A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land Part 6

"It was evening when I arrived, much fatigued by the journey I had so often made so easily. The Boar could not put me into my usual bedroom, which was engaged,--probably by some one who had expectations,--and could only a.s.sign me a very indifferent chamber among the pigeons and post-chaises up the yard. But, I had as sound a sleep in that lodging as in the most superior accommodation the Boar could have given me, and the quality of my dreams was about the same as in the best bedroom."

The visitors' book in the coffee-room, at the Bull--we never shall call it "The Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel"--abounds with complimentary remarks on the hospitable treatment received by its guests; and there are several poetical effusions, inspired by the cla.s.sic nature of "d.i.c.kens-Land." One of these, under date of the 18th September, 1887, is worth recording:--

"The man who knows his d.i.c.kens as he should, Enjoys a double pleasure in this place; He loves to walk its ancient streets, and trace The scenes where d.i.c.kens' characters have stood.

He reads _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_ In Jasper's Gatehouse, and, with Tope as guide, Explores the old cathedral, Durdles' pride; Descends into the Crypt, and even would Ascend the Tower by moonlight, thence to see Fair Cloisterham reposing at his feet, And pa.s.sing out, he almost hopes to meet Crisparkle and the white-haired Datchery.

The gifted writer 'sleeps among our best And n.o.blest' in our Minster of the West; Yet still he lives in this, his favourite scene, Which for all time shall keep his memory green."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Old Rochester Bridge]

We follow Mr. Pickwick's example as regards early rising, and, taking a turn before breakfast, find ourselves on Rochester Bridge. Nature has not much changed since the memorable visit of that "truly great man,"

who in the original announcement of _The Pickwick Papers_ is stated with his companions to have "fearlessly crossed the turbid Medway in an open boat;" but the march of civilization has effaced the old bridge, and lo!

three bridges stand in the place thereof. The beautiful stone structure (temp. Edward III.) which Mr. Pickwick leant over, having become unsuitable, was blown up by the Royal Engineers in 1856, and a handsome iron bridge erected in its place. The debris was removed by Mr. J. H.

Ball, the contractor, who presented d.i.c.kens with one of the bal.u.s.trades, others having been utilized to form the coping of the embankment of the esplanade under the castle walls. The iron bridge was built by Messrs.

Fox and Henderson, the foundations being laid in 1850. The machinery const.i.tuting "the swing-bridge or open s.h.i.+p ca.n.a.l (fifty feet wide) at the Strood end is very beautiful; the entire weight to be moved is two hundred tons, yet the bridge is readily swung by two men at a capstan."

So says one of the Guide Books, but as a matter of fact we find that it is not now used! The other two bridges (useful, but certainly not ornamental) belong to the respective railway companies which have systems through Rochester, and absolutely shut out every prospect below stream. What _would_ Mr. Pickwick say, if his spirit ever visited the ancient city? Nevertheless, we realize for the first time, with all its freshness and beauty (although perhaps a little marred by the smoke of the lime-kilns, and by the "Medway coal trade," in which it will be remembered Mr. Micawber was temporarily interested, and which "he came down to see"), the charm of the prospect which d.i.c.kens describes, and which Mr. Pickwick saw, in the opening of the fifth chapter of the immortal _Posthumous Papers_:--

"Bright and pleasant was the sky, balmy the air, and beautiful the appearance of every object around, as Mr. Pickwick leant over the bal.u.s.trades of Rochester Bridge, contemplating nature, and waiting for breakfast. The scene was indeed one, which might well have charmed a far less reflective mind, than that to which it was presented.

"On the left of the spectator lay the ruined wall, broken in many places, and in some, overhanging the narrow beach below in rude and heavy ma.s.ses.

Huge knots of sea-weed hung upon the jagged and pointed stones, trembling in every breath of wind; and the green ivy clung mournfully round the dark and ruined battlements. Behind it rose the ancient castle, its towers roofless, and its ma.s.sive walls crumbling away, but telling us proudly of its old might and strength, as when, seven hundred years ago, it rang with the clash of arms, or resounded with the noise of feasting and revelry. On either side, the banks of the Medway, covered with corn-fields and pastures, with here and there a windmill, or a distant church, stretched away as far as the eye could see, presenting a rich and varied landscape, rendered more beautiful by the changing shadows which pa.s.sed swiftly across it, as the thin and half-formed clouds skimmed away in the light of the morning sun. The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on; and the oars of the fishermen dipped into the water with a clear and liquid sound, as their heavy but picturesque boats glided slowly down the stream."

It was over the same old bridge that poor Pip was pursued by that "unlimited miscreant" Trabb's boy in the days of his "great expectations." He says:--

"Words cannot state the amount of aggravation and injury wreaked upon me by Trabb's boy, when, pa.s.sing abreast of me, he pulled up his s.h.i.+rt-collar, twined his side hair, stuck an arm akimbo, and smirked extravagantly by, wriggling his elbows and body, and drawling to his attendants: 'Don't know yah; don't know yah, 'pon my soul, don't know yah!' The disgrace [continues Pip] attendant on his immediately afterwards taking to crowing and pursuing me across the bridge with crows, as from an exceedingly dejected fowl who had known me when I was a blacksmith, culminated the disgrace with which I left the town, and was, so to speak, ejected by it into the open country."

There is generally a stiff breeze blowing on the bridge, and the fact may probably have suggested to the artist the positions of the characters in the river scene, one of the plates of _Edwin Drood_, where Mr. Crisparkle is holding his hat on with much tenacity. One other reference to the bridge occurs in the _Seven Poor Travellers_, where Richard Doubled.i.c.k, in the year 1799, "limped over the bridge here with half a shoe to his dusty foot on his way to Chatham."

After a Pickwickian breakfast in the coffee-room of "broiled ham, eggs, tea, coffee, and sundries," we take a stroll up the High Street. We do not know what the feelings of other pilgrims in "d.i.c.kens-Land" may have been on the occasion of a first visit, but we are quite sure that to us it is a perfect revelation to ramble along this quaint street of "the ancient city," returning by way of Star Hill through the Vines, all crowded with a.s.sociations of Charles d.i.c.kens. _Pickwick_, _Great Expectations_, _Edwin Drood_, and many of the minor works of the eminent novelist, had never before appeared so clear to us--they acquire new significance. The air is full of d.i.c.kens. At every corner, and almost at the door of every house, we half expect to be met by one or other of the characters who will claim acquaintance with us as their friends or admirers. We are simply delighted, and never tire of repeating our experience in the pleasant summer days of our week's tramp in "d.i.c.kens-Land."

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Guildhall: Rochester]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The "Moonfaced" Clock in High Street]

[Ill.u.s.tration: In High Street: Rochester]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Eastgate House]

Starting from the Bull, and walking along the somewhat narrow but picturesque street towards Chatham,--"the streets of Cloisterham city are little more than one narrow street by which you get into it and get out of it: the rest being mostly disappointing yards with pumps in them and no thoroughfare--exception made of the Cathedral close, and a paved Quaker settlement, in color and general conformation very like a Quakeress's bonnet, up in a shady corner,"--we pa.s.s in succession the Guildhall, the City Clock, Richard Watts's Charity, the College Gate (Jasper's Gatehouse), Eastgate House (the Nuns' House), and, nearly opposite it, the residence of Mr. Sapsea, which, as we ourselves discover, was also the residence of "Uncle Pumblechook." The latter buildings are about a quarter of a mile from Rochester Bridge, and are splendid examples of sixteenth-century architecture, with carved oaken-timbered fronts and gables and latticed bay-windows. Eastgate House--the "Nuns' House" of _Edwin Drood_, described as "a venerable brick edifice, whose present appellation is doubtless derived from the legend of its conventual uses"--is especially beautiful, and its "resplendent bra.s.s plate on the trim gate" is still so "s.h.i.+ning and staring." The date, 1591, is on one of the inside beams, and the fine old place abounds with quaint cosy rooms with carved oak mantel-pieces, and plaster enrichments to the ceilings, as well as mysterious back staircases and means of exit by secret pa.s.sages. Charles II. is said to have been entertained here by Colonel Gibbons, the then owner, when he visited Chatham and inspected the _Royal George_; but this has been recently disputed. For many years during this century, the house has been occupied as a Ladies' School, and the old pianos used for practice by the pupils are there still, the keys being worn into holes. We wonder whether Rosa Bud and Helena Landless ever played on them! Looking round, we half expect to witness the famous courting scene in _Edwin Drood_, and afterwards "the matronly Tisher to heave in sight, rustling through the room like the legendary ghost of a dowager in silken skirts, [with her] 'I trust I disturb no one; but there _was_ a paper-knife--Oh, thank you, I am sure!'" An excellent local inst.i.tution, called "The Rochester Men's Inst.i.tute," has its home here. The house has been immortalized by Mr. Luke Fildes in one of the ill.u.s.trations to _Edwin Drood_ ("Good-bye, Rosebud, darling!"), where, in the front garden, the girls are cordially embracing their charming school-fellow, and Miss Twinkleton looks on approvingly, but perhaps regretfully, at the possible non-return of some of the young ladies. Mrs. Tisher is saluting one of the girls. There is a gate opening into the street, with the lamp over it kept in position by an iron bracket, just as it is now, heaps of ladies' luggage are scattered about, which the housemaid and the coachman are removing to the car outside; and one pretty girl stands in the gateway waving a farewell to the others with her handkerchief.

We feel morally certain that Eastgate House is also the prototype of Westgate House in the _Pickwick Papers_, although, for the purposes of the story, it is therein located at Bury St. Edmund's. The wall surrounding the garden is about seven feet high, and a drop from it into the garden would be uncommonly suggestive of the scene which took place between Sam Weller and his master in the sixteenth chapter, on the occasion of the supposed intended elopement of one of the young ladies of Miss Tomkins's Establishment--which also had the "name on a bra.s.s plate on a gate"--with Mr. Charles FitzMarshall, _alias_ Mr. Alfred Jingle. The very tree which Mr. Pickwick "considered a very dangerous neighbour in a thunderstorm" is there still--a pretty acacia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Sapsea's House.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Sapsea's Father.]

The house opposite Eastgate House was of course Mr. Sapsea's dwelling--"Mr. Sapsea's premises are in the High Street over against the Nuns' House. They are of about the period of the Nuns' House, irregularly modernized here and there." A carved wooden figure of Mr.

Sapsea's father in his rostrum as an auctioneer, with hammer poised in hand, and a countenance expressive of "Going--going--gone!" was many years ago fixed over a house (now the Savings Bank) in St. Margaret's, Rochester, and was a regular b.u.t.t for practical jokes by the young officers of the period, although they never succeeded in their attempts to pull it down. To us the house appears to be an older building than Eastgate House, with much carved oak and timber work about it, and in its prime must have been a most delightful residence. The lower part is now used as business premises, and from the fact that it contains the little drawers of a seedsman's shop, it answers very well to the description of Mr. Pumblechook's "eminently convenient and commodious premises"--indeed there is not a little in common between the two characters. "Mr. Pumblechook's premises in the High Street of the market town [says Pip] were of a peppercorny and farinaceous character, as the premises of a corn chandler and seedsman should be. It appeared to me that he must be a very happy man indeed to have so many little drawers in his shop; and I wondered when I peeped into one or two of the lower tiers, and saw the tied-up brown paper packets inside, whether the flower seeds and bulbs ever wanted of a fine day to break out of those jails, and bloom." Part of these premises is used as a dwelling-house, and Mr. Apsley Kennette, the courteous a.s.sistant town-clerk, to whom we were indebted for much kind attention, has apartments on the upper floors of the old mansion, the views from which, looking into the ancient city, are very pretty. There is a good deal of oak panelling and plaster enrichment about the interior, restored by Mr. Kennette, who in the course of his renovations found an interesting wall fresco.

He has had painted most appropriately in gilt letters over the mantel-piece of his charming old panelled chamber of carved and polished oak (with its quaint bay-window looking into the street) the pathetic and sombre lines of Dante Gabriel Rossetti:--

"May not this ancient room thou sitt'st in dwell In separate living souls for joy or pain; Nay, all its corners may be painted plain, Where Heaven shows pictures of some life spent well; And may be stamped a memory all in vain Upon the site of lidless eyes in h.e.l.l."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Restoration House.]

The beautiful residence in Maidstone Road, formerly Crow Lane, opposite the Vines, called Restoration House, is the "Satis House" of _Great Expectations_--"Miss Havisham's up-town." "Everybody for miles round had heard of Miss Havisham up-town as an immensely rich and grim lady, who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion." There is a veritable Satis House as well, on the opposite side of the Vines alluded to elsewhere. Restoration House, now occupied by Mr. Stephen T. Aveling, is a picturesque old Elizabethan structure, partly covered with ivy, having fine oak staircases, floors, and wainscoted rooms. Charles II. lodged here in 1660, and he subsequently presented to his host, Sir Francis Clarke, several large tapestries, representing pastoral scenes, which the present owner kindly allowed us to see. The tapestry is said to have been made at Mortlake. It was the usual present from royalty in those days--just as Her present Majesty now gives an Indian shawl to a favoured subject. Like many houses of its kind, it contains a secret staircase for escape during times of political trouble.

Mr. Aveling very kindly placed at our disposal the ma.n.u.script of an interesting and "true ghost story" written by him relating to Restoration House, which is introduced at the end of this chapter.

Many names in d.i.c.kens's novels and tales appear to us as old friends, over the shops and elsewhere in Rochester. Looking through the list of Mayors of the city from 1654 to 1887, we notice nearly twenty of the names as having been given by d.i.c.kens to his characters, viz. Robinson, Wade, Brooker, Clarke, Harris, Burgess, Head, Weller, Baily, Gordon, Parsons, Pordage, Sparks, Simmons, Batten, Saunders, Thomson, Edwards, and Budden. The name of Jasper also occurs as a tradesman several times in the city, but we are informed that this is a recent introduction. In the Cathedral burying-ground occur the names of f.a.n.n.y Dorr_ett_ and Richard Pordage. Dartle, we were informed, is an old Rochester name.

The population of the "four towns" of Rochester, Strood, Chatham, and New Brompton, at the census of 1891, was upwards of 85,000. The princ.i.p.al industries of Rochester are lime and cement making, "the Medway coal trade," and boat and barge building.

Rochester is very well off for educational inst.i.tutions. In addition to the Board schools, there is the King's (or Cathedral) Grammar School founded by Henry VIII., a handsome building in the Vines. The tuition fee commences at 15 per annum for boys under 12, and there is a reduction made when there are brothers. There are two or three annual compet.i.tive Scholars.h.i.+ps tenable for a period of years, and there are also two Exhibitions of 60 a year to University College, Oxford. There is also Sir J. Williamson's Mathematical School in the High Street, founded in 1701, having an income of 1500 a year from endowments, and the teaching, which has a wide range, includes physical science. The fees are very small, commencing at about 5 per annum, and there are foundation Scholars.h.i.+ps and "Aveling Scholars.h.i.+ps" to the value of 20 per annum.

In addition to the famous Richard Watts's Charity, which is described in another chapter, the city possesses several other important charities, viz.:--St. Catherine's Charity on Star Hill, founded by Simon Potyn in 1316, which provides residences for sixteen aged females, with stipends varying from 24 to 28 each; St. Bartholomew's Hospital in New Road, which was founded in 1078 by Bishop Gundulph for the benefit of lepers returning from the Crusades (the present Hospital was erected in 1858, and is supported by voluntary contributions); Sir John Hawkins's Hospital for decayed seamen in Chatham, founded in 1592, and provides for twelve inmates with their wives; and Sir John Hayward's Charity on the Common, founded in 1651, which provides an asylum for twelve poor and aged females, paris.h.i.+oners of St. Nicholas.

Not least noteworthy among the numerous objects of interest in the "ancient city" are the beautiful gardens belonging to several of the houses in the High Street, particularly those of Mr. Syms and Mr.

Wildish. The fresh green turf, the profusion of flowers, and the rich growth of foliage and fruit, quite surprise and delight the stranger.

Mr. Stephen T. Aveling's garden is a marvel of beauty to be seen in a town. "The Cloisterham gardens blush with ripening fruit."

Some of the old-fas.h.i.+oned cries of street hawkers, as "hot rolls,"

"herrings," "watercresses," and the like, similar to those in the London of Charles d.i.c.kens's early days, still survive at Rochester, and are very noticeable and quaint in the quiet morning.

As ill.u.s.trative of the many changes which have been brought about by steam, even in the quiet old city of Rochester, Mr. Syms called attention to the fact that fifty years ago he could count twenty-eight windmills on the surrounding heights, but now there are scarcely a dozen to be seen.

In Rochester we heard frequent mention of "Gavelkind," one of the ancient customs of Kent, whereby the lands do not descend to the eldest son alone, but to the whole number of male children equally. Lambarde, the eminent lawyer and antiquary (born 1536), author of _A Perambulation of Kent_,[5] says:--"I gather by _Cornelius Tacitus_, and others, that the ancient Germans, (whose Offspring we be) suffered their lands to descend, not to their eldest Sonne alone, but to the whole number of their male Children: and I finde in the 75th Chapter of _Canutus_ Law (a King of this Realm before the Conquest), that after the death of the Father, his Heires should divide both his goods, and his lands amongst them. Now, for as much as all the next of the kinred did this inherit together, I conjecture, that therefore the land was called, either _Gavelkyn_ in meaning, _Give all kyn_, because it was given to all the next in one line of kinred, or _Give all kynd_, that is, to all the male Children: for _kynd_ in Dutch signifieth yet a male Childe." The learned historian suggests a second possible origin of this curious custom from the writ called "Gavelles," to recover "the rent and service arising out of these lands."

The remarkable custom of "Borough English," whereby the youngest son inherits the lands, also survives in some parts of the county of Kent.

Mr. Robert Langton has done good service by giving in his delightful book, _The Childhood and Youth of Charles d.i.c.kens_, an ill.u.s.tration by Mr. W. Hull, of the old Rochester Theatre, which formerly stood at the foot of Star Hill, and in which Jingle and Dismal Jemmy--"rum fellow--does the heavy business--no actor--strange man--all sorts of miseries--dismal Jemmy, we call him on the circuit"--were to play on the morrow after the duel. It exists no more, for the Conservative a.s.sociation has its club-house and rooms on the site of the building.

The theatre is referred to in _Edwin Drood:_--"Even its drooping and despondent little theatre has its poor strip of garden, receiving the foul fiend, when he ducks from its stage into the infernal regions, among scarlet beans or oyster-sh.e.l.ls, according to the season of the year." And again in _The Uncommercial Traveller_, on "Dullborough Town," when the beginning of the end had appeared:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: Old Rochester Theatre, Star Hill.]

"It was To Let, and hopelessly so, for its old purposes; and there had been no entertainment within its walls for a long time, except a Panorama; and even that had been announced as 'pleasingly instructive,' and I knew too well the fatal meaning and the leaden import of those terrible expressions. No, there was no comfort in the Theatre. It was mysteriously gone, like my own youth. Unlike my own youth, it might be coming back some day; but there was little promise of it."

We did not stay at the Bull during the whole of our visit, comfortable lodgings in Victoria Street having been secured for us by the courtesy of Mr. Prall, the landlady of which, from her kindness and consideration for our comfort, we are pleased to recognize as a veritable "Mrs.

Lirriper."

Among many reminiscences of Charles d.i.c.kens obtained at Rochester, the following are the most noteworthy:--

We had an interesting chat with Mr. Franklin Homan, Auctioneer, Cabinet-maker, and Upholsterer of High Street, Rochester. Our informant did a good deal of work for Charles d.i.c.kens at Gad's Hill Place, and remarked "he was one of the nicest customers I ever met in my life--so thoroughly precise and methodical. If anything had to be done, he knew exactly what he wanted, and gave his instructions accordingly. He expected every one who served him to be equally exact and punctual."

The novelist wrote to Mr. Homan from America respecting the furnis.h.i.+ng of two bedrooms, describing in detail how he wished them fitted up--one was maple, the other white with a red stripe. These rooms are referred to in another chapter. The curtains separating them from the dressing-rooms were ordered to be of Indian pattern chintz. When d.i.c.kens came home and saw them complete, he said, "It strikes me as if the room was about to have its hair cut,--but it's my fault, it must be altered;"

so crimson damask curtains were subst.i.tuted.