reformer, is connected with Eastern Lodge, Camelford Street. A list of
such names might be extended indefinitely, and if the celebrities who
have been regular visitors were mentioned the record would be endless,
though it is said that Robert Browning never entered the town. Dr.
Johnson stayed in West Street, when the Thrales lived there; he bathed
with the rest and, unlike the rest, abused the surroundings in his
usual manner, declaring that a man would soon be so overcome by the
dismalness of the Downs that he would hang himself if he could but find
a tree strong enough to bear his weight!

Every Dickensian would like to identify the house which the creator of
Paul Dombey had in mind when he painted the inimitable portrait of Mrs.
Pipchin, "ogress and child queller," whose castle "was in a steep bye
street.... where the small front gardens had the property of producing
nothing but marigolds, whatever was sown in them; and where snails were
constantly discovered holding on to the street doors.... In the winter
time the air couldn't be got out of the Castle, and in the summer time
it couldn't be got in.... It was not naturally a fresh smelling house;
and in the window of the front parlour, which was never opened, Mrs.
Pipchin kept a collection of plants in pots, which imparted an earthy
flavour of their own to the establishment."

Little Paul afterwards went to Dr. Blimber's, which "was a mighty fine
house fronting the sea"; this has been identified as being on or near
the site now occupied by the Metropole. Thackeray, whose verdict on the
town is quoted at the head of this chapter, laid several scenes among
these squares and crescents and gave to one of his greatest characters
the town's best known feature as a title.

The extraordinary and incongruous building in the Steyne known as the