amounting to about ten thousand persons in England and Wales, and about three thousand additional in Scotland and Ireland. The number of

letters delivered in 1848 was estimated at three hundred and twenty-nine millions, and the ratio since then has been on the increase. Since the reduction of postage, effected by Mr. Rowland Hill, it is computed that the number of letters has been more than quadrupled.

CHAPTER XI.

Christ's Hospital-St. John's Gate-Pie Corner-Smithfield-St. Bartholomew's Church and Hospital-Ely Place and House - Hatton GardenEdward Irving-St. Andrew's Church-The Blue Boar-Fleur-de-lys Court-Dwelling-place of Dryden-Thomas Chatterton-Gray's Inn and its distinguished residents- Red Lion-street-Holborn-Black-Letter Booksellers-Great Queen-street-Anecdote of Dr. Radcliffe and Sir Godfrey Kneller-Leicester-square-St. Anne's Church, Soho-Prince'sstreet-Argyll-street-Conduit-street-George-street, Hanover-square

Bond-street-Brooke-street-The Coliseum.

HRIST'S Hospital, or the Blue Coat School, founded by Edward VI., is still one of the most emi'nent seats of learning in the British Metropolis. It has produced many distinguished men, among them Bishop Stillingfleet; Charles Lamb; Leigh Hunt; William Camden, author of the "Britannia;" Samuel Richardson, author of "Clarissa Harlowe;" Coleridge, the poet, etc. There is perhaps no spot in London which has witnessed so much dreary horror as the ground occupied by the Charter House. In its precincts lie the remains of no fewer than 100,000 human beings who fell victims to the Plague which devastated the Metro

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*polis in the reign of Edward III.; and which, according to Stowe, nearly decimated the inhabitants. This edifice is of great antiquity, and has been variously occupied, as a monastery, a royal and noble residence, and an endowed school. The pensioners on this establishment are eighty decayed gentlemen" and forty-four scholars. Queen Elizabeth visited the Charter House on more than one occasion; and that worthy non-conformist, Richard Baxter, breathed his last in one of its apartments, in 1691.

Among the celebrated scholars who emanated from this school are the following:-Tooke, the author of "The Pantheon;" Addison; Steele ; John Wesley; Bagford, the antiquary, originally a shoemaker and afterwards a bookseller, and whose "History of Printing" forms part of the Harleian Collection, in the British Museum ; · Isaac Barrow, the divine, who was celebrated at school for his love of fighting; Sir William Blackstone, author of the "Commentaries;" Joseph Addison; Sir C. L. Eastlake, R. A.; the two eminent historians of Greece, Bishop Thirlwall and George Grote, Esq.

St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, one of the oldest relics of London, is still standing. It is full of historic associations, and the literary antiquary

will remember that the first number of "The Gentleman's Magazine," the earliest publication of its class, was issued from this place. Boswell speaks of the "reverence" with which Johnson. gazed upon the antique pile. There was an ancient order connected with this gate, called the Knights of St. John, who were accustomed to regale themselves with beer and tobacco, yet they were very rigid in the observance of their devotions, and zealous in the defence of Christianity against Paganism.

John Bunyan died, in 1688, at the house of his friend, Mr. Strudwick, a grocer, at the sign of the "Star," on Snow-Hill. Pie Corner, West Smithfield, was the place where the Fire of 1666 ceased; it began at Pudding Lane-a strange coincidence of names, since the calamity was occasioned, it is affirmed, by the sin of gluttony. There is an allusion in the Roxburgh Ballads to Pie Corner, in this wise:

"Next day I through Pie Corner past;

The roast meat on the stall

Invited me to take a taste:

My money was but small."

Smithfield, corrupted from Smooth-field, naturally brings to the mind scenes of deep and stirring

interest. In early times it was the site of tilts and tournaments, subsequently it witnessed the pains and heroism of martyrdom-the noble victims of Popish cruelty. The Tower of St. Bartholomew's Church, which is still standing at the eastern corner of Smithfield, was illumined by the flames kindled for those illustrious confessors, of whom the world was not worthy, one of the earliest being the amiable and high-minded Anne Askew. St. Bartholomew's, which is believed to have been used secretly by the Reformers of the 16th century, from its having subterranean chambers, occupies the site of the Priory founded by Rahere, the minstrel, in the reign of Henry II., who granted him the privilege of holding a fair, yearly, at Bartholomew-tide, for three days. Smithfield is thus rendered remarkable for its annual fair, about which the less said the better, for it is distinguished by its mummeries and its mountebanks. Rahere, the prior, built this church in consequence of a nocturnal vision which visited him, instructing him, in the name of the saint, to do so. There is a monument erected to nis memory within the church.

The last person who suffered was Bartholomew Leggett, who was burnt for denying the Athanasian and Nicene creeds. The space in the centre of the pens, and facing the gate of St. Bartholomew's