To tempt the reader therefore to take up the study which I have found
so pleasant, so healthful, and so interesting, I now propose to
place in order the proceeds of a few of my rambles, and shew how much
success the reader may also expect in similar expeditions. His or her
stock-in-trade should consist of a good-sized note-book or sketch-book
of paper not too rough for fine lines, a B B pencil of reliable
quality, and a small piece of sandstone or brick to be used in rubbing
off the dirt and moss which sometimes obscure inscriptions. No kind
of scraper should ever be employed, lest the crumbling memorial be
damaged; but a bit of brick or soft stone will do no harm, and will
often bring to view letters and figures which have apparently quite
disappeared. If a camera be taken, a carpenter's pencil may be of
service in strengthening half-vanished lines, and a folded foot-rule
should always be in the pocket. A mariner's compass is sometimes
useful in strange places, but the eastward position of a church will
always give the bearings, and a native is usually to be found to point
the way. A road map of the county which you are about to explore, or,
if in the vicinity of London, one of those admirable and well-known
handbooks of the field paths, is useful, and the journey should be
carefully plotted out before the start. A friend and companion
of congenial tastes adds, I need not say, to the enjoyment of the
excursion. My constant associate has happily a craze for epitaphs, but
does not fancy sketching even in the rough style which answers well
enough for my work, and I have had therefore no competitor. Together
we have scoured all the northern part of Kent and visited every
Kentish church within twenty miles of London. The railway also will
occasionally land us near some old church which we may like to visit,
and it was while waiting half an hour for a train at Blackheath
station that I picked up the accompanying choice specimen in the
ancient burial-ground of Lee.