Mae. 6. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



23S 



house in which Dr. Johnson lived and died, not 

 one brick is left upon another. It was de- 

 stroyed totally by fire in 1819; and the party- 

 wall between that and Mr. Allen's house alone 

 remains, being the west wall of that large resi- 

 dence. When up Bolt Court, you turn to the 

 left through an iron gate leading to a flight of 

 stone steps to the printing-office now occupied by 

 Mr. Tyler, and where those stone steps are, stood 

 the doctor's residence. I know of no relic that 

 was saved except the scraper, which was distorted 

 into a curious shape by the action of the fire, and 

 being firmly fixed in a heavy stone, it lay about 

 the yard for years. 



The late well-known printer Mr. Bensley suc- 

 ceeded Mr. Allen there in business in 1783, going 

 at once to reside in his house next door to Dr. 

 Johnson, whom, of course, as a close neighbour, 

 he often saw, and whose funeral he witnessed. 

 After the Doctor's death the Rev. — Stockdale, of 

 the Church of England, occupied the house ; next 

 to him it was tenanted by a Rev. — Moir, (I 

 believe) a Presbyterian ; next, by one Copley, an 

 old tailor, whom I have teased many times when 

 a boy ; for some of us youngsters having overheard 

 him once in a soliloquy groaning, " Dear me — 

 and tlie buttons all wrong ! " on passing him it 

 became a mot among us expressed sufficiently 

 loud to reach his ears, when he would look un- 

 utterable things. He was a worthy but somewhat 

 cross old man, in very respectable circumstances. 

 His was the last family which ever occupied the 

 premises as a dwelling-house ; I knew him there 

 for about twenty years. During his abode the 

 freehold was put up for sale by auction, as well 

 as of Allen's house ; Mr. Bensley purchased both. 

 This was somewhere about 1804 — 1807. But as 

 Copley had a lease, he did not vacate till about 

 1814, when Mr. Bensley appropriated the two 

 houses to his printing purposes (and there, it may 

 not be unworthy of notice, was steam-printing 

 first practised), — so occupied the said premises 

 were, till destroyed by fire in 1819. Mr. Bensley's 

 eldest surviving son succeeded him in 1820, but 

 did not, in re- constructing the premises, build on 

 the site of Dr. Johnson's house, though a part 

 thereof has since been covered. The map — a 

 very fragile, worm-eaten affair — shows the exact 

 dimensions of the house, the place where the walls 

 stood, &c. The property remains in Mr. Benslev's 

 family. I have often heard Mr. Bensley describe 

 the Doctor and his funeral. 



The print in the European Magazine is an ac- 

 curate representation of the appearance of this 

 ancient and gloomy house in the dark corner ; 

 but it had many comforts, and " a large garden," 

 in which I have been ; it is now all built upon, 

 and has been covered for nearly half a century. 

 Some yet living may have visited Dr. Johnson 

 there : I have often conversed with others who 



are dead that did — the late Mr. Bowyer Nichols, 

 Mr. Cradock (of Leicestershire), Mr. A. Strahan, 

 and others mentioned in the Doctor's works, when 

 gratifying their curiosity by showing them over 

 the house ; and it has fallen to my lot to do so to 

 many literary characters. Indeed as to the place 

 where Dr. Johnson lived and died, there is no 

 more room for doubt than as to where old London 

 bridge stood. I have many times been with the 

 late Mr. James Boswell (son of Dr. Johnson's 

 biographer) in the rather dismal parlour — which 

 spot, it is not to be wondered at, had a peculiar 

 attraction for him. 



There is no kind of foundation for assigning 

 Dr. Johnson's residence to that where Cobbett 

 lived or wrote — it was a mere joke. As to the 

 " Johnson's Head " tavern, it was an upholsterer's 

 manufactory at the time of Dr. Johnson's death. 

 I myself knew an old man of the name of Hale 

 residing in it, and carrying on that occupation so 

 early as 1800, who had doubtless been there before 

 Dr. Johnson's death ; his son followed him, and 

 continued till about 1826 — 1830 in those premises. 

 By the same token (as Paddy says), while now 

 addressing " N. & Q." (though nearly 300 miles 

 from the spot) I am writing at a table Hale sen. 

 made for me in that house in 1818. 



The greater part of Mr. Bensley's extensive 

 premises was twice burned down ; but on neither 

 occasion was Allen's house destroyed. It yet 

 stands, though so altered and improved as not to 

 resemble the original edifice. Mr. Tyler's count- 

 ing-house, by the iron gate at the S. \V. corner, 

 however, is left just as used by Allen (except a 

 passage cut off at the end), the panelling, &c., just 

 the same, being the only part remaining unaltered: 

 there was then, of course, no door out to the stone 

 steps, as there stood Dr. Johnson's parlour. In 

 this counting-house, no doubt. Dr. Johnson often 

 was; and in the adjoining parlour he often fed. 

 It was a very old-fashioned room, as I Avell re- 

 member it upwards of half a century ago. His 

 better parlour, or drawing-room, was large and 

 handsomely furnished for the period, with tliree 

 windows, and two ancient pier-glasses fixed to 

 tables, gilt and adorned according to the taste of 

 the times. Mr. Bensley bought these and a few 

 other household matters, which remained in statu 

 quo till 1805—1808. 



I have seen some prints of the Inside of Dr. 

 Johnson's house, which do not give a very accu- 

 rate idea of the appearance of the rooms, &c. ; but, 

 I repeat it, the view of the front in the Europeaji 

 Magazine is excellent. 



The celebrity of Dr. Johnson may induce you 

 to insert this, which, without that influence, I am 

 aware would be too tedious. B. B. 



