Retracing our steps, three minutes, to the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand, again leaving the Strand by _Newcastle_ and _Houghton Streets_, and turning left and right (leaving Clare Market on the left), we shortly arrive at _Portsmouth Street_, _Lincoln’s Inn Fields_. At No. 14 will be found (for a short time only) a small old-fashioned house, on the front of which is painted an inscription, “The Old Curiosity Shop, _Immortalised by Charles Dickens_,” now occupied by Mr. H. Poole, dealer in wastepaper. This is said to be the house assigned by the novelist for the residence of Little Nell and her grandfather, with whose pathetic history we are all familiar— “One of those receptacles for old and curious things, which seem to crouch in odd corners of this town, and to hide their musty treasures from the public eye in jealousy and distrust.” It cannot, however, be regarded as absolutely certain that this particular house was the author’s intended “local habitation” for one of the best-known and loved of his creations. The tale itself concludes with a reference to _Kit’s_ uncertainty as to the whereabouts of the place:— “The old house had long ago been pulled down, and a fine broad road was in its place. At first he would draw with his stick a square upon the ground to show them where it used to stand. But he soon became uncertain of the spot, and could only say it was thereabouts, he thought, and that these alterations were confusing.” [A lady, personally acquainted with the great novelist, has informed the author that she was once taken by Mr. Dickens to No. 10 Green Street (approaching Leicester Square from the east)—at the corner of Green and Castle Streets, behind the National Gallery—the business of curiosity-dealing being then and there carried on. Mr. Dickens himself localised this house as the home of little Nell, pointing out an inner room—divided from the shop by a glass partition—as her bedroom. The premises are now rebuilt.] [Picture: The Old Curiosity Shop] At a short distance from this locality, and at an opposite angle of the street, there existed (until 1898) one of the old-fashioned taverns of the metropolis. The house was noteworthy, with its overhanging front resting on rough wooden pillars, and was named _Old George IVth_. It is now replaced by a newly-built house of the same name, in modern style of plate glass, mahogany, and glitter.