nger, and Mr. Charles
Collins, his brother-in-law, came to select a piece of ground on the
east side of Shorne churchyard, which was one of Dickens's favourite
spots, but in consequence of the arrangements for the burial in
Westminster Abbey this was of course given up.

Mr. Marsham was staying in London, at Lord Penrhyn's, at the time of
Dickens's death, and Lady Louisa Penrhyn told him that by accident she
was in Westminster Abbey at about ten o'clock on the morning of 14th
June, the day of the funeral, and noticing some persons standing round
an open grave, her ladyship went to see it, and was greatly impressed on
looking in to read the name of Charles Dickens on the coffin, on which
were numerous wreaths of flowers.

Our venerable friend possesses a souvenir of the novelist in the two
exquisite plaster statuettes, about eighteen inches high, of "Night" and
"Morning," which he purchased at the Gad's Hill sale.

The reverend gentleman spoke of the great improvements in travelling as
compared with times within his recollection. He said that before the
railways were constructed he went to London by boat from Gravesend, and
the river was so bad that he had to keep his handkerchief to his nose
all the way to avoid the stench. This was long before the days of Thames
Embankments and other improvements in travelling by river and road.

FOOTNOTE:

[37] "Cobham Church [says a writer in the _Archaeologia Cantiana_, 1877]
is distinguished above all others as possessing the finest and most
complete series of brasses in the kingdom. It contains some of the
earliest and some of the latest, as well as some of the most beautiful
in design. The inscriptions are also remarkable, and the heraldry for
its intelligence is in itself a study. There is an interest also in the
fact that for the most part they refer to one great family--the Lords of
Cobham."

CHAPTER XIV.

A FINAL TRAMP IN ROCHESTER AND LONDON.

"You have been in every line I have ever read,
since I first came here, . . . you have been in
every prospect I have ever seen since--on the
river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes,
in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in
the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the
streets."--_Great Expectations._

"The magic reel, which, rolling on before, has led
the Chronicler thus far, now slackens in its pace,
and sto