There is much history of London involved in this casual mention by Johnson of the Mint. It was originally built by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in the reign of Henry VIII; it was forfeited to the crown, and was afterwards used for coining, whence the name, which extended to the whole neighbourhood. The neighbourhood became a sanctuary for debtors and persons of yet worse fame, from which fact it derived its evil reputation, and the allusions to it made by Pope:-
'Then from the Mint walks forth the man of rhyme,
Happy! to catch me just at dinner time.'—Prologue to the Satires, 13.