New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-04
HAUNTED LONDON.
A WALK WITH Mr.. PICKWICK.

| they show u a stained and battered volume IN the
Russian language, which the besiegers OF Sebasta-
poi found among the dreadful ruins Of the Redan.
What do you suppose must have been the sensations
. of the English officer who brought away this black
eued relic when il was submitted to Interpretation
and discovered to be translation Of The Postum
nous Papers IF the Pickwick Club y Think of the
soldiers of Car Nicholas sitting down IN the midst
OF death to laugh over Sam Weller. Doubles they
/ enjoyed the book; IL seems to have been we'll
thumbed and If il appealed so strongly to them,
what wonder that an American in London should
be haunted by the spectres OF the never-to-be-for
! gotten Club and of the hundred other creations of
the same brain. which have made the names Of
| London streets. and the very aspect Of London
courts aud houses hardly less familiar to Us than
our own To most Of Us the characters in Dickenss
earlier books are actual living personages.
I more doubted that l should discover
the footprints Of Sam in the Borough,
and find the very house of Mrs. Camp in Kings
gJe-st. than que stoned chat the ghost Of Samuel
Pepys made mighty merry" at the Cock over
against Temple Bar, and VIII Waterproof still re-
peated there his lyrical monoogues, or that when
seated myself on one of the ancient wooden benches
. of the Cheshire Cheese IN a dark little alley on
Fleet-st should be half conscious of the presence
Of Oliver Goldsmith and DR.. johnson in their
toned corner. When the guards horn called me 10
the window the other morning, and saw the
| bright yellow and black mail coach roll rapidly
across Trafalgar Square, l remembered that II was
on the roof of Just such vehicle, fifty years
that Mr. Pckwick and his friends started, from that
very spot on their memorable journeys. 1t was
there next to the Of the Strand, that Mr. Pick
wick as the second chapter Of the book relates was
| assaulted by the cabman who took him for an M
| former; there the yOluble jingle, elbowlng his
way through the crowd. made his first appearance
in the story and there the whole party mounted To
the roof of the Rochester coach, in the staDleyard
OF the Golden Cgoss Tavern. The old tavern and It's
low archway are no more, but pretentlous
Golden Cross Hotel the site Qerpetuates the
| historic associations.
Having witnessed 1t were the departure Of the
expedition, it was not unnatural that should look
further Tor traces Of the club, and lost no time IN
betaIling myself to Goswell-st. where, everybody
| knows, Mr. Pickwck lodged in the house of Mrs.
Bardell roundabout stroll past FurnivaPs Inn,
| in whose quiet chambers the first pages Of Pick
| wick were written, and John WestlOck long
| afterwards gave the tremendous breakfast TO Tom
| Pinch and Ruth-through Gray's Inn, haunted by
the image Of Mr. Perker-through Clerkenwe
where found in a street on the edge Of the
| Italian quarter dismal shop one step below the
| sidewalk. with a stuffed canary in the window,
shop which had no difficulty IN Identifying "a the
establishment of " Mr. Venus. Preserver of Animals
and Birds, Articulator of Huma Bones IA stroll
through regions l had never traversed before, and
vet which seemed oddly familiar, as if had seen
them in dream-brouqht me at last TO the street
wanted IL is In a part Of London where there
have been many modern improvements. There is q
broad and busting thorough tare-they have
changed its name now to G0swell-rOad-where Mrs
Bardeu once cOuIted the retirement and tran
guilty Of Goswel-st and placed IN her front par
lor window a written placard bearing the Inscrlp-
ton Apartments furnished for a single gentle
man'S A huge block of model iOdglng-hOuses
raars a yariegated front Of brick at the corner
where | came out upon the road. horse railway
keeps the neghborhood noisy. But little further
| on toward the heart Of the city the old name of
| Goswell-st reappears IN some ancient signs and
| inst before reached AldersgaJe l came upon a
! of shabby brick buildings which seemed to
! have been forgotten and left behind IL the
march of Improvement. They are three-story
and-attic houses, with hipped-roofs covered
| with red tiles. The brick, once yellow,
| Is black with age and smoke. The windows
are almost as black the brick. Time
and decay have set their mark all over them, and
am sure that inside we should find creakng furnl-
ture and stained walls. IL is plain that they were
dwelng-houses originally, but the ground floor OF
each has been turned into a shop. Except Tor TINS
change and for the accumulation OF htJy years
crime. they must be IN the same condition as when
Mr. Plckwick. throwing open his chamber window
At the beginning of the novel, looked our upon the
world beneath "Goswell-st was st BIS feet, Cos
el-s was on his right hand-as far a. the eye could
reach GOswell-st extended his left and the or
poslte side of GOswell-st. over the way" These
necu6arites of the situation remain unaltered. 1
amused myself by selecting one Of the row as the
identical house Dickens must have had in his eye
tr mo do cribed the lOd ii uRs Of his hero for PIC
tures of London streets and buildings are to be
fouDd IN his pages far more graphic than those OF
any rujde-book. There Is now a cheese and butter
shop in the front parlor where Mrs. BardeH enter
tanned Mrs Cluppins and Mrs Sanders at tea, and
an obtrusive SIGN board, bearing the inscription,
| ..Ibe LlJtle Wonder displayed itself over the
door. But all above that is the same house have
figured to myself ever since was boy.
Its a short walk from Goswell-st. to ST. Paul's,
OF it would be short but for the irresistible tempta
tious to turn aside Carthusian-st. beckons
10 the Charterhouse whose gray stone cloisters and
soft green carpeted courts indescrbably
peaceful and beautiful In the midst Of the
| rounding turmoil Of trade. The ancient school is
no longer here; II has quarters now IN the country
! but another school-that of the Merchant Iailors-
has acquired the old buildings. The boys we're
plavinq at ball when looked into the Enclosure,
| and one might almost have fancied that L0velace
| and Addison Dick Steele and Sir William Buck
| stone. John Wesley, and Thackeray, and John
! Ieech. were all at sport there together. Past
| Smitb6eld and In and out of the labyunthne
I allevs Of Cloth Fair aud Bartholomew Close.
come to ST. Bartholomew's HOspita-sacred for
ever to the memory OF Bob Sawyer and Betsy Prg-
and then 20 Chrst's Hospital. where a stone King,
as prm a. . preacher, holds out his warning scep-
ire over the bareheaded blue-coat boys. Under