Keeping on through _Davies Street_ across _Berkeley Square_, we come through _Berkeley Street_ to Piccadilly, in the close vicinity of Devonshire House, a mansion of fashionable and political repute, belonging to the _Duke of Devonshire_. Here, on the 27th of May 1851, in the great drawing-room and library, Dickens and his _confrères_ of “The Guild of Literature and Art” performed, for the first time, Sir Bulwer Lytton’s comedy (written for the occasion) “Not so Bad as We Seem,” in the presence of the Queen, Prince Albert and a brilliant audience. The Duke not only afforded the necessary accommodation, but (as Mr. Forster writes), in his princely way, discharged all attendant expenses. Many distinguished authors and artists assisted at this performance, including Douglas Jerrold, Maclise, and John Leech. Near at hand, on the eastern corner of the next turning down Piccadilly (_Dover Street_), is HATCHETT’S HOTEL, adjoining The White Horse Cellars, once a well-known coaching establishment. On the opposite side of the way stood in days of yore the old “White Horse Cellars,” of which Hazlitt writes:— “The finest sight in the Metropolis is the setting out of the mail-coaches from Piccadilly. The horses paw the ground and are impatient to be gone, as if conscious of the precious burden they convey. There is a peculiar secrecy and despatch, significant and full of meaning, in all the proceedings concerning them. Even the outside passengers have an erect and supercilious air, as if proof against the accidents of the journey; in fact, it seems indifferent whether they are to encounter the summer’s heat or the winter’s cold, since they are borne through the air on a winged chariot.” From this well-known Booking Office, _Mr. Pickwick_ and his friends—accompanied by the fierce _Dowler_ and his fascinating wife—started for Bath, one “muggy, damp, and drizzly morning, by the mail coach; on the door of which was displayed, in gilt letters of a goodly size, the magic name of ‘Pickwick’; a circumstance which seems to have occasioned some confusion of ideas in the mind of the faithful Sam, as evidenced by his indignant inquiry—‘An’t nobody to be whopped for takin’ this here liberty?’” Readers of “Bleak House” will remember this locality as the destination of the Reading Coach; so indicated by _Messrs. Kenge and Carboy_ in their first communication to _Esther Summerson_. Here she was met, one foggy November afternoon, on her arrival in London, by the susceptible _Mr. Guppy_, and by him conducted to Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn. The incident was afterwards feelingly referred to by that young gentleman, on the occasion of his offer of heart, hand, and income to Esther:—