Rambles in Dickens' Land Part 19

This was its description one hundred years ago, and its exact whereabouts cannot now be ascertained. There are some old plaster-fronted houses, evidently belonging to the last century, still to be found in _Albemarle Street_, near _St. John's Square_, but none of these fairly correspond with the description of "The Golden Key."

The Cellar of Mr. Stagg was situated in _Barbican_. We read that its position was "in one of the narrowest of the narrow streets which diverge from that centre, in a blind court or yard, profoundly dark, unpaved, and reeking with stagnant odours."

"The Black Lion" Tavern can only be identified as being situated in Whitechapel. It was a favourite resort of _Mr. John Willett_, landlord of the "MAYPOLE INN" at _Chigwell_, when he came to town; and we may remember it as the scene of _Dolly Varden's_ satisfactory interview with her lover Joe, after his return from "the Salwanners."

MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.

Anthony Chuzzlewit and Son had their place of business near _Aldersgate Street_. Their dreary residence was the bridal home of Mercy Pecksniff-married by Jonas Chuzzlewit-and we may recollect her reception at this establishment by the worthy _Sairey Gamp_. To this house Jonas returned after the murder of Montague Tigg, and was here arrested by his relative _Chevy Slyme_, in the presence of his uncle and Mark Tapley.

Its situation is described as being in

"A very narrow street, somewhere behind the Post Office, where every house was in the brightest summer morning very gloomy; and where light porters watered the pavement, each before his own employer's premises, in fantastic patterns in the dog-days; and where spruce gentlemen, with their hands in the pockets of symmetrical trousers, were always to be seen in warm weather contemplating their undeniable boots in dusty warehouse doorways, which appeared to be the hardest work they did, except now and then carrying pens behind their ears."

Montague Tigg, Esq., the Chairman of the _Anglo-Bengalee Insurance Company_, lived in luxurious chambers in _Pall Mall_; and we may remember the morning when Jonas Chuzzlewit called at the residence of his chief, and was disagreeably surprised to find his friend in full possession of his secret history-with _Mr. Nadgett_ in attendance.

Tom Pinch and his sister _Ruth_ lodged at "Merry Islington," "in a singular little old-fas.h.i.+oned house, up a blind street," where they were accommodated with two small bedrooms and a triangular parlour, the householder being the inscrutable _Mr. Nadgett_. In "Martin Chuzzlewit"

are contained many pleasant episodes a.s.sociated with these modest apartments; where, as we all know, little Ruth made her first culinary experiment, and was pleasantly surprised the next morning to find the merry present of a cookery-book awaiting her in the parlour (sent by John Westlock), with the beefsteak pudding leaf turned down and blotted out.

DOMBEY AND SON.

Polly Toodles (otherwise Richards) lived with her husband and her "apple-faced" family, at _Stagg's Gardens_, _Camden Town_, at the time when the London and North-Western Railway was in course of construction-

"As yet the neighbourhood was shy to own the railroad. One or two bold speculators had projected streets, and one had built a little, but had stopped among the mud and ashes to consider further of it. A bran new tavern, redolent of fresh mortar and size, and fronting nothing at all, had taken for its sign the 'Railway Arms;' but that might be rash enterprise-and then it hoped to sell drink to the workmen. So the Excavators' house of Call had sprung up from a beer-shop, and the old-established Ham and Beef Shop had become the Railway Eating House, with a roast leg of pork daily, through interested motives of a similar immediate and popular description."

In a later chapter of "Dombey" we read of Stagg's Gardens having vanished from the earth-

"Where the old rotten summer-houses once had stood, palaces now reared their heads, and granite columns of gigantic girth opened a vista to the railway world beyond. The miserable waste ground, where the refuse matter had been heaped of yore, was swallowed up and gone, and in its frowzy stead were tiers of warehouses, crammed with rich goods and costly merchandise. The old bye-streets now swarmed with pa.s.sengers and vehicles of every kind: the new streets that had stopped disheartened in the mud and waggon-ruts, formed towns within themselves, originating wholesome comforts and conveniences belonging to themselves, and never tried nor thought of until they sprung into existence."

Miss Lucretia Tox had apartments at _Princess Place_, an address not included in the London Directory; and _Major Bagstock_ also had chambers in the immediate vicinity, a genteel but somewhat inconvenient neighbourhood. Miss Tox's residence is described as

"A dark little house, that had been squeezed at some remote period of English history into a fas.h.i.+onable neighbourhood at the west end of the town, where it stood in the shade, like a poor relation of the great street round the corner, coldly looked down upon by mighty mansions. It was not exactly in a court, and it was not exactly in a yard, but it was in the dullest of No-Thoroughfares, rendered anxious and haggard by double knocks... . There is a smack of stabling in the air of Princess Place, and Miss Tox's bedroom (which was at the back) commanded a vista of mews, where hostlers, at whatever sort of work engaged, were continually accompanying themselves with effervescent noises, and where the most domestic and confidential garments of coachmen and their wives and families usually hung like Macbeth's banners on the outer walls."

Mrs. MacStinger presided at _No. 9 Brig Place_, finding accommodation for _Captain Cuttle_ as her first floor lodger, previous to the time of his hurried and secret removal to the quarters of _The Wooden Mids.h.i.+pman_.

We read that the house was situated

"On the brink of a little ca.n.a.l near the India Docks, where the air was perfumed with chips, and all other trades were swallowed up in mast, oar, and block making, and boat building. Then the ground grew marshy and unsettled. Then there was nothing to be smelt but rum and sugar. Then Captain Cuttle's lodgings, at once a first floor and a top storey, in Brig Place, were close before you."

DAVID COPPERFIELD.

Mr. Creakle's educational establishment, "_Salem House_," was, we are told, "down by Blackheath." A large, dull house, standing away from the main road among some dark trees, and surrounded by a high wall. The character of Mr. Creakle seems to have been drawn from life; being, in fact, a portrait of the proprietor of the "_Wellington Academy_,"

Hampstead Road, previously referred to. _Dr. Danson_, an old schoolfellow of d.i.c.kens, writing to Mr. Forster, states that this "Mr.

Jones was a Welshman, a most ignorant fellow, and a mere tyrant, whose chief employment was to scourge the boys." Also, Mr. Forster, speaking of the school, says, "it had supplied some of the lighter traits of Salem House for 'Copperfield.'"

Mr. Micawber lived in Windsor Terrace, City Road, at the time he first received young David Copperfield as a lodger, and previous to the crisis in his pecuniary affairs which removed him to KING'S BENCH PRISON in the Borough.

We also read, later in the book, of the Micawbers as located in a little street near _The Veterinary College_, _Camden Town_, what time _Mr.

Traddles_ was their lodger; and we may remember how the astute Mr.

Micawber took advantage of the circ.u.mstance, by obtaining the friendly signature of his inmate as security, in the matter of two bills "not provided for."

Mrs. Steerforth resided in "an old brick house at _Highgate_, on the summit of the hill; a genteel, old-fas.h.i.+oned house, very quiet, and very orderly," from which position a comprehensive view was obtainable of "all London lying in the distance like a great vapour, with here and there some lights twinkling through it." In connection with this house we may recall the characters of _Rosa Dartle_ and the respectable serving-man _Littimer_.

Doctor and Mrs. Strong also lived in a cottage at Highgate after their removal from Canterbury; and _Mr. and Mrs. David Copperfield_ resided in the same neighbourhood, with _Betsy Trotwood_ established in a convenient cottage near at hand.

Mr. Traddles, in his bachelor days, had lodgings behind the parapet of a house in _Castle Street_, _Holborn_. This thoroughfare has now changed its name, and is known as FURNIVAL STREET. It may be found on the south side of Holborn, and west of Fetter Lane, leading to Cursitor Street.

BLEAK HOUSE.

Mr. Guppy mentioned his address as 87 _Penton Place_, _Pentonville_; but the London Directory does not now include the number specified. The residence of _Mrs. Guppy_, his mother, is stated as having been 302 _Old Street Road_; previous to the time when a house was taken (by mother and son) in _Walcot Square_, _Lambeth_, on the south side of the Thames, and Mr. Guppy started on his independent professional career.

Mr. Jarndyce once sojourned in London, "at a cheerful lodging near _Oxford Street_, over an upholsterer's shop," at which also Ada Clare and Esther Summerson were accommodated.

Mr. and Mrs. Smallweed vegetated, with their grandchildren, "in a rather ill-favoured and ill-savoured neighbourhood, though one of its rising grounds bears the name of _Mount Pleasant_." This beatific neighbourhood will be found north of _Clerkenwell Road_ (approached by _Laystall Street_), in the neighbourhood of the MIDDLEs.e.x HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

George's Shooting Gallery is memorable as the place where _Gridley_-"the man from Shrops.h.i.+re"-died; where also _Poor Jo_, clinging to the spars of the Lord's Prayer, drifted out upon the unknown sea. It is described as "a great brick building, composed of bare walls, floors, roof-rafters, and skylights; on the front of which was painted 'George's Shooting Gallery.'" Its location is given as being up a court and a long whitewashed pa.s.sage, in

"That curious region lying about the Haymarket and Leicester Square, which is a centre of attraction to indifferent foreign hotels and indifferent foreigners, racket courts, fighting men, swordsmen, foot-guards, old china, gambling-houses, exhibitions, and a large medley of shabbiness and shrinking out of sight."

Mr. Bagnet and his "old girl" kept house and home on the Surrey side of the river; but no more precise indication of their whereabouts is given than is contained in the following reference:-

"By Blackfriars' Bridge, and Blackfriars' Road, Mr. George sedately marches to a street of little shops lying somewhere in that ganglion of roads from Kent and Surrey, and of streets from the bridges of London, centreing in the far-famed Elephant who has lost his castle."

The Town House of Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock was situated in a dull aristocratic street in the western district of London,

"Where the two long rows of houses stare at each other with that severity, that half-a-dozen of its greatest mansions seem to have been slowly stared into stone, rather than originally built in that material. It is a street of such dismal grandeur, so determined not to condescend to liveliness, that the doors and windows hold a gloomy state of their own in black paint and dust, and the echoing mews behind have a dry and ma.s.sive appearance, as if they were reserved to stable the stone chargers of n.o.ble statues."

Harold Skimpole and family had their residence in the _Polygon_, near to the EUSTON TERMINUS (on the east side), in the centre of _Clarendon Square_, _Somers Town_. The house is described as being sadly in want of repair-

"Two or three of the area railings were gone; the water-b.u.t.t was broken; the knocker was loose; the bell-handle had been pulled off a long time, to judge from the rusty state of the wire; and dirty footprints on the steps were the only signs of its being inhabited."

LITTLE DORRIT.

The House of Mrs. Clennam was situated not far from the river, in the neighbourhood of _Upper Thames Street_. We read that Arthur Clennam, on his arrival in London,

"Crossed by Saint Paul's and went down, at a long angle, almost to the water's edge, through some of the crooked and descending streets which lie (and lay more crookedly and closely then) between the river and Cheapside ... pa.s.sing silent warehouses and wharves, and here and there a narrow alley leading to the river, where a wretched little bill, 'Found Drowned,' was weeping on the wet wall; he came at last to the house he sought. An old brick house, so dingy as to be all but black, standing by itself within a gateway."