heads, crockets, finials, and such like, which he carried about
in a cotton handkerchief, and which may have suggested to Dickens the
idea of the 'slouching' Durdles and his inseparable dinner bundle. He
used to work for a certain Squire N----." His earnings mostly went to
"The Fortune of War,"--now called "The Life-Boat,"--the inn where he
lodged.

Mr. Miles does not remember the prototypes of any other "cathedraly"
characters--Crisparkle and the rest--but he quite agrees with the
general opinion previously referred to as to the origin of Mr. Sapsea.
He considers "Deputy" (the imp-like satellite of Durdles and the
"Kinfreederel") to be decidedly a street Arab, the type of which is more
common in London than in Rochester. He thinks that the fact of the rooms
over the gatehouse having once been occupied by an organ-blower of the
Cathedral may have prompted Dickens to make it the residence of the
choir-master. He also throws out the suggestion that the discovery in
1825 of the effigy of Bishop John de Sheppey, who died in 1360, may
possibly have given rise to the idea of the "old 'uns" in the crypt, the
frequent object of Durdles's search, _e.g._ "Durdles come upon the old
chap (in reference to a buried magnate of ancient time and high degree)
by striking right into the coffin with his pick. The old chap gave
Durdles a look with his open eyes as much as to say, 'Is your name
Durdles? Why, my man, I've been waiting for you a Devil of a time!' and
then he turned to powder. With a two-foot rule always in his pocket, and
a mason's hammer all but always in his hand, Durdles goes continually
sounding and tapping all about and about the Cathedral; and whenever he
says to Tope, 'Tope, here's another old 'un in here!' Tope announces it
to the Dean as an established discovery."

[Illustration: Minor Canon Row: Rochester]

On the south side of the Cathedral is the curious little terrace of
old-fashioned houses, about seven in number, called "Minor Canon
Row"--"a wonderfully quaint row of red-brick tenements" (Dickens's name
for it is "Minor Canon Corner"),--chiefly occupied by the officers and
others attached to the Cathedral. Here it was that Mr. Crisparkle dwelt
with his mother, and where the little party was held (after the dinner
at which Mr. Luke Honeythunder, with his "Curse your souls and
bodies--come here and be blessed" philanthropy, was present, and caused
"a most doleful breakdown"), which included Miss Twinkleton, the