Much property in this neighbourhood was owned by the Earls of Clare of the Holles Family, and John Holles, second Earl, whose mansion was at the end of Clare Court, Drury Lane, founded the market soon after the middle of the seventeenth century. A stone bas-relief of the Holles Arms, surmounted by an earl's coronet with the date 1659, was formerly at the corner of Gilbert passage, and afterwards on the house numbered 8, Clare Street. The butchers of Clare Market were for years flourishing, and here "Orator" Henley erected his "gilt tub" commemorated by Pope, and used to preach on such Scripture texts or subjects as admitted of a burlesque treatment. By degrees the place degenerated, and in 1891 most of the buildings here were cleared away; among others, the old "bulk-shop," in the foreground. It stood at the north-east corner of Holles Street, and adjoining it on the north were other shops of a similar kind. For some time before their destruction they had been unoccupied. According to Oldys, Nat Lee, the dramatic poet, when one night returning overladen with wine from the Bear and Harrow in Butcher Row, Strand, through Clare Market, to his lodging in Duke (now Sardinia) Street, "fell down on the ground, as some say, according to others on a _bulk_, and was killed or stifled in the snow." He was buried in the parish church of St. Clement Danes, 6th May, 1692. (6-3/8 × 8-1/2) D. 88-1896. 65. The Cheshire Cheese Tavern, Fleet Street, from Wine Office Court, 1890 (Black and white). Now that the Cock in Fleet Street has flown over the way to comparatively modern quarters, and Dick's is no more, the Cheshire Cheese, at No. 145, is the most old-fashioned tavern not only in this neighbourhood, but in all London, and the old style is carefully kept up. Contrary to general belief, and to many printed statements, there is no record that the great Samuel Johnson, who so much appreciated the charms of tavern life, ever frequented it, though this is by no means improbable, as he lived hereabout for many years. Indeed, Gough Square, where he compiled his dictionary, is within a minute's walk, and his friend Oliver Goldsmith wrote the Vicar of Wakefield at No. 6, Wine Office Court, close to the spot from which the drawing is taken, at a time when the evening has begun, and "Tavern lights flit on from room to room." At the old Cheshire Cheese the Modern Johnson Club has often met, traditions of Johnson's visits are repeated, and his portrait hangs in a corner of the principal dining room on the ground floor. This room has been depicted by various artists of distinction, among others by Seymour Lucas, R.A., and Dendy Sadler. The panelled walls, the seventeenth century fireplace, the sawdusted floor, and other quaint survivals, combine to make a pretty picture. An illustrated "Book of the Cheese," which has gone through several editions, is, or was, sold at the bar.