, and is now occupied by Major
Trousdell. Mr. Cobb believed that Dickens took the title of _No
Thoroughfare_--which he and Wilkie Collins contributed to the 1867
number of _All the Year Round_, and in the dramatizing of which Dickens
subsequently was so interested--from the notice-boards which were put up
by Lord Darnley in many parts of Cobham Park.

On one occasion our informant remembers a stoppage of the train in
Higham tunnel, which caused some consternation to the passengers, as no
explanation of the delay was forthcoming from any of the railway
officials. The station-master coming up at the time, Dickens
remarked--"Ah! an unwilling witness, Mr. Wood."

Mr. Cobb mentioned that Miss Hogarth, Dickens's sister-in-law, was a
great favourite in the neighbourhood, from her kindness and
thoughtfulness for all with whom she came in contact, and especially the
poor of Higham.

FOOTNOTES:

[35] Speaking of Hoo, Lambarde says (1570)--"Hoh in the old English
signifieth sorrow or sickness, wherewith the Inhabitants of that
unwholesome Hundred be very much exercised[!]."

[36] Lambarde says, "The Town [of Cliffe at Hoo] is large, and hath
hitherto a great Parish Church: and (as I have been told) many of the
houses were casually burned (about the same time that the Emperor
_Charles_ came into this Realme to visite King _Henry_ the eight), of
which hurt it was never thorowly cured."

CHAPTER XIII.

COBHAM PARK AND HALL, THE LEATHER BOTTLE, SHORNE, CHALK, AND THE DOVER
ROAD.

"It's a place you may well be fond of and attached
to, for it's the prettiest spot in all the country
round."--_The Village Coquettes._

"The last soft light of the setting sun had fallen
on the earth, casting a rich glow on the yellow
corn sheaves, and lengthening the shadows of the
orchard trees."--_The Pickwick Papers._

WE reserve this, our last long tramp in "Dickens-Land," for the Friday
before our departure. Mrs. Perugini, the novelist's second daughter, had
recently told us that this was the most beautiful of all the beautiful
parts of Kent, and so indeed it proves to be. Its sylvan scenery is
truly unique.

Mr. Charles Dickens the younger, in his valuable annotated Jubilee
edition of _Pickwick_, has included this note relating to Cobham:--

"As all the world knows, the neighbourhood of Rochester was dear to
Charles Dickens. There it is that Gad's Hill Place sta