just off the main thoroughfare of Fleet Street.

The literary production in this vast workshop in point of bulk alone is
almost beyond comprehension. In 1869, a year before Dickens' death, there
were published in London alone three hundred and seventy-two magazines and
serials, seventy-two quarterlies, and two hundred and ninety-eight
newspapers etc.

As for the golden days of the "Highway of Letters," they were mostly in
the glorious past, but, in a way, they have continued to this day. A brief
review of some of the more important names and events connected with this
famous street will, perhaps, not be out of place here.

Among the early printers and booksellers were Wynken de Worde, "at ye
signe of ye Sonne;" Richard Pynson, the title-pages or colophons of whose
works bore the inscription, "emprynted by me Richard Pynson at the temple
barre of London (1493);" Rastell, "at the sign of the Star;" Richard
Tottel, "within Temple-bar, at the signe of the Hande and Starre," which
in Dickens' day had become the shop of a low bookseller by the name of
Butterworth, who it was said still held the original leases. Others who
printed and published in the vicinity were W. Copeland, "at the signe of
the Rose Garland;" Bernard Lintot, "at the Cross Keys;" Edmund Curll, "at
the Dial and Bible," and Lawton Gulliver, "at Homer's Head," against St.
Dunstan's Church; and Jacob Robinson, on the west side of the gateway
"leading down the Inner Temple Lane," an establishment which Dickens must
have known as Groom's, the confectioner's. Here Pope and Warburton first
met, and cultivated an acquaintanceship which afterward developed into as
devoted a friendship as ever existed between man and man. The fruit of
this was the publication (in 1739) of a pamphlet which bore the title, "A
Vindication of Mr. Pope's 'Essay on Man,' by the Author of 'The Divine
Legation of Moses,' printed for J. Robinson."

At Collins' shop, "at the Black Boy in Fleet Street," was published the
first "Peerage," while other names equally famous were the publishers, T.
White, H. Lowndes, and John Murray.

Another trade which was firmly established here was the bankers,
"Child's," at Temple Bar, being the oldest existing banking-house in
London to-day. Here Richard Blanchard and Francis Child, "at the Marygold
in Fleet Street,"--who were goldsmiths with "_running cashes_,"--were
first established in the reign of Charles II. "In the hands of Mr.
Blanchard, goldsmith, n