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 Dickens, 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 circumstance, 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-fashioned 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.