one below having four windows and a door, and the one above (approached
in the usual Swiss fashion by an external staircase), which is much the
prettier, having six windows and a door. There are shutters outside, and
the overhanging roof at first sight gives the building somewhat of a
top-heavy appearance, but this impression wears off after a time, and it
is found to be effective and well-proportioned. "The five mirrors" which
Dickens placed in the chalet have been removed from the upper room, but
they are scarcely necessary, the views of rich and varied foliage and
flowers seen from the open windows, through which the balmy air passes,
forming a series of pictures in the bright sunlight of the August
afternoon delightfully fresh and beautiful. We sit down quietly for a
few minutes and enjoy the privilege; we ponder on the many happy and
industrious hours spent by its late owner in this now classic building;
and we leave it sadly, with the recollection that here were penned the
last lines which the "vanished hand" was destined to give to the world.
The Earl of Darnley generously allows his neighbours to have a key of
his park, and Dickens had one of such keys, a privilege greatly
appreciated by him and his friends. Recently his lordship has erected a
staircase round one of the highest trees in the park, called the "crow's
nest," from whence a very pretty peep at the surrounding country is
obtained.
During our visit we venture to ask the portly housekeeper if she
remembers Charles Dickens? The ray of delight that illumines her
good-natured countenance is simply magical.
"Oh," she says, "I liked Mr. Dickens very much. He was always so full of
fun. Oh! oh! oh!" the recollection of which causes a fit of suppressed
laughter, which "communicates a blancmange-like motion to her fat
cheeks," and she adds: "He used to dine here, and was always very
popular with the family, and in the neighbourhood."
We cannot help thinking that such delightful places as Cobham Hall were
in Dickens's mind when, in _Bleak House_ (_a propos_ of Chesney Wold),
he makes the volatile Harold Skimpole say to Sir Leicester Dedlock--"The
owners of such places are public benefactors. They are good enough to
maintain a number of delightful objects for the admiration and pleasure
of us poor men, and not to reap all the admiration and pleasure that
they yield, is to be ungrateful to our benefactors."
Leaving the park by a pretty undulating walk, and passing on our way a
large herd of deer, their brown and fawn-coloured coats contrasting
prettily with the green-sward, we come upon the picturesque village of
Cobham, where Mr. Tupman sought consolation after his little affair with
the amatory spinster aunt. Of course the principal object of interest is
the Leather Bottle, or "Dickens's old Pickwick Leather Bottle," as the
sign of the present landlord now calls it, wherein Dickens slept a night
in 1841, and visited it many times subsequently. There is a coloured
portrait of the President of the Pickwick Club on the sign, as he
appeared addressing the members. A fire occurred at the Leather Bottle a
few years ago, but it was confined to a back portion of the building;
unfortunately its restoration and so-called "improvements" have
destroyed many of the picturesque features which characterized this
quiet old inn when Dickens wrote the famous Papers. Here is his
description of it after Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Winkle had
walked through Cobham Park to seek their lost friend:--
[Illustration: The "Leather Bottle" Cobham]
"'If this,' said Mr. Pickwick, looking about him;
'if this were the place to which all who are
troubled with our friend's complaint came, I fancy
their old attachment to this world would very soon
return.'
"'I think so too,' said Mr. Winkle.
"'And really,' added Mr. Pickwick, after half an
hour's walking had brought them to the village,
'really for a misanthrope's choice, this is one of
the prettiest and most desirable places of
residence I ever met with.'
"In this opinion also, both Mr. Winkle and Mr.
Snodgrass expressed their concurrence; and having
been directed to the Leather Bottle, a clean and
commodious village ale-house, the three
travellers entered, and at once inquired for a
gentleman of the name of Tupman.
"'Show the gentlemen into the parlour, Tom,' said
the landlady.
"A stout country lad opened a door at the end of
the passage, and the three friends entered a long,
low-roofed room, furnished with a large number of
high-backed leather-cushioned chairs, of fantastic
shapes, and embellished with a great variety of
old portraits, and roughly-coloured prints of some
antiquity. At the upper end of the room was a
table, with a white cloth upon it, well covered
with a roast fowl, bacon, ale, and etceteras; and
at the table sat Mr. Tupman, looking as unlike a
man who had taken his leave of the world, as
possible.
"On the entrance of his friends, that gentleman
laid down his knife and fork, and with a mournful
air advanced to meet them.
"'I did not expect to see you here,' he said, as
he grasped Mr. Pickwick's hand. 'It's very kind.'
"'Ah!' said Mr. Pickwick, sitting down, and wiping
from his forehead the perspiration which the walk
had engendered. 'Finish your dinner, and walk out
with me. I wish to speak to you alone.'
"Mr. Tupman did as he was desired; and Mr.
Pickwick having refreshed himself with a copious
draught of ale, waited his friend's leisure. The
dinner was quickly despatched, and they walked out
together.
"For half an hour, their forms might have been
seen pacing the churchyard to and fro, while Mr.
Pickwick was engaged in combating his companion's
resolution. Any repetition of his arguments would
be useless; for what language could convey to them
that energy and force which their great
originator's manner communicated? Whether Mr.
Tupman was already tired of retirement, or whether
he was wholly unable to resist the eloquent appeal
which was made to him, matters not; he did _not_
resist it at last.
"'It mattered little to him,' he said, 'where he
dragged out the miserable remainder of his days:
and since his friend laid so much stress upon his
humble companionship, he was willing to share his
adventures.'
"Mr. Pickwick smiled; they shook hands; and walked
back to rejoin their companions."
[Illustration: The Old Parlour of the "Leather Bottle."]
[Illustration: Cobham Church]
In order to preserve the historical associations of the place, the
landlord of the Leather Bottle has added to the art collection in the
fine old parlour (that still contains "the high-backed leather-cushioned
chairs of fantastic shapes") many portraits of Dickens and illustrations
from his works, including a copy of the life-like coloured Watkins
photograph previously referred to. It has been already suggested that
the neighbourhood of Kit's Coty House probably gave rise to the famous
archaeological episode of the stone with the inscription--"Bill Stumps,
his mark," in _Pickwick_, which occurred near here, rivalling the "A. D.
L. L." discovery of the sage Monkbarns in Scott's _Antiquary_.
Time presses with us, so, after a refreshing cup of tea, we just have a
hasty glance at the beautiful old church, which contains some splendid
examples of monumental brasses, which for number and preservation are
said to be unique. They are erected to the memory of John Cobham,
Constable of Rochester, 1354, his ancestors and others.[37] There are
also some fine old almshouses which accommodate twenty pensioners. These
almshouses are a survival of the ancient college. We then take our
departure, returning through Cobham woods.
Turning off at some distance on the left, and passing through the little
village of Shorne, with its pretty churchyard, a very favourite spot of
Charles Dickens, and probably described by him in _Pickwick_ as "one of
the most peaceful and secluded churchyards in Kent, where wild flowers
mingle with the grass, and the soft landscape around, forms the fairest
spot in the garden of England"--we make for Chalk church. It will be
remembered, that the first number of _Pickwick_ appeared on the 31st
March, 1836, and on the 2nd of April following Charles Dickens was
married, and came to spend his honeymoon at Chalk, and he visited it
again in 1837, when doubtless the descriptions of Cobham and its
vicinity were written. To this neighbourhood, "at all times of his life,
he returned, with a strange recurring fondness."
[Illustration: Shorne Church]
Mr. Kitton has favoured me with permission to quote the following
extract from his Supplement to _Charles Dickens by Pen and Pencil_,
being the late Mr. E. Laman Blanchard's recollections of this pleasant
neighbourhood:--
"In the year Charles Dickens came to reside at Gad's Hill, I took
possession of a country house at Rosherville, which I occupied for some
seventeen years. During that period a favourite morning walk was along
the high road, of many memories, leading from Gravesend to Rochester,
and on repeated occasions I had the good fortune to encounter the great
novelist making one of his pedestrian excursions towards the Gravesend
or Greenhithe railway station, where he would take the train to travel
up to town. Generally, by a curious coincidence, we passed each other,
with an interchange of salutations, at about the same spot. This was on
the outskirts of the village of Chalk, where a picturesque lane branched
off towards Shorne and Cobham. Here the brisk walk of Charles Dickens
was always slackened, and he never failed to glance meditatively for a
few moments at the windows of a corner house on the southern side of the
road, advantageously situated for commanding views of the river and the
far-stretching landscape beyond. It was in that house he had lived
immediately after his marriage, and there many of the earlier chapters
of _Pickwick_ were written."
It is a long walk from Cobham to Chalk church,--the church, by the bye,
being about a mile from the village, as is usual in many places in
Kent,--and as the shades of evening are coming upon us, and as we are
desirous of having a sketch of the curious stone-carved figure over the
entrance porch, we hurry on, and succeed in effecting our object, though
under the difficulty of approaching darkness.
[Illustration: Curious Old Figure over the Porch, Chalk Church.]
This figure represents an old priest in a stooping position, with an
upturned vessel (probably a jug), about which we were informed there is
probably a legend. Dickens used to be a great admirer of this quaint
carving, and it is said that whenever he passed it, he always took off
his hat to it, or gave it a friendly nod, as to an old acquaintance. [We
regretfully record the fact that since our visit, both porch and figure
have been demolished.]
Amid the many strange sounds peculiar to summer night in the country, a
very weird and startling effect is produced in this lonely spot, in the
dusk of the evening, by the shrill whistle of the common redshank
(_Totanus calidris_), so called from the colour of its legs, which are
of a crimson-red. This bird, as monotonous in its call-note as the
corn-crake, to which it is closely allied, doubtless has its home in the
marshes hereabout, in which, and in fen countries, it greatly delights.
The peculiar whistle is almost ventriloquial in its ubiquity, and must
be heard to be properly appreciated.
We retrace our steps to the Dover road, and by the light of a match
applied to our pipes, see that our pedometer marks upwards of fifteen
miles for this tramp--"a rather busy afternoon," as Mr. Datchery once
said.
Since these lines were written, the third volume of the _Autobiography
and Reminiscences_ of W. P. Frith, R.A., has been published, in which
there is a most interesting reminiscence of Dickens; indeed, there are
many scattered throughout the three volumes, but the one in question
refers to "a stroll" which Dickens took with Mr. Frith and other friends
in July 1868. Mr. Cartwright, the celebrated dentist, was one of the
party, and the "stroll" was in reality, as the genial R. A. describes
it, "a fearfully long walk" such as he shall never forget; nor the night
he passed, without once closing his eyes in sleep, after it. "Dickens,"
continues Mr. Frith, "was a great pedestrian. His strolling was at the
rate of perhaps a little under four miles an hour. He was used to the
place,--I was not, and suffered accordingly."
Having a shrewd suspicion that this referred to one of the long walks
taken in our tramp, the present writer communicated with Mr. Frith on
the subject, and he was favoured with the following reply:--
"The stroll I mentioned in my third volume was through Lord Darnley's
park, but after that I remember nothing. As the time spent in walking
was four hours at least, we must have covered ground far beyond the
length of the park.
"On another occasion,--Dickens, Miss Hogarth, and I went to Rochester to
see the Castle, and the famous Pickwickian inn. On another day we went
to the Leather Bottle at Cobham, where Dickens was eloquent on the
subject of the Dadd parricide, showing us the place where the body was
found, with many startling and interesting details of the discovery."
The subject of the Dadd parricide alluded to by Mr. Frith was a very
horrible case; the son--an artist--was a lunatic, and was subsequently
confined in Bethlehem Hospital, London. There are two curious pictures
by him in the Dyce and Forster collection at South Kensington; one is
inscribed "Sketches to Illustrate the Passions--Patriotism. By Richard
Dadd, Bethlehem Hospital, London, May 30, 1857, St. George's-in-the-Fields."
It has much minute writing on it. The other is "Leonidas with the
Wood-cutters," and illustrates Glover's poem, _Leonidas_. It is
inscribed, "Rd. Dadd, 1873." He died in Bethlehem Hospital in 1887.
The Dover Road! What a magic influence it has over us, as we tramp along
it in the quiet summer evening, and recall an incident that happened
nearly a hundred years ago, what time the Dover mail struggled up
Shooter's Hill on that memorable Friday night, and Jerry Cruncher, who
had temporarily suspended his "fishing" operations, and being free from
the annoyances of the "Aggerawayter," caused consternation to the minds
of coachman, guard, and passengers of the said mail, by riding abruptly
up, _a la_ highwayman, and demanding to speak to a passenger named Mr.
Jarvis Lorry, then on his way to Paris,--as faithfully chronicled in _A
Tale of Two Cities_. Again, in the early part of the present century,
when a certain friendless but dear and artless boy, named David
Copperfield,--who having been first robbed by a "long-legged young man
with a very little empty donkey-cart, which was nothing but a large
wooden-tray on wheels," of "half a guinea and his box," under pretence
of "driving him to the pollis," and subsequently defrauded by an
unscrupulous tailor named one Mr. Dolloby ("Dolloby was the name over
the shop-door at least") of the proper price of "a little weskit," for
which he, Dolloby, gave poor David only ninepence,--trudged along that
same Dover road footsore and hungry, "and got through twenty-three miles
on the straight road" to Rochester and Chatham on a certain Sunday; all
of which is duly recorded in _The Personal History of David
Copperfield_.
In after years, when happier times came to him, David made many journeys
over the Dover road, between Canterbury and London, on the Canterbury
Coach. Respecting the earliest of these (readers will remember Phiz's
illustration, "My first fall in life"), he says:--
"The main object on my mind, I remember, when we got fairly on the road,
was to appear as old as possible to the coachman, and to speak extremely
gruff. The latter point I achieved at great personal inconvenience; but
I stuck to it, because I felt it was a grown-up sort of thing."
In spite of this assumption, he is impudently chaffed by "William the
coachman" on his "shooting"--on his "county" (Suffolk), its "dumplings,"
and its "Punches," and finally, at William's suggestion, actually
resigns his box-seat in favour of his (William's) friend, "the
gentleman with a very unpromising squint and a prominent chin, who had a
tall white hat on with a narrow flat brim, and whose close-fitting drab
trousers seemed to button all the way up outside his legs from his boots
to his hips." In reply to a remark of the coachman this worthy
says:--"There ain't no sort of 'orse that I 'ain't bred, and no sort of
dorg. 'Orses and dorgs is some men's fancy. They're wittles and drink to
me--lodging, wife, and children--reading, writing, and 'rithmetic--snuff,
tobacker, and sleep."
"That ain't a sort of man to see sitting behind a coach-box, is it,
though?" says William in David's ear. David construes this remark into
an indication of a wish that "the gentleman" should have his place, so
he blushingly offers to resign it.
"Well, if you don't mind," says William, "I think it would be more
correct."
Poor David, "so very young!" gives up his box-seat, and thus moralizes
on his action:--
"I have always considered this as the first fall I
had in life. When I booked my place at the
coach-office, I had had 'Box Seat' written against
the entry, and had given the book-keeper
half-a-crown. I was got up in a special great coat
and shawl, expressly to do honour to that
distinguished eminence; had glorified myself upon
it a good deal; and had felt that I was a credit
to the coach. And here, in the very first stage, I
was supplanted by a shabby man with a squint, who
had no other merit than smelling like a
livery-stables, and being able to walk across me,
more like a fly than a human being, while the
horses were at a canter."
Pip, in _Great Expectations_, also made very many journeys to and from
London, along the Dover road (the London road it is called in the
novel), but the two most notable were, firstly, the occasion of his
ride outside the coach with the two convicts as fellow-passengers on the
back-seat--"bringing with them that curious flavour of bread-poultice,
baize, rope-yarn, and hearth-stone, which attends the convict presence;"
and secondly, that in which he walked all the way to London, after the
sad interview at Miss Havisham's house, where he learns that Estella is
to become the wife of Bentley Drummle:--
"All done, all gone! So much was done and gone,
that when I went out at the gate the light of day
seemed of a darker colour than when I went in. For
awhile I hid myself among some lanes and bypaths,
and then started off to walk all the way to
London. . . . It was past midnight when I crossed
London Bridge."
One more reference is made to the Dover road in _Bleak House_, where
that most lovable of the many lovable characters in Dickens's novels,
Esther Summerson, makes her journey, with her faithful little maid
Charley, to Deal, in order to comfort Richard Carstone:--
"It was a night's journey in those coach times;
but we had the mail to ourselves, and did not find
the night very tedious. It passed with me as I
suppose it would with most people under such
circumstances. At one while, my journey looked
hopeful, and at another hopeless. Now, I thought
that I should do some good, and now I wondered how
I could ever have supposed so."
When speaking of Dickens's characters, some critics have said that "he
never drew a gentleman." One ventures to ask, Where is there a more
chivalrous, honourable, or kind-hearted gentleman than Mr. John
Jarndyce? Sir Leicester Dedlock in the same novel too, with some few
peculiarities, is a thoroughly high-minded and noble gentleman of the
old school. This by the way.
[Illustration: "There's Milestones on the Dover Road"]
After walking some distance, we are able to verify one of those sage
experiences of Mr. F.'s aunt:--"There's milestones on the Dover road!"
for, by the light of another match, the darkness closing in, and there
being no moon, we read "4 miles to Rochester." However, we tramp merrily
on, with "the town lights right afore us," our minds being full of
pleasant reminiscences of the scenes we have passed through, and this
expedition, like many a weightier matter, "comes to an end for the
time."
* * * * *
We had on another occasion the pleasure of a long chat with Mrs. Latter
of Shorne, one of the daughters of Mr. W. S. Trood, for many years
landlord of the Sir John Falstaff. She said her family came from
Somersetshire to reside at Gad's Mill in the year 1849, and left in
1872. The Falstaff was then a little homely place, but it has been much
altered since. She knew Charles Dickens very well, and saw him
constantly during his residence at Gad's Hill Place. Mrs. Latter lost
two sisters while she lived at the Falstaff--one died at the age of
eleven, and the other at nineteen. The last-mentioned was named Jane,
and died in 1862 of brain fever. Dickens was very kind to the family at
the time, took great interest in the poor girl, and offered help of
"anything that his house could afford." She remembers her mother asking
Dickens if it would be well to have the windows of the bedroom open. At
those times people were fond of keeping invalids closed up from the air.
Dickens said--"Certainly: give her plenty of air." He liked fresh air
himself. Mrs. Latter said in proof of this that the curtains were always
blowing about the open windows at Gad's Hill Place.
When her sister Jane died, the funeral took place at Higham Church, and
was very quiet, there being no show, only a little black pall trimmed
with white placed over the coffin, which was carried by young men to the
grave. Dickens afterwards commended what had been done, saying: "It
showed good sense," and adding--"Not like an army of black beetles."
It will be remembered that in _Great Expectations_ and elsewhere the
ostentation, mummery, and extravagance of the "undertaking ceremony" are
severely criticised. The same feeling, and a desire for funeral reform,
no doubt prompted Dickens to insert the following clause in his Will:--
"I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive,
unostentatious, and strictly private manner; that no public announcement
be made of the time or place of my burial; that at the utmost not more
than three plain mourning-coaches be employed; and that those who attend
my funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hatband, or other such
revolting absurdity."
Mrs. Latter then told us the story of the two men with performing
bears:--
It appears that soon after Dickens came to Gad's Hill a lot of labourers
from Strood--some thirty or forty in number--had been for an outing in
breaks to Cobham to a "bean-feast," or something of the kind, and some
of them had got "rather fresh." On the return journey they stopped at
the Falstaff, and at the time two men, who were foreigners, were there
with performing bears, a very large one and a smaller one. The labourers
began to lark with the bears, teased them, and made them savage,
"becalled" the two men to whom they belonged, and a regular row
followed. The owners of the bears became exasperated, and were
proceeding to unmuzzle the animals, when Dickens (hearing the noise)
came out of his gate holding one of his St. Bernard dogs by a chain. He
told Mrs. Latter's father to take the bears up a back lane, said a few
words to the crowd, and remonstrated with the Strood men on their
conduct. The effect was magical; the whole affair was stilled in a
minute or two.
* * * * *
On a subsequent occasion we called upon the Rev. John Joseph Marsham of
Overblow, near Shorne. This venerable clergyman, a bachelor, and in his
eighty-fifth year, is totally blind, but in other respects is in the
full possession of all his faculties, and remarked that he was much
interested to hear anybody talk about old friends and times. He was
inducted as Vicar of Shorne in the year 1837, came to live there in
1845, and resigned his cure in 1888, after completing his jubilee. He is
a "Kentish man," having been born at Rochester. In our tramp the
question of "Kentish man," or "man of Kent," often cropped up, and we
had an opportunity of having the difference explained to us. A "Kentish
man" is one born on the east side of the river Medway, and a "man of
Kent" is one born on the west side.
The position of the residence "Overblow" is delightful. It stands on a
little hill, the front having a fine view of the Thames valley and the
marshes, the side looking on to the pretty hollow, in the centre of
which stands Shorne Church, and the back being flanked in the distance
by the beautiful Cobham Woods.
The reverend gentleman told us that he was a schoolfellow of the Right
Honourable W. E. Gladstone and Sir Thomas Gladstone, his brother, at
Eton, and had dined with the former at Hawarden on the occasion of his
being thrice Premier, although he helped to turn his old friend out at
Oxford in 1865, when he was succeeded by the Right Honourable Gathorne
Hardy, now Lord Cranbrook.
Mr. Marsham was a neighbour of Charles Dickens, occasionally dined with
him at Gad's Hill, and also met him at dinner sometimes at Mr. Hulkes's
at the Little Hermitage. He spoke of him as a nice neighbour and a
charming host, but he rarely talked except to his old friends. He
frequently met Dickens in his walks, and had many a stroll with him, and
always found him very interesting and amusing in his conversation. Once
they were coming down from London together in a saloon carriage which
contained about twelve or fourteen people. Dickens was sitting quietly
in a corner. It was at the time that one of his serial novels was
appearing, and most of the passengers were reading the current monthly
number. No one noticed Dickens, and when the train stopped at Strood, he
said--"We did not have much talk." "No," said Mr. Marsham, "the people
were much better engaged," at which Dickens laughed. Charles Dickens
did Mr. Marsham the kindness to send him early proofs of his Christmas
stories before they were published.
After Dickens's death (which he heard of in London, and never felt so
grieved in his life) Mr. Charles Dickens the younger, and Mr. Charles
Collins, his brother-in-law, came to select a piece of ground on the
east side of Shorne churchyard, which was one of Dickens's favourite
spots, but in consequence of the arrangements for the burial in
Westminster Abbey this was of course given up.
Mr. Marsham was staying in London, at Lord Penrhyn's, at the time of
Dickens's death, and Lady Louisa Penrhyn told him that by accident she
was in Westminster Abbey at about ten o'clock on the morning of 14th
June, the day of the funeral, and noticing some persons standing round
an open grave, her ladyship went to see it, and was greatly impressed on
looking in to read the name of Charles Dickens on the coffin, on which
were numerous wreaths of flowers.
Our venerable friend possesses a souvenir of the novelist in the two
exquisite plaster statuettes, about eighteen inches high, of "Night" and
"Morning," which he purchased at the Gad's Hill sale.
The reverend gentleman spoke of the great improvements in travelling as
compared with times within his recollection. He said that before the
railways were constructed he went to London by boat from Gravesend, and
the river was so bad that he had to keep his handkerchief to his nose
all the way to avoid the stench. This was long before the days of Thames
Embankments and other improvements in travelling by river and road.
FOOTNOTE:
[37] "Cobham Church [says a writer in the _Archaeologia Cantiana_, 1877]
is distinguished above all others as possessing the finest and most
complete series of brasses in the kingdom. It contains some of the
earliest and some of the latest, as well as some of the most beautiful
in design. The inscriptions are also remarkable, and the heraldry for
its intelligence is in itself a study. There is an interest also in the
fact that for the most part they refer to one great family--the Lords of
Cobham."
CHAPTER XIV.
A FINAL TRAMP IN ROCHESTER AND LONDON.
"You have been in every line I have ever read,
since I first came here, . . . you have been in
every prospect I have ever seen since--on the
river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes,
in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in
the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the
streets."--_Great Expectations._
"The magic reel, which, rolling on before, has led
the Chronicler thus far, now slackens in its pace,
and stops. It lies before the goal; the pursuit is
at an end. . . . Good-night, and heaven send our
journey may have a prosperous ending."--_The Old
Curiosity Shop._
IT is the morning of Saturday, the first of September, 1888, when our
wonderfully pleasant week's tramp in "Dickens-Land" comes to an end. We
have carried out every detail of our programme, without a single
_contretemps_ to mar the enjoyment of our delightful holiday; we have
visited not only the spots where the childhood and youth of Charles
Dickens were passed, and where the influence of the environment is
specially traceable in the tone of both his earlier and later writings,
but we have gone over and identified (as we proposed to do) a number of
places in which he delighted, and often described in those writings,
peopling them with airy characters (but to us most real), in whose
footsteps we have walked. We have seen the place where he was born; we
have seen nearly all the houses in which he lived in after life; and we
have been over the charming home occupied by him for fourteen years,
where his last moments passed away under the affectionate and
reverential solicitude of his sons and daughters, and of Miss Hogarth,
his sister-in-law, "the ever-useful, self-denying, and devoted friend."
And now we linger lovingly about a few of the streets and places in "the
ancient city," and especially in the precincts of the venerable
Cathedral, all sanctified by the memory of the mighty dead. We fain
would prolong our visit, but the "stern mandate of duty," as Immanuel
Kant called it, prevails, and we bow to the inevitable; or as Mr.
Herbert Spencer better puts it, "our duty is our pleasure, and our
greatest happiness consists in achieving the happiness of others." We
feel our departure to-day the more keenly, as everything tempts us to
stay. Listening for a moment at the open door--the beautiful west
door--of the Cathedral, in this glorious morning in early autumn, we
hear the harmonies of the organ and choir softly wafted to us from
within; we feel the delicious morning air, which comes over the old
Castle and burial-ground from the Kentish hills; we see the bright and
beautiful flowers and foliage of the lovely catalpa tree, through which
the sunlight glints; a solemn calm pervades the spot as the hum of the
city is hushed; and, although we have read them over and over again,
now, for the first time, do we adequately realize the exquisitely
touching lines on the last page of _Edwin Drood_, written by the
master-hand that was so soon to be stilled for ever:--
[Illustration: Doorway Rochester Cathedral]
"A brilliant morning shines on the old City. Its
antiquities and ruins are surpassingly beautiful,
with the lusty ivy gleaming in the sun, and the
rich trees waving in the balmy air. Changes of
glorious light from moving boughs, songs of birds,
scents from gardens, woods and fields--or,
rather, from the one great garden of the whole of
the cultivated island in its yielding
time--penetrate into the Cathedral, subdue its
earthy odour, and preach the Resurrection and the
Life. The cold stone tombs of centuries ago grow
warm; and flecks of brightness dart into the
sternest marble corners of the building,
fluttering there like wings."
Having time to reflect on our experiences, we are able to understand how
greatly our feelings and ideas have been influenced for good, both
regarding the personality of the novelist and his writings.
In the course of our rambles we have interviewed many people in various
walks of life who knew Dickens well, and their interesting replies,
mostly given in their own words, vividly bring before our mental vision
the _man_ as he actually lived and moved among his neighbours, apart
from any glamour with which we, as hero-worshippers, naturally invest
him. We see him in his home, beloved by his family, taking kindly
interest, as a country gentleman, in the poor of the district, entering
into and personally encouraging their sports, and helping them in their
distress. To his dependents and tradesmen he was kind, just, and
honourable; to his friends genial, hospitable, and true; in himself
eager, enthusiastic, and thorough. No man of his day had more friends,
and he kept them as long as he lived. His favourite motto,
"courage--persevere," comes before us constantly. All that we heard on
the other side was contained in the expression--"rather masterful!"
Rather masterful? Of course he was rather masterful--otherwise he would
never have been Charles Dickens. What does he say in that unconscious
description of himself, which he puts into the mouth of Boots at _The
Holly-Tree Inn_, when referring to the father of Master Harry Walmers,
Junior?
"He was a gentleman of spirit, and good-looking,
and held his head up when he walked, and had what
you may call Fire about him. He wrote poetry, and
he rode, and he ran, and he cricketed, and he
danced, and he acted, and he done it all equally
beautiful. . . . He was a gentleman that had a will
of his own and a eye of his own, and that would be
minded."
Perfectly true do we find the summing up of his character, in his home
at Gad's Hill, as given by Professor Minto in the last edition of the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (one of the most faithful, just, and
appreciative articles ever written about Dickens):--"Here he worked, and
walked, and saw his friends, and was loved and almost worshipped by his
poorer neighbours, for miles around."
Although tolerably familiar with most of the writings of Dickens from
our youth, and, like many readers, having our favourites which may have
absorbed our attention to the exclusion of others, we are bound to say
that our little visit to Rochester and its neighbourhood--our
"Dickens-Land"--rendered famous all the world over in the novels and
minor works, gives a freshness, a brightness, and a reality to our
conceptions scarcely expected, and never before experienced. The
faithful descriptions of scenery witnessed by us for the first time in
and about the "quaint city" of Rochester, the delightful neighbourhood
of Cobham, the glorious old city of Canterbury, the dreary marshes and
other localities: the more detailed pictures of particular places, like
the Castle, the Cathedral, its crypt and tower, the Bull Inn, the Vines,
Richard Watts's Charity, and others--the point of the situation in many
of these cannot be realized without personal inspection and
verification.
And further, as by a sort of reflex action, another feeling comes
uppermost in our minds, apart from the mere amusement and enjoyment of
Dickens's works: we mean the actual benefits to humanity which, directly
or indirectly, arise out of his writings; and we endorse the noble lines
of dedication which his friend, Walter Savage Landor, addressed to him
in his _Imaginary Conversations of Greeks and Romans_ (1853):--
"Friends as we are, have long been, and ever shall be, I doubt whether I
should have prefaced these pages with your name, were it not to register
my judgment that, in breaking up and cultivating the unreclaimed wastes
of Humanity, no labours have been so strenuous, so continuous, or half
so successful, as yours. While the world admires in you an unlimited
knowledge of mankind, deep thought, vivid imagination, and bursts of
eloquence from unclouded heights, no less am I delighted when I see you
at the school-room you have liberated from cruelty, and at the cottage
you have purified from disease."
We have before us--its edges browned by age--a reprint of a letter
largely circulated at the time, addressed by Dickens to _The Times_,
dated "Devonshire Terrace, 13th Novr., 1849," in which he describes, in
graphic and powerful language, the ribald and disgusting scenes which he
witnessed at Horsemonger Lane Gaol on the occasion of the execution of
the Mannings. The letter is too long to quote in its entirety, but the
following extract will suffice:--"I have seen habitually some of the
worst sources of general contamination and corruption in this country,
and I think there are not many phases of London life that could surprise
me. I am solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to
be done in this city in the same compass of time could work such ruin as
one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled by the
wickedness it exhibits." The letter contains an urgent appeal to the
then Home Secretary, Sir George Grey, "as a solemn duty which he owes to
society, and a responsibility which he cannot for ever put away," to
originate an immediate legislative change in this respect. Forster says
in allusion to the above-mentioned letter:--"There began an active
agitation against public executions, which never ceased until the
salutary change was effected which has worked so well." Dickens happily
lived to see the fruition of his labours, for the Private Execution Act
was passed in 1868, and the last public execution took place at Newgate
on 26th May of that year. As indicative of the new state of feeling at
that time, it may be mentioned that the number of spectators was not
large, and they were observed to conduct themselves with unusual
decorum.
It is valuable to record this as one of many public reforms which
Dickens by his writings and influence certainly helped to accomplish. In
his standard work on _Popular Government_ (1885), Sir Henry Sumner Maine
says:-"Dickens, who spent his early manhood among the politicians of
1832, trained in Bentham's school, [Bentham, by the bye, being quoted in
_Edwin Drood_,] hardly ever wrote a novel without attacking an abuse.
The procedure of the Court of Chancery and of the Ecclesiastical Courts,
the delays of the Public Offices, the costliness of divorce, the state
of the dwellings of the poor, and the condition of the cheap schools in
the North of England, furnished him with what he seemed to consider, in
all sincerity, the true moral of a series of fictions."
* * * * *
We bid a kindly adieu to the "dear old City" where so many genial
friends have been made, so many happy hours have been passed, so many
pleasant memories have been stored, and for the time leave
"the pensive glory,
That fills the Kentish hills,"
to take our seats in the train for London, with the intention of paying
a brief visit to South Kensington, where, in the Forster Collection of
the Museum, are treasured the greater portion of the manuscripts which
constitute the principal works of Charles Dickens. It will be remembered
that the Will of the great novelist contained the following simple but
important clause:--"I also give to the said John Forster (whom he
previously referred to as 'my dear and trusty friend') such manuscripts
of my published works as may be in my possession at the time of my
decease;" and that Mr. Forster by his Will bequeathed these priceless
treasures to his wife for her life, in trust to pass over to the Nation
at her decease. Mrs. Forster, who survives her husband, generously
relinquished her life interest, in order to give immediate effect to his
wishes; and thus in 1876, soon after Mr. Forster's death, they came into
the undisturbed possession of the Nation for ever.
Besides the manuscripts there are numbers of holograph letters, original
sketches (including "The Apotheosis of Grip the Raven") by D. Maclise,
R.A., and other interesting memorials relating to Charles Dickens. _The
Handbook to the Dyce and Forster Collections_ rightly says that:--"This
is a gift which will ever have the highest value, and be regarded with
the deepest interest by people of every English-speaking nation, as long
as the English language exists. Not only our own countrymen, but
travellers from every country and colony into which Englishmen have
spread, may here examine the original manuscripts of books which have
been more widely read than any other uninspired writings throughout the
world. Thousands, it cannot be doubted, who have been indebted for many
an hour of pleasurable enjoyment when in health, for many an hour of
solace when in weariness and pain, to these novels, will be glad to look
upon them as each sheet was sent last to the printer, full of
innumerable corrections from the hand of Charles Dickens."
The manuscripts are fifteen in number, bound up into large quarto
volumes, and comprise:--
1. _Oliver Twist_--two Volumes, with Preface to the _Pickwick Papers_,
and matter relating to _Master Humphrey's Clock_.
2. _Sketches of Young Couples._
3. _The Lamplighter_, a Farce. This MS. is not in the handwriting of
Dickens.
4. _The Old Curiosity Shop_--two Volumes, with Letter to Mr. Forster of
17th January, 1841, and hints for some chapters.
5. _Barnaby Rudge_--two Volumes.
6. _American Notes._
7. _Martin Chuzzlewit_--two Volumes, with various title-pages, notes as
to the names, &c., and dedication to Miss Burdett Coutts.
8. _The Chimes._
9. _Dombey and Son_--two Volumes, with title-pages, headings of
chapters, and memoranda.
10. _David Copperfield_--two Volumes, with various title-pages, and
memoranda as to names.
11. _Bleak House_--two Volumes, with suggestions for title-pages and
other memoranda.
12. _Hard Times_--with memoranda.
13. _Little Dorrit_--two Volumes, with memoranda, Dedication to Clarkson
Stanfield, and Preface.
14. _A Tale of Two Cities_--with Dedication to Lord John Russell, and
Preface.
15. _Edwin Drood_--unfinished, with memoranda, and headings for
chapters.
John Forster says:--"The last page of _Edwin Drood_ was written in the
chalet in the afternoon of his last day of consciousness."
Of the above-mentioned, the calligraphy of Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, is seen
at a glance to be larger, bolder, and to have fewer corrections. In Nos.
5 to 15 it is smaller, and more confused by numerous alterations.
According to Forster--"His greater pains and elaboration of writing
became first very obvious in the later parts of _Martin Chuzzlewit_."
The manuscripts of the earliest works of the Author, _Sketches by Boz_,
_Pickwick_, _Nicholas Nickleby_, &c., were evidently not considered at
the time worth preserving. The manuscript of _Our Mutual Friend_, given
by Dickens to Mr. E. S. Dallas--in grateful acknowledgment of an
appreciative review which (according to an article in _Scribner_,
entitled "Our Mutual Friend in Manuscript") Mr. Dallas wrote of the
novel for _The Times_, which largely increased the sale of the book, and
fully established its success,--is in the library of Mr. G. W. Childs of
Philadelphia; and that of _A Christmas Carol_--given by Dickens to his
old friend and school-fellow, Tom Mitton--was for sale in Birmingham a
few years ago, and might have been purchased for two hundred and fifty
guineas! It is now owned by Mr. Stuart M. Samuel, and has since been
beautifully reproduced in fac-simile, with an Introduction by my friend
and fellow-tramp, Mr. F. G. Kitton. Mr. Wright, of Paris, is the
fortunate possessor of _The Battle of Life_. The proof-sheets of _Great
Expectations_ are in the Museum at Wisbech. Messrs. Jarvis and Son, of
King William Street, Strand, sold some time since four of the MSS. of
minor articles contributed by Dickens to _Household Words_ in 1855-6,
viz. _The Friend of the Lions_, _Demeanour of Murderers_, _That other
Public_, and _Our Commission_, for L10 each.
At the sale of the late Mr. Wilkie Collins's manuscripts and library by
Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, 18th June, 1890, the manuscript
of _The Frozen Deep_, by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, 1856 (first
performed at Tavistock House, 6th January, 1857), together with the
narrative written for _Temple Bar_, 1874, and Prompt Book of the same
play, was sold for L300. A poem written by Charles Dickens, as a
Prologue to the same play, and _The Song of the Wreck_, also written by
Charles Dickens, were sold for L11 11_s._ each. _The Perils of Certain
English Prisoners_, a joint production of Wilkie Collins and Charles
Dickens, for the Christmas number of _Household Words_, 1857, realized
L200; and the drama of _No Thoroughfare_ (imperfect), also a joint
production, fetched L22.
The manuscripts now belonging to the Nation at South Kensington are
placed in a glazed cabinet, standing in the middle of the room, on the
right of which looks down the life-like portrait of the great novelist,
painted by W. P. Frith, R.A., in 1859. The manuscript volumes are laid
open in an appropriate manner, so that we have an opportunity of
examining and comparing them with one another, and of observing how the
precious thoughts which flowed from the fertile brain took shape and
became realities.
Where corrections have been made, the original ideas are so obscured
that it is scarcely possible to decipher them. This is effected, not by
the simple method of an obliteration of the words, as is common with
some authors, by means of a line or two run through them at one stroke
of the pen, but by a series of connected circles, or scroll-work
flourishes, thus, [Illustration] which must have caused greater muscular
labour in execution. Let any one try the two methods for himself.
Dickens was fond of flourishes, as witness his first published
autograph, under the portrait which was issued with _Nicholas Nickleby_
(1839). Some evidence of "writer's cramp," as it is termed, appears
where the C in Charles becomes almost a G, and where the line-like
flourishes to the signature thirty years later, under the portrait
forming the frontispiece to _Edwin Drood_, are much shorter and less
elaborate. All the earlier manuscripts are in black ink--the
characteristic _blue_ ink, which he was so fond of using in later years,
not appearing until _Hard Times_ was written (1854), and this continued
to be (with one exception, _Little Dorrit_) his favourite writing
medium, for the reason, it is said, that it was fluent to write with and
dried quickly.
From a valuable collection of letters (more than a dozen--recently in
the possession of Messrs. Noel Conway and Co., of Martineau Street,
Birmingham, and kindly shown to me by Mr. Charles Fendelow), written by
the novelist between 1832 and 1833 to a friend of his earlier years--Mr.
W. H. Kolle--and not hitherto published, it appears that he had not then
acquired that precise habit of inscribing the place, day of the week,
month, and the year which marked his later correspondence (as has been
pointed out by Miss Hogarth and Miss Dickens in the preface to the
_Letters of Charles Dickens_), very few of the letters to Mr. Kolle
bearing any record whatever except the day of the week, occasionally
preceded by Fitzroy Street or Bentinck Street, where he resided at the
time. It would be extremely interesting to ascertain the reason which
subsequently led him to adopt the extraordinarily precise method which
almost invariably marked his correspondence from the year 1840 until the
close of his life. Possibly arrangements with publishers and others may
have given him the exact habit which afterwards became automatic.
In addition to the manuscripts in the Forster Collection in the Museum
there are corrected proofs of a portion of the _Pickwick Papers_,
_Dombey and Son_, _David Copperfield_, _Bleak House_, and _Little
Dorrit_. Some of the corrections in _Dombey and Son_ are said to be in
the handwriting of Mr. Forster. All these proofs show marvellous
attention to detail--one of the most conspicuous of Dickens's
characteristics. Nothing with him was worth doing unless it was done
well. As an illustration of work in this direction, it may be mentioned
that a proof copy of the speech delivered at the meeting of the
Administrative Reform Association at Drury Lane Theatre on Wednesday,
June 27th, 1855, in the possession of the writer of these lines, has
over a hundred corrections on the nine pages of which it consists, and
many of these occur in punctuation. On careful examination, the
alterations show that the correction in every case is a decided
improvement on the original. The following _fac-similes_ from the
_Hand-Book_ to the _Dyce and Forster Collection_, and from Forster's
_Life_, illustrate the earlier, later, and latest handwritings of
Charles Dickens as shown in the MSS. of _Oliver Twist_, 1837, _Hard
Times_, 1854, and _Edwin Drood_, 1870.
[Illustration: "OLIVER TWIST," 1837, vol. i. ch. xii.]
[Illustration: "HARD TIMES," 1854, vol. i. ch. i.]
[Illustration: "DAVID COPPERFIELD," 1850 (corrected proof), ch. xiv.]
[Illustration: "EDWIN DROOD," 1870, ch. xxiii. p. 189 (_last MS.
page_).]
A proof of the fourteenth Chapter of _David Copperfield_, 1850, shows
that the allusion to "King Charles the First's head"--about which Mr.
Dick was so much troubled--was _not_ contained in the first draft of the
story, for the passage originally had reference to "the date when that
bull got into the china warehouse and did so much mischief." The
subsequent reference to King Charles's head was a happy thought of
Dickens, and furthered Mr. Dick's idea of the mistake "of putting some
of the trouble out of King Charles's head" into his own.
Mr. R. F. Sketchley, the able and courteous custodian of the collection,
allows us to see some of the other rarities in the museum not displayed
in the cabinet--prefaces, dedications, and memoranda relating to the
novels; letters addressed by Dickens to Forster, Maclise, and others;
rare play-bills; and the originals of invitations to the public dinner
and ball at New York, which Dickens received on the occasion of his
first visit to America in 1842. After turning these over with
reverential care, we regretfully leave behind us one of the most
interesting and important literary collections ever presented to the
Nation.
We next visit the Prerogative Registry of the United Kingdom at Somerset
House, wherein is filed the original Will of Charles Dickens. The search
for this interesting document pursued by a stranger under pressure of
time, strongly reminds one of the "Circumlocution Office" so graphically
described in _Bleak House_. But we are enthusiastic, and at length
obtain a clue to it in a folio volume (Letter D), containing the names
of testators who died in the year 1870, where the Will is briefly
recorded (at number 468) as that of "Dickens, Charles, otherwise Charles
John Huffham, Esquire." We pay our fees, and take our seats in the
reading-room, when the original is presently placed in our hands. It is
one of a series of three documents fastened together by a bit of green
silk cord, and secured by the seal of the office, as is customary when
there are two or more papers filed. The first document is the Will
itself, dated 12th May, 1869, written throughout by the novelist very
plainly and closely in the characteristic blue ink on a medium sheet of
faint blue quarto letter paper, having the usual legal folded margin,
and exactly covering the four pages. It is free from corrections, and is
signed, "Charles Dickens," under which is the never-to-be-mistaken
flourish. The testatum is signed by G. Holsworth, 26 Wellington Street,
Strand, and Henry Walker, 26 Wellington Street, Strand, which points to
the fact that the Will was written and executed at the office of _All
the Year Round_. He appoints "Georgina Hogarth and John Forster
executrix and executor, and guardians of the persons of my children
during their respective minorities."
The second document is the Oath of John Forster, testifying that Charles
Dickens, otherwise Charles John Huffham Dickens, is one and the same
person. The third document is a Codicil dated 2nd June, 1870 (only a
week before his death), in which the novelist bequeaths "to my son
Charles Dickens, the younger, all my share and interest in the weekly
journal called _All the Year Round_." The Codicil is witnessed by the
same persons. The Will and Codicil are both given in extenso in vol.
iii. of Forster's _Life_--the gross amount of the real and personal
estate being calculated at L93,000.[38]
* * * * *
Avery short tramp from Somerset House brings us to the last object of our
pilgrimage--the grave of Charles Dickens in Westminster Abbey. Surely no
admirer of his genius can omit this final mark of honour to the memory
of the mighty dead. Many years have rolled by since "the good, the
gentle, highly gifted, ever friendly, noble Dickens" passed away; and we
stand by the grave in the calm September evening, with "jewels cast upon
the pavement of the nave from stained glass by the declining sun," and
look down at the dark flat stone lying at our feet, on which is
inscribed "in plain English letters," the simple record:--
CHARLES DICKENS,
BORN FEBRUARY THE SEVENTH, 1812.
DIED JUNE THE NINTH, 1870.
We recall with profoundly sympathetic interest that quietly impressive
ceremony as recorded by Forster in the final pages of his able
biography. "Before mid-day on Tuesday, the 14th June, 1870, with
knowledge of those only who took part in the burial, all was done. The
solemnity had not lost by the simplicity. Nothing so grand or so
touching could have accompanied it, as the stillness and the silence of
the vast Cathedral." And he further describes the wonderful gathering
subsequently:--"Then later in the day, and all the following day, came
unbidden mourners in such crowds that the Dean had to request permission
to keep open the grave until Thursday; but after it was closed they did
not cease to come, and all day long." Dean Stanley wrote:--"On the 17th
there was a constant pressure to the spot, and many flowers were strewn
upon it by unknown hands, many tears shed from unknown eyes."
What poet, what philosopher, what monarch even, might not envy this
loving tribute to the influence of the great writer, to the personal
respect for the man, and to the affection for the friend who, by the
sterling nature of his work for nearly thirty-five years, had the power
to create and sustain such sympathy?
Forster thus admiringly concludes the memoir of his hero:
"The highest associations of both the arts he loved surround him where
he lies. Next to him is Richard Cumberland. Mrs. Pritchard's monument
looks down upon him, and immediately behind is David Garrick's. Nor is
the actor's delightful art more worthily represented than the nobler
genius of the author. Facing the grave, and on its left and right, are
the monuments of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Dryden, the three immortals
who did most to create and settle the language to which Charles Dickens
has given another undying name."
"Of making many books there is no end," said the wise man of old; and
certainly, if we may estimate the popularity of Charles Dickens by the
works of all kinds relating to him, written since his death, the number
may be counted by hundreds. It may also be said that probably no other
English writer save Shakespeare has been the cause of so much posthumous
literature. The sayings of his characters permeate our everyday life,
and they continue to be as fresh as when they were first recorded. The
original editions of his writings in some cases realize high prices
which are simply amazing, and--judging by statistics--his readers are as
numerous as ever they were. Higher testimony to the worth "of the most
popular novelist of the century, and one of the greatest humourists that
England has produced," and to the continued interest which the reading
public still evince in the minutest detail relating to him and to his
books, can scarcely be uttered; but what is better still--"his
sympathies were generally on the right side;"--he has left an example
that all may follow;--he did his utmost to leave the world a little
better than he found it;--as he said by one of his characters, "the best
of men can do no more"--and now he peacefully rests as one
"Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence."
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTE:
[38] Mr. Dolby, in his _Charles Dickens as I knew him_, estimates that
L45,000 was realized by Dickens's Readings.
L'ENVOI.
WE--my fellow-tramp and I--naturally feel a pang of regret now that our
pleasant visit to "Dickens-Land" is terminated. With a parting grasp of
the hand I express to the companion of my travels a cordial wish that
ere long we may, "PLEASE GOD," renew our delightful experience, and
again go over the ground hallowed by Dickens associations; to which my
friend, as cordially assenting, replies "SURELY, SURELY!"
With these two favourite expressions of Charles Dickens (quoted above) I
conclude the book, trusting that it will prove worthy of some kindly
appreciation at the hands of my readers.
INDEX.
CHIEFLY OF NAMES.
A BECKET THOMAS 212 338 340
Adams H. G. 271
Allington 135 290-8
_All the Year Round_ 37 193 374 422
Alphington 209 210
_American Notes_ 45 324
Andersen H. C. 32 374
Anderson Mary 152 169
Athenaeum 47
Austin H. 184 330
Aveling S. T. 53-4 80-2 97
Aylesford 288 292 296;
Battle of 311 313;
Church 290;
Churchyard 299;
Bridge 290;
Friary 297
BAIRD J. 270-1-2
Ball J. H. 68 226-7 235;
William 135 226-7-8 230 246
_Barnaby Rudge_ 17 44-5 138
Barnard's Inn 24
_Battle of Life_ 45 211
Bayham Street 38 264
Bell Yard 18
Bentinck Street 25 417
_Bentley's Miscellany_ 47 59
Bevan P. 103 114 251 289 311 324 338
Birmingham 59 239 240;
Town Hall 59 239;
and Midland Institute 144 239 240
Bishop's Court 20
Blanchard E. L. 393
_Bleak House_ 18 19 20 37 139 268 288 325-7-8 336 357
380 399 421
Bleak House (or Fort House) Broadstairs 327-8-9 333
Bloomsbury Square 31
Blue Bell or Upper Bell 188 310 314 374
Boley (or "Bully") Hill 88 124 158
"Borough English" 83
Boundary Lane 253
British Museum 31
Broadstairs 317 324-333 343-8;
Dickens's Residence in High Street 326;
Fort House (or "Bleak House") 327-8-9 333;
Lawn House 326-7;
Look-out House 332
Brompton (New) 80 252 270-5
Brooker Mr. 176
Budden Major 60 167-8-9 173 186-7-8 190-5;
Mrs. 168 195 369;
James 270-2-3;
William J. 269 270 295
Burgate Street 340
Burham 270 295
CAMDEN TOWN 38 264
Canterbury 113 172 336-344 409
Burgate Street 340
Cathedral 338
"Chequers" 343
Dane John 337
"Fountain" 343
Harbledown 348
High Street 337
Museum 340
"Sir John Falstaff" 336
"Sun" 343-4
West Gate 336-7
Canvey Island 351
Chalk 182 391-3;
Church 393-4
Chancery Lane 18 20
Chatham 4 28 38 53-4 60 70-1 80 144 188 194 231 251-280 282
Barracks 105
Convict Prison 268
Dockyard 267-9 274
Fort Pitt 104-6 272-280
Giles's Academy 261
High Street 260-2 272-3
House on the Brook 260-1-5-6 273
Lines 273-5-6
Mechanics' Institute 267-9 270-1-3
"Mitre" 60 116 262-3-4
Navy Pay Office 258 274
Ordnance Place 265;
Terrace 28 92 257-8 265 274
St. Mary's Church 92 255;
Place 260-2
Chelsea--St. Luke's Church 26
Cherry Garden 54
_Child's Dream of a Star_ 262-6
_Child's History of England_ 37 205
Chillington Manor House 308-9 310
_Chimes_ 18 20 41 305
Chorley H. F. 196 200
_Christmas Carol_ 45 239 414
Cinque Ports 345
Cliffe 356 360 373;
Church 361
Clifford's Inn 18 19
Cobb R. L. 373-4-5
Cobham 377-8 380-2 386-391 393 409
Chalet 222 384-5 414
Church 391
Hall 186 220-2 380-386
"Leather Bottle" 60 386-390 396
Park 188 194 374-9 380-2-6 396
Schools 382
Woods 380 391 403
Cobham Lord 358
Cobtree Hall 296-299 374
College Gate 72 124-130
Collins W. 32-3-6 152 196 207 374;
Sale of MSS. 415;
Charles A. 196-8 200-2-6 271 367 404;
Mrs. C. A. 200;
_and see_ Dickens Kate _and_ Perugini Mrs.
Cooling 349-360;
Castle 356-360;
Church 351-2;
Churchyard 354-7
Cooper T. Sidney 348
Cosham 284
Couchman J. 221-226
Countless Stones 311-2
_Cricket on the Hearth_ 45 161 239
"Crispin and Crispianus" 217-220
Crow Lane 78
"Crown Old" 116
"Crozier" 116
Cruikshank G. 59 140
Cursitor Street 20-2
Cuxton 288-9
DADD R. 396
_Daily News_ 17
"Dane John" 337
Darnley Earl of 202 222 374 382-385 396
_David Copperfield_ 26 39 45-8 91 139 148 219 251-6-8
266-269 284 317 325 340 343-347 356 396-7;
_Fac-simile_ 419 421
Davies Rev. G. 194-5;
Straits 194-5
Deal 399
Deanery Gatehouse 127-9
Devonshire Terrace 31 41-2-4-6;
Street 46
Dickens A. L. 38 184 228;
A. T. 47
Dickens Charles:--
Birth 255 285
Birthplace 280-287
Baptism 285
First literary effort 262
Short-hand 249
Marriage 391
and the Serjeant 249 250
and the Bears 402
and Public Executions 410-1
Genealogy (?) 253-4
Dogs 183-4-6 226-8
Chalet 222 384-5 414
Crest 385
Ravens 44
Readings 239 242 271-2 422
Politics 239 240
Illness 243-4
Death 244 369 370 404
Funeral 87-8 401-4 423;
Card 226
Grave 423-4
Will 87 286 401 421-2
Manuscripts 412-421
Handwriting _fac-similes_ (1837 1850 1854 1870) 418-420
Corrected Proofs 417
Memorial Brass 137
Memorials 227-9 230 247 371 420
Portraits 59 205 225 272 370 390 415-6
Letters 416-7
Mysterious Dickens-item 246-249
Dickens Mrs. C. 207 231
Dickens C. Junr. 26 32-4 140-5 200-2 294 366 404 422;
Edward B. L. 47
Dickens Fanny 262-4 284-5;
Harriet E. 262-6
Dickens H. F. 180 198 202-3 221 234 248-9 250 368 374
Dickens J. 38 254-5 265-6 274 283-4-5;
Mrs. 38 254-5 285
Dickens Kate 36 90 196 206 367 370
(_and see_ Perugini Mrs. _and_ Collins Mrs. C. A.)
Dickens Miss 31-4 416
Dickenson Mr. 200-1-2-9
Dodd H. 232-3-4
_Dombey and Son_ 45 139 227 317 325
Doughty Street 25-8-9 30
Dover 54 192 345-348;
Castle 347;
Heights 346;
Road 396-400
Drage Rev. W. H. 92;
Misses 92-3
"Duck" 117
EASEDOWN MRS. 369-371 373
Eastgate House 72-77 132
East Malling 293
_Edwin Drood_ 6 23-7 46 70-3-4-5 83 106 111 113 115 117 119
120-1-4-8-9 131-4 6-8-9 140-1 171 207 228 247-8-9 288
290 406 411 414 416-7;
_Fac-simile_ 420
Exeter 209
"FALSTAFF Sir John" (at Gad's Hill) 163-5-7 175 207-8-9 400;
(At Canterbury) 336
Farleigh 290
Faversham 323-4
Fechter Mr. 106 201 221 242
Fildes Luke 23 59 75 106 127-9 140-1 169 228 248
Fisher Bishop 131
Fitzroy Street 417
Fleet Street 17 18
Ford H. 330
Forster J. 2 6 8 19 20 30-8-9 41-4 51 87 93 107 167 174
176-9 182-6-7 196 207-9 221 232-5 258 262 275 310 324-7
335 356-7 364 412-4-7 421-424;
Bequest 412-416
Fort Clarence 316
Fort Pitt 104-6 272-280
_Fortunus_ 33
Fountain Court 17
Fox 20
Frindsbury 195 275 294;
Church 212 236 350
Frith W. P. 230 395-6 415
Frog Alley 117
_Frozen Deep_ 32-3 86 241
Furnival's Inn 24-27
GAD'S HILL 4 44 60 90-1-3 141 161 _et seq._ 241-8-9 265
393 400
Sixty years ago 191-195
"Falstaff Sir John" 163-5-7 175 207-8-9 400
Gad's Hill Place 31 42-6 85-88 93 132 161-209 217 221-2-3
224-5-7 240-1-3 271 310 363-4-9 370-1 376 400-9
Cedars at 186 192
Chalet 186-7 221-2
Charades at 197 241
Clock 229
Cricket at 208 248-9 372-3
Dick's Grave at 179
_Gazette_ 180 196-8-9
"Plough" 241
Porch at 184
Sale of 235-6 241-6 404
Sale Photograph of 230
Shrubbery at 186
Specification for alterations at 222-3
Sports at 363-4
Sun-dial 228
Theatricals at 241
Tunnel at 184-6 228
Well at 181-2
"Gavelkind" 82
Gibson Mary 46 265-6-7;
(_and see_ Weller Mary)
Robert 266-7;
Thomas 266
Giles Rev. W. 261;
Academy 261
Gillingham 275
Gordon Square 31-8;
Place 31
Gower Street 38-9
Gravesend 3 91 192 336 361-2 393
_Great Expectations_ 6 7 17 24 37 53 64 70-8 97 156 171
188 269 348 351-354 356-8 398 401-5
_Grimaldi Memoirs of_ 31
Grip the Raven 44
HARBLEDOWN 348
Hard Times 37 416;
_Fac-simile_ 419
Hastings 345
_Haunted Man_ 45
Hawke Street 255 284
Head R. 53 88
Higham 87 173-6 182 194 242 362-375 377
Hogarth G. 25;
Catherine 26;
(_and see_ Dickens Mrs. Charles) E. 34;
Mary 29;
Georgina 34 86 90 205-6 235-8 242-4 370-5-8 396 406 416
422;
William 54
Holborn 22-4-7
_Holly Tree Inn_ 263 408
Homan F. 85-88 117
Hoo 350
Hop-Picking and Cultivation 318-323
Horse Guards 49
Horsted 292
_Household Words_ 45 89 106 142 150 193 257 344 415
House on the Brook 260 1-5-6 273
Hulkes J. 163 195-198 403;
Mrs. 196 204-5;
C. J. 205
_Hunted Down_ 171
Hyde Park 46;
Corner 64;
Place 141
Hythe 345
JOHNSON'S COURT 18
John Street 28
KENNETTE A. 78
Kingsgate Street 27
Kit's Coty House 310-313 391
Kitton F. G. 4 38 102 110 127 163 205 248 316 368 393 415
Kolle W. H. 416-7
LAMERT DR. 255;
J. 256-8
Landport 255 280-286;
Commercial Road 281-2
Lang Andrew 15
Langton R. 2 3 38 83 144 216 252-5-8 264-6 277 281-2-4-6
Lapworth Prof. 6
Larkin C. 163 195
Latter Mrs. 209 400-1-2
Lawn House 326-7
Lawrence J. 59 60
"Leather Bottle" 60 386-390 396
Lemon Mark 32-4-5-6 151 232-4
Levy C. D. 246-7
_Lighthouse_ 33 86 241
Lincoln's Inn 19;
Fields 19
Linton Mrs. Lynn 167 191-195
_Little Dorrit_ 37 46 139 161 171 211 416
Littlewood J. E. 272-3
Long Mrs. 333
"Look-out House" 232
MACLISE D. 20 41-4 59 412 421
Maidstone 90-1 140 293 306-310;
Road 78 151;
Chillington Manor House 308-9 310;
Brenchley Gardens 309
Malleson J. N. 201-6
Margate 324 333-4-6;
Theatre 334-5
Marsham Rev J. J. 402-3-4
Marshes 142 188 349 350-1-7-8 403-9
_Martin Chuzzlewit_ 17 27 45 56 414
Marzials F. T. 8 29 31
_Master Humphrey's Clock_ 45
Masters Mrs. 217 219 221-6
Mechanics' Institute 267-9 270-1-3
Medway River 52-3-4 67-9 98 103 134-5 162 188 211 253 275
288-9 290-2 309 310-6;
Valley 379 382
_Memoirs of Grimaldi_ 31
Middle Temple Lane 17
Mile End Cottage 209 210
Miles Mr. 117 120
Millen T. 90-1
Minor Canon Row 92 122-4-7
Minto Prof. 409
"Mitre" 60 116 262-3-4
Mitton T. 414
Montague Street 31
_Monthly Magazine_ 18
Morgan Mr. 200-1-2
_Morning Chronicle_ 24 26 270
_Mr. Nightingale's Diary_ 35
_Mrs. Joseph Porter over the way_ 18
Mysterious Dickens-item 246-249
NAVY PAY OFFICE CHATHAM 258 274
New Brompton 80 252 270-5
New Romney 345
_Nicholas Nickleby_ 8 31 106 139 210 286 324 416
_No Thoroughfare_ 374
_OLD CURIOSITY SHOP_ 45-9 139 323 349 405
Old Sergeants' Inn 18
_Oliver Twist_ 31 232;
_Fac-simile_ 418
Ordnance Terrace 28 92 257-8 265 274;
Place 265
_Our English Watering-Place_ 317 324-31
_Our Mutual Friend_ 1 17 18 39 91 171 234 414
Overblow 402-3
Owl Club 59;
Harmonious Owls 59
PARLIAMENT STREET 48
Payne G. 130 238
Pearce Sarah 283-4;
Mr. 283;
William 284
Pear Tree Lane 313 377-8
Pemberton T. Edgar 1 241 286
Perugini Mrs. 248;
(_and see_ Dickens Kate _and_ Collins Mrs. C. A.)
_Pickwick Papers_ 5 6 20-6-9 31 50-6 62-7 70-5 111 151 231
251-5 261 273-6-9 293-5 297-306 324 373-6-9 387-8 391-3
_Pictures from Italy_ 18
"Plorn" 202
Porchester Castle 284
Portsea 255 281-2;
St. Mary's Church 255 285-6;
Hawke Street 255 284
Portsmouth 281-4-6-7;
Common Hard 287;
Dockyard 285;
Theatre 286
Portsmouth Street 19
Prall R. 57 85
Prior's Gate 127-8
Proctor R. A. 138-9
Proctors 148
_Punch_ 90 175
Purkis Mrs. 285
QUARRY HOUSE 212
RAINHAM 317-8;
Mear's Barr Farm 318
Ramsgate 336
Reculver 324;
The Sisters 324
Red Lion Square 28 31
Regent's Park 39;
Street 46 51
Restoration House 53-4 78 80 94-97 132 156
Robertson Rev. Canon 214
Robinson G. 269
Rochester 4 48 51-97 376 396 406-9
"Blue Boar" 64
Boley (or Bully) Hill 88 124 158
Boundary Lane 253
Bridge 50-4 67-70 104 215 217 226-7
"Bull Inn" 54-5 _et seq._ 104 143-5 409
Castle 69 98-110 137 216 396 406-9
Cathedral 53-4 87 90 111-141 216 406-9
Cherry Garden 54
College (or Jasper's) Gate 72 124-130
Crow Lane 78 117 156
"Crozier" 116
Deanery Gatehouse 127-9
"Duck" 117
Eastgate House 72-77 132
Episcopal Palace 130-1
Esplanade 134
Frog Alley 117
Grammar School 81-8
Guildhall 54-5 72 108
High Street 51-3-5 63-4 70 82 116 125 130 145 275 287
296 336
London and County Bank 116
Maidstone Road 78 151
Mathematical School 81 175-6
Men's Institute 75
Minor Canon Row 92 122-4-7
New Road 152
"Old Crown" 116
Prior's Gate 127-8
Restoration House 53-4 78 80 132 156;
Ghost Story 94-97
Sapsea's House 72-5-6 117
Satis House 78 97 156-8
Savings Bank 76 116
Sir J. Hawkins's Hospital 81
Sir J. Hayward's Charity 82
Star Hill 70 83
St. Bartholomew's Hospital 81
St. Catherine's Charity 81
St. Margaret's 92;
Church 151
St. Nicholas' 81 11
Cemetery 87 136-7
Church 136-7
Theatre 83 143 242 256
Vines (or Monks' Vineyard) 70-8 81 131-2-4 275 409
Watts's Almshouses 151
" Charity 72 142-160 176 409
Rye 345
Ryland Mr. Arthur 144-5;
Mrs. 33 144
SANDLING 310
Sandwich 345
Sapsea's House 72-5-6 117
Satis House 78 97 156-8
_Seven Poor Travellers_ 70 98 106 142-3 150 160 380
Seymour R. 58
Sheerness 54;
Cockle-shell Hard 101
Sheppard Dr. 342-3-4
Shorne 87 137 194 358 391-3 400-2;
Church 403-4;
Ridgway 379
Sisters Reculver 324
_Sketches by Boz_ 26 64 258 270
_Sketches of Young Gentlemen_ 31;
_of Young Couples_ 31
Smetham Henry 368
Smith C. Roach 52 101 148 231-238 290 311 366
Smith E. Orford 303
Snodland 288 290;
Brook 135;
Weir 135
Somerset House 38 264 421-3
_Song of the Wreck_ 33-4-5 415
South Kensington Museum 249 396 412
Spencer Herbert 190 406
Stanfield C. 20 32-3 86 241
Stanley Dean 88 137 423
Staplehurst 93;
Accident 198 200-1-9
Staple Inn 22-4-7
Star Hill 70 83
Steele Dr. 174 237-246
Sterry J. Ashby 3 329 345-6
Stone F. 36;
M. 91 196 200-2-7
_Strange Gentleman_ 26
St. Luke's Church Chelsea 26
St. Margaret's 92;
Church 151
St. Mary's Church Chatham 92 255;
Place 260-2
St. Mary's Church Portsea 255 285-6
St. Nicholas' Church Rochester 81 114 136-7;
Cemetery 87 136-7
St. Nicholas' Church Strood 211
St. Pancras' Road 39;
Church 39
Strood 50-5 68 80 162 182 195 211-250
"Crispin and Crispianus" 217-220
Elocution Society 235
St. Nicholas' Church 211
Preceptory 212
Quarry House 212
Temple Farm 211
_Sunday under Three Heads_ 26
Symond's Inn 19
Syms Mr. 82 115-117
_TALE OF TWO CITIES_ 17 37-9 171 204 397
Tavistock Square 32;
House 32-3-6-7 42 86 171 325
Taylor Mrs. 368-9
Temple 17;
Bar 17;
Middle Temple Lane 17;
Fountain Court 17
Temple Farm 211
Thackeray W. M. 24-6-7 234
Thames River 188 314 350;
Valley 358 378 403
_Times_ 410-414
Tom-All-Alone's 268
_Tom Thumb_ 33
Town Malling 292-3-4 302-306
Tribe Ald. 264;
Master and Miss 258 264;
John 264
Trood W. S. 175 206-209 400;
Edward 2 7 220
_UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER_ 6 7 37 83 159 163-5 171 220 264-9
278
Upnor Castle 155
_VILLAGE COQUETTES_ 376
Vines The 70-8 81 131-2-4 275
WAGHORN LIEUT. 257
Watts Richard 55 142;
Almshouses 151;
Charity 72 142-160 176;
Memorial 157-8
Weald of Kent 316
Weller Mary 265-6;
(_and see_ Gibson Mary)
Westminster Abbey 87-8 137 404 423-4
Whiston Rev. R. 88-90 160
Whitefriars Street 17
Whitehall 48
Whitstable 323
Wildish W. T. 82 118 175 265 382
Wills W. H. 152;
W. G. 152 193-4
Winchelsea 345
Woburn Square 31
Wood H. 273-4
Worsfold C. K. 347
_Wreck of the Golden Mary_ 260
Wright Mr. 372-3 415;
Mrs. 370-373
THE END.
* * * * *
_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay._
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired with the exception of the rounded
brackets on pages 224 and 225 as those were replicas of printings. These
two instances were left open but not closed.
Page xiv, "round" changed to "Round" (where "All the Year Round")
Page 132, "entited" changed to "entitled" (the illustration entitled)
Page 414, "caligraphy" changed to "calligraphy" (the calligraphy of)