The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-12
GOTHAM OF DICKENS.
A VILLAGE lMMoRTALlzED IN THE
"PlCKWlCk PAPERS,"

Is tho Pride of Mino Host of tho ''Leath-
CT Bottel"-An Antique Church and the
grasses 1t Contains.
Less than au honr and q half from
London is tho quiet little station at
Stole street. named, suppose, in honor
of Roman road and trodden by travel
ers rs they approach the manifold glo-
ries Of Gotham.
Gotham, the Kentish Gotham, is one
of those places in which Kent is SO
yich, favored alike by nature and art
and historical association. For what is
called park scenery it has few superiors
in England. The church has memorials
of it's fourteenth century lords ms fresh
as when they felt the last touch of the
workman s tools. while the inn opposite
is redolent with the memories Of Charles
Dickens, and the ruddy old Elizabethan
hall is one of the stateliest homes in
England-a real home, constantly lived
In.
To see Gotham in its glory one must
Of course visit it in summer. It is hard
ly fur to go there, as did, on weep
ing autumn day, though it was full of a
charm of it's own. In the first place, the
season precluded my approaching Cob
ham i'll the orthodox way-from the
back of the ancient buildings which
form the new college. The boy who acts
as porter at the station did not recon-
mend the short cut for very wet day.
1t had recently been plowed. So, pass
ing first an old Kentish black and white
house to the left and then fine red
brick Georgian mansion described by
him as q FARM to the right, strobe up
the main street of Gotham village to
where putatiye leather bottle swings
| i'll front of the inn which Dickens i'm
mortalized in "Pickwick. The leather
| bottle, which, proudly labeled "Ecce
| Signum," swings over sign of Dick
ems Mr.. Pickwick standing ON chair
with his hands under his coattails, is, as
matter of fact, made of cast iron and q
weighs no less than 40 pounds, the real
bottle being kept ON the top of the clock
in the bar parlor, guarded by an uncer-
tain looking monkey and dog. 1t is
| shaped like barrel, with combined
stopper and handle on one side, and has
| large hole cut out just below the han.
die. the reason of this being that when
it was dug out of field hard by it
weighed so heavy that the finder hacked
hole to see what was in it. He was re-
warded by finding money, which was
| probably exactly what he wanted to find.
The inn claims to be as old as the
chancel of the church opposite, which
would make it fourteenth century Even
| the aspect of the much repaired exterior
does not make this impossible, and the
| rough, worm eaten, dark oak beams in
the low ceiling of the Dickens room
certainly look old enough.
The Dickens room ia the pride of mine
host and brings Gotham visits from O
host OF theatrical people, who certainly
would never visit it for the sake of it,
lords, ancient or modern, and their hall
and church and college. In the visitors
book read such names as W. S. Penley
and j. L. Toole. the latter accompanied
by Mr.. Clement Scott, and over the
mante1piece hung pretty theatrical
portrait Of Miss Mary Anderson, with
her hands tied together in some charac-
ter which did not recognize-her me-
mento OF visit here.
The walls are hung with prints Of
various characters and scenes in Dickens
books, Dickens programmes, sketches
and what not, among them being The
Graphic's picture Of the empty
Chair, - which made Luke Fildes' name,
and Dickens last letter Gin autograph)
dated June s, 1870, in reply to Non
conformlst minister named Matclam, @
letter about edwin Brood" and with
pathetic and particular interest, be-
cause Dickens in this last letter of his
life aVows that he had always cherished
Christianity-even written book tc
bring 1t home to his children, though he
had not proclaimed his belief from the
house top. Jingle, Sidney Carton, the
devoted, and Pecksniff are among the
more prominent characters ON the walls.
All around the room there are rows of
old fashioned chairs, the place of honor
being occupied by the Dickens chair-a
fat topped article of the variety known
to old furniture dealers al 1.-THE Wind
sor.
Whatever the claims of the "Leather
Bottel" to fourteenth century honors,
there is no doubt Of the antiquity of the
church, though the age of the exterior,
except the towers is obliterated with q
facing of fiints. Two gigantic flints, one
of them at least feet By Q, lie OH the
grass below. The interior Of the church.
once ruined with plaster and whitewash,
is now carefully restored and highly
interesting. First in importance, Of
course, come its monumental brasses,
some 30 of them, not erected, but laid
down on the chancel floor to the honor