cherished the idea of one day living
in this house, and how that idea was gratified in after-life. It is from
the _Uncommercial Traveller_, in the chapter on "Travelling Abroad," and
the repetition is never stale. He says:--

"So smooth was the old high road, and so fresh
were the horses, and so fast went I, that it was
midway between Gravesend and Rochester, and the
widening river was bearing the ships, white-sailed
or black-smoked, out to sea, when I noticed by the
wayside a very queer small boy.

"'Holloa!' said I to the very queer small boy,
'where do you live?'

"'At Chatham,' says he.

"'What do you do there?' says I.

"'I go to school,' says he.

"I took him up in a moment, and we went on.
Presently, the very queer small boy says, 'This is
Gad's Hill we are coming to, where Falstaff went
out to rob those travellers, and ran away.'

"'You know something about Falstaff, eh?' said I.

"'All about him,' said the very queer small boy.
'I am old (I am nine), and I read all sorts of
books. But _do_ let us stop at the top of the
hill, and look at the house there, if you please!'

"'You admire that house?' said I.

"'Bless you, sir,' said the very queer small boy,
'when I was not more than half as old as nine, it
used to be a treat for me to be brought to look at
it. And now, I am nine, I come by myself to look
at it. And ever since I can recollect, my father,
seeing me so fond of it, has often said to me, 'If
you were to be very persevering, and were to work
hard, you might some day come to live in it.'
Though that's impossible!' said the very queer
small boy, drawing a low breath, and now staring
at the house out of window with all his might.

"I was rather amazed to be told this by the very
queer small boy; for that house happens to be _my_
house, and I have reason to believe that what he
said was true."

[Illustration: Gadshill Place]

Mrs. Lynn Linton, the celebrated novelist, who resided at Gad's Hill as
a child, has very kindly given us her personal recollections of it sixty
years ago, and of the interesting circumstances under which Charles