Knightrider Street, in the neighbourhood of Doctors' Commons, derives its name from a similar circumstance.

In Giltspur Street, at the end of Cock Lane, is Pie Corner, so called, according to Stow, from the sign of a well-frequented hostelry which anciently stood on the spot. Strype speaks of Pie Corner as "noted chiefly for cooks'-shops, and pigs dressed there during Bartholomew Fair." In our old writers there are many references to its cooks'-stalls and dressed pork. Shadwell, for instance, in "The Woman Captain" (1680), speaks of "meat dressed at Pie Corner by greasy scullions," and Ben Jonson writes in the " Alchemist," (1610):

"I shall put you in mind, sir, at Pie Corner,

Taking your meal of steam in, from cooks' stalls."

The principal interest, however, attached to Pie Corner, is from its having been the spot where the great fire terminated in 1666. It commenced, as is well-known, in Pudding Lane, and consequently that it should have ended at Pie Corner, was certainly a curious coincidence. At the corner of CockLane may be seen the figure of a fat naked boy with his hands across his stomach, to which the following inscription was formerly attached :-"This boy is in memory put up of the late fire of London, occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666."

An especial interest is attached to Green Arbour Court, running west of the Old Bailey. Here, on the site of No. 12, in the first-floor rooms, resided, in 1758, the gifted and warm-hearted Oliver Goldsmith, and here, if any faith is to be placed in tradition, he composed his "Traveller," and other works. In this miserable abode he was visited by Bishop Percy, the collector of the "Reliques of English Poetry," who was accustomed to relate an interesting account of their interview. In a "wretchedly dirty

room," in which there was but one chair, he found the poet engaged in writing his "Enquiry into Polite Learning." While they were engaged in conversation," said the Bishop,

some one gently rapped at the door, and on being desired to come in, a poor little ragged girl, of very decent behaviour, entered, who, dropping a curtsey, said- My mamma sends her compliments, and begs the favour of your lending her a pot-full of coals.'" In consequence of its threatening to fall from age and dilapidation, the miserable abode of Goldsmith in Green Arbour Court, together with the adjoining houses, was a few years since razed to the ground. From Green Arbour Court Goldsmith removed, in 1760, to Wineoffice Court, Fleet Street.

In Sea Coal Lane, close by, have at various times been discovered considerable remains of massive stone walls, leading to the supposition that here stood some of the important outworks connected with the ancient fortifications.

FLEET STREET.

ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH.

PERSONS INTERRED THERE.-SALISBURY COURT.RICHARDSON THE NOVELIST.-GOUGH SQUARE.-ANECDOTE OF DR. JOHNSON.-JOHNSON'S COURT AND BOLT COURT.-WINE-OFFICE COURT.-ANECDOTE OF GOLDSMITH.-OLD CONDUIT IN FLEET STREET.-BANGOR HOUSE.MITRE COURT.-CRANE COURT.-DEVIL TAVERN, AND ITS CELEBRATED FREQUENTERS.-RESIDENCES OF EMINENT MEN IN FLEET STREET.-CHANCERY ANECDOTE OF COLERIDGE. -KIT-CAT CLUB. ST. DUNSTAN'S CHURCH.-ITS OLD DIAL.

LANE.SHIRE LANE.

D

ESCENDING Ludgate Hill, we enter Fleet Street, one of the most interesting thoroughfares in London. As we wend our way along this famous street, let us pause for a few moments to gaze on the graceful steeple of St. Bride's Church, which, with the exception of that of Bow Church, is unquestionably the most beautiful in London. St. Bride's, moreover, in addition to its architectural merits, recalls many interesting memories of the past. Here was interred Wynkyn de Worde, the famous printer in the reign of Henry the Seventh, whose father kept the Falcon Inn in Fleet Street. He himself lived in the street, as appears by his "Fruyte of Tymes" printed in 1515, which purports to be issued from his establishment at the "sygne of the Sonne," in Fleet Street. At the west end of St. Bride's Church was interred the ill-fated poet, Richard Lovelace, and here, also, rests another bard, whose hopes were once as ambitious, John Ogilby, the translator of

Homer. Half hidden by one of the pews, on the south side, is the gravestone of Richardson the novelist; and here also lies buried Sir Richard Baker, author of the "Chronicle of the Kings of England," the story of whose melancholy end belongs to our notices of the Fleet Prison.

Nor are Ogilby, Lovelace, and Sir Richard Baker the only unfortunate authors who are interred in St. Bride's Church. Here also are buried Francis Sandford, author of the "Genealogical History," who died in the Fleet in 1693, and Robert Lloyd, the poet, who, in 1764, also died in that prison. Ogilby, Sandford, Richardson, and Lloyd were buried in the present edifice; as were also Thomas Flatman, the poet, who died in 1688, and Dr. Charles Davenant, the celebrated political writer of the reign of Queen Anne. In the churchyard of St. Bride's lie the remains of Dr. Robert Levet, the intimate friend of Dr. Johnson.

It may be worth mentioning that in St. Bride's Church was buried the abandoned Mary Frith, known as Moll Cutpurse, who, from the days of James the First to those of the Commonwealth, carried on the united professions of procuress, fortune-teller, pickpocket, thief, and receiver of stolen goods. Her most famous exploit was robbing General Fairfax upon Hounslow Heath. Butler has immortalized her in his "Hudibras ":

"He Trulla loved, Trulla more bright,
Than burnished armour of her knight;
A bold virago, stout and tall,

A Joan of France, or English Mall."

Swift likewise alludes to her in his "Baucis and Philemon"

"The ballads pasted on the wall,

Of Joan of France, and English Mall."

Moll Cutpurse died of the dropsy in the seventy-fifth year of her age, and was buried in St. Bride's on the 10th of August, 1659.

St. Bride's, or rather St. Bridget's Church, is unquestionably of very ancient foundation. Originally a structure of moderate dimensions, it was, in the year 1480, considerably enlarged and beautified by William Venor, a pious warden of the Fleet Prison, who erected a spacious fabric at the west end, consisting of a middle and two side aisles, to which the ancient church served as the choir. The patronage of the living was for centuries vested in the Abbot and Convent of Westminster, till, at the dissolution of the monasteries, on Westminster being elevated into a bishopric, Henry the Eighth granted the preferment to the new diocesan. On the reinstatement of the abbot and monks of Westminster in the reign of Queen Mary, the patronage was restored to them, but it was afterwards again made over to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, by whom it is still enjoyed. The old church having been destroyed by the great fire of London, the present noble edifice was erected on its site by Sir Christopher Wren, at an expense of £11,430.

It was in St. Bride's Churchyard that Milton took up his residence after his return from Italy in 1642.

Here it was that he superintended the education of his two nephews, John and Edward Philips, as well as that of a few other youths whose parents had prevailed upon him to take their children under his charge. It was also during the period of his residence in St. Bride's Churchyard that he formed his ill-assorted marriage with his first wife, Mary Powell. "His first wife," writes Aubrey, " was brought up and lived where there was a great deal of company, merriment, and dancing; and when she came to live with her husband at Mr. Russell's,