e stout--old
Clem!" which Pip and his friends sang, is from a song which the
blacksmiths in the dockyard used to sing in procession on St. Clement's
Day.

By accident we make the acquaintance of Mr. William James Budden of
Chatham, who informs us that Charles Dickens was better known there in
his latter years for his efforts, by readings and otherwise, to place
the Mechanics' Institute on a sound basis and free from debt.

Dickens, as the _Uncommercial Traveller_, thus describes the Mechanics'
Institute and its early efforts to succeed:--

"As the town was placarded with references to the
Dullborough Mechanics' Institution, I thought I
would go and look at that establishment next.
There had been no such thing in the town in my
young days, and it occurred to me that its extreme
prosperity might have brought adversity upon the
Drama. I found the Institution with some
difficulty, and should scarcely have known that I
had found it if I had judged from its external
appearance only; but this was attributable to its
never having been finished, and having no front:
consequently, it led a modest and retired
existence up a stable-yard. It was (as I learnt,
on enquiry) a most flourishing Institution, and of
the highest benefit to the town: two triumphs
which I was glad to understand were not at all
impaired by the seeming drawbacks that no
mechanics belonged to it, and that it was steeped
in debt to the chimney-pots. It had a large room,
which was approached by an infirm step-ladder: the
builder having declined to construct the intended
staircase, without a present payment in cash,
which Dullborough (though profoundly appreciative
of the Institution) seemed unaccountably bashful
about subscribing."

Mr. Budden is of opinion that the origin of the "fat boy" in _Pickwick_
was Mr. James Budden, late of the Red Lion Inn in Military Road, who
afterwards acquired a competence, and who had the honour of entertaining
Dickens at a subsequent period of his life. Mr. Budden is under the
impression, from local hearsay, that Dingley Dell formerly existed
somewhere in the neighbourhood of Burham.

* * * * *

We are obligingly favoured with an interview by Mr