belief by a little circumstance, apparently slight and trivial in
itself, but when considered from this point of view, not undeserving
of notice. In Mr. Pickwick's notebook, we can just trace an entry
of the fact, that the places of himself and followers were booked by
the Norwich coach; but this entry was afterwards lined through, as
if for the purpose of concealing even the direction in which the
borough is situated."

That description fits Sudbury admirably and faithfully, but does not
by any means fit either Ipswich or Norwich, the two other claimants,
and the evidence of Mr. C. Finden Waters, a one-time proprietor of
the "Rose and Crown" at Sudbury, makes it almost certain that
Sudbury was the place Dickens had in mind.

Mr. Waters, in 1906, devoted much time and research in order to
establish his claim, and in March, 1907, read a paper, setting forth
in detail the various points which led him to that conclusion, to
the members of a then newly formed coterie who called themselves
"The Eatanswill Club." It appears that this evidence established
the fact that Dickens visited Sudbury in 1834. On the 25th and 26th
July in the same year, a Parliamentary by-election took place there,
the incidents of which, as reported by the Essex Standard of that
period, coincided remarkably with those recorded in connexion with
the "Eatanswill" election in The Pickwick Papers. In 1835, Dickens
visited Ipswich for The Morning Chronicle, and reported the election
at that place. It is now tolerably certain that he went on to
Sudbury for a similar purpose.

A further point is, Mr. Pickwick left by the Norwich coach.
"Eatanswill," as we have seen, being a small borough near Bury St.