country. The perfectly surfaced road, with only gentle slopes and
curves, runs through the parklike fields, here over a picturesque stone
bridge spanning a clear stream, there between rows of magnificent trees,
occasionally dropping into quiet villages, of which Chigwell was easily
the most delightful.

Chigwell became known to fame through the writings of Charles Dickens,
who was greatly enamored of the place and who made it the scene of much
of his story of "Barnaby Rudge." But Dickens, with his eye for the
beautiful and with his marvelous intuition for interesting situations,
was drawn to the village by its unusual charm. Few other places can
boast of such endorsement as he gave in a letter to his friend, Forster,
when he wrote: "Chigwell, my dear fellow, is the greatest place in the
world. Name your day for going. Such a delicious old inn facing the
church; such a lovely ride; such glorious scenery; such an
out-of-the-way rural place; such a sexton! I say again, name your day."
After such a recommendation, one will surely desire to visit the place,
and it is pleasant to know that the "delicious old inn" is still
standing and that the village is as rural and pretty as when Dickens
wrote over sixty years since.

The inn referred to, the King's Head, was the prototype of the Maypole
in "Barnaby Rudge," and here we were delighted to stop for our belated
luncheon. The inn fronts directly on the street and, like all English
hostelries, its main rooms are given over to the bar, which at this time
was crowded with Sunday loafers, the atmosphere reeking with tobacco
smoke and the odor of liquors. The garden at the rear was bright with a
profusion of spring flowers and sheltered with ornamental trees and
vines. The garden side of the old house was covered with a mantle of
ivy, and, altogether, the surroundings were such as to make ample amends