[illustration:  The “Fox Under the Hill”]

The public-house opposite the Insolvent Debtors’ Court, where Mr. Weller consulted Mr. Solomon Pell on an urgent family matter, was no doubt the “Horse and Groom” that once stood in Portugal Street, covered now by the solid buildings of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Sons, of railway bookstall fame.  It was here Sam obliged the company with his song on “Bold Turpin,” whilst his father and Solomon Pell went to swear the affidavit for Sam’s arrest.  It was also at this identical public-house that Mr. Solomon Pell, later on in the book, was engaged to undertake the details of proving the Will of the late Mrs. Weller, and where, “to celebrate Mr. Weller coming into possession of his property,” a little lunch was given to his friends, comprising porter, cold beef and oysters, to which ample justice was done.

Reverting to the former incident, the elder Weller and Solomon Pell duly returned with the document all complete, and the party sallied forth to the Fleet Prison.  On their way they stopped at Sarjeants’ Inn Coffee House off Fleet Street to refresh themselves once more.  When Sarjeants’ Inn was rebuilt in 1838 the coffee house referred to ended its existence.

The Horn Coffee House in Doctors’ Commons, to which a messenger was despatched from the Fleet Prison for “a bottle or two of very good wine” to celebrate Mr. Winkle’s visit to his old friend, was a well-known and frequented place of call at the time.  It was situated actually in Carter Lane, and although the present house is more in keeping with modern methods, there still remains a portion of the old building.

The “Spaniards,” Hampstead Heath, figures more prominently in the book than any of the foregoing, and has a story of its own to tell.  In recalling the scene in its history which associates it with The Pickwick Papers, we remember that Mrs. Bardell and her friends, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Cluppins, Mr. and Mrs. Raddle, Mrs. Rogers and Master Tommy Bardell, bent on having a day out, had taken the Hampstead Stage to the “Spaniards” Tea Gardens, “where the luckless Mr. Raddle’s very first act nearly occasioned his good lady a relapse, it being neither more or less than to order tea for seven; whereas (as the ladies one and all remarked) what could have been easier than for Tommy to have drank out of any lady’s cup, or everybody’s, if that was all, when the waiter wasn’t looking, which would have saved one head of tea, and the tea just as good!”

But the brilliant suggestion was made too late, for “the tea-tray came with seven cups and saucers, and bread and butter on the same scale.  Mrs. Bardell was unanimously voted into the chair, and Mrs. Rogers being stationed on her right hand and Mrs. Raddle on her left, the meal proceeded with great merriment and success,” until Mr. Raddle again put his foot into it by making an unfortunate remark which upset Mrs. Bardell and caused him to be summarily sent to a table by himself to finish his tea alone.