Dickens used the Albion in the 'fifties. In a letter to W. H. Wills (1851) there are instructions to order a plain cold supper at Simpson's, the Albion, by Drury Lane Theatre, for the next play night. "I would merely have cold joints, lobsters, salad, and plenty of clean ice," he says. "Perhaps there might be one hot dish, as broiled bones. But I would have only one, and I would have it cheap." The play referred to was "Not so Bad as we Seem," which Dickens and his friends were rehearsing for the Guild of Literature and Art. The supper was to be paid for at so much per head, "not including wines, spirits or beers, which each gentleman will order for himself." Mr. Percy FitzGerald tells of another evening when Dickens took his friends to the Albion. It was the occasion of Hollingshead's revival of "The Miller and his Men," and Dickens was determined to be there. He gave a little dinner party at "the good old Albion," and all were in great spirits, seated in one of the "boxes" or eating pews as they might be called, and then crossed over the Drury Lane Theatre afterwards. In the chapter devoted to "Mr. Minns and his Cousin," in giving instructions as to the best way for Mr. Augustus Minns to get to Mr. Budden's in Poplar Walk, the latter says, "Now mind the direction; the coach goes from the Flower Pot in Bishopsgate Street, every half-hour. When the coach stops at the Swan, you'll see, immediately opposite you, a White House." The Flower Pot was a coaching inn of some distinction in those days, for not only did the coaches ply between it and the north-east of London, but the inn was also the starting point of the Norwich coach and others to the eastern counties. The Swan was at Stamford Hill, and, beyond that it was the scheduled stopping-place for coaches, to and from London, we can find no record of its history. The innumerable references to inns and taverns in _The Uncommercial Traveller_ are for the most part purely imaginary. Even when it is clear that Dickens is describing something he actually saw and experienced, he has taken the precaution, in this book, to disguise the inn's name and whereabouts. There are several such in the chapter entitled "Refreshments for Travellers," a chapter made up of a series of complaints and adverse criticisms verging on the brink of libel. For instance: