true. That he suffered in consequence of the
trial is certain. After he entered his private room, when the trial was
over, his strength had so far deserted him that his son was obliged to
put his hat on for him. But he quickly recovered his spirits; and on his
way home, in passing through Charing Cross, he pulled the check-string,
and said, 'It just occurs to me that they sell here the best herrings in
London; buy six.' Indeed Dr. Turner, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, who
accompanied him in his carriage, said that so far from his nerves being
shaken by the hootings of the mob, Lord Ellenborough only observed that
their saliva was worse than their bite....

"When Hone was tried before him for blasphemy, Lord Tenterden treated
him with great forbearance; but Hone, not content with the indulgence,
took to vilifying the judge. 'Even in a Turkish court I should not have
met with the treatment I have experienced here,' he exclaimed.
'Certainly,' replied Lord Tenterden; 'the bowstring would have been
round your neck an hour ago.'"

That sturdy political writer, William Cobbett, lived at No. 183 (north),
and there published his _Political Register_. In 1819 he wrote from
America, declaring that if Sir Robert Peel's Bank Bill passed, he would
give Castlereagh leave to lay him on a gridiron and broil him alive,
while Sidmouth stirred the coals, and Canning stood by and laughed at
his groans. In 1827 he announced in his _Register_ that he would place a
gridiron on the front of his shop whenever Peel's Bill was repealed. The
"Small Note Bill" was repealed, when there was a reduction of the
interest of the National Debt. The gridiron so often threatened never
actually went up, but it was to be seen a few years ago nailed on the
gable end of a candle manufacturer's at Kensington. The two houses next
to Cobbett's (184 and 185) are the oldest houses standing in Fleet
Street.

"Peele's Coffee-House" (Nos. 177 and 178, north side) once boasted a
portrait of Dr. Johnson, said to be by Sir Joshua Reynolds, on the
keystone of the mantelpiece. This coffee-house is of antiquity, but is
chiefly memorable for its useful files of newspapers and for its having
been the central committee-room of the Society for Repealing the Paper
Duty. The struggle began in 1858, and eventually triumphed, thanks to
the president, the Right Hon. Milner Gibson, and the chairman, the late
Mr. John Cassell. The house within the last few years has been entirely
re