The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-01-17
~ EFORE the days of Pickwi':l-,
presumably the Bull hotel at
Rochester was merely COM
Portable roadside Goa ching inn


Rochester was merely COM
Portable roadside coaching inn
between Dover and London, with no
claim to fame other than that Of being
a favored resort of the military FROM
the adjacent town of Chatham. 1t is
true that Queen Victoria-then but a
princess-was compelled because CT
a mishap to the bridge across the
Midway and the stormy weather, to
stay in the inn with her mother, the
duchess Of Kent, for one night only.
They were on their way to London
from Dover. The event happened Oh
the Doth of November, 1886, and caus-
ed a flutter of excitement in the. city
and inspired the proprietor to add the
words "Royal Victoria" to the inn $
name, and to justify the adornment of
the front Of the building with the
royal coat of arms, writes 3. w. Matt
in the Christian Science Monitor.
But it remained for the Pickwicll-
ians to draw the inn out from IT, e
ruck of the commonplace and to
spread it's fame to all corners of the
globe; and the fact that it once had
royal patronage is nothing in compari-
son to the other fact that it was the
headquarters of the Pickwickians on n
certain memorable occasion. That is
the attraction of it; that is the I'M
mutable thing that makes it's name a
household word wherever the English
language is spoken. Indeed, that was
the one notable event in it's history
which filled the proprietor with pride,
and in his wisdom, in order to lure Wis
itorS into its comfortable interior, he
could find no more magnetic announce
ment for the signboard on each side
of the entrance, than the plain unvar-
nished statement: "Good House, Nice
Beds. Vide Pickwick."
Was Familiar to Dickens.
It may have boosted history before
then; it is difficult to say. 1t existed
in. 1927 when Dickens housed the
famous four within it's hospitable
walls; and he doubtless knew it long
before then when, as a lad, he lived il
Via CAy wa II NOS always al
favorite of his, and furnishes the
scene of many incidents in his books,
in addition to the part it plays in the
early portion of the "Pickwick Pa
pers:" it no doubt is the original OF
the Winglebury Arms in 1.-THE Great
Winglebury Duel" in Sketches by
Boz" and is certainly the Blue Boar
of "Great Expectations" He fire.
Quented it himself and the room be
occupied on these occasions is known
as the Dickens room and is furnished
with pieces of furniture from his resi-
dence at Gad's Hill. We know, too
that he conducted his friends over It
on these occasions when he made pill
grimages with them around the neigh
borhood
The house has been slightly altered
since those days, but it practically re-
mains the same as when Dickens de
posted the Pickwickians in it's court
yard that red-letter day in 1927. It's
outside is dull and sonber looking, but
its interior comfort and spaciousness
SoOH ulSptl any IulSSiNiuSS WHlCu LIS
exterior might have created.
The entrance hall is as spacious as
it was when Dickens described it, in
'sThe Great Winglebury Duel,' as or
namented with evergreen plants ter
:ninating in perspective view of the
bar, and a glass case, in which were
displayed choice variety of delica
cics ready for dressing, TO catch the
eye of a newcomer the moment he
enters, and excite his appetite to the
highest possible pitch. Opposite
doors" he says, lead to the coffee
and commercial rooms and 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, denominated private where
you many enjoy yourself as privately
as you can in any place where some
bewildered being or other walks into
your room every five minutes by mis-
take, and then walks out again, t.
open all the doors along the gallery
ill he finds his own