the bridge across the Medway 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 on the
29th of November, 1836, and caused a flutter of excitement in the
city and inspired the proprietor to add the words "Royal Victoria"
to the inn's name, and to justify the adornment of the front of the
building with the royal crest of arms.

But it remained for the Pickwickians to draw the inn out from
the ruck of the commonplace, and to spread its fame to all
corners of the globe; and the fact that it once had royal
patronage is nothing in comparison to the other fact that it
was the headquarters of the Pickwickians on a certain memorable
occasion. That is the attraction to it; that is the immutable
thing that makes its name a household word wherever the English
language is spoken. Indeed, that was the one notable event in
its history which filled the proprietor with pride, and in his
wisdom, in order to lure visitors into its comfortable interior,
he could find no more magnetic announcement for the signboard on
each side of the entrance than the plain unvarnished statement:
"Good House. Nice Beds. Vide Pickwick."

[illustration: The Bull Hotel, Rochester. From a photograph
by T.W.Tyrrell]

It may have boasted a history before then: it is difficult to say.
It existed in 1827 when Dickens housed the famous four within its
hospitable walls; and he doubtless knew it long before then when,
as a lad, he lived in Chatham; anyway, it was always a favourite
of his, and furnishes the scene of many incidents in his books, in