Readers of “Bleak House” will remember this locality as the destination of the Reading Coach; so indicated by Messrs. Kenge and Carboy in their first communication to Esther Summerson. Here she was met, one foggy November afternoon, on her arrival in London, by the susceptible Mr. Guppy, and by him conducted to Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn. The incident was afterwards feelingly referred to by that young gentleman, on the occasion of his offer of heart, hand, and income to Esther:—
“I think you must have seen that I was struck with those charms on the day when I waited at the Whytorseller. I think you must have remarked that I could not forbear a tribute to those charms when I put up the steps of the ’ackney coach.”
For the full narrative, see “Bleak House,” chapter 9.
The Rambler can now take an eastward course up Piccadilly, and may casually observe, on the left, past Burlington House, The Albany, where Mr. Fledgby had chambers. The next turning on the same side is Sackville Street, in which it may be recollected that Mr. and Mrs. Lammles resided during the short term of their social prosperity. Mention of these localities in such connection will be found in the pages of “Our Mutual Friend.” Passing onwards on the same side, we arrive at No. 28, St. James’s Hall. It was at this well-known place of assembly that several of those popular Readings were given by Charles Dickens, which always commanded the attention and sympathetic interest of his audience. On these occasions he invariably adopted the extreme of fashionable evening attire, being dressed in irreproachable style, with, perhaps, more of shirt-front than waistcoat; and so “got up” as to present a staginess and juvenility of appearance, possibly somewhat out of keeping with his time of life. Some of his hearers may have desired a more natural and less conventional mode; but they knew that beneath the big shirt and fashionable coat, there throbbed the genial heart of the man they loved, as he read of the sorrows of “Little Emily,” or stood with them in spirit at the bedside of “Paul Dombey.” On the occasion of his final Reading, given here in March 1870, he tendered his last public farewell to his London audience in the following words:
“It would be worse than idle, it would be hypocritical and unfeeling, if I were to disguise that I close this episode of my life with feelings of very considerable pain. For some fifteen years, in this hall and many kindred places, I have had the honour of presenting my own cherished ideas before you for your recognition; and, in closely observing your reception of them, have enjoyed an amount of artistic delight and enjoyment, which perhaps it is given few men to know. In this task and every other, I have ever undertaken as a faithful servant of the public—always imbued with a sense of duty to them, and always striving to do his best—I have been uniformly cheered by the readiest response, the most generous sympathy and the most stimulating support. Nevertheless, I have thought it well, at the full flood-tide of your favour, to retire upon those older associations between us, which date from much further back than these; and henceforth to devote myself exclusively to the art that first brought us together. Ladies and gentlemen, in but two short weeks from this time, I hope that you may enter, in your own homes, on a new series of Readings, at which my assistance will be indispensable; but from these garish lights I vanish now for ever, with one heartfelt, grateful, respectful, and affectionate farewell.”
On the right-hand side of Piccadilly, adjacent to the Prince’s Hall and Institute of Painters, there may be noted, en passant, the premises No. 193, now occupied by the Boys’ Messenger Co. This, for many years, was the address of Messrs. Chapman and Hall, the publishers of the works of Dickens. Previous to 1850, the earlier books—“Pickwick” to “Martin Chuzzlewit” inclusive—together with the first issue of their cheaper edition, were published by this well-known house at 186 Strand, the site now occupied by the premises of W. H. Smith and Son. The firm have, for many years past, removed their offices to No. 11 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.
Passing on to Piccadilly Circus, and crossing northward from the same, we turn (left) into Sherwood Street, which leads, by a short walk, to Brewer Street, in the neighbourhood of Golden Square. Continuing by Lower James Street, opposite, we reach the square itself, in which was formerly situated the Office of Ralph Nickleby. Readers of Dickens will remember that it was a large house, with an attic storey, in which Ralph committed suicide. The house No. 6, on the east side, was probably the one assigned by the author as the usurer’s residence. It is now let off in various suites of offices, professional and otherwise. The neighbourhood has somewhat changed since the time when the “Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” was first issued, and the following description, given by Dickens, became public property:—
“It is one of the squares that have been—a quarter of the town that has gone down in the world, and taken to letting lodgings. Many of its first and second floors are let, furnished, to single gentlemen, and it takes boarders besides. It is a great resort of foreigners. The dark-complexioned men who wear large rings and heavy watch-guards, and bushy whiskers, and who congregate under the Opera Colonnade, and about the box-office in the season between four and five in the afternoon, when they give away the orders—all live in Golden Square, or within a street of it. Two or three violins and a wind instrument from the opera-band reside within its precincts.”
We read in the same book of the whereabouts of Mr. Kenwigs as being in this neighbourhood—
“A bygone, faded, tumble-down street, with two irregular rows of tall meagre houses, which seem to have stared each other out of countenance years ago; the very chimneys appear to have grown dismal and melancholy from having had nothing better to look at than the chimneys over the way.”