near Southwark Bridge Road (see SHAKSPERE). There remained in 1885 a number of quaint, plastered, two-storied houses on the Bankside, which were old enough to have. harbored these twin spirits.

Tradition says that Beaumont and Fletcher were frequenters of the Mermaid Tavern in Cheapside, where Jonson and Shakspere were their companions (see JONSON). Beaumont was buried, according to the Register of Westminster Abbey, 'at the entrance of St. Benedict's Chapel, March 9, 1615-16.' He lies near Chaucer, in an unmarked

grave.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD.

1766-1823.

BLOOMFIELD, the son of a tailor, came to

London in 1781 to learn the shoemaker's trade. He lodged first, in a very humble way, at No. 7 Pitcher's Court, Great Bell Alley, Coleman Street, City; and later in Blue Hart Court, in the same alley. The character of the alley and its courts has entirely changed during the century that has passed, and no traces of any of his homes here are left.

After his marriage, in 1790, and while working at his cobbler's bench in Great Bell Yard, he wrote 'The Farmer's Boy.'

Cunning- I saw in Mr. Upcott's hand the poet's shop card, ham's Hand- neatly engraved and inscribed Bloomfield, Ladies' London: Shoe Maker, No. 14 Great Bell Yard, Coleman Street. The best real Spanish Leather at reasonable prices.'

Book of

Coleman

Street.

6

Great Bell Yard was opposite Great Bell Alley; but its name has been changed to Telegraph Street, and it has been

entirely rebuilt. No. 14 Telegraph Street was in 1885 a very new and glaring white glazed tile structure, let out as offices, and called 'The White House.'

JAMES BOSWELL.

1740-1795.

OF

F Boswell's life in London, so closely identified with that of the subject of his famous biography, but little is to be said, except in connection with Dr. Johnson (q. v.).

He came to the metropolis in 1760, and first met Johnson, in May, 1763, at the shop of Tom Davies, No. 8 Russell Street, Covent Garden (see JOHNSON). In July of the same year he removed from Downing Street to 'the bottom of Inner Temple Lane,' where Johnson was living, in order to be nearer to the object of his devotion. His chambers were in Farrar's Building, now rebuilt; Johnson's, at No. 1 Inner Temple Lane, opposite, are also rebuilt.

In 1768 Boswell was in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly; in 1769, in Old Bond Street, where on the 16th of October he entertained Johnson, Reynolds, Garrick, and Goldsmith; and in 1772 he was lodging in Conduit Street.

He died at No. 47 Great Portland Street, Oxford Street, in 1795. This street has been extended, renumbered and rebuilt. Boswell's house was on the east side, the seventh from the corner of Marylebone Street, towards Langham Street, then Queen Anne Street.

He was buried at his family seat in Scotland.

Johnson succeeded in electing Boswell a member of The Club (see GOLDSMITH and JOHNSON).

Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, vol. ii.

chap. viii.

I was well pleased to meet The Club for the first time.

I was amused, in turning over the records of The Club, to come upon poor Bozzy's signature, evidently affixed when he was too drunk to

guide his pen.

CHARLOTTE BRONTË.

1816-1855.

WHEN Charlotte and Anne Bronte came to London

in 1848, without male escort, they stopped at the Chapter Coffee House, No. 50 Paternoster Row, the tavern frequented by their father, the only one of which they had any knowledge in the metropolis, and to which, as guests perhaps, no other women ever went. From here they sallied out to see their publisher, and astonish him with their identity as the authors of 'Jane Eyre' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.' Although Charlotte afterwards made short visits to London, and was entertained by Rogers and other noted men, she gives no hint in her letters as to where she lodged in later years. The Chapter Coffee House was in existence in 1885, as a place of refreshment, and but little changed (see CHATTERTON).

Mrs.
Gaskell's

8

Half-way up, on the left-hand side [of Paternoster Row], is the Chapter Coffee House. I visited it last June [1856]. It was then unoccupied. It had the appearance of a dwellinghouse two hundred years old or so, such as one sometimes sees in ancient country towns; the ceilings of the small rooms were low, and had heavy beams running across them; the walls were wainscoted, breasthigh; the stairs were shallow, broad, and dark, taking up much space in the centre of the house. The gray-haired elderly

Life of Charlotte Brontë, vol. ii. chap. ii.