the legal history of the
neighborhood may be said to have closed. Some wealthy solicitors still
live in Russell Square and the adjoining streets; a few old-fashioned
barristers still linger in Upper Bedford Place and Lower Bedford Place.
Guilford Street and Doughty Street, and the adjacent thoroughfares of
the same class, still number a sprinkling of rising juniors, literary
barristers, and fairly prosperous attorneys. Perhaps the ancient aroma
of the 'old law quarter'--Mesopotamia, us it is now disrespectfully
termed--is still strong and pleasant enough to attract a few lawyers who
cherish a sentimental fondness for the past. A survey of the Post Office
Directory creates an impression that, compared with other neighborhoods,
the district north and northeast of Bloomsbury Square still possesses
more than an average number of legal residents; but it no longer remains
the quarter of the lawyers.

There still resides in Mecklenburgh Square a learned Queen's Counsel,
for whose preservation the prayers of the neighborhood constantly
ascend. To his more scholarly and polite neighbors this gentleman is an
object of intellectual interest and anxious affection. As the last of an
extinct species, as a still animate Dodo, as a lordly Mohican who has
outlived his tribe, this isolated counselor of her Gracious Majesty is
watched by heedful eyes whenever he crosses his threshold. In the
morning, as he paces from his dwelling to chambers, his way down Doughty
Street and John Street, and through Gray's Inn Gardens, is guarded by
men anxious for his safety. Shreds of orange-peel are whisked from the
pavement on which he is about to tread; and when he crosses Holborn he
walks between those who would imperil their lives to rescue him from
danger. The gatekeeper in Doughty Street daily makes him low obeisance,
knowing the historic value and interest of his courtly presence.
Occasionally the inhabitants of Mecklenburgh Square whisper a fear that
some sad morning their Q.C. may flit away without giving them a warning.
Long may it be before the residents of the 'Old Law Quarter' shall wail
over the fulfillment of this dismal anticipation!

[2] Dr. Clench lived in Brownlow Street, Holborn; and until his death,
in 1831, John Abernethy occupied in Bedford Row the house which is still
inhabited by an eminent surgeon, who was Abernethy's favorite pupil. Of
Dr. Clench's death in January, 1691-2, Narcissus Luttrell gives the
following account: "Th