“Drawing his arm through his own, he took him down Ludgate Hill to Fleet Street, and so up a covered way into a tavern.” This, of course, was the tavern intended; it having been a noted resort with literary and legal men for more than a century past. Here Doctor Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith frequently dined together in days gone by, gravely discoursing over their punch afterwards; and, in more recent years, Thackeray, Dickens, Jerrold, Sala, and others have been reckoned among the customary guests of the establishment. Mr. George Augustus Sala, in a pleasant description of the place, writes as follows:— “Let it be noted in candour that Law finds its way to the ‘Cheese’ as well as Literature; but the Law is, as a rule, of the non-combatant, and, consequently, harmless order. Literary men who have been called to the Bar, but do not practise; briefless young barristers, who do not object to mingling with newspaper men; with a sprinkling of retired solicitors (amazing dogs these for old port wine; the landlord has some of the same bin which served as Hippocrene to Judge Blackstone when he wrote his ‘Commentaries’)—these make up the legal element of the ‘Cheese.’” The journey being resumed through Fleet Street, the visitor attains _Ludgate Circus_, from which _Farringdon Street_ leads northward on the left. A short detour along this thoroughfare, facing the handsome bridge of the Holborn Viaduct, will afford a sight of _Farringdon Market_ on the left side. Its position will recall the description given in “Barnaby Rudge,” in whose days it was known as Fleet Market, “At that time a long irregular row of wooden sheds and penthouses occupying the centre of what is now called Farringdon Street. . . . It was indispensable to most public conveniences in those days that they should be public nuisances likewise, and Fleet Market maintained the principle to admiration.” Here the rioters assembled—as narrated in the book before mentioned—and passed a merry night in the midst of congenial surroundings. Retracing our steps, we may note, on the east side of Farringdon Street, the site of the old Fleet Prison, on a part of which now stands the CONGREGATIONAL MEMORIAL HALL. The prison—fifty years since—stretched eastward in the rear as far as the present premises of Messrs. Cassell and Co., Belle Sauvage Yard. Its last remaining walls were removed in 1872, when the foundation-stone of the “Memorial Hall” aforesaid was laid. Here was imprisoned our amiable friend _Mr. Pickwick_, attended by his faithful Sam, until the time when the costs of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg in _re_ Bardell _versus_ Pickwick were by him fully paid and satisfied.