use in Fleet Street has a more curious pedigree than that gilt and
painted shop opposite Chancery Lane (No. 17, south side), falsely called
"the palace of Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey." It was originally the
office of the Duchy of Cornwall, in the reign of James I. It is just
possible that it was the house originally built by Sir Amyas Paulet, at
Wolsey's command, in resentment for Sir Amyas having set Wolsey, when a
mere parish priest, in the stocks for a brawl. Wolsey, at the time of
the ignominious punishment, was schoolmaster to the children of the
Marquis of Dorset. Paulet was confined to this house for five or six
years, to appease the proud cardinal, who lived in Chancery Lane. Sir
Amyas rebuilt his prison, covering the front with badges of the
cardinal. It was afterwards "Nando's," a famous coffee-house, where
Thurlow picked up his first great brief. One night Thurlow, arguing here
keenly about the celebrated Douglas case, was heard by some lawyers with
delight, and the next day, to his astonishment, was appointed junior
counsel. This cause won him a silk gown, and so his fortune was made by
that one lucky night at "Nando's." No. 17 was afterwards the place where
Mrs. Salmon (the Madame Tussaud of early times) exhibited her waxwork
kings and queens. There was a figure on crutches at the door; and Old
Mother Shipton, the witch, kicked the astonished visitor as he left.
Mrs. Salmon died in 1812. The exhibition was then sold for L500, and
removed to Water Lane. When Mrs. Salmon first removed from St.
Martin's-le-Grand to near St. Dunstan's Church, she announced, with true
professional dignity, that the new locality "was more convenient for the
quality's coaches to stand unmolested." Her "Royal Court of England"
included 150 figures. When the exhibition removed to Water Lane, some
thieves one night got in, stripped the effigies of their finery, and
broke half of them, throwing them into a heap that almost touched the
ceiling.

Tonson, Dryden's publisher, commenced business at the "Judge's Head,"
near the Inner Temple gate, so that when at the Kit-Kat Club he was not
far from his own shop. One day Dryden, in a rage, drew the greedy
bookseller with terrible force:--

"With leering looks, bull-faced, and speckled fair,
With two left legs and Judas-coloured hair,
And frowzy pores that taint the ambient air."

The poet promised a fuller portrait if the "dog" tormented him further.

Opposite Mrs. Salmon