting at a public meeting something to this effect:—"That +the Theatre was an irreligious kind of institution, and, +in the opinion of the meeting, it ought to be closed."</p> + +<p>The doctor observes that Dickens was not much of a +Church-goer. He went occasionally to Higham, and used +to give the vicar assistance for the poor and distressed. +Dickens and Miss Hogarth asked Dr. Steele to point +out objects of charity worthy of relief, and they gave him +money for distribution.</p> + +<p>He remarks that Dickens did not care much about associating +with the local residents, going out to dinners, &c. +Most of the principal people of Rochester would have been +glad of the honour of his presence as a guest, but he rarely +accepted invitations, preferring the quietude of home.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>As regards readings, our informant says he is under the +impression that Dickens must have had some lessons or hints +from some one of experience (possibly his friend Fechter, the +actor), as he noticed from time to time a regular improvement, +which was permanently maintained. On the subject of the +American War, he thinks Dickens's sympathies were decidedly +with the South. With respect to the American +Readings, Dr. Steele expresses his opinion that the excitement, +fatigue, and worry consequent thereon had considerably +shortened Dickens's life, if it had not pretty well killed him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +He considered him a most genial sort of man; "he always +looked you straight in the face when speaking."</p> + +<p>Before referring to the closing chapter in Dickens's life, we +have some interesting talk respecting Venesection,—<i>à propos</i> +of that memorable occasion on the ice at Dingley Dell, when +"Mr. Benjamin Allen was holding a hurried consultation with +Mr. Bob Sawyer on the advisability of bleeding the company +generally, as an improving little bit of professional practice,"—and +Dr. Steele gives us his opinion thereon, and on some +points connected with the medical profession. He was a +student of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, and was under +the distinguished physicians Drs. Addison and Elliotson. He +considered the characters of Bob Sawyer and Ben Allen not +at all overdrawn. They were good representations of the +medical students of those days. He believed the practice of +Venesection commenced to be general about the year 1811, +for his father was a medical practitioner before him, and he +does not remember his (the father's) telling him that he +practised it before that time. Says our friend, "We used to +bleed regularly in my young days, and in cases of pneumonia +and convulsions we never thought of omitting to bleed. +We should have considered that to have done so would have +been a grave instance of irregular practice. And," he adds, +"I bleed in cases of convulsions now." The doctor did not +think well of the change at the time, but, speaking generally, +he says Venesection had had its turn, and has now given +place to other treatment.</p> + +<p>The events in connection with the fatal illness of Dickens +are then touchingly related as follows:—</p> + +<p>"I was sent for on Wednesday, the eighth of June, 1870, to +attend at Gad's Hill Place, and arrived about 6.30 p.m. I found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +Dickens lying on the floor of the dining-room in a fit. He +was unconscious, and never moved. The servants brought +a couch down, on which he was placed. I applied clysters +and other remedies to the patient without effect. Miss +Hogarth, his sister-in-law, had already sent a telegram (by +the same messenger on horseback who summoned me) to +his old friend and family doctor, Mr. Frank Beard, who +arrived about midnight. He relieved me in attendance at +that time, and I came again in the morning. There was +unhappily no change in the symptoms, and stertorous breathing, +which had commenced before, now continued. In conversation +Miss Hogarth and the family expressed themselves +perfectly satisfied with the attendance of Mr. Beard +and myself. I said, 'That may be so, and we are much +obliged for your kind opinion; but we have a duty to perform, +not only to you, my dear madam, and the family of +Mr. Dickens, but also to the public. What will the public +say if we allow Charles Dickens to pass away without further +medical assistance? Our advice is to send for Dr. Russell +Reynolds.' Mr. Beard first made the suggestion.</p> + +<p>"The family reiterated their expression of perfect satisfaction +with the treatment of Mr. Beard and myself, but immediately +gave way, Dr. Russell Reynolds was sent for, and +came in the course of the day. This eminent physician without +hesitation pronounced the case to be hopeless. He said +at once on seeing him, 'He cannot live.' And so it proved. +At a little past 6 o'clock on Thursday, the 9th of June, 1870, +Charles Dickens passed quietly away without a word—about +twenty-four hours after the seizure."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a> +<img src="images/i_268.png" width="550" height="410" alt="Rochester: from Strood Pier:" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Such is the simple narrative which the kind-hearted +octogenarian surgeon, whom it is a delightful pleasure to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +meet and converse with, communicates to us, and then +cordially wishes us "good-bye."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>There is an annual pleasure fair at Strood, instituted, it is +said, so far back as the reign of Edward III. It takes place +during three days in the last week of August, and as it is +going on while we are on our tramp, we just look in for a +few minutes, the more especially as we were informed by Mr. +William Ball, and others who had seen him, that Dickens used +to be very fond of going there at times in an appropriate +disguise, where perhaps he may have seen the prototype of +the famous "Doctor Marigold." The fair is now held on a +large piece of waste ground near the Railway Station. +There are the usual set-out of booths, "Aunt Sallies," +shooting-galleries, "Try your weight and strength, gentlemen" +machines, a theatre, with a tragedy and comedy both +performed in about an hour, and hot-sausage and gingerbread +stalls in abundance. But the deafening martial music +poured forth from a barrel-organ by means of a steam-engine, +belonging to the proprietor of a huge "Merry-go-round," and +the wet and muddy condition of the ground from the effects +of the recent thunderstorm, make us glad to get away.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />A MYSTERIOUS DICKENS-ITEM.</div> + +<p>Mr. C. D. Levy, Auctioneer, etc., of Strood, was good enough +to lend me what at first sight, and indeed for some time +afterwards, was supposed to be a most unique Dickens-item. +It came into his possession in this way. At the sale of +Charles Dickens's furniture and effects, which took place at +Gad's Hill in 1870, Mr. Levy was authorized by a customer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +to purchase Dickens's writing-desk, which, however, he was +unable to secure. In transferring the desk to the purchaser +at the time of the sale, a few old and torn papers +tumbled out, and being considered of no value, were disregarded +and scattered. One of these scraps was picked up by +Mr. Levy, and proved on further examination to be a sheet of +headed note-paper having the stamp of "Gad's Hill Place, +Higham by Rochester, Kent."—On the first page were a few +rough sketches drawn with pen and ink, which greatly resembled +some of the characters in <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>—Durdles, +Jasper, and Edwin Drood. At the side was a +curious row of capital letters looking like a puzzle. On the +second and third pages were short-hand notes, and on the +fourth page a few lines written in long-hand, continued on +the next page,—wonderfully like Charles Dickens's own +handwriting,—being the commencement of a speech with +reference to a cricket match. The sheet of paper had evidently +been made to do double duty, for after the sketches +had been drawn on the front page, the sheet was put aside, +and when used again was turned over, so that what ordinarily +would have been page 4 became page 1 for the second object. +No "Daniel" in Strood or Rochester had ever been able to +decipher the mysterious hieroglyphics, or make known the +interpretation thereof, during twenty years, or give any +explanation of the sketches. But everybody thought that in +some way or other they related to <i>The Mystery of Edwin +Drood</i>—and possibly contained a clue to the solution of that +exquisite fragment. So, as a student and admirer of Dickens, +Mr. Levy kindly left the matter in my hands to make out +what I could of it. Reference was accordingly had to several +learned pundits in the short-hand systems of "Pitman,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +"Odell," and "Harding," but without avail; and eventually +Mr. Gurney Archer, of 20, Abingdon Street, Westminster +(successor to the old-established and eminent firm of Messrs. +W. B. Gurney and Sons, who have been the short-hand writers +to the House of Lords from time immemorial), kindly transcribed +the short-hand notes, which referred to a speech +relating to a cricket match, a portion of which had already +been written out in long-hand, as above stated,—but there was +not a word in the short-hand about Edwin Drood!</p> + +<p>So far, one portion of the mystery had been explained—not +so the sketches, which were still believed to contain the +key to <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>. As a <i>dernier ressort</i>, +application was made to the fountain-head—to Mr. Luke +Fildes, R.A., the famous illustrator of that beautiful work. +He received me most courteously, scrutinized the document +closely; we had a long chat about Edwin Drood generally, +the substance of which has been given in a previous chapter—but +he admitted that the sketches failed to give any solution +of the mystery.</p> + +<p>The document was subsequently sent by Mr. Kitton to +Mrs. Perugini, who at once replied that it had caused some +merriment when she saw it again, as she remembered it very +well. It had been done by her brother, Mr. Henry Fielding +Dickens, when a young man living at home at Gad's Hill—that +the short-hand notes referred to his speech at a dinner +after one of the numerous cricket matches held there, and +that the sketches were rough portraits of some of the +cricketers. The capital letters at the side referred to a double +acrostic. The heads of the speech had been suggested by his +father as being desirable to be brought before the cricket club, +which at that time was in a rather drooping condition.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now although the original theory about this curious +document entirely broke down, and not an atom has been +added to what was already known about <i>The Mystery of +Edwin Drood</i>, still there is one subject of much interest which +the document has brought to light. The short-hand is the +same system, "Gurney's," as that which Charles Dickens +wrote as a reporter in his early newspaper days—a system +not generally used now, but which he subsequently taught +his son to write. Of the many sheets which Dickens covered +with notes in days gone by not one remains. But there are +two manuscripts by Dickens in Gurney's system of short-hand, +now in the Dyce and Forster collection at South Kensington, +which relate to some private matters in connection with publishing +arrangements. The document is certainly interesting +from this point of view (<i>i. e.</i> the system which Dickens used), +and from its reference to life at Gad's Hill, and especially to +cricket, the favourite game mentioned many times in this +book, in which the novelist took so much interest. Mr. +Henry Fielding Dickens, with whom I had on another +occasion some conversation on the subject of this souvenir +of his youth at Gad's Hill, remarked that many more +important issues had hung upon much more slender evidence. +It was done about the year 1865-6, before he went +to college.</p> + +<p>At our interview Mr. H. F. Dickens told me the details of +the following touching incident which happened at one of the +cricket matches at Gad's Hill. His father was as usual attired +in flannels, acting as umpire and energetically taking the +score of the game, when there came out from among the +bystanders a tall, grizzled, and sun-burnt Sergeant of the +Guards. The Sergeant walked straight up to Mr. Dickens,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +saying, "May I look at you, sir?" "Oh, yes!" said the +novelist, blushing up to the eyes. The Sergeant gazed intently +at him for a minute or so, then stood at attention, gave the +military salute, and said, "God bless you, sir." He then +walked off and was seen no more. In recounting this +anecdote, Mr. H. F. Dickens agreed with me that, reading +between the lines, one can almost fancy some lingering +reminiscences similar to those in the early experience of +Private Richard Doubledick.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<div class="hang2"><b>CHATHAM:—ST. MARY'S CHURCH, ORDNANCE TERRACE, +THE HOUSE ON THE BROOK, THE MITRE HOTEL, AND +FORT PITT. LANDPORT:—PORTSEA, HANTS.</b><br /><br /></div> + +<div class='hang2'>"The home of his infancy, to which his heart had yearned with an +intensity of affection not to be described."—<i>The Pickwick Papers.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"I believe the power of observation in numbers of very young children to +be quite wonderful for its closeness and accuracy. Indeed, I think that +most grown men who are remarkable in this respect, may, with greater +propriety, be said not to have lost the faculty than to have acquired +it; the rather, as I generally observe such men to retain a certain +freshness, and gentleness, and capacity of being pleased, which are +also an inheritance they have preserved from their childhood."—<i>David +Copperfield.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> naval and military town of Chatham, unlike the +Cathedral city of Rochester, has, at first sight, few attractions +for the lover of Dickens. Mr. Phillips Bevan calls it "a dirty, +unpleasant town devoted to the interests of soldiers, sailors, +and marines." We are not disposed to agree entirely with +him; but we must admit that it has little of the picturesque +to recommend it—no venerable Castle or Cathedral to attract +attention, no scenes in the novels of much importance to +visit, no characters therein of much interest to identify. Mr. +Pickwick's own description of the four towns of Strood, +Rochester, Chatham, and Brompton, certainly applies more +nearly to Chatham than to the others; but things have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +improved in many ways since the days of that veracious +chronicler, as we are glad to testify:—</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The principal productions of these towns," says Mr. Pickwick, +"appear to be soldiers, sailors, Jews, chalk, shrimps, officers, and +dockyard men. The commodities chiefly exposed for sale in the +public streets are marine stores, hard-bake, apples, flat-fish, and +oysters. The streets present a lively and animated appearance, +occasioned chiefly by the conviviality of the military. . . .</p> + +<p>"The consumption of tobacco in these towns," continues Mr. +Pickwick, "must be very great; and the smell which pervades the +streets must be exceedingly delicious to those who are extremely +fond of smoking. A superficial traveller might object to the dirt, +which is their leading characteristic; but to those who view it as an +indication of traffic and commercial prosperity, it is truly gratifying."</p></div> + +<p>And yet for all this, there are circumstances to be noticed +of the deepest possible interest connected with Chatham, and +spots therein to be visited, which every pilgrim to "Dickens-Land" +must recognize. At Chatham,—"my boyhood's +home," as he affectionately calls it,—many of the earlier +years of Charles Dickens (probably from his fourth to his +eleventh) were passed; here it was "that the most durable +of his earlier impressions were received; and the associations +around him when he died were those which at the outset of +his life had affected him most strongly."</p> + +<p>Admirers of the great novelist are much indebted to Mr. +Robert Langton, F. R. Hist. Soc., for his <i>Childhood and Youth +of Charles Dickens</i>, a book quite indispensable to a tramp in +this neighbourhood, the charming illustrations by the late Mr. +William Hull, the author, and others rendering the identification +of places perfectly easy. Dickens says, "If anybody +knows to a nicety where Rochester ends and Chatham begins, +it is more than I do." "It's of no consequence," as Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +Toots would say, for the High Street is one continuous +thoroughfare, but as a matter of fact, a narrow street called +Boundary Lane on the north side of High Street separates +the two places.</p> + +<p>A few words of recapitulation as to early family history<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +may be useful here. John Dickens, who is represented as "a +fine portly man," was a Navy pay-clerk, and Elizabeth his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +wife (<i>née</i> Barrow), who is described as "a dear good mother +and a fine woman," the parents of the future genius, resided in +the beginning of this century at 387, Mile End Terrace, Commercial +Road, Landport, Portsea,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> "and is so far in Portsea as +being in the island of that name." Here Charles Dickens was +born, at twelve o'clock at night, on Friday, 7th February, +1812. He was the second child and eldest son of a rather +numerous family consisting of eight sons and daughters, and +was baptized at St. Mary's, Kingston (the parish church of +Portsea), under the names of Charles John Huff<i>h</i>am; the +last of these is no doubt a misspelling, as the name of his +grandfather, from whom he took it, was Huffam, but Dickens +himself scarcely ever used it. In the old family Bible now in +possession of Mr. Charles Dickens it is Huffam in his father's +own handwriting. The Dickens family left Mile End Terrace +on 24th June, 1812, and went to live in Hawke Street, Portsea, +from whence, in consequence of a change in official duties of +the elder Dickens, they removed to Chatham in 1816 or 1817, +and resided there for six or seven years, until they went to +live in London.</p> + +<p>Bearing these circumstances in mind, it is very natural that +we should determine on an early pilgrimage to Chatham, and +Sunday morning sees us at the old church—St. Mary's—where +Dickens himself must often have been taken as a child, and +where he saw the marriage of his aunt Fanny with James +Lamert, a Staff Doctor in the Army,—the Doctor Slammer +of <i>Pickwick</i>,—of whom Mr. Langton says:—"The regimental<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +surgeon's kindly manner, and his short odd way of expressing +himself, still survive in the recollections of a few old people." +Dr. Lamert's son James, by a former wife, was a great crony +of young Charles Dickens, taking him to the Rochester +theatre, and getting up private theatricals in which they both +acted.</p> + +<p>Surely there is a faint description of those times in the +second chapter of <i>David Copperfield:</i>—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_279.png" width="400" height="249" alt="St. Mary's Church, Chatham." title="" /> +<span class="caption">St. Mary's Church, Chatham.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Here is our pew in the church. What a high-backed pew! With +a window near it, out of which our house can be seen, and <i>is</i> seen +many times during the morning's service by Peggotty, who likes to +make herself as sure as she can that it's not being robbed, or is not +in flames. But though Peggotty's eye wanders, she is much offended +if mine does, and frowns to me, as I stand upon the seat, that I am +to look at the clergyman. But I can't always look at him—I know +him without that white thing on, and I am afraid of his wondering +why I stare so, and perhaps stopping the service to enquire—and +what am I to do? It's a dreadful thing to gape, but I must do +something. I look at my mother, but <i>she</i> pretends not to see me. I +look at a boy in the aisle, and <i>he</i> makes faces at me. I look at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +sunlight coming in at the open door through the porch, and there I +see a stray sheep—I don't mean a sinner, but mutton—half making +up his mind to come into the church. I feel that if I looked at him +any longer, I might be tempted to say something out loud; and +what would become of me then!"</p></div> + +<p>The church, now undergoing reconstruction, is not a very +presentable structure, and has little of interest to recommend +it, except a brass to a famous navigator named Stephen +Borough, the discoverer of the northern passage to Russia +(1584), and a monument to Sir John Cox, who was killed in +an action with the Dutch (1672). The name of Weller occurs +on a gravestone near the church door.</p> + +<p>We cross the High Street, proceed along Railway Street, +formerly Rome Lane, pass the Chatham Railway Station +(near which is a statue of Lieutenant Waghorn, R.N., "pioneer +and founder of the Overland Route," born at Chatham, 1800, +and died 1850),<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and find ourselves at Ordnance Terrace, a +conspicuous row of two-storied houses, prominently situated +on the higher ground facing us, beyond the Station. In one +of these houses (No. 11—formerly No. 2) the Dickens family +resided from 1817 to 1821. The present occupier is a Mr. +Roberts, who kindly allows us to inspect the interior. It has +the dining-room on the left-hand side of the entrance and the +drawing-room on the first floor, and is altogether a pleasantly-situated, +comfortable, and respectable dwelling. No. 11, "the +second house in the terrace," is overgrown with a Virginia +creeper, which, from its possible association with Dickens's +earliest years, may have induced him to plant the now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +magnificent one which exists at Gad's Hill. "Here it was," +says Forster, "that his first desire for knowledge, and his +greatest passion for reading, were awakened by his mother, +who taught him the first rudiments, not only of English, but +also, a little later, of Latin. She taught him regularly every +day for a long time, and taught him, he was convinced, +thoroughly well." Mr. Langton also says that "It was +during his residence here that some of the happiest hours of +the childhood of little Charles were passed, as his father was +in a fairly good position in the Navy Pay Office, and they +were a most genial, lovable family." Here it was that the +theatrical entertainments and the genial parties took place, +when, in addition to his brothers and sisters and his cousin, +James Lamert, there were also present his friends and +neighbours, George Stroughill, and Master and Miss Tribe.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a> +<img src="images/i_282.png" width="600" height="424" alt="No. 11, Ordnance Terrace, Chatham. Where the Dickens Family lived 1817-21." title="" /> +<span class="caption">No. 11, Ordnance Terrace, Chatham. <i>Where the Dickens Family lived 1817-21.</i></span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Langton further states that "Ordnance Terrace is known +to have formed the locality and characters for some of the +earlier <i>Sketches by Boz</i>." "The Old Lady" was a Miss +Newnham, who lived at No. 5, and who was, by all accounts, +very kind to the Dickens children. The "Half-pay Captain" +was also a near neighbour, and he is supposed to have supplied +one of the earliest characters to Dickens as a mere child. +Some of the neighbours at the corner house next door +(formerly No. 1) were named Stroughill,—pronounced Stro'hill +(there was, it will be remembered, a <i>Struggles</i> at the +famous cricket-match at All-Muggleton)—and the son, George, +is said to have had some of the characteristics of Steerforth in +<i>David Copperfield</i>. He had a sister named Lucy, probably +the "Golden Lucy," from her beautiful locks, and who, according +to Mr. Langton, "was the special favourite and little +sweetheart of Charles Dickens." She was possibly the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +prototype of her namesake, in the beautiful story of the +<i>Wreck of the Golden Mary</i>.</p> + + +<p>About the year 1821 pecuniary embarrassments beset and +tormented the Dickens family, which were afterwards to be +"ascribed in fiction" in the histories of the Micawbers and the +Dorrits, and the family removed to the House on the Brook. +In order to follow their steps in perfect sequence, we have to +return by the way we came from the church, cross the High +Street, and proceed along Military Road, so as to visit the +obscure dwelling, No. 18, St. Mary's Place, situated in the +valley through which a brook, now covered over, flows from +the higher lands adjacent, into the Medway.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_283.png" width="400" height="290" alt="The House on the Brook, Chatham. Where the Dickens Family lived 1821-3." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The House on the Brook, Chatham. <i>Where the Dickens Family lived 1821-3.</i></span> +</div> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i_284.png" width="300" height="254" alt="Giles's School, Chatham." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Giles's School, Chatham.</span> +</div> + +<p>The House on the Brook—"plain-looking, whitewashed +plaster front, and a small garden before and behind"—next +door to the former Providence (Baptist) Chapel, now the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +Drill Hall of the Salvation Army, is a very humble and unpretentious +six-roomed dwelling, and of a style very different +to the one in Ordnance Terrace. Here the Dickens family +lived from 1821 to 1823. The Reverend William Giles, the +Baptist Minister, father of Mr. William Giles, the schoolmaster, +formerly officiated at the chapel. This was the Mr. +Giles who, when Dickens was half-way through <i>Pickwick</i>, +sent him a silver snuff-box, with an admiring inscription to +the "Inimitable Boz." Dickens went to school at Mr. Giles's +Academy in Clover Lane (now Clover Street), Chatham, +and boys of this and neighbouring schools were thus +nicknamed:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Baker's Bull-dogs,<br /> +"Giles's Cats,<br /> +"New Road Scrubbers,<br /> +"Troy Town Rats."<br /> +</div> + + +<p>It was in the House on the Brook that he acquired those +"readings and imaginings" which in "boyish recollections" +he describes as having been brought away from Chatham:—"My<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +father had left a small collection of books in a little +room up-stairs, to which I had access (for it adjoined my own), +and which nobody else in our house ever troubled. From +that blessed little room <i>Roderick Random</i>, <i>Peregrine Pickle</i>, +<i>Humphry Clinker</i>, <i>Tom Jones</i>, <i>The Vicar of Wakefield</i>, <i>Don +Quixote</i>, <i>Gil Blas</i>, and <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>, came out, a glorious +host to keep me company. They kept alive my fancy, and +my hope of something beyond that place and time,—they and +the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, and the <i>Tales of the Genii</i>,—and did me +no harm; for whatever harm was in some of them was not +there for me. <i>I</i> knew nothing of it."</p> + +<p>It is very probable that his first literary effort, <i>The Tragedy +of Misnar, the Sultan of India</i>, "founded" (says Forster), "and +very literally founded, no doubt, on the <i>Tales of the Genii</i>," +was composed after perusal of some of the works above +referred to, but it is to be feared that it was never even +rehearsed. The circumstances of the family had so changed +for the worse, that here were neither juvenile parties nor +theatrical entertainments.</p> + +<p>A view from one of the upper windows of the house in +St. Mary's Place gives the parish church and churchyard +precisely as described in that pathetic little story, <i>A +Child's Dream of a Star</i>. Charles Dickens was the child who +"strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number +of things," and his little sister Fanny—or his younger sister +Harriet Ellen—was doubtless "his constant companion" +referred to in the story.</p> + + +<p>We leave with feelings of respect the humble but famous +little tenement, its condition now sadly degraded; proceed +along the High Street, and soon reach "The Mitre Inn and +Clarence Hotel," a solid-looking and comfortable house of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +entertainment, at which Lord Nelson and King William IV., +when Duke of Clarence, frequently stayed, and (what is more +to our purpose) where we find associations of Charles Dickens. +There are a beautiful bowling-green and grounds at the back, +approached by a series of terraces well planted with flowers, +and the green is surrounded by fine elms which constitute +quite an oasis in the desert of the somewhat prosaic Chatham. +The Mitre is thus immortalized in the "Guest's Story" of the +<i>Holly Tree Inn:</i>—</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_286.png" width="400" height="274" alt="Mitre Inn, Chatham." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Mitre Inn, Chatham.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There was an Inn in the Cathedral town where I went to school, +which had pleasanter recollections about it than any of these. I took +it next. It was the Inn where friends used to put up, and where we +used to go to see parents, and to have salmon and fowls, and be +tipped. It had an ecclesiastical sign—the 'Mitre'—and a bar that +seemed to be the next best thing to a Bishopric, it was so snug. I +loved the landlord's youngest daughter to distraction—but let that +pass. It was in this Inn that I was cried over by my rosy little sister,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +because I had acquired a black-eye in a fight. And though she had +been, that holly-tree night, for many a long year where all tears are +dried, the Mitre softened me yet."</p></div> + +<p>About the year 1820 the landlord of the Mitre was Mr. +John Tribe, and his family being intimate with the Dickenses, +young Charles spent many pleasant evenings at the "genial +parties" given at this fine old inn. Mr. Langton mentions that +the late Mr. Alderman William Tribe, son of Mr. John Tribe, +the former proprietor, perfectly recollected Charles Dickens +and his sister Fanny coming to the Mitre, and on one +occasion their being mounted on a dining-table for a stage, +and singing what was then a popular duet, <i>i. e.</i>—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Long time I've courted you, miss,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And now I've come from sea;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">We'll make no more ado, miss,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">But quickly married be.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Sing Fal-de-ral," &c.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The worthy alderman is also stated to have had in his +possession a card of invitation to spend the evening at +Ordnance Terrace, addressed from Master and Miss Dickens +to Master and Miss Tribe, which was dated about this +time.</p> + +<p>In consequence of the elder Dickens being recalled from +Chatham to Somerset House, to comply with official requirements, +the family removed to London in 1823,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> "and took +up its abode in a house in Bayham Street, Camden Town." +Dickens thus describes his journey to London in "Dullborough +Town," one of the sketches in <i>The Uncommercial Traveller:</i>—</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"As I left Dullborough in the days when there were no railroads +in the land, I left it in a stage-coach. Through all the years that +have since passed, have I ever lost the smell of the damp straw in +which I was packed—like game—and forwarded, carriage paid, to the +Cross Keys, Wood Street, Cheapside, London? There was no other +inside passenger, and I consumed my sandwiches in solitude and +dreariness, and it rained hard all the way, and I thought life sloppier +than I had expected to find it. . . ."</p></div> + +<p>Mr. W. T. Wildish, the proprietor of the <i>Rochester and +Chatham Journal</i>, kindly favours us with some interesting +information which has recently appeared in his journal, +relating to Charles Dickens's nurse—the Mary Weller of his +boyhood (and perhaps the Peggotty as well), but known +to later generations as Mrs. Mary Gibson of Front Row, +Ordnance Place, Chatham, who died in the spring of the +year 1888, at the advanced age of eighty-four. Very touchingly, +but unknowingly, did Dickens write from Gad's +Hill, 24th September, 1857, being unaware that she was +still living:—</p> + +<p>"I feel much as I used to do when I was a small child, a +few miles off, and somebody—<i>who</i>, I wonder, and which way +did <i>she</i> go when she died?—hummed the evening hymn, and I +cried on the pillow—either with the remorseful consciousness +of having kicked somebody else, or because still somebody +else had hurt my feelings in the course of the day."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gibson, when Mary Weller (what a host of pleasant +recollections does the married name of the "pretty housemaid" +bring up of the Pickwickian days!), lived with the family of +Mr. John Dickens, at No. 11, Ordnance Terrace, Chatham, +and afterwards when they moved to the House on the +Brook. Her recollections were most vivid and interesting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +According to the testimony of her son, communicated to Mr. +Wildish, Mrs. Gibson "used to be very fond of talking of the +time she passed with the Dickens family, and one of her +highest satisfactions in her later years was to hear Charles +Dickens's works read by her son Robert; and while listening +to the descriptions of characters read to her, his mother would +detect likenesses unsuspected by other persons whom Dickens +must have known when a boy; and she also agreed in thinking, +with Dickens's biographer, that in Mr. Micawber's troubles +were related some of the experiences of the elder Dickens, +who is believed for a time to have occupied a debtor's prison. +She, however, would never bring herself to believe that her +hero was himself ever reduced to such great hardships as the +blacking-bottle period in <i>David Copperfield</i> would suggest if +taken literally. She used to speak of the future author as +always fond of reading, and said he was wont to retire to the +top room of the House on the Brook, and spend what should +have been his play-hours in poring over his books, or in acting +to the furniture of the room the creatures that he had read +about."</p> + +<p>Mr. Langton, who had a personal interview with Mrs. +Gibson herself, has recorded the fact that she well remembered +singing the Evening Hymn to the children of John Dickens, +and seemed very much surprised at being asked such a +question. She lived with the family when Dickens's little +sister, Harriet Ellen, died—a circumstance that no doubt in +after years inspired the <i>Child's Dream of a Star</i> already +referred to. When the family removed to London, Mary +Weller was pressed to accompany them, but was not in +a position to accept the offer, in consequence of her promise +to marry Mr. Thomas Gibson, a shipwright of the Chatham<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +Dockyard, with whom she lived happily until his death, in +1886, at the age of eighty-two.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gibson modestly declined, on her son Robert's suggestion, +to seek an introduction to Charles Dickens, when he +read some of his works at the old Mechanics' Institute at +Chatham, fearing that he had forgotten her. It is certain, +however, that, from the reproduction of her name as the pretty +housemaid at Mr. Nupkins's at Ipswich, and from the extract +from the letter above referred to, she had a kindly place in +his recollections.</p> + +<p>Poor David Copperfield, on his way to his aunt's at Dover, +stopped at Chatham—"footsore and tired," he says, "and +eating bread that I had bought for supper." He is afraid +"because of the vicious looks of the trampers;" and even if he +could have spared the few pence he possessed for a bed at the +"one or two little houses" with the notice "lodgings for travellers," +he would have hardly cared to go in, on account of the +company he would have been thrown into. And so he says, +"I sought no shelter, therefore, but the sky; and toiling into +Chatham—which, in that night's aspect, is a mere dream of +chalk, and draw-bridges, and mastless ships in a muddy river, +roofed like Noah's arks,—crept, at last, upon a sort of grass-grown +battery overhanging a lane, where a sentry was walking +to and fro. Here" [he continues] "I lay down near a cannon; +and, happy in the society of the sentry's footsteps, . . . slept +soundly until morning." Of course it is not possible for us to +identify this spot. "Very stiff and sore of foot," he says, "I +was in the morning, and quite dazed by the beating of drums +and marching of troops, which seemed to hem me in on every +side when I went down towards the long narrow street." +However, he has to reserve his strength for getting to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +journey's end, and to this effect he resolves upon selling his +jacket.</p> + +<p>There are plenty of marine-store dealers at Chatham, whom +we notice on our tramp, but none of them would, we believe, +now answer to the description of "an ugly old man, with the +lower part of his face all covered with a stubbly grey beard, +in a filthy flannel waistcoat, and smelling terribly of rum," +such as he who assailed little David, in reply to his offer to +sell the jacket, with, "Oh, what do you want? Oh, my eyes +and limbs, what do you want? Oh, my lungs and liver, +what do you want? Oh—goroo, goroo!" After losing his +time, and being rated at and frightened by this "dreadful old +man to look at," who in every way tries to avoid giving him +the money asked for,—half-a-crown,—offering him in exchange +such useless things to a hungry boy as "a fishing-rod, +a fiddle, a cocked hat, and a flute," the poor lad is obliged +to close with the offer of a few pence, "with which [he says] +I soon refreshed myself completely; and, being in better +spirits then, limped seven miles upon my road."</p> + +<p>The Convict Prison at Chatham is said to have been built +on a piece of ground which, in the middle of the last century, +belonged to one Thomas Clark, a singular character, who lived +on the spot for many years by himself in a small cottage, and +who used every night, as he went home, to sing or shout, +"Tom's all alone! Tom's all alone!" This, according to +the opinion of some, may have given rise to the "Tom all +alone's" of <i>Bleak House</i>, more especially considering the fact +that military operations were frequently going on at Chatham, +which Dickens would notice in his early days. The circumstance +is thus referred to in the novel:—"Twice lately there +has been a crash, and a crowd of dust, like the springing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +of a mine, in Tom all alone's, and each time a house has +fallen."</p> + +<p>Mr. George Robinson of Strood directs our attention to the +fact that a "child's caul," such as that described in the first +chapter of <i>David Copperfield</i>, which he was born with, and +which was advertised "at the low price of fifteen guineas," +would be a likely object to be sought after in a sea-faring +town like Chatham, in Dickens's early days, when the schoolmaster +was less abroad than he is now.</p> + +<p>In after years, memories of Chatham Dockyard appear in +many of the sketches in the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i> and +other stories. "One man in a Dockyard" describes it as having +"a gravity upon its red brick offices and houses, a staid +pretence of having nothing to do, an avoidance of display, +which I never saw out of England." "Nurse's Stories" says +that "nails and copper are shipwrights' sweethearts, and shipwrights +will run away with them whenever they can." In +<i>Great Expectations</i> the refrain, "Beat it out, beat it out—old +Clem! with a clink for the stout—old Clem!" which Pip and +his friends sang, is from a song which the blacksmiths in the +dockyard used to sing in procession on St. Clement's Day.</p> + +<p>By accident we make the acquaintance of Mr. William James +Budden of Chatham, who informs us that Charles Dickens +was better known there in his latter years for his efforts, by +readings and otherwise, to place the Mechanics' Institute on +a sound basis and free from debt.</p> + +<p>Dickens, as the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i>, thus describes the +Mechanics' Institute and its early efforts to succeed:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"As the town was placarded with references to the Dullborough +Mechanics' Institution, I thought I would go and look at that establishment +next. There had been no such thing in the town in my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +young days, and it occurred to me that its extreme prosperity might +have brought adversity upon the Drama. I found the Institution +with some difficulty, and should scarcely have known that I had +found it if I had judged from its external appearance only; but this +was attributable to its never having been finished, and having no +front: consequently, it led a modest and retired existence up a stable-yard. +It was (as I learnt, on enquiry) a most flourishing Institution, +and of the highest benefit to the town: two triumphs which I was +glad to understand were not at all impaired by the seeming +drawbacks that no mechanics belonged to it, and that it was steeped +in debt to the chimney-pots. It had a large room, which was approached +by an infirm step-ladder: the builder having declined to +construct the intended staircase, without a present payment in cash, +which Dullborough (though profoundly appreciative of the Institution) +seemed unaccountably bashful about subscribing."</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Budden is of opinion that the origin of the "fat boy" +in <i>Pickwick</i> was Mr. James Budden, late of the Red Lion +Inn in Military Road, who afterwards acquired a competence, +and who had the honour of entertaining Dickens at a +subsequent period of his life. Mr. Budden is under the +impression, from local hearsay, that Dingley Dell formerly +existed somewhere in the neighbourhood of Burham.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We are obligingly favoured with an interview by Mr. John +Baird of New Brompton, Chairman of the Chatham Waterworks +Company, although he is suffering from serious +indisposition at the time of our visit. This gentleman was +born in 1810 (two years before Charles Dickens), and recollects +reading with delight the famous <i>Sketches by Boz</i>, as +they appeared in the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>. The most curious +coincidence about Mr. Baird is, that in stature and facial +appearance he is the very counterpart of the late Charles +Dickens in the flesh—his double, so to speak. This remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +resemblance, our informant says, is "something to be +proud of, to be mistaken for so great a man, but it was very +inconvenient at times."</p> + +<p>On one occasion, as Mr. Baird was hastening to catch a +train at Rochester Bridge Station, a stout elderly lady, +handsomely dressed, supposed to be Dean Scott's wife,—but +to whom he was unknown,—bowed very politely to him, and +in slackening his pace to return the compliment, which he +naturally did not understand, he very nearly missed his train.</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur Otway told Mr. Baird that the Rev. Mr. +Webster, late Vicar of Chatham, had always mistaken him +for Charles Dickens.</p> + +<p>At one of the Readings given by Dickens on behalf of the +Mechanics' Institute at Chatham, Mr. Charles Collins, his son-in-law, +and his wife and her sister being present in the reserved +seats in the gallery, Mr. Baird noticed that they looked very +eagerly at him, and this pointed notice naturally made him +feel very uncomfortable. Dickens himself, accompanied by +his son and daughter, once passed our friend in the street, +and scanned him very closely, and he fancies that Dickens +called attention to the resemblance.</p> + +<p>At the last reading which the novelist gave at Chatham, +Mr. Baird being present as one of the audience, the policeman +at the door mistook him for Dickens, and shouted to those +in attendance outside, "Mr. Dickens's carriage!" It is +interesting to add, that after the reading a cordial vote of +thanks to Dickens was proposed by Mr. H. G. Adams, the +Naturalist, at one time editor of <i>The Kentish Coronal</i>, who +recounted the well-known story of the novelist's father taking +him, when a little boy, to see Gad's Hill Place, and of the +strong impression it made upon his mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p> + +<p>Our informant had the honour of meeting Dickens at dinner +at Mr. James Budden's, and states that he was standing +against the mantel-piece in the drawing-room when the novelist +arrived, and that he walked up to him and shook hands +cordially, without the usual ceremony of introduction. +Dickens was no doubt too polite to refer to the curious +resemblance.</p> + +<p>But the most remarkable case remains to be told, illustrating +the converse of the old proverb—"It is a wise father +that knows his own child." This is given in Mr. Baird's own +words:—</p> + +<p>"My daughter, when a little girl about six years old, was +with her mother and some friends in a railway carriage at +Strood station (next Rochester), and one of them called the +child's attention to a gentleman standing on the platform, +asking if she knew who he was. With surprised delight she +at once exclaimed, 'That's my papa!' That same gentleman +was Mr. Charles Dickens!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Baird speaks of the great appreciation which the people +of Chatham had of Dickens's services at the readings, and +says it was very good and kind of him to give those services +gratuitously. He confirms the general opinion as to the +origin of the "fat boy," and the "very fussy little man" at +Fort Pitt, who was the prototype of Dr. Slammer.</p> + +<p>It struck us both forcibly that Mr. Baird's appearance at +the time of our visit was very like the last American photograph +of Dickens, taken by Gurney in 1867.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>Mr. J. E. Littlewood<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> of High Street, Chatham, knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +Charles Dickens about the year 1845 or 1846 at the Royalty +(Miss Kelly's) Theatre in Dean Street, Soho, our informant +having been in times past a bit of an amateur actor, and +played Bob Acres in <i>The Rivals</i>. He subsequently heard +Dickens read at the Chatham Mechanics' Institute about 1861, +and said that the facial display in the trial scene from +<i>Pickwick</i> (one of the pieces read) was wonderful. He had +the honour of dining at the late Mr. Budden's in High Street, +opposite Military Road, to meet Dickens. There was a large +company present. In acknowledging the toast of his health, +which had been proposed at the dinner—either by Sir Arthur +Otway or Captain Fanshawe—Dickens said he was very +pleased to read "in memory of the old place," meaning +Chatham, but that he might be reading "all the year round" +for charities.</p> + +<p>Mr. Littlewood also heard Dickens say, that "he had passed +many happy hours in the House on the Brook" looking at +"the Lines" opposite. "At that time" (said our informant) +"the place was more rural—considered a decent spot—not so +crowded up as now—nor so vulgar—many respectable people +lived there in Dickens's boyhood. The place has sadly +changed since for the worse."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>Mr. Humphrey Wood, Solicitor, of Chatham, was, about +the year 1867, local Hon. Secretary to the Royal Society for +the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and, having applied to +Charles Dickens to give a Reading on behalf of the Society, +received the following polite answer to his application. If +only a few words had to be said, they were well said and +to the purpose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 3em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent</span>.<br /> +"<i>Thursday, 5th September, 1867.</i><br /> +<br /></div> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,<br /></p> + +<p> "In reply to your letter, I beg to express my regret +that my compliance with the request it communicates to me, +is removed from within the bounds of reasonable possibility +by the nature of my engagements, present and prospective.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Your faithful servant,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='secsig'>"<span class="smcap">Humphrey Wood, Esq.</span>"</div></div> + +<p>Like other towns in Kent, Chatham contains many names +which are suggestive of some of Dickens's characters, <i>viz.</i> +Dowler, Whiffen, Kimmins, Wyles, Arkcoll, Perse, Winch, +Wildish, Hockaday, Mowatt, Hunnisett, and others.</p> + +<p>It is, of course, scarcely necessary to mention, in passing, +that Chatham is one of the most important centres of ship-building +for the Royal Navy; the dockyards—often referred +to in Dickens's minor works—cover more than seventy acres, +and are most interesting. Here, at the Navy Pay-Office, +the elder Dickens was employed during his residence at +Chatham.</p> + +<p>Fort Pitt next claims our attention. It stands on the high +ground above the Railway Station at Chatham, just beyond +Ordnance Terrace. In Charles Dickens's early days, and +indeed long after, until the establishment of the magnificent +Institution at Netley, Fort Pitt was the principal military +Hospital in England, and was visited by Her Majesty during +the Crimean War. It is still used as a hospital, and contains +about two hundred and fifty beds. The interesting museum +which previously existed there has been removed to Netley.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + +<p>From Fort Pitt we see the famous "Chatham lines," which +constitute the elaborate and almost impregnable fortifications +of this important military and ship-building town. The +"lines" were commenced as far back as 1758, and stretch +from Gillingham to Brompton, a distance of several miles, +enclosing the peninsula formed by the bend of the river +Medway. Forster says:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_298.png" width="400" height="284" alt="Navy Pay-Office, Chatham." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Navy Pay-Office, Chatham.</span> +</div> + +<p>"By Rochester and the Medway to the Chatham lines was +a favourite walk with Charles Dickens. He would turn out +of Rochester High Street through the Vines, . . . would pass +round by Fort Pitt, and coming back by Frindsbury would +bring himself by some cross-fields again into the high-road."</p> + +<p>The Chatham lines are locally understood as referring to a +piece of ground about three or four hundred yards square, near +Fort Pitt, used as an exercising-ground for the military.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> + +<p>Chapter IV. of <i>Pickwick</i>, "describing a field day and +bivouac," refers to the Chatham lines as the place where the +review was held, on the third day of the visit of the Pickwickians +to this neighbourhood, and which (having been +relieved of the company of their quondam friend, Mr. Jingle, +who had caused at least one of the party so much anxiety) +they all attended, possibly at Mr. Pickwick's suggestion, as +he is stated to have been "an enthusiastic admirer of the +army." The programme is thus referred to:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The whole population of Rochester and the adjoining towns, +rose from their beds at an early hour of the following morning, in a +state of the utmost bustle and excitement. A grand review was to +take place upon the lines. The manœuvres of half a dozen regiments +were to be inspected by the eagle eye of the commander-in-chief; +temporary fortifications had been erected, the citadel was to be +attacked and taken, and a mine was to be sprung."</p></div> + +<p>The evolutions of this "ceremony of the utmost grandeur +and importance" proceed. Mr. Pickwick and his two friends +(Mr. Tupman "had suddenly disappeared, and was nowhere +to be found"), who are told to keep back, get hustled and +pushed by the crowd, and the unoffending Mr. Snodgrass, who +is in "the very extreme of human torture," is derided and +asked "vere he vos a shovin' to." Subsequently they get +hemmed in by the crowd, "are exposed to a galling fire of +blank cartridges, and harassed by the operations of the +military." Mr. Pickwick loses his hat, and not only regains +that useful article of dress, but finds the lost Mr. Tupman, +and the Pickwickians make the acquaintance of old Wardle +and his hospitable family from Dingley Dell, by whom they +are heartily entertained, and from whom they receive a warm +invitation to visit Manor Farm on the morrow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> + +<p>There is a fine view of Chatham and Rochester from the +fields round Fort Pitt, and on a bright sunny morning the air +coming over from the Kentish Hills is most refreshing, very +different indeed to what it was on a certain evening in Mr. +Winkle's life, when "a melancholy wind sounded through the +deserted fields like a giant whistling for his house-dog." We +ramble about for an hour or more, and in imagination call +up the pleasant times which Charles Dickens, as a boy, spent +here.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/i_300.png" width="400" height="235" alt="Fort Pitt, Chatham." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fort Pitt, Chatham.</span> +</div> + +<p>Almost every inch of the ground must have been gone over +by him. What a delightful "playing-field" this and the +neighbouring meadows must have been to him and his young +companions, before the railway and the builder took possession +of some of the lower portions of the hill which forms +the base of Fort Pitt. "Here," says Mr. Langton, "is the +place where the schools of Rochester and Chatham used to +meet to settle their differences, and to contend in the more +friendly rivalry of cricket," and no doubt Dickens frequently +played when "Joe Specks" in Dullborough "kept wicket."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +In after life the memory of the past came back to Dickens +with all its freshness, when he again visited the neighbourhood +as the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i> in "Dullborough":—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"With this tender remembrance upon me" [that of leaving +Chatham as a boy], "I was cavalierly shunted back into Dullborough +the other day, by train. My ticket had been previously collected, +like my taxes, and my shining new portmanteau had had a great +plaster stuck upon it, and I had been defied by Act of Parliament to +offer an objection to anything that was done to it, or me, under a +penalty of not less than forty shillings or more than five pounds, +compoundable for a term of imprisonment. When I had sent my +disfigured property on to the hotel, I began to look about me; and +the first discovery I made, was, that the Station had swallowed up the +playing-field.</p> + +<p>"It was gone. The two beautiful hawthorn-trees, the hedge, the +turf, and all those buttercups and daisies, had given place to the +stoniest of jolting roads; while, beyond the Station, an ugly dark +monster of a tunnel kept its jaws open, as if it had swallowed them +and were ravenous for more destruction. The coach that had +carried me away, was melodiously called Timpson's Blue-eyed Maid, +and belonged to Timpson, at the coach-office up street; the locomotive +engine that had brought me back was called severely No. 97, +and belonged to S.E.R., and was spitting ashes and hot-water over +the blighted ground.</p> + +<p>"When I had been let out at the platform-door, like a prisoner +whom his turnkey grudgingly released, I looked in again over the +low wall, at the scene of departed glories. Here, in the haymaking +time, had I been delivered from the dungeons of Seringapatam, an +immense pile (of haycock), by my countrymen, the victorious British +(boy next door and his two cousins), and had been recognized with +ecstasy by my affianced one (Miss Green), who had come all the way +from England (second house in the terrace) to ransom me, and +marry me."</p></div> + +<p>Fort Pitt must have had considerable attractions in Mr. +Pickwick's time, as it would appear that it was visited by him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +and his friends on the first day of their arrival at Rochester. +Lieutenant Tappleton (Dr. Slammer's second), when presenting +the challenge for the duel, thus speaks to Mr. Winkle in +the second chapter of <i>Pickwick:</i>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'You know Fort Pitt?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes; I saw it yesterday.'</p> + +<p>"'If you will take the trouble to turn into the field which borders +the trench, take the foot-path to the left, when you arrive at an angle +of the fortification; and keep straight on till you see me; I will +precede you to a secluded place, where the affair can be conducted +without fear of interruption.'</p> + +<p>"'<i>Fear</i> of interruption!' thought Mr. Winkle."</p></div> + +<p>Everybody remembers how the meeting took place on Fort +Pitt. Mr. Winkle, attended by his friend Mr. Snodgrass, +as second, is punctuality itself.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'We are in excellent time,' said Mr. Snodgrass, as they climbed +the fence of the first field; 'the sun is just going down.' Mr. +Winkle looked up at the declining orb, and painfully thought of the +probability of his 'going down' himself, before long."</p></div> + +<p>Presently the officer appears, "the gentleman in the blue +cloak," and "slightly beckoning with his hand to the two +friends, they follow him for a little distance," and after +climbing a paling and scaling a hedge, enter a secluded +field.</p> + +<p>Dr. Slammer is already there with his friend Dr. Payne,—Dr. +Payne of the 43rd, "the man with the camp-stool."</p> + +<p>The arrangements proceed, when suddenly a check is +experienced.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'What's all this?' said Dr. Slammer, as his friend and Mr. +Snodgrass came running up.—'That's not the man.'</p> + +<p>"'Not the man!' said Dr. Slammer's second.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Not the man!' said Mr. Snodgrass.</p> + +<p>"'Not the man!' said the gentleman with the camp-stool in his +hand.</p> + +<p>"'Certainly not,' replied the little doctor. 'That's not the person +who insulted me last night.'</p> + +<p>"'Very extraordinary!' exclaimed the officer.</p> + +<p>"'Very,' said the gentleman with the camp-stool."</p></div> + +<p>Mutual explanations follow, and, notwithstanding the +temporary dissatisfaction of Dr. Payne, Mr. Winkle comes out +like a trump—defends the honour of the Pickwick Club and +its uniform, and wins the admiration of Dr. Slammer.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'My dear sir,' said the good-humoured little doctor, advancing +with extended hand, 'I honour your gallantry. Permit me to say, +Sir, that I highly admire your conduct, and extremely regret having +caused you the inconvenience of this meeting, to no purpose.'</p> + +<p>"'I beg you won't mention it, Sir,' said Mr. Winkle.</p> + +<p>"'I shall feel proud of your acquaintance, Sir,' said the little +doctor.</p> + +<p>"'It will afford me the greatest pleasure to know you, Sir,' replied +Mr. Winkle.</p> + +<p>"Thereupon the doctor and Mr. Winkle shook hands, and then +Mr. Winkle and Lieutenant Tappleton (the doctor's second), and then +Mr. Winkle and the man with the camp-stool, and finally Mr. +Winkle and Mr. Snodgrass: the last-named gentleman in an excess +of admiration at the noble conduct of his heroic friend.</p> + +<p>"'I think we may adjourn,' said Lieutenant Tappleton.</p> + +<p>"'Certainly,' added the doctor."</p></div> + +<p>We ourselves also adjourn, taking with us many pleasant +memories of Chatham and Fort Pitt, and of the period relating +to "the childhood and youth of Charles Dickens."</p> + + + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 372px;"> +<img src="images/i_304.png" width="372" height="500" alt="Birthplace of Charles Dickens, 387 Mile End Terrace, Commercial Road, Landport." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Birthplace of Charles Dickens,<br /> +387 Mile End Terrace, Commercial Road, Landport.</span> +</div> +<p>No tramp in "Dickens-Land" can possibly be complete +without a visit to the birthplace of the great novelist, and on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +another occasion we therefore devote a day to Portsea, Hants. +A fast train from Victoria by the London, Brighton, and South +Coast Railway takes us to Portsmouth Town, the nearest +station, which is about half a mile from Commercial Road, +and a tram-car puts us down at the door. We immediately +recognize the house from the picture in Mr. Langton's book, +but the first impression is that the illustration scarcely does +justice to it. From the picture it appears to us to be a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +ordinary house in a row, and to be situated rather low in +a crowded and not over respectable neighbourhood. Nothing +of the kind. The house, No. 387, Mile End Terrace, Commercial +Road, Landport, where the parents of Charles Dickens +resided before they removed to another part of Portsea, and +subsequently went to live at Chatham, and where the future +genius first saw light, was eighty years ago quite in a rural +neighbourhood; and in those days must have been considered +rather a genteel residence for a family of moderate means in +the middle class. Even now, with the pressure which always +attends the development of large towns, and their extension +on the border-land of green country by the frequent conversion +of dwelling-houses into shops, or the intrusion of shops +where dwelling-houses are, this residence has escaped and +remains unchanged to this day.</p> + +<p>There is another point of real importance to notice. Mr. +Langton, referring to this house, says:—"The engraving +shows the little fore-court or front garden, with the low +kitchen window of the house, whence the movements of +Charles [who is presumably represented in the engraving by +the figure of a boy about two or three years old, with curly +locks, dressed in a smart frock, and having a large ball in his +right hand], attended by his dear little sister Fanny, could be +overlooked."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Very pretty indeed, but alas! I am afraid, +purely imaginary, considering, as will hereafter appear, that +Charles was a baby in arms, aged about four months and +sixteen days, when his parents quitted the house in which +he was born.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> +<p>The house is now, and has been for many years, occupied +by Miss Sarah Pearce, the surviving daughter of Mr. John +Dickens's landlord, her sisters, who formerly lived with her, +being all dead. It stands high on the west side of a good +broad road, opposite an old-fashioned villa called Angus +House, in the midst of well-trimmed grounds, and the situation +is very open, pleasant, and cheerful. It is red-brick built, +has a railing in front, and is approached by a little entrance-gate +opening on to a lawn, whereon there are a few flower-beds; +a hedge divides the fore-court from the next house,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +and a few steps guarded by a handrail lead to the front door. +It is a single-fronted, eight-roomed house, having two underground +kitchens, two floors above, and a single dormer +window high up in the sloping red-tiled roof. As is usual +with old-fashioned houses of this type, the shutters to the +lower windows are outside. Both the front and back parlours +on the ground floor are very cheerful, cosy little rooms (in +one of them we are glad to see a portrait of the novelist), +and the view from the back parlour looking down into the +well-kept garden, which abuts on other gardens, is very pretty, +marred only by a large gasometer in the distance, which +could hardly have been erected in young Charles Dickens's +earliest days. In the garden we notice a lovely specimen of +the <i>Lavatera arborea</i>, or tree-mallow, covered with hundreds +of white and purple blossoms. It is a rarity to see such a +handsome, well-grown tree, standing nearly eight feet high, +and it is not unlikely, from the luxuriance of its growth, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +it existed in Charles Dickens's infancy. From the pleasant +surroundings of the place generally, and from the fact that +flowers are much grown in the neighbourhood (especially +roses), it is more than probable that Dickens's love for flowers +was early developed by these associations. The road leads +to Cosham, and to the picturesque old ruin of Porchester +Castle, a nice walk from the town of Portsmouth, and +probably often traversed by Dickens, his sister, and his +nurse.</p> + +<p>Mr. Langton states that "it is said in after years Charles +Dickens could remember places and things at Portsmouth +that he had not seen since he was an infant of little more +than two years old (he left Portsmouth when he was only +four or five), and there is no doubt whatever that many of +the earliest reminiscences of <i>David Copperfield</i> were also +tender childish memories of his own infancy at this place."</p> + +<p>Mr. William Pearce, solicitor of Portsea, son of the former +landlord, and brother of Miss Sarah Pearce, the present +occupant, has been kind enough to supply the following +interesting information respecting No. 387, Mile End +Terrace:—</p> + +<p>"The celebrated novelist was born in the front bedroom +of the above house, which my sisters many years ago converted +into a drawing-room, and it is still used as such.</p> + +<p>"Mr. John Dickens, the father of the novelist, and his wife +came to reside in the house directly after they were married. +Mr. John Dickens rented the house of my father at £35 +a-year, from the 24th June, 1808, until the 24th June, 1812, +when he quitted, and moved into Hawke Street, in the town +of Portsea. Miss Fanny Dickens, the novelist's sister, was +the first child born in the house, and then the novelist.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I was born on the 22nd February, 1814, and have often +heard my mother say that Mr. Gardner, the surgeon, and +Mrs. Purkis, the monthly nurse (both of whom attended my +mother with me and her six other children), attended Mrs. +Dickens with her two children, Fanny and Charles, who were +both born in the above house; besides this, Mrs. Purkis has +often called on my sisters at the house in question, and +alluded to the above circumstances.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/i_308.png" width="350" height="341" alt="St. Mary's Church, Portsea." title="" /> +<span class="caption">St. Mary's Church, Portsea.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Mr. Cobb (whom I recollect), a fellow-clerk of Mr. John +Dickens in the pay-office in the Portsmouth Dockyard, +rented the same house of my father after Mr. John Dickens +left, and often alluded to the many happy hours he spent in +it while Mr. Dickens resided there."</p> + +<p>We next visit the site of old Kingston Parish Church,—St. +Mary's, Portsea—where Charles Dickens was baptized on 4th +March, 1812. A very handsome and large new church, costing +nearly forty thousand pounds, and capable of seating over two +thousand persons, has been erected, and occupies the place of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +the old church, where the ceremony took place. Mr. Langton +has given a very pretty little drawing of the old church in +his book, so that its associations are preserved to lovers of +Dickens. The old church itself was the second edifice erected +on the same spot, and thus the present one is the third +parish church which has been built here. There is a large +and crowded burial-ground attached to it; but a cursory +examination does not disclose any names on the gravestones +to indicate characters in the novels.</p> + +<p>It is right to note here, that the kind people of Portsmouth +were desirous of inserting a stained-glass window in their +beautiful new church to the memory of one of their most +famous sons (the eminent novelist, Mr. Walter Besant, was +born at Portsmouth, as also were Isambard K. Brunel, the +engineer, and Messrs. George and Vicat Cole, Royal Academicians), +but they were debarred by the conditions of Dickens's +will, which expressly interdicted anything of the kind. It +states:—</p> + +<p>"I conjure my friends on no account to make me the +subject of any monument, memorial, or testimonial whatever. +I rest my claim to the remembrance of my country upon +my published works, and to the remembrance of my friends +upon their experience of me in addition thereto."</p> + +<p>Before leaving Portsmouth, we just take a hasty glance at +the Theatre Royal, which remains much as it was during the +days of Mr. Vincent Crummles and his company, as graphically +described in the twenty-second and following chapters of +<i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>. Of that genial manager, Mr. T. Edgar +Pemberton, in his <i>Charles Dickens and the Stage</i>, observes:—</p> + +<p>"Every line that is written about Mr. Crummles and his +followers is instinct with good-natured humour, and from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +moment when, in the road-side inn 'yet twelve miles short +of Portsmouth,' the reader comes into contact with the kindly +old circuit manager, he finds himself in the best of good +company."</p> + +<p>Mr. Rimmer, in his <i>About England with Dickens</i>, referring +to the "Common Hard" at Portsmouth, says that the +"people there point out in a narrow lane leading to the +wharf, the house where Nicholas is supposed to have +sojourned."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>AYLESFORD, TOWN MALLING, AND MAIDSTONE.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"Its river winding down from the mist on the horizon, as though that +were its source, and already heaving with a restless knowledge of its +approach towards the sea."—<i>Edwin Drood.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"Oh, the solemn woods over which the light and shadow travelled swiftly, +as if Heavenly wings were sweeping on benignant errands through the +summer air; the smooth green slopes, the glittering water, the garden +where the flowers were symmetrically arranged in clusters of the richest +colours, how beautiful they looked!"—<i>Bleak House.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Another</span> delightful morning, fine but overcast, favours our +tramp in this neighbourhood. We are up betimes on Monday, +and take the train by the South-Eastern Railway from Strood +station to Aylesford. It is a distance of nearly eight miles +between these places; and the intermediate stations of any +note which we pass on the way are Cuxton (about three miles) +and Snodland (about two miles further on), which are two +large villages. As the railway winds, we obtain excellent +views of the chalk escarpments on the series of hills opposite, +these being the result of centuries of quarrying. The land +on either side of the river is marshy and intersected by +numerous water-courses. These grounds are locally termed +"saltings," caused by the overflow of the Medway at certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +times, and are used as sanitaria for horses which require +bracing.</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_312.png" width="500" height="507" alt="Aylesford" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Cuxton is at the entrance of the valley between the two +chalk ranges of hills which form the water-parting of the +river Medway. As Mr Phillips Bevan rightly observes—"this +valley is utilized for quarrying and lime-burning to +such an extent, that it has almost the appearance of a +northern manufacturing district," but it is a consolation, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +the authority of Sir A. C. Ramsay, to know that "man cannot +permanently disfigure nature!"</p> + +<p>At Snodland the river becomes narrower, and the scenery +of the valley is more picturesque. Early British and Roman +remains have been found in the district, and according to +the authority previously quoted—"In one of the quarries, +which are abundant, Dr. Mantell discovered some of the +most interesting and rarest chalk fossils with which we are +acquainted, including the fossil Turtle (<i>Chelonia Benstedi</i>)."</p> + +<p>Alighting from the train at Aylesford station, we have but +a few minutes to ramble by the river, the banks of which +are brightened by the handsome flowers of the purple loosestrife. +We notice the charming position of the Norman +church, which stands on an eminence on the right bank of +the Medway, overlooking the main street, and is surrounded +by fine old elm trees—the bells were chiming "Home, sweet +home," a name very dear to Dickens. The Medway ceases +to be a tidal river at Allington beyond Aylesford, and one +or other of the weirs at Allington or Farleigh (further on) +may have suggested the idea of "Cloisterham Weir" in +<i>Edwin Drood;</i> but they are too far distant (as shown in +Chapter V.) to fit in with the story. The ancient stone bridge +which spans the Medway at Aylesford is seven-arched; a +large central one, and three smaller ones on either side. One +or two of the arches on the left bank are filled up, as though +the river had silted on that side. Mr. Roach Smith considers +the bridge to be a very fine specimen of mediæval architecture. +It is somewhat narrow, but there are large abutments +which afford shelter to foot passengers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a> +<img src="images/i_314.png" width="600" height="443" alt="Aylesford Bridge" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>We are much inclined to think that Aylesford Bridge was +in the mind of Dickens when he makes the Pickwickians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +cross the Medway, only a wooden bridge is mentioned in +the text for the purpose perhaps of concealing identity. The +place is certainly worth visiting, and the approach to it by +the river is exceedingly picturesque.</p> + +<p>Aylesford is supposed to be the place where the great +battle between Hengist and Vortigern took place. Near to +it, at a place called Horsted, is the tomb of Horsa, who fell +in the battle between the Britons and Saxons, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 455. +Names of Dickens's characters, Brooks, Joy, etc., occur at +Aylesford. There is a very fine quarry here, from whence +the famous Kentish rag-stone—"a concretionary limestone"—is +obtained. It forms the base, and is overlaid by the +Hassock sands and the river drift. In the distance is seen the +bold series of chalk rocks constituting the ridge of the valley.</p> + +<p>Just outside Aylesford we pass Preston Hall, a fine modern +Tudor mansion standing in very pretty grounds, and belonging +to Mr. H. Brassey.</p> + +<p>We now resume our tramp towards the principal point of +our destination, Town Malling,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> or West Malling, as it is +indifferently called (the "a" in Malling being pronounced +long, as in "calling"). The walk from Aylesford lies through +the village of Larkview, and is rather pretty, but there is +nothing remarkable to notice until we approach Town +Malling. Here it becomes beautifully wooded, especially in +the neighbourhood of Clare House Park, the Spanish or +edible chestnut, with its handsome dark green lanceolate +serrate leaves, and clumps of Scotch firs, with their light red +trunks and large cones, the result of healthy growth, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +would have delighted the heart of Mr. Ruskin, being conspicuous. +On the road we pass a field sown with maize, a +novelty to one accustomed to the Midlands. The farmer to +whom it belongs says that it is a poor crop this year, +owing to the excess of wet and late summer, but in a good +season it gives a fine yield. We are informed that it is used +in the green state as food for cattle and chickens.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/i_316.png" width="450" height="359" alt="The High St Town Malling" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>A pleasant tramp of about three miles brings us to Town +Malling, which stands on the Kentish rag. The approach +to Town Malling is by a waterfall, and there are the ruins of +the old Nunnery, founded by Bishop Gundulph in 1090, in +the place. East Malling is a smaller town, and lies nearer +to Maidstone. Our object in visiting this pretty, old-fashioned +Kentish country town, is to verify its identity with that of +Muggleton of the <i>Pickwick Papers</i>. Great weight must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +attached to the fact that the present Mr. Charles Dickens, in +his annotated Jubilee Edition of the above work, introduces +a very pretty woodcut of "High Street, Town Malling," with +a note to the effect that—</p> + +<p>"Muggleton, perhaps, is only to be taken as a fancy sketch +of a small country town; but it is generally supposed, and +probably with sufficient accuracy, that, if it is in any degree +a portrait of any Kentish town, Town Malling, a great place +for cricket in Mr. Pickwick's time, sat for it."</p> + +<p>The reader will remember that when at the hospitable +Mr. Wardle's residence at Manor Farm in Dingley Dell +(by the bye, there is a veritable "Manor Farm" at Frindsbury, +near Strood, with ponds adjacent, which may perhaps have +suggested the episode of Mr. Pickwick on the ice), an excursion +was determined on by the Pickwickians to witness a +grand cricket match about to be played between the "All +Muggleton" and the "Dingley Dellers," a conference first +took place as to whether the invalid, Mr. Tupman, should +remain or go with them.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Shall we be justified,' asked Mr. Pickwick, 'in leaving our +wounded friend to the care of the ladies?'</p> + +<p>"'You cannot leave me in better hands,' said Mr. Tupman.</p> + +<p>"'Quite impossible,' said Mr. Snodgrass."</p></div> + +<p>The result of the conference was satisfactory.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It was therefore settled that Mr. Tupman should be left at home +in charge of the females, and that the remainder of the guests under +the guidance of Mr. Wardle should proceed to the spot, where was +to be held that trial of skill, which had roused all Muggleton from +its torpor, and inoculated Dingley Dell with a fever of excitement.</p> + +<p>"As their walk, <i>which was not above two miles long</i>,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> lay through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +shady lanes and sequestered footpaths, and as their conversation +turned upon the delightful scenery by which they were on every side +surrounded, Mr. Pickwick was almost inclined to regret the expedition +they had used, when he found himself in the main street of the +town of Muggleton."</p></div> + +<p>The chronicle of <i>Pickwick</i> then proceeds to state that—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Muggleton is a corporate town, with a mayor, burgesses, and +freemen; . . . an ancient and loyal borough, mingling a zealous +advocacy of Christian principles with a devoted attachment to commercial +rights; in demonstration whereof, the mayor, corporation, +and other inhabitants, have presented at divers times, no fewer than +one thousand four hundred and twenty petitions, against the continuance +of negro slavery abroad, and an equal number against any +interference with the factory system at home; sixty-eight in favour of +the sales of livings in the Church, and eighty-six for abolishing +Sunday trading in the streets."</p></div> + +<p>On the occasion of their second visit to Manor Farm to +spend Christmas, the Pickwickians came by the "Muggleton +Telegraph," which stopped at the "Blue Lion," and they +walked over to Dingley Dell.</p> + +<p>Assuming, as has been suggested by Mr. Frost in his <i>In +Kent with Charles Dickens</i>, that Dingley Dell is somewhere on +the eastern side of the river Medway, within fifteen miles of +Rochester,—Mr. William James Budden (a gentleman whom +we met at Chatham) gave as his opinion that it was near +Burham,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>—then it would require a much greater walk than that +("which was not above two miles long") to reach Town +Malling (leaving out of the question the fact that Burham is +only about six miles from Rochester instead of fifteen miles, +as the waiter at the Bull told Mr. Pickwick in reply to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +enquiry), whereby we reluctantly for the time arrive at the +conclusion,—as Mr. Frost did before us—that Dingley Dell as +such near Town Malling cannot be identified.</p> + +<p>On another visit to "Dickens-Land" Mr. R. L. Cobb +suggested that Cobtree Hall, near Aylesford, was the prototype +of Dingley Dell. It may have been; but except one +goes as the crow flies, it is more than two miles distant +from Town Malling. But as Captain Cuttle would say—we +"make a note of it."</p> + +<p>After all, Dingley Dell is no doubt a type of an English +yeoman's hospitable home. There are numbers of such in +Kent, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Devonshire, and other +counties, and the one in question may have been seen by +Dickens almost anywhere.</p> + +<p>There is, at any rate, one objection to Muggleton being +Town Malling—the latter is not, as mentioned in the text, "a +corporate town." The neighbouring corporate towns which +might be taken for it are Faversham, Tunbridge Wells, and +Seven Oaks; but, as Mr. Rimmer, in his <i>About England with +Dickens</i>, points out—"These have no feature in common +with the enterprising borough which had so distinguished +itself in the matter of petitions." On the other hand, there is +<i>one</i> very strong reason in favour of Town Malling, and that is +its devotion to the noble old English game of cricket. So far +as we could make out, no town in Kent has done better +service in this respect. But more of this presently.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + + +<p>So many friends recommended us to see Cobtree Hall +that, after the foregoing was written, we determined to follow +their advice, and on a subsequent occasion we take the train +to Aylesford and walk over, the distance being a pleasant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +stroll of about a mile. We were well repaid. The mansion, +formerly called Coptray Friars, belonging to the Aylesford +Friary, is an Elizabethan structure of red brick with stone +facings prettily covered with creeping plants, standing +on an elevated position in a beautifully wooded and undulating +country overlooking the Medway +and surrounded by cherry +orchards and hop gardens. Major +Trousdell was so courteous as to +show us over the building, which +has been altered and much enlarged during the last half +century. Internally there is something to favour the hypothesis +of its being the type of Manor Farm, Dingley Dell. +Such portions of the old building remaining, as the kitchen, +are highly suggestive of the gathering described in that good-humoured +Christmas chapter of <i>Pickwick</i> (xxviii.), and there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +is a veritable beam to correspond with Phiz's plate of "Christmas +Eve at Mr. Wardle's." "The best sitting-room, [described +as] a good long, dark-panelled room with a high chimney-piece, +and a capacious chimney up which you could have +driven one of the new patent cabs, wheels and all," may still +be discerned in the handsome modern dining-room, with +carved marble mantel-piece of massive size formerly supplied +with old-fashioned "dogs." The views from the bay-window +are very extensive and picturesque. The mansion divides the +two parishes of Boxley and Allington, the initials of which +are carved on the beam in the kitchen. Externally, there is +much more to commend it to our acceptance. Remains of a +triangular piece of ground, with a few elm-trees, still survive +as "the rookery," where Mr. Tupman met with his mishap, +and to our delight there is "the pond," not indeed covered +with ice, as on Mr. Pickwick's memorable adventure, but +crowded with water-lilies on its surface; its banks surrounded +by the fragrant meadow-sweet and the brilliant rose-coloured +willow herb. Furthermore we were informed, by Mr. Franklin +of Maidstone, that the "Red Lion," which formerly stood on +the spot now occupied by Mercer's Stables, is locally considered +to be the original of "a little roadside public-house, +with two elm-trees, a horse-trough, and a sign-post in front;" +where the Pickwickians sought assistance after the breakdown +of the "four-wheeled chaise" which "separated the +wheels from the body and the bin from the perch," but were +inhospitably repulsed by the "red-headed man and the tall +bony woman," who suggested that they had stolen the +"immense horse" which had recently played Mr. Winkle +such pranks. Finally, in a pleasant chat with the Rev. Cyril +Grant, Vicar of Aylesford, and his curate, the Rev. H. B. Boyd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +(a son of A. K. H. B.), we elicited the fact that Cobtree Hall +is locally recognized as the original of Manor Farm. Nay +more, in Aylesford churchyard a tomb was pointed out on the +west side with the inscription:—"Also to the memory of Mr. +W. Spong, late of Cobtree, in the Parish of Boxley, who died +Nov. 15th, 1839," who is said to have been the prototype of +the genial and hospitable "old Wardle."</p> +<div class='center'><a name="cobb" id="cobb"></a> <table class="cobb" summary="cobb"> +<tr><td align='left'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<div class='blockquot3'><p>True, neither the distance to Rochester nor to Town +Malling fits in with the narrative, but this is not material. +Dickens, with the usual "novelist's licence," found it convenient +often-times to take a nucleus of fact, and surround +it with a halo of fiction, and this may have been one of +many similar instances. His wonderfully-gifted and ever-facile +imagination was never at fault.</p></div> +</td> +</tr></table></div> + + +<p>So on our return journey we console ourselves by reading +the following description, in chapter vi. of <i>Pickwick</i>, of +the first gathering of the Pickwickians at their host's, one +of the most delightful bits in the whole book, and "make-believe," +as the Marchioness would say, that we have actually +seen Manor Farm, Dingley Dell.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Several guests who were assembled in the old parlour, rose to +greet Mr. Pickwick and his friends upon their entrance; and during +the performance of the ceremony of introduction, with all due +formalities, Mr. Pickwick had leisure to observe the appearance, and +speculate upon the characters and pursuits, of the persons by whom +he was surrounded—a habit in which he in common with many +other great men delighted to indulge.</p> + +<p>"A very old lady, in a lofty cap and faded silk gown,—no less a +personage than Mr. Wardle's mother,—occupied the post of honour +on the right-hand corner of the chimney-piece; and various certificates +of her having been brought up in the way she should go when +young, and of her not having departed from it when old, ornamented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +the walls, in the form of samplers of ancient date, worsted landscapes +of equal antiquity, and crimson silk tea-kettle holders of a more +modern period. The aunt, the two young ladies, and Mr. Wardle, +each vying with the other in paying zealous and unremitting attentions +to the old lady, crowded round her easy-chair, one holding her +ear-trumpet, another an orange, and a third a smelling-bottle, while +a fourth was busily engaged in patting and punching the pillows, +which were arranged for her support. On the opposite side sat a +bald-headed old gentleman, with a good-humoured benevolent face,—the +clergyman of Dingley Dell; and next him sat his wife, a stout, +blooming old lady, who looked as if she were well skilled, not only +in the art and mystery of manufacturing home-made cordials, greatly +to other people's satisfaction, but of tasting them occasionally, very +much to her own. A little hard-headed, Ripstone pippin-faced man, +was conversing with a fat old gentleman in one corner; and two or +three more old gentlemen, and two or three more old ladies, sat bolt +upright and motionless on their chairs, staring very hard at Mr. +Pickwick and his fellow-voyagers.</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Pickwick, mother,' said Mr. Wardle, at the very top of his +voice.</p> + +<p>"'Ah!' said the old lady, shaking her head; 'I can't hear +you.'</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Pickwick, grandma!' screamed both the young ladies +together.</p> + +<p>"'Ah!' exclaimed the old lady. 'Well; it don't much matter. +He don't care for an old 'ooman like me, I dare say.'</p> + +<p>"'I assure you, madam,' said Mr. Pickwick, grasping the old +lady's hand, and speaking so loud that the exertion imparted a +crimson hue to his benevolent countenance; 'I assure you, ma'am, +that nothing delights me more, than to see a lady of your time of +life heading so fine a family, and looking so young and well.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah!' said the old lady, after a short pause; 'it's all very fine, +I dare say; but I can't hear him.'</p> + +<p>"'Grandma's rather put out now,' said Miss Isabella Wardle, in +a low tone; 'but she'll talk to you presently.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Pickwick nodded his readiness to humour the infirmities of +age, and entered into a general conversation with the other members +of the circle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Delightful situation this,' said Mr. Pickwick.</p> + +<p>"'Delightful!' echoed Messrs. Snodgrass, Tupman, and Winkle.</p> + +<p>"'Well, I think it is,' said Mr. Wardle.</p> + +<p>"'There ain't a better spot o' ground in all Kent, sir,' said the +hard-headed man with the pippin-face; 'there ain't indeed, sir—I'm +sure there ain't, sir,' and the hard-headed man looked triumphantly +round, as if he had been very much contradicted by somebody, +but had got the better of him at last. 'There ain't a better +spot o' ground in all Kent,' said the hard-headed man again after a +pause.</p> + +<p>"''Cept Mullins' meadows!' observed the fat man, solemnly.</p> + +<p>"'Mullins' meadows!' ejaculated the other, with profound +contempt.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, Mullins' meadows,' repeated the fat man.</p> + +<p>"'Reg'lar good land that,' interposed another fat man.</p> + +<p>"'And so it is, sure-ly,' said a third fat man.</p> + +<p>"'Everybody knows that,' said the corpulent host.</p> + +<p>"The hard-headed man looked dubiously round, but finding +himself in a minority, assumed a compassionate air, and said no +more.</p> + +<p>"'What are they talking about?' inquired the old lady of one of +her grand-daughters, in a very audible voice; for, like many deaf +people, she never seemed to calculate on the possibility of other +persons hearing what she said herself.</p> + +<p>"'About the land, grandma.'</p> + +<p>"'What about the land? Nothing the matter, is there?'</p> + +<p>"'No, no. Mr. Miller was saying our land was better than +Mullins' meadows.'</p> + +<p>"'How should he know anything about it?' inquired the old lady +indignantly. 'Miller's a conceited coxcomb, and you may tell him +I said so.' Saying which, the old lady, quite unconscious that she +had spoken above a whisper, drew herself up, and looked carving-knives +at the hard-headed delinquent."</p></div> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>In the course of our tramp we fall in with "a very queer +small boy," rejoicing in the Christian names of "Spencer +Ray," upon which we congratulate him, and express a hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +that he will do honour to the noble names which he bears, +one being that of the great English philosopher, and the +other that of the famous English naturalist. This boy, who +is just such a bright intelligent lad as Dickens himself would +have been at his age (twelve and a half years), gives us some +interesting particulars respecting Town Malling and its +proclivities for cricket, upon which he is very eloquent. It +appears that in the year 1887 the cricketers of Town Malling +won eleven matches out of twelve; but during this year they +have not been so successful. He directed us to the cricket-ground, +which we visit, and find to be but a few minutes' +walk from the centre of the town, bearing to the westward. +It is a very fine field, nearly seven acres in extent, in splendid +order, as level as a die, and as green as an emerald. It lies +well open, and is flanked by the western range of hills of the +Medway valley.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_325.png" width="500" height="197" alt="CRICKET GROUND—TOWN MALLING." title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The marquee into which Mr. Pickwick and his friends were +invited, first by "one very stout gentleman, whose body and +legs looked like half a gigantic roll of flannel, elevated on a +couple of inflated pillow-cases," and then by the irrepressible +Jingle with—"This way—this way—capital fun—lots of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +beer—hogsheads; rounds of beef—bullocks; mustard—cart-loads; +glorious day—down with you—make yourself at +home—glad to see you—very," has been replaced by a +handsome pavilion.</p> + +<p>There is no cricket-playing going on at the time, but +there are several cricketers in the field, and from them we +learn confirmatory evidence of the long existence of the +ground in its present condition, and the enthusiasm of the +inhabitants for the old English game.</p> + +<p>Another proof of the long-established love of the people of +Town Malling for cricket we subsequently find in the fact +that the parlour of the Swan Hotel, which is an old cricketing +house, and probably represents the "Blue Lion of Muggleton," +has in it many very fine lithographic portraits of all the great +cricketers of the middle of the nineteenth century, including:—Pilch, +Lillywhite, Box, Cobbett, Hillyer (a native of Town +Malling), A. Mynn, Taylor, Langdon, Kynaston, Felix +(<i>Felix on the Bat</i>), Ward, Kingscote, and others. Several +of these names will be recognized as those of eminent Kentish +cricketers. About a quarter of a century ago—my friend +and colleague Mr. E. Orford Smith (himself a Kentish man +and a cricketer) informs me that—the Kentish eleven stood +against all England, and retained their position for some +years.</p> + +<p>As we stand on the warm day in the centre of the ground, +and admire the lights and shadows passing over the surrounding +scenery, we can almost conjure up the scene of the +famous contest, when, on the occasion of the first innings of +the All-Muggleton Club, "Mr. Dumkins and Mr. Podder, two +of the most renowned members of that most distinguished +club, walked, bat in hand, to their respective wickets. Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +Luffey, the highest ornament of Dingley Dell, was pitched to +bowl against the redoubtable Dumkins, and Mr. Struggles +was selected to do the same kind office for the hitherto +unconquered Podder."</p> + +<p>Everybody remembers how the game proceeded under +circumstances of the greatest excitement, in which batters, +bowlers, scouts, and umpires, all did their best under the +encouraging shouts of the members:—"Run—run—another.—Now, +then, throw her up—up with her—stop there—another—no—yes—no—throw +her up! throw her up!" Mr. Jingle +himself being as usual very profuse in his remarks, as—"'Ah, +ah!—stupid'—'Now, butter-fingers'—'Muff'—'Humbug'—and +so forth." "In short, when Dumkins was caught out, +and Podder stumped out, All-Muggleton had notched some +fifty-four, while the score of the Dingley Dellers was as blank +as their faces." So "Dingley Dell gave in, and allowed the +superior prowess of All-Muggleton," Mr. Jingle again expressing +his views of the winners:—"'Capital game—well played—some +strokes admirable,' as both sides crowded into the +tent at the conclusion of the game."</p> + +<p>Yes! We are convinced that Muggleton and Town Malling +(except for the mayor and corporation) are one. At any +rate we feel quite safe in assuming that Town Malling was +the type from which Muggleton was taken; and we confidently +recommend all admirers of <i>Pickwick</i> to include that +pleasant Kentish country-town in their pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>Having exhausted, so far as our examination is concerned, +the cricket-ground, by the kindness of our young friend who +acts as guide, we see a little more of the town. It consists +of a long wide street, with a few lateral approaches. The +houses are well built, and the church, which is partly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +Norman, and, like most of the village churches in Kent, +is but a little way from the village, stands on an eminence +from whence a good view may be obtained. We observe, as +indicative of the fine air and mild climate of the place, many +beautiful specimens of magnolia, and wistaria (in second +flower) in front of the better class of houses. One of these is +named "Boley House," and as we are told that Sir Joseph +Hawley resided near, our memories immediately revert to the +cognomen of a well-known character in <i>The Chimes</i>. Other +names in the place are suggestive of Dickens's worthies, <i>e.g.</i> +Rudge, Styles, Briggs, Saunders, Brooker, and John Harman. +The last-mentioned is the second instance in which Dickens +has varied a local name by the alteration of a single letter. +There is also the not uncommon name of "Brown," who, it +will be remembered, was the maker of the shoes of the +spinster aunt when she eloped with the faithless Jingle; "in +a po-chay from the 'Blue Lion' at Muggleton," as one of Mr. +Wardle's men said; and the discovery of the said shoes led to +the identification of the errant pair at the "White Hart" in +the Borough. After Sam Weller had described nearly all the +visitors staying in the hotel from an examination of their +boots:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Stop a bit,' replied Sam, suddenly recollecting himself. 'Yes; +there's a pair of Vellingtons a good deal vorn, and a pair o' lady's +shoes, in number five.' 'Country make.'</p> + +<p>"'Any maker's name?'</p> + +<p>"'Brown.'</p> + +<p>"'Where of?'</p> + +<p>"'Muggleton.'</p> + +<p>"'It <i>is</i> them,' exclaimed Wardle. 'By heavens, we've found +them.'"</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> + +<p>What happened afterwards every reader of <i>Pickwick</i> very +well knows.</p> + +<p>Near Town Malling there is a curious monument erected +to the memory of Beadsman, the horse, belonging to Sir +Joseph Hawley, which won the Derby in 1859, and which +was bred in the place. The monument (an exceedingly +practical one) consists of a useful pump for the supply of +water.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="medway" id="medway"></a> +<img src="images/i_330.png" width="500" height="544" alt="The Medway at Maidstone" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>After some luncheon at the Boar Inn, we are sorry to +terminate our visit to this pleasant place; but time flies, and +trains, like tides, "wait for no man." So we hurry to the +railway station, passing on our way a fine hop-garden, and +take tickets by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway for +Maidstone. We have a few minutes to spare, and our notice +is attracted to a curious group in the waiting-room. It +consists of a rural policeman, and what afterwards turned out, +to be his prisoner, a slouching but good-humoured-looking +labourer, with a "fur cap" like Rogue Riderhood. The officer +leans against the mantelpiece, pleasantly chatting with his +charge, who is seated on the bench, leisurely eating some +bread and cheese with a large clasp-knife, in the intervals +of which proceeding he recounts some experiences for the +edification of the officer and bystanders. These are occasionally +received with roars of laughter. One of his stories +relates to a house-breaker who, being "caught in the act" by +a policeman, and being asked what he was doing, coolly +replied, "Attending to my business, of course!" (This must +surely be taken "in a Pickwickian sense.") After finishing +his bread and cheese, the charge eats an apple, and then +regales himself with something from a large bottle. The +unconcernedness of the man, whatever his offence may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +(poaching perhaps), is in painful contrast to the careworn +and anxious faces of his wife and little daughter (both +decently dressed), the latter about seven years old, and +made too familiar with crime at such an age. After we +arrive at Maidstone (only a few minutes' run by railway), +it is a wretched sight to witness the leave-taking at the +gaol. First the man shakes hands with his wife, all his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +forced humour having left him, and then affectionately kisses +the little girl, draws a cuff over his eyes, and walks heavily +into the gaol after the officer. We are glad to notice that he +is not degraded as a wild beast by being handcuffed. It +was an episode that Dickens himself perhaps would have +witnessed with interest, and possibly stored up for future use. +What particularly strikes us is the difference in the relations +between these people and what would be the case under +similar circumstances in a large town. There is not that +feature of hardness, that familiarity with crime which breeds +contempt, in the rural incident. Poor man! let us hope +his punishment will soon be finished, and that he may +return to his family, and not become an old offender; but +for the present, as Mr. Bagnet says, "discipline must be +maintained."</p> + +<p>Maidstone, the county and assize town of Kent, appears to +be a thriving and solid-looking place, as there are several +paper-mills, saw-mills, stone quarries, and other indications of +prosperity. There are but few historical associations connected +with it, as Maidstone "has lived a quiet life." Sir +Thomas Wyatt's rebellion, and the attack on the town by +Fairfax in 1648, are among the principal incidents. Dickens +frequently walked or drove over to this town from Gad's +Hill. Many of the names which we notice over the shops in +the principal street are very suggestive of, if not actually +used for, some of the characters in his novels, <i>e.g.</i> Pell, +Boozer, Hibling, Fowle, Stuffins, Bunyard, Edmed, Gregsbey, +Dunmill, and Pobgee.</p> + +<p>It has been said that Maidstone possesses a gaol; it also +has large barracks, and, what is better still, a Museum, Free +Library, and Public Gardens. Chillington Manor House,—a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +highly picturesque and well-preserved Elizabethan structure, +formerly the residence of the Cobhams,—contains the Museum +and Library. Standing in a quiet nook in the Brenchley +Gardens, the lines of George Macdonald, quoted in the local +<i>Guide Book</i>, well describe its beauties:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Its windows were aërial and latticed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Lovely and wide and fair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And its chimneys like clustered pillars</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Stood up in the thin blue air."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The Museum—the new wing of which was built as a +memorial of his brother, by Mr. Samuel Bentlif—is the property +of the Corporation, and owes much of its contents to the +liberality of Mr. Pretty, the first curator, and to the naturalist +and traveller, Mr. J. L. Brenchley. It contains excellent +fine art, archæological, ethnological, natural history, and +geological collections. Among the last-named, in addition +to other interesting local specimens, are some fossil remains +of the mammoth (<i>Elephas primigenius</i>) from the drift at +Aylesford, obtained by its present able curator, Mr. Edward +Bartlett, to whom we are indebted for a most pleasant +ramble through the various rooms. We notice an original +"Dickens-item" in the shape of a very good carved head of +the novelist, forming the right top panel of an oak fire-place, +the opposite side being one of Tennyson, by a local carver +named W. Hughes, who was formerly employed at Gad's Hill +Place. No pilgrim in "Dickens-Land" should omit visiting +Maidstone and its treasures in Chillington Manor House; +nor of seeing the splendid view of the Medway from the +churchyard, looking towards Tovil.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="manor" id="manor"></a> +<img src="images/i_333.png" width="500" height="419" alt="Chillingham Manor House Maidstone" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>We are particularly anxious to verify Dickens's experience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +of the walk from Maidstone to Rochester. In a letter to +Forster, written soon after he came to reside at Gad's Hill +Place, he says:—"I have discovered that the seven miles +between Maidstone and Rochester is one of the most beautiful +walks in England," and so indeed we find it to be. It is, +however, a rather long seven miles; so, cheerfully leaving the +gloomy-looking gaol to our right and proceeding along the +raised terrace by the side of the turn-pike road, we pass +through the little village of Sandling, and soon after commence +the ascent of the great chalk range of hills which form +the eastern water-parting of the Medway. The most noticeable +object before we reach "Upper Bell" is "Kit's Coty (or Coity)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +House," about one and a half miles north-east from Aylesford, +and not very far from the Bell Inn. According to Mr. Phillips +Bevan, the peculiar name is derived from the Celtic "Ked," and +"Coity" or "Coed" (Welsh), and means the Tomb in the Wood. +Seymour considers the words a corruption of "Catigern's +House." Below Kit's Coty House, Mr. Wright, the archæologist, +found the remains of a Roman villa, with quantities +of Samian ware, coins, and other articles.</p> + +<p>There are many excavations in the chalk above Kit's Coty +House, apparently for interments; and the whole district +appears in remote ages to have been a huge cemetery. +Tradition states that "the hero Catigern was buried here, +after the battle fought at Aylesford between Hengist and +Vortigern."</p> + +<p>The Cromlech, which is now included in the provisions of +the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1882, lies under the +hillside, a few yards from the main road, and is fenced in +with iron railings, and beautifully surrounded by woods, the +yew,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> said to have been one of the sacred trees of the Druids, +being conspicuous here and there. That somewhat rare +plant the juniper is also found in this neighbourhood. The +"dolmens" which have been "set on end by a vanished +people" are four in number, and consist of sandstone, three +of them, measuring about eight feet each, forming the uprights, +and the fourth, which is much larger, serving as the covering +stone.</p> + +<p>In a field which we visit, not very far from Kit's Coty +House, is another group of stones, called the "countless stones." +As we pass some boys are trying to solve the arithmetical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +problem, which cannot be readily accomplished, as the stones +lie intermingled in a very strange and irregular manner, and +are overgrown with brushwood. The belief that these stones +cannot be counted is one constantly found connected with +similar remains, <i>e.g.</i> Stonehenge, Avebury, etc. We heard a +local story of a baker, who once tried to effect the operation +by placing a loaf on the top of each stone as a kind of check +or tally; but a dog running away with one of his loaves, +upset his calculations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_335.png" width="500" height="420" alt="Kit's Coty House" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Both the "Coty House" and the "countless stones" consist +of a silicious sandstone of the Eocene period, overlying the +chalk, and are identical with the "Sarsens," or "Grey Wethers," +which occur at the pre-historic town of Avebury, and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +Stonehenge; the smaller stones of the latter are, however, of +igneous origin, and "are believed by Mr. Fergusson to have +been votive offerings." These masses, of what Sir A. C. +Ramsay calls "tough and intractable silicious stone," have +been, he says, "left on the ground, after the removal by denudation +of other and softer parts of the Eocene strata." We +subsequently saw several of these "grey wethers" in the +grounds of Cobham Hall, and we noticed small masses +of the same stone <i>in situ</i> in Pear Tree Lane, near Gad's +Hill Place.</p> + +<p>Speaking of Kit's Coty House in his <i>Short History of the +English People</i>, the late Mr. J. R. Green, in describing the +English Conquest and referring to this neighbourhood, +says:—"It was from a steep knoll on which the grey +weather-beaten stones of this monument are reared that the +view of their first battle-field would break on the English +warriors; and a lane which still leads down from it through +peaceful homesteads would guide them across the ford which +has left its name in the little village of Aylesford. The +Chronicle of the conquering people tells nothing of the +rush that may have carried the ford, or of the fight that +went struggling up through the village. It only tells that +Horsa fell in the moment of victory, and the flint heap +of Horsted, which has long preserved his name, and was +held in after-time to mark his grave, is thus the earliest +of those monuments of English valour of which Westminster +is the last and noblest shrine. The victory of +Aylesford did more than give East Kent to the English; +it struck the keynote of the whole English conquest of +Britain."</p> + +<p>Dickens's visits to this locality in his early days may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +have suggested the discovery of the stone with the inscription:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/i_337.png" width="200" height="208" alt="Inscription" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<p>In later life he was fond of bringing his friends here "by a +couple of postilions in the old red jackets of the old red +royal Dover road" to enjoy a picnic. Describing a visit +here with Longfellow he says:—"It was like a holiday ride +in England fifty years ago."</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a> +<img src="images/i_338.png" width="600" height="345" alt="Kits Coty House and "Blue Bell" From the Painting by Gegan" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Returning to the main road, we reach the high land of Blue +Bell—"Upper Bell," as it is marked on the Ordnance Map. +We are not quite on the highest range, but sufficiently high +(about three hundred feet) to enable us to appreciate the +splendid view that presents itself. In the valley below winds +the Medway, broadening as it approaches Rochester.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The +opposite heights consist of the western range of hills, the +width of the valley from point to point being about ten miles. +The "sky-line" of hills running from north to south cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +be less than sixty miles, extending to the famous Weald of +Kent (weald, wald, or wolde, being literally "a wooded +region, an open country"); all the intervening space of +undulating slope and valley (river excepted) is filled up by +hamlets, grass, root, and cornfields, hop-gardens, orchards +and woodlands, the whole forming a picture of matchless +beauty. No wonder Dickens was very fond of this delightful +walk; it must be gone over to be appreciated.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + + +<p>We tramp on through Boxley and Bridge Woods, down the +hill, and pass Borstal Convict Prison and Fort Clarence, where +there are guns which we were informed would carry a ball +from this elevated ground right over the Thames into the +county of Essex (a distance of seven miles); and so we get +back again to Rochester.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>BROADSTAIRS, MARGATE, AND CANTERBURY.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"We have a fine sea, wholesome for all people; profitable for the body, +profitable for the mind."—<i>Our English Watering-Place.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"All is going on as it was wont. The waves are hoarse with repetition +of their mystery; the dust lies piled upon the shore; the sea-birds +soar and hover; the winds and clouds go forth upon their trackless +flight; the white arms beckon in the moonlight to the invisible country +far away."—<i>Dombey and Son.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"A moment, and I occupy my place in the Cathedral, where we all went +together every Sunday morning, assembling first at school for that +purpose. The earthy smell, the sunless air, the sensation of the +world being shut out, the resounding of the organ through the black +and white arched galleries and aisles, are wings that take me back +and hold me hovering above those days in a half-sleeping and half-waking +dream."—<i>David Copperfield.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Taking</span> advantage of an excursion train (for tramps usually +go on the cheap), we start early on Wednesday by the +South-Eastern Railway from Chatham station for Broadstairs. +As usual the weather favours us—it is a glorious +day. Passing the stations of New Brompton, Rainham, +Newington, and Sittingbourne, we soon get into open country, +in the midst of hop gardens with their verdant aisles of the +fragrant and tonic, tendril-like plants reaching in some +instances perhaps to several hundred yards, and crowned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +with yellowish-green fruit-masses, which have a special charm +for those unaccustomed to such scenery. The odd-looking +"oast-houses,"<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> or drying-houses for the hops, are a noticeable +feature of the neighbourhood, dotting it about here and there +in pairs. They are mostly red-brick and cone-shaped, somewhat +smaller than the familiar glass-houses of the Midland districts, +and have a wooden cowl, painted white, at the apex for +ventilation. We are rather too early for the hop-picking, +and thus—but for a time only—miss an interesting sight. +Dickens, in one of his letters to Forster, gives a dreary +picture of this annual harvest:—</div> + +<p>"Hop-picking is going on, and people sleep in the garden, +and breathe in at the key-hole of the house door. I have +been amazed, before this year, by the number of miserable +lean wretches, hardly able to crawl, who come hop-picking. +I find it is a superstition that the dust of the newly-picked +hop, falling freshly into the throat, is a cure for consumption. +So the poor creatures drag themselves along the roads, and +sleep under wet hedges, and get cured soon and finally."</p> + +<p>On the whole it is said to be a very indifferent season, +but many plantations look promising. "If," as a grower +remarks to us in the train, "we could have a little more of +this fine weather! There has been too much rain, and too +little sun this year." The apples also are a poor crop.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 575px;"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a> +<img src="images/i_342.png" width="575" height="375" alt="Hop-picking in Kent" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>On a second visit to this pleasant neighbourhood, we see +at Mear's Barr Farm, near Rainham, the whole process of +hop-picking. True, it is not executed by that ragamuffinly +crowd of strangers which Dickens had in his "mind's eye" +when he wrote the words just quoted, and which usually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +takes possession of most of the hop-growing districts of Kent +during the picking season, but by an assemblage of native +villagers, mostly women, girls, and boys,—neat, clean, and +homely,—together with a few men who do the heavier part +of the work. They are of all ages, from the tottering old +grandmother, careworn wife, and buxom maiden, to the child +in perambulator and baby in arms; and in the bright sunlight, +amid the groves of festooning green columns, form +a most orderly, varied, and picturesque gathering—a regular +picnic in fact, judging from the cheerful look on most of the +faces, and the merry laugh that is occasionally heard.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fred Scott, tenant of the farm, of which Lord Hothfield +is owner, is kind enough to go over the hop-garden with +us, and describe all the details. When the hops are ripe +(<i>i. e.</i> when the seeds are hard) and ready to be gathered, the +pickers swarm on the ground, and a man divides the "bine" +at the bottom of the "pole" by means of a bill-hook—not +cutting it too close for fear of bleeding—leaving the root to +sprout next year, and then draws out the pole, to which is +attached the long, creeping bine, trailing over at top. If the +pole sticks too fast in the ground, he eases it by means of a +lever, or "hop-dog" (a long, stout wooden implement, having +a toothed iron projection). "Mind my dog don't bite you, +sir," says one of the men facetiously, as we step over this +rough-looking tool. Women then carry the poles to, and +lay them across, the "bin," a receptacle formed by four +upright poles stuck in the ground and placed at an angle, +supporting a framework from which depends the "bin-cloth," +made of jute or hemp, holding from ten to twenty bushels +of green hops, weighing about 1½ lbs. per bushel when dry.</p> + +<p>The picking then commences, and nimble fingers of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +sizes very soon strip the poles of the aromatically-smelling +ripe hops, the poles being cast aside in heaps, to be afterwards +cleared of the old bines and put into "stacks" of three +hundred each, and used again next season.</p> + +<p>The bins, which vary in number according to the size of +the hop-garden, are placed in rows on the margin of the +plantation, and usually have ten "hop-hills" (<i>i. e.</i> plants) on +each side, and are moved inside the plantation as the poles +are pulled up. Each bin belongs to a "sett" (<i>i. e.</i> family or +companionship), consisting of from five to seven persons, and +is taken charge of by a "binman." When the bin is full, a +"measurer" (either the farmer himself or his deputy) takes +account of the quantity of hops picked, and records it in a +book to the credit of each working family. Then the green +hops are carted off in "pokes" or sacks to the "oast-houses" +to be dried. For this purpose, anthracite coal and charcoal +are used in the kiln, a shovelful or two of sulphur being added +to the fire when the hops are put on. The process of drying +takes eleven hours, and afterwards the dried hops are packed +in pockets which, when full, weigh about a hundredweight +and a half each, the packing being effected by hydraulic +pressure. They are then sent to market, the earliest arrivals +fetching very high prices. As much as £50 per cwt. was +paid in 1882, but the ordinary price averages from £4 to +£8 per cwt.</p> + +<p><i>Humulus Lupulus</i>, the hop, belongs to the natural order +<i>Urticaceæ</i>—a plant of rather wide distribution, but said to be +absent in Scotland—and is a herbaceous, diœcious perennial, +usually propagated by removal of the young shoots or by +cuttings. According to Sowerby, the genus is derived from +<i>humus</i>, the ground, as, unless supported or trained, the plant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +falls to the earth; and the common name "hop" from the +Saxon <i>hoppan</i>, to climb. William King, in his <i>Art of Cookery</i>, +says that "heresy and hops came in together"; while an old +popular rhyme records that:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Hops, carp, pickerel, and beer,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Came into England all in one year."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Tusser in his <i>Hondreth Good Points of Husbandrie</i>, published +in 1557, gives sundry directions for the cultivation of +hops, and quaintly advocates their use as follows:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"The hop for his profit I thus do exalt,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It strengtheneth drink, and it savoureth malt;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And being well brewed, long kept it will last,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And drawing abide—if you draw not too fast."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The hop has many varieties—thirty or more—among which +may be mentioned prolifics, bramblings, goldings, common +goldings, old goldings, Canterbury goldings, Meopham goldings, +etc. When once planted they last for a hundred years, +but some growers replace them every ten years or sooner.</p> + +<p>The principal enemies of the hop are "mould" caused by +the fungus <i>Sphærotheca Castagnei</i>, and several kinds of insects, +especially the "green fly," <i>Aphis humuli</i>, but the high wind +is most to be dreaded. It tears the hop-bines from the poles +and throws the poles down, which in falling crush other bines, +and thus bruise the hops and prevent their growth, besides +obstructing the passage of air and sunlight, and causing the +development of mould or mildew. The remedy for mould +is dusting with sulphur, and for the green fly, syringing with +tobacco or quassia water and soap, "Hop-wash," as it is +called. Sometimes the lady-bird (<i>Coccinella septempunctata</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +is present in sufficient numbers to consume the green fly. +Very little can be done to obviate the effects of the wind, +but a protective fence of the wild hop—called a "lee" or +"loo"—is sometimes put up round very choice plantations.</p> + +<p>The hop-poles, the preparation of which constitutes a +distinct industry, are either of larch, Spanish chestnut, ash, +willow, birch, or beech—larch or chestnut being preferred. +Women clear the poles of the bark, and men sharpen them +at one end, which is dipped in creosote before being used. +The ground is cleared, and the poles are stuck in against the +old plants in February or March.</p> + +<p>We are informed that the hop-picking is much looked +forward to by the villagers with pleasure as the means of +supplying them with a little purse for clothing, etc., against +winter-time. Each family or companionship earns from thirty +shillings to two pounds per week during the season.</p> + +<p>We proceed on our excursion, and pass Faversham, which +stands in a rather picturesque bit of country some way up +Faversham Creek, and is sheltered on the west by a ridge +of wooded hills where the hop country ceases, as the railway +bends north-easterly for Margate and Ramsgate. Whitstable, +the next station passed, is famous for the most delicate +oysters in the market, the fishery of which is regulated by an +annual court; and it is said that one grower alone sends fifty +thousand barrels a year to London from this district. We +speculate whether these delicious molluscs were supplied at +that famous supper described in the thirty-ninth chapter of +<i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>, at which were present Kit, his +mother, the baby, little Jacob, and Barbara, after the night +at the play, when Kit told the waiter "to bring three dozen +of his largest-sized oysters, and to look sharp about it," and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +fulfilled his promise "to let little Jacob know what oysters +meant." All along, as the railway winds from Whitstable to +Margate, glimpses of the sea are visible, and vary our +excursion pleasantly.</p> + +<p>The next noteworthy place we pass is Reculver—the +ancient Regulbium—which, according to Mr. Phillips Bevan, +is "mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus as being garrisoned +by the first cohort of Brabantois Belgians. After the Romans, +it was occupied by the Saxon Ethelbert, who is said to have +occupied it as a palace, and to have been buried there." "The +two picturesque towers" (quoting Bevan again), "which form +so conspicuous a land and sea mark, are called 'The Sisters,' +and are in reality modern-built by the Trinity Board in place +of two erected traditionally by an Abbess of Faversham, who +was wrecked here with her sister on their way to Broadstairs." +The sea is fast encroaching on the land here, notwithstanding +the erection of a large sea-wall and piles.</p> + +<p>Passing Margate, we reach Broadstairs, about thirty-seven +miles from Chatham. Broadstairs, immortalized in <i>Our +English Watering Place</i> (which paper, says Forster, "appeared +while I was there, and great was the local excitement"), +is so inseparably associated with the earlier years of Charles +Dickens's holiday-life, that it becomes most interesting to his +admirers. Forster also says, "His later seaside holiday, +September 1837, was passed at Broadstairs, as were those of +many subsequent years; and the little watering-place has +been made memorable by his pleasant sketch of it." At the +time of his first visit (1837) he was writing a portion of +<i>Pickwick</i> (Part 18); in 1838 part of <i>Nicholas Nickleby;</i> and +in 1839 part of <i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>. He was also there in +1840, 1841, and 1842, when writing the <i>American Notes;</i> in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +1845 and 1847, when writing <i>Dombey and Son;</i> in 1848 and +1850, when engaged on <i>David Copperfield;</i> and in 1851, +when he was drafting the outlines of <i>Bleak House</i>. At the +end of November of that year, when he had settled himself +in his new London abode (Tavistock House), the book was +begun, "and, as so generally happened with the more important +incidents of his life, but always accidentally, begun +on a Friday." After 1851, he returned not again to Broadstairs +until 1859, when he paid his last visit to the place, +and stayed a week there. The reason for his forsaking it +was that it had become too noisy for him.</p> + +<p>Broadstairs stands midway between the North Foreland +and Ramsgate, and owes its name to the breadth of the sea-gate +or "stair," which was originally defended by a gate or +archway. An archway still survives on the road to the sea, +and bears on it two inscriptions, (1) "Built by George Culenier +about 1540"; (2) "Repaired by Sir John Henniker, Bart., 1795."</p> + +<p>Broadstairs has good sands, precipitous chalk cliffs, and a +very fine sea-view. The railway station is about a mile from +the pier, and the town is approached by a well-kept road +("the main street of our watering-place. . . . You may know +it by its being always stopped up with donkey chaises. +Whenever you come here and see the harnessed donkeys +eating clover out of barrows drawn completely across a narrow +thoroughfare, you may be quite sure you are in our High +Street"), with villas standing in their own gardens, most of +which are brightened by summer flowers, notably the blue +clematis (<i>Clematis Jackmani</i>) and by those charming seaside +evergreens the <i>Escallonia</i> and the <i>Euonymus</i>. As we near the +sea, the shops become more numerous, and, on the right-hand +side, we have no difficulty in finding (although we heard it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +had been altered considerably) the house "No. 12, High +Street," in which Dickens lived when he first visited Broadstairs. +It is a plain little dwelling of single front, with a small +parlour looking into the street, and has one story over—just +the place that seems suited to the financial position of the +novelist when he was commencing life. The house is now +occupied by Mr. Bean, plumber and glazier, whose wife +courteously shows us over it, and into the back yard and +little garden, kindly giving us some pears from an old tree +growing there, whereon we speculate as to whether Dickens +himself had ever enjoyed the fruit from the same old tree. He +appears to have lived in this house during his visits in 1837 +and 1838. We ask the good lady if she is aware that Charles +Dickens had formerly stayed in her house, and she replies in +the negative, so we recommend her to get her husband to put +up a tablet outside to the effect "Charles Dickens lived here, +1837," in imitation of the example of the Society of Arts in +Furnival's Inn. There can be no doubt as to the identity of +the house, for we take the precaution of ascertaining that the +numbers have not been altered.</p> + +<p>Our efforts to discover "Lawn House," where Dickens +stayed on his visits from 1838 to 1848, are attended with +some difficulty. First we are told it lay this way, then that, +and then the other; a smart villa in a new road is pointed +out to us as the object of our search, which we at once reject, +as being too recent. But we are patient and persevering, +feeling, with Mr. F.'s aunt, that "you can't make a head and +brains out of a brass knob with nothing in it. You couldn't +do it when your Uncle George was living; much less when +he's dead!" Finally, we appeal to some one who looks like +the "oldest inhabitant," and obtain something like a clue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +We are eventually directed to a veritable "Lawn House," +which is the last house on the left as you approach "Fort +House." It must have changed in respect of its surroundings +since forty years have passed, and although there is nothing +outside to indicate it as such, it seems fair to assume that this +was the house described in the <i>Life</i> as "a small villa between +the hill and the cornfield." The present occupier, who has +no recollection of Dickens ever having been there, courteously +allows us to see the hall and dining-room. The house is of +course a great improvement upon "No 12, High Street."</p> + +<p>A few steps from "Lawn House" lead us to the drive approaching +"Fort House," pleasantly surrounded by a sloping +lawn and shrubbery. John Forster, alluding to it in the <i>Life</i>, +says:—</p> + +<p>"The residence he most desired there, 'Fort House,' stood +prominently at the top of a breezy hill on the road to Kingsgate, +with a cornfield between it and the sea, and this in many +subsequent years he always occupied."</p> + +<p>Alas! the cornfield is no more, but "Fort House," or "Bleak +House," as it is indifferently termed locally, remains intact. +It is the most striking object of the place, standing on a cliff +overlooking the sea, the harbour, and the town (made familiar +by several photographs and engravings), with its curious +verandahs and blinds, as seen in the vignette of J. C. Hotten's +interesting book, <i>Charles Dickens: The Story of His Life</i>. An +excellent photograph is published in the town, of which we +are glad to secure a copy.</p> + + +<p>In the sixth chapter of <i>Bleak House</i> it is called "an old-fashioned +house with three peaks in the roof in front, and a +severe sweep leading to the porch." In the same chapter there +is a minute account of the interior, too lengthy to be quoted;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +but the description does not resemble Fort House. We are +kindly permitted by the occupier to see the study in which the +novelist worked, a privilege long to be remembered. This +room is approached by "a little staircase of shallow steps" +from the first floor, as described in <i>Bleak House;</i> but it will be +borne in mind that the "Bleak House" of the novel is placed +in Hertfordshire, near St. Albans, and <i>not</i> at Broadstairs, +although many persons still believe that Fort House is the +original of the story. From the study we have a lovely view +of the sea—the balmy breeze of a summer's day lightly fanning +the waves, and just sufficing to move the delicate filamentous +foliage of the tamarisk trees now standing in the place +where the cornfield was. Even at the time we see it, changed +as all its surroundings are, we can imagine the enjoyment +which Dickens had in this healthy spot on the North Downs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_351.png" width="500" height="351" alt=""Bleak House" Broadstairs" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>In that interesting "book for an idle hour" called <i>The +Shuttlecock Papers</i>, Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry thus sympathetically +alludes to "Bleak House":—"What a romantic place this is +to write in, is it not? What a glorious study to work in! +Indeed, both from situation and association, it would be impossible +to find a better place for writing, were it not that one +feels that so much superb work has been done on this very +spot by so great an artist, that the mere craftsman is inclined +to question whether it is worth while for him to write at all."</p> + +<p>How well Dickens loved Broadstairs is told in his letter of +the 1st September, 1843, addressed to Professor Felton, of +Cambridge, U. S. A., as follows:—</p> + +<p>"This is a little fishing-place; intensely quiet; built on a +cliff, whereon—in the centre of a tiny semi-circular bay—our +house stands; the sea rolling and dashing under the windows. +Seven miles out are the Goodwin Sands (you've heard of the +Goodwin Sands?), whence floating lights perpetually wink +after dark, as if they were carrying on intrigues with the +servants. Also there is a lighthouse called the North Foreland +on a hill behind the village, a severe parsonic light, which +reproves the young and giddy floaters, and stares grimly out +upon the sea. Under the cliff are rare good sands, where all +the children assemble every morning and throw up impossible +fortifications, which the sea throws down again at high-water. +Old gentlemen and ancient ladies flirt after their own manner +in two reading-rooms, and on a great many scattered seats in +the open air. Other old gentlemen look all day long through +telescopes and never see anything.</p> + +<p>"In a bay-window in a one-pair sits, from nine o'clock to +one, a gentleman with rather long hair and no neckcloth, who +writes and grins as if he thought he were very funny indeed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +His name is Boz. At one he disappears, and presently +emerges from a bathing machine, and may be seen—a kind +of salmon-coloured porpoise—splashing about in the ocean. +After that he may be seen in another bay-window on the +ground-floor, eating a strong lunch; after that, walking a +dozen miles or so, or lying on his back in the sand reading a +book. Nobody bothers him unless they know he is disposed +to be talked to; and I am told he is very comfortable indeed. +He's as brown as a berry, and they <i>do</i> say is a small fortune +to the innkeeper who sells beer and cold punch. But this is +mere rumour. Sometimes he goes up to London (eighty +miles or so away), and then I'm told there is a sound in +Lincoln's Inn Fields at night, as of men laughing, together +with a clinking of knives and forks, and wine-glasses."</p> + +<p>And further in a letter to another correspondent recently +made public:—</p> + +<p>"When you come to London, to assist at Miss Liston's +sacrifice, don't forget to remind your uncle of our Broadstairs +engagement to which I hold you bound. A good sea—fresh +breezes—fine sands—and pleasant walks—with all manner of +fishing-boats, lighthouses, piers, bathing-machines, are its only +attractions, but it's one of the freshest little places in the +world, consequently the proper place for you."</p> + +<p>In the year 1851, in a letter dated 8th September, addressed +to Mr. Henry Austin, he thus alludes to a wreck which took +place at Broadstairs:—</p> + +<p>"A great to-do here. A steamer lost on the Goodwins +yesterday, and our men bringing in no end of dead cattle and +sheep. I stood supper for them last night, to the unbounded +gratification of Broadstairs. They came in from the wreck +very wet and tired, and very much disconcerted by the nature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +of their prize—which, I suppose after all, will have to be +recommitted to the sea, when the hides and tallow are +secured. One lean-faced boatman murmured, when they +were all ruminating over the bodies as they lay on the pier: +'Couldn't sassages be made on it?' but retired in confusion +shortly afterwards, overwhelmed by the execrations of the +bystanders."</p> + +<p>Dickens got tired of Broadstairs in 1847, for reasons given +in the following letter to Forster, though he did not forsake +it till some years after:—</p> + +<p>"Vagrant music is getting to that height here, and is so +impossible to be escaped from, that I fear Broadstairs and +I must part company in time to come. Unless it pours of +rain, I cannot write half an hour without the most excruciating +organs, fiddles, bells, or glee singers. There is a violin +of the most torturing kind under the window now (time, ten +in the morning), and an Italian box of music on the steps—both +in full blast."</p> + +<p>By good luck we fall in with an "old salt," formerly one +of the boatmen of <i>Our English Watering Place</i> who are +therein immortalized by much kindly mention, with whom +we have a pleasant chat about Charles Dickens. Harry Ford +(the name of our friend) well remembers the great novelist, +when in early days he used to come on his annual excursions +with his family to Broadstairs. "Bless your soul," he says, +"I can see 'Old Charley,' as we used to call him among ourselves +here, a-coming flying down from the cliff with a hop, +step, and jump, with his hair all flying about. He used to +sit sometimes on that rail" (pointing to the one surrounding +the harbour), "with his legs lolling about, and sometimes +on the seat that you're a-sitting on now" (adjoining the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +old Look-out House opposite the Tartar Frigate Inn), "and +he was very fond of talking to us fellows and hearing our +tales—he was very good-natured, and nobody was liked +better. And if you'll read" (continues our informant) "that +story that he wrote and printed about <i>Our Watering Place</i>, +<i>I</i> was the man who's mentioned there as mending a little +ship for a boy. <i>I</i> held that child between my knees. And +what's more, sir, <i>I</i> took 'Old Charley,' on the very last +time that he came over to Broadstairs (he wasn't living +here at the time), round the foreland to Margate, with a +party of four friends. I took 'em in my boat, the <i>Irene</i>," +pointing to a clinker-built strong boat lying in the harbour, +capable of holding twenty people. "The wind was easterly—the +weather was rather rough, and it took me three or +four hours to get round. There was a good deal of chaffing +going on, I can tell you."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_355.png" width="500" height="318" alt="Old Look-out House Broadstairs" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Long, of Zion Place, Broadstairs, the wife of an old +coastguardman, who was stationed at the Preventive Station +when Dickens lodged at Fort House, also remembered the +novelist. The coastguard men are also immortalized in <i>Our +English Watering Place</i>, as "a steady, trusty, well-conditioned, +well-conducted set of men, with no misgiving about looking +you full in the face, and with a quiet, thorough-going way +of passing along to their duty at night, carrying huge sou'wester +clothing in reserve, that is fraught with all good prepossession. +They are handy fellows—neat about their houses, +industrious at gardening, would get on with their wives, one +thinks, in a desert island—and people it too soon."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Long says "Mr. Dickens was a very nice sort of +gentleman, but he didn't like a noise." The windows of Fort +House, she reminds us, overlooked the coastguard station, and +whenever the children playing about made more noise than +usual, he used to tell her husband gently "to take the children +away," or "to keep the people quiet." This little story fully +confirms Dickens's often-expressed feeling of dislike, which +subsequently grew intolerable, to Broadstairs as a watering-place.</p> + +<p>After taking a turn or two on the lively Promenade,—made +bright by the rich masses of flesh-coloured flowers of the +valerian which fringe its margin,—to enjoy the sunshine and +air, and watch the holiday folks, we bid adieu to Broadstairs, +and proceed to Margate.</p> + +<p>Of Margate there is not much to say. We reach it by an +early afternoon train of the London, Chatham, and Dover +Railway, to get the quickest service by the South-Eastern +Railway on to Canterbury. Our stay at Margate is consequently +very limited.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p> + +<p>To some minds this popular Cockney watering-place has +great attractions; its broad sands, its beautiful air, and its +boisterous amusements, negro-melodies, merry-go-rounds, and +the like; but it was a place seldom visited by Dickens, +although he was so often near it. Only twice in the <i>Life</i> +is it recorded that he came here; once being in 1844, when +he wrote to Forster respecting the theatre as follows:—</p> + +<p>"'<i>Nota Bene.</i>—The Margate Theatre is open every evening, +and the four Patagonians (see Goldsmith's <i>Essays</i>) are performing +thrice a week at Ranelagh.' A visit from me"—Forster +goes on to say—"was at this time due, to which these +were held out as inducements; and there followed what it was +supposed I could not resist, a transformation into the broadest +farce of a deep tragedy by a dear friend of ours. 'Now +you really must come. Seeing only is believing, very often +isn't that, and even Being the thing falls a long way short of +believing it. Mrs. Nickleby herself once asked me, as you +know, if I really believed there ever was such a woman; but +there will be no more belief, either in me or my descriptions, +after what I have to tell of our excellent friend's tragedy, if +you don't come and have it played again for yourself, 'by +particular desire.' We saw it last night, and oh! if you had +but been with us! Young Betty, doing what the mind of man +without my help never <i>can</i> conceive, with his legs like padded +boot-trees wrapped up in faded yellow drawers, was the hero. +The comic man of the company, enveloped in a white sheet, +with his head tied with red tape like a brief, and greeted with +yells of laughter whenever he appeared, was the venerable +priest. A poor toothless old idiot, at whom the very gallery +roared with contempt when he was called a tyrant, was the +remorseless and aged Creon. And Ismene, being arrayed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +spangled muslin trousers very loose in the legs and very tight +in the ankles, such as Fatima would wear in <i>Blue Beard</i>, was +at her appearance immediately called upon for a song! After +this can you longer—?'"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_358.png" width="500" height="349" alt="The "Falstaff": Westgate Canterbury" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>He speaks in a letter to Forster, dated September, 1847, +of "improvements in the Margate Theatre since his memorable +first visit." It had been managed by a son of the great +comedian Dowton, and the piece which Dickens then saw was +<i>As You Like It</i>, "really very well done, and a most excellent +house." It was Mr. Dowton's benefit, and "he made a sensible +and modest kind of speech," which impressed Dickens, +who thus concludes his letter:—"He really seems a most +respectable man, and he has cleaned out this dusthole of a +theatre into something like decency."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span></p> + +<p>There is also the following significant mention of Margate +in chapter nineteen of <i>Bleak House:</i>—</p> + +<p>"It is the hottest long vacation known for many years. All +the young clerks are madly in love, and according to their +various degrees, pant for bliss with the beloved object at +Margate, Ramsgate, or Gravesend."</p> + +<p>If Broadstairs was noisy, Margate must have been intensely +so. We leave the crowded holiday-making place without +much feeling of regret, and passing Ramsgate—of which +there is but one mention in the <i>Life</i>—on our way, reach +Canterbury in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>We are delighted with this exquisitely beautiful old city, +our only regret being that our time is very limited, and our +means of ascertaining places situated in "Dickens-Land" +more so.</p> + +<p>Taking up our temporary quarters at the "Sir John Falstaff" +Hotel, in remembrance of its namesake at Gad's Hill, after +the refreshment of a meal, we commence our tramp through +Canterbury, where David Copperfield passed some of his +happiest days. Of the Falstaff here there is an excellent +picture in Mr. Rimmer's <i>About England with Dickens;</i> a +very quaint old inn with double front, and bay-windows top +and bottom, possibly of the sixteenth century, and with a +long swinging sign extending over the pavement, on which is +painted a life-like presentment of the portly knight, the +pretty ornamental ironwork supporting it reminding one of +Washington Irving's description in <i>Bracebridge Hall</i>, "fancifully +wrought at top into flourishes and flowers."</p> + +<p>A few steps further on is the West Gate, "standing between +two lofty and spacious round towers erected in the river," +built by Archbishop Sudbury, who was barbarously murdered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +by Wat Tyler in the reign of Richard II., which is the sole +remaining one of six gates formerly constituting the approaches +to the city. From this gate, looking eastward, +with the river Stour on either side, banked by neatly-trimmed +private gardens, a beautiful view of the city is obtained. The +High Street, crowded with gables of the sixteenth century +and later timbered houses, slightly bends and rises as well, +until the perspective seems to lose itself in a distant grove +of trees, locally called the "Dane John," a corruption of +"Donjon." This view, especially when seen on a summer +afternoon, is most picturesque. The present appearance of the +quiet street is decidedly unlike that which it presented on +that busy market-day when Miss Betsey Trotwood drove her +nephew along it, for David says, "My aunt had a good +opportunity of insinuating the grey pony among carts, +baskets, vegetables, and hucksters' goods. The hair-breadth +turns and twists we made drew down upon us a variety of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +speeches from the people standing about, which were not +always complimentary; but my aunt drove on with perfect +indifference."</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_360.png" width="500" height="306" alt="The "Dane John" from the City Wall Canterbury" title="" /> +</div> + + +<p>We notice in the windows and in many of the shops an +abundance of brightly-coloured cut-flowers, a notable feature +of the county of Kent; but we have little time to spare, and +hasten on to the Cathedral precincts.</p> + +<p>"What a magnificent edifice!" is our first thought on +beholding the Cathedral, a noble pile so well befitting the +Metropolitan See of England, from which the Christianity of +the Kingdom first flowed. Dating from Ethelbert, at the +close of the sixth century, three structures have successively +occupied the site, culminating in the present one, which, +according to Mr. Phillips Bevan, was erected at different +times between 1070 and 1500; and he goes on to say:—"No +wonder that it exhibits so many styles and peculiarities of +detail, although the two most prominent architectural eras +are those of 'Transition-Norman' and 'Perpendicular.'"</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339"></a> +<img src="images/i_362.png" width="399" height="600" alt="Bell Harry Tower: Canterbury Cathedral:" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The appropriate stone figures in niches of distinguished +Royal and Ecclesiastical personages associated with the +Cathedral (which at the suggestion of Dean Alford in 1863 +replaced those of the murderers of the martyr, Thomas à +Becket), from King Ethelbert to Queen Victoria, and from +Archbishop Lanfranc to Archbishop Longley; the lofty +groined arches and stately towers, the beautiful carved screen, +the noble monuments, the splendid choir (a hundred and +eighty feet in length) approached by many steps, the rich +stained-glass windows, all attract our admiring attention, and +confirm our impression that a modern pilgrimage to Canterbury +is a thing to be highly appreciated; and on no account would +we have missed this part of our excursion. The murder of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +Thomas à Becket (1170) took place between the nave +and the choir in a transept or cross aisle called "The +Martyrdom."</p> + + +<p>There is an interesting Sidney Cooper Gallery of Art, and +also a Museum in the city, the latter containing some rare old +Roman Mosaic pavement discovered in Burgate Street at a +depth of ten feet.</p> + +<p>But our object is to identify spots made memorable in +<i>David Copperfield</i>, and we walk round the spacious Cathedral +Close and "make an effort" (as Mrs. Chick said) in trying to +find the simple-minded and good Dr. Strong's House. It is +described as "a grave building in a courtyard, with a learned +air about it that seemed very well suited to the stray rooks +and jackdaws who came down from the Cathedral towers, +and walked with a clerkly bearing on the grass-plat."</p> + +<p>Alas! it is not here, although there are many such houses +that correspond with it in some particulars. So we try +several of the "dear old tranquil streets," but fail to discover +the identical building.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 575px;"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341"></a> +<img src="images/i_364.png" width="575" height="457" alt="Scene of the Martyrdom Canterbury Cathedral" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The next object of our search is Mr. Wickfield's residence, +"a very old house bulging out over the road; a house with +low latticed windows, bulging out still further, and beams +with carved heads on the ends, bulging out too." How +strongly the description in many parts tallies with the houses +in Rochester opposite "Eastgate House"; but here again we +are baffled, as other modern pilgrims have been before, and +we cannot associate any particular building with either of +the two houses. The house in Burgate Street now occupied +as offices by Messrs. Plummer and Fielding, Diocesan +Registrars, who obligingly permit an examination of it, +is suggested to us as being Mr. Wickfield's house, but, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +an inspection, on several grounds we are obliged to reject this +suggestion.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_365.png" width="600" height="870" alt=""Bits" of Old Canterbury." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Bits" of Old Canterbury.</span> +</div> + +<p>There was many a "low +old-fashioned room, walked +straight into from the +street," which would have +served for the "umble" +dwelling of Uriah Heep +and his mother, but none +can be pointed out with +absolute certainty +as being the +veritable one.</p> + +<p>By the +kindness of +Dr. Sheppard +and Mr. T. B. Rosseter, F.R.M.S., we are, however, enabled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +to identify two houses in Canterbury alluded to in <i>David +Copperfield</i>. The "County Inn," where Mr. Dick slept on +his visits to David "every alternate Wednesday," was no +doubt The Royal Fountain Hotel in St. Margaret's Street +(formerly the Watling Street), which is still recognized as +such. A passage in the seventeenth chapter thus refers to +these visits:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mr. Dick was very partial to ginger-bread. To render his visits +the more agreeable, my aunt had instructed me to open a credit for +him at a cake-shop, which was hampered with the stipulation that he +should not be served with more than one shilling's-worth in the +course of any one day. This, and the reference of all his little bills +at the County Inn, where he slept, to my aunt before they were +paid, induced me to think that Mr. Dick was only allowed to rattle +his money, and not to spend it."</p></div> + +<p>The "little Inn" (as recorded in the same chapter) where +Mr. Micawber "put up" on his first visit to Canterbury, and +where he "occupied a little room in it partitioned off from +the commercial, and strongly flavoured with tobacco smoke," +is doubtless the "Sun Inn" in Sun Street, which is at the +opposite corner of the square where the ancient "Chequers" +in Mercery Lane—the Pilgrim's Inn of Chaucer—stood. It +was a place of resort from afar, and was altered in the +seventeenth century. Dr. Sheppard calls attention to the +interesting fact that the omnibus from Herne Bay stopped at +the Sun; and probably, in his visits to Broadstairs, Dickens +would often run over for a day's trip to Canterbury.</p> + +<p>On their first visit to the "little Inn," Mr. and Mrs. +Micawber—notwithstanding their chronic impecuniosity—thus +entertained David Copperfield:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We had a beautiful little dinner. Quite an elegant dish of fish; +the kidney end of a loin of veal roasted; fried sausage-meat; a +partridge and a pudding. There was wine, and there was strong +ale; and after dinner Mrs. Micawber made us a bowl of hot punch +with her own hands."</p></div> + +<p>They spent a jolly evening, and ended with singing <i>Auld +Lang Syne</i>.</p> + +<p>The "little Inn" is again alluded to later in the story, +where Mr. Micawber announces his full determination to +abstain from everything until he has exposed the machinations +of, and blown to pieces, "the—a—detestable serpent—<span class="smcap">Heep</span>;" +and finally, where David Copperfield "assisted at +an explosion," and Mr. Micawber is triumphant, and the +"transcendent and immortal hypocrite and perjurer, <span class="smcap">Heep</span>," +is forced to succumb.</p> + +<p>Speaking of the "little Inn" for the last time, David +says:—"I looked at the old house from the corner of the +street. . . . The early sun was striking edgewise on its gables +and lattice-windows, touching them with gold; and some +beams of its old peace seemed to touch my heart."</p> + +<p>Dr. Sheppard subsequently told us that, when he was +beginning to turn his attention to the deciphering and +utilizing of ancient MSS., he was much impressed, when +perusing some articles in <i>Household Words</i>, or some other +papers written by Dickens, relating to the neglected state +of public records, more particularly at Canterbury; and +when many years after the very records of which he wrote +came under his (Dr. Sheppard's) care, he was surprised to +find the names of Snodgrass, Sam Weller, and others therein. +The records to which Dr. Sheppard referred were those in +charge of the Archbishop's Registrar at Canterbury.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span></p> + +<p>If time permits it would be pleasant to go on to Dover,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +to see "Miss Betsey Trotwood's house," but this is impossible; +and indeed, all that can be said about a tramp +in search of "that very neat little cottage with cheerful +bow windows in front of it, a small square gravelled court +or garden full of flowers carefully tended, and smelling +deliciously," has been well said by Mr. Ashby-Sterry in his +delightful little volume, <i>Cucumber Chronicles</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_368.png" width="500" height="466" alt=""The Little Inn" Canterbury" title="" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span></p> +<p>After much perseverance, and in spite of almost as many difficulties +as beset poor little David Copperfield himself in his +search for his aunt (who, as the Dover boatmen told him, "lived +in the South Foreland Light, and had singed her whiskers by +doing so"—"that she was made fast to the great buoy outside +the harbour, and could only be visited at half-tide"—"that +she was locked up in Maidstone Jail for child-stealing"—and +that "she was seen to mount a broom in the last high wind +and make direct for Calais"), Mr. Ashby-Sterry succeeded, +although his greatest embarrassment arose from that irrepressible +nuisance, "Buggins the Builder," who cannot be +controlled even in the neighbourhood of Dover, so "hugely +does he delight to mar those spots that have been hallowed +by antiquity, seclusion, or the pen of the novelist. Hence the +abode of Betsey Trotwood is not so pleasant as it must have +been formerly, for other houses have clustered about the back +and the front." But Mr. Ashby-Sterry quite satisfied himself +as to the identity on Dover Heights of the very neat little +cottage, and assures us that "the house, however, still stands +high, the fresh breezes from over the sea and across the Down +smite it. It still has a view of the sea, though perhaps not so +uninterrupted as it was in the days of David Copperfield." +He further states that it is, perhaps, not quite so neat as it +was in Miss Betsey Trotwood's time, though there are no +donkeys about. Here are the bow windows, with the room +above, where Mr. Dick alarmed poor David by nodding and +laughing at him on his first arrival. The window on the +right must have belonged to the neat room "with the drugget-covered +carpet," and the old-fashioned furniture brightly +polished, where might be found "the cat, the kettle-holder, +the two canaries, the old china, the punch-bowl full of dried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +rose leaves, the tall press guarding all sorts of bottles and +pots, and wonderfully out of keeping with the rest." On the +strength of this description by an ardent lover of Dickens, we +fully make up our minds to visit Dover at no distant date to +see Miss Betsey Trotwood's house for ourselves.</p> + +<p><i>À propos</i> of Miss Trotwood's domicile, we have been +favoured by Mr. C. K. Worsfold, an old resident of Dover, +with a letter containing some interesting particulars, from +which we extract the following:—</p> + +<p>"Dickens's description of the local habitation of Betsey +Trotwood is not consistent with the surroundings. The hills +on either side of the town belong to the War Department, +and are occupied as fortifications; on the eastern side is the +Castle, and on the western side barracks and forts. On the +western heights there is a house somewhat answering to +Dickens's description, having a garden in front of it, and a +small plot of grass in front of the garden; and about forty +years ago there lived in this house a lady of rather masculine +character, who always resented any intrusion of boys, and +perhaps donkeys, on the grass in front of her house and +garden, and I believe she was occasionally rather rough with +the boys; but there the likeness to Betsey Trotwood ends. +This was a married lady living with her husband.</p> + +<p>"I know it was a matter of conversation forty years ago +that Dickens must have found his original in the lady in +question, but I think he was rather in the habit of selecting +his characters without reference to locality, and then adapting +them to his requirements.</p> + +<p>"Dickens was a frequent visitor to Dover, and he may +possibly have been a witness of some encounter between this +lady and the boys, and on that occasion donkeys may have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +been present.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> I do not know of any relative of the lady +answering to Miss Trotwood's worthy nephew."</p> + +<p>"A moderate stroke," as Mr. Datchery said, "is all I am +justified in scoring up"; and we reluctantly leave the "sunny +street of Canterbury, dozing, as it were, in the hot light," and +take our places in the train for Chatham, distant about +twenty-seven miles.</p> + +<p>The only new parts of interest which we go over, on our +return journey by rail, are the green fields surrounding the +ancient city, wherein are numbers of those beautiful and +quiet-feeding cattle, which the eminent artist, Mr. T. Sidney +Cooper, R.A. (who resides in the neighbourhood), loves to +paint, and paints so well; and in due time we pass the +chalk-topped hills called Harbledown, overlooking Canterbury, +from whence the best view of the city is obtained, and +safely reach our headquarters at Rochester.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>COOLING, CLIFFE, AND HIGHAM.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"And now the range of marshes lay clear before us, with the sails of the +ships on the river growing out of it; and we went into the Churchyard +. . . and the light wind strewed it with beautiful shadows of +clouds and trees."</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"What might have been your opinion of the place?"</p> + +<p>"A most beastly place. Mudbank, mist, swamp and work; work, +swamp, mist, and mudbank."—<i>Great Expectations.</i></p></div> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<div class="hang2">"They were now in the open country; the houses were very few and +scattered at long intervals, often miles apart. Occasionally they came +upon a cluster of poor cottages, some with a chair or low board put +across the open door, to keep the scrambling children from the road; +others shut up close, while all the family were working in the fields. +These were often the commencement of a little village; and after an +interval came a wheelwright's shed, or perhaps a blacksmith's forge; +then a thriving farm, with sleepy cows lying about the yard, and horses +peering over the low wall, and scampering away when harnessed horses +passed upon the road, as though in triumph at their freedom."—<i>The Old +Curiosity Shop.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Now</span> for a long tramp in the country of the Marshes—the +famous "Meshes" of <i>Great Expectations</i>. The air is sultry +on this Thursday afternoon, and there is thunder in the +distance. The storm, however, does not pass over Rochester, +but further on we find traces of it where the roadways have +been washed up. Afterwards the air becomes deliciously +cool, and that hum of all Nature which succeeds the quiet +preceding the storm is distinctly perceptible. Crossing +Rochester Bridge, keeping to the right along Strood and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +Frindsbury—the churchyard of which affords a splendid +view of Rochester, Chatham, and the Medway—passing +up Four Elms Hill and through the little village of +Wainscot, nothing of interest calls for notice until we +have travelled some miles from Strood. After crossing +a tramway belonging to Government, and utilized by the +Royal Engineers as a means of communication between +the powder-magazine and Chatham Barracks, we observe +that vegetation, which is so rich in other parts of Kent, +here appears to be dwarfed and stunted. A hop-garden +presents a very miserable contrast, in its struggle for existence, +to others we have seen in the more central parts of +the county, and even some of these were far from being +luxuriant, owing to such a peculiarly wet and cold season. +The hedges in places are diversified with the small gold and +violet star-like flowers and the green and scarlet berries of +the climbing woody nightshade, or bitter-sweet (<i>Solanum +Dulcamara</i>), often mistaken for the deadly nightshade (<i>Atropa +Belladonna</i>—a fine bushy herbaceous perennial, with large +ovate-shaped leaves, and lurid, purple bell-shaped flowers), +quite a different plant, and happily somewhat rare in +England. The delicate light-blue flowers of the chicory are +very abundant here.</div> + +<p>A tramp of upwards of six miles from Rochester, by way of +Hoo,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> brings us to Lodge Hill, overlooking Perry Hill, which +affords a magnificent view of the mouth of the Thames +beyond the low-lying Marshes, and of Canvey Island, off the +coast of Essex, on the opposite side. By the kindness of a +farmer's wife we are allowed to take a short cut through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +the farm-garden and grounds, which leads direct to Cooling +(or Cowling) Church, a cheerless, grey-stone structure, the +tower standing out as a beacon long before we reach it.</p> + +<p>Those unacquainted with this part of Kent may be interested +in knowing that the Marshes, which stretch out over +a considerable distance on either side of the Thames, on both +the Kent and the Essex coasts, consist entirely of alluvial soil +reclaimed at some time from the river. They are intersected by +ditches and water-courses, and covered with rank vegetation, +chiefly of grass, rushes, and flags, where not cultivated. Higher +up the land is rich, and large tracts of it are planted with +vegetables as market gardens. Sea-gulls, plovers, and herons +are numerous; their call-notes in the still evening sounding +shrill and uncanny over the long stretches of flat lands.</p> + +<p>Dear old Michael Drayton, the Warwickshire poet, who +touched upon almost everything, has not omitted to describe +the Marshes in a somewhat similar locality, for in the +<i>Polyolbion</i> (Song XVIII.) he gracefully compares them to a +female enamoured of the beauties of the River Rother, thus:—</p> + +<div class='poem2'> +"Appearing to the flood, most bravely like a Queen,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Clad all from head to foot, in gaudy Summer's green,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Her mantle richly wrought with sundry flow'rs and weeds;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Her moistful temples bound with wreaths of quiv'ring reeds;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And on her loins a frock, with many a swelling plait,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Emboss'd with well-spread horse, large sheep, and full-fed neat;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With villages amongst, oft powthered here and there;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And (that the same more like to landscape should appear)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With lakes and lesser fords, to mitigate the heat</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In summer, when the fly doth prick the gadding neat."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Readers of <i>Great Expectations</i> will remember that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> +scene in the first chapter between Pip and the convict, +Magwitch, is laid in Cooling churchyard, and on reaching +this spot we are instantly reminded of what doubtless gave +origin to the idea of the five dead little brothers of poor +Philip Pirrip, for there, on the left of the principal pathway, +are indeed, not five stone lozenges, but <i>ten</i> in one row and +three more at the back of them, such peculiarly-shaped and +curiously-arranged little monuments as we never before beheld. +They consist of a grey stone (Kentish-rag, probably, +but lichen-encrusted by time) of cylindrical shape, widening +at the shoulders, coffin-like, and about a yard in length, the +diameter being about eight inches, including the portion +buried in the earth. Four little foot-stones are placed in +front, and separating the ten little memorials from the three +at the back is a large head-stone, bearing the name—"Comport +of Cowling Court, 1771." Cooling Church, which +has the date 1615 on one of the bells, has an example of +a Hagioscope, a curious, small, square, angular, tunnel-like +opening through the wall, which divides the nave from the +chancel. It is said to have been the place through which +those members of the church, who were unworthy or unable +to receive the sacred elements, might get a look at their +more acceptable companions during the administration of +the sacrament. The Rev. W. H. A. Leaver, the Rector, who +kindly shows us over his church, in reply to our question as +to whether he could give any information about Charles +Dickens, said that he was a new-comer in the district, and +that all he remembers is, that when his sister was a little +baby in arms, her mother happened once to be travelling in +the same train with the great novelist, who, with his usual +kindness, gave the child an orange, which she acknowledged +very ungratefully by scratching his face!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span></p> + +<p>The following is a picture of the neighbourhood, given in +the opening sentences of the story:—</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> +<img src="images/i_376.png" width="475" height="363" alt="Graves of the Comport Family: in Cooling Churchyard" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the +river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad +impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained +on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time, I +found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was +the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also +Georgiana, wife of above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, +Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the +aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness +beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes, and mounds, +and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and +that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the distant +savage lair, from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that +the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all, and beginning to +cry, was Pip."</p></div> + + +<p>Here follows the appearance of the awful convict, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +terrible threats by which he induces Pip to bring him "that +file and them wittles" on the morrow; to enforce obedience +the convict tilts Pip two or three times, "and then" [says Pip] +"he gave me a most tremendous dip and roll, so that the +church jumped over its own weathercock." Then he held +him by the arms in an upright position on the top of the +stone, finally threatening him "with having his heart and liver +torn out," in case of non-compliance.</p> + +<p>All the characters described in <i>Great Expectations</i>, and all +the scenes wherein they played their parts—Pip, with and +without his "great expectations"; his sister Mrs. Joe +Gargery, "on the rampage with Tickler;" Joe Gargery, "ever +the best of friends, dear Pip;" Mr. and Mrs. Hubble, the +former fond of "a bit of savoury pork pie as would lay atop of +anything you could mention and do no harm;" the stage-struck +Wopsle, <i>alias</i> "Mr. Waldengarver"; "the servile +Pumblechook;" the two convicts, "Pip's convict," Magwitch, +with "the great iron on his leg," and the "other convict," +Compeyson, also ironed; "slouching old" Orlick; Biddy, +simple-hearted and loving; "the Serjeant" and "party of +soldiers"; Mr. Jaggers, "the Old Bailey lawyer"; Estella, +Miss Havisham, Herbert Pocket, and Bentley Drummle at +"the market town"; Joe's Forge (now converted into a +dwelling-house); "The Three Jolly Bargemen" (obviously +taken from "The Three Horse-shoes," the present village +inn); the "old Battery," "the little sluice-house by the lime-kiln;"—all +centre round Cooling churchyard, and appear +before us as though traced on a map.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355"></a> +<img src="images/i_378.png" width="500" height="392" alt="Cooling Church." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Cooling Church.</span> +</div> + +<p>Forster says in the <i>Life:</i>—"It is strange as I transcribe the +words, with what wonderful vividness they bring back the very +spot on which we stood when he said he meant to make it the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +scene of the opening of this story—Cooling Castle ruins and +the desolate Church, lying out among the marshes seven miles +from Gad's Hill!"</p> + + +<p>Beyond where the river runs to the sea, we conjure up the +chase and recapture of Pip's convict, while poor Pip himself, +assisted by his friend Herbert Pocket, is straining every nerve +to get him away. As illustrative of the wonderfully careful +way in which Dickens did all his work, we also read in +Forster's <i>Life:</i>—</p> + +<p>"To make himself sure of the actual course of a boat in +such circumstances, and what possible incidents the adventure +might have, Dickens hired a steamer for the day from Blackwall +to Southend. Eight or nine friends, and three or four +members of his family, were on board, and he seemed to have +no care, the whole of that summer day (22nd of May, 1861), +except to enjoy their enjoyment and entertain them with his +own in shape of a thousand whims and fancies; but his sleepless +observation was at work all the time, and nothing had +escaped his keen vision on either side of the river. The +fifteenth chapter of the third volume is a masterpiece."</p> + +<p>Speaking generally of this fascinating story, which possesses +a thousand-fold greater interest to us now we visit the country +there described (not formerly very accessible, but now readily +approached by the railway from Gravesend to Sheerness, alighting +at Cliffe, the nearest station to Cooling), Forster says:—</p> + +<p>"It may be doubted if Dickens could better have established +his right to the front rank among novelists claimed for +him, than by the ease and mastery with which, in these two +books of <i>Copperfield</i> and <i>Great Expectations</i>, he kept perfectly +distinct the two stories of a boy's childhood, both told in the +form of autobiography."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span></p> + +<p>The marshes are also alluded to twice in <i>Bleak House</i>—first, +in chapter one—"Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the +Kentish heights;" and secondly, in the twenty-sixth chapter, +in the dialogue between Trooper George and his odd but kind-hearted +attendant Phil Squod, the original of which, by the +bye, was a Chatham character.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'And so, Phil,' says George of the shooting gallery, after several +turns in silence; 'you were dreaming of the country last night.'</p> + +<p>"Phil, by the bye, said as much, in a tone of surprise, as he +scrambled out of bed.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, guv'ner.'</p> + +<p>"'What was it like?'</p> + +<p>"'I hardly know what it was like, guv'ner,' said Phil, considering.</p> + +<p>"'How did you know it was the country?'</p> + +<p>"'On accounts of the grass, I think. And the swans upon it,' says +Phil, after further consideration.</p> + +<p>"'What were the swans doing on the grass?'</p> + +<p>"'They was a eating of it, I expect,' says Phil. . . .</p> + +<p>"'The country,' says Mr. George, applying his knife and fork, +'why I suppose you never clapped your eyes on the country, Phil?'</p> + +<p>"'I see the marshes once,' says Phil, contentedly eating his +breakfast.</p> + +<p>"'What marshes?'</p> + +<p>"'<i>The</i> marshes, commander,' returns Phil.</p> + +<p>"'Where are they?'</p> + +<p>"'I don't know where they are,' says Phil, 'but I see 'em, guv'ner. +They was flat. And miste.'"</p></div> + +<p>Forster says:—"About the whole of this Cooling churchyard, +indeed, and the neighbouring castle ruins, there was a +weird strangeness that made it one of his [Dickens's] attractive +walks in the late year or winter, when from Higham he could +get to it across country, over the stubble fields; and, for a +shorter summer walk, he was not less fond of going round the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +village of Shorne, and sitting on a hot afternoon in its pretty +shady churchyard."</p> + +<p>Altogether, the place has a dreary and lonesome appearance +in the close of the summer evening, and we can picture +with wonderful vividness the remarkable scenes described in +<i>Great Expectations</i>, as the lurid purple reflection from the +setting sun spreads over the Thames valley, and lights up the +marshes; the tall pollards standing out like spectres contribute +to the weirdness and beauty of the scene.</p> + +<p>Dickens was not the only admirer of the Marshes. Turner +also visited them, and painted some of his most famous +pictures from observation there, namely "Stangate Creek," +"Shrimping Sands," and "Off Sheerness."</p> + +<p>A few paces from the church brings us to Cooling Castle, +built by Sir John de Cobham, the third Baron Cobham, in +the reign of Richard II., whose arms appear on the gatehouse, +together with a very curious motto in early English +characters. We extract the following interesting account of +the tower from the <i>Archæologia Cantiana</i> (vol. xi.):—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359"></a> +<img src="images/i_382.png" width="550" height="406" alt="Gateway Cooling Castle" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"On the south face of the eastern Outer Gate Tower, we +see the well-known inscription, which takes the form of a +Charter, with Lord Cobham's seal appended to it. This is +formed of fourteen copper plates exquisitely enamelled. The +writing is in black, while the ground is of white enamel; the +seal and silk cords are of the proper colours. The whole work +is an exquisite example of enamel, which after five hundred +years' exposure to the weather remains nearly as good as +when it was put up. The inscription states very clearly why +Lord Cobham erected a castle here, viz. for the safety of the +country. The French invasion had shewn the need, and the +inscription was perhaps intended to disarm the suspicions and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +hostility of the serfs by reminding them of that need. It +runs thus, in four lines, each enamelled upon three plates of +copper:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"'Knoweth that beth and schul be<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That i am mad in help of the cuntre</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In knowyng of whyche thyng</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thys is chartre and witnessyng.'"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"(Seal, 'gules', on a chevron 'or' three lions rampant +'sable'.)</p> + +<p>"Inscriptions are rare on Gothic buildings, especially on +castles. This at Coulyng is remarkable from being in English, +at a time when Latin was employed in all charters; it +contains that early form of the plural 'beth' instead of 'are.' +The inscription measures thirty-two inches by fourteen, and +the diameter of the seal is no less than seven and a quarter +inches long."</p> + +<p>After stopping a short time to admire the imposing entrance +gate and the remains of the ancient moat, we wend our way +for two or three miles, by lanes and "over the stubble-fields," +to the straggling village of Cliffe,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> the houses of which are +very old and mostly weather-boarded. The approach to the +church is by a rare example of a lich-gate, having a room +over it for muniments, and the church itself (which is very +large, and seems to be out of proportion to the size of the +village) stands in a commanding position on a ridge of chalk, +overlooking the marshes, from whence the views of the river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +in the distance are very fine. It is supposed to be the place +where the Saxon Church held its councils, and there is a local +tradition of a ferry having once existed near here. Evidence +of this seems to survive in the fact that all the roads both on +the Kent and Essex shores appear to converge to this point. +The church has some interesting <i>miserere</i> stalls and brasses +to the Faunce family (17th century). On the walls we find +specimens of that somewhat rare fern, the scaly spleenwort +(<i>Ceterach officinarum</i>).</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_384.png" width="500" height="475" alt="Cliffe Church" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Time does not permit us to go on to Gravesend, which like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> +this place was one of Dickens's favourite spots ("We come, +you see" [says Mr. Peggotty, speaking of himself and Ham +to David Copperfield, when they visited him at Salem House], +"the wind and tide making in our favor, in one of our +Yarmouth lugs to Gravesen'"), so we defer our visit to that +popular resort until another occasion.</p> + +<p>We notice in places where the harvest has been cleared +(which, alas! owing to excess of wet and absence of sun, has +not been an abundant one), preparations for cultivation next +year, exhibiting that peculiar effect from ploughing which +that gifted writer and born naturalist, the late Richard Jeffreys, +described in his book <i>Wild Life in a Southern County</i>, with +that love for common things which was so characteristic of +him:—</p> + +<p>"The ploughmen usually take special care with their work +near public roads, so that the furrows end on to the base of +the highway shall be mathematically straight. They often +succeed so well that the furrows look as if traced with a ruler, +and exhibit curious effects of vanishing perspective. Along +the furrow, just as it is turned, there runs a shimmering light +as the eye traces it up. The ploughshare, heavy and drawn +with great force, smooths the earth as it cleaves it, giving it +for a time a 'face,' as it were, the moisture on which reflects +the light. If you watch the farmers driving to market, you +will see that they glance up the furrows to note the workmanship +and look for game; you may tell from a distance if +they espy a hare, by the check of the rein and the extended +hand pointing."</p> + +<p>Our destination is now Higham—"Higham by Rochester, +Kent,"—Dickens's nearest village, in which, from his first +coming to Gad's Hill, he took the deepest interest, and after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +a further long tramp of nearly four miles steadily maintained, +we reach Lower Higham towards dusk; and in a lane we +ask an old labourer (who looks as though he would be all +the better for "Three Acres and a Cow") if we are on the +right road to Higham Station. Curtly but civilly the man +answers, "Keep straight on," when an incident occurs +which brightens up matters considerably. The questioner +says to the labourer, "Do you remember the late Charles +Dickens?" (We always spoke, when in the district, of "the +<i>late</i> Charles Dickens," to distinguish him from his eldest son, +who lived at Gad's Hill for some years after his father's death. +Frequently the great novelist was spoken of by residents as +"old Mr. Dickens!")</p> + +<p>"Do I remember Muster Dickens?" responds the venerable +rustic, and his eyes sparkle, and his face beams with such +animation that he becomes a different being. "Of course I +do; he used to have games—running, jumping, and such-like—for +us working people, and I've often won a prize. He +used to come among us and give us refreshments, and make +himself very pleasant."</p> + +<p>"How long have you lived in this parish?" says the +questioner.</p> + +<p>"Sixty-seven year," is the answer.</p> + +<p>Time prevents further inquiries, so we bid our friend +"good-evening."</p> + +<p>In referring to the sports at Gad's Hill, Mr. Langton has +recorded how a friend sent him a broadside of a portion of +one day's amusements, which from its amateurish appearance +was probably printed by Dickens's sons at the private printing-press +before alluded to. The occasion was the 26th December, +1866, and the Christmas sports were held in a field at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +the back of Gad's Hill Place. Mr. Trood, a former landlord +of the "Sir John Falstaff" (whose name has been previously +mentioned), had, by permission of Charles Dickens, a booth +erected for the refreshment of persons contesting. The attendance +was between two and three thousand, and there was not +a single case of misconduct or damage. Mr. A. H. Layard, +M.P. (afterwards Sir Austin Layard), was present, and took +great interest in the proceedings, Dickens having appointed +him "chief commissioner of the domestic police." Sir Austin +Layard said of the sports, "Dickens seemed to have bound +every creature present upon what honour the creature had +to keep order. What was the special means used, or the art +employed, it might have been difficult to say, but that was +the result." We made every effort to obtain one of the bills +of these sports, but without success, and therefore take the +liberty of quoting from Mr. Langton's copy:—</p> + +<div class='center'> +<b><big>Christmas Sports.</big></b><br /> + +The All-Comers' Race.<br /> + +Distance—Once round the field.<br /> + +First Prize 10<i>s.;</i> Second, 5<i>s.;</i> Third, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i><br /> + +Entries to be made in <span class="smcap">Mr. Trood's</span> tent before 12 o'clock.<br /> + +To start at 2.45.<br /> + +Starter—<span class="smcap">M. Stone, Esq.</span><br /> + +Judge and Referee—<span class="smcap">C. Dickens, Esq.</span><br /> + +Clerk of the Course—<span class="smcap">C. Dickens, Junr., Esq.</span><br /> + +Stewards and Keepers of the Course—<span class="smcap">Messrs. A. H. Layard</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">M.P., H. Chorley, J. Hulkes</span>, and <span class="smcap">H. Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<p>In a letter written to Mr. Forster next day, Dickens said, +"The road between this and Chatham was like a fair all day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +and surely it is a fine thing to get such perfect behaviour out +of a reckless sea-port town."</p> + +<p>We presently meet with another representative of the class +of village labourer at Upper Higham, a cheery old man, +although, as is sadly too often the case in his class, he was +suffering from "the Rheumatiz." "Those are nice chrysanthemums +in your garden," we observe. "Yes, they are, sir," he +replies; "but if they had been better attended to when they +was young, they'd have been nicer." "Well, I suppose both +of us would," is the rejoinder. We are in touch on the +instant. Our new acquaintance laughs, and so a question +or two is put to him, and the following is the substance +of his answers, rendered <i>à la</i> Jingle but very feelingly:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dickens was a nice sort of man—very much liked—missed +a great deal when he died—poor people and the like +felt the miss of him. He was a man as shifted a good deal +of money in the place. You see, he had a lot of friends—kept +a good many horses,—and then there was the men to attend +to 'em, and the corn-chandler, the blacksmith, the wheelwright, +and others to be paid—the poor—and such-like—felt the +miss of him when he died."</p> + +<p>"How long have you lived here?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I come in '45, eleven years before Mr. Dickens."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose you are over sixty."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, I shall never see seventy again."</p> + +<p>Wishing our friend "good-night," we continue our tramp. +On another occasion we met, in the same place, a third specimen +of village labourer, "a mender of roads," who knew Charles +Dickens, and so we walked and chatted pleasantly with him +for some distance. Said our informant, "You see, Mr. +Dickens was a very liberal man; he held his head high up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +when he walked, and went at great strides." The "mender of +roads" was some years ago a candidate for a vacant place as +under-gardener at Gad's Hill, but the situation was filled up +just an hour before he applied for it. He said Mr. Dickens +gave him half-a-crown, and afterwards always recognized him +when he met him with a pleasant nod, or cheerfully "passed +the time of day." We heard in many places that Dickens +was "always kindly" in this way to his own domestics, and +to the villagers in a like station of life to our intelligent friend +"the mender of roads." A fourth villager, a groom, who had +been in his present situation for twenty years, said:—"Both +the old gentleman and young Mr. Charles were very much +liked in Higham. There wasn't a single person in the place, +I believe, but what had a good word for them."</p> + +<p>It may be interesting to mention that Higham—the old +name of which was Lillechurch—is an extensive parish +divided into several hamlets. In a useful little book published +in 1882, called <i>A Handbook of Higham</i>, the Rev. C. H. +Fielding, M.A., the author, says:—"There are few parishes +more interesting than Higham, as it provides food for the +antiquarian and the student of Nature; while its position +near the 'Medway smooth, and the Royal-masted Thame,' +affords to the artist many an opportunity for a picture, +while the idler has the privilege of lovely views." Mr. Roach +Smith was of opinion that Higham was the seat of "a great +Roman pottery." A Monastery of importance existed here +for several centuries, Mary, daughter of King Stephen, being +one of the Prioresses; but it was dissolved by Henry VIII. +The list of flowering plants given in Mr. Fielding's book is +extensive and interesting, and contains many rarities.</p> + +<p>A "Cheap Jack," a veritable Doctor Marigold, had taken up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +his quarters at Higham, and we loiter among the bystanders +to hear his patter. We feel quite sure that had Dickens been +present he would have listened and been as amused with +him as ourselves. We heard a few days previously the +public crier going round in his cart, announcing the arrival +of this worthy by ringing his bell and proclaiming in a +stentorian voice something to this effect:—</p> + +<p>"The public is respectfully informed that the Cheap Jack +has arrived, bringing with him a large assortment of London, +Birmingham, and Sheffield goods, together with a choice +collection of glass and earthenware, which he will sell every +evening at the most reasonable prices."</p> + +<p>On our arrival here we find him on his rostrum surrounded +by some flaring naphtha lamps, and thus disposing of some +penny books of songs: "Now, ladies and gentlemen, what +shall we have the pleasure of saying for this handsome book, +containing over a hundred songs sung by all the great singers +of the day—Macdermott, Madam Langtry, Sims Reeves, and +other eminent vocalists—besides numerous toasts and readings. +Well, I won't ask sixpence, and I won't take fivepence, +fourpence, threepence, twopence—no, I only ask a penny. +Sold again, and got the money. Take care of the ha'pence" +(to his assistant), "for we gives them to the blind when they +can see to pick 'em up." We of course bought a copy of the +famous collection as a "Dickens-item."</p> + +<p>Before returning to Rochester we are anxious to identify +the blacksmith's shop where the <i>feu de joie</i> was fired from +"two smuggled cannons," in honour of the marriage of Miss +Kate Dickens to Mr. Charles Collins. Alterations have taken +place which render identification impossible; but a local +blacksmith, who has established himself here, gives us some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +interesting particulars of the games in which he took part. +He mentions also a circumstance relating to Dickens's favourite +horse, Toby. It appears that it was an express wish of +the novelist that when he died this horse should be shot; +and according to our informant the horse was shod on the +Tuesday before the 9th of June (the day of Dickens's death), +and shot on the following Monday. The gun was loaded +with small shot, and poor Toby died immediately it was fired. +The blacksmith thoroughly confirms the opinion of the old +labourers as to the kindness of Charles Dickens to his poorer +neighbours. A curious episode occurs in our conference +with this man: he seems under the impression, which no +amount of assertion on our part can overcome, that my +friend and fellow tramp, Mr. Kitton, is Mr. Henry Fielding +Dickens. Whether there was any facial resemblance or likeness +of manner did not transpire, but again and again he +kept saying, "Now ain't you Harry Dickens?" Among the +names at Higham we notice that of a well-remembered +Dickens character—Mr. Stiggins!</p> + +<p>On arriving at Higham Railway Station, we chat a bit +with the station-master and porter there, but both are +comparatively fresh comers and knew not Charles Dickens. +After an enjoyable but somewhat fatiguing tramp, we are +glad to take a late evening train from Higham to Strood, +and thus ends our inspection of the land of "the Meshes."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>By the kindness of Mr. Henry Smetham (locally famed as +the "Laureate of Strood"), we subsequently had an introduction +to Mrs. Taylor, formerly school-mistress at Higham, +who came there in 1860, and remained until some years after +the death of Charles Dickens. She knew the novelist well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +and used to see him almost every day when he was at home. +She said, "If I had met him and did not know who he was, +I should have set him down as a good-hearted English +gentleman." He was very popular and much liked in the +neighbourhood. On his return from America, in the first +week of May, 1868, garlands of flowers were put by the +villagers across the road from the railway station to Gad's +Hill. There was a flag at Gad's (a Union Jack, she thinks), +which was always hoisted when Dickens was at home. +He never read at Higham, and never came to the school; +but he always allowed the use of the meadow at the +back of Gad's Hill Place for the school treats, either of +church or chapel, and contributed to such treats sweets +and what not.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Taylor remembers that the carriage was sent down +from Gad's Hill Place to the Higham railway station nearly +every night at ten o'clock to meet either Charles Dickens or +his friends. It passed the school, and she well recollects the +pleasant sound made by the bells. She heard Dickens read +<i>Sairey Gamp</i> in London once, and did not like the dress he +wore, but thought the reading very wonderful.</p> + +<p>This lady says she was in London at the time of the death +of Charles Dickens, the announcement of which she saw on a +newspaper placard, and was ill the whole of the day afterwards. +It was a sorrowful day for her.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We are much indebted to Mrs. Budden of Gad's Hill Place +for the following interesting particulars which she obtained +from Mrs. Easedown, of Higham, "who was parlour-maid +to Mr. Dickens, and left to be married on the 8th of June, +the day he was seized with the fit. She says it was her duty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +to hoist the flag on the top of the house directly Mr. Dickens +arrived at Gad's Hill. It was a small flag, not more than +fourteen inches square, and was kept in the billiard-room. +She says he was the dearest and best gentleman that ever +lived, and the kindest of masters. He asked her to stay and +wait at table the night he was taken ill; she said if he wished +it she would, and then he said, 'Never mind; I don't feel +well.' She saw him after he was dead, laid out in the dining-room, +when his coffin was covered with scarlet geraniums—his +favourite flower. The flower-beds on the lawns at Gad's +Hill in his time were always filled with scarlet geraniums; +they have since been done away with. Over the head +of the coffin was the oil painting of himself as a young +man (probably Maclise's portrait)—on one side a picture +of 'Dolly Varden,' and on the other 'Kate Nickleby.' +He gave Mrs. Easedown, on the day she left his service, +a photograph of himself with his name written on the +back. Each of the other servants at Gad's Hill Place was +presented with a similar photograph. She said he was unusually +busy at the time of his death, as on the Monday +morning he ordered breakfast to be ready during the week +at 7.30 ('Sharp, mind') instead of his usual time, 9 o'clock, as +he said 'he had so much to do before Friday.' But—'Such +a thing was never to be,' for on the Thursday he +breathed his last!"</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>Mrs. Wright, the wife of Mr. Henry Wright, surveyor of +Higham, lived four years at Gad's Hill Place as parlour-maid. +She is the proud possessor of some interesting relics of her +late master. These include his soup-plate, a meerschaum +pipe (presented to him, but he chiefly smoked cigars—he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +not a great smoker), a wool-worked kettle-holder (which he +constantly used), and a pair of small bellows. When she was +married Mr. Dickens presented her with a China tea service, +"not a single piece of which," said Mrs. Wright proudly, "has +been broken."</p> + +<p>She remembers, at the time of her engagement as parlour-maid, +that the servants told her to let a gentleman in at the +front door who was approaching. She didn't know who it +was, as she had never seen Mr. Dickens before. She opened +the door, and the gentleman entered in a very upright +manner, and after thanking her, looked hard at her, and then +walked up-stairs. On returning to the kitchen the servants +asked who it was that had just come in. She replied, "I +don't know, but I think it was the master." "Did he speak?" +they asked. "No," said she, "but he looked at me in a very +determined way." Said they, "He was reading your character, +and he now knows you thoroughly," or words to that +effect.</p> + +<p>As parlour-maid, it was part of her duty to carve and wait +on her master specially. The dinner serviettes were wrapped +up in a peculiar manner, and Mrs. Wright remembers that +Lord Darnley's servants were always anxious to learn how +the folding was done, but they never discovered the secret. +At dinner-parties, it was the custom to place a little "button-hole" +for each guest. This was mostly made up of scarlet +geranium (Dickens's favourite flower), with a bit of the leaf +and a frond of maidenhair fern. On one occasion in her +early days, the dinner-lift (to the use of which she was unaccustomed) +broke and ran down quickly, smashing the +crockery and bruising her arm. Mr. Dickens jumped up +quickly and said, "Never mind the breakage; is your arm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +hurt?" As it was painful, he immediately applied arnica +to the bruise, and gave her a glass of port wine, "treating +me," Mrs. Wright remarked, "more like a child of his own +than a servant."</p> + +<p>When she was married, and left Gad's Hill, she brought her +first child to show her former master. He took notice of it, +and asked her what he could buy as a present. She thanked +him, and said she did not want anything. On leaving he +gently put a sovereign into the baby's little hand, and said, +"Buy something with that."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wright spoke of the great interest which Dickens took +in the children's treats at Higham, lending his meadow for +them, providing sweets and cakes for the little ones, and +apples to be scrambled for. He took great delight in seeing +the scrambles.</p> + +<p>She also referred to the cricket club, and said that when +the matches were going on it was a regular holiday at +Higham. Dickens used to take the scores, and at the end +of the game he gave prizes and made little speeches. Her +husband, Mr. Henry Wright, acted as secretary to the club, +and is the possessor of a letter written by Mr. Dickens, in +reply to an address which had been presented to him, of +which letter the following is a copy:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill Place</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Higham by Rochester, Kent</span>.</span><br /> +"<i>Tuesday, 29th July, 1862.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,</p> + +<p> "As your name is the first on the list of signatures +to the little address I have had the pleasure of receiving—on +my return from a short absence—from the greater part of the +players in the match the other day, I address my reply to you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I beg you to assure the rest that it will always give me +great pleasure to lend my meadow for any such good purpose, +and that I feel a sincere desire to be a good friend to the +working men in this neighbourhood. I am always interested +in their welfare, and am always heartily glad to see them +enjoying rational and healthful recreation.</p> + +<p>"It did not escape my notice that some expressions were +used the other day which would have been better avoided, but +I dismiss them from my mind as being probably unintentional, +and certainly opposed to the general good feeling and good +sense.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Faithfully yours,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='secsig'>"<span class="smcap">Mr. H. Wright.</span>"</div></div> + +<p>Both Mrs. Easedown and Mrs. Wright informed us (through +Mrs. Budden) that "Mr. Dickens was the best of masters, and +a dear good man; that he gave a great deal away in the +parish, and was very much missed; that he frequently went +to church and sat in the chancel. . . . When he lived in +Higham there used to be a great deal of ague, and he gave +away an immense quantity of port wine and quinine. Since +the Cement Works have been at Cliffe there has been very +little ague at Higham."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>Mr. Robert Lake Cobb, of Mockbeggar House, Higham, a +land agent of high position and a County Councillor, told us +that he took in the <i>Pickwick Papers</i> as they appeared in +numbers, and he recollected how eagerly he read them, and +how tiresome it was to have to wait month by month until +the story was finished. The book made a tremendous sensation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +at the time. Many years afterwards Charles Dickens +came to reside at Gad's Hill Place, and the families became +intimate. "Mr. Dickens," observed our informant, "was a +very pleasant neighbour, and had always got something nice +to say. He was a dreadful man to walk—very few could +keep up with him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cobb had one son, Herbert, who was a playfellow of +Dickens's boys; and as illustrative of the interest he took in +his neighbours, on one occasion the novelist and our informant +were talking over matters, when the former said, "What are +you going to bring your boy up to?" "A land agent," +replied Mr. Cobb. "Ah," said the novelist, "whatever you +do, make him self-reliant." He thought that of all the sons +Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens most resembled his father.</p> + +<p>Among the notable people Mr. Cobb met at Gad's Hill +Place were Mr. Forster, Mr. Wilkie Collins, Mr. Fechter the +actor, and others. When Hans Christian Andersen was +visiting there, Dickens took him to Higham Church. Mr. +Cobb spoke of the pleasant picnic parties which Dickens gave +on Blue Bell Hill. He was of opinion that Cob-Tree Hall +in that neighbourhood, about one and a half miles from +Aylesford, nearly parallel with the river, suggested the original +of Manor Farm, Dingley Dell. It formerly belonged to Mr. +Franklin, and is now occupied by Major Trousdell. Mr. +Cobb believed that Dickens took the title of <i>No Thoroughfare</i>—which +he and Wilkie Collins contributed to the 1867 +number of <i>All the Year Round</i>, and in the dramatizing of +which Dickens subsequently was so interested—from the +notice-boards which were put up by Lord Darnley in many +parts of Cobham Park.</p> + +<p>On one occasion our informant remembers a stoppage of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +the train in Higham tunnel, which caused some consternation +to the passengers, as no explanation of the delay was +forthcoming from any of the railway officials. The station-master +coming up at the time, Dickens remarked—"Ah! an +unwilling witness, Mr. Wood."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cobb mentioned that Miss Hogarth, Dickens's sister-in-law, +was a great favourite in the neighbourhood, from her +kindness and thoughtfulness for all with whom she came in +contact, and especially the poor of Higham.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>COBHAM PARK AND HALL, THE LEATHER BOTTLE, SHORNE, CHALK, AND THE DOVER ROAD.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"It's a place you may well be fond of and attached to, for it's the prettiest +spot in all the country round."—<i>The Village Coquettes.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"The last soft light of the setting sun had fallen on the earth, casting a +rich glow on the yellow corn sheaves, and lengthening the shadows of +the orchard trees."—<i>The Pickwick Papers.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">We</span> reserve this, our last long tramp in "Dickens-Land," for +the Friday before our departure. Mrs. Perugini, the novelist's +second daughter, had recently told us that this was the most +beautiful of all the beautiful parts of Kent, and so indeed it +proves to be. Its sylvan scenery is truly unique.</div> + +<p>Mr. Charles Dickens the younger, in his valuable annotated +Jubilee edition of <i>Pickwick</i>, has included this note relating to +Cobham:—</p> + +<p>"As all the world knows, the neighbourhood of Rochester +was dear to Charles Dickens. There it is that Gad's Hill +Place stands, the house to which, as 'a queer, small boy,' he +looked forward as the possible reward of an industrious +career, and in which he passed the later years of his life; +and near Rochester, still approached by the 'delightful walk'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +here described, is Cobham, one of the most charming villages +in that part of Kent. Down the lanes, and through the park +to Cobham, was always a favourite walk with Charles Dickens; +and he never wearied of acting as <i>cicerone</i> to his guests to +its fine church and the quaint almshouses with the disused +refectory behind it."</p> + +<p>Happily the weather again favours us on this delightful +excursion. It is just such a day as that on which we made +our visit to Gad's Hill. As we have had much tramping +about Rochester during the morning, we prudently take an +early afternoon train to Higham, to save our legs. The +short distance of about four miles consists almost entirely of +tunnels cut through the chalk.</p> + +<p>Alighting at Higham Station, we make our way for the +Dover Road and reach Pear Tree Lane, which turns out of it +for Cobham. We notice in passing through Higham by +daylight that the lanes are much closed in by banks, in fact, +the tertiary and chalk systems have been cut through to +form the roads; but here and there one gets glimpses of the +Thames, its course being marked by the white or brown +wings of sailing-boats.</p> + +<p>The lane above alluded to, a little above Gad's Hill, is the +direct road to Cobham, and on entering it we are immediately +struck with the different scene presented, as compared with +any part of the county we have previously gone over. It +is cut through the Thanet Sands, which at first are of ashy +gray colour, but after some distance are of a bright red +hue, probably owing to infiltration, and the road rises gently +until the woods are reached. The vegetation growing +on the high banks consists of oak, hazel, beech, sycamore, +and Spanish chestnut, in many places intermingled with wild<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +clematis. The branches of the trees are not allowed to grow +over into the road, but are kept well cut back so as practically +to form a wall on either side, extending in some places to +twelve feet high. The effect is to present an almost unbroken +surface of various shades of green, deliciously cool and shady +in the heat of summer, and brightened here and there in +autumn by the rich orange-coloured fruit of the arum, the +scarlet berries of the white bryony, and—deeper in the +woods—by the pinky-waxen berries of the spindle-tree, +described by Lord Tennyson as "the fruit which in our +winter woodland looks a flower."</p> + +<p>As the road continually winds in its upward progress, and +as no part within view extends beyond a few hundred yards +before it turns again, the limit of perspective is frequently +arrested by a number of evergreen arches. It was a Devonshire +lane, so to speak, in a state of cultivation. Of course +in the early spring, the delicacy of the fresh green foliage +would give another picture; and again the autumnal tints +would present a totally different effect under the influence of +the rich colouring of decaying vegetation.</p> + +<p>No wonder Dickens and his friends had such admiration +for this walk, the last, by the way, that he ever enjoyed, on +Tuesday, 7th June, 1870, with his sister-in-law, Miss Hogarth, +the day before the fatal seizure. In a letter written from +Lausanne, so far back as the year 1846, he says:—</p> + +<p>"Green woods and green shades about here are more like +Cobham, in Kent, than anything we dream of at the foot of +Alpine passes."</p> + +<p>When we reach an elevation and are able to get an extended +view of the country we have traversed, a magnificent +prospect of the Thames valley on the west side, and of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +Medway valley on the east, discloses itself. On a bank in +this lane we find a rather rare plant, the long-stalked crane's-bill +(<i>Geranium columbinum</i>), its rose-pink flowers standing +out like rubies among the green foliage. <i>Pteris aquilina</i>, the +common brake or bracken, is very luxuriant here; but we +have met with few ferns in the part of Kent which we +visited. We were afterwards informed that <i>asplenium</i>, <i>lastrea</i>, +<i>scolopendrium</i>, and others are to be found in the neighbourhood. +We pass at Shorne Ridgway a village inn with a +curious sign, "Ye Olde See Ho Taverne." On inquiry, we +learn that "See Ho" is the sportsman's cry in coursing, when +a hare appears in sight.</p> + +<p>The woods surrounding the entrance to the park are +presently reached, and here the vegetation, which in the +lanes had been kept under, is allowed to grow unchecked. +At intervals walks (or "rides," as they are called in some +counties) are cut through the woods, the grass being well +mown underneath, and each of these walks is a shaded grove, +losing itself in the distance. The deep silence of the place +is only broken by the cooing of the wood-pigeon, and the +occasional piercing note of the green woodpecker. It is said +that the nightingales appear here about the 13th of April +and continue singing until June, and that the best time for +seeing this neighbourhood is during the blossoming season in +May.</p> + +<p>The temptation to quote Dickens's own description of +Cobham Park from <i>Pickwick</i> cannot be resisted:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A delightful walk it was; for it was a pleasant afternoon in June, +and their way lay through a deep and shady wood, cooled by the +light wind which gently rustled the thick foliage, and enlivened by +the songs of the birds that perched upon the boughs. The ivy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +the moss crept in thick clusters over the old trees, and the soft green +turf overspread the ground like a silken mat. They emerged upon +an open park, with an ancient hall, displaying the quaint and +picturesque architecture of Elizabeth's time. Long vistas of stately +oaks and elm trees appeared on every side: large herds of deer were +cropping the fresh grass; and occasionally a startled hare scoured +along the ground with the speed of the shadows thrown by the light +clouds, which swept across a sunny landscape like a passing breath +of summer."</p></div> + +<p>Another description of Cobham at another time of the year +is found in the <i>Seven Poor Travellers:</i>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"As for me, I was going to walk, by Cobham Woods, as far upon +my way to London as I fancied. . . . And now the mists began to +rise in the most beautiful manner, and the sun to shine; and as I went +on through the bracing air, seeing the hoar-frost sparkle everywhere, +I felt as if all Nature shared in the joy of the great Birthday. . . . By +Cobham Hall I came to the village, and the churchyard where the +dead had been quietly buried 'in the sure and certain hope' which +Christmastide inspired."</p></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381"></a> +<img src="images/i_404.png" width="600" height="326" alt="Cobham Hall." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Cobham Hall.</span> +</div> + +<p>We notice in our quiet tramp here a peculiarity in the +foliage of the oaks which is worth recording. It will be +remembered that in the late spring of 1888, anxiety was +expressed by certain newspaper correspondents that the +English oak would suffer extermination in consequence of +caterpillars denuding it of its leaves. But naturalists who had +studied the question knew better. The caterpillar, which is no +doubt the larva of the green Tortrix moth (<i>Tortrix viridana</i>), +spins its cocoon at the end of June or the beginning of July, +and the effect of the heavy rains and warm sunny days since +that time was to encourage the energy of the tree in putting +forth its second growth of leaves. This second growth of +delicate green almost covered the oaks in Cobham Park, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +effectually concealed the devastation of the caterpillars +on the old leaves. The effect was quite spring-like. Truly, +as George Eliot says, "Nature repairs her ravages."</p> + + +<p>Cobham Park is nearly seven miles round, and its exquisitely +varied scenery of wood and glade is conspicuous at the spot +where the chestnut tree called "The Four Sisters" is placed. +There is a lovely walk from Cobham Hall to Rochester +through the "Long Avenue," so named in contradistinction +to the "Grand Avenue," which opens into Cobham village. +This walk, which slopes all the way down from the Mausoleum, +leads to a seat placed midway in an open spot where charming +views of the Medway valley are obtained. For rich +sylvan scenery in the county of Kent, this is surely unrivalled.</p> + +<p>Admission to Cobham Hall, the seat of the Earl of Darnley +(whose ancestors have resided here since the time of King +John), is on Fridays only, and such admission is obtained by +ticket, procurable from Mr. Wildish, bookseller, of Rochester. +A nominal charge is made, the proceeds being devoted +towards maintaining Cobham schools.</p> + +<p>The Hall is a red-brick edifice (temp. Elizabeth, 1587), +consisting of two Tudor wings, connected by a central block +designed by Inigo Jones. The most noticeable objects in the +entrance corridor are a fine pair of columns of Cornish +serpentine, nearly ten feet high, tapering from a base some +two feet square. The white veining of the steatite (soapstone) +is in beautiful contrast to the rich red and black colours +of the marble. These columns were purchased at the great +Exhibition of 1851. An enormous bath, hewn out of a solid +block of granite said to have been brought from Egypt, is +also a very noticeable object in this corridor.</p> + +<p>The housekeeper—a chatty, intelligent, and portly personage—shows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +visitors over the rooms and picture-galleries. There +is a superb collection of pictures by the Old Masters, about +which Dickens had always something facetious to say to his +friends. They illustrate the schools of Venice, Florence, +Rome, Netherlands, Spain, France, and England, and were +formed mainly by purchases from the Orleans Gallery, and +the Vetturi Gallery from Florence, and include Titian's +'Rape of Europa,' Rubens's 'Queen Tomyris dipping Cyrus's +head into blood,' Salvator Rosa's 'Death of Regulus,' Vandyck's +'Duke of Lennox,' Sir Joshua Reynolds's 'The Call of +Samuel,' and others. But the pictures in which we are most +interested are the portraits of literary, scientific, and other +worthies—an excellent collection, including Shakespeare, +John Locke, Hobbes, Sir Richard Steele, Sir William Temple, +Dean Swift, Dryden, Betterton, Pope, Gay, Thomson, Sir +Hugh Middleton, Martin Luther, and the ill-fated Lord +George Gordon.</p> + +<p>There is also an ornithological museum, with some very fine +specimens of the order of grallatores (or waders). In reply +to a letter of inquiry, the Earl of Darnley kindly informs us +that the examples of ostrich (<i>Struthio camelus</i>), cassowary +(<i>Casuarius galeatus</i>), and common emu (<i>Dromaius ater</i>), were +once alive in the menagerie attached to the hall, which was +broken up about fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>We are shown the music-room (which, by the bye, his late +majesty King George IV., is said to have remarked was +the finest room in England), a very handsome apartment +facing the west, with a large organ, and capable of containing +several hundred persons. The decorations are very chaste, +being in white and gold; and, as the brilliant sun was setting +in the summer evening, a delicate rose-coloured hue was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> +diffused over everything in the room through the medium of +the tinted blinds attached to the windows. It had a most +peculiar and pretty effect, strongly recalling Mrs. Skewton and +her "rose-coloured curtains for doctors."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 335px;"> +<img src="images/i_407.png" width="335" height="450" alt="Dickens's Châlet, now in Cobham Park." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Dickens's Châlet, now in Cobham Park.</span> +</div> + +<p>By the special permission of his lordship, we see the famous +Swiss châlet, which is now erected in the terrace flower-garden +at the back of Cobham Hall, having been removed to +its present position some years ago from another part of the +grounds. It stands on an elevated open space surrounded by +beautiful trees—the rare Salisburia, tulip, cedar, chestnut and +others—and makes a handsome addition to the garden, irrespective<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +of its historical associations. The châlet is of dark +wood varnished, and has in the centre a large carving of +Dickens's crest, which in heraldic terms is described as: "a +lion couchant 'or,' holding in the gamb a cross patonce +'sable.'"</p> + +<p>There are two rooms in the châlet, each about sixteen feet +square, the one below having four windows and a door, and +the one above (approached in the usual Swiss fashion by an +external staircase), which is much the prettier, having six +windows and a door. There are shutters outside, and the +overhanging roof at first sight gives the building somewhat of +a top-heavy appearance, but this impression wears off after a +time, and it is found to be effective and well-proportioned. +"The five mirrors" which Dickens placed in the châlet have +been removed from the upper room, but they are scarcely +necessary, the views of rich and varied foliage and flowers +seen from the open windows, through which the balmy air +passes, forming a series of pictures in the bright sunlight of +the August afternoon delightfully fresh and beautiful. We +sit down quietly for a few minutes and enjoy the privilege; +we ponder on the many happy and industrious hours spent +by its late owner in this now classic building; and we leave +it sadly, with the recollection that here were penned the last +lines which the "vanished hand" was destined to give to the +world.</p> + +<p>The Earl of Darnley generously allows his neighbours to +have a key of his park, and Dickens had one of such keys, a +privilege greatly appreciated by him and his friends. Recently +his lordship has erected a staircase round one of the highest +trees in the park, called the "crow's nest," from whence a +very pretty peep at the surrounding country is obtained.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span></p> + +<p>During our visit we venture to ask the portly housekeeper +if she remembers Charles Dickens? The ray of delight that +illumines her good-natured countenance is simply magical.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she says, "I liked Mr. Dickens very much. He was +always so full of fun. Oh! oh! oh!" the recollection +of which causes a fit of suppressed laughter, which "communicates +a blancmange-like motion to her fat cheeks," and +she adds: "He used to dine here, and was always very +popular with the family, and in the neighbourhood."</p> + +<p>We cannot help thinking that such delightful places as +Cobham Hall were in Dickens's mind when, in <i>Bleak House</i> +(<i>à propos</i> of Chesney Wold), he makes the volatile Harold +Skimpole say to Sir Leicester Dedlock—"The owners of such +places are public benefactors. They are good enough to +maintain a number of delightful objects for the admiration +and pleasure of us poor men, and not to reap all the admiration +and pleasure that they yield, is to be ungrateful to our +benefactors."</p> + +<p>Leaving the park by a pretty undulating walk, and passing +on our way a large herd of deer, their brown and fawn-coloured +coats contrasting prettily with the green-sward, we +come upon the picturesque village of Cobham, where Mr. +Tupman sought consolation after his little affair with the +amatory spinster aunt. Of course the principal object of +interest is the Leather Bottle, or "Dickens's old Pickwick +Leather Bottle," as the sign of the present landlord now calls +it, wherein Dickens slept a night in 1841, and visited it many +times subsequently. There is a coloured portrait of the +President of the Pickwick Club on the sign, as he appeared +addressing the members. A fire occurred at the Leather +Bottle a few years ago, but it was confined to a back portion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> +of the building; unfortunately its restoration and so-called +"improvements" have destroyed many of the picturesque +features which characterized this quiet old inn when Dickens +wrote the famous Papers. Here is his description of it after +Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Winkle had walked +through Cobham Park to seek their lost friend:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i_410.png" width="500" height="351" alt="The "Leather Bottle" Cobham" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'If this,' said Mr. Pickwick, looking about him; 'if this were the +place to which all who are troubled with our friend's complaint came, +I fancy their old attachment to this world would very soon return.'</p> + +<p>"'I think so too,' said Mr. Winkle.</p> + +<p>"'And really,' added Mr. Pickwick, after half an hour's walking +had brought them to the village, 'really for a misanthrope's choice, +this is one of the prettiest and most desirable places of residence I +ever met with.'</p> + +<p>"In this opinion also, both Mr. Winkle and Mr. Snodgrass expressed +their concurrence; and having been directed to the Leather Bottle, +a clean and commodious village ale-house, the three travellers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> +entered, and at once inquired for a gentleman of the name of +Tupman.</p> + +<p>"'Show the gentlemen into the parlour, Tom,' said the landlady.</p> + +<p>"A stout country lad opened a door at the end of the passage, and +the three friends entered a long, low-roofed room, furnished with a +large number of high-backed leather-cushioned chairs, of fantastic +shapes, and embellished with a great variety of old portraits, and +roughly-coloured prints of some antiquity. At the upper end of the +room was a table, with a white cloth upon it, well covered with a +roast fowl, bacon, ale, and etceteras; and at the table sat Mr. Tupman, +looking as unlike a man who had taken his leave of the world, as +possible.</p> + +<p>"On the entrance of his friends, that gentleman laid down his +knife and fork, and with a mournful air advanced to meet them.</p> + +<p>"'I did not expect to see you here,' he said, as he grasped Mr. +Pickwick's hand. 'It's very kind.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah!' said Mr. Pickwick, sitting down, and wiping from his +forehead the perspiration which the walk had engendered. 'Finish +your dinner, and walk out with me. I wish to speak to you +alone.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tupman did as he was desired; and Mr. Pickwick having +refreshed himself with a copious draught of ale, waited his friend's +leisure. The dinner was quickly despatched, and they walked out +together.</p> + +<p>"For half an hour, their forms might have been seen pacing the +churchyard to and fro, while Mr. Pickwick was engaged in combating +his companion's resolution. Any repetition of his arguments would +be useless; for what language could convey to them that energy and +force which their great originator's manner communicated? Whether +Mr. Tupman was already tired of retirement, or whether he was +wholly unable to resist the eloquent appeal which was made to him, +matters not; he did <i>not</i> resist it at last.</p> + +<p>"'It mattered little to him,' he said, 'where he dragged out the +miserable remainder of his days: and since his friend laid so much +stress upon his humble companionship, he was willing to share his +adventures.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Pickwick smiled; they shook hands; and walked back to +rejoin their companions."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 575px;"> +<img src="images/i_412.png" width="575" height="356" alt="The Old Parlour of the "Leather Bottle."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Old Parlour of the "Leather Bottle."</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;"> +<img src="images/i_413.png" width="412" height="525" alt="Cobham Church" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>In order to preserve the historical associations of the place, +the landlord of the Leather Bottle has added to the art +collection in the fine old parlour (that still contains "the high-backed +leather-cushioned chairs of fantastic shapes") many +portraits of Dickens and illustrations from his works, including +a copy of the life-like coloured Watkins photograph previously +referred to. It has been already suggested that the neighbourhood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> +of Kit's Coty House probably gave rise to the +famous archæological episode of the stone with the inscription—"Bill +Stumps, his mark," in <i>Pickwick</i>, which occurred +near here, rivalling the "A. D. L. L." discovery of the sage +Monkbarns in Scott's <i>Antiquary</i>.</p> + +<p>Time presses with us, so, after a refreshing cup of tea, we +just have a hasty glance at the beautiful old church, which +contains some splendid examples of monumental brasses, which +for number and preservation are said to be unique. They +are erected to the memory of John Cobham, Constable of +Rochester, 1354, his ancestors and others.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> There are also +some fine old almshouses which accommodate twenty +pensioners. These almshouses are a survival of the ancient +college. We then take our departure, returning through +Cobham woods.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 575px;"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392"></a> +<img src="images/i_415.png" width="575" height="374" alt="Shorne Church" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Turning off at some distance on the left, and passing +through the little village of Shorne, with its pretty churchyard, +a very favourite spot of Charles Dickens, and probably +described by him in <i>Pickwick</i> as "one of the most peaceful +and secluded churchyards in Kent, where wild flowers mingle +with the grass, and the soft landscape around, forms the fairest +spot in the garden of England"—we make for Chalk church. +It will be remembered, that the first number of <i>Pickwick</i> +appeared on the 31st March, 1836, and on the 2nd of April +following Charles Dickens was married, and came to spend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> +his honeymoon at Chalk, and he visited it again in 1837, +when doubtless the descriptions of Cobham and its vicinity +were written. To this neighbourhood, "at all times of his +life, he returned, with a strange recurring fondness."</p> + + +<p>Mr. Kitton has favoured me with permission to quote the +following extract from his Supplement to <i>Charles Dickens +by Pen and Pencil</i>, being the late Mr. E. Laman Blanchard's +recollections of this pleasant neighbourhood:—</p> + +<p>"In the year Charles Dickens came to reside at Gad's Hill, +I took possession of a country house at Rosherville, which I +occupied for some seventeen years. During that period a +favourite morning walk was along the high road, of many +memories, leading from Gravesend to Rochester, and on +repeated occasions I had the good fortune to encounter the +great novelist making one of his pedestrian excursions +towards the Gravesend or Greenhithe railway station, where +he would take the train to travel up to town. Generally, by +a curious coincidence, we passed each other, with an interchange +of salutations, at about the same spot. This was on +the outskirts of the village of Chalk, where a picturesque lane +branched off towards Shorne and Cobham. Here the brisk +walk of Charles Dickens was always slackened, and he never +failed to glance meditatively for a few moments at the +windows of a corner house on the southern side of the road, +advantageously situated for commanding views of the river +and the far-stretching landscape beyond. It was in that +house he had lived immediately after his marriage, and there +many of the earlier chapters of <i>Pickwick</i> were written."</p> + +<p>It is a long walk from Cobham to Chalk church,—the +church, by the bye, being about a mile from the village, as +is usual in many places in Kent,—and as the shades of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> +evening are coming upon us, and as we are desirous of +having a sketch of the curious stone-carved figure over the +entrance porch, we hurry on, and succeed in effecting our +object, though under the difficulty of approaching darkness.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i_417.png" width="300" height="356" alt="Curious Old Figure over the Porch, Chalk Church." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Curious Old Figure over the Porch, Chalk Church.</span> +</div> + +<p>This figure represents an old priest in a stooping position, +with an upturned vessel (probably a jug), about which we +were informed there is probably a legend. Dickens used to +be a great admirer of this quaint carving, and it is said that +whenever he passed it, he always took off his hat to it, or gave +it a friendly nod, as to an old acquaintance. [We regretfully +record the fact that since our visit, both porch and figure +have been demolished.]</p> + +<p>Amid the many strange sounds peculiar to summer night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +in the country, a very weird and startling effect is produced +in this lonely spot, in the dusk of the evening, by the shrill +whistle of the common redshank (<i>Totanus calidris</i>), so +called from the colour of its legs, which are of a crimson-red. +This bird, as monotonous in its call-note as the corn-crake, +to which it is closely allied, doubtless has its home +in the marshes hereabout, in which, and in fen countries, it +greatly delights. The peculiar whistle is almost ventriloquial +in its ubiquity, and must be heard to be properly appreciated.</p> + +<p>We retrace our steps to the Dover road, and by the light +of a match applied to our pipes, see that our pedometer +marks upwards of fifteen miles for this tramp—"a rather +busy afternoon," as Mr. Datchery once said.</p> + +<p>Since these lines were written, the third volume of the +<i>Autobiography and Reminiscences</i> of W. P. Frith, R.A., has been +published, in which there is a most interesting reminiscence of +Dickens; indeed, there are many scattered throughout the +three volumes, but the one in question refers to "a stroll" +which Dickens took with Mr. Frith and other friends in July +1868. Mr. Cartwright, the celebrated dentist, was one of the +party, and the "stroll" was in reality, as the genial R. A. +describes it, "a fearfully long walk" such as he shall never +forget; nor the night he passed, without once closing his +eyes in sleep, after it. "Dickens," continues Mr. Frith, "was +a great pedestrian. His strolling was at the rate of perhaps +a little under four miles an hour. He was used to the place,—I +was not, and suffered accordingly."</p> + +<p>Having a shrewd suspicion that this referred to one of the +long walks taken in our tramp, the present writer communicated +with Mr. Frith on the subject, and he was favoured +with the following reply:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"The stroll I mentioned in my third volume was through +Lord Darnley's park, but after that I remember nothing. As +the time spent in walking was four hours at least, we must have +covered ground far beyond the length of the park.</p> + +<p>"On another occasion,—Dickens, Miss Hogarth, and I went +to Rochester to see the Castle, and the famous Pickwickian +inn. On another day we went to the Leather Bottle at +Cobham, where Dickens was eloquent on the subject of the +Dadd parricide, showing us the place where the body was +found, with many startling and interesting details of the +discovery."</p> + +<p>The subject of the Dadd parricide alluded to by Mr. +Frith was a very horrible case; the son—an artist—was +a lunatic, and was subsequently confined in Bethlehem +Hospital, London. There are two curious pictures by him +in the Dyce and Forster collection at South Kensington; +one is inscribed "Sketches to Illustrate the Passions—Patriotism. +By Richard Dadd, Bethlehem Hospital, London, +May 30, 1857, St. George's-in-the-Fields." It has much minute +writing on it. The other is "Leonidas with the Wood-cutters," +and illustrates Glover's poem, <i>Leonidas</i>. It is inscribed, +"Rd. Dadd, 1873." He died in Bethlehem Hospital in +1887.</p> + +<p>The Dover Road! What a magic influence it has over us, +as we tramp along it in the quiet summer evening, and recall an +incident that happened nearly a hundred years ago, what time +the Dover mail struggled up Shooter's Hill on that memorable +Friday night, and Jerry Cruncher, who had temporarily +suspended his "fishing" operations, and being free from the +annoyances of the "Aggerawayter," caused consternation to +the minds of coachman, guard, and passengers of the said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> +mail, by riding abruptly up, <i>à la</i> highwayman, and demanding +to speak to a passenger named Mr. Jarvis Lorry, then on +his way to Paris,—as faithfully chronicled in <i>A Tale of Two +Cities</i>. Again, in the early part of the present century, when +a certain friendless but dear and artless boy, named David +Copperfield,—who having been first robbed by a "long-legged +young man with a very little empty donkey-cart, +which was nothing but a large wooden-tray on wheels," of +"half a guinea and his box," under pretence of "driving him to +the pollis," and subsequently defrauded by an unscrupulous +tailor named one Mr. Dolloby ("Dolloby was the name over +the shop-door at least") of the proper price of "a little weskit," +for which he, Dolloby, gave poor David only ninepence,—trudged +along that same Dover road footsore and hungry, +"and got through twenty-three miles on the straight road" +to Rochester and Chatham on a certain Sunday; all of which +is duly recorded in <i>The Personal History of David Copperfield</i>.</p> + +<p>In after years, when happier times came to him, David made +many journeys over the Dover road, between Canterbury +and London, on the Canterbury Coach. Respecting the +earliest of these (readers will remember Phiz's illustration, +"My first fall in life"), he says:—</p> + +<p>"The main object on my mind, I remember, when we got +fairly on the road, was to appear as old as possible to the +coachman, and to speak extremely gruff. The latter point I +achieved at great personal inconvenience; but I stuck to it, +because I felt it was a grown-up sort of thing."</p> + +<p>In spite of this assumption, he is impudently chaffed by +"William the coachman" on his "shooting"—on his "county" +(Suffolk), its "dumplings," and its "Punches," and finally, at +William's suggestion, actually resigns his box-seat in favour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +of his (William's) friend, "the gentleman with a very unpromising +squint and a prominent chin, who had a tall white hat on +with a narrow flat brim, and whose close-fitting drab trousers +seemed to button all the way up outside his legs from his +boots to his hips." In reply to a remark of the coachman +this worthy says:—"There ain't no sort of 'orse that I 'ain't +bred, and no sort of dorg. 'Orses and dorgs is some men's +fancy. They're wittles and drink to me—lodging, wife, and +children—reading, writing, and 'rithmetic—snuff, tobacker, and +sleep."</p> + +<p>"That ain't a sort of man to see sitting behind a coach-box, +is it, though?" says William in David's ear. David construes +this remark into an indication of a wish that "the gentleman" +should have his place, so he blushingly offers to resign it.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you don't mind," says William, "I think it would +be more correct."</p> + +<p>Poor David, "so very young!" gives up his box-seat, and +thus moralizes on his action:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have always considered this as the first fall I had in life. When +I booked my place at the coach-office, I had had 'Box Seat' written +against the entry, and had given the book-keeper half-a-crown. I was +got up in a special great coat and shawl, expressly to do honour to +that distinguished eminence; had glorified myself upon it a good deal; +and had felt that I was a credit to the coach. And here, in the very +first stage, I was supplanted by a shabby man with a squint, who had +no other merit than smelling like a livery-stables, and being able to +walk across me, more like a fly than a human being, while the horses +were at a canter."</p></div> + +<p>Pip, in <i>Great Expectations</i>, also made very many journeys +to and from London, along the Dover road (the London +road it is called in the novel), but the two most notable were,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> +firstly, the occasion of his ride outside the coach with the two +convicts as fellow-passengers on the back-seat—"bringing +with them that curious flavour of bread-poultice, baize, rope-yarn, +and hearth-stone, which attends the convict presence;" +and secondly, that in which he walked all the way to +London, after the sad interview at Miss Havisham's house, +where he learns that Estella is to become the wife of Bentley +Drummle:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"All done, all gone! So much was done and gone, that when I +went out at the gate the light of day seemed of a darker colour than +when I went in. For awhile I hid myself among some lanes and bypaths, +and then started off to walk all the way to London. . . . It +was past midnight when I crossed London Bridge."</p></div> + +<p>One more reference is made to the Dover road in <i>Bleak +House</i>, where that most lovable of the many lovable characters +in Dickens's novels, Esther Summerson, makes her journey, +with her faithful little maid Charley, to Deal, in order to +comfort Richard Carstone:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It was a night's journey in those coach times; but we had the +mail to ourselves, and did not find the night very tedious. It passed +with me as I suppose it would with most people under such circumstances. +At one while, my journey looked hopeful, and at another +hopeless. Now, I thought that I should do some good, and now I +wondered how I could ever have supposed so."</p></div> + +<p>When speaking of Dickens's characters, some critics have +said that "he never drew a gentleman." One ventures to ask, +Where is there a more chivalrous, honourable, or kind-hearted +gentleman than Mr. John Jarndyce? Sir Leicester Dedlock +in the same novel too, with some few peculiarities, is a +thoroughly high-minded and noble gentleman of the old +school. This by the way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/i_423.png" width="350" height="239" alt=""There's Milestones on the Dover Road"" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>After walking some distance, we are able to verify one of +those sage experiences of Mr. F.'s aunt:—"There's milestones +on the Dover road!" for, by the light of another match, the +darkness closing in, and there being no moon, we read +"4 miles to Rochester." However, we tramp merrily on, with +"the town lights right afore us," our minds being full of +pleasant reminiscences of the scenes we have passed through, +and this expedition, like many a weightier matter, "comes to +an end for the time."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We had on another occasion the pleasure of a long chat +with Mrs. Latter of Shorne, one of the daughters of Mr. W. +S. Trood, for many years landlord of the Sir John Falstaff. +She said her family came from Somersetshire to reside at +Gad's Mill in the year 1849, and left in 1872. The Falstaff +was then a little homely place, but it has been much altered +since. She knew Charles Dickens very well, and saw him +constantly during his residence at Gad's Hill Place. Mrs. +Latter lost two sisters while she lived at the Falstaff—one +died at the age of eleven, and the other at nineteen. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> +last-mentioned was named Jane, and died in 1862 of brain +fever. Dickens was very kind to the family at the time, took +great interest in the poor girl, and offered help of "anything +that his house could afford." She remembers her mother +asking Dickens if it would be well to have the windows of +the bedroom open. At those times people were fond of +keeping invalids closed up from the air. Dickens said—"Certainly: +give her plenty of air." He liked fresh air +himself. Mrs. Latter said in proof of this that the curtains +were always blowing about the open windows at Gad's +Hill Place.</p> + +<p>When her sister Jane died, the funeral took place at Higham +Church, and was very quiet, there being no show, only a +little black pall trimmed with white placed over the coffin, +which was carried by young men to the grave. Dickens +afterwards commended what had been done, saying: "It +showed good sense," and adding—"Not like an army of black +beetles."</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that in <i>Great Expectations</i> and +elsewhere the ostentation, mummery, and extravagance of +the "undertaking ceremony" are severely criticised. The +same feeling, and a desire for funeral reform, no doubt +prompted Dickens to insert the following clause in his +Will:—</p> + +<p>"I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive, +unostentatious, and strictly private manner; that no public +announcement be made of the time or place of my burial; +that at the utmost not more than three plain mourning-coaches +be employed; and that those who attend my funeral +wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hatband, or other such +revolting absurdity."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Latter then told us the story of the two men with +performing bears:—</p> + +<p>It appears that soon after Dickens came to Gad's Hill a +lot of labourers from Strood—some thirty or forty in number—had +been for an outing in breaks to Cobham to a "bean-feast," +or something of the kind, and some of them had got +"rather fresh." On the return journey they stopped at the +Falstaff, and at the time two men, who were foreigners, were +there with performing bears, a very large one and a smaller +one. The labourers began to lark with the bears, teased +them, and made them savage, "becalled" the two men to +whom they belonged, and a regular row followed. The +owners of the bears became exasperated, and were proceeding +to unmuzzle the animals, when Dickens (hearing the noise) +came out of his gate holding one of his St. Bernard dogs by +a chain. He told Mrs. Latter's father to take the bears up +a back lane, said a few words to the crowd, and remonstrated +with the Strood men on their conduct. The effect was +magical; the whole affair was stilled in a minute or two.</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>On a subsequent occasion we called upon the Rev. John +Joseph Marsham of Overblow, near Shorne. This venerable +clergyman, a bachelor, and in his eighty-fifth year, is totally +blind, but in other respects is in the full possession of all +his faculties, and remarked that he was much interested to +hear anybody talk about old friends and times. He was +inducted as Vicar of Shorne in the year 1837, came to live there +in 1845, and resigned his cure in 1888, after completing his +jubilee. He is a "Kentish man," having been born at +Rochester. In our tramp the question of "Kentish man," +or "man of Kent," often cropped up, and we had an opportunity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +of having the difference explained to us. A "Kentish +man" is one born on the east side of the river Medway, and a +"man of Kent" is one born on the west side.</p> + +<p>The position of the residence "Overblow" is delightful. +It stands on a little hill, the front having a fine view of the +Thames valley and the marshes, the side looking on to the +pretty hollow, in the centre of which stands Shorne Church, +and the back being flanked in the distance by the beautiful +Cobham Woods.</p> + +<p>The reverend gentleman told us that he was a schoolfellow +of the Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone and Sir Thomas +Gladstone, his brother, at Eton, and had dined with the +former at Hawarden on the occasion of his being thrice +Premier, although he helped to turn his old friend out at +Oxford in 1865, when he was succeeded by the Right +Honourable Gathorne Hardy, now Lord Cranbrook.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsham was a neighbour of Charles Dickens, occasionally +dined with him at Gad's Hill, and also met him at +dinner sometimes at Mr. Hulkes's at the Little Hermitage. +He spoke of him as a nice neighbour and a charming host, +but he rarely talked except to his old friends. He frequently +met Dickens in his walks, and had many a stroll with him, +and always found him very interesting and amusing in his +conversation. Once they were coming down from London +together in a saloon carriage which contained about twelve +or fourteen people. Dickens was sitting quietly in a corner. +It was at the time that one of his serial novels was appearing, +and most of the passengers were reading the current monthly +number. No one noticed Dickens, and when the train +stopped at Strood, he said—"We did not have much talk." +"No," said Mr. Marsham, "the people were much better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +engaged," at which Dickens laughed. Charles Dickens did +Mr. Marsham the kindness to send him early proofs of his +Christmas stories before they were published.</p> + +<p>After Dickens's death (which he heard of in London, and +never felt so grieved in his life) Mr. Charles Dickens the +younger, and Mr. Charles Collins, his brother-in-law, came +to select a piece of ground on the east side of Shorne +churchyard, which was one of Dickens's favourite spots, but +in consequence of the arrangements for the burial in Westminster +Abbey this was of course given up.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsham was staying in London, at Lord Penrhyn's, +at the time of Dickens's death, and Lady Louisa Penrhyn +told him that by accident she was in Westminster Abbey +at about ten o'clock on the morning of 14th June, the day +of the funeral, and noticing some persons standing round an +open grave, her ladyship went to see it, and was greatly +impressed on looking in to read the name of Charles Dickens +on the coffin, on which were numerous wreaths of flowers.</p> + +<p>Our venerable friend possesses a souvenir of the novelist +in the two exquisite plaster statuettes, about eighteen inches +high, of "Night" and "Morning," which he purchased at the +Gad's Hill sale.</p> + +<p>The reverend gentleman spoke of the great improvements +in travelling as compared with times within his recollection. +He said that before the railways were constructed he went +to London by boat from Gravesend, and the river was so +bad that he had to keep his handkerchief to his nose all the +way to avoid the stench. This was long before the days of +Thames Embankments and other improvements in travelling +by river and road.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>A FINAL TRAMP IN ROCHESTER AND LONDON.</h3> + +<div class="hang2">"You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, . . . +you have been in every prospect I have ever seen since—on the river, +on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, +in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets."—<i>Great +Expectations.</i></div> + +<div class="hang2">"The magic reel, which, rolling on before, has led the Chronicler thus far, +now slackens in its pace, and stops. It lies before the goal; the +pursuit is at an end. . . . Good-night, and heaven send our journey +may have a prosperous ending."—<i>The Old Curiosity Shop.</i></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">It</span> is the morning of Saturday, the first of September, 1888, +when our wonderfully pleasant week's tramp in "Dickens-Land" +comes to an end. We have carried out every detail of +our programme, without a single <i>contretemps</i> to mar the enjoyment +of our delightful holiday; we have visited not only +the spots where the childhood and youth of Charles Dickens +were passed, and where the influence of the environment is +specially traceable in the tone of both his earlier and later +writings, but we have gone over and identified (as we proposed +to do) a number of places in which he delighted, and often +described in those writings, peopling them with airy characters +(but to us most real), in whose footsteps we have walked. +We have seen the place where he was born; we have seen +nearly all the houses in which he lived in after life; and we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +have been over the charming home occupied by him for fourteen +years, where his last moments passed away under the +affectionate and reverential solicitude of his sons and daughters, +and of Miss Hogarth, his sister-in-law, "the ever-useful, self-denying, +and devoted friend."</div> + +<p>And now we linger lovingly about a few of the streets and +places in "the ancient city," and especially in the precincts +of the venerable Cathedral, all sanctified by the memory of +the mighty dead. We fain would prolong our visit, but the +"stern mandate of duty," as Immanuel Kant called it, prevails, +and we bow to the inevitable; or as Mr. Herbert Spencer +better puts it, "our duty is our pleasure, and our greatest +happiness consists in achieving the happiness of others." We +feel our departure to-day the more keenly, as everything +tempts us to stay. Listening for a moment at the open door—the +beautiful west door—of the Cathedral, in this glorious +morning in early autumn, we hear the harmonies of the organ +and choir softly wafted to us from within; we feel the +delicious morning air, which comes over the old Castle and +burial-ground from the Kentish hills; we see the bright and +beautiful flowers and foliage of the lovely catalpa tree, +through which the sunlight glints; a solemn calm pervades +the spot as the hum of the city is hushed; and, although +we have read them over and over again, now, for the first +time, do we adequately realize the exquisitely touching lines +on the last page of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, written by the master-hand +that was so soon to be stilled for ever:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 361px;"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407"></a> +<img src="images/i_430.png" width="361" height="600" alt="Doorway Rochester Cathedral" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A brilliant morning shines on the old City. Its antiquities and +ruins are surpassingly beautiful, with the lusty ivy gleaming in the +sun, and the rich trees waving in the balmy air. Changes of glorious +light from moving boughs, songs of birds, scents from gardens, woods<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> +and fields—or, rather, from the one great garden of the whole of the +cultivated island in its yielding time—penetrate into the Cathedral, +subdue its earthy odour, and preach the Resurrection and the Life. +The cold stone tombs of centuries ago grow warm; and flecks of +brightness dart into the sternest marble corners of the building, +fluttering there like wings."</p></div> + +<p>Having time to reflect on our experiences, we are able +to understand how greatly our feelings and ideas have +been influenced for good, both regarding the personality +of the novelist and his writings.</p> + +<p>In the course of our rambles we have interviewed many +people in various walks of life who knew Dickens well, and +their interesting replies, mostly given in their own words, +vividly bring before our mental vision the <i>man</i> as he actually +lived and moved among his neighbours, apart from any +glamour with which we, as hero-worshippers, naturally invest +him. We see him in his home, beloved by his family, taking +kindly interest, as a country gentleman, in the poor of the +district, entering into and personally encouraging their sports, +and helping them in their distress. To his dependents and +tradesmen he was kind, just, and honourable; to his friends +genial, hospitable, and true; in himself eager, enthusiastic, +and thorough. No man of his day had more friends, and +he kept them as long as he lived. His favourite motto, +"courage—persevere," comes before us constantly. All that +we heard on the other side was contained in the expression—"rather +masterful!" Rather masterful? Of course he +was rather masterful—otherwise he would never have been +Charles Dickens. What does he say in that unconscious +description of himself, which he puts into the mouth of Boots +at <i>The Holly-Tree Inn</i>, when referring to the father of Master +Harry Walmers, Junior?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"He was a gentleman of spirit, and good-looking, and held his +head up when he walked, and had what you may call Fire about him. +He wrote poetry, and he rode, and he ran, and he cricketed, and he +danced, and he acted, and he done it all equally beautiful. . . . He +was a gentleman that had a will of his own and a eye of his own, and +that would be minded."</p></div> + +<p>Perfectly true do we find the summing up of his character, +in his home at Gad's Hill, as given by Professor Minto in the +last edition of the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i> (one of the most +faithful, just, and appreciative articles ever written about +Dickens):—"Here he worked, and walked, and saw his +friends, and was loved and almost worshipped by his poorer +neighbours, for miles around."</p> + +<p>Although tolerably familiar with most of the writings of +Dickens from our youth, and, like many readers, having our +favourites which may have absorbed our attention to the +exclusion of others, we are bound to say that our little visit +to Rochester and its neighbourhood—our "Dickens-Land"—rendered +famous all the world over in the novels and minor +works, gives a freshness, a brightness, and a reality to our +conceptions scarcely expected, and never before experienced. +The faithful descriptions of scenery witnessed by us for the +first time in and about the "quaint city" of Rochester, the +delightful neighbourhood of Cobham, the glorious old city of +Canterbury, the dreary marshes and other localities: the more +detailed pictures of particular places, like the Castle, the +Cathedral, its crypt and tower, the Bull Inn, the Vines, +Richard Watts's Charity, and others—the point of the situation +in many of these cannot be realized without personal +inspection and verification.</p> + +<p>And further, as by a sort of reflex action, another feeling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> +comes uppermost in our minds, apart from the mere amusement +and enjoyment of Dickens's works: we mean the actual +benefits to humanity which, directly or indirectly, arise out of +his writings; and we endorse the noble lines of dedication +which his friend, Walter Savage Landor, addressed to him in +his <i>Imaginary Conversations of Greeks and Romans</i> (1853):—</p> + +<p>"Friends as we are, have long been, and ever shall be, I +doubt whether I should have prefaced these pages with your +name, were it not to register my judgment that, in breaking +up and cultivating the unreclaimed wastes of Humanity, no +labours have been so strenuous, so continuous, or half so +successful, as yours. While the world admires in you an +unlimited knowledge of mankind, deep thought, vivid imagination, +and bursts of eloquence from unclouded heights, no +less am I delighted when I see you at the school-room you +have liberated from cruelty, and at the cottage you have +purified from disease."</p> + +<p>We have before us—its edges browned by age—a reprint +of a letter largely circulated at the time, addressed by Dickens +to <i>The Times</i>, dated "Devonshire Terrace, 13th Novr., 1849," +in which he describes, in graphic and powerful language, the +ribald and disgusting scenes which he witnessed at Horsemonger +Lane Gaol on the occasion of the execution of the +Mannings. The letter is too long to quote in its entirety, but +the following extract will suffice:—"I have seen habitually +some of the worst sources of general contamination and +corruption in this country, and I think there are not many +phases of London life that could surprise me. I am solemnly +convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done +in this city in the same compass of time could work such ruin +as one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> +by the wickedness it exhibits." The letter contains an urgent +appeal to the then Home Secretary, Sir George Grey, "as a +solemn duty which he owes to society, and a responsibility +which he cannot for ever put away," to originate an +immediate legislative change in this respect. Forster says +in allusion to the above-mentioned letter:—"There began +an active agitation against public executions, which never +ceased until the salutary change was effected which has +worked so well." Dickens happily lived to see the fruition +of his labours, for the Private Execution Act was passed in +1868, and the last public execution took place at Newgate +on 26th May of that year. As indicative of the new state +of feeling at that time, it may be mentioned that the number +of spectators was not large, and they were observed to +conduct themselves with unusual decorum.</p> + +<p>It is valuable to record this as one of many public reforms +which Dickens by his writings and influence certainly helped +to accomplish. In his standard work on <i>Popular Government</i> +(1885), Sir Henry Sumner Maine says:-"Dickens, who spent +his early manhood among the politicians of 1832, trained in +Bentham's school, [Bentham, by the bye, being quoted in +<i>Edwin Drood</i>,] hardly ever wrote a novel without attacking +an abuse. The procedure of the Court of Chancery and of +the Ecclesiastical Courts, the delays of the Public Offices, the +costliness of divorce, the state of the dwellings of the poor, +and the condition of the cheap schools in the North of England, +furnished him with what he seemed to consider, in all sincerity, +the true moral of a series of fictions."</p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> + +<p>We bid a kindly adieu to the "dear old City" where so +many genial friends have been made, so many happy hours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> +have been passed, so many pleasant memories have been +stored, and for the time leave</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">"the pensive glory,</span><br /> +That fills the Kentish hills,"<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>to take our seats in the train for London, with the intention +of paying a brief visit to South Kensington, where, in the +Forster Collection of the Museum, are treasured the greater +portion of the manuscripts which constitute the principal +works of Charles Dickens. It will be remembered that the +Will of the great novelist contained the following simple but +important clause:—"I also give to the said John Forster +(whom he previously referred to as 'my dear and trusty +friend') such manuscripts of my published works as may be +in my possession at the time of my decease;" and that Mr. +Forster by his Will bequeathed these priceless treasures to +his wife for her life, in trust to pass over to the Nation at her +decease. Mrs. Forster, who survives her husband, generously +relinquished her life interest, in order to give immediate effect +to his wishes; and thus in 1876, soon after Mr. Forster's +death, they came into the undisturbed possession of the +Nation for ever.</div> + +<p>Besides the manuscripts there are numbers of holograph +letters, original sketches (including "The Apotheosis of Grip +the Raven") by D. Maclise, R.A., and other interesting +memorials relating to Charles Dickens. <i>The Handbook to +the Dyce and Forster Collections</i> rightly says that:—"This +is a gift which will ever have the highest value, and be regarded +with the deepest interest by people of every English-speaking +nation, as long as the English language exists. Not +only our own countrymen, but travellers from every country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> +and colony into which Englishmen have spread, may here +examine the original manuscripts of books which have been +more widely read than any other uninspired writings throughout +the world. Thousands, it cannot be doubted, who have +been indebted for many an hour of pleasurable enjoyment +when in health, for many an hour of solace when in weariness +and pain, to these novels, will be glad to look upon them as +each sheet was sent last to the printer, full of innumerable +corrections from the hand of Charles Dickens."</p> + +<p>The manuscripts are fifteen in number, bound up into large +quarto volumes, and comprise:—</p> + +<p>1. <i>Oliver Twist</i>—two Volumes, with Preface to the <i>Pickwick +Papers</i>, and matter relating to <i>Master Humphrey's Clock</i>.</p> + +<p>2. <i>Sketches of Young Couples.</i></p> + +<p>3. <i>The Lamplighter</i>, a Farce. This MS. is not in the +handwriting of Dickens.</p> + +<p>4. <i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>—two Volumes, with Letter to +Mr. Forster of 17th January, 1841, and hints for some +chapters.</p> + +<p>5. <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>—two Volumes.</p> + +<p>6. <i>American Notes.</i></p> + +<p>7. <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>—two Volumes, with various title-pages, +notes as to the names, &c., and dedication to Miss +Burdett Coutts.</p> + +<p>8. <i>The Chimes.</i></p> + +<p>9. <i>Dombey and Son</i>—two Volumes, with title-pages, headings +of chapters, and memoranda.</p> + +<p>10. <i>David Copperfield</i>—two Volumes, with various title-pages, +and memoranda as to names.</p> + +<p>11. <i>Bleak House</i>—two Volumes, with suggestions for title-pages +and other memoranda.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span></p> + +<p>12. <i>Hard Times</i>—with memoranda.</p> + +<p>13. <i>Little Dorrit</i>—two Volumes, with memoranda, Dedication +to Clarkson Stanfield, and Preface.</p> + +<p>14. <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i>—with Dedication to Lord John +Russell, and Preface.</p> + +<p>15. <i>Edwin Drood</i>—unfinished, with memoranda, and headings +for chapters.</p> + +<p>John Forster says:—"The last page of <i>Edwin Drood</i> was +written in the châlet in the afternoon of his last day of +consciousness."</p> + +<p>Of the above-mentioned, the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'caligraphy'">calligraphy</ins> of Nos. 1, 2, 3 +and 4, is seen at a glance to be larger, bolder, and to have +fewer corrections. In Nos. 5 to 15 it is smaller, and more +confused by numerous alterations. According to Forster—"His +greater pains and elaboration of writing became first +very obvious in the later parts of <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>."</p> + +<p>The manuscripts of the earliest works of the Author, +<i>Sketches by Boz</i>, <i>Pickwick</i>, <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, &c., were +evidently not considered at the time worth preserving. The +manuscript of <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, given by Dickens to Mr. +E. S. Dallas—in grateful acknowledgment of an appreciative +review which (according to an article in <i>Scribner</i>, entitled +"Our Mutual Friend in Manuscript") Mr. Dallas wrote of the +novel for <i>The Times</i>, which largely increased the sale of the +book, and fully established its success,—is in the library of +Mr. G. W. Childs of Philadelphia; and that of <i>A Christmas +Carol</i>—given by Dickens to his old friend and school-fellow, +Tom Mitton—was for sale in Birmingham a few years ago, +and might have been purchased for two hundred and fifty +guineas! It is now owned by Mr. Stuart M. Samuel, and +has since been beautifully reproduced in fac-simile, with an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> +Introduction by my friend and fellow-tramp, Mr. F. G. Kitton. +Mr. Wright, of Paris, is the fortunate possessor of <i>The Battle +of Life</i>. The proof-sheets of <i>Great Expectations</i> are in the +Museum at Wisbech. Messrs. Jarvis and Son, of King +William Street, Strand, sold some time since four of the MSS. +of minor articles contributed by Dickens to <i>Household Words</i> +in 1855-6, viz. <i>The Friend of the Lions</i>, <i>Demeanour of Murderers</i>, +<i>That other Public</i>, and <i>Our Commission</i>, for £10 each.</p> + +<p>At the sale of the late Mr. Wilkie Collins's manuscripts and +library by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, 18th +June, 1890, the manuscript of <i>The Frozen Deep</i>, by Wilkie +Collins and Charles Dickens, 1856 (first performed at +Tavistock House, 6th January, 1857), together with the narrative +written for <i>Temple Bar</i>, 1874, and Prompt Book of the +same play, was sold for £300. A poem written by Charles +Dickens, as a Prologue to the same play, and <i>The Song of +the Wreck</i>, also written by Charles Dickens, were sold for £11 +11<i>s.</i> each. <i>The Perils of Certain English Prisoners</i>, a joint +production of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, for the +Christmas number of <i>Household Words</i>, 1857, realized £200; +and the drama of <i>No Thoroughfare</i> (imperfect), also a joint +production, fetched £22.</p> + +<p>The manuscripts now belonging to the Nation at South +Kensington are placed in a glazed cabinet, standing in the +middle of the room, on the right of which looks down the +life-like portrait of the great novelist, painted by W. P. Frith, +R.A., in 1859. The manuscript volumes are laid open in an +appropriate manner, so that we have an opportunity of examining +and comparing them with one another, and of +observing how the precious thoughts which flowed from the +fertile brain took shape and became realities.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span></p> + +<p>Where corrections have been made, the original ideas are +so obscured that it is scarcely possible to decipher them. +This is effected, not by the simple method of an obliteration +of the words, as is common with some authors, by means of a +line or two run through them at one stroke of the pen, but +by a series of connected circles, or scroll-work flourishes, +thus, <img src="images/i_439.png" width="100" height="29" alt="flourishes" title="" /> +which must have caused greater muscular +labour in execution. Let any one try the two methods for +himself. Dickens was fond of flourishes, as witness his +first published autograph, under the portrait which was issued +with <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> (1839). Some evidence of "writer's +cramp," as it is termed, appears where the C in Charles becomes +almost a G, and where the line-like flourishes to the signature +thirty years later, under the portrait forming the frontispiece +to <i>Edwin Drood</i>, are much shorter and less elaborate. All the +earlier manuscripts are in black ink—the characteristic <i>blue</i> +ink, which he was so fond of using in later years, not appearing +until <i>Hard Times</i> was written (1854), and this continued +to be (with one exception, <i>Little Dorrit</i>) his favourite writing +medium, for the reason, it is said, that it was fluent to write +with and dried quickly.</p> + +<p>From a valuable collection of letters (more than a dozen—recently +in the possession of Messrs. Noel Conway and Co., +of Martineau Street, Birmingham, and kindly shown to me by +Mr. Charles Fendelow), written by the novelist between 1832 +and 1833 to a friend of his earlier years—Mr. W. H. Kolle—and +not hitherto published, it appears that he had not then +acquired that precise habit of inscribing the place, day of the +week, month, and the year which marked his later correspondence +(as has been pointed out by Miss Hogarth and Miss +Dickens in the preface to the <i>Letters of Charles Dickens</i>), very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> +few of the letters to Mr. Kolle bearing any record whatever +except the day of the week, occasionally preceded by +Fitzroy Street or Bentinck Street, where he resided at the +time. It would be extremely interesting to ascertain the +reason which subsequently led him to adopt the extraordinarily +precise method which almost invariably marked +his correspondence from the year 1840 until the close of his +life. Possibly arrangements with publishers and others may +have given him the exact habit which afterwards became +automatic.</p> + +<p>In addition to the manuscripts in the Forster Collection +in the Museum there are corrected proofs of a portion of the +<i>Pickwick Papers</i>, <i>Dombey and Son</i>, <i>David Copperfield</i>, <i>Bleak +House</i>, and <i>Little Dorrit</i>. Some of the corrections in <i>Dombey +and Son</i> are said to be in the handwriting of Mr. Forster. +All these proofs show marvellous attention to detail—one of +the most conspicuous of Dickens's characteristics. Nothing +with him was worth doing unless it was done well. As an +illustration of work in this direction, it may be mentioned +that a proof copy of the speech delivered at the meeting +of the Administrative Reform Association at Drury Lane +Theatre on Wednesday, June 27th, 1855, in the possession +of the writer of these lines, has over a hundred corrections +on the nine pages of which it consists, and many of these occur +in punctuation. On careful examination, the alterations show +that the correction in every case is a decided improvement +on the original. The following <i>fac-similes</i> from the <i>Hand-Book</i> +to the <i>Dyce and Forster Collection</i>, and from Forster's +<i>Life</i>, illustrate the earlier, later, and latest handwritings of +Charles Dickens as shown in the MSS. of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, 1837, +<i>Hard Times</i>, 1854, and <i>Edwin Drood</i>, 1870.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_441.png" width="600" height="313" alt=""Oliver Twist," 1837, vol. i. ch. xii." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Oliver Twist," 1837, vol. i. ch. xii.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/i_442a-big.png"><img src="images/i_442a.png" width="600" height="185" alt=""Hard Times," 1854, vol. i. ch. i." title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">"Hard Times," 1854, vol. i. ch. i.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/i_442b-big.png"><img src="images/i_442b.png" width="400" height="122" alt=""David Copperfield," 1850 (corrected proof), ch. xiv." title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">"David Copperfield," 1850 (corrected proof), ch. xiv.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/i_443-big.png"><img src="images/i_443.png" width="600" height="373" alt=""Edwin Drood," 1870, ch. xxiii. p. 189 (last MS. page)." title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">"Edwin Drood," 1870, ch. xxiii. p. 189 (last MS. page).</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span></p> + +<div class='tnote'><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> Clicking on the images of the facsimilies +in smaller print will show a larger edition of the same image.</div> +<p>A proof of the fourteenth Chapter of <i>David Copperfield</i>, 1850, +shows that the allusion to "King Charles the First's head"—about +which Mr. Dick was so much troubled—was <i>not</i> contained +in the first draft of the story, for the passage originally +had reference to "the date when that bull got into the china +warehouse and did so much mischief." The subsequent reference +to King Charles's head was a happy thought of Dickens, +and furthered Mr. Dick's idea of the mistake "of putting +some of the trouble out of King Charles's head" into his own.</p> + +<p>Mr. R. F. Sketchley, the able and courteous custodian of +the collection, allows us to see some of the other rarities in +the museum not displayed in the cabinet—prefaces, dedications, +and memoranda relating to the novels; letters addressed +by Dickens to Forster, Maclise, and others; rare play-bills; +and the originals of invitations to the public dinner and ball +at New York, which Dickens received on the occasion of his +first visit to America in 1842. After turning these over with +reverential care, we regretfully leave behind us one of the +most interesting and important literary collections ever +presented to the Nation.</p> + +<p>We next visit the Prerogative Registry of the United Kingdom +at Somerset House, wherein is filed the original Will +of Charles Dickens. The search for this interesting document +pursued by a stranger under pressure of time, strongly +reminds one of the "Circumlocution Office" so graphically +described in <i>Bleak House</i>. But we are enthusiastic, and at +length obtain a clue to it in a folio volume (Letter D), containing +the names of testators who died in the year 1870, +where the Will is briefly recorded (at number 468) as that +of "Dickens, Charles, otherwise Charles John Huffham, +Esquire." We pay our fees, and take our seats in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> +reading-room, when the original is presently placed in our +hands. It is one of a series of three documents fastened +together by a bit of green silk cord, and secured by the seal +of the office, as is customary when there are two or more +papers filed. The first document is the Will itself, dated +12th May, 1869, written throughout by the novelist very +plainly and closely in the characteristic blue ink on a +medium sheet of faint blue quarto letter paper, having the +usual legal folded margin, and exactly covering the four +pages. It is free from corrections, and is signed, "Charles +Dickens," under which is the never-to-be-mistaken flourish. +The testatum is signed by G. Holsworth, 26 Wellington +Street, Strand, and Henry Walker, 26 Wellington Street, +Strand, which points to the fact that the Will was written +and executed at the office of <i>All the Year Round</i>. He appoints +"Georgina Hogarth and John Forster executrix and +executor, and guardians of the persons of my children +during their respective minorities."</p> + +<p>The second document is the Oath of John Forster, testifying +that Charles Dickens, otherwise Charles John Huffham +Dickens, is one and the same person. The third document is +a Codicil dated 2nd June, 1870 (only a week before his death), +in which the novelist bequeaths "to my son Charles Dickens, +the younger, all my share and interest in the weekly journal +called <i>All the Year Round</i>." The Codicil is witnessed by the +same persons. The Will and Codicil are both given in extenso +in vol. iii. of Forster's <i>Life</i>—the gross amount of the real and +personal estate being calculated at £93,000.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<div class='center'><big>* * * * * *</big></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span></p> +<p>A very short tramp from Somerset House brings us to the +last object of our pilgrimage—the grave of Charles Dickens +in Westminster Abbey. Surely no admirer of his genius can +omit this final mark of honour to the memory of the mighty +dead. Many years have rolled by since "the good, the +gentle, highly gifted, ever friendly, noble Dickens" passed +away; and we stand by the grave in the calm September +evening, with "jewels cast upon the pavement of the nave +from stained glass by the declining sun," and look down at +the dark flat stone lying at our feet, on which is inscribed "in +plain English letters," the simple record:—</p> + +<div class='center'> +<big>CHARLES DICKENS,</big><br /> +BORN FEBRUARY THE SEVENTH, 1812.<br /> +DIED JUNE THE NINTH, 1870.<br /> +</div> + +<p>We recall with profoundly sympathetic interest that quietly +impressive ceremony as recorded by Forster in the final pages +of his able biography. "Before mid-day on Tuesday, the 14th +June, 1870, with knowledge of those only who took part in +the burial, all was done. The solemnity had not lost by the +simplicity. Nothing so grand or so touching could have accompanied +it, as the stillness and the silence of the vast Cathedral." +And he further describes the wonderful gathering +subsequently:—"Then later in the day, and all the following +day, came unbidden mourners in such crowds that the Dean +had to request permission to keep open the grave until +Thursday; but after it was closed they did not cease to +come, and all day long." Dean Stanley wrote:—"On the +17th there was a constant pressure to the spot, and many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> +flowers were strewn upon it by unknown hands, many tears +shed from unknown eyes."</p> + +<p>What poet, what philosopher, what monarch even, might +not envy this loving tribute to the influence of the great +writer, to the personal respect for the man, and to the +affection for the friend who, by the sterling nature of his +work for nearly thirty-five years, had the power to create +and sustain such sympathy?</p> + +<p>Forster thus admiringly concludes the memoir of his hero:</p> + +<p>"The highest associations of both the arts he loved surround +him where he lies. Next to him is Richard Cumberland. +Mrs. Pritchard's monument looks down upon him, +and immediately behind is David Garrick's. Nor is the +actor's delightful art more worthily represented than the +nobler genius of the author. Facing the grave, and on its +left and right, are the monuments of Chaucer, Shakespeare, +and Dryden, the three immortals who did most to create +and settle the language to which Charles Dickens has given +another undying name."</p> + +<p>"Of making many books there is no end," said the wise +man of old; and certainly, if we may estimate the popularity +of Charles Dickens by the works of all kinds relating to him, +written since his death, the number may be counted by +hundreds. It may also be said that probably no other +English writer save Shakespeare has been the cause of so +much posthumous literature. The sayings of his characters +permeate our everyday life, and they continue to be as fresh +as when they were first recorded. The original editions of +his writings in some cases realize high prices which are simply +amazing, and—judging by statistics—his readers are as +numerous as ever they were. Higher testimony to the worth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> +"of the most popular novelist of the century, and one of the +greatest humourists that England has produced," and to +the continued interest which the reading public still evince +in the minutest detail relating to him and to his books, can +scarcely be uttered; but what is better still—"his sympathies +were generally on the right side;"—he has left an +example that all may follow;—he did his utmost to leave the +world a little better than he found it;—as he said by one +of his characters, "the best of men can do no more"—and +now he peacefully rests as one</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Of those immortal dead who live again<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In minds made better by their presence."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> +<img src="images/i_448.png" width="375" height="471" alt="Tailpiece: "Pathos"" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span></p> +<h2>L'ENVOI.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span>—my fellow-tramp and I—naturally feel a pang of +regret now that our pleasant visit to "Dickens-Land" is +terminated. With a parting grasp of the hand I express to +the companion of my travels a cordial wish that ere long +we may, "<span class="smcap">please God</span>," renew our delightful experience, +and again go over the ground hallowed by Dickens associations; +to which my friend, as cordially assenting, replies +"<span class="smcap">surely, surely!</span>"</p> + +<p>With these two favourite expressions of Charles Dickens +(quoted above) I conclude the book, trusting that it will +prove worthy of some kindly appreciation at the hands of +my readers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span></p> +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + +<h3>CHIEFLY OF NAMES.</h3> + + +<div> +<span class="smcap">À Becket Thomas</span> <a href="#Page_212">212</a> <a href="#Page_338">338</a> <a href="#Page_340">340</a><br /> +<br /> +Adams H. G. <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br /> +<br /> +Allington <a href="#Page_135">135</a> <a href="#Page_290">290</a>-<a href="#Page_298">8</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>All the Year Round</i> <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_193">193</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a> <a href="#Page_422">422</a><br /> +<br /> +Alphington <a href="#Page_209">209</a> <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>American Notes</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a><br /> +<br /> +Andersen H. C. <a href="#Page_32">32</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Anderson Mary <a href="#Page_152">152</a> <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +Athenæum <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Austin H. <a href="#Page_184">184</a> <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br /> +<br /> +Aveling S. T. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_82">2</a> <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br /> +<br /> +Aylesford <a href="#Page_288">288</a> <a href="#Page_292">292</a> <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battle of <a href="#Page_311">311</a> <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Churchyard <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bridge <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Friary <a href="#Page_297">297</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Baird J.</span> <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_271">1</a>-<a href="#Page_272">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Ball J. H. <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_227">7</a> <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William <a href="#Page_135">135</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_227">7</a>-<a href="#Page_228">8</a> <a href="#Page_230">230</a> <a href="#Page_246">246</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Barnaby Rudge</i> <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_45">5</a> <a href="#Page_138">138</a><br /> +<br /> +Barnard's Inn <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Battle of Life</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +Bayham Street <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br /> +<br /> +Bell Yard <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Bentinck Street <a href="#Page_25">25</a> <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bentley's Miscellany</i> <a href="#Page_47">47</a> <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Bevan P. <a href="#Page_103">103</a> <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <a href="#Page_251">251</a> <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <a href="#Page_311">311</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a> <a href="#Page_338">338</a><br /> +<br /> +Birmingham <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_239">239</a> <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Town Hall <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Midland Institute <a href="#Page_144">144</a> <a href="#Page_239">239</a> <a href="#Page_240">240</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bishop's Court <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Blanchard E. L. <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bleak House</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <a href="#Page_19">19</a> <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <a href="#Page_268">268</a> <a href="#Page_288">288</a> <a href="#Page_325">325</a>-<a href="#Page_327">7</a>-<a href="#Page_328">8</a> <a href="#Page_336">336</a> <a href="#Page_357">357</a> <a href="#Page_380">380</a> <a href="#Page_399">399</a> <a href="#Page_421">421</a><br /> +<br /> +Bleak House (or Fort House) Broadstairs <a href="#Page_327">327</a>-<a href="#Page_328">8</a>-<a href="#Page_329">9</a> <a href="#Page_333">333</a><br /> +<br /> +Bloomsbury Square <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Blue Bell or Upper Bell <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a> <a href="#Page_314">314</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Boley (or "Bully") Hill <a href="#Page_88">88</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a> <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +"Borough English" <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +Boundary Lane <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br /> +<br /> +British Museum <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Broadstairs <a href="#Page_317">317</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a>-<a href="#Page_333">333</a> <a href="#Page_343">343</a>-<a href="#Page_348">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's Residence in High Street <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fort House (or "Bleak House") <a href="#Page_327">327</a>-<a href="#Page_328">8</a>-<a href="#Page_39">9</a> <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lawn House <a href="#Page_326">326</a>-<a href="#Page_327">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Look-out House <a href="#Page_332">332</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brompton (New) <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <a href="#Page_252">252</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_275">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Brooker Mr. <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<br /> +Budden Major <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_168">8</a>-<a href="#Page_169">9</a> <a href="#Page_173">173</a> <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">188</a> <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_195">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <a href="#Page_195">195</a> <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_272">2</a>-<a href="#Page_273">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William J. <a href="#Page_269">269</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a> <a href="#Page_295">295</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Burgate Street <a href="#Page_340">340</a><br /> +<br /> +Burham <a href="#Page_270">270</a> <a href="#Page_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Camden Town</span> <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br /> +<br /> +Canterbury <a href="#Page_113">113</a> <a href="#Page_172">172</a> <a href="#Page_336">336</a>-<a href="#Page_344">344</a> <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burgate Street <a href="#Page_340">340</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cathedral <a href="#Page_338">338</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Chequers" <a href="#Page_343">343</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dane John <a href="#Page_337">337</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Fountain" <a href="#Page_343">343</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harbledown <a href="#Page_348">348</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">High Street <a href="#Page_337">337</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Museum <a href="#Page_340">340</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Sir John Falstaff" <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Sun" <a href="#Page_343">343</a>-<a href="#Page_344">4</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">West Gate <a href="#Page_336">336</a>-<a href="#Page_337">7</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Canvey Island <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Chalk <a href="#Page_182">182</a> <a href="#Page_391">391</a>-<a href="#Page_393">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_393">393</a>-<a href="#Page_394">4</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chancery Lane <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Chatham <a href="#Page_4">4</a> <a href="#Page_28">28</a> <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_71">1</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <a href="#Page_144">144</a> <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_194">194</a> <a href="#Page_231">231</a> <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a> <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barracks <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Convict Prison <a href="#Page_268">268</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dockyard <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">9</a> <a href="#Page_274">274</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fort Pitt <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_106">6</a> <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Giles's Academy <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">High Street <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_262">2</a> <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_273">3</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">House on the Brook <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_261">1</a>-<a href="#Page_265">5</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a> <a href="#Page_273">273</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lines <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a href="#Page_5">275</a>-<a href="#Page_276">6</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mechanics' Institute <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">9</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_271">1</a>-<a href="#Page_273">3</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Mitre" <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_116">116</a> <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_263">3</a>-<a href="#Page_264">4</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Navy Pay Office <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <a href="#Page_274">274</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ordnance Place <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Terrace <a href="#Page_28">28</a> <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <a href="#Page_257">257</a>-<a href="#Page_258">8</a> <a href="#Page_265">265</a> <a href="#Page_274">274</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Mary's Church <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Place <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_262">2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chelsea—St. Luke's Church <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Cherry Garden <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Child's Dream of a Star</i> <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Child's History of England</i> <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<br /> +Chillington Manor House <a href="#Page_308">308</a>-<a href="#Page_309">9</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Chimes</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <a href="#Page_41">41</a> <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Chorley H. F. <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Christmas Carol</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_239">239</a> <a href="#Page_414">414</a><br /> +<br /> +Cinque Ports <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +Cliffe <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <a href="#Page_360">360</a> <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_361">361</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Clifford's Inn <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Cobb R. L. <a href="#Page_373">373</a>-<a href="#Page_374">4</a>-<a href="#Page_375">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Cobham <a href="#Page_377">377</a>-<a href="#Page_378">8</a> <a href="#Page_380">380</a>-<a href="#Page_282">2</a> <a href="#Page_386">386</a>-<a href="#Page_391">391</a> <a href="#Page_393">393</a> <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Châlet <a href="#Page_222">222</a> <a href="#Page_384">384</a>-<a href="#Page_385">5</a> <a href="#Page_414">414</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_391">391</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hall <a href="#Page_186">186</a> <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_222">2</a> <a href="#Page_380">380</a>-<a href="#Page_386">386</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Leather Bottle" <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_386">386</a>-<a href="#Page_390">390</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Park <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_194">194</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a>-<a href="#Page_279">9</a> <a href="#Page_380">380</a>-<a href="#Page_382">2</a>-<a href="#Page_386">6</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Schools <a href="#Page_382">382</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woods <a href="#Page_380">380</a> <a href="#Page_391">391</a> <a href="#Page_403">403</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cobham Lord <a href="#Page_358">358</a><br /> +<br /> +Cobtree Hall <a href="#Page_296">296</a>-<a href="#Page_299">299</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +College Gate <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Collins W. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">3</a>-<a href="#Page_36">6</a> <a href="#Page_152">152</a> <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <a href="#Page_207">207</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sale of MSS. <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charles A. <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_198">8</a> <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_202">2</a>-<a href="#Page_6">206</a> <a href="#Page_271">271</a> <a href="#Page_367">367</a> <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a name="Mrs_C_A" id="Mrs_C_A"></a>Mrs. C. A. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>and see</i> <a href="#Dickens_Kate">Dickens Kate</a> <i>and</i> <a href="#Perugini_Mrs">Perugini Mrs.</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cooling <a href="#Page_349">349</a>-<a href="#Page_360">360</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Castle <a href="#Page_356">356</a>-<a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_351">351</a>-<a href="#Page_352">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Churchyard <a href="#Page_354">354</a>-<a href="#Page_357">7</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cooper T. Sidney <a href="#Page_348">348</a><br /> +<br /> +Cosham <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Couchman J. <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Countless Stones <a href="#Page_311">311</a>-<a href="#Page_312">2</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cricket on the Hearth</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_161">161</a> <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +<br /> +"Crispin and Crispianus" <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Crow Lane <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +"Crown Old" <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +"Crozier" <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Cruikshank G. <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +Cursitor Street <a href="#Page_20">20</a>-<a href="#Page_22">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Cuxton <a href="#Page_288">288</a>-<a href="#Page_289">9</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dadd R.</span> <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Daily News</i> <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +"Dane John" <a href="#Page_337">337</a><br /> +<br /> +Darnley Earl of <a href="#Page_202">202</a> <a href="#Page_222">222</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a> <a href="#Page_382">382</a>-<a href="#Page_385">385</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>David Copperfield</i> <a href="#Page_26">26</a> <a href="#Page_39">39</a> <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_48">8</a> <a href="#Page_91">91</a> <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <a href="#Page_148">148</a> <a href="#Page_219">219</a> <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_256">6</a>-<a href="#Page_258">8</a> <a href="#Page_266">266</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a> <a href="#Page_284">284</a> <a href="#Page_317">317</a> <a href="#Page_325">325</a> <a href="#Page_340">340</a> <a href="#Page_343">343</a>-<a href="#Page_347">347</a> <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a>-<a href="#Page_397">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fac-simile</i> <a href="#Page_419">419</a> <a href="#Page_421">421</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Davies Rev. G. <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_195">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Straits <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_195">5</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Deal <a href="#Page_399">399</a><br /> +<br /> +Deanery Gatehouse <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_129">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Devonshire Terrace <a href="#Page_31">31</a> <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_42">2</a>-<a href="#Page_44">4</a>-<a href="#Page_46">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Street <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens A. L. <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_184">184</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a>; <br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. T. <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens Charles:—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_285">285</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birthplace <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-<a href="#Page_287">287</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baptism <a href="#Page_285">285</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First literary effort <a href="#Page_262">262</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Short-hand <a href="#Page_249">249</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marriage <a href="#Page_391">391</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and the Serjeant <a href="#Page_249">249</a> <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and the Bears <a href="#Page_402">402</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Public Executions <a href="#Page_410">410</a>-<a href="#Page_411">1</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Genealogy (?) <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-<a href="#Page_254">4</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dogs <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_184">4</a>-<a href="#Page_186">6</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_228">8</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Châlet <a href="#Page_222">222</a> <a href="#Page_384">384</a>-<a href="#Page_385">5</a> <a href="#Page_414">414</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crest <a href="#Page_385">385</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ravens <a href="#Page_44">44</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Readings <a href="#Page_239">239</a> <a href="#Page_242">242</a> <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-<a href="#Page_272">2</a> <a href="#Page_422">422</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Politics <a href="#Page_239">239</a> <a href="#Page_240">240</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Illness <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_244">4</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death <a href="#Page_244">244</a> <a href="#Page_369">369</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a> <a href="#Page_404">404</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Funeral <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_88">8</a> <a href="#Page_401">401</a>-<a href="#Page_404">4</a> <a href="#Page_423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Card <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grave <a href="#Page_423">423</a>-<a href="#Page_424">4</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Will <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_286">286</a> <a href="#Page_401">401</a> <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-<a href="#Page_422">2</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manuscripts <a href="#Page_412">412</a>-<a href="#Page_421">421</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Handwriting <i>fac-similes</i> (1837 1850 1854 1870) <a href="#Page_418">418</a>-<a href="#Page_420">420</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corrected Proofs <a href="#Page_417">417</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memorial Brass <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memorials <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_229">9</a> <a href="#Page_230">230</a> <a href="#Page_247">247</a> <a href="#Page_371">371</a> <a href="#Page_420">420</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portraits <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_205">205</a> <a href="#Page_225">225</a> <a href="#Page_272">272</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a> <a href="#Page_390">390</a> <a href="#Page_415">415</a>-<a href="#Page_416">6</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters <a href="#Page_416">416</a>-<a href="#Page_417">7</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mysterious Dickens-item <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_249">249</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Dickens_Mrs_C" id="Dickens_Mrs_C"></a>Dickens Mrs. C. <a href="#Page_207">207</a> <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Dickens C. Junr. <a href="#Page_26">26</a> <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_34">4</a> <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_145">5</a> <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_202">2</a> <a href="#Page_294">294</a> <a href="#Page_366">366</a> <a href="#Page_404">404</a> <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward B. L. <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens Fanny <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_264">4</a> <a href="#Page_284">284</a>-<a href="#Page_285">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harriet E. <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens H. F. <a href="#Page_180">180</a> <a href="#Page_198">198</a> <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_203">3</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <a href="#Page_234">234</a> <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-<a href="#Page_249">9</a> <a href="#Page_250">250</a> <a href="#Page_368">368</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Dickens J. <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-<a href="#Page_255">5</a> <a href="#Page_265">265</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a> <a href="#Page_274">274</a> <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_284">4</a>-<a href="#Page_285">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-<a href="#Page_255">5</a> <a href="#Page_285">285</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Dickens_Kate" id="Dickens_Kate"></a>Dickens Kate <a href="#Page_36">36</a> <a href="#Page_90">90</a> <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <a href="#Page_206">206</a> <a href="#Page_367">367</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(<i>and see</i> <a href="#Perugini_Mrs">Perugini Mrs.</a> <i>and</i> <a href="#Mrs_C_A">Collins Mrs. C. A.</a>)</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens Miss <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_34">4</a> <a href="#Page_416">416</a><br /> +<br /> +Dickenson Mr. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_201">1</a>-<a href="#Page_202">2</a>-<a href="#Page_209">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Dodd H. <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_233">3</a>-<a href="#Page_234">4</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Dombey and Son</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <a href="#Page_227">227</a> <a href="#Page_317">317</a> <a href="#Page_325">325</a><br /> +<br /> +Doughty Street <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_28">8</a>-<a href="#Page_29">9</a> <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +Dover <a href="#Page_54">54</a> <a href="#Page_192">192</a> <a href="#Page_345">345</a>-<a href="#Page_348">348</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Castle <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heights <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Road <a href="#Page_396">396</a>-<a href="#Page_400">400</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Drage Rev. W. H. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Misses <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_93">3</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Duck" <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Easedown Mrs.</span> <a href="#Page_369">369</a>-<a href="#Page_371">371</a> <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Eastgate House <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +East Malling <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Edwin Drood</i> <a href="#Page_6">6</a> <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_27">7</a> <a href="#Page_46">46</a> <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_73">3</a>-<a href="#Page_74">4</a>-<a href="#Page_75">5</a> <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <a href="#Page_111">111</a> <a href="#Page_113">113</a> <a href="#Page_115">115</a> <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <a href="#Page_119">119</a> <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">1</a>-<a href="#Page_124">4</a>-<a href="#Page_128">8</a>-<a href="#Page_129">9</a> <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_134">4</a> <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>-<a href="#Page_9">9</a> <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_141">1</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <a href="#Page_207">207</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a> <a href="#Page_247">247</a>-<a href="#Page_248">8</a>-<a href="#Page_249">9</a> <a href="#Page_288">288</a> <a href="#Page_290">290</a> <a href="#Page_406">406</a> <a href="#Page_411">411</a> <a href="#Page_414">414</a> <a href="#Page_416">416</a>-<a href="#Page_417">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fac-simile</i> <a href="#Page_420">420</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Exeter <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Falstaff</span> Sir John" (at Gad's Hill) <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">5</a>-<a href="#Page_167">7</a> <a href="#Page_175">175</a> <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_208">8</a>-<a href="#Page_209">9</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(At Canterbury) <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Farleigh <a href="#Page_290">290</a><br /> +<br /> +Faversham <a href="#Page_323">323</a>-<a href="#Page_324">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Fechter Mr. <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <a href="#Page_201">201</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +<br /> +Fildes Luke <a href="#Page_23">23</a> <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_75">75</a> <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_129">9</a> <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_141">1</a> <a href="#Page_169">169</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a> <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +<br /> +Fisher Bishop <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +Fitzroy Street <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br /> +<br /> +Fleet Street <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Ford H. <a href="#Page_330">330</a><br /> +<br /> +Forster J. <a href="#Page_2">2</a> <a href="#Page_6">6</a> <a href="#Page_8">8</a> <a href="#Page_19">19</a> <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_38">8</a>-<a href="#Page_39">9</a> <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_44">4</a> <a href="#Page_51">51</a> <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_93">93</a> <a href="#Page_107">107</a> <a href="#Page_167">167</a> <a href="#Page_174">174</a> <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-<a href="#Page_179">9</a> <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_186">6</a>-<a href="#Page_187">7</a> <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_209">9</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_235">5</a> <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <a href="#Page_262">262</a> <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a>-<a href="#Page_327">7</a> <a href="#Page_335">335</a> <a href="#Page_356">356</a>-<a href="#Page_357">7</a> <a href="#Page_364">364</a> <a href="#Page_412">412</a>-<a href="#Page_414">4</a>-<a href="#Page_417">7</a> <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-<a href="#Page_424">424</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bequest <a href="#Page_412">412</a>-<a href="#Page_416">416</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fort Clarence <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br /> +<br /> +Fort Pitt <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_106">6</a> <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Fortunus</i> <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Fountain Court <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Fox <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Frindsbury <a href="#Page_195">195</a> <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_212">212</a> <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frith W. P. <a href="#Page_230">230</a> <a href="#Page_395">395</a>-<a href="#Page_396">6</a> <a href="#Page_415">415</a><br /> +<br /> +Frog Alley <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Frozen Deep</i> <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">3</a> <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +Furnival's Inn <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Gad's Hill</span> <a href="#Page_4">4</a> <a href="#Page_44">44</a> <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">1</a>-<a href="#Page_93">3</a> <a href="#Page_141">141</a> <a href="#Page_161">161</a> <i>et seq.</i> <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_248">8</a>-<a href="#Page_249">9</a> <a href="#Page_265">265</a> <a href="#Page_393">393</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sixty years ago <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_195">195</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Falstaff Sir John" <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">5</a>-<a href="#Page_167">7</a> <a href="#Page_175">175</a> <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_208">8</a>-<a href="#Page_209">9</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gad's Hill Place <a href="#Page_31">31</a> <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a href="#Page_46">6</a> <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_88">88</a> <a href="#Page_93">93</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_209">209</a> <a href="#Page_217">217</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_222">2</a>-<a href="#Page_223">3</a> <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-<a href="#Page_225">5</a>-<a href="#Page_227">7</a> <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_241">1</a>-<a href="#Page_243">3</a> <a href="#Page_271">271</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a> <a href="#Page_363">363</a>-<a href="#Page_364">4</a>-<a href="#Page_369">9</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a>-<a href="#Page_371">1</a> <a href="#Page_376">376</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a>-<a href="#Page_409">9</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cedars at <a href="#Page_186">186</a> <a href="#Page_192">192</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Châlet <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">7</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_222">2</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charades at <a href="#Page_197">197</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clock <a href="#Page_229">229</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cricket at <a href="#Page_208">208</a> <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-<a href="#Page_249">9</a> <a href="#Page_372">372</a>-<a href="#Page_373">3</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dick's Grave at <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Gazette</i> <a href="#Page_180">180</a> <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_198">8</a>-<a href="#Page_199">9</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Plough" <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Porch at <a href="#Page_184">184</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sale of <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_236">6</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_246">6</a> <a href="#Page_404">404</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sale Photograph of <a href="#Page_230">230</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shrubbery at <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Specification for alterations at <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_223">3</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sports at <a href="#Page_363">363</a>-<a href="#Page_364">4</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sun-dial <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theatricals at <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tunnel at <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_186">6</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Well at <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-<a href="#Page_182">2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Gavelkind" <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Gibson_Mary" id="Gibson_Mary"></a>Gibson Mary <a href="#Page_46">46</a> <a href="#Page_265">265</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a>-<a href="#Page_267">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>and see</i> <a href="#Weller_Mary">Weller Mary</a>)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robert <a href="#Page_266">266</a>-<a href="#Page_267">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thomas <a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giles Rev. W. <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Academy <a href="#Page_261">261</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gillingham <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Gordon Square <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_38">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Place <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gower Street <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_39">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Gravesend <a href="#Page_3">3</a> <a href="#Page_91">91</a> <a href="#Page_192">192</a> <a href="#Page_336">336</a> <a href="#Page_361">361</a>-<a href="#Page_2">362</a> <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Great Expectations</i> <a href="#Page_6">6</a> <a href="#Page_7">7</a> <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_53">53</a> <a href="#Page_64">64</a> <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_78">8</a> <a href="#Page_97">97</a> <a href="#Page_156">156</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_269">269</a> <a href="#Page_348">348</a> <a href="#Page_351">351</a>-<a href="#Page_354">354</a> <a href="#Page_356">356</a>-<a href="#Page_358">8</a> <a href="#Page_398">398</a> <a href="#Page_401">401</a>-<a href="#Page_5">405</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Grimaldi Memoirs of</i> <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Grip the Raven <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Harbledown</span> <a href="#Page_348">348</a><br /> +<br /> +Hard Times <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fac-simile</i> <a href="#Page_419">419</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hastings <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Haunted Man</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Hawke Street <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Head R. <a href="#Page_53">53</a> <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>Higham <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_173">173</a>-<a href="#Page_176">6</a> <a href="#Page_182">182</a> <a href="#Page_194">194</a> <a href="#Page_242">242</a> <a href="#Page_362">362</a>-<a href="#Page_375">375</a> <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br /> +<br /> +Hogarth G. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Catherine <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>and see</i> <a href="#Dickens_Mrs_C">Dickens Mrs. Charles</a>) E. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Georgina <a href="#Page_34">34</a> <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <a href="#Page_90">90</a> <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_206">6</a> <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_238">8</a> <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-<a href="#Page_244">4</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a>-<a href="#Page_375">5</a>-<a href="#Page_378">8</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a> <a href="#Page_406">406</a> <a href="#Page_416">416</a> <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William <a href="#Page_54">54</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Holborn <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-<a href="#Page_24">4</a>-<a href="#Page_27">7</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Holly Tree Inn</i> <a href="#Page_263">263</a> <a href="#Page_408">408</a><br /> +<br /> +Homan F. <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_88">88</a> <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Hoo <a href="#Page_350">350</a><br /> +<br /> +Hop-Picking and Cultivation <a href="#Page_318">318</a>-<a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<br /> +Horse Guards <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +<br /> +Horsted <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Household Words</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_89">89</a> <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <a href="#Page_142">142</a> <a href="#Page_150">150</a> <a href="#Page_193">193</a> <a href="#Page_257">257</a> <a href="#Page_344">344</a> <a href="#Page_415">415</a><br /> +<br /> +House on the Brook <a href="#Page_260">260</a> <a href="#Page_1">1</a>-<a href="#Page_5">5</a>-<a href="#Page_6">6</a> <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +<br /> +Hulkes J. <a href="#Page_163">163</a> <a href="#Page_195">195</a>-<a href="#Page_198">198</a> <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-<a href="#Page_205">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. J. <a href="#Page_205">205</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Hunted Down</i> <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Hyde Park <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corner <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Place <a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hythe <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Johnson's Court</span> <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +John Street <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Kennette A.</span> <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +Kingsgate Street <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Kit's Coty House <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-<a href="#Page_313">313</a> <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Kitton F. G. <a href="#Page_4">4</a> <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_102">102</a> <a href="#Page_110">110</a> <a href="#Page_127">127</a> <a href="#Page_163">163</a> <a href="#Page_205">205</a> <a href="#Page_248">248</a> <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <a href="#Page_368">368</a> <a href="#Page_393">393</a> <a href="#Page_415">415</a><br /> +<br /> +Kolle W. H. <a href="#Page_416">416</a>-<a href="#Page_417">7</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Lamert Dr.</span> <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">J. <a href="#Page_256">256</a>-<a href="#Page_258">8</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Landport <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commercial Road <a href="#Page_281">281</a>-<a href="#Page_282">2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lang Andrew <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +Langton R. <a href="#Page_2">2</a> <a href="#Page_3">3</a> <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <a href="#Page_144">144</a> <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <a href="#Page_252">252</a>-<a href="#Page_255">5</a>-<a href="#Page_258">8</a> <a href="#Page_264">264</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a> <a href="#Page_277">277</a> <a href="#Page_281">281</a>-<a href="#Page_282">2</a>-<a href="#Page_284">4</a>-<a href="#Page_286">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Lapworth Prof. <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Larkin C. <a href="#Page_163">163</a> <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Latter Mrs. <a href="#Page_209">209</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a>-<a href="#Page_401">1</a>-<a href="#Page_402">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Lawn House <a href="#Page_326">326</a>-<a href="#Page_327">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Lawrence J. <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<br /> +"Leather Bottle" <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_386">386</a>-<a href="#Page_390">390</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +Lemon Mark <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_34">4</a>-<a href="#Page_35">5</a>-<a href="#Page_36">6</a> <a href="#Page_151">151</a> <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_234">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Levy C. D. <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_247">7</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Lighthouse</i> <a href="#Page_33">33</a> <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +Lincoln's Inn <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fields <a href="#Page_19">19</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Linton Mrs. Lynn <a href="#Page_167">167</a> <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Little Dorrit</i> <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_46">46</a> <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <a href="#Page_161">161</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <a href="#Page_211">211</a> <a href="#Page_416">416</a><br /> +<br /> +Littlewood J. E. <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_273">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Long Mrs. <a href="#Page_333">333</a><br /> +<br /> +"Look-out House" <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Maclise D.</span> <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_44">4</a> <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <a href="#Page_412">412</a> <a href="#Page_421">421</a><br /> +<br /> +Maidstone <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">1</a> <a href="#Page_140">140</a> <a href="#Page_293">293</a> <a href="#Page_306">306</a>-<a href="#Page_310">310</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Road <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chillington Manor House <a href="#Page_308">308</a>-<a href="#Page_309">9</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brenchley Gardens <a href="#Page_309">309</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Malleson J. N. <a href="#Page_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_206">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Margate <a href="#Page_324">324</a> <a href="#Page_333">333</a>-<a href="#Page_334">4</a>-<a href="#Page_336">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theatre <a href="#Page_334">334</a>-<a href="#Page_335">5</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Marsham Rev J. J. <a href="#Page_402">402</a>-<a href="#Page_403">3</a>-<a href="#Page_404">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Marshes <a href="#Page_142">142</a> <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_349">349</a> <a href="#Page_350">350</a>-<a href="#Page_351">1</a>-<a href="#Page_357">7</a>-<a href="#Page_358">8</a> <a href="#Page_403">403</a>-<a href="#Page_409">9</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i> <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <a href="#Page_27">27</a> <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <a href="#Page_56">56</a> <a href="#Page_414">414</a><br /> +<br /> +Marzials F. T. <a href="#Page_8">8</a> <a href="#Page_29">29</a> <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Master Humphrey's Clock</i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Masters Mrs. <a href="#Page_217">217</a> <a href="#Page_219">219</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_226">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Mechanics' Institute <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">9</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_271">1</a>-<a href="#Page_273">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Medway River <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a href="#Page_53">3</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_69">9</a> <a href="#Page_98">98</a> <a href="#Page_103">103</a> <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-<a href="#Page_135">5</a> <a href="#Page_162">162</a> <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_211">211</a> <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <a href="#Page_288">288</a>-<a href="#Page_289">9</a> <a href="#Page_290">290</a>-<a href="#Page_292">2</a> <a href="#Page_309">309</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-<a href="#Page_316">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Valley <a href="#Page_379">379</a> <a href="#Page_382">382</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Memoirs of Grimaldi</i> <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Middle Temple Lane <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Mile End Cottage <a href="#Page_209">209</a> <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<br /> +Miles Mr. <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br /> +<br /> +Millen T. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">1</a><br /> +<br /> +Minor Canon Row <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_124">4</a>-<a href="#Page_127">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Minto Prof. <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br /> +<br /> +"Mitre" <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <a href="#Page_116">116</a> <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_263">3</a>-<a href="#Page_264">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Mitton T. <a href="#Page_414">414</a><br /> +<br /> +Montague Street <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Monthly Magazine</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Morgan Mr. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_201">1</a>-<a href="#Page_202">2</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Morning Chronicle</i> <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <a href="#Page_26">26</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Mr. Nightingale's Diary</i> <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Mrs. Joseph Porter over the way</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Mysterious Dickens-item <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Navy Pay Office Chatham</span> <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <a href="#Page_274">274</a><br /> +<br /> +New Brompton <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <a href="#Page_252">252</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_275">5</a><br /> +<br /> +New Romney <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> <a href="#Page_8">8</a> <a href="#Page_31">31</a> <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <a href="#Page_210">210</a> <a href="#Page_286">286</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a> <a href="#Page_416">416</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>No Thoroughfare</i> <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i><span class="smcap">Old Curiosity Shop</span></i> <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_49">9</a> <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <a href="#Page_323">323</a> <a href="#Page_349">349</a> <a href="#Page_405">405</a><br /> +<br /> +Old Sergeants' Inn <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Oliver Twist</i> <a href="#Page_31">31</a> <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fac-simile</i> <a href="#Page_418">418</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ordnance Terrace <a href="#Page_28">28</a> <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <a href="#Page_257">257</a>-<a href="#Page_258">8</a> <a href="#Page_265">265</a> <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Place <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Our English Watering-Place</i> <a href="#Page_317">317</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a>-<a href="#Page_331">31</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Our Mutual Friend</i> <a href="#Page_1">1</a> <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <a href="#Page_39">39</a> <a href="#Page_91">91</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +234 <a href="#Page_414">414</a><br /> +<br /> +Overblow <a href="#Page_402">402</a>-<a href="#Page_403">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Owl Club <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harmonious Owls <a href="#Page_59">59</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Parliament Street</span> <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Payne G. <a href="#Page_130">130</a> <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +<br /> +Pearce Sarah <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_284">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William <a href="#Page_284">284</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pear Tree Lane <a href="#Page_313">313</a> <a href="#Page_377">377</a>-<a href="#Page_378">8</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>Pemberton T. Edgar <a href="#Page_1">1</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a> <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Perugini_Mrs" id="Perugini_Mrs"></a>Perugini Mrs. <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(<i>and see</i> <a href="#Dickens_Kate">Dickens Kate</a> <i>and</i> <a href="#Mrs_C_A">Collins Mrs. C. A.</a>)</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pickwick Papers</i> <a href="#Page_5">5</a> <a href="#Page_6">6</a> <a href="#Page_20">20</a>-<a href="#Page_26">6</a>-<a href="#Page_29">9</a> <a href="#Page_31">31</a> <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_56">6</a> <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_67">7</a> <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_75">5</a> <a href="#Page_111">111</a> <a href="#Page_151">151</a> <a href="#Page_231">231</a> <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_255">5</a> <a href="#Page_261">261</a> <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a href="#Page_276">6</a>-<a href="#Page_279">9</a> <a href="#Page_293">293</a>-<a href="#Page_295">5</a> <a href="#Page_297">297</a>-<a href="#Page_306">306</a> <a href="#Page_324">324</a> <a href="#Page_373">373</a>-<a href="#Page_376">6</a>-<a href="#Page_379">9</a> <a href="#Page_387">387</a>-<a href="#Page_388">8</a> <a href="#Page_391">391</a>-<a href="#Page_393">3</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pictures from Italy</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +"Plorn" <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Porchester Castle <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Portsea <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_281">281</a>-<a href="#Page_282">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Mary's Church <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_285">285</a>-<a href="#Page_286">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawke Street <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_284">284</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Portsmouth <a href="#Page_281">281</a>-<a href="#Page_284">4</a>-<a href="#Page_286">6</a>-<a href="#Page_287">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Common Hard <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dockyard <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theatre <a href="#Page_286">286</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Portsmouth Street <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Prall R. <a href="#Page_57">57</a> <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Prior's Gate <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_128">8</a><br /> +<br /> +Proctor R. A. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>-<a href="#Page_139">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Proctors <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Punch</i> <a href="#Page_90">90</a> <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +Purkis Mrs. <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Quarry House</span> <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Rainham</span> <a href="#Page_317">317</a>-<a href="#Page_318">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mear's Barr Farm <a href="#Page_318">318</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ramsgate <a href="#Page_336">336</a><br /> +<br /> +Reculver <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Sisters <a href="#Page_324">324</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Red Lion Square <a href="#Page_28">28</a> <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Regent's Park <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Street <a href="#Page_46">46</a> <a href="#Page_51">51</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Restoration House <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_97">97</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> +<br /> +Robertson Rev. Canon <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +<br /> +Robinson G. <a href="#Page_269">269</a><br /> +<br /> +Rochester <a href="#Page_4">4</a> <a href="#Page_48">48</a> <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_97">97</a> <a href="#Page_376">376</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a> <a href="#Page_406">406</a>-<a href="#Page_409">9</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Blue Boar" <a href="#Page_64">64</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boley (or Bully) Hill <a href="#Page_88">88</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a> <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boundary Lane <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bridge <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a> <a href="#Page_104">104</a> <a href="#Page_215">215</a> <a href="#Page_217">217</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_227">7</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Bull Inn" <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">5</a> <i>et seq.</i> <a href="#Page_104">104</a> <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_145">5</a> <a href="#Page_409">409</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Castle <a href="#Page_69">69</a> <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_110">110</a> <a href="#Page_137">137</a> <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a> <a href="#Page_406">406</a>-<a href="#Page_409">9</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cathedral <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_90">90</a> <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a> <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <a href="#Page_406">406</a>-<a href="#Page_409">9</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cherry Garden <a href="#Page_54">54</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">College (or Jasper's) Gate <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crow Lane <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <a href="#Page_156">156</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Crozier" <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deanery Gatehouse <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_129">9</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Duck" <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eastgate House <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Episcopal Palace <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_131">1</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Esplanade <a href="#Page_134">134</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Frog Alley <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grammar School <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_88">8</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guildhall <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">5</a> <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <a href="#Page_108">108</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">High Street <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_53">3</a>-<a href="#Page_55">5</a> <a href="#Page_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_64">4</a> <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <a href="#Page_82">82</a> <a href="#Page_116">116</a> <a href="#Page_125">125</a> <a href="#Page_130">130</a> <a href="#Page_145">145</a> <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <a href="#Page_287">287</a> <a href="#Page_296">296</a> <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">London and County Bank <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maidstone Road <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_151">151</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mathematical School <a href="#Page_81">81</a> <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_176">6</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Men's Institute <a href="#Page_75">75</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minor Canon Row <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_124">4</a>-<a href="#Page_127">7</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Road <a href="#Page_152">152</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Old Crown" <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prior's Gate <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_128">8</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Restoration House <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">4</a> <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ghost Story <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_97">97</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sapsea's House <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_75">5</a>-<a href="#Page_76">6</a> <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Satis House <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_97">97</a> <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-<a href="#Page_158">8</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Savings Bank <a href="#Page_76">76</a> <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir J. Hawkins's Hospital <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir J. Hayward's Charity <a href="#Page_82">82</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Star Hill <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <a href="#Page_83">83</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Bartholomew's Hospital <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Catherine's Charity <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Margaret's <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Church <a href="#Page_151">151</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Nicholas' <a href="#Page_81">81</a> <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cemetery <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">7</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Church <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">7</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theatre <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <a href="#Page_143">143</a> <a href="#Page_242">242</a> <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vines (or Monks' Vineyard) <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_78">8</a> <a href="#Page_81">81</a> <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_132">2</a>-<a href="#Page_134">4</a> <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <a href="#Page_409">409</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watts's Almshouses <a href="#Page_151">151</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"> " Charity <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a> <a href="#Page_176">176</a> <a href="#Page_409">409</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rye <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +Ryland Mr. Arthur <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-<a href="#Page_145">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. <a href="#Page_33">33</a> <a href="#Page_144">144</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Sandling</span> <a href="#Page_310">310</a><br /> +<br /> +Sandwich <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +Sapsea's House <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_75">5</a>-<a href="#Page_76">6</a> <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Satis House <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <a href="#Page_97">97</a> <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-<a href="#Page_158">8</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Seven Poor Travellers</i> <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <a href="#Page_98">98</a> <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_143">3</a> <a href="#Page_150">150</a> <a href="#Page_160">160</a> <a href="#Page_380">380</a><br /> +<br /> +Seymour R. <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> +<br /> +Sheerness <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cockle-shell Hard <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sheppard Dr. <a href="#Page_342">342</a>-<a href="#Page_343">3</a>-<a href="#Page_344">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Shorne <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_137">137</a> <a href="#Page_194">194</a> <a href="#Page_358">358</a> <a href="#Page_391">391</a>-<a href="#Page_393">3</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a>-<a href="#Page_402">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_403">403</a>-<a href="#Page_404">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ridgway <a href="#Page_379">379</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sisters Reculver <a href="#Page_324">324</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sketches by Boz</i> <a href="#Page_26">26</a> <a href="#Page_64">64</a> <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sketches of Young Gentlemen</i> <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>of Young Couples</i> <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Smetham Henry <a href="#Page_368">368</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith C. Roach <a href="#Page_52">52</a> <a href="#Page_101">101</a> <a href="#Page_148">148</a> <a href="#Page_231">231</a>-<a href="#Page_238">238</a> <a href="#Page_290">290</a> <a href="#Page_311">311</a> <a href="#Page_366">366</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith E. Orford <a href="#Page_303">303</a><br /> +<br /> +Snodland <a href="#Page_288">288</a> <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brook <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weir <a href="#Page_135">135</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Somerset House <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <a href="#Page_264">264</a> <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-<a href="#Page_423">3</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Song of the Wreck</i> <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_34">4</a>-<a href="#Page_35">5</a> <a href="#Page_415">415</a><br /> +<br /> +South Kensington Museum <a href="#Page_249">249</a> <a href="#Page_396">396</a> <a href="#Page_412">412</a><br /> +<br /> +Spencer Herbert <a href="#Page_190">190</a> <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br /> +<br /> +Stanfield C. <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">3</a> <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +Stanley Dean <a href="#Page_88">88</a> <a href="#Page_137">137</a> <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br /> +<br /> +Staplehurst <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accident <a href="#Page_198">198</a> <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_201">1</a>-<a href="#Page_209">9</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Staple Inn <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-<a href="#Page_24">4</a>-<a href="#Page_27">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Star Hill <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +Steele Dr. <a href="#Page_174">174</a> <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<br /> +Sterry J. Ashby <a href="#Page_3">3</a> <a href="#Page_329">329</a> <a href="#Page_345">345</a>-<a href="#Page_346">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Stone F. <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M. <a href="#Page_91">91</a> <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_202">2</a>-<a href="#Page_207">7</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Strange Gentleman</i> <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Luke's Church Chelsea <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Margaret's <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_151">151</a></span><br /> +<br /> +St. Mary's Church Chatham <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Place <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_262">2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +St. Mary's Church Portsea <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <a href="#Page_285">285</a>-<a href="#Page_286">6</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Nicholas' Church Rochester <a href="#Page_81">81</a> <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cemetery <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">7</a></span><br /> +<br /> +St. Nicholas' Church Strood <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Pancras' Road <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Church <a href="#Page_39">39</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Strood <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_55">5</a> <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <a href="#Page_162">162</a> <a href="#Page_182">182</a> <a href="#Page_195">195</a> <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Crispin and Crispianus" <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elocution Society <a href="#Page_235">235</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Nicholas' Church <a href="#Page_211">211</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Preceptory <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quarry House <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Temple Farm <a href="#Page_211">211</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sunday under Three Heads</i> <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Symond's Inn <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Syms Mr. <a href="#Page_82">82</a> <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i><span class="smcap">Tale of Two Cities</span></i> <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_39">9</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <a href="#Page_204">204</a> <a href="#Page_397">397</a><br /> +<br /> +Tavistock Square <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">House <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">3</a>-<a href="#Page_36">6</a>-<a href="#Page_37">7</a> <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <a href="#Page_325">325</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor Mrs. <a href="#Page_368">368</a>-<a href="#Page_369">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Temple <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bar <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Middle Temple Lane <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fountain Court <a href="#Page_17">17</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Temple Farm <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +Thackeray W. M. <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_26">6</a>-<a href="#Page_27">7</a> <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br /> +<br /> +Thames River <a href="#Page_188">188</a> <a href="#Page_314">314</a> <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Valley <a href="#Page_358">358</a> <a href="#Page_378">378</a> <a href="#Page_403">403</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Times</i> <a href="#Page_410">410</a>-<a href="#Page_414">414</a><br /> +<br /> +Tom-All-Alone's <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tom Thumb</i> <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Town Malling <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-<a href="#Page_293">3</a>-<a href="#Page_294">4</a> <a href="#Page_302">302</a>-<a href="#Page_306">306</a><br /> +<br /> +Tribe Ald. <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Master and Miss <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John <a href="#Page_264">264</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Trood W. S. <a href="#Page_175">175</a> <a href="#Page_206">206</a>-<a href="#Page_209">209</a> <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward <a href="#Page_2">2</a> <a href="#Page_7">7</a> <a href="#Page_220">220</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i><span class="smcap">Uncommercial Traveller</span></i> <a href="#Page_6">6</a> <a href="#Page_7">7</a> <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">5</a> <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <a href="#Page_220">220</a> <a href="#Page_264">264</a>-<a href="#Page_269">9</a> <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +<br /> +Upnor Castle <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i><span class="smcap">Village Coquettes</span></i> <a href="#Page_376">376</a><br /> +<br /> +Vines The <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_78">8</a> <a href="#Page_81">81</a> <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_132">2</a>-<a href="#Page_134">4</a> <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Waghorn Lieut.</span> <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Watts Richard <a href="#Page_55">55</a> <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Almshouses <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charity <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a> <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memorial <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-<a href="#Page_158">8</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Weald of Kent <a href="#Page_316">316</a><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Weller_Mary" id="Weller_Mary"></a>Weller Mary <a href="#Page_265">265</a>-<a href="#Page_266">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(<i>and see</i> <a href="#Gibson_Mary">Gibson Mary</a>)</span><br /> +<br /> +Westminster Abbey <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_88">8</a> <a href="#Page_137">137</a> <a href="#Page_404">404</a> <a href="#Page_423">423</a>-<a href="#Page_424">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Whiston Rev. R. <a href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a> <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<br /> +Whitefriars Street <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Whitehall <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Whitstable <a href="#Page_323">323</a><br /> +<br /> +Wildish W. T. <a href="#Page_82">82</a> <a href="#Page_118">118</a> <a href="#Page_175">175</a> <a href="#Page_265">265</a> <a href="#Page_382">382</a><br /> +<br /> +Wills W. H. <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">W. G. <a href="#Page_152">152</a> <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">4</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Winchelsea <a href="#Page_345">345</a><br /> +<br /> +Woburn Square <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Wood H. <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a href="#Page_274">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Worsfold C. K. <a href="#Page_347">347</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Wreck of the Golden Mary</i> <a href="#Page_260">260</a><br /> +<br /> +Wright Mr. <a href="#Page_372">372</a>-<a href="#Page_373">3</a> <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. <a href="#Page_370">370</a>-<a href="#Page_373">373</a></span><br /> +</div> + + + + + + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br />—————————<br /> + +<i>Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay.</i><br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In <i>The History of Pickwick</i>, a handsome octavo volume of nearly +400 pages, just published (1891), Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, the author, who +is one of the few surviving friends of Charles Dickens, mentions the +interesting fact that there are 360 characters, 70 episodes, and 22 inns, +described in this wonderful book, written when the author was only +twenty-four.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Forster (I. 14) infers that the family removed to London in 1821, +but Mr. Langton considers (<i>Childhood and Youth of Charles Dickens</i>, 1883, +pp. 62-3), from the fact of the birth of Dickens's brother Alfred having been +registered at Chatham on 3rd April, 1822, and from the further fact of +there being no record of Mr. John Dickens's recall throughout this year to +Somerset House, that the family did not remove to London until the +winter of 1822-3, and I agree with Mr. Langton. Mr. Kitton in <i>Charles +Dickens by Pen and Pencil</i>, 1890, also recognizes this period as the date +of the removal of the Dickens family to London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Mr. Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens, a son of the great Novelist, is +a member of the New South Wales Parliament, having been elected in +March 1889. "He stood as a Protectionist for the representation of +Wilcannia, an extensive pastoral district in the western portion of the +colony. His father, it will be remembered, was an ardent Free Trader, +and could not be prevailed upon to enter the British Parliament on any +terms, and occasionally said some severe things of our Legislative +Assembly. His two sons, Alfred Tennyson and Edward Bulwer Lytton, +emigrated to Australia some years ago, and became successful pastoralists."—<i>Yorkshire +Daily Post</i>, March 1889. A subsequent account states that +Mr. Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens is about to retire, having been, he +remarks, "out of pocket, out of brains, out of health, and out of temper, +by the pursuit of political glory."—<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, March 1891. I am +since informed that Alfred is not a pastoralist, but in business, and that +Edward has not retired up to date.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Mr. Aveling subsequently informed me that the vessel in which the +king took his departure continued to be used in the Royal Navy for +many years as a lighter—its name being altered to the "Royal Escape." +Afterwards it was used as a watch-vessel in the Coastguard service at +Chatham, and was eventually broken up at Sheerness Dockyard so recently +as 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "A Perambulation of Kent: Conteining the Description, Hystorie, +and Customes of that Shire. Written in the yeere 1570 by William +Lambarde of Lincoln's Inne Gent."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Mr. Kitton was, by an interesting coincidence, present at the +ceremony above referred to, and he has kindly given his impressions +thereon, which appear at the end of this chapter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> This was a joint article; the description of the works of the dockyard +being by R. H. Horne, and that of the fortifications and country around +by Charles Dickens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> It is interesting to record that the foundations of this Church were +met with for the first time, in restoring the west front of the Cathedral, +in 1889.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This was written in 1888; on a subsequent visit to Rochester we +were sorry to find that the frost had made sad havoc with this beautiful +tree.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Mr. Charles Dickens informs me that Mr. Fildes is right, and that +Edwin Drood was dead. His (Mr. Dickens's) father told him so himself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Since this was written, Gad's Hill Place has been purchased by the +Hon. F. G. Latham. Major Budden has resigned his commission +locally, and now holds a commission in the Limerick City Artillery +Militia. It is very pleasant to place on record that in subsequent visits +to "Dickens-Land" I was always received with friendly kindness by +Major and Mrs. Budden, whose hospitality I often enjoyed. Their +enthusiasm for the late owner of Gad's Hill Place, and their willingness +to show every part of their beautiful residence to any one specially +interested, was most gratifying to a lover of Dickens. Like the novelist, +Mrs. Budden is fond of private theatricals, and has published a little +book on <i>Mrs. Farley's Wax-Works and How to Use Them</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> It has been suggested that the lines above quoted might give one the +impression that they are those of Falstaff. This, of course, is not the +case. They are spoken by Poins, when in company with Falstaff, Prince +Henry, and others. They occur in Act I. Scene ii. of <i>King Henry IV.</i>, +Part 1. +</p><p> +A Note to Charles Knight's Edition of Shakespeare, contained in the +"Illustrations to Act I." of the same Play, states that Gad's Hill appears +to have been a place notorious for robbers before the time of Shakespeare, +for Stevens discovered an entry of the date of 1558 in the books of the +Stationers' Company, of a ballad entitled, "The Robbery at Gad's Hill." +And the late Sir Henry Ellis, of the British Museum, communicated to +Mr. Boswell, Editor of Malone's Shakespeare, a narrative in the handwriting +of Sir Roger Manwood, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, dated 5th +July, 1590, which shows that Gad's Hill was at that period the resort of a +band of well-mounted robbers of more than usual daring, as appears from +the following extract:— +</p><p> +"In the course of that Michaelmas term, I being at London, many +robberies were done in the bye-ways at Gad's Hill, on the west part of +Rochester, and at Chatham, down on the east part of Rochester, by +horse thieves, with such fat and lusty horses, as were not like hackney +horses nor far-journeying horses; and one of them sometimes wearing +a vizard grey beard, he was by common report in the country called +'Justice Grey Beard;' and no man durst travel that way without great +company."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> At an interview with Mr. H. F. Dickens some time afterwards, he +told me the story of the origin of <i>The Gad's Hill Gazette</i>. There was a +good deal of sand exposed at the back of the house, and the sons of the +novelist—who like other boys were full of energy,—were fond of playing +at "burying" each other. Their father naturally feared that this kind of +play might have some disastrous effects, and develop into burying in +earnest. So he said one day to his sons, "Why not establish a newspaper, +if you want a field for your energies?" <i>The Gad's Hill Gazette</i> was the +result. At first the tiny journal was written on a plain sheet and copies +made; then a Manifold Writer was used; and afterwards came the +Printing Press.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Since our tramp in Dickens-Land, Messrs. Winch and Sons have, +with liberality and good taste, restored the old sign at this historic +hostelry with which the memory of Charles Dickens is associated. It has +been suggested that the sign may possibly have had its origin from the +Battle of Agincourt fought on the day of "Saints Crispin-Crispian," 25th +October, 1415. Victories in more recent times have been thus commemorated +on sign-boards, such as the <i>Vigo</i> expedition, and the fights at +Portobello, Trafalgar, Waterloo, Alma, and elsewhere, and the heroes +who won them thus celebrated. +</p><p> +The sign, which is very well painted, represents the patron saints of the +shoe-making fraternity, the holy brothers, Crispin and Crispian, at work +on their cobbler's bench. The legend runs that it was at Soissons, in the +year 287, while they were so employed "labouring with their hands," that +they were seized by the emissaries of the Emperor Maximinian, and led +away to torture and to death. The sign is understood to have been +faithfully copied from a well-known work preserved to this day, at the +church of St. Pantaléon at Troyes.—Abstract of a note in the <i>Rochester +and Chatham Journal</i>, October 5th, 1889.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Enthusiastic admirers of Dickens will doubtless envy me the possession +of some remarkable memorials of the great writer. My friend +Mr. Ball is kind enough to present me with a very curious souvenir of +the novelist: his old garden hat! Mr. Ball's father obtained it from the +gardener at Gad's Hill Place, to whom it had been given after his master's +death. The hat is a "grey-bowler," size 7¼, maker's name "Hillhouse," +Bond Street, and is the same hat that he is seen to wear in the photograph +of him leaning against the entrance-porch, an engraving of which +appears on page 183. Many hats from Shakespeare and Gesler have +become historical, and there is no reason why Dickens's should not in +the future be an equally interesting personal relic. The gift was accompanied +by a couple of collars belonging to the novelist, with the initials +"C. D." very neatly marked in red cotton. The collar is technically +known as a "Persigny," and its size is 16. Last, not least, a small bottle +of "very rare old Madeira" from Gad's Hill, which calls to mind pleasant +recollections of "the last bottle of the old Madeira," opened by dear old +Sol. Gills in the final chapter of <i>Dombey and Son</i>. Needless to say, the +consumption of the valued contents of Dickens's bottle is reserved for a +very special and appropriate occasion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> This was written soon after our first visit to Strood at the end of +August, 1888. Within little more than two years afterwards, on Thursday, +7th August, 1890, I had the mournful pleasure of being present at the +funeral of my friend, which took place at Frindsbury Church on that day, +in the presence of the sorrowing relatives and of a large concourse of +admirers, both local and from a distance. There were also present many +representatives of distinguished scientific societies, including Dr. John +Evans, F.R.S., Treasurer of the Royal Society, and President of the +Society of Antiquaries. +</p><p> +The kindness which I received from Mr. Roach Smith, to whom I +presented myself in the first instance as a perfect stranger, and which +was extended during the period of two years that I was privileged to +enjoy his friendship, and at times his hospitality, would be ill requited if I +did not here place on record my humble tribute of appreciation. Born +about the commencement of the present century at Landguard Manor +House, near Shanklin, Isle of Wight, after a somewhat diversified education +and experience, he finally settled in London as a wholesale druggist, +from which business he retired in 1856, and came to live at Temple Place, +Strood. The bent of his mind was, however, distinctly in favour of +archæology, and in this science, which he commenced in the early years +of his business, his work has been enormous. In the matter of the identification +of Roman remains he was <i>facile princeps</i>, and for many years +stood without a rival, his investigations and explorations extending over +England and Europe. His principal works are <i>Collectanea Antiqua</i>, +seven volumes; <i>Illustrations of Roman London;</i> <i>Catalogue of London +Antiquities;</i> <i>Richborough, Reculver, and Lymne</i>, and numberless contributions +scattered over the journal of the Society of Antiquaries, the +<i>Archæologia Cantiana</i>, and other publications. He was an enthusiastic +Shakespearean, the author of the <i>Rural Life of Shakespeare</i>, and of a +little work on <i>The Scarcity of Home-Grown Fruits</i>. He also published +two volumes of <i>Retrospections: Social and Archæological</i>, and was +engaged at his death in completing the third volume. He contributed +many articles to Dr. William Smith's <i>Classical Dictionaries</i>, and other +similar works. +</p><p> +He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries so far back as +1836, and at the time of his death was an Honorary Member or Fellow of +at least thirty learned societies of a kindred nature in Great Britain and +on the continent, and had been honoured by his colleagues and admirers +in having his medal struck on two occasions. +</p><p> +"He was," says one of the highest of living scientists and writers, "one +of the chief representatives of the <i>science</i> of archæology as understood in +its broadest and widest sense. He has never been a mere collector of +remains of ancient art, regarded only as curiosities, but has always had in +view their use as exponents of the great unwritten history—the history of +the people—which is not to be obtained from other sources; his writings +have tended to the same end. Hence he stands as one of the foremost +amongst those few of the present day who understand the science in its +best and widest sense, his works being referred to as <i>the</i> authority at +home and abroad."</p> + +<p>Speaking with his friend and companion for many years, Mr. George +Payne, F.S.A., Hon. Sec. to the Kent Archæological Society, on my last +visit, about several personal characteristics of our mutual friend, such as +his persistent energy and his indomitable disposition to stoically resist +the infirmities of approaching age, and decline any assistance in helplessness, +and especially as to the <i>quæstio vexata</i>, "Bill Stumps, his mark," Mr. +Payne expressed his opinion, that at the bottom of his heart Mr. Roach +Smith may probably have had a feeling that Dickens in some way +(however unintentionally) slighted the science of archæology, which he +(Mr. Roach Smith) had all his life tried to elevate. +</p><p> +A most distinguished antiquarian, a thoroughly honourable man, a +versatile and accomplished gentleman, and a kind-hearted and liberal +friend, the town of Strood, to which he was for so many years endeared, +will long and deservedly mourn his loss.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> It is interesting to place on record here, that the germ of Charles +Dickens's "Readings," which afterwards developed so marvellously both +in England and America, originated in Birmingham. On the 27th +of December, 1853, he read his <i>Christmas Carol</i> in the Town Hall in aid +of the funds of the Institute. On the 29th he read <i>The Cricket on the +Hearth</i>, and on the 30th he repeated the <i>Carol</i> to an audience principally +composed of working men. The success was overwhelming.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Miss Hogarth informs me that her brother-in-law frequently dined +out in the neighbourhood, accompanied by his daughter and herself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> So far as I am aware, nothing has been done to trace the genealogy of +the Dickens family, and it may therefore be of interest to place on record +the title of, and an extract from, a very scarce and curious thin quarto +volume (pp. 1-28) in my collection. Sir Walter Scott was immensely +proud of his lineage and historical associations, but it would be a +wonderful thing if we could trace the descent of Charles Dickens from +King Edward III.</p> +<p>In the <i>Rambler in Worcestershire</i> (Longmans, 1854), Mr. John Noake, +the author, in alluding to the parish of Churchill, Worcestershire, says:—"The +Dickens family of Bobbington were lords of this manor from 1432 +to 1657, and it is said that from this family Mr. Dickens, the author, is +descended." +</p> +<div class='center'> +[Title.]<br /> + +A<br /> + +POSTHUMOUS POEM<br /> + +of the<br /> + +late <span class="smcap">Thomas Dickens, Esq.</span>,<br /> + +Lieut.-Colonel in the First Regiment of Foot Guards,<br /> +Dedicated, by permission,<br /> +to his Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester,<br /> +to which is added<br /> +The genealogy of the Author from King Edward III.;<br /> +also<br /> +A few grateful stanzas to the Deity, three months<br /> +previous to his death, <i>Sep. 21st, 1789</i>.<br /> +———————<br /> +<span class="smcap">Cambridge</span>:<br /> +Printed by J. Archdeacon, Printer to the University.<br /> +And may be had of the Editor, <span class="smcap">C. Dickens, LL.D.</span>, near Huntingdon,<br /> +and of <span class="smcap">T. Payne and Son</span>, Booksellers, London.<br /> +MDCCXC.<br /> +</div> + +<p>Above the title is written in ink: "Peter Cowling to Charles Robert +Dickens, 3rd son to Sam. Trevor Dickens, this 10th August, 1807, and +from said Chas. R. Dickens to his loved father, on the 16th June, +1832."</p> +<div class='center'> +[<span class="smcap">Extract.</span>]<br /> + +Genealogy of the late Thomas Dickens, Esq.<br /> +KING EDWARD III.<br /></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Geneology"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lionel</span>, Duke of Clarence</td><td align='right'>his Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Philippa</span>, married to <span class="smcap">Edmund Mortimer</span>, Earl of March</td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Roger</span>, Earl of March</td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Ann</span>, who married <span class="smcap">Richard</span>, Duke of York and Earl of Cambridge</td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Richard</span>, Duke of York</td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">George</span>, Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV.</td><td align='right'>his Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Countess of <span class="smcap">Salisbury</span></td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Viscount <span class="smcap">Montague</span></td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lady <span class="smcap">Barrington</span></td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sir Francis <span class="smcap">Barrington</span></td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lady <span class="smcap">Masham</span></td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>William <span class="smcap">Masham</span>, <span class="smcap">Esq.</span></td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sir <span class="smcap">Francis Masham</span></td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Johanna Masham</span>, who married Counsellor Hildesley</td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">John Hildesley, Esq.</span></td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mary Hildesley</span>, who married the Reverend <span class="smcap">Samuel Dickens</span></td><td align='right'>his Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Thomas Dickens, Esq.</span>, the Author</td><td align='right'>her Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><p>Opposite <span class="smcap">George</span>, Duke of Clarence, is written in ink, "Drown'd in a Butt of Malmsey Madeira," and following <span class="smcap">Thomas Dickens, Esq.</span>, the Author, also written in ink—</p></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "Lieut.-Gen. Sir <span class="smcap">Saml. T. Dickens, K.C.H.</span></td><td align='right'>his Son</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Capt. <span class="smcap">Saml. T. Dickens, R.N.</span></td><td align='right'>his Son"</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>And following the last-mentioned names written in pencil—</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "Admiral <span class="smcap">Samuel Trevor Dickens, R.N.</span></td><td align='right'>my Son"</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Also written in pencil underneath the above—</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "qy. <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span> the Novelist."</td></tr> +</table></div></div> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> In a copy—in my collection—of the second edition 8vo of "<i>The +History and Antiquities of Rochester and its Environs</i>, embellished with +engravings (pp. i-xvii, 1-419), printed and sold by W. Wildash, +Rochester, 1817," there occurs in the list of subscribers—about four +hundred in number—the name:—<span class="smcap">Dickens Mr. John, Chatham.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> A most interesting paper entitled "The Life and Labours of Lieutenant +Waghorn," appeared in <i>Household Words</i> (No. 21), August 17th, +1850.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> See <a href="#Footnote_2_2">Note</a> to Chapter ii. <a href="#Page_38">p. 38</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Since this was written, Mr. Littlewood has passed over to the great +majority. He was found drowned near Chatham Pier in March, 1890.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> This was taken from the first edition of Mr. Langton's book, published +in 1883. In the new edition, 1891—a beautiful volume—this passage has +been eliminated, but the engraving is untouched.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> This house is appropriately named "Highland House," and was +also the property of John Dickens's landlord, in which the family then and +for many years after resided. At the time referred to Mr. Pearce owned +not only the above-mentioned houses, but all the surrounding property.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Lambarde says, "Malling, in Saxon Mealing, or Mealuing, that is, +the Low place flourishing with Meal or Corne, for so it is everywhere +accepted."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> The italics are interpolated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Burham, although now enshrouded in the smoke of lime-making, was +probably sixty years ago a delightfully rural spot.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Mr. Roach Smith reminded us that the yew was in times past planted +for its wood to be used as bows.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Professor Huxley, in his <i>Physiography</i>, has estimated that "at the +present rate of wear and tear, denudation can have lowered the surface +of the Thames Basin by hardly more than an inch since the Norman +Conquest; and nearly a million years must elapse before the whole basin +of the Thames will be worn down to the sea-level"; and Dr. A. Geikie, +after a series of elaborate calculations, has postulated "as probably a fair +average, a valley of 1000 feet deep may be excavated in 1,200,000 years." +Taking these estimates as a basis, and allowing for an average height +of three hundred feet, we roughly arrive at a period of about four hundred +thousand years as the possible length of time which it has taken to form +this beautiful valley. Professor Huxley may well say that "the geologist +has thoughts of time and space to which the ordinary mind is a stranger."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Mr. Kitton's illustration (from the painting by Gegan, a local artist, +executed many years since) gives a good idea of the scenery of this +beautiful district. It also reproduces the profile of a huge chalk cliff +not now visible, but which existed about half a century ago, having a +curious resemblance to the head of a lion, and forming at the time a +conspicuous landmark to travellers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> According to a "Note" in the <i>Rochester and Chatham Journal</i>, the +derivation of this curious term is from <i>uro</i> to burn (ustus).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> One of the "Five Cinque Ports, and two Ancient Towns" often +referred to, but not always remembered—Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, +New Romney, Hythe, Winchelsea and Rye.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Mr. Charles Dickens kindly writes to me:—"The lady who objected +to the donkeys lived at Broadstairs. I knew her when I was a boy."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Speaking of Hoo, Lambarde says (1570)—"Hoh in the old English +signifieth sorrow or sickness, wherewith the Inhabitants of that unwholesome +Hundred be very much exercised[!]."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Lambarde says, "The Town [of Cliffe at Hoo] is large, and hath +hitherto a great Parish Church: and (as I have been told) many of the +houses were casually burned (about the same time that the Emperor +<i>Charles</i> came into this Realme to visite King <i>Henry</i> the eight), of which +hurt it was never thorowly cured."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> "Cobham Church [says a writer in the <i>Archæologia Cantiana</i>, 1877] +is distinguished above all others as possessing the finest and most +complete series of brasses in the kingdom. It contains some of the +earliest and some of the latest, as well as some of the most beautiful in +design. The inscriptions are also remarkable, and the heraldry for its +intelligence is in itself a study. There is an interest also in the fact that +for the most part they refer to one great family—the Lords of Cobham."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Mr. Dolby, in his <i>Charles Dickens as I knew him</i>, estimates that +£45,000 was realized by Dickens's Readings.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<p>To ease reading of the text, illustrations were moved out of the middle of +paragraphs. Sometimes this resulted in the illustration moving to a different +page than the list of illustrations noted. In these cases, the page reference on +the list of illustrations will link to the illustration itself.</p> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired with the exception of the rounded brackets on pages 224 +and 225 as those were replicas of printings. These two instances were left open but not closed.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land, by +William R. 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