ll remember that the scene in the
first chapter between Pip and the convict, Magwitch, is laid in Cooling
churchyard, and on reaching this spot we are instantly reminded of what
doubtless gave origin to the idea of the five dead little brothers of
poor Philip Pirrip, for there, on the left of the principal pathway, are
indeed, not five stone lozenges, but _ten_ in one row and three more at
the back of them, such peculiarly-shaped and curiously-arranged little
monuments as we never before beheld. They consist of a grey stone
(Kentish-rag, probably, but lichen-encrusted by time) of cylindrical
shape, widening at the shoulders, coffin-like, and about a yard in
length, the diameter being about eight inches, including the portion
buried in the earth. Four little foot-stones are placed in front, and
separating the ten little memorials from the three at the back is a
large head-stone, bearing the name--"Comport of Cowling Court, 1771."
Cooling Church, which has the date 1615 on one of the bells, has an
example of a Hagioscope, a curious, small, square, angular, tunnel-like
opening through the wall, which divides the nave from the chancel. It is
said to have been the place through which those members of the church,
who were unworthy or unable to receive the sacred elements, might get a
look at their more acceptable companions during the administration of
the sacrament. The Rev. W. H. A. Leaver, the Rector, who kindly shows us
over his church, in reply to our question as to whether he could give
any information about Charles Dickens, said that he was a new-comer in
the district, and that all he remembers is, that when his sister was a
little baby in arms, her mother happened once to be travelling in the
same train with the great novelist, who, with his usual kindness, gave
the child an orange, which she acknowledged very ungratefully by
scratching his face!

The following is a picture of the neighbourhood, given in the opening
sentences of the story:--

"Ours was the marsh country, down by the river,
within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the
sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of
the identity of things, seems to me to have been
gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards
evening. At such a time, I found out for certain,
that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was
the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of
this p