Round the corner to the left, commences The Esplanade, extending under the castle walls, and along the bank of the river for a considerable distance. This promenade is mentioned in the 13th chapter of “Edwin Drood,” being the scene of the last interview between Edwin and Rosa, when they mutually agreed to cancel the irksome bond between them— “They walked on by the river. They began to speak of their separate plans. He would quicken his departure from England, and she would remain where she was, at least as long as Helena remained. The poor dear girls should have their disappointment broken to them gently, and, as the first preliminary, Miss Twinkleton should be confided in by Rosa, even in advance of the reappearance of Mr. Grewgious. It should be made clear in all quarters that she and Edwin were the best of friends. There had never been so serene an understanding between them since they were first affianced.” Leaving Rochester by The Bridge, crossing the Medway, we may bestow a passing thought on _Richard Doubledick_ as he came over the same, “with half a shoe to his dusty feet,” in the year 1799, limping into the town of Chatham. (See “The Seven Poor Travellers,” previously mentioned.) [Picture: Gadshill Place] On the north side of the river, the Rambler enters the town of _Strood_, and may proceed through the same, about two miles on the Gravesend Road, to GADSHILL PLACE, the last residence of Charles Dickens. It is situated on the left-hand side, nearly opposite the _Falstaff Inn_. The house was purchased by him on the 14th of March 1856, for £1790; and he afterwards projected and carried out many costly additions and improvements thereto. On the first-floor landing is displayed an illuminated frame (the work of Mr. Owen Jones), which reads as follows:— “THIS HOUSE, GADSHILL PLACE, stands on the summit of Shakespeare’s Gadshill, ever memorable for its association with Sir John Falstaff in his noble fancy—‘_But_, _my lads_, _my lads_, _to-morrow morning_, _by four o’clock_, _early at Gadshill_! _there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings_, _and traders riding to London with fat purses_: _I have vizards for you all_; _you have horses for yourselves_.’” On this residence Dickens had fixed his choice in his boyish days. It had always held a prominent place amid the recollections connected with his childhood. Forster says that “upon first seeing it as he came from Chatham with his father, and looking up at it with admiration, he had been promised that he might live in it himself, or some such house, when he came to be a man, if he would only work hard enough.” It is pleasant to record that this ambition was gratified in after life, when the dream of his boyhood was realised.