Proceeding onwards through Gracechurch Street, we come into the thoroughfare of Cornhill; and at No. 73, on the opposite side, arrive at Newman’s Court. It will be remembered that in “Pickwick” the offices of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (Mrs. Bardell’s attorneys) are located in Freeman’s Court, Cornhill. There is no such place in Cornhill; Freeman’s Court being in Cheapside. It is evident, therefore, that Dickens, for reasons of his own, emulated the special contributor to the Eatanswill Gazette, and so “combined his information.” Taking Cornhill to be the locality intended, we shall find Dodson and Fogg’s Office at the furthest end of the Court, No. 4, still associated with legal business, being in possession of Messrs. Witherby and Co., law stationers.
Passing onwards in Cornhill, past Bishopsgate Street, we come into Leadenhall Street, and may be interested to note, at No. 157 (now an outfitting establishment), the original position of the House of Sol Gills, ships’ instrument maker, at whose door was displayed the figure of
“The Wooden Midshipman; eternally taking observations of the hackney coaches.”
Here our eccentric friend Captain Cuttle remained in charge during the absence of old Sol Gills and his nephew; here Florence, accompanied by the faithful Diogenes, found asylum; and here Walter Gay returned after shipwreck, to make everybody happy and marry the gentle heroine of the story. (See “Dombey and Son” for information in extenso.) Until recent years, these premises were in occupation of Messrs. Norie and Wilson, ships’ instrument makers and chart publishers. They have removed to the Minories, No. 156, where the quaint effigy of the Wooden Midshipman, with his cocked hat and quadrant complete, may now be seen, as bright and brisk as in old days. “When found, make a note of.”
Farther on, on the same side of Leadenhall Street, we reach St. Mary Axe, turning northward at No. 117, which we notice en passant as the thoroughfare in which Pubsey and Co. had their place of business; “a yellow overhanging plaster-fronted house”—reconstructed, with many others, some years since—at the top of which Riah (the manager) arranged his town garden; where the Dolls’ Dressmaker invited Fascination Fledgby to “come up and be dead.” All of which is duly set forth in the pages of “Our Mutual Friend.” The position of the house cannot now be localised.
Proceeding to the other end of St. Mary Axe, we may turn (right) into Bevis Marks, where there once existed the House of Mr. Sampson Brass, No. 10, but this and others have long since been rebuilt and re-enumerated. Here lived that honourable attorney and his sister the fair Sally; aided in their professional duties by a young gentleman of eccentric habits and “prodigious talent of quotation.” Here the Marchioness lived, or rather starved, in attendance as maid-of-all-work, and first made the acquaintance of Dick Swiveller, her future husband; being by him initiated into the mysteries of cribbage and the peculiarities of purl. Here lodged the “single gentleman,” who evinced such exceptional interest in the national drama, and so discovered a clue to the retreat of Little Nell and her grandfather.
On the north side of the street there still flourishes the old Red Lion Inn, an establishment patronised in his time by Mr. Richard, and once eulogised by that gentleman on the occasion of his specifying “the contingent advantages” of the neighbourhood. “There is mild porter in the immediate vicinity.”
For these and the other associations of this spot the tourist is referred to the pages of the “Old Curiosity Shop.”
Following downwards through Bevis Marks and Duke Street beyond, we come into Aldgate, keeping still on the left-hand side of the way to Aldgate High Street, where at a short distance we pass the Station of the Metropolitan Railway. At No. 24, just ahead, is the Bull Inn Yard, once the City Terminus of Coaches travelling north-east. From this point Mr. Pickwick started per coach for Ipswich, accompanied by the red-haired Mr. Peter Magnus; Mr. Tony Weller officiating as driver. On which occasion we read that Mr. Weller’s conversation, “possessing the inestimable charm of blending amusement with instruction,” beguiled “the tediousness of the journey during the greater part of the day.”
Returning westward on the other side of the way, the Rambler may turn, at No. 81, into the Minories; and, at the second house on the right, may observe the figure of the Wooden Midshipman, previously referred to as removed from its original position in Leadenhall Street. The route being continued (same side) from the Minories, we can note, as we pass into Fenchurch Street, Aldgate Pump, standing at the top of Leadenhall Street. There is a reference to this old pump in “Dombey,” as being a stated object of Mr. Toots’s special evening excursions from “The Wooden Midshipman,” when that gentleman desired some temporary relief from the hopeless contemplation of Walter Gay’s happiness.