“Once, I remember tucking my own bread (which I had brought from home in the morning) under my arm, wrapped up in a piece of paper like a book, and going into the best dining-room in Johnson’s _a la mode_ beef-house in Clare Court, Drury Lane, and magnificently ordering a small plate of _a la mode_ beef to eat with it. What the waiter thought of such a strange little apparition, coming in all alone, I don’t know, but I can see him now, staring at me as I ate my dinner, and bringing up the other waiter to look. I gave him a halfpenny, and I wish now that he hadn’t taken it.” This episode of the author’s experience as a poor boy in London was reproduced in “David Copperfield,” chapter 11. The dining-house mentioned then existed (1824) at No. 13 in the court, in a prominent corner position. It has been unknown to fame for the last thirty years. Returning by Drury Court to the Strand, and passing on the south side of the church above mentioned, we turn by No. 162A into _Strand Lane_, where may be visited, at No. 5, The Old Roman Bath referred to by David Copperfield, who says, “In which I have had many a cold plunge.” (See chapter 35.) The bath itself is lined with white marble, and dates from the sixteenth century. It is supplied from an old Roman reservoir adjoining, about 2000 years old. [Picture: The Old Roman Bath] Passing Surrey Street, just beyond, we come (next on the right) to _Norfolk Street_, in which there may be noted the former whereabouts of MRS. LIRRIPER’S LODGINGS; and we may here recall the pleasant associations connected with the Christmas numbers of _All the Year Round_, 1863 and 1864. The houses in this street are not enumerated beyond forty-five, all told. The figures 81, as given in the tale referred to, should be _reversed_; but sad to relate, No. 18—long standing as an old-fashioned boarding-house on the western side, below Howard Street—has disappeared, and certain modern buildings, offices, etc., recently erected, now occupy the old site. At a short distance farther on, in a central position in the Strand, stands the church of St. Clement Danes. It is of interest in this connection as the scene of Mrs. Lirriper’s wedding, some forty years previous to the narration of her business experience; and where she still retained “a sitting in a very pleasant pew, with genteel company, and her own hassock, being partial to evening service, not too crowded.”