the present genial proprietor and his efficient manager, Mr. Woods,
and have reminded their customers each time they dine there of Mr.
Pickwick's connection with it by placing before them plates with
that immortal man's portrait in the act of addressing his club,
printed thereon?

Is it to be wondered at that the City Pickwick Club should hold its
meetings and dinners there, or that the Dickens Fellowship should
choose it as the most appropriate spot for the entertainment of
their American and colonial visitors, and occasionally to have
convivial gatherings of its members there?

And will it surprise anyone if a universal agitation is set on foot
to preserve it from the axe and pick of the builder which threatens
it in the near future?

There is one extraordinarily interesting piece of history relative
to the "George and Vulture" and Pickwick with which fittingly to
close this account of London's famous inn.

In 1837, the year that The Pickwick Papers appeared in monthly-parts,
a Circulating Book Society had its headquarters at the "George and
Vulture." On the occasion of the meeting held on March 30, 1837, it
was proposed that The Pickwick Papers, "now in course of publication,
be taken in for circulation."

This motion was opposed by two members "who considered the work
vulgar." The motion, however, was carried with the amendment "that
the work, when complete, be obtained and circulated as one volume."
In 1838 this famous copy of the immortal work was sold by auction