that when Sam's father rather despondently told him that "a thousand
things may have happened by the time you next hears any news of the
celebrated Mr. Veller o' the 'Bell Savage:'" It is particularly
curious in regard to Pickwick, for the inn was not only close to the
Fleet Prison, which figures so prominently in the book, but its
outbuildings actually adjoined it. Meagre as is the reference, it
is, nevertheless, retained in the memory, and the inn proclaimed a
Pickwickian one with as much satisfaction as if it had been the
scene of many an incident such as connect others with the book.

Unfortunately there are only one or two landmarks remaining to show
that it ever existed. One of these is the archway out of Ludgate
Hill, just beyond the hideous bridge which runs across the road, at
the side of No. 68, which in Pickwickian days was No. 38. Perhaps
the shape of the yard which still bears the inn's name may be
considered as a trace of its former glory. This yard is now
surrounded by the business premises of Messrs. Cassell and Co.,
the well-known publishers, which occupy the whole site of the old
building.

We can find no earlier reference to the inn than that in the reign
of Henry VI, when a certain John French in a deed (1453) made over
to his mother for her life "all that tenement or inn, with its
appurtenances, called Savage's Inn, otherwise called 'le Bell on
the Hope' in the parish of Fleet Street, London." Prior to that it
may be surmised that it belonged to a citizen of the name of Savage,
probably the "William Savage of Fleet Street in the Parish of St.
Bridget," upon whom, it is recorded in 1380, an attempt was made
"to obtain by means of forged letter, twenty shillings."