The Southern herald., 1919-01-10

doors" he says lead to the coffee
and commercial rooms; and a great
wide rambling staircase-three stairs
and landing-four stairs and another
landing-One step and another landing
and so on-conducts to galleries Of
bedrooms and labyrinths Of sitting
rooms, denomlnated private where
you many enjoy yourself as privately
as you can in any place where some
beW1ldered being or other walks into
your room every five minutes by mis-,
take, and then walks out again, ia
open all the doors along the gallery
till he finds his owd9
And so the yisitoFllnds it today, al
though the interior of the coffee room
may have been denuded of its com
partments which the interview be
tween Pip and Bentley Drummle In
Great Expectations" suggests were
there on that occasion. 1t was in this
room that the Pickwickians break
tasted and awaited the arrival of the
chaise to take them to Dingley DELI
and it was over its blinds that Mr.
Pickwick surveyed the passer-by i1
the street, and before which the We
hicle made its appearance with the
very amusing result known to all read
ers of the book.
Has Not Been Much Altered.
The commercial room is across tn,
yard, over which on one occasion Mr.
Wopsle was reciting Collins ode tt
Pip in Great Expectations" with sucE
dramatic effect that the commercialt
objected and sent up their compli
ments with the remark that "it WASN'T
the Tumbler's Arms"
From the hall runs the staircase
upon which took place the famous
scene between Doctor Slammer anG
Jingle, illustrated so spiritedly bJ
Phiz. Those who remember the Incl
dent-and who does not?-can visu
alize it all again as they mount thu
stairs to the bedrooms above, which
the Pickwickians occupied. They re
main as Dickens described them, ever
in some cases to the very bedsteadl
and furniture, and are still shown tC
the interested visitor.
Number II is claimed as Mr.. Pick
wick's room, which is also the ont
Dickens occupied on one occasion, ant
the one in Seven Poor Travellers
from which the occupant assures us
that "after the cathedral bell struck
eight l could smell the delicious SAVIOR
of turkey and roast beef rising to the
window Of my adjoining room, which
looked down into the yard just where
the lights of the kitchen Redeemed a
fragment of the castle wall"
Assembly Room Still There.
An important feature in those days,
and presumably today, was the ball.
room, "the elegant and commodlous
rooms to the Winglebury
Arms In the "Pickwick Papers"
Dickens thus describes it: at was a
long room, with crimson-covered
benches, and wax candles in glass
The musicians were Sc
curely confined in. an elevated den.
and quadrllles were being systemati-
cally got through by two or three sets
Of dancers. Two card tables were
made up in the adjoining cardroom,
and two pair of old ladies and cor
responding number Of stout gentle
men were executing whist therein
The room itself is unaltered. There
hang still the glass chandeliers, and
1t the end is the verltable elevated
len where the fiddlers fiddled All.
hough today it is not used as a dane.
ng room on account Of the military and
laval demands Of the town, there NAV |
'ome time when it will revert to its
~ glory and tradition.