COACH-PROPRIETORS 199 



Necks," was, when he acquired it, a yard 

 extremely awkward of approach, being situated 

 in a narrow lane, and inside a loAV-hrowed entrance 

 that taxed the ingenuity of the coachmen to pass 

 without accident. Once inside, you were in one 

 of those old courtyards witliout which no old 

 coaching inn Avas complete. Three tiers of 

 E^alleries ran round three sides of the enclosed 

 square, whicli, from the creepers that were 

 trailed rcnind the old carved Avooden posts or 

 depended from the balusters, and from the flower- 

 boxes that decorated the windows, was a very 

 rustic-looking place. Chaplin had not long settled 

 himself here before he constructed underground 

 stables beneath this yard, where some two hundred 

 horses were stalled ; but the jil^^^ce remained, 

 otherwise unaltered, until about 1S5G, Avlien all 

 the buildings were demolished, and he set him- 

 self to raise on their site the huge pile of 

 buildings that now fronts partly on to Gresliam 

 Street and partly to Aldermanbury. It Avas one 

 of his last Avorks, and Avas, of course, undertaken 

 long after the coaching age liad become a thing 

 of the past, being, indeed, intended for the head- 

 quarters of the carrying business that liad in tlie 

 meantime come into existence. It is of somcAvhat 

 curious interest to note that, although the great 

 gloomy pile of unadorned brick bears not the 

 slightest resemblance to the ancient coaching 

 inn, yet a courtyard survives, ami raihvay vans 

 manoeuvre Avhere of old the mails arrived or set 

 forth. 



