Read Ebook: Rambles in Dickens' Land by Allbut Robert Brenan Gerald Author Of Introduction Etc James Helen M Illustrator

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 1173 lines and 75063 words, and 24 pages

"Slipping us out of a little side gate, the old lady stopped most unexpectedly in a narrow back street, part of some courts and lanes immediately outside the wall of the inn, and said, 'This is my lodging. Pray walk up!'"

"She lived at the top of the house, in a pretty large room, from which she had a glimpse of the roof of Lincoln's Inn Hall."

"Copper-plate impressions from that truly national work, the Divinities of Albion, or Galaxy Gallery of British Beauty; representing ladies of title and fashion, in every variety of smirk, that art, combined with capital, is capable of producing."

"Can't exactly say; won't do, you know. We can't take that in a Court of Justice, gentlemen. It's terrible depravity. Put the boy aside."

"A view of Cook's Court at one end and of Coavins's, the Sheriff's Officer's, backyard on the other."

"At this threatening stage of the discourse, Jo, who seems to have been gradually going out of his mind, smears his right arm over his face, and gives a terrible yawn. Mrs. Snagsby indignantly expresses her belief that he is a limb of the arch-fiend."

"A little, pale, wall-eyed, woebegone inn, like a large dust-bin of two compartments and a sifter. It looks as if Symond were a sparing man in his day, and constructed his inn of old building materials, which took kindly to the dry rot, and to dirt, and all things decaying and dismal, and perpetuated Symond's memory with congenial shabbiness."

"The days when I frequented that miserable corner which my dear girl brightened can never fade in my remembrance. I never see it, and I never wish to see it now; I have been there only once since; but in my memory there is a mournful glory shining on the place, which will shine for ever."

"Tellson's Bank, by Temple Bar, was an old-fashioned place even in the year 1780. It was very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious. Any one of the partners would have disinherited his son on the question of rebuilding Tellson's. Thus it had come to pass that Tellson's was the triumphant perfection of inconvenience. After bursting open a door of idiotic obstinacy with a weak rattle in its throat, you fell into Tellson's, down two steps, and came to your senses in a miserable little shop, with two little counters; where the oldest of men made your cheque shake as if the wind rustled it, while they examined the signature by the dingiest of windows, which were always under a shower-bath of mud from Fleet Street, and which were made the dingier by their own iron bars proper and the shadow of Temple Bar."

"Because, of course, when she had to wait a minute or two, it would have been very awkward for her to have had to wait in any but a quiet spot; and that was as quiet a spot, everything considered, as they could choose."

"Brilliantly the Temple fountain sparkled in the sun, and merrily the idle drops of water danced and danced; and, peeping out in sport among the trees, plunged lightly down to hide themselves, as little Ruth and her companion came towards it."

"Our Chambers were in Garden Court, down by the river. We lived at the top of the last house."

"A lodging-house in Essex Street, the back of which looked into the Temple, and was almost within hail of 'Pip's' windows."

"He led the way through sundry lanes and courts, into one more quiet and gloomy than the rest; and, singling out a certain house, ascended a common staircase . . . stopping before a door upon an upper storey. . . . There were two rooms on that floor; and in the first, or outer one, a narrow staircase leading to two more above."

"Having revived himself by twice pacing the pavements of King's Bench Walk and Paper Buildings, turned into the Stryver Chambers."

Returning to Fleet Street by Lamb Buildings, and passing in front of the Old Temple Church, we come to Goldsmith's Buildings , which overlook the old burial-ground and the tomb of the doctor. This surely is the "dismal churchyard" referred to in "Our Mutual Friend" as being closely contiguous to the offices of Messrs. Lightwood and Wrayburn.

"Whosoever . . . had looked up at the dismal windows commanding that churchyard, until at the most dismal window of them all, he saw a dismal boy, would in him have beheld . . . the clerk of Mr. Mortimer Lightwood."

At the corner of the street, No. 67, is the public Office of "The Daily News." This influential newspaper was started January 21, 1846, under the supervision of Charles Dickens, and in the earlier numbers of the journal were published instalments of his "Pictures from Italy." Dickens shortly relinquished the editorship, being succeeded by his friends Jerrold and Forster. The fact is, Charles never greatly cared for the study of general or party politics; but he always identified himself with "the People--spelt with a large P, who are governed," rather than "the people--spelt with a small p, who govern."

A short distance down Whitefriars' Street is a passage from which, at a right angle riverwards, we may look into Hanging Sword Alley, where Mr. Jeremiah Cruncher, messenger at Tellson's, had his two apartments. These "were very decently kept" by his wife, whose "flopping" proclivities gave so much umbrage to Jerry.

"Drawing his arm through his own, he took him down Ludgate Hill to Fleet Street, and so up a covered way into a tavern."

This, of course, was the tavern intended; it having been a noted resort with literary and legal men for more than a century past. Here Doctor Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith frequently dined together in days gone by, gravely discoursing over their punch afterwards; and, in more recent years, Thackeray, Dickens, Jerrold, Sala, and others have been reckoned among the customary guests of the establishment. Mr. George Augustus Sala, in a pleasant description of the place, writes as follows:--

"Let it be noted in candour that Law finds its way to the 'Cheese' as well as Literature; but the Law is, as a rule, of the non-combatant, and, consequently, harmless order. Literary men who have been called to the Bar, but do not practise; briefless young barristers, who do not object to mingling with newspaper men; with a sprinkling of retired solicitors --these make up the legal element of the 'Cheese.'"

"At that time a long irregular row of wooden sheds and penthouses occupying the centre of what is now called Farringdon Street. . . . It was indispensable to most public conveniences in those days that they should be public nuisances likewise, and Fleet Market maintained the principle to admiration."

The plan of the inn-yard is considerably changed from its olden style. In Mr. Weller's time it comprised two courts, the outer one being approached from Ludgate Hill by the present entrance, and the Belle Sauvage Inn forming a second quadrangle, with an archway about half-way up from the main entrance. In this interior court was the coach-yard, surrounded by covered wooden galleries, in accordance with the fashion of the times.

"St. Paul's Churchyard--low archway on the carriage side, bookseller's at one corner, hot-el on the other, and two porters in the middle, as touts for licences."

He further relates to Mr. Pickwick the circumstance of his father's having been here persuaded to take a marriage licence, directing the lady's name to be filled in on speculation.

We hear more of Doctors' Commons in the chronicles of "David Copperfield."

A few steps farther on the same side stands the old Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, whose bells recalled Dick Whittington to fame and fortune. These same bells are mentioned in the history of "Dombey and Son," chapter 4, as being within hearing at the offices of that important firm.

Resuming the promenade of Cheapside , we come into the Poultry, at the farther end, passing a turning on the left therefrom, known as GROCERS' HALL COURT. It will be remembered that on one occasion when Mr. Pickwick desired a quiet glass of brandy and water, Sam Weller, whose "knowledge of London was extensive and peculiar," led the way from the Mansion House, proceeding by the second court on the right, to the last house but one on the same side of the way, where he directed his master to

"Take the box as stands in the first fireplace, 'cos there a'n't no leg in the middle of the table."

In pursuance of these explicit instructions, we shall find that this house is now in possession of Mr. Sheppard, gasfitter, but it is recollected that it was, aforetime, a restaurant of the old-fashioned sort. Mr. Weller, the elder, was here introduced to his son's patron, and thereupon arranged for Mr. Pickwick's journey to Ipswich. At the end of the Poultry we next approach, on the right, The Mansion House, mentioned in "Barnaby Rudge" as the residence of the Mayor of London. We read of this civic potentate in the pages of "The Christmas Carol," when, one Christmas Eve,

"The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayor's household should."

"She has lodgings, in virtue of her office, with the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, but don't often occupy them, in consequence of the parlour chimney smoking."

From this point we may conveniently visit "His Lordship's Larder" , Cheapside, where we may advantageously refresh, "rest, and be thankful."

South-Eastern Terminus--Spa Road Station--Jacob's Island; Sykes's last Refuge--Butler's Wharf, formerly Quilp's Wharf--Quilp's House, Tower Hill--Trinity House and Garden; Bella Wilfer's Waiting-place--Southwark Bridge; Little Dorrit's Promenade--The General Post Office--Falcon Hotel, Falcon Square; John Jasper's patronage--Little Britain; Office of Mr. Jaggers--Smithfield--Newgate Prison; Pip's description in "Great Expectations"--The Old Bailey Criminal Court, as per "Tale of Two Cities"--The Saracen's Head; Associations with Nicholas Nickleby--Clerkenwell Green; Oliver Twist and his Companions--Scene of the Robbery--Line of Route taken by Oliver and "The Artful Dodger" from the Angel to Saffron Hill--Hatton Garden Police Court; Administration of Mr. Fang--Great Saffron Hill and Field Lane--Fagin's House and the "Three Cripples"--Bleeding Hart Yard; Factory of Doyce and Clennam; the Plornish Family--Ely Place--Thavies Inn; Mrs. Jellyby's Residence.

"Near to that part of the Thames on which the church at Rotherhithe abuts, where the buildings on the banks are dirtiest, and the vessels on the river blackest, with the dust of colliers and the smoke of close-built, low-roofed houses. In such a neighbourhood, beyond Dockhead, in the borough of Southwark, stands Jacob's Island, surrounded by a muddy ditch, six or eight feet deep, and fifteen or twenty wide when the tide is in, once called Mill Pond, but known in the days of this story as Folly Ditch."

"In the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, it was publicly declared in London by an amazing alderman, that Jacob's Island did not exist, and never had existed. Jacob's Island continues to exist in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, though improved and much changed."

"A small, rat-infested, dreary yard, in which were a little wooden counting-house, burrowing all awry in the dust as if it had fallen from the clouds, and ploughed into the ground; a few fragments of rusty anchors, several large iron rings, some piles of rotten wood, and two or three heaps of old sheet copper--crumpled, cracked, and battered."

The place has been altogether altered and improved during the last forty years, and is now known as "Butler's Wharf," but the original prototype of Quilp is still remembered by some of the older residents of the neighbourhood.

"A question now arises with regard to his nose. 'Flat,' said Mrs. Jiniwin. 'Aquiline!' cried Quilp, thrusting in his head, and striking the feature with his fist. 'Aquiline, you hag. Do you see it? Do you call this flat? Do you? Eh?'"

"Wa-at dost thee tak' yon place to be, noo, that 'un ower the wa'? Ye'd never coom near it, gin ye thried for twolve moonths. It's na but a Poast-office. Ho, ho! they need to charge for double latthers. A Poast-office! What dost thee think of that? Ecod, if that's on'y a Poast-office, loike to see where the Lord Mayor o' Lunnon lives!"

"It is hotel, boarding-house, or lodging-house at its visitor's option. It announces itself, in the new Railway advertisers, as a novel enterprise, timidly beginning to spring up. It bashfully, almost apologetically, gives the traveller to understand that it does not expect him, on the good old constitutional hotel plan, to order a pint of sweet blacking for his drinking, and throw it away; but insinuates that he may have his boots blacked instead of his stomach, and may also have bed, breakfast, attendance, and a porter up all night, for a certain fixed charge."

"When I told the clerk that I would take a turn in the air while I waited, he advised me to go round the corner and I should come into Smithfield. So I came into Smithfield; and the shameful place, being all asmear with filth, and fat, and blood, and foam, seemed to stick to me. So, I rubbed it off with all possible speed by turning into a street where I saw the great black dome of Saint Paul's bulging at me from behind a grim stone building which a bystander said was Newgate Prison."

"We passed through the Lodge, where some fetters were hanging up, on the bare walls among the prison rules, into the interior of the jail. At that time jails were much neglected, and the period of exaggerated reaction consequent on all public wrong-doing--and which is always its longest and heaviest punishment--was still far off. So, felons were not lodged and fed better than soldiers , and seldom set fire to their prisons with the excusable object of improving the flavour of their soup. It was visiting-time when Wemmick took me in, and a potman was going his rounds with beer, and the prisoners behind bars in yards were buying beer and talking to friends; and a frowsy, ugly, disorderly, depressing scene it was."

In the tale of "Barnaby Rudge" is the narrative of the burning of Newgate and the liberation of the prisoners by the rioters , on which occasion it will be remembered that our old friend Gabriel Varden was somewhat roughly handled. For full particulars, see chapter 64.

Immediately south of Newgate is the adjacent Central Criminal Court of The Old Bailey, the scene of Charles Darnay's trial in "The Tale of Two Cities." At the time there described --

"The Old Bailey was famous as a kind of deadly Inn yard, from which pale travellers set out continually, in carts and coaches, on a violent passage to the other world, traversing some two miles and a half of public street and road, and shaming few good citizens, if any. So powerful is use, and so desirable to be good use in the beginning. It was famous, too, for the pillory, a wise old institution, that inflicted a punishment of which no one could foresee the extent; also for the whipping-post, another dear old institution, very humanising and softening to behold in action; also for extensive transactions in blood-money, another fragment of ancestral wisdom."

The Saracen's Head, the old coaching-house on Snow Hill, with which we have been familiar from the days of "Nicholas Nickleby," as the headquarters of Mr. Squeers, has disappeared since 1868, having been pulled down long ago, with many other buildings of this neighbourhood, giving room to the great improvements which have taken place in this part of London. Hereabouts it stood, on a lower level, not far from St. Sepulchre's Church--

"Just on that particular part of Snow Hill where omnibus horses going eastward seriously think of falling down on purpose, and horses in hackney cabriolets going westward not unfrequently fall by accident."

This modern thoroughfare of Snow Hill commences at the first turning on the right, in which has been erected a commodious hotel of the same name , where, by the aid of a little refreshment and a slight exercise of imagination, we may recall the departure of Nicholas for Dotheboy's Hall, Greta Bridge, by the Yorkshire coach, with Mr. Squeers and the pupils; also the later arrival in London of Mr. and Mrs. Browdie, accompanied by the lovely Fanny as bridesmaid, and the first meeting of Nicholas with Frank Cheeryble, newly returned from Continental travel.

"That open square in Clerkenwell which is yet called by some strange perversion of terms The Green."

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet