The ancient and picturesque Charterhouse extends over the ground once used as a field in which were buried victims of the Plague. Parts of the Charterhouse have been there since 1371, and the buildings of to-day have been gradually added during the passing centuries. This was originally a Carthusian monastery, but after its dissolution in 1537, the property passed through many hands before it came to that of a wealthy coal owner of the North, Thomas Sutton, in 1611, who here set up his school for "40 poor boys" and "80 poor men." Thackeray's Colonel Newcomb was one of the "poor boys." The school occupied the buildings until 1872 when it was transferred to Surrey, and the place is now an almshouse for the "poor men" and for the Charterhouse School of the ancient Merchant Taylors' Company. Gothic St. John's Gate, a mediæval survival in St. John's Lane out of Clerkenwell Road, is all that remains of a priory which was the chief English seat of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and which was erected in 1504. Dr. Johnson lived in a room over the old gateway in 1731, and did hack work for Cave, the founder of the "Gentleman's Magazine," whose office was here also. Nowadays the building is headquarters for the Order of St. John which is engaged in hospital work. The church of St. John in nearby St. John's Square, was built upon a crypt which was part of the old priory church of the Knights of St. John. The crypt is still to be seen, and it was here that the final exposure of the Cock Lane Ghost was made by Dr. Johnson. Delightful memories of Dickens' folk crowd strong upon the journeyer into Goswell Road beyond St. John's Square, for it was in this thoroughfare that Mr. Pickwick lodged with Mrs. Bardell. TWO ON THE WAY TO GREAT ST. HELEN'S The eastern section of the General Post Office stands on the site of the ancient church and sanctuary of St. Martin's, commemorated in the street of St. Martin's-le-Grand. This sanctuary was the outcome of a very old custom--a place consecrated, where criminals who sought refuge within its precincts were protected from all law. The Sanctuary of St. Martin's was founded in the days of Edward the Confessor, and came to have a most unsavoury reputation, for the rights of sanctuary brought a great gathering of criminals of every sort and people of the lowest degree. Within the shelter of the Sanctuary of St. Martin's, Miles Forest, one of the murderers of the princes in the Tower, took refuge and finally died. The quiet little garden beside the church of St. Botolph Without Aldersgate, was built over the graveyard that surrounded the church for more than half a century. The church has stood here since 1796, and the garden spot of to-day is called Postman's Park, because of the many employes from the nearby General Post Office who gather here.