Gad's Hill Place from the rear.
"I believe it will appear to you, on inquiry, that the land I offer in exchange for the meadow is very advantageously situated, and is of greater extent than the meadow, and would be of greater value to the Institution, whose interests you represent. On the other hand, the acquisition of the meadow as a freehold would render my little property more compact and complete.
"I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,
Your faithful and obedient Servant,
Charles Dickens.
"To the Governors of
Sir Joseph Williamson's Free School,
Rochester."
The offer fell through at the time; but it was renewed in 1868 in a different form, and eventually the field was sold (by permission of the Charity Commissioners) to Charles Dickens at an "accommodation" price—£2,500—which really exceeded its actual market value.
But to resume our inspection. The whole of the back of the house, looking southward, is covered by a Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia) of profuse growth, which must be an object of singular beauty in the autumn when the crimson tints appear. As it now stands it is beautifully green, and there is scarcely more than a leaf or two here and there marking autumnal decay. The two famous hawthorn trees were blown down in a gale some years ago.