ndicates his kindness of heart and thoughtfulness for others.

In some of his walks Dickens was accompanied either by his
sister-in-law, Miss Hogarth, or by friends who were staying at "Gad's"
(or the "Place," as it was sometimes called). Mrs. Masters, whose
recollections of Dickens are very vivid, said--"Lor! we never thought
much about him when he was alive; it was only when his death took place
that we understood what a great man he was." Alas! it is not the first
instance that "a prophet is not without honour, save in his own country,
and in his own house." The news of his death was a great shock to Mrs.
Masters, who heard of it from Edward, son of Mr. W. S. Trood, the
landlord of the Sir John Falstaff, as he was bearing the intelligence to
Rochester within half-an-hour after the event.

In passing we should mention, that the Crispin and Crispianus has been
immortalized in the chapter on "Tramps," in _The Uncommercial
Traveller_, where, in reference to the handicrafts of certain tramps,
Dickens imagines himself to be a travelling clockmaker, and after
adjusting "t'ould clock" in the keeper's kitchen, "he sees to something
wrong with the bell of the turret stable clock up at the Hall [Cobham
Hall]. . . . Our task at length accomplished, we should be taken into an
enormous servants'-hall, and there regaled with beef and bread, and
powerful ale. Then, paid freely, we should be at liberty to go, and
should be told by a pointing helper to keep round over yinder by the
blasted ash, and so straight through the woods till we should see the
town-lights right afore us. . . . So should we lie that night at the
ancient sign of the Crispin and Crispianus [at Strood], and rise early
next morning to be betimes on tramp again."[14]

We are also indebted to Mrs. Masters for an introduction to our next
informant, Mr. J. Couchman, master-builder and undertaker of Strood,
who, though advanced in years and tried by illness, is very free and
chatty; and from him and his son we obtained some interesting facts. He
had worked for Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill Place, from the date of his
going there ("which," says Mr. Couchman, "was on Whitsun Monday, 1856,")
until the 11th June, 1870, two days after the sad occurrence "which
eclipsed the gaiety of nations."

From Mr. Couchman's standpoint as a tradesman, it is interesting to
record his experience of Dickens in his own words. "Mr. Dickens," he
says, "was always very straightforward, honou