t the time.

Mr. Couchman recalls an interesting custom that was maintained at Gad's
Hill. There were a number of tin check plates, marked respectively 3_d._
and 6_d._ each, which enabled the person to whom they were given to
obtain an equivalent in refreshment of any kind at the Sir John
Falstaff. The threepenny checks were for the workmen, and the sixpenny
ones for the tradesmen. The chief housemaid had the distribution of
these checks to persons employed in the house, the head-gardener to
those engaged in the gardens, and the coachman to those in the stables.
On one occasion, our informant remembers when his men were engaged upon
some work at Gad's Hill, such checks were given out to them, and that he
also had one offered to him; but, recollecting that his position as a
master scarcely entitled him to the privilege, he stated his objections
to the housemaid, who said in reply that it was a pity to break an old
custom, he had better have one. "So," says our informant, "I had a
sixpenny ticket with the others, and obtained my refreshment."

He has in his photographic album a carte-de-visite of Charles Dickens,
by Watkins. It is the well-known one in which the novelist is
represented in a sitting position, dressed in a grey suit; and the owner
considered it a very good likeness. He also showed us a funeral card
which he thought had been sent to him by the family of Dickens at the
time of his death, but judging by its contents, this seems impossible.
It is, however, well worth transcribing:--

To the Memory of
=Charles Dickens=
(England's most popular author),
who died at his Residence,
Higham, near Rochester, Kent,
June 9th, 1870.
Aged 58 years.

He was a sympathizer with the poor, suffering, and
oppressed; and by his death one of England's
greatest writers is lost to the world.

Mr. Couchman confirms the verbal sketch of Dickens as drawn by his
neighbour, Mrs. Masters, and states that Dickens used to put up his dogs
("Linda" and "Turk"), "boisterous companions as they always were," in
the stables whenever he came to see him on business.

Mr. William Ball, J.P., of Hillside, Strood, kindly favoured us with
many interviews, and generally took great interest in the subject of our
visit to "Dickens-Land," rendering invaluable assistance in our
enquiries. This gentleman