Mrs Watson,[50] one of my dear, though not very near, cousins, had married the possessor of the grand old castle of Rockingham, situated on one of the few eminences which are to be found in Northamptonshire, the Midlandest of England’s counties. That stately old building had originally been a Royal hunting-lodge, and a surrounding domain, still diversified and picturesque in the extreme, had once been forest-land. Some portion of the house itself was of very early date, and the grand entrance, or gate-house, consisting of two massive circular towers, dated as far back as the reign of Stephen. Footnote 50: Lavinia, daughter of Lord George Quin by Lady Georgiana Spencer; married Hon. Richard Watson, fourth son of second Lord Sondes. The interior of Rockingham, the large entrance hall, the gallery and the dining-room, in particular, were especially remarkable for their old-world appearance. In the first of these apartments I loved to read the inscription on the beams of the ceiling— “Thys House shall be preserved and never shall decaye While Almighty God is honoured and served daye by daye”— while the dining-room, with its oak-panelled walls, decorated with innumerable shields of relations and neighbours, blazoned in proper heraldic colours, has a lasting claim on my memory as the scene of our dramatic performances. The “Chatelaine,” to whom I have already alluded, was a daughter of Lord George Quin, with whom I claim cousinship, as her mother was a Spencer. The master of Rockingham was the brother of Lord Sondes, who changed his patronymic of Milles for the name of Watson, on succeeding to the Northamptonshire estate. At Lausanne they had made the acquaintance of the Charles Dickens’ family, and, knowing how devout a hero-worshipper I was, had promised to include me among their invitations the next time that “Boz” became their guest. So one day, to my great delight, I received a letter from Mrs Watson, begging me to come down by rail on a certain day, and to look out at Euston for the Dickens family, who would be my fellow-travellers. Either they were too early, or I was late, and to my great disappointment I missed the pleasure of their company for many stations. [Sidenote: FIRST MEETING WITH DICKENS]