sponging-houses

That he should have shared Gilbert à Beckett's dislike of Jews was perhaps to be accounted for by his having in his youth been detained on two occasions in "sponging-houses," though through no fault of his own; and visiting the sins of the lowest upon the whole race, as is the orthodox practice, he displayed towards them something of Alonzo Cano's ill-will and more than his power of ill-doing.

The History of "Punch" M. H. Spielmann

He was an untiring worker, and in the poorest quarters of the town, in the prisons and the sponging-houses, he sought out souls to save.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux 1840-1916 1913

Garrick deserved his fame and his fortune, his splendid successes and {43} his shining rewards; but the grand, rough writer of books did not deserve his buffets and mishaps, his ferocious hungers, his acquaintanceship with sponging-houses, and all the catalogue of his London agonies.

A History of the Four Georges and of William IV, Volume III (of 4) Justin McCarthy 1871

Let the improvident literary hack; the starved impecunious Grub Street debtor; the newspaper frequenter of sponging-houses, remember this in their criticisms of the vile and slavish Yankee.

Condensed Novels Bret Harte 1869

Cursitor Street was in the eighteenth century noted for its sponging-houses, and many a reference is made to it in contemporary literature.

Holborn and Bloomsbury The Fascination of London Walter Besant 1868

Such roaring Squires as these would have been much better bestowed in the Messengers 'Houses; but these were all full, likewise the common gaols; nay, the debtors' prisons and vile sponging-houses were taken up by Government for the temporary incarceration of suspected persons.

The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 2 of 3 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... George Augustus Sala 1861

He was repeatedly impounded by lawyers, and locked up in sponging-houses.

Thrift Samuel Smiles 1858

In justice to the poets of the present day, it may be noticed that they have improved on their brethren in Johnson's time, who were, according to Lord Macaulay, hunted by bailiffs and familiar with sponging-houses, and who, when hospitably entertained, were wont to disturb the household of the entertainer by roaring for hot punch at four o'clock in the morning.

Dreamthorp A Book of Essays Written in the Country Alexander Smith 1848

Opening off from Chancery Lane are various other small lanes, quiet, dingy nooks, some of them in the guise of streets going no whither, some being thoroughfares to other dingy streets beyond, in which sponging-houses abound, and others existing as the entrances to so-called Inns of Court -- inns of which all knowledge has for years been lost to the outer world of the laity, and, as I believe, lost almost equally to the inner world of the legal profession.

Can You Forgive Her? 1993

Opening off from Chancery Lane are various other small lanes, quiet, dingy nooks, some of them in the guise of streets going no whither, some being thoroughfares to other dingy streets beyond, in which sponging-houses abound, and others existing as the entrances to so-called Inns of Court — inns of which all knowledge has for years been lost to the outer world of the laity, and, as I believe, lost almost equally to the inner world of the legal profession.

Can you forgive her? 1864