Board, and the term indicated the
difficulty and expense of the operation. Before the new road was cut,
the old highway constituting this part of the Dover Road was very hilly
and dangerous.

Reverting to the subject of Charles Dickens, our relator remarked, "I
fear I cannot be of much use to you by giving information about Mr.
Dickens, as I only knew him as a kind friend, a very genial host, and a
most charming companion; to the poor he was always kind--a deserving
beggar never went from his house unrelieved." What indeed could be said
more! These few simple words, spoken so earnestly after a period of
nearly twenty years, sufficed to bring before us the lost neighbour
whose memory was so warmly cherished by his surviving friend.

John Forster, in the _Life_, speaks of Mr. Hulkes as being "one of the
two nearest country neighbours with whom the [Dickens] family had become
very intimate," and mentions that both Mr. and Mrs. Hulkes were present
at the wedding of the novelist's second daughter, Kate, with Mr. Charles
Alston Collins. Mr. Hulkes spoke of the pleasant parties at Gad's Hill
Place, at which he met Mr. Forster, Mr. Wilkie Collins, Mr. Percy
Fitzgerald, Mr. Marcus Stone, Mr. H. F. Chorley, and many others; and
observed that, on the occasion of charades and private theatricals
there, Charles Dickens was always in fine form. He showed us an original
manuscript programme (of which we were allowed to take a copy), written
on half-a-sheet of foolscap; and from the fact that "_Gads Hill Gazette_
Printing Office" appears in the corner it would seem that it was printed
on the occasion for the guests. It is as follows:--

_December 31st, 1863._

"A night's exploit on Gad's Hill."--_Shakespeare._

=Her Majesty's Servants=
will have the honour of presenting
Three Charades!!!

Each Charade is a word of two syllables, arranged
in three Scenes. The first scene is the first
syllable; the second is the second syllable; the
third scene is the entire word.

(_At the end of each Charade the audience is
respectfully invited to name the word._)

=Charade 1!=

Scene I.--The awful end of the Profligate Sailor.

Scene II.--On the way to foreign parts.

Scene III.--Miss Belinda Jane and the faithful
policeman (Divis