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diff --git a/old/56105-8.txt b/old/56105-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bd3dc21..0000000 --- a/old/56105-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7896 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dickens Country, by Frederic G. Kitton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Dickens Country - -Author: Frederic G. Kitton - -Illustrator: T. W. Tyrrell - -Release Date: December 3, 2017 [EBook #56105] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DICKENS COUNTRY *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - The Pilgrimage Series - THE DICKENS COUNTRY - - - IN THE SAME SERIES - - THE SCOTT COUNTRY - BY W. S. CROCKETT - _Minister of Tweedsmuir_ - - THE THACKERAY COUNTRY - BY LEWIS MELVILLE - - THE INGOLDSBY COUNTRY - BY CHAS. G. HARPER - - THE BURNS COUNTRY - BY C. S. DOUGALL - - THE HARDY COUNTRY - BY CHAS. G. HARPER - - THE BLACKMORE COUNTRY - BY F. J. SNELL - - - PUBLISHED BY - ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON - - [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS IN 1857. - _From a hitherto unpublished photograph by Mason._] - - - - - THE DICKENS COUNTRY - - - BY - FREDERIC G. KITTON - - AUTHOR OF - "CHARLES DICKENS BY PEN AND PENCIL," "DICKENS AND HIS ILLUSTRATORS," - "CHARLES DICKENS: HIS LIFE, WRITINGS, AND PERSONALITY," "DICKENSIANA," - ETC. - - WITH - FORTY-EIGHT FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS - MOSTLY FROM PHOTOGRAPHS - BY T. W. TYRRELL - - [Illustration: Publisher Logo] - - LONDON - ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK - 1911 - - _First published February, 1905 - Reprinted September, 1911_ - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -It seems but a week or two ago that Frederic Kitton first mentioned to -me the preparation of the volume to which I have now the melancholy -privilege of prefixing a few words of introduction and valediction. It -was in my office in Covent Garden, where he used often to drop in of an -afternoon and talk, for a spare half-hour at the end of the day, of -Dickens and Dickensian interests. We were speaking of a book which had -just been published, somewhat similar in scope to the volume now in the -reader's hand, and Kitton, with that thoroughly genial sympathy which -always marked his references to other men's work, praised warmly and -heartily the good qualities which he had found in its composition. Then, -quite quietly, and as though he were alluding to some entirely -unimportant side-issue, he added: "I have a book rather on the same -lines on the stocks myself, but I don't know when it will get finished." -That was a little more than a year ago, and in the interval how much has -happened! The book has, indeed, "got finished" in the pressure of that -indefatigable industry which his friends knew so well, but its author -was never to see it in type. Almost before it had received his finishing -touches, the bright, kindly, humane spirit of Frederic Kitton was "at -rest and forever." He died on Saturday, September 10, 1904, and left the -world appreciably poorer by the loss of a sincere and zealous student, a -true and generous man. - -As I turned over the pages of the book in proof, and recalled this -passing conversation, it seemed to me that the whole character of its -author was displayed, as under a sudden light, in that quite unconscious -attitude of his towards the two books--the one his friend's, the other -his own. For no one that I ever met was freer from anything like -literary jealousy or the spirit of rivalry in art; no one was ever more -modest concerning his own achievements. And in this case, it must be -remembered, he was speaking of a particular piece of work for which no -writer in England was so well qualified as himself. His work had its -limitations, and he knew them well enough himself. For treatment of a -subject on a broad plane, critically, he had little taste; indeed, many -of his friends may remember that at times, when they may have indulged -too liberally in a wide literary generalization, he was inclined, -quietly and almost deprecatingly, to suggest some single contrary -instance which seemed to throw the generalization out of gear at once. -He saw life and literature like a mosaic; his eye was on the pieces, not -upon the piece; and this microscopic view had its inevitable drawbacks -and hindrances. On the other hand, when it came to a subject like that -of the present volume, his method was not only a good one, but -positively the best and only certain method possible. His laborious care -for detail, his unfailing accuracy--never satisfied till he had traced -the topic home under his own eye--his loving accumulation of little -facts that contribute to the general impression--all these conspicuous -traits made him the one man qualified to speak upon such a subject with -confidence and authority. One sometimes felt that he knew everything -there was to know about Dickens and the circle in which Dickens lived. -The minuteness of his knowledge could only be appreciated by those who -had occasion to test it in actual conversation, in that give-and-take of -question and answer by which showy, shallow information and pretentious -ignorance are so quickly discomfited and exposed. He had not only, for -example, traced almost every published line and letter of Dickens -himself, but he could tell you, in turning over old numbers of -_Household Words_, the author of every single inconsiderable -contribution to that journal; he was familiar with the manner and the -production of all the _infusoria_ of Wellington Street. It was a -wonderful wealth of information, and his habit of acquiring and -fostering it was born and bred in his very nature. In this, as in many -other respects, he was essentially his father's son. - -When I ventured, a page further back, to call his method "microscopic," -the word slipped naturally from my pen, but in a moment its indisputable -propriety asserted itself. Frederic George Kitton was trained in the -school of microscopy. He was born at Norwich on May 5, 1856, and his -father, who had then only just completed his twenty-ninth year, was -already known among his associates as a scientist of much research and -no little originality of observation. Frederic Kitton the elder was the -son of a Cambridge ironmonger, and had been intended for the legal -profession; but his father's business did not prosper, and the whole -family was obliged to remove to Norwich, there to take up work in a -wholesale tobacco business, the proprietor of which was one Robert -Wigham, a botanist of some repute. This Mr. Wigham soon saw that Kitton -was a clever lad, and, finding him interested in the studies which were -his own diversion, trained him in botany and other scientific branches -of research. The young man soon surpassed his tutor in knowledge and -resource, and by the time that he was married and the father of our own -friend, Frederic George Kitton, he had made a name among the leading -diatomists of his time, and was reputed to be more successful in finding -rare specimens than any other man in the country. His reputation and his -industry increased together, with the result that the son grew up in an -atmosphere of unsparing research and conscientious accuracy of -observation which never failed him as an example for life. We may fairly -attribute the general outlines of F. G. Kitton's method to the -inspiration he received at his father's desk. - -This inspiration found its first expression upon the lines of art. The -boy showed great ability with his pencil, and was apprenticed to wood -engraving, joining the staff of the _Graphic_, and contributing any -number of pencil drawings and woodcuts to its columns, in the days -before the cheap processes of reproduction had supplanted these genuine -forms of art-workmanship. His landscapes and his pictures of old -buildings and romantic architecture were full of breadth and feeling, -and some of the best of them were devoted to an early book of travel in -the Dickens country, in which he collaborated with the late William R. -Hughes. Indeed, much of the most picturesque work of his life was done -in the way of black and white. - -At the age of twenty-six, however, he decided to be less of an artist -and more of a writer, and retired finally from the ranks of illustrated -journalism. He settled about this time at St. Albans in Hertfordshire, -and began his long series of books, most of them dedicated to his -lifelong study of Dickens and his contemporaries. His first books of the -kind treated, not unnaturally, of the various illustrators of Dickens's -novels, and monographs on Hablot K. Browne and John Leech attracted -attention for their fidelity and sympathetic taste. Following these came -"Dickensiana: a Bibliography of the Literature relating to Charles -Dickens and His Writings" (1886); "Charles Dickens by Pen and Pencil" -(1890); "Artistic London: from the Abbey to the Tower with Dickens" -(1891); "The Novels of Charles Dickens: a Bibliography and a Sketch" -(1897); "Dickens and His Illustrators" (1899); "The Minor Writings of -Charles Dickens" (1900); "Charles Dickens: His Life, Writings, and -Personality" (1902); and innumerable editorial works, among which must -be mentioned his notes to the Rochester Edition of Dickens, his -recension of Dickens's verse, and his general conduct of the Autograph -Edition now in course of publication in America--a laborious -undertaking, which included a series of bibliographical notes from his -pen of the very first value to all students of "Dickensiana." He had -also in MS. a valuable dictionary of Dickens topography, illustrated by -descriptive quotations from the novels themselves; and, finally, he left -the "copy" for the present book, which will rank among the most useful -and characteristic of all his contributions to the study of the author -whom he so much admired and so sincerely served. - -Kitton was only forty-eight when he died, and the work which he had done -was large in bulk and rich in testimony to his industry; but he was far -from accomplishing the volume of work which he had already set before -himself. It is no secret that the short "Life of Dickens" which he -published two and a half years ago was only regarded by himself as the -framework upon which he proposed to construct a much more elaborate -biography, to be at least as long as Forster's "Life," fortified by a -vast array of facts which Forster had not been disposed, or careful -enough, to collect. The book would have been full of material and value; -but there were some of us who believed that Kitton's talent might be -even better employed in a work which none but himself could have -satisfactorily accomplished--the preparation of an elaborate annotated -edition of Forster, constructed upon the scale of Birkbeck Hill's -monumental Boswell, and illustrated by all the fruits of Kitton's -profitable research. We talked the matter over together, and he was -enthusiastically willing to essay the task. But obstacles arose at the -moment, and now the work can never be done as he would have done it. His -talent was peculiarly adapted to annotation; his knowledge of the -subject was unparalleled. If the work is ever done (and I suppose it is -bound to be done some day), it can never be done now with that surety -and deliberate finality which he would have had at his disposal. - -But one must not speak of Kitton only as a student of literature and an -artist; any picture of him that seemed to suggest that he was rooted to -his desk and his desk-work, to the exclusion of outside interests and -social activities, would give a very false impression of his energetic -and amiable temperament. There are many books standing to Kitton's name -in the catalogue of the British Museum, and innumerable articles of his -writing in the files of the reviews, magazines, and newspapers of the -last twenty years, but his work extended far beyond the limits of print -and paper. He was not only an industrious man of letters, but a most -helpful and self-sacrificing citizen. His adopted town of St. Albans, -and the county of Hertfordshire at large, had no little cause for -gratitude in all he did in their interests. Despite the amount of -literary work he got through, there was scarcely a day that passed -without finding him at work at the Hertfordshire County Museum, where he -took sole charge of the prints and books, a collection which his care -and judgment made both exhaustive and invaluable. He was continually at -work, arranging and adding to the books and prints, and outside the -walls of the museum he did inestimable service in preserving the ancient -buildings of the town of St. Albans. Had it not been for his -intervention, many of the most interesting old houses in the town would -have been pulled down; he argued with callous owners and vandal -jerry-builders, and managed to retain for the town those characteristic -and historic buildings around the abbey which in days to come will be -the chief attraction of the picturesque county town he loved to serve. - -And so, with hard work at his desk and unsparing energy out of doors, -his bright, unselfish spirit wore itself out. He never looked strong, -but I do not think he seemed actually ill when one spring morning in -this last year he came in to see me at my office, and told me, with his -easy, unapprehensive smile, that he was about to undergo an operation. -"It is only a small matter," he said, "but the doctors say I ought to -have it done. I hope I shall soon be back again, and we will have a -further talk over that book you know about." We parted, as men part at -the cross-roads, feeling sure of meeting on the morrow. But I never saw -him again. The operation he had made so light of proved too much for a -constitution already undermined by hard, unselfish work. He lingered on, -but never really rallied, and the end came very quietly, to close a life -that had always brought with it a sense of peace and gentle will, -wherever it had touched, whomsoever it had influenced. - -For, when other shifting recollections of Frederic Kitton fade -away--accidents of a common interest, chances of a brief and busy -acquaintanceship--the impression that remains, and will always remain -with those who knew him, is the haunting impression of a sweet and -winning simplicity, an absolute sincerity of life and word, that knew no -use for the thing he said but that it should be the thing he thought, -and that never (so it seemed) thought anything of man, or woman, or -child but what was kind and Christian and noble-hearted. He looked you -in the eyes in a fearless, open fashion, as a man who had nothing to -conceal and nothing to pretend; he smiled with a peculiarly sunny and -unhesitating smile, as one who had tried life and found it good. And -yet, as the common rewards of life go, he had less cause to be thankful -than many who complain; he had to work hard (how hard it is not ours to -say) for the ordinary daily gifts of homely comfort. He had little time -to rest or play, and little means of recreation. Yet no friend of his, I -believe, however intimate, ever heard him grumble about work and the -badness of the times. He had a happy home, bright and blithe with the -carol of the cricket on the hearth, and brighter and blither for his own -affectionate nature; and his happy spirit seemed to ask for nothing that -lay outside the four walls of his plain contentment. He knew the secret -of life--a simple secret, but hard to find, and harder to remember. He -had no touch of self in all his composition, no taint of self-interest -or self-care. He lived for others: and in their memory he will survive -so long as earthly recollections and earthly examples return to -encourage and to inspire. - Arthur Waugh. - - - PUBLISHERS' NOTE. - -Owing to the untimely death of the author, the page proofs were not -revised by him for the press, though Mr. Kitton corrected proofs at an -earlier stage. - -Mr. Kitton's friends--Mr. B. W. Matz, Mr. T. W. Tyrrell, and Mr. H. -Snowden Ward--have kindly read the final proofs, without, however, -making any material alterations. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - - CHAPTER I - PORTSMOUTH AND CHATHAM 1 - - - CHAPTER II - BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN LONDON 23 - - - CHAPTER III - THE LONDON AND SUBURBAN HOMES 49 - - - CHAPTER IV - IN THE WEST COUNTRY 83 - - - CHAPTER V - IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND 101 - - - CHAPTER VI - IN EAST ANGLIA 112 - - - CHAPTER VII - IN THE NORTH 123 - - - CHAPTER VIII - IN THE MIDLANDS AND HOME COUNTIES 160 - - - CHAPTER IX - IN DICKENS LAND 183 - - - CHAPTER X - THE GAD'S HILL COUNTRY 204 - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - _From Photographs by T. W. Tyrrell, etc._ - - - 1. CHARLES DICKENS IN 1857 _Frontispiece_ - FACING PAGE - 2. 1 MILE END TERRACE, PORTSEA (NOW 393 COMMERCIAL ROAD - PORTSMOUTH) 1 - 3. CLEVELAND STREET (LATE NORFOLK STREET), FITZROY SQUARE 8 - 4. 2 (NOW 11) ORDNANCE TERRACE, CHATHAM 12 - 5. 18 ST. MARY'S PLACE, THE BROOK, CHATHAM 17 - 6. FORT PITT, CHATHAM 19 - 7. THE GOLDEN CROSS, CHARING CROSS, CIRCA 1827 22 - 8. 16 (NOW 141) BAYHAM STREET, CAMDEN TOWN 24 - 9. DICKENS AT THE BLACKING WAREHOUSE 33 - 10. LANT STREET, BOROUGH 35 - 11. THE SIGN OF THE DOG'S HEAD IN THE POT, CHARLOTTE STREET, - BLACKFRIARS 38 - 12. 29 (NOW 13) JOHNSON STREET, SOMERS TOWN 40 - 13. WELLINGTON HOUSE ACADEMY, HAMPSTEAD ROAD 43 - 14. 1 RAYMOND BUILDINGS, GRAY'S INN 46 - 15. CHARLES DICKENS IN 1830 49 - 16. YORK HOUSE, 15 BUCKINGHAM STREET, STRAND 51 - 17. 15 FURNIVAL'S INN, HOLBORN 54 - 18. 48 DOUGHTY STREET 56 - 19. JACK STRAW'S CASTLE, HAMPSTEAD, CIRCA 1835 59 - 20. 1 DEVONSHIRE TERRACE 62 - 21. 9 OSNABURGH TERRACE 65 - 22. TAVISTOCK HOUSE 72 - 23. 5 HYDE PARK PLACE 75 - 24. THE OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND 78 - 25. THE OFFICE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND 81 - 26. MILE END COTTAGE, ALPHINGTON 88 - 27. THE GEORGE INN, AMESBURY 97 - 28. AMESBURY CHURCH 104 - 29. THE COMMON HARD, PORTSMOUTH 113 - 30. THE GEORGE, GRETA BRIDGE 120 - 31. DOTHEBOYS HALL, BOWES 129 - 32. THE RED LION, BARNET 136 - 33. THE ALBION HOTEL, BROADSTAIRS 145 - 34. LAWN HOUSE, BROADSTAIRS 147 - 35. FORT HOUSE, BROADSTAIRS 150 - 36. 3 ALBION VILLAS, FOLKESTONE 152 - THE WOODEN LIGHTHOUSE, FOLKESTONE HARBOUR " - 37. THE AULA NOVO AND NORMAN STAIRCASE, PART OF THE KING'S SCHOOL, - CANTERBURY 155 - HOUSE ON LADY WOOTTON'S GREEN, CANTERBURY " - 38. THE SUN INN, CANTERBURY 158 - 39. GAD'S HILL PLACE 161 - 40. THE LEATHER BOTTLE, COBHAM 163 - 41. THE HOUSE AT CHALK IN WHICH DICKENS SPENT HIS HONEYMOON 166 - 42. THE CORN EXCHANGE, ROCHESTER 168 - 43. THE GUILDHALL, ROCHESTER 171 - 44. ROCHESTER ABOUT 1810 174 - 45. EASTGATE HOUSE AND SAPSEA'S HOUSE, ROCHESTER 203 - 46. RESTORATION HOUSE, ROCHESTER 206 - 47. THE BULL HOTEL, ROCHESTER 209 - 48. CHARLES DICKENS IN 1868 216 - - [Illustration: 1 MILE END TERRACE, PORTSEA - (NOW 393 COMMERCIAL ROAD, PORTSMOUTH). (_Page 2._) - The birthplace of Charles Dickens.] - - - - - THE DICKENS COUNTRY - - - - - CHAPTER I. - PORTSMOUTH AND CHATHAM. - - -The writer of an article in a well-known magazine conceived the idea of -preparing a map of England that should indicate, by means of a tint, -those portions especially associated with Charles Dickens and his -writings. This map makes manifest the fact that the country thus most -intimately connected with the novelist is the south-eastern portion of -England, having London as the centre and Rochester as the "literary -capital," and including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, -Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, and Warwickshire, with an offshoot extending -to the northern boundary of Yorkshire. - -All literary pilgrims, and particularly the devotees of Charles Dickens, -regard as foremost among literary shrines inviting special homage the -scene of the nativity of "Immortal Boz." Like the birthplaces of many an -eminent personage who first saw the light in the midst of a humble -environment, the dwelling in which Dickens was born is unpretentious -enough, and remains unaltered. The modest abode rented shortly after -marriage by John Dickens (the future novelist's father), from June, -1809, to June, 1812, stands in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, the number -of the house having been recently changed from 387 to 393. The district -was then known as Landport, in the Island of Portsea, but is now -incorporated with Portsmouth; a comparatively rural locality at that -time, it has since developed into a densely populated neighbourhood, -covered with houses and bisected by the main line of the municipal -tramways.[1] It is, however, yet within the memory of middle-aged people -when this area of brick and mortar consisted of pasture land in which -trees flourished and afforded nesting-places for innumerable birds--a -condition of things recalled by the names bestowed upon some of the -streets hereabouts, such as Cherry Garden Lane and Elm Road--but now -"only children flourish where once the daisies sprang." - -The birthplace of Charles Dickens, which less than half a century ago -overlooked green fields, is an interesting survival of those days of -arboreal delights; and the broad road, on the west side of which it is -situated, leads to Cosham and the picturesque ruin of Porchester Castle. -In 1809 John Dickens was transferred from Somerset House to the Navy -Pay-Office at Portsmouth Dockyard, and, with his young wife, made his -home here, in which were born their first child (Frances Elizabeth) in -1810, and Charles on February 7, 1812. This domicile is a plain, -red-brick building containing four rooms of moderate size and two -attics, with domestic offices; in front there is a small garden, -separated from the public roadway by an iron palisading; and a few -steps, with a hand-rail, lead from the forecourt to the hooded doorway -of the principal entrance. The front bedroom is believed to be the room -in which Dickens was born. From the apartments in the rear there is -still a pleasant prospect, overlooking a long garden, where flourishes -an eminently fine specimen of the tree-mallow. On the death of Mrs. -Sarah Pearce, the owner and occupier (and last surviving daughter of -John Dickens's landlord), the house was offered for sale by public -auction on Michaelmas Day, 1903, when, much to the delight of the -townspeople as well as of all lovers of the great novelist, it was -purchased by the Portsmouth Town Council for preservation as a Dickens -memorial, and with the intention of adapting it for the purposes of a -Dickens Museum. The purchase price was £1,125, a sum exceeding by five -hundred pounds the amount realized on the same occasion by the adjoining -freehold residence (No. 395), which is identical in character--an -interesting and significant testimony as to the sentimental value -attaching to the birthplace of "Boz." - -Charles Dickens, like David Copperfield, was ushered into the world "on -a Friday," and, when less than a month old, underwent the ordeal of -baptism at the parish church of Portsea, locally and popularly known as -St. Mary's, Kingston, and dating from the reign of Edward III. In 1882 a -plan for its restoration and enlargement was proposed, but a few years -later the authorities resolved to demolish it altogether and build a -larger parochial church from designs by Sir Arthur Blomfield, A.R.A., -the foundation stone of which was laid by Queen Victoria early in the -spring of 1887, one half of the estimated cost being defrayed by an -anonymous donor. On its completion the people of Portsmouth expressed a -desire to perpetuate the memory of Charles Dickens by inserting in the -new building a stained-glass window, but were debarred by a clause in -the novelist's will, where he conjured his friends on no account to make -him "the subject of any monument, memorial, or testimonial whatever," as -he rested his claim to the remembrance of his country upon his published -works. It is not common knowledge that three baptismal names were -bestowed upon Dickens, viz., Charles John Huffam, the first being the -Christian name of his maternal grandfather, the second that of his -father, while the third was the surname of his godfather, Christopher -Huffam (incorrectly spelt "Huffham" in the church register), who is -described in the London Postal Directory of that time as a "rigger in -His Majesty's Navy"; he lived at Limehouse Hole, near the lower reaches -of the Thames, which afterwards played a conspicuous part in "Our Mutual -Friend" ("Rogue Riderhood dwelt deep and dark in Limehouse Hole, amongst -the riggers, and the mast, oar, and block-makers, and the boat-builders, -and the sail-lofts, as in a kind of ship's hold stored full of waterside -characters, some no better than himself, some very much better, and none -much worse"). It is interesting to know that the actual font used at the -ceremony of Charles Dickens's baptism has been preserved, and is now in -St. Stephen's Church, Portsea. - -John Dickens, after a four years' tenancy of No. 387, Mile End Terrace, -went to reside in Hawke Street, Portsea. Here he remained from Midsummer -Day, 1812, until Midsummer Day, 1814, when he was recalled to London by -the officials at Somerset House. - -I have spared no trouble in endeavouring to discover the house in Hawke -Street which John Dickens and his family occupied. Mr. Robert Langton, -in his "Childhood and Youth of Charles Dickens" (second edition), states -that it is the "second house past the boundary of Portsea," which, -however, is not very helpful, as the following note (kindly furnished by -the Town Clerk of Portsmouth) testifies: - -"I cannot understand what the connection can be between Hawke Street and -the borough boundary. The town of Portsea, no doubt, had a recognised -boundary, because at one time the greater part of it was encircled by -ramparts, but Hawke Street did not come near those ramparts. The old -borough boundary was outside the ramparts, both of Portsmouth and -Portsea, and therefore Hawke Street did not touch that boundary. Since -then the borough boundary has been extended on more than one occasion, -and, of course, these boundaries could not touch Hawke Street." A letter -sent by me to the Portsmouth newspapers having reference to this subject -brought me into communication with a Southsea lady, who informs me that -an old gentleman of her acquaintance (an octogenarian) lived in his -youth at No. 8, Hawke Street, and he clearly remembers that the Dickens -family resided at No. 16. Hawke Street, in those days, he says, was a -most respectable locality, the tenants being people of a good class, -while there were superior lodging-houses for naval officers who desired -to be within easy reach of their ships in the royal dockyard, distant -about five minutes' walk. No. 16, Hawke Street is a house of three -floors and a basement; three steps lead to the front door, and there are -two bay-windows, one above the other. The tenant whom John Dickens -succeeded was Chatterton, harpist to the late Queen Victoria. - -Forster relates, as an illustration of Charles Dickens's wonderfully -retentive memory, that late in life he could recall many minor incidents -of his childhood, even the house at Portsea (_i.e._, his birthplace in -Commercial Road), and the nurse watching him (then not more than two -years old) from "a low kitchen window almost level with the gravel walk" -as he trotted about the "small front garden" with his sister Fanny. - -Dickens's memory obviously failed him on this point, for he was a mere -infant of barely five months old when his parents left Commercial Road -to reside in Hawke Street, a fact which he had probably forgotten, and -of which Forster had no knowledge, as no mention is made by him of the -latter street. Here the family had lived two years when John Dickens was -recalled to London. I therefore venture to suggest that the novelist -vaguely recalled certain incidents of his childhood associated with -Hawke Street. True, there is no "small front garden" at No. 16 (indeed, -all the houses here are flush with the sidewalk), but at the back is a -garden overlooked by the kitchen window, which has an old-fashioned, -broad window-seat. - -On quitting Portsea for the Metropolis, John Dickens and his family -occupied lodgings in Norfolk Street (now Cleveland Street), on the east -side of the Middlesex Hospital. In a short time, however, he was again -"detached," having received instructions to join the staff at the Navy -Pay-Office at Chatham Dockyard. The date of departure is given by -Forster as 1816, and in all probability the Dickens family again took -lodgings until a suitable home could be found. After careful research, -the late Mr. Robert Langton discovered that from June, 1817 (probably -midsummer), until Lady Day, 1821, their abode was at No. 2 (since -altered to No. 11), Ordnance Terrace. There little Charles passed some -of the happiest years of his childhood, and received the most durable of -his early impressions. - -Chatham, on the river Medway, derives its name from the Saxon word -_Ceteham_ or _Cĉttham_, meaning "village of cottages." It is anything -but a "village" now, having since that remote age developed into a river -port and a populous fortified town. Remains of Roman villas have been -found in the neighbourhood, thus testifying to its antiquity. Chatham is -one of the principal royal shipbuilding establishments in the kingdom. -The dockyard was founded by Elizabeth before the threatened invasion of -the Spanish Armada, and removed to its present site in 1662; it is now -nearly two miles in length, and controlled by an Admiral-Superintendent, -with a staff of artisans and labourers numbering about five thousand. -Dickens describes and mentions Chatham in several of his writings, and -in one of the earliest he refers to it by the name of "Mudfog."[2] - -In "The Seven Poor Travellers" he says of Chatham: "I call it this town -because if anybody present knows to a nicety where Rochester ends and -Chatham begins, it is more than I do."[3] - -Mr. Pickwick's impressions of Chatham and the neighbouring towns of -Rochester, Strood, and Brompton were that the principal productions -"appear to be soldiers, sailors, Jews, chalk, shrimps, officers, and -dockyard men," and that "the commodities chiefly exposed for sale in the -public streets are marine stores, hard-bake, apples, flat-fish, and -oysters." He observed that the streets presented "a lively and animated -appearance, occasioned chiefly by the conviviality of the military." -"The consumption of tobacco in these towns," Mr. Pickwick opined, "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." Were Mr. Pickwick to -revisit Chatham, he would find many of these characteristics still -prevailing, and could not fail to note, also, that during the interval -of more than sixty years the town had undergone material changes in the -direction of modern improvements. When poor little David Copperfield -fled from his distressing experiences at Murdstone and Grinby's, hoping -to meet with a welcome from Betsy Trotwood at Dover, he wended his weary -way through Rochester; and as he toiled into Chatham, it seemed to him -in the night's aspect "a mere dream of chalk, and drawbridges, and -mastless ships in a muddy river, roofed like Noah's arks."[4] - - [Illustration: NORFOLK (NOW CLEVELAND) STREET, FITZROY SQUARE. - (_Page 7._) - Dickens and his parents resided in Norfolk Street in 1816, after - their removal from Hawke Street, Portsea.] - -Dickens himself, when a boy, must have seen the place frequently under -similar conditions. The impressions he then received of Chatham and the -neighbourhood were permanently fixed upon the mental retina, to be -recalled again and again when penning his stories and descriptive -pieces. In an article written by him in collaboration with Richard -Hengist Horne, he supplies a picture of Chatham as it subsequently -appeared when the military element on the main thoroughfares seemed -paramount: "Men were only noticeable by scores, by hundreds, by -thousands, rank and file, companies, regiments, detachments, vessels -full for exportation. They walked about the streets in rows or bodies, -carrying their heads in exactly the same way, and doing exactly the same -thing with their limbs. Nothing in the shape of clothing was made for an -individual, everything was contracted for by the millions. The children -of Israel were established in Chatham, as salesmen, outfitters, tailors, -old clothesmen, army and navy accoutrement makers, bill discounters, and -general despoilers of the Christian world, in tribes rather than in -families."[5] - -John Dickens's official connection with the Navy Pay Department offered -facilities for little Charles to roam unchecked about the busy dockyard, -where he experienced delight in watching the ropemakers, anchor-smiths, -and others at their labours, and in gazing with curious awe at the -convict hulks (or prison ships), and where he found constant delight in -observing the innumerable changes and variety of scenes; on one day -witnessing the bright display of military tactics on Chatham "Lines," on -another enjoying a sail on the Medway with his father, when on duty -bound for Sheerness in the Commissioners' yacht, a quaint, high-sterned -sailing-vessel, pierced with circular ports, and dating from the -seventeenth century; she was broken up at Chatham in 1868. - -The boy unconsciously stored up the pictures of life, and character, and -scenery thus brought to his notice, to be recalled and utilized as -valuable material by-and-bye. Of the great dockyard he afterwards wrote: -"It resounded with the noise of hammers beating upon iron, and the great -sheds or slips under which the mighty men-of-war are built loomed -business-like when contemplated from the opposite side of the river.... -Great chimneys smoking with a quiet--almost a lazy--air, like giants -smoking tobacco; and the giant shears moored off it, looking meekly and -inoffensively out of proportion, like the giraffe of the machinery -creation."[6] - -The famous Chatham Lines (constituting the fortifications of the town), -are immortalized in "Pickwick" as the scene of the review at which Mr. -Pickwick and his friends were present and got into difficulties; and the -field adjacent to Fort Pitt (now the Chatham Military Hospital, standing -on high ground near the railway station), was the locality selected for -the intended duel between the irate Dr. Slammer and the craven (but -innocent) Mr. Winkle, both field and the contiguous land surrounding -Fort Pitt being now a public recreation ground, whence is obtainable a -fine panoramic view of Chatham and Rochester. The "Lines" are today -locally understood as referring to an open space near Fort Pitt, which -is used as an exercising ground for the soldiers at the barracks near -by. All this portion of the country possessed great attractions for -Dickens in later years; it was rendered familiar to him when, as a lad, -he accompanied his father in walks about the locality, thus hallowed by -old associations. - -Ordnance Terrace, Chatham, retains much the same aspect it possessed at -the time of John Dickens's residence there (1817-1821)--a row of -three-storied houses, prominently situated on high ground within a short -distance of the Chatham railway station. The Dickens abode was the -second house in the terrace (now No. 11), whose front is now overgrown -with a Virginia creeper, and so redeems its bareness. In describing the -place, the late Mr. W. R. Hughes says: "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." At Ordnance Terrace, we are assured by Forster, it was that -little Charles ("a very queer, small boy," as he afterwards described -himself at this period) lived with his parents from his fifth to his -ninth year; the child's "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." The same authority states that he and his sister Fanny presently -supplemented these home studies by attending a preparatory day-school in -Rome Lane (now Railway Street), and that when revisiting Chatham in his -manhood he tried to discover the place, found it had been pulled down -"ages" before to make room for a new street; but there arose, -nevertheless, "a not dim impression that it had been over a dyer's shop, -that he went up steps to it, that he had frequently grazed his knees in -doing so, and that, in trying to scrape the mud off a very unsteady -little shoe, he generally got his leg over the scraper." Other -recollections of the Ordnance Terrace days flashed upon him when engaged -upon his "Boz" sketches; for example, the old lady in the sketch -entitled "Our Parish" was drawn from a Mrs. Newnham who lived at No. 5 -in the Terrace, and the original of the Half-Pay Captain (in the same -sketch) was another near neighbour: at No. 1 there resided a winsome, -golden-haired maiden named Lucy Stroughill, whom he regarded as his -little sweetheart, and who figures as "Golden Lucy" in one of his -Christmas stories,[7] while her brother George, "a frank, open, and -somewhat daring boy," is believed to have inspired the creation of James -Steerforth in "David Copperfield." - - [Illustration: 2 (NOW 11) ORDNANCE TERRACE, CHATHAM. (_Page 11._) - Occupied by John Dickens and his family, 1817-1821.] - -Little Charles must have been acquainted, too, with the prototype of -Joe, the Fat Boy in "Pickwick," whose real name was James Budden, and -whose father kept the Red Lion Inn at the corner of High Street and -Military Road, Chatham, where the lad's remarkable obesity attracted -general attention. The Mitre Inn and Clarence Hotel at Chatham, -described in 1838 as "the first posting-house in the town," is also -associated with Dickens's early years, and remains very much as it was -when he knew it as a boy. At the period referred to the landlord of this -fine old hostelry was a Mr. Tribe, with whose family Mr. and Mrs. John -Dickens and their children were on visiting terms; indeed, it is -recorded that, at the evening parties held at the Mitre, Charles -distinguished himself by singing solos (usually old sea songs), and -sometimes duets with his sister, both being mounted on a dining table -for a stage. The Mitre is historically interesting by reason of the fact -that Lord Nelson used to reside there when on duty at Chatham, a room he -occupied being known as "Nelson's Cabin."[8] - -In the eighteenth chapter of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" we find the -place disguised as "The Crozier"--"the orthodox hotel" at Cloisterham -(_i.e._, Rochester)--and in "The Holly-Tree Inn" it is thus directly -immortalized: "There was an inn in the cathedral town where I went to -school, which had pleasanter recollections about it than any of -these.... It was the inn where friends used to put up, and where we used -to go and 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."[9] - -John Dickens had by nature a very generous disposition, which inclined -him to be too lavish in his expenditure. This idiosyncrasy, coupled with -the ever-increasing demands of a young and growing family, compelled him -to realize the immediate necessity for retrenchment. Hitherto his income -(ranging from £200 to £350 per annum) amply sufficed to provide for the -comfort of wife and children; but the time had arrived when rigid -economy became imperative, and early in 1821 he removed into a less -expensive and somewhat obscure habitation at No. 18, St. Mary's Place -(otherwise called "The Brook"), Chatham, situated in the valley through -which a brook (now covered over) flows into the Medway. The house on -"The Brook," with a "plain-looking whitewashed plaster front, and a -small garden before and behind," still exists; it is a semi-detached, -six-roomed tenement, of a much humbler type than that in Ordnance -Terrace, and stands next to what is now the Drill Hall of the Salvation -Army, but which, in John Dickens's time, was a Baptist meeting-house -called Providence Chapel. While the Dickens dwelling-place remains -unaltered, the neighbourhood has since greatly deteriorated. The -locality was then more rural and not so crowded as now, many of the -people living there being of a quite respectable class. The minister -then officiating at Providence Chapel was William Giles, whose son -William had been educated at Oxford, and afterwards kept a school in -Clover Lane (now Clover Street, the playground since covered by a -railway station), Chatham, whence he moved to larger premises close by, -still to be seen at the corner of Rhode Street and Best Street. Both -Charles and his elder sister Fanny attended here as day scholars, and -the boy, under Mr. Giles's able tuition, made rapid progress with his -studies. Apropos of Mr. Giles, it should be mentioned that when his -intelligent pupil had attained manhood and achieved fame as the author -of "Pickwick," his old schoolmaster sent him, as a token of admiration, -a silver snuff-box, the lid bearing an inscription addressed "To the -Inimitable Boz." For a considerable time afterwards Dickens jocosely -alluded to himself, in letters to intimate friends, as "the Inimitable." -By the way, where is that snuff-box now? - -St. Mary's Place is in close proximity to the old parish church of St. -Mary, where the Dickens family worshipped during their residence in -Chatham. It dates from the early part of the twelfth century, but having -lately undergone a process of rebuilding, the edifice no longer -possesses that quaintness which formerly characterized it, both -externally and internally. The present structure, standing on a site -which has been occupied by a church from Saxon times, has been erected -from the designs of the late Sir Arthur Blomfield, already mentioned as -the architect of the new parochial church of St. Mary, Kingston. -Happily, there are preserved in St. Mary's, Chatham, some interesting -remains of the Norman edifice (A.D. 1120), notably a fine doorway and -staircase, and the columns of the central arch of the nave. Instead of -the diminutive bell-turret originally surmounting the roof of the nave, -a lofty detached tower now constitutes the most striking feature of the -church, which was consecrated on October 28, 1903, in the presence of -Lord Roberts. It has been suggested that the description of Blunderstone -Church in "David Copperfield" recalls in some respects the old parish -church of Chatham, so familiar to Dickens in his boyhood, although the -picture was partly drawn from Blundeston Church, Suffolk: "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 _is_ 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."[10] Dame Peggotty -was no doubt to some extent depicted from Charles Dickens's nurse of -those days, Mary Weller, who afterwards married Thomas Gibson, a -shipwright in the dockyard, and whose death took place in 1888. - -In the registers at Chatham Church are recorded the entries of the -baptism of three children born in the parish to John and Elizabeth -Dickens, the parents of the novelist; and Mary Allen, an aunt of -Charles, was married by license there on December 11, 1821, to Dr. -Lamert, a regimental surgeon, who afterwards figured in "Pickwick" as -Dr. Slammer. In the church registers may be found several names -subsequently used by Dickens in his stories--names of persons who lived -in the district--Sowerby (Sowerberry), Tapley, Wren, Jasper, Weller, -etc., the Tapleys and the Wellers being well-known cognomens, for there -are vaults in the church belonging to the former family, and a -gravestone in the churchyard erected to the latter. At the west end of -the church there are two inscriptions to the family of Stroughill, who -lived in Ordnance Terrace, and to whom reference has already been made. -The Vicar, in his appeal for subscriptions in aid of the restoration -fund, expressed a hope that the people of Chatham would contribute -towards the cost of a memorial in the church to Charles Dickens. -Apropos, I may mention that the Council of that flourishing institution -the Dickens Fellowship have, very rightly, approached the Corporation of -Chatham with the suggestion that they should place commemorative tablets -on the two houses in Chatham in which he spent some of the happiest -years of his boyhood, and the Corporation have consented. - - [Illustration: 18 ST. MARY'S PLACE, THE BROOK, CHATHAM. (_Page 14._) - The Dickens family resided in the house next to Providence Chapel, - 1821-1823.] - -From an upper window at the side of the house, No. 18, St. Mary's Place, -an old graveyard was plainly visible, and frequently at night little -Charles and his sister would gaze upon the God's-acre and at the heavens -above from that point of vantage. Some thirty years later he recalled -the circumstances in a poetical little story entitled "A Child's Dream -of a Star,"[11] a touching reminiscence of these early days, where he -says: "There was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and -thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and -his constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They -wondered at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the height and -blueness of the sky; they wondered at the depth of the bright water; -they wondered at the goodness and the power of God who made the lovely -world. - -"They used to say to one another sometimes, Supposing all the children -upon earth were to die, would the flowers and the water and the sky be -sorry? They believed they would be sorry. For, said they, the buds are -the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams that gambol -down the hillsides are the children of the water, and the smallest -bright specks playing at hide-and-seek in the sky all night must surely -be the children of the stars; and they would all be grieved to see their -playmates, the children of men, no more. - -"There was one clear shining star that used to come out in the sky -before the rest, near the church spire, above the graves. It was larger -and more beautiful, they thought, than all the others, and every night -they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window. Whoever saw it -first cried out, 'I see the star!' and often they cried out both -together, knowing so well when it would rise, and where. So they grew to -be such friends with it that, before lying down in their beds, they -always looked out once again to bid it good-night; and when they were -turning round to sleep they used to say, 'God bless the star!'" - - [Illustration: FORT PITT, CHATHAM. (_Page 18._) - The playground of Dickens in his childhood, and the scene of the - duel in "Pickwick."] - -The Chatham days were replete with innocent delights for little Charles, -whose young life overflowed with the happiness resulting therefrom. He -and his schoolfellows often went to see the sham fights and siege -operations on the "Lines," and he enjoyed many a ramble with his sister -and nurse in the fields about Fort Pitt; and "the sky was so blue, the -sun was so bright, the water was so sparkling, the leaves were so green, -the flowers were so lovely, and they heard such singing birds and saw so -many butterflies, that everything was beautiful." In "The Child's -Story," whence these extracts are culled, we find the following -undoubted allusions to some of the juvenile pleasures in which the -children indulged while at Chatham: "They had the merriest games that -ever were played.... They had holidays, too, and 'twelfth-cakes,' and -parties where they danced till midnight, and real theatres, where they -saw palaces of real gold and silver rise out of the real earth, and saw -all the wonders of the world at once. As to friends, they had such dear -friends and so many of them that I want the time to reckon them up."[12] -At home there were picture-books and toys--"the finest toys in the world -and the most astonishing picture-books"--and, above all, in the little -room adjoining his bedchamber a small library, consisting of the works -of Fielding, Smollett, Defoe, Goldsmith, the "Arabian Nights," and -"Tales of the Genii," which the boy perused with avidity over and over -again. "They kept alive my fancy," he said, as David Copperfield, "and -my hope of something beyond that place and time ... and did me no harm, -for whatever harm was in some of them was not there for me; _I_ knew -nothing of it."[13] In referring afterwards to the "readings" and -"imaginations" which he described as brought away from Chatham, he again -observes with David: "The picture always rises in my mind of a summer -evening, the boys at play in the churchyard, and I, sitting on my bed, -reading as if for life. Every barn in the neighbourhood, every stone in -the church, and every foot of the churchyard, had some association of -its own in my mind connected with these books, and stood for some -locality made famous in them"[14]--words that were written down as fact -some years before they found their way into the story. - -Happily for the boy, he remained in ignorance of the changes impending -at home, and unconscious of the fact that he was about to relinquish for -ever the delectations afforded by those daily visions of his childhood; -the ships on the Medway, the military paradings and manoeuvres, the -woods and pastures, the delightful walks with his father to Rochester -and Cobham--all were to vanish, as Forster says, "like a dream"; for in -1822 John Dickens was recalled to Somerset House, and in the winter of -that year he departed by coach for London, accompanied by his wife and -children, excepting Charles, who was left behind for a few weeks longer -in the care of the worthy schoolmaster, William Giles. Presently the day -arrived when the lonesome lad followed his parents to the Metropolis, -leaving behind him, alas! everything that gave his "ailing little life -its picturesqueness or sunshine"; for he was really a very sickly boy, -and for that reason unable to join with zest in the more vigorous sports -of his playfellows, which explains his fondness for reading, so unusual -in lads of his age. - -Little Charles was only ten years old when he bade farewell to Chatham, -and took his place as a passenger in the stage-coach "Commodore." "There -was no other inside passenger," he afterwards observed, "and I consumed -my sandwiches in solitude and dreariness, and it rained hard all the -way, and I thought life sloppier than I expected to find it." Like -Philip Pirrip, he might with more justice have thought that henceforth -he "was for London and greatness." Undoubtedly he experienced the same -sensations as those of that youthful hero who, under similar -circumstances, realized that "all beyond was so unknown and great that -in a moment with a strong heave and sob I broke into tears."[15] -Reminiscences of that memorable journey are recorded in one of that -charming series of papers contributed by him to _All the Year Round_ -under the general title of "The Uncommercial Traveller." Dickens here -calls his boyhood's home "Dullborough"--"most of us come from -Dullborough who come from a country town"--informing us that as he left -the place "in the days when there were no railways in the land," he left -it in a stage-coach, and further takes us into his confidence by saying -that he had never forgotten, nor lost the smell of, the damp straw in -which he was packed, "like game, and forwarded, carriage paid, to the -Cross Keys, Wood Street, Cheapside, London." These words were written in -June, 1860, and a few months later, when penning the twentieth chapter -of "Great Expectations," he again recalled the episode: "The journey -from our town to the Metropolis was a journey of about five hours. It -was a little past mid-day when the four-horse stage-coach by which I was -a passenger got into the ravel of traffic frayed out about the Cross -Keys, Wood Street, Cheapside, London.... 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.... Timpson's was a -moderate-sized coach-office (in fact, a little coach-office), with an -oval transparency in the window, which looked beautiful by night, -representing one of Timpson's coaches in the act of passing a milestone -on the London road with great velocity, completely full inside and out, -and all the passengers dressed in the first style of fashion, and -enjoying themselves tremendously." He found, on a later visit to -Rochester and Chatham, that Timpson's had disappeared, for "Pickford had -come and knocked Timpson's down," and "had knocked two or three houses -down on each side of Timpson's, and then had knocked the whole into one -great establishment...."[16] The late Mr. Robert Langton states that -Timpson was really Simpson (the coach proprietor at Chatham), and that -the "Blue-Eyed Maid" was a veritable coach, to which reference is also -made in the third chapter of "Little Dorrit." - -If, as Forster tells us, the "Commodore," and not the "Blue-Eyed Maid," -conveyed little Charles to London, it was the identical vehicle by which -Mr. Pickwick and his companions travelled from the Golden Cross at -Charing Cross to Rochester, as duly set forth in the opening chapter of -"The Pickwick Papers"; this coach was driven by old Cholmeley (or -Chumley), who is said to have been the original of Tony Weller, and -concerning whom some amusing anecdotes are related in "Nimrod's Northern -Tour." - - [Illustration: THE GOLDEN CROSS, CHARING CROSS, CIRCA 1827. (_Page - 22._) - Showing the hotel as it was in the Pickwickian days. - _From a print in the collection of Councillor Newton, Hampstead._] - - - - - CHAPTER II. - BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN LONDON. - - -It was in the early spring of 1823 that Charles Dickens made -acquaintance with London for the second time, that vast Metropolis which -henceforth continued to exercise a fascination over him, and in the -study of which, as well as of its various types of humanity, he found a -perpetual charm. His early impressions, however, were not of the -brightest, having (as he subsequently observed) exchanged "everything -that had given his ailing little life its picturesqueness or sunshine" -for the comparatively sordid environment of a London suburb, and -suffered the deprivation of the companionship of his playfellows at -Chatham to become a solitary lad under circumstances that could not fail -to make sorrowful the stoutest heart, not the least depressing being his -father's money involvement with consequent poverty at home. John -Dickens, whose financial affairs demanded retrenchment, had rented what -Forster describes as "a mean, small tenement" at No. 16 (now No. 141), -Bayham Street, Camden Town, to-day one of the poorest parts of London, -but not quite so wretched then as we are led to suppose by the reference -in Forster's biography. The cottages in Bayham Street, built in 1812, -were comparatively new in 1823, and then stood in the midst of what may -be regarded as rural surroundings, there being a meadow at the back of -the principal row of houses, in which haymaking was carried on in its -season, while a beautiful walk across the fields led to Copenhagen -House. Dickens averred that "a washer-woman lived next door" to his -father, and "a Bow Street officer lived over the way." We learn, too, -that at the top of the street were some almshouses, and when revisiting -the spot many years later Dickens told his biographer that "to go to -this spot and look from it over the dust-heaps and dock-leaves and -fields at the cupola of St. Paul's looming through the smoke was a treat -that served him for hours of vague reflection afterwards." A writer who -vividly remembered Camden Town as it appeared when John Dickens lived -there has placed upon record some interesting particulars concerning it. -He says: "In the days I am referring to gas was unknown. We had little -twinkling oil-lamps. As soon as it became dark, the watchman went his -rounds, starting from his box at the north end of Bayham Street, against -the tea-gardens of the Mother Red Cap, then a humble roadside house, -kept by a widow and her two daughters, of the name of Young. Then the -road between Kentish and Camden Towns was very lonely--hardly safe after -dark. These certainly were drawbacks, for depredations used frequently -to be committed in the back premises of the houses.... The nearest -church was Old St. Pancras, then in the midst of fields."[17] Exception -has been taken to Forster's use of the word "squalid" as applied to the -Bayham Street of 1823, and with justification, for persons of some -standing made it their abode, and we learn that in certain of the twenty -or thirty newly-erected houses there lived Engelhart and Francis Holl, -the celebrated engravers, the latter the father of Frank Holl, the Royal -Academician; Charles Rolls and Henry Selous, artists of note; and Angelo -Selous, the dramatic author. Thus it would appear that Bayham Street, -during the early part of its history, was eminently respectable, and we -are compelled to presume that Dickens's unfavourable presentment of the -locality was the outcome of his own painful environment, such as would -be forcibly impressed upon the mind of a sickly child (as he then was) -and one keenly susceptible to outward influences. Undoubtedly, as -Forster remarks, "he felt crushed and chilled by the change from the -life at Chatham, breezy and full of colour, to the little back garret in -Bayham Street," and, looking upon the dingy brick tenement to-day, it is -not difficult to realize this fact; for, although the house itself could -not have been less attractive than his previous home on "the Brook" at -Chatham, the surroundings did not offer advantages in the shape of -country walks and riverside scenery such as the immediate neighbourhood -of Chatham afforded.[18] - - [Illustration: 16 (NOW 141) BAYHAM STREET, CAMDEN TOWN. (_Page 24._) - Dickens and his parents lived here in 1823. The house was also the - residence of Mr. Micawber, and the district is mentioned in "Dombey - and Son" under the name of Staggs Gardens.] - -Bayham Street was named after Bayham Abbey in Sussex, one of the seats -of the Marquis Camden. Eighty years ago this part of suburban London was -but a village, and Bayham Street had grass struggling through the -newly-paved road. Thus we are forced to the conclusion that the misery -and depression of spirits, from which little Charles suffered while -living here, must be attributed to family adversity and his own isolated -condition rather than to the character of his environment. At this time -his father's pecuniary resources became so circumscribed as to compel -the observance of the strictest domestic economy, and prevented him from -continuing his son's education. "As I thought," said Dickens on one -occasion very bitterly, "in the little back-garret in Bayham Street, of -all I had lost in losing Chatham, what would I have given--if I had had -anything to give--to have been sent back to any other school, to have -been taught something anywhere!" - -Instead of improving, the elder Dickens's affairs grew from bad to -worse, and all ordinary efforts to propitiate his creditors having been -exhausted, Mrs. Dickens laudably resolved to attempt a solution of the -difficulty by means of a school for young ladies. Accordingly, a house -was taken at No. 4, Gower Street North, whither the family removed in -1823. This and the adjoining houses had only just been built. The -rate-book shows that No. 4 was taken in the name of Mrs. Dickens, at an -annual rental of £50, and that it was in the occupation of the Dickens -family from Michaelmas, 1823, to Lady Day, 1824, they having apparently -left Bayham Street at Christmas of the former year. No. 4, Gower Street -North stood a little to the north of Gower Street Chapel, erected in -1820, and still existing on the west side of the road; the house, known -in recent times as No. 147, Gower Street, was demolished about 1895, and -an extension of Messrs. Maple's premises now occupies the site. When, in -1890, I visited the place with my friend the late Mr. W. R. Hughes -(author of "A Week's Tramp in Dickens Land"), we found it in the -occupation of a manufacturer of artificial human eyes, a sort of Mr. -Venus, with his "human eyes warious," as depicted in "Our Mutual -Friend"; while there was a dancing academy next door, reminiscent of Mr. -Turveydrop, the professor of deportment in "Bleak House." The Dickens -residence had six small rooms, with kitchen in basement, each front room -having two windows--altogether a fairly comfortable abode, but minus a -garden. The result of Mrs. Dickens's enterprise proved as disastrous as -that of Mrs. Micawber's. "Poor Mrs. Micawber! She said she had tried to -exert herself; and so, I have no doubt, she had. The centre of the -street door was perfectly covered with a great brass plate, on which was -engraved, 'Mrs. Micawber's Boarding Establishment for Young Ladies'; but -I never found that any young ladies had ever been to school there; or -that any young lady ever came, or proposed to come; or that the least -preparation was ever made to receive any young lady." The actual facts -are thus recorded in fiction, and the futility of Mrs. Dickens's -excellent intention to retrieve the family misfortunes seemed -inevitable, in spite of the energy displayed by the youthful Charles in -distributing "at a great many doors a great many circulars," calling -attention to the superior advantages of the new seminary. The blow -proved a crushing one, rendering the prospect more hopeless than ever. -Importunate creditors, who could no longer be kept at bay, effected the -arrest of John Dickens, who was conveyed forthwith to a prison for -debtors in the Borough of Southwark; his last words to his heart-broken -son as he was carried off being similar to those despondingly uttered by -Mr. Micawber under like circumstances, to the effect that the sun was -set upon him for ever. - -Forster says that the particular prison where John Dickens suffered -incarceration was the Marshalsea, and this statement appears correct, -judging from the fragment of the novelist's autobiography which refers -to the unfortunate incident: "And he told me, I remember, to take -warning by the Marshalsea, and to observe that if a man had twenty -pounds a year, and spent nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and -sixpence, he would be happy; but that a shilling spent the other way -would make him wretched." Another of Mr. Micawber's wise sayings, be it -observed. That impecunious gentleman (it will be remembered) suffered -imprisonment at the King's Bench, and it may be surmised that the -novelist purposely changed the locale that old memories should not be -revived. Of debtors' prisons considerable knowledge is displayed in his -books, his personal acquaintance with them dating, of course, from those -days when the brightness of his young life was obscured by the "falling -cloud" to which he compares this distressing time. Realistic and -accurate pictures of the most noteworthy of these blots upon our social -system may be found in the forcible description in the fortieth chapter -of "Pickwick" of the Fleet Prison, of which the last vestiges were -removed in 1872, and the site of which is now covered by the Memorial -Hall, Farringdon Street, and by Messrs. Cassell and Co.'s printing -works; the King's Bench Prison (long since demolished) figures -prominently in "David Copperfield"; while many of the principal scenes -in "Little Dorrit" are laid in the departed Marshalsea, which adjoined -the burial-ground of St. George's Church in the Borough. The extreme -rear of the Marshalsea Prison, described by Dickens in the preface to -"Little Dorrit," was transformed into a warehouse in 1887. - -The second chapter of Forster's biography makes dismal reading, -relating, as it does, the bitter experiences of Charles Dickens's -boyhood--experiences, however, which yielded abundant material for -future use in his stories. With the breadwinner in the clutches of the -law, the wife and children, left stranded in the Gower Street house, had -a terrible struggle for existence; we are told that in order to obtain -the necessaries of life their bits of furniture and various domestic -utensils were pawned or otherwise disposed of, until at length the place -was practically emptied of its contents, and the inmates were perforce -compelled to encamp in the two parlours, living there night and day. At -this juncture a relative, James Lamert (who had lodged with the family -in Bayham Street), heard of their misfortunes, and, through his -connection with Warren's Blacking Manufactory at 30, Hungerford Stairs, -Strand, provided an occupation there for little Charles by which he -could earn a few shillings a week--a miserable pittance, but extremely -welcome under the circumstances, as, by exercising strict economy, it -enabled him to support himself, thus making one mouth less to provide -for at home. Hungerford Stairs (in after-life he used to declare that he -knew _Hunger_-ford well!) stood near the present Charing Cross railway -bridge (which usurps the old Hungerford Suspension Bridge, transferred -to Clifton), and the site of Hungerford Market is covered by the railway -station. Dickens has recorded that "the blacking warehouse was the last -house on the left-hand side of the way, at old Hungerford Stairs. It was -a crazy, tumble-down old house, abutting, of course, on the river, and -literally overrun with rats. Its wainscotted rooms and its rotten floors -and staircase, and the old grey rats swarming down in the cellars, and -the sound of their squeaking and scuffling coming up the stairs at all -times, and the dirt and decay of the place, rise up vividly before me, -as if I were there again." The blacking factory, which disappeared when -Hungerford Market went, is faithfully portrayed in the eleventh chapter -of "David Copperfield," thinly disguised as Murdstone and Grinby's -Warehouse, "down in Blackfriars." Dickens, like David, was keenly -sensible of the humiliation of what he could not help regarding as a -very menial occupation--the tying-up and labelling innumerable pots of -paste-blacking--which he was now destined to follow, and for the -remainder of his life he never recalled this episode without a pang. - -He reminded Forster how fond he was of roaming about the neighbourhood -of the Strand and Covent Garden during the dinner hour, intently -observing the various types of humanity with precocious interest, and -storing up impressions which were destined to prove invaluable to him. -One of his favourite localities was the Adelphi, and he was particularly -attracted by a little waterside tavern called the Fox-under-the-Hill; -doubtless the incident narrated in the just-mentioned chapter of -"Copperfield"--the autobiographical chapter--is true of himself, when he -causes little David to confess to a fondness for wandering about that -"mysterious place with those dark arches," and to wonder what the -coalheavers thought of him, a solitary lad, as he sat upon a bench -outside the little public-house, watching them as they danced.[19] The -pudding-shops and beef-houses in the neighbourhood of St. Martin's Lane -and Drury Lane were familiar enough to him in those days; for, with such -a modest sum to invest for his mid-day meal, he naturally compared notes -as to the charges made by each for a slice of pudding or cold spiced -beef before deciding upon the establishment which should have the -privilege of his custom. He sometimes favoured Johnson's in Clare Court, -which is identical with the place patronized by David Copperfield--viz., -the "famous alamode beef-house near Drury Lane," where he gave the -waiter a halfpenny, and wished he hadn't taken it. In the recently -demolished Clare Court there existed in those days two of the best -alamode beef-shops in London, the Old Thirteen Cantons and the New -Thirteen Cantons, and we read in a curious book called "The Epicure's -Almanack" (1815), that "the beef and liquors at either house are equally -good, and the attention of all who pass is attracted by the display of -fine sallads in the windows, which display is daily executed with great -ingenuity, and comprehends a variety of neat devices, in which the fine -slices of red beetroot are pleasingly conspicuous." The New Thirteen -Cantons was kept by the veritable Johnson himself. We are further -informed that he owned a clever dog called Carlo, "who once enacted so -capital a part on the boards of Old Drury," and whose sagacity "brought -as many customers to Mr. Johnson as did the excellence of his fare." -Dickens, however, did not become acquainted with Carlo, who, a few years -before the lad knew the shop, paid the penalty of a report that the -famous animal had been bitten by a mad dog. "There were two -pudding-shops," said Dickens to his biographer, "between which I was -divided, according to my finances." One was in a court close to St. -Martin's Church, where the pudding was made with currants, "and was -rather a special pudding," but dear; the other was in the Strand, -"somewhere in that part which has been rebuilt since," where the pudding -was much cheaper, being stout and pale, heavy and flabby, with a few big -raisins stuck in at great distances apart. The more expensive shop stood -in Church Court (at the back of the church), demolished when Adelaide -Street was constructed about 1830, and may probably be identified with -the Oxford eating-house, then existing opposite the departed Hungerford -Street; the other establishment, where Dickens often dined for economy's -sake, flourished near the spot covered until quite recently by that -children's paradise, the Lowther Arcade. The courts surrounding St. -Martin's Church were formerly so thronged with eating-houses that the -district became popularly known as "Porridge Island." - - [Illustration: DICKENS AT THE BLACKING WAREHOUSE. (_Page 29._) - _From a drawing by Fred Barnard. Reproduced by kind permission of - Messrs. Chapman and Hall._] - -Failing, by means of a certain "deed," to propitiate his creditors, John -Dickens continued to remain within the gloomy walls of the Marshalsea. -The home in Gower Street was thereupon broken up, and Mrs. Dickens, with -her family, went to live with her husband in the prison. Little Charles, -however, was handed over as a lodger to a Mrs. Roylance, a reduced old -lady who afterwards figured as Mrs. Pipchin in "Dombey and Son." Mrs. -Roylance, long known to the family, resided in Little College Street, -Camden Town; it became College Street West in 1828, and the portion -north of King Street has been known since 1887 as College Place. The -abode in question was probably No. 37, for, according to the rate-book -of 1824 (the period with which I am dealing), the house so numbered -(rated at £18) was occupied by Elizabeth _Raylase_[20] until the -following year, and demolished about 1890, at which time the street was -rebuilt. - -The boy still carried on his uncongenial duties at the blacking -warehouse with satisfaction to his employers, in spite of the acute -mental suffering he underwent. Experiencing a sense of loneliness in -being cut off from his parents, brothers, and sisters, he pleaded to his -father to be allowed to lodge nearer the prison, with the result that he -left Mrs. Roylance, to take up his abode in Lant Street, Borough, where, -in the house of an insolvent court agent, a back attic had been found -for him, having from the little window "a pleasant prospect of a -timber-yard." Of Lant Street, as it probably then appeared, we have a -capital description in the thirty-second chapter of the "Pickwick -Papers," for here it was that Bob Sawyer found a lodgment with the -amiable (!) Mrs. Raddle and her husband, in the identical house, maybe, -as that tenanted by the insolvent court agent. "There is a repose about -Lant Street, in the Borough, which sheds a gentle melancholy upon the -soul. There are always a good many houses to let in the street; it is a -by-street, too, and its dulness is soothing. A house in Lant Street -would not come within the denomination of a first-rate residence in the -strict acceptation of the term, but it is a most desirable spot, -nevertheless. If a man wished to abstract himself from the world, to -remove himself from within the reach of temptation, to place himself -beyond the possibility of any inducement to look out of the window, he -should by all means go to Lant Street. - -"In this happy retreat are colonized a few clear-starchers, a sprinkling -of journeymen bookbinders, one or two prison agents for the insolvent -court, several small housekeepers who are employed in the docks, a -handful of mantua-makers, and a seasoning of jobbing tailors. The -majority of the inhabitants either direct their energies to the letting -of furnished apartments, or devote themselves to the healthful and -invigorating pursuit of mangling. The chief features in the still life -of the street are green shutters, lodging-bills, brass door-plates, and -bell-handles, the principal specimens of animated nature, the pot-boy, -the muffin youth, and the baked-potato man. The population is migratory, -usually disappearing on the verge of quarter-day, and generally by -night. His Majesty's revenues are seldom collected in this happy valley; -the rents are dubious, and the water communication is very frequently -cut off." - - [Illustration: LANT STREET, BOROUGH. (_Page 34._) - Showing the older residential tenements. The actual house in which - Dickens lived as a boy is now demolished.] - -Lant Street, as Bob Sawyer informed Mr. Pickwick, is near Guy's -Hospital, "little distance after you've passed St. George's -Church--turns out of the High Street on the right-hand side of the way." -It has not altered materially in its outward aspect since the time when -little Charles Dickens slept there, on the floor of the back attic, an -abode which he then thought was "a paradise." We may suppose that such -accommodation, poor as it must have been, yielded some consolation to -the lonely child by reason of the fact that he was within easy reach of -his parents, and also because his landlord--a fat, good-natured old -gentleman, who was lame--and his quiet old wife were very kind to him; -and it is interesting to know that they and their grown-up son are -immortalized in "The Old Curiosity Shop" as the Garland family. Little -Charles looked forward to Saturday nights, when his release from toil at -an earlier hour than usual enabled him to indulge his fancy for rambling -and loitering a little in the busy thoroughfares between Hungerford -Stairs and the Marshalsea. His usual way home was over Blackfriars -Bridge, and then to the left along Charlotte Street, which (he is -careful to tell us) "has Rowland Hill's chapel on one side, and the -likeness of a golden dog licking a golden pot over a shop door on the -other," a quaint sign still existing here. He was sometimes tempted to -expend a penny to enter a show-van which generally stood at a corner of -the street "to see the fat pig, the wild Indian, and the little lady," -and for long afterwards could recall the peculiar smell of hat-making -then (and now) carried on there. - -The autobiographical record discloses another characteristic incident, -which was afterwards embodied in the eleventh chapter of "Copperfield." - -One evening little Charles had acted as messenger for his father at the -Marshalsea, and was returning to the prison by way of Westminster -Bridge, when he went into a public-house in Parliament Street, at the -corner of Derby Street, and ordered a glass of the _very best_ ale (the -"Genuine Stunning"), "with a good head to it." "The landlord," observes -Dickens, "looked at me, in return, over the bar from head to foot, with -a strange smile on his face; and instead of drawing the beer, looked -round the screen and said something to his wife, who came out from -behind it, with her work in her hand, and joined him in surveying me. -Here we stand, all three, before me now, in my study at Devonshire -Terrace--the landlord in his shirt-sleeves, leaning against the bar -window-frame, his wife looking over the little half-door, and I, in some -confusion, looking up at them from outside the partition. They asked me -a good many questions, as what my name was, how old I was, where I -lived, how I was employed, etc., etc. To all of which, that I might -commit nobody, I invented appropriate answers. They served me with the -ale, though I expect it was not the strongest on the premises; and the -landlord's wife, opening the little half-door and bending down, gave me -a kiss that was half-admiring and half-compassionate, but all womanly -and good." I am sure "so juvenile a customer was evidently unusual at -the Red Lion"; and he explains that "the occasion was a festive one," -either his own birthday or somebody else's, but I doubt whether this -would prove sufficient justification in the eyes of the rigid total -abstainer. In "David Copperfield" we find an illustration of the scene -depicted in a clever etching by "Phiz." The public-house here referred -to is the Red Lion, which has been lately rebuilt, and differs -considerably from the unpretentious tavern as Dickens knew it; -unfortunately, the sign of the rampant red lion has not been replaced, -but in its stead we see a bust of the novelist, standing within a niche -in the principal front of the new building. - -By a happy stroke of good fortune, a rather considerable legacy from a -relative accrued to John Dickens, and had been paid into court during -his incarceration. This, in addition to the official pension due for -long service at Somerset House, enabled him to meet his financial -responsibilities, with the result that the Marshalsea knew him no more. -Just then, too, the blacking business had become larger, and was -transferred to Chandos Street, Covent Garden, where little Charles -continued to manipulate the pots, but in a more public manner; for here -the work was done in a window facing the street, and generally in the -presence of an admiring crowd outside. The warehouse (pulled down in -1889) stood next to the shop at the corner of Bedford Street in Chandos -Street (the southern corner, now the Civil Service Stores); opposite, -there was the public-house where the lad got his ale. "The stones on the -street," he afterwards observed to Forster, "may be smoothed by my small -feet going across to it at dinner-time, and back again." The basement of -the warehouse became transformed in later years into a chemist's shop, -and the sign of the tavern over the way was the Black Prince, closed in -1888, and demolished shortly afterwards to make room for buildings -devoted to the medical school of the Charing Cross Hospital. His release -from prison compelled the elder Dickens to seek another abode for -himself and family, and he obtained temporary quarters with the -before-mentioned Mrs. Roylance of Little College Street. Thence, -according to Forster, they went to Hampstead, where the elder Dickens -had taken a house, and from there, in 1825, he removed to a small -tenement in Johnson Street, Somers Town, a poverty-stricken -neighbourhood even in those days, and changed but little since. Johnson -Street was then the last street in Somers Town, and adjoined the fields -between it and Camden Town. It runs east from the north end of Seymour -Street, and the house occupied by the Dickens family (including Charles, -who had, of course, left his Lant Street "paradise") was No. 13, at the -east end of the north side, if we may rely upon the evidence afforded by -the rate-book. At that time the house was numbered 29, and rated at £20, -the numbering being changed to 13 at Christmas, 1825. In July of that -year the name of the tenant is entered in the rate-book as Caroline -Dickens, and so remains until January, 1829, after which the house is -marked "Empty." - - [Illustration: THE SIGN OF THE DOG'S HEAD IN THE POT, CHARLOTTE - STREET, BLACKFRIARS. (_Page 35._) - "That turning in the Blackfriars Road which has Rowland Hill's - Chapel on one side, and the likeness of a golden dog licking a - golden pot over a shop door at the other" (Forster).] - -Brighter days were in store for the Dickens family, and especially for -little Charles, whose father could now afford to send him to a good -school in the neighbourhood, much to the boy's delight. Owing to a -quarrel (of which he was the subject) between John Dickens and James -Lamert, the father declared that his boy should leave the blacking -warehouse and go to school instead. Thus terminated, suddenly and -unexpectedly, that period of his life which Charles Dickens ever -regarded with a feeling of repugnance. "Until old Hungerford Market was -pulled down," he tells us, "until old Hungerford Stairs were destroyed, -and the very nature of the ground changed, I never had the courage to go -back to the place where my servitude began." He never saw it, and could -not endure to go near it, and, in order that a certain smell of the -cement used for putting on the blacking-corks should not revive -unpleasant associations, he would invariably, when approaching Warren's -later establishment in Chandos Street, cross over to the opposite side -of the way. - -He was about twelve years of age when he and the blacking-pots parted -company for ever, and the new and more promising prospect opened before -him--a future replete with possibilities, and yielding opportunities of -which he knew the value and made the best use. The school to which he -was sent as a day-scholar was called the Wellington House Academy, the -proprietor being a Welshman named William Jones, whose "classical and -commercial" seminary stood at the north-east corner of Granby Street, -Hampstead Road. The residential portion still exists, although doomed to -early demolition; but the detached schoolroom and large playground -disappeared in 1835, on the formation of the London and Birmingham -Railway, as it was then called. In a paper entitled "Our School," -contributed to _Household Words_ in 1851, Dickens gives a thinly-veiled -account of Jones's Academy, and those of his pupils who yet survive -readily understand the various allusions, and vouch for the general -accuracy of the presentment. "It was a school," he says, "of some -celebrity in its neighbourhood--nobody could say why; the master was -supposed among us to know nothing, and one of the ushers was supposed to -know everything." There can be no doubt that Wellington House Academy -and its proprietor are revived in "David Copperfield" as Salem House and -Mr. Creakle. - -The most accessible route for young Dickens to follow between his home -in Johnson Street and the school was by way of Drummond Street, then a -quiet semi-rural thoroughfare, bounded on the north side by the cow -pastures belonging to an ancestor of the late Cecil Rhodes (of South -African fame), many members of whose family were located here. Dr. -Dawson, a schoolfellow of Dickens at Wellington House, well remembered -him acting as ringleader of other lads, and, simulating poverty, -imploring charity from people in Drummond Street, especially old ladies. - - [Illustration: 29 (NOW 13) JOHNSON STREET, SOMERS TOWN, (_Page 38._) - The home of Dickens in 1824.] - -Among other associations of the future novelist with this locality may -be mentioned his attendance (in company with Dr. Dawson) at the Sunday -morning services in Somers Chapel (now called St. Mary's Parish Church), -in Seymour Street (then partly fields), Somers Town,[21] concerning -which act of piety Dr. Dawson regrets to observe that his lively and -irreverent young friend "did not attend in the slightest degree to the -service, but incited me to laughter by declaring his dinner was ready, -and the potatoes would be spoiled, and, in fact, behaved in such a -manner that it was lucky for us we were not ejected from the chapel." He -remained at Wellington House Academy about two years (1824-1826), -without achieving any particular distinction as a pupil. Thus ended his -school training, elementary at the best, and it has been truly observed -that a classical education might have "done for" him--that "Boz," like -Burns, might have acquired all necessary erudition in a Board school. -"Pray, Mr. Dickens, where was your son educated?" conjured a friend of -John Dickens, who significantly and pertinently replied, "Why, indeed, -sir--ha! ha!--he may be said to have educated himself!" a response which -the novelist used good-humouredly and whimsically to imitate in -Forster's hearing. - -On relinquishing his studies at the age of fourteen, Charles Dickens for -a brief period was installed as clerk in the service of Mr. Molloy, a -solicitor in New Square, Lincoln's Inn. His father, however, presently -transferred him to the offices of Messrs. Ellis and Blackmore, -attorneys, at No. 1, Raymond Buildings, Gray's Inn (second floor), the -clerks' office looking out upon the roadway; here he performed similar -duties from May, 1827, to November, 1828, at a weekly salary of 13s. -6d., rising to 15s. Although he did not relish the law, and failed to -appreciate the particular kind of responsibility devolving upon him as a -humble apprentice to that profession, the few months thus employed by -him were productive of fruitful results, for they afforded him -opportunities of studying the idiosyncrasies of lawyers, their clerks -and clients, which can only be obtained by intimate association. In the -words of David Copperfield, he said: "I looked at nothing that I know -of, but I saw everything," with the result that he culled from his -mental storehouse those vivid pictures of legal life and character as -portrayed in "The Pickwick Papers," "Sketches by Boz," and later works. -The Dickens family at this time had left the unattractive environment of -Johnson Street and made their home at the Polygon, Somers Town, a much -more respectable and refined quarter, where Harold Skimpole (in "Bleak -House") afterwards settled, and "where there were at that time a number -of poor Spanish refugees walking about in cloaks, smoking little paper -cigars." The Polygon was so called from the arrangement of the houses in -the form of a circle; it stood within Clarendon Square, and, on -completion, became the aristocratic part of Somers Town; many successful -artists and engravers selecting it as a place of residence.[22] The name -of Dickens, however, does not appear in the contemporary rate-book, but -we find recorded there the significant fact that No. 17 was then "let to -lodgers"--a very unusual entry--and this, added to the fact that the -rents were comparatively high, justifies the assumption that the Dickens -family were lodgers only at the house bearing that number. At this time -John Dickens, with commendable energy and perseverance, had acquired the -difficult art of shorthand writing, with a view to obtaining a -livelihood as a Parliamentary reporter. He apparently changed his -address with some frequency, in 1832-1833 living for a time at Highgate, -whither Charles accompanied him, and lodging during brief intervals in -the western part of London. Certain letters written by the son to an -intimate friend indicate such addresses as North End (? Fulham) and -Fitzroy Street. - - [Illustration: WELLINGTON HOUSE ACADEMY, HAMPSTEAD ROAD. (_Page - 39._) - The school of Dickens, 1824-1826.] - -The father, on securing an appointment as a reporter for the _Morning -Herald_, established himself and his family (including Charles), at No. -18, Bentinck Street, Manchester Square. The rate-book, however, does not -give his name as the tenant of this or any other house in the street, so -we must assume that the family were again merely lodgers. This house and -its neighbours were recently demolished, being replaced by a row of -mansions, and, oddly enough, the name of the occupier of No. 19 in 1895 -bore the novelist's patronymic. - -On leaving Ellis and Blackmore's office in November, 1828, Charles -Dickens abandoned the pursuit of the law for ever. - -The profession of journalism offering him superior attractions, he was -tempted to become a newspaper reporter. With that object in view, he -gave himself up to the study of stenography, devoting much of his time -at the British Museum acquiring a knowledge of the subject, and -practising in the Law Courts of Doctors' Commons with extraordinary -assiduity until he arrived at something like proficiency. The -impediments that beset him are duly set forth in the pages of "David -Copperfield," the incidents there narrated being based upon the author's -heart-breaking experience in endeavouring to master the mysteries of -shorthand. Like David, he passed a period of probation, lasting nearly -two years, reporting for the Proctors at Doctors' Commons, St. Paul's -Churchyard. The scene of his labours is thus described in "Sketches by -Boz": "Crossing a quiet and shady courtyard paved with stone, and -frowned upon by old red-brick houses, on the doors of which were painted -the names of sundry learned civilians, we paused before a small, -green-baized, brass-headed nailed door, which, yielding to our gentle -push, at once admitted us into an old quaint-looking apartment, with -sunken windows and black carved wainscotting, at the upper end of which, -seated on a raised platform of semicircular shape, were about a dozen -solemn-looking gentlemen in crimson gowns and wigs." The courts were -destroyed in 1867, and in their place a Royal Court of Probate was -established at Westminster Hall. - -According to the autographs on certain British Museum readers' slips, -Charles Dickens was residing, in 1831, at No. 10, Norfolk Street, -Fitzroy Square, the same street (now Cleveland Street, east side of -Middlesex Hospital) in which his father was domiciled for a while in -1814. - -About the year 1833 Charles rented bachelor apartments in Cecil Street -(Strand), as evidenced by a letter of that period to an intimate friend, -where he says: "The people at Cecil Street put too much water in the -hashes, lost the nutmeg-grater, attended on me most miserably ... and so -I gave them warning, and have not yet fixed on a local habitation." - -We learn from Charles Dickens the younger that his father, before -occupying chambers in Furnival's Inn, had apartments in Buckingham -Street, and it is, therefore, not unlikely that he went thither from -Cecil Street; the same authority adds that "if he lived in David -Copperfield's rooms--as I have no doubt he did--he must have kept house -on the top floor of No. 15 on the east side--the house which displays a -tablet commemorating its one-time tenancy by Peter the Great, Czar of -all the Russias."[23] David, in describing his chambers, observes that -"they were on the top of the house ... and consisted of a little -half-blind entry where you could see hardly anything, a little -stone-blind pantry where you could see nothing at all, a sitting-room, -and a bedroom. The furniture was rather faded, but quite good enough for -me; and, sure enough, the river was outside the windows." Here, or at -Cecil Street, Dickens doubtless met that martyr to "the spazzums," the -immortal Mrs. Crupp, and the "young gal" whom she hired for festive -occasions, such as David's dinner-party. - -In 1832, after gaining experience at Doctors' Commons, an opening was -found for a reporter on the staff of the _True Sun_, a London morning -paper, then just launched; and here it may be observed that newspaper -reporting in those days, before railways and electric telegraphs, was -not unattended by great difficulties and even danger, for Dickens -himself relates how he had frequently to travel by post-chaise to remote -parts of the country to record important speeches, and how, on the -return journey, he transcribed his notes on the palm of his hand by the -light of a dark lantern while galloping at fifteen miles an hour at the -dead of night through a wild district, sometimes finding himself belated -in miry country roads during the small hours in a wheelless carriage, -with exhausted horses and drunken post-boys, and then succeeding in -reaching the office in time for publication. While thus representing the -_True Sun_ he joined the reporting staff of the _Mirror of Parliament_ -(then a comparatively new paper, conducted by his uncle, John Henry -Barrow, barrister-at-law), and in 1834 associated himself with the -_Morning Chronicle_,[24] one of the leading London journals, and a -formidable rival of the _Times_. - - [Illustration: 1 RAYMOND BUILDINGS, GRAY'S INN. (_Page 41._) - In the corner house were the offices of Ellis and Blackmore, - attorneys, with whom Dickens was a clerk in 1827-1828.] - -As a Parliamentary reporter he won great and enviable distinction, it -being an undoubted fact that of the eighty or ninety so employed with -him in the "gallery" of the House of Commons, he retained the premier -position by reason of his marvellous dexterity, accuracy, and capacity -for work. It was, of course, in the _old_ House, not the present -palatial edifice, that Charles Dickens followed this avocation, where -the accommodation provided for the newspaper representatives proved most -unsatisfactory, the "gallery" in the House of Lords being no better than -a "preposterous pen" (as Dickens described it), in which the reporters -were "huddled together like so many sheep," while the reporters in the -Commons carried on their duties in the Strangers' Gallery until a -separate gallery was provided for their use in the temporary House -constructed in 1834. The "gentlemen of the press" are now treated with -much greater consideration; instead of the dark lobby, or "pen," there -are large writing-rooms, separate apartments for smoking, reading, -dining, and dressing, as well as a stationer's shop, a post-office, and -a refreshment-bar. - -Dickens's final appearance at the House of Commons as a reporter was at -the close of the session of 1836, when, like David Copperfield, he -"noted down the music of the Parliamentary bagpipes for the last time." -For he had already tasted the delights of authorship, having written -some original papers for the _Evening Chronicle_ and other periodicals, -and henceforth he determined to adopt literature as a profession. His -first paper appeared (entitled "A Dinner at Poplar Walk")[25] -anonymously in the _Monthly Magazine_ nearly three years prior to his -retirement from the Press Gallery--that is, in December, 1833--and he -has himself described how, "with fear and trembling," he stealthily -dropped the manuscript into "a dark letter-box, in a dark office, up a -dark court in Fleet Street," and how suffused with tears of joy and -pride were the eyes of the young author when he beheld his little -effusion "in all the glory of print" that "they could not bear the -street and were not fit to be seen there." The "dark court" referred to -was Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, the location of the office of the old -(and long since defunct) _Monthly Magazine_; the court still exists, but -the office was demolished quite recently for the extension of the -premises of Mr. Henry Sells, who, happily, has preserved, as a memorial -of the novelist, the door to which the veritable "dark letter-box" was -attached. The story of Dickens's early essays has often been related, -and needs no repetition here. Suffice it to say that upon the success or -failure of that maiden effort a very great deal depended, as he intended -to be guided by the dictum of the publisher and of the public, and there -is every probability that, had this initial sketch been unfavourably -received, the young writer would have directed his attention to the -stage, which for him always possessed a magnetic attraction; thus, -instead of becoming a famous author, he would have blossomed into a -popular actor, thereby missing his true vocation. - - [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS IN 1830. - The earliest authentic portrait known. - _From the miniature by Mrs. Janet Barrow. Reproduced by permission - of F. Sabin, Esq._] - - - - - CHAPTER III. - THE LONDON AND SUBURBAN HOMES. - - -Dickens's earlier sketches (which bore no signature until August, 1834, -when he adopted the pseudonym of "Boz") were penned when living with his -father in Bentinck Street. At first they yielded no honorarium; but as -soon as he received a modest fee for them in addition to his salary as a -reporter, he exhibited a sense of independence in resolving to take the -apartments in Buckingham Street, whence he presently removed to more -commodious chambers in Furnival's Inn, Holborn. He was then twenty-two -years of age, and still on the staff of the _Morning Chronicle_, and -from Christmas, 1834, he rented a "three-pair back" at No. 13, -Furnival's Inn. One of his earliest (undated) letters bears the address -of Furnival's Inn, in which he informs his future brother-in-law, Henry -Austin, that he is about to start on a journey, alone and in a gig, to -Essex and Suffolk--evidently on journalistic business for the _Morning -Chronicle_--and expresses a belief that he would be spilt before paying -a turnpike, or run over a child before reaching Chelmsford; his journey -covered the same ground as that performed by Mr. Pickwick in his drive -by coach to Ipswich. Twelve months later he transferred his impedimenta -from No. 13 to more cheerful rooms at No. 15, renting a "three-pair -floor south." Several of the later "Sketches by Boz" were doubtless -written at No. 13, which stood squeezed into a corner of the square on -the right as entered from Holborn, the young author's modest quarters -being almost at the top of a steep and dark staircase. - -His rooms at No. 15 were a decided improvement on these, and he probably -had them in his mind when referring to Furnival's Inn in "Martin -Chuzzlewit" and to John Westlock's apartments there, "two stories up": -"There are snug chambers in those Inns where the bachelors live, and, -for the dissolute fellows they pretend to be, it is quite surprising how -well they get on.... His rooms were the perfection of neatness and -convenience.... There is little enough to see in Furnival's Inn. It is a -shady, quiet place, echoing to the footsteps of the stragglers who have -business there, and rather monotonous and gloomy on Sunday evenings." It -does not require much stretch of imagination to believe that the -description of Traddles' chambers in Gray's Inn (_vide_ "David -Copperfield," chap. lix.) was drawn from these very apartments, or to -realize the probability that the reference to Traddles and his lovely -girl guests is a reminiscence of Dickens's own. - - [Illustration: YORK HOUSE, 15 BUCKINGHAM STREET, STRAND. (_Page - 45._) - Charles Dickens lodged in the house overlooking the river about - 1834, and Mrs. Crupps let apartments here to David Copperfield. This - house was also occupied by Peter the Great, Henry Fielding, and - William Black.] - -This humble abode ever remained in his memory as a hallowed spot, -cherished by the fact that here he received the commission to write -"Pickwick" and penned the opening chapters, by which immortal -achievement he suddenly leaped into fame; but also by another -interesting and very personal recollection, namely, that it was the -scene of his early domestic life. For, be it remembered, the publication -of the first number of "Pickwick" (April, 1836) synchronized with his -marriage, the lady of his choice being Catherine Thomson Hogarth, eldest -daughter of George Hogarth, one of his colleagues on the staff of the -_Morning Chronicle_, the ceremony being performed at the Church of St. -Luke, Chelsea, of which parish the Rev. Charles Kingsley (father of the -author of "Westward Ho!") then officiated as rector. - -The honeymoon over, Dickens and his bride returned to London, and made -their home at No. 15, Furnival's Inn, where their eldest child, Charles, -was born. Here his favourite sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, sometimes -stayed with the youthful couple, her amiable and delightful disposition -proving a very joy in the little household; her premature death in 1837, -in Doughty Street, at the age of seventeen, so unnerved her admiring -brother-in-law that the course of "Pickwick" and "Oliver Twist" -(produced almost simultaneously) was temporarily interrupted, and -writing presently to Mrs. Hogarth from his next abode, he said: "I wish -you could know how I weary now for the three rooms in Furnival's Inn, -and how I miss that pleasant smile and those sweet words which, bestowed -upon our evening's work, on our merry banterings round the fire, were -more precious to me than the applause of a whole world would be." Here, -too (as already mentioned), lived John Westlock when visited by Tom -Pinch, and it was the scene, also, of certain incidents in "The Mystery -of Edwin Drood." Does not Mr. Grewgious (whose chambers were "over the -way" at Staple Inn) tell us that "Furnival's is fireproof and specially -watched and lighted," and did he not escort Rosa Bud to her rooms there, -at Wood's Hotel in the Square, afterwards confiding her to the care of -the "Unlimited head chambermaid"?[26] - -It was once an Inn of Chancery attached to Lincoln's Inn, deriving its -name from Sir William Furnivall, who owned much property hereabouts. -About 1818 it became a series of chambers wholly unconnected with any -Inn of Court, and in that year was entirely rebuilt by Peto. On the -right-hand side of the Square, as immediately entered from Holborn, the -house (No. 15) containing the bright little rooms once tenanted by -Dickens was easily identified in later years by the medallion above the -ground-floor windows which notified the fact; this house and its -neighbour were more ornate than the rest, by reason of the series of -Ionic pilasters between the windows. The whole of Furnival's Inn was -swept away in 1898, and the site covered by an extension of the premises -of the Prudential Insurance Company; thus, alas! disappears an extremely -interesting Dickens landmark, so intimately associated with the novelist -and his writings. - -Dickens must have relinquished his tenancy of the chambers in Furnival's -Inn before the actual term had expired, the assumption being that he had -taken them on a short lease, as, according to the official record, he -continued to pay rent until February 1839. Two years previously, finding -this accommodation inadequate, and realizing that his literary labours -had already begun to yield a good income, he determined to take a house, -No. 48, Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square--a locality not otherwise -unknown to literary fame; for Shirley Brooks (a former editor of -_Punch_) was born in this street, while both Sydney Smith and Edmund -Yates lived there, the latter at No. 43,[27] opposite Tegg, the -publisher of the "Peter Parley" series of juvenile books. - -Yates, in his "Recollections and Experiences," recalls the Doughty -Street of his day (and of Dickens's) as "a broad, airy, wholesome -street; none of your common thoroughfares, to be rattled through by -vulgar cabs and earth-shaking Pickford vans, but a self-included -property, with a gate at each end, and a lodge with a porter in a -gold-laced hat and the Doughty arms[28] on the buttons of his -mulberry-coloured coat, to prevent anyone, except with a mission to one -of the houses, from intruding on the exclusive territory." The lodges -and gates have been removed since this was written, and the porter in -official garb disappeared with that exclusiveness and quietude which -doubtless attracted Dickens to the spot more than sixty years ago. - -No. 48, Doughty Street (where his daughters Mary and Kate were born) is -situated on the east side of the street, and contains twelve rooms--a -single-fronted, three-storied house, with a railed-in area in front and -a small garden at the rear. A tiny little room on the ground-floor, -facing the garden, is believed to have been the novelist's study, in -which he wrote the latter portion of "Pickwick," and practically the -whole of "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickleby." The summer months he -customarily spent away from home, taking his work with him, and thus a -few chapters of these books were penned at Broadstairs, at Twickenham -Park, and at Elm Cottage (now called Elm Lodge), Petersham, a pretty -little rural retreat rented by him in the summer of 1839, a locality to -which he then referred as "those remote and distant parts, with the -chain of mountains formed by Richmond Hill presenting an almost -insurmountable barrier between me and the busy world." - - [Illustration: 15 FURNIVAL'S INN, HOLBORN. (_Page 50._) - _From a sketch by the late F. G. Kitton. Reproduced by kind - permission of Messrs. T. C. and E. C. Jack._] - -At Elm Cottage he frequently enjoyed the society of his -friends--Maclise, Landseer, Ainsworth, Talfourd, and the rest--many of -whom joined in athletic competitions organized by their energetic host -in the extensive grounds, among other frivolities being a balloon club -for children, of which Forster was elected president on condition that -he supplied all the balloons. Elm Cottage (Lodge) is now a school, -screened from the public road by a high wooden fence and a barrier of -elm-trees; it is a heavy-looking structure, roofed with red tiles, and -at the rear is Sudbrook Lane. The novelist's first country home, -however, was at No. 4, Ailsa Park Villas, Twickenham, still standing in -the Isleworth Road,[29] near St. Margaret's railway-station, described -in a recent issue of the _Richmond and Twickenham Times_ as "a building -on regular lines, shut in from the world by a plenitude of trees, silent -and quiet, an ideal cottage for a mind seeking rest and repose;" not a -picturesque edifice by any means, but having a quaint entablature with a -circular window in the centre thereof, the house having since undergone -little or no change, except, perhaps, in the enlargement of the balcony -over the main entrance. There are several references in Dickens's early -letters to this region of the Thames Valley (to the Star and Garter, at -Richmond, Eel Pie Island, etc.), and much local colouring is employed in -certain of his novels--"Nicholas Nickleby," "Little Dorrit," and -especially in "Oliver Twist."[29] It is interesting to know that the Old -Coach and Horses at Isleworth, where Sikes and Oliver halted during the -burglary expedition to Chertsey, remains almost intact to this day, -opposite Syon Lane, and contiguous to Syon House, the residence of that -popular writer of fiction, Mr. George Manville Fenn.[29] - -It was during the Doughty Street days that Dickens, in order to relieve -the mental tension, indulged in many enjoyable jaunts into the country -with Forster, these acting as a stimulant to fresh exertion. He either -rode on horseback or walked to such outlying districts as Hampstead, -Barnet, or Richmond, his favourite haunt in the northern suburb being -Jack Straw's Castle on the Heath, famous also for its associations with -Thackeray, Du Maurier, and Lord Leighton, and commemorated a generation -before by Washington Irving in his "Tales of a Traveller." Here the -Dickens traditions are still cherished, a small upper apartment in front -being pointed out as the bedroom which he occasionally occupied. "I -knows a good 'ous there," he said to Forster when imploring his -companionship on a bout to Hampstead, "where we can have a red-hot chop -for dinner and a glass of wine"; and the notification resulted in many -happy meetings there in the coming years.[30] A writer in the _Daily -Graphic_ (July 18, 1903) avers that Hampstead possesses other Dickensian -associations--that the novelist had lodgings at Wylde's Farm, and, it is -said, wrote some chapters of "Bleak House" in the picturesque cottage, -which, with the farmhouse and land, it is proposed to acquire for the -use and enjoyment of the public. Wylde's Farm is situated on the -north-west boundary of Hampstead Heath, close to North End, Hampstead; -it formerly consisted of two farms, one known as Collins's and the other -as Tooley's, and it was at Collins's that John Linnell, the artist, -lived for some years, and there welcomed, as visitors, William Blake, -Mulready, Flaxman, George Morland, and others distinguished in Art and -Literature. - - [Illustration: 48 DOUGHTY STREET. (_Page 54._) - The residence of Charles Dickens, 1837-1839. His only London - residence which remains unchanged. Part of "Pickwick," "Oliver - Twist," and the greater part of "Nickleby" were written here.] - -The associations of the novelist with No. 48, Doughty Street are -perpetuated not only in the name "Dickens House" recently bestowed upon -it, but by the tablet affixed thereon by the London County Council in -December last--truly, a long-delayed tribute, and especially deserving -in this case owing to the fact that it is the only London home of -Charles Dickens which survives intact structurally. It was here that in -September, 1838, Forster lunched with him, and then to sit, read, or -work, "or do something" (as the author expressed it in his note of -invitation), "while I write the _last_ chapter of 'Oliver,' which will -be arter a lamb chop." "How well I remember that evening!" observes his -friend, "and our talk of what should be the fate of Charley Bates, on -behalf of whom (as, indeed, for the Dodger, too) Talfourd[31] had -pleaded as earnestly in mitigation of judgment as ever at the bar for -any client he had most respected." - -Writing to his friend Macready, the actor, in November, 1839, Dickens -said: "You must come and see my new house when we have it to rights." He -had just completed the last number of "Nicholas Nickleby," when he -decided to leave Doughty Street for a more commodious residence in a -more exclusive neighbourhood, namely, No. 1, Devonshire Terrace, York -Gate--"a house of great promise (and great premium), undeniable -situation, and excessive splendour," to quote his own concise -description; it had a large garden, and was shut out from the New Road -(now the Marylebone Road) by a high brick wall facing the York Gate into -Regent's Park. In "The Uncommercial Traveller," Dickens refers to -"having taken the lease of a house in a certain distinguished -Metropolitan parish--a house which then appeared to me to be a -frightfully first-class Family Mansion, involving awful -responsibilities."[32] - - [Illustration: JACK STRAW'S CASTLE, HAMPSTEAD, CIRCA 1835. (_Page - 56._) - _From a print in the collection of Councillor Newton, Hampstead._] - -A contemporary drawing of the house by Daniel Maclise, R.A., represents -it as detached and standing in its own grounds, with a wrought-iron -entrance-gate surmounted by a lamp-bracket; the building consisted of a -basement, two stories, and an attic. There are only three houses in the -Terrace, and immediately beyond is the burial-ground of St. Marylebone -Church.[33] No. 1, Devonshire Terrace is now semi-detached, having a -line of taller residential structures on the southern side, while a -portion of the high brick wall on the Terrace side has been replaced by -an iron railing. The house itself has been structurally changed since -Dickens's days, and has undergone enlargement, a new story being -inserted between the ground-floor and the upper story, thus considerably -altering its original proportions without actually removing its -principal features. Mr. Hughes, who in 1888 examined the house prior to -these "improvements," states that it then contained thirteen rooms. "The -polished mahogany doors in the hall, and the chaste Italian marble -mantelpieces in the principal rooms, are said to have been put up by the -novelist. On the ground-floor the smaller room to the eastward of the -house, with windows 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."[34] Concerning Dickens's studies, his eldest -daughter tells us that they "were always cheery, pleasant rooms, and -always, like himself, the personification of neatness and tidiness. On -the shelf of his writing-table were many dainty and useful -ornaments--gifts from his friends or members of his family--and always a -vase of bright and fresh flowers." Referring to the sanctum at -Devonshire Terrace, Miss Dickens observes that it (the first she could -remember) was "a pretty room, with steps leading directly into the -garden from it, and with an extra baize door to keep out all sounds and -noise." The garden here constituted a great attraction to Dickens, for -it enabled him, with his children and friends, to indulge in such simple -games as battledore and shuttlecock and bowls, which not only delighted -him, but conveniently afforded means of obtaining necessary exercise and -recreation at intervals during his literary labours. - -In a stable on the south side of the garden were kept the two ravens -that inspired the conception of Grip in "Barnaby Rudge," of which famous -bird they were the "great originals." Longfellow, after visiting the -novelist here in 1841, said in a letter to a friend: "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." The first raven died in 1841 from the effects (it -was believed) of a meal of white paint; he was quickly succeeded by an -older and a larger raven ("comparatively of weak intellect"), whose -decease in 1845 was similarly premature, probably owing to "the same -illicit taste for putty and paint which had been fatal to his -predecessor." "Voracity killed him," said Dickens, "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 'Cuckoo.'" The novelist occupied No. 1, Devonshire -Terrace (the scene of many of his literary triumphs) for a period of -about twelve years--the happiest period of his life--and there wrote -some of the best of his stories, including "The Old Curiosity Shop," -"Barnaby Rudge," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Dombey and Son," and "David -Copperfield," the latter the most delightful of all his books, and his -own favourite. Here also he composed those ever-popular Yule-tide -annuals, "A Christmas Carol," "The Cricket on the Hearth," and "The -Haunted Man." - -The friends which the fame of the young author attracted thither -included some of the most distinguished men of the day, such as -Macready, Talfourd, Proctor ("Barry Cornwall"), Clarkson Stanfield, -R.A., Sir David Wilkie, R.A., Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., Samuel Rogers, -Sydney Smith, and many others of equal note, for which reason, among -others, he always cherished fond recollections of this London home, and -writing to Forster from Genoa in 1844, he could not refrain from -expressing how strangely he felt in the midst of such unfamiliar -environment. "I seem," he said, "as if I had plucked myself out of my -proper soil when I left Devonshire Terrace, and would 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 Waterworks at Devonshire Terrace." As in the case of -48, Doughty Street, this house bears a commemorative tablet, placed by -the London County Council. It is interesting to add that within a -stone's-throw stands the old parish church of St. Marylebone, the scene -of the burial of little Paul Dombey and his mother, and of Mr. Dombey's -second marriage. - -At Devonshire Terrace four sons were born to him, viz., Walter Landor, -Francis Jeffrey, Alfred Tennyson, Henry Fielding, and one daughter, Dora -Annie, who survived only a few months. - -On particular occasions, owing to a prolonged absence from England, he -let this house firstly to General Sir John Wilson in 1842 (when he first -visited America); secondly, to a widow lady, who agreed to occupy it -during his stay in Italy in 1844; and, thirdly, in 1846, to Sir James -Duke. The widow lady took possession a week or two before he started for -the Continent, thus compelling him to seek temporary quarters elsewhere. -He found the necessary accommodation near at hand, namely, at No. 9, -Osnaburgh Terrace, New Road (now Euston Road), which he rented for the -interval. Here occurred an amusing contretemps. Before entering upon -this brief tenancy, he had invited a number of valued friends to a -farewell dinner prior to his departure for Italy, and suddenly -discovered that, owing to the small dimensions of the rooms, he would be -obliged to abandon or postpone the function, the house having no -convenience "for the production of any other banquet than a cold -collation of plate and linen, the only comforts we have not left behind -us." Additional help being obtained, however, the dinner went off -satisfactorily. - -Dickens and his family left England for Italy in July, 1844, remaining -abroad for a period of twelve months. In November, however, he made a -quick journey to London, in order to test the effect of a reading aloud -of his just completed Christmas book, "The Chimes," before a few friends -assembled for that purpose at Forster's residence, Lincoln's Inn Fields, -which, as readers of "Bleak House" may remember, is introduced into that -story as Mr. Tulkinghorn's Chambers. The pleasurable interlude over, the -novelist returned to Genoa, there remaining until June, 1845, when, -homesick and eager to renew the "happy old walks and old talks" with his -friends in the "dear old home," he gladly settled down again in -Devonshire Terrace. But only eleven months elapsed before he departed -for Switzerland, where he rented a little villa called Rosemont at -Lausanne; here he embarked upon a new story, "Dombey and Son," and wrote -"The Battle of Life." His stay on the Continent was unexpectedly -curtailed by the illness from scarlet fever of his eldest son Charles, -then at King's College school in London, whereupon, at the end of -February, 1847, the novelist and his wife hastily made their way to the -bedside of their sick boy, taking up their abode at the Victoria Hotel, -Euston Square,[35] the Devonshire Terrace home being still occupied by -Sir James Duke. The little invalid was under the care of his -grandmother, Mrs. Hogarth, in Albany Street, Regent's Park, and Dickens -secured temporary quarters near at hand, in Chester Place, where he -remained until June, and where a fifth son was born, christened Sydney -Smith Haldemand. - - [Illustration: 1 DEVONSHIRE TERRACE. (_Page 58._) - The residence of Dickens, 1839-1851. Some of his finest books were - written here.] - -Writing to Mrs. Hogarth from Chester Place (the number is not recorded), -he said: "This house is very cheerful on the drawing-room floor and -above, looking into the park on one side and Albany Street on the -other." - -Early in 1848 Devonshire Terrace was quitted by Sir James Duke, and -Dickens returned to London from Brighton (where he had been spending two -or three weeks) joyfully to enter into possession once more of his own -home, taking with him for completion an important chapter of "Dombey and -Son." The lease of this house expired in 1851, the last book written -there being "David Copperfield," at the publication of which his -reputation attained its highest level. He now realized that, for a -family consisting of six sons and two daughters (of whom the eldest, -Charles Culliford Boz, was but fourteen years of age), this residence -did not offer sufficient accommodation, and therefore he decided with -keen regret not to renew the lease.[36] Indeed, from the beginning of -the year he had been negotiating for a more commodious domicile, -Tavistock House, in Tavistock Square, then, and for some years -previously, the residence of his cherished artist friend, Frank Stone, -A.R.A., father of Mr. Marcus Stone, the Royal Academician. An -opportunity arising for the immediate purchase of the lease of Tavistock -House, Dickens felt convinced it was prudent that he should buy it, for, -as he observed in a letter to Frank Stone, it seemed very unlikely that -he would obtain "the same comforts for the rising generation elsewhere -for the same money," and gave him carte-blanche to make the necessary -arrangements for acquiring the lease at a price not exceeding £1,500. "I -don't make any apologies," he added, "for thrusting this honour upon -you, knowing what a thorough-going old pump you are." After securing the -property, the summer months were spent by the novelist at Broadstairs, -where a "dim vision" suddenly confronted him in connection with the -impending change of residence. "Supposing," he wrote considerately to -Stone, "you should find, on looking forward, a probability of your being -houseless at Michaelmas, what do you say to using Devonshire Terrace as -a temporary encampment? It will not be in its usual order, but we would -take care that there should be as much useful furniture of all sorts -there as to render it unnecessary for you to move a stick. If you should -think this a convenience, then I should propose to you to pile your -furniture in the middle of the rooms at Tavistock House, and go out to -Devonshire Terrace two or three weeks _before_ Michaelmas, to enable my -workmen to commence their operations. This might be to our mutual -convenience, and therefore I suggest it. Certainly, the sooner I can -begin on Tavistock House the better, and possibly your going into -Devonshire Terrace might relieve you from a difficulty that would -otherwise be perplexing. I make this suggestion (I need not say to -_you_) solely on the chance of its being useful to both of us. If it -were merely convenient to me, you know I shouldn't dream of it. Such an -arrangement, while it would cost you nothing, would perhaps enable you -to get your new house into order comfortably, and do exactly the same -thing for me."[37] The exchange was accordingly made, so enabling -Dickens to effect certain structural improvements in Tavistock House -before returning from Broadstairs to take possession in November. These -alterations and reparations, which were apparently on a somewhat -extensive scale, were carried out under the superintendence of his -brother-in-law, Henry Austin, an architect and sanitary engineer, to -whom Dickens (harassed by delays in the work) wrote despairingly as -follows: - - [Illustration: 9 OSNABURGH TERRACE. (_Page 62._) - Occupied by Dickens in the summer of 1844.] - - "Broadstairs, - "_Sunday, September 7, 1851_. - - "My dear Henry, - - "I am in that state of mind which you may (once) have seen described - in the newspapers as 'bordering on distraction,' the house given up to - me, the fine weather going on (soon to break, I dare say), the - printing season oozing away, my new book ('Bleak House') waiting to be - born, and - - "_No Workmen on the Premises_, - - along of my not hearing from you!! I have torn all my hair off, and - constantly beat my unoffending family. Wild notions have occurred to - me of sending in my own plumber to do the drains. Then I remember that - you have probably written to propose _your_ man, and restrain my - audacious hand. Then Stone presents himself, with a most - exasperatingly mysterious visage, and says that a rat has appeared in - the kitchen, and it's his opinion (Stone's, not the rat's) that the - drains want 'compo-ing'; for the use of which explicit language I - could fell him without remorse. In my horrible desire to 'compo' - everything, the very postman becomes my enemy, because he brings no - letter from you; and, in short, I don't see what's to become of me - unless I hear from you to-morrow, which I have not the least - expectation of doing. - - "Going over the house again, I have materially altered the plans, - abandoned conservatory and front balcony, decided to make Stone's - painting-room the drawing-room (it is nearly 6 inches higher than the - room below), to carry the entrance passage right through the house to - a back door leading to the garden, and to reduce the once intended - drawing-room--now schoolroom--to a manageable size, making a door of - communication between the new drawing-room and the study. Curtains and - carpets, on a scale of awful splendour and magnitude, are already in - preparation, and still--still-- - - "_No Workmen on the Premises._ - - "To pursue this theme is madness. Where are you? When are you coming - home? Where is _the_ man who is to do the work? Does he know that an - army of artificers must be turned in at once, and the whole thing - finished out of hand? - - "O rescue me from my present condition. Come up to the scratch, I - entreat and implore you! - - "I send this to Lĉtitia (Mrs. Austin) to forward, - - "Being, as you well know why, - Completely floored by N.W.,[38] I - _Sleep_! - - I hope you may be able to read this. My state of mind does not admit - of coherence. - - "Ever affectionately, - "Charles Dickens. - - "P.S.--_No Workmen_ on the _Premises_! - - "Ha! ha! ha! (I am laughing demoniacally.)"[39] - -Other letters followed, testifying to the highly nervous condition and -impatience of the writer, who in certain of these characteristic -missives, said: - -"I am perpetually wandering (in fancy) up and down the house (Tavistock -House) and tumbling over the workmen; when I feel that they are gone to -dinner, I become low; when I look forward to their total abstinence on -Sundays, I am wretched. The gravy at dinner has a taste of glue in it. I -smell paint in the sea. Phantom lime attends me all the day long. I -dream that I am a carpenter, and can't partition off the hall. I -frequently dance (with a distinguished company) in the dressing-room, -and fall in the kitchen for want of a pillar.... I dream, also, of the -workmen every night. They make faces at me, and won't do anything.... -Oh! if this were to last long; the distractions of the new book, the -whirling of the story through one's mind, escorted by workmen, the -imbecility, the wild necessity of beginning to write, the not being able -to do so, the--O! I should go----O!"[40] - - -The house, after all, was not ready to receive him at the stipulated -time, for it proved to be as difficult to get the workmen off the -premises as to get them on, and at the end of October they were still -busy in their own peculiar manner, the painters mislaying their brushes -every five minutes, and chiefly whistling in the intervals, while the -carpenters "continued to look sideways with one eye down pieces of wood, -as if they were absorbed in the contemplation of the perspective of the -Thames Tunnel, and had entirely relinquished the vanities of this -transitory world." With white lime in the kitchens, blank paper -constantly spread on drawing-room walls and shred off again, men -clinking at the new stair-rails, Irish labourers howling in the -schoolroom ("but I don't know why"), the gardener vigorously lopping the -trees, something like pandemonium reigned supreme, and the "Inimitable" -mentally blessed the day when silence and order at length succeeded, -permitting him once more to settle down to his desk, and to concentrate -his thoughts upon the new serial, "Bleak House," the writing of which -was begun at the end of November, 1851--on a Friday, too, regarded by -him as his lucky day. - -Tavistock House,[41] with Russell House and Bedford House adjoining (all -the property of the Duke of Bedford and all demolished), stood at the -northeast corner of the private, secluded Tavistock Square (named after -the Marquis of Tavistock, father of the celebrated William, Lord -Russell), a short distance south of Euston Road, about midway between -Euston Square and the aristocratic Russell Square, and railed off from -Upper Woburn Place. - -The exterior of Tavistock House (pulled down in 1901) presented a plain -brick structure of two stories in height above the ground-floor, with -attics in the roof, an open portico or porch being added by a later -tenant; it contained no less than eighteen rooms, including a -drawing-room capable of holding more than three hundred persons. On the -garden side, at the rear, the house had a bowed front somewhat -resembling that at Devonshire Terrace. Hans Christian Andersen, who -visited him here in 1857, has left us a delightful record of his -impressions of the mansion: - -"In Tavistock Square stands Tavistock House. This and the strip of -garden in front are shut out from the thoroughfare (Gordon Place, on the -east side) by an iron railing. A large garden, with a grass plot 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.[42] On the first floor was a rich library, with a fireplace -and a writing-table, looking out on the garden.... The kitchen was -underground, and at the top of the house were bedrooms. I had a snug -room looking out on the garden, and over the tree-tops I saw the London -towers and spires appear and disappear as the weather cleared or -thickened." - -Dickens's eldest daughter, in recalling her father's study at Tavistock -House, remembered it as being larger and more ornate than his previous -sanctum, and describes it as "a fine large room, opening into the -drawing-room by means of sliding doors. When the rooms were thrown -together," she adds, "they gave my father a promenade of considerable -length for the constant indoor walking which formed a favourite -recreation for him after a hard day's writing." Here were wholly or -partly written some of his best stories--viz., "Bleak House," "Hard -Times," "Little Dorrit," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Great -Expectations," his labours being agreeably diversified by private -theatricals. - -With a view to possibilities of this kind, he caused the school-room (on -the ground-floor at the back of the house) to be adapted for such -entertainments by having a stage erected and a platform built outside -the window for scenic purposes. His older children (the last of the -family, Edward Bulwer Lytton, was born in Tavistock House, 1852) had now -attained an age that justified a demand for a special form of home -amusement, and this met with a ready response from an indulgent father, -who, mainly, if not entirely, for their delight, arranged for a series -of juvenile theatricals, which began on the first Twelfth Night there -(the eldest son's fifteenth birthday) with a performance of Fielding's -burlesque, "Tom Thumb," with Mark Lemon and Dickens himself in the cast. -Thackeray, who was present, thoroughly enjoyed the fun, rolling off his -seat in a burst of laughter at the absurdity of the thing. Play-bills -were printed, and every detail carried out in the orthodox style, for -Dickens (who, as "Lessee and Manager," humorously styled himself "Mr. -Crummies") entered heart and soul into the business, and as thoroughly -as if his income solely depended on it--this was entirely characteristic -of the man. - -For the time being, the house was given up to theatrical preparations; -the schoolroom became a painter's shop; there was a gasfitters shop all -over the basement; the topmost rooms were devoted to dressmaking, and -the novelist's dressing-room to tailoring, while he himself at intervals -did his best to write "Little Dorrit" in corners, "like the Sultan's -groom, who was turned upside-down by the genii." - -The most remarkable performances at "The Smallest Theatre in the World"! -(for so the play-bills described it) were the presentations of "The -Lighthouse" and "The Frozen Deep," plays specially written by Wilkie -Collins, for which the scenes were painted by Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., -one of these beautiful works of art (depicting the Eddystone Lighthouse) -realizing a thousand guineas after the novelist's death! These -theatrical entertainments, continued on Twelfth Nights for many years, -were witnessed and enjoyed by many notabilities of London (Carlyle among -them), and created quite a public sensation. - -Dickens's cherished friend, the late Miss Mary Boyle, had vivid and -pleasing recollections of Tavistock House and the master spirit who -presided over it. - - [Illustration: TAVISTOCK HOUSE. (_Page 70._) - The residence of Dickens, 1851-1860. - _From a photograph by Catherine Weed Barnes Ward._] - -"The very sound of the name," she says, "is replete to me with memories -of innumerable evenings passed in the most congenial and delightful -intercourse--dinners where the guests vied with each other in brilliant -conversation, whether intellectual, witty, or sparkling; evenings -devoted to music or theatricals. First and foremost of that magic circle -was the host himself, always 'one of us,' who invariably drew out what -was best and most characteristic in others.... I can never forget one -evening, shortly after the arrival at Tavistock House, when we danced in -the New Year. It seemed like a page cut out of the 'Christmas Carol,' as -far, at least, as fun and frolic went."[43] - -It was while living at Tavistock House that Dickens devised the series -of imitation book-backs with incongruous titles which were to serve as a -decorative feature in his study, and were afterwards transferred, -together with Clarkson Stanfield's scenery, to his next home. Here, too, -he gave sittings for his portrait to E. M. Ward, R.A., in 1854, in which -is seen the strongly-contrasting tints of curtains, carpet, and other -accessories, indicating the great writer's passion for colour. The -background and other details in the portrait by Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A., -in 1859, were also painted in Dickens's study at Tavistock House while -he was at work. It has been suggested that the novelist probably found -this residence a little too convenient for friends and other callers, -whose unexpected visits somewhat interrupted him, and that this may have -been a reason for his exodus into the country. - -In 1855 the novelist ascertained that a picturesque house at Gad's Hill, -near Rochester, the possession of which he declared to be a dream of his -childhood, was to be sold, and he at once determined to buy it if -possible. In this he succeeded, but it was not until 1860 that he -finally left his London abode to make his home at his "little Kentish -freehold." During part of the interval he divided his favours between -Tavistock House and Gad's Hill Place, usually spending the summer months -at his country retreat, furnished merely as a temporary summer residence -until September, 1860, when he disposed of the remainder of the lease of -the London house to Mr. Davis, a Jewish gentleman. Concerning the -transaction, he wrote (on the 4th of the month) to his henchman, W. H. -Wills: "Tavistock House is cleared to-day, and possession delivered up. -I must say that in all things the purchaser has behaved thoroughly well, -and that I cannot call to mind any occasion when I have had money -dealings with a Christian that have been so satisfactory, considerate, -and trusting." His occupation of Tavistock House covered a period of -exactly ten years. - - [Illustration: 5 HYDE PARK PLACE (NOW 5 MARBLE ARCH). (_Page 77._) - The centre house, without a porch, was the residence of Dickens in - the early part of 1870.] - -In 1885 and subsequently Tavistock House was occupied as a Jewish -College, and it is worthy of note that prior to that date it was -tenanted by Gounod, the composer, and by Mrs. Georgina Weldon, the -well-known lady litigant, who in 1880 privately issued an extraordinary -pamphlet entitled "The Ghastly Consequences of Living in Charles -Dickens's House," where she dilates upon an attempt made to forcibly -convey her to a lunatic asylum.[44] - -Tavistock House, with its neighbours Bedford House and Russell House, -were razed to the ground about four years ago, and the land, to be let -on a building lease, is still a desolate waste. - -Although definitely settled at Gad's Hill, Dickens decided upon taking a -furnished house in town for a few months of the London season for the -sake of his daughters, then young ladies just emerged from their teens, -and the younger of whom was then engaged to be married. Accordingly, in -the spring months of 1861 we find him and his household established at -No. 3, Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, a retired spot adjoining the -western side of the Park. In February, 1862, he made an exchange of -houses for three months with his friends Mr. and Mrs. Hogge, they going -to Gad's Hill, and he and his family to Mr. Hogge's house at No. 16, -Hyde Park Gate, South Kensington Gore (south side of Kensington High -Street); for, as the novelist explained, his unmarried daughter -naturally liked to be in town at that time of the year. In the middle of -February, 1864, he removed to another London mansion, No. 57, Gloucester -Place, north of Hyde Park, where he stayed until June, busily engaged -during those months with "Our Mutual Friend." Gloucester Place now forms -part of Gloucester Terrace, near Bayswater Road, and the northern end of -the Serpentine. - -For the spring of 1865 a furnished house was taken at No. 16, Somers -Place, north of Hyde Park (between Cambridge Square and Southwick -Crescent), which Dickens, with his sister-in-law and daughter, occupied -from the beginning of March until June, while Gad's Hill Place was being -"gorgeously painted," as he informed Macready, with a further intimation -that, owing to great suffering in his foot, he was a terror to the -household, likewise to all the organs and brass bands in this quarter. -In 1866 he rented for the spring a furnished house at No. 6, Southwick -Place, Hyde Park Square (contiguous to his former residence in Somers -Place), and early in January, 1870 (five months before his death), he -took for the season the classic-fronted mansion of his friends Mr. and -Mrs. Milner-Gibson, at No. 5, Hyde Park Place, apropos of which he said -in a letter to his American friend James T. Fields: "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, overlooking the Park, unsurpassable for airiness and -cheerfulness." - -This house was Charles Dickens's last London residence; he rented it, -Forster tells us, for the period of his London Readings at that time, in -order to avoid the daily railway journey to London from Gad's Hill, -entertaining an especial dislike to that mode of travelling in the then -serious state of his health. - -At Hyde Park Place he wrote a considerable portion of the unfinished -fragment of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," and made the acquaintance, -through his friend Sir John Millais, of the illustrator of that story, -Mr. Luke Fildes, now the well-known Royal Academician, who cherishes the -most pleasant recollections of the collaboration. - -We learn that in 1867 and 1869 Dickens did not take a house in London, -as was customary in these later years. In May of 1869 he stayed with his -daughter and sister-in-law for two or three weeks at the St. James's -Hotel (now the Berkeley), at the corner of Berkeley Street, Piccadilly, -having promised to be in London at the time of the arrival of a number -of American friends; in order, too, that he might be near his London -doctor for a while,[45] and be able to avail himself of invitations from -innumerable familiar acquaintances. - -In 1867, having a series of Readings in town and country alternately, he -decided to dispense with unnecessary travelling between Gad's Hill and -London by sleeping in bachelor quarters at the office of his weekly -journal, _All the Year Round_, which succeeded the earlier publication, -_Household Words_, in 1859. - - [Illustration: THE OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," - 26 (FORMERLY 11) WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND. (_Page 78._) - In 1860 Dickens furnished rooms here, which were "Really a success. - As comfortable, cheerful, and private as anything of the kind can - possibly be" (letter to Miss Mamie Dickens).] - -The office of _All the Year Round_ was then No. 11, Wellington Street, -North Strand, and still exists as No. 26, Wellington Street, at the -south corner of Tavistock Street, at its junction with Wellington -Street. In 1872 the lessee of the property was unavailingly approached -by emissaries from Chicago with the view of purchasing and transporting -the building to the _World's Fair_, as a memento of the novelist. For -his own convenience Dickens furnished rooms here,[46] to be used as -bedroom and sitting-room as occasion required, which must have reminded -him of those early days when he lived in similar bachelor apartments at -Furnival's Inn. Happily for him, his creature comforts were ensured by -an old and tried servant--a paragon--whom Dickens declared to be "the -cleverest man of his kind in the world," and able to do anything, "from -excellent carpentry to excellent cooking." - -The office of _Household Words_ was situated in Wellington Street, -Strand, nearly opposite the portico of the Lyceum Theatre, a short -distance from the Strand on the right-hand side of the way, and was -rendered somewhat conspicuous by a large bow window. This building stood -on the site of a very old tenement, with which there was bound up a very -weird London legend, setting forth how the room on the first-floor front -was the identical apartment which had served Hogarth as the scene of the -final tableau in "The Harlot's Progress." The novelist used to tell his -contributors that he had often, while sitting in his editorial sanctum, -conjured up mental pictures of Kate Hackabout lying dead in her coffin, -wept over by drunken beldames. - -On September 17, 1903, the London County Council's housebreakers took -possession of the old office of _Household Words_ (whence in 1850 -Dickens launched the first number of that periodical), and the building -has since been sacrificed in the general scheme for providing a new -thoroughfare from the Strand to Holborn. Dickens used the front-room on -the first floor--that with a large bow window--as his editorial sanctum, -and on busy nights he slept on the premises instead of returning to -Gad's Hill. Latterly this room was used as an office by the manager of -the Gaiety Theatre. The projection of the new Kingsway and Aldwych has -resulted in the inevitable evanishment of many Dickensian landmarks, for -a glance at the plans of these thoroughfares now in course of -construction shows that they will cover an important section of -"Dickens's London," such as Clare Market, the New Inn, Portugal Street, -Drury Lane, Sardinia Street, Kingsgate Street, etc. - - * * * * * * * * - -A brief mention of certain public and private institutions in London -having more or less informal associations with Dickens will form a -fitting conclusion to the present chapter. - - [Illustration: THE OFFICE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," WELLINGTON STREET, - STRAND. (_Page 80._) - The principal entrance was where the centre window on the ground - floor is shown. - The building is now demolished.] - -In 1838 the author of "Pickwick" (then lately completed) was elected a -member of the Athenĉum Club, his sponsor being Mr. Serjeant Storks, and -continued his membership of that very exclusive confraternity for the -rest of his life. The late Rev. F. G. Waugh, author of a booklet on the -Athenĉum Club, did not think that Dickens considered himself a popular -member, probably because he seldom spoke to anyone unless previously -addressed. When not taking his sandwich standing, his usual seat in the -coffee-room was the table on the east side of the room, just south of -the fireplace. "I believe," says Mr. Waugh, in a letter to the present -writer, "the last letter he wrote from here was to his son, who did not -receive it till after his father's death." The club, which preserves the -novelist's favourite chair, was the scene, too, of a happy incident--the -reconciliation of Thackeray and Dickens after a period of strained -relationship. This occurred only a few days before the death of the -author of "Vanity Fair," when the two great writers, meeting by accident -in the lobby of the club, suddenly turned and saw each other, "and the -unrestrained impulse of both was to hold out the hand of forgiveness and -fellowship." - - "... In the hall, that trysting-place, - Two severed friends meet face to face: - 'Tis Boz and Makepeace, good and true - ('Behind the coats,' hats not a few). - A start, and both uncertain stand; - Then each has clasped the other's hand!"[47] - -The Temple, practically unchanged since Dickens's day, ever remained a -favourite locality with him. When quite a young man, and popularly known -as "Boz," he entered his name among the students of the Inn of the -Middle Temple, though he did not eat dinners there until many years -later, and was never called to the Bar. The _Daily News_ offices (the -old building, not the existing ornate structure) in Bouverie Street are -remembered chiefly by the fact that this Liberal newspaper was founded -by Dickens, its first editor, in 1846, and a bust-portrait of him may be -seen in a niche in the façade of the new building. John Forster's -residence, No. 58, Lincoln's Inn Fields, is specially memorable on -account of the novelist's associations therewith. Here he was ever a -welcome guest, and here, in 1844, he read "The Chimes" from the -newly-completed manuscript to an assembled group of friends, the germ of -those public readings to which he subsequently devoted so much time and -energy. The two houses, Nos. 57 and 58, Lincoln's Inn Fields, were once -the town mansion of the Earl of Lindsey. Dickens made Forster's -residence the home of Tulkinghorn, the old family lawyer in "Bleak -House," whose room with the painted ceiling depicting "fore-shortened -allegory" faces the large forecourt, and is now in the occupation of a -solicitor; the painting, however, was obliterated some years ago. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - IN THE WEST COUNTRY. - - -Dickens first made acquaintance with many provincial towns during his -early newspaper days, when, as a reporter, he galloped by road in -post-chaises, both by day and night, to remote parts of the country, -meeting with strange adventures, sometimes experiencing awkward -predicaments, from which he invariably succeeded in extricating himself -and in reaching his destination in good time for publication, his -carefully-prepared notes being transcribed, not infrequently, during -"the smallest hours of the night in a swift-flying carriage and pair," -by the light of a blazing wax-candle. In 1845, when recalling his -reporting days, he informed Forster that he "had to charge for all sorts -of breakages fifty times in a journey without question," as the ordinary -results of the pace he was compelled to travel. He had charged his -employers for everything but a broken head, "which," he naïvely added, -"is the only thing they would have grumbled to pay for." One of the -foremost of these expeditions took place in 1835, when he and a -colleague, Thomas Beard, journeyed by express coach to Bristol to -report, for the _Morning Chronicle_, the political speeches in -connection with Lord John Russell's Devon contest. He lodged at the Bush -Inn, where that "ill-starred gentleman," Mr. Winkle, took up his -quarters when fleeing from the wrath of the infuriated Dowler, as set -forth in the thirty-eighth chapter of "Pickwick." We are told that Mr. -Winkle found Bristol "a shade more dirty than any place he had ever -seen"; that, at the time referred to (nearly eighty years ago), the -pavements of that city were "not the widest or cleanest upon earth," its -streets were "not altogether the straightest or least intricate," and -their "manifold windings and twistings" greatly puzzled Mr. Winkle, who, -when exploring them, lost his way, with the result that he unexpectedly -came upon his old acquaintances, Bob Sawyer and Ben Allen, the former -occupying a newly-painted tenement (not identified), which had been -recently converted into "something between a shop and a private house," -with the word "Surgery" inscribed above the window of what had been the -front parlour. At the Bush tavern the fugitive was discovered by Sam -Weller, who had received peremptory orders from "the governor" to follow -and keep him in sight until Mr. Pickwick arrived on the scene. The Bush -no longer exists; it stood in Corn Street, near the Guildhall, and was -taken down in 1864, the present Wiltshire Bank marking the site. It will -be remembered that it was to Clifton, on the outskirts of Bristol, where -Arabella Allen was sent by her brother (who regarded himself as "her -natural protector and guardian") to spend a few months at an old aunt's, -"in a nice dull place," in order to break her to his will that she -should marry Bob Sawyer ("late Nockemorf"). Hither Sam Weller went in -quest of her, walking (as we are told) "up one street and down -another--we were going to say, up one hill and down another, only it's -all uphill at Clifton"--and, after struggling across the Downs, "against -a good high wind," eventually arrived at "several little villas of quiet -and secluded appearance," at one of which he, too, met a familiar -acquaintance in "the pretty housemaid from Mrs. Nupkins's," who proved a -valuable guide to the whereabouts of Miss Allen. In 1866 and 1869 -Dickens gave public readings at Clifton, staying on the former occasion -at the Down Hotel. The suspension bridge across the Avon is the old -Hungerford Bridge, removed in 1863, and the sight of it at the time of -his later visits to Clifton must have recalled to Dickens the troubled -period of his boyhood at the blacking factory. - -The occasion of the Bristol reporting expedition in 1835 is also -memorable for the fact that it marks the date of Dickens's first visit -to the contiguous city of Bath, which plays a still more important part -in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club. At Bath he had to prepare a -report of a political dinner given there by Lord John Russell, and to -despatch it "by Cooper Company's Coach, leaving the Bush (Bristol) at -half-past six next morning." It was sharp work, as Russell's speech at -the banquet had to be transcribed by Dickens for the printers while -travelling by the mail-coach viâ Marlborough for London; this -necessitated for himself and Thomas Beard the relinquishment of sleep -and rest during two consecutive days and nights. It is fair to suppose -that on one of his early reporting expeditions to the West of England -Dickens put up for a night at the quaint little roadside inn near -Marlborough Downs, which he so carefully describes in the Bagman's Story -in "Pickwick." - -"It was a strange old place, built of a kind of shingle, inlaid, as it -were, with cross-beams, with gable-topped windows projecting over the -pathway, and a low door with a dark porch, and a couple of steep steps -leading down into the house, instead of the modern fashion of half a -dozen shallow ones leading up to it." Like Tom Smart, the hero of the -story, he doubtless slept in the selfsame apartment, with its "big -closets, and a bed which might have served for a whole boarding-school, -to say nothing of a couple of oaken presses that would have held the -baggage of a small army." Nay, he may even have experienced Tom Smart's -strange hallucination in regard to the ancient armchair, apparently -assuming in the uncertain light of the chamber fire the outlines of a -strangely-formed specimen of humanity, although probably he did not go -so far as to enter into conversation with this remarkable bedroom -companion, as did the Bagman, whose vivid imagination, aided by the -narcotic effects of his noggins of whisky, enabled him to impart a -spiciness to his narrative. From the detailed manner in which Dickens -portrays this old-fashioned alehouse, we are justified in conjecturing -that such a place really existed during the thirties, and attempts have -been made to identify it, for we need not take for granted the statement -in "Pickwick" that the place had been pulled down. From inquiries which -I instituted on the subject, a local correspondent informs me that the -Marquis of Ailesbury's Arms at Clatford somewhat answered to the -description prior to extensive structural alterations effected about -twenty years ago. - -Another investigator considers that the inn at Beckhampton, the -Catherine Wheel, fulfils most of the requirements. With this conclusion, -however, the Rev. W. H. Davies, of Avebury, is not disposed to agree, -and the late Rev. A. C. Smith, in his "British and Roman Antiquities," -tells us that the inn which formerly existed at Shepherd's Shord (or -Shore) was the one referred to by Dickens, and that at the time of the -publication of "Pickwick" everybody in Wiltshire so identified it. -Another suggestion is that the original of Tom Smart's house of call was -the Kennett Inn at Beckhampton, which, according to a drawing of the -place, answers the descriptions even better than those already -mentioned, although it stood upon the wrong side of the road. We ought, -I think, to accept the local opinion of Pickwickian days, and fix the -scene of the Bagman's adventure at Shepherd's Shore.[48] - -Remembering what little leisure he must have had in the midst of -political turmoil and journalistic responsibilities while at Bath, it is -indeed surprising to find how truthful a presentment of that delightful -city is achieved in "Pickwick." On the occasion in question he put up at -a small hotel, the Saracen's Head, a quaint-looking, unpretentious -building still existing in Broad Street, its two red-tiled gables and -stuccoed front facing that thoroughfare. The landlady relates that -Dickens, owing to the fact that all the bedrooms of the house were -occupied on his arrival at a late hour, had to be accommodated with a -room over some stables or outbuildings at the farther end of the inn -yard, overlooking Walcot Street.[49] Visitors are shown a curious -two-handled mug which the novelist is believed to have used, and the -bedroom once occupied by him, and containing the old four-post bedstead -upon which he slept; while in another room, low and raftered, is to be -seen the stiff wooden armchair in which he sat!--relics that are -deservedly cherished and handed down as heirlooms. - -Bath is frequently referred to in the novelist's writings, and, judging -by a particular allusion to the historic town, it seems not to have left -a very favourable impression on his mind, for he there mentions it as -"that grass-grown city of the ancients."[50] At a subsequent date he -remarked: "Landor's ghost goes along the silent streets here before -me.... The place looks to me like a cemetery which the dead have -succeeded in rising and taking. Having built streets of their old -gravestones, they wander about scantly trying to 'look alive.' A dead -failure."[51] He had a pleasant remembrance of Walter Savage Landor at -No. 35, St. James's Square, upon which a tablet was fixed in 1903 -recording the fact of a visit paid to him by the novelist on the -latter's birthday, February 7, 1840, on which occasion he was -accompanied by Mrs. Dickens, Maclise, and Forster, the party remaining -there until the end of the month. We are assured by his biographer that -it was during this visit to Bath "that the fancy which was shortly to -take the form of Little Nell first occurred to its author." The -girl-heroine of "The Old Curiosity Shop" was an immense favourite with -Landor, who in after-years emphatically declared that the one mistake of -his life was that he had not purchased the house in which the conception -of her dawned upon Dickens, and then and there burned it to the ground, -so that no meaner associations should desecrate it. - - [Illustration: MILE END COTTAGE, ALPHINGTON. (_Page 94._) - Taken by Dickens in 1839 for his parents' use. "The house is on the - high road to Plymouth, and the situation is charming" (letter to Mr. - Thomas Mitton).] - -Brief as his stay in Bath undoubtedly was in the capacity of reporter -for the _Morning Chronicle_ in 1835, he, nevertheless, made excellent -use of his abnormal powers of observation in spite of professional -activities, his retentive memory enabling him to reproduce in "The -Pickwick Papers" a few months afterwards those typical scenes in the -social life of Bath of that period, which has since undergone many -changes, Mr. Pickwick being almost the last to witness the peculiarities -of Bath society as described by the novel-writers of a century or so -ago. Dickens noticed, among other topographical features, the steepness -of Park Street, which (he said) "was very much like the perpendicular -streets a man sees in a dream, which he cannot get up for the life of -him." He remembered, too, that the White Hart Hotel (the proprietor of -which establishment was the Moses Pickwick who owned the very coach on -which Sam Weller saw inscribed "the magic name of Pickwick") stood -"opposite the great Pump Room, where the waiters, from their costume, -might be mistaken for Westminster boys, only they destroy the illusion -by behaving themselves so much better."[52] The White Hart flourished in -Stall Street, and until 1864 (when the house was given up) the waiters -wore knee-breeches and silk stockings, and the women servants donned -neat muslin caps. The old coaching inn, alas! no longer exists, and its -site is indicated by the Grand Pump Room Hotel, the original carved sign -of a white hart being preserved and still used over the door of an inn -of the same name in Widcombe, a suburb of Bath. - -The pen-pictures of scenes at the Assembly Rooms and Pump Rooms are -admirably rendered in the pages of "Pickwick," and we feel convinced -that the author must have witnessed them. - -"Bath being full, the company and the sixpences for tea poured in in -shoals. In the ball-room, the long card-room, the octagonal card-room, -the staircases, and the passages, the hum of many voices and the sound -of many feet were perfectly bewildering. Dresses rustled, feathers -waved, lights shone, and jewels sparkled. There was the music--not of -the quadrille band, for it had not yet commenced, but the music of soft, -tiny footsteps, with now and then a clear, merry laugh, low and gentle, -but very pleasant to hear in a female voice, whether in Bath or -elsewhere. Brilliant eyes, lighted up with pleasurable expectations, -gleamed from every side; and look where you would, some exquisite form -glided gracefully through the throng, and was no sooner lost than it was -replaced by another as dainty and bewitching. - -"In the tea-room, and hovering round the card-tables, were a vast number -of queer old ladies and decrepit old gentlemen, discussing all the -small-talk and scandal of the day, with a relish and gusto which -sufficiently bespoke the intensity of the pleasure they derived from the -occupation. Mingled with these groups were three or four matchmaking -mammas, appearing to be wholly absorbed by the conversation in which -they were taking part, but failing not from time to time to cast an -anxious sidelong glance upon their daughters, who, remembering the -maternal injunction to make the best of their youth, had already -commenced incipient flirtations in the mislaying of scarves, putting on -gloves, setting down cups, and so forth--slight matters apparently, but -which may be turned to surprisingly good account by expert -practitioners. - -"Lounging near the doors, and in remote corners, were various knots of -silly young men, displaying various varieties of puppyism and stupidity, -amusing all sensible people near them with their folly and conceit, and -happily thinking themselves the objects of general admiration--a wise -and merciful dispensation which no good man will quarrel with. - -"And, lastly, seated on some of the back benches, where they had already -taken up their positions for the evening, were divers unmarried ladies -past their grand climacteric, who, not dancing because there were no -partners for them, and not playing cards lest they should be set down as -irretrievably single, were in the favourable situation of being able to -abuse everybody without reflecting on themselves. In short, they could -abuse everybody, because everybody was there. It was a scene of gaiety, -glitter, and show, of richly-dressed people, handsome mirrors, chalked -floors, girandoles, and wax-candles; and in all parts of the scene, -gliding from spot to spot in silent softness, bowing obsequiously to -this party, nodding familiarly to that, and smiling complacently on all, -was the sprucely-attired person of Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esquire, Master -of the Ceremonies" (chap. xxxv.). - -"The great pump-room is a spacious saloon, ornamented with Corinthian -pillars, and a music gallery, and a Tompion clock, and a statue of Nash, -and a golden inscription, to which all the water-drinkers should attend, -for it appeals to them in the cause of a deserving charity. There is a -large bar with a marble vase, out of which the pumper gets the water; -and there are a number of yellow-looking tumblers, out of which the -company gets it; and it is a most edifying and satisfactory sight to -behold the perseverance and gravity with which they swallow it. There -are baths near at hand, in which a part of the company wash themselves; -and a band plays afterwards to congratulate the remainder on their -having done so. There is another pump-room, into which infirm ladies and -gentlemen are wheeled, in such an astonishing variety of chairs and -chaises that any adventurous individual who goes in with the regular -number of toes is in imminent danger of coming out without them; and -there is a third, into which the quiet people go, for it is less noisy -than either. There is an immensity of promenading, on crutches and off, -with sticks and without, and a great deal of conversation, and -liveliness, and pleasantry.... At the afternoon's promenade ... all the -great people, and all the morning water-drinkers, meet in grand -assemblage. After this, they walked out or drove out, or were pushed out -in bath-chairs, and met one another again. After this, the gentlemen -went to the reading-rooms and met divisions of the mass. After this, -they went home. If it were theatre night, perhaps they met at the -theatre; if it were assembly night, they met at the rooms; and if it -were neither, they met the next day. A very pleasant routine, with -perhaps a slight tinge of sameness" (chap. xxxvi.). - -The citizens of Bath are naturally proud of its Pickwickian -associations; Mr. Pickwick's lodging in the Royal Crescent is pointed -out, as well as the actual spot in the Assembly Rooms where he played -whist, while the veritable rout seats of that time are preserved and -cherished. The Royal Hotel, whence Mr. Winkle hurriedly departed by -coach for Bristol, has shared the fate of the White Hart; indeed, Mr. -Snowden Ward avers that there was no Royal Hotel in Bath in Dickens's -time, and that he probably refers to the York House Hotel, frequently -patronized by royalty, and once at least by the novelist himself. We may -still look, however, upon the "small greengrocer's shop" where Bath -footmen used to hold their social evenings, and memorable as the scene -of the "leg-o'-mutton swarry." It is now the Beaufort Arms, in a narrow -street out of Queen's Square, Bath, and within a short distance of No. -12 in the Square, the residence of Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esq., Master of -the Ceremonies, who welcomed Mr. Pickwick to Ba-ath. - -In the course of an interesting speech delivered in 1865 at the second -annual dinner of the Newspaper Press Fund, Dickens made an interesting -allusion to the Devonshire political contest of thirty years previously, -and to the part he took in it as a _Chronicle_ reporter. "The very last -time I was at Exeter," he said, "I strolled into the Castle yard, there -to identify, for the amusement of a friend, the spot on which I once -'took,' as we used to call it, an election speech of Lord John Russell -... in the midst of a lively fight maintained by all the vagabonds in -that division of the county, and under such a pelting rain that I -remember two good-natured colleagues, who chanced to be at leisure, held -a pocket-handkerchief over my note-book, after the manner of a state -canopy in an ecclesiastical procession." In 1839 a mission of a very -different character caused him to journey to "the capital of the West" -(as that city has been denominated), his object being to arrange a new -home for his parents in that locality. Making his headquarters at the -New London Inn (where he had Charles Kean's sitting-room), he soon -discovered a suitable residence about a mile south from the city -boundary on the highroad to Plymouth, Mile End Cottage, which is really -divided into two portions, one-half being then occupied by the landlady, -and the other being available for the new tenants. Dickens, when writing -to Forster, described the place as "two white cottages," and respecting -the accommodation here provided for his parents, he said: "I almost -forget the number of rooms, but there is an excellent parlour, which I -am furnishing as a drawing-room, and there is a splendid garden." In a -letter to his friend Thomas Mitton he dilates more fully upon the -attractions of the cottage and its environment. "I do assure you," he -observed, "that I am charmed with the place and the beauty of the -country round about, though I have not seen it under very favourable -circumstances.... It is really delightful, and when the house is to -rights and the furniture all in, I shall be quite sorry to leave it.... -The situation is charming; meadows in front, an orchard running parallel -to the garden hedge, richly-wooded hills closing in the prospect behind, -and, away to the left, before a splendid view of the hill on which -Exeter is situated, the cathedral towers rising up into the sky in the -most picturesque manner possible. I don't think I ever saw so cheerful -and pleasant a spot...."[53] It will be remembered that "Nicholas -Nickleby" opens with a reference to "a sequestered part of the county of -Devonshire" (_sic_), where lived one Mr. Godfrey Nickleby, the -grandfather of the hero of the story; and there is no doubt that the -home of Mrs. Nickleby's friends, the Dibabses, as pictured by that lady -in the fifty-fifth chapter, was identical with the tenement in which Mr. -and Mrs. John Dickens found a temporary lodgment--"the beautiful little -thatched white house one story high, covered all over with ivy and -creeping plants, with an exquisite little porch with twining -honeysuckle, and all sorts of things." - -Charles Dickens's return to England at the end of his triumphant -progress through the United States in 1842 was the occasion for a -special celebration, which assumed the form of a holiday trip in -Cornwall with his cherished friends Stanfield, Maclise, and Forster. -They chose Cornwall for the excursion because it transpired that this -"desolate region," as Dickens termed it, was unfamiliar to them, and -would therefore enhance their enjoyment. The decision to make Cornwall -their destination suggested to Dickens the idea of opening his new book, -"Martin Chuzzlewit," on that rugged coast, "in some terrible dreary, -iron-bound spot," and to select the lantern of a lighthouse (probably -the Longship's, off Land's End) as the opening scene; but he changed his -mind. This expedition in the late summer lasted nearly three weeks, it -proving a source of such unexpected and unabated attraction that the -merry party felt loath to return to town. Railways were not of much use -to them, as they did not penetrate to the remote districts which the -travellers desired to visit. Post-horses were therefore requisitioned, -and when the roads proved inaccessible to these, pedestrianism was -perforce resorted to. They visited Tintagel, and explored every part of -mountain and sea "consecrated by the legends of Arthur." They ascended -to the cradle of the highest pinnacle of Mount St. Michael,[54] and -descended in several mines; but above all the marvels of land and sea, -that which yielded the most lasting impression was a sunset at Land's -End, concerning which Forster says: "There was something in the sinking -of the sun behind the Atlantic that autumn afternoon, as we viewed it -together from the top of the rock projecting farthest into the sea, -which each in his turn declared to have no parallel in memory." The -famous Logan Stone, too, was not forgotten. Writing subsequently to -Forster, the novelist said: "Don't I still see the Logan Stone, and you -perched on the giddy top, while we, rocking it on its pivot, shrank from -all that lay concealed below!" For Forster possessed the necessary -courage and agility (lacking in the rest) to mount the huge swaying -stone, the feat being immortalized by Stanfield in a sketch bequeathed -to the Victoria and Albert Museum.[55] Lastly, the waterfall at St. -Wighton was visited, memorable for the fact that a painting of it (from -a sketch made on this occasion) appears as the background to Maclise's -picture of "A Girl at a Waterfall," the figure being depicted from a -sister-in-law of Dickens. The novelist, while the glow of enjoyment was -yet upon him, could not resist dilating upon the exhilarating effect -induced by this glorious holiday in the midst of natural scenery, then -witnessed by the joyous quartette for the first time; and the following -letter, addressed to his American friend, Professor Felton, fittingly -concludes these references to the event which he ever recalled with -delight: "Blessed star of the morning, such a trip as we had into -Cornwall, just after Longfellow went away!... We went down into -Devonshire by the railroad, and there we hired an open carriage from an -innkeeper, patriotic in all Pickwick matters, and went on with -post-horses. Sometimes we travelled all night, sometimes all day, -sometimes both. I kept the joint-stock purse, ordered all the dinners, -paid all the turnpikes, conducted facetious conversations with the -post-boys, and regulated the pace at which we travelled. Stanfield (an -old sailor) consulted an enormous map on all disputed points of -wayfaring, and referred, moreover, to a pocket-compass and other -scientific instruments. The luggage was in Forster's department, and -Maclise, having nothing particular to do, sang songs. Heavens! if you -could have seen the necks of bottles--distracting in their immense -varieties of shape--peering out of the carriage pockets! If you could -have witnessed the deep devotion of the post-boys, the wild attachment -of the hostlers, the maniac glee of the waiters! If you could have -followed us into the earthy old churches we visited, and into the -strange caverns on the gloomy seashore, and down into the depths of -mines, and up to the tops of giddy heights, where the unspeakably green -water was roaring I don't know how many hundred feet below! If you could -have seen but one gleam of the bright fires by which we sat in the big -rooms of ancient inns at night until long after the small hours had come -and gone, or smelt but one steam of the hot punch,... which came in -every evening in a huge, broad, china bowl! I never laughed in my life -as I did on this journey. It would have done you good to hear me. I was -choking and gasping and bursting the buckle off the back of my stock all -the way, and Stanfield ... got into such apoplectic entanglements that -we were often obliged to beat him on the back with portmanteaus before -we could recover him. Seriously, I do believe that there never was such -a trip. And they made such sketches, those two men, in the most romantic -of our halting-places, that you could have sworn we had the Spirit of -Beauty with us, as well as the Spirit of Fun...."[56] - - [Illustration: THE GEORGE INN, AMESBURY. (_Page 100._) - "The Blue Dragon" of "Martin Chuzzlewit."] - -Dickens, as already intimated, originally conceived the idea of opening -the tale of "Martin Chuzzlewit" on the coast of Cornwall. Instead of -this, however, we find, in the initial chapter of that story, that the -scene is laid in a village near Salisbury. That he had previously made -himself acquainted with Wiltshire is indicated in his correspondence -with Forster in 1842, where he declared (for instance) that in beholding -an American prairie for the first time he felt no such emotions as he -experienced when crossing Salisbury Plain. "I would say to every man who -can't see a prairie," he remarked, "go to Salisbury Plain, Marlborough -Downs, or any of the broad, high, open lands near the sea. Many of them -are fully as impressive, and Salisbury Plain is _decidedly_ more so." - -Six years later he and Forster, with John Leech and Mark Lemon, procured -horses at Salisbury, and "passed the whole of a March day in riding over -every part of the plain, visiting Stonehenge, and exploring Hazlitt's -hut at Winterslow, the birthplace of some of his finest essays."[57] - -There are persons still living in the neighbourhood of Salisbury who -remember Dickens's quest for local colour with which to give a semblance -of reality to his topographical descriptions in "Chuzzlewit." "The fair -old town of Salisbury" figures prominently in that story, and we must -believe that his allusion (in the fifth chapter) to the grand cathedral -derived inspiration from personal observation: "The yellow light that -streamed in through the ancient windows in the choir was mingled with a -murky red. As the grand tones (of the organ) resounded through the -church, they seemed to Tom to find an echo in the depth of every ancient -tomb, no less than in the deep mystery of his own heart." He makes a -curious mistake in the twelfth chapter when speaking of the "towers" of -the old cathedral; but, of course, he knew perfectly well that the -venerable fane is surmounted by a beautifully tapering spire, -immortalized in one of Constable's most remarkable pictures. The scene -in Salisbury Market, so vividly portrayed in chapter v., could not have -been penned except by an acute observer like Dickens; nothing escaped -him, and he noted all the details of that busy scene, and stored them in -his retentive memory in readiness for the pen-picture which he -afterwards delineated so faithfully and so picturesquely. - -The "little Wiltshire village," described as being within an easy -journey of Salisbury, has not been absolutely identified. Certain -commentators opine that Amesbury is intended, while others consider it -more probable that the novelist had in his mind the village of -Alderbury, and that its principal inn, the Green Dragon, was the -original of Mrs. Lupin's establishment, concerning which that -unprincipled adventurer, Montague Tigg, spoke with undisguised -disparagement and contempt. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND. - - -Portsmouth is justly proud of the fact that it is the native place of -certain distinguished men--to wit, Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Besant, -and Brunel the great engineer. - -In 1838, when engaged upon "Nicholas Nickleby," Dickens renewed -acquaintance with the town, of which it is fair to suppose he could -remember but little, seeing that he was only about two years of age when -his father was recalled to London, taking with him wife and family. He, -however, astonished Forster (who accompanied him thither) by readily -recalling memories of his childhood there, and distinctly remembering -such details as the exact shape of the military parade. - -Dickens's particular object in then journeying to Portsmouth (not on -foot, as did Nicholas and Smike) was doubtless for the express purpose -of obtaining local colour for "Nickleby," as presented in chapters -xxiii. and xxiv. He succeeded in finding suitable lodging for Vincent -Crummles at Bulph the pilot's in St. Thomas's Street (conjectured to be -No. 78), for Miss Snevellicci at a tailor's in Lombard Street, while -Nickleby and his companion were quartered at a tobacconist's on the -Common Hard, which he describes as "a dirty street leading down to the -dockyard." The old Portsmouth Theatre, the scene of Nicholas's early -triumphs on the stage, plays a prominent part in the tale. This -primitive building, which stood in the High Street, was destroyed many -years ago; it occupied the site of the Cambridge Barracks; the present -house is styled "The New Theatre Royal." The story is current in -Portsmouth that Dickens, on the occasion just referred to, called upon -the manager at the old theatre and actually asked for a small part. -Whether this tradition be true or false, we are justified in assuming -that he and Forster went behind the scenes and chatted with the players, -the result being the portrayal of those inimitable descriptions which -treat of the company of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and of the "great bespeak" -for Miss Snevellicci. Apropos of the theatre itself, as it appeared to -the hero of the story, we read: "It was not very light, but Nicholas -found himself close to the first entrance on the prompter's side, among -bare walls, dusty scenes, mildewed clouds, heavily daubed draperies, and -dirty floors. He looked about him; ceiling, pit, boxes, gallery, -orchestra, fittings, and decorations of every kind--all looked coarse, -cold, gloomy, and wretched. 'Is this a theatre?' whispered Smike in -amazement. 'I thought it was a blaze of light and finery.' 'Why, so it -is,' replied Nicholas, hardly less surprised; 'but not by day, -Smike--not by day!'" Matters theatrical have improved vastly since then, -and provincial theatres now vie with those in the Metropolis in regard -to the comfort and magnificence of their appointments. - -Plymouth, in a much less degree, is also associated with Dickens. There -are slight references to the town in "David Copperfield" and "Bleak -House." He visited Plymouth in 1858 and in 1861, staying at the West Hoe -Hotel on the first occasion, when he gave public readings in a handsome -room at Stonehouse, "on the top of a windy and muddy hill, leading -(literally) to nowhere; and it looks (except that it is new and -_mortary_) as if the subsidence of the waters after the Deluge might -have left it where it is."[58] In 1861 we find Plymouth again included -in the itinerary of an Autumn Reading tour. Dickens's connection with -Brighton was of a more intimate character, his acquaintance with "the -Queen of watering-places" beginning as early as 1837, when he resumed -the writing of "Oliver Twist." "We have a beautiful bay-windowed -sitting-room here, fronting the sea," he informed Forster; "but I have -seen nothing of B.'s brother who was to have shown me the lions, and my -notions of the place are consequently somewhat confined, being limited -to the pavilion, the chain pier, and the sea. The last is quite enough -for me...." During his stay he attended a performance at the theatre of -a comedy entitled "No Thoroughfare," this being, curiously enough, the -exact title of the only story he ever took part himself in dramatizing -three years before his death. In 1841 he again journeyed by coach, the -Brighton Era, to Brighton, and busied himself there with "Barnaby -Rudge," making his temporary home at the Old Ship Hotel at No. 38, -King's Road--not the more modern establishment of that name in Ship -Street.[59] In May, 1847, Dickens lodged for some weeks at No. 148, -King's Road, for the recovery of his wife's health after the birth of a -son, christened Sydney Smith Haldemand. He went there first with Mrs. -Dickens and her sister and the eldest boy (the latter just recovered -from an attack of scarlet fever), and was joined at the latter part of -the time by his two little daughters. In the spring of 1850 he was again -at the King's Road lodgings, his thoughts being then concentrated upon -the new weekly journal, _Household Words_, the first number of which -appeared in March of that year. - - [Illustration: AMESBURY CHURCH. (_Page 100._) - Where Tom Pinch played the organ for nothing, and Mr. Pecksniff - heard himself denounced.] - -In March, 1848, Dickens and his wife, accompanied by Mrs. Macready, -spent three weeks in Brighton at Junction House, where they were "very -comfortably (not to say gorgeously) accommodated"; and for a short time -during the spring of 1853, when engaged upon "Bleak House," he rented -rooms at No. 1, Junction Parade. Of all his Brighton residences, -however, that which justly claims priority is the celebrated Bedford -Hotel, whence (in November, 1848) we find letters addressed to his -friends Frank Stone, A.R.A. (who was then designing illustrations for -"The Haunted Man") and Mark Lemon. To the artist he said: "The Duke of -Cambridge is staying at this house, and they are driving me mad by -having Life Guards bands under our windows playing _our_ overtures -(_i.e._, the overtures in connection with the amateur performances by -Dickens and his friends)!... I don't in the abstract approve of -Brighton. I couldn't pass an autumn here, but it is a gay place for a -week or so; and when one laughs or cries, and suffers the agitation that -some men experience over their books, it's a bright change to look out -of window, and see the gilt little toys on horseback going up and down -before the mighty sea, and thinking nothing of it."[60] In February, -1849, Dickens spent another holiday at Brighton, accompanied by his wife -and sister-in-law and two daughters, and they were joined by the genial -artist John Leech and his wife. They had not been in their lodgings a -week when both his landlord and his landlord's daughter went raving mad, -this untoward circumstance compelling the lodgers to seek quarters -elsewhere--at the Bedford Hotel. "If," wrote Dickens, when relating the -adventure to Forster, "you could have heard the cursing and crying of -the two; could have seen the physician and nurse quoited out into the -passage by the madman at the hazard of their lives; could have seen -Leech and me flying to the doctor's rescue; could have seen our wives -pulling us back; could have seen the M.D. faint with fear; could have -seen three other M.D.'s come to his aid; with an atmosphere of Mrs. -Gamps, strait-waistcoats, struggling friends and servants, surrounding -the whole, you would have said it was quite worthy of me, and quite in -keeping with my usual proceedings." The Reading tour in 1861 again took -him to Brighton and the Bedford, and one of his audiences included the -Duchess of Cambridge and a Princess. "I think they were pleased with me, -and I am sure I was with them." - -Apart from these personal associations, Brighton derives particular -interest from the fact that it figures largely in "Dombey and Son." It -was at the Bedford where Mr. Dombey stayed during his weekend visits to -Brighton for the purpose of seeing his children, and where Major -Bagstock enjoyed the privilege of dining with that purse-proud City -merchant. It was to Brighton that Little Paul was sent to school, first -as a pupil of the austere and vinegary Mrs. Pipchin. "The castle of this -ogress and child-queller was in a steep by-street at Brighton, where the -soil was more than usually chalky, flinty, and sterile, and the houses -were more than usually brittle and thin; where the small front-gardens -had an unaccountable property of producing nothing but marigolds, -whatever was sown in them; and where snails were constantly discovered -holding on to the street doors, and other public places they were not -expected to ornament, with the tenacity of cupping-glasses." Here also -was the superior and "very expensive" establishment of Dr. Blimber--"a -great hot-house, in which there was a forcing apparatus incessantly at -work," where, we are told, "mental green peas were produced at -Christmas, and intellectual asparagus all the year round. Mathematical -gooseberries (very sour ones, too) were common at untimely seasons, and -from mere sprouts of bushes, under Dr. Blimber's cultivation. Every -description of Greek and Latin vegetable was got off the driest twigs of -boys under the frostiest circumstances." We learn on excellent authority -that Dr. Blimber and his school really existed at Brighton, the -prototype of the worthy pedagogue being Dr. Everard, whose celebrated -seminary was familiarly called the "Young House of Lords," from the -aristocracy of the pupils. It seems that during the Christmas holidays -it became customary with Dr. Everard to organize dances for the boys -(such as that so delightfully described in the fourteenth chapter of -"Dombey and Son"). In those days, curly locks were considered an -indispensable accessory to full dress, and the whole of the afternoon -preceding the ball Dr. Everard's house was pervaded by a strong smell of -singed hair and curling-tongs.[61] "There was such ... a smell of singed -hair that Dr. Blimber sent up the footman with his compliments, and -wished to know if the house was on fire." - -In the summer and autumn of 1849 Dickens went with his family, for the -first time, to Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, where he hired for six months -the attractive villa, Winterbourne, belonging to the Rev. James White -(an author of some repute and a keen lover of books), with whom his -intimacy, already begun, now ripened into a lifelong friendship. The -novelist had in June of that year passed a brief period at Shanklin, -whence he wrote to his wife: "I have taken a most delightful and -beautiful house, belonging to White, at Bonchurch--cool, airy, private -bathing; everything delicious. I think it is the prettiest place I ever -saw in my life at home or abroad.... A waterfall in the grounds, which I -have arranged with a carpenter to convert into a perpetual -shower-bath."[62] - -He liked the place exceedingly at first, and considered that the views -from the summit of the highest downs "are only to be equalled on the -Genoese shore of the Mediterranean." The variety of walks in the -neighbourhood struck him as extraordinary; the people were civil, and -everything was cheap, while he fully appreciated the fact that the place -was certainly cold rather than hot in the summertime, and the -sea-bathing proved "delicious." Here at Bonchurch he was joined by John -Leech, and soon settled down to work, being then engaged upon the early -portion of "David Copperfield," varying his literary occupations by -taking part, with his customary zest, in dinners at Blackgang and -picnics of "tremendous success" on Shanklin Down. One of these -festivities he particularly remembered, when he expressly stipulated -that the party should be provided with materials for a fire and a great -iron pot to boil potatoes in, these, with the comestibles, being -conveyed to the ground in a cart. Doubtless this was the veritable -function described by the late Mrs. Phoebe Lankester ("Penelope"). Her -husband, Dr. Lankester (to whom Dickens referred as "a very good, merry -fellow"), and other distinguished men of science then staying at -Sandown, belonged to a select and notable club founded originally by the -younger members of the British Association, and called the "Red Lions." -The Bonchurch party, headed by Dickens, constituted themselves into a -temporary rival club, called the "Sea Serpents," and picnics were -arranged between the two factions, the meetings usually taking place at -Cook's Castle. "Well do I recollect," observes Mrs. Lankester, "the -jolly procession from Sandown as it moved across the Downs, young and -old carrying aloft a banner bearing the device of a noble red lion -painted in vermilion on a white ground. Wending up the hill from the -Bonchurch side might be seen the 'Sea Serpents,' with their ensign -floating in the wind--a waving, curling serpent, cut out of yards and -yards of calico, and painted of a bronzy-green colour with fiery red -eyes, its tail being supported at the end by a second banner-holder. -Carts brought up the provisions on either side, and at the top the -factions met to prepare and consume the banquet on the short, sweet -grass under shadow of a rock or a tree. Charles Dickens delighted in the -fun. He usually boiled the potatoes when the fire had been lighted by -the youngsters, and handed them round in a saucepan, and John Leech used -to make sketches of us, one of which is still to be seen in the -collection from _Punch_, and is called 'Awful Appearance of a "Wopps" at -a Picnic.'[63] I was very young then, and did not fully realize what it -was to eat potatoes boiled by Charles Dickens, or to make a figure in a -sketch by Leech." On one of these jovial occasions a race was run, after -the repast, between Mark Lemon and Dr. Lankester, both competitors of -abnormal stoutness, Macready officiating as judge, after which the merry -party adjourned to Dickens's villa for tea and music. - -His stay at Bonchurch was enlivened, too, by visits from such cherished -friends as Justice Talfourd, Frank Stone, and Augustus Egg, social -intercourse with whom formed agreeable interludes between severe spells -of literary work. Unhappily, the enervating effect of the climate -presently began to prostrate him, and after a few weeks' residence he -complained of insomnia, extreme mental depression, and a "dull, stupid -languor." Commenting upon his physical condition, he remarked: "It's a -mortal mistake--that's the plain fact. Of all the places I ever have -been in, I have never been in one so difficult to exist in pleasantly. -Naples is hot and dirty, New York feverish, Washington bilious, Genoa -exciting, Paris rainy; but Bonchurch--smashing. I am quite convinced -that I should die here in a year." His wife, sister-in-law, and the -Leeches were also affected, but not to the same extent, and, finding it -impossible to endure much longer the distressing symptoms, he determined -to leave Bonchurch at the end of September and "go down to some cold -place," such as Ramsgate, for a week or two, hoping thus to shake off -the effects. In the interval he completed the fifth number of -"Copperfield," after which, during the remainder of the holiday, he and -his party (by way of relaxation) indulged in such amusements as "great -games of rounders every afternoon, with all Bonchurch looking on." These -revels were disagreeably interrupted by a serious accident to John -Leech, who, while bathing in a rough sea, was knocked over by an immense -wave, which resulted in congestion of the brain, and necessitated, -first, the placing of "twenty of his namesakes on his temple," and then, -as the illness developed, the continuous application of ice to the head, -with blood-letting from the arm. The unfortunate artist becoming -gradually worse, Dickens essayed the effect of mesmerism, in the virtue -of which he apparently had faith, and succeeded in obtaining a period of -much-needed sleep for the relief of the invalid, whose condition -thenceforth improved until complete restoration of his customary health -became assured, enabling him for many subsequent years to delight the -world with his inimitable pencil. As already intimated, Dickens remained -in the Island until the expiration of the time originally planned for -this seaside holiday; but although he brought away many happy -associations, he never renewed acquaintance with Bonchurch. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - IN EAST ANGLIA. - - -Dickens must have become first acquainted with Eastern England during -his reporting days, as many of the scenes in "Pickwick" are laid in the -chief town of Suffolk. The merging, in 1899, of the _Suffolk Chronicle_ -into the _Suffolk Times and Mercury_ revived an incident in Dickens's -career as a reporter, in stating that it was the _Suffolk Chronicle_ -which, in 1835, brought him down to Ipswich for the purpose of assisting -in reporting the speeches in connection with the Parliamentary election -at that time being contested in the county. We are further assured by -the same authority that "Boz" (then actually engaged upon the opening -chapters of "Pickwick") stayed at the Great White Horse in Tavern Street -for two or three weeks, and it has been reasonably surmised that the -night adventure with "the middle-aged lady in the yellow curl-papers," -ascribed to Mr. Pickwick, was a veritable experience of the young author -himself. It is said that, in consequence of this embarrassing mischance, -Dickens entertained a feeling of prejudice against the house, and never -liked the place afterwards. If this be correct, it accounts for the -somewhat disparaging remarks in "Pickwick" concerning the hotel: "Never -were such labyrinths of uncarpeted passages, such clusters of mouldy, -badly-lighted rooms, such huge numbers of small dens for eating or -sleeping in, beneath any one roof, as are collected together between the -four walls of the Great White Horse at Ipswich." Nevertheless, the -famous hostelry still flourishes, and makes the most of its Pickwickian -associations, even to the extent of revealing to visitors the identical -bedroom (No. 16), where the adventure occurred. Over the principal hotel -entrance we may yet see the stone presentment of a "rampacious" white -horse, "distantly resembling an insane cart-horse"; but the building -generally has since been altered in the direction of certain -improvements necessitated by the requirements of present-day -travellers.[64] - - [Illustration: THE COMMON HARD, PORTSMOUTH. (_Page 102._) - Nickleby and Snipe lodged "at a tobacconist's shop on the Common - Hard," now known as "The Old Curiosity Shop."] - -We can readily conceive that the description of the coach journey to -Ipswich, starting from the Bull Inn, Whitechapel, and rattling along the -Whitechapel and Mile End Roads, "to the admiration of the whole -population of that pretty densely-populated quarter," and so to -Suffolk's county town (as duly set forth in the twenty-second chapter of -"Pickwick"), is a personal reminiscence of Dickens himself when -fulfilling his engagement with the _Suffolk Chronicle_. - -While busy with newspaper responsibilities, to which he had pledged -himself, he evidently made the best use of the opportunities thus -afforded of noting certain topographical details of the town, finding -"in a kind of courtyard of venerable appearance," near St. Clement's -Church, a suitable locale for the incident of the unexpected meeting of -Sam Weller and Job Trotter; the "green gate," which Job was seen to open -and close after him, is locally believed to be one that adjoins the -churchyard a few yards from Church Street, the inhabitants taking great -pride in pointing it out as the precise spot where Alfred Jingle's -body-servant embraced Sam "in an ecstasy of joy." In regard to these -scenes Ipswich is mentioned by name, but it has been conjectured that -the town also figures in "Pickwick" under the successful disguise of -"Eatanswill," although Norwich has been mentioned in this connection. -Certainly the weight of such evidence as that proffered by the _Suffolk -Times and Mercury_ favours the belief that Ipswich stood for the -unflattering portrait, and, but for the facts as averred by that -journal, we should possibly never have had Mr. Pickwick's nocturnal -misadventure, nor heard of the rival editors of the _Eatanswill Gazette_ -and the _Eatanswill Independent_. - -Dickens's reporting expedition in Suffolk during the electoral campaign -of 1835 doubtless compelled him to include in his itinerary several of -the leading towns in the county, where political meetings would -naturally be held, and among them Bury St. Edmunds, where, according to -tradition, he put up at the Angel Inn, his room being No. 11. In -describing this hostelry, Mr. Percy Fitzgerald says that it is "a -solemn, rather imposing, and stately building, of a gloomy slate colour, -and of the nature of a family hotel.... It has yards and stabling behind -it, which must have flourished in the old posting times." Standing in -Market Square, it continues to this day to be the principal hotel in the -place, and remains in much the same condition as when the novelist knew -it about seventy years ago. Bury St. Edmunds, like Ipswich, has won -immortality in the pages of "Pickwick," where it is referred to as "a -handsome little town of thriving and cleanly appearance," its well-paved -streets being specially commended. In one of "The Uncommercial -Traveller" papers he calls it "a bright little town." - -We are told that the coach, with Mr. Pickwick among the passengers newly -arrived from Eatanswill, pulled up at the "large inn, situated in a -wide, open street, nearly facing the old abbey." "And this," said Mr. -Pickwick, "is the Angel. We alight here, Sam...;" whereupon a private -room was ordered, and then dinner, everything being arranged with -caution, for it will be remembered that Mr. Pickwick and his faithful -attendant were in quest of that thorough-paced adventurer Alfred Jingle, -Esq., "of No Hall, Nowhere," intent upon frustrating probable intentions -on his part of practising further deceptions. Here, at Bury, the -"Mulberry man" (otherwise Job Trotter) was found by Sam in the pious act -of reading a hymn-book, a discovery which proved to be the initial stage -of Mr. Pickwick's adventure at the boarding-school for young -ladies--Westgate House--which, we are told, is a well-known residence -called Southgate House, although there are other antique-looking schools -for girls on the Westgate side of the town that seem more or less to -answer the description. - -More than two decades later--_i.e._, in 1861--Dickens again visited both -Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds, when he gave readings from his works, -beginning the series at Norwich, where, writing from the -recently-demolished Royal Hotel in the Market Place, he spoke of his -audience in that city as "a very lumpish audience indeed ... an intent -and staring audience. They laughed, though, very well, and the storm -made them shake themselves again. But they were not magnetic, and the -great big place (St. Andrew's Hall) was out of sorts somehow."[65] - -On the last day of the year 1848, Dickens contemplated an excursion with -Leech, Lemon, and Forster to some old cathedral city then unfamiliar to -him, believing the sight of "pastures new" would afford him the -necessary mental refreshment. "What do you say to Norwich and Stanfield -Hall?" he queried of Forster, and it was decided forthwith that the -three friends should depart thence. Stanfield Hall had just gained -unenviable notoriety as the scene of a dreadful tragedy--the murder of -Jeremy, the Recorder of Norwich, by Rush, afterwards executed at Norwich -Castle. They arrived between the Hall and Potass Farm as the search was -going on for the pistol, and the novelist was fain to confess that the -place had nothing attractive about it, unless such a definition might be -applied to a "murderous look that seemed to invite such a crime." - -Quaint old Norwich, as it has been justly termed (although its -quaintness and picturesqueness have suffered woefully in recent years -through commercial innovations), did not appeal to Dickens, who declared -it to be "a disappointment"--everything there save the ancient castle, -"which we found fit for a gigantic scoundrel's exit," alluding, of -course, to Rush. The castle no longer serves as the county prison, and -its gruesome associations are practically obliterated by the wholesome -use to which the massive Norman structure is devoted, that of museum and -art gallery under civic control. - -Without doubt Dickens's principal motive in journeying to Norfolk and -Suffolk in 1848 was to obtain "local colour" for "David Copperfield," -the writing of which he was then meditating. He stayed for a time at -Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft, as the guest of Sir Morton Peto, the -well-known civil engineer and railway contractor, under whose guidance -he first made acquaintance with that portion of Suffolk, studying it -carefully, and afterwards portraying it in the story with characteristic -exactitude. Two miles from Somerleyton Hall (now the residence of Sir -Saville Crossley, M.P.) is Blundeston, a typical English village, which, -thinly disguised as Blunderstone, appears in the book as the birthplace -of David. The novelist afterwards confessed that he noticed the name on -a direction-post between Lowestoft and Yarmouth, and at once adapted it -because he liked the sound of the word; the actual direction-post still -standing as he saw it. - -There is a little uncertainty respecting the identity of the "Rookery" -where David first saw the light, the Rectory being regarded by some -careful students of the topography of "Copperfield" as the possible -original, whence can be obtained a fairly distinct view of the church -porch and the gravestones in the churchyard. Local tradition, however, -favours Blundeston Hall, the present tenant-owner of which (Mr. T. -Hardwich Woods) remembers that when very young he was taken by the old -housekeeper down the "long passage ... leading from Peggotty's kitchen -to the front entrance," and shown the "dark storeroom" opening out of -it. While staying in the neighbourhood Dickens visited Blundeston Hall, -which presented a weird and gloomy appearance before its recent -restoration, and the fact is recalled that for a brief space he -contemplated the prospect from one of the side windows facing the -church, then plainly visible from this point, but the view is now -obstructed by trees. - -"In no other residence hereabouts," observes Mr. Woods, "do rooms and -passages coincide so exactly with the descriptions given in the novel." -In the garden we may still behold the "tall old elm-trees" in which -there were formerly some rooks' nests, but no rooks. ("David Copperfield -all over!" cried Miss Betsey. "David Copperfield from head to foot! -Calls a house a rookery when there's not a rook near it, and takes the -birds on trust because he sees the nests!") - -The roadside tavern referred to in the fourth chapter as "our little -village alehouse" may be recognised in the Plough at Blundeston, to the -recently-stuccoed front of which are affixed the initials "R. E. B." and -the date "1701" in wrought-iron. - -Blundeston Church, like many others in East Anglia, has a round tower -(probably Norman), but no spire, as mentioned in the story; the -high-backed pews and quaint pulpit have since been replaced by others of -modern workmanship, but happily the ancient rood-screen with its painted -panels has survived such sacrilegious treatment. The porch, with a -sun-dial above the entrance, is still intact. "There is nothing," says -little David, "half so green that I know anywhere as the grass of that -churchyard; nothing half so shady as its trees; nothing half so quiet as -its tombstones. The sheep are feeding there when I kneel up, early in -the morning, in my little bed in a closet within my mother's room to -look out at it; and I see the red light shining on the sun-dial, and I -think within myself, 'Is the sun-dial glad, I wonder, that it can tell -the time again?'" It is interesting to know that it was at Blundeston -House (now called The Lodge) where the poet Gray stayed with his friend -the Rev. Norton Nicholls (rector of the adjoining parishes of Lound and -Bradwell), and here he found that sublime quietude which his soul loved. - -That popular seaside resort, Great Yarmouth, was first seen by Dickens -at the close of 1848, and he thought it "the strangest place in the wide -world, one hundred and forty-six miles of hill-less marsh between it and -London"; substituting the word "country" for "marsh," the statement -would be practically correct. Strongly impressed by the exceptional and -Dutch-like features of this flat expanse, on the eastern margin of which -stands the celebrated seaport, he forthwith decided to "try his hand" at -it, with the result (as everyone knows) that he placed there, on the -open Denes, the home of Little Em'ly and the Peggottys. In all -probability the idea of causing them to live in a discarded boat arose -from his having seen a humble abode of this character when perambulating -the outskirts of Yarmouth, for such domiciles were not uncommon in those -days, and might be met with both in Yarmouth and Lowestoft; indeed, we -are told that even now the little village of Carracross, on the west -coast of Ireland, consists of seventeen superannuated fishing-boats, one -of which dates from about 1740. Apropos of Peggotty's boat, it may be -remarked that the old inverted boat, bricked up and roofed in, which -revealed itself in 1879 during the process of demolition, has hitherto -been considered as the veritable domicile immortalized in "Copperfield"; -but the cherished belief is not worthy of credence, being unsupported by -trustworthy evidence, an important point antagonistic to that conjecture -being the fact that Peggotty's boat stood on the open Denes upon its -keel ("Phiz" notwithstanding), whereas that discovered in Tower Road was -put keel uppermost, by a shrimper, on garden ground in the midst of a -noisome locality called by the inappropriate name "Angel's Piece," with -no "sandy waste" surrounding it.[66] - -At Yarmouth Dickens made his headquarters at the Royal Hotel, on the -sea-front, having John Leech and Mark Lemon as congenial companions, for -illness prevented Forster from remaining with them. The old town, and -the flat, sandy expanse of uncultivated land between river and sea, -already alluded to as the Denes, deeply imprinted itself upon Dickens's -mental retina, and he conveys his impressions thereof through the medium -of his boy-hero: - -"It looked rather spongy and sloppy, I thought, as I carried my eye over -the great dull waste that lay across the river; and I could not help -wondering, if the world were really as round as my geography book said, -how any part of it came to be so flat. But I reflected that Yarmouth -might be situated at one of the poles, which would account for it. - - [Illustration: THE GEORGE, GRETA BRIDGE. (_Page 123._) - Dickens visited this inn when collecting material for "Nicholas - Nickleby," and here Mr. Squeers alighted from the coach on his - return from London with the new boys.] - -"As we drew a little nearer, and saw the whole adjacent prospect lying a -straight low line under the sky, I hinted to Peggotty that a mound or so -might improve it, and also that if the land had been a little more -separated from the sea, and the town and the tide had not been quite so -much mixed up, like toast-and-water, it would have been nicer.... - -"When we got into the street (which was strange enough to me), and smelt -the fish, and pitch, and oakum, and tar, and saw the sailors walking -about, and the carts jingling up and down over the stones, I felt that I -had done so busy a place an injustice, and said as much to Peggotty, who -... told me it was well known ... that Yarmouth was, upon the whole, the -finest place in the universe." - -David, as Ham carried him on his broad back from the carrier's cart to -the boathouse, gazed upon the dreary amplitude of the Denes in anxious -expectation of catching a glimpse of the romantic abode for which they -were destined. "We turned down lanes," he says, "bestrewn with bits of -chips and little hillocks of sand, and went past gasworks, rope-walks, -boat-builders' yards, shipwrights' yards, ship-breakers' yards, -caulkers' yards, riggers' lofts, smiths' forges, and a great litter of -such places, until we came out upon the dull waste I had already seen at -a distance.... I looked in all directions, as far as I could stare over -the wilderness, and away at the sea, and away at the river, but no house -could _I_ make out"--nothing except a "ship-looking thing," which -presently resolved itself into the identical house for which they were -bound, and proved to be--in the boy's estimation, at least--as charming -and delightful as Aladdin's palace, "roc's egg and all." It is pointed -out by Dr. Bately that the description given by Dickens (as above -quoted) of the various objects seen on the way from Yarmouth to the -South Denes really reverses their order, just as he noted them when -walking in the contrary direction. There are not many boat-builders' -yards now remaining hereabouts. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - IN THE NORTH. - - -In 1837 Dickens's thoughts were concentrated upon a new serial story, -"Nicholas Nickleby," in which he determined to expose the shortcomings -of cheap boarding-schools then flourishing in Northern England, his -first impressions of which were picked up when, as a child, he sat "in -by-places, near Rochester Castle, with a head full of Partridge, Strap, -Tom Pipes, and Sancho Panza." The time had arrived (he thought) when, by -means of his writings, he could secure a large audience, to whom he -might effectively present the actual facts concerning the alleged -cruelties customarily practised at those seminaries of which he had -heard so much. Having thus resolved to punish the culprits by means of -his powerful pen, and, if possible, to suppress the evils of the system -they favoured, the novelist and his illustrator, "Phiz," departed from -London by coach on a cold winter's day in January, 1838, for Greta -Bridge, in the North Riding, with the express intention of obtaining -authoritative information regarding the subject of the schools, for in -that locality were situated some of the most culpable of those -institutions. Greta Bridge takes its name from a lofty bridge of one -arch, erected on the line of Watling Street, upon the site of a more -ancient structure, over the river Greta, a little above its junction -with the Tees. - -The parish of Rokeby, in the petty sessional division of Greta Bridge, -is celebrated as the scene of Sir Walter Scott's poem, "Rokeby," which -was written on the spot, and does no more than justice to the beautiful -scenery of the neighbourhood. - -Dickens and "Phiz" broke their journey at Grantham, at which town they -arrived late on the night of January 30, and put up at the George--"the -very best inn I have ever put up at." Early the next morning they -continued their journey by the Glasgow mail, "which charged us the -remarkably low sum of £6 fare for two places inside." Snow began to -fall, and the drifts grew deeper, until there was "no vestige of a -track" over the wild heaths as the coach approached the destination of -the two fellow-travellers, who were half frozen on their arrival at -Greta Bridge. In the story the author gives the name of the hostelry -where Squeers and his party alighted from the coach as the George and -New Inn; but, in so doing, he indulges in an artistic license, for he -thus bestows upon one house the respective signs of two distinct inns at -Greta Bridge, situated about half a mile from each other. The George -stands near the bridge already referred to, the public portion of the -premises having since been converted into a private residence. The New -Inn has also been changed, and is now a farmhouse called Thorpe Grange; -built before the railway era for Mr. Morrit, the landlord of the George, -it not only rivalled the older establishment, but absorbed its custom, -the owner claiming it as the veritable inn of Dickens's story.[67] It -seems very probable that the novelist himself put up at the New Inn -during his brief tour of investigation in 1838; writing thence to his -wife at this date, he said that at 11 p.m. the mail reached "a bare -place with a house standing alone in the midst of a dreary moor, which -the guard informed us was Greta Bridge. I was in a perfect agony of -apprehension, for it was fearfully cold, and there were no outward signs -of anybody being up in the house. But to our great joy we discovered a -comfortable room, with drawn curtains and a most blazing fire. In half -an hour they gave us a smoking supper and a bottle of mulled port (in -which we drank your health), and then we retired to a couple of capital -bedrooms, in each of which there was a rousing fire halfway up the -chimney. We have had for breakfast toast, cakes, a Yorkshire pie, a -piece of beef about the size and much the shape of my portmanteau, tea, -coffee, ham and eggs, and are now going to look about us...."[68] After -exploring the immediate neighbourhood, Dickens, accompanied by "Phiz," -went by post-chaise to Barnard Castle, four miles from Greta Bridge, and -just over the Yorkshire border, there to deliver a letter given to him -by Mr. Smithson (a London solicitor, who had a Yorkshire connection), -and to visit the numerous schools thereabouts. This letter of -introduction bore reference (as the author explains in his preface to -"Nicholas Nickleby") to a supposititious little boy who had been left -with a widowed mother who didn't know what to do with him; the poor lady -had thought, as a means of thawing the tardy compassion of her relations -on his behalf, of sending him to a Yorkshire school. "I was the poor -lady's friend, travelling that way; and if the recipient of the letter -could inform me of a school in his neighbourhood, the writer would be -very much obliged." The result of this "pious fraud" (as Dickens himself -termed it) has become a matter of history. The person to whom the -missive was addressed was a farmer (since identified as John S----, of -Broadiswood), who appears in the story as honest John Browdie. Not being -at home when the novelist called upon him, he journeyed through the snow -to the inn where Dickens was staying, and entreated him to advise the -widow to refrain from sending her boy to any of those wretched schools -"while there's a harse to hoold in a' Lunnun, or a goother to lie asleep -in!" The old coaching-house where this memorable interview is believed -to have taken place was the still existing Unicorn at Bowes. Another inn -associated with this tour of inspection is the King's Head, Barnard -Castle,[69] where Dickens made a brief stay, and where he observed, -across the way, the name of "Humphreys, clockmaker," over a shop door, -this suggesting the title of his next work, "Master Humphrey's Clock." - -It was at Bowes where he obtained material which served him for -depicting the "internal economy" of Dotheboys Hall, in the school -presided over by William Shaw, who, it has since transpired, was by no -means the worst of his tribe. As a matter of fact, he won respect from -his neighbours, and is remembered by many of his pupils (some of whom -attained high positions in various professions) as a worthy and much -injured man. In "Nicholas Nickleby," however, he became a scapegoat for -others who thoroughly deserved the punishment inflicted upon Shaw. Even -to-day many of the people at Bowes regard Dickens's attack as unjust so -far as that particular schoolmaster is concerned, and visitors to the -place are advised to refrain from alluding to Dotheboys Hall. - -There is no lack of evidence to prove the general accuracy of the -novelist's description, and to him we owe a deep debt of gratitude for -so successful an attempt to annihilate those terrible "Caves of -Despair." Bowes is situated high up on the moorland, and may now be -reached by railway from Barnard Castle. The village consists principally -of one street nearly three-quarters of a mile in length, running east to -west, and is lighted with oil lamps, under a village lighting committee. -Shaw's house (known generally as Dotheboys Hall until recent times) -stands at the western extremity of Bowes. The present tenants have -altered somewhat the original appearance of the house by attempting to -convert it into a kind of suburban villa--in fact, it is now called "The -Villa." Prior to these structural changes it was a long, low building of -two storeys. The classroom and dormitories were demolished a few years -ago, but the original pump, at which Shaw's pupils used to wash, is -still in the yard at the back of the house, and an object of great -interest to tourists. - -Nearly all provincial towns in England were visited by Dickens during -his acting and reading tours, and many can boast of more intimate -relations with the novelist. It was from Liverpool, on January 4, 1842, -that he embarked on board the _Britannia_ for the United States--his -first memorable visit to Transatlantic shores--and in 1844 he presided -at a great public meeting held in the Mechanics' Institution, then sadly -in need of funds, on which occasion he delivered a powerful speech in -support of the objects of that foundation. Referring to the building, he -said: "It is an enormous place. The lecture-room ... will accommodate -over thirteen hundred people.... I should think it an easy place to -speak in, being a semicircle with seats rising one above another to the -ceiling." - -Respecting this function, we learn from a contemporary report that long -before the hour appointed for the opening of the doors the street was -crowded with persons anxious to obtain admission, so anxious were they -to see and hear the young man (then only in his thirty-third year) who -had given them "Pickwick," "Oliver Twist," and "Nicholas Nickleby." At -the termination of his speech a vote of thanks was accorded to the -novelist, who, in replying thereto, concluded his acknowledgments by -quoting the words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us every one." An interesting -incident lay in the fact that the young lady who presided at the -pianoforte was Miss Christina Weller, who, with her father, was -introduced to the author of "Pickwick," thus causing considerable -merriment. - - [Illustration: DOTHEBOYS HALL, BOWES. (_Page 126._) - Visited by Dickens when writing "Nicholas Nickleby."] - -In 1847 Dickens and his distinguished company of amateur actors gave a -representation in Liverpool of Ben Jonson's comedy, "Every Man in His -Humour," for the benefit of Leigh Hunt. The Reading tours in the fifties -and sixties again called him to that busy mercantile centre, one of the -readings taking place in St. George's Hall--"the beautiful St. George's -Hall," as he described it: "brilliant to see when lighted up, and for a -reading simply perfect." One of the closing incidents of his life was -the great Liverpool banquet, which took place on April 10, 1869, in St. -George's Hall, after his country Readings, the late Marquis of Dufferin -presiding, the function being made memorable by an eloquent speech by -the novelist, replying to a remonstrance from Lord Houghton against his -(Dickens's) objection to entering public life.[70] While sojourning at -Liverpool he usually stayed at the Adelphi Hotel. In 1844 he made -Radley's Hotel his headquarters. - -It is quite in accordance with our expectations to find frequent mention -of Liverpool throughout Dickens's works. For descriptive passages we -must turn to the pages of "Martin Chuzzlewit" and certain of his minor -writings, where we discover interesting and important references "to -that rich and beautiful port," as he calls it in one instance. Apropos -of the return to England of Martin Chuzzlewit the younger and his -faithful companion Mark Tapley after their trying experiences in the New -Country, the novelist, in thus depicting Liverpool and the Mersey, -doubtless records his own impressions of some two years previous on his -arrival there at the termination, in 1842, of his American tour: - -"It was mid-day and high-water in the English port for which the _Screw_ -was bound, when, borne in gallantly upon the fulness of the tide, she -let go her anchor in the river. - -"Bright as the scene was--fresh, and full of motion; airy, free, and -sparkling--it was nothing to the life and exaltation in the hearts of -the two travellers at sight of the old churches, roofs, and darkened -chimney-stacks of home. The distant roar that swelled up hoarsely from -the busy streets was music in their ears; the lines of people gazing -from the wharves were friends held dear; the canopy of smoke that -overhung the town was brighter and more beautiful to them than if the -richest silks of Persia had been waving in the air. And though the -water, going on its glistening track, turned ever and again aside to -dance and sparkle round great ships, and heave them up, and leaped from -off the blades of oars, a shower of diving diamonds, and wantoned with -the idle boats, and swiftly passed, in many a sporting chase, through -obdurate old iron rings, set deep into the stonework of the quays, not -even it was half so buoyant and so restless as their fluttering hearts, -when yearning to set foot once more on native ground." - -In one of "The Uncommercial Traveller" papers (1860) will be found this -vivid pen-picture of the slums of Liverpool, favoured by seafaring men -of the lower class, a district probably little altered since those lines -were penned: - -"A labyrinth of dismal courts and blind alleys, called 'entries,' kept -in wonderful order by the police, and in much better order than by the -Corporation, the want of gaslight in the most dangerous and infamous of -these places being quite unworthy of so spirited a town.... Many of -these sailors' resorts we attained by noisome passages so profoundly -dark that we felt our way with our hands. Not one of the whole number we -visited was without its show of prints and ornamental crockery, the -quantity of the latter, set forth on little shelves and in little cases -in otherwise wretched rooms, indicating that Mercantile Jack must have -an extraordinary fondness for crockery to necessitate so much of that -bait in his traps ... etc."[71] - -With the characteristics of that other great Lancashire town, -Manchester, the novelist became, perhaps, even more intimate. -"Manchester is (_for_ Manchester) bright and fresh," he wrote to Miss -Hogarth from the Queen's Hotel in 1869, where he stayed on the occasion -of his Farewell Readings in the provinces, and where the chimney of his -sitting-room caught fire and compelled him to "turn out elsewhere to -breakfast." Long before this date--that is, in 1843--the people of -Manchester were first privileged to meet him on the occasion of a bazaar -in the Free Trade Hall in aid of the fund for improving the financial -condition of the Athenĉum, then sadly in debt. The bazaar was followed -by a soirée, held in the same building, under the presidency of Dickens, -who then delivered a speech which has been described as "a masterpiece -of graceful eloquence." The subject thereof forcibly appealed to -him--viz., the education of the very poor, for he did not believe in the -old adage that averred a little learning to be a "dangerous thing," but -rather that the most minute particle of knowledge is preferable to -complete and consummate ignorance. This memorable function is noteworthy -also by reason of the fact that among the speakers who addressed the -vast audience were Disraeli and Cobden. Dickens expressed a wish to -become a member of the Athenĉum, but left Manchester without going -through the necessary formalities--an oversight soon rectified, however. - -In 1852, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Manchester Public -Free Libraries, the novelist accepted an invitation to be present at an -important meeting held at Campfield, the "first home" of these free -libraries (formerly known as "The Hall of Science"); the meeting was -attended by a number of distinguished men, including Bulwer Lytton, -Thackeray, John Bright, Peter Cunningham, etc., and it naturally fell to -Dickens to make a speech, having the use of literature as its theme. -Thackeray, by the way, had prepared a careful oration, but, after -delivering half a sentence, ignominiously sat down! Public oratory was -not his forte. In 1858 Dickens presided at the annual meeting of the -Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire, held in the -Manchester Athenĉum and the Free Trade Hall, and handed prizes to -candidates from more than a hundred local mechanics' institutes -affiliated to the association. "Knowledge has a very limited power -indeed," he observed, in the speech delivered on behalf of the -Manchester Mechanics' Institute in Cooper Street, "when it informs the -head alone; but when it informs the head and heart too, it has power -over life and death, the body and the soul, and dominates the universe." -We are reminded that this peroration is an echo of words in "Hard Times" -(written four years previously), and that his exhortation to the -Manchester audience practically reproduced the leading thought in that -powerful novel--a story which impelled the admiration of Ruskin, who, -commenting upon it, said that the book "should be studied with close and -earnest care by persons interested in social questions." In "Hard Times" -Manchester is disguised as matter-of-fact Coketown, and the presentment -is easily recognisable: - -"It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the -smoke and ashes had allowed it; but, as matters stood, it was a town of -unnatural red and black, like the painted face of a savage. It was a -town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents -of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. -It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with -evil-smelling dye, and vast piles of building full of windows, where -there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston -of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an -elephant in a state of melancholy madness. It contained several large -streets, all very like one another, and many small streets, still more -like one another, inhabited by people equally like one another, who all -went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same -pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as -yesterday and to-morrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and -the next. These attributes of Coketown were in the main inseparable from -the work by which it was sustained; against them were to be set off -comforts of life which found their way all over the world, and -elegancies of life which made we will not ask how much of the fine lady, -who could scarcely bear to hear the place mentioned. You saw nothing in -Coketown but what was severely workful.... - -"In the hardest working part of Coketown; in the innermost -fortifications of that ugly citadel, where Nature was as strongly -bricked out as killing airs and gasses were bricked in; at the heart of -the labyrinth of narrow courts upon courts, and close streets upon -streets, which had come into existence piecemeal, every piece in a -violent hurry for some one man's purpose, and the whole one unnatural -family, shouldering, and trampling, and pressing one another to death; -in the last close nook of the great exhausted receiver, where the -chimneys, for want or air to make a draught, were built in an immense -variety of stunted and crooked shapes, as though every house put out a -sign of the kind of people who might be expected to be born in it." - -Of Coketown on a sunny midsummer day (for "there was such a thing -sometimes, even in Coketown") the author exhibits a realistic picture. -"Seen from a distance in such weather, Coketown lay shrouded in a haze -of its own, which appeared impervious to the sun's rays. You only knew -the town was there because you knew there could have been no such sulky -blotch upon the prospect without a town. A blur of soot and smoke, now -confusedly bending this way, now that way, now aspiring to the vault of -heaven, now murkily creeping along the earth as the wind rose and fell -or changed its quarter--a dense, formless jumble, with sheets of -cross-light in it, that showed nothing but masses of darkness. Coketown -in the distance was suggestive of itself, though not a brick of it could -be seen ... the streets were hot and dusty on the summer day, and the -sun was so bright that it even shone through the heavy vapour drooping -over Coketown, and could not be looked at steadily. Stokers emerged from -low underground doorways and factory yards, and sat on steps, and posts, -and palings, wiping their swarthy visages, and contemplating coals. The -whole town seemed to be frying in oil. There was a stifling smell of hot -oil everywhere. The steam-engines shone with it; the dresses of the -Hands were soiled with it; the mills throughout their many stories oozed -and trickled it. The atmosphere of those Fairy palaces[72] was like the -breath of the simoon, and their inhabitants, wasting with heat, toiled -languidly in the desert. But no temperature made the melancholy-mad -elephants more mad or more sane. Their wearisome heads went up and down -at the same rate, in hot weather and cold, wet weather and dry, fair -weather and foul. The measured motion of their shadows on the walls was -the substitute Coketown had to show for the shadows of rustling woods; -while for the summer hum of insects it could offer, all the year round, -from the dawn of Monday to the night of Saturday, the whir of shafts and -wheels. - -"Drowsily they whirred all through this sunny day, making the passenger -more sleepy and more hot as he passed the humming walls of the mills. -Sun-blinds and sprinklings of water a little cooled the main streets and -shops, but the mills and the courts and the alleys baked at a fierce -heat. Down upon the river, that was black and thick with dye, some -Coketown boys, who were at large--a rare sight there--rowed a crazy -boat, which made a spurious track upon the water as it jogged along, -while every dip of an oar stirred up vile smells."[73] - -Apropos of "Hard Times," it may be mentioned that in 1854 Dickens stayed -at the Bull Hotel in Preston, when he visited that town expressly for -the purpose of witnessing the effects of a strike in a manufacturing -town. He failed, however, to secure much material here for the story, -for he wrote: "Except the crowds at the street-corners reading the -placards _pro_ and _con_, and the cold absence of smoke from the -mill-chimneys, there is very little in the streets to make the town -remarkable." He expected to find in Preston a model town, instead of -which it proved to be, in his estimation, a "nasty place," while to the -Bull he referred in disrespectful terms as an "old, grubby, smoky, mean, -intensely formal red-brick house, with a narrow gateway and a dingy -yard." Preston figures in the early chapters of "George Silverman's -Explanation," a cellar in that town being the birthplace of the -principal character, the Rev. George Silverman. - - [Illustration: THE RED LION, BARNET. (_Page 173._) - Dickens and Forster dined here in March, 1838, to celebrate the - birth of Miss Mary (Mamie) Dickens.] - -Reverting to Manchester, it must not be forgotten that Dickens, in the -capacity of an actor, journeyed thither four times, appearing with his -amateur company first at the Theatre Royal in 1847 for the benefit of -Leigh Hunt, twice in 1852 at the Old Free Trade Hall, and again in that -building in 1857. Needless to say, the performances attracted vast and -enthusiastic audiences, and were eminently successful both artistically -and financially. - -The Free Trade Hall, too, was the scene of his public Readings in -Manchester, and it is recorded that he was accustomed to stay at Old -Trafford as the guest of Mr. John Knowles, of the Theatre Royal. This -large house was then surrounded by an extensive wood, and considered to -be a lonely and remote place, but is now near a network of railways, and -the reverse of rural.[74] - -About the year 1841 Charles Dickens's elder sister Fanny (nearly two -years his senior) married Henry Burnett, an accomplished operatic -singer, who had retired from performing on the stage, and taken up his -abode in Manchester as an instructor in music, Mrs. Burnett, herself a -musician of considerable acquirements, assisting her husband in -conducting the choir of Rusholme Road Congregational Chapel, where they -worshipped, and the pastor of which was the Rev. James Griffin, who has -recorded in print his recollections of the Burnetts. There is, -consequently, a link of a distinctly personal kind connecting Dickens -with Manchester, which is made additionally interesting by the fact that -the little crippled son of the Burnetts (who lived in Upper Brook -Street) was the prototype of Paul Dombey. It may be added that Mr. -Burnett unconsciously posed for some of the characteristics of Nicholas -Nickleby, while in Fanny Dorrit there are certain indications suggesting -that her portrait was inspired by the novelist's sister. - -In a literary sense, Manchester can boast of other Dickensian -associations, for here resided the originals of the delightful Cheeryble -Brothers, who (the author assures us in his preface to "Nicholas -Nickleby") were "very slightly and imperfectly sketched" from life. -"Those who take an interest in this tale," he adds, "will be glad to -learn that the Brothers Cheeryble live; that their liberal charity, -their singleness of heart, their noble nature, and their unbounded -benevolence, are no creation of the author's brain, but are prompting -every day (and oftenest by stealth) some munificent deed in that town of -which they are the pride and honour." The actual models whence he -portrayed the Cheerybles with approximate accuracy were the brothers -Grant, William and Daniel, merchants, of Ramsbottom and Manchester, with -whom the novelist declared he "never interchanged any communication in -his life." From evidence recently forthcoming, however, we learn that in -1838 (the year prior to the publication of "Nickleby") he and Forster -were the guests of Mr. Gilbert Winter, of Stocks House, Cheetham Hill -Road, Manchester, to whom they went with a letter of introduction from -Harrison Ainsworth. Stocks House (demolished in 1884) was formerly -surrounded by a moat, a portion of which was filled up at the time of -the construction of the old road to Bury, the fine old mansion probably -representing the manor-house of Cheetham Manor, given as a reward to the -Earls of Derby after the Battle of Bosworth Field. It was at Stocks -House that Dickens became acquainted with the Grants; indeed, Forster -practically admits this when he says: "A friend now especially welcome -was the novelist Mr. Ainsworth, with whom we visited, during two of -those years (1838 and 1839), friends of art and letters in his native -Manchester, from among whom Dickens brought away the Brothers -Cheeryble...." The Rev. Hume Elliot informs us that although William and -Daniel Grant had residences in Manchester, they preferred to live -together at Springside, Ramsbottom, "which they made a veritable home of -hospitality and good works,"[75] and it is fair to assume that Dickens -must have seen at their home the original of David, "the apoplectic -butler," or ascertained from an authentic source the peculiarities of -Alfred, who served the Grants in a like capacity and possessed similar -idiosyncrasies. - -There are two houses in Manchester associated with the Grants. One of -these, now a parcel-receiving office of the London and North-Western -Railway Company, is in Mosley Street, and the other (a more important -place) stands at the lower end of Cannon Street (No. 15), a large, roomy -warehouse, occupied by a paper dealer, who caused the name "Cheeryble -House" to be placed on the front of the building.[76] - -The rare combination of the qualities of charity and humanity with sound -business instincts, such as are ascribed to the Cheeryble Brothers, was -exactly true of the Grants. On the death of William Grant (the elder -brother) in 1842, the novelist (writing from Niagara Falls to his -American friend, Professor Felton), said: "One of the noble hearts who -sat for the Cheeryble Brothers is dead. If I had been in England I would -certainly have gone into mourning for the loss of such a glorious life. -His brother is not expected to survive him. [He died in 1855, at the age -of seventy-five.] I am told that it appears from a memorandum found -among the papers of the deceased that in his lifetime he gave away -£600,000, or three million dollars." There is a marble tablet to the -memory of William Grant in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Ramsbottom, -recording his "vigour of understanding, his spotless integrity of -character, and his true benevolence of heart.... If you are in poverty," -the inscription continues, "grieve for the loss of so good a friend; if -born to wealth and influence, think of the importance of such a trust, -and earn in like manner by a life of charitable exertion the respect and -love of all who knew you, and the prayers and blessings of the poor." -Honoured descendants of the two philanthropists are still surviving in -the city which cherishes their memory. - -In 1847 the novelist presided at a meeting of the Mechanics' Institute -in Leeds, thus proving his practical interest in the welfare of working -men--an interest again testified in 1855, when he visited Sheffield for -the purpose of reading the "Christmas Carol" in the Mechanics' Hall on -behalf of the funds of the Institute in that busy town. After the -reading, the Mayor begged his acceptance of a handsome service of table -cutlery and other useful articles of local manufacture, the gift of a -few gentlemen in Sheffield, as a substantial manifestation of their -gratitude to him. - -In a letter to Wilkie Collins, dated August 29, 1857, Dickens said: "I -want to cast about whether you and I can go anywhere--take any tour--see -anything--whereon we could write something together. Have you any idea -tending to any place in the world? Will you rattle your head and see if -there is any pebble in it which we could wander away and play at marbles -with?" This was written just after the conclusion of the readings and -theatrical performances in aid of the Douglas Jerrold fund, Dickens -experiencing a sense of restlessness when the excitement attending them -had subsided, and seeming anxious "to escape from himself" by means of a -pilgrimage with a congenial companion, and such as might provide -material for a series of papers in _Household Words_. Arrangements were -speedily made with this object, and the two friends started forthwith -"on a ten or twelve days' expedition to out-of-the-way places, to do (in -inns and coast corners) a little tour in search of an article and in -avoidance of railroads." They decided for a foray upon the fells of -Cumberland, Dickens having discovered (in "The Beauties of England and -Wales" and other topographical works) descriptions of "some promising -moors and bleak places thereabout." To the Lake district they -accordingly departed in September, and their adventures are related in -"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices" (published in _Household Words_ -during the latter part of the same year), the authors skilfully -collaborating in the preparation of the record, nearly all the -descriptive passages emanating from the pen of Dickens. Almost the first -thing attempted by the travellers was the climbing of Carrock Fell, "a -gloomy old mountain 1,500 feet high." "Nobody goes up," said Dickens to -Forster; "guides have forgotten it." The proprietor of a little inn, -however, volunteered his services as guide, and the party of enthusiasts -ascended in a downpour of rain. The Two Idle Apprentices (who bear the -respective names Francis Goodchild and Thomas Idle, the former being the -pseudonym favoured by Dickens) concluded that to perform the feat "would -be the culminating triumph of Idleness." "Up hill and down hill, and -twisting to the left, and with old Skiddaw (who has vaunted himself a -great deal more than his merits deserve, but that is rather the way of -the Lake country) dodging the apprentices in a picturesque and pleasant -manner. Good, weatherproof, warm, pleasant houses, well white-limed, -scantily dotting the road.... Well-cultivated gardens attached to the -cottages.... Lonely nooks, and wild; but people can be born, and -married, and buried in such nooks, and can live, and love, and be loved -there as elsewhere, thank God!" The village is portrayed as consisting -of "black, coarse-stoned, rough-windowed houses, some with outer -staircases, like Swiss houses, a sinuous and stony gutter winding up -hill and round the corner by way of street."[77] The ascent of the -mountain was safely achieved, but during the descent Collins -unfortunately fell into a watercourse and sprained his ankle, an -accident which proved to be a serious hindrance. They slept that night -at Wigton, which (we are told) "had no population, no business, no -streets to speak of." In _Household Words_ may be found an elaborate, -amusing (but doubtless accurate) description of Wigton marketplace as -seen at night nearly fifty years ago, and written with Dickens's -customary power, illustrating his marvellous acuteness of observation: - -"Wigton market was over, and its bare booths were smoking with rain all -down the street.... 'I see,' said Brother Francis, 'what I hope and -believe to be one of the most dismal places ever seen by eyes. I see the -houses with their roofs of dull black, their stained fronts, and their -dark-rimmed windows, looking as if they were all in mourning. As every -little puff of wind comes down the street, I see a perfect train of rain -let off along the wooden stalls in the market-place and exploded against -me. I see a very big gas-lamp in the centre, which I know, by a secret -instinct, will not be lighted to-night. I see a pump, with a trivet -underneath its spout whereon to stand the vessels that are brought to be -filled with water. I see a man come to the pump, and he pumps very hard; -but no water follows, and he strolls empty away.... I see one, two, -three, four, five linen-drapers' shops in front of me. I see a -linen-draper's shop next door to the right, and there are five more -linen-drapers' shops round the corner to the left. Eleven homicidal -linen-drapers' shops within a short stone's-throw, each with its hands -at the throats of all the rest! Over the small first-floor of one of -these linen-drapers' shops appears the wonderful inscription: _BANK_.... -I see a sweet-meat shop, which the proprietor calls a 'Salt -Warehouse.'... And I see a watchmaker's, with only three great pale -watches of a dull metal hanging in his window, each on a separate pane. - -"... There is nothing more to see, except the curl-paper bill of the -theatre ... and the short, square, chunky omnibus that goes to the -railway, and leads too rattling a life over the stones to hold together -long. Oh yes! Now I see two men with their hands in their pockets ... -they are looking at nothing very hard, very hard ... they spit at times, -but speak not. I see it growing darker, and I still see them, sole -visible population of the place, standing to be rained upon, with their -backs towards me, and looking at nothing very hard. - -"... The murky shadows are gathering fast, and the wings of evening and -the wings of coal are folding over Wigton.... And now the town goes to -sleep, undazzled by the large unlighted lamp in the market-place; and -let no man wake it."[78] - -From Wigton the friends proceeded to Allonby, on the coast of -Cumberland, here resolving to begin their writing, to record their -impressions while fresh in their minds. They found a comfortable -lodging, a "capital little homely inn," the Ship, overlooking the watery -expanse, and by a curious coincidence the landlady previously lived at -Greta Bridge, Yorkshire, when Dickens went there in quest of the cheap -boarding-schools. - - [Illustration: THE ALBION HOTEL, BROADSTAIRS. (_Page 189._) - Dickens stayed at this hotel on several occasions, and in 1839 - lodged at a house "two doors from the Albion," and there "Nickleby" - was finished.] - -The Ship still flourishes as a "family and commercial hotel and -posting-house, commanding extensive views of the Solway Firth and the -Scottish hills." Dickens thought Allonby the dullest place he ever -entered, rendered additionally dull by "the monotony of an idle sea," -and in sad contrast to the expectations formed of it. "A little place -with fifty houses," said Dickens in a letter home, "five -bathing-machines, five girls in straw hats, five men in straw hats, and -no other company. The little houses are all in half-mourning--yellow -stone or white stone, and black; and it reminds me of what Broadstairs -might have been if it had not inherited a cliff, and had been an -Irishman." - -In the opinion of Mr. Francis Goodchild, Allonby was the most -"delightful place ever seen." "It was what you might call a primitive -place. Large? No, it was not large. Who ever expected it would be large? -Shape? What a question to ask! No shape. Shops? Yes, of course (quite -indignant). How many? Who ever went into a place to count the shops? -Ever so many. Six? Perhaps. A library? Why, of course (indignant again). -Good collection of books? Most likely--couldn't say--had seen nothing in -it but a pair of scales. Any reading-room? Of course there was a -reading-room! Where? Where! Why, over there. Where was over there? Why, -_there_! Let Mr. Idle carry his eye to that bit of waste ground above -high-water mark, where the rank grass and loose stones were most in a -litter, and he could see a sort of a long ruinous brick loft, next door -to a ruinous brick outhouse, which loft had a ladder outside to get up -by. That was the reading-room, and if Mr. Idle didn't like the idea of a -weaver's shuttle throbbing under a reading-room, that was his look-out. -_He_ was not to dictate, Mr. Goodchild supposed (indignant again), to -the company." In short, he declared that "if you wanted to be primitive, -you could be primitive here, and if you wanted to be idle, you could be -idle here," as were the local fishermen, who (apparently) never fished, -but "got their living entirely by looking at the ocean." The "public -buildings" at Allonby were the two small bridges over the brook "which -crawled or stopped between the houses and the sea." As if to make amends -for these shortcomings, Nature provided fine sunsets at Allonby, "when -the low, flat beach, with its pools of water and its dry patches, -changed into long bars of silver and gold in various states of -burnishing," "and there were fine views, on fine days, of the Scottish -coast."[79] - -From Allonby the two apprentices proceeded to the county town, Carlisle, -putting up at "a capital inn," kept by a man named Breach. - - [Illustration: LAWN HOUSE, BROADSTAIRS. (_Page 193._) - Dickens occupied Lawn House in the summer of 1840, and the archway - is mentioned in a letter to his wife dated September 3, 1850.] - -Carlisle "looked congenially and delightfully idle.... On market morning -Carlisle woke up amazingly, and became (to the two idle apprentices) -disagreeably and reproachfully busy. There were its cattle-market, its -sheep-market, and its pig-market down by the river, with raw-boned and -shock-headed Rob Roys hiding their Lowland dresses beneath heavy plaids, -prowling in and out among the animals, and flavouring the air with fumes -of whisky. There was its corn-market down the main street, with hum of -chaffering over open sacks. There was its general market in the street, -too, with heather brooms, on which the purple flower still flourished, -and heather baskets primitive and fresh to behold. With women trying on -clogs and caps at open stalls, and 'Bible stalls' adjoining. With 'Dr. -Mantle's Dispensary for the Cure of all Human Maladies and no charge for -advice,' and with 'Dr. Mantle's Laboratory of Medical, Chemical, and -Botanical Science,' both healing institutions established on one pair of -trestles, one board, and one sun-blind. With the renowned phrenologist -from London begging to be favoured (at 6d. each) with the company of -clients of both sexes, to whom, on examination of their heads, he would -make revelations 'enabling him or her to know themselves.'"[80] -Maryport, a few miles south of Allonby, was also inspected, and is -described as "a region which is a bit of waterside Bristol, with a slice -of Wapping, a seasoning of Wolverhampton, and a garnish of -Portsmouth"--in fact, a kind of topographical salad. To the -supposititious query addressed to it by one of the apprentices, "Will -_you_ come and be idle with me?" busy Maryport metaphorically shakes its -head, and sagaciously answers in the negative, for she declares: "I am a -great deal too vaporous, and a great deal too rusty, and a great deal -too muddy, and a great deal too dirty altogether; and I have ships to -load, and pitch and tar to boil, and iron to hammer, and steam to get -up, and smoke to make, and stone to quarry, and fifty other disagreeable -things to do, and I can't be idle with you." Thus thrown upon his own -resources, this idle apprentice goes "into jagged uphill and downhill -streets, where I am in the pastry-cook's shop at one moment, and next -moment in savage fastnesses of moor and morass, beyond the confines of -civilization, and I say to those murky and black-dusty streets: 'Will -_you_ come and be idle with me?' To which they reply: 'No, we can't -indeed, for we haven't the spirits, and we are startled by the echo of -your feet on the sharp pavement, and we have so many goods in our -shop-windows which nobody wants, and we have so much to do for a limited -public which never comes to us to be done for, that we are altogether -out of sorts, and can't enjoy ourselves with anyone.' So I go to the -Post-office and knock at the shutter, and I say to the Postmaster: 'Will -_you_ come and be idle with me?' This invitation is refused in cynical -terms: 'No, I really can't, for I live, as you may see, in such a very -little Post-office, and pass my life behind such a very little shutter, -that my hand, when I put it out, is as the hand of a giant crammed -through the window of a dwarf's house at a fair, and I am a mere -Post-office anchorite in a cell made too small for him, and I can't get -in, even if I would.'"[81] Maryport of to-day differs considerably from -Maryport of nearly half a century since, and it is doubtful if its -inhabitants will recognise the presentment. - -Hesket-New-Market, "that rugged old village on the Cumberland Fells," -was included in this itinerary of irresponsible travelling, and of the -ancient inn where Idle and Goodchild sojourned, and of the contents of -their apartments, we have quite a pre-Raphaelite picture: - -"The ceiling of the drawing-room was so crossed and recrossed by beams -of unequal lengths, radiating from a centre in the corner, that it -looked like a broken star-fish.... It had a snug fireside, and a couple -of well-curtained windows, looking out upon the wild country behind the -house. What it most developed was an unexpected taste for little -ornaments and nick-nacks, of which it contained a most surprising -number.... There were books, too, in this room.... It was very pleasant -to see these things in such a lonesome byplace; so very agreeable to -find these evidences of taste, however homely, that went beyond the -beautiful cleanliness and trimness of the house; so fanciful to imagine -what a wonder the room must be to the little children born in the gloomy -village--what grand impressions of it those of them who became wanderers -over the earth would carry away; and how, at distant ends of the world, -some old voyagers would die, cherishing the belief that the finest -apartment known to man was once in the Hesket-New-Market Inn, in rare -old Cumberland."[82] Dickens does not give the name of the inn, but I -have ascertained that it was the Queen's Head, and that it is now a -dwelling-house, having the curious-timbered ceiling intact, and still -retaining its old-fashioned character. An enclosure, fronting the -building, has been planted with shrubs by the present occupier, where it -used to be paved and open to the street--"a sinuous and stony gutter -winding uphill and round the corner," as Dickens termed the roadway -through the still quaint and interesting village of Hesket-New-Market. - -On September 12, 1857, Dickens announced that he and his companion were -on their way to Doncaster, _en route_ for London. Breaking the journey -at Lancaster, they stopped at another delightful hostelry, the King's -Arms in Market Street. "We are in a very remarkable old house here," -wrote Dickens to his sister-in-law, "with genuine old rooms and an -uncommonly quaint staircase. I have a state bedroom, with two enormous -red four-posters in it, each as big as Charley's room at Gad's -Hill."[83] A more detailed description, however, appears in the printed -record, where we read that "the house was a genuine old house of a very -quaint description, teeming with old carvings and beams, and panels, and -having an excellent old staircase, with a gallery or upper staircase cut -off from it by a curious fence-work of old oak, or of the old Honduras -mahogany wood. It was, and is, and will be for many a long year to come, -a remarkably picturesque house; and a certain grave mystery lurking in -the depth of the old mahogany panels, as if they were so many deep pools -of dark water--such, indeed, as they had been much among when they were -trees--gave it a very mysterious character after nightfall."[84] - -In "The Lazy Tour" some particulars are given concerning a curious -custom at the King's Arms, where they give you bride-cake every day -after dinner. This melodramatic love-story is presented in the form of a -narrative by one of the half-dozen "noiseless old men in black" who -acted as waiters at the inn, whence we learn that the strange custom -originated in the traditional murder, by poison, of a young bride in an -apartment afterwards known as the Bride's Chamber, the criminal being -subsequently hanged at Lancaster Castle. Around the legend, in which -money and pride and greed and cruel revenge play a prominent part, -Dickens threw the halo of his wondrous fancy, and so stimulated public -interest in the hostelry that visitors thereto were eager to see the -alleged haunted chamber with its antique bedstead of black oak, and to -taste the bride-cake in memory of the unfortunate young woman. - - [Illustration: FORT HOUSE, BROADSTAIRS. (_Page 194._) - As it was before the recent alterations. The "airy nest" of Dickens, - 1850-1851. A portion of "David Copperfield" was written here.] - -Externally, the old King's Arms (situated at the corner of Market Street -and King's Street) was not of a picturesque character, although a -certain quiet dignity was imparted to the stone frontage by the broad -windows extending from roof to basement, and by the pillared doorway of -the principal entrance. When Mr. Sly left the old place in 1879, it was -pulled down, and a kind of commercial hotel erected on the site, which -narrowly escaped destruction by fire in 1897. After his day the custom -of having bride-cake was discontinued, but it is interesting to know -that the famous oak bedstead (upon which Dickens himself slept) is in -the safe possession of the Duke of Norfolk, for whom it was purchased at -a high price when the old oak fittings, etc., were disposed of about -twenty-seven years since. Mr. Sly, who died in 1896, never tired of -recalling the visit of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, and the -former delighted the worthy landlord by presenting him with a signed -portrait of himself, inscribed, "To his good friend Mr. Sly," which is -still retained by the family as a cherished memento. Shortly after the -publication of "The Lazy Tour" Mr. Sly obtained permission to reprint -the descriptive chapter by Dickens, for presentation to his guests; the -pamphlet contained illustrations representing the entrance-hall and -staircase, and this prefatory note: "The reader is perhaps aware that -Mr. Charles Dickens and his friend Mr. Wilkie Collins, in the year 1857, -visited Lancaster, and during their sojourn stopped at Mr. Sly's, King's -Arms Hotel. In the October number of _Household Words_, under the title -of 'The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices,' Mr. Dickens presents his -readers with a remarkable story of a Bridal Chamber, from whence the -following extracts are taken." Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry, writing in 1897, -alludes to the King's Arms as "a rare old place, full of antique -furniture, curios, and musical bedsteads," and says that its proprietor, -Mr. Sly (who died about a year previously), who took the greatest pride -in his admirable old inn, liked nothing better than taking an -appreciative visitor over the place and giving amusing reminiscences of -the memorable visit of the authors of "Pickwick" and "The Woman in -White." - - [Illustration: 3 ALBION VILLAS, FOLKESTONE. (_Page 199._) - "A very pleasant house, overlooking the sea." The opening chapters - of "Little Dorrit" were written here. The conservatory is a modern - addition.] - - [Illustration: THE WOODEN LIGHTHOUSE, FOLKESTONE HARBOUR. (_Page - 200._) - "I may observe of the very little wooden lighthouse, that when it is - lighted at night--red and green--it looks like a medical man's" - ("Out of Town").] - -With regard to Lancaster itself, it would seem that Dickens's opinion -(as expressed by Francis Goodchild) then was "that if a visitor on his -arrival (there) could be accommodated with a pole which could push the -opposite side of the street some yards farther off, it would be better -for all parties"; but, while "protesting against being obliged to live -in a trench," he conceded Lancaster to be a pleasant place--"a place -dropped in the midst of a charming landscape, a place with a fine -ancient fragment of castle, a place of lovely walks, a place possessing -staid old houses richly fitted with old Honduras mahogany, which had -grown so dark with time that it seems to have got something of a -retrospective mirror-quality into itself, and to show the visitor, in -the depths of its grain, through all its polish, the hue of the wretched -slaves who groaned long ago under old Lancaster merchants. And Mr. -Goodchild adds that the stones of Lancaster do sometimes whisper even -yet of rich men passed away--upon whose great prosperity some of these -old doorways frowned sullen in the brightest weather--that their -slave-gain turned to curses, as the Arabian Wizard's money turned to -leaves, and that no good ever came of it even unto the third and fourth -generation, until it was wasted and gone."[85] Concerning the lunatic -asylum at Lancaster there is a note of approval: "An immense place ... -admirable offices, very good arrangements, very good attendants," -followed by this truly Dickensian touch of sympathy and pathos: "Long -groves of blighted men-and-women trees; interminable avenues of hopeless -faces; numbers without the slightest power of really combining for any -earthly purpose; a society of human creatures who have nothing in common -but that they have all lost the power of being humanly social with one -another."[86] - -From Lancaster Francis Goodchild and Thomas Idle took train to Leeds, -"of which enterprising and important commercial centre it may be -observed with delicacy that you must either like it very much or not at -all." Next day, the first of the Race Week, they proceed to Doncaster, -and put up at that noted establishment the Angel, still flourishing in -the principal thoroughfare as of yore. Here they had "very good, clean, -and quiet apartments" on the second floor, looking down into the main -street, Dickens describing his own bedroom as "airy and clean, little -dressing-room attached, eight water-jugs (I never saw such a supply), -capital sponge-bath, perfect arrangement, and exquisite neatness."[87] -That great annual festival known as Race Week had just begun, and the -streets of Doncaster were full of jockeys, betting men, drunkards, and -other undesirable persons, from morning to night--and all night. From -their windows the apprentices gazed with interest and wonderment upon -the motley assemblage, for this was their first experience of the St. -Leger and its saturnalia. - - [Illustration: THE AULA NOVA AND NORMAN STAIRCASE, PART OF THE - KING'S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY. (_Page 203._) - The oldest public school in England, dating from the seventh - century, and the original of Dr. Strong's in "David Copperfield."] - - [Illustration: HOUSE ON LADY WOOTTON'S GREEN, CANTERBURY. (_Page - 203._) - Identified as the private residence of Dr. Strong in "David - Copperfield."] - -We are assured by Forster that the description here given in "The Lazy -Tour" of Doncaster and the races emanated from the pen of Wilkie -Collins; I venture, however, to believe that Dickens is more likely to -have composed the chapter in question, for not only is it written in his -characteristic vein, but we find that when at Doncaster Thomas Idle -(_i.e._, Collins) continued to suffer severely from the accident to his -ankle, which practically incapacitated him, and evidently prevented him -from witnessing the races. In a letter written at this time Dickens -remarks: "I am not going to the course this morning, but have engaged a -carriage (open, and pair) for to-morrow and Friday.... We breakfast at -half-past eight, and fall to work for _H. W._ afterwards. Then I go out, -and--hem! look for subjects." The first person singular here is -significant, indicating as it does that Collins did not accompany his -friend to the scenes so vividly and realistically portrayed in the final -chapter of the "Tour." In respect of the visit to Doncaster, a -remarkable incident may be noted. Dickens, who knew nothing (and cared -less) about matters relating to the turf, invested in a "c'rect card" -containing the names of the horses and jockeys, and, merely for the fun -of the thing, wrote down three names for the winners of the three chief -races, "and, if you can believe it (he said to Forster) without your -hair standing on end, those three races were won, one after another, by -those three horses!"[88] It was the St. Leger Day, which brought -ill-fortune to many, so that Dickens's "half-appalling kind of luck" -seemed to him especially to be a "wonderful, paralyzing coincidence." He -sincerely believed that if a boy with any good in him, but with a -damning propensity to sporting and betting, were taken to the Doncaster -Races soon enough, it would cure him, so terrible is the revolting -exhibition of rascality and the seamy side of humanity. - - * * * * * * * * - -Scotland may justly lay claim to an intimate association with Charles -Dickens. With the picturesque streets of Edinburgh he first became -familiar in 1834, during his reporting days, when he and his colleague, -Thomas Beard, represented the _Morning Chronicle_ at a grand banquet -given at the Scottish capital in honour of the then Prime Minister, Earl -Grey, the two young reporters going by sea from London to Leith. This -fact explains how Dickens secured such an accurate presentment of the -old town of Edinburgh as we find in "Pickwick," in the forty-eighth -chapter of which Arthur's Seat is described as "towering, surly and -dark, like some gruff genius, over the ancient city he has watched so -long," while Canongate (as seen by the hero of "The Story of the -Bagman's Uncle") is represented as consisting of "tall, gaunt, -straggling houses, with time-stained fronts, and windows that seemed to -have shared the lot of eyes in mortals, and to have grown dim and sunken -with age. Six, seven, eight stories high were the houses; story piled -above story, as children build with cards, throwing their dark shadows -over the roughly-paved road, and making the night darker. A few oil -lamps were scattered at long distances, but they only served to mark the -dirty entrance to some narrow close, or to show where a common stair -communicated, by steep and intricate windings, with the various flats -above." We are told that Tom Smart's uncle, on reaching the North Bridge -connecting the old town with the new, "stopped for a minute to look at -the strange irregular clusters of lights piled one above the other, and -twinkling afar off so high that they looked like stars, gleaming from -the castle walls on the one side and the Calton Hill on the other, as if -they illuminated veritable castles in the air." - -The coach-yard (or rather enclosure) in Leith Walk, by which Tom had to -pass on the way to his lodging, and where he saw the vision of the old -mail-coach with its passengers, actually existed at that spot, and was -owned by Mr. Croall, whose family disposed of the carriages and coaches, -but subsequently owned all the cabs in the city. Dickens afterwards -visited Edinburgh on at least four occasions, staying at the Waterloo -Hotel in 1861 and at Kennedy's in 1868, during his Reading tours, and on -the latter occasion he observed: "Improvement is beginning to knock the -old town of Edinburgh about here and there; but the Canongate and the -most picturesque of the horrible courts and wynds are not to be easily -spoiled, or made fit for the poor wretches who people them to live -in."[89] The Scott Monument he could not but regard as a failure, -considering that it resembles the spire of a Gothic church taken off and -stuck in the ground. - -In 1841, on the eve of his departure for the United States, the -"Inimitable Boz," accompanied by his wife, made Scotland his destination -for a summer holiday tour in "Rob Roy's country," as he termed it. He -had thought of Ireland, but altered his mind. The novelist received a -magnificent welcome, initiated by a public dinner in Edinburgh, at which -Professor Wilson presided. During their brief stay in the Scottish -capital Dickens found excellent accommodation at the Royal Hotel, which -was consequently besieged, and he was compelled to take refuge in a -sequestered apartment at the end of a long passage. His chambers here -were "a handsome sitting-room, a spacious bedroom, and large -dressing-room adjoining," with another room at his disposal for writing -purposes, while from the windows he obtained a noble view, in which the -castle formed a conspicuous object. From Edinburgh he travelled to the -Highlands, with intervals of rest, and thoroughly admired the -characteristic scenery of the country. Especially was he impressed by -the Pass of Glencoe, which he had often longed to see, and which he -thought "perfectly terrible." "The Pass," he said, "is an awful place. -It is shut in on each side by enormous rocks, from which great torrents -come rushing down in all directions. In amongst these rocks on one side -of the Pass ... there are scores of glens high up, which form such -haunts as you might imagine yourself wandering in in the very height and -madness of a fever. They will live in my dreams for years.... They -really are fearful in their grandeur and amazing solitude." Indeed, -"that awful Glencoe," as he called it, exercised a kind of fascination -over him which proved irresistible, compelling him to revisit the spot -the next day, when he found it "absolutely horrific," for "it had rained -all night, and ... through the whole glen, which is ten miles long, -torrents were boiling and foaming, and sending up in every direction -spray like the smoke of great fires. They were rushing down every hill -and mountain side, and tearing like devils across the path, and down -into the depths of the rocks.... One great torrent came roaring down -with a deafening noise and a rushing of water that was quite -appalling.... The sights and sounds were beyond description." This and -other adventures during his journeyings hereabouts were vividly -described in letters to Forster, who has printed the major portion of -them in his biography, and a very attractive record it is. - -Before returning southward, the novelist became the recipient of an -invitation to a public dinner at Glasgow; but, yearning for home, he -pleaded pressing business connected with "Master Humphrey's Clock," then -appearing in weekly numbers, promising, however, to return a few months -later and accept the honour then. Illness unfortunately prevented the -fulfilment of that promise, and six years elapsed (1847) before he made -acquaintance with that city, when he performed the ceremony of opening -the Glasgow Athenĉum, which was followed by a soirée in the City Hall. -In 1858 he was recommended by some of the students for election as Lord -Rector of Glasgow University, in opposition to his own wish, but -received only a few votes. - - [Illustration: THE SUN INN, CANTERBURY. (_Page 203._) - "It was a little inn where Mr. Micawber put up, and he occupied a - little room in it" ("David Copperfield").] - -The same year found him again at Edinburgh, and giving, for charitable -purposes, a public Reading of the "Carol" in the Music Hall there, at -the conclusion of which the Lord Provost presented him with a massive -silver wassail-cup, which he bequeathed to his eldest son, and which is -now in the possession of Mr. W. H. Lever, of Port Sunlight, Cheshire. -His paid Readings subsequently took him to the leading cities in -Scotland, and in 1868 he wrote from the Royal Hotel, Glasgow (his -customary quarters there): "The atmosphere of this place, compounded of -mists from the Highlands and smoke from the town factories, is crushing -my eyebrows as I write, and it rains as it never does rain anywhere -else, and always does rain here. It is a dreadful place, though much -improved, and possessing a deal of public spirit."[90] - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - IN THE MIDLANDS AND HOME COUNTIES. - - -The year 1838, in which Charles Dickens, accompanied by "Phiz," hazarded -that bitter coach-ride to the northern wilds of Yorkshire, is memorable -also for another "bachelor excursion," the two friends travelling by -road through the Midlands in the late autumn, _en route_ for -Warwickshire. They started from the coach office near Hungerford Street, -Strand, having booked seats to Leamington, where, on arrival, after a -very agreeable (but very cold) journey, they found "a roaring fire, an -elegant dinner, a snug room, and capital beds" awaiting them. The -"capital inn" affording these creature comforts to the two benumbed -passengers was Copps's Royal Hotel, to which reference is made in -"Dombey and Son" as the establishment favoured by Mr. Dombey during his -stay at Leamington, the scene of his introduction to the lady who became -his second wife. - - [Illustration: GAD'S HILL PLACE. (_Page 205._) - The home of Charles Dickens from 1857 to 1870. - _Photochrom Co., Ltd._] - -The next morning Dickens and "Phiz" drove in a post-chaise to -Kenilworth, "with which we were both enraptured" (the novelist observed -in a letter to his wife), "and where I really think we _must_ have -lodgings next summer, please God that we are in good health and all goes -well. You cannot conceive how delightful it is. To read among the ruins -in fine weather would be perfect luxury."[91] A similar opinion is -recorded in his private diary: "Away to -Kenilworth--delightful--beautiful beyond expression. Mem.: What a summer -resort!--three months lie about the ruins--books--thinking--seriously -turn this over next year." Thence they proceeded to Warwick Castle, to -which Dickens referred with less enthusiasm in the same epistle as "an -ancient building, newly restored, and possessing no very great -attraction beyond a fine view and some beautiful pictures"; thence to -Stratford-on-Avon, where both novelist and artist "sat down in the room -where Shakespeare was born, and left our autographs and read those of -other people, and so forth." Dickens's entry in the diary recording this -circumstance is reminiscent of Alfred Jingle's staccato style; thus: -"Stratford--Shakespeare--the birthplace, visitors, scribblers, old -woman--Qy. whether she knows what Shakespeare did, etc." The secretary -and librarian of Shakespeare's birthplace (Mr. Richard Savage) informs -me that he has understood that these signatures of Dickens and "Phiz" -were written upon one of the plaster panels in the birth-room, but have -since been destroyed; the church albums for the years 1848 and 1852 -contain signatures of Dickens and of the members of his amateur -theatrical company, then touring to raise funds for charitable -purposes.[92] - -It is evident that Dickens's first impressions of Stratford were -recalled in "Nicholas Nickleby," where Mrs. Nickleby remarks, in her -usual inconsequent manner, upon the visit of herself and her husband to -the birthplace, and their lodging at a hostelry in the town. Warwick, -Kenilworth, and the neighbourhood the author remembered when writing the -twenty-seventh chapter of "Dombey and Son," in the description of that -"most enchanting expedition" to the castle: "Associations of the Middle -Ages, and all that, which is so truly exquisite," exclaimed Cleopatra -with rapture; "such charming times! So full of faith! So vigorous and -forcible! So picturesque! So perfectly removed from the commonplace!... -Pictures at the castle, quite divine!" "Those darling bygone times," she -observed to Mr. Carker, bent upon showing him the beauties of that -historic pile, "with their delicious fortresses, and their dear old -dungeons, and their delightful places of torture, and their romantic -vengeances, and their picturesque assaults and sieges, and everything -that makes life truly charming! How dreadfully we have degenerated!" -Cleopatra and the rest of the little party "made the tour of the -pictures, the walls, crow's nest, and so forth," and the castle "being -at length pretty well exhausted," and Edith Grainger having completed a -sketch of the exterior of the ancient building (concerning which sketch -Mr. Carker fawningly avowed that he was unprepared "for anything so -beautiful, and so unusual altogether"), a stroll among the haunted ruins -of Kenilworth, "and more rides to more points of view ... brought the -day's expedition to a close." - - [Illustration: THE LEATHER BOTTLE, COBHAM. (_Page 210._) - Dickens, in his early days, stayed at the Leather Bottle on more - than one occasion, and in 1841 spent a day and a night here with - Forster.] - -Quitting Stratford the next day, Dickens and his companion intended to -proceed to Bridgnorth; but were dismayed to find there were no coaches, -which fact compelled them to continue their journey to Shrewsbury and -Chester by way of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, "starting by eight -o'clock through a cold, wet fog, and travelling, when the day had -cleared up, through miles of cinder-paths, and blazing furnaces, and -roaring steam-engines, and such a mass of dirt, gloom, and misery, as I -never before witnessed."[93] His impressions of the Black Country are -vividly portrayed in the forty-third and succeeding chapters of "The Old -Curiosity Shop," and there is good reason to suppose that a portion at -least of the itinerary of the pilgrimage of little Nell and her -grandfather, after their flight from London to escape from the evil -influence of Quilp, was based upon his own tour, undertaken two years -previously. Indeed, so far as the above-mentioned chapter is concerned, -there is evidence of this in a letter to Forster, apropos of the story, -where the novelist says: "You will recognise a description of the road -we travelled between Birmingham and Wolverhampton; but I had conceived -it so well in my mind that the execution does not please me so well as I -expected." - -With regard to the depressing effect wrought upon the mind of the -traveller through the Black Country, it is gratifying to know that a -project is seriously contemplated by which this scene of waste and -desolation may be restored to its original condition by reafforestation. -Sir Oliver Lodge recently presided at an important meeting held in -Birmingham to consider the question, and it was agreed that, now that -the mineral wealth of the locality had been exhausted, it was only right -that the surface of the land should be altered for good by a system of -tree-planting, the land itself being rendered useless for mining, -agriculture, and habitation. - -Birmingham is mentioned frequently throughout the works of Dickens, who -visited the city on several occasions, staying at one time at the old -Hen and Chickens Inn. He must have known this important manufacturing -centre in his journalistic days, for he made it the scene of that -well-remembered incident recorded in the fiftieth chapter of "The -Pickwick Papers," where Mr. Pickwick calls upon Mr. Winkle, senior, with -a difficult and delicate commission. When the post-coach conveying Mr. -Pickwick and his friends drew near it was quite dark, "the straggling -cottages by the roadside; the dingy hue of every object visible; the -murky atmosphere; the paths of cinders and brick-dust; the deep red glow -of furnace fires in the distance; the volumes of dense smoke issuing -heavily forth from high, toppling chimneys, blackening and obscuring -everything around; the glare of distant lights; the ponderous waggons -which toiled along the road laden with clashing rods of iron, or piled -with heavy goods--all betokened their rapid approach to the great -working town of Birmingham. As they rattled through the narrow -thoroughfares leading to the heart of the turmoil, the sights and sounds -of earnest occupation struck more forcibly on the senses. The streets -were thronged with working people. The hum of labour resounded from -every house, lights gleamed from the long casement windows in the attic -stories, and the whirl of wheels and noise of machinery shook the -trembling walls. The fires, whose lurid, sullen light had been visible -for miles, blazed fiercely up in the great works and factories of the -town. The din of hammers, the rushing of steam, and the dead, heavy -clanking of engines, was the harsh music which arose from every -quarter." The postboy, driving briskly through the open streets and past -the "handsome and well-lighted shops" on the outskirts of the town, drew -up at the Old Royal Hotel, where they were shown to a comfortable -apartment. The _Old_ Royal survives in name only, the present building -having been so altered and modernized as to bear no resemblance to the -three-storied structure, with its plain, square front and Georgian -porch, which temporarily sheltered Mr. Pickwick. The residence of the -elder Mr. Winkle ("a wharfinger, Sir, near the canal"), whose name is a -familiar one in Birmingham, is believed to be a certain red-brick -building in Easy Row, in close proximity to the Old Wharf, a house -which, with its white steps leading to the doorway, answers fairly well -to the description given in the book. - -In 1844 Dickens presided at a meeting of the Polytechnic Institution at -Birmingham, and delivered a powerful oration upon the subject of -education, comprehensive and unsectarian. - -"A better and quicker audience," he afterwards remarked, "never listened -to man"; and, in honour of the event, the large hall was profusely -decorated with artificial flowers, these also forming the words -"Welcome, Boz," in letters about 6 feet high, while about the great -organ were immense transparencies bearing designs of an allegorical -character. In 1857 he was elected one of the first honorary members of -the Birmingham and Midland Institute, in which institution he had always -taken an active interest. In January, 1853, at the rooms of the Society -of Artists, Temple Row, a large company assembled to witness the -presentation to Dickens of a silver-gilt salver and diamond ring, in -recognition of valuable services rendered in aid of the fund then being -raised for the establishment of the Institute, and as a token of -appreciation of his "varied literary acquirements, genial philosophy, -and high moral teaching." At the great banquet which followed this -interesting function, he offered to give Readings from his books in -further aid, and the promise was fulfilled in December, 1853, with the -result that nearly £500 were added to the fund; to commemorate these -first public Readings, Mrs. Dickens became the recipient of a silver -flower-basket. - -Other Readings were given in Birmingham in the sixties. In September, -1869, he opened the session of the Midland Institute, the ceremony being -rendered memorable by a powerful speech, in which he thus briefly -declared his political creed: - -"My faith in the people governing is, on the whole, infinitesimal; my -faith in the people governed is, on the whole, illimitable." In 1870, as -President of the Institute, he distributed at the Town Hall the prizes -and certificates awarded to the most successful students; one of the -prize-winners was a Miss Winkle, whose name (so reminiscent of -"Pickwick") was received with good-humoured laughter, and it is recorded -that the novelist, after making some remarks to the lady in an -undertone, observed to the audience that he had "recommended Miss Winkle -to change her name!" - - [Illustration: THE HOUSE AT CHALK IN WHICH DICKENS SPENT HIS - HONEYMOON, APRIL, 1836. (_Page 211._) - Some of the earlier chapters, of "Pickwick" were written here.] - -If a brief note in the diary (under date October 31, 1838) may be -accepted as evidence, the travellers stayed at the White Lion in Factory -Road, Wolverhampton. Twenty years later (August and November, 1858) -Dickens gave public Readings here, and on the first occasion there was a -performance of "Oliver Twist" at the local theatre, "in consequence (he -opined) of the illustrious author honouring the town with his presence." -Writing at this time of the appearance of the country through which he -had then passed, he said that it "looked at its blackest"; "all the -furnaces seemed in full blast, and all the coal-pits to be working.... -It is market-day here (Wolverhampton), and the ironmasters are standing -out in the street (where they always hold high change), making such an -iron hum and buzz that they confuse me horribly. In addition there is a -bellman announcing something--not the Readings, I beg to say--and there -is an excavation being made in the centre of the open place, for a -statue, or a pump, or a lamppost, or something or other, round which all -the Wolverhampton boys are yelling and struggling."[94] - -Reverting to the tour of 1838, Dickens and "Phiz" left Wolverhampton for -Shrewsbury (the next stage), making their quarters at the old-fashioned -Lion Hotel, which establishment the novelist revisited during the -provincial Reading tour of 1858, when he thus described the inn to his -elder daughter: - -"We have the strangest little rooms (sitting-room and two bedrooms -altogether), the ceilings of which I can touch with my hand. The windows -bulge out over the street, as if they were little stern windows in a -ship. And a door opens out of the sitting-room on to a little open -gallery with plants in it, where one leans over a queer old rail, and -looks all downhill and slantwise at the crookedest black and yellow old -houses, all manner of shapes except straight shapes. To get into this -room we come through a china closet; and the man in laying the cloth has -actually knocked down, in that repository, two geraniums and Napoleon -Bonaparte." This quaint establishment, alas! has been modernized (if not -entirely rebuilt) since those days, and presents nothing of the -picturesqueness that attracted the author of "Pickwick." Shrewsbury, -however, still retains and cherishes several of its "black and yellow" -(_i.e._, half-timbered) houses, and it is probably this town which we -find thus portrayed in the forty-sixth chapter of "The Old Curiosity -Shop": "In the streets were a number of old houses, built of a kind of -earth or plaster, crossed and re-crossed in a great many directions with -black beams, which gave them a remarkable and very ancient look. The -doors, too, were arched and low, some with oaken portals and quaint -benches, where the former inhabitants had sat on summer evenings. The -windows were latticed in little diamond panes, that seemed to wink and -blink upon the passengers as if they were dim of sight." On the night of -their arrival at Shrewsbury, Dickens and "Phiz" were present at a -"bespeak" at the theatre, and witnessed a performance of "The Love -Chase," a ballet ("with a phenomenon!"),[95] followed by divers songs, -and the play of "A Roland for an Oliver." "It is a good theatre," was -the novelist's comment, "but the actors are very funny. Browne laughed -with such indecent heartiness at one point of the entertainment that an -old gentleman in the next box suffered the most violent indignation. The -bespeak party occupied two boxes; the ladies were full-dressed, and the -gentlemen, to a man, in white gloves with flowers in their button-holes. -It amused us mightily, and was really as like the Miss Snevellicci -business as it could well be."[96] - - [Illustration: THE CORN EXCHANGE, ROCHESTER. (_Page 214._) - "It is oddly garnished with a queer old clock that projects over the - pavement ... as if Time carried on business there and hung out his - sign" ("Seven Poor Travellers").] - -From the diary we learn that the friends journeyed by post-coach from -Shrewsbury over the Welsh border to Llangollen, passing two aqueducts by -the way--"beautiful road between the mountains--old abbey at the top of -mountain, Denis Brien or Rook Castle--Hand Hotel--Mrs. Phillips--Good." -The parish of Llangollen is intersected by the celebrated aqueduct of -Pont-y-Lycylltan, and contiguous thereto stands Valle Crucis Abbey. -Thence the itinerary included Bangor, Capel Curig, Conway, Chester, -Birkenhead, Manchester (Adelphi Hotel), and Cheadle. There is good -reason for supposing that Dickens, during this tour, availed himself of -the opportunity of visiting the peaceful and picturesque village of -Tong, on the north-eastern borders of the county of Salop, and that he -probably posted there from Shrewsbury; for he assured the late -Archdeacon Lloyd that Tong Church is the veritable church described in -"The Old Curiosity Shop" as the scene of little Nell's death. - -"It was a very aged, ghostly place; the church had been built many -hundreds of years ago, and had once had a convent or monastery attached; -for arches in ruins, remains of oriel windows, and fragments of -blackened walls, were yet standing; while other portions of the old -building, which had crumbled away and fallen down, were mingled with the -churchyard earth and overgrown with grass, as if they too claimed a -burying-place and sought to mix their ashes with the dust of men." Tong -Church was erected about the year 1411, and is a fine specimen of Gothic -architecture of the Early Perpendicular period. Owing to its fine -monuments it is called "The Westminster Abbey of the Midlands." There -yet remain the original oak choir-stalls with the miserere seats and -carved poppy-heads; the old oak roof with its sculptured bosses; the -painted screens in the aisles, of very rich workmanship; and the -beautiful Vernon Chantry, called "The Golden Chapel," from its costly -ornamentation, referred to in the story as the "baronial chapel." The -sacred edifice underwent various reparations during the period between -1810 and 1838, still presenting, however, an exceedingly picturesque -aspect when the novelist beheld it in the latter year. Although a more -thorough restoration took place in 1892, we are assured that no old -features have been destroyed, but doubtless much of the halo of -antiquity, which imparts a poetical charm to such structures, is not so -evident as of yore. That Dickens derived inspiration from Tong and its -environment for the "local colouring" in chap. xlvi. and later chapters -of "The Old Curiosity Shop" it is impossible to doubt. - - [Illustration: THE GUILDHALL, ROCHESTER. (_Page 214._) - Where Pip was bound prentice to Joe Gargery. Hogarth and his friends - played hopscotch under the colonnade in 1732.] - -In December, 1858, Dickens was entertained at a public dinner at the -Castle Hotel, Coventry, on the occasion of receiving a gold repeater -watch of special construction by the watchmakers of the town. This gift -was tendered as a mark of gratitude for his Reading of the "Christmas -Carol," given a year previously in aid of the funds of the Coventry -Institute. In acknowledging this testimonial the recipient said: - -"This watch, with which you have presented me, shall be my companion in -my hours of sedentary working at home and in my wanderings abroad. It -shall never be absent from my side, and it shall reckon off the labours -of my future days.... And when I have done with time and its -measurement, this watch shall belong to my children; and as I have seven -boys, and as they have all begun to serve their country in various ways, -or to elect into what distant regions they shall roam, it is not only -possible, but probable, that this little voice will be heard scores of -years hence--who knows?--in some yet unfounded city in the wilds of -Australia, or communicating Greenwich time to Coventry Street, Japan.... -From my heart of hearts I can assure you that the memory of to-night, -and of your picturesque and ancient city, will never be absent from my -mind, and I can never more hear the lightest mention of the name of -Coventry without having inspired in my breast sentiments of unusual -emotion and unusual attachment." The novelist bequeathed the watch (and -the chain and seals worn with it) to his "dear and trusty friend" John -Forster. - -In 1849 Dickens was an honoured guest at Rockingham Castle, -Northamptonshire, the home of his friends the Hon. Richard Watson and -Mrs. Watson. Writing thence to Forster, he said: "Picture to yourself, -my dear F., a large old castle, approached by an ancient keep (gateway), -portcullis, etc., filled with company, waited on by six-and-twenty -servants ... and you will have a faint idea of the mansion in which I am -at present staying...." His visits to Rockingham were often repeated, -and in the winter of 1850 he there supervised the construction of "a -very elegant little theatre," of which he constituted himself the -manager, and early in the following year the theatre opened with -performances of "Used Up," and "Animal Magnetism," with the novelist -himself and members of his family in the cast of both plays. Charles -Dickens the younger considered that Rockingham Castle bears much more -than an accidental resemblance to Chesney Wold, the Lincolnshire mansion -of Sir Leicester Dedlock in "Bleak House," upon which story his father -was engaged at the period here referred to. Indeed, the author himself -confessed as much to Mrs. Watson when he said: "In some of the -descriptions of Chesney Wold I have taken many bits, chiefly about trees -and shadows, from observations made at Rockingham." - -The castle is situated on a breezy eminence overlooking the valley of -the Welland, which river overflows occasionally and floods the -surrounding country, suggesting the watery Lincolnshire landscape -described in the second chapter of "Bleak House." At the end of the -terrace is the Yew Walk, corresponding with the Ghost's Walk at Chesney -Wold, and there is a sundial in the garden, also referred to in the -story. After passing under the archway, flanked by ancient bastion -towers (the remains of a former castle), a general view is obtained of -the north front of the mansion, one of the principal apartments in which -is the long drawing-room, the veritable drawing-room of Chesney Wold, -except that the fireplace is surmounted by a carved overmantel instead -of a portrait, while the family presentments at Rockingham are in the -hall, and not in the drawing-room, as related of those at Chesney Wold. -The village of Rockingham consists of one street, which ascends the hill -in the direction of the castle lodge; on the right as we enter the -village stands "a small inn" called the Sondes Arms, the prototype of -the Dedlock Arms, which bears the date 1763. The "solemn little church" -in the park, with its old carved oak pulpit, has been restored and -enlarged within the last thirty years. A footpath leading to the church -from the village street undoubtedly answers to Lawrence Boythorn's -disputed right-of-way, concerning which that impulsive gentleman waxes -eloquent in the ninth chapter of "Bleak House." - -Of the county of Hertford Dickens always retained agreeable memories; he -frequently followed the advice once offered by him to W. H. Wills, to -"take a cheery flutter into the air of Hertfordshire." During the early -years of his literary career he indulged a fondness for horse exercise, -and, generally accompanied by Forster, would ride to some destination a -few miles out of London, take luncheon at some favourite hostelry, and -thus enjoy a day's recreation. Their usual refreshment-house on the -Great North Road was the Red Lion at High Barnet, in which town Oliver -Twist, footsore and weary, found a temporary resting-place on a cold -doorstep, and wondered at the great number of taverns there existing, -for (as related in the story) "every other house in Barnet was a tavern, -large or small." We read in the same story that the infamous Bill Sikes, -in his flight after the murder of Nancy, eventually reached Hatfield, -turning down "the hill by the church of the quiet village, and, plodding -along the little street, crept into a small public-house...." It is -evident that Dickens knew Hatfield intimately, the topography of which -has since undergone considerable alteration in consequence of the -invasion of the Great Northern Railway. The "small public-house" entered -by Sikes was in all probability that quaint little ale-house the Eight -Bells, still flourishing at the bottom of the main street, while the -"little post-office," where he recognised the mail from London, at that -time adjoined the Salisbury Arms (now a private residence), at which -establishment Dickens himself doubtless stayed on the night of October -27, 1838, when he and "Phiz" made their "bachelor excursion" to the West -Country.[97] Hatfield is introduced in "Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings,"[98] -for here, in the rural churchyard, Mr. Lirriper was buried; not that -Hatfield was his native place (explains the bereaved widow -pathetically), "but that he had a liking for the Salisbury Arms, where -we went upon our wedding-day, and passed as happy a fortnight as ever -happy was." In after-years she "put a sandwich and a drop of sherry in a -little basket and went down to Hatfield churchyard, outside the coach, -and kissed my hand and laid it with a kind of a proud and swelling love -on my husband's grave, though, bless you! it had taken me so long to -clear his name that my wedding-ring was worn quite fine and smooth when -I laid it on the green, green, waving grass." - - [Illustration: ROCHESTER ABOUT 1810. (_Page 215._) - _From old prints._] - -Mr. Lirriper's youngest brother, by the way, who was something of a -scapegrace, also retained a sneaking affection for the Salisbury Arms, -derived from less sentimental reasons; here he enjoyed himself for the -space of a fortnight, and left without paying his bill, an omission -speedily rectified by the kind-hearted Mrs. Lirriper, in the innocent -belief that it was fraternal affection which induced her unprincipled -brother-in-law to favour Hatfield with his presence. - -In 1859 Dickens became much interested in a working men's club -established at Rothamsted by the late Sir John Bennet Lawes, the -renowned scientist, the purpose of this club being to enable all -agricultural labourers of the parish to enjoy their ale and pipes -independently of the public-house. The novelist, accompanied by his -brother-in-law, Henry Austin, drove to Rothamsted for the express -purpose of inspecting this novel institution, which numbers to-day -nearly 200 members, and was so delighted with what he saw and heard -respecting it that he not only published an article on the subject,[99] -but eagerly recommended the formation of such clubs in other country -neighbourhoods. Sir John Lawes is, of course, the prototype of Friar -Bacon in the article aforesaid, where the worthy baronet's beautiful -manor-house (in which his son and heir now resides) is thus described: -"The sun burst forth gaily in the afternoon, and gilded the old gables, -and old mullioned windows, and old weathercock, and old clock-face, of -the quaint old house which is the dwelling of the man we sought. How -shall I describe him? As one of the most famous practical chemists of -the age? That designation will do as well as another--better, perhaps, -than most others. And his name? Friar Bacon.... We walked on the trim -garden terrace before dinner, among the early leaves and blossoms; two -peacocks, apparently in very tight new boots, occasionally crossing the -gravel at a distance. The sun shining through the old house-windows now -and then flashed out some brilliant piece of colour from bright hangings -within, or upon the old oak panelling; similarly, Friar Bacon, as we -paced to and fro, revealed little glimpses of his good work." - -In "Bleak House" Hertfordshire plays a conspicuous part, and it is -generally believed that the original of John Jarndyce's residence, which -gives its name to the story, is to be discovered in or near St. Albans, -as mentioned in the book itself. Indeed, a picturesque Early Georgian -building at the top of Gombards Road (on the northern outskirts of the -city) has been christened "Bleak House" in the supposition that it was -the veritable home of Mr. Jarndyce; and there appears to be some -justification for this, as the position of the house in its relation to -the abbey church, and the characteristics of the locality, are in -harmony with the details particularized in the story. There is evidence, -too, that Dickens lodged in St. Albans when engaged upon the early -chapters of his novel; he and Douglas Jerrold stayed at the Queen's -Hotel in Chequer Street, and it was then rumoured in the town that the -object of Dickens's visit was to obtain "local colour." His younger -brother Frederick and his friend Peter Cunningham lived for a while in -St. Albans, and it is remembered by some of the older inhabitants that -the author of "Pickwick" occasionally journeyed to St. Albans, when -opportunities arose, for a gossip with those boon companions in their -country retreat. - -Of all Hertfordshire localities with which Dickens formed an -acquaintance, that claiming the most intimate association with him is -the pretty little village of Knebworth, the ancestral home of the -Lyttons. A warm friendship existed between Lord Lytton and his brother -novelist, and when, in 1850, some private theatricals were arranged for -performance in the grand banqueting-hall, with "Boz" and his goodly -company of amateurs in the cast (including Leech, Lemon, Tenniel, -Stanfield, Forster, and others), mirth and jollity reigned supreme. The -plays went off "in a whirl of triumph" (wrote Dickens at the time), "and -fired the whole length and breadth of Hertfordshire," which is not -surprising when the circumstances are recalled. At Knebworth originated -that unfortunate scheme known as the "Guild of Literature and Art," -formulated by Dickens and Lord Lytton for the amelioration of the -hardships of impecunious authors and artists, the funds in aid of the -project being augmented by the proceeds derived from the theatrical -entertainments. It was intended to erect and endow a retreat for such -necessitous persons, and a block of houses (in the Gothic style) was -actually built upon ground near the main road at Stevenage, given by -Lord Lytton for the purpose. Unhappily, these praiseworthy efforts -failed to appeal to those for whose benefit they were designed, and the -guild houses, after remaining unoccupied for nearly twenty years, were -converted into "suburban villas," the rents being available for the -relief of such applicants as were qualified to receive it. It was -generally believed that the failure to secure tenants for the guild -houses under the special regulations was due chiefly to the fact of -their being regarded as little better than almshouses, and too remote -from London to be easily accessible; it must not be forgotten, too, that -true genius looks askance at acts of charity performed in its behalf, -the spirit of independence which usually characterizes it rebelling at -anything that appears to assume the form of patronage, although it must -be admitted that the guild rules give no cause for suspicion on that -score. Dickens, in a speech delivered in 1865, after a survey of the -newly-completed and attractive domiciles, said: "The ladies and -gentlemen whom we shall invite to occupy the houses we have built will -never be placed under any social disadvantage. They will be invited to -occupy them as artists, receiving them as a mark of the high respect in -which they are held by their fellow-workers. As artists, I hope they -will often exercise their calling within those walls for the general -advantage; and they will always claim, on equal terms, the hospitality -of their generous neighbour." But it was not to be, and probably nothing -proved so disappointing to Dickens as the almost contemptuous -indifference with which this philanthropic proposal was received both by -the press and the public, who ridiculed it unmercifully. As a memento of -the scheme, there may be seen nearly opposite the guild houses a -roadside tavern rejoicing in the sign of Our Mutual Friend, intended as -a delicate compliment to the author of the story so entitled, then in -course of publication. - -During a visit to Knebworth in 1861, Dickens and Mr. (afterwards Sir) -Arthur Helps--sometime Queen's Secretary--called upon a most -extraordinary character, locally known as "Mad Lucas," who lived in an -extremely miserly fashion in the kitchen of his house (Elmwood House, at -Redcoats Green, near Stevenage). This strange recluse died of apoplexy -in 1874, and was buried in Hackney Churchyard; his house, with its -boarded-up windows, shored-up walls, and dilapidated roof, continued to -remain an object of interest for many years afterwards, until in 1893 it -was razed to the ground and the materials sold by public auction. James -Lucas, "the Hertfordshire Hermit," was really a well-educated and highly -intellectual man, who inherited the estate of his father, a prosperous -West India merchant, and it is conjectured that his distress at the -death of his widowed mother (who lived with him) was primarily the cause -of that mental aberration which assumed such an eccentric form; he even -refused to bury her corpse, so that the local authorities were compelled -to resort to a subterfuge in order to perform themselves the last rites. -He objected to furnish his rooms, and, attired simply in a loose blanket -fastened with a skewer, preferred to eat and sleep amidst the cinders -and rubbish-heaps (a sanctuary for rats) which accumulated in the -kitchen. Although his diet consisted of bread and cheese, red herrings, -and gin, there were choice wines available for friendly visitors, a -special vintage of sherry being reserved for ladies who thus honoured -him. The hermit's penchant for tramps attracted all the vagabonds in the -neighbourhood, so that it became necessary for him to protect himself -from insult by retaining armed watchmen and barricading the house. - -In "Tom Tiddler's Ground"[100] Dickens has depicted a miserly recluse -named Mopes, and it is easy to discern that Lucas sat for the -portrait--indeed, it is said that in reading the number he recognised -the presentment, and expressed great indignation at what he considered -to be a much exaggerated account of himself and his environment. In the -chapter devoted to Mr. Mopes, the novelist tells us that he found his -strange abode in "a nook in a rustic by-road, down among the pleasant -dales and trout-streams of a green English county." He does not think it -necessary for the reader to know what county; suffice it to say that one -"may hunt there, shoot there, fish there, traverse long grass-grown -Roman roads there, open ancient barrows there, see many a mile of -richly-cultivated land there, and hold Arcadian talk with a bold -peasantry, their country's pride, who will tell you (if you want to -know) how pastoral housekeeping is done on nine shillings a week." - -Those familiar with this portion of Hertfordshire cannot fail to -recognise in these allusions the neighbourhood of Stevenage, and a clue -to its identity is afforded by the allusion to "ancient barrows," for at -Stevenage there are some remarkable tumuli known as the "Six Hills," -which are believed to be ancient sepulchral barrows, or repositories of -the dead. If further evidence be required, it is forthcoming in the -following delightful portrayal of Stevenage itself, as it appeared to -Dickens over forty years ago: - -"The morning sun was hot and bright upon the village street. The village -street was like most other village streets: wide for its height, silent -for its size, and drowsy in the dullest degree. The quietest little -dwellings with the largest of window-shutters (to shut up Nothing as -carefully as if it were the Mint or the Bank of England) had called in -the Doctor's house so suddenly that his brass doorplate and three -stories stood among them as conspicuous and different as the Doctor -himself in his broadcloth among the smock frocks of his patients. The -village residences seem to have gone to law with a similar absence of -consideration, for a score of weak little lath-and-plaster cabins clung -in confusion about the Attorney's red-brick house, which, with glaring -doorsteps and a most terrific scraper, seemed to serve all manner of -ejectments upon them. They were as various as -labourers--high-shouldered, wry-necked, one-eyed, goggle-eyed, -squinting, bow-legged, knock-kneed, rheumatic, crazy; some of the small -tradesmen's houses, such as the crockery shop and the harness-maker's, -had a Cyclops window in the middle of the gable, within an inch or two -of its apex, suggesting that some forlorn rural Prentice must wriggle -himself into that apartment horizontally, when he retired to rest, after -the manner of the worm. So bountiful in its abundance was the -surrounding country, and so lean and scant the village, that one might -have thought the village had sown and planted everything it once -possessed to convert the same into crops. This would account for the -bareness of the little shops, the bareness of the few boards and -trestles designed for market purposes in a corner of the street, the -bareness of the obsolete inn and inn yard, with the ominous inscription, -'Excise Office,' not yet faded out from the gateway, as indicating the -very last thing that poverty could get rid of...." The village alehouse, -mentioned in the first chapter of "Tom Tiddler's Ground," and there -called the Peal of Bells, is the White Hart, Stevenage, where Dickens -called on his way to see Lucas to inquire of the landlord, old Sam -Cooper, the shortest route to the "ruined hermitage of Mr. Mopes the -hermit," some five miles distant. He found Tom Tiddler's Ground to be "a -nook in a rustic by-road, which the genius of Mopes had laid waste as -completely as if he had been born an Emperor and a Conqueror. Its centre -object was a dwelling-house, sufficiently substantial, all the -window-glass of which had been long ago abolished by the surprising -genius of Mopes, and all the windows of which were barred across with -rough-split logs of trees nailed over them on the outside. A rick-yard, -hip high in vegetable rankness and ruin, contained out-buildings, from -which the thatch had lightly fluttered away ... and from which the -planks and beams had heavily dropped and rotted." After noting the -fragments of mildewed ricks and the slimy pond, the traveller -encountered the hermit himself, as well as he could be observed between -the window-bars, "lying on a bank of soot and cinders, on the floor, in -front of a rusty fireplace," when presently began the interview with -"the sooty object in blanket and skewer," as related in the narrative -with approximate exactitude. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - IN DICKENS LAND. - - -"Kent, sir! Everybody knows Kent. Apples, cherries, hops, and women." -Thus did Alfred Jingle briefly summarize for the behoof of Tracy Tupman -the principal characteristics of the county which, by general consent, -is termed "the Garden of England," a designation richly merited through -its sylvan charms and other natural beauties. - -This division of south-eastern England is rightly considered as the very -heart of Dickens land, for the reason that no other locality (excepting, -of course, the great Metropolis) possesses such numerous associations -with the novelist and his writings. He himself practically admitted as -much when, in 1840, he said: "I have many happy recollections connected -with Kent, and am scarcely less interested in it than if I had been a -Kentish man bred and born, and had resided in the county all my life." -It was in Kent, too, where he made his last home and where he drew his -last breath. - -As already narrated in the opening chapter of this volume, some of -Dickens's earliest years were spent at Chatham, and the locality within -the radius of a few miles became familiar to him by means of pedestrian -excursions with his father; indeed, it was during one of these -delightful jaunts that he first saw the house at Gad's Hill which -subsequently became his own property, and the incident is thus -faithfully recorded (although thinly disguised) in one of "The -Uncommercial Traveller" papers: - -"So smooth was the old highroad, 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. - -"'Halloa!' said I to the very queer small boy. 'Where do you live?' - -"'At Chatham,' says he. - -"'What do you do there?' says I. - -"'I go to school,' says he. - -"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.' - -"'You know something about Falstaff, eh?' said I. - -"'All about him,' said the very queer small boy. 'I am old (I am nine), -and I read all sorts of books. But _do_ let us stop at the top of the -hill, and look at the house there, if you please.' - -"'You admire that house?' said I. - -"'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 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 the window with all his might. - -"I was rather amazed to be told this by the very queer small boy, for -that house happens to be _my_ house, and I have reason to believe that -what he said was true."[101] - -In another "Uncommercial" paper Dickens recorded his impressions of a -later visit to this neighbourhood: "I will call my boyhood's home ... -Dullborough," he says, and further observes that he found himself -rambling about the scenes among which his earliest days were -passed--"scenes from which I departed when a child, and which I did not -revisit until I was a man," when he found the place strangely altered, -for the railway had since disfigured the land. The railway-station "had -swallowed up the playing-field, the two beautiful hawthorn-trees, the -hedge, the turf, and all those buttercups and daisies had given place to -the stoniest of 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." He confesses that he was not made happy -by the disappearance of the old familiar landmarks of his boyhood, but -adds reflectively: "Who was I that I should quarrel with the town for -being so 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." - -In the same paper reference is made to the Dullborough (_i.e._, Chatham) -Mechanics' Institute--"There had been no such thing in the town in my -young days"--which he found with some difficulty, for the reason that -"it led a modest and retired existence up a stable-yard." He learned, -however, that it was "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 stepladder, 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." In aid -of the funds Dickens soon afterwards gave some public Readings in this -very building, with the result that its financial position was -considerably improved. - -Dickens's affection for Kent is indicated by the fact that he selected -that county in which to spend his honeymoon, and in the village of Chalk -(near Gravesend, on the main road to Dover) may still be seen the -cottage where that happy period was spent, and in which he wrote some of -the earlier pages of "Pickwick."[102] It is a corner house on the -southern side of the road, advantageously situated for commanding views -of the river Thames and the far-stretching landscape beyond. In -after-years, whenever his walks led him to this spot, he invariably -slackened his pace on arriving at the house, and meditatively glanced at -it for a few moments, mentally reviving the time when he and his bride -found a pleasant home within its hospitable walls. Shortly after the -birth of their eldest son, Dickens and his wife stayed at the honeymoon -cottage, which, with its red-tiled roof and dormer windows, is a -picturesque object on this famous coaching road. The walk to Chalk -Church was much favoured by the novelist, where a quaint carved figure -over the entrance porch interested him. This curious piece of sculpture, -which he always greeted with a friendly nod, is supposed to represent an -old priest grasping by the neck a large urn-like vessel, concerning -which there is probably a legend. Another grotesque is seen above, and -between the two is a niche, in which formerly stood an image of the -virgin saint (St. Mary) to whom this thirteenth-century church is -dedicated. About a mile distant, and a little south of the main road, is -Shorne, another typical Kentish village, which, with its church and -burial-ground, constituted for Dickens another source of attraction, and -the latter was probably in his mind when he referred (in "Pickwick") to -"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." Shorne formerly boasted a -celebrity, one Sir John Shorne, who achieved fame by the curing of ague -and gained notoriety as the custodian of the devil, whom, it is alleged, -he imprisoned in a boot, with the result that shrines were erected to -his memory.[103] - -Of the towns in Southern England associated with Dickens, perhaps none -is more replete with memories of the novelist than Broadstairs. It was -but a little Kentish watering-place when, in the autumn of 1837, he and -his wife first passed a seaside holiday there, at No. 12 (now No. 31), -High Street, a humble-looking tenement of two storeys in height, with a -small parlour facing the narrow thoroughfare; the house survived until a -few years ago, although in an altered form, and has since been rebuilt. -In 1890 it was tenanted by a plumber and glazier, who apparently did not -know of its literary associations, for here were written some of the -later pages of "Pickwick." Formerly of some importance, Broadstairs at -this time had just emerged from the condition of a village into which it -had lapsed, and in 1842 began to attain some celebrity as a place of -fashionable resort for sea-bathing. Dickens delighted in the quietude of -the spot, and Broadstairs became his favourite summer or autumn resort -for many years. In 1839 we find him located at No. 40, Albion Street -(two doors from the Albion Hotel), where he finished the writing of -"Nicholas Nickleby," and composed the dedication of that story to his -cherished friend Macready. During the following year he went twice to -Broadstairs, being then at work upon "The Old Curiosity Shop," and in -all probability found a lodgment in the Albion Street house; for, -writing to Maclise the day after his arrival there, on June 1, he urged -him to "come to the bower which is shaded for you in the one-pair front, -where no chair or table has four legs of the same length, and where no -drawers will open till you have pulled the pegs off, and then they keep -open and won't shut again." In 1845 and his family engaged rooms for the -month of August at the Albion Hotel, and again, apparently, in 1847, -judging from an allusion to his "looking out upon a dark gray sea, with -a keen north-east wind blowing it in shore." The Albion was favoured by -him in 1859,[104] when, suffering in health, he went for a week's sea -air and change, to prepare himself for the exacting labours of a -provincial Reading tour. Dickens delighted to entertain his friends at -the Albion, where, upon one of the walls, hangs an original letter -containing a description of Broadstairs, penned by the novelist himself: - -"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 is one of the freshest and freest little places -in the world." Here, too, is jealously preserved an ancient oak chest on -which he was wont to sit while he and his intimates quaffed the old -hostelry's unrivalled milk-punch. - -An amusing description of his mode of life at Broadstairs--of the mild -distractions and innocent pleasures to be enjoyed there--is discoverable -in a characteristic letter addressed by him to Professor Felton from -that watering-place in 1843: "This is a little fishing-place; intensely -quiet; built on a cliff, whereon, in the centre of a tiny semicircular -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 big -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 through telescopes and never see anything. 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. 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 _do_ 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 -(Forster's residence) at night as of men laughing, together with a -clinking of knives and forks and wineglasses."[105] Again, in 1850: "You -will find it the healthiest and freshest of places, and there are -Canterbury, and all varieties of what Leigh Hunt calls 'greenery,' -within a few minutes' railroad ride. It is not very picturesque ashore, -but extremely so seaward, all manner of ships continually passing close -inshore." Writing to the Earl of Carlisle in 1851, he jocularly said: -"The general character of Broadstairs as to size and accommodation was -happily expressed by Miss Eden, when she wrote to the Duke of Devonshire -(as he told me), saying how grateful she felt to a certain sailor, who -asked leave to see her garden, for not plucking it bodily up and -sticking it in his buttonhole. You will have for a night-light," he -added, "in the room we shall give you, the North Foreland lighthouse. -That and the sea and air are our only lions. It is a rough little place, -but a very pleasant one, and you will make it pleasanter than ever to -me."[106] To Forster at this time he remarked of his Broadstairs -environment: "It is more delightful here than I can express. Corn -growing, larks singing, garden full of flowers, fresh air on the -sea--oh, it is wonderful!" One of his minor writings is wholly devoted -to a description of "Our Watering-Place" (for so the paper is entitled), -in which there are many happy touches recalling Broadstairs of more than -fifty years ago. Here is the beach as seen at low tide: "The ocean lies -winking in the sunlight like a drowsy lion; its glassy waters scarcely -curve upon the shore; the fishing-boats in the tiny harbour are all -stranded in the mud. Our two colliers ... have not an inch of water -within a quarter of a mile of them, and turn exhausted on their sides, -like faint fish of an antediluvian species. Rusty cables and chains, -ropes and rings, undermost parts of posts and piles, and confused timber -defences against the waves, lie strewn about in a brown litter of -tangled seaweed and fallen cliff.... The time when this pretty little -semicircular sweep of houses, tapering off at the end of the wooden pier -into a point in the sea, was a gay place, and when the lighthouse -overlooking it shone at daybreak on company dispersing from public -balls, is but dimly traditional now." The following depicts, with the -skill of a master hand, the same scene at high-water: "The tide has -risen; the boats are dancing on the bubbling water; the colliers are -afloat again; the white-bordered waves rush in.... The radiant sails are -gliding past the shore and shining on the far horizon; all the sea is -sparkling, heaving, swelling up with life and beauty this bright -morning." To the parish church the author refers disrespectfully as "a -hideous temple of flint, like a great petrified haystack," and of the -pier, built in 1809, he says: "We have a pier--a queer old wooden pier, -fortunately--without the slightest pretensions to architecture, and very -picturesque in consequence. Boats are hauled up upon it, ropes are -coiled all over it; lobster-pots, nets, masts, oars, spars, sails, -ballast, and rickety capstans, make a perfect labyrinth of it." In the -same paper he observes: "You would hardly guess which is the main street -of our watering-place,[107] but you may know it by its being always -stopped up with donkey-chaises. Whenever you come here, and see -harnessed donkeys eating clover out of barrows drawn completely across a -narrow thoroughfare, you may be quite sure you are in our High -Street."[108] The reference here to donkeys prompts the statement that -at Broadstairs lived the original of Betsy Trotwood in "David -Copperfield." She was a Miss Strong, who occupied a double-fronted -cottage in the middle of Nuckell's Place, on the sea-front, and who, -like the admirable Betsy, was firmly convinced of her right to stop the -passage of donkeys along the road opposite her door, deterring their -proprietors by means of hostile demonstrations with a hearth-broom. -Close by there is a cottage which has been christened Dickens House, and -in Broadstairs there is a Dickens Road. - -Tired of the discomforts of seaside lodgings, Dickens began to search -for a house at Broadstairs which he could hire for the period of his -annual visits. He discovered in Fort House a residence that seemed to -fulfil his requirements; but it was not yet available, and he was fain -to content himself for a while with Lawn House, a smaller villa, the -garden of which adjoins the western boundary of the grounds of Fort -House. Abutting upon the south side of Lawn House, whence a good view of -the German Ocean is obtainable, is the archway referred to in one of the -published letters,[109] spanning the narrow road approached from Harbour -Street and leading to the coastguard station, this road passing the -front of Fort House between it and the sea-wall. Not until the autumn of -1850 did he succeed in obtaining possession of Fort House, situated on -the Kingsgate Road, perched upon the summit of a bold headland of the -Thanet cliffs, with a superb panorama of sea and country. At that time -there was a cornfield between the house and the harbour. Alas! a -cornfield no longer, but land upon which some cottages and stables have -since been built, these partly obstructing the view southward. - -Fort House, to which were attached pleasure grounds of about an acre in -extent, was approached by a carriage drive, and the rental value in 1883 -was £100 a year. This "airy nest" (as he described his Broadstairs home) -formed a conspicuous landmark in the locality, and proved a constant -source of attraction to visitors by reason of its associations. Edmund -Yates thus describes it as seen by him at a subsequent period: "It is a -small house without any large rooms, but such a place as a man of -moderate means, with an immoderate family of small children, might -choose for a summer retreat. The sands immediately below afford a -splendid playground; there is an abundant supply of never-failing ozone; -there is a good lawn, surrounded by borders well-stocked with -delicious-smelling common English flowers, and there is, or was in those -days, I imagine, ample opportunity for necessary seclusion. The room in -which Dickens worked is on the first floor, a small, three-cornered -slip, 'about the size of a warm bath,' as he would have said, but with a -large expansive window commanding a magnificent sea-view. His love for -the place, and his gratitude for the good it always did him, are -recorded in a hundred letters." In 1889 the late Mr. W. R. Hughes and -the present writer were privileged to examine Fort House, and our -impressions have been duly recorded. We approached the study by a little -staircase leading from the first floor, and from the veranda-shaded -window witnessed a lovely view of the sea. Perhaps it was nothing more -than coincidence, but Dickens seemed to prefer, as places of residence, -houses having semicircular frontages, and Fort House proved no -exception, his study being in the bowed front facing the ocean. Here he -wrote the concluding lines of what the author himself regarded as the -best of all his books, "David Copperfield." Let it be distinctly averred -that not a line of "Bleak House" was penned in this abode (as is -generally supposed), and that it is quite an erroneous idea to associate -Fort House with the home of Mr. Jarndyce, so minutely described in that -story. This being the case, it is unfortunate that a later owner of the -property committed the indiscretion of changing the name of the building -to Bleak House, by which misleading designation it has been known for a -considerable period. - -After a good many years of disuse, Bleak House fell into a lamentable -state of decay, and it is much to be deplored that the local authorities -did not avail themselves of the opportunity afforded them of acquiring -(for the sake of preservation) the residence which so frequently became -the favourite seaside dwelling of the genius of the place. They, -however, did not rise to the occasion, with the result that, in -consequence of remaining so long uninhabited, the house suffered -seriously from dilapidation, and the garden (containing the old swing -where the novelist used to swing his children) became a wilderness of -weeds. Recently the property was sold, and the owner thought fit to -restore, alter, and extend the premises, converting the building into a -pretentious-looking mansion of Tudor design, with castellated eaves and -other "improvements," by which it is changed beyond all recognition. - -In 1847 Broadstairs commenced to grow out of favour with the novelist, -for it then began to attract large numbers of holiday folks, with an -attendant train of outdoor entertainers, who deprived him of that -quietude and seclusion so indispensable for his work. "Vagrant music is -getting to that height here," he said, "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." -Dickens did not desert the town just yet, however, as in 1851 (in order -to escape the excitement in London caused by the Great Exhibition) he -decided to let the town house (Devonshire Terrace) for a few months, and -engaged Fort House from the beginning of May until November, his longest -sojourn at Broadstairs. This was not the last visit (as stated in a note -in the published "Letters"), as he spent a week there in the summer of -1859 for sea air and change, thus to assist recovery from a slight -illness, and prepare for the severe ordeal of a provincial Reading tour. -After 1859 Broadstairs knew him no more, although we are assured that he -ever retained an affectionate interest in that "pretty little -watering-place." Mr. Hughes has recorded an interview with an "old -salt," one Harry Ford, who well remembered the novelist when, in early -days, he (Dickens) went with his family to stay at Broadstairs. "Bless -your soul!" he said, "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 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 -that story that he wrote and printed about 'Our Watering-Place,' _I_ was -the man who's mentioned there as mending a little ship for a boy. _I_ -held that child between my knees. And, what's more, _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 _Irene_"--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."[110] - -Of the neighbouring watering-place, Margate, but little can be said from -the Dickensian point of view, for the novelist visited it so seldom, -probably not more than twice--viz., in 1844 and 1847, writing thence on -both occasions to Forster with particular reference to the theatre -there, which he honoured with his patronage. In this respect Dover comes -within the same category, for he said, in 1852: "It is not quite a place -to my taste, being too bandy (I mean musical; no reference to its legs), -and infinitely too genteel. But the sea is very fine, and the walks are -quite remarkable. There are two ways of going to Folkestone, both lovely -and striking in the highest degree, and there are heights and downs and -country roads, and I don't know what, everywhere." Mention is frequently -made of Dover in his books--of its castle, pier, cliffs, harbour, -theatre, etc.; the latter, built in 1790, he described in 1856 as "a -miserable spectacle--the pit is boarded over, and it is a drinking and -smoking place." Here is a pen-picture of the fortified town from "A Tale -of Two Cities," as it appeared more than a century ago: "The little -narrow, crooked town of Dover hid itself away from the beach, and ran -its head into the chalk cliffs, like a marine ostrich. The beach was a -desert of heaps of sea and stones tumbling wildly about, and the sea did -what it liked, and what it liked was destruction. It thundered at the -town, and thundered at the cliffs, and brought the coast down, madly. -The air among the houses was of so strong a piscatory flavour that one -might have supposed sick fish went up to be dipped in it, as sick people -went down to be dipped in the sea. A little fishing was done in the -port, and a quantity of strolling about by night, and looking seaward, -particularly at those times when the tide made, and was near flood. -Small tradesmen, who did no business whatever, sometimes unaccountably -realized large fortunes, and it was remarkable that nobody in the -neighbourhood could endure a lamp-lighter." In "The Uncommercial -Traveller," too, we find this pleasing fancy in alluding to Dover: -"There the sea was tumbling in, with deep sounds, after dark, and the -revolving French light on Cape Grisnez was seen regularly bursting out -and becoming obscured, as if the head of a gigantic lightkeeper, in an -anxious state of mind, were interposed every half-minute, to look how it -was burning." - -Dover, as everyone remembers, was the destination of poor little ragged -David Copperfield, who, tramping wearily from London, went thither in -quest of his aunt, Betsy Trotwood. In 1852 Dickens stayed for three -months at No. 10, Camden Crescent, and in 1861 he took apartments at the -Lord Warden Hotel. - -The autumn of 1855 was spent by Dickens and his family at No. 3, Albion -Villas, Folkestone, "a very pleasant little house overlooking the sea," -whither he went, on the eve of the publication of "Little Dorrit," to -"help his sluggish fancy." In "Reprinted Pieces" we find Folkestone -disguised as "Pavilionstone," thus named after the Pavilion Hotel, -originally a modest-looking building erected on the sea-front in 1843, -but recently transformed into a huge establishment in order to meet the -requirements of modern-day travellers _en route_ to and from Boulogne. -Even at the time this article was written,[111] the hotel is described -as containing "streets of rooms" and handsome salons. Folkestone of -to-day differs considerably from Folkestone of fifty years ago, having -developed during the interval into a fashionable watering-place of an -almost resplendent character. Nevertheless, in Dickens's presentment it -is not impossible, even now, to detect the tone and colouring of old -Folkestone, with its "crooked street like a crippled ladder," etc. -"Within a quarter of a century--_circa_ 1830," Dickens remarks, "it was -a little fishing town, and they do say that the time was when it was a -little smuggling town.... The old little fishing and smuggling town -remains.... There are break-neck flights of ragged steps, connecting the -principal streets by back-ways, which will cripple the visitor in half -an hour.... In connection with these break-neck steps I observe some -wooden cottages, with tumbledown outhouses, and backyards 3 feet square, -adorned with garlands of dried fish.... Our situation is delightful, our -air delicious, and our breezy hills and downs, carpeted with wild thyme, -and decorated with millions of wild flowers, are, in the faith of the -pedestrian, perfect." He informs us that the harbour is a tidal one--"At -low water we are a heap of mud, with an empty channel in it"--and -delineates, with the sense of a keen observer, the effects of high and -low tide upon the shipping, while the following is a typical example of -Dickensian humour: "The very little wooden lighthouse shrinks in the -idle glare of the sun. And here I may observe of the very little wooden -lighthouse, that when it is lighted at night--red and green--it looks so -like a medical man's, that several distracted husbands have at various -times been found, on occasions of premature domestic anxiety, going -round it, trying to find the night-bell!"[112] - -Strange to relate, Maidstone, the county town, is mentioned only twice -in Dickens's writings--namely, in "David Copperfield" and "The Seven -Poor Travellers"; but there is a hint of his intention to give more -prominence to it in "Edwin Drood" by making the county gaol the scene of -Jasper's imprisonment. It is conjectured that Maidstone is the Muggleton -of "Pickwick," there described as "a corporate town, with a mayor, -burgesses, and freemen," with "an open square for the market-place, and -in the centre a large inn," etc. That he knew the locality well, even at -this date, there can be no doubt--indeed, it has been suggested that -those remarkable Druidical stones near by, known as Kit's Coty House, -with names, initials, and dates scratched thereon, may have originated -the idea of Mr. Pickwick's immortal discovery of the stone inscribed by -"Bill Stumps." Another Pickwickian link with the neighbourhood is -Cob-tree Hall, an Elizabethan house near Aylesford, justly regarded as -the original of the Manor House at Dingley Dell, which, with its -surroundings, answers admirably to the description in the fourth chapter -of "Pickwick." - -We know that in later years he was fond of walking between Maidstone and -Rochester, the seven miles constituting, in his opinion, "one of the -most beautiful walks in England"; and not infrequently, when living at -Gad's Hill, he would drive there with friends for a picnic, the horses -bestridden by "a couple of postillions in the old red jackets of the old -red royal Dover road." "It was like a holiday ride in England fifty -years ago," he said to Longfellow, commenting upon one of these -delightful excursions. Pilgrims in Dickens land would do well to visit -Kit's Coty House and Blue Bell Hill, where, from the higher elevations, -a prospect is revealed of enchanting beauty; from such a point of -vantage we behold an extensive view of the valley, in which are seen -little hamlets, cornfields, hop gardens, orchards, and spinneys, with -the river Medway meandering in the direction of Rochester, and gradually -widening as it approaches that ancient town. - -The picturesque and charming city of Canterbury, as portrayed in "David -Copperfield," has changed in a much less degree than many other English -cathedral towns within the last twenty years or so. In that delightful -story, so replete with the autobiographical element, we read: "The sunny -street of Canterbury, dozing, as it were, in the hot light; ... its old -houses and gateways, and the stately gray cathedral, with the rooks -sailing round the towers" (chap. xiii.). "Coming into Canterbury, I -loitered through the old streets with a sober pleasure that calmed my -spirits and eased my heart.... The venerable cathedral towers and the -old jackdaws and rooks, whose airy voices made them more retired than -perfect silence would have done; the battered gateways, once stuck full -with statues, long thrown down, and crumbled away, like the reverential -pilgrims who had gazed upon them; the still nooks, where the ivied -growth of centuries crept over gabled ends and ruined walls; the ancient -houses; the pastoral landscape of field, orchard, and -garden--everywhere, on everything, I felt the same serener air, the same -calm, thoughtful, softening spirit" (chap. xxxix.). In 1861, when giving -a public Reading at Canterbury, Dickens stayed at the Fountain Hotel, in -St. Margaret's Street, which is recognised locally as "the County Inn" -where Mr. Dick slept when visiting David Copperfield. The "little inn" -where Mr. Micawber put up is probably the Sun Hotel in Sun Street; Dr. -Strong's school is the still-flourishing King's School in the cathedral -precincts, its Norman staircase being an object of great antiquarian -interest. - - [Illustration: EASTGATE HOUSE, ROCHESTER. (_Page 217._) - The original of the Nuns' House in "Edwin Drood."] - - [Illustration: SAPSEA'S HOUSE, ROCHESTER. (_Page 217._) - "The silent High Street of Rochester is full of gables with old - beams and timbers" ("Seven Poor Travellers").] - -An ancient and picturesque house near the old west gate (No. 71, St. -Dunstan's Street) is regarded as the probable original of Mr. -Wickfield's residence; while the home of Dr. Strong is identified with -the old building at the corner (No. 1) of Lady Wootton's Green. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - THE GAD'S HILL COUNTRY. - - -About midway between Gravesend and Rochester, on the old Dover Road, and -in the parish of Higham, is Gad's Hill, immortalized both by Shakespeare -and Dickens. With regard to the derivation of the name there seems to be -a little doubt, some regarding it as a corruption of "God's Hill," while -others incline to the belief that it must be traced to the word "gad" -(_i.e._, rogue), for, even prior to Shakespeare's time, unwary -travellers were here waylaid by highwaymen, and for such audacious -thefts from the person this particular spot became notorious. - -In 1558 a ballad was published entitled "The Robbery at Gad's Hill," and -in 1590 Sir Roger Manwood, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, wrote: "Many -robberies were done in the bye-ways at Gadeshill, 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 ... and no man durst travel that way without great -company." In the first part of Shakespeare's "King Henry the Fourth" -(Act I., Scene 2) Poins thus addresses Prince Henry: "But, my lads, my -lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are -pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to -London with fat purses: I have visors for you all; you have horses for -yourselves."[113] - -To present-day pedestrians, who have no need to fear unwelcome -attentions from "knights of the road," the chief attraction of this -locality is the house which stands upon the brow of the hill, reposing -in delightful grounds, and commanding magnificent views of the -surrounding landscape. This is Gad's Hill Place, the home of Charles -Dickens, where he resided from 1856 until his death on "that fateful -day" in June, 1870. One of the most remarkable incidents of the -novelist's life was the realization of his boyhood's ambition to live -there, in the very house which he so often admired when, during his -early years at Chatham, he accompanied his father on walking expeditions -thence to Strood and beyond, and which, as his parent foretold, might -really become his home if he worked hard, and were to be very -persevering. The desire to own the property never left him; indeed, it -may be said that, as time passed, his craving to possess it increased, -and we may imagine his delight when, in 1855, he learned from his trusty -henchman, W. H. Wills, that the place was available for purchase. - -Having spent the final years of his active career at Gad's Hill Place, -it is natural that Gad's Hill Place and its environment should be -regarded as the very heart of Dickens land, so replete is it with -Dickensian memories and associations. - -Gad's Hill Place is a red brick building, with bay windows and a porch -in the principal front, a slated roof with dormers, surmounted by a -cupola or bell-turret, the latter a conspicuous and familiar object to -all accustomed to travel by road between Gravesend and Rochester. The -house was erected in 1779 by a then well-known character in those parts, -one Thomas Stevens, an illiterate man who had been an hostler, and who, -after marrying his employer's widow, adopted the brewing business, -amassed wealth, and eventually became Mayor of Rochester. On -relinquishing the business he retired to his country seat at Gad's Hill, -and at his death the house was purchased by the Rev. James Lynn (father -of the late Mrs. Lynn Linton, the authoress), who, like Dickens, had -fallen in love with the house when a youth, and resolved to buy it as -soon as the opportunity offered. It was not until 1831 that he was -enabled to take up his residence there, and Mrs. Lynn Linton, in -recording her impressions of her home at that date, recalled the -liveliness of the road: "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 bluejackets trying to force their way -in."[114] To counteract these obvious drawbacks there were natural -advantages--the luxuriant gardens, orchard, and shrubberies, while the -trees near the house offered a veritable sanctuary for song-birds. The -worthy clergyman occupied Gad's Hill Place until his decease in 1855, -when, for want of an heir, the property had to be sold. Shortly -afterwards his daughter and W. H. Wills met at a dinner-party, and in -the course of conversation it transpired that the estate would presently -be in the market. On learning this, Dickens immediately entered into -negotiations for acquiring it, with the result that before many months -had elapsed he became the owner. "I have always in passing looked to see -if it was to be sold or let," he wrote to his friend M. de Cerjat, "and -it has never been to me like any other house, and it has never changed -at all." - - [Illustration: RESTORATION HOUSE, ROCHESTER. (_Page 217._) - The "Satis House" of "Great Expectations." Charles II. slept here on - the eve of the Restoration, May, 1660.] - -After drawing a cheque (on March 14, 1856) for the amount of the -purchase-money, £1,790, he discovered that, by an extraordinary -coincidence, it was a Friday, the day of the week on which (as he -frequently remarked) all the important events of his life had happened, -so that he and his family had come to regard that day of the week as his -lucky day. - -Dickens did not, however, obtain possession of the coveted house until -February of the following year, after which, for a brief period, he made -it merely a summer abode, Tavistock House being his town residence -during the rest of the year. In April, 1857, he stayed with his wife and -sister-in-law at Waite's Hotel, Gravesend, to be at hand to superintend -the beginning of a scheme of alterations and improvements in his new -home, which were carried on for the space of several months. The winter -of 1859-1860 was the last spent at Tavistock House, and he and his -family then settled down at Gad's Hill. "I am on my little Kentish -freehold," he observed to M. de Cerjat, "looking on as pretty a view out -of my study window as you will find in a long day's English ride. My -little place is a grave red-brick house, which I have added to and stuck -bits upon in all manner of ways, so that it is as pleasantly irregular, -and as violently opposed to all architectural ideas, as the most hopeful -man could possibly desire. The robbery was committed before the door, on -the man with the treasure, and Falstaff ran away from the identical spot -of ground now covered by the room in which I write. A little rustic -alehouse, called the Sir John Falstaff, is over the way, has been over -the way ever since, in honour of the event. Cobham Woods and Park are -behind the house, the distant Thames in front, the Medway, with -Rochester and its old castle and cathedral, on one side. The whole -stupendous property is on the old Dover Road." - -Continued ownership brought increased liking, and he was never tired of -devising and superintending improvements, such as the addition of a new -drawing-room and conservatory, the construction of a well (a process -"like putting Oxford Street endwise"), and the engineering of a tunnel -under the road, connecting the front-garden with the shrubbery, with its -noble cedars, where, in the midst of foliage, was erected the Swiss -châlet presented to him in 1865 by Fechter, the actor, and which now -stands in Cobham Park. Concerning this châlet--in an upper compartment -of which he was fond of working, remote from disturbing sounds--he sent -a charming account of his environment to his American friend James T. -Fields: "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 chalet 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." - - [Illustration: THE BULL HOTEL, ROCHESTER. (_Page 219._) - "Good house--nice beds" ("Pickwick").] - -Externally, the main building of Gad's Hill Place underwent but little -alteration, presenting throughout the period of the owner's occupation -much the same appearance as when he knew it in the days of his -childhood, the back of the building becoming gradually hidden from view -by clustering masses of ivy and Virginia creeper. One of the bedrooms -was transformed into a study, which he lined with books and occasionally -wrote in; but the study proper (called by him the library) was the front -room on the ground-floor, on the right of the entrance-hall, rendered -familiar by the large engraving published in the _Graphic_ at the time -of the novelist's death. With regard to this study, or library, it may -be mentioned that it was his delight to be surrounded by a variety of -objects for his eye to rest upon in the intervals of actual writing, -prominent among them being a bronze group representing a couple of frogs -in the act of fighting a duel with swords, and a statuette of a French -dog-fancier, with his living stock-in-trade tucked under his arms and in -his pockets, while a vase of flowers invariably graced his -writing-table. A noteworthy feature of his sanctum was the door, the -inner side of which he disguised by means of imitation book-backs, -transferred thither from Tavistock House; these are still preserved as a -"fixture." These book-backs, with their humorous titles, create -considerable interest and amusement for such as are privileged to enter -the apartment so intimately associated with "Boz." - -Among those invited to his attractive "Kentish freehold," as Dickens -frequently termed it, "where cigars and lemons grew on all the trees," -was Sir Joseph Paxton, the famous landscape gardener and designer of the -Crystal Palace. Hans Andersen, another honoured guest, received most -agreeable impressions of Gad's Hill Place. He described the -breakfast-room as "a model of comfort and holiday brightness. The -windows were overhung, outside, with a profusion of blooming roses, and -one looked out over the garden to green fields and the hills beyond -Rochester." Dickens's happiest hours in his Gad's Hill home were those -when it was filled with cherished friends, both English and American, to -whom he played the part of an ideal host, devoting the greater portion -of each day to their comfort and amusement, and accompanying them on -pedestrian excursions to Rochester and other favourite localities in the -neighbourhood, or driving with them to more remote places, such as -Maidstone and Canterbury. But what seemed to afford him the utmost -delight were the walks with friends to the charming village of Cobham, -there to refresh at the famous Leather Bottle, the quaint roadside -alehouse where, as every reader of "Pickwick" remembers, the -disconsolate Mr. Tupman was discovered at the parlour table having just -enjoyed a hearty meal of "roast fowl, bacon, ale, and etceteras, and -looking as unlike a man who had taken his leave of the world as -possible." The Pickwickian traditions of this popular house of -refreshment are maintained by the enthusiastic landlord, who realizes -the importance of preserving the Dickensian associations. The room in -which Mr. Tupman drowned his sorrows in the comfort afforded by a -substantial meal remains practically the same to-day, with this -difference, that the walls are covered with portraits, engravings, -autograph letters, and other interesting items relating to the novelist -and his writings--a veritable Dickens museum. Cobham Hall, the -Elizabethan mansion of Lord Darnley, with its magnificent park, where -the Fechter châlet was re-erected after Dickens's death, and especially -Cobham Woods, always proved irresistible attractions to the "Master," -and he and his dogs enjoying their constitutional were a familiar sight -to his neighbours. - -The villages of Shorne and Chalk, with their ancient churches and -peaceful churchyards, he frequently visited with "a strange recurring -fondness." Mr. E. Laman Blanchard has recorded that he often met, and -exchanged salutations with, Dickens during his pedestrian excursions on -the highroad leading from Rochester to Gravesend, and generally they -passed each other at about the same spot--at the outskirts of the -village of Chalk, where a picturesque lane branched off towards Shorne -and Cobham. "Here," says Mr. Blanchard, "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 lived -immediately after his marriage, and there many of the earlier chapters -of 'Pickwick' were written." - -The village of Cooling, standing so bleak and solitary in the Kentish -fenland bordering the southern banks of the Thames, possessed a weird -fascination for "Boz." Here, in the midst of those dreary marshes, much -of the local colouring of "Great Expectations" was obtained. Indeed, the -story opens with the night scene between Pip and the escaped convict in -Cooling churchyard, and in the same chapter we have Pip's early -impressions of the strange and desolate neighbourhood in which he lived -with Mr. and Mrs. Joe Gargery. "Ours was the marsh country, down by the -river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles from 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 Georgina, wife of the 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." - -"The marshes," Pip continues, "were just a long black horizontal line -then, ... and the river was just another horizontal line, not nearly so -broad nor yet so black; and the sky was just a row of long angry red -lines and dense black lines intermixed. On the edge of the river I could -faintly make out the only two black things in all the prospect that -seemed to be standing upright. One of these was the beacon by which the -sailors steered--like an unhooped cask upon a pole--an ugly thing when -you were near it; the other, a gibbet, with some chains hanging to it -which had once held a pirate." Then, in a later chapter, he refers to -the old battery out on the marshes. "It was pleasant and quiet out -there," he says, "with the sails on the river passing beyond the -earthwork, and sometimes, when the tide was low, looking as if they -belonged to sunken ships that were still sailing on at the bottom of the -water." - -Visitors to Cooling cannot fail to notice in the churchyard a long row -of curious gravestones which mark the resting-place of members of the -Comport family of Cowling Court (Cooling was originally called Cowling), -these memorials dating from 1771, the year recorded on a large headstone -standing in close proximity. These suggested to Dickens, of course, the -idea of the "five little stone lozenges" under which the five little -brothers of Pip lay buried. Within a short distance from the churchyard -we may identify, in a short row of cottages, the original of Joe's -forge, while an old-fashioned inn with a weather-board exterior, and -bearing the sign of the Horseshoe and Castle, is regarded as the -prototype of the Three Jolly Bargemen, a favourite resort of Joe Gargery -after his day's work at the forge. - -The ancient and picturesque city of Rochester, so beloved by Dickens and -so replete with memories of the "Master," deserves a chapter to itself. -With the exception of London, no town figures so frequently or so -prominently in his books as Rochester, from "The Pickwick Papers" to the -unfinished romance of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," where it is thinly -disguised as "Cloisterham." Dickens's acquaintance with Rochester began -in the days of his boyhood, when he lived with his father at Chatham, -and, as a natural result of his unusual powers of observation, he even -then stored up his youthful impressions of the quaint old houses, the -Cathedral, and its neighbour, the rugged ruins of the Norman Castle -overlooking the Medway. How those juvenile impressions received -something of a shock in after-years we are informed by Forster, for -childhood exaggerates what it sees, and Rochester High Street he -remembered as a thoroughfare at least as wide as Regent Street, whereas -it proved to his maturer judgment to be "little better than a lane," -while the public clock in it, once supposed by him to be the finest -clock in the world, proved eventually to be "as moon-faced and weak a -clock as a man's eyes ever saw." Even the grave-looking Town Hall, -"which had appeared to him once so glorious a structure" that he -associated it in his mind with Aladdin's palace, he reluctantly realized -as being, in reality, nothing more than "a mere mean little heap of -bricks, like a chapel gone demented." "Ah! who was I," he observes on -reflection, "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!" - -Rochester has undergone many topographical changes (not necessarily for -the better) since that memorable morning in 1827 when Mr. Pickwick -leaned over the balustrades of the old stone bridge "contemplating -nature and waiting for breakfast." To begin with, the bridge itself has -been demolished, and an elliptical iron structure takes its place. The -view, too, which Mr. Pickwick admired of the banks of the Medway, with -the cornfields, pastures, and windmills, is more obscured to-day by that -discomforting symbol of commercialism, smoke, so constantly pouring from -the ever-increasing number of lofty shafts appertaining to the various -cement works which flourish here. From the other side of the bridge Mr. -Pickwick could obtain a pleasant glimpse of the river, with its numerous -sailing-barges, in the direction of Chatham; but the prospect, alas! is -now completely blotted out by hideous railway viaducts. Happily, in -spite of modern innovations, those who appreciate the old-world air of -our English cities will find much to charm them in the precincts of the -Cathedral, sufficiently remote from the bustle and noise of the High -Street to enable it to preserve the quiet serenity which invariably -encompasses our venerable minsters. Besides the picturesque stone -gateways here, much remains in the High Street and elsewhere to remind -us of what Rochester looked like in days of old; as Dickens writes in -"The Seven Poor Travellers": "The silent High Street of Rochester is -full of gables, with old beams and timbers carved into strange faces." -Of these surviving specimens of ancient domestic architecture, many will -regard Eastgate House as the most interesting from an archĉological -point of view, while to the Dickens student there is an additional -attraction in the fact that it is the original of the Nuns' House in -"Edwin Drood," the boarding-school for young ladies over which Miss -Twinkleton presided, and where Rosa Bud received her education. - -For many years during the last century Eastgate House was actually in -use as a ladies' school, and eventually became the headquarters of the -Rochester Men's Institute. Quite recently the civic authorities, with -commendable good sense, availed themselves of the opportunity of -acquiring the property, which they have thoroughly and tastefully -reinstated and converted into a public museum; and I must add to this -statement the significant fact that a room has been permanently set -apart for an exhibition of mementoes of Charles Dickens--both gifts and -loans--thus, in a sense, stultifying the old proverb, that "a prophet is -not without honour save in his own country." On one of the inside beams -of Eastgate House is carved the date "1591," and the rooms are adorned -with carved mantelpieces and plaster enrichments. - - [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS IN 1868. - _From a Photograph by Mason. Reproduced by kind permission of - Messrs. Chapman and Hall._] - -Nearly opposite Eastgate House is another picturesque half-timbered -building, which, with its three gables and its projecting bay-windows -supported by carved brackets, is a veritable ornament to this portion of -the High Street. We recognise it as the one-time residence of two of -Dickens's characters, viz., of Mr. Sapsea, the auctioneer in "Edwin -Drood"--"Mr. Sapsea's premises are in the High Street over against the -Nuns' House"--and of Mr. Pumblechook, the seed merchant in "Great -Expectations." But there exists in Rochester a specimen of domestic -architecture of even greater interest than those just described. This is -Restoration House, pleasantly situated facing an open space called "The -Vines"--the Monks' Vineyard of "Edwin Drood." Restoration House is the -Satis House of "Great Expectations," where lived that strange creature -Miss Havisham; as a matter of fact, there exists in Rochester an actual -Satis House, the name being transferred by Dickens to the old -manor-house associated with Pip and Estella, and with that "immensely -rich and grim lady" the aforesaid Miss Havisham. Restoration House, -which dates from Elizabeth's reign, afforded temporary lodging to -Charles II. in 1660, who subsequently honoured his host, Sir Francis -Clarke, with a series of large tapestries of English workmanship, which -are still preserved. - -In Rochester High Street the visitor cannot fail to observe, on the -north side, a stone-fronted building with three gables, having over the -entrance-gate a curiously inscribed tablet, which reads thus: - - Richard Watts, Esquire, - by his Will dated 22nd August, 1579, - founded this Charity - for Six Poor Travellers, - who, not being Rogues or Proctors, - May receive gratis for one Night - Lodging, Entertainment, - and Fourpence each. - -This quaint institution, founded by Master Richard Watts, Rochester's -sixteenth-century philanthropist, still flourishes, and it is an -exceptional thing for a night to pass without its full complement of -applicants for temporary board and lodging, according to the terms -formulated by the charitable founder, by whom also were established -several almshouses situated on the Maidstone Road, endowed for the -support and maintenance of impoverished Rochester townsfolk. Watts's -Charity, in the High Street, is immortalized by Dickens in the Christmas -number of _Household Words_, 1854, entitled "The Seven Poor Travellers," -in which the story of Richard Doubledick is one of the most touching -things the novelist ever penned. Dickens, doubtless, frequently visited -the Charity during his Gad's Hill days, for he delighted in escorting -his American friends and others around the old city, and pointing out to -them its more striking features. In one of the visitors' books, in which -many distinguished names are recorded, will be found (under date May 11, -1854, the year of publication of the above-mentioned Christmas number) -the bold autographs of Charles Dickens and his friend Mark Lemon. - -An account of Dickensian Rochester which omitted to mention the Bull Inn -would be unpardonably incomplete. The Bull, the historic Bull of "The -Pickwick Papers," which the imperturbable Mr. Jingle averred to Mr. -Pickwick was a "good house" with "nice beds," is naturally one of the -principal sights of Rochester from the point of view of the Dickens -admirer and student, and Dickens pilgrims from all parts of the world -immediately direct their steps thither on their arrival in the city. -Situated on the south side of the High Street, within a short distance -of Rochester Bridge, the Bull and Victoria Hotel (to give its full -designation) has an exceedingly unprepossessing brick frontage, its only -decorative feature being the Royal Arms over the entrance. Why does the -famous coaching-inn bear the double sign of the Bull and _Victoria_? It -originated in this way: One stormy day at the end of November, 1836, the -late Queen Victoria (then Princess), with her mother the Duchess of -Kent, stopped at the Bull; they were travelling to London from Dover, -and the royal party, warned of the possibility of their carriage being -upset in crossing the bridge, stayed at the hostelry all night, the -apartment in which England's future Sovereign slept being the identical -room previously allocated to Mr. Tupman in "Pickwick." Naturally, in -order to commemorate the royal visit, the inn was called by its present -designation, although popularly known simply as the Bull. Some portions -of the establishment still retain their old-world characteristics, -although it must be confessed that the appearance of the majority of the -dormitories and living-rooms partakes more of the early Victorian period -than of an earlier date; one might conjecture, too, that the house had -been refronted during the beginning of the nineteenth century. The place -is replete with Pickwickian associations; here we may see the veritable -staircase where the stormy interview occurred between the irate Dr. -Slammer and Alfred Jingle; here, too, is the actual ball-room, which, -with its glass chandeliers and "elevated den" for the musicians, has -remained unaltered since the description of it appeared in "Pickwick." -The sleeping apartments of Messrs. Tupman and Winkle ("Winkle's bedroom -is inside mine," said Mr. Tupman) may be identified in those numbered 13 -and 19 respectively, while Mr. Pickwick's room is distinguished as "No. -17," which tradition declares was occupied on at least one occasion by -Dickens himself, and now contains some pieces of furniture formerly in -use at Gad's Hill Place. Although much less prominently than in -"Pickwick," the Bull is introduced in other works of Dickens. It -appears, for example, in one of the "Sketches by Boz," entitled "The -great Winglebury Duel" (written before "Pickwick"), where "the little -town of Great Winglebury" and "the Winglebury Arms" are undoubtedly -intended for Rochester and its principal hostelry. In "Great -Expectations" the Bull is again introduced as the Blue Boar, where it -will be remembered that, in honour of the important event of Pip being -bound apprentice to Joe Gargery (the premium having been paid by Miss -Havisham), arrangements were made for a dinner at the Blue Boar, -attended by the servile Pumblechook, the Hubbles, and Mr. Wopsle. "Among -the festivities indulged in rather late in the evening," observes Pip, -who did not particularly enjoy himself on the occasion, "Mr. Wopsle gave -us Collins's Ode, 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!'" - -It was recently rumoured that the Bull, not proving satisfactorily -remunerative, stood in danger of demolition, and that a new hotel, -possessing those improvements which present-day travellers regard as -indispensable, would be erected on the site. Needless to say, all -Dickens lovers would deplore the realization of such a proposal. - - * * * * * * * * - -I venture to conclude with a few supplementary remarks concerning Gad's -Hill Place, the bourne to which all devout Dickens worshippers make a -pilgrimage, among whom our American cousins are undoubtedly the most -ardent enthusiasts. - -Dickens paid the purchase-money for Gad's Hill Place on March 14, 1856; -it was a Friday, and handing the cheque for £1,790 to Wills, he -observed: "Now, isn't it an extraordinary thing--look at the -day--Friday! I have been nearly drawing it half a dozen times, when the -lawyers have not been ready, and here it comes round upon a Friday as a -matter of course." He frequently remarked that all the important events -of his life happened to him on a Friday. Referring to this transaction, -Mrs. Lynn Linton, in "My Literary Life," says: "We sold it cheap, -£1,700, and we asked £40 for the ornamental timber. To this Dickens and -his agent made an objection; so we had an arbitrator, who awarded us -£70, which was in the nature of a triumph." The house contains fourteen -rooms and the usual offices; there are greenhouses, stables, a -kitchen-garden, a farmyard, etc., the property comprising eleven acres -of land, a considerable portion of which Dickens subsequently acquired -through private negotiations with the respective owners. - -At Gad's Hill Dickens produced some of his best work. During the period -of his residence here (1857-1870), he wrote the concluding chapters of -"Little Dorrit," "A Tale of Two Cities," "Great Expectations," "Our -Mutual Friend," and the fragment of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," -concerning which Longfellow entertained a very high opinion, believing -that it promised to be one of the finest of his stories; he also -contributed to _All The Year Round_ those remarkable papers published -under the general title of "The Uncommercial Traveller," perhaps the -most delightful of his minor writings. - -It was on June 8, 1870, that Dickens, while at dinner, suddenly became -very ill and almost immediately lost consciousness, from which he never -recovered. On the following day his spirit fled, and it is no -exaggeration to say that never has the death of a distinguished man -caused greater consternation throughout the civilized world than did the -unexpected passing of the great novelist. - -Not many weeks had elapsed after this sad event when Gad's Hill Place -and its contents were disposed of by public auction. The house, with -eight acres of meadow-land, was virtually bought in by Charles Dickens -the younger at the much enhanced price of £7,500. For a time the -novelist's eldest son made it his home; but, as he informed the present -writer, the increasing needs of his large and growing young family could -not be sufficiently accommodated, and this determined him to sell the -place--a decision which naturally caused those interested in its fate to -fear the possibility of its falling into the hands of an unsympathetic -proprietor, who would fail to appreciate or to cherish the unique -associations. After being a considerable time on the market, the -property was purchased in 1879 by Captain (now Major) Austin F. Budden, -then of the 12th Kent Artillery Volunteers, and Mayor of Rochester from -that year until 1881. - -It was during Major Budden's occupancy of Gad's Hill Place, in the late -summer of 1888, that I accompanied my friend the late Mr. W. R. Hughes -(author of "A Week's Tramp in Dickens Land") on a memorable visit to -this famous residence. We met with a most friendly reception from the -genial host and his wife, and were privileged to inspect every point of -interest within and without--the library with its curious dummy -book-backs, the dining-room where "the Master" succumbed to the fatal -seizure, the conservatory (his "last improvement"), the well (with the -Major's mare, Tell-tale, busily drawing water), the grave of the pet -canary, the tunnel under the Dover road, etc. Perhaps the most -unexpected treat was the view from the roof of the building, whence it -is easy to realize the charming environment. Looking northward from this -high elevation, we may view the marshes, which flat and dreary expanse -is relieved by a glimpse of the Thames, widening as it approaches -seaward, and bearing upon its silvery bosom a number of vessels, both -steamships and sailing ships, the ruddy brown sails of the barges giving -colour to the scene. To the east is the valley of the Medway, the -prospect including a distant view of Rochester, crowned by the rugged -keep of the old Castle and by the Cathedral tower.[115] To the south the -beautifully undulating greensward of Cobham Park and the umbrageous -Cobham Woods complete this wonderful panorama of Nature. - -In 1889 (the year following that of our visit) Gad's Hill Place narrowly -escaped destruction by fire. It is the old story--a leakage of gas, a -naked light, and an explosion; happily, Major Budden's supply of -hand-grenades did their duty and saved the building. Shortly afterwards -the house and accompanying land were again in the market, and in 1890 a -purchaser was found in the Hon. Francis Law Latham, Advocate-General at -Bombay. This gentleman, however, could not enter into possession until -his return to England a few months later. Meanwhile Major Budden took up -his residence elsewhere, so that during a part of the year 1891 Gad's -Hill Place was empty and deserted, pathetically contrasting with those -ever-to-be-remembered days when Charles Dickens and his hosts of friends -enlivened the neighbourhood with cricket matches, athletic sports, etc. -Mr. Latham is still the tenant-owner of Gad's Hill Place, and, needless -to say, thoroughly appreciates the unique associations of his attractive -home, where he hopes to spend in quiet and secluded retirement the -remaining years of a busy life. - - - - - FOOTNOTES - - -[1]Almost the whole of the Isle of Portsea, with the old parishes of - Portsmouth and Portsea, is now included in the Borough of - Portsmouth, Landport being one of the divisions of the ancient - parish of Portsea; while the old Portsmouth parish still remains but - a small one, that of Portsea is of considerable dimensions, and - divided into several parishes. One of the streets east of Commercial - Road is called "Dickens Street," in honour of the novelist. - -[2]"The Mudfog Papers." - -[3]Christmas Number of _Household Words_, 1854. - -[4]"David Copperfield," chap. xiii. - -[5]"One Man in a Dockyard" (_Household Words_, September 6, 1851). - -[6]"One Man in a Dockyard" (_Household Words_, September 6, 1851). - -[7]"The Wreck of the Golden Mary" (Christmas Number of _Household - Words_, 1856). - -[8]See "The Guest" in the Christmas Number of _Household Words_, 1855. - -[9]See "The Guest" in the Christmas Number of _Household Words_, 1855; - Langton's "Childhood and Youth of Charles Dickens," 1883. - -[10]"David Copperfield," chap. ii. - -[11]_Household Words_, April 6, 1850. - -[12]_Household Words_, Christmas Number, 1852. - -[13]"David Copperfield," chap. iv. - -[14]_Ibid._ - -[15]"Great Expectations," chap. xix. - -[16]_All the Year Round_, June 30, 1860. - -[17]_Vide_ "St. Pancras, Past and Present," by Frederick Muller, 1874. - -[18]To Mr. R. B. Prosser (editor of _St. Pancras Notes and Queries_) I - am indebted for much useful information respecting the early London - homes of Charles Dickens. He has discovered that in the parish - rate-book for October 8, 1823, the name of John Dickens appears as - the tenant of No. 16, Bayham Street, and also at No. 18; in the next - rate-book (January 21, 1824) No. 16 is marked "empty." In 1866 the - Metropolitan Board of Works renumbered Bayham Street (then - consisting of about a hundred and fifty houses), incorporating - therewith Bayham Street South and Fleming Place. - -[19]The Fox-under-the-Hill stood at the foot of Ivy Bridge Lane, which - formed a boundary between Westminster City and the Liberty of the - Duchy of Lancaster (Savoy). Between Salisbury Stairs (adjoining the - little tavern) and London Bridge there plied three halfpenny - steamboats, named respectively the _Ant_, the _Bee_, and the - _Cricket_, whereof the latter two came to an untimely end. The - building of the Hotel Cecil has wiped out Cecil and Salisbury - Streets, and entirely transformed this locality, including the - destruction of the quaint ale-house itself. - -[20]Possibly a mistake of the rate-collector. The name Roylance is not - uncommon in the district. - -[21]In 1820 Seymour Street, with the site of Euston Square Station, was - a huge brick-field, with a solitary "wine vaults" stuck in the - middle of it. - -[22]A writer in Hone's "Year-Book," 1826, says: "Somers Town is full of - artists, as a reference to the Royal Academy Catalogue will evince. - In Clarendon Square still lives, I believe, Scriven, the engraver, - an artist of great ability and, in his day, of much consideration. - In the same neighbourhood dwells the venerable Dr. Wilde, who may be - justly termed the best engraver of his age for upwards of half a - century." - - W. H. Wills (assistant editor on _All the Year Round_), in recalling - Somers Town of this period, refers to its "aristocracy," and to the - Polygon as its "Court centre," situated in the middle of Clarendon - Square. "In and around it," he says, "Art and Literature nestled in - cosy coteries, with half-pay officers (including one Peninsular - Colonel), city merchants, and stockbrokers.... The most eminent - historical engravers of that day dated their works, 'as the Act - directs,' from Somers Town." Theodore Hook lived in Clarendon - Square, and Peter Pindar, Sir Francis Burdett, with other - notabilities, in close proximity thereto. - - The houses which comprised the Polygon prior to 1890 were demolished - by the Midland Railway Company in the following year, and the - buildings now occupying the site were erected by the Company for - habitation by persons of the labouring class who were displaced by - the acquisition of the property. - -[23]Another popular novelist, William Black, also lived in this house, - and, it is believed, in the selfsame rooms. - -[24]The office of the _Morning Chronicle_ was at No. 332, Strand, - opposite Somerset House, the building having been recently - demolished for improvements in widening the thoroughfare. - -[25]Reprinted as "Mr. Minns and his Cousin" in "Sketches by Boz." - -[26]A writer in _Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries_, July, - 1895, states that Dickens also occupied for some months a suite of - rooms in Wood's Hotel (Furnival's Inn) on the first-floor, - south-east corner of the main building. - -[27]The date of Edmund Yates's residence here was 1854 _et seq._ The - rent of his house (he says) was £70 a year, "on a repairing lease" - (which means an annual outlay of from £25 to £30 to keep the bricks - and mortar and timbers together), and the accommodation consisted of - a narrow dining-room, a little back bedroom, two big drawing-rooms, - two good bedrooms, three attics, with kitchen and cellar in the - basement. This description conveys an idea of the character and - rental value of Dickens's home, five doors distant. - -[28]The property hereabouts is owned by the Doughty family, and belongs - to the notorious Tichborne estate. - -[29]I am indebted for many of these particulars to Mr. E. J. Line, - author of an illustrated article entitled "The Thames Valley of - Charles Dickens," printed in the _Richmond and Twickenham Times_, - December 24, 1903. - -[30]"Jack Straw's Castle, also known as the Castle Hotel, which stands - on elevated ground near the large pond and the flagstaff, has been - somewhat modernized of late years. It has been generally supposed - that the name of this hostelry is derived from the well-known - peasant leader in the terrible rising of Richard II.'s time; but - Professor Hales assures us there is no sufficient authority for the - tradition, for the present designation is perhaps not older than the - middle of the eighteenth century, the original sign being most - likely The Castle, without any preceding genitive, Richardson, for - example, thus referring to it in 'Clarissa Harlowe,' 1748. For the - connection of Jack Straw with Hampstead there is apparently no - historic defence."--_The Home Counties Magazine_, April, 1899. - -[31]Serjeant (afterwards Justice) Talfourd, to whom "Pickwick" was - dedicated. He composed a sonnet "To Charles Dickens, on his 'Oliver - Twist,'" and declared that this story was the most delightful he had - ever read. - -[32]"Some Recollections of Mortality," first printed in _All the Year - Round_, May 16, 1863. - -[33]This church figures prominently in Hogarth's paintings of "The - Rake's Progress." It was the scene also of Byron's baptism and of - the marriage of the Brownings. - - Apropos, it may be mentioned that in 1843, during Dickens's - residence in the parish of St. Marylebone, he took sittings for a - year or two in the Little Portland Street Unitarian Chapel, for - whose officiating minister, Edward Tagart, he had a warm regard, - which continued long after he had ceased to be a member of the - congregation. - -[34]"A Week's Tramp in Dickens Land," by W. R. Hughes, 1891. - -[35]The Euston and Victoria Hotel no longer exists. It stood in Euston - Grove, at No. 14, Euston Square (north side). - -[36]No. 1, Devonshire Terrace was at one time the home of George du - Maurier, the well-known _Punch_ artist. It is now partly utilized as - solicitors' offices. - -[37]The artist removed to another residence in the Square, not more than - a couple of houses from that of Dickens. - -[38]_I.e._, no workmen. - -[39]First printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[40]First printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[41]Tavistock House was for many years the residence of James Perry - (editor of Dickens's old paper, the _Morning Chronicle_, in its best - days), and was then noted for its reunions of men of political and - literary distinction. Eliza Cook, the poetess, also lived in - Tavistock House when she left Greenhithe, Kent, and Mary Russell - Mitford (authoress of "Our Village") became an honoured guest there - in 1818. The house was afterwards divided, and the moiety, which - still retained the name of Tavistock, became the home of Frank - Stone. - - From the front windows of Tavistock House, which stood immediately - on the right on entering the railed-in garden or square, the spire - of St. Pancras Church was plainly visible, being but a short - distance away. The pillars of the gateway leading to the enclosure - were (and are) surmounted by quaint lamps with iron supports. - Dickens held the lease from the Duke of Bedford at a "peppercorn" - ground-rent. - -[42]The portrait-bust was probably that executed in marble by Dickens's - beloved friend Angus Fletcher ("Poor Kindheart," as the novelist - called him), whose mother was an English beauty and heiress. He died - in 1862. At the sale of Dickens's effects in 1870, the bust realized - fifty-one guineas, and it would be interesting to know its present - destination. The pair of reliefs after Thorwaldsen were disposed of - on the same occasion for eight and a half guineas. - -[43]"Mary Boyle--Her Book," 1901. - -[44]I quote the opening lines of this eccentric effusion: - - "'Great men,' no doubt, have a great deal to answer for. No one will - deny that. Their 'genius,' which brings them to the front, and which - causes men, women, and children to worship them for the pleasure - their beautiful gifts procure to eyes, ears, and senses, brings them - all much responsibility. - - "But who would ever have imagined that their dwellings may bring - grave responsibility and grave trouble to those who take up their - abode in a house which the presence of their genius has hallowed? I - live in Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London--a dear house, in - a nice, quiet, shady garden, where grow fine large old plantains - (out of the Square proper), and where in summer, from every window - of the house, you may imagine yourself in the country--the real - country! That sounds very grand and luxurious in London; and though - the mere fact of living in the house has very nearly brought upon me - the most terrible fate which can befall a human being - nowadays--namely, _that of a sane person shut up in a lunatic - asylum, put there for the purpose of being slowly or 'accidentally' - murdered_--I cling to the spot because I have spent the happiest, - the most interesting, and the most illumined part of my life there; - also days of the most bitter anguish, the most heart-crushing - despair, when I was obliged to leave the dear home and husband for - some time, because I could not stop crying. The thought of my loss - and the shipwreck of my life was too vivid, too much for me. I went - away and returned when I had got calm enough to restrain my tears, - but with the sun set for ever on what remained to me of the summer - of middle life. I love the dear home, too, because my darling - puggies are buried in the garden under the mulberry-tree, without a - tombstone, alas! because ever since they died I have been planning - to have a pretty monument made to mark the spot where they lay, and - that when I have thought I could afford myself that pleasure - somebody has generally stolen my money ... and I have to put off - ordering the intended _work of art_, which I mean it to be, till I - feel 'flush' again. I was a slave to my dear Dan for nearly thirteen - years, and I think I must have loved that dog as much as anybody - ever loved anything in this world. - - "I must not let you wonder too long what I am driving at, my - readers, by telling you that, through the mere fact of living in - what had been a house where a great man had lived, I nearly got - locked up in a lunatic asylum. You must think me insane, I fancy, to - say such a thing, and I must confess that you might guess every - mortal and immortal thing under the sun, but you would never guess - how this most frightful occurrence took place. - - "Those who have read Charles Dickens's 'Life,' by Mr. Forster, will - know that he is the 'great man' who had lived at Tavistock House for - twelve [ten] years. People from all parts of the world have come to - look at the house Charles Dickens lived in, and see the interior of - the house, a request which I have frequently complied with." - - On another page Mrs. Weldon says: "Although three keepers got into - Tavistock House and actually laid hold of me, I escaped their - delicate intentions, as I consider, by a merciful interposition of - Providence...." - - At the Dickens Birthday Celebration, the dancers were attired in the - costumes of Dickens characters, and Mrs. Weldon appeared in wig and - gown--a very fascinating Serjeant Buzfuz. - -[45]The neuralgic pain in his foot, originating, he believed, in a - prolonged walk in the snow, continued to cause acute suffering, and - completely prostrated him at intervals. - -[46]At Sotheby's, on December 4, 1902, were sold the office table, two - chairs, and a looking-glass, which for many years were in daily - requisition by Dickens at the office of _All the Year Round_. - -[47]Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, in the _St. James's Gazette_, March 6, 1899. - -[48]These interesting conjectures are culled from the _Wiltshire - Advertiser_, February 4, 1904. - -[49]"The Real Dickens Land," by H. Snowden Ward, 1903. - -[50]"Bleak House," chap. lvi. - -[51]Letter to Forster, January 27, 1869. - -[52]"The Pickwick Papers," chap. xxxiv. - -[53]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[54]"... A strong place perched upon the top of a high rock, around - which, when the tide is in, the sea flows, leaving no road to the - mainland."--"A Child's History of England," chap. ix. - -[55]In the early part of the last century the Logan, or Rocking, Stone - could be easily swayed to and fro, its poise being so accurate that - a hand-push would set it in motion and cause it to rock. In April, - 1824, this huge rock was overthrown by a party of sailors, and, - filled with remorse for this foolish act, the leader of the party - (Lieutenant Goldsmith, nephew of the poet) determined to replace it - at his own expense, the stone being swung back with pulleys to its - original resting-place in November of the same year, amid great - local rejoicing. But its rocking propensities were sadly diminished, - and at the present time have ceased altogether. - -[56]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[57]Forster's "Life of Dickens." - -[58]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[59]Thackeray wrote some of the early numbers of "Vanity Fair" at the - Old Ship Inn, and caused George Osborne and his bride to spend the - first few days of their married life there. - -[60]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." This passage reminds us of the - following contemporary reference in "Vanity Fair," chap. xxii.: "But - have we any leisure for a description of Brighton?--for Brighton, a - clean Naples, with genteel lazzaroni; for Brighton, that always - looks brisk, gay, and gaudy, like a harlequin's jacket...." - -[61]_Vide_ "Mary Boyle--Her Book," 1901. Miss Boyle, an intimate friend - of Dickens, pleasingly records her recollections of Dr. Everard's - school, where, as a girl, she was very popular among his pupils, and - much in request at the dances. Her partners included the late and - the present Lords Northampton, Mr. Frederick Leveson-Gower, and her - cousins, the sons of Sir Augustus Clifford. - -[62]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[63]See _Punch_, August 25, 1849. In the background of the drawing are - represented the ruins of Cook's Castle. - -[64]In March, 1902, the Great White Horse was sold by public auction, - and purchased by the lessee for £14,500. - -[65]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[66]For this information I am indebted to Dr. John Bately, of Gorleston, - who has made a careful study of the subject, and to whom I am - similarly obliged for useful suggestions respecting "Blunderstone - Rookery," the original of which (he is convinced) is the Rectory, - not the Hall. Is it not probable that Dickens combined the features - of both places, and so produced a composite portrait? - -[67]The Morrit Arms is now the only establishment of the kind in Greta - Bridge. - -[68]"Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[69]The King's Head, in the Market Place, Barnard Castle, has been - enlarged since 1838, but the older portion remains much as it was - then. - -[70]See "The Speeches of Charles Dickens." - -[71]"Poor Mercantile Jack," in _All the Year Round_, March 10, 1860. - -[72]Elsewhere in the book the author tells us that the great factories - looked like Fairy palaces when illumined at night. - -[73]The late Mr. Robert Langton, author of "The Childhood and Youth of - Charles Dickens," states that Dickens, in "Hard Times," is - unsuccessful in his attempt to render the Lancashire dialect--that - the utterances put into the mouths of Stephen Blackpool and others - in the book "are very far from being correct," a matter upon which, - from his long residence in Manchester, that critic is qualified to - speak. Mr. Langton points out that the inscription on the sign of - the Pegasus' Arms, at which inn Sleary's circus company put up, - "Good malt makes good beer," etc., was taken from an old sign, the - Malt Shovel, existing until 1882 at the foot of Cheetham Hill. - -[74]See the _Manchester Evening Chronicle_, January 7, 1904. In this - paper were published during 1903-1904 a series of interesting - articles on "Dickens and Manchester," whence some of these details - are culled. - -[75]"The County of the Cheerybles," by the Rev. Hume Elliot. - -[76]Many of these details are quoted from the _Manchester Evening News_, - October 27, 1903. - -[77]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[78]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[79]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[80]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[81]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[82]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[83]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." It is now rumoured that, in the - thinning-out process adopted by the Wigton magistrates, some of the - oldest established licensed houses in the county are threatened with - extinction, all of those in Hesket-New-Market being objected to. - Happily, the house immortalized by Dickens will escape, being no - longer an inn. - -[84]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." We are told that "a portion - of the lazy notes from which these lazy sheets are taken" was - written at the King's Arms Hotel. - -[85]"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." - -[86]_Ibid._ - -[87]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[88]The successful horses on this day were Impérieuse (St. Leger), - Blanche of Middlebec (Municipal Stakes), Skirmisher (Her Majesty's - Plate), and Meta (Portland Plate). - -[89]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[90]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[91]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[92]In 1898 the Birthplace Visitors' Books for May, 1821, to September, - 1848, in which are preserved the autographs of Sir Walter Scott, - Dickens, Washington Irving, and a host of celebrities, were sold at - Sotheby's auction-rooms, the four volumes realizing £56. - -[93]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[94]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[95]_I.e._, an infant phenomenon, _à la_ Crummles in "Nicholas - Nickleby." - -[96]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." The reference to "the Miss - Snevellicci business" is an allusion to the theatrical incident in - "Nicholas Nickleby," chap. xxiv. - -[97]The diary records, under date October 29, 1838: "Hatfield expenses - on Saturday, £1 12s." - -[98]Christmas number of _All the Year Round_, 1863. - -[99]"The Poor Man and his Beer" in _All the Year Round_, April 30, 1859. - -[100]The Christmas number of _All the Year Round_, 1861. - -[101]"Travelling Abroad." - -[102]Probably that portion descriptive of Cobham village and park was - penned here. His landlord, Thomas White, was still living in 1883. - -[103]Miller's "Jottings of Kent," 1871. - -[104]It would seem, from the published correspondence of 1859, that the - house (No. 40, Albion Street) occupied by him twenty years - previously had been absorbed by the hotel. - -[105]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[106]"The Letters of Charles Dickens." - -[107]"Our Watering-Place," first published in _Household Words_ August - 2, 1851, was reprinted as "Our English Watering-Place." - -[108]See the letter to Mrs. Charles Dickens, September 3, 1850. - -[109]_Ibid._ - -[110]"A Week's Tramp in Dickens Land," by W. R. Hughes, F.L.S. - -[111]"Out of Town," first printed in _Household Words_, September 29, - 1855. - -[112]"Out of Town." - -[113]In the same play, curiously enough, one of the minor characters is - named "Gadshill." - -[114]"A Week's Tramp in Dickens Land," by W. R. Hughes, 1891. - -[115]It is generally admitted that the tower of Rochester Cathedral is - altogether out of harmony with the rest of this Norman edifice. It - was designed by Cottingham, and erected in 1825 to replace the - earlier tower, which was surmounted by a thick stunted spire. A fund - has been raised to which the late Dean, Dr. Reynolds Hole, so - generously contributed, for the purpose of substituting a tower - approximating in character the older structure. - - At the time of publication (December, 1904) the lowering and - re-casing of the tower and the addition of a 66 ft. spire are - completed. - - - - - INDEX - - - _The titles of the writings of Dickens are printed in italics._ - - - A - Adelaide Street, Strand, 32. - Adelphi, 30. - Ainsworth, H., 54. - Alamode beef-houses, 31. - Alderbury, 100. - Aldwych, 80. - Allonby, 144. - "All the Year Round," 78, 79, 222. - Amesbury, 100. - Anderson, Hans Christian, 70, 210. - "Animal Magnetism," 172. - Athenĉum Club, 80. - Austin, Henry, 49; - and Tavistock House, 66. - - - B - Bagstock, Major, and Brighton, 106. - Bangor, 169. - _Barnaby Rudge_, 60, 103. - Barnard Castle, 125. - Barnet, 55, 173. - Bath, 85, 87-93. - _Battle of Life_, 63. - Beard, Thomas, 82. - Beckhampton, 87. - Birkenhead, 169. - Birmingham, 163-166. - Black Country, the, 163. - Blackfriars Bridge, 35. - Blanchard, E. Laman, 211. - _Bleak House_, 27, 42, 56, 69, 71, 82, 103, 172, 176, 195. - Blimber's, Dr., establishment at Brighton, 106. - Blimber, Dr., original of, 106. - Blunderstone, original of, 16, 117, 120. - Blundeston, original of Blunderstone, 16, 117, 120. - Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 107-111. - Bowes, 126. - Boyle, Mary, 72, 107. - Bridgnorth, 163. - Brighton, 63, 103-107. - Bristol, 83. - Broadstairs, 54, 64, 188-197. - Brompton, New, 8. - Browdie, John, original of, 126. - Budden, James, original of Fat Boy, 12. - Burnett, Henry, 137. - Bury St. Edmunds, 114, 115. - - - C - Canterbury, 190, 202, 203, 205, 210 - Capel Curig, 169. - Carlisle, 146. - Carlyle, Thomas, 72. - Carracross, a village of Peggotty Huts, 119. - Carrock Fell, 142. - Cassell and Co., 28. - Chalk, 186, 187, 211. - Chandos Street, Covent Garden, 37, 39. - Charing Cross Hospital, 38. - Charing Cross railway-bridge, 30. - Charlotte Street, Blackfriars, 35. - Chatham, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 25, 26, 183, 185, 186, 204, - 205, 214, 215. - Cheadle, 169. - Cheeryble Brothers, originals of, 138. - Chelmsford, 49. - Chertsey, 55. - Chesney Wold, 172, 173. - Chester, 163. - _Child's Dream of a Star_, 17. - _Child's Story_, 18. - _Chimes, The_, 62, 82. - Cholmeley, original of Tony Weller, 22. - _Christmas Carol_, 60, 73, 171. - Clare Market, 80. - Clatford, 86. - Clifton, 84. - Cloisterham (Rochester), 214. - Coaches: - "Brighton Era," 103. - "Commodore," 20, 22. - Cooper Company's, Bristol, 85. - "Glasgow Mail," 124. - Timpson's "Blue-eyed Maid," 21. - Cobham, 20, 186, 208, 210. - Cobham Hall, 211. - Cob-Tree Hall, Aylesford, 201. - Coketown, original of, 133. - Collins, Wilkie, 72, 141. - Conway, 169. - Cook, Eliza, 69. - Cooling, 212-214. - Cornwall, trip into, with Stanfield, Maclise, and Forster, 95. - Covent Garden, 30. - Coventry, 170. - _Cricket on the Hearth_, 60. - Cumberland, 141. - - - D - "Daily News," 81. - _David Copperfield_, 3, 8, 9, 12, 16, 19, 29, 30, 31, 36, 37, 40, - 42, 44, 45, 50, 60, 63, 103, 108, 110, 117-122, 193, 195, - 199, 200, 202. - Dawson, Dr., at school with Dickens, 40. - Debtors' prison, Southwark, 28. - Dedlock Arms, original of, 173. - Dibabses, home of, 95. - Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, 61. - Dickens, Charles: - Birth, 1; - baptism, 3; - childhood days, 6, 7; - at school in Chatham, 11, 14; - Chatham days, 18-20; - leaves Chatham for London, 20; - boyhood and youth in London, 23-48; - first employment, 29; - school again, 39; - clerk at a solicitor's and then at attorneys', 41; - takes to journalism, 44; - studies shorthand, 44; - reporter on the "True Sun," "Mirror of Parliament," and - "Morning Chronicle," 46; - first attempt at authorship, 47; - commences _Pickwick_, 50; - marriage, 51; - birth of his son Charles, 51; - of his daughters, Mary and Kate, 54; - of his sons, Walter Landor, Francis Jeffrey, Alfred Tennyson, - Henry Fielding, and daughter, Dora Annie, 61; - and of Sidney Smith Haldemand, 63; - birth of son, Edward Bulwer Lytton, 71; - takes Gad's Hill Place, 73; - return from America, 95; - death, June 9, 1870, 222. - Dickens, Mrs. Charles, 88, 166. - Dickens, Charles Culliford Boz, 51, 64. - Dickens, Dora Annie, 61. - Dickens, Edward Bulwer Lytton, 71. - Dickens, Elizabeth, mother of Charles, 3, 26, 33, 38. - Dickens Fellowship, 17. - Dickens, Francis Elizabeth, 3. - Dickens, Francis Jeffrey, 61. - Dickens, Henry Fielding, 61. - Dickens, John, 2, 5-20, 23, 26, 28, 33, 37, 39, 41, 43, 94. - Dickens, Kate, 54. - Dickens, Mary, 54, 59. - Dickens Road, 193. - Dickens, Sidney Smith Haldemand, 63. - Dickens Street, Portsmouth, 2. - Dickens, Walter Landor, 61. - Dingley Dell, 201. - _Dinner at Poplar Walk_, 47. - Doctors' Commons, 44. - _Dombey and Son_, 33, 60, 63, 106, 162. - Dombey, burial of, 61. - Dombey, Mr., and Brighton, 106. - Dombey, Mr., marriage of, 61. - Dombey, original of, 138. - Dombey, Paul, at school in Brighton, 106. - Doncaster, 149, 153-5. - Dorrit, Fanny, original of, 138. - Dotheboys Hall, 126. - Dover, 8, 197, 198-199, 206, 219. - Drury Lane, 31, 80. - "Dullborough" (Chatham), 21, 185, 186. - - - E - Eastgate House, Rochester, 216. - "Eatanswill," 114. - Edinburgh, 155-157, 159. - Egg, Augustus, 110. - Ellis and Blackmore, attorneys who employed Dickens, 41, 43. - Empty chair, 209. - Engelhart, 25. - Essex, 1, 49. - Everard, Dr., original of Dr. Blimber, 106. - Exeter, 93. - - - F - Fielding's "Tom Thumb," 71. - Fields, James T., 77. - Fildes, Luke, 78. - Fitzgerald, Percy, 81, 114. - Fleet Prison, 28. - Folkestone, 198, 199-200. - Folkestone, original of Pavilionstone, 199. - Frith, W. P., R.A., 73. - _Frozen Deep, The_, 72. - - - G - Gad's Hill, 184, 201, 204-212, 218, 220, 221-224. - Gaiety Theatre, 80. - Garland Family, 35. - Genoa, 61, 62, 110. - _George Silverman's Explanation_, 136. - Giles, William, 15, 21. - Glasgow, 158, 159. - Glencoe, 157. - "Golden dog licking a golden pot," 35. - "Golden Lucy," original of, 12. - Gounod, 74. - Grant, William and Daniel, Originals of the Cheeryble Brothers, - 138. - Grantham, 124. - Gravesend, 184, 204, 206, 211. - Gray's Inn, 50. - _Great Expectations_, 21, 71, 212, 220, 222. - Great North Road, 173. - Great Winglebury, 220. - Greta Bridge, 123. - Grewgious's chambers in Staple Inn, 51. - Grip the raven, 60. - _Guest, The_, 13. - Guild of Literature and Art, 177. - Guy's Hospital, 35. - - - H - Hackney churchyard, 179. - Hampshire, 1. - Hampstead, 39, 55. - _Hard Times_, 71, 132-136. - Hatfield, 174. - _Haunted Man_, 60, 104. - Hertford, 173. - Hesket-New-Market, 148. - Higham, 204. - Hogarth, Catherine Thomson, 51. - Hogarth, George, 51. - Hogarth, Mary, 51. - Hogarth, Miss, 51, 63. - Holl, Frank, 25. - _Holly Tree Inn_, 13. - Horne, R. H., 9. - Hotels: _see_ _Inns_. - "Household Words," 79, 104, 141. - House of Commons Reporters, Gallery, 46. - Huffam, Christopher, 4. - Humphrey, Master, original of 126. - Hungerford Market, 30, 39. - Hungerford Stairs, Strand, 29 35, 39. - Hungerford Street, 32, 160. - Hungerford Suspension Bridge, 30. - Hunt, Leigh, 128, 137. - - - I - Inns and Hotels: - Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, 129. - Adelphi Hotel, Manchester, 169. - Albion Hotel, Broadstairs, 188. - Angel Inn, Bury St. Edmunds, 114. - Angel, Doncaster, 153. - Beaufort Arms, Bath, 93. - Bedford Hotel, Brighton, 104, 105, 106. - Black Prince, Chandos Street, 38. - Blue Boar, Rochester, 220. - Bull Hotel, Preston, 136. - Bull Hotel, Rochester, 218. - Bull Inn, Whitechapel, 113. - Bush Inn, Bristol, 84. - Castle Hotel, Coventry, 170. - Catherine Wheel, Beckhampton, 87. - Clarence Hotel, Chatham, 12. - Copp's Royal Hotel, Leamington, 160. - County Inn, Canterbury, 202. - Cross Keys, London, 21. - Crozier Inn, Chatham, 13. - Down Hotel, Clifton, 85. - Fountain Hotel, Canterbury, 202. - Fox-under-the-Hill, Adelphi, 30. - George Hotel, Grantham, 124. - George Inn, Greta Bridge, 124. - Golden Cross, London, 22. - Great White Horse, Ipswich, 112. - Green Dragon, Alderbury, 100. - Hen and Chickens Inn, Birmingham, 164. - Horseshoe and Castle, Cooling, 212. - Hotel Cecil, London, 31. - Jack Straw's Castle, Hampstead, 56. - Kennedy's Hotel, Edinburgh, 156. - Kennett Inn, Beckhampton, 87. - King's Arms, Lancaster, 149. - King's Head, Barnard Castle, 126. - Leather Bottle, Cobham, 210. - Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, 167. - Lord Warden Hotel, Dover, 199. - Malt Shovel, Cheetham Hill, 136. - Marquis of Ailesbury's Arms, Clatford, 86. - Mitre Inn, Chatham, 12. - New Inn, Greta Bridge, 124. - New London Inn, Exeter, 94. - Old Coach and Horses, Isleworth, 55. - Old Royal Hotel, Birmingham, 165. - Old Ship Hotel, Brighton, 103. - Pavilion Hotel, Folkestone, 199. - Plough, Blundeston, 117. - Queen's Head, Hesket-New-Market, 149. - Queen's Hotel, Manchester, 131. - Queen's Hotel, St. Albans, 176. - Radley's Hotel, Liverpool, 129. - Red Lion Inn, Chatham, 12. - Red Lion, High Barnet, 173. - Red Lion, Parliament Street, 37. - Royal Hotel, Bath, 93. - Royal Hotel, Edinburgh, 157. - Royal Hotel, Glasgow, 159. - Royal Hotel, Norwich, 115. - Royal Hotel, Yarmouth, 120. - St. James's (now Berkeley) Hotel, 78. - Salisbury Arms, Hatfield, 174, 175. - Saracen's Head, Bath, 87. - Shepherd's Shord Inn, 87. - Ship Inn, Allonby, 136. - Sondes Arms, Rockingham, 173. - Star and Garter, Richmond, 55. - Sun Hotel, Canterbury, 202. - Three Jolly Bargemen, Cooling, 214. - Unicorn, Bowes, 126. - Victoria Hotel, Euston, 63. - Waite's Hotel, Gravesend, 207. - Waterloo Hotel, Edinburgh, 156. - West Hoe Hotel, Plymouth, 103. - White Hart, Bath, 89. - White Hart, Stevenage, 182. - White Lion, Wolverhampton, 167. - Wood's Hotel (Furnival's Inn), 52. - York House Hotel, Bath, 93. - Ipswich, 49, 112, 115. - Isle of Wight, 107. - Italy, Dickens sojourn in, 62. - - - J - Jerrold, Douglas, 141, 176. - Joe the Fat Boy, original of, 12. - Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, 48. - Jones, William, schoolmaster, 39. - Jonson's "Every Man in His Humour," 128. - - - K - Kean, Charles, 94. - Kenilworth, 160, 162. - Kent, 1, 183. - King's Bench Prison, 28, 29. - King's College School, 63. - Kingsgate Street, Holborn, 80. - Kingsway, 80. - Kit's Coty House, 201. - Knebworth, 177, 179. - - - L - Lamert, Dr., original of Dr. Slammer, 16. - Lamert, James, 29, 39. - Lancaster, 149-153. - Landor, Walter Savage, 88. - Landseer, Sir E., 54, 61. - Land's End, 95. - Lankester, Mrs. and Dr., 108. - Lausanne, 63. - _Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices_, 141-155. - Leamington, 160. - Leather Bottle, Cobham, 210. - Leech, John, 105, 108, 109, 110, 120. - Leeds, 140, 153. - "Leg o' mutton swarry" located, 93. - Lemon, Mark, 71, 109, 120. - _Lighthouse, The_, 72. - Limehouse Hole, 4. - Lincoln's Inn Fields (Forster's residence and Tulkinghorn's - chambers), 62, 82, 190. - Linton, Mrs. Lynn, 206, 221. - _Little Dorrit_, 21, 29, 71, 72, 199, 222. - Little Nell, original of, 88. - Liverpool, 128. - Llangollen, 169. - London, 1, 20, 23. - Longfellow, H. W., 60, 222. - "Love Chase," The, 169. - Lowestoft, 117. - Lowther Arcade, 33. - Lupin, Mrs., original of her "establishment," 100. - Lynn, Rev. J., 206. - Lytton, Lord, 177. - - - M - Maclise, D., 54, 88. - Macready, 47, 61, 109. - "Mad Lucas," 179. - Maidstone, 200, 201, 210. - Maidstone, original of Muggleton, 201. - Manchester, 131-140, 169. - Manchester, original of Coketown, 133. - Margate, 197. - Marlborough Downs, 85, 99. - Marshalsea Prison, 28, 29, 33, 35, 36. - _Martin Chuzzlewit_, 50, 60, 95, 98, 129. - Marylebone Church, 61. - Maryport, 147. - _Master Humphreys Clock_, 126. - Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, 28. - Micawber, Mrs., 27. - Micawber, Mr., 28. - Millais, Sir John, 78. - Mitford, Mary Russell, 69. - Molloy, Mr., solicitor who employed Dickens, 41. - "Monthly Magazine," 47. - Mopes, original of, 180. - "Morning Chronicle," 46, 49, 51, 155. - Mount St. Michael, 96. - _Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings_, 174. - _Mudfog Papers_, 8. - Muggleton, original of, 201. - Murdstone and Grinby's, 8, 30. - _Mystery of Edwin Drood_, 13, 51, 78, 201, 214, 216, 217. - - - N - Naples, 110. - New Inn, 80. - Newnham, Mrs., 12. - Newspaper Press Fund, 93. - New York, 110. - _Nicholas Nickleby_, 54, 57, 95, 123-127, 162, 168, 169. - Norfolk, 1. - North Foreland, 189, 191. - Norwich, 114, 115, 116. - _No Thoroughfare_, 103. - - - O - _Old Curiosity Shop_, 35, 60, 88, 163, 168, 169, 170, 188. - _Oliver Twist_, 51, 54, 57, 103, 167, 173. - _One Man in a Dockyard_, 9. - _Our Mutual Friend_, 4, 27, 77, 179, 222. - _Our School_, 39. - _Our Watering-Place_, 191, 197. - _Out of Town_, 199. - - - P - Parliament Street, 36. - Paris, 110. - Pavilionstone, original of, 199. - Paxton, Sir Joseph, 210. - Pearce, Mrs. Sarah, 3. - Peggotty, Dame, original of, 16. - Peggotty's hut at Yarmouth, 119. - Petersham, 54. - "Phiz," 120, 123, 124, 125, 160, 167, 168, 169, 174. - Pickwick, Mr., original of, 89. - _Pickwick Papers_, 8, 10, 22, 28, 34, 42, 50 51, 54, 84, 86, 89, - 112, 156, 164, 186, 188, 201, 210, 214, 215, 218-221. - Pipchin, Mrs., original of, 33. - Pipchin, Mrs., at Brighton, 106. - Plymouth, 94, 103. - _Poor Man and his Beer_, 175. - Portsea, 2. - Portsmouth, 2, 3, 5, 101, 102. - Portugal Street, 80. - Preston, 136. - Proctor ("Barry Cornwall"), 61. - Prudential Insurance Company, 52. - "Punch," 109. - - - Q - Queen Victoria, 219. - - - R - Ramsgate, 110. - Readings in London, 78. - "Red Lions" Club, 109. - "Reporting" experiences, 83. - _Reprinted Pieces_, 199. - Residences of Dickens: - Bonchurch: Winterbourne, 107. - Brighton: Bedford Hotel, 104. - Junction House, 104. - Junction Parade, 104. - King's Road, 104. - Broadstairs: 40, Albion Street, 188. - Fort House, 193. - 12, High Street, 188. - Lawn House, 193. - Chatham: Ordnance Terrace, 7, 11, 14, 17. - St. Mary's Place, The Brook, 14-17. - Dover: 10, Camden Crescent, 199. - Lord Warden Hotel, 199. - Edinburgh: Royal Hotel, 157. - Folkestone: 3, Albion Villas, 199. - Gad's Hill, 73, 184, 201, 204-212, 221-224. - Gravesend: Waite's Hotel, 207. - London: Bayham Street, Camden Town, 23. - Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, 43, 49. - Buckingham Street, Strand, 45, 49. - Cecil Street, Strand, 45. - Chester Place, Regent's Park, 63. - Devonshire Terrace, 36, 58. - Doughty Street, W.C., 51, 53, 57, 61. - Fitzroy Street, W., 43. - Furnival's Inn, 45, 49, 52. - Gloucester Place, Hyde Park, 77. - Gower Street, N., 26, 29, 33. - Hampstead, 39. - Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, 76. - Highgate, 43. - Hyde Park Place, 77. - Johnson Street, Somers Town, 39, 42. - Lant Street, Borough, 33. - Little College Street, N.W., 33, 38. - Norfolk Street, Fitzroy Square, 7, 45. - North End, 43. - Osnaburgh Terrace, Euston, 62. - Polygon, Somers Town, 42. - Somers Place, Hyde Park, 77. - Southwick Place, Hyde Park, 77. - Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, 64-76, 207. - Victoria Hotel, Euston, 63. - Wylde's Farm, Hampstead, 56. - Lowestoft: Somerleyton Hall, 117. - Petersham: Elm Cottage, 54. - Portsmouth: Commercial Road, 2. - Hawke Street, 5. - Twickenham: Ailsa Park Villas, 54. - Restoration House, Rochester, 217. - Richmond, 54, 56. - Rochester, 1, 8, 20, 123, 184, 201, 202, 204, 208, 210, 211, - 214-221. - Rockingham Castle, 171, 172, 173. - Rogers, Samuel, 61. - Rokeby, 124. - "Roland for an Oliver," 168. - Rolls, Charles, 25. - Rothamsted, 175. - Rowland Hill's Chapel, 35. - Roylance, Mrs., original of Mrs. Pipchin, 33, 38. - - - S - St. Albans, 176. - St. George's Church, Borough, 29, 35. - St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, 51. - St. Martin's Lane, 31. - St. Martin's Church, 32, 33. - St. Mary's Church, Somers Town, 40. - St. Wighton waterfall, 96. - Salem House, 40. - Salisbury, 99. - Sardinia Street, 80. - Satis House, Rochester, 217. - "Sea-Serpents" Club, 109 - Selous, Angelo, 25. - Selous, Henry, 25. - _Seven Poor Travellers_, 7, 200, 216, 218. - Shanklin, Isle of Wight, 107. - Shaw, William, original of Squeers, 126. - Sheerness, 10. - Sheffield, 140. - Shepherd's Shord, 87. - Shorne, 187, 211. - Shrewsbury, 163, 167-169. - _Sketches by Boz_, 42, 44, 220. - Skimpole's, Harold, residence, 42. - Slammer, Dr., original of, 16. - Smith, Sydney, 61. - Smithson, Mrs., 125. - Somerset House, 5, 37. - Squeers, original of, 126. - Stanfield, Clarkson, 61, 72. - Stanfield Hall, 116. - Staple Inn, 51. - Steerforth, James, original of, 12. - Stevenage, 177-182. - Stone, Frank, 64, 110. - Stone, Marcus, R.A., 64. - Stonehenge, 99. - Stonehouse, Devonport, 103. - Strand, 30. - Stratford-on-Avon, 161. - Strood, 8, 205. - Strougill, Lucy, original of Golden Lucy, 12, 16. - Suffolk, 1, 49. - "Suffolk Chronicle," 112. - "Suffolk Times and Mercury," 112. - Surrey, 1. - Sussex, 1. - Swiss châlet, 208. - - - T - Tagart, Edward, 58. - _Tale of Two Cities_, 71, 198, 222. - Talfourd, 54, 57, 61, 110. - Temple, The, 81. - Thackeray and Dickens, the reconciliation, 81. - Theatricals at Tavistock House, 71. - Tintagel, 96. - _Tom Tiddler's Ground_, 180-182. - Tong, 169-170. - Traddles's apartments in Gray's Inn, 50. - Trotwood, Betsy, original of, 193. - Tulkinghorn's chambers in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 62. - Twickenham, 54. - - - U - _Uncommercial Traveller_, 21, 58, 115, 130, 184, 185, 198, 222. - "Used Up," 172. - - - W - Ward, E. M., R.A., 73. - Warren's Blacking Manufactory, 29, 33, 39. - Warwick, 1, 161, 162. - Washington, 110. - Watson, Hon. Richard and Mrs., 171. - Watts's (Richard) Charity, Rochester, 217. - Waugh, Rev. F. G., 80. - Weldon, Mrs. Georgina, 74; - as Serjeant Buzfuz, 76. - Weller, Mary, original of Dame Peggotty, 16. - Weller, Tony, original of, 22. - Wellington House Academy, 39. - Westgate House, original of, 115. - Westlock's (John) apartments in Furnival's Inn, 50, 51. - Westminster Bridge, 36. - White, Rev. James, 107. - Whitechapel, 113. - Wigton, 143. - Wilkie, Sir David, 61. - Wills, W. H., 205, 207, 221. - "Wiltshire Advertiser," 87. - Winkle, Mr., the elder's abode, 165. - Wolverhampton, 163, 167. - _Wreck of the "Golden Mary_," 12. - - - Y - Yarmouth, 117, 119-122. - - - THE - THACKERAY COUNTRY - - By LEWIS MELVILLE - - Large Crown 8vo. 3/6 cloth - - Containing 32 full-page Illustrations and a Map - -"THE THACKERAY COUNTRY" treats of those localities which are of primary -interest to those who are acquainted with the life and writings of the -great novelist. Mr. Melville deals with Thackeray's London homes and the -salient features and associations of their neighbourhood. He goes with -Thackeray to Paris, and follows the course of his travels on the -Continent and in America, giving special attention to those places that -are made the background of well-known scenes in the novels. He is -careful to give all the biographical information connected with -Thackeray's residences from his arrival in England from India at the age -of six until his death. - -The volume is illustrated with thirty-two full-page plates reproduced -from photographs specially taken for the book by Catharine W. Barnes -Ward, and a map. - - - CONTENTS - - CHAP. - Preface - Introductory - I. Thackeray's Early Homes - II. Thackeray and the Charterhouse - III. Pendennis-land, Cambridge, and the Temple - IV. The Neighbourhood of Thackeray's London Homes--1. Tyburnia; 2. - Bloomsbury - V. The Neighbourhood of Thackeray's London Homes--3. St. James's and - Mayfair - VI. Thackeray's Clubs and some Bohemian Resorts - VII. The Neighbourhood of Thackeray's London Homes--4. Kensington; 5. - Brompton - VIII. Thackeray in Paris - IX. Thackeray on the Continent - X. Thackeray in America - Index - - - THE - FASCINATION OF LONDON - - Edited by SIR WALTER BESANT - - Foolscap 8vo. 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Fcap. 4to., Cloth - - Price 1/6 net - - (_By post, price 1/9_) - - PUBLISHERS' NOTE - -The Romance of London, as the title is intended to convey, is a book -designed to bring before the reader pictorially, and with interestingly -written descriptive matter, the survivals of the London of the Middle -Ages, of Tudor times, and of the picturesque seventeenth century. - -That these relics are so numerous will surprise many people who have not -cared to explore London's antiquities. How many, for instance, have seen -all the Norman buildings in the City? 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Price 1/6 net - -The power of appreciating associations might almost take rank as a sixth -sense, it is so keenly developed in some people and entirely lacking in -others. The fact that Cromwell lived in this house and that Milton was -born in the other, lifts the happy possessors of this sense into another -region straightway; the aroma of the past is as perceptible to them as a -fine scent or a beautiful scene. To such people the little handbook now -published will give great delight. It is divided into two parts, the -first containing the names of the great dead who once inhabited London -and peopled its streets, with information regarding their houses; and -the other giving a list of the streets in London wherein once lived any -men or women whose names have not died with them. It is of great -interest to see what distinguished inhabitants once occupied the streets -wherein one lives or where one's friends live. As a reference book this -little volume will be indispensable to many, but it is much more than a -mere reference book. - - - PUBLISHED BY - ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK . SOHO SQUARE . LONDON, W. - - - - - Transcriber's Notes - - ---Retained copyright information from the printed edition: this eBook is - public-domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected a few palpable typos. - ---In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by - _underscores_. - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Dickens Country, by Frederic G. 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