The yard referred to is now filled with large buildings, but when
it existed as part of the inn was used, like other inn yards, by
the travelling companies of players for the enactment of their
mystery and morality plays. It was in the "George and Vulture,"
so it is recorded, that the first Beefsteak Club was formed by
Richard Estcourt, the Drury Lane comedian, a fashion which spread
in all directions. And so the history of the "George and Vulture"
could be traced, and anecdotes relating to it set down to fill many
pages. But whilst admitting that these antiquarian notes have their
interest for their own sake, we must leave them in order that we
may glance at the Pickwickian traditions, through which the tavern
is known to-day.

In our last chapter we left Mr. Pickwick at the "Great White Horse,"
Ipswich. On his return to London he had, perforce, to abandon his
lodgings in Goswell Street and so transferred his abode to very good
old-fashioned and comfortable quarters, to wit, the George and Vulture
Tavern and Hotel, George Yard, Lombard Street, and forthwith sent Sam
to settle the little matters of rent and such-like trifles and to
bring back his little odds and ends from Goswell Street. This done
they shortly left the tavern for Dingley Dell, where they had a royal
Christmas time. That the tavern appealed to Mr. Pickwick as ideal for
the entertainment of friends is incidentally revealed in the record
that after one of the merry evenings at Mr. Wardle's he, on waking
late next morning, had "a confused recollection of having severally
and confidentially invited somewhere about five and forty people to
dine with him at the 'George and Vulture' the very first time they
came to London."

Just before they left Dingley Dell, Bob Sawyer, "thrusting his