indow-seat instead.

On one occasion, when our informant was waiting in the dining-room for
some orders from Miss Hogarth, he saw Dickens walking in the garden with
a lady, to whom he was telling the story of how as a boy he longed to
live in Gad's Hill Place, and determined to purchase it whenever he had
an opportunity.

Mr. Homan mentioned that the act drop painted by Clarkson Stanfield,
R.A., for _The Lighthouse_ and the scene from _The Frozen Deep_, painted
by the same artist, which adorned the hall at Gad's Hill Place, and
which fetched such enormous sums at the sale, were technically the
property of the purchaser of Tavistock House, but he said, "Perhaps you
would like to have them, Mr. Dickens," and so they continued to be the
property of the novelist.

The valuation for Probate was made by Mr. Homan, and he subsequently
sold for the executors the furniture and other domestic effects at Gad's
Hill Place. The art collection was sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and
Woods. There was a very fine cellar of wine, which included some magnums
of port of rare vintage. Mr. Homan purchased a few bottles, and gave one
to a friend, Dr. Tamplin of London, who had been kind to his daughter.
At a dinner-party some time afterwards at the Doctor's, a connoisseur
being present, the magnum in question was placed on the table, the
guests being unaware from whence it came. Reference was made to the
choice quality of the wine. "Yes," said the connoisseur, "it _is_
good--very fine. I never tasted the like before, except once at Gad's
Hill Place."

Mr. Homan recollects seeing among the plate two oak cases which were not
sold, containing the silver figures for dining-table emblematic of
spring, summer, and autumn. These were the presents of a Liverpool
admirer who wished to remain anonymous. The incident is alluded to in
Forster's _Life_, the correspondent being described as "a self-raised
man, attributing his prosperous career to what Dickens's writings had
taught him at its outset of the wisdom of kindness and sympathy for
others, and asking pardon for the liberty he took in hoping that he
might be permitted to offer some acknowledgment of what not only had
cheered and stimulated him through all his life, but had contributed so
much to the success of it." The letter enclosed L500, but Dickens
declined this, intimating to the writer that if he pleased to send him
any small memorial in another form, he would be glad to receive it.