eprinting, with great success. Messrs. Vernor and Hood, when
they moved to 31, Poultry, took into partnership Mr. C. Sharpe. The firm
of Messrs. Vernor and Hood published 'The Beauties of England and
Wales,' 'The Mirror,' Bloomfield's poems, and those of Henry Kirke
White." At this house in the Poultry, as far as we can trace, in the
year 1799, was born his second son, Thomas. After the sudden death of
the father, the widow and her children were left rather slenderly
provided for. "My father, the only remaining son, preferred the drudgery
of an engraver's desk to encroaching upon the small family store. He was
articled to his uncle, Mr. Sands, and subsequently was transferred to
one of the Le Keux. He was a most devoted and excellent son to his
mother, and the last days of her widowhood and decline were soothed by
his tender care and affection. An opening that offered more congenial
employment presented itself at last, when he was about the age of
twenty-one. By the death of Mr. John Scott, the editor of the 'London
Magazine,' who was killed in a duel, that periodical passed into other
hands, and became the property of my father's friends, Messrs. Taylor
and Hessey. The new proprietors soon sent for him, and he became a sort
of sub-editor to the magazine." Of this period of his life he says
himself:--

"Time was when I sat upon a lofty stool,
At lofty desk, and with a clerkly pen,
Began each morning, at the stroke of ten,
To write to Bell and Co.'s commercial school,
In Warneford Court, a shady nook and cool,
The favourite retreat of merchant men.
Yet would my quill turn vagrant, even then,
And take stray dips in the Castalian pool;
Now double entry--now a flowery trope--
Mingling poetic honey with trade wax;
Blogg Brothers--Milton--Grote and Prescott--Pope,
Bristles and Hogg--Glynn, Mills, and Halifax--
Rogers and Towgood--hemp--the Bard of Hope--
Barilla--Byron--tallow--Burns and flax."

The "King's Head" Tavern (No. 25) was kept at the Restoration by William
King, a staunch cavalier. It is said that the landlord's wife happened
to be on the point of labour on the day of the king's entry into London.
She was extremely anxious to see the returning monarch, and the king,
being told of her inclination, drew up at the door of the tavern in his
good-natured way, and saluted her.

The King's Head Tavern, which stood at the western extremity of the
Stocks' Market