among his
guests in the drawing-room, and enquired if any one could guess the
"word." Says the doctor, "We never seemed to do so, but there was always
a hearty laugh when we were told what it was. There was a good deal of
company at Gad's Hill at Christmas time."

_A propos_ of private theatricals at Gad's Hill Place, Mr. T. Edgar
Pemberton, in _Charles Dickens and the Stage_, calls attention to the
fact that "Mr. Clarkson Stanfield's _Lighthouse_ Act drop subsequently
decorated the walls of Gad's Hill Place; and although it took the
painter less than a couple of days to execute, fetched a thousand
guineas at the famous Dickens Sale in 1870." A cloth painted for _The
Frozen Deep_, which was the next and last of these productions, also had
a foremost place in the Gad's Hill picture-gallery.

Dr. Steele mentions a conversation once with Dickens about Gad's Hill
and Shakespeare's description of it. He (the doctor) considers that
Shakespeare could not have described it so accurately if he had not been
there, and Dickens agreed with him in this opinion. Possibly he may have
stayed at the "Plough," which was an inn on the same spot as, or close
to, the "Falstaff." The place must have been much wooded at that time,
and Shakespeare might have been there on his way to Dover. A note in
the _Rochester and Chatham Journal_, 1883, states that "Shakespeare's
company made a tour in Sussex and Kent in the summer of 1597."

Dr. Steele, in common with his friend Charles Dickens, strongly
deprecated the action of certain parties in Rochester, by voting at a
public meeting something to this effect:--"That the Theatre was an
irreligious kind of institution, and, in the opinion of the meeting, it
ought to be closed."

The doctor observes that Dickens was not much of a Church-goer. He went
occasionally to Higham, and used to give the vicar assistance for the
poor and distressed. Dickens and Miss Hogarth asked Dr. Steele to point
out objects of charity worthy of relief, and they gave him money for
distribution.

He remarks that Dickens did not care much about associating with the
local residents, going out to dinners, &c. Most of the principal people
of Rochester would have been glad of the honour of his presence as a
guest, but he rarely accepted invitations, preferring the quietude of
home.[18]

As regards readings, our informant says he is under the impression that
Dickens must have had some lessons or hints from some one of experien