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diff --git a/43866-0.txt b/43866-0.txt index a7ff047..ff1591c 100644 --- a/43866-0.txt +++ b/43866-0.txt @@ -1,42 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of -2), by Charles G. Harper - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of 2) - A Picturesque Account of the Ancient and Storied Hostelries - of Our Own Country - -Author: Charles G. Harper - -Illustrator: Charles G. Harper - -Release Date: October 2, 2013 [EBook #43866] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND, VOL II *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43866 *** THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND @@ -7396,360 +7358,4 @@ of Yore_, vol. i., p. 46. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of 2), by Charles G. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of 2) - A Picturesque Account of the Ancient and Storied Hostelries - of Our Own Country - -Author: Charles G. Harper - -Illustrator: Charles G. Harper - -Release Date: October 2, 2013 [EBook #43866] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND, VOL II *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND - - - - -WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR - - -The Portsmouth Road, and its Tributaries: To-day and in Days of Old. - -The Dover Road: Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. - -The Bath Road: History, Fashion, and Frivolity on an Old Highway. - -The Exeter Road: The Story of the West of England Highway. - -The Great North Road: The Old Mail Road to Scotland. Two Vols. - -The Norwich Road: An East Anglian Highway. - -The Holyhead Road: The Mail-Coach Road to Dublin. Two Vols. - -The Cambridge, Ely, and King's Lynn Road: The Great Fenland Highway. - -The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford, and Cromer Road: Sport and History on an -East Anglian Turnpike. - -The Oxford, Gloucester, and Milford Haven Road: The Ready Way to South -Wales. Two Vols. - -The Brighton Road: Speed, Sport, and History on the Classic Highway. - -The Hastings Road and the "Happy Springs of Tunbridge." - -Cycle Rides Round London. - -A Practical Handbook of Drawing for Modern Methods of Reproduction. - -Stage-Coach and Mail in Days of Yore. Two Vols. - -The Ingoldsby Country: Literary Landmarks of "The Ingoldsby Legends." - -The Hardy Country: Literary Landmarks of the Wessex Novels. - -The Dorset Coast. - -The South Devon Coast. [_In the Press._ - - - - -[Illustration: A MUG OF CIDER: THE "WHITE HART" INN, CASTLE COMBE. _Photo -by Graystone Bird._] - - - - - THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND - - _A PICTURESQUE ACCOUNT OF THE - ANCIENT AND STORIED HOSTELRIES - OF OUR OWN COUNTRY_ - - - VOL. II - - BY CHARLES G. HARPER - - - [Illustration] - - _Illustrated chiefly by the Author, and from Prints - and Photographs_ - - - LONDON: - CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED - 1906 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - PRINTED AND BOUND BY - HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., - LONDON AND AYLESBURY. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. A POSY OF OLD INNS 1 - - II. THE OLD INNS OF CHESHIRE 58 - - III. INNS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS 79 - - IV. INNS WITH RELICS AND CURIOSITIES 109 - - V. TAVERN RHYMES AND INSCRIPTIONS 130 - - VI. THE HIGHEST INNS IN ENGLAND 144 - - VII. GALLOWS SIGNS 150 - - VIII. SIGNS PAINTED BY ARTISTS 161 - - IX. QUEER SIGNS IN QUAINT PLACES 184 - - X. RURAL INNS 210 - - XI. THE EVOLUTION OF A COUNTRY INN 235 - - XII. INGLE-NOOKS 240 - - XIII. INNKEEPERS' EPITAPHS 245 - - XIV. INNS WITH ODD PRIVILEGES 255 - - XV. INNS IN LITERATURE 261 - - XVI. VISITORS' BOOKS 291 - - - - -[Illustration: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS] - - -SEPARATE PLATES - - A MUG OF CIDER: THE "WHITE HART" INN, CASTLE COMBE. - (_Photo by Graystone Bird_) _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - THE CROMWELL ROOM, "LYGON ARMS" 8 - - THE DINING-ROOM AT "THE FEATHERS," LUDLOW 22 - - COURTYARD OF THE "MAID'S HEAD," NORWICH, SHOWING THE JACOBEAN - BAR 42 - - THE "BELL," BARNBY MOOR: MEET OF LORD GALWAY'S HOUNDS 56 - - THE "FOUR SWANS," WALTHAM CROSS 152 - - SIGN OF THE "PACK HORSE AND TALBOT," TURNHAM GREEN 194 - - THE "RUNNING FOOTMAN," HAY HILL 194 - - INTERIOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" 196 - - "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," BLUEPITTS, NEAR ROCHDALE 196 - - THE "TALBOT," RIPLEY. (_Photo by R. W. Thomas_) 212 - - THE "ANCHOR," RIPLEY, IN THE DAYS OF THE DIBBLES AND THE - CYCLING BOOM. (_Photo by R. W. Thomas_) 214 - - THE "SWAN," SANDLEFORD 216 - - THE "SWAN," NEAR NEWBURY 216 - - THE INGLE-NOOK, "WHITE HORSE" INN, SHERE 240 - - INGLE-NOOK AT THE "SWAN," HASLEMERE 242 - - THE INGLE-NOOK, "CROWN" INN, CHIDDINGFOLD 244 - - INGLE-NOOK, "LYGON ARMS," BROADWAY 246 - - THE "VINE TAVERN," MILE END ROAD 258 - - YARD OF THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON 288 - - THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON 288 - - -ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT - - Vignette, Toby Fillpot _Title-page_ - - PAGE - - List of Illustrations, The "Malt-shovel," Sandwich vii - - The Old Inns of Old England 1 - - Doorway, the "Lygon Arms" 3 - - The "Lygon Arms" 5 - - The "Bear," Devizes 11 - - Yard of the "Bear," Devizes 15 - - The "George," Andover 17 - - The "Feathers," Ludlow 19 - - Decorative Device in Moulded Plaster, from Ceiling of - Dining-room, the "Feathers," Ludlow 25 - - The "Peacock," Rowsley 27 - - The "White Hart," Godstone 31 - - The Old Window, "Luttrell Arms" 39 - - Doorway, "The Cock," Stony Stratford 43 - - Yard of "The George," Huntingdon 45 - - The "Bell," Stilton 49 - - The "Red Lion," Egham 53 - - The "Old Hall" Inn, Sandbach 59 - - Dog-gates at Head of Staircase, "Old Hall" Inn, Sandbach 61 - - The "Bear's Head," Brereton 63 - - The "Lion and Swan," Congleton 67 - - The "Cock," Great Budworth 71 - - The "Pickering Arms," Thelwall 73 - - The "King Edgar" and "Bear and Billet," Chester 75 - - A Deserted Inn: The "Swan," at Ferrybridge 83 - - The Old "Raven," Hook 86 - - The "Hearts of Oak," near Bridport 88 - - The "Bell" Inn, Dale Abbey 90 - - The "Windmill," North Cheriton 91 - - The "Castle" Inn, Marlborough 95 - - Garden Front, "Castle" Inn, Marlborough 99 - - "Chapel House" Inn 103 - - "White Hart" Yard 107 - - A "Fenny Popper" 111 - - The "Bell," Woodbridge 112 - - The "Red Lion," Martlesham 113 - - "Dean Swift's Chair," Towcester 115 - - Boots at the "Bear," Esher 117 - - The "George and Dragon," Dragon's Green 119 - - The "White Bull," Ribchester 120 - - Boots of the "Unicorn," Ripon 121 - - The "Red Lion," Chiswick 123 - - The Old Whetstone 125 - - Hot Cross Buns at the "Widow's Son" 127 - - The "Gate" Inn, Dunkirk 132 - - The "Gate Hangs Well," Nottingham 133 - - Tablet at the "George," Wanstead 141 - - "Tan Hill" Inn 145 - - The "Cat and Fiddle," near Buxton 147 - - The "Traveller's Rest," Kirkstone Pass 149 - - The "Greyhound," Sutton 151 - - The "Fox and Hounds," Barley 154 - - The "George," Stamford 155 - - The "Swan," Fittleworth 158 - - The "Red Lion," Hampton-on-Thames 159 - - The "Man Loaded with Mischief" 163 - - Sign of the "Royal Oak," Bettws-y-Coed 173 - - Sign of the "George and Dragon," Wargrave-on-Thames. - (_Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A._) 176 - - Sign of the "George and Dragon," Wargrave-on-Thames. - (_Painted by J. E. Hodgson, R.A._) 177 - - The "Row Barge," Wallingford. (_Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A._) 178 - - The "Swan," Preston Crowmarsh 178 - - The "Windmill," Tabley 179 - - The "Smoker" Inn, Plumbley 179 - - The "Ferry" Inn, Rosneath 180 - - The "Ferry" Inn, Rosneath 180 - - The "Fox and Pelican," Grayshott 181 - - The "Cat and Fiddle," near Christchurch 182 - - The "Cat and Fiddle," near Christchurch 182 - - The "Swan," Charing 189 - - Sign of the "Leather Bottle," Leather Lane. (_Removed 1896_) 191 - - Sign of the "Beehive," Grantham 193 - - Sign of the "Lion and Fiddle," Hilperton 195 - - The "Sugar Loaves," Sible Hedingham 195 - - Sign of the "Old Rock House" Inn, Barton 197 - - The "Three Horseshoes," Great Mongeham 198 - - Sign of the "Red Lion," Great Missenden 198 - - Sign of the "Labour in Vain" 199 - - The "Eight Bells," Twickenham 201 - - Sign of the "Stocks" Inn, Clapgate, near Wimborne 202 - - The "Shears" Inn, Wantage 202 - - Sign of the "White Bear," Fickles Hole 203 - - The "Crow-on-Gate" Inn, Crowborough 205 - - The "First and Last" Inn, Sennen 206 - - The "First and Last," Land's End 207 - - The "Eagle and Child," Nether Alderley 209 - - The "White Horse," Woolstone 211 - - The "Halfway House," Rickmansworth 215 - - The "Rose and Crown," Mill End, Rickmansworth 216 - - The "Jolly Farmer," Farnham 217 - - The "Boar's Head," Middleton 218 - - The "Old House at Home," Havant 219 - - "Pounds Bridge" 221 - - Yard of the "George and Dragon," West Wycombe 223 - - The Yard of the "Sun," Dedham 225 - - The "Old Ship," Worksop 226 - - The "Old Swan," Atherstone 227 - - The "King's Arms," Sandwich 229 - - The "Keigwin Arms," Mousehole 230 - - The "Swan," Knowle 231 - - Sign of the "Swan," Knowle 232 - - The "Running Horse," Merrow 233 - - Ingle-nook at the "Talbot," Towcester 243 - - Tipper's Epitaph, Newhaven 251 - - Preston's Epitaph, St. Magnus-the-Martyr 253 - - "Newhaven" Inn 257 - - House where the Duke of Buckingham died, Kirkby Moorside 265 - - The "Black Swan," Kirkby Moorside 267 - - Washington Irving's "Throne" and "Sceptre" 270 - - Yard of the "Old Angel," Basingstoke 279 - - The "White Hart," Whitchurch 281 - - The "Bell," Tewkesbury 285 - - The "Wheatsheaf," Tewkesbury 287 - - Henley-in-Arden, and the "White Swan" 301 - - - - -[Illustration] - - -THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND - - - - -CHAPTER I - -A POSY OF OLD INNS - - "Shall I not take mine ease at mine inn?" - - -In dealing with the Old Inns of England, one is first met with the great -difficulty of classification, and lastly with the greater of coming to a -conclusion. There are--let us be thankful for it--so many fine old inns. -Some of the finest lend themselves to no ready method of classifying. -Although they have existed through historic times, they are not historic, -and they have no literary associations: they are simply beautiful and -comfortable in the old-world way, which is a way a great deal more keenly -appreciated than may commonly be supposed in these times. Let those who -will flock to Metropoles and other barracks whose very names are evidence -of their exotic style; but give me the old inns with such signs as the -"Lygon Arms," the "Feathers," the "Peacock," and the like, which you still -find--not in the crowded resorts of the seaside, or in great cities, but -in the old English country towns and districts frequented by the -appreciative few. - -I shall not attempt the unthankful office of determining which is the -finest among these grand old English inns whose title to notice rests upon -no adventitious aid of history, but upon their antique beauty, combined -with modern comfort, alone, but will take them as they occur to me. - -Let us, then, imagine ourselves at Broadway, in Worcestershire, and at the -"Lygon Arms" there. The village, still somewhat remote from railways, was -once an important place on the London and Worcester Road, and its long, -three-quarter-mile street is really as broad as its name implies; but -since the disappearance of the coaches it has ceased to be the busy stage -it once was, and has became, in the familiar ironic way of fortune, a -haven of rest and quiet for those who are weary of the busy world; a home -of artists amid the apple-orchards of the Vale of Evesham; a slumberous -place of old gabled houses, with mullioned and transomed windows and -old-time vanities of architectural enrichment; for this is a district of -fine building-stone, and the old craftsmen were not slow to take advantage -of their material, in the artistic sort. - -[Illustration: DOORWAY, THE "LYGON ARMS."] - -Many enraptured people declare Broadway to be the prettiest village in -England, and the existence of its artist-colony perhaps lends some aid to -their contention; but it is not quite that, and although the long single -street of the place is beautiful in detail, it does not compose a picture -as a whole. One of the finest--if not indeed the finest--of those detailed -beauties is the grand old stone front of the "Lygon Arms," built, as the -"White Hart" inn, so long ago as 1540, and bearing that name until the -early part of the last century, when the property was purchased by the -Lygon family, whose head is now Earl Beauchamp, a title that, although it -looks so mediæval, was created in 1815. In more recent times the house was -purchased by the great unwieldy brewing firm of Allsopp, but in 1903 was -sold again to the present resident proprietor, Mr. S. B. Russell, and so -has achieved its freedom and independence once more. The "Lygon Arms," -however, it still remains, its armorial sign-board displaying the heraldic -coat of that family, with their motto, _Ex Fide Fortis_. - -The great four-gabled stone front of the "Lygon Arms" gives it the air of -some ancient manor-house, an effect enhanced by the fine Renaissance -enriched stone doorway added by John Trevis, an old-time innkeeper, who -flourished in the reigns of James the First and Charles the First, and -whose name, together with that of his wife, Ursula, and the date, 1620, -can still be plainly seen. John Trevis (or "Treavis," as the name was -sometimes spelled) ended his hostelling in 1641, as appears by a rubbing -from his memorial brass from Broadway old church, prominently displayed in -the hall of the house. - -[Illustration: THE "LYGON ARMS."] - -The house has during the last few years been gradually brought back to its -ancient state, and the neglect that befell on the withdrawal of the -road-traffic repaired. But not merely neglect had injured it. The -ancient features had suffered greatly in the prosperous times at the -opening of the nineteenth century, when the stone mullions of nearly all -the windows were removed and modern glass and wooden sashes inserted. The -thing seems so wanton and so useless that it is difficult to understand, -in these days of reversion to type. A gas-lamp and bracket had at the same -time been fixed to the doorway, defacing the stonework, and where -alterations of this kind had not taken place, injury of another sort arose -from the greater part of the inn being unoccupied and the rest degraded to -little above the condition of an ale-house. - -All the ancient features have been reinstated, and a general restoration -effected, under the advice of experts, and in the "Lygon Arms" of to-day -you see a house typical of an old English inn of the seventeenth century. - -There is the Cromwell Room, so named from a tradition that the Protector -slept in it the night before the Battle of Worcester. It is now a -sitting-room. A great carved stone fireplace is the chief feature of that -apartment, whose beautiful plaster ceiling is also worthy of notice. There -is even a tradition that Charles the First visited the inn on two or three -occasions; but no details of either his, or Cromwell's, visits, survive. - -Quaint, unexpected corners, lobbies and staircases abound here, and -ancient fittings are found, even in the domestic kitchen portion of the -house. In the entrance-hall is some very old carved oak from Chipping -Campden church, with an inscription no man can read; while, to keep -company with the undoubtedly indigenous old oak panelling of the so-called -"Panelled Room," and others, elaborate ancient firebacks and open grates -have been introduced--the spoil of curiosity shops. Noticeable among these -are the ornate fireback in the Cromwell Room and the very fine specimen of -a wrought-iron chimney-crane in the ingle-nook of a cosy corner by the -entrance. - -While it would be perhaps too much to say that Broadway and the "Lygon -Arms" are better known to and appreciated by touring Americans than by our -own people, they are certainly visited very largely by travellers from the -United States during the summer months; the fame of Broadway having spread -over-sea very largely on account of the resident American artist-colony -and Madame de Navarro, who as Mary Anderson--"our Mary"--figured -prominently on the stage, some years since. - -Those travellers who in the fine, romantic, dangerous old days travelled -by coach, or the more expensive, exclusive, and aristocratic post-chaise, -to Bath, and selected the Devizes route, came at that town to one of the -finest inns on that road of exceptionally fine hostelries. The "Bear" at -Devizes was never so large or so stately as the "Castle" at Marlborough, -but it was no bad second, and it remains to-day an old-fashioned and -dignified inn, the first in the town; looking with something of a -county-family aloofness upon the wide Market-place and that -extraordinary Gothic cross erected in the middle of it, to the memory of -one Ruth Pierce, of Potterne, a market-woman, who on January 25th, 1753, -calling God to witness the truth of a lie she was telling, was struck dead -on the instant. - -[Illustration: THE CROMWELL ROOM, "LYGON ARMS."] - -The "Bear," indeed, is of two entirely separate and distinct periods, as -you clearly perceive from the strikingly different character of the front -buildings. The one is a haughty structure in dark stone, designed in that -fine architectural style practised in the middle of the eighteenth century -by the brothers Adam; the other has a plastered and painted frontage, fine -in its way, but bespeaking rather the Commercial Hotel. In the older -building, to which you enter up flights of steps, you picture the great -ones of the earth, resting on their way to or from "the Bath," in a -setting of Chippendale, Sheraton or Hepplewhite furniture; and in the -other the imagination sees the dignified, prosperous "commercial -gentlemen" of two or three generations ago--was there ever, anywhere, -another order of being so supremely dignified as they were?--dining, with -much roast beef and port, in a framing of mahogany sideboards and -monumentally heavy chairs stuffed with horse-hair--each treating the -others with a lofty and punctilious ceremonial courtesy, more punctilious -and much loftier than anything ever observed in the House of Peers. - -The "Bear" figures in the letters of Fanny Burney, who with her friend -Mrs. Thrale was travelling to Bath in 1780. They took four days about -that business, halting the first night at Maidenhead, the second at the -"Castle," Speen Hill, and the third here. In the evening they played -cards, the lively Miss Burney declaring to her correspondent that the -doing so made her feel "old-cattish": whist having ever been the resort of -dowagers. Engaged upon this engrossing occupation, the strains of music -gradually dawned upon their attention, coming from an adjoining room. Did -they, as many would have done, thump upon the intervening wall, by way of -signifying their disapproval? Not at all. The player was rendering the -overture to the _Buono Figliuola_--whatever that may have been--and -playing it well. Mrs. Thrale went and tapped at the door whence these -sweet sounds came, in order to compliment the unknown musician; whereupon -a handsome girl whose dark hair clustered finely upon a noble forehead, -opened the door, and another invited Mrs. Thrale and Miss Burney to -chairs. These pretty creatures were the daughters of the innkeeper. They -were well enough, to be sure, but the wonder of the family was away from -home. "This was their brother, a most lovely boy of ten years of age, who -seems to be not merely the wonder of their family, but of the times, for -his astonishing skill at drawing. They protest he has never had any -instruction, yet showed us some of his productions that were really -beautiful." - -[Illustration: THE "BEAR," DEVIZES.] - -This marvel was none other than Thomas Lawrence, the future painter of -innumerable portraits of the wealthy and the noble, who rose to be P.R.A. -and to knighthood at the hands of George the Fourth. His father, at this -time landlord of the "Bear," seems to have been a singularly close -parallel to Mr. Micawber in fiction, and to Mr. John Dickens in real life. -The son of a Presbyterian minister, and articled to a solicitor, he turned -aside from writs and affidavits and practical things of that kind, to the -making of verses; and the verse-making, by a sort of natural declension, -presently led him to fall in love, and to run away with the pretty -daughter of the vicar of Tenbury, in Worcestershire. He tried life as an -actor, and that failed; as a surveyor of excise, with little better -result; and then became landlord of the "White Lion" at Bristol, the house -in which his son Thomas, the future P.R.A., was born, in 1769. In 1772 he -removed to Devizes, and took the "Bear": not an inconsiderable -speculation, as the description of the house, already given, would lead -one to suspect. Some unduly confiding person must have lent the shiftless, -but engaging and gentlemanly, fellow the capital, and it is to be feared -he lost by it, for although in the pages of _Columella_, a curious work of -fiction published at that time, Lawrence is styled "the only man upon the -road for warm rooms, soft beds, and--Oh, prodigious!--for reading Milton," -his innkeeping was a failure. - -Notwithstanding those "warm rooms and soft beds," which rather remind you -of Mr. W. S. Gilbert's lines in _The Mountebanks_-- - - Excellent eating, - Good beds and warm sheeting, - That never want Keating, - Afford a good greeting - To people who stop at my inn-- - -Lawrence had to relinquish the "Bear." He was known as a "public-spirited -landlord, who erected at his own expense signal-posts twelve feet high, -painted white, to guide travellers by night over Salisbury Plain"; but, -although he was greatly commended for that public spirit, no profit -accrued from it. Public spirit in a public-house--even though it be that -higher order of public-house styled an hotel--is out of place. - -At the early age of five the innkeeper's son Thomas became distinctly an -asset. He was as many-sided as a politician who cannot find place in his -own party and so, scenting opportunities, seeks preferment with former -enemies. Young Lawrence it would, however, be far prettier to compare with -a many-faceted diamond. He shone with accomplishments. A beautiful boy, -his manners, too, were pleasing. He was kissed and petted by the ladies, -and to the gentlemen he recited. He painted the portraits, in curiously -frank and artless profile, of all guests who would sport half a guinea for -the purpose, and between whiles would be found in the yard, punching the -heads of the stable-boys, for he was alike born painter and pugilist! - -A less beautiful nature than his would early have been spoiled by so much -notice, but to the end of his long and phenomenally successful career -Lawrence retained a courtly, but natural and frank, personality. As a boy -he was introduced to the guests of the "Bear" by his fond father in this -wise: "Gentlemen, here's my son; will you have him recite from the poets, -or take your portraits?" and in this way he held forth in such great -presences as those of Dr. Johnson, Garrick, Foote, Burke, Sheridan, and -Mrs. Siddons. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "BEAR," DEVIZES.] - -But the business of the "Bear" languished under the proprietorship of the -elder Lawrence. Probably many of the guests resented what was rightly -styled "the obtrusive pertinacity" of the fond father, and being -interrupted in their talk, or disturbed at the engrossing occupation of -winning and losing money at cards, by the appearance of this _wunderkind_. -By the time the genius was eleven years of age the family had left -Devizes, and were being entirely supported by his growing skill in the -painting of pleasing likenesses! - -If the front of the house, with its odd effigy of a black bear eating a -bunch of grapes, is fine, much finer, in the picturesque way, is the back, -where, from the stable-yard, you see a noble range of Ionic columns, -rather lost in that position, and surmounted as they are with gables of a -Gothic feeling, looking as though the projector of some ambitious classic -extension had begun a great work without counting the cost of its -completion, and so had ingloriously to decline upon a humble ending. - -The "George" at Andover, whatever importance it once possessed, now -displays the merest slip of frontage. It is, in essentials, a very old -house, with a good deal of stout timber framing in odd corners: all more -or less overlaid with the fittings of a modern market inn. The "George" -figures in what remains probably the most extraordinary solicitor's bill -on record: the account rendered to Sir Francis Blake Delaval, M.P., by -his attorney, for work done during one of the Andover elections. It is a -document famous in the history of Parliamentary contests, and it was the -subject of an action in the King's Bench. The most outstanding item of it -was: "To being thrown out of the window of the 'George' inn, Andover.--To -my leg being thereby broken.--To Surgeon's bill and loss of time and -business.--All in the service of Sir Francis B. Delaval----£500." - -[Illustration: THE "GEORGE," ANDOVER.] - -It seems that this unfortunate attorney owed his flight through the window -to his having played a practical joke upon the officers of a regiment -stationed at Andover, to whom he sent invitations for a banquet at the -"George" on the King's birthday, purporting to come from the Mayor and -corporation, and similar invitations to the Mayor and corporation, -supposed to come from the officers. The two parties met and dined, but, -preparing to depart, and each thanking the others for the hospitality, the -trick was disclosed, and the author of it, who had been rash enough to -attend, to see for himself the success of his joke, was seized and flung -out of the window by the enraged diners. - -Turn we now to Shropshire, to that sweet and gracious old town of Ludlow, -where--albeit ruined--the great Castle of the Lords Presidents of the -Council of the Marches of Wales yet stands, and where many an ancient -house belonging to history fronts on to the quiet streets: some whose -antique interiors are altogether unsuspected of the passer-by, by reason -of the Georgian red-brick fronts or Early Victorian plaster faces that -have masked the older and sturdier construction of oaken beams. I love the -old town of Ludlow, as needs I must do, for it is the home of my forbears, -who, certainly since the days of Elizabeth, when the registers of the -Cathedral-like church of St. Lawrence begin, lived there and worked -there in what was their almost invariable handicraft of joining and -cabinet-making, until quite recent years. - -[Illustration: THE "FEATHERS," LUDLOW.] - -The finest old timber-fronted, black-and-white house in Ludlow is the -"Feathers" inn, in Corve Street. There are many ancient and picturesque -hostelries in England, but none finer than the "Feathers," and it is -additionally remarkable for being as exquisite within as without. You see -its nodding gables and peaked roofs among the earliest of the beautiful -things of Ludlow, as you come from the railway-station and ascend the -steep Corve Street, that leads out of the town, into Corve Dale. - -Very little is known of the history of the "Feathers." The earliest deed -relating to the property is dated August 2nd, 1609, when it appears to -have been leased from a member of the Council of the Marches, one Edward -Waties of Burway, by Rees Jones and Isabel, his wife. Ten years later, -March 10th, 1618-9, Rees Jones purchased the fee-simple of the house from -Edward Waties and his wife, Martha: other parties to the transaction being -Sir Charles Foxe, of Bromfield, and his son Francis, respectively father -and brother of Martha Waties. The purchase price of the freehold was £225. -In neither of those transactions is the house called the "Feathers," or -even referred to as an inn; nor do we know whether Rees Jones purchased -the existing house, or an older one, on this site. It seems probable, -however, that this is the original mansion of some personage connected -with the ancient government of the Welsh marches, or perhaps the "town -house" of the Foxes of Bromfield in those times when every Shropshire -squire of wealth and standing repaired for a season every year with his -family from his country seat to Shrewsbury or Ludlow; the two resorts of -Society in those days when London, in the toils, dangers, and expenses of -travelling, was so far removed that it was a place to be seen but once or -twice in a lifetime. - -Rees Jones seems to have remodelled the mansion as an inn, and there is -every likelihood that he named it the "Feathers" in honour of Henry, -Prince of Wales, elder brother of Charles the First, who died in 1612; or -perhaps in celebration of Prince Charles being, in his stead, created -Prince of Wales, in 1616, when there were great rejoicings in Ludlow, and -masques in "The Love of Wales to their Sovereign Prince." How more loyal -could one be--and how more certain to secure custom at such a -juncture--than to name one's inn after the triply feathered badge of a -popular Prince? - -The door of the "Feathers" appears to be the original entrance of Rees -Jones' day. No prospect of unwelcome visitors bursting through that -substantial oak, reinforced by the three hundred and fifty or so iron -studs that rather grimly spangle the surface of it, in defensive -constellation. Even the original hinges remain, terminated decoratively by -wrought-iron fleurs-de-lys. The initials of Rees Jones -himself--R.I.--are cut in the lock-plate. - -[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM AT "THE FEATHERS," LUDLOW.] - -The "Feathers" was the local "Grand Hotel" or "Metropole" of that day, and -was the resort of the best, as may be perceived by the ancient fittings -and decorations, carried out in all the perfection possible to that time. -From the oak-panelled hall you proceed upstairs to the principal room, the -Large Dining-Room, looking out, through lozenge-paned windows, upon the -ancient carved-oak balcony overhanging the street. - -It is a handsome room, with elaborately decorated ceiling. In the centre -is a device, in raised plaster, of the Royal Arms of the reign of James -the First, surrounded by a star-like design of grapes and vines, -decoratively treated; showing, together with the free repetition of grapes -and vine-tendrils over other portions of the ceiling, that this symbolic -decorative work was executed especially for the inn, and not for the house -in any former existence as a private residence. - -The carved oak overmantel, in three compartments, with a boldly rendered -representation of the Royal arms and supporters of Lion and Unicorn, is -contemporary with the ceiling, and there is no reason to doubt it having -been made for the place it occupies, in spite of the tradition that tells -of its coming from the Castle when that historic fortress and palace was -shamefully dismantled in the reign of George the Third. The room is -panelled throughout. - -Everything else is in keeping, but it should not--and could not--be -supposed that the Jacobean-style and Chippendale furniture is of any old -local association. Indeed, there are many in Ludlow who remember the time -when the "Feathers" was furnished, neither comfortably nor artistically, -with Early Victorian horse-hair stuffed chairs and sofas of the most -atrocious type. It has been reserved for later days to be more -appreciative of the value and desirability of having all things, as far as -possible, in keeping with the age of the house. - -Thus, we are not to think the fireback in this dining-room an old -belonging of the inn. It is, indeed, ancient, and bears the perfectly -genuine Lion and Dragon supporters and the arms of Queen Elizabeth, but it -was purchased at the Condover Hall sale, in 1897. - -The Small Dining-room is panelled with oak, dark with age, to the ceiling, -and the Jacobean carved work enriching the fireplace is only less -elaborate than that of the larger dining-room. The old grate and Flemish -fireback, although also genuine antiques, were acquired in London, in -1898; but an old carved panel over the door, bearing the arms of Foxe and -Hacluit, two Shropshire families prominent in the seventeenth century, is -in its original place. The impaled arms are interesting examples of -"canting," or punning, heraldry: three foxes' heads indicating the one -family, and "three hatchets proper" that of Hacluit, or "Hackeluit," as it -was sometimes written. The shield of arms is flanked on either side by a -representation of a "water-bouget." - -Further upstairs, the bedroom floors slope at distinct angles, in sympathy -with the bending gables without. - -[Illustration: DECORATIVE DEVICE IN MOULDED PLASTER, FROM CEILING OF -DINING-ROOM, THE "FEATHERS," LUDLOW.] - -There are numerous instances of old manor-houses turned to commercial -account as hostelries: among them the "Peacock" inn at Rowsley, near -Chatsworth. As may be seen from the illustration, it is a building of -fine architectural character, and was, in fact, built in 1652, at a time -when the Renaissance was most vigorous and inspired. The precise date of -the building is carved, plain for all men to see, on the semicircular -stone tympanum over the entrance-doorway, where it appears, with the old -owner's name, in this curious fashion: - - IOHNSTE - 16 52 - VENSON - -But ordinary type does not suffice to render the quaintness of this -inscription; for in the original the diagonal limbs of the N's are placed -the wrong way round. - -John Stevenson, who built the house, was one of an old Derbyshire family -who, in the reign of Elizabeth, were lords of the neighbouring manor of -Elton. From them it passed by marriage, and was for many generations -occupied as a farmhouse by a succession of gentlemen farmers, finally, in -1828, becoming an inn. - -The "Peacock" sign, carved in stone over the battlemented front, is in -allusion to the well-known peacock crest of the Manners family, Dukes of -Rutland, whose ancestral seat of Haddon Hall is less than two miles -distant. - -[Illustration: THE "PEACOCK," ROWSLEY.] - -Up to the period of its conversion into an inn the house was fronted by a -garden. A roadway, very dusty in summer, now takes its place, but there is -still left at the side and rear of the old house one of the most -delightful of old-world gardens, leading down to the Derwent: a garden of -shady trees, emerald lawns, and lovely flower-beds that loses nothing -of its beauty--and perhaps, indeed, gains an additional charm--from the -railway and Rowsley station adjoining. The garden of the "Peacock," and -the cool, shady hall and the quiet panelled rooms of the "Peacock," are in -fact welcome sanctuaries of rest for the weariful sightseer at Rowsley and -the neighbouring Chatsworth: a desirable refuge in a district always -absurdly overrated, and nowadays absolutely destroyed in the touring -months of summer by the thronged brakes and wagonettes from Matlock and -Bakewell, and infinitely more by the hulking, stinking motor-cars that -maintain a continuous haze of dust, a deafening clatter, and an offensive -smell in these once sweetly rural roads. - -In the days before the great George, successively Prince of Wales, Prince -Regent, and last monarch of the Four Georges, had reared his glittering -marine palace at Brighton, the only route to that sometime fisher-village -lay by Caterham, Godstone, East Grinstead and Lewes. It was, indeed, not -precisely the road to Brighton, but to that old-world county town of -Sussex, Lewes itself. There were always people wanting to go to Lewes, and -many others who went very much against their inclination; for it was then -the centre of county business, and there were generally misdemeanants in -plenty to be prosecuted or hanged in that grim castle on the hillside. Up -to about 1750, therefore, you travelled in style to Lewes, and if you were -so eccentric as to wish to proceed to "Brighthelmstone" (which was then -the lengthy way of it) you relied of necessity for those last eight or ten -miles upon the most worthless shandrydan that the "Star" inn could -produce; for mine host was not likely to risk his best conveyance upon the -rough track that then stretched between Lewes and the sea. - -This primitive condition of affairs gave place shortly afterwards to roads -skilfully and especially engineered, directly towards Brighton itself. The -riotous world of youthful fashion raced along those newer roads, and the -staid, immemorial highway to Lewes was left to its own old respectable -routine. And so it remains to-day. You may reach Brighton by the shortest -route from London in 51-1/2 miles, but by way of Lewes it is some -fifty-nine. Need it be said that the shortest route, here as elsewhere, is -the favourite? - -But for picturesqueness, and for quaint old inns, the road by Lewes -should, without doubt, be selected. - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HART" GODSTONE.] - -The first of these is the famous "White Hart" at Godstone. I say "famous"; -but, after all, is it nowadays famous among many classes? Among cyclists, -yes, for it is well within twenty miles from London, and the pretty little -hamlet of Godstone Green, with its half-dozen old inns, among them the -"Hare and Hounds," the "Bell," and the "Rose and Crown," nearly all -sketchable, has ever been a kind of southern Ripley among clubmen. In -coaching days, however, and in days long before coaching, when you got -upon your horse and bumped in the saddle to your journey's end, the -"White Hart" was truly famous among all men. The old house, according to a -painted wall-sign inscribed in the choicest Wardour Street English, was -established in "ye reigne of Kynge Richard ye 2nd" and enlarged in that of -Queen Elizabeth; and if there be indeed little of King Richard's time to -point to, there are many Elizabethan and Queen Annean and Early Georgian -features which make up in pictorial quality what they lack in antiquity. -The "White Hart" sign itself is in some sort evidence of the age claimed -for the original house, for it was of course the well-known badge of King -Richard. At the present day the couchant White Hart himself is displayed -on one side of the swinging sign, and on the other the many-quartered -shield of the local landowners, the Clayton family, and the house has -become known in these latter days indifferently by the old title, or as -the "Clayton Arms." - -The old-world gabled front of the inn would be strikingly beautiful in any -situation, but the peculiarly appropriate old English rural setting -renders it a subject for a painting or a theatrical scene. It is -especially beautiful in spring, when the young foliage still keeps its -freshness and the great horse-chestnut trees opposite are in bloom. - -The old "White Hart" is a world too large for these days of easy and -speedy travel. True, Godstone station is incredibly far away, but -conceive anyone save the sentimentalist staying the night, when within -twenty miles of London and home! Hence those echoing corridors, those -empty bedrooms, the tarnished mirrors and utter stillness of the outlying -parts of mine host's extensive domain. Snug comfort, however, resides in -and near what some terrible lover of the sham-antique has styled, in -modern paint upon the ancient woodwork, "Ye Barre." - -Ye Goddes! the old house does not want _that_, nor any others of the many -such inscriptions, the work, doubtless, of the defunct Smith, who was at -once cook, gardener, artist of sorts, entertainment-organiser and musician -(also of sorts), and ran riot, the matter of a decade or so since, over -the house with pots of Aspinall's facile enamels and a paintbrush, with -what results we see to this day. - -One would by no means like to convey the impression that the "White Hart" -is deserted. Let those who judge by its every-day rustic quiet visit it on -the Saturdays and Sundays of summer and glance at the great oak-raftered -dining-room, crowded with cyclists. Indeed, this fine old hostelry -requires a leisured inspection and a more intimate knowledge than merely -that of a passing visit. Then only shall you peer into the odd nooks of -the long stable-yard, or, adventuring perchance by accident into the -wash-house, see with astonishment and delight the old-world garden beyond. - -If it be a wet day, and the traveller stormbound, why then some -compensation for the villainies of the weather may be found in a voyage -of discovery through the echoing rooms, and from the billiard-room that -was the old kitchen you may turn, wearying of billiards, to the long, -dusty and darkling loft, under the roof, to see in what manner of place -our ancestors of Queen Elizabeth's, and even of Queen Anne's, days held -revel. For here it was that the players played interludes, and probably -were funnier than they intended, when their heads came into violent -collision with the sloping rafters and made the unfeeling among the -audience laugh. If the essence of humour lie indeed in the unexpected, as -some contend, _how_ humorous those happenings! - -In a later age, when the mummers had departed, the loft was used as -Assembly Rooms, for dances and other social occasions; but now it is -solitary, and filled only with memories and cobwebs. - -From Godstone, the old road to Brighthelmstone goes by Blindley Heath and -New Chapel, and thence comes into Sussex at East Grinstead, in which -thriving little market-town the "Dorset Arms" is conspicuous, with its -sedately beautiful frontage, brave show of flowers in window-boxes, and -row of dormer windows in the roof. There is a delightful old-world garden -in the rear, sloping down to a rustic valley, and commanding lovely views. -The "Dorset Arms" still displays the heraldic coat of the Dukes of Dorset, -although the last Duke has been dead nearly a hundred years, and though -the memories of their lavishness, their magnificence, and their -impatience as they posted to and from their seat at Buckhurst Park, eight -miles distant, have locally faded away. - -But the inn has one arresting modern curiosity. In days before Mr. Alfred -Austin was made Poet Laureate, and became instantly the cockshy and Aunt -Sally of every sucking critic, the landlord of the "Dorset Arms" placed in -gilded letters over his doorway a quotation from the poet's _Fortunatus -the Pessimist_, telling us that-- - - There is no office in this needful world - But dignifies the doer, if well done. - -And there it still remains; but precisely what it is intended, in that -situation, to convey remains unexplained. Whether the landlord is the -"doer," or the waiter, or the boots, or if they are all, comprehensively, -to be regarded as dignified doers, is a mystery. - -There was no lack of accommodation on this old road. The traveller had -jogged it on but seven miles more when he came at Nutley to a very small -village with a very large hostelry which, disdaining any mere ordinary -sign, proclaimed itself the "Nutley Inn." It does so still, but although -it is a fine, handsome, four-square mansion-like building, it looks a -little saddened by changed times and at being under the necessity of -announcing, in those weird and wonderful words, "Petrol" and "Garage," a -dependence upon motor-cars. - -Another five miles, and at the little town of Uckfield, we have the -"Maiden's Head," an early eighteenth-century inn with Assembly-room -attached and a wonderful music gallery, rather larger than the "elevated -den" at the "Bull," Rochester. The interior of the "Maiden's Head" at -Uckfield is a good deal more comfortable than would be suspected from its -brick front, with the semicircular bays painted in a compromise between -white and a dull lead colour. At Lewes the traveller came to the "Star" -inn, a worthy climax to this constellation, with the fine old staircase -brought from Slaugham Place, as its chief feature: but the "Star" has of -late been demolished. - -One of the finest in this posy of old inns is the "Luttrell Arms," away -down in Somersetshire, in the picturesque village of Dunster, on the -shores of the Severn Sea. Dunster is noted for its ancient castle, for its -curious old Yarn Market in the middle of the broad street, and no less for -the "Luttrell Arms." A fine uncertainty clings about the origin and the -history of this beautiful house. Because of the Gothic timbered roof of -the "oak room," with hammer-beams and general construction somewhat -resembling the design of the roof of Westminster Hall, and because of the -very ecclesiastical-looking windows giving upon the courtyard, a vague -tradition still lingers in the neighbourhood that the house was once a -monastery. Nothing has survived to tell us who built this fine -fifteenth-century structure, or for what purpose; but, while facts are -wanting, the most likely theory remains that it was provided as a town -residence for the Abbots of Cleeve, the Abbey whose ruins may still be -found, in a rural situation, three miles away. In the governance and -politics of such an Abbey, an Abbot's residence in a centre such as -Dunster was would be a highly desirable thing. There, almost under the -shadow of the great feudal castle of the Mohuns, purchased in 1376 by the -Luttrells, who still own the property, the Abbots were in touch with the -great world, and able to intrigue and manage for the interests of the -Church in general and of the Abbey in particular, much better than would -have been possible in the cloistered shades of Cleeve. The Luttrells no -doubt gave the land, and possibly even built the house for the Abbots; and -when the Reformation came and conventual properties were confiscated, they -simply received back what their ancestors had given away. - -The front of the "Luttrell Arms" has been very greatly modernised, with -the exception of the ancient projecting stone porch, which still keeps on -either side the cross-slits in the masonry, commanding the length of the -street, whence two stout marksmen with cross-bows could easily defend the -house. Above, the shield of arms of the Luttrells, carved in stone, -displays their black martlets on a gold ground, and serves the inn for a -sign. - -The beautiful carved oak windows in the courtyard somewhat resemble the -great window of the "Old King's Head" at Aylesbury. Here the view extends -beautifully across the gardens of the inn, over the sea, to Blue Anchor. - -[Illustration: THE OLD WINDOW, "LUTTRELL ARMS."] - -A curious seventeenth-century plaster fireplace overmantel, moulded in -high relief, is a grotesque ornament to one of the bedrooms. It displays a -half-length of a man with a singular likeness to Shakespeare, and dressed -like a page-boy, in "buttons," presiding over the representation of a very -thin and meagre Actæon being torn to pieces by his dogs, which, in -proportion to Actæon himself, seem to be about the size of moderately -large cows. Two figures of women, with faces like potatoes, dressed in -Elizabethan or Jacobean costume, flank this device, in the manner of -caryatides. A number of somewhat similar plaster chimney-pieces are to be -found in North Somerset and North Devon, notably a fine one at the -"Trevelyan Arms," Barnstaple: obviously all the handiwork of one man. - -At Norwich, a city of ancient inns that are, in general, more delightful -to sketch and to look at than to stay in, we have the "Maid's Head," an -exceptionally fine survival of an Elizabethan, or slightly earlier, house. -It is an "hotel" now, and sanitated and electrically lighted up to -twentieth-century requirements; and has, moreover, an "Elizabethan" -extension, built in late Victorian times. But, in spite of all those -modern frills and flounces, the central portion of the "Maid's Head" still -wears its genuine old-world air. - -That there was an inn on this site so early as 1287 we learn from the -records of the Norwich Corporation, which tell how "Robert the fowler" was -brought to book in that year on suspicion of stealing the goods of one -John de Ingham, then staying at a tavern in the Cook Row, a street -identified with Tombland, the site of the "Maid's Head." The reasoning -that presumed the guilt of Robert the fowler seems to the modern mind -rather loose, and the presentment itself is worded with unconscious -humour. By this it seems that he was suspect "because he spends much and -has nothing to spend from, and roves about by night, and he is ill -thought of." _Ergo_, as the old wording proceeds, "it must have been he -that stole John de Ingham's goods at his tavern in the Cook Rowe." - -Relics of a building of the Norman period, thought to be remains of a -former Bishop's Palace, are still visible in the cellars of the "Maid's -Head." - -The ancient good repute of the inn is vouched for by a passage in the -well-known _Paston Letters_, painted boldly in white lettering on the -great oaken entrance-door of the house. It is from a note written by John -Paston in 1472 to "Mestresse Margret Paston," in which he advises her of a -visitor, and says, "I praye yow make hym goode cheer, and iff it be so -that he tarye, I most remembre hys costes; thereffore iff I shall be sent -for, and he tery at Norwich there whylys, it were best to sette hys horse -at the Maydes Hedde, and I shalbe content for ther expences." - -The ancient name of the house was the "Molde Fish," or "Murtel Fish"; but -precisely what species of fish that was, no one has ever discovered. It -was long an article of belief in Norwich that this now inexplicable sign -was changed to the present one as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth on her -first visit to Norwich, in 1578; but, as we see by the _Paston Letters_, -it was the "Maid's Head" certainly as far back as 1472. A portion of the -carved work on the chimney-piece of the present smoking-room represents a -dubious kind of a fish, said to be intended for the skate, or ray, once -known familiarly in Norwich as "old maid"; but the connection between it -and the old sign (if any) seems remote. - -Probably the most interesting item at the "Maid's Head" is the Jacobean -bar, an exceptionally fine example of seventeenth-century woodwork, of -marked architectonic character, and, as a bar, unique. Now that the -courtyard to which it opened is roofed in, its preservation is assured, at -the expense of the genuine old open-air feature, for which the modern -lounge is a poor exchange. - -Journeying from Norwich to the sea at Yarmouth, we find there, among the -numerous hotels of that populous place, that highly interesting house, the -"Star," facing the river at Hall Quay. The "Star" is older than a first -glance would lead the casual visitor to suspect; and a more prolonged -examination reveals a frontage built of black flints elaborately, and with -the greatest nicety, chipped into cubes: one of the most painstaking kinds -of labour it is possible to conceive. The house, built in the reign of -Queen Elizabeth, has been an inn only since about 1780. It has an -interesting history, having been erected as the combined business premises -and place of residence of one William Crowe, a very considerable merchant -in his day, and High Bailiff of Yarmouth in 1606. The lower part of the -premises was at that time the business portion, while the upper was that -worshipful merchant's residence; traders, both by retail and by wholesale, -within the kingdom and overseas alike, not then having arrived at being -ashamed of their business. How honestly proud William Crowe was of his -position as a merchant we may still see, in the great and beautiful -oak-panelled room on the first floor of his old house, the fine apartment -now known as the "Nelson Room"; for there, prominently carved over the -generous fireplace, you see the arms of the Merchant Adventurers of -England, a company of traders of which he was a member. The oak-panelling -here, reaching from floor to ceiling, itself beautifully decorated, is -most elaborately designed in the Renaissance way, with fluted Corinthian -pilasters, supporting grotesque male and female terminal figures. This -noble room is now the Coffee-room of the hotel. - -[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE "MAID'S HEAD," NORWICH SHOWING THE -JACOBEAN BAR.] - -[Illustration: DOORWAY, "THE COCK," STONY STRATFORD.] - -It should be said that the name of "Nelson" is purely arbitrary in this -connection, for the "Star" has no historic associations with the Admiral. -The name was given the room merely from the fact that a portrait of Nelson -hangs on its walls. - -In this posy of old inns, whose sweet savour reconciles the traveller to -many hateful modern portents, mention must be made of the "George" at -Odiham. At an inn styled the "George" you do expect, more than at any -other sign, to find old-fashioned comfort; and here, at that little -forgotten townlet of Odiham, lying secluded away back from the Exeter -Road, with its one extravagantly broad and singularly empty street, and no -historic memories much later than the reign of King John, you have a -typical cheery hostelry whose white frontage looks coaching age -incarnated, and whose interior surprises you--as often these old houses -do--with oaken beams and Elizabethan panelled coffee-room and Jacobean -overmantel. The fuel-cupboard, with finely wrought hinges, at the side of -the fireplace, is as celebrated in its way, among connoisseurs of these -things, as the Queen Anne angle-cupboard at the "New Inn," New Romney. Not -least among the attractions of the "George" is the beautiful old-fashioned -garden at the back, looking out towards the meads and the trout-streams, -that make Odiham (whose name, by the way, originally "Woodyham," is -pronounced locally like "Odium") a noted place among anglers. - -[Illustration: YARD OF "THE GEORGE," HUNTINGDON.] - -Interesting in a less rural--and indeed a very urban way--is the "Cock" -inn, at Stony Stratford, on the Holyhead Road, with its fine red brick -frontage to the busy high road, its imposing wrought-iron sign, and, in -especial, its noble late seventeenth-century ornately carved and highly -enriched oak doorway, brought, it would appear, from the neighbouring -mansion of Battlesden Park. As may be gathered from the illustration, this -exquisite work of art very closely resembles, in general character, the -carved interior doorways of Wren's City of London churches, often ascribed -to Grinling Gibbons. - -In this posy of old hostelries we must at least mention that fine old -anglers' inn, the "Three Cocks" in Breconshire, which, like the "Craven -Arms," between Ludlow and Church Stretton, and those more familiar and -vulgar examples in London, the "Bricklayers' Arms" and the "Elephant and -Castle," has conferred its name upon a railway-station. And mention must -be made of the cosy, white-faced "Wellington," at Broadstairs, occupying a -kind of midway place between the old coaching inn and the modern huge -barrack hotel, and, with its lawn looking upon the sea and the beach, -select and quiet in the very midst of the summer crowds of that miniature -holiday resort. - -In any competition as to which old inn had the ugliest frontage, the "Red -Horse" at Stratford-on-Avon, and the "George" at Huntingdon would probably -tie for first place; but the courtyard of the "George" makes amends, and -is one of the finest anywhere in existence, as the illustration serves to -show. - -A fine old house, with a still finer old sign, is that old coaching -hostelry, the "Bell," at Stilton, formerly one of the largest and most -important of the many great and indispensable inns that once ministered to -the needs of travellers along the Great North Road. The "Bell" was the -original inn of Stilton, and the "Angel," opposite, is a mere modern -upstart of Queen Anne's time. Queen Anne is a monarch of yesterday when -you think of the old "Bell"; which is, indeed, older than it looks, for, -prying closely into the architecture of its golden, yellow-brown structure -of sandstone, it will be seen that the house is really a Late Gothic -building distressingly modernised. Modernised, that is to say, in a very -necessary reservation, considerably over a century ago. That is the last -note of modernity at the "Bell." The windows, it will be noticed, were -once all stone-mullioned, and portions of the ancient stonework not cut -away to receive commonplace Georgian wooden sashes, are still distinctly -visible. Looking at the competitive "Angel" opposite, now and for long -since, like the "Bell" itself, sadly reduced in circumstances since that -era of mail- and stage-coaching and expensive posting in chaise and four, -you perceive at once the reason for that alteration in the "Bell." It was -an effort to become, as an auctioneer might say, "replete with every -modern convenience." - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," STILTON.] - -Now the glory of Stilton, in particular, and of the road in general, is -departed, and the rival inns are alike reduced to wayside ale-houses. At -the "Bell"--the once hospitable--they look at you with astonishment when -you want to stay the night, and turn you away. Doubtless they do so also -at the "Angel," whose greater part is now a private residence. - -The great feature of the "Bell" is its sign, which, with the mazy and -intricate curls and twists and quirks of its wrought-iron supports, -projects far into the road. The sign itself is painted on copper, for sake -of lightness, but it has long been necessary to support it with a crutch -in the shape of a stout post, just as you prop up the overweighted branch -of an apple-tree. The sign-board itself--if we may term that a "board" -which is made of metal--was in the old days a certain source of income to -the coachmen and guards who wagered, whenever possible, with their -passengers, on the size of it. Foolish were those who betted with them, -for, like the cunning bride who took a bottle of the famous water of the -Well of St. Keyne to church, they were prepared; and although bets on -certainties are, contrary to the spirit, and all the laws, of sport, they -were sufficiently unprincipled to receive the winnings that were -inevitable, since they had early taken the measure of it. - -The sign, in fact, measures 6 ft. 2-3/4 inches in height. - -The "Bell" is, or should be, famous as the inn where "Stilton" cheese was -first introduced to an appreciative and unduly confiding world. It was an -old-time landlord, the sporting Cooper Thornhill, who flourished, and rode -horseback in record time to London and back to Stilton again, about 1740, -to whom the world was thus originally indebted. He obtained his cheese -from a Mrs. Paulet of Wymondham, who at first supplied him with this -product of her dairy for the use of coach-passengers dining at his table. -Her cheeses at once appealed to connoisseurs, and Thornhill presently -began to supply them to travellers eager to take this new-found delicacy -away with them. He was too business-like a man to disclose the secret of -their origin, and it was long supposed they came from a dairy at Stilton -belonging to him. He did so well for himself, charging half-a-crown a -pound, that others entered the lucrative trade, and you could no more -journey through Stilton without having a Stilton cheese (metaphorically) -thrown at your head than you can halt to-day at Banbury station without -hearing the musical cry of "Ba-anbury Ca-a-akes!" - -Then Miss Worthington, landlady of the "Angel" opposite, began also to -supply Stilton cheeses. Rosy, plump, and benevolent-looking--apparently -one in whom there was no guile--she would ask passengers if they would not -like to take away with them a "real Stilton cheese." All went well for a -while, and Stilton cheeses tasted none the worse because they were not -made there. And then the terrible secret was disclosed. - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," EGHAM.] - -"Pray, sir, would you like a nice Stilton cheese to take away with you?" -asked the unsuspecting landlady one day, as a coach drew up. - -"Do you say they are made at Stilton?" asked the passenger. - -"Oh yes," said she. - -Then came the crushing rejoinder: "Why, Miss Worthington, you know -perfectly well that no Stilton cheese was ever made at Stilton: they're -all made in Leicestershire; and as you say your cheeses are made at -Stilton, they cannot be good, and I won't have one." - -It is the merest commonplace to say that time works wonders. We know it -does: wonders not infrequently of the most unpleasant kind. When we find -time bringing about marvels of the pleasant and desirable sort I think we -should account ourselves fortunate. - -There are marvels nowadays being wrought on the Great North Road in -particular, and others in general, in that entirely felicitous manner. I -do not here make allusion to the electric tramways that monopolise the -best part of the roadways out of London for some ten miles or so of the -old romantic highways. Not at all; in fact, far otherwise. The particular -miracles I am contemplating are the works undertaken by the Road Club of -the British Isles, in the re-opening of ancient hostelries long ago -retired into private life, and in bringing back to the survivors a second -term of their old-time prosperity. The Road Club, largely consisting of -motorists, encourages touring, and has set out upon a programme of -interesting all lovers of the countryside in country quarters. The Great -North Road is dotted here and there with the inns it has revived: the "Red -Lion" at Hatfield, the "George" at Grantham, and so forth, and it has -entirely purchased and taken over the management of the "Royal County -Hotel" at Durham and the "Bell" at Barnby Moor. - -I am in this place not so greatly concerned to hold forth upon the others, -but the case of the "Bell" is remarkable. Some years since, in writing the -picturesque story of the Great North Road,[1] I discoursed at length upon -the history of that remarkably fine old hostelry, which was then, and for -close upon sixty years had been, a private country residence. Railways had -been too much for it, and the licence had been surrendered, and postboys -and the whole staff dispersed. - -And now? Why now the "Bell," or "Ye Olde Bell," as I perceive the Road -Club prefers to style it, is an inn once more. I forget how many thousands -of pounds have been expended in alterations, and in re-installing the -establishment; but it has become in three equal parts, as it were, inn, -club-house and farm-house, fully licensed, with golf-links handy. Here -come the motor tourists, and here meet Lord Galway's hounds, and, in -short, the ancient glories of the "Bell" are, with a modern gloss, -revived. If the spirits of the jolly old landlords can know these things, -surely they are pleased. - -Among the old coaching-inns sadly fallen from their former estate, and -now surviving only in greatly altered circumstances, in a mere corner of -the great buildings they once occupied, is the "Red Lion," Egham; once one -of the largest and finest inns on the Exeter Road. - -The "Red Lion" may, for purposes of comparison, be divided into three -parts. There is the old gabled original portion of the inn, probably of -late seventeenth-century date, now used as a medical dispensary, forming -two sides of a courtyard, recessed from the road, and screened from it by -an old wrought-iron railing; and added to it, perhaps eighty years later, -an imposing range of eighteenth-century red-brick buildings, partly in use -as offices for the local Urban District Council and in part a "Literary -Institute," and a world too large for both. This great building is even -more imposing within; its immense cellarage, large ball-, or -assembly-room, noble staircases, and finely panelled walls, the now -neglected witnesses of a bygone prosperity. Traditions still survive of -how George the Fourth used to entertain his Windsor huntsmen here. In the -rear was stabling for some two hundred horses. Most of it has been cleared -away, but the old postboys' cottages still remain in the spacious yard. -The remaining part of the "Red Lion," still carried on as an inn, presents -a white-stuccoed, Early Victorian front to the high road. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," BARNBY MOOR: MEET OF LORD GALWAY'S HOUNDS.] - -Not many inns are built upon crypts. Examples have already been referred -to in these volumes, but another may be mentioned, in the case of the -"Lamb" inn at Eastbourne; while the "Angel" at Guildford is a well-known -instance. No one, looking at the modern-fronted "Angel," one of the -foremost hotels of Guildford, would be likely to accuse it of owning an -Early English crypt, but it has, in fact, an exceptionally fine one of -three bays, supported by two stone pillars. The ancient history of this -undercroft is unknown, and merely a matter for conjecture. - -At the "Angel" itself antiquity and modernity meet, for while fully -equipped for twentieth century convenience, it has good oak panelling of -the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the fine hall and elsewhere. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE OLD INNS OF CHESHIRE - - -Cheshire, that great fertile plain devoted almost exclusively to -dairy-farming, is without doubt the county richest in old inns: inns for -the most part built in the traditional Cheshire style--of timber and -plaster: the style variously called "half-timbered," "magpie," or "black -and white." Of these the "Old Hall" at Sandbach is the finest and most -important, having been built originally as the manor-house, about the time -of Queen Elizabeth, the inscription, "16 T.B. 56" on a portion of the long -frontage, probably marking repairs, or an extension of the building, at -that period. - -Sandbach is a place famous among antiquaries for its remarkable -ninth-century sculptured monolith crosses, and thus the traveller comes to -it with a mental picture, evolved entirely out of his own inner -consciousness, of some sweet and quiet old country town, left long ago -outside the range of modern things. But Sandbach is not in the least like -that. It is a huddled-together little town, very busy, very roughly paved -with stone setts, rather dirty and untidy, and apparently possessed with -an ambition for new buildings, both public and private, which shall be -as much as possible unlike the old Cheshire style. These are surprises for -the pilgrim, whose life-long illusions are finally squelched when he is -told, gently but firmly, and with a kind of pity for his ignorance, that -the place-name is not pronounced "Sandback," with a "k," but "Sandbach," -with an "h,"--"as it is spelt," the inhabitants crushingly add. - -[Illustration: THE "OLD HALL" INN, SANDBACH.] - -The poor old crosses stand in the market-place. They have suffered many an -injury in their time, and now are islanded amid a sea of market-litter, -and are black and grimy. Close by them stands the "Black Bear" inn, a -nodding old half-timbered and thatched "Free" house, with the inscription, -"16 R K 34." The lower part is merely brick, but this has been painted -white with black stripes, in a more or less laudable attempt to imitate -the genuine timber and plaster of the upper storey. - -Just off this market-place, opposite the church, stands the "Old Hall" -inn, facing the road in a long range of imposing panelled and gabled -building, partly fronted by a beautiful lawn. No changes have spoiled the -"Old Hall," which, save for the fact that it has long been an inn, remains -very much as it was built. It is the property of the Earl of Crewe. - -Stout oaken floors and dark oak panelling furnish the old house -throughout. You enter the capacious bar through a Jacobean screen and -drink mellow home-brewed in the appropriately mellow light that comes -between oaken Elizabethan mullions and through leaded casements. It is not -by any fanciful figure of speech that the traveller quenches his thirst -here at the "Old Hall" in a tankard of home-brewed. The house, in fact, -brews its own ale, and supplies it largely to the farm-houses of the -neighbourhood; and a very pretty tipple it is, too. - -[Illustration: DOG-GATES AT HEAD OF STAIRCASE, "OLD HALL" INN, SANDBACH.] - -There are at least three very fine carved oak Jacobean fire-places and -overmantels in the house, the finest that in the public parlour; and at -the head of the broad staircase remains a curious relic of old times--the -"dog-gates" that formerly shut out the domestic pets of the establishment -from the bedrooms--and in fact do so still. - -Not so large, but in some respects finer even than the "Old Hall," the -"Bear's Head" at Brereton, five miles from Sandbach, shows most of its -beauty on the outside. It was built in 1615, as the date carved on the -lovely old timbered porch declares, and in days when the Breretons of -Brereton Hall still ruled; as their bear's-head crest, their shield of -arms, and the initials "W. M. B.," prove. Their old home, Brereton Hall, -close by, is traditionally the original of Washington Irving's -"Bracebridge Hall." - -Brereton village is among the smallest of places, and the inn, itself as -noble as many an old manor-house, is neighboured only by a few scattered -cottages. But, however insignificant the village, the inn was once, and -long continued to be, a very busy posting-house on a frequented route -between London and Liverpool, as the eighteenth-century additions to the -house bear witness. The additional wing, built at that period, is by no -means an attractive feature, and fortunately does not obtrude itself in -general views of the inn from the best points of view; but the magnificent -range of stables added at the same date, on the opposite side of the road, -although, of course, not in keeping with the black-and-white timbering of -the original building, compose well, artistically, with it, and form in -themselves a very fine specimen of the design and the brickwork of that -time. - -[Illustration: THE "BEAR'S HEAD," BRERETON.] - -The "Lion and Swan" at Congleton is one of the best and most picturesque -features of that old-time manufacturing town, more remarkable for its huge -old factory buildings, and its narrow, sett-paved streets in which the -clogs of the work-folk continually clatter, than for its beauty. The "Lion -and Swan," therefore, is a distinct asset in the picturesque way, with its -beautiful black-and-white gables and strongly emphasised entrance-porch. -Within it is all timbered passages and raftered rooms, pleasantly -irregular. - -One of the most striking of the natural features of Cheshire is the -isolated hill rising abruptly from the great plain near Alderley, and -known as Alderley Edge. So strange an object could hardly fail to impress -old-time imaginations, or be without its correspondingly strange legends, -and the Edge is, in fact, the subject of a legend well known as the -"Wizard of Alderley," which in its turn has given its title to the -"Wizard" inn. - -According to this mystical tale, which is of the same order as the -marvellous legends of King Arthur and the wise Merlin, a farmer, "long -years ago," was going to Macclesfield Fair to sell a fine milk-white -horse, when, on passing the hill, a "mysterious stranger" suddenly -appeared before him and demanded the horse. Not even in those times of -"long years ago," when all manner of odd things happened, did farmers give -up valuable animals on demand, and (although the story does not report it) -he probably said some extremely rude and caustic things to the stranger; -who, at any rate, told him that the horse would not be sold at the fair. -He added that when the farmer returned in the evening, he would meet him -on the same spot, and would receive the horse. - -The Wizard, for it was none other, had spoken truly. Many people at the -fair admired the milk-white steed, but none offered to buy, and the farmer -wended his way home again. In most cases, with the prospect of such a -meeting, a farmer--or any one else--would have gone home some other way; -but, in that case, there would have been no legend; so we are to imagine -him come back at eventime, under the shadow of the Edge, with the Wizard -duly awaiting him. - -Not a word was spoken, but horse and farmer were led to the hillside, -where, with a sound like that of distant thunder, two iron gates opened, -and a magic cave appeared, wherein he saw many milk-white steeds, each -with an armed man sleeping by its side. He was told, as a metrical version -of the legend has it: - - These are the caverned troops, by Fate - Foredoomed the guardians of our State. - England's good genius here detains - These armed defenders of our plains, - Doomed to remain till that fell day - When foemen marshalled in array - And feuds internecine, shall combine - To seal the ruin of our line! - Thrice lost shall England be, thrice won, - 'Twixt dawn of day and setting sun. - Then we, the wondrous caverned band, - These mailèd martyrs for the land, - Shall rush resistless on the foe. - -[Illustration: THE "LION AND SWAN," CONGLETON.] - -From the crystal cave where these wonders were seen, the farmer was -conducted to a cave of gold, filled with every imaginable kind of wealth, -and there, in the shape of "as much treasure as he could carry," he -received better payment for his horse than he would ever have obtained at -Macclesfield, or any other, fair. We may imagine him (although the legend -says nothing on that head) at this point asking the Wizard how many more -milk-white steeds he could do with, at the same price; but at this -juncture he was conducted back to the entrance, and the gates were slammed -to behind him. Strange to say, the "treasure," according to the story, -seems to have been genuine treasure, and did not, next morning, resolve -itself into the usual currency of dried sticks and yellow leaves in which -wizards and questionable old-time characters of that nature usually -settled their accounts. - -There are caves and crannies to this day in the wonderful hill, but the -real genuine magic cave has never been re-discovered. - -That odd early eighteenth-century character, "Drunken Barnaby," is -mentioned elsewhere in these pages. One of his boozy journeys took him out -of Lancashire into Cheshire, by way of Warrington and Great Budworth: - - Thence to the Cock at Budworth, where I - Drank strong ale as brown as berry: - Till at last with deep healths felled, - To my bed I was compelled: - I for state was bravely sorted, - By two porters well supported. - -The traveller will still find the "Cock" at Budworth, and will notice, -with some amusement, that the landlord's name is Drinkwater. The house is -looking much the same as in Barnaby's day, and has a painting, hanging in -the bar, picturing a very drunken Barnaby indeed being carried up to bed. -A sundial, bearing the date, 1851, and the inscription, "_Sol motu gallus -cantu moneat_," has been added, together with a well-executed picture-sign -of a gamecock: both placed by the late squire of Arley, Rowland Eyles -Egerton Warburton, who seems to have occupied most of his leisure in -writing verses for sign-posts and house-inscriptions all over this part of -Cheshire. The gamecock himself, it will be noted, has an oddly Gladstonian -glance. - -From Budworth, by dint of much searching and diligent inquiry, the pilgrim -on the borders of Cheshire and Lancashire at length discovers the hamlet -of Thelwall, a place situated in an odd byway between Warrington, Lymm, -and Manchester, in that curious half-picturesque and half-grimly -commercial district traversed by the Bridgewater and the Manchester Ship -Canals. - -Thelwall, according to authorities in things incredibly ancient, was once -a city, but the most diligent antiquary grubbing in its stony lanes and -crooked roads, will fail to discover any evidences in brick or stone of -that vanished importance, and is fain to rest his faith upon county -historians and on the lengthy inscription in iron lettering in modern -times fixed upon the wooden beams of the old "Pickering Arms" inn that -stands in midst of the decayed "city." By this he learns that, "In the -year 920, King Edward the Elder founded a cyty here and called it -Thelwall." And that is all there is to tell. It might have been a -Manchester or a Salford, had the situation been well chosen; but as it is, -it teaches the lesson that though a king may "found" a city, not all the -kingship, or Right Divine of crowned heads, will make it prosper, if it be -not placed to advantage. - -[Illustration: THE "COCK," GREAT BUDWORTH.] - -Chester itself is, of course, exceptionally rich in old inns, but Chester -has so long been a show-place of antiquities and has so mauled its -reverend relics with so-called "restorations" that much of their interest -is gone. The bloom has been brushed off the peach. - -One of the oldest inns of Chester is the little house at the corner of -Shipgate Street and Lower Bridge Street, known as the "King Edgar"; the -monarch who gives his name to the sign being that Anglo-Saxon "Edgar the -Peaceable" who reduced the England of his day to an unwonted condition of -law and order, and therefore fully deserves the measure of fame thus given -him. - -We are told by Roger of Wendover and other ancient chroniclers how, in the -year 962, King Edgar, coming to Chester in the course of one of his annual -progresses through the country he ruled, was rowed in a state barge upon -the river Dee by eight tributary kings; and one is a little puzzled to -know whence all these kings could have come, until the old monkish -accounts are fully read, when it appears that they were only kings in a -comparatively small way of business. According to Roger of Wendover, they -were Rinoth, King of Scots, Malcolm, King of the Cumbrians, Maco, King of -Mona and numerous islands, and five others: Dusnal of Demetia, Siferth and -Huwal of Wales, James, King of Galwallia, and Jukil, King of Westmoreland. - -The sign of the inn, a very old and faded and much-varnished painting, -displays that historic incident, and, gazing earnestly at it, you may -dimly discern the shadowy forms of eight oarsmen, robed in red and white, -and with golden crowns on their heads, rowing an ornate but clumsy craft, -while King Edgar stands in the stern sheets. Another figure in the bow -supports a banner with the sign of the Cross. The whole thing looks not a -little like a giant black-beetle crawling over a kitchen-table. - -[Illustration: THE "PICKERING ARMS," THELWALL.] - -Until quite recently the "King Edgar" inn was the most picturesquely -tumble-down building in Chester, a perfect marvel of dilapidation that no -artist could exaggerate, or any one, for that matter, care to house in. -But it has now not only been made habitable, but so "restored" that only -the outlines of the building, and that faded old sign, remain recognisably -the "King Edgar." It is now rather a smart little inn, displaying notices -of "Accomodation for Cyclists"--spelled with one "m"--and thus, so -renovated and youthful-looking, as incongruously indecent as one's -grandmother would be, were she to let her hair down and take to short -frocks again. - -Separated from it by only one house, and that as commonplace a building as -possible, suppressed so far as may be in the accompanying illustration, by -the adventitious aid of "artistic licence," is the "Bear and Billet" inn, -at this time, although repaired, in the most satisfactorily conservative -condition of any old inn at Chester. Its front is a mass of beautifully -enriched woodwork, under one huge, all-comprising gable. The "Bear and -Billet" was not always an inn. It has, in fact, declined from private -mansion to public, having originally been the town mansion of the Earls of -Shrewsbury, and remaining their property until 1867. Adjoining is the -Bridge Gate of the city, associated with the "Bear and Billet" by reason -of the fact that the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury, were hereditary -Sergeants of the Gate. Long after they had ceased to occupy the house as a -residence, they continued to reserve a suite of rooms in it, for use on -those state occasions when they resorted to Chester to act their -hereditary part. - -[Illustration: THE "KING EDGAR" AND "BEAR AND BILLET," CHESTER.] - -The "Falcon" inn, until recent years an unspoiled house whose nodding -gables and every time-worn timber were eloquent of the sixteenth century, -and the delight of artists--who, however eager they were to sketch it, -were not so ready to stay there--has been so extravagantly renovated, -in the worst sense of that word, when dealing with things ancient and -venerable, that although, during that work of renovation, much earlier -stonework and some additional old timbering were revealed and have been -preserved, their genuine character might well be questioned by a stranger, -so lavish with the scraping and the varnish were those who set about the -work. In short, the "Falcon" nowadays wears every aspect of a genuine -Victorian imitation of an Elizabethan house, and, while made habitable -from the tourist's point of view, is, artistically, ruined. - -In the same street we have the "Old King's Head" "restored" in like -manner, but so long since that it is acquiring again, by sheer lapse of -time and a little artistic remissness in the matter of cleaning, a hoary -look. Near by, too, is a fine house, now styling itself "Wine and Spirit -Stores," dated 1635. - -In Watergate Street is the "Carnarvon Castle," with one of the famed -Chester "rows" running in front of the first floor; while, opposite, the -"Custom House" inn, dated 1636 and in its unrestored original state, -recalls the far-distant time when Chester was a port. Indeed, at the -extremity of this street still stands the old "Yacht" inn, where Dean -Swift was accustomed to stay when he chose the Chester and Parkgate route -to Ireland. - -A catalogue of all the, in some way, odd inns of Chester would of -necessity be lengthy; but mention may here be made of the exquisitely -restored little "Boot" inn, dated 1643, in Eastgate Street, with a -provision-shop below and a "row" running above, and of the red-brick "Pied -Bull" and the adjoining stone-pillared "Old Bell"--"licensed 1494"--at the -extreme end of Northgate Street. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -INNS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS - - -That striking feature of the last few years, the voluntary or the -compulsory extinction of licences, with its attendant compensation, has -created not a little stir among people with short memories, or no -knowledge of their country, who cherish the notion, "once an inn, always -an inn," and forget the wholesale ruin that befell inns all over the land -upon the introduction of railways, causing hundreds of hostelries to close -their doors. The traveller with an eye for such things may still identify -these inns retired from business, chiefly by their old archways and -entries into stable-yards, but to the expert, even when those features are -absent, there is generally some indefinable air about a house once an inn -that singles it out from others. Such an one is the immense, four-square, -red-brick farm-house midway between Lichfield and Burton-on-Trent, once a -coaching- and posting-house famous in all that countryside as the "Flitch -of Bacon"; such was the exclusive "Verulam Arms" at St. Albans, where mere -plebeian coach-passengers wore not suffered, and only the high and mighty -who could afford post-chaises were condescended to. The "Verulam Arms" -had, however, the briefest of careers. Built in 1827, railways ruined it -in ten years, and, shorn of its vast stables, on whose site a church has -been built, it has ever since been in private occupation. In short, along -the whole course of the Holyhead Road the inns retired from business are -an especial feature, the village of Little Brickhill being little else -than a place of old hostelries and taverns of every class, whose licences -have long ago been surrendered, for lack of custom. Thus you may travel -through to Anglesey and be continually passing these evidences of the ruin -caused by railways, once so distressing to many interests, and a pitiful -commentary upon the activity of inventors; but long ago fallen back into -that historical perspective in which ruin and wrong become the sign-posts -of "progress." The chief inns that are inns no longer on this -north-western road through England are numerous; the minor taverns and -ale-houses that have closed their doors innumerable. Among others, we -have--speaking merely at a venture--the aristocratic "Bull's Head," -Meriden, the "Haygate" inn, near Wellington, the "Talbot," Atcham, -"Talbot," Shrewsbury, and "Prince Llewelyn," Cernioge--all establishments -of the first order; and if we turn to the Great North Road, a very similar -state of things is found. On that great highway the famous "Haycock" inn -at Wansford bravely kept its doors open until recent years, but could -endure no longer and is now a hunting-box belonging to Lord Chesham. The -"New Inn" at Allerton is now a farm-house; the celebrated "Blue Bell" on -Barnby Moor became a country seat, and the very moor itself is enclosed -and cultivated. The "Swan" and "Angel," both once great and prosperous -coaching-houses at the busy town of Ferrybridge, have ceased their -hospitality, and the "Swan" itself, once rather oddly kept by a Dr. -Alderson, who combined the profession of a medical man with the business -of innkeeping, has been empty for many years past, and stands mournfully, -falling into ruin, amid its gardens by the rive Aire. - -Quite recently, after surviving for over sixty years the coming of the -railway and the disappearance of the coaches from the Brighton Road, the -old "Talbot" at Cuckfield has relinquished the vain struggle for -existence, and old frequenters who come to it will find the house empty, -and the hospitable invitation over the doorway, "You're welcome, what's -your will?" become, by force of circumstances, a mockery. - -There is a peculiar eloquence in the Out-of-Date, the Has Been. -Institutions and ancient orders of things that have had their day need not -to have been intrinsically romantic in that day to be now regarded with -interest. Whether it be a road much-travelled in the days before railways, -and now traced only by the farm-labourer between his cottage and his daily -toil, or by the sentimental pilgrim; or whether it be the wayside inn or -posting-house retired from public life and now either empty or else -converted into a farm-house, there is a feeling of romance attaching to -them really kin to the sentiment we cherish for the ruined abbeys and -castles of the Middle Ages. - -Scouring England on a bicycle to complete the collection of old inns for -this book, I came, on the way from Gloucester to Bath, upon such a -superseded road, studded with houses that had once been coaching -hostelries and posting-houses and are now farmsteads; and others that, -although they still carry on their licensed trade, do so in strangely -altered and meagre fashion, in dim corners of half-deserted and -all-too-roomy buildings. It is thirty-four miles of mostly difficult and -lonely road between those two cities: a road of incredible hills and, when -you have come past Stroud and Nailsworth, of almost equally incredible -solitudes. You climb painfully up the north-westerly abutments of the -Cotswolds, to the roof of the world at a place well named Edge, and there -in a bird's-eye view you see Painswick down below, and thenceforward go -swashing away steeply, some three miles, down into the crowded -cloth-weaving town of Stroud, where most things are prosperous and -commonplace, and only the "Royal George Hotel" attracts attention, less -for its own sake than by reason of the lion and unicorn over its portico: -the lion very golden and very fierce, apparently in the act of coming down -to make a meal of some temerarious guest; the unicorn more than usually -milk-white and mild-mannered. - -[Illustration: A DESERTED INN: THE "SWAN," AT FERRYBRIDGE.] - -Beyond Nailsworth begin the hills again, and the loneliness intensifies -after passing the admirably-named Tiltups End. "How well the name figures -the gradient!" thinks the cyclist who comes this way and pauses, after -walking two miles up hill, to regain his breath. He has here come to the -very ideal of what we learned at school to be an "elevated plateau, or -table-land"; and a plaguy ill-favoured, inhospitable place it is, too, yet -not without a certain grim, hard-featured interest in its starveling -acres, its stone-walled, hedgeless fields, and distant spinneys. It is -interesting, if only serving to show that to our grandfathers, who -perforce fared this way before railways, their faring was not all jam. Nor -is it so to the modern tourist who--_experto crede_--faces a buffeting -head-wind in an inclement April, and encounters along these weary miles a -succession of snow-blizzards and hail-showers: all in the pursuit of -knowledge at first-hand. The way avoids all towns and villages, and all -wayfarers who can shift to do so avoid this way; and you who must trace it -have but occasional cottages, often empty and ruinous, or a lonely -prehistoric sepulchral barrow or so for company--and they are not -hilarious companions. Your only society is that rarely failing friend and -comforter--your map, and here even the map is lacking in solace, for when -it ceases to trace a merely empty road, it does so chiefly to chronicle -such depressing names as "Starveall," an uncomplimentary sidelight on the -poor land where neither farmers can live nor beasts graze; or others as -mysterious as "Petty France," a hamlet with two large houses that once -were inns. "Cold Ashton," too, is a name that excellently figures the -circumstances of the route. Even modern portents have a ghastliness all -their own, as when, noticing two gigantic, smoke-and-steam-spouting -ventilators, you realise that you are passing over the long Sodbury tunnel -of the new "South Wales Direct" branch of the Great Western Railway. - -Beyond this, in a wooded hollow at the cross-roads respectively to -Chipping Sodbury and Chippenham, you come past the wholly deserted -"Plough" inn to the half-deserted, rambling old coaching-and posting-inn -of "Cross Hands," where a mysterious sign, unexplainable by the innkeeper, -hangs out, exhibiting two hands crossed, with squabby spatulate fingers, -and the inscription "Caius Marius Imperator B.C. 102 Concordia Militum." -What it all means apparently passes the wit of man, or at any rate of -local man, to discover. - -Passing the solitudes of Dodington and Dirham parks, with the forbidding, -heavy, mausoleum-like stone lodges the old squires loved to erect as -outposts to their demesnes, and encountering a toll-house or so, the road -at last, three miles from Bath, dips suddenly down. You see, from this -eyrie, the smoke of Bath, the roofs of it and the pinnacles of its Abbey -Church, as it were in the bottom of a cup, and, ceasing your labour of -pedalling, you spill over the rim, into the very streets, feeling like a -pilgrim not merely from Gloucester, but from all the world. - -Notable among the inns retired from business is the little "Raven" at -Hook, on the Exeter Road, before you come to Basingstoke. It ceased in -1903 to be an inn, and the building has since been restored and converted -into a private residence styled the "Old Raven House." Built in 1653, of -sound oak framing, filled with brick-nogging in herring-bone pattern, it -has been suffered to retain all its old-world features of construction, -and thus remains an interesting specimen of seventeenth-century builders' -work. - -[Illustration: THE OLD "RAVEN," HOOK.] - -But it is on quite another count that the "Raven" demands notice here. It -was the wayside inn at which the infamous "Jack the Painter," the -incendiary of Portsmouth Dockyard, stayed on the way to accomplish his -evil purpose. - -James Hill, a Scotsman, and a painter by trade, went under the assumed -names of Hind and John Aitkin. Visiting America, he there acquired a -maniacal hatred for England, and returned with the design of setting fire -to all our great dockyards, and thus crippling our resources against the -foreign foe. On December 7th, 1776, he caused a fire at Portsmouth -Dockyard that wrought damage to the extent of £60,000. Arrested at Odiham -on February 7th, 1777, he was very speedily brought to trial at -Winchester, and executed on March 10th, being afterwards gibbeted, a good -deal higher than Haman, at Blockhouse Beach, from the mizzen-mast of the -_Arethusa_, especially set up there for the purpose, 64-1/2 feet high. One -of the choicest and most thrilful exhibits at the Naval Exhibition of 1891 -at Chelsea was a tobacco-stopper made out of a mummified finger of this -infernal rascal. - -The derelict inns of the Exeter Road are not so numerous, but a striking -example is found at West Allington, outside Bridport, where the old -"Hearts of Oak" stands forlorn, a small portion of it in private -occupation and a long range of stables and wayside smithy gradually -becoming ruinous and overgrown with ivy. The old lamp remains over the -door of the inn, and in it, typical of this picture of ruin, the sparrow -has built her nest. - -The most singular instance of an inn retired from business must surely be -that of the "Bell" at Dale, near Derby, but more singular still is the -circumstance of its ever having become a public-house, for the building -was once actually the guest-house of Dale Abbey. Since it ceased to be a -village ale-house, some seventy-six years ago, it has become a farm. - -[Illustration: THE "HEARTS OF OAK," NEAR BRIDPORT.] - -The illustration shows the extraordinary features of the place: on the -right-hand the farmhouse portion, which seems, by the evidence of some -carving on the gable, to have been partly rebuilt in 1651, and on the left -the parish church, surmounted by an eccentric belfry, greatly resembling a -dovecote. The interior of this extraordinary and exceedingly diminutive -church--one of the smallest in England--is a close-packed mass of -timbering and old-fashioned, high, box-like Georgian pews. A little -churchyard surrounds church and farmhouse, and in the background are the -tree-covered hills that completely enclose this well-named village of -"Dale," an agricultural outpost of Derbyshire, on the very edge of the -coal-mining and ironworks districts of Nottinghamshire. - -Should the ancient hermit, whose picturesquely situated, but damp, cave on -the hillside used to be shown to visitors, be ever suffered in spirit to -return to his rheumaticky cell, I think he would find the scenery of Dale -much the same as of old, but from his eyrie he would perceive a strange -thing: a gigantic cone-shaped mountain in the near neighbourhood, with -spouts and tongues of fire flickering at its crest: a thing that fully -realises the idea of a volcano. This is the immense slag-heap of the -ironworks at Stanton-by-Dale, impressive even to the modern beholder. - -Of Dale Abbey itself, few fragments are left: only the tall gable -containing the east window standing up gaunt and empty in a meadow, and -sundry stone walls of cottages and outhouses, revealing that once proud -house. - -The "Falcon" at Bidford, near Stratford-on-Avon, associated with -Shakespeare, is now a private house, and the once busy rural "Windmill" -inn at North Cheriton, on the cross-country coach-road between Blandford -and Wincanton, retired from business forty years ago. It is remarkable for -having attached to it a tennis-court, originally designed for the -entertainment of customers in general and of coach-passengers in -particular. Waiting there for the branch-coach, travellers whiled away the -weary hours in playing the old English game of tennis. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL" INN, DALE ABBEY.] - -Perhaps the finest of the inns that are inns no more was the famous -"Castle" inn at Marlborough. It was certainly the finest hostelry on the -Bath Road, as the inquisitive in such things may yet see by exploring the -older building of Marlborough College. For that was the aristocratic -"Castle" until 1841, when the Great Western Railway was opened to Bath and -Bristol, and so knocked the bottom out of all the coaching and the -licensed-victualling business between London and those places. - -[Illustration: THE "WINDMILL," NORTH CHERITON.] - -I have termed the "Castle" 'aristocratic,' and not without due reason. The -site was originally occupied by the great castle of Marlborough, whose -origin itself goes back to the remotenesses and vaguenesses of early -British times, before history began to be. The great prehistoric mound -that (now covered with trees) still darkens the very windows of the modern -college buildings was first selected by the savage British as the site of -a fortress, and is in fact the "bergh" that figures as "borough" in the -second half of the place-name. From the earliest times the Mound was -regarded with awe and reverence, and was the centre of the wild legends -that made Marlborough "Merleberg" or "Merlin's town": home of the great -magician of Arthurian legend. Those legends had never any foundation in -fact, and even the otherwise credulous antiquaries of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries dismiss them as ridiculous, but the crest -surmounting the town arms still represents the Mound, and a Latin motto -dedicatory to "the bones of the wise Merlin" accompanies it. - -The mediæval castle of Marlborough that arose at the foot of this early -stronghold gave place to a splendid mansion built by Francis, Lord -Seymour, in time for the reception of Charles the Second, who halted here -on one of his progresses to the West. This was partly rebuilt and greatly -enlarged in the time of William the Third, and then assumed very much the -appearance still worn by the main building of the present College. In or -about 1740 the great mansion became the residence of Lady Hertford, under -whose rule the grounds were planted with formal groves of limes and set -about with yews trimmed into fantastic shapes, and further adorned with -terrace-walks and grottoes, intended to be romantic. She converted the -spot into a modish Arcadia, after the ideals of her time; and fashionables -posed and postured there in the guise of Watteau nymphs or old Chelsea -china-ware shepherds and shepherdesses, and imagined they were being rural -and living the Simple Life when, in fact, they were being most artificial. -The real Wiltshire peasantry, the true flesh-and-blood shepherds and -shepherdesses of the surrounding wind-swept downs, who lived hardly upon -rye bread and dressed in russet and homespun woollens, looked with -astonishment, as well they might, upon such folk, and were not unnaturally -amazed when they saw fine ladies with short skirts, silken stockings and -high-heeled shoes, carrying dainty shepherds' crooks tied with -cherry-coloured ribbons, leading pet lambs combed and curled and scented, -and decorated with satin rosettes. Those Little Bo-Peeps and their -cavaliers, dressed out in equally fine feathers, were visions quite -outside their notions of sheep-tending. - -Here my lady entertained great literary folk, among them Thomson of _The -Seasons_, and here, in one of the sacred Arcadian grottoes, he and my lord -were found drunk, and Thomson thereafter lost favour; was, in fact, thrust -forth in haste and with contumely. This, my brethren, it is to love punch -too well! - -Something of my lady's artificial pleasance still survives, although -greatly changed, in the lawns and the trees, now grown very reverend, upon -which the south front of the old mansion looks; but in some eleven years -after her time, when the property came to the Dukes of Northumberland, the -building was leased to a Mr. Cotterell, an innkeeper, who in 1751 opened -what had until then been "Seymour House" as a first-class hostelry, under -the style and title of the "Castle" inn. In that year Lady Vere tells how -she lay "at the Castle Inn, opened a fortnight since," and describing it -as a "prodigious large house," grows indignant at the Duke of -Northumberland putting it to such debased uses, and selling many good old -pictures to the landlord. - -Cotterell apparently left the "Castle" almost as soon as he had entered, -for we find another landlord, in the following year, advertising as -follows in _The Salisbury Journal_ of August 17th, 1752: - - I beg leave to inform the public that I have fitted up the Castle at - Marlborough in the most genteel and commodious manner and opened it as - an inn where the nobility and gentry may depend on the best - accommodation and treatment, the favour of whose company will always - be gratefully acknowledged by their most obedient servant George - Smith, late of the Artillery Ground. Neat postchaises. - -[Illustration: THE "CASTLE" INN, MARLBOROUGH.] - -"The quality" loved to linger here on their way to or from "the Bath," for -the inn, with its pictures, much of its old furniture, and its splendid -cuisine, was more like a private house than a house of public -entertainment. Every one who was any one, and could afford the luxury of -the gout and the inevitable subsequent cure of "the Bath," stayed at the -"Castle" on the way to or from their cure: and there was scarce an -eighteenth-century name of note whose owner did not inscribe it in the -Visitors' Book of this establishment. Horace Walpole, curiously examining -the winding walks the Arcadian Lady Hertford had caused to be made -spirally up the sides of the poor old Mound; Chesterfield, meditating -polite ways of going to the devil; in short, every great name of that -great, but very material, time. Greater than all others was the elder -Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and of his greatness and importance he was not only -himself adequately aware, but was determined at all costs that others, -too, should be fully informed of it. It was in 1762, travelling to London, -that he came this way, suffering torments from the gout that all the -waters of Bath had failed to cure, and roaring with apprehension whenever -a fly buzzed too near his inflamed toes. He was either in no haste to -reach home, or else his gout was too severe to prevent him being moved, -for he remained for many weeks at the "Castle." That prolonged stay seems, -however, to have been premeditated, for he made it a condition of his -staying that the entire staff of the inn should be clothed in his livery, -and that he should have the whole place at his own disposal. That was -exclusiveness, if you like, and the modern traveller who secures a -first-class compartment wholly to himself cuts a very poor, ineffectual -figure beside the intolerance of company shown by the great statesman. The -proprietor of the "Castle" must have required a large sum, thus to close -his house to other custom for so long a time, and to possibly offend more -regular patrons. In fact, the fortunes of the "Castle" as an inn ebbed and -flowed alarmingly even before the coaching age and coaching inns were -threatened with extinction by railways. Early in the '20's, the innkeeper -was Thomas Cooper, who found the undertaking of maintaining it too much -for him, and so removed to Thatcham, where he became proprietor of the -"Cooper Company" coaches. Cooper, however, was not a fortunate man, and -coaching eventually landed him in the Bankruptcy Court. He lived his last -years as the first station-master at the Richmond station of the London -and South-Western Railway. - -In 1842, when the road, as an institution, was at an end, the "Castle" was -without a tenant, for no one was mad enough to entertain the thought of -taking a new lease of it as an inn, and the house was much too large to be -easily let for private occupation. At that time a site, and if possible a -suitable building also, were being sought by a number of influential -persons for the purpose of founding a cheap school for the sons of the -clergy: and here was discovered the very place to fit their ideal. The -neighbourhood was rural and select, and was so far removed from any -disturbing influence that the nearest railway-station was a dozen miles -away, at Swindon: the site was extensive and the building large, handsome, -and convenient. Here, accordingly, what is now Marlborough College was -opened, with two hundred boys, in August, 1843. - -Many changes have taken place since then. The original red-brick mansion, -designed by Inigo Jones or by his son-in-law, Webb, stands yet, but is -neighboured by many new blocks of scholastic buildings, and the -enormously large courtyard which in the old days looked upon the Bath -Road, and was a place of evolution for post-chaises and coaches, is -planted with an avenue, down whose leafy alley you see the striking -pillared entrance of what was successively mansion and inn. Inside they -show you what was once the bar, a darkling little cubicle of a place, now -used as a masters' lavatory, and a noble oak staircase of astonishingly -substantial proportions, together with a number of fine rooms. - -[Illustration: GARDEN FRONT, "CASTLE" INN, MARLBOROUGH.] - -It was at the "excellent inn at Chapel House," on the read to Worcester -and Lichfield, that Dr. Johnson, in 1776, was led by the comfort of his -surroundings to hold forth to Boswell upon "the felicity of England in its -taverns and inns"; triumphing over the French for not having in any -perfection the tavern life. - -The occasion was one well calculated to arouse enthusiasm for the -well-known comforts of the old-time English hostelry. He had come, with -the faithful Boswell, by post-chaise from Oxford, on the way to -Birmingham; it was the inclement season of spring, the way was long, and -the wind, blowing across the bleak Oxfordshire downs, was cold. Welcome, -then, the blazing fire of the "Shakespeare's Head"--for that was the real -name of the house--and doubly welcome that dinner for which they had -halted. Can we wonder that the worthy Doctor was eloquent? I think not. -"There is no private house," said he, "in which people can enjoy -themselves so well as in a capital tavern.... No man but a very impudent -dog indeed can as freely command what is in another man's house as if it -were his own; whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom from -anxiety. You are sure you are welcome; and the more noise you make, the -more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you -are. No servants will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who -are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they -please. No, sir, there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by -which so much happiness is provided as by a good tavern or inn." - -The "Chapel House" inn took its name from a wayside chapel formerly -standing here, anciently belonging to the neighbouring Priory of Cold -Norton. At a later period, when education began to spread and the roads -were travelled by scholars and others on their way to and from Oxford, -Brasenose College took over the conduct of it, both as an oratory and a -guest-house for the succour of wayfarers along these then unenclosed and -absolutely lonely downs. A priest was maintained here until 1547. -Afterwards the site seems to have been occupied by a mansion built by -William Fitzalan, of Over Norton: a house that gave place in its turn to -the inn. - -Few ever knew "Chapel House" inn by its real name. It doubtless obtained -the title from surviving traditions of Shakespeare having partaken of the -hospitality of the old guest-house, on his journeys between -Stratford-on-Avon and London. It is, indeed, singular how such traditions -survive in this neighbourhood, the "Crown" at Oxford being traditionally -the successor of the house where Shakespeare usually inned, and an old -Elizabethan mansion at Grendon Underwood, formerly an inn, a halting-place -when he chose another route and went by that village and Aylesbury to -London. - -But guests at "Chapel House" no more knew the inn as the "Shakespeare's -Head" than travellers on the Exeter Road would have recognised -"Winterslow Hut" by its proper title of the "Pheasant." And now the great -coaching- and posting-inn has gone the way of all those other inns and -taverns where Doctor Johnson--that greatest of Samuels since the -patriarch--genuinely dined and supped and drank. Sad it is to think that -all the festive shrines frequented by him to whom a tavern chair was "the -throne of human felicity" have disappeared, and that only inns that were -contemporary with him, and _would_ have Johnsonian associations had he -ever entered them, survive to trade on that slender thread of -might-have-been. - -As usual with the fine old roadside hostelries of this class, the coming -of the railway spelled ruin for it. The great house shrank, as it were, -into itself; its fires of life burnt low, the outer rooms became empty of -furniture, of carpets, of everything save memories. The stable-yards grew -silent; grass sprouted between the cobbles, spiders wreathed the windows -in webs; the very rats, with tears in their eyes for the vanished days of -plenteous corn and offal, were reduced to eating one another, and the last -representative died of starvation, with "sorrow's crown of sorrow"--which -we know to be the remembrance of happier days--embittering his last -moments. - -Why did not some student of social changes record intimately the last -lingering days of the "Chapel House" inn: why did no artist make a -pictorial record of it for us? It decayed, just as, centuries earlier, the -"Chapel" had done from which its name derived, stone by stone and brick -by brick, and there was none to record, in literature or in art, the going -of it. All we know is that it ceased in 1850 to be an inn, that the -remains of the house long stood untenanted; that the dependent buildings -became labourers' cottages, and that the stables have utterly vanished. - -[Illustration: "CHAPEL HOUSE" INN.] - -What is "Chapel House" to-day? You come along the lonely road, across the -ridge of the downs, from Oxford, and find, just short of the cross-roads -to Stratford-on-Avon and Birmingham, to Banbury or Cirencester, past where -a milestone says "Oxford 18, Stratford-on-Avon 21, and Birmingham 43 -miles," a group of some ten stone-built cottages, five on either side of -the road, with the remains of the inn itself on the right, partly screened -from observation by modern shrubberies. A porticoed doorway is pointed out -as the former entrance to the tap, and the present orchard in the rear is -shown as the site of the greater part of the inn, once extending over that -ground in an L-shape. The house is now in use as a kind of country -boarding-house, where "paying-guests," who come for the quiet and the -keen, bracing air of these heights, are received. - -For the quietude of the place! How cynical a reverse of fortune, that the -busiest spot on the London, Oxford and Birmingham Road, where sixty -coaches rolled by daily, and where innumerable post-chaises changed -horses, should sink thus into slumber! The thought of such a change would, -seventy years ago, have been inconceivable; just as unthinkable as that -Clapham Junction of to-day should ever become a rural spot for picnics and -the plucking of primroses. - -A curious feature in the story of "Chapel House" inn is that a small -portion of the house has in recent times been rebuilt, for the better -accommodation of present visitors. In the course of putting in the -foundations some relics of the old chapel were unearthed, in the shape of -stone coffins, bones, a silver crucifix, and some beads. - -When evening draws in and the last pallid light in the sky glints on the -old casements of the wayside cottages of "Chapel House," or in the dark -avenue, the spot wears a solemn air, and seems to exhale Romance. - -London inns retired from business are, as may be supposed, comparatively -few. A curious example is to be found under the shadow of St. Alban, -Holborn, in "White Hart" Yard, between Gray's Inn Road and Brooke Street. -It is the last fragment of an old galleried building, presumably once the -"White Hart," but now partly occupied by a dairyman and a maker of -packing-cases. Local history is silent as to the story of the place. - -Of all converted inns, there is probably no stranger case than that of the -"Edinburgh Castle." It is not old, nor was it really and truly, in the -hearty, hospitable sense, an inn, although the landlord doubtless was -included in the all-comprising and often deceptive category of "licensed -victuallers," who very generally do not victual you. The "Edinburgh -Castle" was, in short, a great flaring London gin-palace in Limehouse. It -has been described by a journalist addicted above his fellows to -superlatives--the equivalent in literature of nips of brandy "neat"--as -"one of the flashiest, most flaunting, sin-soaked dens in London," which -is just so much nonsense. It _was_, however, a public-house on a large -scale, and did a big trade. It was ornate, in the vulgar, gilded -public-house way, and not what can properly be styled a "den." - -[Illustration: "WHITE HART" YARD.] - -Those curious in conversions may easily see to-day what the "Edinburgh -Castle" was like, for its outward look is unchanged, and many an old -frequenter, come back from foreign climes--or perhaps only from H.M. -Prison on Dartmoor--shoulders his way in at the old familiar doors and -calls for his "four 'arf," or his "two o' brandy," before he becomes aware -of the essential change that has come over the place. No more booze does -he get at the "Edinburgh Castle": only coffee, tea, or the like--which do -not come under that head. The "Edinburgh Castle" has indeed been acquired -by the Barnardo Homes for the "People's Mission Church." - -There are excuses for the mistake often made by old patrons, for the idea -of the management is to entice them in, in the hope of reforming them. But -if those old customers were at all observant they would at once perceive, -and make due deductions from, the odd change in the sign that still, as of -yore, is upheld on its old-fashioned post by the kerbstone. Instead of -proclaiming that So-and-So's Fine Ales are sold at the "Edinburgh Castle," -it now reads: "No drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God." - -The sham mediævalism of this castellated house is a mean affair of grey -plaster, but the interior of the great building is surprisingly well -appointed. Mission services alternate with concerts and entertainments for -the people and drill-exercises for the Barnardo boys. The ex-public-house -is, in fact, whatever it may look like from without, a centre whence a -measure of sweetness and light is dispensed in an intellectually starved -purlieu. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -INNS WITH RELICS AND CURIOSITIES - - -Just as most cathedrals, and many ancient churches, are in these days -unconsciously looked upon by antiquaries rather as museums than as places -of worship, so many ancient inns attract the tourist and the artist less -as places for rest and refreshment than subjects for the pencil, the -brush, or the camera; or as houses where relics, curious or beautiful, -remain, of bygone people, or other times. Happy the traveller, with a warm -corner in his heart for such things, who comes at the close of day to a -house historic or well stored with such links that connect us with the -past. - -There are, indeed, even in these days, when many a house has been -ransacked of its interesting features, to furnish museums and private -collections, still a goodly number of inns containing curious relics, old -panelling, and ancient furniture. Still, for example, at the "Green -Dragon," Combe St. Nicholas, two miles from Chard, the fifteenth-century -carved oak settle of pronounced ecclesiastical character remains in the -tap-room, and beery rustics continue to this day to use it, even as did -their remote ancestors, the Colin Clouts of over four hundred years ago; -while at Ipswich, in the "Neptune" inn that was once a private mansion -before it entered public life, the fine Tudor dresser, or sideboard, with -elaborately carved Renaissance canopy and "linen-fold" panelling, is yet -left, despite the persuasions and the long purses of would-be purchasers. - -There are two evil fates constantly threatening the artistic work of our -forbears: the one the unappreciative neglect that threatens its very -existence, and the other the appreciation that, only too appreciative, -tears it from its accustomed place, to be the apple of some collector's -jealous eye. To filch from old inn or manor-house, down on its luck, the -carved overmantels or panelling built into the place is as mean and -despicable a thing as to sneak the coppers out of a blind beggar's tin -mug--nay, almost as sacrilegious as to purloin the contents of the -offertory-bag; but it is not commonly so regarded. For example, the -"Tankard" tavern at Ipswich, once the town mansion of no less a person -than Sir Anthony Wingfield, Captain of the Guard to Henry the Eighth, -possessed a grandly panelled room with a highly elaborate chimney-piece -representing the Judgment of Paris; but in 1843 the whole was taken down -and re-erected at the country house of the Cobbolds. - -Still, fortunately, at the "Trevelyan Arms," Barnstaple, the fine old -plaster fireplace remains, together with a good example at the "Three -Tuns," Bideford; while doubtless numerous other instances will be borne -in mind by readers of these pages. - -[Illustration: A "FENNY POPPER."] - -We deal, however, more largely here with relics of a more easily removable -kind, such, for example, as those odd pieces of miniature ordnance, the -"Fenny Poppers," formerly kept at the "Bull," Fenny Stratford, but now -withdrawn within the last year from active service, to be found reclining, -in company with the churchyard grass-mower and a gas-meter, in a cupboard -within the tower of the church. The "Fenny Poppers," six in number, -closely resemble in size and shape so many old-fashioned jugs or tankards. -They are of cast-iron, about ten inches in length, and furnished with -handles, and were presented to the town of Fenny Stratford in 1726 by -Browne Willis, a once-noted antiquary, who rebuilt the church and -dedicated it to St. Martin, in memory of his father, who was born in St. -Martin's Lane and died on St. Martin's Day. These "cannon" were to be -fired annually on that day, and to be followed by morning service in the -church and evening festivities at the "Bull"--a custom still duly -honoured, with the difference that this ancient park of artillery has -recently been replaced by two small cannon, kept at the vicarage. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," WOODBRIDGE.] - -How far one of the old-fashioned hay and straw weighing-machines, once -common in East Anglia, but now growing scarce, may be reckoned a curiosity -must be left to individual taste and fancy; but there can be no difference -of opinion as to the picturesque nature of these antique contrivances. The -example illustrated here gives an additionally pictorial quality to the -"Bell" inn and to the view down the long street at Woodbridge. Cartloads -of hay and straw, driven under these machines, were lifted bodily by -means of the chains attached to them, and weighed by means of the lever -with the sliding weight, seen projecting over the road. The innate -artistry of the old craftsmen in wrought-iron is noticeable even here, in -this business-like contrivance; for you see clearly how the man who -wrought the projecting arm was not content to fashion it merely to a -commonplace end, but must needs, to satisfy his own æsthetic feeling, -finish it off with little quirks and twirls that still, coming boldly as -they do against the sky-line, gladden the heart of the illustrator. - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," MARTLESHAM.] - -There was, until recent years, a similar machine attached to the "King's -Head" inn, at the entrance to Great Yarmouth, and there still exists one -at King's Lynn and another at Soham. - -A rustic East Anglian inn that is alike beautiful in itself and in its -tree-enshrouded setting, is the "Red Lion," Martlesham. It possesses the -additional claim to notice of its red lion sign being no less interesting -a relic than the figurehead of one of the Hollanders' ships that took part -in the battle of Sole Bay, fought between Dutch and English, March 28th, -1672, off Southwold. He is a lion of a semi-heraldic type supporting a -shield, and maintained carefully in a vermilion post-office hue. - -That well-known commercial hotel at Burton-on-Trent, styled nowadays the -"Queen's Hotel," but formerly the "Three Queens," from an earlier house on -the site having been visited at different times by Queen Elizabeth, Mary, -Queen of Scots, and Queen Adelaide, still displays in its hall the cloak -worn by the Queen of Scots' coachman, probably during the time of her -captivity at Tutbury Castle, near by. Why he should have left it behind is -not stated; but as the garment--an Inverness cape of very thin -material--is figured all over with the particularly vivid and variegated -Stuart tartan--all scarlet, blue, and green--the conjecture may be -hazarded that he was ashamed any longer to wear such a strikingly -conspicuous article of attire in a country where it probably attracted the -undesirable attentions of rude boys and other people who, most likely, -took him for some mountebank, and wanted to know when the performance -began. - -[Illustration: "DEAN SWIFT'S CHAIR," TOWCESTER.] - -The Holyhead Road, rich in memories of Dean Swift travelling to and from -Ireland, has, in the "Talbot" inn at Towcester, a house associated with -him. The "Talbot," the property of the Sponne Charity since 1440, was sold -about 1895 to a firm of brewers, and a chair, traditionally said to have -been used by the Dean, was at the same time removed to the Town Hall, -where, in the offices of the solicitor to the feoffees of the Charity, it -remains. It will be observed that the chair was of a considerable age, -even in Swift's time. An ancient fragment of coloured glass, displaying -the arms of William Sponne, remains in one of the windows of the "Talbot," -and on a pane of another may be seen scratched the words "Gilbert Gurney," -presumably the handiwork of Theodore Hook. - -The "Bear," at Esher, properly the "Black Bear," is an old coaching- and -posting-house. Still you see, on the parapet, the effigies of two bears, -squatting on their rumps and stroking their stomachs in a manner strongly -suggestive of repletion or indigestion. Sometimes the pilgrim of the roads -finds them painted white, and on other occasions--in defiance of natural -history--they have become pink; all according to the taste and fancy of -the landlord for the time being. Whoever, that was not suffering from -delirium tremens, saw such a thing as a pink bear? - -Among other, and less interesting, relics in the entrance-hall of this -house, the visitor's attention is at once struck by a glass case -containing a huge and clumsy pair of jack-boots closely resembling the -type of foot-gear worn by Marlborough and his troopers in the long ago, at -Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet. They are not, however, of so great an -age as that, nor associated with warlike campaigns, for they were worn by -the post-boy who, in 1848, drove Louis Philippe, the fugitive King of the -French, to his refuge at neighbouring Claremont. - -[Illustration: BOOTS AT THE "BEAR," ESHER.] - -Certainly unique is the "George and Dragon" inn at Dragon's Green, between -Shipley and Horsham, in Sussex. Dragon's Green (which doubtless derives -its name from the inn-sign) is among the tiniest of hamlets, and few are -those wayfarers who find their way to it, unless indeed they have any -particular business there. In fact, so out of the world is it that those -who inquire for Dragon's Green, even at Horsham, are like to ask many -people before they happen upon any one who has ever heard of the place. -But who should have any business, save curiosity, at Dragon's Green, it is -somewhat difficult to conceive. Since 1893, however, it has been the -bourne of those curiosity-mongers who have by chance heard of the -tombstone erected by the roadside there, in the front garden of the inn. -To the stranger who has never heard of this oddity, and comes unexpectedly -upon it, the sight of a solemn white marble cross in a place so generally -associated with conviviality is nothing less than startling. The epitaph -upon it reads: - - IN LOVING MEMORY OF - WALTER, - THE "ALBINO" SON OF - ALFRED AND CHARLOTTE BUDD, - born Feby. 12th, 1867, died Feby. 18th, 1893. - - _May God forgive those who forgot their duty - to him who was just and afflicted._ - - _This Cross was erected on the Grave in - Shipley Churchyard, and Removed by order of_ - H. GORHAM (Vicar). - - _Two Globe Wreaths placed on the Grave - by Friends, and after being there over - Two Years were Removed by_ - E. ARKLE, Following (Vicar). - -It seems, then, that this is to the memory of a son of the innkeeper, who -committed suicide by drowning, owing to being worried in some local -dispute. The Vicar of Shipley appears to have considered some portion of -the epitaph to be a reflection upon himself, and consequently, in that -Czar-like spirit of autocracy not infrequent in rural clergymen, ordered -its removal. The cross was thereupon re-erected here, and is so -conspicuous an object, and is attaining such notoriety, that the vicar has -probably long since regretted his not allowing it to remain in its -original obscurity. A great many efforts have been made by local magnates -of one kind and another to secure its removal from this situation, and the -innkeeper's brewers even have been approached for this purpose, but as -the innkeeper happens to be also the freeholder, and the house -consequently not a "tied" one, the requisite leverage is not obtainable. - -Although the house looks so modern when viewed from the outside, -acquaintance with its quaint parlour reveals the fact that one of the -oaken beams is dated 1577, and that the old fireback in the capacious -ingle-nook was cast in the year 1622. - -[Illustration: THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," DRAGON'S GREEN.] - -The "White Bull" at the little Lancashire "town" of Ribchester, which -still clings stoutly to the name of town, although it is properly a -village, since its inhabitants number but 1,265, has some ancient relics -in the shape of Roman columns, now used to support the porch and a -projecting wing of the building. They are four in number, of a debased -Doric character, and between six and seven feet high. They are said to be -remains of the temple of Minerva, once standing in the Roman city of -_Coccium_ or _Bremetennacum_ that once stood here, and were fished out of -the river Ribble that now gives a name to Ribchester. - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE BULL," RIBCHESTER.] - -The effigy of the White Bull himself, that projects boldly from the front -of the house, is a curiosity in its own way, and more nearly resembles the -not very meaty breed of cattle found in toy Noah's Arks, than anything -that grazes in modern meadows. - -From Lancashire to Yorkshire, in quest of inns, we come to the cathedral -city of Ripon, and the "Unicorn" Hotel. - -[Illustration: BOOTS OF THE "UNICORN," RIPON.] - -No inn could have possessed a greater curiosity than grotesque Tom Crudd, -who for many years was "Boots" at the "Unicorn," and by his sheer physical -peculiarities has achieved a kind of eccentric fame. "Old Boots," as he -was familiarly known by many who never learned his real name, flourished -from the middle of the eighteenth century onwards, and lies, now that all -his boot-cleaning is done, somewhere in the Minster yard. - -This extraordinary person was endowed by nature with a nose and chin so -enormously long, and so lovingly tending to embrace one another, that at -length he acquired the power of holding a piece of money between them, and -so turned his deformity to practical and commercial account. It was a -part of his duty to wait upon travellers arriving at the inn, to assist -them in taking off their boots. He usually introduced himself, as in the -picture, with a pair of slippers in one hand, and a boot-jack in the -other, and we are told that the company were generally so diverted by his -appearance that they would frequently give him a piece of money, on -condition that he held it between his nose and chin. - -Other times, other tastes in amusement, and it is scarce possible that -modern travellers would relish such an exhibition, even if provided -gratis. - -The "Castle Hotel" at Conway has an interesting and historic object, in -the shape of an authentic contemporary portrait of Dame Joan Penderel, -mother of the Penderel brothers of Boscobel, who secreted Charles the -Second in the "Royal Oak." It came to the hotel as a bequest to the -landlord, from a friend who in his turn had received it from a man who had -bought it among a number of household odds and ends belonging to two old -maiden ladies of Broseley, connections of the Penderel family. It was -then, to all appearance, nothing more than a dirty old stretched canvas -that had long been used as "blower" to a kitchen fire; but, on being -cleaned, was found to be a portrait of a woman wearing an old-fashioned -steeple-crowned hat, and holding in her hand a rose. The portrait would -never have been identified, but fortunately it was inscribed "Dame -Pendrell, 1662." - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," CHISWICK.] - -A curious relic is to be seen to this day, chained securely to the -doorway of the "Red Lion" inn at Chiswick. There are, in effect, two -Chiswicks: the one the Chiswick of the Chiswick High Road, where the -electric tramcars run, and the other the original waterside village in a -bend of the river: a village of which all these portents of the main road -are merely offshoots. In these latter days the riverside Chiswick is -becoming more or less of a foul slum, but still, by the old parish church -and the famous Mall--that roadway running alongside the river--there are -old and stately houses, and quaint corners. It is here you find the "Red -Lion"; not an ancient inn, nor yet precisely a new: a something between -waterside tavern and public-house. It has a balcony looking out upon the -broad river, and it also displays--as do many other waterside inns--drags -and lifebelts, the rather grim reminders of waterside dangers. At hand is -Chiswick Eyot, an island densely covered with osier-beds; and hay- and -brick-barges wallow at all angles in the foreshore mud. The relic so -jealously chained in the doorway of the "Red Lion" is a huge whetstone, -some eighteen inches long, inscribed: "I am the old Whetstone, and have -sharpned tools on this spot above 1000 years." Marvellous!--but not true, -and you who look narrowly into it will discover that at some period an -additional "0" has been added to the original figure of 100, by some one -to whom the antiquity of merely one century was not sufficient. This is -readily discoverable by all who will take the trouble to observe that the -customary spacing between all the other words is missing between "1000" -and "years." - -The whetstone has, however, been here now considerably over a century. It -existed on this spot in the time of Hogarth, whose old residence is near -at hand; and at that time the inn, of which the present building is a -successor, bore the sign of the "White Bear and Whetstone." The stone then -had a further inscription, long since rubbed away, "Whet without, wet -within." - -The whetstone is thus obviously in constant use. And who, think you, -chiefly use it? The mowers who cut the osiers of Chiswick Eyot. It was for -their convenience, in sharpening their scythes--and incidentally to ensure -that they "wetted their whistles" here--that the long-forgotten tapster -first placed the whetstone in his doorway. - -Among inns with relics the "Widow's Son" must undoubtedly be included. -Unfortunately it is by no means a picturesque inn, and is, in plain, -unlovely fact, an extremely commonplace, not to say pitifully mean and -ugly, plaster-faced public-house in squalid Devons Road, Bromley-by-Bow. - -The history of the "Widow's Son" is a matter of tradition, rather than of -sheer ascertainable fact. According to generally received accounts, the -present house, which may, by the look of it, have been built about 1860, -was erected upon the site of a cottage occupied by a widow whose only son -"went for a sailor." Not only did he, against her wishes, take up the -hazardous trade of seafaring, but he must needs further tempt Fate by -sailing on a Friday, and, of all possible Fridays, a Good Friday! Such -perversity, in all old sailor-men's opinions, could only lead to disaster; -it would be, in such circles, equivalent to committing suicide. - -[Illustration: THE OLD WHETSTONE.] - -The widow, however, expected the return of her rash son on the anniversary -of his departure, and put aside a "hot cross bun" for him. Good Friday -passed, and no familiar footstep came to the threshold, and the days, -weeks, and months succeeded one another until at last Easter came round -again. Hoping fondly against hope, the widow put aside another bun for the -wanderer: in vain. Year by year she maintained the custom; but the son lay -drowned somewhere "full fathom deep," and the mother never again saw him -on earth. - -In the fulness of time she died, and strangers came and were told the -story of that accumulated store of stale buns. And then the cottage was -demolished and the present house built, taking its name from this tale. -And ever since, with every recurrent Easter, a bun is added to the great -store that is by this time accumulated in the wire-netting hanging from -the ceiling of the otherwise commonplace bar. Then the story is told anew; -not with much apparent interest nor belief in the good faith of it; but -sentiment lurks in the heart, even though it refuse to be spoken, and the -flippant stranger is apt to find himself unexpectedly discouraged. - -On Good Friday, 1906, the sixty-eighth annual bun, stamped with the date, -was duly added to the dried, smoke-begrimed and blackened collection. - -[Illustration: HOT CROSS BUNS AT THE "WIDOW'S SON."] - -We must perhaps include among inns with relics those modern public-houses -whose owners, as a bid for custom, have established museums of more or -less importance on their premises. Among these the "Edinburgh Castle," in -Mornington Road, Regent's Park, is prominent, and boasts no fewer than -three eggs of the Great Auk, whose aggregate cost at auction was 620 -guineas. They were, of course, all purchased at different times, for Great -Auk's eggs do not come into the country, like the "new-laid" products of -the domestic fowls, by the gross. The Great Auk, in fact, is extinct, and -the eggs are exceedingly rare, as may be judged by the price they command. -"Great," of course, is a relative term, and in this case a considerable -deal of misapprehension as to the size of the eggs originally existed in -the minds of many customers of the "Edinburgh Castle." In especial, the -newspaper reports of how Mr. T. G. Middlebrook, the proprietor, had given -200 guineas for the third egg in his collection, excited the interest of a -cabman, who drove all the way from Charing Cross to see the marvel. When -he was shown, reposing in a plush-lined case, an egg not much larger than -that of a goose, his indignation was pathetic. - -"Where is it?" he asked.... - -"Wot? _Thet?_ 'Corl thet a Great Hork's Hegg? W'y, from wot they tole me, -I thort it was abaht the size of me bloomin' keb!" - -But they have no roc's eggs, imported from the pages of the _Arabian -Nights_, at the "Edinburgh Castle." - -One of the most cherished items in the collection is what is described as -"Fagin's Kitchen," the interior of a thieves' kitchen brought from an old -house on Saffron Hill, pulled down some years ago. You are shown "the -frying-pan in which Fagin cooked Oliver's sausages," and "Fagin's Chair," -together with an undoubted "jemmy" found under the flooring, and not -identified with any Old Master in the art of burglary. - -Down in the Vale of Health, on Hampstead Heath, the pilgrim in search of -cooling drinks on dry and dusty public holidays may find a public-house -museum that cherishes "one of Dick Turpin's pistols"; a pair of Dr. -Nansen's glasses; a stuffed civet-cat; the helmet of one of the Russian -Imperial Guard, brought from the battlefields of the Crimea; and the -skull of a donkey said to have belonged to Nell Gwynne: a fine confused -assortment, surely! - -More serious, and indeed, of some importance, is the collection of -preserved birds, beasts, fishes, and insects, originally founded by the -East London Entomological Society, shown at the "Bell and Mackerel" in -Mile End Road. The exhibition numbers 20,000 specimens in 500 separate -cases. - -In the same road may be found the public-house called "The 101," -containing an oil-painting of three quaint-looking persons, inscribed, -"These three men dranke in this house 101 pots of porter in one day, for a -wager." The work of art is displayed in the bar, as an inducement to -others to follow the example set by those champions; but the age of heroes -is past. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TAVERN RHYMES AND INSCRIPTIONS - - -Beer has inspired many poets, and "jolly good ale and old" is part of a -rousing rhyme; but much of the verse associated with inns runs to the -hateful burden of "No Trust." Thus, along one of the backwaters in Norwich -city there stands the "Gate House" inn, displaying the following: - - The sun shone bright in the glorious sky, - When I found that my barrels were perfectly dry. - They were emptied by Trust; but he's dead and gone home, - And I've used all my chalk to erect him a tomb. - -A metrical version, you see, of that dreadful tale, "Poor Trust is dead." - -Another version of the same theme is found at the "Buck and Bell," Long -Itchington, Warwickshire, in the lament: - - Customers came and I did trust them, - Lost all my liquor and their custom. - To lose them both it grieved me sore; - Resolved I am to trust no more. - -A little public-house poetry goes a very long way. It need not be of great -excellence to be highly appreciated, and, when approved, is very largely -repeated all over the country. There was once--a matter of twenty years -ago--a semi-rural inn, the "Robin Hood," at Turnham Green, exhibiting a -picture-sign representing Robin Hood and Little John, clad duly in the -Lincoln green of the foresters and wearing feathered hats, whose like you -see nowadays only on the heads of factory girls holiday-making at -Hampstead and such-like places of public resort. This brave picture bore -the lines: - - If Robin Hood is not at home, - Take a glass with Little John-- - -a couplet that most excellently illustrates the bluntness of the English -ear to that atrocity, a false rhyme. - -The experienced traveller in the highways and byways of the land will -probably call to mind many repetitions of this sign. There is, for -instance, one in Cambridgeshire, in the village--or rather, nowadays, the -Cambridge suburb--of Cherry Hinton: - - Ye gentlemen and archers good, - Come in and drink with Robin Hood. - If Robin Hood be not at home, - Then stay and sup with Little John. - -But, although such examples may be numerous, they cannot rival that very -favourite sign, the "Gate," with its sentiments dear to the heart of the -typical Bung, who wants your custom and your coin, rather than your -company: - - This gate hangs well - And hinders none; - Refresh and pay - And travel on; - -or, as an American might more tersely put it, "Gulp your drink and git!" -That, shorn of frills, is really the sentiment. It is not hospitable; it -is not kindly; it would be even unwise did those who read as they run -proceed to think as well. - -[Illustration: THE "GATE" INN, DUNKIRK.] - -To catalogue the many "Gate" signs would be a lengthy and an unprofitable -task. There must be quite a hundred of them. Two widely sundered houses -bearing the name, each picturesque in its own way, are illustrated here: -the one, a rustic wayside inn near Dunkirk, on the Dover Road; the other, -picturesque rather in its situation than in itself, nestling under the -great Castle Rock in the town of Nottingham. The Nottingham inn is a mere -tavern: a shabby enough building, and more curious than comfortable. Its -cellars, and the kitchen itself, are hewn out of the rock, the kitchen -being saved from reeking with damp only by having a roaring fire -continually maintained. The shape of the room is not unlike that of a -bottle, in which a shaft, pierced through the rock to the upper air, -represents the neck. This extraordinary apartment is said to have -formerly been an _oubliette_ dungeon of the Castle. An adjoining inn, -similarly situated, has the odd sign of the "Trip to Jerusalem," with a -thirteenth-century date. - -[Illustration: THE "GATE HANGS WELL," NOTTINGHAM.] - -The exiled Duke of _As You Like It_, who, in the Forest of Arden, found -moral maxims by the way, "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, -sermons in stones," and so forth, would scarcely have gone the length of -hostelries; but there are stranger things in the world than even -moralising exiles dream of, and among the strangest are the admonitory -inscriptions not uncommon upon inns, where one would rather look to find -exhortations to drink and be merry while you may. Among these the most -curious is a Latin inscription carved, with the date 1636, upon an oak -beam outside the older portion of that fine old inn, the "Four Crosses," -at Hatherton, near Cannock: - - Fleres si scires unum tua me'sem, - Rides cum non sit forsitan una dies; - -or, Englished: - - Thou would'st weep if thou knewest thy time to be one month: thou - laughest when perchance it may be not one day. - -A little grim, too, is the jest upon the sign-board of the "Chequer's" inn -at Slapestones, near Osmotherley, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It -reads: - - Be not in haste, - Come in and taste. - Ale to-morrow for nothing. - -But "to-morrow never comes." - -The Slapestones inn is not remarkable on account of its architecture. -Indeed, with a box of toy bricks, as used in building operations conducted -in the nursery, you could readily contrive a likeness of it; but it has a -kind of local celebrity, both on account of the cakes baked upon its -old-fashioned hearth, and by reason of that fire itself, traditionally -said never to have been once quenched during the last 130 years. Moreover, -the spot is a favourite meet for the Bilsdale Hounds. - -A former landlord of the inn at Croyde, near Ilfracombe, must have been a -humourist in his way, and probably had read _Pickwick_ before he composed -the following, which, like "Bill Stumps his Mark"-- - - + - BILST - UM - PSHI - S.M. - ARK - ---is easily to be rendered into English: - - Here's to Pands Pen - Das Oci Al Hourin - Ha! R: M: Les Smir - Thand Funlet - Fri Ends Hipre: - Ign Be Ju! - Stand Kin - Dan Devils - Peak of No! ne. - -The composition of this could have been no great tax on the tapster's -brain. - -More pleasing is the queerly spelled old notice displayed on the exterior -of the "Plough" at Ford, near Stow-on-the-Wold: - - Ye weary travelers that pass by, - With dust & scorching sunbeams dry - Or be he numb'd with snow and frost - With having these bleak cotswolds crost - Step in and quaff my nut brown ale - Bright as rubys mild and stale - Twill make your laging trotters dance - As nimble as the suns of france - Then ye will own ye men of sense - That neare was better spent six pence. - -The genuine old unstudied quaintness of it must, in the course of the -century and a half of its existence, have sent many scorched or -half-frozen travellers across Cotswold into the cosy parlour. Recently a -new and ornate wing has been added to the solitary wayside house, and the -poetic sign, sent up to London to be repaired, has come back, bravely -gilded. - -Some very hard, gaunt facts are set forth on tavern signs; as on that of -the "Soldier's Fortune," at Kidderminster, where, beneath a picture of a -mutilated warrior, the passer-by may read, - - A soldier's fortune, I will tell you plain, - Is a wooden leg, or a golden chain. - -This hero, however, is fully furnished with both. - -When Peter Simple travelled down to Portsmouth for the first time, to join -his ship, he asked the coachman which was the best inn there, and -received for reply: - - The Blue Postesses - Where the midshipmen leave their chestesses, - Call for tea and toastesses, - And sometimes forget to pay for their breakfastes. - -The "Blue Posts" inn was burned down in 1870, but many who had known it -made a renewed acquaintance with the house in 1891, at the Chelsea Naval -Exhibition, where a reproduction attracted much attention. There are still -other "Blue Posts," notably one in Cork Street, in the West End of London, -rebuilt a few years since. The sign is the survival of a custom as old as -Caxton, and probably much older, by which houses were often distinguished -by their colour. Caxton, advertising his books, let it be known that if -"any one, spiritual or temporal," would purchase, he was to "come to -Westmonester into the almonestrye at the Reed Pale"; and there was in the -neighbouring Peter Street a "Green Pales" in the seventeenth century. - -The modern building of the "George and Dragon," Great Budworth, Cheshire, -has this admonitory verse over its doorway, the production of Egerton -Warburton, the late squire of Arley Hall: - - As St. George, in armed array, - Doth the Fiery Dragon slay, - So may'st thou, with might no less, - Slay that Dragon, Drunkenness, - -a moral stanza that has its fellow in a couplet carved upon an old oak -beam over the door of the rebuilt "Thorn" inn at Appleton, in the same -county: - - You may safely when sober sit under the thorn, - But if drunk overnight, it will prick you next morn. - -A similar moral tendency used to be shown by the sign of the "Grenadier" -at Whitley, near Reading, in the verse: - - This is the Whitley Grenadier, - A noted house of famous beer; - Stop, friend, and if you make a call, - Beware, and get not drunk withal, - Let moderation be your guide, - It answers well where'er 'tis tried, - Then use, and don't abuse, strong beer, - And don't forget the Grenadier. - -It was probably when the inn became a "tied" house that this exhortation -to drink moderately disappeared. It will readily be understood that a -brewery company could have no sympathy with such an inducement to reduce -their returns. - -A frank invitation to enter and take your fill, without any further -stipulation, is to be seen outside the picturesquely placed "Bee-hive" inn -at Eaumont Bridge, between Penrith and Ullswater; in the words painted -round a bee-hive: - - Within this hive we're all alive, - Good liquor makes us funny; - If you be dry, step in and try - The virtue of our honey. - -The same sentiment prevails at the "Cheney Gate" inn, between -Macclesfield and Congleton, on whose sign you read: - - Stay Traveller, thyself regale, - With spirits, or with nut-brown ale, - -while - - Once aground, but now afloat, - Walk in, boys, and wet your throat, - -says the sign of the "Ship" at Brixham, South Devon. - -The "Cat and Mutton" inn, near the Cat and Mutton Bridge of the Regent's -Canal, and facing London Fields, formerly had a pictorial sign with the -inscription on one side, slightly misspelled, - - Pray puss, do not tare, - Because the mutton is so rare, - -and on the other, - - Pray puss, do not claw, - Because the mutton is so raw. - -The "Cat and Mutton" is nowadays just a London "public," and the -neighbourhood is truly dreadful. You come to it by way of the Hackney Road -and Broadway, over the wide modern bridge that now spans the silvery -waters of the Regent's Canal, just where the great gasometers and factory -chimneys of Haggerston rise romantically into the sky and remind the -traveller, rather distantly, of Norman keeps and cathedral spires. How -beautiful the name of Haggerston, and how admirably the scene fits the -name! - -Broadway is a market street, with continuous lines of stalls and -uninviting shops, where only the bakers' shops and the corn-chandlers are -pleasing to look upon and to smell. The new and fragrant loaves, and the -white-scrubbed counters and brightly polished brass-rails of the bakers -look cleanly and smell appetising, and the interesting window-display of -the corn-chandlers compels a halt. There you see nothing less than an -exhibition of cereals and the like: to this chronicler, at least, -wonderfully fascinating. Lentils, tapioca, "bullet" and "flake," blue -starch and white, haricot beans, maize, split peas, and many others. Split -peas, the amused stranger may note, are, for the "best," 1-1/2_d._ a pint, -the "finest"--the most superlatively "bestest"--2-1/2_d._, while rice is -in three categories: "fine," "superior," or merely--the cheapest--"good." - -The neighbourhood is dirty, despite the enamelled iron signs displayed by -the borough authorities from every lamp-post--"The Public Baths and -Wash-houses are now open." It is, in fact, a purlieu where the -public-houses are overcrowded and the baths not places of great resort. - -The "Cat and Mutton" appears to do a thriving trade. That it is not -beautiful is no matter. On the side of the house facing the open space of -"London Fields" the modern sign, in two compartments, is seen, picturing a -cat "tearing" a shoulder of mutton lying on the floor, and again "clawing" -a suspended joint. The spelling is now orthodox. - -A curious inscription on a stone let into the brick wall of the "George" -at Wanstead, hard by Epping Forest, is variously explained. It is well -executed, on a slab of brown sandstone, and reads as under: - -[Illustration: TABLET AT THE "GEORGE," WANSTEAD.] - -The generally received story is that the house was at the time under -repair, and that, as a baker was passing by with a cherry-pie in a tray on -his head, for the clergyman, one of the workmen, leaning over the -scaffolding, lifted it off, unawares. The "half a guiney" represents the -cost of the frolic in the subsequent proceedings. Apparently, the men -agreed to annually celebrate the day. - -The "George" was rebuilt 1903-4, and is no longer of interest. Nor does it -appear to be, as an example of the ornate modern cross between a mere -"public-house" and an "hotel," so popular as before. The observer with a -bias in favour of the antique and the picturesque may be excused a certain -satisfaction in noting the fact that, in almost every instance of a quaint -old inn being ruthlessly demolished to make way for a "palatial" -drinking-shop, its trade has suffered the most abysmal--not the most -extraordinary--decline. Not extraordinary, because not merely the -antiquary or the sentimentalist is outraged: the great bulk of people, who -would not ordinarily be suspected of any such feeling for the out-of-date -and the ramshackle, are grossly offended, and resent the offence in a very -practical way; while the carters, the waggoners, and such-like -road-farers, to whom the homely old inns were each, in the well-known -phrase, a "good pull-up," are abashed by the magnificence of polished -mahogany and brass, and resentful of saucy barmaids. The rustic suburban -inn did a larger trade with the carters and waggoners than might be -suspected, and the loss of its withdrawal in such cases is not compensated -for by any access of "higher class" business. We regret the old-time -suburban inn now it is too late, although we were perhaps not ourselves -frequenters of those low-ceilinged interiors, where the floor was of -sanded flagstones, and the seats of upturned barrels. - -To name some of the many houses thus mistakenly, and disastrously, -modernised would be invidious, but instances of trade thus frightened -away are familiar to every one. It should not have been altogether outside -any practical scheme restoration, to repair, or even to enlarge, such -places of old association without destroying their old-world look and -arrangements; and this has in numberless instances been recognised when -the mischief has been irrevocably wrought. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE HIGHEST INNS IN ENGLAND - - -As there are many inns claiming, each one of them, to be the "oldest," so -there are many others disputing the point which is the highest situated. I -must confess the subject--for myself, at least--lacks charm. I know--how -can you help knowing it?--that to reach those eyries you must use -incredible efforts, scaling preposterous heights and faring over roads -that are, as a rule, infernally rough. And when you are come, in summer -hot, in winter searched through and through by the bitter blast -that--Shakespeare notwithstanding--is by a long chalk more unkind than -man's ingratitude, to these unkindly altitudes, what, oh my brothers, do -you see? Without exception some plaguy ill-favoured shebeen, presiding -over starve-all fields at the best, but generally president over some -aching solitude that the hand of man--man being a reasoning animal--has -never sought to bring under cultivation. The best you can say of such -spots--and it is bad at the best--is that they usually command fine views -of better places, whence, you cannot help thinking, you were a fool to -come, and from which, you suspect, the innkeepers removed from -misanthropical motives, rather than from love of bracing air, or for the -mere idea of earning a livelihood. - -The peculiar honour of being the highest-situated inn appears, after much -contention, to belong to the "King's Pit," usually called the "Tan Hill" -inn, in midst of a ghastly hill-top solitude in the North Riding of -Yorkshire, between Reeth and Barras. You get to it--I will not say most -easily and conveniently, for convenience and ease in this connection are -things unknown, but with less discomfort and fatigue--by way of Richmond, -and, when you have got there, will curse the curiosity that brought you to -so literally "howling" a wilderness. For there the winds do generally -blow, and, when they _do_, heaven send you have not to face them, for it -is a shelterless common where the "Tan Hill" inn stands in loneliness, and -not a tree or a hedge is there to break the stinging blast. - -[Illustration: "TAN HILL" INN.] - -Cheerfulness is not a characteristic of those who keep hill-top inns: -hence the suspicion that they are misanthropes who, hating sight or sound -of their kind, retire to such unfrequented spots, and, when the stray -traveller seeks refreshment, instead of weeping salt tears of joy, or -exhibiting any minor sign of emotion, grudgingly attend to his wants, and -vouchsafe as little information as they safely can. - -The "Tan Hill" inn stands on the summit of Stainmoor, at a height of 1,727 -feet above sea-level, and it is one of the most abject, uncompromisingly -ugly buildings that ever builder built. The ruins of a toll-house stand -near by, silently witnessing that it was once worth the while of somebody -to levy and collect tolls on what is now as unfrequented a place as it is -possible to conceive; but railways long since knocked the bottom out of -that, and for some years, until the autumn of 1903, the licence of the inn -itself was allowed to lapse, the house being first established for sake of -the likely custom from a coal-pit in a neighbouring valley, now abandoned. -The innkeeper lives rent free, with the half of his licence paid on -condition of his looking after that now deserted mine. - -But there is one day in the whole year when the "Tan Hill" inn wakes to -life and business. That is the day of Brough Horse Fair, and the traffic -then is considerable: the only vestige of the former business of the road -now left to it by the Bowes and Barras Railway. - -[Illustration: THE "CAT AND FIDDLE," NEAR BUXTON.] - -Between Macclesfield and Buxton--five miles from Buxton and seven from -Macclesfield--just, by about 1,500 yards--in Cheshire, although commonly -said to be in Derbyshire, stands the next highest inn, the "Cat and -Fiddle," at a height of 1,690 feet. It is only a little less -dreary-looking a house than that of "Tan Hill," and wears a weather-beaten -air earned by the fierce storms and snow blizzards to which it is in -winter exposed. The wooden porch and the double doors within are necessary -outposts against the wind. In the winter the inhabitants are sometimes -weatherbound for days at a time, and generally take the precaution of -laying in a stock of provisions. One may no more visit Buxton without -going a pilgrimage to the "Cat and Fiddle" than it would be reasonable to -visit Egypt and not see the Pyramids; and consequently, however lonely the -place may be in winter, it is in summer visited by hundreds of trippers -brought in waggonettes and brakes named after advertising generals and -other puffed-up bull-frogs of the hour. The manner and the expressions of -those trippers form an interesting study. You see, plainly enough, that -they are bored and disillusioned, and that they wonder, as they gaze upon -the hideous house, or over the wild and forbidding moorland and -mountain-peaks, or down into the deep valleys, why the devil they came at -all; but they are all slaves of convention, and merely wait patiently -until the time for returning happily comes round. - -There surely never was so demoniac-looking a cat as that sculptured here. -Of the derivation of the sign there are, of course, several versions, the -local one being that the sixth Duke of Devonshire was especially fond of -this road, and used often to travel it with his favourite cat and a -violin! - -The "Traveller's Rest," at Flash Bar, in Staffordshire, on the Leek to -Buxton Road, occupies the third place, at an altitude of 1,535 feet, while -in the fourth comes a house called the "Isle of Skye," at Wessenden Head, -in Yorkshire, near Holmfirth, 1,500 feet. - -The fifth highest inn is the "Traveller's Rest," at the summit of the -Kirkstone Pass, in Westmoreland, 1,476 feet above the sea, a very -considerably lower elevation; but you may still see on the front of the -inn its repeatedly discredited claim to be, not merely the highest inn, -but the highest inhabited house, in England--which, as Euclid might say, -"is absurd." But what the situation of the Kirkstone Pass lacks in height, -it has in gloomy grandeur. Probably more tourists, exploring the -mountainous country between Ambleside, Windermere, and Patterdale, visit -the Kirkstone Pass inn than any other of these loftily placed -hostelries--the "Cat and Fiddle" not excepted. - -[Illustration: THE "TRAVELLER'S REST," KIRKSTONE PASS.] - -The "Newby Head" inn, Yorkshire, between bleak Hawes and lonely Ingleton, -stands at a height of 1,420 feet; and the Duchy Hotel at Princetown, on -Dartmoor, in far distant Devonshire, seems to be on the roof of the world, -with its 1,359 feet. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -GALLOWS SIGNS - - -It is an ominous name, but the signs that straddle across the road, -something after the fashion of football goals, have none other. The day of -the gallows sign is done. It flourished most abundantly in the middle of -the eighteenth century, when travellers progressed, as it would appear -from old prints, under a constant succession of them; but examples are so -few nowadays that they are remarkable by reason of their very scarcity, -instead of, as formerly, by their number, their size, and their -extravagant ornamentation. - -The largest, the costliest, and the most extravagant gallows sign that -ever existed was that of "Scole White Hart," on the Norwich Road. The inn -remains, but the sign itself disappeared somewhere about 1803, after an -existence of 148 years, both house and sign having been built in 1655. Sir -Thomas Browne thought it "the noblest sighne-post in England," as surely -it should have been, for it cost £1,057, and was crowded with twenty-five -carved figures, some of them of gigantic size, of classic deities and -others. Not satisfied with displaying Olympus on the cross-beam, and -Hades, with Cerberus and Charon, at the foot of the supporting posts, -James Peck, the Norwich merchant who built the house and paid for this -galanty-show, caused the armorial bearings of himself and his wife, and -those of twelve prominent East Anglian families, to be tricked out in -prominent places.[2] - -[Illustration: THE "GREYHOUND," SUTTON.] - -It does not appear that Grosley, an inquiring and diligent note-taking -Frenchman who travelled through England in 1765, noticed this remarkable -sign, but so soon as he had landed at Dover he was impressed with the -extravagance of signs of all sorts, and as he journeyed to London took -note of their "enormous size," the "ridiculous magnificence of the -ornaments with which they are overcharged, and the height of a sort of -triumphal arches that support them." He and other foreigners travelling in -England at that period soon discovered that innkeepers overcharged their -signs and their guests with the utmost impartiality. - -Misson, another of these inquisitive foreigners, had already, in 1719, -observed the signs. He rather wittily likened them to "a kind of triumphal -arch to the honour of Bacchus." - -It will be seen, therefore, that the surviving signs of this character are -very few and very simple, in proportion to their old numbers and ancient -extravagance. If we are to believe another eighteenth-century writer on -this subject, who declared that most of the inscriptions on these signs -were incorrectly spelled, inquiring strangers very often were led astray -by the ridiculous titles given by that lack of orthography. "This is the -Beer," said one sign, intending to convey the information that the house -was the "Bear"; but the reader will probably agree that the misspelling in -this case was more to the point than even the true name of the inn. To -know where the beer is; _that_ is the main thing. Who cares what the sign -may be, so long as the booze is there? Swipes are no better for a good -sign, nor good ale worse for a bad. - -The Brighton Road being so greatly travelled, we may claim for the gallows -sign of the "George" at Crawley[3] a greater fame than any other, although -that of the "Greyhound" at Sutton, on an alternative route, is very -well known. The once pretty little weather-boarded inn has, unfortunately, -of late been rebuilt in a most distressingly ugly fashion. The gallows -sign of the "Cock" at Sutton was pulled down in 1898.[4] - -[Illustration: THE "FOUR SWANS," WALTHAM CROSS.] - -The "Greyhound" at Croydon owned a similar sign until 1890, when, on the -High Street being widened and the house itself rebuilt, it was -disestablished, the square foot of ground on which the supporting post -stood, on the opposite side of the street, costing the Improvements -Committee £350, in purchase of freehold and in compensation to the -proprietor of the "Greyhound," for loss of advertisement. - -At Little Stonham, on the Norwich Road, the sign of the "Pie"[5]--_i.e._ -the Magpie--spans the road, while at Waltham Cross, on the way to -Cambridge, that queer, rambling old coaching inn, the "Four Swans," still -keeps its sign, whereon the four swans themselves, in silhouette against -the sky, form a very striking picture, in conjunction with the old Eleanor -Cross standing at the cross-roads. - -An equally effective sign is that of the rustic little "Fox and Hounds" -inn at Barley, where the hunt, consisting of the fox, five hounds and two -huntsmen, is shown crossing the beam, the fox about to enter a little -kennel-like contrivance in the thatched roof. - -[Illustration: THE "FOX AND HOUNDS," BARLEY.] - -One of the most prominent and familiar of gallows signs is that of the -great, ducal-looking "George" Hotel at Stamford, on the Great North Road. -It spans the famous highway, and is the sole advertisement of any -description the house permits itself. There is nothing to inform the -wayfarer what brewer's "Fine Ales and Stouts" are dispensed within, nor -what distiller's or wine-merchant's wines and spirits; and were it not for -that sign, I declare you would take the "George" to be the ducal mansion -already suggested, or, if not that, a bank at the very least of it. There -is an awful, and an almost uncanny, dignity about the "George" that makes -you feel it is very kind and condescending to allow you to enter Stamford -at all. I have seen dusty and tired, but still hilarious, cyclists come -into Stamford from the direction of London and, seeing the "George" at the -very front door of the town, they have instantly felt themselves to be -worms. Their instant thought is to disappear down the first drain-opening; -but, finding that impossible, they have crept by, abashed, only hoping, -like Paul Pry, they "don't intrude." Even the haughty (and dusty) -occupants of six-cylindered, two-thousand-guinea motor-cars with weird -foreign names, begin to look reverent when they draw up to the frontage. -The "George," in short, is to all other inns what the Athenæum Club is to -other clubs. I should not be surprised if it were incumbent upon visitors -entering those austere portals to remove their foot-gear, as customary in -mosques, nor would it astonish to hear that the head waiter was the -performer of awful rites, the chambermaids priestesses, and to stay in the -house itself a sacrament. - -[Illustration: THE "GEORGE," STAMFORD.] - -It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the "George" at Stamford, in -common with the many other inns of the same name throughout the country, -derived the sign from the English patron saint, St. George, and not out of -compliment to any one of our Four Georges. The existing house is largely -of late eighteenth-century period, having been remodelled during those -prosperous times of the road, to meet the greatly-increased coaching and -posting business; and can have little likeness to the inn where Charles -the First lay, on the night of Saturday, August 23rd, 1645, on the march -with his army from Newark to Huntingdon. - -In that older "George," in 1714, another taste of warlike times was felt. -The town was then full of the King's troops, come to overawe Jacobites. -Queen Anne was just dead, and Bolton, the tapster of the "George," -suspected of Jacobite leanings, was compelled by the military to drink on -his bended knees to her memory. He was doing so, meekly enough, when a -dragoon ran him through the heart with his sabre. A furious mob then -assembled in front of the house, seeking to avenge him, and very quickly -broke the windows of his house and threatened to entirely demolish it, if -the murderer were not given up to them. We learn, however, that "the -villain escaped backway, and the tumult gradually subsided." - -At the "George" in 1745, the Duke of Cumberland, the victor of Culloden, -stayed, on his return, and in 1768, the King of Denmark; but I think the -most remarkable thing about the "George" is that Margaret, eldest daughter -of Bryan Hodgson, the landlord at that time, in 1765, married a clergyman -who afterwards became Bishop of London. The Reverend Beilby Porteous was, -at the time of his marriage, Vicar of Ruckinge and Wittersham, in Kent. In -1776 he became Bishop of Chester, and eleven years later was translated to -London. - -In 1776 the Reverend Thomas Twining wrote of the "distracting bustle of -the 'George,' which exceeded anything I ever saw or heard." All that has -long since given place to the gravity and sobriety already described, and -the great central entrance for the coaches has for many years past been -covered over and converted into halls and reception-rooms; but there may -yet be seen an ivied courtyard and ancient staircase. - -Even as I write, a great change is coming upon the fortunes of the -"George." The motorists who, with the neighbouring huntsmen, have during -these last few years been its chief support, have now wholly taken it -over. That is to say, the Road Club, establishing club quarters along the -Great North Road, as nearly as may be fifty miles apart, has procured a -long lease of the house from the Marquis of Exeter, and has remodelled the -interior and furnished it with billiard-rooms up-to-date, a library of -road literature, and other essentials of the automobile tourist. While -especially devoted to these interests, the "George" will still welcome the -huntsman fresh from the fallows, and hopes to interest him in the scent of -the petrol as much as in that of the fox. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," FITTLEWORTH.] - -It may be noted, in passing, that the "Red Bull" at Stamford also claims -to have entertained the Duke of Cumberland on his return from Culloden, -and that the "Crown" inn, with its old staircase and picturesque -courtyard, is interesting. - -A small gallows sign is still to be seen at the "Old Star," in Stonegate, -York, another at Ottery St. Mary, and a larger, wreathed in summer with -creepers, at the "Swan," Fittleworth, while at Hampton-on-Thames the -picturesque "Red Lion" sign still spans a narrow and busy street. - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," HAMPTON-ON-THAMES.] - -The "Green Man" at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, has a sign of this stamp. -That fine old inn, which has added the sign of the "Black's Head," since -the purchase of a house of that name, is of a size and a respectable -mellowed red-brick frontage eminently suited to a road of the ancient -importance of that leading from London to Manchester and Glasgow, on which -Ashbourne stands. The inn figures in the writings of Boswell as a very -good house, and its landlady as "a mighty civil gentlewoman." She and her -establishment no doubt earned the patronising praise of the -self-sufficient Laird of Auchinleck by the humble curtsey she gave him -when he hired a post-chaise here to convey him home to Scotland, and by an -engraving of her house she handed him, on which she had written: - -"M. Kilingley's duty waits upon Mr. Boswell, is exceedingly obliged to him -for this favour; whenever he comes this way, hopes for the continuance of -the same. Would Mr. Boswell name this house to his extensive acquaintance, -it would be a singular favour conferred on one who has it not in her power -to make any other return but her most grateful thanks and sincerest -prayers for his happiness in time and in blessed eternity. Tuesday morn." - -Alas! wishes for his worldly and eternal welfare no longer speed the -parting guest, especially if he "tips" insufficiently. As for "M. -Kilingley," surely she and her inn must have been doing very badly, for -Boswell's patronage to have turned on so much eloquence at the main. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -SIGNS PAINTED BY ARTISTS - - -In the "good old days," when an artist was supposed to be drunken and -dissolute in proportion to his genius, and when a very large number of -them accordingly lived up to that supposition, either in self-defence or -out of their own natural depravity, it was no uncommon thing to see the -wayside ale-house sporting a sign that to the eye of instructed travellers -displayed merits of draughtsmanship and colour of an order entirely -different from those commonly associated with mere sign-boards. - -Fresh from perusing the domestic records of the eighteenth century, you -have a confused mental picture of artists poor in pocket but rich in -genius, pervading the country, hoofing it muzzily along the roads, and -boozing in every village ale-house. You see such an one, penniless, -offering to settle a trivial score by painting a new sign or retouching an -old one, and you very vividly picture mine host ungraciously accepting the -offer, because he has no choice. Then, behold, the artist goes his way, -like the Prodigal Son, to his husks and his harlots, to run up more scores -and liquidate them in the like manner; and presently there enters, to -your mental vision, a traveller whose educated eye perceives that sign, -and discovers in its yet undried and tacky oils the touch of a master. He -buys that masterpiece for golden guineas from the gaping and -unappreciative innkeeper, whose score was but a matter of silver -shillings; and he--he is a Duke or something in the Personage way--takes -that "Barley Mow" or "Ship and Seven Stars," or whatever the subject may -be, tenderly home to his palace and places it, suitably framed, among his -ancestral Titians, Raphaels, or Botticellis. - -That, I say, is the golden, misty picture of Romance presented to you, -and, in sober fact, incidents of that nature were not unknown; but that -they happened quite so often as irresponsible weavers of legends would -have us believe, we may take leave to doubt. - -Artists of established repute sometimes, even then, painted inn-signs from -other motives. Hogarth, for example, that stern pictorial moralist, was -scarcely the man to be reduced to such straits as those already hinted; -but he was a jovial fellow, and is said to have painted a number of signs -for friendly innkeepers. The classic example of those attributed to him -is, of course, the well-known sign of the "Man Loaded with Mischief," the -name of a public-house, formerly 414, Oxford Street.[6] The name was -changed, about 1880, to the "Primrose," and the painted panel-sign -removed. In its last years it--whether the original or an old copy seems -uncertain--was fixed against the wall of the entrance-lobby. The picture -was one of crowded detail. The Man, another Atlas, carried on his back a -drunken woman holding a glass of gin in her hand, and had on either -shoulder a monkey and a jackdaw. In the background were "S. Gripe's" -pawnshop, the "Cuckold's Fortune" public-house, crowned with a pair of -horns, two quarrelling cats, a sleeping sow, and a jug labelled "Fine -Purl." This scathing satire, peculiarly out of place in a drink-shop, was -"Drawn by Experience" and "Engraved by Sorrow," and was finished off by -the rhyme: - - A Monkey, a Magpie, and a Wife - Is the true Emblem of Strife. - -A somewhat similar sign exists at the present time at Madingley, near -Cambridge. - -[Illustration: THE "MAN LOADED WITH MISCHIEF."] - -The correctness, or otherwise, of the Oxford Street sign being attributed -to Hogarth has never been determined, but it is quite characteristic of -him, and all through Hogarth's works there runs a curious familiarity -with, and insistence upon, signs. You find the sign of the "Duke of -Cumberland" pictorially insisted upon in his "Invasion of England," -although it is merely an accessory to the picture; and in "Gin Lane," -"Southwark Fair," the "March to Finchley," and others, every detail of -incidental signs is shown. This distinguishing characteristic is nowhere -more remarkable than in his "Election: Canvassing for Votes," where, above -the heads of the rival agents in bribery is the sign of the "Royal Oak," -half obscured by an election placard. In the distance is seen a mob, about -to tear down the sign of the "Crown," and above the two seated and -drinking and smoking figures in the foreground is part of the "Portobello" -sign. A curious item in this picture is the fierce effigy of a lion, -looking as though it had been the figurehead of a ship, and somewhat -resembling those still existing at the "Star" inn, Alfriston, and the -"Red Lion," Martlesham. - -The classic instance of the dissolute artistic genius, ever drinking in -the wayside beerhouse, and leaving long trails of masterpieces behind him -in full settlement of paltry scores, is George Morland. He painted -exquisitely, for the same reason that the skylark sings divinely, because -he could not do otherwise; and no one has represented so finely or so -naturally the rustic life of England at the close of the eighteenth -century and the beginning of the nineteenth, as he. His chosen companions -were "ostlers, potboys, pugilists, moneylenders, and pawnbrokers"--the -last two classes, it may be suspected, less from choice than from -necessity. He painted over four thousand pictures in his short life of -forty-one years, and died in a "sponging-house" for debtors, leaving the -all-too-true epitaph for himself, "Here lies a drunken dog." - -He lived for a considerable time opposite the "White Lion" inn, at the -then rural village of Paddington, and his masterpiece, the "Inside of a -Stable," was painted there. - -Morland was no neglected genius. His natural, unaffected style, that was -no style, in the sense that he showed rustic life as it was, without the -"classic" artifice of a Claude or the finicking unreality of a Watteau, -appealed alike to connoisseurs and to the uneducated in art; and he might, -but for his own hindrance, have been a wealthy man. Dealers besieged him, -purse in one hand and bottle in the other. He paid all debts with -pictures, and in those inns where he was known the landlords kept a room -specially for him, furnished with all the necessaries of his art: only too -pleased that, in his ready-made fame, he should settle scores in his -characteristic way. - -Oddly enough, although Morland is reputed to have painted many inn-signs, -not one has survived; or perhaps, more strictly speaking, not one of the -existing paintings by him has been identified with a former sign. - -Morland died in 1824, and twenty years later one "J. B. P.," in _The -Somerset House Gazette_, described how, walking from Laleham to Chertsey -Bridge, and sheltering at the "Cricketers," a small public-house there, he -noticed, while sitting in the parlour, a painting of a cricket-match. The -style seemed familiar, and he at last recognised it as Morland's. -Questioning the landlord, he learned that forty-five years earlier the inn -was the "Walnut Tree," and that a "famous painter" had lodged there and -painted the picture. It grew so popular with local cricketers that at last -the name of the house was altered. - -The stranger offered to buy, but the landlord declared he would not sell. -It seemed that he took it with him when he set up a booth at Egham and -Staines races, "an' cricket-matches and such-like." It was, in fact, his -trade-mark. - -Mine host thought in shillings, but the stranger in guineas. - -"How," he asked, "if I offered you £10 10_s._?" - -"Ah, well!" rejoined the publican: "it should go, with all my heart,"--and -go it did. - -Thus did the purchaser describe his bargain: "The painting, about a yard -in length and of a proportionate height, is done on canvas, strained upon -something like an old shutter, which has two staples at the back, suited -to hook it for its occasional suspension on the booth-front in the host's -erratic business at fairs and races. The scene I found to be a portrait of -the neighbouring cricket-green called Laleham Borough, and contains -thirteen cricketers in full play, dressed in white, one arbiter in red and -one in blue, besides four spectators, seated two by two on chairs. The -picture is greatly cracked, in the reticulated way of paint when much -exposed to the sun; but the colours are pure, and the landscape in a very -pleasing tone, and in perfect harmony. The figures are done as if with the -greatest ease, and the mechanism of Morland's pencil and his process of -painting are clearly obvious in its decided touches, and in the gradations -of the white particularly. It cannot be supposed that this freak of the -pencil is a work of high art; yet it certainly contains proof of Morland's -extraordinary talent, and it should seem that he even took some pains with -it, for there are marks of his having painted out and re-composed at least -one figure." - -The appreciation of Morland in his lifetime is well shown by a story of -himself and Williams, the engraver, tramping, tired, hungry, thirsty and -penniless, from Deal to London. They came at last to "the 'Black Bull' on -the Dover Road"--wherever precisely that may have been--and Morland -offered the landlord to repaint his faded sign for a crown, the price of a -meal. The innkeeper knew nothing of Morland, and was at first unwilling; -but he at length agreed, and rode off to Canterbury for the necessary -materials. - -The friends eventually ran up a score a few shillings in excess of that -contemplated originally by the landlord, and left him dissatisfied with -his bargain. Meanwhile, artist and engraver tramped to town, and, telling -the story to their friends in the hearing of a long-headed admirer of -Morland's work, he rode down and, we are told, purchased the "Black Bull" -sign from the amazed landlord for £10 10_s._ - -The story is probably in essentials true, but that unvarying ten-guinea -price is inartistic and unconvincing. - -Richard Wilson, an earlier than Morland, fought a losing fight as a -landscape painter, and "by Britain left in poverty to pine," at last died -in 1782. Classic landscape in the manner of Claude was not then -appreciated, and the unfortunate painter sold principally to pawnbrokers, -at wretched prices, until even they grew tired of backing him. He lived -and died neglected, and had to wait for Fame, as "Peter Pindar," that -shrewdest and best of art-critics, foretold, - - Till thou hast been dead a hundred year. - -He painted at least one inn-sign: that of the "Loggerheads" at Llanverris, -in Denbighshire; a picture representing two jovial, and not too -intellectual, grinning faces, with the inscription, "We Three Loggerheads -Be." The fame of this sign was once so great that the very name of the -village itself became obscured, and the place was commonly known as -"Loggerheads." Wilson's work was long since repainted. - -But what _is_ a "loggerhead," and why should the two grinning faces of the -sign have been described as "three"? The origin of the term is, like the -birth of Jeames de la Pluche, "wrop in mistry"; but of the meaning of it -there is little doubt. A "loggerhead" is anything you please in the -dunderhead, silly fool, perfect ass, or complete idiot way, and the gaping -stranger who looks inquisitively at the _two_ loggerheads on the -sign-board automatically constitutes himself the _third_, and thus -completes the company. It is a kind of small-beer, fine-drawn jape that -has from time immemorial passed for wit in rustic parts, and may be traced -even in the pages of Shakespeare, where, in Act II. Scene 2 of _Twelfth -Night_, it is the subject of allusion as the picture of "We Three." - -The "Mortal Man" at Troutbeck, in the Lake district, once possessed a -pictorial sign, painted by Julius Cæsar Ibbetson, a gifted but dissolute -artist, friend of, and kindred spirit with, Morland. It represented two -faces, the one melancholy, pallid and thin, the other hearty, -good-humoured, and "ruddier than the cherry." Beneath these two -countenances was inscribed a verse attributed to Thomas Hoggart, a local -wit, uncle of Hogarth, the painter: - - "Thou mortal man, that liv'st by bread, - What makes thy face to look so red?" - "Thou silly fop, that look'st so pale, - 'Tis red with Tony Burchett's ale." - -First went the heads, and at last the verses also, and to-day the "Mortal -Man" has only a plain sign. - -John Crome, founder of the "Norwich School" of artists, known as "Old" -Crome, in order to distinguish him from his son, contributed to this list -of signs painted by artists. It is not surprising that he should have done -so, seeing that he won to distinction from the very lowest rungs of the -ladder; leaving, as a boy, the occupation of running errands for a doctor, -and commencing art in 1783 as apprentice to a coach-, house-, and -sign-painter. One work of his of this period is the "Sawyers" sign. It is -now preserved at the Anchor Brewery, Pockthorpe, Norwich. Representing a -saw-pit, with two sawyers at work, it shows the full-length figure of the -top-sawyer and the head and shoulders of the other. It is, however, a very -inferior and fumbling piece of work, and its interest is wholly -sentimental. - -J. F. Herring, afterwards famous for his paintings of horses and farmyard -scenes, began as a coach-painter and sign-board artist at Doncaster, in -1814. He painted at least twelve inn-signs in that town, but they have -long since become things of the past. - -Charles Herring never reached the heights of fame scaled by his brother, -and long painted signs for a great firm of London brewers. - -However difficult it might prove nowadays to rise from the humble -occupations of house- or coach-painter, to the full glory of a Royal -Academician, it seems once to have been a comparatively easy transition. -All that was requisite was the genius for it, and sometimes not very much -of that. A case in point is that of Sir William Beechey, who not only won -to such distinction in 1793 from the several stages of house-painter and -solicitor's clerk, but achieved the further and more dazzling success of -knighthood, although never more than an indifferent portrait-painter. A -specimen of his art, in the shape of the sign-board of the "Dryden's -Head," near Kate's Cabin, on the Great North Road, was long pointed out. - -The painting of sign-boards, in fact, was long a kind of preparatory -school for higher flights of art, and indeed the fashion of pictorial -signs nursed many a dormant genius into life and activity. Robert Dalton, -who rose to be Keeper of the Pictures to George the Third, had been a -painter of signs and coaches; Gwynne, who first performed similar -journey-work, became a marine-painter of repute; Smirke, who eventually -became R.A.; Ralph Kirby, drawing-master to the Prince of Wales, -afterwards George the Fourth; Thomas Wright, of Liverpool, and many more, -started life decorating coach-panels or painting signs. Opie, the Cornish -peasant-lad who rose to fame in paint, declared that his first steps were -of the like nature: "I ha' painted Duke William for the signs, and stars -and such-like for the boys' kites." - -The Royal Academicians of our own time did not begin in this way, and as a -pure matter of curious interest it will be found that your sucking painter -is too dignified for anything of the kind, and that modern signs painted -by artists are usually done for a freak by those who have already long -acquired fame and fortune. It is an odd reversal. - -Thus, very many years ago, Millais painted a "George and Dragon" sign for -the "George" inn, Hayes Common. There it hung, exposed to all weathers, -and at last faded into a neutral-tinted, very "speculative" affair, when -the landlord had it repainted, "as good as new," by some one described as -"a local artist." Now even the local painter's work has disappeared, and -the great hideous "George" is content without a picture-sign. - -The most famous of all signs painted by artists is, of course, that of the -"Royal Oak" at Bettws-y-Coed, on the Holyhead Road. It was painted by -David Cox, in 1847, and, all other tales to the contrary notwithstanding, -it was _not_ executed by him, when in sore financial straits, to liquidate -a tavern score. David Cox was never of the Morland type of dissolute -artist, did not run up scores, paid his rates and taxes, never bilked a -tradesman, and was just a home-loving, domesticated man. That he should -at the same time have been a great artist, supreme in his own particular -field, in his own particular period, is so unusual and unaccountable a -thing that it would not be surprising to find some critic-prophet arising -to deny his genius because of all those damning circumstances of the -commonplace, and the clinching facts that he never wore a velvet jacket, -and had his hair cut at frequent intervals. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "ROYAL OAK," BETTWS-Y-COED.] - -The genius of David Cox was not fully realised in his lifetime, and he -received very inadequate prices for his works, but he was probably never -"hard up," and he painted the sign-board of the "Royal Oak" merely as a -whimsical compliment to his friend, Mrs. Roberts, the landlady of the -house, which was still at that time a rural inn. - -The old sign had become faded by long exposure to the weather, and was -about to be renewed at the hands of a house-painter, when Cox, who -happened then to be on one of his many visits to Bettws, ascended a short -ladder reared against the house and repainted it, then and there. The -coaching age still survived in North Wales at that period, and Bettws was -still secluded and rustic, and he little looked for interruption; but, -while busily at work, he was horrified by hearing a voice below exclaim, -"Why, it _is_ Mr. Cox, I declare!" A lady, a former pupil of his, -travelling through the country on her honeymoon, had noticed him, and -although he rather elaborately explained the how and the why of his acting -the part of sign-painter, it seems pretty clear that it was from this -source the many old stories derived of Cox being obliged by poverty to -resort to this humble branch of art. - -In 1849 he retouched the sign, and in 1861, two years after his death, it -was, at the request of many admirers, removed from the outside wall and -placed in a situation of honour, in the hall of what had by that time -become an "hotel." - -The painting, on wooden panel, is a fine, bold, dashing picture of a -sturdy oak, in whose midst you do but vaguely see, or fancy you see, His -Majesty, hiding. Beneath are troopers, questing about on horseback. It is -very Old Masterish in feeling, low-toned and mellow in colour, and rich in -impasto. It is fixed as part of a decorative overmantel, and underneath is -a prominent inscription stating that it "forms part of the freehold of the -hotel belonging to the Baroness Howard de Walden." Sign and freehold have -now descended to the Earl of Ancaster. - -Behind that inscription lies a curious story of disputed ownership in the -painting. It seems that in 1880 the then landlady of the "Royal Oak" -became bankrupt, and the trustees in bankruptcy claimed the sign as a -valuable asset, a portion of the estate; making a statement to the effect -that a connoisseur had offered £1,000 for it. This at once aroused the -cupidity of the then Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, owner of the freehold, -and an action was brought against the trustees, to determine whose -property it was. The trustees in the first instance, in the Bangor -District Court of Bankruptcy, were worsted by Judge Horatio Lloyd, who -held that it was a fixture, and could not be sold by the innkeeper. This -decision was challenged, and the question re-argued before Sir James -Bacon, who, in delivering judgment for the trustees, said the artist had -made a present of the picture, and that it belonged to the innkeeper as -much as the coat or the dress on her back. He therefore reversed the -decision of the Judge in Bankruptcy; but the case was carried eventually -to the Supreme Court, and the Lords finally declared the painting to be -the property of the freeholder. - -Their decision was based upon the following reasoning: "Assuming that the -picture was originally what may be called a 'tenant's fixture,' which he -might have removed, it appeared that he had never done so. Therefore, the -picture not having been removed by the original tenant within his term, on -a new lease being granted it became the property of the landlord, and had -never ceased to be so." - -In these days of the revival of this, of that, and of t' other, you think -inevitably of that very wise saying of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: "The -thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is -that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun." - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," WARGRAVE-ON-THAMES. -_Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A._] - -The most readily allowed excuse for anything in such times as these is the -plea that it is a revival of something that existed of old. That at once -sets upon it--little matter what it be--the seal of approval. Of late -years there has in this way been a notable revival of inn-signs painted by -artists of repute. - -The oldest of these moderns is perhaps that of the "George and Dragon" at -Wargrave-on-Thames: a double-sided sign painted by the two Royal -Academicians, G. D. Leslie and J. E. Hodgson. In a gossipy book of -reminiscences Mr. Leslie tells how this sign came to be painted, about -1874: "It was during our stay at Wargrave that my friend Mr. Hodgson and I -painted Mrs. Wyatt's sign-board for her--the 'George and Dragon.' I -painted my side first, a regular orthodox St. George on a white horse, -spearing the dragon. Hodgson was so taken with the idea of painting a -sign-board that he asked me to be allowed to do the other side, to which -I, of course, consented, and as he could only stop at Wargrave one day, he -managed to do it on that day--indeed, it occupied him little more than a -couple of hours. The idea of his composition was suggested by Signor -Pellegrini, the well-known artist of _Vanity Fair_. The picture -represented St. George, having vanquished the dragon and dismounted from -his horse, quenching his thirst in a large beaker of ale. These pictures -were duly hung up soon after, and very much admired. They have since had a -coat of boat-varnish, and look already very Old Masterly. Hodgson's, which -gets the sun on it, is a little faded; but mine, which faces the north, -towards Henley, still looks pretty fresh." - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," WARGRAVE-ON-THAMES. -_Painted by J. E. Hodgson, R.A._] - -Goring-on-Thames has a now very faded pictorial sign, the "Miller of -Mansfield," painted by Marcus Stone, R.A. The Thames-side villages are -indeed especially favoured, and at Wallingford the sign of the "Row -Barge," by G. D. Leslie, is prominent in a bye-street. The inn itself is a -very modest and very ancient place of entertainment. A document is still -extant which sets forth how the licence was renewed in 1650, when, owing -to the puritanical ways of the age, many other houses in the same town had -to forfeit theirs, and discontinue business. Once the property of the -Corporation of Wallingford, it seems to have obtained its unusual name -from having been the starting-point of the Mayor's State Barge. With these -facts in mind, the artist painted an imaginary state barge, pulled by six -sturdy watermen, and containing the Mayor and Corporation of Wallingford, -accompanied by the mace-bearer, who occupies a prominent position in the -prow. G. D. Leslie also painted the sign of the "King Harry" at St. -Stephen's, outside St. Albans, but it has long been replaced by a quite -commonplace daub. - -[Illustration: THE "ROW BARGE," WALLINGFORD. _Painted by G. D. Leslie, -R.A._] - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," PRESTON CROWMARSH.] - -This does not quite exhaust the list of riverside places thus -distinguished, for "Ye Olde Swan," Preston Crowmarsh, has a sign painted -by Mr. Wildridge. It overlooks one of the prettiest ferries on the river. - -[Illustration: THE "WINDMILL," TABLEY.] - -[Illustration: THE "SMOKER" INN, PLUMBLEY.] - -Two modern artistic signs in Cheshire owe their existence to a lady. These -are the effective pictures of the "Smoker" inn at Plumbley and the -"Windmill," Tabley. They are from the brush of Miss Leighton, a niece of -the late Lord de Tabley. The "Smoker" by no means indicates a place -devoted with more than usual thoroughness to smoking, but is named after a -once-famous race-horse belonging to the family in the early years of the -nineteenth century. On one side of the sign is a portrait of the horse, -the reverse displaying the arms of the De Tableys, supported by two -ferocious-looking cockatrices. - -The sign of the "Windmill" explains itself: it is Don Quixote, tilting at -one of his imaginary enemies. - -[Illustration: THE "FERRY" INN, ROSNEATH.] - -In 1897 the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, designed and painted a -pictorial sign for the "Ferry" inn at Rosneath. It is only remarkable as -being the work of a Royal Princess. The three-masted ancient ship, or -galleon, is the heraldic charge known as a "lymphad," borne by many -Scottish families, among them the Campbells, Dukes of Argyll. - -Some three years later Mr. Walter Crane enriched the little Hampshire -village of Grayshott with a pictorial sign for the "Fox and Pelican," a -converted inn conducted on the principles of one of the feather-brained -nostrums of the age. - -[Illustration: THE "FERRY" INN, ROSNEATH.] - -The name of the house commemorates Fox, the great Bishop of Winchester, -whose device was "A Pelican in her Piety." It represents a pelican -guarding a nest of three young birds, and feeding them with blood from -her breast. The device is painted on one side of the board, and the name -of the house is inscribed on a scroll on the other. - -[Illustration: THE "FOX AND PELICAN," GRAYSHOTT.] - -Many other pictorial inn-signs have of late years replaced the merely -lettered boards, and although the artists are not famous, or even -well-known, the average merit of the work is high. A particularly good -example is the double-sided sign of a little thatched rural inn, the "Cat -and Fiddle," between Christchurch and Bournemouth; where on one side you -perceive the cat seated calmly, in a domestic manner, while on the other -he is reared upon his hind-legs, fiddle-playing, according to the -nursery-rhyme: - - Hey, diddle, diddle, - The Cat and the Fiddle, - The Cow jumped over the Moon, - The Little Dog laughed to see such sport, - And the Dish ran away with the spoon. - -Serious antiquaries--a thought too serious--have long attempted to find a -hidden meaning in the well-known sign of the "Cat and Fiddle." According -to some commentators, it derived from "_Caton fidèle_," one Caton, a -staunch Protestant governor of Calais in the reactionary reign of Queen -Mary, who could justly apply to himself the praise: "I have fought the -good fight, I have kept the Faith," while in the rhyme it has been sought -to discover some veiled political allusion, carefully wrapped up in -nursery allegory, in times when to interfere openly in politics, or to -criticise personages or affairs of State was not merely dangerous, but -fatal. Ingenious people have discovered in the wild jingle an allusion to -Henry the Eighth and the Disestablishment of the Monasteries, and others -have found it to be a satire on James the Second and the Great Rebellion. -Given the requisite ingenuity, there is no national event to which it -could not be compared; but why not take it merely for what it is: a bundle -of inconsequent rhymes for the amusement of the childish ear? - -[Illustration: THE "CAT AND FIDDLE," NEAR CHRISTCHURCH.] - -[Illustration: THE "CAT AND FIDDLE," NEAR CHRISTCHURCH.] - -From every point of view the revival and spread of the old fashion of -artistic sign-boards is to be encouraged, for it not only creates an -interest in the different localities, but serves to perpetuate local -history and legend. - -A remarkable feature of the "Swan" at Fittleworth is the number of -pictures painted by artists on the old panelling of the coffee-room. - -Caton Woodville painted a sign for this house, but it has long been -considered too precious to be hung outside, exposed to the chances of wind -and wet, and perhaps in danger of being filched one dark night by some -connoisseur more appreciative than honest. It has therefore been removed -within. It represents on one side the swan, ridden by a Queen of the -Fairies, while a frog, perched on the swan's tail, holds a lantern, whose -light is in rivalry with a star. - -On the other side a frog, seated in a pewter pot, is observed contentedly -smoking a "churchwarden" pipe while he is being conveyed down stream. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -QUEER SIGNS IN QUAINT PLACES - - -Thus did Horace Walpole moralise over the fickleness of sign-board favour: - -"I was yesterday out of town, and the very signs, as I passed through the -villages, made me make very quaint reflections on the mortality of fame -and popularity. I observed how the 'Duke's Head' had succeeded almost -universally to 'Admiral Vernon's,' as his had left but few traces of the -'Duke of Ormonde's.' I pondered these things in my breast, and said to -myself, 'Surely all glory is but as a sign.'" - -True, and trite. He might even, perhaps, by dint of scraping, have found -upon those old sign-boards whole strata of discarded heroes, painted one -over another. Vernon was, of course, the dashing captor of Portobello, in -1739. There were "Portobellos" and "Admiral Vernons" all over the country, -for some years, but one would need to travel far and search diligently -before he found an "Admiral Vernon" in these days. Six years only was his -term of popularity, and there was no renewal of the lease. The Duke of -Cumberland displaced him, and he, the victor of Colloden--little enough of -a hero--was painted out in favour of our ally, the "King of Prussia" -(Frederick the Great) about 1756. The "King of Proosher," as the rustics -commonly called him, had an extraordinary vogue, and the sign is still -occasionally to be found, even in these days, when everything German is, -with excellent reason, detested. But, as the poet remarks, "all that's -bright must fade," and the greater number of "Kings of Prussia" were -abolished after the battle of Minden, in 1759, in favour of the "Marquis -of Granby." The "Markis o' Granby" is associated, in the minds of most -people, with Dorking, with the _Pickwick Papers_, and with the ducking in -a horse-trough of a certain prophet; but when the sign first became -popular, it stood for military glory. The Marquis himself was the eldest -son of the third Duke of Rutland: a soldier who rose to distinction in our -wars upon the Continent, became Commander-in-Chief, and at length died in -his fifty-eighth year, in 1779. There was another special appropriateness -in selecting him for a tavern sign; for he was one of the deepest drinkers -among the hard-drinking men of his age. - -The actual labour of converting the Duke of Cumberland into the King of -Prussia, and his Most Protestant Majesty into the Marquis of Granby could -have been but small, for they were all represented in profile, and all -were clean-shaven, and wore a uniform and a cocked hat; and it is probable -that in most cases the sole alteration that took place was in the -lettering. - -But the vogue of all other heroes was as nothing beside that of Nelson. -He, at least, is permanent, and the sign-boards in this significant -instance justify themselves. Other heroes won a victory, or victories, and -conducted successful campaigns. They were incidents in the history of the -country; but Nelson saved the nation, and died in the act of saving it. - -This exception apart, nothing is so fleeting as sign-board popularity. The -hero of yesterday is sacrificed without a pang, and the idol of to-day -takes his place; and just as inevitably the popular figure of to-day will -yield to the hero of to-morrow. Would you blame mine host of the "Duke of -Wellington" because he changes his sign for that of a later captain? Not -at all; for we are not to suppose that the original sign was chosen from -any motive of personal loyalty. The Duke was selected because of his -popularity with all classes; for the reasoning was that the inn bearing -his name would secure the most custom. He was the last of the giants, and -no other military commander has come within leagues of his especial glory. - -The sign of the "Duke of Wellington" long ceased to specially attract, but -it survived for many years because of his own greatness, and, inversely, -because of the smallness of the men who commanded our armies in the -Crimean War, at the end of the long thirty-nine years' peace between -Waterloo and the Alma. It is true that there were, and still perhaps are, -inns and public-houses named after Lord Raglan, the Commander-in-Chief in -the Crimea, but they were comparatively few. In short, the line of heroes -ceased with "the Duke," and later generals have been not only -intrinsically lesser personalities, but have suffered from being engaged -in smaller issues, and under the eye of the "special correspondent," whose -foible has ever been to criticise the general-commanding in detail, to -teach him his business, and show a gaping public what had been "a better -way" in attack, in strategy, or in tactics. Indeed, one sometimes doubts -if even "the Duke" himself would have become the great figure he still -remains had the "special correspondent" been in existence during his -campaigns. - -The lineal successor of Lord Raglan and Lord Napier was Sir Garnet -Wolseley, who first adorned a sign-board at the close of his successful -campaign in Ashanti, in 1874. He was long "our only general," and was such -a synonym for rightness and efficiency that he even gave rise to a popular -saying. "That's all Sir Garnet" was for some years a Cockney vulgarism, -but after the fall of Khartoum, in 1885, it was heard no more. For two -reasons: the military knight had become a peer and his Christian name was -being forgotten; and the failure of his Nile Expedition to the relief of -Gordon broke the tradition of unvaried success. - -The true story of a public-house at Dover--doubtless one of many such -instances--points these remarks. It was originally the "Sir Garnet -Wolseley," and then the "Lord Wolseley," and is now the "Lord Roberts." -"Alas!" said the Chairman of the local Licensing Committee, in 1906, -"such is popularity!" He was evidently, equally with Horace Walpole, a -moralist. - -Lord Roberts is now the risen star on the public-house firmament. -Sometimes Lord Kitchener shines with, and in a few instances has even -occluded, him. - -But when does a sign begin to be "queer," and where does the quality of -"quaintness" commence? Those are matters for individual preference, for -that which is to one person unusual and worthy of remark is to another the -merest commonplace. For my part, for instance, I regard the sign of the -"Swan" at Charing as decidedly unusual, and of the quaintness of the old -village of Charing there is surely no need to insist. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," CHARING.] - -It is essentially the business of a sign to be in some way queer, for by -attracting attention you also secure trade. The first problem of -sign-painters was to attract the attention and to reach the intelligence -of those who could not read--a class in times not so long since very large -and grossly ignorant. For their benefit the barber displayed his -parti-coloured pole, the maker of fishing-tackle hung out his rod and -fish, the hosier showed his Golden Fleece, and the pawnbroker the three -golden balls. In the same way the "Lions" of the various inns in town and -country were pictured red, white, black, or even blue, so that the -unlettered but not colour-blind should at least be able to use the sense -that nature gave them, and from the rival lions make a choice. But lions -were never familiar objects in the British landscape, and the -sign-painter, lacking a model, in presenting his idea of that "king of -beasts" often merely succeeded in picturing something that, unlike -anything on earth, was often styled by Hodge a "ramping cat." In such a -manner the former "Cats" inn at Sevenoaks obtained its name. Its signboard -originally displayed the arms of the Sackvilles, with their supporters, -two white leopards, spotted black; but partly, no doubt, because the -painting was bad, and in part because leopards did not come within the -everyday experience of the Kentish rustic, the house became known by the -more homely name. The "Leather Bottle" was once a sign understood by all; -but in its last years that of the "Leather Bottle" public-house, in -Leather Lane, Holborn, became something of a puzzle. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "LEATHER BOTTLE," LEATHER LANE. _Removed -1896._] - -Perhaps the most ingenious and unusual sign it is possible to find -throughout the whole length and breadth of the country is that of the -little unassuming inn in Castlegate, Grantham, known indifferently as the -"Beehive" and the "Living Sign." A sapling tree growing on the pavement in -front of the house has a beehive fixed in its branches, with an inscribed -board calling attention to the fact during those summer months when -foliage obscures it: - - Stop, traveller, this wondrous Sign explore, - And say, when thou hast viewed it o'er and o'er, - "GRANTHAM, now two rareties are thine, - A lofty steeple and a living Sign." - -The beehive being generally occupied, the invitation to "explore" it is -perhaps an unfortunate choice of language. At any rate, the traveller is -much more likely to explore the house than the sign of it. - -The "Pack Horse and Talbot" may now, by sheer lapse of time, be regarded -as a queer sign. It is the name of what was once an inn but is now a -public-house, on the Chiswick High Road, Turnham Green--a thoroughfare -which is also the old coach-road to Bath. The painted sign is a pictorial -allusion to the ancient wayfaring days when packmen journeyed through the -country with their wares on horseback, and accompanied by a faithful dog -who kept guard over his master's goods. This type of dog--the "talbot," -the old English hound--is now extinct. Probably not one person in every -thousand of those who pass the house could explain what the "Talbot" in -the sign means, or would think of associating it with the dog seen in the -picture. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "BEEHIVE," GRANTHAM.] - -Another London sign that tells of manners and customs long since obsolete -is that of the "Running Footman," Hay Hill, Berkeley Square, picturing a -gaily uniformed man running, with a wand of office in his hand. In the -middle of the eighteenth century it was as much the "correct thing" for -noble families to keep a running footman to precede them on their -journeys as it was for their Dalmatian dogs to trot beneath their -carriages. Those "plum-pudding dogs" finally went out of fashion about -half a century ago, but the running footmen became extinct half a century -earlier. Extraordinary tales were told of the endurance of, and the long -distances covered by, these men. - -Everywhere we have the "Cat and Fiddle," a sign whose origin still -troubles some people, who seek a reason for even the most unreasonable and -fantastic things, and lose sight of the fact that a whimsical fancy, a -kind of nursery-lore imagination, in all likelihood originated the sign, -which is probably not any debased and half-forgotten allusion to "Caton le -Fidèle," the brave Governor of Calais, to "Catherine la Fidèle," the -French sobriquet for the wife of the Czar Peter, or to "Santa Catherina -Fidelius," but simply--the "Cat and Fiddle," neither more nor less. The -rest of it is all "learned" fudge, and stuff and nonsense. Serious persons -will object that cats do not play the fiddle; but they do--in -nursery-land, where cows have for many centuries jumped over the moon and -the table utensils have eloped together, and where pigs have played -whistles from quite ancient times, a little to the confusion of those who -derive the "Pig and Whistle" sign from some supposed Saxon invocation to -the Virgin Mary: "Pige Washail!" 'Tis a way they have in the nursery, -which nobody will deny. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "PACK HORSE AND TALBOT." TURNHAM GREEN.] - -[Illustration: THE "RUNNING FOOTMAN." HAY HILL.] - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "LION AND FIDDLE," HILPERTON.] - -In some cases the "Cat and Fiddle" has become the "Lion and Fiddle": -notably at Hilperton, in Wiltshire, where a picture-sign represents a very -mild and apologetic-looking lion walking on his hind-legs, with his tail -humbly tucked between them, and playing a tune upon a fiddle--doubtless -something doleful, to describe the folly of giving trust. - -At Moulsford, on the banks of the Thames, is the rustic inn displaying the -sign of the "Beetle and Wedge," a puzzling conjunction, until we learn -that the "beetle" in this case is no insect, but a heavy wooden mallet, -and the wedge a wooden, iron, or steel instrument struck by it in -splitting timber. - -[Illustration: THE "SUGAR-LOAVES," SIBLE HEDINGHAM.] - -At Sible Hedingham, in Essex, the sign of the "Sugar-loaves" strikes the -traveller as curious, both in name and in shape. Sugar-loaves, of course, -we never see nowadays, now that cube sugar prevails; and grocers no -longer, as they did of old, receive their sugar in pyramidical-shaped -loaves and cut it up themselves. - -Manchester people are familiar with a very curious sign indeed: that which -hangs from the "Old Rock House" inn at Barton. On the sign is seen the -figure of a man wearing a "fool's cap" and intent upon threshing corn, and -in his hands is an uplifted flail, bearing the mysterious inscription, -"Now Thus." - -The origin of this is found in the local story of how William Trafford, a -staunch Royalist, outwitted Cromwell's soldiery. Trafford owned South -Lamley Hall, and when the troops of the Parliament were heard approaching, -he caused all his servants and farm stock to be stowed away in a remote -glen called "Solomon's Hollow," leaving him alone in the great house. When -they were all gone, he collected his jewellery and plate, and, having -buried them in a secret place, disguised himself in rough clothes, being -discovered when the Roundheads arrived threshing corn over the place where -the valuables were hidden. - -As they entered the barn they heard him repeating mechanically at -intervals the solitary expression, "Now thus"; and although he was -questioned by the officers, who took him to be a servant, they could get -nothing else out of him, being at length obliged to depart, with the -belief that they had been talking to a harmless lunatic. - -[Illustration: INTERIOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN."] - -[Illustration: "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." BLUEPITTS, NEAR ROCHDALE.] - -The De Traffords still live on this estate, whose wealth was thus saved by -their ready-witted ancestor. - -It will be conceded that the "Boar" inn, more generally known as "Uncle -Tom's Cabin," between Heywood and Castleton, on the Rochdale Canal, is not -only a queer sign, but a queer house, being nothing other than an old -passenger barge that used formerly to ply along the Bridgewater Canal, -between Heywood and Bluepitt. - -The railway at last took away all the passenger traffic of the canal, and -the old barge, after many years of usefulness, ceased to run. It was -purchased by a man named Butterworth, who had it drawn on rollers to a -position some three miles from the "cut," and built walls against the -sides, and roofed it over. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "OLD ROCK HOUSE" INN, BARTON.] - -One of the finest and most artistic old signs in the country is that of -the "Three Horseshoes," a little weather-boarded ale-house at Great -Mongeham, which is, in a contradictory way, quite a small village, -between Sandwich and Deal. It is a rare instance of the use of wrought -iron, not as the support of a sign, but as a sign itself, and is so -strikingly like a number of wrought-iron signs in Nottingham Castle -Museum, the work of that famous artist in iron, Huntingdon Shaw, who -wrought the celebrated iron gates of Hampton Court, that it would seem to -be a product of his school. The vogue of the artistic sign is returning, -and a good example of modern work in iron is to be found at Great -Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, where the "Red Lion" inn displays an -heraldic lion in silhouette, ramping on his heraldic wreath, and clawed -and whiskered in approved mediæval style. - -[Illustration: THE "THREE HORSESHOES," GREAT MONGEHAM.] - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "RED LION," GREAT MISSENDEN.] - -At Stourbridge, in Worcestershire, and at some other places, the sign of -the "Labour in Vain" is met with, representing two busy persons in the act -of trying to scrub a nigger white. The Stourbridge example shows two very -serious-looking maid-servants striving to perform that impossible task, -while the nigger, whose head and shoulders are seen emerging from a dolly -tub, has a large, superior smile, only sufficiently to be expressed by a -foot-rule. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "LABOUR IN VAIN."] - -Queer signs are often the product of ignorant alteration of old signs -whose original meaning has become obscured by lapse of time. The "Mourning -Bush," for example, was a sign set up originally by a Royalist innkeeper, -grieving for the death of Charles the First. A bush, or bundle of twigs, -was at that time the usual sign of an ale-house, and he swathed his in -black. What if he could revisit this earth after these two hundred and -fifty years, and find that sign corrupted, at a little inn near Shifnal, -Shropshire, into the "Maund and Bush," the sign representing a -hardy-looking laurel and a basket--"maund" being a provincialism for a -wicker basket! - -The "Coach and Dogs" sign at Oswestry, a queer variant of the more usual -"Coach and Horses" found so numerously all over the country, takes its -origin from an eccentric country gentleman, one Edward Lloyd, of -Llanforda, two miles from Oswestry, whose whim it was to drive to and from -the town in a diminutive chaise drawn by two retrievers. - -The "Eight Bells" at Twickenham, in itself no more than a commonplace -public-house, has for a sign an oddly assorted group of eight actual -bells, apparently gathered at haphazard from various marine-stores, for no -two are exactly of a size. Hanging as they do from a wooden bracket, -projecting over the pathway, and showing prominently against the sky, they -help to make the not very desirable bye-lane picturesque. It is a lane -that runs down to the river, where the Twickenham eyots divide the stream -in two, and has not yet been levelled to the ordinary suburban -respectability of the neighbourhood. Waterside folk and other queer fish -reside in, and resort to it, and on Saturday evenings the usual beery hum -proceeding o' nights from the "Eight Bells" develops into a spirituous -tumult, ending at closing-time with stumbling steps and incoherent -snatches of song, as the revellers, at odds with kerbstones and -lamp-posts, make their devious way home. - -[Illustration: THE "EIGHT BELLS," TWICKENHAM.] - -At Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, a Temperance Hotel displaying the unique -sign of "The Old Fox with His Teeth Drawn" may be seen. It was, until -1893, a rural inn called the "Old Fox," but was then purchased by the Hon. -A. H. Holland-Hibbert, son-in-law of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and, like him, a -total abstinence enthusiast, who made the changes noted above. At his -house at Great Munden he has a collection of the signs of inns he has in -the same way converted. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "STOCKS" INN, CLAPGATE, NEAR WIMBORNE.] - -The "Stocks" inn, at Clapgate, near Wimborne, displays a miniature model -of "stocks for three" over its porch, while the "Shears" inn at Wantage, a -rustic ale-house in an obscure corner of that town, with the odd feature -of a blacksmith's forge attached, exhibits a gigantic pair of shears. - -[Illustration: THE "SHEARS" INN, WANTAGE.] - -A sign that certainly, if not in itself unusual, is nowadays in an -unwonted place, is that of the old "White Bear," a galleried coaching inn -that stood in Piccadilly, on the site of the present Criterion Restaurant, -until about 1860. It is a great white-painted wooden effigy that is now to -be found in the garden of the little rustic inn of the same name at -Fickles Hole, a quiet hamlet on the Surrey downs to the south-east of -Croydon. To the stranger who first catches sight of it, this polar bear -among the geraniums and the sweet-williams is sufficiently startling. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "WHITE BEAR." FICKLES HOLE.] - -At Nidd, Yorkshire, we have the odd sign of the "Ass in the Bandbox"; at -Brixham, South Devon, the "Civil Usage"; at Chepstow the "Old Tippling -Philosopher"; the "Cart Overthrown," at Edmonton; the "Trouble House," -near Tetbury; the "Smiling Man," at Dudley. At Bridgwater, Somerset, the -pilgrim finds both the "Ship Aground" and the "Ship Afloat"; and a -somewhat similar sign, the "Barge Aground," in those places of barges and -canals, Brentford and Stratford, at the western and eastern extremities of -London. - -The "World Turned Upside Down" is the name of a large public-house in the -Old Kent Road and the sign of an inn near Three Mile Cross, Reading, where -a rabbit is pictured on one side with a gun, out man-shooting; while on -the other is a donkey seated in a cart, driving a man. - -The sign "Who'd have thought it?" at Barking, is said to express the -surprise of the original proprietor at obtaining a licence; while the "Why -not?" at Dover is probably a suggestion to the undecided wayfarer to make -up his mind and have some refreshment. There are at least four of the -"Hark to!"--hunting signs: "Hark to Jowler" at Bury, Lancashire; "Hark to -[or "Hark the"] Lasher" at Castleton, Derbyshire; "Hark to Bounty," at -Staidburn, and "Hark to Nudger," at Dobcross, near Manchester. - -Of signs such as "The Case is Altered" and the "Live and Let Live" there -is no end; nor is there any finality in the many versions of the incidents -that are said to have originated them. The real original story of "The -Case is Altered" is said to be that of the once-celebrated lawyer, Edward -Plowden, who died in 1584: to him came a farmer whose cow had been killed -by the lawyer's bull. He was suspicious, as it seems, of lawyers, and came -cunningly prepared with a trap to catch him out. - -"My bull," said the farmer, "has gored and killed your cow." - -"The case is clear," said the lawyer, "you must pay me her value." - -"I'm sorry," then said the farmer, but with a contradictory gleam of -triumph in his eye: "I _should_ have said that it was _your_ bull killed -my cow." - -"Ah!" exclaimed Plowden, resignedly, "the case is altered." - -[Illustration: THE "CROW-ON-GATE" INN, CROWBOROUGH.] - -Nowadays, many of these signs no doubt derive merely from an improvement -in the conduct of the house, indicating that better drinks and superior -accommodation are to be had within, the "Case is Altered" in such cases -being just a permanent form of the familiar and more usual and temporary -notice, "Under New Management." - -The popularity of the "Gate" sign has already been mentioned. An odd -variation of it is to be seen at Crowborough, in Sussex, where the -"Crow-on-Gate" inn, itself the _ne plus ultra_ of the commonplace, -displays a miniature gate with the effigy of a crow over it. - -[Illustration: THE "FIRST AND LAST" INN, SENNEN.] - -Land's End, in Cornwall, is notable from our present point of view because -it possesses no fewer than three inns, or houses of public refreshment, -each one claiming to be the "First and Last House in England." The real -original "First and Last" is the inn, so-called, that stands next to the -grey, weatherbeaten granite church in the weatherbeaten and grey village -of Sennen, one mile distant from the beetling cliffs of Land's End itself; -but in modern times, since touring has brought civilisation and excursion -brakes and broken bottles and sandwich-papers to the old-time savage -solitudes of this rocky coast, there have sprung up, almost on the verge -of those cliffs, two other houses--an ugly "hotel" and a plain -white-washed tea-house--that have cut in to share this peculiar fame. The -tiny tea-house, where you get tea and picture-postcards, and are bothered -to buy shells, and tin and copper-bearing quartz, is actually the most -westerly, and therefore the "Last" or the "First," according to whether -you are setting out from Penzance, or returning. - -[Illustration: THE "FIRST AND LAST," LAND'S END.] - -The "Eagle and Child," a sign common in Cheshire and Lancashire, is -heraldically described as "an eagle, wings extended or, preying on an -infant in its cradle proper, swaddled gules, the cradle laced or." The -eagle is generally represented on inn-signs without the cradle. In the -mere straightforward, unmystical language of every day, the eagle thus -fantastically described is golden, the infant is naturally coloured, and -the swaddling is red. - -The origin of this curious sign is found in the fourteenth-century legend -which tells how Sir Thomas de Latham was walking in his park with his -lady, who was childless, when they drew near to a desert and wild -situation where it was commonly reported an eagle had built her nest. -Approaching the spot, they heard the cries of a young child, and, on -bursting through thickets and brambles, the attendant servants found a -baby-boy, dressed in rich swaddling-clothes, in the eagle's nest. The -knight affected astonishment; the good dame, unsuspecting, or, like the -Lady Mottisfont who, under somewhat similar circumstances, in one of Mr. -Thomas Hardy's _Group of Noble Dames_, thought strange things but said -nothing, was wisely silent and accepted the "gift from Heaven." As the old -ballad has it: - - Their content was such to see the hap - That th' ancient lady hugs yt in her lap; - Smooth's yt with kisses, bathes yt in her teares, - And unto Lathom House the babe she bears. - -Good lady! She soon learnt, in common with the countryside in general, -that the foundling thus "miraculously" given her was the offspring of her -husband and one Mary Oscatel; but the baby was adopted, was given the name -of Latham, and succeeded eventually to the family estates. In after years, -Isabel, daughter and sole heiress of this foundling, married Sir John -Stanley, ancestor of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, who still bear the -"Eagle and Child" crest. - -This custom of good knights casually finding infants when out walking with -their wives seems anciently to have been extremely common. A somewhat -similar incident is told of the infancy of Sir William Sevenoke.[7] - -[Illustration: THE "EAGLE AND CHILD," NETHER ALDERLEY.] - -The old "Eagle and Child" at Nether Alderley, in Cheshire, is the property -of Lord Stanley of Alderley, but the licence was surrendered some thirty -years since, and it is now a farmhouse. A leaden spout-head bears the date -"1688," but the house is obviously much older. A relic of old, unsettled -times is seen in the great oaken bar that serves to strengthen the front -door against possible attack and forcible entry. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -RURAL INNS - - -Of first importance to the tourist who flits day by day to fresh woods and -pastures new are the rural inns that afford so hospitable and -unconventionally comfortable a welcome at the close of the day's journey. -Unwise is he who concludes the day at populous town or busy city, where -modern hotels, pervaded by waiters and chambermaids, remind the Londoner -of the metropolis he has just left. Your old and seasoned tourist, afoot -or on a cycle, by himself or with one trusty, quarrel-proof companion, -avoids altogether the Big Town. He has been there, more often than he -could wish, and will be there again. His pleasure is in the village inn, -or the tavern of some sequestered hamlet; and he knows, so only his needs -be not sybarite, that he will be well served there. - -Queer old places some of them are: bowered ofttimes in honeysuckle and -jessamine; sometimes built by the side of some clear-running stream; at -others fronting picturesquely upon the village green. How quaint their -architecture, how tortuous their staircases and sloping their floors, and -what memories they have gathered round them in their long career! Who, not -being the slave of mere luxuries intended to make a man eat when he has -no appetite, and to drink when he has no thirst upon him, does not delight -in the rural inn? - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HORSE," WOOLSTONE.] - -Many, like Canning's "Needy Knife Grinder," have--God bless you!--no story -to tell, and leave you, it may be, pleasantly vacant-minded, after long -spells elsewhere of close-packed mental effort. A welcome vacation indeed! - -The "White Horse" at Woolstone, a queerly pretty little inn with a front -distantly resembling a Chippendale bureau-bookcase, is an instance. No -story belongs to the "White Horse," which is tucked away under the mighty -sides of White Horse Hill, Berkshire, and additionally overhung with trees -and encircled with shrubberies and underwoods, and is finally situated on -a narrow road that presently leads, as it would seem, to the end of the -known world. The stranger stumbles by accident upon the "White Horse" inn -while looking for a way uphill to that ancient Saxon effigy of a horse -scored in the turf and chalk on the summit; and there, before he tackles -that ascent, he does, if he be a wise man, fortify himself against the -fatigue of much hard Excelsior business by that best of tourist's -fare--ale and bread and cheese--in the little stone-flagged parlour. - -Among memories of old rural inns, those of the "White Horse" are not the -least endearing; but the "Anchor" at Ripley has a warm corner in the -hearts of many old-time frequenters of the "Ripley Road," who, when the -world was young and the bicycle high, made it their house of call every -week in the summer season, and wavered little in their allegiance to the -"Ripley Road" even in autumn and winter. Ripley, in the days of the high -bicycle and in the first years of the "safety," was well styled the -"Cyclists' Mecca," for it was then the most popular place in the -wheelman's world. On Saturdays and Sundays it was no uncommon thing to see -two or three hundred machines stacked in front of the "Anchor." - -[Illustration: THE "TALBOT," RIPLEY. _Photo by R. W. Thomas._] - -There were several reasons for this popularity: the easy distance of -twenty-three miles from London; the fine character of the road; and -certainly not least, the welcome extended to cyclists at the "Anchor" by -the Dibble sisters and brother in early days when all the world regarded -the cyclist as a pariah, and when to knock him over with a brick, or by -the simple expedient of inserting a stick between the spokes of his wheel, -was a popular form of humour. - -The two inns of Ripley--the great red-bricked "Talbot" and the rustic, -white-faced "Anchor"--are typical, in their individual ways, of old road -life that called them into existence centuries before ever the cycle came -into being. The "Talbot," you see at a glance, was the coaching-and -posting-house; the "Anchor" was the house where the waggoners pulled up -and the packmen stayed and the humbler wayfarers found a welcome. When -railways came, both alike fell into the cold shade of neglect, but came -into their own once more during those years of cycling popularity already -mentioned. Now that Ripley has ceased to be the popular place it was, -another reverse of fortune has overtaken them in common. - -At Rickmansworth, which seems to be the battle-ground of Benskin's Watford -Ales, Mullen's Hertford brews, and the various tipples of half a dozen -other surrounding townlets, in addition to the liquors of its own local -brewery, there are extraordinary numbers of inns. How do they exist? By -consuming each other's stock-in-trade? Or is the thirst of Rickmansworth -so hardly quenched? The inquiring mind is at a nonplus, and is likely to -remain so. - -A romantic history, in the barley-brew sort, belongs to Rickmansworth; for -there, until a year or so later than 1856, by the wish of some pious -benefactor--heaven be his bed!--the local authorities every morning placed -a cask of ale by the roadside, at the foot of the hill, on the way to -Watford. If, however, it were no better than the very "small" and -ditchwater-flat ale that to this day forms the "Wayfarers' Dole" at the -Hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester, its discontinuance could have been -no great loss. - -There was a similarly great and glorious time at Hoddesdon, not so long -since but that some ancients still speak of it with moist eyes and -regretful accents, when beer was free to all comers. A brewer of that -town, one Christian Catherow--a Christian indeed--left a bequest by which -a large barrel of ale was placed in the High Street and kept constantly -replenished, for the use of all and sundry, who had but to help themselves -from an iron pot, chained to a post beside the barrel. Alas! in some -mysterious way the ale gradually deteriorated from good strong drink to -table-beer, then it became mere purge, and then small beer of the -smallest, and at last, about 1841--oh, horrible!--water. - -[Illustration: THE "ANCHOR," RIPLEY, IN THE DAYS OF THE DIBBLES AND THE -CYCLING BOOM. _Photo by R. W. Thomas._] - -Apart from the "Swan" at Rickmansworth, with quaintly carved sign of a -swan, dated 1799, swimming among bulrushes, there are but two or three -important hostelries in the town; the others are chiefly ale-houses of the -semi-rustic type, most of them old enough and quaintly enough built to -seem natural productions of the soil. Among them the "Halfway House" and -the "Rose and Crown" at Mill End are typical; houses that are, above all -else, "good pull-ups" for carmen and waggoners, where a tankard of ale and -a goodly chunk of bread with its cousinly cheese are usually called for -while the horses outside are taking their nosebag refreshment. Both these -old houses are racy of the soil: the "Rose and Crown," the older of the -two, but the "Halfway House" the most curious, by reason of its odd -arrangement of seats outside, with backs formed by the window-shutters -that were formerly--in times not so secure as our own--put up and firmly -secured every night. - -[Illustration: THE "HALFWAY HOUSE," RICKMANSWORTH.] - -[Illustration: THE "ROSE AND CROWN," MILL END, RICKMANSWORTH.] - -Two rural inns, typical in their respective ways of rustic England, are -illustrated here. They neighbour one another; the one on the Bath Road at -the fifty-fifth mile-stone from London, before entering Newbury, and -being, in fact, the half-way house between the General Post Office, -London, and the Post Office in Bath; the other but two miles away, at -Sandleford Water, where a footbridge and a watersplash on the river -Enborne mark the boundaries of Hampshire and Berkshire. Sitting in the -arbours of the "Swan," that looks upon the Bath Road, you may see the -traffic of a great highway go by, and at Sandleford Water you have the -place wholly to yourself, or share it only with the squirrels and the -birds of the overarching trees. There was once an obscure little Priory -here, whose every stone has utterly vanished. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," SANDLEFORD.] - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," NEAR NEWBURY.] - -[Illustration: THE "JOLLY FARMER," FARNHAM.] - -The "Jolly Farmer" inn at Farnham, where William Cobbett was born in 1762, -still stands and, overhung as it is with tall trees, and neatly kept, is -in every way, we may well suspect, a prettier place than it was in his -time. And it is, doubtless, in its way, now a higher-class house; a -general levelling up, in the country, of ale-houses, taverns and rustic -inns, being always to be borne in mind when we read or write of the -rustic wayside inns of a hundred years or so since. You may in these days -even play billiards, on a full-size table, at the "Jolly Farmer," and -order strange exotic drinks undreamt of by the rustics of Cobbett's day. - -[Illustration: THE "BOAR'S HEAD," MIDDLETON.] - -Five and a half miles from Manchester, in the now busy township of -Middleton, the old rural "Boar's Head" inn stands, fronting the main -street; a striking anachronism in that twentieth-century manufacturing -centre, looking out with its sixteenth-century timbered front upon modern -tram-lines and an unlovely commercialism. The projecting sign proclaims it -to be that now rare thing among inns, a "Free House." The sight of that -inscription leads inevitably to the thought, how strange it is that in -this boasted land of freedom, in this country that freed the black slaves, -the "tied-house" system should be allowed, by which brewers can buy -licensed premises and insist that their tenants shall sell no other -liquors than those they supply. Pity the poor bondsman of a tenant, and -still more pity the general public condemned by the system to drink the -inferior brews that no one would dare to sell to a free man. - -The curious late eighteenth-century addition to the "Boar's Head," shown -in the illustration, was once the local Sessions House, but is now the -Assembly Room. - -[Illustration: THE "OLD HOUSE AT HOME" HAVANT.] - -At Havant, adjoining the church, as may be seen in the illustration, is -an extremely ancient and highly picturesque inn, the "Old House at Home," -enormously strong and sturdy, with huge beams criss-crossing in every -direction, and stout enough to support a superstructure several storeys -high, instead of merely two floors. It is as excellent an example as could -probably be found anywhere of a fifteenth- or sixteenth-century lavishness -of material and want of proportion of means toward ends. But that should -not make us grieve; no builder is guilty of such things to-day; let us -rather be thankful for the picturesqueness and the strength of it. Those -who axed these timbers out of the tree-trunks, and reared up this -framework, built to last; and those others who doubtless will some day -pull it down, to make way for modern buildings, will have hard work to do -so. It can never merely fall down. The history of it is told in few words. -It was not built as an inn, and was indeed originally the vicarage, and so -remained for some centuries. - -An inn with a similar history to that just mentioned--although by no means -so humble--is the "Pounds Bridge" inn, on a secluded road between -Speldhurst and Penshurst, in Kent. As will be seen by the illustration, it -is an exceedingly picturesque example of the half-timbered method of -construction greatly favoured in that district, both originally and in -modern revival. It is, however, a genuine sixteenth-century building, and -was erected, as the date upon it clearly proclaims, in 1593. The singular -device of which this date forms a part is almost invariably a "poser" to -the passer-by. The "W" is sufficiently clear, but the other letter, like -an inverted Q, is not so readily identified. It is really the old Gothic -form of the letter D, and was the initial of William Darkenoll, rector of -Penshurst, who built the house for a residence, in his sixty-ninth year: -as "E.T.A. 69"--his quaint way of rendering "_aet._," i.e. _aetatis -suae_--rather obscurely informs us. Three years later, July 12th, 1596, -William Darkenoll died, and for many years--to the contrary the memory of -man runneth not--the house he built and adorned with such quaint conceits -has been a rustic inn. - -[Illustration: "POUNDS BRIDGE."] - -A house rural now that the old semi-urban character of the great road to -Oxford has, with the passing of the coaches and the post-chaises, long -become merely a memory is the great "George and Dragon" inn at West -Wycombe. West Wycombe once called itself a town, and perhaps does so -still, but it cannot nowadays make that claim convincingly. If we call it -a decayed coaching town, that is the most that can be conceded, in the -urban way; for to-day its every circumstance is rustic. The "George and -Dragon," a glance at its upstanding, imposing front is sufficient to show, -was built for the accommodation of the great, or at any rate for those who -were great enough to be able to command the price of chaise-and-four and -sybarite accommodation; but the passing stranger would nowadays be -unlikely to secure any better meal than bread and cheese, and the greater -part of the house is silence and emptiness, while the once bustling yard -has subsided into that condition of picturesque decrepitude which, however -pleasing to the artist, tells of business decay. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," WEST WYCOMBE.] - -It is, indeed, remarkable what picturesqueness lingers in the courtyards -of old inns. The front of the house may have been modernised, or in some -way smartened up, but the old gables and the casement windows are still -generally to be found in the rear, and sometimes the local church-tower -comes in, across the roof-tops, in a partly benedictory and wholly -sketchable way, as at the village of Dedham, near Colchester, where the -yard of the "Sun" inn and the church-tower combine to make a very fine -composition. A relic of the bygone coaching days of Dedham remains, in the -small oval spy-hole cut through the wall on either side of the tap-room -bay-window, and glazed, commanding views up and down the village street, -so that the approach of coaches coming either way might be clearly seen. - -[Illustration: THE YARD OF THE "SUN," DEDHAM.] - -[Illustration: THE "OLD SHIP," WORKSOP.] - -Dedham, however, is very far from being exceptionally fortunate among -Essex villages, in retaining old inns. It is an old-world county, largely -off the beaten track, and offering few inducements to the innovator. Among -the many humble old Essex inns the "Dial House" at Bocking, adjoining -Braintree, is notable; for although it is now only an ale-house, the -elaborately panelled and sculptured Renaissance oak of the tap-room walls -indicates a bygone grandeur whose history cannot now be even surmised. -Local records do not tell us the story of the "Dial House" before it -became an inn. The sign, it should be said, derives from an old sundial on -the wail. A curious contrivance may be noticed in one of the old wooden -seats in the tap-room; a circular hole, with a drawer below. The purpose -at first sight seems mysterious; but it appears that this is the simple -outfit for that ancient, and now illegal, game, shove-halfpenny. A recent -visit discloses the fact that all the beautiful panelling of the "Dial -House" has now been sold and removed. - -[Illustration: THE "OLD SWAN," ATHERSTONE.] - -The uniquely projecting porch of the "Old Ship" at Worksop, and the old -gabled house behind it, still keep a rustic air in the streets of that -growing town, just as the "Old Swan" at Atherstone, restored in a -judiciously conservative manner, will long serve to maintain memories of -the old England of four hundred years ago. - -All the old inns of the decayed port of Sandwich have, by dint of the -fallen circumstances of that once busy haven, become, with all their -surroundings, rural. Golfers have of late years enlivened the surroundings -of Sandwich, and partly peopled the empty streets, but commerce has for -ever forsaken this old Cinque Port. In one of the most silent streets -stands the inn now known as the "King's Arms," although, according to the -date of 1592 on the richly carved angle-post of the building, and with the -additional evidence of the Royal Arms supported by the Red Dragon of the -Tudors, it was erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The grotesque -figure carved in high relief on the angle-post appears to be a Tudor -Renaissance combination of Sun-god and the great god Pan. The front of the -house is covered with plaster, but there can be little doubt that here, -beneath that coating, as in numberless other instances, a good -half-timbered construction awaits discovery. Already, when the "King's -Arms" was built, Sandwich haven was being choked with the sand and shingle -brought by the Channel currents, and the seaport was seen to be doomed to -extinction. He was, therefore, a rash man who then built anew here, and -few indeed have been the new houses since then. - -A characteristic old inn of Sandwich is the queer old house with peaked -gables, contemporary with the "King's Arms," bearing the sign of the "Malt -Shovel," and exhibiting one of those implements of the maltster's trade -over the doorway. - -The fisher village of Mousehole, in Cornwall--whose name is a perennial -joy to visitors--possesses a manor-house turned inn; a private house made -public: if indeed it be not altogether derogatory to a picturesque village -inn to style it by a name more usually associated with a mere modern urban -drinking-shop. - -[Illustration: THE "KING'S ARMS," SANDWICH.] - -Mousehole may be found a little to the westward of Penzance and Newlyn. -Like most of its fellows, it lies along the sides and in the bottom of a -hollow, where the sea comes in like a pool, and gives more or less shelter -to fisher-boats. No one who retains his sense of smell ever has any doubt -of Mousehole being engaged in the fish trade, for there are fresh fish -continually being brought in, and there are fish, very far from fresh, -preserved in the fish-cellars that are so striking a feature of the -place, in the olfactory way. In those cellars the pilchards that are the -staple of the Cornish fishery are barrelled until such time as they are -wanted for export to the Mediterranean, whence, it is commonly believed, -they return, in all the glory of oil, tinned and labelled in strange -tongues, "sardines." - -[Illustration: THE "KEIGWIN ARMS," MOUSEHOLE.] - -In midst of the crowded houses, and in the thick of these ancient and -fishlike odours, stands this rugged old inn, the "Keigwin Arms," -remarkable for its picturesque exterior and for the boldly projecting -porch, supported on granite pillars, rather than for any internal -beauties. It survives, as it were, to show that not all manor-houses were -abodes of luxury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. - -I do not know what the Keigwins blazoned on their old coat, for the sign -displays no armorial bearings, and the Keigwins were long since extinct. -But they were once great here and otherwhere. Here they were the squires, -and you read that in 1595, when the Spaniards, grown saucy and revengeful -after their Armada disaster of seven years earlier, came and burnt the -town while Drake and Hawkins and our sea-dogs were looking the other way, -Jenkin Keigwin, the squire, was killed by a cannon-ball, in front of his -own house. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," KNOWLE.] - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "SWAN," KNOWLE.] - -When the "Swan" at Knowle, near Birmingham, was built, "ever so long -ago," which in this case was somewhere about the beginning of the -seventeenth century, the neighbourhood of Knowle was wild, open heath. The -country round about has long ceased to be anything at all of that nature, -but the village has until quite recently retained its rural look, and only -in our time is in process of being swallowed by the boa-constrictor of -suburban expansion. In a still rustic corner, near the church, the "Swan" -stands as sound as ever, and will probably be standing, just as sound in -every particular, centuries hence, when the neighbouring houses, built on -ninety-nine years leases, and calculated to last barely that time, will be -in the last stages of decay. The "Swan" has the additionally interesting -feature of a very fine wrought-iron bracket, designed in a free and -flowing style, to represent leaves and tendrils, and supporting a handsome -oval picture-sign of the "Swan." - -[Illustration: THE "RUNNING HORSE," MERROW.] - -Surrey lies too near London and all that tremendous fact implies for very -many of its ancient rural inns to have survived, but among those that -remain but little altered the "Running Horse" at Merrow stands out with -distinction. It was built, as the date over the great window of the centre -gable shows, in 1615, and, in unusual fashion for a country inn, in a -situation where ground space is plentiful, runs to height, rather than to -length. - -The frontispiece to this volume, "A Mug of Cider," showing a -picturesquely gabled and white-faced village inn, is a representation of -the "White Hart" at Castle Combe, Wiltshire, without doubt the most -old-world village in the county, where every house is in keeping, and the -modern builder has never gained a footing. It is one of the dozen or so -villages that might be bracketed together for first place in any -competition as to which is the "most picturesque village in England." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE EVOLUTION OF A COUNTRY INN - - -It was called simply the "Bear" inn, and had no idea of styling itself -"hotel." Embowered in trees, it stood well back from the road, for it was -modest and shy. A besom was placed outside the door, and on it the yokels -who were the inn's chief customers scraped off the sticky clay of the -ploughlands they had been tramping all day. The entrance-passage was -floored with great stone flags. On one side you saw the tap, its floor -sprinkled with sawdust, and on the other was a kind of sacred "best -parlour," furnished with a round table loaded with the impossible, -unreadable books of more than half a century ago, and a number of chairs -and a sofa, upholstered in horse-hair. In the rear was the family kitchen, -"keeping-room," and drawing-room, all in one. - -The cyclist of thirty-odd years ago--only he was a "bicyclist" -then--sprang lightly off his giraffe-like steed of steel, and, leaning it -against the white-washed wall, called for food and drink. The landlady, a -smiling, simple, motherly woman, in answer to his inquiry, told him that -she and her family were just sitting down to dinner, and he could have -some of it, if he wished. No need to tell him what it was: for there was -a scent of hot roast beef which seemed to him, who had breakfasted light -and early, the most desirable thing on earth for a hungry man. - -The landlady was for clearing the table in the sacred parlour and placing -his dinner there, but our early bicyclist was a man of the world--a kind -of secular St. Paul, "all things to all men"--and he suggested that, if -she didn't mind, and it was no intrusion, he would as soon have dinner -with the family. "Well, sir," said she, "you're very welcome, I'm sure," -and so he sat him down in company with two fresh-coloured daughters in -neat print dresses, and a silent, but not unamiable, son in corduroys and -an ancient jacket. - -That was a memorable dinner. There was good ale, in its native pewter, and -the roast beef was followed by a strange but delightful dish--whortleberry -tart--and that by a very Daniel Lambert of a cheese, of majestic -proportions and mellow taste. The talk at table was of crops and the -likelihood of the squire coming back to live in the long-deserted -neighbouring mansion. - -When he rose to go, and asked what he owed, the landlady, with much -diffidence, "for you see, sir, we ain't used to seeing many strangers," -thought perhaps tenpence would not be too much. That early tourist paid -the modest sum with enthusiasm. - -Preparing to mount his high bicycle again, the whole family must needs -come to see him off. They had never before set eyes upon such a -contrivance, and wondered how it could be kept upright. "Come thirty miles -on it to-day!" exclaimed the landlady: "well, I'm sure! You'll never catch -me on one of 'em." - -The bicyclist glanced whimsically at the stout, middle-aged matron, and -suppressed a smile at the thought. - -The next season saw that early wheelman upon the road again. He was now -not the only one who straddled across the top of some fifty inches of -wheel, and, as the novelty of such things had worn off, the cottagers no -longer rushed to doors and windows to gaze after him. Perhaps he did not -mind that so very much. - -He came again to the inn, and there he found subtle changes. Ploughmen and -clodhoppers in general were obviously now discouraged, for the besom had -disappeared. There was, too, a something of sufficiency in the manner of -the landlady, and one no longer would have desired to sit down to table -with her--nor she possibly have agreed, for the parlour had now lost -something of its sacramental detachedness, and had become a sort of -dining-room. Again roast beef, but cold, and whortleberry tart--with fewer -berries and more crust--and instead of the cheese that invited you to cut -and come again, a mere slice; while pewter was obviously reckoned vulgar, -for a glass was provided instead. The price had risen to one and six. - -"Many bicycliss' calls here now," said the landlady. Behind a newly -constructed bar stood her son. His cords were more baggy at the hips and -tighter at the knees, and he obviously knew a thing or two: beside him was -one of the daughters, garishly apparelled. - -In another year or so the village itself had changed. There was an -epidemic of mineral waters, and every aforetime simple cottager sold them, -professing to know nothing of the old-fashioned "stone bottle" -ginger-beer. The inn had now got a new window, something in the "Queen -Anne" way, that projected beyond the general building-line of the house -and converted what had been the tap into a "saloon" where two -golden-haired barmaids presided. The landlady had by this time got a black -satin dress, and was plentifully hung with gold chains. A highly varnished -suite of unreliable furniture from Curtain Road filled the dining-room, -whose walls were hung with the advertisements of pushful distillery -companies' latest liqueurs. "Lunch," consisting of a plate of indifferent -cold beef, some doubtful salad, bottled beer, a fossil roll, and a small -piece of American cheese, cost half a crown. - -One phase alone remains of this "strange, eventful history." The old-time -bicyclist, long since shorn of his first syllable--and of much else in -this vale of tears--comes now to his ancient haunt along a road thickly -overhung with dust-fog created by swift motor-cars, and finds a new wing -built, with--in the odd spirit of contradiction--an elaborate wrought-iron -sign projecting from it, proclaiming this to be "Ye Old Beare." He -further learns that it has "Accommodation for Motorists," sells petrol, -and boasts a "Garage and Inspection Pit." An ostler, or a something black -and greasy in the mechanic line, leads his cycle away in custody into the -yard. - -The landlady has now risen to the dignity of diamond rings, and the -dining-room to that of separate round tables, menus, serviettes and a -depressed and dingy waiter. Lager-beer, and something vinegary of the -claret order afford an indifferent choice, and if the house still -possesses a pewter tankard, it probably is cherished on some shelf as a -curious relic of savage times. The house professes to supply luncheons at -three shillings, but sweets and "attendance" are "extras." - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -INGLE-NOOKS - - -The chimney-corners of the old rustic inns, in which the gossips lingered -late on bitter winter nights, have ever formed an attraction for writers -of the historic novel. There is no more romantic opening possible than -that of the village inn, with the spiced ale warming on the hearth, and -the rustics toasting their toes in the ingle-nook, what time the wind -howls without, roars in the trees, like the roaring of an angry sea, and -takes hold of the casements and shakes and rattles them, as though some -outcast, denied admittance, would yet force his way into the warmth and -comfort, out of the cheerless night. The warring elements, and the gush of -wind and driven snow following the opening of the door and the entrance -from time to time of other recruits for the ingle-nook, would make that -cosy corner seem, if possible, only the more desirable. - -[Illustration: THE INGLE-NOOK, "WHITE HORSE" INN, SHERE.] - -In fact, there is no more sure way of engrossing a reader from the very -first page than that of beginning on this note. He feels that something -melodramatic is in the wind, and pokes the fire, snuggles up in his -arm-chair, and prepares to be thrilled. The thrill is generally not -long in coming, for there was never--or, well, hardly ever--any romantic -novel where an ingle-nook occurs in which we do not presently find the -advent of the inscrutable and taciturn stranger who, after calling, "Ho! -landlord, a tankard of your best," relapses into a bodeful and gloomy -silence, and piques the curiosity, and at the same time chills the marrow, -of the assembled company, and may turn out to be anything you please, -according to the period, from a king in disguise to a burglar on his way -to crack some lonely crib. - -Most of the ingle-nooks are gone, and modern fire-places are installed in -their stead, conferring upon the survivors an additional measure and -esteem of respect in these times of a reaction in favour of the old -English domestic arrangements. One of the finest of these surviving -examples is that of the "White Horse" at Shere, an old-world inn in midst -of an equally old-world village. Shere is the most picturesque of those -rural villages--Wotton, Abinger Hatch, Gomshall, Shere, Albury and -Shalford--strung along the road that runs, lovely, under the southern -shoulders of the bold South Downs, between Reigate and Guildford. Modern -times have passed it by, and the grey Norman church, a huge and ancient -tree, and the old "White Horse," have a very special quiet nook to -themselves. One would not like to hazard too close a guess as to the -antiquity of the "White Horse," whose sign is perhaps the only new thing -about it--and _that_ is a picturesque acquisition. The inn is, of course, -not of the Norman and early English antiquity of the church, but it was -built, let us say, "once upon a time"; which sounds vaguely impressive, -and in doing so begins to do justice to the old-world air of the inn. The -fine ingle-nook pictured here is to be found in the parlour, and is -furnished, as usual in such hospitable contrivances, with a seat on either -side and recesses for mugs and glasses. A fine array of copper kettles and -brass pots, candlesticks and apothecaries' mortars, together with an old -sampler, runs along the wide beam, and on the hearth are a beautiful pair -of fire-dogs and an elaborate cast-iron fireback. - -A good ingle-nook, rather obscured by the alterations and "improvements" -of late years, is to be found in a low-ceilinged little front room at the -"Anchor," Ripley, with a highly ornate fireback; and at the "Swan," -Haslemere, we have the ingle-nook in perhaps its simplest and roughest -expression, rudely brick-and-timber built and plastered, with an exiguous -little shelf running along the beam, and above that a gunrack. The simple -fire-dogs are entirely in character, and have probably been here almost as -long as the ingle-nook itself. - -[Illustration: INGLE-NOOK AT THE "SWAN," HASLEMERE.] - -The ingle-nook of the "Crown" inn at Chiddingfold exists, little altered, -although a little iron grate, now itself of considerable age, has been -built on the wide open hearth, with a brick smoke-hood over it. You see -again, on either side of the deep recess, above the side benches, the -little square cranny in the wall, handy to reach by those sitting in the -nook, and intended, in those bygone days when this cosy feature was still -in use, to hold the tankards, the jugs, and the pipes of those who here -very literally "took their ease at their inn." - -[Illustration: INGLE-NOOK AT THE "TALBOT," TOWCESTER.] - -In this room the curious may notice the copy of a deed, dated March 22nd, -1383, conveying the inn from one Peter Pokeland to Richard Gofayre; but, -although the "Crown" is a house of considerable antiquity, and mentioned -in that document, the existing house is not of so great an age as this, -and has been rebuilt, or very extensively remodelled, since then. - -A fine ingle-nook, with ancient iron crane, is now a feature of the -refurnished "Lygon Arms" at Broadway, in Worcestershire, an hotel that in -these latter days has been carefully "restored" and so fitted out with -modern-ancient features by Warings, and some really old articles of -furniture, purchased here, there, and everywhere, that in course of time -posterity may agree to consider the whole house-full a legacy, as it -stands, of the old domestic economy of the inn-keeping of the sixteenth, -the seventeenth, and the eighteenth centuries. - -At the quaint Kentish village of Sissinghurst, near Cranbrook, stands the -old "Bull" inn. It had a rugged ingle-nook occupying one side of the -taproom, and on the wall picturesquely hung a very old pair of bellows, a -domestic utensil now not often seen. In the corner of the room stood a -gigantic eight-footer "grandfather" clock. But the chief item of interest -was, without doubt, the roasting-jack over the hearth, with the date -"1684." All this formed one of the most delightful old-world interiors, -until quite recently, but now the ingle is abolished and the ancient crane -sold to a museum. - -A particularly good ingle-nook is to be seen in what is now a lumber-room, -but was once the tap-room of the "Talbot" inn at Towcester, the great -oaken beam spanning the fireplace being quaintly carved, in flat and low -relief, with the figure of that extinct breed of dog, the "talbot." - -[Illustration: THE INGLE-NOOK, "CROWN" INN, CHIDDINGFOLD.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -INNKEEPERS' EPITAPHS - - -In the long, long pages of the large collections of curious epitaphs that -have been printed from time to time, we find innkeepers celebrated, no -less than those of other trades and professions. The irreverent wags who -made light of all ills, and turned every calling into a jest had, it may -well be supposed, a fine subject to their hands in the landlords of the -village ale-houses. - -To Richard Philpots (appropriate name!) of the "Bell" inn, Bell End, who -died in 1766, we find an elaborate stone in the churchyard of -Belbroughton, near Kidderminster, with these verses: - - To tell a merry or a wonderous tale - Over a chearful glass of nappy Ale, - In harmless mirth, was his supreme delight, - To please his Guests or Friends by Day or Night; - But no fine tale, how well soever told, - Could make the tyrant Death his stroak withold; - That fatal Stroak has laid him here in dust, - To rise again once more with Joy, we trust. - -On the upper portion of this Christian monument are carved, in high -relief, a punch-bowl and a flagon: emblems, presumably, of those pots -that Mr. Philpots delighted to fill. The inscription is fast becoming -obliterated, but the fine old "Bell" inn stands as well as ever it did, on -the coach-road between Stourbridge and Bromsgrove, with the sign of a bell -hanging picturesquely from it. - -Collectors of epitaphs are, however, a credulous and uncritical race, and -are content to collect from irresponsible sources. All is fish that comes -to their net, and, so only the thing be in some way unusual, it finds a -place in their note-books, without their having taken the trouble to -search on the spot and verify. Thus, at Upton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, -is supposed to be the following: - - Beneath this stone, in hopes of Zion - Doth lie the landlord of the "Lion." - His son keeps on the business still, - Resigned unto the heavenly will. - -Vain is the search of the conscientious historian for that gem, or for its -variant: - - Here lies the body of Matilda Brown, - Who, while alive, was hostess of the "Crown," - Resigned unto the heavenly will, - Her son keeps on the business still. - -It would, perhaps, be too much to say there was never such an epitaph at -Upton, but certainly there is not one of the kind there now. - -[Illustration: INGLE-NOOK, "LYGON ARMS," BROADWAY.] - -A publican whose name was Pepper is commemorated by an odd epitaph in the -churchyard of St. John's, Stamford. None of the funny dogs who indulged -in mortuary japes and quips and cranks could have resisted the temptation -of the name "Pepper," and thus we find: - - Hot by name, but mild by nature, - He brewed good ale for every creature; - He brewed good ale, and sold it too, - And unto each man gave his due. - -In Pannal churchyard, between Wakefield and Harrogate, is the terse -inscription on Joseph Thackerey, who died November 26th, 1791: - - In the year of our Lord 1740 - I came to the "Crown"; - In 1791 they laid me down. - -Presumably the idea the writer here intended to convey was that this -landlord of the "Crown" was "laid down" after the manner of wine in bins, -to mature. - -At St. John's, Leeds, are said to be the following lines, dated 1793, that -have a lilt somewhat anticipatory of the _Bab Ballads_ metres, on one who -was originally a clothier: - - Hic jacet, sure the fattest man - That Yorkshire stingo made, - He was a lover of his can, - A clothier by his trade. - His waist did measure three yards round, - He weighed almost three hundred pound. - His flesh did weigh full twenty stone: - His flesh, I say,--he had no bone, - At least, 'tis said he had none. - -The next, at Northallerton, seems to be by way of warning to innkeepers -at all disposed to drinking their stock: - - Hic jacet Walter Gun, - Sometime Landlord of the "Sun"; - Sic transit gloria mundi, - He drank hard upon Friday, - That being a high day, - Then took to his bed and died upon Sunday. - -Why did he, according to the epitaph, merely "die"? Surely, from the point -of view of an incorrigibly eccentric epitaph-writer, a man not only named -Gun, but spelling his name with one "n," and dying so suddenly, should -have "gone off." We are sadly compelled to acknowledge this particular wag -to be an incompetent. - -If Mr. Walter Gun had been more careful and abstemious, he might have -emulated the subject of our next example, and completed a half-century of -inn-keeping, as did John Wigglesworth, of Whalley, who, as under, seems to -have been a burning and a shining light and exemplar: - - HERE LIES THE BODY OF - JOHN WIGGLESWORTH, - - More than fifty years he was the perpetual innkeeper in this Town. - Notwithstanding the temptations of that dangerous calling, he - maintained good order in his House, kept the Sabbath Day Holy, - frequented the Public Worship with his family, induced his guests to - do the same, and regularly partook of the Holy Communion. He was also - bountiful to the Poor, in private, as well as in public, and by the - blessings of Providence on a life so spent, died possessed of - competent Wealth, - - Feb. 28, 1813, - Aged 77 years. - -This was written by Dr. Whittaker, the historian of Whalley, who seems, -according to the last line of this tremendous effort, to have been -considerably impressed by the innkeeper's "competent wealth," even to the -extent of reckoning it among the virtues. - -At Barnwell All Saints, near Oundle, Northants, we read this epitaph on an -innkeeper: - - Man's life is like a winter's day, - Some only breakfast, and away; - Others to dinner stay, and are full fed: - The oldest man but sups, and goes to bed. - Large is his debt who lingers out the day, - Who goes the soonest has the least to pay. - Death is the waiter, some few run on tick, - And some, alas! must pay the bill to Nick! - Tho' I owed much, I hope long trust is given, - And truly mean to pay all debts in heaven. - -Worldly creditors might well look askance at such a resolution as that -expressed in the last line, for there is no parting there. - -In the churchyard of the deserted old church of Stockbridge, Hampshire, -the curious may still, with some difficulty, find the whimsical epitaph of -John Bucket, landlord of the "King's Head" in that little town, who died, -aged 67, in 1802: - - And is, alas! poor Bucket gone? - Farewell, convivial honest John. - Oft at the well, by fatal stroke, - Buckets, like pitchers, must be broke. - In this same motley, shifting scene, - How various have thy fortunes been. - Now lifting high, now sinking low, - To-day the brim would overflow. - Thy bounty then would all supply, - To fill, and drink, and leave thee dry, - To-morrow sunk as in a well, - Content, unseen, with Truth to dwell. - But high or low, or wet or dry, - No rotten stave could malice spy. - Then rise, immortal Bucket, rise, - And claim thy station in the skies; - 'Twixt Amphora and Pisces shine, - Still guarding Stockbridge with thy sign. - -Lawrence, the great proprietor of the "Lion" at Shrewsbury, lies in the -churchyard of St. Julian, hard by his old inn, and on the south wall of -the church may yet be read his epitaph: "Sacred to the memory of Mr. -Robert Lawrence, for many years proprietor of the 'Raven' and 'Lion' inns -in this town, to whose public spirit and unremitting exertions for upwards -of thirty years, in opening the great road through Wales between the -United Kingdoms, as also for establishing the first mail coach to this -town, the public in general have been greatly indebted, and will long have -to regret his loss. Died III September MDCCCVI, in the LVII year of his -age." - -Not an innkeeper, but a brewer, was Thomas Tipper, whose alliterative name -is boldly carved on his remarkable tombstone in the windy little -churchyard of Newhaven. I make no sort of apology or excuse for including -Tipper's epitaph in this chapter, for if he did not, in fact, keep an inn, -he at any rate kept many inns supplied with his "stingo," and his brew was -a favourite with the immortal Mrs. Gamp, an acknowledged connoisseur in -curious liquors. A "pint of the celebrated staggering ale or Real Old -Brighton Tipper," was her little whack at supper-time. - -[Illustration: TIPPER'S EPITAPH, NEWHAVEN.] - -Tipper was by way of being an Admirable Crichton, as by his epitaph, -written by T. Clio Rickman, you perceive; but his claim upon the world's -gratitude was, and is, the production of good beer. Is, I say, because -although Tipper himself has gone to amuse the gods with the interminable -cantos of _Hudibras_, and to tickle them in the ribs with his own -comicality, his ale is still brewed at Newhaven, by Messrs. Towner Bros., -and keeps to this day that pleasantly sharp taste, which is said to come -from the well whence the water for it is drawn having some communication -with the sea. This sharpness conferred upon it the "stingo" title. It is, -to all intents and purposes, identical with the "humming ale," and the -"nappy" strong ale, so frequently mentioned by the Elizabethan and -Jacobean dramatists. - -The carving in low relief at the head of Tipper's tombstone, with vaguely -defined clouds and winged cherubs' heads in the background, is a -representation of old Newhaven Bridge, that formerly crossed the Ouse. - -Attached to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, whose tall and beautiful -tower forms so striking an object in views of London Bridge, is a grim -little plot of land, once a churchyard green with grass and open to the -sunshine, but now only to be reached through the vestry, and hemmed in by -tall buildings to such an extent that sunshine will not reach down there, -and the earth is bare and dark. There stands the well-preserved stone to -the memory of Robert Preston, once "drawer"--that is to say, a -"barman"--at the famous "Boar's Head," Eastcheap. The stone was removed -from the churchyard of St. Michael, Paternoster Royal. Planted doubtless -by some sentimental person, a small vine-tree grows at the foot of the -stone. - -[Illustration: PRESTON'S EPITAPH, ST. MAGNUS-THE-MARTYR.] - -Among minor epitaphs that may be noticed to persons in some way engaged in -the licensed victualling trade, is that in the churchyard of Capel Curig, -on the Holyhead Road, to Jonathan Jackson, who died in 1848, and was "for -many years a most confidential waiter at Capel Curig inn." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -INNS WITH ODD PRIVILEGES - - -Here and there, scattered in the byways of the country, rather than -situated in towns, inns may be found that have some attribute out of the -common, in the way of privileges conferred or usurped. Thus, the licence -of the "White Hart" inn at Adwalton, near Drighlington, Yorkshire, has, or -had, the unusual privilege of holding the charter for the local fair, -granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1576 to John Brookes, the then landlord, who -under that charter held the exclusive right to levy tolls and direct the -entire conduct of the gathering. - -This royal grant recalls a once-celebrated inn on a road in Derbyshire -greatly travelled in the coaching age. In a now lonely position on that -very bleak and elevated highway, the road between Ashbourne and Buxton, -stands the inn known as "Newhaven House." A haven of some sort was sorely -wanted there in coaching days, and accordingly this great building was -ordained by the Duke of Rutland, one of those two overawing noble -landlords of the district, who had merely to say, in their off-hand -manner, "Let it be done," for almost anything to be done, forthwith. - -It was in the flamboyant days of George the Fourth that the "Newhaven" inn -arose, and his Majesty himself stayed one night "under its roof," as the -guide-books carefully say, lest perhaps we might suspect him of sleeping -on the tiles. Those were the days when travelling Majesties still did -picturesque things, more or less in the manner of the Caliphs in the -_Arabian Nights_; and the great George, by some mysterious exercise of -kingly prerogative, granted the house a perpetual licence, by way of -signifying his content with the entertainment provided. That perpetual -licence must once have been a very valuable asset of the Manners family, -for the house was, in the merry days of the road, one of the -best-appointed and most thriving posting and coaching establishments of -the age; but in these times it is very quiet and very empty, save for the -great Newhaven horse- and cattle-fairs, in spring and autumn, now the two -red-letter days of the year for the once-busy hostelry. - -From a perpetual licence to a licence for one day in every year is a -curious extreme, afforded by the village of King's Cliffe, Northants, -where any householder, under the terms of a charter granted in the reign -of King John, may, if he so pleases, on the day of the annual autumn fair, -sell beer; provided that a branch of a tree is suspended over the doorway, -after the manner of the "bush" anciently displayed by the ale-stakes. - -Among London suburban inns demolished in recent times and rebuilt is the -"White Hart," on Hackney Marshes: that sometime desolate and remote place -of footpads and swamps. To-day "Hackney Marshes" is merely a name. Little -in the actual appearance of the place, unless it be in midst of some -particularly mild and wet winter, suggests a marsh, and the broad level -stretch of grass is, in fact, in process of becoming a conventional London -park. Through the midst of the Marsh flows the river Lea, and the several -"cuts" that have been at different times made for commercial purposes -divide up the surrounding wastes with foul, canal-like reaches. - -[Illustration: "NEWHAVEN" INN.] - -A very ancient cut indeed, and one now little better than a ditch, is that -of the Temple stream, made for the purpose of the Temple Mills, so called -from the manor having anciently belonged to the Knights Templars. The -site of the mills is still pointed out by the "White Hart." The old inn -was said to have been built in 1514, and in after years was a reputed -haunt of Dick Turpin, that phenomenally ubiquitous highwayman who, if all -those legends were true, must have been no single person, but a syndicate, -and a large one at that. The house, which bore no evidence of -sixteenth-century antiquity on its whitewashed, brick-built face, was a -favourite resort of holiday-making East Enders, and, with its long, white -front and cheerful old red-tiled roof, seemed a natural part of the -scenery, just as the still-extant "White House" or "Old Ferry House" inn, -half a mile distant, does to this day. It was, however, wantonly rebuilt -in 1900, and replaced by a dull, evil-looking public-house that looks very -much down on its luck. The appearance of the old house suggested festivity -in the open-air tea and watercresses style; the new is suggestive only of -drinking across a bar. - -But a long-existing privilege still belongs to the property, the landlord -being the proprietor of a private toll-bridge leading across the Temple -stream to Leyton. He exercises that right in virtue of some predecessor -having long ago repaired the broken-down passage when three parishes whose -boundaries meet here disputed and declined the liability. Accordingly, -although foot-passengers pass freely, a penny is levied upon a bicycle, -and upon each head of sheep or cattle, and twopence for carts, carriages, -motor-cars, or motor-bicycles, at the little hut where the tollkeeper -lounges in a very bored manner. Well may he look so, for although, in -exceptional times of holiday, the toll has been known to yield, once or -twice, so much as a pound in a day, five shillings is a more usual sum, -and there are many days in winter when threepence has been the sum-total -of the day's revenue. - -[Illustration: THE "VINE TAVERN," MILE END ROAD.] - -A similar right is said to belong to the "White House," where a -substantial timber bridge spans the Lea itself, but it lies only on a -little-used bridle-path, and the right does not appear to be exercised. -The scene here has elements of picturesqueness, and could be made a good -subject in colour. - -In October, 1903, the "Vine," the old inn that had stood so long and so -oddly on "Mile End Waste," was demolished. Although it had stood there for -three hundred years, there was not the slightest trace about the building -of any architectural embellishment, the front of it being merely an -extremely unlovely and ill-cared-for example of a London public-house, -while the back Was a weather-boarded relic of the vanished rural days of -the Mile End Road. - -Like the fly in amber, - - The thing itself was neither rich nor rare: - We only wondered how the devil it got there. - -The manner of it may be guessed. In the old, easy-going days some impudent -squatter sat down on that wide selvedge of open space beside the road and -built the primeval hovel from which the "Vine" sprang, and in the course -of time, by the mere lapse of twenty-one years, acquired a title to the -site. Hence the isolated building, standing in advance of the general line -of houses. But, if the illustration be carefully scanned, it will be noted -that at some very much later period the then owner, much more impudent -than the original grabber of public, or "waste" land, seems to have stolen -an additional piece. This is evident enough, not only in the different -styles and periods of the building, but in the manner in which the little -attic windows in the roof are obscured by the addition. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -INNS IN LITERATURE - - -Inns occupy a very large and prominent place in the literature of all -ages. A great deal of Shakespeare is concerned with inns, most prominent -among them the "Boar's Head," in Eastcheap, scene of many of Falstaff's -revels; while at the "Garter," at Windsor, Falstaff had "his chamber, his -house, his castle, his standing bed and truckle-bed," and his chamber was -"painted about with the Story of the Prodigal, fresh and new." - -It is difficult to see what the old dramatists could have done without -inns. In Farquhar's _Beaux' Stratagem_ we find some of the best dialogue -to be that at the inn at Lichfield, between Boniface, the landlord, and -Aimwell. - -"I have heard your town of Lichfield much famed for ale," says Aimwell: "I -think I'll taste that." - -"Sir," replies the landlord, "I have now in my cellar ten tun of the best -ale in Staffordshire; 'tis smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as amber, -and strong as brandy, and will be just fourteen years old the fifth day of -next March, old style." - -"You're very exact in the age of your ales." - -"As punctual, sir, as in the age of my children. I'll show you such ale. -Here, tapster, broach number 1706, as the saying is. Sir, you shall taste -my _anno domini_. I have lived in Lichfield, man and boy, above fifty -years, and, I believe, have not consumed eight-and-fifty ounces of meat." - -"At a meal, you mean, if one may guess your sum by your bulk." - -"Not in my life, sir; I have fed freely upon ale. I have ate my ale, drank -my ale, and I always sleep upon ale." - -Izaak Walton, going a-fishing in the river Lea, was not ashamed to call at -the "Swan," Tottenham High Cross, and drink ale, and call it "nectar." - -The history of the inns at which Pepys stayed would form an interesting -subject of inquiry. Few men of his time were better informed than he on -the subject of inns: large, small, dear, cheap, comfortable and -uncomfortable: they are all set forth in detail in his _Diary_. He more -than once patronised the "Red Lion" at Guildford, a far more important -house then than now. At that time it possessed very fine and extensive -orchards and gardens, and, according to Aubrey, could make up fifty beds, -and owned stables for two hundred horses. Imagination can easily picture -Mr. Pepys, during his stay in 1661, cutting asparagus for supper: "the -best that ever I ate in my life." - -Those gardens were long since abolished, and Market Street stands on the -site of them. - -On June 10th, 1668, we find him sleeping at the "George," Salisbury, in a -silk bed. He notes that he had "very good diet, but very dear," and had -probably, overnight, when sleeping in that silk bed, been visited with -gruesome thoughts of the bill to follow the luxury. The bill was, as he -expressed it, "exorbitant." - -Insatiable curiosity in that old Pepys. Something, too, of childlike -wonder, infantile artlessness, and a fear of strange things, and the dark. -His inquisitiveness took him to the lonely giant ramparts of Old Sarum, -"prodigious, so as to fright me"; and thereabouts he and his party of -three ladies riding pillion found, and stayed at, a rustic inn, where a -pedlar was turned out of bed in order that our Samuel might turn in. The -party found the beds "lousy." Strangely enough, this was a discovery -"which made us merry." Every man to his taste in merriment. - -And so, enjoying the full savour of life, he goes his way, as appreciative -of good music as of a good dinner, and a connoisseur alike of sermons and -of a pretty face. Did he ever outlive his lusts, and know all things to be -vanities, before his natural force had abated? or did the end surprise him -in midst of his worldly activities? - -A transition from Pepys to Sir Roger de Coverley is easy and natural. The -old servant in Sir Roger's family, retiring from service and taking an -inn, is one of Addison's most pleasing pictures. To do honour to his -master, the old retainer had Sir Roger's portrait painted and hung it out -as his sign, under the title of the "Knight's Head." - -As soon as Sir Roger was acquainted with it, finding that his servant's -indiscretion proceeded wholly from affection and good-will, he only told -him that he made him too high a compliment; and when the fellow seemed to -think that could hardly be, added, with a more decisive look, that it was -too great an honour for any man under a duke; but told him, at the same -time, that it might be altered with a very few touches, and that he -himself would be at the charge of it. Accordingly, they got a painter, by -the Knight's directions, to add a pair of whiskers to the face, and, by a -little aggravation of the features, to change it into the "Saracen's -Head." - -According to Pope, in his _Moral Essays_, it was at an inn that the witty -and sparkling debauchee, George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, "the -most accomplished man of the age, in riding, dancing, and fencing," died -in his fifty-ninth year, in 1687: - - In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung, - The floors of plaster and the walls of dung, - On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw, - With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw, - The George and Garter dangling from that bed - Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, - Great Villiers lies--alas! how changed from him, - That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim. - -A most complete picture of retribution in a moral essay, set forth in the -most denunciatory lines. - -In the whole range of poetry there is nothing that so well lends itself to -a cold, calculated vituperation as the heroic couplet. You can pile detail -upon detail, like an inventory-clerk, so long as rhymes last; and thus an -impeachment of this sort has a very formidable air. - -[Illustration: HOUSE WHERE THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM DIED, KIRKBY MOORSIDE.] - -But it has been denied that the profligate Duke ended in such misery. -However that may be, he maintained his peculiar reputation to the last; -for, according to Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London, he "died between two common -girls," at the house of one of his tenants in the Yorkshire village of -Kirkby Moorside. That house is still wearily pointed out to the insistent -stranger by the uninterested Kirkby Moorsiders, who, as Yorkshiremen with -magnificent thirsts, are uninterested, chiefly by reason of its being no -longer an inn; and, truth to tell, its old-time picturesque features, if -it ever had any, are wholly overlaid by furiously ugly modern shop-fronts. -Now, if it were only the "Swan," some little way up the street, still, in -the midst of picturesque squalor, dispensing drink of varied sorts to all -and sundry, for good current coin of the realm, one might conceive some -local historic and literary enthusiasm. The "Swan," however, has no -associations, and is merely, with its projecting porch, supported upon -finely carved but woefully dilapidated seventeenth-century Renaissance -pillars, a subject for an artist. The odd, and ugly, encroachment of an -adjoining hairdresser's shop is redeemed, from that same artistic point of -view, by that now unusual object, a barber's pole, projecting across. - -The robust pages of Fielding and Smollett are rich in incidents of travel, -and in scenes at wayside inns, where postboys, persecuted lovers, -footpads, and highwaymen mingle romantically. The "Three Jolly Pigeons," -the village ale-house of Goldsmith's _She Stoops to Conquer_, must not be -forgotten, while the "Black Bear" in Sir Walter Scott's _Kenilworth_, is -prominent. Marryat, Theodore Hook, Harrison Ainsworth, Charles Lever, -Bulwer Lytton, all largely introduced inns into their novels. Dickens, of -course, is so prolific in his references to inns and taverns that he -requires special chapters. Thackeray's inns are as the poles asunder from -those of Dickens, and are superior places, the resorts of superior -people, and of people who, if not superior, endeavour to appear so. In -short, in their individual treatment of inns, Dickens and Thackeray are -thoroughly characteristic and dissimilar. Thackeray's waiters and the -waiters drawn by Dickens are very different. Thackeray could never have -imagined the waiter at the "Old Royal," at Birmingham, who, having -succeeded in obtaining an order for soda-water from Bob Sawyer, "melted -imperceptibly away"; nor the preternaturally mean and cunning waiters at -Yarmouth and at the "Golden Cross," in _David Copperfield_--own brothers -to the Artful Dodger. I don't think there could ever have existed such -creatures. - -[Illustration: THE "BLACK SWAN," KIRKBY MOORSIDE.] - -Thackeray's waiters are not figments of the imagination; they are drawn -from the life, as, for example, John, the old waiter in _Vanity Fair_, -who, when Dobbin returns to England, after ten years in India, welcomes -him as if he had been absent only weeks, and supposes he'll have a roast -fowl for dinner. - -But in the amazing quantity of drink they consume, the characters of -Dickens and Thackeray are on common ground. Mr. Pickwick could apparently -begin drinking brandy shortly after breakfast, and continue all day, -without being much the worse for it; and in _Pendennis_ we read how Jack -Finucane and Mr. Trotter, dining at Dick's Restaurant with Mr. Bungay, -drank with impunity what would easily suffice to overthrow most modern -men. - -Washington Irving thought as highly of inns as did Dr. Johnson. "To a -homeless man, who has no spot on this wide world which he can truly call -his own," he says, in a memorable passage, "there is a momentary feeling -of something like independence and territorial consequence when, after a -weary day's travel, he kicks off his boots, thrusts his feet into -slippers, and stretches himself before an inn fire. Let the world without -go as it may; let kingdoms rise or fall, so long as he has the wherewithal -to pay his bill, he is, for the time being, the very monarch of all he -surveys. The armchair is his throne, the poker his sceptre, and the little -parlour, some twelve feet square, his undisputed empire. It is a morsel of -certainty, snatched from the midst of the uncertainties of life; it is a -sunny moment gleaming out kindly on a cloudy day; and he who has advanced -some way on the pilgrimage of existence knows the importance of husbanding -even morsels and moments of enjoyment. 'Shall I not take mine ease in mine -inn?' thought I, as I gave the fire a stir, lolled back in my elbow-chair, -and cast a complacent look about the little parlour of the 'Red Horse,' at -Stratford-on-Avon." - -He was very speedily answered, No! for at that instant the chimes preluded -the stroke of midnight, and at the same time "a gentle tap came at the -door, and a pretty chambermaid, putting in her smiling face, inquired, -with a hesitating air," whether that momentary monarch of all he surveyed -had rung. Of course she knew perfectly well he had not rung, and the -humbled autocrat of those twelve square feet was quite correct when he -"understood it as a modest hint that it was time to retire." The Emperor -of the Inn Parlour accordingly abdicated immediately, lest a worse -thing--_i.e._, the possible turning off the gas at the meter--should -befall; and, his dream of absolute dominion at an end, went off to bed, -like a good boy, rather than the Crowned Head he had fancied himself. - -[Illustration: WASHINGTON IRVING'S "THRONE" AND "SCEPTRE."] - -The "Red Horse"--the name is taken from the Vale of Red Horse in which the -town of Stratford-on-Avon stands--is still in being, and the "Washington -Irving Room" is even yet a shrine, of sorts. A shrine, however, none too -easy for the casual worshipper of heroes, or the amateur of literary -landmarks, to come to, for it is generally used as a private sitting-room; -and not the most sympathetic and easy-going of guests who has hired it for -that purpose is content to receive all day a stream of strangers bubbling -over with real, or affected, interest. It is a small room, measuring some -ten feet by fifteen, looking out upon Bridge Street. Nowadays the walls of -it are hung with portraits of Irving himself, of Longfellow, and others, -together with old views of the town; and a framed letter written by -Irving, and a silhouette of "Sally Garner," daughter of the landlord of -that time, bring the place closely into touch with the _Sketch Book_. The -"Sexton's Clock" stands beside the door, with a suitably inscribed brass -plate; but no longer may you wield that poker which was Irving's -"sceptre," nor sit in the chair that was, in his fancy, a throne; for the -poker is kept in the office of the hotel, and the chair, also with an -inscribed brass plate, is locked within a cupboard, through whose glass -doors you may see where it is jealously retired from touch. In short, -every thing that will harbour an inscription has one, not excepting the -poker itself, which has been engraved with the legend, "Geoffrey Crayon's -Sceptre." - -The chambermaid who so obliquely suggested that it was time to go to bed, -and no doubt preceded him to Number 15, with candle and warming-pan, was, -we are told, "pretty Hannah Cuppage," and we wish he had told us more -about her, instead of writing so much very thin description of -antiquities. - -Poets--Southey apart, with his tragical _Mary, the Maid of the Inn_--have -not sung so frequently as might have been expected of the fair maids at -inns. Of this type of minstrelsy, Gay's ballad on Molly Mog, daughter of -the landlord at the "Rose," Wokingham, is best known: - - Says my Uncle, I pray you discover - What hath been the cause of your woes; - Why you pine and you whine like a lover? - --I have seen Molly Mog, of the "Rose." - - O Nephew! your grief is but folly, - In town you may find better prog; - Half a crown there will get you a Molly, - A Molly much better than Mog. - -But he will not hear anything of the kind: - - I know that by wits 'tis recited - That women are best at a clog: - But I am not so easily frighted - From loving of sweet Molly Mog. - -And so forth, for twelve more verses; when, having exhausted all possible -rhymes to "Mog," he concludes, not before we are heartily tired of him and -Molly too. - -The ballad was composed in the company of Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot, the -four friends whiling away the dull hours of a rainy day at the inn by -capping verses in praise of Molly, "with pluvial patter for refrain." - -The verses were supposed to be the lament of the love-lorn young Squire of -Arborfield, the last of the Standens, who died through an unrequited -affection for her. - -The beautiful Molly lived to the age of sixty-seven, and died a spinster, -in 1766. It should be added that the present "Rose" inn at Wokingham, -although itself of great age, and not unpicturesque, and an inn centuries -before coy Molly herself was thought of, has only in modern times adopted -the sign. The old "Rose" is the plain red-brick house opposite, now -occupied partly as an ironmonger's shop. - -Another Mary, maid--barmaid--of the inn, is sung in the modern song, "The -Belle of the 'Rose and Crown'"; but no one would accuse that of being -poetry. How does it go?-- - - I'm saving 'em all for Mary, she shall have ev'ry one, - I'm saving 'em all for Mary, she shall have lots of fun. - They know me well at the County Bank, - Cash is better than fame or rank. - So, happy-go-lucky, I'll marry my ducky, - The Belle of the "Rose and Crown." - -Let us hope, in all charity, that purse-proud bounder and the barmaid -married, and lived happily ever after. - -Inns figure in various ways in literature. Daniel De Foe wrote a part of -_Robinson Crusoe_ at the "Rose and Crown" at Halifax, and at the "Royal -Hotel," at Bideford, Charles Kingsley wrote _Westward Ho!_ During a -wakeful night at the "Burford Bridge Hotel," near Dorking, Robert Louis -Stevenson imagined a highway romance in the tapping of an outside shutter -by some chance wayfarer at dead o' night, and there Keats composed -_Endymion_. - -The "Royal" is in many respects a notable house. The earliest portion, -dating from 1688, is the old mansion of one of Bideford's merchant -princes, who flourished so bravely in the remote times when distance had -not been annihilated by mechanical invention and when each port had its -own rich and self-contained trade. The house compares well with the "Star" -Hotel at Yarmouth, whose history closely matches it. Here, at Bideford, a -finely carved oak staircase leads to rooms magnificently panelled and -furnished with moulded plaster ceilings designed in wreaths of fruits and -flowers, ascribed to Italian workmanship. The Drawing-room, in which -_Westward Ho!_ or a portion of it, was written, has an exceptionally fine -ceiling, of this type. - -The great "Lion" inn on Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, forms the scene of one of De -Quincey's mystical rhapsodies. It is the house to which he came in 1802, -when, as a youth, he was setting forth in his unpractical way for London. -He had walked in from Oswestry, reaching Shrewsbury two hours after -nightfall. Innkeepers in those times knew little of pedestrians who footed -it for pleasure, and classed all who walked when they might have rode as -tramps. Therefore, it will be allowed that De Quincey timed his arrival -well, at an hour when dusty feet are not so easily seen. However, had his -shoes been noticed, he was ready with a defence, for he came to the "Lion" -as a passenger already booked to London by the Mail. An Oswestry friend -had performed that service for him, and here he was come to await the -arrival of that conveyance. - -"This character," he says, "at once installed me as rightfully a guest of -the inn, however profligate a life I might have previously led as a -pedestrian. Accordingly I was received with special courtesy, and, it so -happened, with something even like pomp. Four wax-lights carried before me -by obedient mutes, these were but ordinary honours, meant (as old -experience had instructed me) for the first engineering step towards -effecting a lodgment upon the stranger's purse. In fact, the wax-lights -are used by innkeepers, both abroad and at home, to 'try the range of -their guns.' If the stranger submits quietly, as a good anti-pedestrian -ought surely to do, and fires no counter-gun by way of protest, then he is -recognised at once as passively within range, and amenable to orders. I -have always looked upon this fine of 5_s._ or 7_s._ (for wax that you do -not absolutely need) as a sort of inaugural _honorarium_ entrance-money, -what in jails used to be known as _smart_ money, proclaiming me to be a -man _comme il faut_, and no toll in this world of tolls do I pay so -cheerfully. This, meantime, as I have said, was too customary a form to -confer much distinction. The wax-lights, to use the magnificent Grecian -phrase [Greek: epomp eue] moved pompously before me, as the holy-holy fire -(the inextinguishable fire and its golden hearth) moved before Cæsar -_semper_ Augustus, when he made his official or ceremonial _avatars_. Yet -still this moved along the ancient channels of glorification: it rolled -along ancient grooves--I might say, indeed, like one of the twelve Cæsars -when dying, _Ut puto, Deus fio_ (It's my private opinion that at this very -moment I am turning into a god), but still the metamorphosis was not -complete. _That_ was accomplished when I stepped into the sumptuous room -allotted to me. It was a ball-room of noble proportions--lighted, if I -chose to issue orders, by three gorgeous chandeliers, not basely wrapped -up in paper, but sparkling through all their thickets of crystal branches, -and flashing back the soft rays of my tall waxen lights. There were, -moreover, two orchestras, which money would have filled within thirty -minutes. And, upon the whole, one thing only was wanting--viz., a throne, -for the completion of my _apotheosis_. - -"It might be seven p.m. when first I entered upon my kingdom. About three -hours later I rose from my chair, and with considerable interest looked -out into the night. For nearly two hours I had heard fierce winds arising; -and the whole atmosphere had by this time become one vast laboratory of -hostile movements in all directions. Such a chaos, such a distracting -wilderness of dim sights, and of those awful 'sounds that live in -darkness' (Wordsworth's _Excursion_), never had I consciously -witnessed.... Long before midnight the household (with the exception of a -solitary waiter) had retired to rest. Two hours, at least, were left to -me, after twelve o'clock had struck, for heart-shaking reflections, and -the local circumstances around me deepened and intensified these -reflections, impressed upon them solemnity and terror, sometimes even -horror.... - -"The unusual dimensions of the rooms, especially their towering height, -brought up continually and obstinately, through natural links of -associated feelings or images, the mighty vision of London waiting me, -afar off. An altitude of nineteen or twenty feet showed itself unavoidably -upon an exaggerated scale in some of the smaller side-rooms--meant -probably for cards or for refreshments. This single feature of the -rooms--their unusual altitude, and the echoing hollowness which had become -the exponent of that altitude--this one terrific feature (for terrific it -was in its effect), together with the crowding and evanescent images of -the flying feet that so often had spread gladness through these halls, on -the wings of youth and hope, at seasons when every room rang with -music--all this, rising in tumultuous vision, whilst the dead hours of the -night were stealing along, all around me--household and town--sleeping, -and whilst against the windows more and more the storm was raving, and to -all appearance endlessly growing, threw me into the deadliest condition of -nervous emotion under contradictory forces, high over which predominated -horror recoiling from that unfathomed abyss in London into which I was now -so wilfully precipitating myself." - -The circumstance that led to his being shown into the ball-room of the -"Lion," was that of the house being under repair. That room is still in -existence, and a noble and impressive room it is, occupying the upper -floor of a two-storeyed building, added to the back of the older house -perhaps a hundred and fifty years ago. Lofty, as he describes it, and -lighted by tall windows, the feature of the two music-galleries and the -chandeliers are still there, together with the supper-room at one end -divided off from the greater saloon, and therefore disproportionately -lofty. The ball-room is additionally lighted from the ceiling by a domed -skylight. The moulded plaster decorations on walls and ceiling, in the -Adams style--that style which so beautifully recast classic -conventions--are exquisite, and even yet keep their delicate colouring, as -do the emblematic figures of Music and Dancing painted on the door-panels. -At rare intervals the room is used for its original purpose, and has a -fine oak dancing-floor, but it more commonly serves, throughout the year, -that of a commercial traveller's stock-room. - -The way to this derelict haunt of eighteenth-century gaiety lies down the -yard of the inn, and up a fine broad stone stairway, now much chipped, -dirty, and neglected. On the ground floor is the billiard-room of the -present day, formerly the coach dining-room. In crepuscular apartments -adjoining, in these times given over to forgotten lumber, the curious may -find the deserted kitchens of a bygone age, with the lifts and hatches to -upper floors that once conveyed their abundant meals to a vanished -generation of John Bulls. - -This portion of the house is seen to advantage at the end of the -cobble-stoned yard, passing the old coach-office remaining there, -unchanged, and proceeding to the other end, where the yard passes out into -a steep and narrow lane called Stony Bank. Looking back, the great -red-brick bulk of the ball-room, with the stone effigy of a lion on the -parapet, is seen; the surrounding buildings giving a very powerful -impression of the extensive business done here in days of old. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "OLD ANGEL," BASINGSTOKE.] - -The "Old Angel," Basingstoke, associated with Jane Austen's early days, -has for close upon thirty years ceased from being an inn, and is now quite -unrecognisable as a modern "temperance hotel." In the rear, approached -nowadays through the yard of a livery-stable, the old Assembly Rooms where -she danced with the _élite_ of the county families of her day, may with -some difficulty be found by climbing a crazy staircase and pushing through -the accumulated cobwebs of years. There, on a spacious upper floor, is the -ball-room of a hundred years ago, now deserted, or but seldom used as a -corn-store. - -The great "Royal George" hotel at Knutsford is associated with that finest -of Mrs. Gaskell's works, _Cranford_, and the "White Hart" at Whitchurch, -on the Exeter Road, has reminiscences of Newman. - -The "White Hart" is an inn typical of the coaching age along that western -highway, and repays examination. Dark and tortuous corridors, a -coffee-room decorated in barbaric colours, a capacious stable-yard, all -tell of the old days of the Exeter Mail. The inn stands in the centre of -the little town of narrow streets, where the Oxford and Southampton Road -crosses the road to Exeter, and was thus in receipt of a very great deal -of coaching business, travellers from Southampton or from Oxford changing -here and waiting for the West of England coaches. Here it was, perhaps in -the coffee-room, that the young clergyman who afterwards became a pervert -to Rome and figured prominently as Cardinal Newman, wrote the first verses -of the _Lyra Apostolica_, beginning: - - Are these the tracks of some unearthly friend? - -It was on December 2nd, 1832, while waiting for the mail to Falmouth, that -he found his inspiration here. He wrote, at the same time, to his mother -that he was waiting "from one till eleven" for the down Exeter mail. Ten -hours! Can we imagine any one in these days waiting even half that time -for a train? I think not even the most bizarre imagination could conceive -such a preposterous notion. But such were the experiences of our -grandfathers, travelling from branch roads to intercept the mails. With -such facts before us, we may well understand how it was the inns then -did such good business. - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HART," WHITCHURCH.] - -Since 1857, when Dinah Mulock, at the age of thirty-one, wrote that -remarkably popular novel, _John Halifax, Gentleman_, the "Bell" inn at -Tewkesbury has been marked down for a literary landmark. For the "Morton -Bury" of that story is the Tewkesbury of fact, and a tombstone (long since -disappeared) in the Abbey churchyard gave her the name of the hero. It was -in 1852, on a chance drive into the town with a friend, to view the Abbey, -that Miss Mulock first thought of it as the background of a story, and -lunching at the "Bell" inn, close by the Abbey gates, decided her to make -that house the pivot of the tale. According to the landlord of that time, -it had once, before becoming an inn, been the house of a tanner; and thus -we find something of the framework of the story suggested. The resemblance -of the actual house to the home of Abel Fletcher, the Quaker tanner of the -story, is scarce to be followed, for it is only in the mention of the -bowling-green in the garden and the yew hedge, and the channels of the -Severn and the Avon at the end of it that the place is to be identified at -all. You find no mention of the fine old timbered front and its three -gables, nor of the initials "I K 1696" that probably indicate the owner -who restored the house at that date (for the building is certainly at -least a hundred and fifty years older), and altogether there is in the -pages of _John Halifax, Gentleman_, none of that meticulous topographical -care that many later novelists have been at pains to bestow upon their -works. But that matters little to the literary pilgrims in general, or to -the American section of them in particular, who flock to Tewkesbury for -sake of that very rare hero, John Halifax, whose like, one fears, never -walked this imperfect earth of ours. He is, in short, a lady novelist's -hero, and all such, whether they be the military heroes of Ouida, with the -physique of Greek gods, and queer morals, or the never-say-"damn" young -men of the opposite extreme, have few points of contact with human beings. -John Halifax, however, has a brother in fiction, and may be found in Mr. -Thomas Hardy's _Mayor of Casterbridge_, where he masquerades as a Scot, -under the alias of "Donald Farfrae." He and Angel Clare, of _Tess of the -D'Urbervilles_, are rivals for the distinction of being the least natural -men among all Mr. Hardy's characters. Donald is not quite the perfect -gentle knight of Miss Mulock's tale, but the same blood runs in the veins -of either. - -When the author of _John Halifax, Gentleman_, who had many years before -become Mrs. Craik, died, in 1887, a monument was fittingly erected to her -memory in Tewkesbury Abbey Church, hard by the home of her hero. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," TEWKESBURY.] - -The "Bell" inn is a beautiful old building, of strongly contrasted very -white plaster and very black timbers. A blue and gold bell hangs out as a -sign in front. At the left-hand side an addition has quite recently -been made (not included in the illustration) to provide a billiard-room -and additional bedrooms. - -[Illustration: THE "WHEATSHEAF," TEWKESBURY.] - -For the rest, Tewkesbury is a town full of ancient buildings, built in -those dark times of the warring Roses, when men were foolish enough to -fight--and to die and to lose all--for their principles. Savage, barbaric -times, happily gone for ever, to give place to the era of argument and -the amateur lawyer! In our own age you do not go forth and kill or be -killed, but simply "passively resist" and await the advent of the bailiffs -coming to distrain for the amount of your unpaid rates and taxes, -confident that, in any change of government, your party will in its turn -be able to enact the petty tyrant. - -In those times, when men fought well, they built with equal sturdiness, -and the memory of their deeds beside the Avon meadows, in the bloody -Battle of Tewkesbury of 1471, survives, side by side with the fine -black-and-white timbered houses they designed and framed, and will survive -centuries yet. - -Tewkesbury is a town of inns. The "Hop Pole," among the largest of them, -is a Dickensian inn, and so treated of in another chapter; but besides it -you have the great red-brick Georgian "Swan," typically a coaching -hostelry, that is not quite sure of the titles "inn," "hotel," or -"tavern," and so, to be certain, calls itself, in the boldest of -lettering, "Swan Hotel, Inn, and Tavern," and thus has it all ways. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON.] - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON.] - -Probably the oldest inn of Tewkesbury is the "Berkeley Arms." There it -stands in the High Street, as sturdily as ever, and is in every timber, -every casement, and in all the circumstances of uneven flooring and -tortuous stairways, so indubitably ancient that men who fought on Yorkist -or Lancastrian side in those contested meads by Severn and Avon in 1471 -may well have slept beneath its roof the night before the battle, and -considered the place, even then, "old-fashioned." Its age is so evident -that for the sign to proclaim it, as it does, in the modern pseudo-antique -Wardour Street style, "Ye olde Berkeley Arms," is an impertinent -inadequacy, comparable to calling the Pyramids "large" or the Alps -"hills." It is much the same tale with the "Wheatsheaf"; a little less -hoary, perhaps, and certainly more susceptible to pictorial treatment. It -latterly has become "Ye," instead of "The," Wheatsheaf, and has assumed a -redundant "e" or so; but the equally old neighbouring "Black Bear" fairly -revels in the antique, and on a quite new sign-board proclaims itself to -be "Ye Olde Blacke Beare." What a prodigal and immoral consumption of that -already poor, overworked letter "e," already, as every compositor working -at case knows, the greatest in demand of all the twenty-six letters of the -alphabet! - -Among the various inns mentioned in Thomas Hardy's novels, the "White -Horse" at Maiden Newton was exceptionally picturesque. "Was," and is not, -for already, in the little while between the writing of _Tess of the -D'Urbervilles_ and now, that fine old stone hostelry of the seventeenth -century has been pulled down, to make way for a smart new red-brick house, -all show and glitter. The old house was the original of the inn at -"Chalk-Newton," where Tess breakfasted, on the way to Flintcomb Ash. - -The "Carnarvon Arms," Bloomsbury, in Besant and Rice's _Golden Butterfly_, -to which the dog "Cæsar" leads Phillis so early in the morning, is the -"Guildford Arms," at the corner of Guildford and Brunswick Streets: "The -door ... hung half open by means of a leathern strap.... A smell of stale -beer and stale tobacco hanging about the room smote her senses, and made -her sick and faint.... She was in a tavern--that is, she thought, a 'place -where workmen spend their earnings and leave their families to starve.'" - -Similarly, the "Birch Tree Tavern," of the same authors' _Seamy Side_, is -the "Bay Tree," St. Swithin's Lane. It is described in those pages as the -resort, in the quieter hours of the afternoon, when all the hungry diners -were gone, of Mr. Bunter Baker and a coterie of needy company-promoters, -always seeking to float impossible companies and impracticable inventions, -and so unfortunate as to be, themselves, convinced of the commercial value -of their preposterous projects. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -VISITORS' BOOKS - - -The Visitors' Book is no new thing. In 1466, when a distinguished Bohemian -traveller, one Baron Leo von Rozmital, dined with the Knights of Windsor, -his hosts, after dinner, produced what they called their "missal," and -asked for his autograph "in memoriam" of him. A little daunted, perhaps, -by so ill-omened an expression, but still courteous, the Baron complied -with the request, and wrote, "Lwyk z Rozmitala a z Blatnie." This uncouth -autograph was not unnaturally looked upon with suspicion, and the Baron, -on leaving Windsor, found himself followed by the Knights, who made -inquiries of his retinue as to his real name. They suspected him to be -some impostor, or at the least considered him guilty of that kind of -foolishness which nowadays induces a certain class of visitor to sign -himself "Kruger" or the "King of the Cannibal Islands," or, worse still, -to write down the name of the latest notorious criminal. - -Foolishness is expected in a Visitors' Book, and is not often wanting. In -the present writer's own experience, when two friends who, oddly enough, -were named Rands and Sands, wrote their names in such a volume, the -waiter who read them there, half-apologetically, said, "No: your _real_ -names, please, gentlemen." Argument and assertion could not convince, and -in the end they wrote "Jones" and "Robinson," which duly satisfied. - -The Visitors' Book of an inn usually contains little else than fulsome -praise of the establishment and a somewhat revolting appreciation of its -good cheer. Would-be wit and offensive scurrility are, as a rule, the only -other characteristics; but from all this heap of chaff and rubbish it is -possible to extract a residuum of fun and sprightly fancy. Many modern -tourists in the Lake District have, for instance, been amused--after their -own experiences around the steeps of Langdale Pikes--to read in the -Visitors' Book of the "Salutation" at Ambleside the following piece of -poignant observation: - - Little bits of Langdales, - Little bits of pikes, - Make the little tourists - Walk their little bikes. - -Of the "Swan," at Thames Ditton, Theodore Hook wrote, but whether in a -book there, or not, does not appear: - - The "Swan," snug inn, good fare affords, - As table e'er was put on; - And worthier quite of loftier boards, - Its poultry, fish, and mutton. - And while sound wine mine host supplies, - With beer of Meux or Tritton, - Mine hostess, with her bright blue eyes, - Invites to stay at Ditton. - -Among the severe epigrams that guests have left behind them, none other is -so witty as that by Quin, written at the once famed "Pelican" inn, a -favourite Bath Road hostelry at Speenhamland, Newbury: - - The famous inn at Speenhamland, - That stands beneath the hill, - May well be called the Pelican, - From its enormous bill. - -Its monumental charges were long since ended, and where the "Pelican" -stood there are now only stables and a veterinary establishment. - -Bathos, ineptitude, and lines that refuse to scan are the stigmata of -visitors'-book verse. There is no worse "poetry" on earth than that which -lurks between those covers, or in the pages of young ladies' albums, the -last refuge of drivel and impertinence. People who would be ashamed to own -their verse elsewhere will write and sign it in a Visitors' Book; and thus -we find, for example, at the "King's Arms" at Malmesbury, the following, -signed by Bishop Potter of New York: - - Three savages from far New York - Found rest, refreshment here; - And grateful for the King's Arms, - Bear memory of good cheer. - - All blessings rest on Hostess Jones, - And her good spouse as well; - Of their kind thought for tired bones - Our countrymen will tell. - -Let us hope his divinity is better than his metrical efforts. - -The interesting pages of Visitors' Books are generally those that are not -there, as an Irishman might say; for the world is populated very densely -with those appreciative people who, whether from a love of literature, or -with an instinct for collecting autographs that may have a realisable -value, remove the signatures of distinguished men, and with them anything -original they may have written. Many years ago Charles Kingsley, Tom -Taylor, dramatist and sometime editor of _Punch_, and Thomas Hughes, -author of that classic, _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, were staying at the -Penygwryd Hotel, on the summit of Llanberis Pass, North Wales, and wrote a -long set of verses in the Visitors' Book; but the pages were stolen, long, -since, and now you do but come to that book by asking very nicely for it, -and then it is produced from a locked cupboard. - -Here are the verses, the respective authors identified by the initials -over each. It will clearly be seen that those three were sadly in want of -occupation, and were wound up for a long run: - -T. T. - - I came to Penygwryd - With colours armed and pencils, - But found no use whatever - For any such utensils; - - So in default of them I took - To using knives and forks, - And made successful drawings-- - Of Mrs. Owen's corks! - -C. K. - - I came to Penygwryd - In frantic hopes of slaying - Grilse, salmon, three-pound red-fleshed trout, - And what else there's no saying; - - But bitter cold and lashing rain, - And black nor'-eastern skies, sir, - Drove me from fish to botany, - A sadder man and wiser. - -T. H. - - I came to Penygwryd - A-larking with my betters, - A mad wag and a mad poet-- - Both of them men of letters; - - Which two ungrateful parties, - After all the care I've took - Of them, make me write verses - In Henry Owen's book. - -T. T. - - We've been mist-soak'd on Snowdon, - Mist-soak'd on Glyder Fawr; - We've been wet through on an average - Every day three times an hour. - - We've walk'd the upper leathers - From the soles of our balmorals, - And as sketchers and as fishers - With the weather have had our quarrels. - -C. K. - - But think just of the plants which stuff'd - Our box, old Yarrel's gift, - And of those which might have stuff'd it - If the clouds had giv'n a lift; - - Of tramping bogs, and climbing cliffs, - And shoving down stone fences - For spiderwort, Saussurea, - And Woodsia strensis. - -T. H. - - Oh, my dear namesake's breeches-- - You never saw the like-- - He bust them all so shameful - A-crossing of a dyke; - - But Mrs. Owen patched them - As careful as a mother, - With flannel of three colours-- - She hadn't got no other. - -T. T. - - But, can we say enough - Of those legs of mountain muttons? - And that onion sauce lies on our souls, - For it made of us three gluttons; - - And the Dublin stout is genuine, - And so's the Burton beer, - And the apple tarts they've won our hearts; - And think of soufflets here! - -C. K. - - Resembling that old woman - That never could be quiet, - Though victuals (says the child's song) - And drink formed all her diet, - - My love for plants and scrambling - Shared empire with my dinner; - And who says it wasn't good must be - A most fastidious sinner. - -T. H. - - Now, all I've got to say is, - You can't be better treated. - Order pancakes, and you'll find - They're the best you ever eated; - - If you scramble o'er the mountains, - You should bring an ordnance map; - I endorse all that previous gents - Have said about the tap. - -T. T. - - Penygwryd, when wet and worn, has kept - A warm fireside for us; - Socks, boots, and never-mention-'ems, - Mrs. Owen still has dried for us; - - With host and hostess, fare and bill, - So pleased we are that, going, - We feel, for all their kindness, - 'Tis we, not they, are Owin'. - -T. H., T. T., C. K. - - Nos tres in uno juncti - Hos fecimus versiculos, - Tomas piscator pisces qui - Non cepi sed pisciculos, - - Tomas sciagraphus sketches qui - Non feci sed ridiculos, - Herbarius Carolus montes qui - Nostravi perpendiculos. - -T. H. - - There's big trout I hear in Edno, - Likewise in Gwynant lake, - And the governor and black alder - Are the flies that they will take, - - Also the cockabondy, - But I can only say, - If you think to catch big fishes, - I only hope you may! - -T. T. - - I have come in for more of mountain gloom - Than mountain glory, - But I've seen old Snowdon rear his head - With storm-toss'd mist-wreaths hoary - - I stood in the fight of mountain winds - Upon Bwlch-cwm-y-llan, - And I go back an unsketching - But a better-minded man. - -C. K. - - And I, too, have another debt - To pay another way, - For kindness shown by these good souls - To one who's far away, - - Even to this old colley dog, - Who tracked the mountains o'er, - For one who seeks strange birds and flowers - On far Australia's shore. - -Enough; _quantum sufficit_! - -It was for lack of that natural outlet, the Visitors' Book, that many -old-time guests had recourse to the window-pane. Unfortunately--or should -it not perhaps rather be a fortunate circumstance?--while pen and ink were -at command of every one, only a diamond ring would serve on glass; and not -every guest was so luxuriously equipped. - -The classic instance of a window-pane at an inn being thus inscribed is, -of course, that of Shenstone's writing the last stanza of his lines on -"Freedom" upon the window of an inn--generally said to be the "Red Lion" -at Henley-on-Thames. But who shall decide? - -If we are to believe the account of Richard Graves, who knew the poet -well, and published _Recollections of Some Particulars in the Life of the -Late William Shenstone, Esq._, in 1788, the lines were first written in an -arbour of what used to be the "Sunrising" inn, on the crest of Edge Hill, -a house long since become a private residence. - -According to Graves, Shenstone, about 1750, visited a friend, one Mr. -Whistler, in the southernmost part of Oxfordshire, and did not -particularly enjoy his visit, Mr. Whistler sending the poet's servant off -to stay at an inn, in order that the man and the domestics of his own -house should not gossip together. Shenstone himself seems to have been a -very unamiable guest, and one better suited to an inn than to the house of -a friend; for he grew disagreeable over being expected to play "Pope Joan" -in the evening with his friend's children, and sulked when he lost a -trifle at cards. Then he would not dress himself tidily for dinner, and -snuffed and slouched to the inconvenience of every one, so that it is not -surprising to read of a coolness, and then quarrels, coming to estrange -the pair, resulting in Shenstone abruptly cutting short his visit. He lay, -overnight, on his journey home, at the "Sunrising" inn, and the next -morning, in an arbour, inscribed the famous lines which now form the last -stanza of "Freedom." - -"More stanzas," says Graves, "were added afterwards," and he rightly adds -that they "diminish the force" of the original thought. - -The "Sunrising" inn, long since become a private mansion, and added to -very largely, has no relics of Shenstone. It stands, with lovely gardens -surrounding, on the very lip and verge of Edge Hill, and looks out across -the great levels of Warwickshire. In recent times the hill has becomes -famous, or notorious, for motor and cycle accidents, and the approach to -it is heralded by a notice-board proclaiming "Great Danger. Cyclists -Dismount." But in these days of better brakes, very few obey that -injunction, and ride down, safely enough. - -Whistler died in 1754, when Shenstone, remorseful, wrote, "how little do -all our disputes appear to us now!" - -Here, then, is the original story of the famous inscription, but it does -not necessarily prove that this melancholy poet did not also inscribe it -at Henley-on-Thames and elsewhere, notably at the "White Swan," at that -quite different and far-distant place from the Thames-side Henley, -Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire; an old-fashioned house still in existence, -and claiming to date from 1358. - -[Illustration: HENLEY-IN-ARDEN, AND THE "WHITE SWAN."] - -If the story of the "Red Lion" at the Oxfordshire Henley be a myth, as it -is held to be, it is one of very considerable age, and one that has not -only misled uncounted myriads of writers, but will continue to do so until -the end of time. There is no disabling the flying _canard_, no overtaking -the original lie, howsoever hard you strive; and as the famous stanza -really _was_ at one time to be seen on a window of the "Red Lion" (whether -written there by Shenstone or another), it really seems that there is a -way out of the dilemma that probably has never until now been considered. -Shenstone resided on the Shropshire border, near Henley-in-Arden, but on -his journeys to and from London must often have stayed at the "Red Lion," -Henley-on-Thames, then on one of the two principal coach-routes; and it is -quite probable that he was so pleased with the last stanza of "Freedom," -and so satisfied with its peculiar fitness for inn windows, that he -inscribed it at both places, if not indeed at others as well: - - To thee, fair Freedom! I retire, - From flattery, feasting, dice and din; - Nor art thou found in homes much higher - Than the lone cot or humble Inn. - - 'Tis here with boundless power I reign, - And every health which I begin, - Converts dull port to bright champagne; - For Freedom crowns it, at an Inn. - - I fly from pomp, I fly from state, - I fly from falsehood's specious grin; - Freedom I love, and form I hate, - And choose my lodgings at an Inn. - - Here, waiter! take my sordid ore, - Which lacqueys else might hope to win; - It buys what Courts have not in store, - It buys me Freedom, at an Inn. - - And now once more I shape my way - Through rain or shine, through thick or thin, - Secure to meet, at close of day, - With kind reception at an Inn. - - _Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, - Where'er his stages may have been, - May sigh to think how oft he found - The warmest welcome--at an Inn._ - -Misquotation--sometimes a vice, occasionally a great improvement upon the -original--has constantly rendered the last two lines: - - May sigh to think, he _still_ has found - _His_ warmest welcome at an inn; - -and here, it seems, the use of posterity is the better. - -Neither at the "White Swan" nor the "Red Lion" is the inscription now to -be found. - -Dean Swift's bitter jest, by way of advice to the landlord, scratched on a -window of the "Three Crosses" inn at Willoughby, on the road to Holyhead, -is certainly the next most celebrated. It runs: - - There are three - Crosses at your door: - Hang up your Wife, - And you'l count Four. - Swift, D., 1730. - -I have elsewhere,[8] and at considerable length, told the story of this -remarkable incident, and given a _facsimile_ of the still-surviving -inscription, so hesitate before reprinting it. - -In imagination one sees that gifted man riding horseback on his journeys -between London and Holyhead, or Chester and Parkgate, on his way to or -from Ireland, halting overnight with his attendant at the rough inns of -that time, and leaving broadcast on the dim and flawed glass of their -windows humorous or spiteful comments upon anything that chanced to arouse -his criticism. You perceive him, waiting impatiently for breakfast, -scrawling malignant lampoons with his ring, or recording the stupidities -of his servant. The wayside taverns along that great north-westerly road -should still have such evidence of his passing, only glass is brittle, and -many a pane precious with those autographed records has accidentally -perished, while doubtless many another has long ago been removed by -admirers, and so become lost to the world. - -One such was the pane at the "Yacht" inn at Chester, that hoary timbered -and plastered tavern whose nodding gables scarce uphold the story that -this was once the foremost hotel of this picturesque city. The Dean, then -at the height of his fame, halting here on his way into Ireland, was in -one of his companionable humours, and invited the Dean and the other -dignified clergy of the Cathedral to supper; but not one of them -acknowledged his intended hospitality. Deans, Canons, and Prebendaries all -agreed among themselves, or resolved separately, to ignore the -distinguished visitor, who, in his rage, decorated a window with the -couplet: - - Rotten without and mouldering within, - This place and its clergy are all near akin. - -On the whole, regarding this quite dispassionately, having regard to the -gross affront on the one hand and Swift's malignant nature and very full -sense of what was due to himself on the other, it can hardly be said that -he rose to the heights of epigram or sank to the depths of abuse demanded -by the occasion. Here he surely should have surpassed himself, in the one -category or the other, or--even more characteristically--in both. We want -more bitterness, more gall, an extra infusion of wormwood, and feel that -this is an ineffectual thing that any affronted person, owning a diamond -and merely capable of writing, could have achieved. And, even so, the -historic pane itself has disappeared. - -The guests at inns in the middle of the eighteenth century often did not, -it seems, disdain the walls; for in _Columella_, a curious novel of -travelling, published about that period, we read that the characters in it -found time on their journey "to examine the inscriptions on walls and -windows, and learned that the love of woman, the love of wine, and the -love of fame were the three ruling passions that usually vented -themselves" in this manner. - -These were travellers who, come what might, determined to be -unconventional. - -"When they came to an inn, instead of complaining of their accommodations, -or bullying the waiters, they diverted themselves with the humours of my -landlord, criticising his taste in his furniture or his pictures, or in -perusing the inscriptions on the walls or windows, or inquiring into the -history of the neighbouring gentry. In short, they had determined to be -pleased with everything, and therefore were not disappointed." - -At the inn where these original persons breakfasted the great patriot, -John Wilkes, had usurped the principal place over the parlour chimney. -Where they stopped to dine, the virtuous George the Third and the amiable -Charlotte had resumed their places in the dining-room, and "Wilkes was -only stuck up against the stable-door, and in the temple of Cloacina." - -Alas! poor Wilkes, to be subjected to such an indignity! - -At one inn they found the inscription: - - James Harding, from Birmingham, dined here, Sept. 29, 1763. - Button-maker by trade, - -and there is your bid for fame. The other remarks they shamelessly quote -are all very well for eighteenth-century books, but they are not permitted -on the printed page in our own time. - -There was once a poet of a minor sort who not only cherished a mania for -scribbling verse on the windows of inns, but was mad enough to collect and -print a series of these by no means distinguished efforts, which he -published under the title of _Verses written on Windows in several parts -of the Kingdom in a Journey to Scotland_. - -This extraordinary person was one Aaron Hill, who "flourished" (as an -historian might say) between 1685 and 1750. If he is at all remembered -to-day, it is only as a friend of Pope, whose truest criticism presents -him as "one of the flying fishes, only capable of making brief flights out -of the profound." He afterwards, with more friendship and less truth, -described Hill as attempting to dive into dulness, but rising unstained to -"mount far off among the swans of Thames." How pretty! but he was in truth -the veriest goose, and his pinions ineffectual. - -Hill wrote reams of rhymes, but few of them are poetry and fewer have any -power of entertaining. In 1728 he travelled in Scotland, and there--it is -an experience not unmatched nowadays--he encountered, while staying at an -inn in the Highlands, bad weather. Happily, not all who are weatherbound -in those latitudes scrawl their thoughts on windows, or poetic congestion -must long since have ensued. At that inn--_what_ inn or _where_ we are not -told, he accomplished his one excellent epigram, his solitary perfect -quatrain: - - Scotland! thy weather's like a modish wife; - Thy winds and rains for ever are at strife; - So Termagant a while her thunder tries, - And when she can no longer scold--she cries. - -Other specimens of his quality do not exhibit the inspiration of those -lines, and indeed he is found to be too concerned with moral analogies to -please greatly, even in the best of them. Thus: - - Where'er the diamond's busy point could pass, - See! what deep wounds have pierced the middle glass! - While partial and untouching, all the rest, - Highest and lowest panes, shine, unimpressed: - No wonder, this!--for, e'en in life, 'tis so; - High fortunes stand, unreached--unseen the low, - But middle states are marks for every blow. - -And again: - - Whig and Tory scratch and bite, - Just as hungry dogs we see: - Toss a bone 'twixt two, they fight, - Throw a couple, they agree. - -There is some just observation in that last, although how you are to give -a bone apiece, and at the same time, to Whig and Tory, would, as I -conceive the situation, be a difficult, not to say an impossible, matter -in our scheme of politics. When a Government comes into power, be it Whig -or Tory, or any other fancy label you please, it takes _all_ the bones, -and the other dog merely does the growling, until the times do alter. - -With two more specimens we practically exhaust Hill's well of fancy: - - Tender-handed, stroke a nettle, - And it stings you, for your pains: - Grasp it, like a man of mettle, - And it soft as silk remains. - 'Tis the same with common natures, - Use 'em kindly, they rebel: - But be rough on Nutmeg-graters, - And the rogues obey you well. - - * * * * - - Here, in wet and windy weather, - Muse and I, two mopes together, - Far from friends and short of pleasure, - Wanting everything but leisure: - Scarce content, in any one sense, - Tell the showers, and scribble nonsense. - -How true that last admission! - - - - -INDEX - - - Adelphi Hotel, Adelphi, i. 212, 264 - - Ale-stakes, i. 14-17 - - Anchor, Ripley, ii. 212, 242 - - Angel, Basingstoke, ii. 279 - - -- Bury St. Edmunds, i. 238 - - -- Colchester, i. 90 - - -- Ferrybridge, ii. 81 - - -- Grantham, i. 118-123 - - -- Guildford, ii. 57 - - -- Islington, i. 119 - - -- Stilton, ii. 48 - - Ass-in-the-Bandbox, Nidd, ii. 203 - - - Barge Aground, Brentford, ii. 203 - - -- Stratford High Road, ii. 203 - - Battle, Pilgrims' Hostel at, i. 97 - - Bay Tree Tavern, St. Swithin's Lane, ii. 290 - - Bear, Devizes, ii. 8-16 - - -- Esher, ii. 116 - - -- and Billet, Chester, ii. 74 - - Bear's Head, Brereton, ii. 62 - - Beaufort Arms, Bath, i. 254 - - Beckhampton Inn, i. 238 - - Bee-Hive, Eaumont Bridge, ii. 138 - - -- Grantham, ii. 192 - - Beetle-and-Wedge, Moulsford, ii. 195 - - Bell, Barnby Moor, i. 60, ii. 55, 81 - - -- Belbroughton, ii. 245 - - -- Berkeley Heath, i. 256 - - -- Dale Abbey, ii. 88, 90 - - -- Stilton, ii. 48-54 - - -- Tewkesbury, ii. 283-287 - - -- Warwick Lane, London, i. 30 - - -- Woodbridge, ii. 112 - - Bell and Mackerel, Mile End, ii. 129 - - Belle Sauvage, Ludgate Hill, i. 229 - - Berkeley Arms, Tewkesbury, ii. 288 - - Birch Tree Tavern, St. Swithin's Lane, ii. 290 - - Black Bear, Sandbach, ii. 58 - - -- -- Tewkesbury, ii. 289 - - -- Boy, Chelmsford, i. 242 - - -- Bull, Holborn, i. 288-290 - - -- -- Newcastle-on-Tyne, i. 53 - - -- Horse, Cherhill, i. 232 - - -- Jack, Clare Market, i. 242-244 - - -- Swan, Kirkby Moorside, ii. 267 - - Blue Bell, Barnby Moor, i. 60, ii. 55, 81 - - -- Boar, Leicester, i. 202 - - -- -- Whitechapel, i. 291 - - -- Dragon, near Salisbury, i. 282-288 - - -- Lion, Muggleton, _i.e._ Town Malling, i. 226 - - -- Posts, Chester, i. 155-158 - - -- -- Portsmouth, ii. 137 - - Boar, Bluepitts, near Rochdale, ii. 197 - - Boar's Head, Eastcheap, ii. 253, 261 - - -- Middleton, ii. 218 - - Boot, Chester, ii. 78 - - Bottom Inn, Chalton Downs, near Petersfield, i. 270-274 - - Buck and Bell, Long Itchington, ii. 130 - - Bull, Dartford, i. 79-82 - - -- Fenny Stratford, ii. 111 - - -- Rochester, i. 221-223 - - -- Sissinghurst, ii. 244 - - -- Whitechapel, i. 242, 245 - - Bull and Mouth, St. Martin's-le-Grand, i. 228 - - Bull's Head, Meriden, ii. 80 - - -- Greengate, Salford, i. 7 - - Burford Bridge Hotel, near Dorking, ii. 273 - - Bush, Bristol, i. 255 - - -- Farnham, i. 309 - - - Capel Curig Inn, ii. 254 - - Carnarvon Castle, Chester, ii. 77 - - -- Arms, Guildford Street, ii. 289 - - Cart Overthrown, Edmonton, ii. 203 - - Castle, Conway, ii. 122 - - -- Marlborough, i. 60, ii. 8, 90-99 - - Cat and Fiddle, near Buxton, ii. 147 - - -- near Christchurch, ii. 181 - - Cat and Mutton, London Fields, ii. 139 - - Cats, Sevenoaks, ii. 191 - - Chapel House, near Chipping Norton, ii. 100-106 - - Cheney Gate, near Congleton, ii. 139 - - Chequers, Slapestones, ii. 134 - - -- of the Hope, Canterbury, i. 85 - - Civil Usage, Brixham, ii. 203 - - Clayton Arms, Godstone, ii. 30-34 - - Coach and Dogs, Oswestry, ii. 200 - - Coach and Horses, Chalton Downs, near Petersfield, i. 270 - - Coach and Horses, Isleworth, i. 276 - - Cock, Eaton Socon, i. 267 - - -- Great Budworth, ii. 69-71 - - -- Stony Stratford, ii. 43, 47 - - Cock and Pymat, Whittington, near Chesterfield, i. 181-184 - - County Inn, Canterbury, i. 291 - - Craven Arms, near Church Stretton, ii. 47 - - Cricketers, Laleham, ii. 167 - - Crispin and Crispianus, Strood, i. 292-295 - - Cross Hands, near Chipping Sodbury, ii. 85 - - Cross Keys, Wood Street, Cheapside, i. 295 - - Crow-on-Gate, Crowborough, ii. 205 - - Crown, Chiddingfold, ii. 242 - - -- Hempstead, i. 310 - - -- Oxford, ii. 101 - - -- Rochester, i. 223-225 - - -- Stamford, ii. 158 - - Crown and Treaty, Uxbridge, i. 161-169 - - Custom House, Chester, ii. 77 - - - Dale Abbey, ii. 88-90 - - Dedlock Arms, i. 290 - - De Quincey, T., on old inns, i. 57, ii. 274-279 - - Dial House, Bocking, ii. 226 - - Dick Whittington, Cloth Fair, i. 4 - - Dolphin, Potter Heigham, i. 159 - - Domus Dei, Southampton, i. 90 - - Dorset Arms, East Grinstead, ii. 35 - - Duchy Hotel, Princetown, ii. 149 - - - Eagle and Child, Nether Alderley, ii. 209 - - Edinburgh Castle, Limehouse, ii. 106-108 - - -- Regent's Park, ii. 126-128 - - Eight Bells, Twickenham, ii. 200 - - Epitaphs on Innkeepers, ii. 245-254 - - - Falcon, Bidford, ii. 89 - - -- Chester, ii. 74 - - Falstaff, Canterbury, i. 87 - - Feathers, Ludlow, ii. 18-25 - - Ferry inn, Rosneath, ii. 180 - - Fighting Cocks, St. Albans, i. 4 - - First and Last, Land's End, ii. 206 - - -- Sennen, ii. 206 - - Fish and Eels, Roydon, i. 118 - - Flitch of Bacon, Wichnor, ii. 79 - - Fountain, Canterbury, i. 291 - - Four Crosses, Hatherton, ii. 134 - - Fowler, J. Kearsley, of the White Hart, Aylesbury, i. 62 - - Fox and Hounds, Barley, ii. 153 - - Fox and Pelican, Grayshott, ii. 180 - - Fox-under-the-Hill, Strand, i. 255 - - - Garter, Windsor, ii. 261 - - Gate, Dunkirk, ii. 133 - - Gate Hangs Well, Nottingham, ii. 133 - - Gatehouse Tavern, Norwich, ii. 130 - - George, Amesbury, i. 283-287 - - -- Andover, ii. 16-18 - - -- Bridport, i. 180 - - -- Brighthelmstone, i. 181 - - -- Broadwindsor, i. 180 - - -- Colnbrook, i. 188 - - -- Crawley, ii. 152 - - -- Grantham, i. 267, ii. 55 - - -- Glastonbury, i. 107, 116 - - -- Greta Bridge, i. 268 - - -- Hayes Common, ii. 172 - - -- Huntingdon, ii. 47 - - -- Mere, i. 180 - - -- Norton St. Philip, i. 123-132 - - -- Odiham, ii. 44 - - -- Rochester, i. 82 - - -- St. Albans, i. 117, 119 - - -- Salisbury, ii. 263 - - -- Southwark, i. 31 - - -- Stamford, ii. 154-158 - - -- Walsall, i. 60 - - -- Wanstead, ii. 141 - - -- Winchcombe, i. 132-136 - - George and Dragon, Dragon's Green, ii. 117-119 - - -- Great Budworth, ii. 137 - - -- Wargrave-on-Thames, ii. 176 - - -- West Wycombe, ii. 222 - - George and Vulture, Lombard Street, i. 213, 251, 264 - - George the Fourth, Clare Market, i. 242-244 - - God's House, Portsmouth, i. 89 - - Golden Cross, Charing Cross, i. 213-220, ii. 72, 268 - - Grand Pump Room Hotel, Bath, i. 254 - - Great Western Railway Hotel, Paddington, i. 72 - - Great White Horse, Ipswich, i. 246-251 - - Green Dragon, Alderbury, i. 282-288 - - -- Combe St. Nicholas, ii. 109 - - -- Welton, i. 312 - - -- Wymondham, i. 95 - - Green Man, Hatton, i. 317 - - -- Putney Heath, i. 319 - - Green Man and Black's Head, Ashbourne, ii. 159 - - Grenadier, Whitley, ii. 138 - - Greyhound, Croydon, ii. 153 - - -- Sutton, ii. 153 - - -- Thame, i. 160 - - Guildford Arms, Guildford Street, ii. 290 - - - Halfway House, Rickmansworth, ii. 215 - - Hark to Bounty, Staidburn, ii. 204 - - -- Lasher, Castleton, ii. 204 - - -- Nudger, Dobcross, Manchester, ii. 204 - - -- Towler, Bury, Lancashire, ii. 204 - - Haycock, Wansford, ii. 80 - - Haygate Inn, near Wellington, Salop, ii. 80 - - Hearts of Oak, West Allington, ii. 87 - - Herbergers, i. 25 - - Hop-pole, Tewkesbury, i. 257, ii. 288 - - Horseshoe and Castle, Cooling, i. 295 - - Hostelers, i. 25 - - Hundred-and-One, The, ii. 129 - - Innkeepers, Epitaphs on, ii. 245-254 - - Isle of Skye, near Holmfirth, ii. 148 - - - Jack Straw's Castle, Hampstead Heath, i. 300-302 - - Johnson Dr., on inns, i. 43-46 - - Jolly Farmer, Farnham, ii. 217 - - - Keigwin Arms, Mousehole, ii. 230 - - King and Tinker, Enfield, i. 205-207 - - King Edgar, Chester, ii. 72-74 - - King's Arms, Lancaster, i. 299 - - -- Malmesbury, ii. 293 - - -- Salisbury, i. 180 - - -- Sandwich, ii. 228 - - King's Head, Aylesbury, i. 141-143, ii. 38 - - -- Chigwell, i. 277-283 - - -- Dorking, i. 230 - - -- Stockbridge, ii. 249 - - -- Thame, i. 160 - - -- Yarmouth, i. 207, ii. 114 - - - Labour in Vain, Stourbridge, ii. 199 - - Lamb, Eastbourne, ii. 57 - - Lawrence, Robert, of the "Lion," Shrewsbury, i. 60, ii. 250 - - Leather Bottle, Cobham, Kent, i. 230 - - -- Holborn, ii. 191 - - Leighton, Archbishop, i. 29 - - Lion, Shrewsbury, i. 60, 297, ii. 250, 274-279 - - Lion and Fiddle, Hilperton, ii. 195 - - Lion and Swan, Congleton, ii. 65-67 - - Living Sign, Grantham, ii. 192 - - Load of Mischief, Oxford Street, ii. 162 - - Locker-Lampson, F., on old inns, i. 58 - - Loggerheads, Llanverris, ii. 168 - - Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland, i. 136-140 - - Lord Warden, Dover, i. 54 - - Luttrell Arms, Dunster, ii. 37-40 - - Lygon Arms, Broadway, ii. 2-8, 244 - - - Magpie, Little Stonham, ii. 153 - - -- and Stump, Clare Market, i. 242 - - Maiden's Head, Uckfield, ii. 37 - - Maid's Head, Norwich, ii. 40-42 - - Maison Dieu, Dover, i. 88 - - -- Ospringe, i. 84 - - Malt Shovel, Sandwich, ii. 228 - - Man Loaded with Mischief, Oxford Street, ii. 162 - - Marlborough Downs, i. 231-238 - - Marquis of Ailesbury's Arms, Manton, i. 232 - - -- Granby, Dorking, i. 230 - - Maund and Bush, near Shifnal, ii. 199 - - Maypole, Chigwell, i. 277-282 - - Miller of Mansfield, Goring-on-Thames, ii. 177 - - Molly Mog, ii. 271 - - Mompesson, Sir Giles, i. 37-41 - - Mortal Man, Troutbeck, ii. 169 - - Morison, Fynes, on English inns, i. 36 - - Music House, Norwich, i. 157 - - - Nag's Head, Thame, i. 160 - - Neptune, Ipswich, ii. 110 - - Newhaven Inn, near Buxton, ii. 255 - - New Inn, Allerton, ii. 80 - - -- Gloucester, i. 98-106 - - -- Greta Bridge, i. 268 - - -- New Romney, ii. 44 - - -- Sherborne, i. 106 - - Newby Head, near Hawes, ii. 149 - - Noah's Ark, Compton, i. 90 - - Nutley Inn, ii. 36 - - - Old Angel, Basingstoke, ii. 279 - - -- Bell, Holborn, i. 30 - - -- -- Chester, ii. 78 - - -- Black Jack, Clare Market, i. 242-244 - - -- Fox, Bricket Wood, ii. 201 - - -- Hall, Sandbach, ii. 58-62 - - -- House at Home, Havant, ii. 220 - - -- King's Head, Aylesbury, i. 141-143, ii. 38 - - -- -- Chester, ii. 77 - - -- Leather Bottle, Cobham, Kent, i. 230 - - -- Magpies, Sipson Green, i. 317 - - -- Rock House, Barton, ii. 196 - - -- Rover's Return, Manchester, i. 7 - - -- Royal Hotel, Birmingham, i. 258, ii. 268 - - -- Ship, Worksop, ii. 226 - - -- Star, York, ii. 158 - - -- Swan, Atherstone, ii. 227 - - -- Tippling Philosopher, Chepstow, ii. 203 - - -- White Swan, Piff's Elm, i. 202-205 - - Osborne's Hotel, Adelphi, i. 212, 264 - - Ostrich, Colnbrook, i. 188-201 - - - Pack Horse and Talbot, Turnham Green, ii. 192 - - Peacock, Eatanswill, i. 230 - - -- Rowsley, ii. 25-29 - - Pelican, Speenhamland, i. 208, ii. 293 - - Penygwryd Hotel, Llanberis, ii. 294-298 - - Pheasant, Winterslow Hut, ii. 102 - - Pickering Arms, Thelwall, ii. 71 - - Pie, Little Stonham, ii. 153 - - Pied Bull, Chester, ii. 78 - - _Piers Plowman_, i. 16-18 - - Piff's Elm, i. 202-205 - - Pilgrims' Hostel, Battle, i. 97 - - -- Compton, i. 90 - - Plough, Blundeston, i. 290 - - -- Ford, ii. 136 - - Pomfret Arms, Towcester, i. 259-263 - - Pounds Bridge, near Penshurst, ii. 220 - - - Queen's Arms, Charmouth, i. 180 - - -- Head, Hesket Newmarket, i. 299 - - -- Hotel, St. Martin's-le-Grand, i. 229 - - -- Burton-on-Trent, ii. 114 - - - Raven, Hook, ii. 86 - - -- Shrewsbury, i. 42, 60 - - Red Bull, Stamford, ii. 158 - - Red Horse, Stratford-on-Avon, ii. 47, 269-271 - - Red Lion, Banbury, i. 146 - - -- Canterbury, i. 51 - - -- Chiswick Mall, ii. 123-125 - - -- Egham, ii. 53-56 - - -- Glastonbury, i. 116 - - -- Great Missenden, ii. 198 - - -- Guildford, ii. 262 - - -- Hampton-on-Thames, ii. 159 - - -- Hatfield, ii. 55 - - -- Henley-on-Thames, ii. 299-301 - - -- High Wycombe, i. 184 - - -- Hillingdon, i. 169 - - -- Martlesham, ii. 113, 165 - - -- Ospringe, i. 84 - - -- Parliament Street, i. 265, 290 - - Reindeer, Banbury, i. 145, 147-155, 169 - - Ridler's Hotel, Holborn, i. 31 - - Robin Hood, Turnham Green, ii. 131 - - -- Cherry Hinton, ii. 131 - - Rose, Wokingham, ii. 271 - - Rose and Crown, Halifax, ii. 273 - - -- Rickmansworth, ii. 215 - - Rover's Return, Shudehill, Manchester, i. 7 - - Row Barge, Wallingford, ii. 178 - - Royal County Hotel, Durham, ii. 55 - - Royal George, Knutsford, ii. 279 - - -- Stroud, ii. 82 - - Royal Hotel, Bath, i. 255 - - -- Bideford, ii. 273 - - Royal Oak, Bettws-y-Coed, ii. 172-175 - - Rummyng, Elynor, i. 19-24 - - Running Footman, Hay Hill, i. 255, ii. 193 - - Running Horse, Leatherhead, i. 18-25 - - -- Merrow, ii. 233 - - - Salutation, Ambleside, ii. 292 - - Saracen's Head, Bath, i. 266 - - -- Southwell, i. 172-180 - - -- Towcester, i. 259-263 - - Serjeant's Inn Coffee House, i. 255 - - Seven Stars, Manchester, i. 6, 8-12 - - Shakespeare's Head, near Chipping Norton, ii. 100-106 - - Shears, Wantage, ii. 202 - - Shepherd's Shore, Marlborough Downs, i. 232-237 - - Ship and Lobster, Denton, near Gravesend, i. 296 - - -- Afloat, Bridgwater, ii. 203 - - -- Aground, ii. 203 - - Ship, Brixham, ii. 139 - - -- Dover, i. 54 - - Smiling Man, Dudley, ii. 203 - - Smoker, Plumbley, ii. 179 - - Soldier's Fortune, Kidderminster, ii. 136 - - Sondes Arms, Rockingham, i. 290 - - Spaniards, Hampstead Heath, i. 256, 320-327 - - Star, Alfriston, i. 93-97, ii. 165 - - -- Lewes, ii. 37 - - -- Yarmouth, ii. 42-44, 273 - - Stocks, Clapgate, ii. 202 - - Stonham Pie, Little Stonham, ii. 153 - - Sugar Loaves, Sible Hedingham, ii. 195 - - Sun, Canterbury, i. 292 - - -- Cirencester, i. 180 - - -- Dedham, ii. 225 - - -- Northallerton, ii. 248 - - Sunrising Inn, Edge Hill, ii. 299 - - Swan and Bottle, Uxbridge, i. 165 - - -- Charing, ii. 188 - - -- Ferrybridge, ii. 81, 83 - - -- Fittleworth, ii. 159, 183 - - -- Haslemere, ii. 242 - - -- Kirkby Moorside, ii. 267 - - -- Knowle, ii. 231-233 - - -- near Newbury, ii. 216 - - -- Preston Crowmarsh, ii. 179 - - -- Rickmansworth, ii. 214 - - -- Sandleford, ii. 217 - - -- Tewkesbury, ii. 288 - - -- Thames Ditton, ii. 292 - - -- Town Malling, i. 226 - - -- with Two Necks, Gresham Street, i. 54-56 - - - Tabard, Southwark, i. 77-79 - - Talbot, Atcham, ii. 80 - - -- Cuckfield, ii. 81 - - -- Newark, i. 308 - - -- Ripley, ii. 213 - - -- Shrewsbury, ii. 80 - - -- Southwark, i. 79 - - -- Towcester, ii. 115, 243 - - Tan Hill Inn, Swaledale, near Brough, ii. 145 - - Tankard, Ipswich, ii. 110 - - Thorn, Appleton, ii. 138 - - Three Cats, Sevenoaks, ii. 191 - - -- Cocks, near Hay, ii. 47 - - -- Crosses, Willoughby, ii. 303 - - -- Crowns, Chagford, i. 170-172 - - -- Horseshoes, Great Mongeham, ii. 197 - - -- Houses, Sandal, i. 308 - - -- Jolly Bargemen, Cooling, i. 295 - - -- Magpies, Sipson Green, i. 317 - - -- Queens, Burton-on-Trent, ii. 114 - - -- Tuns, Bideford, ii. 110 - - Town Arms, Eatanswill, i. 230 - - Traveller's Rest, Flash Bar, ii. 148 - - -- Kirkstone Pass, ii. 148 - - Treaty House, Uxbridge, i. 161-169 - - Trevelyan Arms, Barnstaple, ii. 40, 110 - - Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham, ii. 134 - - Trouble House, near Tetbury, ii. 203 - - Turnspit Dogs, i. 48-51 - - Turpin's Cave, Epping Forest, i. 310 - - - Uncle Tom's Cabin, Bluepitts, near Rochdale, ii. 197 - - Unicorn, Bowes, i. 269 - - -- Ripon, ii. 121 - - - Verulam Arms, St. Albans, ii. 79 - - Vine, Mile-End, ii. 259 - - _Vision of Piers Plowman_, i. 16-18 - - Visitors' Books, ii. 291-308 - - - Waggon and Horses, Beckhampton, i. 233, 237 - - Wellington, Broadstairs, ii. 47 - - -- Market Place, Manchester, i. 7 - - -- Rushyford Bridge, i. 60 - - -- Tewkesbury, ii. 287 - - Whetstone, Chiswick Mall, ii. 124 - - White Bear, Fickles Hole, ii. 203 - - -- and Whetstone, Chiswick Mall, ii. 123-125 - - -- Bull, Ribchester, ii. 119-121 - - White Hart, Adwalton, ii. 255 - - -- Aylesbury, i. 62-67, 140 - - -- Bath, i. 254 - - -- Castle Combe, ii. 234 - - -- Drighlington, ii. 255 - - -- Eatanswill, i. 230 - - -- Glastonbury, i. 112 - - -- Godstone, ii. 30-34 - - -- Guildford, ii. 55 - - -- Hackney Marshes, ii. 257-259 - - -- Scole, ii. 150 - - -- Somerton, i. 185-187 - - -- Southwark, i. 226-228 - - -- Whitchurch, Hants, ii. 280 - - -- Widcombe, i. 254 - - -- Yard, Gray's Inn Road, ii. 106 - - White Horse, Eaton Socon, i. 267 - - -- Fetter Lane, i. 31, 219 - - -- Maiden Newton, ii. 289 - - -- Shere, ii. 241 - - -- Woolstone, ii. 211 - - White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, i. 253 - - White House, Hackney Marshes, ii. 259 - - White Lion, Maidstone, i. 226 - - White Swan, Henley-in-Arden, ii. 300 - - Who'd Have Thought It, Barking, ii. 204 - - Why Not, Dover, ii. 204 - - Widow's Son, Bromley-by-Bow, ii. 125-127 - - Windmill, North Cheriton, ii. 89-91 - - -- Salt Hill, i. 60 - - -- Tabley, ii. 179 - - Winterslow Hut, near Salisbury, ii. 102 - - Wizard, Alderley Edge, ii. 65-69 - - Wood's Hotel, Furnival's Inn, i. 31 - - World Turned Upside Down, Old Kent Road, ii. 204 - - -- near Three Mile Cross, ii. 204 - - Wright's, Rochester, i. 223-225 - - - Yacht, Chester, ii. 77, 304 - - -_Printed and bound by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _The Great North Road_, 1901, vol. i., pp. 260-66. - -[2] The sign of "Scole White Hart," illustrated in _Norwich Road_, p. 265. - -[3] Illustrated: _Brighton Road_, pp. 333, 337. - -[4] Illustrated: _Brighton Road_, p. 295. - -[5] Illustrated: _Norwich Road_, p. 256. - -[6] It is now the "Dolphin," and numbered 269. - -[7] Cf. _The Hastings Road_, p. 82. - -[8] _The Holyhead Road_, vol. i., pp. 244-7; _Stage Coach and Mail in Days -of Yore_, vol. i., p. 46. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. - -The original text includes Greek characters that have been replaced with -transliterations in this text version. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II -(of 2), by Charles G. 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Harper—A Project Gutenberg eBook @@ -53,50 +53,7 @@ </style> </head> <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of -2), by Charles G. Harper - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of 2) - A Picturesque Account of the Ancient and Storied Hostelries - of Our Own Country - -Author: Charles G. Harper - -Illustrator: Charles G. Harper - -Release Date: October 2, 2013 [EBook #43866] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND, VOL II *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43866 ***</div> <p class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></p> @@ -7910,383 +7867,6 @@ Yacht, Chester, ii. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a><br /> <p><a name='f_8' id='f_8' href='#fna_8'>[8]</a> <i>The Holyhead Road</i>, vol. i., pp. 244-7; <i>Stage Coach and Mail in Days of Yore</i>, vol. i., p. 46.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II -(of 2), by Charles G. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43866 ***</div> </body> </html> diff --git a/43866.txt b/43866.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d07114d..0000000 --- a/43866.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7765 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of -2), by Charles G. Harper - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II (of 2) - A Picturesque Account of the Ancient and Storied Hostelries - of Our Own Country - -Author: Charles G. Harper - -Illustrator: Charles G. Harper - -Release Date: October 2, 2013 [EBook #43866] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND, VOL II *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND - - - - -WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR - - -The Portsmouth Road, and its Tributaries: To-day and in Days of Old. - -The Dover Road: Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. - -The Bath Road: History, Fashion, and Frivolity on an Old Highway. - -The Exeter Road: The Story of the West of England Highway. - -The Great North Road: The Old Mail Road to Scotland. Two Vols. - -The Norwich Road: An East Anglian Highway. - -The Holyhead Road: The Mail-Coach Road to Dublin. Two Vols. - -The Cambridge, Ely, and King's Lynn Road: The Great Fenland Highway. - -The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford, and Cromer Road: Sport and History on an -East Anglian Turnpike. - -The Oxford, Gloucester, and Milford Haven Road: The Ready Way to South -Wales. Two Vols. - -The Brighton Road: Speed, Sport, and History on the Classic Highway. - -The Hastings Road and the "Happy Springs of Tunbridge." - -Cycle Rides Round London. - -A Practical Handbook of Drawing for Modern Methods of Reproduction. - -Stage-Coach and Mail in Days of Yore. Two Vols. - -The Ingoldsby Country: Literary Landmarks of "The Ingoldsby Legends." - -The Hardy Country: Literary Landmarks of the Wessex Novels. - -The Dorset Coast. - -The South Devon Coast. [_In the Press._ - - - - -[Illustration: A MUG OF CIDER: THE "WHITE HART" INN, CASTLE COMBE. _Photo -by Graystone Bird._] - - - - - THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND - - _A PICTURESQUE ACCOUNT OF THE - ANCIENT AND STORIED HOSTELRIES - OF OUR OWN COUNTRY_ - - - VOL. II - - BY CHARLES G. HARPER - - - [Illustration] - - _Illustrated chiefly by the Author, and from Prints - and Photographs_ - - - LONDON: - CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED - 1906 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - PRINTED AND BOUND BY - HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., - LONDON AND AYLESBURY. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. A POSY OF OLD INNS 1 - - II. THE OLD INNS OF CHESHIRE 58 - - III. INNS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS 79 - - IV. INNS WITH RELICS AND CURIOSITIES 109 - - V. TAVERN RHYMES AND INSCRIPTIONS 130 - - VI. THE HIGHEST INNS IN ENGLAND 144 - - VII. GALLOWS SIGNS 150 - - VIII. SIGNS PAINTED BY ARTISTS 161 - - IX. QUEER SIGNS IN QUAINT PLACES 184 - - X. RURAL INNS 210 - - XI. THE EVOLUTION OF A COUNTRY INN 235 - - XII. INGLE-NOOKS 240 - - XIII. INNKEEPERS' EPITAPHS 245 - - XIV. INNS WITH ODD PRIVILEGES 255 - - XV. INNS IN LITERATURE 261 - - XVI. VISITORS' BOOKS 291 - - - - -[Illustration: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS] - - -SEPARATE PLATES - - A MUG OF CIDER: THE "WHITE HART" INN, CASTLE COMBE. - (_Photo by Graystone Bird_) _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - THE CROMWELL ROOM, "LYGON ARMS" 8 - - THE DINING-ROOM AT "THE FEATHERS," LUDLOW 22 - - COURTYARD OF THE "MAID'S HEAD," NORWICH, SHOWING THE JACOBEAN - BAR 42 - - THE "BELL," BARNBY MOOR: MEET OF LORD GALWAY'S HOUNDS 56 - - THE "FOUR SWANS," WALTHAM CROSS 152 - - SIGN OF THE "PACK HORSE AND TALBOT," TURNHAM GREEN 194 - - THE "RUNNING FOOTMAN," HAY HILL 194 - - INTERIOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" 196 - - "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," BLUEPITTS, NEAR ROCHDALE 196 - - THE "TALBOT," RIPLEY. (_Photo by R. W. Thomas_) 212 - - THE "ANCHOR," RIPLEY, IN THE DAYS OF THE DIBBLES AND THE - CYCLING BOOM. (_Photo by R. W. Thomas_) 214 - - THE "SWAN," SANDLEFORD 216 - - THE "SWAN," NEAR NEWBURY 216 - - THE INGLE-NOOK, "WHITE HORSE" INN, SHERE 240 - - INGLE-NOOK AT THE "SWAN," HASLEMERE 242 - - THE INGLE-NOOK, "CROWN" INN, CHIDDINGFOLD 244 - - INGLE-NOOK, "LYGON ARMS," BROADWAY 246 - - THE "VINE TAVERN," MILE END ROAD 258 - - YARD OF THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON 288 - - THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON 288 - - -ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT - - Vignette, Toby Fillpot _Title-page_ - - PAGE - - List of Illustrations, The "Malt-shovel," Sandwich vii - - The Old Inns of Old England 1 - - Doorway, the "Lygon Arms" 3 - - The "Lygon Arms" 5 - - The "Bear," Devizes 11 - - Yard of the "Bear," Devizes 15 - - The "George," Andover 17 - - The "Feathers," Ludlow 19 - - Decorative Device in Moulded Plaster, from Ceiling of - Dining-room, the "Feathers," Ludlow 25 - - The "Peacock," Rowsley 27 - - The "White Hart," Godstone 31 - - The Old Window, "Luttrell Arms" 39 - - Doorway, "The Cock," Stony Stratford 43 - - Yard of "The George," Huntingdon 45 - - The "Bell," Stilton 49 - - The "Red Lion," Egham 53 - - The "Old Hall" Inn, Sandbach 59 - - Dog-gates at Head of Staircase, "Old Hall" Inn, Sandbach 61 - - The "Bear's Head," Brereton 63 - - The "Lion and Swan," Congleton 67 - - The "Cock," Great Budworth 71 - - The "Pickering Arms," Thelwall 73 - - The "King Edgar" and "Bear and Billet," Chester 75 - - A Deserted Inn: The "Swan," at Ferrybridge 83 - - The Old "Raven," Hook 86 - - The "Hearts of Oak," near Bridport 88 - - The "Bell" Inn, Dale Abbey 90 - - The "Windmill," North Cheriton 91 - - The "Castle" Inn, Marlborough 95 - - Garden Front, "Castle" Inn, Marlborough 99 - - "Chapel House" Inn 103 - - "White Hart" Yard 107 - - A "Fenny Popper" 111 - - The "Bell," Woodbridge 112 - - The "Red Lion," Martlesham 113 - - "Dean Swift's Chair," Towcester 115 - - Boots at the "Bear," Esher 117 - - The "George and Dragon," Dragon's Green 119 - - The "White Bull," Ribchester 120 - - Boots of the "Unicorn," Ripon 121 - - The "Red Lion," Chiswick 123 - - The Old Whetstone 125 - - Hot Cross Buns at the "Widow's Son" 127 - - The "Gate" Inn, Dunkirk 132 - - The "Gate Hangs Well," Nottingham 133 - - Tablet at the "George," Wanstead 141 - - "Tan Hill" Inn 145 - - The "Cat and Fiddle," near Buxton 147 - - The "Traveller's Rest," Kirkstone Pass 149 - - The "Greyhound," Sutton 151 - - The "Fox and Hounds," Barley 154 - - The "George," Stamford 155 - - The "Swan," Fittleworth 158 - - The "Red Lion," Hampton-on-Thames 159 - - The "Man Loaded with Mischief" 163 - - Sign of the "Royal Oak," Bettws-y-Coed 173 - - Sign of the "George and Dragon," Wargrave-on-Thames. - (_Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A._) 176 - - Sign of the "George and Dragon," Wargrave-on-Thames. - (_Painted by J. E. Hodgson, R.A._) 177 - - The "Row Barge," Wallingford. (_Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A._) 178 - - The "Swan," Preston Crowmarsh 178 - - The "Windmill," Tabley 179 - - The "Smoker" Inn, Plumbley 179 - - The "Ferry" Inn, Rosneath 180 - - The "Ferry" Inn, Rosneath 180 - - The "Fox and Pelican," Grayshott 181 - - The "Cat and Fiddle," near Christchurch 182 - - The "Cat and Fiddle," near Christchurch 182 - - The "Swan," Charing 189 - - Sign of the "Leather Bottle," Leather Lane. (_Removed 1896_) 191 - - Sign of the "Beehive," Grantham 193 - - Sign of the "Lion and Fiddle," Hilperton 195 - - The "Sugar Loaves," Sible Hedingham 195 - - Sign of the "Old Rock House" Inn, Barton 197 - - The "Three Horseshoes," Great Mongeham 198 - - Sign of the "Red Lion," Great Missenden 198 - - Sign of the "Labour in Vain" 199 - - The "Eight Bells," Twickenham 201 - - Sign of the "Stocks" Inn, Clapgate, near Wimborne 202 - - The "Shears" Inn, Wantage 202 - - Sign of the "White Bear," Fickles Hole 203 - - The "Crow-on-Gate" Inn, Crowborough 205 - - The "First and Last" Inn, Sennen 206 - - The "First and Last," Land's End 207 - - The "Eagle and Child," Nether Alderley 209 - - The "White Horse," Woolstone 211 - - The "Halfway House," Rickmansworth 215 - - The "Rose and Crown," Mill End, Rickmansworth 216 - - The "Jolly Farmer," Farnham 217 - - The "Boar's Head," Middleton 218 - - The "Old House at Home," Havant 219 - - "Pounds Bridge" 221 - - Yard of the "George and Dragon," West Wycombe 223 - - The Yard of the "Sun," Dedham 225 - - The "Old Ship," Worksop 226 - - The "Old Swan," Atherstone 227 - - The "King's Arms," Sandwich 229 - - The "Keigwin Arms," Mousehole 230 - - The "Swan," Knowle 231 - - Sign of the "Swan," Knowle 232 - - The "Running Horse," Merrow 233 - - Ingle-nook at the "Talbot," Towcester 243 - - Tipper's Epitaph, Newhaven 251 - - Preston's Epitaph, St. Magnus-the-Martyr 253 - - "Newhaven" Inn 257 - - House where the Duke of Buckingham died, Kirkby Moorside 265 - - The "Black Swan," Kirkby Moorside 267 - - Washington Irving's "Throne" and "Sceptre" 270 - - Yard of the "Old Angel," Basingstoke 279 - - The "White Hart," Whitchurch 281 - - The "Bell," Tewkesbury 285 - - The "Wheatsheaf," Tewkesbury 287 - - Henley-in-Arden, and the "White Swan" 301 - - - - -[Illustration] - - -THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND - - - - -CHAPTER I - -A POSY OF OLD INNS - - "Shall I not take mine ease at mine inn?" - - -In dealing with the Old Inns of England, one is first met with the great -difficulty of classification, and lastly with the greater of coming to a -conclusion. There are--let us be thankful for it--so many fine old inns. -Some of the finest lend themselves to no ready method of classifying. -Although they have existed through historic times, they are not historic, -and they have no literary associations: they are simply beautiful and -comfortable in the old-world way, which is a way a great deal more keenly -appreciated than may commonly be supposed in these times. Let those who -will flock to Metropoles and other barracks whose very names are evidence -of their exotic style; but give me the old inns with such signs as the -"Lygon Arms," the "Feathers," the "Peacock," and the like, which you still -find--not in the crowded resorts of the seaside, or in great cities, but -in the old English country towns and districts frequented by the -appreciative few. - -I shall not attempt the unthankful office of determining which is the -finest among these grand old English inns whose title to notice rests upon -no adventitious aid of history, but upon their antique beauty, combined -with modern comfort, alone, but will take them as they occur to me. - -Let us, then, imagine ourselves at Broadway, in Worcestershire, and at the -"Lygon Arms" there. The village, still somewhat remote from railways, was -once an important place on the London and Worcester Road, and its long, -three-quarter-mile street is really as broad as its name implies; but -since the disappearance of the coaches it has ceased to be the busy stage -it once was, and has became, in the familiar ironic way of fortune, a -haven of rest and quiet for those who are weary of the busy world; a home -of artists amid the apple-orchards of the Vale of Evesham; a slumberous -place of old gabled houses, with mullioned and transomed windows and -old-time vanities of architectural enrichment; for this is a district of -fine building-stone, and the old craftsmen were not slow to take advantage -of their material, in the artistic sort. - -[Illustration: DOORWAY, THE "LYGON ARMS."] - -Many enraptured people declare Broadway to be the prettiest village in -England, and the existence of its artist-colony perhaps lends some aid to -their contention; but it is not quite that, and although the long single -street of the place is beautiful in detail, it does not compose a picture -as a whole. One of the finest--if not indeed the finest--of those detailed -beauties is the grand old stone front of the "Lygon Arms," built, as the -"White Hart" inn, so long ago as 1540, and bearing that name until the -early part of the last century, when the property was purchased by the -Lygon family, whose head is now Earl Beauchamp, a title that, although it -looks so mediaeval, was created in 1815. In more recent times the house was -purchased by the great unwieldy brewing firm of Allsopp, but in 1903 was -sold again to the present resident proprietor, Mr. S. B. Russell, and so -has achieved its freedom and independence once more. The "Lygon Arms," -however, it still remains, its armorial sign-board displaying the heraldic -coat of that family, with their motto, _Ex Fide Fortis_. - -The great four-gabled stone front of the "Lygon Arms" gives it the air of -some ancient manor-house, an effect enhanced by the fine Renaissance -enriched stone doorway added by John Trevis, an old-time innkeeper, who -flourished in the reigns of James the First and Charles the First, and -whose name, together with that of his wife, Ursula, and the date, 1620, -can still be plainly seen. John Trevis (or "Treavis," as the name was -sometimes spelled) ended his hostelling in 1641, as appears by a rubbing -from his memorial brass from Broadway old church, prominently displayed in -the hall of the house. - -[Illustration: THE "LYGON ARMS."] - -The house has during the last few years been gradually brought back to its -ancient state, and the neglect that befell on the withdrawal of the -road-traffic repaired. But not merely neglect had injured it. The -ancient features had suffered greatly in the prosperous times at the -opening of the nineteenth century, when the stone mullions of nearly all -the windows were removed and modern glass and wooden sashes inserted. The -thing seems so wanton and so useless that it is difficult to understand, -in these days of reversion to type. A gas-lamp and bracket had at the same -time been fixed to the doorway, defacing the stonework, and where -alterations of this kind had not taken place, injury of another sort arose -from the greater part of the inn being unoccupied and the rest degraded to -little above the condition of an ale-house. - -All the ancient features have been reinstated, and a general restoration -effected, under the advice of experts, and in the "Lygon Arms" of to-day -you see a house typical of an old English inn of the seventeenth century. - -There is the Cromwell Room, so named from a tradition that the Protector -slept in it the night before the Battle of Worcester. It is now a -sitting-room. A great carved stone fireplace is the chief feature of that -apartment, whose beautiful plaster ceiling is also worthy of notice. There -is even a tradition that Charles the First visited the inn on two or three -occasions; but no details of either his, or Cromwell's, visits, survive. - -Quaint, unexpected corners, lobbies and staircases abound here, and -ancient fittings are found, even in the domestic kitchen portion of the -house. In the entrance-hall is some very old carved oak from Chipping -Campden church, with an inscription no man can read; while, to keep -company with the undoubtedly indigenous old oak panelling of the so-called -"Panelled Room," and others, elaborate ancient firebacks and open grates -have been introduced--the spoil of curiosity shops. Noticeable among these -are the ornate fireback in the Cromwell Room and the very fine specimen of -a wrought-iron chimney-crane in the ingle-nook of a cosy corner by the -entrance. - -While it would be perhaps too much to say that Broadway and the "Lygon -Arms" are better known to and appreciated by touring Americans than by our -own people, they are certainly visited very largely by travellers from the -United States during the summer months; the fame of Broadway having spread -over-sea very largely on account of the resident American artist-colony -and Madame de Navarro, who as Mary Anderson--"our Mary"--figured -prominently on the stage, some years since. - -Those travellers who in the fine, romantic, dangerous old days travelled -by coach, or the more expensive, exclusive, and aristocratic post-chaise, -to Bath, and selected the Devizes route, came at that town to one of the -finest inns on that road of exceptionally fine hostelries. The "Bear" at -Devizes was never so large or so stately as the "Castle" at Marlborough, -but it was no bad second, and it remains to-day an old-fashioned and -dignified inn, the first in the town; looking with something of a -county-family aloofness upon the wide Market-place and that -extraordinary Gothic cross erected in the middle of it, to the memory of -one Ruth Pierce, of Potterne, a market-woman, who on January 25th, 1753, -calling God to witness the truth of a lie she was telling, was struck dead -on the instant. - -[Illustration: THE CROMWELL ROOM, "LYGON ARMS."] - -The "Bear," indeed, is of two entirely separate and distinct periods, as -you clearly perceive from the strikingly different character of the front -buildings. The one is a haughty structure in dark stone, designed in that -fine architectural style practised in the middle of the eighteenth century -by the brothers Adam; the other has a plastered and painted frontage, fine -in its way, but bespeaking rather the Commercial Hotel. In the older -building, to which you enter up flights of steps, you picture the great -ones of the earth, resting on their way to or from "the Bath," in a -setting of Chippendale, Sheraton or Hepplewhite furniture; and in the -other the imagination sees the dignified, prosperous "commercial -gentlemen" of two or three generations ago--was there ever, anywhere, -another order of being so supremely dignified as they were?--dining, with -much roast beef and port, in a framing of mahogany sideboards and -monumentally heavy chairs stuffed with horse-hair--each treating the -others with a lofty and punctilious ceremonial courtesy, more punctilious -and much loftier than anything ever observed in the House of Peers. - -The "Bear" figures in the letters of Fanny Burney, who with her friend -Mrs. Thrale was travelling to Bath in 1780. They took four days about -that business, halting the first night at Maidenhead, the second at the -"Castle," Speen Hill, and the third here. In the evening they played -cards, the lively Miss Burney declaring to her correspondent that the -doing so made her feel "old-cattish": whist having ever been the resort of -dowagers. Engaged upon this engrossing occupation, the strains of music -gradually dawned upon their attention, coming from an adjoining room. Did -they, as many would have done, thump upon the intervening wall, by way of -signifying their disapproval? Not at all. The player was rendering the -overture to the _Buono Figliuola_--whatever that may have been--and -playing it well. Mrs. Thrale went and tapped at the door whence these -sweet sounds came, in order to compliment the unknown musician; whereupon -a handsome girl whose dark hair clustered finely upon a noble forehead, -opened the door, and another invited Mrs. Thrale and Miss Burney to -chairs. These pretty creatures were the daughters of the innkeeper. They -were well enough, to be sure, but the wonder of the family was away from -home. "This was their brother, a most lovely boy of ten years of age, who -seems to be not merely the wonder of their family, but of the times, for -his astonishing skill at drawing. They protest he has never had any -instruction, yet showed us some of his productions that were really -beautiful." - -[Illustration: THE "BEAR," DEVIZES.] - -This marvel was none other than Thomas Lawrence, the future painter of -innumerable portraits of the wealthy and the noble, who rose to be P.R.A. -and to knighthood at the hands of George the Fourth. His father, at this -time landlord of the "Bear," seems to have been a singularly close -parallel to Mr. Micawber in fiction, and to Mr. John Dickens in real life. -The son of a Presbyterian minister, and articled to a solicitor, he turned -aside from writs and affidavits and practical things of that kind, to the -making of verses; and the verse-making, by a sort of natural declension, -presently led him to fall in love, and to run away with the pretty -daughter of the vicar of Tenbury, in Worcestershire. He tried life as an -actor, and that failed; as a surveyor of excise, with little better -result; and then became landlord of the "White Lion" at Bristol, the house -in which his son Thomas, the future P.R.A., was born, in 1769. In 1772 he -removed to Devizes, and took the "Bear": not an inconsiderable -speculation, as the description of the house, already given, would lead -one to suspect. Some unduly confiding person must have lent the shiftless, -but engaging and gentlemanly, fellow the capital, and it is to be feared -he lost by it, for although in the pages of _Columella_, a curious work of -fiction published at that time, Lawrence is styled "the only man upon the -road for warm rooms, soft beds, and--Oh, prodigious!--for reading Milton," -his innkeeping was a failure. - -Notwithstanding those "warm rooms and soft beds," which rather remind you -of Mr. W. S. Gilbert's lines in _The Mountebanks_-- - - Excellent eating, - Good beds and warm sheeting, - That never want Keating, - Afford a good greeting - To people who stop at my inn-- - -Lawrence had to relinquish the "Bear." He was known as a "public-spirited -landlord, who erected at his own expense signal-posts twelve feet high, -painted white, to guide travellers by night over Salisbury Plain"; but, -although he was greatly commended for that public spirit, no profit -accrued from it. Public spirit in a public-house--even though it be that -higher order of public-house styled an hotel--is out of place. - -At the early age of five the innkeeper's son Thomas became distinctly an -asset. He was as many-sided as a politician who cannot find place in his -own party and so, scenting opportunities, seeks preferment with former -enemies. Young Lawrence it would, however, be far prettier to compare with -a many-faceted diamond. He shone with accomplishments. A beautiful boy, -his manners, too, were pleasing. He was kissed and petted by the ladies, -and to the gentlemen he recited. He painted the portraits, in curiously -frank and artless profile, of all guests who would sport half a guinea for -the purpose, and between whiles would be found in the yard, punching the -heads of the stable-boys, for he was alike born painter and pugilist! - -A less beautiful nature than his would early have been spoiled by so much -notice, but to the end of his long and phenomenally successful career -Lawrence retained a courtly, but natural and frank, personality. As a boy -he was introduced to the guests of the "Bear" by his fond father in this -wise: "Gentlemen, here's my son; will you have him recite from the poets, -or take your portraits?" and in this way he held forth in such great -presences as those of Dr. Johnson, Garrick, Foote, Burke, Sheridan, and -Mrs. Siddons. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "BEAR," DEVIZES.] - -But the business of the "Bear" languished under the proprietorship of the -elder Lawrence. Probably many of the guests resented what was rightly -styled "the obtrusive pertinacity" of the fond father, and being -interrupted in their talk, or disturbed at the engrossing occupation of -winning and losing money at cards, by the appearance of this _wunderkind_. -By the time the genius was eleven years of age the family had left -Devizes, and were being entirely supported by his growing skill in the -painting of pleasing likenesses! - -If the front of the house, with its odd effigy of a black bear eating a -bunch of grapes, is fine, much finer, in the picturesque way, is the back, -where, from the stable-yard, you see a noble range of Ionic columns, -rather lost in that position, and surmounted as they are with gables of a -Gothic feeling, looking as though the projector of some ambitious classic -extension had begun a great work without counting the cost of its -completion, and so had ingloriously to decline upon a humble ending. - -The "George" at Andover, whatever importance it once possessed, now -displays the merest slip of frontage. It is, in essentials, a very old -house, with a good deal of stout timber framing in odd corners: all more -or less overlaid with the fittings of a modern market inn. The "George" -figures in what remains probably the most extraordinary solicitor's bill -on record: the account rendered to Sir Francis Blake Delaval, M.P., by -his attorney, for work done during one of the Andover elections. It is a -document famous in the history of Parliamentary contests, and it was the -subject of an action in the King's Bench. The most outstanding item of it -was: "To being thrown out of the window of the 'George' inn, Andover.--To -my leg being thereby broken.--To Surgeon's bill and loss of time and -business.--All in the service of Sir Francis B. Delaval----L500." - -[Illustration: THE "GEORGE," ANDOVER.] - -It seems that this unfortunate attorney owed his flight through the window -to his having played a practical joke upon the officers of a regiment -stationed at Andover, to whom he sent invitations for a banquet at the -"George" on the King's birthday, purporting to come from the Mayor and -corporation, and similar invitations to the Mayor and corporation, -supposed to come from the officers. The two parties met and dined, but, -preparing to depart, and each thanking the others for the hospitality, the -trick was disclosed, and the author of it, who had been rash enough to -attend, to see for himself the success of his joke, was seized and flung -out of the window by the enraged diners. - -Turn we now to Shropshire, to that sweet and gracious old town of Ludlow, -where--albeit ruined--the great Castle of the Lords Presidents of the -Council of the Marches of Wales yet stands, and where many an ancient -house belonging to history fronts on to the quiet streets: some whose -antique interiors are altogether unsuspected of the passer-by, by reason -of the Georgian red-brick fronts or Early Victorian plaster faces that -have masked the older and sturdier construction of oaken beams. I love the -old town of Ludlow, as needs I must do, for it is the home of my forbears, -who, certainly since the days of Elizabeth, when the registers of the -Cathedral-like church of St. Lawrence begin, lived there and worked -there in what was their almost invariable handicraft of joining and -cabinet-making, until quite recent years. - -[Illustration: THE "FEATHERS," LUDLOW.] - -The finest old timber-fronted, black-and-white house in Ludlow is the -"Feathers" inn, in Corve Street. There are many ancient and picturesque -hostelries in England, but none finer than the "Feathers," and it is -additionally remarkable for being as exquisite within as without. You see -its nodding gables and peaked roofs among the earliest of the beautiful -things of Ludlow, as you come from the railway-station and ascend the -steep Corve Street, that leads out of the town, into Corve Dale. - -Very little is known of the history of the "Feathers." The earliest deed -relating to the property is dated August 2nd, 1609, when it appears to -have been leased from a member of the Council of the Marches, one Edward -Waties of Burway, by Rees Jones and Isabel, his wife. Ten years later, -March 10th, 1618-9, Rees Jones purchased the fee-simple of the house from -Edward Waties and his wife, Martha: other parties to the transaction being -Sir Charles Foxe, of Bromfield, and his son Francis, respectively father -and brother of Martha Waties. The purchase price of the freehold was L225. -In neither of those transactions is the house called the "Feathers," or -even referred to as an inn; nor do we know whether Rees Jones purchased -the existing house, or an older one, on this site. It seems probable, -however, that this is the original mansion of some personage connected -with the ancient government of the Welsh marches, or perhaps the "town -house" of the Foxes of Bromfield in those times when every Shropshire -squire of wealth and standing repaired for a season every year with his -family from his country seat to Shrewsbury or Ludlow; the two resorts of -Society in those days when London, in the toils, dangers, and expenses of -travelling, was so far removed that it was a place to be seen but once or -twice in a lifetime. - -Rees Jones seems to have remodelled the mansion as an inn, and there is -every likelihood that he named it the "Feathers" in honour of Henry, -Prince of Wales, elder brother of Charles the First, who died in 1612; or -perhaps in celebration of Prince Charles being, in his stead, created -Prince of Wales, in 1616, when there were great rejoicings in Ludlow, and -masques in "The Love of Wales to their Sovereign Prince." How more loyal -could one be--and how more certain to secure custom at such a -juncture--than to name one's inn after the triply feathered badge of a -popular Prince? - -The door of the "Feathers" appears to be the original entrance of Rees -Jones' day. No prospect of unwelcome visitors bursting through that -substantial oak, reinforced by the three hundred and fifty or so iron -studs that rather grimly spangle the surface of it, in defensive -constellation. Even the original hinges remain, terminated decoratively by -wrought-iron fleurs-de-lys. The initials of Rees Jones -himself--R.I.--are cut in the lock-plate. - -[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM AT "THE FEATHERS," LUDLOW.] - -The "Feathers" was the local "Grand Hotel" or "Metropole" of that day, and -was the resort of the best, as may be perceived by the ancient fittings -and decorations, carried out in all the perfection possible to that time. -From the oak-panelled hall you proceed upstairs to the principal room, the -Large Dining-Room, looking out, through lozenge-paned windows, upon the -ancient carved-oak balcony overhanging the street. - -It is a handsome room, with elaborately decorated ceiling. In the centre -is a device, in raised plaster, of the Royal Arms of the reign of James -the First, surrounded by a star-like design of grapes and vines, -decoratively treated; showing, together with the free repetition of grapes -and vine-tendrils over other portions of the ceiling, that this symbolic -decorative work was executed especially for the inn, and not for the house -in any former existence as a private residence. - -The carved oak overmantel, in three compartments, with a boldly rendered -representation of the Royal arms and supporters of Lion and Unicorn, is -contemporary with the ceiling, and there is no reason to doubt it having -been made for the place it occupies, in spite of the tradition that tells -of its coming from the Castle when that historic fortress and palace was -shamefully dismantled in the reign of George the Third. The room is -panelled throughout. - -Everything else is in keeping, but it should not--and could not--be -supposed that the Jacobean-style and Chippendale furniture is of any old -local association. Indeed, there are many in Ludlow who remember the time -when the "Feathers" was furnished, neither comfortably nor artistically, -with Early Victorian horse-hair stuffed chairs and sofas of the most -atrocious type. It has been reserved for later days to be more -appreciative of the value and desirability of having all things, as far as -possible, in keeping with the age of the house. - -Thus, we are not to think the fireback in this dining-room an old -belonging of the inn. It is, indeed, ancient, and bears the perfectly -genuine Lion and Dragon supporters and the arms of Queen Elizabeth, but it -was purchased at the Condover Hall sale, in 1897. - -The Small Dining-room is panelled with oak, dark with age, to the ceiling, -and the Jacobean carved work enriching the fireplace is only less -elaborate than that of the larger dining-room. The old grate and Flemish -fireback, although also genuine antiques, were acquired in London, in -1898; but an old carved panel over the door, bearing the arms of Foxe and -Hacluit, two Shropshire families prominent in the seventeenth century, is -in its original place. The impaled arms are interesting examples of -"canting," or punning, heraldry: three foxes' heads indicating the one -family, and "three hatchets proper" that of Hacluit, or "Hackeluit," as it -was sometimes written. The shield of arms is flanked on either side by a -representation of a "water-bouget." - -Further upstairs, the bedroom floors slope at distinct angles, in sympathy -with the bending gables without. - -[Illustration: DECORATIVE DEVICE IN MOULDED PLASTER, FROM CEILING OF -DINING-ROOM, THE "FEATHERS," LUDLOW.] - -There are numerous instances of old manor-houses turned to commercial -account as hostelries: among them the "Peacock" inn at Rowsley, near -Chatsworth. As may be seen from the illustration, it is a building of -fine architectural character, and was, in fact, built in 1652, at a time -when the Renaissance was most vigorous and inspired. The precise date of -the building is carved, plain for all men to see, on the semicircular -stone tympanum over the entrance-doorway, where it appears, with the old -owner's name, in this curious fashion: - - IOHNSTE - 16 52 - VENSON - -But ordinary type does not suffice to render the quaintness of this -inscription; for in the original the diagonal limbs of the N's are placed -the wrong way round. - -John Stevenson, who built the house, was one of an old Derbyshire family -who, in the reign of Elizabeth, were lords of the neighbouring manor of -Elton. From them it passed by marriage, and was for many generations -occupied as a farmhouse by a succession of gentlemen farmers, finally, in -1828, becoming an inn. - -The "Peacock" sign, carved in stone over the battlemented front, is in -allusion to the well-known peacock crest of the Manners family, Dukes of -Rutland, whose ancestral seat of Haddon Hall is less than two miles -distant. - -[Illustration: THE "PEACOCK," ROWSLEY.] - -Up to the period of its conversion into an inn the house was fronted by a -garden. A roadway, very dusty in summer, now takes its place, but there is -still left at the side and rear of the old house one of the most -delightful of old-world gardens, leading down to the Derwent: a garden of -shady trees, emerald lawns, and lovely flower-beds that loses nothing -of its beauty--and perhaps, indeed, gains an additional charm--from the -railway and Rowsley station adjoining. The garden of the "Peacock," and -the cool, shady hall and the quiet panelled rooms of the "Peacock," are in -fact welcome sanctuaries of rest for the weariful sightseer at Rowsley and -the neighbouring Chatsworth: a desirable refuge in a district always -absurdly overrated, and nowadays absolutely destroyed in the touring -months of summer by the thronged brakes and wagonettes from Matlock and -Bakewell, and infinitely more by the hulking, stinking motor-cars that -maintain a continuous haze of dust, a deafening clatter, and an offensive -smell in these once sweetly rural roads. - -In the days before the great George, successively Prince of Wales, Prince -Regent, and last monarch of the Four Georges, had reared his glittering -marine palace at Brighton, the only route to that sometime fisher-village -lay by Caterham, Godstone, East Grinstead and Lewes. It was, indeed, not -precisely the road to Brighton, but to that old-world county town of -Sussex, Lewes itself. There were always people wanting to go to Lewes, and -many others who went very much against their inclination; for it was then -the centre of county business, and there were generally misdemeanants in -plenty to be prosecuted or hanged in that grim castle on the hillside. Up -to about 1750, therefore, you travelled in style to Lewes, and if you were -so eccentric as to wish to proceed to "Brighthelmstone" (which was then -the lengthy way of it) you relied of necessity for those last eight or ten -miles upon the most worthless shandrydan that the "Star" inn could -produce; for mine host was not likely to risk his best conveyance upon the -rough track that then stretched between Lewes and the sea. - -This primitive condition of affairs gave place shortly afterwards to roads -skilfully and especially engineered, directly towards Brighton itself. The -riotous world of youthful fashion raced along those newer roads, and the -staid, immemorial highway to Lewes was left to its own old respectable -routine. And so it remains to-day. You may reach Brighton by the shortest -route from London in 51-1/2 miles, but by way of Lewes it is some -fifty-nine. Need it be said that the shortest route, here as elsewhere, is -the favourite? - -But for picturesqueness, and for quaint old inns, the road by Lewes -should, without doubt, be selected. - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HART" GODSTONE.] - -The first of these is the famous "White Hart" at Godstone. I say "famous"; -but, after all, is it nowadays famous among many classes? Among cyclists, -yes, for it is well within twenty miles from London, and the pretty little -hamlet of Godstone Green, with its half-dozen old inns, among them the -"Hare and Hounds," the "Bell," and the "Rose and Crown," nearly all -sketchable, has ever been a kind of southern Ripley among clubmen. In -coaching days, however, and in days long before coaching, when you got -upon your horse and bumped in the saddle to your journey's end, the -"White Hart" was truly famous among all men. The old house, according to a -painted wall-sign inscribed in the choicest Wardour Street English, was -established in "ye reigne of Kynge Richard ye 2nd" and enlarged in that of -Queen Elizabeth; and if there be indeed little of King Richard's time to -point to, there are many Elizabethan and Queen Annean and Early Georgian -features which make up in pictorial quality what they lack in antiquity. -The "White Hart" sign itself is in some sort evidence of the age claimed -for the original house, for it was of course the well-known badge of King -Richard. At the present day the couchant White Hart himself is displayed -on one side of the swinging sign, and on the other the many-quartered -shield of the local landowners, the Clayton family, and the house has -become known in these latter days indifferently by the old title, or as -the "Clayton Arms." - -The old-world gabled front of the inn would be strikingly beautiful in any -situation, but the peculiarly appropriate old English rural setting -renders it a subject for a painting or a theatrical scene. It is -especially beautiful in spring, when the young foliage still keeps its -freshness and the great horse-chestnut trees opposite are in bloom. - -The old "White Hart" is a world too large for these days of easy and -speedy travel. True, Godstone station is incredibly far away, but -conceive anyone save the sentimentalist staying the night, when within -twenty miles of London and home! Hence those echoing corridors, those -empty bedrooms, the tarnished mirrors and utter stillness of the outlying -parts of mine host's extensive domain. Snug comfort, however, resides in -and near what some terrible lover of the sham-antique has styled, in -modern paint upon the ancient woodwork, "Ye Barre." - -Ye Goddes! the old house does not want _that_, nor any others of the many -such inscriptions, the work, doubtless, of the defunct Smith, who was at -once cook, gardener, artist of sorts, entertainment-organiser and musician -(also of sorts), and ran riot, the matter of a decade or so since, over -the house with pots of Aspinall's facile enamels and a paintbrush, with -what results we see to this day. - -One would by no means like to convey the impression that the "White Hart" -is deserted. Let those who judge by its every-day rustic quiet visit it on -the Saturdays and Sundays of summer and glance at the great oak-raftered -dining-room, crowded with cyclists. Indeed, this fine old hostelry -requires a leisured inspection and a more intimate knowledge than merely -that of a passing visit. Then only shall you peer into the odd nooks of -the long stable-yard, or, adventuring perchance by accident into the -wash-house, see with astonishment and delight the old-world garden beyond. - -If it be a wet day, and the traveller stormbound, why then some -compensation for the villainies of the weather may be found in a voyage -of discovery through the echoing rooms, and from the billiard-room that -was the old kitchen you may turn, wearying of billiards, to the long, -dusty and darkling loft, under the roof, to see in what manner of place -our ancestors of Queen Elizabeth's, and even of Queen Anne's, days held -revel. For here it was that the players played interludes, and probably -were funnier than they intended, when their heads came into violent -collision with the sloping rafters and made the unfeeling among the -audience laugh. If the essence of humour lie indeed in the unexpected, as -some contend, _how_ humorous those happenings! - -In a later age, when the mummers had departed, the loft was used as -Assembly Rooms, for dances and other social occasions; but now it is -solitary, and filled only with memories and cobwebs. - -From Godstone, the old road to Brighthelmstone goes by Blindley Heath and -New Chapel, and thence comes into Sussex at East Grinstead, in which -thriving little market-town the "Dorset Arms" is conspicuous, with its -sedately beautiful frontage, brave show of flowers in window-boxes, and -row of dormer windows in the roof. There is a delightful old-world garden -in the rear, sloping down to a rustic valley, and commanding lovely views. -The "Dorset Arms" still displays the heraldic coat of the Dukes of Dorset, -although the last Duke has been dead nearly a hundred years, and though -the memories of their lavishness, their magnificence, and their -impatience as they posted to and from their seat at Buckhurst Park, eight -miles distant, have locally faded away. - -But the inn has one arresting modern curiosity. In days before Mr. Alfred -Austin was made Poet Laureate, and became instantly the cockshy and Aunt -Sally of every sucking critic, the landlord of the "Dorset Arms" placed in -gilded letters over his doorway a quotation from the poet's _Fortunatus -the Pessimist_, telling us that-- - - There is no office in this needful world - But dignifies the doer, if well done. - -And there it still remains; but precisely what it is intended, in that -situation, to convey remains unexplained. Whether the landlord is the -"doer," or the waiter, or the boots, or if they are all, comprehensively, -to be regarded as dignified doers, is a mystery. - -There was no lack of accommodation on this old road. The traveller had -jogged it on but seven miles more when he came at Nutley to a very small -village with a very large hostelry which, disdaining any mere ordinary -sign, proclaimed itself the "Nutley Inn." It does so still, but although -it is a fine, handsome, four-square mansion-like building, it looks a -little saddened by changed times and at being under the necessity of -announcing, in those weird and wonderful words, "Petrol" and "Garage," a -dependence upon motor-cars. - -Another five miles, and at the little town of Uckfield, we have the -"Maiden's Head," an early eighteenth-century inn with Assembly-room -attached and a wonderful music gallery, rather larger than the "elevated -den" at the "Bull," Rochester. The interior of the "Maiden's Head" at -Uckfield is a good deal more comfortable than would be suspected from its -brick front, with the semicircular bays painted in a compromise between -white and a dull lead colour. At Lewes the traveller came to the "Star" -inn, a worthy climax to this constellation, with the fine old staircase -brought from Slaugham Place, as its chief feature: but the "Star" has of -late been demolished. - -One of the finest in this posy of old inns is the "Luttrell Arms," away -down in Somersetshire, in the picturesque village of Dunster, on the -shores of the Severn Sea. Dunster is noted for its ancient castle, for its -curious old Yarn Market in the middle of the broad street, and no less for -the "Luttrell Arms." A fine uncertainty clings about the origin and the -history of this beautiful house. Because of the Gothic timbered roof of -the "oak room," with hammer-beams and general construction somewhat -resembling the design of the roof of Westminster Hall, and because of the -very ecclesiastical-looking windows giving upon the courtyard, a vague -tradition still lingers in the neighbourhood that the house was once a -monastery. Nothing has survived to tell us who built this fine -fifteenth-century structure, or for what purpose; but, while facts are -wanting, the most likely theory remains that it was provided as a town -residence for the Abbots of Cleeve, the Abbey whose ruins may still be -found, in a rural situation, three miles away. In the governance and -politics of such an Abbey, an Abbot's residence in a centre such as -Dunster was would be a highly desirable thing. There, almost under the -shadow of the great feudal castle of the Mohuns, purchased in 1376 by the -Luttrells, who still own the property, the Abbots were in touch with the -great world, and able to intrigue and manage for the interests of the -Church in general and of the Abbey in particular, much better than would -have been possible in the cloistered shades of Cleeve. The Luttrells no -doubt gave the land, and possibly even built the house for the Abbots; and -when the Reformation came and conventual properties were confiscated, they -simply received back what their ancestors had given away. - -The front of the "Luttrell Arms" has been very greatly modernised, with -the exception of the ancient projecting stone porch, which still keeps on -either side the cross-slits in the masonry, commanding the length of the -street, whence two stout marksmen with cross-bows could easily defend the -house. Above, the shield of arms of the Luttrells, carved in stone, -displays their black martlets on a gold ground, and serves the inn for a -sign. - -The beautiful carved oak windows in the courtyard somewhat resemble the -great window of the "Old King's Head" at Aylesbury. Here the view extends -beautifully across the gardens of the inn, over the sea, to Blue Anchor. - -[Illustration: THE OLD WINDOW, "LUTTRELL ARMS."] - -A curious seventeenth-century plaster fireplace overmantel, moulded in -high relief, is a grotesque ornament to one of the bedrooms. It displays a -half-length of a man with a singular likeness to Shakespeare, and dressed -like a page-boy, in "buttons," presiding over the representation of a very -thin and meagre Actaeon being torn to pieces by his dogs, which, in -proportion to Actaeon himself, seem to be about the size of moderately -large cows. Two figures of women, with faces like potatoes, dressed in -Elizabethan or Jacobean costume, flank this device, in the manner of -caryatides. A number of somewhat similar plaster chimney-pieces are to be -found in North Somerset and North Devon, notably a fine one at the -"Trevelyan Arms," Barnstaple: obviously all the handiwork of one man. - -At Norwich, a city of ancient inns that are, in general, more delightful -to sketch and to look at than to stay in, we have the "Maid's Head," an -exceptionally fine survival of an Elizabethan, or slightly earlier, house. -It is an "hotel" now, and sanitated and electrically lighted up to -twentieth-century requirements; and has, moreover, an "Elizabethan" -extension, built in late Victorian times. But, in spite of all those -modern frills and flounces, the central portion of the "Maid's Head" still -wears its genuine old-world air. - -That there was an inn on this site so early as 1287 we learn from the -records of the Norwich Corporation, which tell how "Robert the fowler" was -brought to book in that year on suspicion of stealing the goods of one -John de Ingham, then staying at a tavern in the Cook Row, a street -identified with Tombland, the site of the "Maid's Head." The reasoning -that presumed the guilt of Robert the fowler seems to the modern mind -rather loose, and the presentment itself is worded with unconscious -humour. By this it seems that he was suspect "because he spends much and -has nothing to spend from, and roves about by night, and he is ill -thought of." _Ergo_, as the old wording proceeds, "it must have been he -that stole John de Ingham's goods at his tavern in the Cook Rowe." - -Relics of a building of the Norman period, thought to be remains of a -former Bishop's Palace, are still visible in the cellars of the "Maid's -Head." - -The ancient good repute of the inn is vouched for by a passage in the -well-known _Paston Letters_, painted boldly in white lettering on the -great oaken entrance-door of the house. It is from a note written by John -Paston in 1472 to "Mestresse Margret Paston," in which he advises her of a -visitor, and says, "I praye yow make hym goode cheer, and iff it be so -that he tarye, I most remembre hys costes; thereffore iff I shall be sent -for, and he tery at Norwich there whylys, it were best to sette hys horse -at the Maydes Hedde, and I shalbe content for ther expences." - -The ancient name of the house was the "Molde Fish," or "Murtel Fish"; but -precisely what species of fish that was, no one has ever discovered. It -was long an article of belief in Norwich that this now inexplicable sign -was changed to the present one as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth on her -first visit to Norwich, in 1578; but, as we see by the _Paston Letters_, -it was the "Maid's Head" certainly as far back as 1472. A portion of the -carved work on the chimney-piece of the present smoking-room represents a -dubious kind of a fish, said to be intended for the skate, or ray, once -known familiarly in Norwich as "old maid"; but the connection between it -and the old sign (if any) seems remote. - -Probably the most interesting item at the "Maid's Head" is the Jacobean -bar, an exceptionally fine example of seventeenth-century woodwork, of -marked architectonic character, and, as a bar, unique. Now that the -courtyard to which it opened is roofed in, its preservation is assured, at -the expense of the genuine old open-air feature, for which the modern -lounge is a poor exchange. - -Journeying from Norwich to the sea at Yarmouth, we find there, among the -numerous hotels of that populous place, that highly interesting house, the -"Star," facing the river at Hall Quay. The "Star" is older than a first -glance would lead the casual visitor to suspect; and a more prolonged -examination reveals a frontage built of black flints elaborately, and with -the greatest nicety, chipped into cubes: one of the most painstaking kinds -of labour it is possible to conceive. The house, built in the reign of -Queen Elizabeth, has been an inn only since about 1780. It has an -interesting history, having been erected as the combined business premises -and place of residence of one William Crowe, a very considerable merchant -in his day, and High Bailiff of Yarmouth in 1606. The lower part of the -premises was at that time the business portion, while the upper was that -worshipful merchant's residence; traders, both by retail and by wholesale, -within the kingdom and overseas alike, not then having arrived at being -ashamed of their business. How honestly proud William Crowe was of his -position as a merchant we may still see, in the great and beautiful -oak-panelled room on the first floor of his old house, the fine apartment -now known as the "Nelson Room"; for there, prominently carved over the -generous fireplace, you see the arms of the Merchant Adventurers of -England, a company of traders of which he was a member. The oak-panelling -here, reaching from floor to ceiling, itself beautifully decorated, is -most elaborately designed in the Renaissance way, with fluted Corinthian -pilasters, supporting grotesque male and female terminal figures. This -noble room is now the Coffee-room of the hotel. - -[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE "MAID'S HEAD," NORWICH SHOWING THE -JACOBEAN BAR.] - -[Illustration: DOORWAY, "THE COCK," STONY STRATFORD.] - -It should be said that the name of "Nelson" is purely arbitrary in this -connection, for the "Star" has no historic associations with the Admiral. -The name was given the room merely from the fact that a portrait of Nelson -hangs on its walls. - -In this posy of old inns, whose sweet savour reconciles the traveller to -many hateful modern portents, mention must be made of the "George" at -Odiham. At an inn styled the "George" you do expect, more than at any -other sign, to find old-fashioned comfort; and here, at that little -forgotten townlet of Odiham, lying secluded away back from the Exeter -Road, with its one extravagantly broad and singularly empty street, and no -historic memories much later than the reign of King John, you have a -typical cheery hostelry whose white frontage looks coaching age -incarnated, and whose interior surprises you--as often these old houses -do--with oaken beams and Elizabethan panelled coffee-room and Jacobean -overmantel. The fuel-cupboard, with finely wrought hinges, at the side of -the fireplace, is as celebrated in its way, among connoisseurs of these -things, as the Queen Anne angle-cupboard at the "New Inn," New Romney. Not -least among the attractions of the "George" is the beautiful old-fashioned -garden at the back, looking out towards the meads and the trout-streams, -that make Odiham (whose name, by the way, originally "Woodyham," is -pronounced locally like "Odium") a noted place among anglers. - -[Illustration: YARD OF "THE GEORGE," HUNTINGDON.] - -Interesting in a less rural--and indeed a very urban way--is the "Cock" -inn, at Stony Stratford, on the Holyhead Road, with its fine red brick -frontage to the busy high road, its imposing wrought-iron sign, and, in -especial, its noble late seventeenth-century ornately carved and highly -enriched oak doorway, brought, it would appear, from the neighbouring -mansion of Battlesden Park. As may be gathered from the illustration, this -exquisite work of art very closely resembles, in general character, the -carved interior doorways of Wren's City of London churches, often ascribed -to Grinling Gibbons. - -In this posy of old hostelries we must at least mention that fine old -anglers' inn, the "Three Cocks" in Breconshire, which, like the "Craven -Arms," between Ludlow and Church Stretton, and those more familiar and -vulgar examples in London, the "Bricklayers' Arms" and the "Elephant and -Castle," has conferred its name upon a railway-station. And mention must -be made of the cosy, white-faced "Wellington," at Broadstairs, occupying a -kind of midway place between the old coaching inn and the modern huge -barrack hotel, and, with its lawn looking upon the sea and the beach, -select and quiet in the very midst of the summer crowds of that miniature -holiday resort. - -In any competition as to which old inn had the ugliest frontage, the "Red -Horse" at Stratford-on-Avon, and the "George" at Huntingdon would probably -tie for first place; but the courtyard of the "George" makes amends, and -is one of the finest anywhere in existence, as the illustration serves to -show. - -A fine old house, with a still finer old sign, is that old coaching -hostelry, the "Bell," at Stilton, formerly one of the largest and most -important of the many great and indispensable inns that once ministered to -the needs of travellers along the Great North Road. The "Bell" was the -original inn of Stilton, and the "Angel," opposite, is a mere modern -upstart of Queen Anne's time. Queen Anne is a monarch of yesterday when -you think of the old "Bell"; which is, indeed, older than it looks, for, -prying closely into the architecture of its golden, yellow-brown structure -of sandstone, it will be seen that the house is really a Late Gothic -building distressingly modernised. Modernised, that is to say, in a very -necessary reservation, considerably over a century ago. That is the last -note of modernity at the "Bell." The windows, it will be noticed, were -once all stone-mullioned, and portions of the ancient stonework not cut -away to receive commonplace Georgian wooden sashes, are still distinctly -visible. Looking at the competitive "Angel" opposite, now and for long -since, like the "Bell" itself, sadly reduced in circumstances since that -era of mail- and stage-coaching and expensive posting in chaise and four, -you perceive at once the reason for that alteration in the "Bell." It was -an effort to become, as an auctioneer might say, "replete with every -modern convenience." - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," STILTON.] - -Now the glory of Stilton, in particular, and of the road in general, is -departed, and the rival inns are alike reduced to wayside ale-houses. At -the "Bell"--the once hospitable--they look at you with astonishment when -you want to stay the night, and turn you away. Doubtless they do so also -at the "Angel," whose greater part is now a private residence. - -The great feature of the "Bell" is its sign, which, with the mazy and -intricate curls and twists and quirks of its wrought-iron supports, -projects far into the road. The sign itself is painted on copper, for sake -of lightness, but it has long been necessary to support it with a crutch -in the shape of a stout post, just as you prop up the overweighted branch -of an apple-tree. The sign-board itself--if we may term that a "board" -which is made of metal--was in the old days a certain source of income to -the coachmen and guards who wagered, whenever possible, with their -passengers, on the size of it. Foolish were those who betted with them, -for, like the cunning bride who took a bottle of the famous water of the -Well of St. Keyne to church, they were prepared; and although bets on -certainties are, contrary to the spirit, and all the laws, of sport, they -were sufficiently unprincipled to receive the winnings that were -inevitable, since they had early taken the measure of it. - -The sign, in fact, measures 6 ft. 2-3/4 inches in height. - -The "Bell" is, or should be, famous as the inn where "Stilton" cheese was -first introduced to an appreciative and unduly confiding world. It was an -old-time landlord, the sporting Cooper Thornhill, who flourished, and rode -horseback in record time to London and back to Stilton again, about 1740, -to whom the world was thus originally indebted. He obtained his cheese -from a Mrs. Paulet of Wymondham, who at first supplied him with this -product of her dairy for the use of coach-passengers dining at his table. -Her cheeses at once appealed to connoisseurs, and Thornhill presently -began to supply them to travellers eager to take this new-found delicacy -away with them. He was too business-like a man to disclose the secret of -their origin, and it was long supposed they came from a dairy at Stilton -belonging to him. He did so well for himself, charging half-a-crown a -pound, that others entered the lucrative trade, and you could no more -journey through Stilton without having a Stilton cheese (metaphorically) -thrown at your head than you can halt to-day at Banbury station without -hearing the musical cry of "Ba-anbury Ca-a-akes!" - -Then Miss Worthington, landlady of the "Angel" opposite, began also to -supply Stilton cheeses. Rosy, plump, and benevolent-looking--apparently -one in whom there was no guile--she would ask passengers if they would not -like to take away with them a "real Stilton cheese." All went well for a -while, and Stilton cheeses tasted none the worse because they were not -made there. And then the terrible secret was disclosed. - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," EGHAM.] - -"Pray, sir, would you like a nice Stilton cheese to take away with you?" -asked the unsuspecting landlady one day, as a coach drew up. - -"Do you say they are made at Stilton?" asked the passenger. - -"Oh yes," said she. - -Then came the crushing rejoinder: "Why, Miss Worthington, you know -perfectly well that no Stilton cheese was ever made at Stilton: they're -all made in Leicestershire; and as you say your cheeses are made at -Stilton, they cannot be good, and I won't have one." - -It is the merest commonplace to say that time works wonders. We know it -does: wonders not infrequently of the most unpleasant kind. When we find -time bringing about marvels of the pleasant and desirable sort I think we -should account ourselves fortunate. - -There are marvels nowadays being wrought on the Great North Road in -particular, and others in general, in that entirely felicitous manner. I -do not here make allusion to the electric tramways that monopolise the -best part of the roadways out of London for some ten miles or so of the -old romantic highways. Not at all; in fact, far otherwise. The particular -miracles I am contemplating are the works undertaken by the Road Club of -the British Isles, in the re-opening of ancient hostelries long ago -retired into private life, and in bringing back to the survivors a second -term of their old-time prosperity. The Road Club, largely consisting of -motorists, encourages touring, and has set out upon a programme of -interesting all lovers of the countryside in country quarters. The Great -North Road is dotted here and there with the inns it has revived: the "Red -Lion" at Hatfield, the "George" at Grantham, and so forth, and it has -entirely purchased and taken over the management of the "Royal County -Hotel" at Durham and the "Bell" at Barnby Moor. - -I am in this place not so greatly concerned to hold forth upon the others, -but the case of the "Bell" is remarkable. Some years since, in writing the -picturesque story of the Great North Road,[1] I discoursed at length upon -the history of that remarkably fine old hostelry, which was then, and for -close upon sixty years had been, a private country residence. Railways had -been too much for it, and the licence had been surrendered, and postboys -and the whole staff dispersed. - -And now? Why now the "Bell," or "Ye Olde Bell," as I perceive the Road -Club prefers to style it, is an inn once more. I forget how many thousands -of pounds have been expended in alterations, and in re-installing the -establishment; but it has become in three equal parts, as it were, inn, -club-house and farm-house, fully licensed, with golf-links handy. Here -come the motor tourists, and here meet Lord Galway's hounds, and, in -short, the ancient glories of the "Bell" are, with a modern gloss, -revived. If the spirits of the jolly old landlords can know these things, -surely they are pleased. - -Among the old coaching-inns sadly fallen from their former estate, and -now surviving only in greatly altered circumstances, in a mere corner of -the great buildings they once occupied, is the "Red Lion," Egham; once one -of the largest and finest inns on the Exeter Road. - -The "Red Lion" may, for purposes of comparison, be divided into three -parts. There is the old gabled original portion of the inn, probably of -late seventeenth-century date, now used as a medical dispensary, forming -two sides of a courtyard, recessed from the road, and screened from it by -an old wrought-iron railing; and added to it, perhaps eighty years later, -an imposing range of eighteenth-century red-brick buildings, partly in use -as offices for the local Urban District Council and in part a "Literary -Institute," and a world too large for both. This great building is even -more imposing within; its immense cellarage, large ball-, or -assembly-room, noble staircases, and finely panelled walls, the now -neglected witnesses of a bygone prosperity. Traditions still survive of -how George the Fourth used to entertain his Windsor huntsmen here. In the -rear was stabling for some two hundred horses. Most of it has been cleared -away, but the old postboys' cottages still remain in the spacious yard. -The remaining part of the "Red Lion," still carried on as an inn, presents -a white-stuccoed, Early Victorian front to the high road. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," BARNBY MOOR: MEET OF LORD GALWAY'S HOUNDS.] - -Not many inns are built upon crypts. Examples have already been referred -to in these volumes, but another may be mentioned, in the case of the -"Lamb" inn at Eastbourne; while the "Angel" at Guildford is a well-known -instance. No one, looking at the modern-fronted "Angel," one of the -foremost hotels of Guildford, would be likely to accuse it of owning an -Early English crypt, but it has, in fact, an exceptionally fine one of -three bays, supported by two stone pillars. The ancient history of this -undercroft is unknown, and merely a matter for conjecture. - -At the "Angel" itself antiquity and modernity meet, for while fully -equipped for twentieth century convenience, it has good oak panelling of -the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the fine hall and elsewhere. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE OLD INNS OF CHESHIRE - - -Cheshire, that great fertile plain devoted almost exclusively to -dairy-farming, is without doubt the county richest in old inns: inns for -the most part built in the traditional Cheshire style--of timber and -plaster: the style variously called "half-timbered," "magpie," or "black -and white." Of these the "Old Hall" at Sandbach is the finest and most -important, having been built originally as the manor-house, about the time -of Queen Elizabeth, the inscription, "16 T.B. 56" on a portion of the long -frontage, probably marking repairs, or an extension of the building, at -that period. - -Sandbach is a place famous among antiquaries for its remarkable -ninth-century sculptured monolith crosses, and thus the traveller comes to -it with a mental picture, evolved entirely out of his own inner -consciousness, of some sweet and quiet old country town, left long ago -outside the range of modern things. But Sandbach is not in the least like -that. It is a huddled-together little town, very busy, very roughly paved -with stone setts, rather dirty and untidy, and apparently possessed with -an ambition for new buildings, both public and private, which shall be -as much as possible unlike the old Cheshire style. These are surprises for -the pilgrim, whose life-long illusions are finally squelched when he is -told, gently but firmly, and with a kind of pity for his ignorance, that -the place-name is not pronounced "Sandback," with a "k," but "Sandbach," -with an "h,"--"as it is spelt," the inhabitants crushingly add. - -[Illustration: THE "OLD HALL" INN, SANDBACH.] - -The poor old crosses stand in the market-place. They have suffered many an -injury in their time, and now are islanded amid a sea of market-litter, -and are black and grimy. Close by them stands the "Black Bear" inn, a -nodding old half-timbered and thatched "Free" house, with the inscription, -"16 R K 34." The lower part is merely brick, but this has been painted -white with black stripes, in a more or less laudable attempt to imitate -the genuine timber and plaster of the upper storey. - -Just off this market-place, opposite the church, stands the "Old Hall" -inn, facing the road in a long range of imposing panelled and gabled -building, partly fronted by a beautiful lawn. No changes have spoiled the -"Old Hall," which, save for the fact that it has long been an inn, remains -very much as it was built. It is the property of the Earl of Crewe. - -Stout oaken floors and dark oak panelling furnish the old house -throughout. You enter the capacious bar through a Jacobean screen and -drink mellow home-brewed in the appropriately mellow light that comes -between oaken Elizabethan mullions and through leaded casements. It is not -by any fanciful figure of speech that the traveller quenches his thirst -here at the "Old Hall" in a tankard of home-brewed. The house, in fact, -brews its own ale, and supplies it largely to the farm-houses of the -neighbourhood; and a very pretty tipple it is, too. - -[Illustration: DOG-GATES AT HEAD OF STAIRCASE, "OLD HALL" INN, SANDBACH.] - -There are at least three very fine carved oak Jacobean fire-places and -overmantels in the house, the finest that in the public parlour; and at -the head of the broad staircase remains a curious relic of old times--the -"dog-gates" that formerly shut out the domestic pets of the establishment -from the bedrooms--and in fact do so still. - -Not so large, but in some respects finer even than the "Old Hall," the -"Bear's Head" at Brereton, five miles from Sandbach, shows most of its -beauty on the outside. It was built in 1615, as the date carved on the -lovely old timbered porch declares, and in days when the Breretons of -Brereton Hall still ruled; as their bear's-head crest, their shield of -arms, and the initials "W. M. B.," prove. Their old home, Brereton Hall, -close by, is traditionally the original of Washington Irving's -"Bracebridge Hall." - -Brereton village is among the smallest of places, and the inn, itself as -noble as many an old manor-house, is neighboured only by a few scattered -cottages. But, however insignificant the village, the inn was once, and -long continued to be, a very busy posting-house on a frequented route -between London and Liverpool, as the eighteenth-century additions to the -house bear witness. The additional wing, built at that period, is by no -means an attractive feature, and fortunately does not obtrude itself in -general views of the inn from the best points of view; but the magnificent -range of stables added at the same date, on the opposite side of the road, -although, of course, not in keeping with the black-and-white timbering of -the original building, compose well, artistically, with it, and form in -themselves a very fine specimen of the design and the brickwork of that -time. - -[Illustration: THE "BEAR'S HEAD," BRERETON.] - -The "Lion and Swan" at Congleton is one of the best and most picturesque -features of that old-time manufacturing town, more remarkable for its huge -old factory buildings, and its narrow, sett-paved streets in which the -clogs of the work-folk continually clatter, than for its beauty. The "Lion -and Swan," therefore, is a distinct asset in the picturesque way, with its -beautiful black-and-white gables and strongly emphasised entrance-porch. -Within it is all timbered passages and raftered rooms, pleasantly -irregular. - -One of the most striking of the natural features of Cheshire is the -isolated hill rising abruptly from the great plain near Alderley, and -known as Alderley Edge. So strange an object could hardly fail to impress -old-time imaginations, or be without its correspondingly strange legends, -and the Edge is, in fact, the subject of a legend well known as the -"Wizard of Alderley," which in its turn has given its title to the -"Wizard" inn. - -According to this mystical tale, which is of the same order as the -marvellous legends of King Arthur and the wise Merlin, a farmer, "long -years ago," was going to Macclesfield Fair to sell a fine milk-white -horse, when, on passing the hill, a "mysterious stranger" suddenly -appeared before him and demanded the horse. Not even in those times of -"long years ago," when all manner of odd things happened, did farmers give -up valuable animals on demand, and (although the story does not report it) -he probably said some extremely rude and caustic things to the stranger; -who, at any rate, told him that the horse would not be sold at the fair. -He added that when the farmer returned in the evening, he would meet him -on the same spot, and would receive the horse. - -The Wizard, for it was none other, had spoken truly. Many people at the -fair admired the milk-white steed, but none offered to buy, and the farmer -wended his way home again. In most cases, with the prospect of such a -meeting, a farmer--or any one else--would have gone home some other way; -but, in that case, there would have been no legend; so we are to imagine -him come back at eventime, under the shadow of the Edge, with the Wizard -duly awaiting him. - -Not a word was spoken, but horse and farmer were led to the hillside, -where, with a sound like that of distant thunder, two iron gates opened, -and a magic cave appeared, wherein he saw many milk-white steeds, each -with an armed man sleeping by its side. He was told, as a metrical version -of the legend has it: - - These are the caverned troops, by Fate - Foredoomed the guardians of our State. - England's good genius here detains - These armed defenders of our plains, - Doomed to remain till that fell day - When foemen marshalled in array - And feuds internecine, shall combine - To seal the ruin of our line! - Thrice lost shall England be, thrice won, - 'Twixt dawn of day and setting sun. - Then we, the wondrous caverned band, - These mailed martyrs for the land, - Shall rush resistless on the foe. - -[Illustration: THE "LION AND SWAN," CONGLETON.] - -From the crystal cave where these wonders were seen, the farmer was -conducted to a cave of gold, filled with every imaginable kind of wealth, -and there, in the shape of "as much treasure as he could carry," he -received better payment for his horse than he would ever have obtained at -Macclesfield, or any other, fair. We may imagine him (although the legend -says nothing on that head) at this point asking the Wizard how many more -milk-white steeds he could do with, at the same price; but at this -juncture he was conducted back to the entrance, and the gates were slammed -to behind him. Strange to say, the "treasure," according to the story, -seems to have been genuine treasure, and did not, next morning, resolve -itself into the usual currency of dried sticks and yellow leaves in which -wizards and questionable old-time characters of that nature usually -settled their accounts. - -There are caves and crannies to this day in the wonderful hill, but the -real genuine magic cave has never been re-discovered. - -That odd early eighteenth-century character, "Drunken Barnaby," is -mentioned elsewhere in these pages. One of his boozy journeys took him out -of Lancashire into Cheshire, by way of Warrington and Great Budworth: - - Thence to the Cock at Budworth, where I - Drank strong ale as brown as berry: - Till at last with deep healths felled, - To my bed I was compelled: - I for state was bravely sorted, - By two porters well supported. - -The traveller will still find the "Cock" at Budworth, and will notice, -with some amusement, that the landlord's name is Drinkwater. The house is -looking much the same as in Barnaby's day, and has a painting, hanging in -the bar, picturing a very drunken Barnaby indeed being carried up to bed. -A sundial, bearing the date, 1851, and the inscription, "_Sol motu gallus -cantu moneat_," has been added, together with a well-executed picture-sign -of a gamecock: both placed by the late squire of Arley, Rowland Eyles -Egerton Warburton, who seems to have occupied most of his leisure in -writing verses for sign-posts and house-inscriptions all over this part of -Cheshire. The gamecock himself, it will be noted, has an oddly Gladstonian -glance. - -From Budworth, by dint of much searching and diligent inquiry, the pilgrim -on the borders of Cheshire and Lancashire at length discovers the hamlet -of Thelwall, a place situated in an odd byway between Warrington, Lymm, -and Manchester, in that curious half-picturesque and half-grimly -commercial district traversed by the Bridgewater and the Manchester Ship -Canals. - -Thelwall, according to authorities in things incredibly ancient, was once -a city, but the most diligent antiquary grubbing in its stony lanes and -crooked roads, will fail to discover any evidences in brick or stone of -that vanished importance, and is fain to rest his faith upon county -historians and on the lengthy inscription in iron lettering in modern -times fixed upon the wooden beams of the old "Pickering Arms" inn that -stands in midst of the decayed "city." By this he learns that, "In the -year 920, King Edward the Elder founded a cyty here and called it -Thelwall." And that is all there is to tell. It might have been a -Manchester or a Salford, had the situation been well chosen; but as it is, -it teaches the lesson that though a king may "found" a city, not all the -kingship, or Right Divine of crowned heads, will make it prosper, if it be -not placed to advantage. - -[Illustration: THE "COCK," GREAT BUDWORTH.] - -Chester itself is, of course, exceptionally rich in old inns, but Chester -has so long been a show-place of antiquities and has so mauled its -reverend relics with so-called "restorations" that much of their interest -is gone. The bloom has been brushed off the peach. - -One of the oldest inns of Chester is the little house at the corner of -Shipgate Street and Lower Bridge Street, known as the "King Edgar"; the -monarch who gives his name to the sign being that Anglo-Saxon "Edgar the -Peaceable" who reduced the England of his day to an unwonted condition of -law and order, and therefore fully deserves the measure of fame thus given -him. - -We are told by Roger of Wendover and other ancient chroniclers how, in the -year 962, King Edgar, coming to Chester in the course of one of his annual -progresses through the country he ruled, was rowed in a state barge upon -the river Dee by eight tributary kings; and one is a little puzzled to -know whence all these kings could have come, until the old monkish -accounts are fully read, when it appears that they were only kings in a -comparatively small way of business. According to Roger of Wendover, they -were Rinoth, King of Scots, Malcolm, King of the Cumbrians, Maco, King of -Mona and numerous islands, and five others: Dusnal of Demetia, Siferth and -Huwal of Wales, James, King of Galwallia, and Jukil, King of Westmoreland. - -The sign of the inn, a very old and faded and much-varnished painting, -displays that historic incident, and, gazing earnestly at it, you may -dimly discern the shadowy forms of eight oarsmen, robed in red and white, -and with golden crowns on their heads, rowing an ornate but clumsy craft, -while King Edgar stands in the stern sheets. Another figure in the bow -supports a banner with the sign of the Cross. The whole thing looks not a -little like a giant black-beetle crawling over a kitchen-table. - -[Illustration: THE "PICKERING ARMS," THELWALL.] - -Until quite recently the "King Edgar" inn was the most picturesquely -tumble-down building in Chester, a perfect marvel of dilapidation that no -artist could exaggerate, or any one, for that matter, care to house in. -But it has now not only been made habitable, but so "restored" that only -the outlines of the building, and that faded old sign, remain recognisably -the "King Edgar." It is now rather a smart little inn, displaying notices -of "Accomodation for Cyclists"--spelled with one "m"--and thus, so -renovated and youthful-looking, as incongruously indecent as one's -grandmother would be, were she to let her hair down and take to short -frocks again. - -Separated from it by only one house, and that as commonplace a building as -possible, suppressed so far as may be in the accompanying illustration, by -the adventitious aid of "artistic licence," is the "Bear and Billet" inn, -at this time, although repaired, in the most satisfactorily conservative -condition of any old inn at Chester. Its front is a mass of beautifully -enriched woodwork, under one huge, all-comprising gable. The "Bear and -Billet" was not always an inn. It has, in fact, declined from private -mansion to public, having originally been the town mansion of the Earls of -Shrewsbury, and remaining their property until 1867. Adjoining is the -Bridge Gate of the city, associated with the "Bear and Billet" by reason -of the fact that the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury, were hereditary -Sergeants of the Gate. Long after they had ceased to occupy the house as a -residence, they continued to reserve a suite of rooms in it, for use on -those state occasions when they resorted to Chester to act their -hereditary part. - -[Illustration: THE "KING EDGAR" AND "BEAR AND BILLET," CHESTER.] - -The "Falcon" inn, until recent years an unspoiled house whose nodding -gables and every time-worn timber were eloquent of the sixteenth century, -and the delight of artists--who, however eager they were to sketch it, -were not so ready to stay there--has been so extravagantly renovated, -in the worst sense of that word, when dealing with things ancient and -venerable, that although, during that work of renovation, much earlier -stonework and some additional old timbering were revealed and have been -preserved, their genuine character might well be questioned by a stranger, -so lavish with the scraping and the varnish were those who set about the -work. In short, the "Falcon" nowadays wears every aspect of a genuine -Victorian imitation of an Elizabethan house, and, while made habitable -from the tourist's point of view, is, artistically, ruined. - -In the same street we have the "Old King's Head" "restored" in like -manner, but so long since that it is acquiring again, by sheer lapse of -time and a little artistic remissness in the matter of cleaning, a hoary -look. Near by, too, is a fine house, now styling itself "Wine and Spirit -Stores," dated 1635. - -In Watergate Street is the "Carnarvon Castle," with one of the famed -Chester "rows" running in front of the first floor; while, opposite, the -"Custom House" inn, dated 1636 and in its unrestored original state, -recalls the far-distant time when Chester was a port. Indeed, at the -extremity of this street still stands the old "Yacht" inn, where Dean -Swift was accustomed to stay when he chose the Chester and Parkgate route -to Ireland. - -A catalogue of all the, in some way, odd inns of Chester would of -necessity be lengthy; but mention may here be made of the exquisitely -restored little "Boot" inn, dated 1643, in Eastgate Street, with a -provision-shop below and a "row" running above, and of the red-brick "Pied -Bull" and the adjoining stone-pillared "Old Bell"--"licensed 1494"--at the -extreme end of Northgate Street. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -INNS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS - - -That striking feature of the last few years, the voluntary or the -compulsory extinction of licences, with its attendant compensation, has -created not a little stir among people with short memories, or no -knowledge of their country, who cherish the notion, "once an inn, always -an inn," and forget the wholesale ruin that befell inns all over the land -upon the introduction of railways, causing hundreds of hostelries to close -their doors. The traveller with an eye for such things may still identify -these inns retired from business, chiefly by their old archways and -entries into stable-yards, but to the expert, even when those features are -absent, there is generally some indefinable air about a house once an inn -that singles it out from others. Such an one is the immense, four-square, -red-brick farm-house midway between Lichfield and Burton-on-Trent, once a -coaching- and posting-house famous in all that countryside as the "Flitch -of Bacon"; such was the exclusive "Verulam Arms" at St. Albans, where mere -plebeian coach-passengers wore not suffered, and only the high and mighty -who could afford post-chaises were condescended to. The "Verulam Arms" -had, however, the briefest of careers. Built in 1827, railways ruined it -in ten years, and, shorn of its vast stables, on whose site a church has -been built, it has ever since been in private occupation. In short, along -the whole course of the Holyhead Road the inns retired from business are -an especial feature, the village of Little Brickhill being little else -than a place of old hostelries and taverns of every class, whose licences -have long ago been surrendered, for lack of custom. Thus you may travel -through to Anglesey and be continually passing these evidences of the ruin -caused by railways, once so distressing to many interests, and a pitiful -commentary upon the activity of inventors; but long ago fallen back into -that historical perspective in which ruin and wrong become the sign-posts -of "progress." The chief inns that are inns no longer on this -north-western road through England are numerous; the minor taverns and -ale-houses that have closed their doors innumerable. Among others, we -have--speaking merely at a venture--the aristocratic "Bull's Head," -Meriden, the "Haygate" inn, near Wellington, the "Talbot," Atcham, -"Talbot," Shrewsbury, and "Prince Llewelyn," Cernioge--all establishments -of the first order; and if we turn to the Great North Road, a very similar -state of things is found. On that great highway the famous "Haycock" inn -at Wansford bravely kept its doors open until recent years, but could -endure no longer and is now a hunting-box belonging to Lord Chesham. The -"New Inn" at Allerton is now a farm-house; the celebrated "Blue Bell" on -Barnby Moor became a country seat, and the very moor itself is enclosed -and cultivated. The "Swan" and "Angel," both once great and prosperous -coaching-houses at the busy town of Ferrybridge, have ceased their -hospitality, and the "Swan" itself, once rather oddly kept by a Dr. -Alderson, who combined the profession of a medical man with the business -of innkeeping, has been empty for many years past, and stands mournfully, -falling into ruin, amid its gardens by the rive Aire. - -Quite recently, after surviving for over sixty years the coming of the -railway and the disappearance of the coaches from the Brighton Road, the -old "Talbot" at Cuckfield has relinquished the vain struggle for -existence, and old frequenters who come to it will find the house empty, -and the hospitable invitation over the doorway, "You're welcome, what's -your will?" become, by force of circumstances, a mockery. - -There is a peculiar eloquence in the Out-of-Date, the Has Been. -Institutions and ancient orders of things that have had their day need not -to have been intrinsically romantic in that day to be now regarded with -interest. Whether it be a road much-travelled in the days before railways, -and now traced only by the farm-labourer between his cottage and his daily -toil, or by the sentimental pilgrim; or whether it be the wayside inn or -posting-house retired from public life and now either empty or else -converted into a farm-house, there is a feeling of romance attaching to -them really kin to the sentiment we cherish for the ruined abbeys and -castles of the Middle Ages. - -Scouring England on a bicycle to complete the collection of old inns for -this book, I came, on the way from Gloucester to Bath, upon such a -superseded road, studded with houses that had once been coaching -hostelries and posting-houses and are now farmsteads; and others that, -although they still carry on their licensed trade, do so in strangely -altered and meagre fashion, in dim corners of half-deserted and -all-too-roomy buildings. It is thirty-four miles of mostly difficult and -lonely road between those two cities: a road of incredible hills and, when -you have come past Stroud and Nailsworth, of almost equally incredible -solitudes. You climb painfully up the north-westerly abutments of the -Cotswolds, to the roof of the world at a place well named Edge, and there -in a bird's-eye view you see Painswick down below, and thenceforward go -swashing away steeply, some three miles, down into the crowded -cloth-weaving town of Stroud, where most things are prosperous and -commonplace, and only the "Royal George Hotel" attracts attention, less -for its own sake than by reason of the lion and unicorn over its portico: -the lion very golden and very fierce, apparently in the act of coming down -to make a meal of some temerarious guest; the unicorn more than usually -milk-white and mild-mannered. - -[Illustration: A DESERTED INN: THE "SWAN," AT FERRYBRIDGE.] - -Beyond Nailsworth begin the hills again, and the loneliness intensifies -after passing the admirably-named Tiltups End. "How well the name figures -the gradient!" thinks the cyclist who comes this way and pauses, after -walking two miles up hill, to regain his breath. He has here come to the -very ideal of what we learned at school to be an "elevated plateau, or -table-land"; and a plaguy ill-favoured, inhospitable place it is, too, yet -not without a certain grim, hard-featured interest in its starveling -acres, its stone-walled, hedgeless fields, and distant spinneys. It is -interesting, if only serving to show that to our grandfathers, who -perforce fared this way before railways, their faring was not all jam. Nor -is it so to the modern tourist who--_experto crede_--faces a buffeting -head-wind in an inclement April, and encounters along these weary miles a -succession of snow-blizzards and hail-showers: all in the pursuit of -knowledge at first-hand. The way avoids all towns and villages, and all -wayfarers who can shift to do so avoid this way; and you who must trace it -have but occasional cottages, often empty and ruinous, or a lonely -prehistoric sepulchral barrow or so for company--and they are not -hilarious companions. Your only society is that rarely failing friend and -comforter--your map, and here even the map is lacking in solace, for when -it ceases to trace a merely empty road, it does so chiefly to chronicle -such depressing names as "Starveall," an uncomplimentary sidelight on the -poor land where neither farmers can live nor beasts graze; or others as -mysterious as "Petty France," a hamlet with two large houses that once -were inns. "Cold Ashton," too, is a name that excellently figures the -circumstances of the route. Even modern portents have a ghastliness all -their own, as when, noticing two gigantic, smoke-and-steam-spouting -ventilators, you realise that you are passing over the long Sodbury tunnel -of the new "South Wales Direct" branch of the Great Western Railway. - -Beyond this, in a wooded hollow at the cross-roads respectively to -Chipping Sodbury and Chippenham, you come past the wholly deserted -"Plough" inn to the half-deserted, rambling old coaching-and posting-inn -of "Cross Hands," where a mysterious sign, unexplainable by the innkeeper, -hangs out, exhibiting two hands crossed, with squabby spatulate fingers, -and the inscription "Caius Marius Imperator B.C. 102 Concordia Militum." -What it all means apparently passes the wit of man, or at any rate of -local man, to discover. - -Passing the solitudes of Dodington and Dirham parks, with the forbidding, -heavy, mausoleum-like stone lodges the old squires loved to erect as -outposts to their demesnes, and encountering a toll-house or so, the road -at last, three miles from Bath, dips suddenly down. You see, from this -eyrie, the smoke of Bath, the roofs of it and the pinnacles of its Abbey -Church, as it were in the bottom of a cup, and, ceasing your labour of -pedalling, you spill over the rim, into the very streets, feeling like a -pilgrim not merely from Gloucester, but from all the world. - -Notable among the inns retired from business is the little "Raven" at -Hook, on the Exeter Road, before you come to Basingstoke. It ceased in -1903 to be an inn, and the building has since been restored and converted -into a private residence styled the "Old Raven House." Built in 1653, of -sound oak framing, filled with brick-nogging in herring-bone pattern, it -has been suffered to retain all its old-world features of construction, -and thus remains an interesting specimen of seventeenth-century builders' -work. - -[Illustration: THE OLD "RAVEN," HOOK.] - -But it is on quite another count that the "Raven" demands notice here. It -was the wayside inn at which the infamous "Jack the Painter," the -incendiary of Portsmouth Dockyard, stayed on the way to accomplish his -evil purpose. - -James Hill, a Scotsman, and a painter by trade, went under the assumed -names of Hind and John Aitkin. Visiting America, he there acquired a -maniacal hatred for England, and returned with the design of setting fire -to all our great dockyards, and thus crippling our resources against the -foreign foe. On December 7th, 1776, he caused a fire at Portsmouth -Dockyard that wrought damage to the extent of L60,000. Arrested at Odiham -on February 7th, 1777, he was very speedily brought to trial at -Winchester, and executed on March 10th, being afterwards gibbeted, a good -deal higher than Haman, at Blockhouse Beach, from the mizzen-mast of the -_Arethusa_, especially set up there for the purpose, 64-1/2 feet high. One -of the choicest and most thrilful exhibits at the Naval Exhibition of 1891 -at Chelsea was a tobacco-stopper made out of a mummified finger of this -infernal rascal. - -The derelict inns of the Exeter Road are not so numerous, but a striking -example is found at West Allington, outside Bridport, where the old -"Hearts of Oak" stands forlorn, a small portion of it in private -occupation and a long range of stables and wayside smithy gradually -becoming ruinous and overgrown with ivy. The old lamp remains over the -door of the inn, and in it, typical of this picture of ruin, the sparrow -has built her nest. - -The most singular instance of an inn retired from business must surely be -that of the "Bell" at Dale, near Derby, but more singular still is the -circumstance of its ever having become a public-house, for the building -was once actually the guest-house of Dale Abbey. Since it ceased to be a -village ale-house, some seventy-six years ago, it has become a farm. - -[Illustration: THE "HEARTS OF OAK," NEAR BRIDPORT.] - -The illustration shows the extraordinary features of the place: on the -right-hand the farmhouse portion, which seems, by the evidence of some -carving on the gable, to have been partly rebuilt in 1651, and on the left -the parish church, surmounted by an eccentric belfry, greatly resembling a -dovecote. The interior of this extraordinary and exceedingly diminutive -church--one of the smallest in England--is a close-packed mass of -timbering and old-fashioned, high, box-like Georgian pews. A little -churchyard surrounds church and farmhouse, and in the background are the -tree-covered hills that completely enclose this well-named village of -"Dale," an agricultural outpost of Derbyshire, on the very edge of the -coal-mining and ironworks districts of Nottinghamshire. - -Should the ancient hermit, whose picturesquely situated, but damp, cave on -the hillside used to be shown to visitors, be ever suffered in spirit to -return to his rheumaticky cell, I think he would find the scenery of Dale -much the same as of old, but from his eyrie he would perceive a strange -thing: a gigantic cone-shaped mountain in the near neighbourhood, with -spouts and tongues of fire flickering at its crest: a thing that fully -realises the idea of a volcano. This is the immense slag-heap of the -ironworks at Stanton-by-Dale, impressive even to the modern beholder. - -Of Dale Abbey itself, few fragments are left: only the tall gable -containing the east window standing up gaunt and empty in a meadow, and -sundry stone walls of cottages and outhouses, revealing that once proud -house. - -The "Falcon" at Bidford, near Stratford-on-Avon, associated with -Shakespeare, is now a private house, and the once busy rural "Windmill" -inn at North Cheriton, on the cross-country coach-road between Blandford -and Wincanton, retired from business forty years ago. It is remarkable for -having attached to it a tennis-court, originally designed for the -entertainment of customers in general and of coach-passengers in -particular. Waiting there for the branch-coach, travellers whiled away the -weary hours in playing the old English game of tennis. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL" INN, DALE ABBEY.] - -Perhaps the finest of the inns that are inns no more was the famous -"Castle" inn at Marlborough. It was certainly the finest hostelry on the -Bath Road, as the inquisitive in such things may yet see by exploring the -older building of Marlborough College. For that was the aristocratic -"Castle" until 1841, when the Great Western Railway was opened to Bath and -Bristol, and so knocked the bottom out of all the coaching and the -licensed-victualling business between London and those places. - -[Illustration: THE "WINDMILL," NORTH CHERITON.] - -I have termed the "Castle" 'aristocratic,' and not without due reason. The -site was originally occupied by the great castle of Marlborough, whose -origin itself goes back to the remotenesses and vaguenesses of early -British times, before history began to be. The great prehistoric mound -that (now covered with trees) still darkens the very windows of the modern -college buildings was first selected by the savage British as the site of -a fortress, and is in fact the "bergh" that figures as "borough" in the -second half of the place-name. From the earliest times the Mound was -regarded with awe and reverence, and was the centre of the wild legends -that made Marlborough "Merleberg" or "Merlin's town": home of the great -magician of Arthurian legend. Those legends had never any foundation in -fact, and even the otherwise credulous antiquaries of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries dismiss them as ridiculous, but the crest -surmounting the town arms still represents the Mound, and a Latin motto -dedicatory to "the bones of the wise Merlin" accompanies it. - -The mediaeval castle of Marlborough that arose at the foot of this early -stronghold gave place to a splendid mansion built by Francis, Lord -Seymour, in time for the reception of Charles the Second, who halted here -on one of his progresses to the West. This was partly rebuilt and greatly -enlarged in the time of William the Third, and then assumed very much the -appearance still worn by the main building of the present College. In or -about 1740 the great mansion became the residence of Lady Hertford, under -whose rule the grounds were planted with formal groves of limes and set -about with yews trimmed into fantastic shapes, and further adorned with -terrace-walks and grottoes, intended to be romantic. She converted the -spot into a modish Arcadia, after the ideals of her time; and fashionables -posed and postured there in the guise of Watteau nymphs or old Chelsea -china-ware shepherds and shepherdesses, and imagined they were being rural -and living the Simple Life when, in fact, they were being most artificial. -The real Wiltshire peasantry, the true flesh-and-blood shepherds and -shepherdesses of the surrounding wind-swept downs, who lived hardly upon -rye bread and dressed in russet and homespun woollens, looked with -astonishment, as well they might, upon such folk, and were not unnaturally -amazed when they saw fine ladies with short skirts, silken stockings and -high-heeled shoes, carrying dainty shepherds' crooks tied with -cherry-coloured ribbons, leading pet lambs combed and curled and scented, -and decorated with satin rosettes. Those Little Bo-Peeps and their -cavaliers, dressed out in equally fine feathers, were visions quite -outside their notions of sheep-tending. - -Here my lady entertained great literary folk, among them Thomson of _The -Seasons_, and here, in one of the sacred Arcadian grottoes, he and my lord -were found drunk, and Thomson thereafter lost favour; was, in fact, thrust -forth in haste and with contumely. This, my brethren, it is to love punch -too well! - -Something of my lady's artificial pleasance still survives, although -greatly changed, in the lawns and the trees, now grown very reverend, upon -which the south front of the old mansion looks; but in some eleven years -after her time, when the property came to the Dukes of Northumberland, the -building was leased to a Mr. Cotterell, an innkeeper, who in 1751 opened -what had until then been "Seymour House" as a first-class hostelry, under -the style and title of the "Castle" inn. In that year Lady Vere tells how -she lay "at the Castle Inn, opened a fortnight since," and describing it -as a "prodigious large house," grows indignant at the Duke of -Northumberland putting it to such debased uses, and selling many good old -pictures to the landlord. - -Cotterell apparently left the "Castle" almost as soon as he had entered, -for we find another landlord, in the following year, advertising as -follows in _The Salisbury Journal_ of August 17th, 1752: - - I beg leave to inform the public that I have fitted up the Castle at - Marlborough in the most genteel and commodious manner and opened it as - an inn where the nobility and gentry may depend on the best - accommodation and treatment, the favour of whose company will always - be gratefully acknowledged by their most obedient servant George - Smith, late of the Artillery Ground. Neat postchaises. - -[Illustration: THE "CASTLE" INN, MARLBOROUGH.] - -"The quality" loved to linger here on their way to or from "the Bath," for -the inn, with its pictures, much of its old furniture, and its splendid -cuisine, was more like a private house than a house of public -entertainment. Every one who was any one, and could afford the luxury of -the gout and the inevitable subsequent cure of "the Bath," stayed at the -"Castle" on the way to or from their cure: and there was scarce an -eighteenth-century name of note whose owner did not inscribe it in the -Visitors' Book of this establishment. Horace Walpole, curiously examining -the winding walks the Arcadian Lady Hertford had caused to be made -spirally up the sides of the poor old Mound; Chesterfield, meditating -polite ways of going to the devil; in short, every great name of that -great, but very material, time. Greater than all others was the elder -Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and of his greatness and importance he was not only -himself adequately aware, but was determined at all costs that others, -too, should be fully informed of it. It was in 1762, travelling to London, -that he came this way, suffering torments from the gout that all the -waters of Bath had failed to cure, and roaring with apprehension whenever -a fly buzzed too near his inflamed toes. He was either in no haste to -reach home, or else his gout was too severe to prevent him being moved, -for he remained for many weeks at the "Castle." That prolonged stay seems, -however, to have been premeditated, for he made it a condition of his -staying that the entire staff of the inn should be clothed in his livery, -and that he should have the whole place at his own disposal. That was -exclusiveness, if you like, and the modern traveller who secures a -first-class compartment wholly to himself cuts a very poor, ineffectual -figure beside the intolerance of company shown by the great statesman. The -proprietor of the "Castle" must have required a large sum, thus to close -his house to other custom for so long a time, and to possibly offend more -regular patrons. In fact, the fortunes of the "Castle" as an inn ebbed and -flowed alarmingly even before the coaching age and coaching inns were -threatened with extinction by railways. Early in the '20's, the innkeeper -was Thomas Cooper, who found the undertaking of maintaining it too much -for him, and so removed to Thatcham, where he became proprietor of the -"Cooper Company" coaches. Cooper, however, was not a fortunate man, and -coaching eventually landed him in the Bankruptcy Court. He lived his last -years as the first station-master at the Richmond station of the London -and South-Western Railway. - -In 1842, when the road, as an institution, was at an end, the "Castle" was -without a tenant, for no one was mad enough to entertain the thought of -taking a new lease of it as an inn, and the house was much too large to be -easily let for private occupation. At that time a site, and if possible a -suitable building also, were being sought by a number of influential -persons for the purpose of founding a cheap school for the sons of the -clergy: and here was discovered the very place to fit their ideal. The -neighbourhood was rural and select, and was so far removed from any -disturbing influence that the nearest railway-station was a dozen miles -away, at Swindon: the site was extensive and the building large, handsome, -and convenient. Here, accordingly, what is now Marlborough College was -opened, with two hundred boys, in August, 1843. - -Many changes have taken place since then. The original red-brick mansion, -designed by Inigo Jones or by his son-in-law, Webb, stands yet, but is -neighboured by many new blocks of scholastic buildings, and the -enormously large courtyard which in the old days looked upon the Bath -Road, and was a place of evolution for post-chaises and coaches, is -planted with an avenue, down whose leafy alley you see the striking -pillared entrance of what was successively mansion and inn. Inside they -show you what was once the bar, a darkling little cubicle of a place, now -used as a masters' lavatory, and a noble oak staircase of astonishingly -substantial proportions, together with a number of fine rooms. - -[Illustration: GARDEN FRONT, "CASTLE" INN, MARLBOROUGH.] - -It was at the "excellent inn at Chapel House," on the read to Worcester -and Lichfield, that Dr. Johnson, in 1776, was led by the comfort of his -surroundings to hold forth to Boswell upon "the felicity of England in its -taverns and inns"; triumphing over the French for not having in any -perfection the tavern life. - -The occasion was one well calculated to arouse enthusiasm for the -well-known comforts of the old-time English hostelry. He had come, with -the faithful Boswell, by post-chaise from Oxford, on the way to -Birmingham; it was the inclement season of spring, the way was long, and -the wind, blowing across the bleak Oxfordshire downs, was cold. Welcome, -then, the blazing fire of the "Shakespeare's Head"--for that was the real -name of the house--and doubly welcome that dinner for which they had -halted. Can we wonder that the worthy Doctor was eloquent? I think not. -"There is no private house," said he, "in which people can enjoy -themselves so well as in a capital tavern.... No man but a very impudent -dog indeed can as freely command what is in another man's house as if it -were his own; whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom from -anxiety. You are sure you are welcome; and the more noise you make, the -more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you -are. No servants will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who -are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they -please. No, sir, there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by -which so much happiness is provided as by a good tavern or inn." - -The "Chapel House" inn took its name from a wayside chapel formerly -standing here, anciently belonging to the neighbouring Priory of Cold -Norton. At a later period, when education began to spread and the roads -were travelled by scholars and others on their way to and from Oxford, -Brasenose College took over the conduct of it, both as an oratory and a -guest-house for the succour of wayfarers along these then unenclosed and -absolutely lonely downs. A priest was maintained here until 1547. -Afterwards the site seems to have been occupied by a mansion built by -William Fitzalan, of Over Norton: a house that gave place in its turn to -the inn. - -Few ever knew "Chapel House" inn by its real name. It doubtless obtained -the title from surviving traditions of Shakespeare having partaken of the -hospitality of the old guest-house, on his journeys between -Stratford-on-Avon and London. It is, indeed, singular how such traditions -survive in this neighbourhood, the "Crown" at Oxford being traditionally -the successor of the house where Shakespeare usually inned, and an old -Elizabethan mansion at Grendon Underwood, formerly an inn, a halting-place -when he chose another route and went by that village and Aylesbury to -London. - -But guests at "Chapel House" no more knew the inn as the "Shakespeare's -Head" than travellers on the Exeter Road would have recognised -"Winterslow Hut" by its proper title of the "Pheasant." And now the great -coaching- and posting-inn has gone the way of all those other inns and -taverns where Doctor Johnson--that greatest of Samuels since the -patriarch--genuinely dined and supped and drank. Sad it is to think that -all the festive shrines frequented by him to whom a tavern chair was "the -throne of human felicity" have disappeared, and that only inns that were -contemporary with him, and _would_ have Johnsonian associations had he -ever entered them, survive to trade on that slender thread of -might-have-been. - -As usual with the fine old roadside hostelries of this class, the coming -of the railway spelled ruin for it. The great house shrank, as it were, -into itself; its fires of life burnt low, the outer rooms became empty of -furniture, of carpets, of everything save memories. The stable-yards grew -silent; grass sprouted between the cobbles, spiders wreathed the windows -in webs; the very rats, with tears in their eyes for the vanished days of -plenteous corn and offal, were reduced to eating one another, and the last -representative died of starvation, with "sorrow's crown of sorrow"--which -we know to be the remembrance of happier days--embittering his last -moments. - -Why did not some student of social changes record intimately the last -lingering days of the "Chapel House" inn: why did no artist make a -pictorial record of it for us? It decayed, just as, centuries earlier, the -"Chapel" had done from which its name derived, stone by stone and brick -by brick, and there was none to record, in literature or in art, the going -of it. All we know is that it ceased in 1850 to be an inn, that the -remains of the house long stood untenanted; that the dependent buildings -became labourers' cottages, and that the stables have utterly vanished. - -[Illustration: "CHAPEL HOUSE" INN.] - -What is "Chapel House" to-day? You come along the lonely road, across the -ridge of the downs, from Oxford, and find, just short of the cross-roads -to Stratford-on-Avon and Birmingham, to Banbury or Cirencester, past where -a milestone says "Oxford 18, Stratford-on-Avon 21, and Birmingham 43 -miles," a group of some ten stone-built cottages, five on either side of -the road, with the remains of the inn itself on the right, partly screened -from observation by modern shrubberies. A porticoed doorway is pointed out -as the former entrance to the tap, and the present orchard in the rear is -shown as the site of the greater part of the inn, once extending over that -ground in an L-shape. The house is now in use as a kind of country -boarding-house, where "paying-guests," who come for the quiet and the -keen, bracing air of these heights, are received. - -For the quietude of the place! How cynical a reverse of fortune, that the -busiest spot on the London, Oxford and Birmingham Road, where sixty -coaches rolled by daily, and where innumerable post-chaises changed -horses, should sink thus into slumber! The thought of such a change would, -seventy years ago, have been inconceivable; just as unthinkable as that -Clapham Junction of to-day should ever become a rural spot for picnics and -the plucking of primroses. - -A curious feature in the story of "Chapel House" inn is that a small -portion of the house has in recent times been rebuilt, for the better -accommodation of present visitors. In the course of putting in the -foundations some relics of the old chapel were unearthed, in the shape of -stone coffins, bones, a silver crucifix, and some beads. - -When evening draws in and the last pallid light in the sky glints on the -old casements of the wayside cottages of "Chapel House," or in the dark -avenue, the spot wears a solemn air, and seems to exhale Romance. - -London inns retired from business are, as may be supposed, comparatively -few. A curious example is to be found under the shadow of St. Alban, -Holborn, in "White Hart" Yard, between Gray's Inn Road and Brooke Street. -It is the last fragment of an old galleried building, presumably once the -"White Hart," but now partly occupied by a dairyman and a maker of -packing-cases. Local history is silent as to the story of the place. - -Of all converted inns, there is probably no stranger case than that of the -"Edinburgh Castle." It is not old, nor was it really and truly, in the -hearty, hospitable sense, an inn, although the landlord doubtless was -included in the all-comprising and often deceptive category of "licensed -victuallers," who very generally do not victual you. The "Edinburgh -Castle" was, in short, a great flaring London gin-palace in Limehouse. It -has been described by a journalist addicted above his fellows to -superlatives--the equivalent in literature of nips of brandy "neat"--as -"one of the flashiest, most flaunting, sin-soaked dens in London," which -is just so much nonsense. It _was_, however, a public-house on a large -scale, and did a big trade. It was ornate, in the vulgar, gilded -public-house way, and not what can properly be styled a "den." - -[Illustration: "WHITE HART" YARD.] - -Those curious in conversions may easily see to-day what the "Edinburgh -Castle" was like, for its outward look is unchanged, and many an old -frequenter, come back from foreign climes--or perhaps only from H.M. -Prison on Dartmoor--shoulders his way in at the old familiar doors and -calls for his "four 'arf," or his "two o' brandy," before he becomes aware -of the essential change that has come over the place. No more booze does -he get at the "Edinburgh Castle": only coffee, tea, or the like--which do -not come under that head. The "Edinburgh Castle" has indeed been acquired -by the Barnardo Homes for the "People's Mission Church." - -There are excuses for the mistake often made by old patrons, for the idea -of the management is to entice them in, in the hope of reforming them. But -if those old customers were at all observant they would at once perceive, -and make due deductions from, the odd change in the sign that still, as of -yore, is upheld on its old-fashioned post by the kerbstone. Instead of -proclaiming that So-and-So's Fine Ales are sold at the "Edinburgh Castle," -it now reads: "No drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God." - -The sham mediaevalism of this castellated house is a mean affair of grey -plaster, but the interior of the great building is surprisingly well -appointed. Mission services alternate with concerts and entertainments for -the people and drill-exercises for the Barnardo boys. The ex-public-house -is, in fact, whatever it may look like from without, a centre whence a -measure of sweetness and light is dispensed in an intellectually starved -purlieu. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -INNS WITH RELICS AND CURIOSITIES - - -Just as most cathedrals, and many ancient churches, are in these days -unconsciously looked upon by antiquaries rather as museums than as places -of worship, so many ancient inns attract the tourist and the artist less -as places for rest and refreshment than subjects for the pencil, the -brush, or the camera; or as houses where relics, curious or beautiful, -remain, of bygone people, or other times. Happy the traveller, with a warm -corner in his heart for such things, who comes at the close of day to a -house historic or well stored with such links that connect us with the -past. - -There are, indeed, even in these days, when many a house has been -ransacked of its interesting features, to furnish museums and private -collections, still a goodly number of inns containing curious relics, old -panelling, and ancient furniture. Still, for example, at the "Green -Dragon," Combe St. Nicholas, two miles from Chard, the fifteenth-century -carved oak settle of pronounced ecclesiastical character remains in the -tap-room, and beery rustics continue to this day to use it, even as did -their remote ancestors, the Colin Clouts of over four hundred years ago; -while at Ipswich, in the "Neptune" inn that was once a private mansion -before it entered public life, the fine Tudor dresser, or sideboard, with -elaborately carved Renaissance canopy and "linen-fold" panelling, is yet -left, despite the persuasions and the long purses of would-be purchasers. - -There are two evil fates constantly threatening the artistic work of our -forbears: the one the unappreciative neglect that threatens its very -existence, and the other the appreciation that, only too appreciative, -tears it from its accustomed place, to be the apple of some collector's -jealous eye. To filch from old inn or manor-house, down on its luck, the -carved overmantels or panelling built into the place is as mean and -despicable a thing as to sneak the coppers out of a blind beggar's tin -mug--nay, almost as sacrilegious as to purloin the contents of the -offertory-bag; but it is not commonly so regarded. For example, the -"Tankard" tavern at Ipswich, once the town mansion of no less a person -than Sir Anthony Wingfield, Captain of the Guard to Henry the Eighth, -possessed a grandly panelled room with a highly elaborate chimney-piece -representing the Judgment of Paris; but in 1843 the whole was taken down -and re-erected at the country house of the Cobbolds. - -Still, fortunately, at the "Trevelyan Arms," Barnstaple, the fine old -plaster fireplace remains, together with a good example at the "Three -Tuns," Bideford; while doubtless numerous other instances will be borne -in mind by readers of these pages. - -[Illustration: A "FENNY POPPER."] - -We deal, however, more largely here with relics of a more easily removable -kind, such, for example, as those odd pieces of miniature ordnance, the -"Fenny Poppers," formerly kept at the "Bull," Fenny Stratford, but now -withdrawn within the last year from active service, to be found reclining, -in company with the churchyard grass-mower and a gas-meter, in a cupboard -within the tower of the church. The "Fenny Poppers," six in number, -closely resemble in size and shape so many old-fashioned jugs or tankards. -They are of cast-iron, about ten inches in length, and furnished with -handles, and were presented to the town of Fenny Stratford in 1726 by -Browne Willis, a once-noted antiquary, who rebuilt the church and -dedicated it to St. Martin, in memory of his father, who was born in St. -Martin's Lane and died on St. Martin's Day. These "cannon" were to be -fired annually on that day, and to be followed by morning service in the -church and evening festivities at the "Bull"--a custom still duly -honoured, with the difference that this ancient park of artillery has -recently been replaced by two small cannon, kept at the vicarage. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," WOODBRIDGE.] - -How far one of the old-fashioned hay and straw weighing-machines, once -common in East Anglia, but now growing scarce, may be reckoned a curiosity -must be left to individual taste and fancy; but there can be no difference -of opinion as to the picturesque nature of these antique contrivances. The -example illustrated here gives an additionally pictorial quality to the -"Bell" inn and to the view down the long street at Woodbridge. Cartloads -of hay and straw, driven under these machines, were lifted bodily by -means of the chains attached to them, and weighed by means of the lever -with the sliding weight, seen projecting over the road. The innate -artistry of the old craftsmen in wrought-iron is noticeable even here, in -this business-like contrivance; for you see clearly how the man who -wrought the projecting arm was not content to fashion it merely to a -commonplace end, but must needs, to satisfy his own aesthetic feeling, -finish it off with little quirks and twirls that still, coming boldly as -they do against the sky-line, gladden the heart of the illustrator. - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," MARTLESHAM.] - -There was, until recent years, a similar machine attached to the "King's -Head" inn, at the entrance to Great Yarmouth, and there still exists one -at King's Lynn and another at Soham. - -A rustic East Anglian inn that is alike beautiful in itself and in its -tree-enshrouded setting, is the "Red Lion," Martlesham. It possesses the -additional claim to notice of its red lion sign being no less interesting -a relic than the figurehead of one of the Hollanders' ships that took part -in the battle of Sole Bay, fought between Dutch and English, March 28th, -1672, off Southwold. He is a lion of a semi-heraldic type supporting a -shield, and maintained carefully in a vermilion post-office hue. - -That well-known commercial hotel at Burton-on-Trent, styled nowadays the -"Queen's Hotel," but formerly the "Three Queens," from an earlier house on -the site having been visited at different times by Queen Elizabeth, Mary, -Queen of Scots, and Queen Adelaide, still displays in its hall the cloak -worn by the Queen of Scots' coachman, probably during the time of her -captivity at Tutbury Castle, near by. Why he should have left it behind is -not stated; but as the garment--an Inverness cape of very thin -material--is figured all over with the particularly vivid and variegated -Stuart tartan--all scarlet, blue, and green--the conjecture may be -hazarded that he was ashamed any longer to wear such a strikingly -conspicuous article of attire in a country where it probably attracted the -undesirable attentions of rude boys and other people who, most likely, -took him for some mountebank, and wanted to know when the performance -began. - -[Illustration: "DEAN SWIFT'S CHAIR," TOWCESTER.] - -The Holyhead Road, rich in memories of Dean Swift travelling to and from -Ireland, has, in the "Talbot" inn at Towcester, a house associated with -him. The "Talbot," the property of the Sponne Charity since 1440, was sold -about 1895 to a firm of brewers, and a chair, traditionally said to have -been used by the Dean, was at the same time removed to the Town Hall, -where, in the offices of the solicitor to the feoffees of the Charity, it -remains. It will be observed that the chair was of a considerable age, -even in Swift's time. An ancient fragment of coloured glass, displaying -the arms of William Sponne, remains in one of the windows of the "Talbot," -and on a pane of another may be seen scratched the words "Gilbert Gurney," -presumably the handiwork of Theodore Hook. - -The "Bear," at Esher, properly the "Black Bear," is an old coaching- and -posting-house. Still you see, on the parapet, the effigies of two bears, -squatting on their rumps and stroking their stomachs in a manner strongly -suggestive of repletion or indigestion. Sometimes the pilgrim of the roads -finds them painted white, and on other occasions--in defiance of natural -history--they have become pink; all according to the taste and fancy of -the landlord for the time being. Whoever, that was not suffering from -delirium tremens, saw such a thing as a pink bear? - -Among other, and less interesting, relics in the entrance-hall of this -house, the visitor's attention is at once struck by a glass case -containing a huge and clumsy pair of jack-boots closely resembling the -type of foot-gear worn by Marlborough and his troopers in the long ago, at -Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet. They are not, however, of so great an -age as that, nor associated with warlike campaigns, for they were worn by -the post-boy who, in 1848, drove Louis Philippe, the fugitive King of the -French, to his refuge at neighbouring Claremont. - -[Illustration: BOOTS AT THE "BEAR," ESHER.] - -Certainly unique is the "George and Dragon" inn at Dragon's Green, between -Shipley and Horsham, in Sussex. Dragon's Green (which doubtless derives -its name from the inn-sign) is among the tiniest of hamlets, and few are -those wayfarers who find their way to it, unless indeed they have any -particular business there. In fact, so out of the world is it that those -who inquire for Dragon's Green, even at Horsham, are like to ask many -people before they happen upon any one who has ever heard of the place. -But who should have any business, save curiosity, at Dragon's Green, it is -somewhat difficult to conceive. Since 1893, however, it has been the -bourne of those curiosity-mongers who have by chance heard of the -tombstone erected by the roadside there, in the front garden of the inn. -To the stranger who has never heard of this oddity, and comes unexpectedly -upon it, the sight of a solemn white marble cross in a place so generally -associated with conviviality is nothing less than startling. The epitaph -upon it reads: - - IN LOVING MEMORY OF - WALTER, - THE "ALBINO" SON OF - ALFRED AND CHARLOTTE BUDD, - born Feby. 12th, 1867, died Feby. 18th, 1893. - - _May God forgive those who forgot their duty - to him who was just and afflicted._ - - _This Cross was erected on the Grave in - Shipley Churchyard, and Removed by order of_ - H. GORHAM (Vicar). - - _Two Globe Wreaths placed on the Grave - by Friends, and after being there over - Two Years were Removed by_ - E. ARKLE, Following (Vicar). - -It seems, then, that this is to the memory of a son of the innkeeper, who -committed suicide by drowning, owing to being worried in some local -dispute. The Vicar of Shipley appears to have considered some portion of -the epitaph to be a reflection upon himself, and consequently, in that -Czar-like spirit of autocracy not infrequent in rural clergymen, ordered -its removal. The cross was thereupon re-erected here, and is so -conspicuous an object, and is attaining such notoriety, that the vicar has -probably long since regretted his not allowing it to remain in its -original obscurity. A great many efforts have been made by local magnates -of one kind and another to secure its removal from this situation, and the -innkeeper's brewers even have been approached for this purpose, but as -the innkeeper happens to be also the freeholder, and the house -consequently not a "tied" one, the requisite leverage is not obtainable. - -Although the house looks so modern when viewed from the outside, -acquaintance with its quaint parlour reveals the fact that one of the -oaken beams is dated 1577, and that the old fireback in the capacious -ingle-nook was cast in the year 1622. - -[Illustration: THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," DRAGON'S GREEN.] - -The "White Bull" at the little Lancashire "town" of Ribchester, which -still clings stoutly to the name of town, although it is properly a -village, since its inhabitants number but 1,265, has some ancient relics -in the shape of Roman columns, now used to support the porch and a -projecting wing of the building. They are four in number, of a debased -Doric character, and between six and seven feet high. They are said to be -remains of the temple of Minerva, once standing in the Roman city of -_Coccium_ or _Bremetennacum_ that once stood here, and were fished out of -the river Ribble that now gives a name to Ribchester. - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE BULL," RIBCHESTER.] - -The effigy of the White Bull himself, that projects boldly from the front -of the house, is a curiosity in its own way, and more nearly resembles the -not very meaty breed of cattle found in toy Noah's Arks, than anything -that grazes in modern meadows. - -From Lancashire to Yorkshire, in quest of inns, we come to the cathedral -city of Ripon, and the "Unicorn" Hotel. - -[Illustration: BOOTS OF THE "UNICORN," RIPON.] - -No inn could have possessed a greater curiosity than grotesque Tom Crudd, -who for many years was "Boots" at the "Unicorn," and by his sheer physical -peculiarities has achieved a kind of eccentric fame. "Old Boots," as he -was familiarly known by many who never learned his real name, flourished -from the middle of the eighteenth century onwards, and lies, now that all -his boot-cleaning is done, somewhere in the Minster yard. - -This extraordinary person was endowed by nature with a nose and chin so -enormously long, and so lovingly tending to embrace one another, that at -length he acquired the power of holding a piece of money between them, and -so turned his deformity to practical and commercial account. It was a -part of his duty to wait upon travellers arriving at the inn, to assist -them in taking off their boots. He usually introduced himself, as in the -picture, with a pair of slippers in one hand, and a boot-jack in the -other, and we are told that the company were generally so diverted by his -appearance that they would frequently give him a piece of money, on -condition that he held it between his nose and chin. - -Other times, other tastes in amusement, and it is scarce possible that -modern travellers would relish such an exhibition, even if provided -gratis. - -The "Castle Hotel" at Conway has an interesting and historic object, in -the shape of an authentic contemporary portrait of Dame Joan Penderel, -mother of the Penderel brothers of Boscobel, who secreted Charles the -Second in the "Royal Oak." It came to the hotel as a bequest to the -landlord, from a friend who in his turn had received it from a man who had -bought it among a number of household odds and ends belonging to two old -maiden ladies of Broseley, connections of the Penderel family. It was -then, to all appearance, nothing more than a dirty old stretched canvas -that had long been used as "blower" to a kitchen fire; but, on being -cleaned, was found to be a portrait of a woman wearing an old-fashioned -steeple-crowned hat, and holding in her hand a rose. The portrait would -never have been identified, but fortunately it was inscribed "Dame -Pendrell, 1662." - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," CHISWICK.] - -A curious relic is to be seen to this day, chained securely to the -doorway of the "Red Lion" inn at Chiswick. There are, in effect, two -Chiswicks: the one the Chiswick of the Chiswick High Road, where the -electric tramcars run, and the other the original waterside village in a -bend of the river: a village of which all these portents of the main road -are merely offshoots. In these latter days the riverside Chiswick is -becoming more or less of a foul slum, but still, by the old parish church -and the famous Mall--that roadway running alongside the river--there are -old and stately houses, and quaint corners. It is here you find the "Red -Lion"; not an ancient inn, nor yet precisely a new: a something between -waterside tavern and public-house. It has a balcony looking out upon the -broad river, and it also displays--as do many other waterside inns--drags -and lifebelts, the rather grim reminders of waterside dangers. At hand is -Chiswick Eyot, an island densely covered with osier-beds; and hay- and -brick-barges wallow at all angles in the foreshore mud. The relic so -jealously chained in the doorway of the "Red Lion" is a huge whetstone, -some eighteen inches long, inscribed: "I am the old Whetstone, and have -sharpned tools on this spot above 1000 years." Marvellous!--but not true, -and you who look narrowly into it will discover that at some period an -additional "0" has been added to the original figure of 100, by some one -to whom the antiquity of merely one century was not sufficient. This is -readily discoverable by all who will take the trouble to observe that the -customary spacing between all the other words is missing between "1000" -and "years." - -The whetstone has, however, been here now considerably over a century. It -existed on this spot in the time of Hogarth, whose old residence is near -at hand; and at that time the inn, of which the present building is a -successor, bore the sign of the "White Bear and Whetstone." The stone then -had a further inscription, long since rubbed away, "Whet without, wet -within." - -The whetstone is thus obviously in constant use. And who, think you, -chiefly use it? The mowers who cut the osiers of Chiswick Eyot. It was for -their convenience, in sharpening their scythes--and incidentally to ensure -that they "wetted their whistles" here--that the long-forgotten tapster -first placed the whetstone in his doorway. - -Among inns with relics the "Widow's Son" must undoubtedly be included. -Unfortunately it is by no means a picturesque inn, and is, in plain, -unlovely fact, an extremely commonplace, not to say pitifully mean and -ugly, plaster-faced public-house in squalid Devons Road, Bromley-by-Bow. - -The history of the "Widow's Son" is a matter of tradition, rather than of -sheer ascertainable fact. According to generally received accounts, the -present house, which may, by the look of it, have been built about 1860, -was erected upon the site of a cottage occupied by a widow whose only son -"went for a sailor." Not only did he, against her wishes, take up the -hazardous trade of seafaring, but he must needs further tempt Fate by -sailing on a Friday, and, of all possible Fridays, a Good Friday! Such -perversity, in all old sailor-men's opinions, could only lead to disaster; -it would be, in such circles, equivalent to committing suicide. - -[Illustration: THE OLD WHETSTONE.] - -The widow, however, expected the return of her rash son on the anniversary -of his departure, and put aside a "hot cross bun" for him. Good Friday -passed, and no familiar footstep came to the threshold, and the days, -weeks, and months succeeded one another until at last Easter came round -again. Hoping fondly against hope, the widow put aside another bun for the -wanderer: in vain. Year by year she maintained the custom; but the son lay -drowned somewhere "full fathom deep," and the mother never again saw him -on earth. - -In the fulness of time she died, and strangers came and were told the -story of that accumulated store of stale buns. And then the cottage was -demolished and the present house built, taking its name from this tale. -And ever since, with every recurrent Easter, a bun is added to the great -store that is by this time accumulated in the wire-netting hanging from -the ceiling of the otherwise commonplace bar. Then the story is told anew; -not with much apparent interest nor belief in the good faith of it; but -sentiment lurks in the heart, even though it refuse to be spoken, and the -flippant stranger is apt to find himself unexpectedly discouraged. - -On Good Friday, 1906, the sixty-eighth annual bun, stamped with the date, -was duly added to the dried, smoke-begrimed and blackened collection. - -[Illustration: HOT CROSS BUNS AT THE "WIDOW'S SON."] - -We must perhaps include among inns with relics those modern public-houses -whose owners, as a bid for custom, have established museums of more or -less importance on their premises. Among these the "Edinburgh Castle," in -Mornington Road, Regent's Park, is prominent, and boasts no fewer than -three eggs of the Great Auk, whose aggregate cost at auction was 620 -guineas. They were, of course, all purchased at different times, for Great -Auk's eggs do not come into the country, like the "new-laid" products of -the domestic fowls, by the gross. The Great Auk, in fact, is extinct, and -the eggs are exceedingly rare, as may be judged by the price they command. -"Great," of course, is a relative term, and in this case a considerable -deal of misapprehension as to the size of the eggs originally existed in -the minds of many customers of the "Edinburgh Castle." In especial, the -newspaper reports of how Mr. T. G. Middlebrook, the proprietor, had given -200 guineas for the third egg in his collection, excited the interest of a -cabman, who drove all the way from Charing Cross to see the marvel. When -he was shown, reposing in a plush-lined case, an egg not much larger than -that of a goose, his indignation was pathetic. - -"Where is it?" he asked.... - -"Wot? _Thet?_ 'Corl thet a Great Hork's Hegg? W'y, from wot they tole me, -I thort it was abaht the size of me bloomin' keb!" - -But they have no roc's eggs, imported from the pages of the _Arabian -Nights_, at the "Edinburgh Castle." - -One of the most cherished items in the collection is what is described as -"Fagin's Kitchen," the interior of a thieves' kitchen brought from an old -house on Saffron Hill, pulled down some years ago. You are shown "the -frying-pan in which Fagin cooked Oliver's sausages," and "Fagin's Chair," -together with an undoubted "jemmy" found under the flooring, and not -identified with any Old Master in the art of burglary. - -Down in the Vale of Health, on Hampstead Heath, the pilgrim in search of -cooling drinks on dry and dusty public holidays may find a public-house -museum that cherishes "one of Dick Turpin's pistols"; a pair of Dr. -Nansen's glasses; a stuffed civet-cat; the helmet of one of the Russian -Imperial Guard, brought from the battlefields of the Crimea; and the -skull of a donkey said to have belonged to Nell Gwynne: a fine confused -assortment, surely! - -More serious, and indeed, of some importance, is the collection of -preserved birds, beasts, fishes, and insects, originally founded by the -East London Entomological Society, shown at the "Bell and Mackerel" in -Mile End Road. The exhibition numbers 20,000 specimens in 500 separate -cases. - -In the same road may be found the public-house called "The 101," -containing an oil-painting of three quaint-looking persons, inscribed, -"These three men dranke in this house 101 pots of porter in one day, for a -wager." The work of art is displayed in the bar, as an inducement to -others to follow the example set by those champions; but the age of heroes -is past. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TAVERN RHYMES AND INSCRIPTIONS - - -Beer has inspired many poets, and "jolly good ale and old" is part of a -rousing rhyme; but much of the verse associated with inns runs to the -hateful burden of "No Trust." Thus, along one of the backwaters in Norwich -city there stands the "Gate House" inn, displaying the following: - - The sun shone bright in the glorious sky, - When I found that my barrels were perfectly dry. - They were emptied by Trust; but he's dead and gone home, - And I've used all my chalk to erect him a tomb. - -A metrical version, you see, of that dreadful tale, "Poor Trust is dead." - -Another version of the same theme is found at the "Buck and Bell," Long -Itchington, Warwickshire, in the lament: - - Customers came and I did trust them, - Lost all my liquor and their custom. - To lose them both it grieved me sore; - Resolved I am to trust no more. - -A little public-house poetry goes a very long way. It need not be of great -excellence to be highly appreciated, and, when approved, is very largely -repeated all over the country. There was once--a matter of twenty years -ago--a semi-rural inn, the "Robin Hood," at Turnham Green, exhibiting a -picture-sign representing Robin Hood and Little John, clad duly in the -Lincoln green of the foresters and wearing feathered hats, whose like you -see nowadays only on the heads of factory girls holiday-making at -Hampstead and such-like places of public resort. This brave picture bore -the lines: - - If Robin Hood is not at home, - Take a glass with Little John-- - -a couplet that most excellently illustrates the bluntness of the English -ear to that atrocity, a false rhyme. - -The experienced traveller in the highways and byways of the land will -probably call to mind many repetitions of this sign. There is, for -instance, one in Cambridgeshire, in the village--or rather, nowadays, the -Cambridge suburb--of Cherry Hinton: - - Ye gentlemen and archers good, - Come in and drink with Robin Hood. - If Robin Hood be not at home, - Then stay and sup with Little John. - -But, although such examples may be numerous, they cannot rival that very -favourite sign, the "Gate," with its sentiments dear to the heart of the -typical Bung, who wants your custom and your coin, rather than your -company: - - This gate hangs well - And hinders none; - Refresh and pay - And travel on; - -or, as an American might more tersely put it, "Gulp your drink and git!" -That, shorn of frills, is really the sentiment. It is not hospitable; it -is not kindly; it would be even unwise did those who read as they run -proceed to think as well. - -[Illustration: THE "GATE" INN, DUNKIRK.] - -To catalogue the many "Gate" signs would be a lengthy and an unprofitable -task. There must be quite a hundred of them. Two widely sundered houses -bearing the name, each picturesque in its own way, are illustrated here: -the one, a rustic wayside inn near Dunkirk, on the Dover Road; the other, -picturesque rather in its situation than in itself, nestling under the -great Castle Rock in the town of Nottingham. The Nottingham inn is a mere -tavern: a shabby enough building, and more curious than comfortable. Its -cellars, and the kitchen itself, are hewn out of the rock, the kitchen -being saved from reeking with damp only by having a roaring fire -continually maintained. The shape of the room is not unlike that of a -bottle, in which a shaft, pierced through the rock to the upper air, -represents the neck. This extraordinary apartment is said to have -formerly been an _oubliette_ dungeon of the Castle. An adjoining inn, -similarly situated, has the odd sign of the "Trip to Jerusalem," with a -thirteenth-century date. - -[Illustration: THE "GATE HANGS WELL," NOTTINGHAM.] - -The exiled Duke of _As You Like It_, who, in the Forest of Arden, found -moral maxims by the way, "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, -sermons in stones," and so forth, would scarcely have gone the length of -hostelries; but there are stranger things in the world than even -moralising exiles dream of, and among the strangest are the admonitory -inscriptions not uncommon upon inns, where one would rather look to find -exhortations to drink and be merry while you may. Among these the most -curious is a Latin inscription carved, with the date 1636, upon an oak -beam outside the older portion of that fine old inn, the "Four Crosses," -at Hatherton, near Cannock: - - Fleres si scires unum tua me'sem, - Rides cum non sit forsitan una dies; - -or, Englished: - - Thou would'st weep if thou knewest thy time to be one month: thou - laughest when perchance it may be not one day. - -A little grim, too, is the jest upon the sign-board of the "Chequer's" inn -at Slapestones, near Osmotherley, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It -reads: - - Be not in haste, - Come in and taste. - Ale to-morrow for nothing. - -But "to-morrow never comes." - -The Slapestones inn is not remarkable on account of its architecture. -Indeed, with a box of toy bricks, as used in building operations conducted -in the nursery, you could readily contrive a likeness of it; but it has a -kind of local celebrity, both on account of the cakes baked upon its -old-fashioned hearth, and by reason of that fire itself, traditionally -said never to have been once quenched during the last 130 years. Moreover, -the spot is a favourite meet for the Bilsdale Hounds. - -A former landlord of the inn at Croyde, near Ilfracombe, must have been a -humourist in his way, and probably had read _Pickwick_ before he composed -the following, which, like "Bill Stumps his Mark"-- - - + - BILST - UM - PSHI - S.M. - ARK - ---is easily to be rendered into English: - - Here's to Pands Pen - Das Oci Al Hourin - Ha! R: M: Les Smir - Thand Funlet - Fri Ends Hipre: - Ign Be Ju! - Stand Kin - Dan Devils - Peak of No! ne. - -The composition of this could have been no great tax on the tapster's -brain. - -More pleasing is the queerly spelled old notice displayed on the exterior -of the "Plough" at Ford, near Stow-on-the-Wold: - - Ye weary travelers that pass by, - With dust & scorching sunbeams dry - Or be he numb'd with snow and frost - With having these bleak cotswolds crost - Step in and quaff my nut brown ale - Bright as rubys mild and stale - Twill make your laging trotters dance - As nimble as the suns of france - Then ye will own ye men of sense - That neare was better spent six pence. - -The genuine old unstudied quaintness of it must, in the course of the -century and a half of its existence, have sent many scorched or -half-frozen travellers across Cotswold into the cosy parlour. Recently a -new and ornate wing has been added to the solitary wayside house, and the -poetic sign, sent up to London to be repaired, has come back, bravely -gilded. - -Some very hard, gaunt facts are set forth on tavern signs; as on that of -the "Soldier's Fortune," at Kidderminster, where, beneath a picture of a -mutilated warrior, the passer-by may read, - - A soldier's fortune, I will tell you plain, - Is a wooden leg, or a golden chain. - -This hero, however, is fully furnished with both. - -When Peter Simple travelled down to Portsmouth for the first time, to join -his ship, he asked the coachman which was the best inn there, and -received for reply: - - The Blue Postesses - Where the midshipmen leave their chestesses, - Call for tea and toastesses, - And sometimes forget to pay for their breakfastes. - -The "Blue Posts" inn was burned down in 1870, but many who had known it -made a renewed acquaintance with the house in 1891, at the Chelsea Naval -Exhibition, where a reproduction attracted much attention. There are still -other "Blue Posts," notably one in Cork Street, in the West End of London, -rebuilt a few years since. The sign is the survival of a custom as old as -Caxton, and probably much older, by which houses were often distinguished -by their colour. Caxton, advertising his books, let it be known that if -"any one, spiritual or temporal," would purchase, he was to "come to -Westmonester into the almonestrye at the Reed Pale"; and there was in the -neighbouring Peter Street a "Green Pales" in the seventeenth century. - -The modern building of the "George and Dragon," Great Budworth, Cheshire, -has this admonitory verse over its doorway, the production of Egerton -Warburton, the late squire of Arley Hall: - - As St. George, in armed array, - Doth the Fiery Dragon slay, - So may'st thou, with might no less, - Slay that Dragon, Drunkenness, - -a moral stanza that has its fellow in a couplet carved upon an old oak -beam over the door of the rebuilt "Thorn" inn at Appleton, in the same -county: - - You may safely when sober sit under the thorn, - But if drunk overnight, it will prick you next morn. - -A similar moral tendency used to be shown by the sign of the "Grenadier" -at Whitley, near Reading, in the verse: - - This is the Whitley Grenadier, - A noted house of famous beer; - Stop, friend, and if you make a call, - Beware, and get not drunk withal, - Let moderation be your guide, - It answers well where'er 'tis tried, - Then use, and don't abuse, strong beer, - And don't forget the Grenadier. - -It was probably when the inn became a "tied" house that this exhortation -to drink moderately disappeared. It will readily be understood that a -brewery company could have no sympathy with such an inducement to reduce -their returns. - -A frank invitation to enter and take your fill, without any further -stipulation, is to be seen outside the picturesquely placed "Bee-hive" inn -at Eaumont Bridge, between Penrith and Ullswater; in the words painted -round a bee-hive: - - Within this hive we're all alive, - Good liquor makes us funny; - If you be dry, step in and try - The virtue of our honey. - -The same sentiment prevails at the "Cheney Gate" inn, between -Macclesfield and Congleton, on whose sign you read: - - Stay Traveller, thyself regale, - With spirits, or with nut-brown ale, - -while - - Once aground, but now afloat, - Walk in, boys, and wet your throat, - -says the sign of the "Ship" at Brixham, South Devon. - -The "Cat and Mutton" inn, near the Cat and Mutton Bridge of the Regent's -Canal, and facing London Fields, formerly had a pictorial sign with the -inscription on one side, slightly misspelled, - - Pray puss, do not tare, - Because the mutton is so rare, - -and on the other, - - Pray puss, do not claw, - Because the mutton is so raw. - -The "Cat and Mutton" is nowadays just a London "public," and the -neighbourhood is truly dreadful. You come to it by way of the Hackney Road -and Broadway, over the wide modern bridge that now spans the silvery -waters of the Regent's Canal, just where the great gasometers and factory -chimneys of Haggerston rise romantically into the sky and remind the -traveller, rather distantly, of Norman keeps and cathedral spires. How -beautiful the name of Haggerston, and how admirably the scene fits the -name! - -Broadway is a market street, with continuous lines of stalls and -uninviting shops, where only the bakers' shops and the corn-chandlers are -pleasing to look upon and to smell. The new and fragrant loaves, and the -white-scrubbed counters and brightly polished brass-rails of the bakers -look cleanly and smell appetising, and the interesting window-display of -the corn-chandlers compels a halt. There you see nothing less than an -exhibition of cereals and the like: to this chronicler, at least, -wonderfully fascinating. Lentils, tapioca, "bullet" and "flake," blue -starch and white, haricot beans, maize, split peas, and many others. Split -peas, the amused stranger may note, are, for the "best," 1-1/2_d._ a pint, -the "finest"--the most superlatively "bestest"--2-1/2_d._, while rice is -in three categories: "fine," "superior," or merely--the cheapest--"good." - -The neighbourhood is dirty, despite the enamelled iron signs displayed by -the borough authorities from every lamp-post--"The Public Baths and -Wash-houses are now open." It is, in fact, a purlieu where the -public-houses are overcrowded and the baths not places of great resort. - -The "Cat and Mutton" appears to do a thriving trade. That it is not -beautiful is no matter. On the side of the house facing the open space of -"London Fields" the modern sign, in two compartments, is seen, picturing a -cat "tearing" a shoulder of mutton lying on the floor, and again "clawing" -a suspended joint. The spelling is now orthodox. - -A curious inscription on a stone let into the brick wall of the "George" -at Wanstead, hard by Epping Forest, is variously explained. It is well -executed, on a slab of brown sandstone, and reads as under: - -[Illustration: TABLET AT THE "GEORGE," WANSTEAD.] - -The generally received story is that the house was at the time under -repair, and that, as a baker was passing by with a cherry-pie in a tray on -his head, for the clergyman, one of the workmen, leaning over the -scaffolding, lifted it off, unawares. The "half a guiney" represents the -cost of the frolic in the subsequent proceedings. Apparently, the men -agreed to annually celebrate the day. - -The "George" was rebuilt 1903-4, and is no longer of interest. Nor does it -appear to be, as an example of the ornate modern cross between a mere -"public-house" and an "hotel," so popular as before. The observer with a -bias in favour of the antique and the picturesque may be excused a certain -satisfaction in noting the fact that, in almost every instance of a quaint -old inn being ruthlessly demolished to make way for a "palatial" -drinking-shop, its trade has suffered the most abysmal--not the most -extraordinary--decline. Not extraordinary, because not merely the -antiquary or the sentimentalist is outraged: the great bulk of people, who -would not ordinarily be suspected of any such feeling for the out-of-date -and the ramshackle, are grossly offended, and resent the offence in a very -practical way; while the carters, the waggoners, and such-like -road-farers, to whom the homely old inns were each, in the well-known -phrase, a "good pull-up," are abashed by the magnificence of polished -mahogany and brass, and resentful of saucy barmaids. The rustic suburban -inn did a larger trade with the carters and waggoners than might be -suspected, and the loss of its withdrawal in such cases is not compensated -for by any access of "higher class" business. We regret the old-time -suburban inn now it is too late, although we were perhaps not ourselves -frequenters of those low-ceilinged interiors, where the floor was of -sanded flagstones, and the seats of upturned barrels. - -To name some of the many houses thus mistakenly, and disastrously, -modernised would be invidious, but instances of trade thus frightened -away are familiar to every one. It should not have been altogether outside -any practical scheme restoration, to repair, or even to enlarge, such -places of old association without destroying their old-world look and -arrangements; and this has in numberless instances been recognised when -the mischief has been irrevocably wrought. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE HIGHEST INNS IN ENGLAND - - -As there are many inns claiming, each one of them, to be the "oldest," so -there are many others disputing the point which is the highest situated. I -must confess the subject--for myself, at least--lacks charm. I know--how -can you help knowing it?--that to reach those eyries you must use -incredible efforts, scaling preposterous heights and faring over roads -that are, as a rule, infernally rough. And when you are come, in summer -hot, in winter searched through and through by the bitter blast -that--Shakespeare notwithstanding--is by a long chalk more unkind than -man's ingratitude, to these unkindly altitudes, what, oh my brothers, do -you see? Without exception some plaguy ill-favoured shebeen, presiding -over starve-all fields at the best, but generally president over some -aching solitude that the hand of man--man being a reasoning animal--has -never sought to bring under cultivation. The best you can say of such -spots--and it is bad at the best--is that they usually command fine views -of better places, whence, you cannot help thinking, you were a fool to -come, and from which, you suspect, the innkeepers removed from -misanthropical motives, rather than from love of bracing air, or for the -mere idea of earning a livelihood. - -The peculiar honour of being the highest-situated inn appears, after much -contention, to belong to the "King's Pit," usually called the "Tan Hill" -inn, in midst of a ghastly hill-top solitude in the North Riding of -Yorkshire, between Reeth and Barras. You get to it--I will not say most -easily and conveniently, for convenience and ease in this connection are -things unknown, but with less discomfort and fatigue--by way of Richmond, -and, when you have got there, will curse the curiosity that brought you to -so literally "howling" a wilderness. For there the winds do generally -blow, and, when they _do_, heaven send you have not to face them, for it -is a shelterless common where the "Tan Hill" inn stands in loneliness, and -not a tree or a hedge is there to break the stinging blast. - -[Illustration: "TAN HILL" INN.] - -Cheerfulness is not a characteristic of those who keep hill-top inns: -hence the suspicion that they are misanthropes who, hating sight or sound -of their kind, retire to such unfrequented spots, and, when the stray -traveller seeks refreshment, instead of weeping salt tears of joy, or -exhibiting any minor sign of emotion, grudgingly attend to his wants, and -vouchsafe as little information as they safely can. - -The "Tan Hill" inn stands on the summit of Stainmoor, at a height of 1,727 -feet above sea-level, and it is one of the most abject, uncompromisingly -ugly buildings that ever builder built. The ruins of a toll-house stand -near by, silently witnessing that it was once worth the while of somebody -to levy and collect tolls on what is now as unfrequented a place as it is -possible to conceive; but railways long since knocked the bottom out of -that, and for some years, until the autumn of 1903, the licence of the inn -itself was allowed to lapse, the house being first established for sake of -the likely custom from a coal-pit in a neighbouring valley, now abandoned. -The innkeeper lives rent free, with the half of his licence paid on -condition of his looking after that now deserted mine. - -But there is one day in the whole year when the "Tan Hill" inn wakes to -life and business. That is the day of Brough Horse Fair, and the traffic -then is considerable: the only vestige of the former business of the road -now left to it by the Bowes and Barras Railway. - -[Illustration: THE "CAT AND FIDDLE," NEAR BUXTON.] - -Between Macclesfield and Buxton--five miles from Buxton and seven from -Macclesfield--just, by about 1,500 yards--in Cheshire, although commonly -said to be in Derbyshire, stands the next highest inn, the "Cat and -Fiddle," at a height of 1,690 feet. It is only a little less -dreary-looking a house than that of "Tan Hill," and wears a weather-beaten -air earned by the fierce storms and snow blizzards to which it is in -winter exposed. The wooden porch and the double doors within are necessary -outposts against the wind. In the winter the inhabitants are sometimes -weatherbound for days at a time, and generally take the precaution of -laying in a stock of provisions. One may no more visit Buxton without -going a pilgrimage to the "Cat and Fiddle" than it would be reasonable to -visit Egypt and not see the Pyramids; and consequently, however lonely the -place may be in winter, it is in summer visited by hundreds of trippers -brought in waggonettes and brakes named after advertising generals and -other puffed-up bull-frogs of the hour. The manner and the expressions of -those trippers form an interesting study. You see, plainly enough, that -they are bored and disillusioned, and that they wonder, as they gaze upon -the hideous house, or over the wild and forbidding moorland and -mountain-peaks, or down into the deep valleys, why the devil they came at -all; but they are all slaves of convention, and merely wait patiently -until the time for returning happily comes round. - -There surely never was so demoniac-looking a cat as that sculptured here. -Of the derivation of the sign there are, of course, several versions, the -local one being that the sixth Duke of Devonshire was especially fond of -this road, and used often to travel it with his favourite cat and a -violin! - -The "Traveller's Rest," at Flash Bar, in Staffordshire, on the Leek to -Buxton Road, occupies the third place, at an altitude of 1,535 feet, while -in the fourth comes a house called the "Isle of Skye," at Wessenden Head, -in Yorkshire, near Holmfirth, 1,500 feet. - -The fifth highest inn is the "Traveller's Rest," at the summit of the -Kirkstone Pass, in Westmoreland, 1,476 feet above the sea, a very -considerably lower elevation; but you may still see on the front of the -inn its repeatedly discredited claim to be, not merely the highest inn, -but the highest inhabited house, in England--which, as Euclid might say, -"is absurd." But what the situation of the Kirkstone Pass lacks in height, -it has in gloomy grandeur. Probably more tourists, exploring the -mountainous country between Ambleside, Windermere, and Patterdale, visit -the Kirkstone Pass inn than any other of these loftily placed -hostelries--the "Cat and Fiddle" not excepted. - -[Illustration: THE "TRAVELLER'S REST," KIRKSTONE PASS.] - -The "Newby Head" inn, Yorkshire, between bleak Hawes and lonely Ingleton, -stands at a height of 1,420 feet; and the Duchy Hotel at Princetown, on -Dartmoor, in far distant Devonshire, seems to be on the roof of the world, -with its 1,359 feet. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -GALLOWS SIGNS - - -It is an ominous name, but the signs that straddle across the road, -something after the fashion of football goals, have none other. The day of -the gallows sign is done. It flourished most abundantly in the middle of -the eighteenth century, when travellers progressed, as it would appear -from old prints, under a constant succession of them; but examples are so -few nowadays that they are remarkable by reason of their very scarcity, -instead of, as formerly, by their number, their size, and their -extravagant ornamentation. - -The largest, the costliest, and the most extravagant gallows sign that -ever existed was that of "Scole White Hart," on the Norwich Road. The inn -remains, but the sign itself disappeared somewhere about 1803, after an -existence of 148 years, both house and sign having been built in 1655. Sir -Thomas Browne thought it "the noblest sighne-post in England," as surely -it should have been, for it cost L1,057, and was crowded with twenty-five -carved figures, some of them of gigantic size, of classic deities and -others. Not satisfied with displaying Olympus on the cross-beam, and -Hades, with Cerberus and Charon, at the foot of the supporting posts, -James Peck, the Norwich merchant who built the house and paid for this -galanty-show, caused the armorial bearings of himself and his wife, and -those of twelve prominent East Anglian families, to be tricked out in -prominent places.[2] - -[Illustration: THE "GREYHOUND," SUTTON.] - -It does not appear that Grosley, an inquiring and diligent note-taking -Frenchman who travelled through England in 1765, noticed this remarkable -sign, but so soon as he had landed at Dover he was impressed with the -extravagance of signs of all sorts, and as he journeyed to London took -note of their "enormous size," the "ridiculous magnificence of the -ornaments with which they are overcharged, and the height of a sort of -triumphal arches that support them." He and other foreigners travelling in -England at that period soon discovered that innkeepers overcharged their -signs and their guests with the utmost impartiality. - -Misson, another of these inquisitive foreigners, had already, in 1719, -observed the signs. He rather wittily likened them to "a kind of triumphal -arch to the honour of Bacchus." - -It will be seen, therefore, that the surviving signs of this character are -very few and very simple, in proportion to their old numbers and ancient -extravagance. If we are to believe another eighteenth-century writer on -this subject, who declared that most of the inscriptions on these signs -were incorrectly spelled, inquiring strangers very often were led astray -by the ridiculous titles given by that lack of orthography. "This is the -Beer," said one sign, intending to convey the information that the house -was the "Bear"; but the reader will probably agree that the misspelling in -this case was more to the point than even the true name of the inn. To -know where the beer is; _that_ is the main thing. Who cares what the sign -may be, so long as the booze is there? Swipes are no better for a good -sign, nor good ale worse for a bad. - -The Brighton Road being so greatly travelled, we may claim for the gallows -sign of the "George" at Crawley[3] a greater fame than any other, although -that of the "Greyhound" at Sutton, on an alternative route, is very -well known. The once pretty little weather-boarded inn has, unfortunately, -of late been rebuilt in a most distressingly ugly fashion. The gallows -sign of the "Cock" at Sutton was pulled down in 1898.[4] - -[Illustration: THE "FOUR SWANS," WALTHAM CROSS.] - -The "Greyhound" at Croydon owned a similar sign until 1890, when, on the -High Street being widened and the house itself rebuilt, it was -disestablished, the square foot of ground on which the supporting post -stood, on the opposite side of the street, costing the Improvements -Committee L350, in purchase of freehold and in compensation to the -proprietor of the "Greyhound," for loss of advertisement. - -At Little Stonham, on the Norwich Road, the sign of the "Pie"[5]--_i.e._ -the Magpie--spans the road, while at Waltham Cross, on the way to -Cambridge, that queer, rambling old coaching inn, the "Four Swans," still -keeps its sign, whereon the four swans themselves, in silhouette against -the sky, form a very striking picture, in conjunction with the old Eleanor -Cross standing at the cross-roads. - -An equally effective sign is that of the rustic little "Fox and Hounds" -inn at Barley, where the hunt, consisting of the fox, five hounds and two -huntsmen, is shown crossing the beam, the fox about to enter a little -kennel-like contrivance in the thatched roof. - -[Illustration: THE "FOX AND HOUNDS," BARLEY.] - -One of the most prominent and familiar of gallows signs is that of the -great, ducal-looking "George" Hotel at Stamford, on the Great North Road. -It spans the famous highway, and is the sole advertisement of any -description the house permits itself. There is nothing to inform the -wayfarer what brewer's "Fine Ales and Stouts" are dispensed within, nor -what distiller's or wine-merchant's wines and spirits; and were it not for -that sign, I declare you would take the "George" to be the ducal mansion -already suggested, or, if not that, a bank at the very least of it. There -is an awful, and an almost uncanny, dignity about the "George" that makes -you feel it is very kind and condescending to allow you to enter Stamford -at all. I have seen dusty and tired, but still hilarious, cyclists come -into Stamford from the direction of London and, seeing the "George" at the -very front door of the town, they have instantly felt themselves to be -worms. Their instant thought is to disappear down the first drain-opening; -but, finding that impossible, they have crept by, abashed, only hoping, -like Paul Pry, they "don't intrude." Even the haughty (and dusty) -occupants of six-cylindered, two-thousand-guinea motor-cars with weird -foreign names, begin to look reverent when they draw up to the frontage. -The "George," in short, is to all other inns what the Athenaeum Club is to -other clubs. I should not be surprised if it were incumbent upon visitors -entering those austere portals to remove their foot-gear, as customary in -mosques, nor would it astonish to hear that the head waiter was the -performer of awful rites, the chambermaids priestesses, and to stay in the -house itself a sacrament. - -[Illustration: THE "GEORGE," STAMFORD.] - -It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the "George" at Stamford, in -common with the many other inns of the same name throughout the country, -derived the sign from the English patron saint, St. George, and not out of -compliment to any one of our Four Georges. The existing house is largely -of late eighteenth-century period, having been remodelled during those -prosperous times of the road, to meet the greatly-increased coaching and -posting business; and can have little likeness to the inn where Charles -the First lay, on the night of Saturday, August 23rd, 1645, on the march -with his army from Newark to Huntingdon. - -In that older "George," in 1714, another taste of warlike times was felt. -The town was then full of the King's troops, come to overawe Jacobites. -Queen Anne was just dead, and Bolton, the tapster of the "George," -suspected of Jacobite leanings, was compelled by the military to drink on -his bended knees to her memory. He was doing so, meekly enough, when a -dragoon ran him through the heart with his sabre. A furious mob then -assembled in front of the house, seeking to avenge him, and very quickly -broke the windows of his house and threatened to entirely demolish it, if -the murderer were not given up to them. We learn, however, that "the -villain escaped backway, and the tumult gradually subsided." - -At the "George" in 1745, the Duke of Cumberland, the victor of Culloden, -stayed, on his return, and in 1768, the King of Denmark; but I think the -most remarkable thing about the "George" is that Margaret, eldest daughter -of Bryan Hodgson, the landlord at that time, in 1765, married a clergyman -who afterwards became Bishop of London. The Reverend Beilby Porteous was, -at the time of his marriage, Vicar of Ruckinge and Wittersham, in Kent. In -1776 he became Bishop of Chester, and eleven years later was translated to -London. - -In 1776 the Reverend Thomas Twining wrote of the "distracting bustle of -the 'George,' which exceeded anything I ever saw or heard." All that has -long since given place to the gravity and sobriety already described, and -the great central entrance for the coaches has for many years past been -covered over and converted into halls and reception-rooms; but there may -yet be seen an ivied courtyard and ancient staircase. - -Even as I write, a great change is coming upon the fortunes of the -"George." The motorists who, with the neighbouring huntsmen, have during -these last few years been its chief support, have now wholly taken it -over. That is to say, the Road Club, establishing club quarters along the -Great North Road, as nearly as may be fifty miles apart, has procured a -long lease of the house from the Marquis of Exeter, and has remodelled the -interior and furnished it with billiard-rooms up-to-date, a library of -road literature, and other essentials of the automobile tourist. While -especially devoted to these interests, the "George" will still welcome the -huntsman fresh from the fallows, and hopes to interest him in the scent of -the petrol as much as in that of the fox. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," FITTLEWORTH.] - -It may be noted, in passing, that the "Red Bull" at Stamford also claims -to have entertained the Duke of Cumberland on his return from Culloden, -and that the "Crown" inn, with its old staircase and picturesque -courtyard, is interesting. - -A small gallows sign is still to be seen at the "Old Star," in Stonegate, -York, another at Ottery St. Mary, and a larger, wreathed in summer with -creepers, at the "Swan," Fittleworth, while at Hampton-on-Thames the -picturesque "Red Lion" sign still spans a narrow and busy street. - -[Illustration: THE "RED LION," HAMPTON-ON-THAMES.] - -The "Green Man" at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, has a sign of this stamp. -That fine old inn, which has added the sign of the "Black's Head," since -the purchase of a house of that name, is of a size and a respectable -mellowed red-brick frontage eminently suited to a road of the ancient -importance of that leading from London to Manchester and Glasgow, on which -Ashbourne stands. The inn figures in the writings of Boswell as a very -good house, and its landlady as "a mighty civil gentlewoman." She and her -establishment no doubt earned the patronising praise of the -self-sufficient Laird of Auchinleck by the humble curtsey she gave him -when he hired a post-chaise here to convey him home to Scotland, and by an -engraving of her house she handed him, on which she had written: - -"M. Kilingley's duty waits upon Mr. Boswell, is exceedingly obliged to him -for this favour; whenever he comes this way, hopes for the continuance of -the same. Would Mr. Boswell name this house to his extensive acquaintance, -it would be a singular favour conferred on one who has it not in her power -to make any other return but her most grateful thanks and sincerest -prayers for his happiness in time and in blessed eternity. Tuesday morn." - -Alas! wishes for his worldly and eternal welfare no longer speed the -parting guest, especially if he "tips" insufficiently. As for "M. -Kilingley," surely she and her inn must have been doing very badly, for -Boswell's patronage to have turned on so much eloquence at the main. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -SIGNS PAINTED BY ARTISTS - - -In the "good old days," when an artist was supposed to be drunken and -dissolute in proportion to his genius, and when a very large number of -them accordingly lived up to that supposition, either in self-defence or -out of their own natural depravity, it was no uncommon thing to see the -wayside ale-house sporting a sign that to the eye of instructed travellers -displayed merits of draughtsmanship and colour of an order entirely -different from those commonly associated with mere sign-boards. - -Fresh from perusing the domestic records of the eighteenth century, you -have a confused mental picture of artists poor in pocket but rich in -genius, pervading the country, hoofing it muzzily along the roads, and -boozing in every village ale-house. You see such an one, penniless, -offering to settle a trivial score by painting a new sign or retouching an -old one, and you very vividly picture mine host ungraciously accepting the -offer, because he has no choice. Then, behold, the artist goes his way, -like the Prodigal Son, to his husks and his harlots, to run up more scores -and liquidate them in the like manner; and presently there enters, to -your mental vision, a traveller whose educated eye perceives that sign, -and discovers in its yet undried and tacky oils the touch of a master. He -buys that masterpiece for golden guineas from the gaping and -unappreciative innkeeper, whose score was but a matter of silver -shillings; and he--he is a Duke or something in the Personage way--takes -that "Barley Mow" or "Ship and Seven Stars," or whatever the subject may -be, tenderly home to his palace and places it, suitably framed, among his -ancestral Titians, Raphaels, or Botticellis. - -That, I say, is the golden, misty picture of Romance presented to you, -and, in sober fact, incidents of that nature were not unknown; but that -they happened quite so often as irresponsible weavers of legends would -have us believe, we may take leave to doubt. - -Artists of established repute sometimes, even then, painted inn-signs from -other motives. Hogarth, for example, that stern pictorial moralist, was -scarcely the man to be reduced to such straits as those already hinted; -but he was a jovial fellow, and is said to have painted a number of signs -for friendly innkeepers. The classic example of those attributed to him -is, of course, the well-known sign of the "Man Loaded with Mischief," the -name of a public-house, formerly 414, Oxford Street.[6] The name was -changed, about 1880, to the "Primrose," and the painted panel-sign -removed. In its last years it--whether the original or an old copy seems -uncertain--was fixed against the wall of the entrance-lobby. The picture -was one of crowded detail. The Man, another Atlas, carried on his back a -drunken woman holding a glass of gin in her hand, and had on either -shoulder a monkey and a jackdaw. In the background were "S. Gripe's" -pawnshop, the "Cuckold's Fortune" public-house, crowned with a pair of -horns, two quarrelling cats, a sleeping sow, and a jug labelled "Fine -Purl." This scathing satire, peculiarly out of place in a drink-shop, was -"Drawn by Experience" and "Engraved by Sorrow," and was finished off by -the rhyme: - - A Monkey, a Magpie, and a Wife - Is the true Emblem of Strife. - -A somewhat similar sign exists at the present time at Madingley, near -Cambridge. - -[Illustration: THE "MAN LOADED WITH MISCHIEF."] - -The correctness, or otherwise, of the Oxford Street sign being attributed -to Hogarth has never been determined, but it is quite characteristic of -him, and all through Hogarth's works there runs a curious familiarity -with, and insistence upon, signs. You find the sign of the "Duke of -Cumberland" pictorially insisted upon in his "Invasion of England," -although it is merely an accessory to the picture; and in "Gin Lane," -"Southwark Fair," the "March to Finchley," and others, every detail of -incidental signs is shown. This distinguishing characteristic is nowhere -more remarkable than in his "Election: Canvassing for Votes," where, above -the heads of the rival agents in bribery is the sign of the "Royal Oak," -half obscured by an election placard. In the distance is seen a mob, about -to tear down the sign of the "Crown," and above the two seated and -drinking and smoking figures in the foreground is part of the "Portobello" -sign. A curious item in this picture is the fierce effigy of a lion, -looking as though it had been the figurehead of a ship, and somewhat -resembling those still existing at the "Star" inn, Alfriston, and the -"Red Lion," Martlesham. - -The classic instance of the dissolute artistic genius, ever drinking in -the wayside beerhouse, and leaving long trails of masterpieces behind him -in full settlement of paltry scores, is George Morland. He painted -exquisitely, for the same reason that the skylark sings divinely, because -he could not do otherwise; and no one has represented so finely or so -naturally the rustic life of England at the close of the eighteenth -century and the beginning of the nineteenth, as he. His chosen companions -were "ostlers, potboys, pugilists, moneylenders, and pawnbrokers"--the -last two classes, it may be suspected, less from choice than from -necessity. He painted over four thousand pictures in his short life of -forty-one years, and died in a "sponging-house" for debtors, leaving the -all-too-true epitaph for himself, "Here lies a drunken dog." - -He lived for a considerable time opposite the "White Lion" inn, at the -then rural village of Paddington, and his masterpiece, the "Inside of a -Stable," was painted there. - -Morland was no neglected genius. His natural, unaffected style, that was -no style, in the sense that he showed rustic life as it was, without the -"classic" artifice of a Claude or the finicking unreality of a Watteau, -appealed alike to connoisseurs and to the uneducated in art; and he might, -but for his own hindrance, have been a wealthy man. Dealers besieged him, -purse in one hand and bottle in the other. He paid all debts with -pictures, and in those inns where he was known the landlords kept a room -specially for him, furnished with all the necessaries of his art: only too -pleased that, in his ready-made fame, he should settle scores in his -characteristic way. - -Oddly enough, although Morland is reputed to have painted many inn-signs, -not one has survived; or perhaps, more strictly speaking, not one of the -existing paintings by him has been identified with a former sign. - -Morland died in 1824, and twenty years later one "J. B. P.," in _The -Somerset House Gazette_, described how, walking from Laleham to Chertsey -Bridge, and sheltering at the "Cricketers," a small public-house there, he -noticed, while sitting in the parlour, a painting of a cricket-match. The -style seemed familiar, and he at last recognised it as Morland's. -Questioning the landlord, he learned that forty-five years earlier the inn -was the "Walnut Tree," and that a "famous painter" had lodged there and -painted the picture. It grew so popular with local cricketers that at last -the name of the house was altered. - -The stranger offered to buy, but the landlord declared he would not sell. -It seemed that he took it with him when he set up a booth at Egham and -Staines races, "an' cricket-matches and such-like." It was, in fact, his -trade-mark. - -Mine host thought in shillings, but the stranger in guineas. - -"How," he asked, "if I offered you L10 10_s._?" - -"Ah, well!" rejoined the publican: "it should go, with all my heart,"--and -go it did. - -Thus did the purchaser describe his bargain: "The painting, about a yard -in length and of a proportionate height, is done on canvas, strained upon -something like an old shutter, which has two staples at the back, suited -to hook it for its occasional suspension on the booth-front in the host's -erratic business at fairs and races. The scene I found to be a portrait of -the neighbouring cricket-green called Laleham Borough, and contains -thirteen cricketers in full play, dressed in white, one arbiter in red and -one in blue, besides four spectators, seated two by two on chairs. The -picture is greatly cracked, in the reticulated way of paint when much -exposed to the sun; but the colours are pure, and the landscape in a very -pleasing tone, and in perfect harmony. The figures are done as if with the -greatest ease, and the mechanism of Morland's pencil and his process of -painting are clearly obvious in its decided touches, and in the gradations -of the white particularly. It cannot be supposed that this freak of the -pencil is a work of high art; yet it certainly contains proof of Morland's -extraordinary talent, and it should seem that he even took some pains with -it, for there are marks of his having painted out and re-composed at least -one figure." - -The appreciation of Morland in his lifetime is well shown by a story of -himself and Williams, the engraver, tramping, tired, hungry, thirsty and -penniless, from Deal to London. They came at last to "the 'Black Bull' on -the Dover Road"--wherever precisely that may have been--and Morland -offered the landlord to repaint his faded sign for a crown, the price of a -meal. The innkeeper knew nothing of Morland, and was at first unwilling; -but he at length agreed, and rode off to Canterbury for the necessary -materials. - -The friends eventually ran up a score a few shillings in excess of that -contemplated originally by the landlord, and left him dissatisfied with -his bargain. Meanwhile, artist and engraver tramped to town, and, telling -the story to their friends in the hearing of a long-headed admirer of -Morland's work, he rode down and, we are told, purchased the "Black Bull" -sign from the amazed landlord for L10 10_s._ - -The story is probably in essentials true, but that unvarying ten-guinea -price is inartistic and unconvincing. - -Richard Wilson, an earlier than Morland, fought a losing fight as a -landscape painter, and "by Britain left in poverty to pine," at last died -in 1782. Classic landscape in the manner of Claude was not then -appreciated, and the unfortunate painter sold principally to pawnbrokers, -at wretched prices, until even they grew tired of backing him. He lived -and died neglected, and had to wait for Fame, as "Peter Pindar," that -shrewdest and best of art-critics, foretold, - - Till thou hast been dead a hundred year. - -He painted at least one inn-sign: that of the "Loggerheads" at Llanverris, -in Denbighshire; a picture representing two jovial, and not too -intellectual, grinning faces, with the inscription, "We Three Loggerheads -Be." The fame of this sign was once so great that the very name of the -village itself became obscured, and the place was commonly known as -"Loggerheads." Wilson's work was long since repainted. - -But what _is_ a "loggerhead," and why should the two grinning faces of the -sign have been described as "three"? The origin of the term is, like the -birth of Jeames de la Pluche, "wrop in mistry"; but of the meaning of it -there is little doubt. A "loggerhead" is anything you please in the -dunderhead, silly fool, perfect ass, or complete idiot way, and the gaping -stranger who looks inquisitively at the _two_ loggerheads on the -sign-board automatically constitutes himself the _third_, and thus -completes the company. It is a kind of small-beer, fine-drawn jape that -has from time immemorial passed for wit in rustic parts, and may be traced -even in the pages of Shakespeare, where, in Act II. Scene 2 of _Twelfth -Night_, it is the subject of allusion as the picture of "We Three." - -The "Mortal Man" at Troutbeck, in the Lake district, once possessed a -pictorial sign, painted by Julius Caesar Ibbetson, a gifted but dissolute -artist, friend of, and kindred spirit with, Morland. It represented two -faces, the one melancholy, pallid and thin, the other hearty, -good-humoured, and "ruddier than the cherry." Beneath these two -countenances was inscribed a verse attributed to Thomas Hoggart, a local -wit, uncle of Hogarth, the painter: - - "Thou mortal man, that liv'st by bread, - What makes thy face to look so red?" - "Thou silly fop, that look'st so pale, - 'Tis red with Tony Burchett's ale." - -First went the heads, and at last the verses also, and to-day the "Mortal -Man" has only a plain sign. - -John Crome, founder of the "Norwich School" of artists, known as "Old" -Crome, in order to distinguish him from his son, contributed to this list -of signs painted by artists. It is not surprising that he should have done -so, seeing that he won to distinction from the very lowest rungs of the -ladder; leaving, as a boy, the occupation of running errands for a doctor, -and commencing art in 1783 as apprentice to a coach-, house-, and -sign-painter. One work of his of this period is the "Sawyers" sign. It is -now preserved at the Anchor Brewery, Pockthorpe, Norwich. Representing a -saw-pit, with two sawyers at work, it shows the full-length figure of the -top-sawyer and the head and shoulders of the other. It is, however, a very -inferior and fumbling piece of work, and its interest is wholly -sentimental. - -J. F. Herring, afterwards famous for his paintings of horses and farmyard -scenes, began as a coach-painter and sign-board artist at Doncaster, in -1814. He painted at least twelve inn-signs in that town, but they have -long since become things of the past. - -Charles Herring never reached the heights of fame scaled by his brother, -and long painted signs for a great firm of London brewers. - -However difficult it might prove nowadays to rise from the humble -occupations of house- or coach-painter, to the full glory of a Royal -Academician, it seems once to have been a comparatively easy transition. -All that was requisite was the genius for it, and sometimes not very much -of that. A case in point is that of Sir William Beechey, who not only won -to such distinction in 1793 from the several stages of house-painter and -solicitor's clerk, but achieved the further and more dazzling success of -knighthood, although never more than an indifferent portrait-painter. A -specimen of his art, in the shape of the sign-board of the "Dryden's -Head," near Kate's Cabin, on the Great North Road, was long pointed out. - -The painting of sign-boards, in fact, was long a kind of preparatory -school for higher flights of art, and indeed the fashion of pictorial -signs nursed many a dormant genius into life and activity. Robert Dalton, -who rose to be Keeper of the Pictures to George the Third, had been a -painter of signs and coaches; Gwynne, who first performed similar -journey-work, became a marine-painter of repute; Smirke, who eventually -became R.A.; Ralph Kirby, drawing-master to the Prince of Wales, -afterwards George the Fourth; Thomas Wright, of Liverpool, and many more, -started life decorating coach-panels or painting signs. Opie, the Cornish -peasant-lad who rose to fame in paint, declared that his first steps were -of the like nature: "I ha' painted Duke William for the signs, and stars -and such-like for the boys' kites." - -The Royal Academicians of our own time did not begin in this way, and as a -pure matter of curious interest it will be found that your sucking painter -is too dignified for anything of the kind, and that modern signs painted -by artists are usually done for a freak by those who have already long -acquired fame and fortune. It is an odd reversal. - -Thus, very many years ago, Millais painted a "George and Dragon" sign for -the "George" inn, Hayes Common. There it hung, exposed to all weathers, -and at last faded into a neutral-tinted, very "speculative" affair, when -the landlord had it repainted, "as good as new," by some one described as -"a local artist." Now even the local painter's work has disappeared, and -the great hideous "George" is content without a picture-sign. - -The most famous of all signs painted by artists is, of course, that of the -"Royal Oak" at Bettws-y-Coed, on the Holyhead Road. It was painted by -David Cox, in 1847, and, all other tales to the contrary notwithstanding, -it was _not_ executed by him, when in sore financial straits, to liquidate -a tavern score. David Cox was never of the Morland type of dissolute -artist, did not run up scores, paid his rates and taxes, never bilked a -tradesman, and was just a home-loving, domesticated man. That he should -at the same time have been a great artist, supreme in his own particular -field, in his own particular period, is so unusual and unaccountable a -thing that it would not be surprising to find some critic-prophet arising -to deny his genius because of all those damning circumstances of the -commonplace, and the clinching facts that he never wore a velvet jacket, -and had his hair cut at frequent intervals. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "ROYAL OAK," BETTWS-Y-COED.] - -The genius of David Cox was not fully realised in his lifetime, and he -received very inadequate prices for his works, but he was probably never -"hard up," and he painted the sign-board of the "Royal Oak" merely as a -whimsical compliment to his friend, Mrs. Roberts, the landlady of the -house, which was still at that time a rural inn. - -The old sign had become faded by long exposure to the weather, and was -about to be renewed at the hands of a house-painter, when Cox, who -happened then to be on one of his many visits to Bettws, ascended a short -ladder reared against the house and repainted it, then and there. The -coaching age still survived in North Wales at that period, and Bettws was -still secluded and rustic, and he little looked for interruption; but, -while busily at work, he was horrified by hearing a voice below exclaim, -"Why, it _is_ Mr. Cox, I declare!" A lady, a former pupil of his, -travelling through the country on her honeymoon, had noticed him, and -although he rather elaborately explained the how and the why of his acting -the part of sign-painter, it seems pretty clear that it was from this -source the many old stories derived of Cox being obliged by poverty to -resort to this humble branch of art. - -In 1849 he retouched the sign, and in 1861, two years after his death, it -was, at the request of many admirers, removed from the outside wall and -placed in a situation of honour, in the hall of what had by that time -become an "hotel." - -The painting, on wooden panel, is a fine, bold, dashing picture of a -sturdy oak, in whose midst you do but vaguely see, or fancy you see, His -Majesty, hiding. Beneath are troopers, questing about on horseback. It is -very Old Masterish in feeling, low-toned and mellow in colour, and rich in -impasto. It is fixed as part of a decorative overmantel, and underneath is -a prominent inscription stating that it "forms part of the freehold of the -hotel belonging to the Baroness Howard de Walden." Sign and freehold have -now descended to the Earl of Ancaster. - -Behind that inscription lies a curious story of disputed ownership in the -painting. It seems that in 1880 the then landlady of the "Royal Oak" -became bankrupt, and the trustees in bankruptcy claimed the sign as a -valuable asset, a portion of the estate; making a statement to the effect -that a connoisseur had offered L1,000 for it. This at once aroused the -cupidity of the then Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, owner of the freehold, -and an action was brought against the trustees, to determine whose -property it was. The trustees in the first instance, in the Bangor -District Court of Bankruptcy, were worsted by Judge Horatio Lloyd, who -held that it was a fixture, and could not be sold by the innkeeper. This -decision was challenged, and the question re-argued before Sir James -Bacon, who, in delivering judgment for the trustees, said the artist had -made a present of the picture, and that it belonged to the innkeeper as -much as the coat or the dress on her back. He therefore reversed the -decision of the Judge in Bankruptcy; but the case was carried eventually -to the Supreme Court, and the Lords finally declared the painting to be -the property of the freeholder. - -Their decision was based upon the following reasoning: "Assuming that the -picture was originally what may be called a 'tenant's fixture,' which he -might have removed, it appeared that he had never done so. Therefore, the -picture not having been removed by the original tenant within his term, on -a new lease being granted it became the property of the landlord, and had -never ceased to be so." - -In these days of the revival of this, of that, and of t' other, you think -inevitably of that very wise saying of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: "The -thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is -that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun." - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," WARGRAVE-ON-THAMES. -_Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A._] - -The most readily allowed excuse for anything in such times as these is the -plea that it is a revival of something that existed of old. That at once -sets upon it--little matter what it be--the seal of approval. Of late -years there has in this way been a notable revival of inn-signs painted by -artists of repute. - -The oldest of these moderns is perhaps that of the "George and Dragon" at -Wargrave-on-Thames: a double-sided sign painted by the two Royal -Academicians, G. D. Leslie and J. E. Hodgson. In a gossipy book of -reminiscences Mr. Leslie tells how this sign came to be painted, about -1874: "It was during our stay at Wargrave that my friend Mr. Hodgson and I -painted Mrs. Wyatt's sign-board for her--the 'George and Dragon.' I -painted my side first, a regular orthodox St. George on a white horse, -spearing the dragon. Hodgson was so taken with the idea of painting a -sign-board that he asked me to be allowed to do the other side, to which -I, of course, consented, and as he could only stop at Wargrave one day, he -managed to do it on that day--indeed, it occupied him little more than a -couple of hours. The idea of his composition was suggested by Signor -Pellegrini, the well-known artist of _Vanity Fair_. The picture -represented St. George, having vanquished the dragon and dismounted from -his horse, quenching his thirst in a large beaker of ale. These pictures -were duly hung up soon after, and very much admired. They have since had a -coat of boat-varnish, and look already very Old Masterly. Hodgson's, which -gets the sun on it, is a little faded; but mine, which faces the north, -towards Henley, still looks pretty fresh." - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," WARGRAVE-ON-THAMES. -_Painted by J. E. Hodgson, R.A._] - -Goring-on-Thames has a now very faded pictorial sign, the "Miller of -Mansfield," painted by Marcus Stone, R.A. The Thames-side villages are -indeed especially favoured, and at Wallingford the sign of the "Row -Barge," by G. D. Leslie, is prominent in a bye-street. The inn itself is a -very modest and very ancient place of entertainment. A document is still -extant which sets forth how the licence was renewed in 1650, when, owing -to the puritanical ways of the age, many other houses in the same town had -to forfeit theirs, and discontinue business. Once the property of the -Corporation of Wallingford, it seems to have obtained its unusual name -from having been the starting-point of the Mayor's State Barge. With these -facts in mind, the artist painted an imaginary state barge, pulled by six -sturdy watermen, and containing the Mayor and Corporation of Wallingford, -accompanied by the mace-bearer, who occupies a prominent position in the -prow. G. D. Leslie also painted the sign of the "King Harry" at St. -Stephen's, outside St. Albans, but it has long been replaced by a quite -commonplace daub. - -[Illustration: THE "ROW BARGE," WALLINGFORD. _Painted by G. D. Leslie, -R.A._] - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," PRESTON CROWMARSH.] - -This does not quite exhaust the list of riverside places thus -distinguished, for "Ye Olde Swan," Preston Crowmarsh, has a sign painted -by Mr. Wildridge. It overlooks one of the prettiest ferries on the river. - -[Illustration: THE "WINDMILL," TABLEY.] - -[Illustration: THE "SMOKER" INN, PLUMBLEY.] - -Two modern artistic signs in Cheshire owe their existence to a lady. These -are the effective pictures of the "Smoker" inn at Plumbley and the -"Windmill," Tabley. They are from the brush of Miss Leighton, a niece of -the late Lord de Tabley. The "Smoker" by no means indicates a place -devoted with more than usual thoroughness to smoking, but is named after a -once-famous race-horse belonging to the family in the early years of the -nineteenth century. On one side of the sign is a portrait of the horse, -the reverse displaying the arms of the De Tableys, supported by two -ferocious-looking cockatrices. - -The sign of the "Windmill" explains itself: it is Don Quixote, tilting at -one of his imaginary enemies. - -[Illustration: THE "FERRY" INN, ROSNEATH.] - -In 1897 the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, designed and painted a -pictorial sign for the "Ferry" inn at Rosneath. It is only remarkable as -being the work of a Royal Princess. The three-masted ancient ship, or -galleon, is the heraldic charge known as a "lymphad," borne by many -Scottish families, among them the Campbells, Dukes of Argyll. - -Some three years later Mr. Walter Crane enriched the little Hampshire -village of Grayshott with a pictorial sign for the "Fox and Pelican," a -converted inn conducted on the principles of one of the feather-brained -nostrums of the age. - -[Illustration: THE "FERRY" INN, ROSNEATH.] - -The name of the house commemorates Fox, the great Bishop of Winchester, -whose device was "A Pelican in her Piety." It represents a pelican -guarding a nest of three young birds, and feeding them with blood from -her breast. The device is painted on one side of the board, and the name -of the house is inscribed on a scroll on the other. - -[Illustration: THE "FOX AND PELICAN," GRAYSHOTT.] - -Many other pictorial inn-signs have of late years replaced the merely -lettered boards, and although the artists are not famous, or even -well-known, the average merit of the work is high. A particularly good -example is the double-sided sign of a little thatched rural inn, the "Cat -and Fiddle," between Christchurch and Bournemouth; where on one side you -perceive the cat seated calmly, in a domestic manner, while on the other -he is reared upon his hind-legs, fiddle-playing, according to the -nursery-rhyme: - - Hey, diddle, diddle, - The Cat and the Fiddle, - The Cow jumped over the Moon, - The Little Dog laughed to see such sport, - And the Dish ran away with the spoon. - -Serious antiquaries--a thought too serious--have long attempted to find a -hidden meaning in the well-known sign of the "Cat and Fiddle." According -to some commentators, it derived from "_Caton fidele_," one Caton, a -staunch Protestant governor of Calais in the reactionary reign of Queen -Mary, who could justly apply to himself the praise: "I have fought the -good fight, I have kept the Faith," while in the rhyme it has been sought -to discover some veiled political allusion, carefully wrapped up in -nursery allegory, in times when to interfere openly in politics, or to -criticise personages or affairs of State was not merely dangerous, but -fatal. Ingenious people have discovered in the wild jingle an allusion to -Henry the Eighth and the Disestablishment of the Monasteries, and others -have found it to be a satire on James the Second and the Great Rebellion. -Given the requisite ingenuity, there is no national event to which it -could not be compared; but why not take it merely for what it is: a bundle -of inconsequent rhymes for the amusement of the childish ear? - -[Illustration: THE "CAT AND FIDDLE," NEAR CHRISTCHURCH.] - -[Illustration: THE "CAT AND FIDDLE," NEAR CHRISTCHURCH.] - -From every point of view the revival and spread of the old fashion of -artistic sign-boards is to be encouraged, for it not only creates an -interest in the different localities, but serves to perpetuate local -history and legend. - -A remarkable feature of the "Swan" at Fittleworth is the number of -pictures painted by artists on the old panelling of the coffee-room. - -Caton Woodville painted a sign for this house, but it has long been -considered too precious to be hung outside, exposed to the chances of wind -and wet, and perhaps in danger of being filched one dark night by some -connoisseur more appreciative than honest. It has therefore been removed -within. It represents on one side the swan, ridden by a Queen of the -Fairies, while a frog, perched on the swan's tail, holds a lantern, whose -light is in rivalry with a star. - -On the other side a frog, seated in a pewter pot, is observed contentedly -smoking a "churchwarden" pipe while he is being conveyed down stream. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -QUEER SIGNS IN QUAINT PLACES - - -Thus did Horace Walpole moralise over the fickleness of sign-board favour: - -"I was yesterday out of town, and the very signs, as I passed through the -villages, made me make very quaint reflections on the mortality of fame -and popularity. I observed how the 'Duke's Head' had succeeded almost -universally to 'Admiral Vernon's,' as his had left but few traces of the -'Duke of Ormonde's.' I pondered these things in my breast, and said to -myself, 'Surely all glory is but as a sign.'" - -True, and trite. He might even, perhaps, by dint of scraping, have found -upon those old sign-boards whole strata of discarded heroes, painted one -over another. Vernon was, of course, the dashing captor of Portobello, in -1739. There were "Portobellos" and "Admiral Vernons" all over the country, -for some years, but one would need to travel far and search diligently -before he found an "Admiral Vernon" in these days. Six years only was his -term of popularity, and there was no renewal of the lease. The Duke of -Cumberland displaced him, and he, the victor of Colloden--little enough of -a hero--was painted out in favour of our ally, the "King of Prussia" -(Frederick the Great) about 1756. The "King of Proosher," as the rustics -commonly called him, had an extraordinary vogue, and the sign is still -occasionally to be found, even in these days, when everything German is, -with excellent reason, detested. But, as the poet remarks, "all that's -bright must fade," and the greater number of "Kings of Prussia" were -abolished after the battle of Minden, in 1759, in favour of the "Marquis -of Granby." The "Markis o' Granby" is associated, in the minds of most -people, with Dorking, with the _Pickwick Papers_, and with the ducking in -a horse-trough of a certain prophet; but when the sign first became -popular, it stood for military glory. The Marquis himself was the eldest -son of the third Duke of Rutland: a soldier who rose to distinction in our -wars upon the Continent, became Commander-in-Chief, and at length died in -his fifty-eighth year, in 1779. There was another special appropriateness -in selecting him for a tavern sign; for he was one of the deepest drinkers -among the hard-drinking men of his age. - -The actual labour of converting the Duke of Cumberland into the King of -Prussia, and his Most Protestant Majesty into the Marquis of Granby could -have been but small, for they were all represented in profile, and all -were clean-shaven, and wore a uniform and a cocked hat; and it is probable -that in most cases the sole alteration that took place was in the -lettering. - -But the vogue of all other heroes was as nothing beside that of Nelson. -He, at least, is permanent, and the sign-boards in this significant -instance justify themselves. Other heroes won a victory, or victories, and -conducted successful campaigns. They were incidents in the history of the -country; but Nelson saved the nation, and died in the act of saving it. - -This exception apart, nothing is so fleeting as sign-board popularity. The -hero of yesterday is sacrificed without a pang, and the idol of to-day -takes his place; and just as inevitably the popular figure of to-day will -yield to the hero of to-morrow. Would you blame mine host of the "Duke of -Wellington" because he changes his sign for that of a later captain? Not -at all; for we are not to suppose that the original sign was chosen from -any motive of personal loyalty. The Duke was selected because of his -popularity with all classes; for the reasoning was that the inn bearing -his name would secure the most custom. He was the last of the giants, and -no other military commander has come within leagues of his especial glory. - -The sign of the "Duke of Wellington" long ceased to specially attract, but -it survived for many years because of his own greatness, and, inversely, -because of the smallness of the men who commanded our armies in the -Crimean War, at the end of the long thirty-nine years' peace between -Waterloo and the Alma. It is true that there were, and still perhaps are, -inns and public-houses named after Lord Raglan, the Commander-in-Chief in -the Crimea, but they were comparatively few. In short, the line of heroes -ceased with "the Duke," and later generals have been not only -intrinsically lesser personalities, but have suffered from being engaged -in smaller issues, and under the eye of the "special correspondent," whose -foible has ever been to criticise the general-commanding in detail, to -teach him his business, and show a gaping public what had been "a better -way" in attack, in strategy, or in tactics. Indeed, one sometimes doubts -if even "the Duke" himself would have become the great figure he still -remains had the "special correspondent" been in existence during his -campaigns. - -The lineal successor of Lord Raglan and Lord Napier was Sir Garnet -Wolseley, who first adorned a sign-board at the close of his successful -campaign in Ashanti, in 1874. He was long "our only general," and was such -a synonym for rightness and efficiency that he even gave rise to a popular -saying. "That's all Sir Garnet" was for some years a Cockney vulgarism, -but after the fall of Khartoum, in 1885, it was heard no more. For two -reasons: the military knight had become a peer and his Christian name was -being forgotten; and the failure of his Nile Expedition to the relief of -Gordon broke the tradition of unvaried success. - -The true story of a public-house at Dover--doubtless one of many such -instances--points these remarks. It was originally the "Sir Garnet -Wolseley," and then the "Lord Wolseley," and is now the "Lord Roberts." -"Alas!" said the Chairman of the local Licensing Committee, in 1906, -"such is popularity!" He was evidently, equally with Horace Walpole, a -moralist. - -Lord Roberts is now the risen star on the public-house firmament. -Sometimes Lord Kitchener shines with, and in a few instances has even -occluded, him. - -But when does a sign begin to be "queer," and where does the quality of -"quaintness" commence? Those are matters for individual preference, for -that which is to one person unusual and worthy of remark is to another the -merest commonplace. For my part, for instance, I regard the sign of the -"Swan" at Charing as decidedly unusual, and of the quaintness of the old -village of Charing there is surely no need to insist. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," CHARING.] - -It is essentially the business of a sign to be in some way queer, for by -attracting attention you also secure trade. The first problem of -sign-painters was to attract the attention and to reach the intelligence -of those who could not read--a class in times not so long since very large -and grossly ignorant. For their benefit the barber displayed his -parti-coloured pole, the maker of fishing-tackle hung out his rod and -fish, the hosier showed his Golden Fleece, and the pawnbroker the three -golden balls. In the same way the "Lions" of the various inns in town and -country were pictured red, white, black, or even blue, so that the -unlettered but not colour-blind should at least be able to use the sense -that nature gave them, and from the rival lions make a choice. But lions -were never familiar objects in the British landscape, and the -sign-painter, lacking a model, in presenting his idea of that "king of -beasts" often merely succeeded in picturing something that, unlike -anything on earth, was often styled by Hodge a "ramping cat." In such a -manner the former "Cats" inn at Sevenoaks obtained its name. Its signboard -originally displayed the arms of the Sackvilles, with their supporters, -two white leopards, spotted black; but partly, no doubt, because the -painting was bad, and in part because leopards did not come within the -everyday experience of the Kentish rustic, the house became known by the -more homely name. The "Leather Bottle" was once a sign understood by all; -but in its last years that of the "Leather Bottle" public-house, in -Leather Lane, Holborn, became something of a puzzle. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "LEATHER BOTTLE," LEATHER LANE. _Removed -1896._] - -Perhaps the most ingenious and unusual sign it is possible to find -throughout the whole length and breadth of the country is that of the -little unassuming inn in Castlegate, Grantham, known indifferently as the -"Beehive" and the "Living Sign." A sapling tree growing on the pavement in -front of the house has a beehive fixed in its branches, with an inscribed -board calling attention to the fact during those summer months when -foliage obscures it: - - Stop, traveller, this wondrous Sign explore, - And say, when thou hast viewed it o'er and o'er, - "GRANTHAM, now two rareties are thine, - A lofty steeple and a living Sign." - -The beehive being generally occupied, the invitation to "explore" it is -perhaps an unfortunate choice of language. At any rate, the traveller is -much more likely to explore the house than the sign of it. - -The "Pack Horse and Talbot" may now, by sheer lapse of time, be regarded -as a queer sign. It is the name of what was once an inn but is now a -public-house, on the Chiswick High Road, Turnham Green--a thoroughfare -which is also the old coach-road to Bath. The painted sign is a pictorial -allusion to the ancient wayfaring days when packmen journeyed through the -country with their wares on horseback, and accompanied by a faithful dog -who kept guard over his master's goods. This type of dog--the "talbot," -the old English hound--is now extinct. Probably not one person in every -thousand of those who pass the house could explain what the "Talbot" in -the sign means, or would think of associating it with the dog seen in the -picture. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "BEEHIVE," GRANTHAM.] - -Another London sign that tells of manners and customs long since obsolete -is that of the "Running Footman," Hay Hill, Berkeley Square, picturing a -gaily uniformed man running, with a wand of office in his hand. In the -middle of the eighteenth century it was as much the "correct thing" for -noble families to keep a running footman to precede them on their -journeys as it was for their Dalmatian dogs to trot beneath their -carriages. Those "plum-pudding dogs" finally went out of fashion about -half a century ago, but the running footmen became extinct half a century -earlier. Extraordinary tales were told of the endurance of, and the long -distances covered by, these men. - -Everywhere we have the "Cat and Fiddle," a sign whose origin still -troubles some people, who seek a reason for even the most unreasonable and -fantastic things, and lose sight of the fact that a whimsical fancy, a -kind of nursery-lore imagination, in all likelihood originated the sign, -which is probably not any debased and half-forgotten allusion to "Caton le -Fidele," the brave Governor of Calais, to "Catherine la Fidele," the -French sobriquet for the wife of the Czar Peter, or to "Santa Catherina -Fidelius," but simply--the "Cat and Fiddle," neither more nor less. The -rest of it is all "learned" fudge, and stuff and nonsense. Serious persons -will object that cats do not play the fiddle; but they do--in -nursery-land, where cows have for many centuries jumped over the moon and -the table utensils have eloped together, and where pigs have played -whistles from quite ancient times, a little to the confusion of those who -derive the "Pig and Whistle" sign from some supposed Saxon invocation to -the Virgin Mary: "Pige Washail!" 'Tis a way they have in the nursery, -which nobody will deny. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "PACK HORSE AND TALBOT." TURNHAM GREEN.] - -[Illustration: THE "RUNNING FOOTMAN." HAY HILL.] - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "LION AND FIDDLE," HILPERTON.] - -In some cases the "Cat and Fiddle" has become the "Lion and Fiddle": -notably at Hilperton, in Wiltshire, where a picture-sign represents a very -mild and apologetic-looking lion walking on his hind-legs, with his tail -humbly tucked between them, and playing a tune upon a fiddle--doubtless -something doleful, to describe the folly of giving trust. - -At Moulsford, on the banks of the Thames, is the rustic inn displaying the -sign of the "Beetle and Wedge," a puzzling conjunction, until we learn -that the "beetle" in this case is no insect, but a heavy wooden mallet, -and the wedge a wooden, iron, or steel instrument struck by it in -splitting timber. - -[Illustration: THE "SUGAR-LOAVES," SIBLE HEDINGHAM.] - -At Sible Hedingham, in Essex, the sign of the "Sugar-loaves" strikes the -traveller as curious, both in name and in shape. Sugar-loaves, of course, -we never see nowadays, now that cube sugar prevails; and grocers no -longer, as they did of old, receive their sugar in pyramidical-shaped -loaves and cut it up themselves. - -Manchester people are familiar with a very curious sign indeed: that which -hangs from the "Old Rock House" inn at Barton. On the sign is seen the -figure of a man wearing a "fool's cap" and intent upon threshing corn, and -in his hands is an uplifted flail, bearing the mysterious inscription, -"Now Thus." - -The origin of this is found in the local story of how William Trafford, a -staunch Royalist, outwitted Cromwell's soldiery. Trafford owned South -Lamley Hall, and when the troops of the Parliament were heard approaching, -he caused all his servants and farm stock to be stowed away in a remote -glen called "Solomon's Hollow," leaving him alone in the great house. When -they were all gone, he collected his jewellery and plate, and, having -buried them in a secret place, disguised himself in rough clothes, being -discovered when the Roundheads arrived threshing corn over the place where -the valuables were hidden. - -As they entered the barn they heard him repeating mechanically at -intervals the solitary expression, "Now thus"; and although he was -questioned by the officers, who took him to be a servant, they could get -nothing else out of him, being at length obliged to depart, with the -belief that they had been talking to a harmless lunatic. - -[Illustration: INTERIOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN."] - -[Illustration: "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." BLUEPITTS, NEAR ROCHDALE.] - -The De Traffords still live on this estate, whose wealth was thus saved by -their ready-witted ancestor. - -It will be conceded that the "Boar" inn, more generally known as "Uncle -Tom's Cabin," between Heywood and Castleton, on the Rochdale Canal, is not -only a queer sign, but a queer house, being nothing other than an old -passenger barge that used formerly to ply along the Bridgewater Canal, -between Heywood and Bluepitt. - -The railway at last took away all the passenger traffic of the canal, and -the old barge, after many years of usefulness, ceased to run. It was -purchased by a man named Butterworth, who had it drawn on rollers to a -position some three miles from the "cut," and built walls against the -sides, and roofed it over. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "OLD ROCK HOUSE" INN, BARTON.] - -One of the finest and most artistic old signs in the country is that of -the "Three Horseshoes," a little weather-boarded ale-house at Great -Mongeham, which is, in a contradictory way, quite a small village, -between Sandwich and Deal. It is a rare instance of the use of wrought -iron, not as the support of a sign, but as a sign itself, and is so -strikingly like a number of wrought-iron signs in Nottingham Castle -Museum, the work of that famous artist in iron, Huntingdon Shaw, who -wrought the celebrated iron gates of Hampton Court, that it would seem to -be a product of his school. The vogue of the artistic sign is returning, -and a good example of modern work in iron is to be found at Great -Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, where the "Red Lion" inn displays an -heraldic lion in silhouette, ramping on his heraldic wreath, and clawed -and whiskered in approved mediaeval style. - -[Illustration: THE "THREE HORSESHOES," GREAT MONGEHAM.] - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "RED LION," GREAT MISSENDEN.] - -At Stourbridge, in Worcestershire, and at some other places, the sign of -the "Labour in Vain" is met with, representing two busy persons in the act -of trying to scrub a nigger white. The Stourbridge example shows two very -serious-looking maid-servants striving to perform that impossible task, -while the nigger, whose head and shoulders are seen emerging from a dolly -tub, has a large, superior smile, only sufficiently to be expressed by a -foot-rule. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "LABOUR IN VAIN."] - -Queer signs are often the product of ignorant alteration of old signs -whose original meaning has become obscured by lapse of time. The "Mourning -Bush," for example, was a sign set up originally by a Royalist innkeeper, -grieving for the death of Charles the First. A bush, or bundle of twigs, -was at that time the usual sign of an ale-house, and he swathed his in -black. What if he could revisit this earth after these two hundred and -fifty years, and find that sign corrupted, at a little inn near Shifnal, -Shropshire, into the "Maund and Bush," the sign representing a -hardy-looking laurel and a basket--"maund" being a provincialism for a -wicker basket! - -The "Coach and Dogs" sign at Oswestry, a queer variant of the more usual -"Coach and Horses" found so numerously all over the country, takes its -origin from an eccentric country gentleman, one Edward Lloyd, of -Llanforda, two miles from Oswestry, whose whim it was to drive to and from -the town in a diminutive chaise drawn by two retrievers. - -The "Eight Bells" at Twickenham, in itself no more than a commonplace -public-house, has for a sign an oddly assorted group of eight actual -bells, apparently gathered at haphazard from various marine-stores, for no -two are exactly of a size. Hanging as they do from a wooden bracket, -projecting over the pathway, and showing prominently against the sky, they -help to make the not very desirable bye-lane picturesque. It is a lane -that runs down to the river, where the Twickenham eyots divide the stream -in two, and has not yet been levelled to the ordinary suburban -respectability of the neighbourhood. Waterside folk and other queer fish -reside in, and resort to it, and on Saturday evenings the usual beery hum -proceeding o' nights from the "Eight Bells" develops into a spirituous -tumult, ending at closing-time with stumbling steps and incoherent -snatches of song, as the revellers, at odds with kerbstones and -lamp-posts, make their devious way home. - -[Illustration: THE "EIGHT BELLS," TWICKENHAM.] - -At Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, a Temperance Hotel displaying the unique -sign of "The Old Fox with His Teeth Drawn" may be seen. It was, until -1893, a rural inn called the "Old Fox," but was then purchased by the Hon. -A. H. Holland-Hibbert, son-in-law of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and, like him, a -total abstinence enthusiast, who made the changes noted above. At his -house at Great Munden he has a collection of the signs of inns he has in -the same way converted. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "STOCKS" INN, CLAPGATE, NEAR WIMBORNE.] - -The "Stocks" inn, at Clapgate, near Wimborne, displays a miniature model -of "stocks for three" over its porch, while the "Shears" inn at Wantage, a -rustic ale-house in an obscure corner of that town, with the odd feature -of a blacksmith's forge attached, exhibits a gigantic pair of shears. - -[Illustration: THE "SHEARS" INN, WANTAGE.] - -A sign that certainly, if not in itself unusual, is nowadays in an -unwonted place, is that of the old "White Bear," a galleried coaching inn -that stood in Piccadilly, on the site of the present Criterion Restaurant, -until about 1860. It is a great white-painted wooden effigy that is now to -be found in the garden of the little rustic inn of the same name at -Fickles Hole, a quiet hamlet on the Surrey downs to the south-east of -Croydon. To the stranger who first catches sight of it, this polar bear -among the geraniums and the sweet-williams is sufficiently startling. - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "WHITE BEAR." FICKLES HOLE.] - -At Nidd, Yorkshire, we have the odd sign of the "Ass in the Bandbox"; at -Brixham, South Devon, the "Civil Usage"; at Chepstow the "Old Tippling -Philosopher"; the "Cart Overthrown," at Edmonton; the "Trouble House," -near Tetbury; the "Smiling Man," at Dudley. At Bridgwater, Somerset, the -pilgrim finds both the "Ship Aground" and the "Ship Afloat"; and a -somewhat similar sign, the "Barge Aground," in those places of barges and -canals, Brentford and Stratford, at the western and eastern extremities of -London. - -The "World Turned Upside Down" is the name of a large public-house in the -Old Kent Road and the sign of an inn near Three Mile Cross, Reading, where -a rabbit is pictured on one side with a gun, out man-shooting; while on -the other is a donkey seated in a cart, driving a man. - -The sign "Who'd have thought it?" at Barking, is said to express the -surprise of the original proprietor at obtaining a licence; while the "Why -not?" at Dover is probably a suggestion to the undecided wayfarer to make -up his mind and have some refreshment. There are at least four of the -"Hark to!"--hunting signs: "Hark to Jowler" at Bury, Lancashire; "Hark to -[or "Hark the"] Lasher" at Castleton, Derbyshire; "Hark to Bounty," at -Staidburn, and "Hark to Nudger," at Dobcross, near Manchester. - -Of signs such as "The Case is Altered" and the "Live and Let Live" there -is no end; nor is there any finality in the many versions of the incidents -that are said to have originated them. The real original story of "The -Case is Altered" is said to be that of the once-celebrated lawyer, Edward -Plowden, who died in 1584: to him came a farmer whose cow had been killed -by the lawyer's bull. He was suspicious, as it seems, of lawyers, and came -cunningly prepared with a trap to catch him out. - -"My bull," said the farmer, "has gored and killed your cow." - -"The case is clear," said the lawyer, "you must pay me her value." - -"I'm sorry," then said the farmer, but with a contradictory gleam of -triumph in his eye: "I _should_ have said that it was _your_ bull killed -my cow." - -"Ah!" exclaimed Plowden, resignedly, "the case is altered." - -[Illustration: THE "CROW-ON-GATE" INN, CROWBOROUGH.] - -Nowadays, many of these signs no doubt derive merely from an improvement -in the conduct of the house, indicating that better drinks and superior -accommodation are to be had within, the "Case is Altered" in such cases -being just a permanent form of the familiar and more usual and temporary -notice, "Under New Management." - -The popularity of the "Gate" sign has already been mentioned. An odd -variation of it is to be seen at Crowborough, in Sussex, where the -"Crow-on-Gate" inn, itself the _ne plus ultra_ of the commonplace, -displays a miniature gate with the effigy of a crow over it. - -[Illustration: THE "FIRST AND LAST" INN, SENNEN.] - -Land's End, in Cornwall, is notable from our present point of view because -it possesses no fewer than three inns, or houses of public refreshment, -each one claiming to be the "First and Last House in England." The real -original "First and Last" is the inn, so-called, that stands next to the -grey, weatherbeaten granite church in the weatherbeaten and grey village -of Sennen, one mile distant from the beetling cliffs of Land's End itself; -but in modern times, since touring has brought civilisation and excursion -brakes and broken bottles and sandwich-papers to the old-time savage -solitudes of this rocky coast, there have sprung up, almost on the verge -of those cliffs, two other houses--an ugly "hotel" and a plain -white-washed tea-house--that have cut in to share this peculiar fame. The -tiny tea-house, where you get tea and picture-postcards, and are bothered -to buy shells, and tin and copper-bearing quartz, is actually the most -westerly, and therefore the "Last" or the "First," according to whether -you are setting out from Penzance, or returning. - -[Illustration: THE "FIRST AND LAST," LAND'S END.] - -The "Eagle and Child," a sign common in Cheshire and Lancashire, is -heraldically described as "an eagle, wings extended or, preying on an -infant in its cradle proper, swaddled gules, the cradle laced or." The -eagle is generally represented on inn-signs without the cradle. In the -mere straightforward, unmystical language of every day, the eagle thus -fantastically described is golden, the infant is naturally coloured, and -the swaddling is red. - -The origin of this curious sign is found in the fourteenth-century legend -which tells how Sir Thomas de Latham was walking in his park with his -lady, who was childless, when they drew near to a desert and wild -situation where it was commonly reported an eagle had built her nest. -Approaching the spot, they heard the cries of a young child, and, on -bursting through thickets and brambles, the attendant servants found a -baby-boy, dressed in rich swaddling-clothes, in the eagle's nest. The -knight affected astonishment; the good dame, unsuspecting, or, like the -Lady Mottisfont who, under somewhat similar circumstances, in one of Mr. -Thomas Hardy's _Group of Noble Dames_, thought strange things but said -nothing, was wisely silent and accepted the "gift from Heaven." As the old -ballad has it: - - Their content was such to see the hap - That th' ancient lady hugs yt in her lap; - Smooth's yt with kisses, bathes yt in her teares, - And unto Lathom House the babe she bears. - -Good lady! She soon learnt, in common with the countryside in general, -that the foundling thus "miraculously" given her was the offspring of her -husband and one Mary Oscatel; but the baby was adopted, was given the name -of Latham, and succeeded eventually to the family estates. In after years, -Isabel, daughter and sole heiress of this foundling, married Sir John -Stanley, ancestor of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, who still bear the -"Eagle and Child" crest. - -This custom of good knights casually finding infants when out walking with -their wives seems anciently to have been extremely common. A somewhat -similar incident is told of the infancy of Sir William Sevenoke.[7] - -[Illustration: THE "EAGLE AND CHILD," NETHER ALDERLEY.] - -The old "Eagle and Child" at Nether Alderley, in Cheshire, is the property -of Lord Stanley of Alderley, but the licence was surrendered some thirty -years since, and it is now a farmhouse. A leaden spout-head bears the date -"1688," but the house is obviously much older. A relic of old, unsettled -times is seen in the great oaken bar that serves to strengthen the front -door against possible attack and forcible entry. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -RURAL INNS - - -Of first importance to the tourist who flits day by day to fresh woods and -pastures new are the rural inns that afford so hospitable and -unconventionally comfortable a welcome at the close of the day's journey. -Unwise is he who concludes the day at populous town or busy city, where -modern hotels, pervaded by waiters and chambermaids, remind the Londoner -of the metropolis he has just left. Your old and seasoned tourist, afoot -or on a cycle, by himself or with one trusty, quarrel-proof companion, -avoids altogether the Big Town. He has been there, more often than he -could wish, and will be there again. His pleasure is in the village inn, -or the tavern of some sequestered hamlet; and he knows, so only his needs -be not sybarite, that he will be well served there. - -Queer old places some of them are: bowered ofttimes in honeysuckle and -jessamine; sometimes built by the side of some clear-running stream; at -others fronting picturesquely upon the village green. How quaint their -architecture, how tortuous their staircases and sloping their floors, and -what memories they have gathered round them in their long career! Who, not -being the slave of mere luxuries intended to make a man eat when he has -no appetite, and to drink when he has no thirst upon him, does not delight -in the rural inn? - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HORSE," WOOLSTONE.] - -Many, like Canning's "Needy Knife Grinder," have--God bless you!--no story -to tell, and leave you, it may be, pleasantly vacant-minded, after long -spells elsewhere of close-packed mental effort. A welcome vacation indeed! - -The "White Horse" at Woolstone, a queerly pretty little inn with a front -distantly resembling a Chippendale bureau-bookcase, is an instance. No -story belongs to the "White Horse," which is tucked away under the mighty -sides of White Horse Hill, Berkshire, and additionally overhung with trees -and encircled with shrubberies and underwoods, and is finally situated on -a narrow road that presently leads, as it would seem, to the end of the -known world. The stranger stumbles by accident upon the "White Horse" inn -while looking for a way uphill to that ancient Saxon effigy of a horse -scored in the turf and chalk on the summit; and there, before he tackles -that ascent, he does, if he be a wise man, fortify himself against the -fatigue of much hard Excelsior business by that best of tourist's -fare--ale and bread and cheese--in the little stone-flagged parlour. - -Among memories of old rural inns, those of the "White Horse" are not the -least endearing; but the "Anchor" at Ripley has a warm corner in the -hearts of many old-time frequenters of the "Ripley Road," who, when the -world was young and the bicycle high, made it their house of call every -week in the summer season, and wavered little in their allegiance to the -"Ripley Road" even in autumn and winter. Ripley, in the days of the high -bicycle and in the first years of the "safety," was well styled the -"Cyclists' Mecca," for it was then the most popular place in the -wheelman's world. On Saturdays and Sundays it was no uncommon thing to see -two or three hundred machines stacked in front of the "Anchor." - -[Illustration: THE "TALBOT," RIPLEY. _Photo by R. W. Thomas._] - -There were several reasons for this popularity: the easy distance of -twenty-three miles from London; the fine character of the road; and -certainly not least, the welcome extended to cyclists at the "Anchor" by -the Dibble sisters and brother in early days when all the world regarded -the cyclist as a pariah, and when to knock him over with a brick, or by -the simple expedient of inserting a stick between the spokes of his wheel, -was a popular form of humour. - -The two inns of Ripley--the great red-bricked "Talbot" and the rustic, -white-faced "Anchor"--are typical, in their individual ways, of old road -life that called them into existence centuries before ever the cycle came -into being. The "Talbot," you see at a glance, was the coaching-and -posting-house; the "Anchor" was the house where the waggoners pulled up -and the packmen stayed and the humbler wayfarers found a welcome. When -railways came, both alike fell into the cold shade of neglect, but came -into their own once more during those years of cycling popularity already -mentioned. Now that Ripley has ceased to be the popular place it was, -another reverse of fortune has overtaken them in common. - -At Rickmansworth, which seems to be the battle-ground of Benskin's Watford -Ales, Mullen's Hertford brews, and the various tipples of half a dozen -other surrounding townlets, in addition to the liquors of its own local -brewery, there are extraordinary numbers of inns. How do they exist? By -consuming each other's stock-in-trade? Or is the thirst of Rickmansworth -so hardly quenched? The inquiring mind is at a nonplus, and is likely to -remain so. - -A romantic history, in the barley-brew sort, belongs to Rickmansworth; for -there, until a year or so later than 1856, by the wish of some pious -benefactor--heaven be his bed!--the local authorities every morning placed -a cask of ale by the roadside, at the foot of the hill, on the way to -Watford. If, however, it were no better than the very "small" and -ditchwater-flat ale that to this day forms the "Wayfarers' Dole" at the -Hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester, its discontinuance could have been -no great loss. - -There was a similarly great and glorious time at Hoddesdon, not so long -since but that some ancients still speak of it with moist eyes and -regretful accents, when beer was free to all comers. A brewer of that -town, one Christian Catherow--a Christian indeed--left a bequest by which -a large barrel of ale was placed in the High Street and kept constantly -replenished, for the use of all and sundry, who had but to help themselves -from an iron pot, chained to a post beside the barrel. Alas! in some -mysterious way the ale gradually deteriorated from good strong drink to -table-beer, then it became mere purge, and then small beer of the -smallest, and at last, about 1841--oh, horrible!--water. - -[Illustration: THE "ANCHOR," RIPLEY, IN THE DAYS OF THE DIBBLES AND THE -CYCLING BOOM. _Photo by R. W. Thomas._] - -Apart from the "Swan" at Rickmansworth, with quaintly carved sign of a -swan, dated 1799, swimming among bulrushes, there are but two or three -important hostelries in the town; the others are chiefly ale-houses of the -semi-rustic type, most of them old enough and quaintly enough built to -seem natural productions of the soil. Among them the "Halfway House" and -the "Rose and Crown" at Mill End are typical; houses that are, above all -else, "good pull-ups" for carmen and waggoners, where a tankard of ale and -a goodly chunk of bread with its cousinly cheese are usually called for -while the horses outside are taking their nosebag refreshment. Both these -old houses are racy of the soil: the "Rose and Crown," the older of the -two, but the "Halfway House" the most curious, by reason of its odd -arrangement of seats outside, with backs formed by the window-shutters -that were formerly--in times not so secure as our own--put up and firmly -secured every night. - -[Illustration: THE "HALFWAY HOUSE," RICKMANSWORTH.] - -[Illustration: THE "ROSE AND CROWN," MILL END, RICKMANSWORTH.] - -Two rural inns, typical in their respective ways of rustic England, are -illustrated here. They neighbour one another; the one on the Bath Road at -the fifty-fifth mile-stone from London, before entering Newbury, and -being, in fact, the half-way house between the General Post Office, -London, and the Post Office in Bath; the other but two miles away, at -Sandleford Water, where a footbridge and a watersplash on the river -Enborne mark the boundaries of Hampshire and Berkshire. Sitting in the -arbours of the "Swan," that looks upon the Bath Road, you may see the -traffic of a great highway go by, and at Sandleford Water you have the -place wholly to yourself, or share it only with the squirrels and the -birds of the overarching trees. There was once an obscure little Priory -here, whose every stone has utterly vanished. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," SANDLEFORD.] - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," NEAR NEWBURY.] - -[Illustration: THE "JOLLY FARMER," FARNHAM.] - -The "Jolly Farmer" inn at Farnham, where William Cobbett was born in 1762, -still stands and, overhung as it is with tall trees, and neatly kept, is -in every way, we may well suspect, a prettier place than it was in his -time. And it is, doubtless, in its way, now a higher-class house; a -general levelling up, in the country, of ale-houses, taverns and rustic -inns, being always to be borne in mind when we read or write of the -rustic wayside inns of a hundred years or so since. You may in these days -even play billiards, on a full-size table, at the "Jolly Farmer," and -order strange exotic drinks undreamt of by the rustics of Cobbett's day. - -[Illustration: THE "BOAR'S HEAD," MIDDLETON.] - -Five and a half miles from Manchester, in the now busy township of -Middleton, the old rural "Boar's Head" inn stands, fronting the main -street; a striking anachronism in that twentieth-century manufacturing -centre, looking out with its sixteenth-century timbered front upon modern -tram-lines and an unlovely commercialism. The projecting sign proclaims it -to be that now rare thing among inns, a "Free House." The sight of that -inscription leads inevitably to the thought, how strange it is that in -this boasted land of freedom, in this country that freed the black slaves, -the "tied-house" system should be allowed, by which brewers can buy -licensed premises and insist that their tenants shall sell no other -liquors than those they supply. Pity the poor bondsman of a tenant, and -still more pity the general public condemned by the system to drink the -inferior brews that no one would dare to sell to a free man. - -The curious late eighteenth-century addition to the "Boar's Head," shown -in the illustration, was once the local Sessions House, but is now the -Assembly Room. - -[Illustration: THE "OLD HOUSE AT HOME" HAVANT.] - -At Havant, adjoining the church, as may be seen in the illustration, is -an extremely ancient and highly picturesque inn, the "Old House at Home," -enormously strong and sturdy, with huge beams criss-crossing in every -direction, and stout enough to support a superstructure several storeys -high, instead of merely two floors. It is as excellent an example as could -probably be found anywhere of a fifteenth- or sixteenth-century lavishness -of material and want of proportion of means toward ends. But that should -not make us grieve; no builder is guilty of such things to-day; let us -rather be thankful for the picturesqueness and the strength of it. Those -who axed these timbers out of the tree-trunks, and reared up this -framework, built to last; and those others who doubtless will some day -pull it down, to make way for modern buildings, will have hard work to do -so. It can never merely fall down. The history of it is told in few words. -It was not built as an inn, and was indeed originally the vicarage, and so -remained for some centuries. - -An inn with a similar history to that just mentioned--although by no means -so humble--is the "Pounds Bridge" inn, on a secluded road between -Speldhurst and Penshurst, in Kent. As will be seen by the illustration, it -is an exceedingly picturesque example of the half-timbered method of -construction greatly favoured in that district, both originally and in -modern revival. It is, however, a genuine sixteenth-century building, and -was erected, as the date upon it clearly proclaims, in 1593. The singular -device of which this date forms a part is almost invariably a "poser" to -the passer-by. The "W" is sufficiently clear, but the other letter, like -an inverted Q, is not so readily identified. It is really the old Gothic -form of the letter D, and was the initial of William Darkenoll, rector of -Penshurst, who built the house for a residence, in his sixty-ninth year: -as "E.T.A. 69"--his quaint way of rendering "_aet._," i.e. _aetatis -suae_--rather obscurely informs us. Three years later, July 12th, 1596, -William Darkenoll died, and for many years--to the contrary the memory of -man runneth not--the house he built and adorned with such quaint conceits -has been a rustic inn. - -[Illustration: "POUNDS BRIDGE."] - -A house rural now that the old semi-urban character of the great road to -Oxford has, with the passing of the coaches and the post-chaises, long -become merely a memory is the great "George and Dragon" inn at West -Wycombe. West Wycombe once called itself a town, and perhaps does so -still, but it cannot nowadays make that claim convincingly. If we call it -a decayed coaching town, that is the most that can be conceded, in the -urban way; for to-day its every circumstance is rustic. The "George and -Dragon," a glance at its upstanding, imposing front is sufficient to show, -was built for the accommodation of the great, or at any rate for those who -were great enough to be able to command the price of chaise-and-four and -sybarite accommodation; but the passing stranger would nowadays be -unlikely to secure any better meal than bread and cheese, and the greater -part of the house is silence and emptiness, while the once bustling yard -has subsided into that condition of picturesque decrepitude which, however -pleasing to the artist, tells of business decay. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "GEORGE AND DRAGON," WEST WYCOMBE.] - -It is, indeed, remarkable what picturesqueness lingers in the courtyards -of old inns. The front of the house may have been modernised, or in some -way smartened up, but the old gables and the casement windows are still -generally to be found in the rear, and sometimes the local church-tower -comes in, across the roof-tops, in a partly benedictory and wholly -sketchable way, as at the village of Dedham, near Colchester, where the -yard of the "Sun" inn and the church-tower combine to make a very fine -composition. A relic of the bygone coaching days of Dedham remains, in the -small oval spy-hole cut through the wall on either side of the tap-room -bay-window, and glazed, commanding views up and down the village street, -so that the approach of coaches coming either way might be clearly seen. - -[Illustration: THE YARD OF THE "SUN," DEDHAM.] - -[Illustration: THE "OLD SHIP," WORKSOP.] - -Dedham, however, is very far from being exceptionally fortunate among -Essex villages, in retaining old inns. It is an old-world county, largely -off the beaten track, and offering few inducements to the innovator. Among -the many humble old Essex inns the "Dial House" at Bocking, adjoining -Braintree, is notable; for although it is now only an ale-house, the -elaborately panelled and sculptured Renaissance oak of the tap-room walls -indicates a bygone grandeur whose history cannot now be even surmised. -Local records do not tell us the story of the "Dial House" before it -became an inn. The sign, it should be said, derives from an old sundial on -the wail. A curious contrivance may be noticed in one of the old wooden -seats in the tap-room; a circular hole, with a drawer below. The purpose -at first sight seems mysterious; but it appears that this is the simple -outfit for that ancient, and now illegal, game, shove-halfpenny. A recent -visit discloses the fact that all the beautiful panelling of the "Dial -House" has now been sold and removed. - -[Illustration: THE "OLD SWAN," ATHERSTONE.] - -The uniquely projecting porch of the "Old Ship" at Worksop, and the old -gabled house behind it, still keep a rustic air in the streets of that -growing town, just as the "Old Swan" at Atherstone, restored in a -judiciously conservative manner, will long serve to maintain memories of -the old England of four hundred years ago. - -All the old inns of the decayed port of Sandwich have, by dint of the -fallen circumstances of that once busy haven, become, with all their -surroundings, rural. Golfers have of late years enlivened the surroundings -of Sandwich, and partly peopled the empty streets, but commerce has for -ever forsaken this old Cinque Port. In one of the most silent streets -stands the inn now known as the "King's Arms," although, according to the -date of 1592 on the richly carved angle-post of the building, and with the -additional evidence of the Royal Arms supported by the Red Dragon of the -Tudors, it was erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The grotesque -figure carved in high relief on the angle-post appears to be a Tudor -Renaissance combination of Sun-god and the great god Pan. The front of the -house is covered with plaster, but there can be little doubt that here, -beneath that coating, as in numberless other instances, a good -half-timbered construction awaits discovery. Already, when the "King's -Arms" was built, Sandwich haven was being choked with the sand and shingle -brought by the Channel currents, and the seaport was seen to be doomed to -extinction. He was, therefore, a rash man who then built anew here, and -few indeed have been the new houses since then. - -A characteristic old inn of Sandwich is the queer old house with peaked -gables, contemporary with the "King's Arms," bearing the sign of the "Malt -Shovel," and exhibiting one of those implements of the maltster's trade -over the doorway. - -The fisher village of Mousehole, in Cornwall--whose name is a perennial -joy to visitors--possesses a manor-house turned inn; a private house made -public: if indeed it be not altogether derogatory to a picturesque village -inn to style it by a name more usually associated with a mere modern urban -drinking-shop. - -[Illustration: THE "KING'S ARMS," SANDWICH.] - -Mousehole may be found a little to the westward of Penzance and Newlyn. -Like most of its fellows, it lies along the sides and in the bottom of a -hollow, where the sea comes in like a pool, and gives more or less shelter -to fisher-boats. No one who retains his sense of smell ever has any doubt -of Mousehole being engaged in the fish trade, for there are fresh fish -continually being brought in, and there are fish, very far from fresh, -preserved in the fish-cellars that are so striking a feature of the -place, in the olfactory way. In those cellars the pilchards that are the -staple of the Cornish fishery are barrelled until such time as they are -wanted for export to the Mediterranean, whence, it is commonly believed, -they return, in all the glory of oil, tinned and labelled in strange -tongues, "sardines." - -[Illustration: THE "KEIGWIN ARMS," MOUSEHOLE.] - -In midst of the crowded houses, and in the thick of these ancient and -fishlike odours, stands this rugged old inn, the "Keigwin Arms," -remarkable for its picturesque exterior and for the boldly projecting -porch, supported on granite pillars, rather than for any internal -beauties. It survives, as it were, to show that not all manor-houses were -abodes of luxury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. - -I do not know what the Keigwins blazoned on their old coat, for the sign -displays no armorial bearings, and the Keigwins were long since extinct. -But they were once great here and otherwhere. Here they were the squires, -and you read that in 1595, when the Spaniards, grown saucy and revengeful -after their Armada disaster of seven years earlier, came and burnt the -town while Drake and Hawkins and our sea-dogs were looking the other way, -Jenkin Keigwin, the squire, was killed by a cannon-ball, in front of his -own house. - -[Illustration: THE "SWAN," KNOWLE.] - -[Illustration: SIGN OF THE "SWAN," KNOWLE.] - -When the "Swan" at Knowle, near Birmingham, was built, "ever so long -ago," which in this case was somewhere about the beginning of the -seventeenth century, the neighbourhood of Knowle was wild, open heath. The -country round about has long ceased to be anything at all of that nature, -but the village has until quite recently retained its rural look, and only -in our time is in process of being swallowed by the boa-constrictor of -suburban expansion. In a still rustic corner, near the church, the "Swan" -stands as sound as ever, and will probably be standing, just as sound in -every particular, centuries hence, when the neighbouring houses, built on -ninety-nine years leases, and calculated to last barely that time, will be -in the last stages of decay. The "Swan" has the additionally interesting -feature of a very fine wrought-iron bracket, designed in a free and -flowing style, to represent leaves and tendrils, and supporting a handsome -oval picture-sign of the "Swan." - -[Illustration: THE "RUNNING HORSE," MERROW.] - -Surrey lies too near London and all that tremendous fact implies for very -many of its ancient rural inns to have survived, but among those that -remain but little altered the "Running Horse" at Merrow stands out with -distinction. It was built, as the date over the great window of the centre -gable shows, in 1615, and, in unusual fashion for a country inn, in a -situation where ground space is plentiful, runs to height, rather than to -length. - -The frontispiece to this volume, "A Mug of Cider," showing a -picturesquely gabled and white-faced village inn, is a representation of -the "White Hart" at Castle Combe, Wiltshire, without doubt the most -old-world village in the county, where every house is in keeping, and the -modern builder has never gained a footing. It is one of the dozen or so -villages that might be bracketed together for first place in any -competition as to which is the "most picturesque village in England." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE EVOLUTION OF A COUNTRY INN - - -It was called simply the "Bear" inn, and had no idea of styling itself -"hotel." Embowered in trees, it stood well back from the road, for it was -modest and shy. A besom was placed outside the door, and on it the yokels -who were the inn's chief customers scraped off the sticky clay of the -ploughlands they had been tramping all day. The entrance-passage was -floored with great stone flags. On one side you saw the tap, its floor -sprinkled with sawdust, and on the other was a kind of sacred "best -parlour," furnished with a round table loaded with the impossible, -unreadable books of more than half a century ago, and a number of chairs -and a sofa, upholstered in horse-hair. In the rear was the family kitchen, -"keeping-room," and drawing-room, all in one. - -The cyclist of thirty-odd years ago--only he was a "bicyclist" -then--sprang lightly off his giraffe-like steed of steel, and, leaning it -against the white-washed wall, called for food and drink. The landlady, a -smiling, simple, motherly woman, in answer to his inquiry, told him that -she and her family were just sitting down to dinner, and he could have -some of it, if he wished. No need to tell him what it was: for there was -a scent of hot roast beef which seemed to him, who had breakfasted light -and early, the most desirable thing on earth for a hungry man. - -The landlady was for clearing the table in the sacred parlour and placing -his dinner there, but our early bicyclist was a man of the world--a kind -of secular St. Paul, "all things to all men"--and he suggested that, if -she didn't mind, and it was no intrusion, he would as soon have dinner -with the family. "Well, sir," said she, "you're very welcome, I'm sure," -and so he sat him down in company with two fresh-coloured daughters in -neat print dresses, and a silent, but not unamiable, son in corduroys and -an ancient jacket. - -That was a memorable dinner. There was good ale, in its native pewter, and -the roast beef was followed by a strange but delightful dish--whortleberry -tart--and that by a very Daniel Lambert of a cheese, of majestic -proportions and mellow taste. The talk at table was of crops and the -likelihood of the squire coming back to live in the long-deserted -neighbouring mansion. - -When he rose to go, and asked what he owed, the landlady, with much -diffidence, "for you see, sir, we ain't used to seeing many strangers," -thought perhaps tenpence would not be too much. That early tourist paid -the modest sum with enthusiasm. - -Preparing to mount his high bicycle again, the whole family must needs -come to see him off. They had never before set eyes upon such a -contrivance, and wondered how it could be kept upright. "Come thirty miles -on it to-day!" exclaimed the landlady: "well, I'm sure! You'll never catch -me on one of 'em." - -The bicyclist glanced whimsically at the stout, middle-aged matron, and -suppressed a smile at the thought. - -The next season saw that early wheelman upon the road again. He was now -not the only one who straddled across the top of some fifty inches of -wheel, and, as the novelty of such things had worn off, the cottagers no -longer rushed to doors and windows to gaze after him. Perhaps he did not -mind that so very much. - -He came again to the inn, and there he found subtle changes. Ploughmen and -clodhoppers in general were obviously now discouraged, for the besom had -disappeared. There was, too, a something of sufficiency in the manner of -the landlady, and one no longer would have desired to sit down to table -with her--nor she possibly have agreed, for the parlour had now lost -something of its sacramental detachedness, and had become a sort of -dining-room. Again roast beef, but cold, and whortleberry tart--with fewer -berries and more crust--and instead of the cheese that invited you to cut -and come again, a mere slice; while pewter was obviously reckoned vulgar, -for a glass was provided instead. The price had risen to one and six. - -"Many bicycliss' calls here now," said the landlady. Behind a newly -constructed bar stood her son. His cords were more baggy at the hips and -tighter at the knees, and he obviously knew a thing or two: beside him was -one of the daughters, garishly apparelled. - -In another year or so the village itself had changed. There was an -epidemic of mineral waters, and every aforetime simple cottager sold them, -professing to know nothing of the old-fashioned "stone bottle" -ginger-beer. The inn had now got a new window, something in the "Queen -Anne" way, that projected beyond the general building-line of the house -and converted what had been the tap into a "saloon" where two -golden-haired barmaids presided. The landlady had by this time got a black -satin dress, and was plentifully hung with gold chains. A highly varnished -suite of unreliable furniture from Curtain Road filled the dining-room, -whose walls were hung with the advertisements of pushful distillery -companies' latest liqueurs. "Lunch," consisting of a plate of indifferent -cold beef, some doubtful salad, bottled beer, a fossil roll, and a small -piece of American cheese, cost half a crown. - -One phase alone remains of this "strange, eventful history." The old-time -bicyclist, long since shorn of his first syllable--and of much else in -this vale of tears--comes now to his ancient haunt along a road thickly -overhung with dust-fog created by swift motor-cars, and finds a new wing -built, with--in the odd spirit of contradiction--an elaborate wrought-iron -sign projecting from it, proclaiming this to be "Ye Old Beare." He -further learns that it has "Accommodation for Motorists," sells petrol, -and boasts a "Garage and Inspection Pit." An ostler, or a something black -and greasy in the mechanic line, leads his cycle away in custody into the -yard. - -The landlady has now risen to the dignity of diamond rings, and the -dining-room to that of separate round tables, menus, serviettes and a -depressed and dingy waiter. Lager-beer, and something vinegary of the -claret order afford an indifferent choice, and if the house still -possesses a pewter tankard, it probably is cherished on some shelf as a -curious relic of savage times. The house professes to supply luncheons at -three shillings, but sweets and "attendance" are "extras." - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -INGLE-NOOKS - - -The chimney-corners of the old rustic inns, in which the gossips lingered -late on bitter winter nights, have ever formed an attraction for writers -of the historic novel. There is no more romantic opening possible than -that of the village inn, with the spiced ale warming on the hearth, and -the rustics toasting their toes in the ingle-nook, what time the wind -howls without, roars in the trees, like the roaring of an angry sea, and -takes hold of the casements and shakes and rattles them, as though some -outcast, denied admittance, would yet force his way into the warmth and -comfort, out of the cheerless night. The warring elements, and the gush of -wind and driven snow following the opening of the door and the entrance -from time to time of other recruits for the ingle-nook, would make that -cosy corner seem, if possible, only the more desirable. - -[Illustration: THE INGLE-NOOK, "WHITE HORSE" INN, SHERE.] - -In fact, there is no more sure way of engrossing a reader from the very -first page than that of beginning on this note. He feels that something -melodramatic is in the wind, and pokes the fire, snuggles up in his -arm-chair, and prepares to be thrilled. The thrill is generally not -long in coming, for there was never--or, well, hardly ever--any romantic -novel where an ingle-nook occurs in which we do not presently find the -advent of the inscrutable and taciturn stranger who, after calling, "Ho! -landlord, a tankard of your best," relapses into a bodeful and gloomy -silence, and piques the curiosity, and at the same time chills the marrow, -of the assembled company, and may turn out to be anything you please, -according to the period, from a king in disguise to a burglar on his way -to crack some lonely crib. - -Most of the ingle-nooks are gone, and modern fire-places are installed in -their stead, conferring upon the survivors an additional measure and -esteem of respect in these times of a reaction in favour of the old -English domestic arrangements. One of the finest of these surviving -examples is that of the "White Horse" at Shere, an old-world inn in midst -of an equally old-world village. Shere is the most picturesque of those -rural villages--Wotton, Abinger Hatch, Gomshall, Shere, Albury and -Shalford--strung along the road that runs, lovely, under the southern -shoulders of the bold South Downs, between Reigate and Guildford. Modern -times have passed it by, and the grey Norman church, a huge and ancient -tree, and the old "White Horse," have a very special quiet nook to -themselves. One would not like to hazard too close a guess as to the -antiquity of the "White Horse," whose sign is perhaps the only new thing -about it--and _that_ is a picturesque acquisition. The inn is, of course, -not of the Norman and early English antiquity of the church, but it was -built, let us say, "once upon a time"; which sounds vaguely impressive, -and in doing so begins to do justice to the old-world air of the inn. The -fine ingle-nook pictured here is to be found in the parlour, and is -furnished, as usual in such hospitable contrivances, with a seat on either -side and recesses for mugs and glasses. A fine array of copper kettles and -brass pots, candlesticks and apothecaries' mortars, together with an old -sampler, runs along the wide beam, and on the hearth are a beautiful pair -of fire-dogs and an elaborate cast-iron fireback. - -A good ingle-nook, rather obscured by the alterations and "improvements" -of late years, is to be found in a low-ceilinged little front room at the -"Anchor," Ripley, with a highly ornate fireback; and at the "Swan," -Haslemere, we have the ingle-nook in perhaps its simplest and roughest -expression, rudely brick-and-timber built and plastered, with an exiguous -little shelf running along the beam, and above that a gunrack. The simple -fire-dogs are entirely in character, and have probably been here almost as -long as the ingle-nook itself. - -[Illustration: INGLE-NOOK AT THE "SWAN," HASLEMERE.] - -The ingle-nook of the "Crown" inn at Chiddingfold exists, little altered, -although a little iron grate, now itself of considerable age, has been -built on the wide open hearth, with a brick smoke-hood over it. You see -again, on either side of the deep recess, above the side benches, the -little square cranny in the wall, handy to reach by those sitting in the -nook, and intended, in those bygone days when this cosy feature was still -in use, to hold the tankards, the jugs, and the pipes of those who here -very literally "took their ease at their inn." - -[Illustration: INGLE-NOOK AT THE "TALBOT," TOWCESTER.] - -In this room the curious may notice the copy of a deed, dated March 22nd, -1383, conveying the inn from one Peter Pokeland to Richard Gofayre; but, -although the "Crown" is a house of considerable antiquity, and mentioned -in that document, the existing house is not of so great an age as this, -and has been rebuilt, or very extensively remodelled, since then. - -A fine ingle-nook, with ancient iron crane, is now a feature of the -refurnished "Lygon Arms" at Broadway, in Worcestershire, an hotel that in -these latter days has been carefully "restored" and so fitted out with -modern-ancient features by Warings, and some really old articles of -furniture, purchased here, there, and everywhere, that in course of time -posterity may agree to consider the whole house-full a legacy, as it -stands, of the old domestic economy of the inn-keeping of the sixteenth, -the seventeenth, and the eighteenth centuries. - -At the quaint Kentish village of Sissinghurst, near Cranbrook, stands the -old "Bull" inn. It had a rugged ingle-nook occupying one side of the -taproom, and on the wall picturesquely hung a very old pair of bellows, a -domestic utensil now not often seen. In the corner of the room stood a -gigantic eight-footer "grandfather" clock. But the chief item of interest -was, without doubt, the roasting-jack over the hearth, with the date -"1684." All this formed one of the most delightful old-world interiors, -until quite recently, but now the ingle is abolished and the ancient crane -sold to a museum. - -A particularly good ingle-nook is to be seen in what is now a lumber-room, -but was once the tap-room of the "Talbot" inn at Towcester, the great -oaken beam spanning the fireplace being quaintly carved, in flat and low -relief, with the figure of that extinct breed of dog, the "talbot." - -[Illustration: THE INGLE-NOOK, "CROWN" INN, CHIDDINGFOLD.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -INNKEEPERS' EPITAPHS - - -In the long, long pages of the large collections of curious epitaphs that -have been printed from time to time, we find innkeepers celebrated, no -less than those of other trades and professions. The irreverent wags who -made light of all ills, and turned every calling into a jest had, it may -well be supposed, a fine subject to their hands in the landlords of the -village ale-houses. - -To Richard Philpots (appropriate name!) of the "Bell" inn, Bell End, who -died in 1766, we find an elaborate stone in the churchyard of -Belbroughton, near Kidderminster, with these verses: - - To tell a merry or a wonderous tale - Over a chearful glass of nappy Ale, - In harmless mirth, was his supreme delight, - To please his Guests or Friends by Day or Night; - But no fine tale, how well soever told, - Could make the tyrant Death his stroak withold; - That fatal Stroak has laid him here in dust, - To rise again once more with Joy, we trust. - -On the upper portion of this Christian monument are carved, in high -relief, a punch-bowl and a flagon: emblems, presumably, of those pots -that Mr. Philpots delighted to fill. The inscription is fast becoming -obliterated, but the fine old "Bell" inn stands as well as ever it did, on -the coach-road between Stourbridge and Bromsgrove, with the sign of a bell -hanging picturesquely from it. - -Collectors of epitaphs are, however, a credulous and uncritical race, and -are content to collect from irresponsible sources. All is fish that comes -to their net, and, so only the thing be in some way unusual, it finds a -place in their note-books, without their having taken the trouble to -search on the spot and verify. Thus, at Upton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, -is supposed to be the following: - - Beneath this stone, in hopes of Zion - Doth lie the landlord of the "Lion." - His son keeps on the business still, - Resigned unto the heavenly will. - -Vain is the search of the conscientious historian for that gem, or for its -variant: - - Here lies the body of Matilda Brown, - Who, while alive, was hostess of the "Crown," - Resigned unto the heavenly will, - Her son keeps on the business still. - -It would, perhaps, be too much to say there was never such an epitaph at -Upton, but certainly there is not one of the kind there now. - -[Illustration: INGLE-NOOK, "LYGON ARMS," BROADWAY.] - -A publican whose name was Pepper is commemorated by an odd epitaph in the -churchyard of St. John's, Stamford. None of the funny dogs who indulged -in mortuary japes and quips and cranks could have resisted the temptation -of the name "Pepper," and thus we find: - - Hot by name, but mild by nature, - He brewed good ale for every creature; - He brewed good ale, and sold it too, - And unto each man gave his due. - -In Pannal churchyard, between Wakefield and Harrogate, is the terse -inscription on Joseph Thackerey, who died November 26th, 1791: - - In the year of our Lord 1740 - I came to the "Crown"; - In 1791 they laid me down. - -Presumably the idea the writer here intended to convey was that this -landlord of the "Crown" was "laid down" after the manner of wine in bins, -to mature. - -At St. John's, Leeds, are said to be the following lines, dated 1793, that -have a lilt somewhat anticipatory of the _Bab Ballads_ metres, on one who -was originally a clothier: - - Hic jacet, sure the fattest man - That Yorkshire stingo made, - He was a lover of his can, - A clothier by his trade. - His waist did measure three yards round, - He weighed almost three hundred pound. - His flesh did weigh full twenty stone: - His flesh, I say,--he had no bone, - At least, 'tis said he had none. - -The next, at Northallerton, seems to be by way of warning to innkeepers -at all disposed to drinking their stock: - - Hic jacet Walter Gun, - Sometime Landlord of the "Sun"; - Sic transit gloria mundi, - He drank hard upon Friday, - That being a high day, - Then took to his bed and died upon Sunday. - -Why did he, according to the epitaph, merely "die"? Surely, from the point -of view of an incorrigibly eccentric epitaph-writer, a man not only named -Gun, but spelling his name with one "n," and dying so suddenly, should -have "gone off." We are sadly compelled to acknowledge this particular wag -to be an incompetent. - -If Mr. Walter Gun had been more careful and abstemious, he might have -emulated the subject of our next example, and completed a half-century of -inn-keeping, as did John Wigglesworth, of Whalley, who, as under, seems to -have been a burning and a shining light and exemplar: - - HERE LIES THE BODY OF - JOHN WIGGLESWORTH, - - More than fifty years he was the perpetual innkeeper in this Town. - Notwithstanding the temptations of that dangerous calling, he - maintained good order in his House, kept the Sabbath Day Holy, - frequented the Public Worship with his family, induced his guests to - do the same, and regularly partook of the Holy Communion. He was also - bountiful to the Poor, in private, as well as in public, and by the - blessings of Providence on a life so spent, died possessed of - competent Wealth, - - Feb. 28, 1813, - Aged 77 years. - -This was written by Dr. Whittaker, the historian of Whalley, who seems, -according to the last line of this tremendous effort, to have been -considerably impressed by the innkeeper's "competent wealth," even to the -extent of reckoning it among the virtues. - -At Barnwell All Saints, near Oundle, Northants, we read this epitaph on an -innkeeper: - - Man's life is like a winter's day, - Some only breakfast, and away; - Others to dinner stay, and are full fed: - The oldest man but sups, and goes to bed. - Large is his debt who lingers out the day, - Who goes the soonest has the least to pay. - Death is the waiter, some few run on tick, - And some, alas! must pay the bill to Nick! - Tho' I owed much, I hope long trust is given, - And truly mean to pay all debts in heaven. - -Worldly creditors might well look askance at such a resolution as that -expressed in the last line, for there is no parting there. - -In the churchyard of the deserted old church of Stockbridge, Hampshire, -the curious may still, with some difficulty, find the whimsical epitaph of -John Bucket, landlord of the "King's Head" in that little town, who died, -aged 67, in 1802: - - And is, alas! poor Bucket gone? - Farewell, convivial honest John. - Oft at the well, by fatal stroke, - Buckets, like pitchers, must be broke. - In this same motley, shifting scene, - How various have thy fortunes been. - Now lifting high, now sinking low, - To-day the brim would overflow. - Thy bounty then would all supply, - To fill, and drink, and leave thee dry, - To-morrow sunk as in a well, - Content, unseen, with Truth to dwell. - But high or low, or wet or dry, - No rotten stave could malice spy. - Then rise, immortal Bucket, rise, - And claim thy station in the skies; - 'Twixt Amphora and Pisces shine, - Still guarding Stockbridge with thy sign. - -Lawrence, the great proprietor of the "Lion" at Shrewsbury, lies in the -churchyard of St. Julian, hard by his old inn, and on the south wall of -the church may yet be read his epitaph: "Sacred to the memory of Mr. -Robert Lawrence, for many years proprietor of the 'Raven' and 'Lion' inns -in this town, to whose public spirit and unremitting exertions for upwards -of thirty years, in opening the great road through Wales between the -United Kingdoms, as also for establishing the first mail coach to this -town, the public in general have been greatly indebted, and will long have -to regret his loss. Died III September MDCCCVI, in the LVII year of his -age." - -Not an innkeeper, but a brewer, was Thomas Tipper, whose alliterative name -is boldly carved on his remarkable tombstone in the windy little -churchyard of Newhaven. I make no sort of apology or excuse for including -Tipper's epitaph in this chapter, for if he did not, in fact, keep an inn, -he at any rate kept many inns supplied with his "stingo," and his brew was -a favourite with the immortal Mrs. Gamp, an acknowledged connoisseur in -curious liquors. A "pint of the celebrated staggering ale or Real Old -Brighton Tipper," was her little whack at supper-time. - -[Illustration: TIPPER'S EPITAPH, NEWHAVEN.] - -Tipper was by way of being an Admirable Crichton, as by his epitaph, -written by T. Clio Rickman, you perceive; but his claim upon the world's -gratitude was, and is, the production of good beer. Is, I say, because -although Tipper himself has gone to amuse the gods with the interminable -cantos of _Hudibras_, and to tickle them in the ribs with his own -comicality, his ale is still brewed at Newhaven, by Messrs. Towner Bros., -and keeps to this day that pleasantly sharp taste, which is said to come -from the well whence the water for it is drawn having some communication -with the sea. This sharpness conferred upon it the "stingo" title. It is, -to all intents and purposes, identical with the "humming ale," and the -"nappy" strong ale, so frequently mentioned by the Elizabethan and -Jacobean dramatists. - -The carving in low relief at the head of Tipper's tombstone, with vaguely -defined clouds and winged cherubs' heads in the background, is a -representation of old Newhaven Bridge, that formerly crossed the Ouse. - -Attached to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, whose tall and beautiful -tower forms so striking an object in views of London Bridge, is a grim -little plot of land, once a churchyard green with grass and open to the -sunshine, but now only to be reached through the vestry, and hemmed in by -tall buildings to such an extent that sunshine will not reach down there, -and the earth is bare and dark. There stands the well-preserved stone to -the memory of Robert Preston, once "drawer"--that is to say, a -"barman"--at the famous "Boar's Head," Eastcheap. The stone was removed -from the churchyard of St. Michael, Paternoster Royal. Planted doubtless -by some sentimental person, a small vine-tree grows at the foot of the -stone. - -[Illustration: PRESTON'S EPITAPH, ST. MAGNUS-THE-MARTYR.] - -Among minor epitaphs that may be noticed to persons in some way engaged in -the licensed victualling trade, is that in the churchyard of Capel Curig, -on the Holyhead Road, to Jonathan Jackson, who died in 1848, and was "for -many years a most confidential waiter at Capel Curig inn." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -INNS WITH ODD PRIVILEGES - - -Here and there, scattered in the byways of the country, rather than -situated in towns, inns may be found that have some attribute out of the -common, in the way of privileges conferred or usurped. Thus, the licence -of the "White Hart" inn at Adwalton, near Drighlington, Yorkshire, has, or -had, the unusual privilege of holding the charter for the local fair, -granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1576 to John Brookes, the then landlord, who -under that charter held the exclusive right to levy tolls and direct the -entire conduct of the gathering. - -This royal grant recalls a once-celebrated inn on a road in Derbyshire -greatly travelled in the coaching age. In a now lonely position on that -very bleak and elevated highway, the road between Ashbourne and Buxton, -stands the inn known as "Newhaven House." A haven of some sort was sorely -wanted there in coaching days, and accordingly this great building was -ordained by the Duke of Rutland, one of those two overawing noble -landlords of the district, who had merely to say, in their off-hand -manner, "Let it be done," for almost anything to be done, forthwith. - -It was in the flamboyant days of George the Fourth that the "Newhaven" inn -arose, and his Majesty himself stayed one night "under its roof," as the -guide-books carefully say, lest perhaps we might suspect him of sleeping -on the tiles. Those were the days when travelling Majesties still did -picturesque things, more or less in the manner of the Caliphs in the -_Arabian Nights_; and the great George, by some mysterious exercise of -kingly prerogative, granted the house a perpetual licence, by way of -signifying his content with the entertainment provided. That perpetual -licence must once have been a very valuable asset of the Manners family, -for the house was, in the merry days of the road, one of the -best-appointed and most thriving posting and coaching establishments of -the age; but in these times it is very quiet and very empty, save for the -great Newhaven horse- and cattle-fairs, in spring and autumn, now the two -red-letter days of the year for the once-busy hostelry. - -From a perpetual licence to a licence for one day in every year is a -curious extreme, afforded by the village of King's Cliffe, Northants, -where any householder, under the terms of a charter granted in the reign -of King John, may, if he so pleases, on the day of the annual autumn fair, -sell beer; provided that a branch of a tree is suspended over the doorway, -after the manner of the "bush" anciently displayed by the ale-stakes. - -Among London suburban inns demolished in recent times and rebuilt is the -"White Hart," on Hackney Marshes: that sometime desolate and remote place -of footpads and swamps. To-day "Hackney Marshes" is merely a name. Little -in the actual appearance of the place, unless it be in midst of some -particularly mild and wet winter, suggests a marsh, and the broad level -stretch of grass is, in fact, in process of becoming a conventional London -park. Through the midst of the Marsh flows the river Lea, and the several -"cuts" that have been at different times made for commercial purposes -divide up the surrounding wastes with foul, canal-like reaches. - -[Illustration: "NEWHAVEN" INN.] - -A very ancient cut indeed, and one now little better than a ditch, is that -of the Temple stream, made for the purpose of the Temple Mills, so called -from the manor having anciently belonged to the Knights Templars. The -site of the mills is still pointed out by the "White Hart." The old inn -was said to have been built in 1514, and in after years was a reputed -haunt of Dick Turpin, that phenomenally ubiquitous highwayman who, if all -those legends were true, must have been no single person, but a syndicate, -and a large one at that. The house, which bore no evidence of -sixteenth-century antiquity on its whitewashed, brick-built face, was a -favourite resort of holiday-making East Enders, and, with its long, white -front and cheerful old red-tiled roof, seemed a natural part of the -scenery, just as the still-extant "White House" or "Old Ferry House" inn, -half a mile distant, does to this day. It was, however, wantonly rebuilt -in 1900, and replaced by a dull, evil-looking public-house that looks very -much down on its luck. The appearance of the old house suggested festivity -in the open-air tea and watercresses style; the new is suggestive only of -drinking across a bar. - -But a long-existing privilege still belongs to the property, the landlord -being the proprietor of a private toll-bridge leading across the Temple -stream to Leyton. He exercises that right in virtue of some predecessor -having long ago repaired the broken-down passage when three parishes whose -boundaries meet here disputed and declined the liability. Accordingly, -although foot-passengers pass freely, a penny is levied upon a bicycle, -and upon each head of sheep or cattle, and twopence for carts, carriages, -motor-cars, or motor-bicycles, at the little hut where the tollkeeper -lounges in a very bored manner. Well may he look so, for although, in -exceptional times of holiday, the toll has been known to yield, once or -twice, so much as a pound in a day, five shillings is a more usual sum, -and there are many days in winter when threepence has been the sum-total -of the day's revenue. - -[Illustration: THE "VINE TAVERN," MILE END ROAD.] - -A similar right is said to belong to the "White House," where a -substantial timber bridge spans the Lea itself, but it lies only on a -little-used bridle-path, and the right does not appear to be exercised. -The scene here has elements of picturesqueness, and could be made a good -subject in colour. - -In October, 1903, the "Vine," the old inn that had stood so long and so -oddly on "Mile End Waste," was demolished. Although it had stood there for -three hundred years, there was not the slightest trace about the building -of any architectural embellishment, the front of it being merely an -extremely unlovely and ill-cared-for example of a London public-house, -while the back Was a weather-boarded relic of the vanished rural days of -the Mile End Road. - -Like the fly in amber, - - The thing itself was neither rich nor rare: - We only wondered how the devil it got there. - -The manner of it may be guessed. In the old, easy-going days some impudent -squatter sat down on that wide selvedge of open space beside the road and -built the primeval hovel from which the "Vine" sprang, and in the course -of time, by the mere lapse of twenty-one years, acquired a title to the -site. Hence the isolated building, standing in advance of the general line -of houses. But, if the illustration be carefully scanned, it will be noted -that at some very much later period the then owner, much more impudent -than the original grabber of public, or "waste" land, seems to have stolen -an additional piece. This is evident enough, not only in the different -styles and periods of the building, but in the manner in which the little -attic windows in the roof are obscured by the addition. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -INNS IN LITERATURE - - -Inns occupy a very large and prominent place in the literature of all -ages. A great deal of Shakespeare is concerned with inns, most prominent -among them the "Boar's Head," in Eastcheap, scene of many of Falstaff's -revels; while at the "Garter," at Windsor, Falstaff had "his chamber, his -house, his castle, his standing bed and truckle-bed," and his chamber was -"painted about with the Story of the Prodigal, fresh and new." - -It is difficult to see what the old dramatists could have done without -inns. In Farquhar's _Beaux' Stratagem_ we find some of the best dialogue -to be that at the inn at Lichfield, between Boniface, the landlord, and -Aimwell. - -"I have heard your town of Lichfield much famed for ale," says Aimwell: "I -think I'll taste that." - -"Sir," replies the landlord, "I have now in my cellar ten tun of the best -ale in Staffordshire; 'tis smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as amber, -and strong as brandy, and will be just fourteen years old the fifth day of -next March, old style." - -"You're very exact in the age of your ales." - -"As punctual, sir, as in the age of my children. I'll show you such ale. -Here, tapster, broach number 1706, as the saying is. Sir, you shall taste -my _anno domini_. I have lived in Lichfield, man and boy, above fifty -years, and, I believe, have not consumed eight-and-fifty ounces of meat." - -"At a meal, you mean, if one may guess your sum by your bulk." - -"Not in my life, sir; I have fed freely upon ale. I have ate my ale, drank -my ale, and I always sleep upon ale." - -Izaak Walton, going a-fishing in the river Lea, was not ashamed to call at -the "Swan," Tottenham High Cross, and drink ale, and call it "nectar." - -The history of the inns at which Pepys stayed would form an interesting -subject of inquiry. Few men of his time were better informed than he on -the subject of inns: large, small, dear, cheap, comfortable and -uncomfortable: they are all set forth in detail in his _Diary_. He more -than once patronised the "Red Lion" at Guildford, a far more important -house then than now. At that time it possessed very fine and extensive -orchards and gardens, and, according to Aubrey, could make up fifty beds, -and owned stables for two hundred horses. Imagination can easily picture -Mr. Pepys, during his stay in 1661, cutting asparagus for supper: "the -best that ever I ate in my life." - -Those gardens were long since abolished, and Market Street stands on the -site of them. - -On June 10th, 1668, we find him sleeping at the "George," Salisbury, in a -silk bed. He notes that he had "very good diet, but very dear," and had -probably, overnight, when sleeping in that silk bed, been visited with -gruesome thoughts of the bill to follow the luxury. The bill was, as he -expressed it, "exorbitant." - -Insatiable curiosity in that old Pepys. Something, too, of childlike -wonder, infantile artlessness, and a fear of strange things, and the dark. -His inquisitiveness took him to the lonely giant ramparts of Old Sarum, -"prodigious, so as to fright me"; and thereabouts he and his party of -three ladies riding pillion found, and stayed at, a rustic inn, where a -pedlar was turned out of bed in order that our Samuel might turn in. The -party found the beds "lousy." Strangely enough, this was a discovery -"which made us merry." Every man to his taste in merriment. - -And so, enjoying the full savour of life, he goes his way, as appreciative -of good music as of a good dinner, and a connoisseur alike of sermons and -of a pretty face. Did he ever outlive his lusts, and know all things to be -vanities, before his natural force had abated? or did the end surprise him -in midst of his worldly activities? - -A transition from Pepys to Sir Roger de Coverley is easy and natural. The -old servant in Sir Roger's family, retiring from service and taking an -inn, is one of Addison's most pleasing pictures. To do honour to his -master, the old retainer had Sir Roger's portrait painted and hung it out -as his sign, under the title of the "Knight's Head." - -As soon as Sir Roger was acquainted with it, finding that his servant's -indiscretion proceeded wholly from affection and good-will, he only told -him that he made him too high a compliment; and when the fellow seemed to -think that could hardly be, added, with a more decisive look, that it was -too great an honour for any man under a duke; but told him, at the same -time, that it might be altered with a very few touches, and that he -himself would be at the charge of it. Accordingly, they got a painter, by -the Knight's directions, to add a pair of whiskers to the face, and, by a -little aggravation of the features, to change it into the "Saracen's -Head." - -According to Pope, in his _Moral Essays_, it was at an inn that the witty -and sparkling debauchee, George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, "the -most accomplished man of the age, in riding, dancing, and fencing," died -in his fifty-ninth year, in 1687: - - In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung, - The floors of plaster and the walls of dung, - On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw, - With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw, - The George and Garter dangling from that bed - Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, - Great Villiers lies--alas! how changed from him, - That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim. - -A most complete picture of retribution in a moral essay, set forth in the -most denunciatory lines. - -In the whole range of poetry there is nothing that so well lends itself to -a cold, calculated vituperation as the heroic couplet. You can pile detail -upon detail, like an inventory-clerk, so long as rhymes last; and thus an -impeachment of this sort has a very formidable air. - -[Illustration: HOUSE WHERE THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM DIED, KIRKBY MOORSIDE.] - -But it has been denied that the profligate Duke ended in such misery. -However that may be, he maintained his peculiar reputation to the last; -for, according to Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London, he "died between two common -girls," at the house of one of his tenants in the Yorkshire village of -Kirkby Moorside. That house is still wearily pointed out to the insistent -stranger by the uninterested Kirkby Moorsiders, who, as Yorkshiremen with -magnificent thirsts, are uninterested, chiefly by reason of its being no -longer an inn; and, truth to tell, its old-time picturesque features, if -it ever had any, are wholly overlaid by furiously ugly modern shop-fronts. -Now, if it were only the "Swan," some little way up the street, still, in -the midst of picturesque squalor, dispensing drink of varied sorts to all -and sundry, for good current coin of the realm, one might conceive some -local historic and literary enthusiasm. The "Swan," however, has no -associations, and is merely, with its projecting porch, supported upon -finely carved but woefully dilapidated seventeenth-century Renaissance -pillars, a subject for an artist. The odd, and ugly, encroachment of an -adjoining hairdresser's shop is redeemed, from that same artistic point of -view, by that now unusual object, a barber's pole, projecting across. - -The robust pages of Fielding and Smollett are rich in incidents of travel, -and in scenes at wayside inns, where postboys, persecuted lovers, -footpads, and highwaymen mingle romantically. The "Three Jolly Pigeons," -the village ale-house of Goldsmith's _She Stoops to Conquer_, must not be -forgotten, while the "Black Bear" in Sir Walter Scott's _Kenilworth_, is -prominent. Marryat, Theodore Hook, Harrison Ainsworth, Charles Lever, -Bulwer Lytton, all largely introduced inns into their novels. Dickens, of -course, is so prolific in his references to inns and taverns that he -requires special chapters. Thackeray's inns are as the poles asunder from -those of Dickens, and are superior places, the resorts of superior -people, and of people who, if not superior, endeavour to appear so. In -short, in their individual treatment of inns, Dickens and Thackeray are -thoroughly characteristic and dissimilar. Thackeray's waiters and the -waiters drawn by Dickens are very different. Thackeray could never have -imagined the waiter at the "Old Royal," at Birmingham, who, having -succeeded in obtaining an order for soda-water from Bob Sawyer, "melted -imperceptibly away"; nor the preternaturally mean and cunning waiters at -Yarmouth and at the "Golden Cross," in _David Copperfield_--own brothers -to the Artful Dodger. I don't think there could ever have existed such -creatures. - -[Illustration: THE "BLACK SWAN," KIRKBY MOORSIDE.] - -Thackeray's waiters are not figments of the imagination; they are drawn -from the life, as, for example, John, the old waiter in _Vanity Fair_, -who, when Dobbin returns to England, after ten years in India, welcomes -him as if he had been absent only weeks, and supposes he'll have a roast -fowl for dinner. - -But in the amazing quantity of drink they consume, the characters of -Dickens and Thackeray are on common ground. Mr. Pickwick could apparently -begin drinking brandy shortly after breakfast, and continue all day, -without being much the worse for it; and in _Pendennis_ we read how Jack -Finucane and Mr. Trotter, dining at Dick's Restaurant with Mr. Bungay, -drank with impunity what would easily suffice to overthrow most modern -men. - -Washington Irving thought as highly of inns as did Dr. Johnson. "To a -homeless man, who has no spot on this wide world which he can truly call -his own," he says, in a memorable passage, "there is a momentary feeling -of something like independence and territorial consequence when, after a -weary day's travel, he kicks off his boots, thrusts his feet into -slippers, and stretches himself before an inn fire. Let the world without -go as it may; let kingdoms rise or fall, so long as he has the wherewithal -to pay his bill, he is, for the time being, the very monarch of all he -surveys. The armchair is his throne, the poker his sceptre, and the little -parlour, some twelve feet square, his undisputed empire. It is a morsel of -certainty, snatched from the midst of the uncertainties of life; it is a -sunny moment gleaming out kindly on a cloudy day; and he who has advanced -some way on the pilgrimage of existence knows the importance of husbanding -even morsels and moments of enjoyment. 'Shall I not take mine ease in mine -inn?' thought I, as I gave the fire a stir, lolled back in my elbow-chair, -and cast a complacent look about the little parlour of the 'Red Horse,' at -Stratford-on-Avon." - -He was very speedily answered, No! for at that instant the chimes preluded -the stroke of midnight, and at the same time "a gentle tap came at the -door, and a pretty chambermaid, putting in her smiling face, inquired, -with a hesitating air," whether that momentary monarch of all he surveyed -had rung. Of course she knew perfectly well he had not rung, and the -humbled autocrat of those twelve square feet was quite correct when he -"understood it as a modest hint that it was time to retire." The Emperor -of the Inn Parlour accordingly abdicated immediately, lest a worse -thing--_i.e._, the possible turning off the gas at the meter--should -befall; and, his dream of absolute dominion at an end, went off to bed, -like a good boy, rather than the Crowned Head he had fancied himself. - -[Illustration: WASHINGTON IRVING'S "THRONE" AND "SCEPTRE."] - -The "Red Horse"--the name is taken from the Vale of Red Horse in which the -town of Stratford-on-Avon stands--is still in being, and the "Washington -Irving Room" is even yet a shrine, of sorts. A shrine, however, none too -easy for the casual worshipper of heroes, or the amateur of literary -landmarks, to come to, for it is generally used as a private sitting-room; -and not the most sympathetic and easy-going of guests who has hired it for -that purpose is content to receive all day a stream of strangers bubbling -over with real, or affected, interest. It is a small room, measuring some -ten feet by fifteen, looking out upon Bridge Street. Nowadays the walls of -it are hung with portraits of Irving himself, of Longfellow, and others, -together with old views of the town; and a framed letter written by -Irving, and a silhouette of "Sally Garner," daughter of the landlord of -that time, bring the place closely into touch with the _Sketch Book_. The -"Sexton's Clock" stands beside the door, with a suitably inscribed brass -plate; but no longer may you wield that poker which was Irving's -"sceptre," nor sit in the chair that was, in his fancy, a throne; for the -poker is kept in the office of the hotel, and the chair, also with an -inscribed brass plate, is locked within a cupboard, through whose glass -doors you may see where it is jealously retired from touch. In short, -every thing that will harbour an inscription has one, not excepting the -poker itself, which has been engraved with the legend, "Geoffrey Crayon's -Sceptre." - -The chambermaid who so obliquely suggested that it was time to go to bed, -and no doubt preceded him to Number 15, with candle and warming-pan, was, -we are told, "pretty Hannah Cuppage," and we wish he had told us more -about her, instead of writing so much very thin description of -antiquities. - -Poets--Southey apart, with his tragical _Mary, the Maid of the Inn_--have -not sung so frequently as might have been expected of the fair maids at -inns. Of this type of minstrelsy, Gay's ballad on Molly Mog, daughter of -the landlord at the "Rose," Wokingham, is best known: - - Says my Uncle, I pray you discover - What hath been the cause of your woes; - Why you pine and you whine like a lover? - --I have seen Molly Mog, of the "Rose." - - O Nephew! your grief is but folly, - In town you may find better prog; - Half a crown there will get you a Molly, - A Molly much better than Mog. - -But he will not hear anything of the kind: - - I know that by wits 'tis recited - That women are best at a clog: - But I am not so easily frighted - From loving of sweet Molly Mog. - -And so forth, for twelve more verses; when, having exhausted all possible -rhymes to "Mog," he concludes, not before we are heartily tired of him and -Molly too. - -The ballad was composed in the company of Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot, the -four friends whiling away the dull hours of a rainy day at the inn by -capping verses in praise of Molly, "with pluvial patter for refrain." - -The verses were supposed to be the lament of the love-lorn young Squire of -Arborfield, the last of the Standens, who died through an unrequited -affection for her. - -The beautiful Molly lived to the age of sixty-seven, and died a spinster, -in 1766. It should be added that the present "Rose" inn at Wokingham, -although itself of great age, and not unpicturesque, and an inn centuries -before coy Molly herself was thought of, has only in modern times adopted -the sign. The old "Rose" is the plain red-brick house opposite, now -occupied partly as an ironmonger's shop. - -Another Mary, maid--barmaid--of the inn, is sung in the modern song, "The -Belle of the 'Rose and Crown'"; but no one would accuse that of being -poetry. How does it go?-- - - I'm saving 'em all for Mary, she shall have ev'ry one, - I'm saving 'em all for Mary, she shall have lots of fun. - They know me well at the County Bank, - Cash is better than fame or rank. - So, happy-go-lucky, I'll marry my ducky, - The Belle of the "Rose and Crown." - -Let us hope, in all charity, that purse-proud bounder and the barmaid -married, and lived happily ever after. - -Inns figure in various ways in literature. Daniel De Foe wrote a part of -_Robinson Crusoe_ at the "Rose and Crown" at Halifax, and at the "Royal -Hotel," at Bideford, Charles Kingsley wrote _Westward Ho!_ During a -wakeful night at the "Burford Bridge Hotel," near Dorking, Robert Louis -Stevenson imagined a highway romance in the tapping of an outside shutter -by some chance wayfarer at dead o' night, and there Keats composed -_Endymion_. - -The "Royal" is in many respects a notable house. The earliest portion, -dating from 1688, is the old mansion of one of Bideford's merchant -princes, who flourished so bravely in the remote times when distance had -not been annihilated by mechanical invention and when each port had its -own rich and self-contained trade. The house compares well with the "Star" -Hotel at Yarmouth, whose history closely matches it. Here, at Bideford, a -finely carved oak staircase leads to rooms magnificently panelled and -furnished with moulded plaster ceilings designed in wreaths of fruits and -flowers, ascribed to Italian workmanship. The Drawing-room, in which -_Westward Ho!_ or a portion of it, was written, has an exceptionally fine -ceiling, of this type. - -The great "Lion" inn on Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, forms the scene of one of De -Quincey's mystical rhapsodies. It is the house to which he came in 1802, -when, as a youth, he was setting forth in his unpractical way for London. -He had walked in from Oswestry, reaching Shrewsbury two hours after -nightfall. Innkeepers in those times knew little of pedestrians who footed -it for pleasure, and classed all who walked when they might have rode as -tramps. Therefore, it will be allowed that De Quincey timed his arrival -well, at an hour when dusty feet are not so easily seen. However, had his -shoes been noticed, he was ready with a defence, for he came to the "Lion" -as a passenger already booked to London by the Mail. An Oswestry friend -had performed that service for him, and here he was come to await the -arrival of that conveyance. - -"This character," he says, "at once installed me as rightfully a guest of -the inn, however profligate a life I might have previously led as a -pedestrian. Accordingly I was received with special courtesy, and, it so -happened, with something even like pomp. Four wax-lights carried before me -by obedient mutes, these were but ordinary honours, meant (as old -experience had instructed me) for the first engineering step towards -effecting a lodgment upon the stranger's purse. In fact, the wax-lights -are used by innkeepers, both abroad and at home, to 'try the range of -their guns.' If the stranger submits quietly, as a good anti-pedestrian -ought surely to do, and fires no counter-gun by way of protest, then he is -recognised at once as passively within range, and amenable to orders. I -have always looked upon this fine of 5_s._ or 7_s._ (for wax that you do -not absolutely need) as a sort of inaugural _honorarium_ entrance-money, -what in jails used to be known as _smart_ money, proclaiming me to be a -man _comme il faut_, and no toll in this world of tolls do I pay so -cheerfully. This, meantime, as I have said, was too customary a form to -confer much distinction. The wax-lights, to use the magnificent Grecian -phrase [Greek: epomp eue] moved pompously before me, as the holy-holy fire -(the inextinguishable fire and its golden hearth) moved before Caesar -_semper_ Augustus, when he made his official or ceremonial _avatars_. Yet -still this moved along the ancient channels of glorification: it rolled -along ancient grooves--I might say, indeed, like one of the twelve Caesars -when dying, _Ut puto, Deus fio_ (It's my private opinion that at this very -moment I am turning into a god), but still the metamorphosis was not -complete. _That_ was accomplished when I stepped into the sumptuous room -allotted to me. It was a ball-room of noble proportions--lighted, if I -chose to issue orders, by three gorgeous chandeliers, not basely wrapped -up in paper, but sparkling through all their thickets of crystal branches, -and flashing back the soft rays of my tall waxen lights. There were, -moreover, two orchestras, which money would have filled within thirty -minutes. And, upon the whole, one thing only was wanting--viz., a throne, -for the completion of my _apotheosis_. - -"It might be seven p.m. when first I entered upon my kingdom. About three -hours later I rose from my chair, and with considerable interest looked -out into the night. For nearly two hours I had heard fierce winds arising; -and the whole atmosphere had by this time become one vast laboratory of -hostile movements in all directions. Such a chaos, such a distracting -wilderness of dim sights, and of those awful 'sounds that live in -darkness' (Wordsworth's _Excursion_), never had I consciously -witnessed.... Long before midnight the household (with the exception of a -solitary waiter) had retired to rest. Two hours, at least, were left to -me, after twelve o'clock had struck, for heart-shaking reflections, and -the local circumstances around me deepened and intensified these -reflections, impressed upon them solemnity and terror, sometimes even -horror.... - -"The unusual dimensions of the rooms, especially their towering height, -brought up continually and obstinately, through natural links of -associated feelings or images, the mighty vision of London waiting me, -afar off. An altitude of nineteen or twenty feet showed itself unavoidably -upon an exaggerated scale in some of the smaller side-rooms--meant -probably for cards or for refreshments. This single feature of the -rooms--their unusual altitude, and the echoing hollowness which had become -the exponent of that altitude--this one terrific feature (for terrific it -was in its effect), together with the crowding and evanescent images of -the flying feet that so often had spread gladness through these halls, on -the wings of youth and hope, at seasons when every room rang with -music--all this, rising in tumultuous vision, whilst the dead hours of the -night were stealing along, all around me--household and town--sleeping, -and whilst against the windows more and more the storm was raving, and to -all appearance endlessly growing, threw me into the deadliest condition of -nervous emotion under contradictory forces, high over which predominated -horror recoiling from that unfathomed abyss in London into which I was now -so wilfully precipitating myself." - -The circumstance that led to his being shown into the ball-room of the -"Lion," was that of the house being under repair. That room is still in -existence, and a noble and impressive room it is, occupying the upper -floor of a two-storeyed building, added to the back of the older house -perhaps a hundred and fifty years ago. Lofty, as he describes it, and -lighted by tall windows, the feature of the two music-galleries and the -chandeliers are still there, together with the supper-room at one end -divided off from the greater saloon, and therefore disproportionately -lofty. The ball-room is additionally lighted from the ceiling by a domed -skylight. The moulded plaster decorations on walls and ceiling, in the -Adams style--that style which so beautifully recast classic -conventions--are exquisite, and even yet keep their delicate colouring, as -do the emblematic figures of Music and Dancing painted on the door-panels. -At rare intervals the room is used for its original purpose, and has a -fine oak dancing-floor, but it more commonly serves, throughout the year, -that of a commercial traveller's stock-room. - -The way to this derelict haunt of eighteenth-century gaiety lies down the -yard of the inn, and up a fine broad stone stairway, now much chipped, -dirty, and neglected. On the ground floor is the billiard-room of the -present day, formerly the coach dining-room. In crepuscular apartments -adjoining, in these times given over to forgotten lumber, the curious may -find the deserted kitchens of a bygone age, with the lifts and hatches to -upper floors that once conveyed their abundant meals to a vanished -generation of John Bulls. - -This portion of the house is seen to advantage at the end of the -cobble-stoned yard, passing the old coach-office remaining there, -unchanged, and proceeding to the other end, where the yard passes out into -a steep and narrow lane called Stony Bank. Looking back, the great -red-brick bulk of the ball-room, with the stone effigy of a lion on the -parapet, is seen; the surrounding buildings giving a very powerful -impression of the extensive business done here in days of old. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "OLD ANGEL," BASINGSTOKE.] - -The "Old Angel," Basingstoke, associated with Jane Austen's early days, -has for close upon thirty years ceased from being an inn, and is now quite -unrecognisable as a modern "temperance hotel." In the rear, approached -nowadays through the yard of a livery-stable, the old Assembly Rooms where -she danced with the _elite_ of the county families of her day, may with -some difficulty be found by climbing a crazy staircase and pushing through -the accumulated cobwebs of years. There, on a spacious upper floor, is the -ball-room of a hundred years ago, now deserted, or but seldom used as a -corn-store. - -The great "Royal George" hotel at Knutsford is associated with that finest -of Mrs. Gaskell's works, _Cranford_, and the "White Hart" at Whitchurch, -on the Exeter Road, has reminiscences of Newman. - -The "White Hart" is an inn typical of the coaching age along that western -highway, and repays examination. Dark and tortuous corridors, a -coffee-room decorated in barbaric colours, a capacious stable-yard, all -tell of the old days of the Exeter Mail. The inn stands in the centre of -the little town of narrow streets, where the Oxford and Southampton Road -crosses the road to Exeter, and was thus in receipt of a very great deal -of coaching business, travellers from Southampton or from Oxford changing -here and waiting for the West of England coaches. Here it was, perhaps in -the coffee-room, that the young clergyman who afterwards became a pervert -to Rome and figured prominently as Cardinal Newman, wrote the first verses -of the _Lyra Apostolica_, beginning: - - Are these the tracks of some unearthly friend? - -It was on December 2nd, 1832, while waiting for the mail to Falmouth, that -he found his inspiration here. He wrote, at the same time, to his mother -that he was waiting "from one till eleven" for the down Exeter mail. Ten -hours! Can we imagine any one in these days waiting even half that time -for a train? I think not even the most bizarre imagination could conceive -such a preposterous notion. But such were the experiences of our -grandfathers, travelling from branch roads to intercept the mails. With -such facts before us, we may well understand how it was the inns then -did such good business. - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HART," WHITCHURCH.] - -Since 1857, when Dinah Mulock, at the age of thirty-one, wrote that -remarkably popular novel, _John Halifax, Gentleman_, the "Bell" inn at -Tewkesbury has been marked down for a literary landmark. For the "Morton -Bury" of that story is the Tewkesbury of fact, and a tombstone (long since -disappeared) in the Abbey churchyard gave her the name of the hero. It was -in 1852, on a chance drive into the town with a friend, to view the Abbey, -that Miss Mulock first thought of it as the background of a story, and -lunching at the "Bell" inn, close by the Abbey gates, decided her to make -that house the pivot of the tale. According to the landlord of that time, -it had once, before becoming an inn, been the house of a tanner; and thus -we find something of the framework of the story suggested. The resemblance -of the actual house to the home of Abel Fletcher, the Quaker tanner of the -story, is scarce to be followed, for it is only in the mention of the -bowling-green in the garden and the yew hedge, and the channels of the -Severn and the Avon at the end of it that the place is to be identified at -all. You find no mention of the fine old timbered front and its three -gables, nor of the initials "I K 1696" that probably indicate the owner -who restored the house at that date (for the building is certainly at -least a hundred and fifty years older), and altogether there is in the -pages of _John Halifax, Gentleman_, none of that meticulous topographical -care that many later novelists have been at pains to bestow upon their -works. But that matters little to the literary pilgrims in general, or to -the American section of them in particular, who flock to Tewkesbury for -sake of that very rare hero, John Halifax, whose like, one fears, never -walked this imperfect earth of ours. He is, in short, a lady novelist's -hero, and all such, whether they be the military heroes of Ouida, with the -physique of Greek gods, and queer morals, or the never-say-"damn" young -men of the opposite extreme, have few points of contact with human beings. -John Halifax, however, has a brother in fiction, and may be found in Mr. -Thomas Hardy's _Mayor of Casterbridge_, where he masquerades as a Scot, -under the alias of "Donald Farfrae." He and Angel Clare, of _Tess of the -D'Urbervilles_, are rivals for the distinction of being the least natural -men among all Mr. Hardy's characters. Donald is not quite the perfect -gentle knight of Miss Mulock's tale, but the same blood runs in the veins -of either. - -When the author of _John Halifax, Gentleman_, who had many years before -become Mrs. Craik, died, in 1887, a monument was fittingly erected to her -memory in Tewkesbury Abbey Church, hard by the home of her hero. - -[Illustration: THE "BELL," TEWKESBURY.] - -The "Bell" inn is a beautiful old building, of strongly contrasted very -white plaster and very black timbers. A blue and gold bell hangs out as a -sign in front. At the left-hand side an addition has quite recently -been made (not included in the illustration) to provide a billiard-room -and additional bedrooms. - -[Illustration: THE "WHEATSHEAF," TEWKESBURY.] - -For the rest, Tewkesbury is a town full of ancient buildings, built in -those dark times of the warring Roses, when men were foolish enough to -fight--and to die and to lose all--for their principles. Savage, barbaric -times, happily gone for ever, to give place to the era of argument and -the amateur lawyer! In our own age you do not go forth and kill or be -killed, but simply "passively resist" and await the advent of the bailiffs -coming to distrain for the amount of your unpaid rates and taxes, -confident that, in any change of government, your party will in its turn -be able to enact the petty tyrant. - -In those times, when men fought well, they built with equal sturdiness, -and the memory of their deeds beside the Avon meadows, in the bloody -Battle of Tewkesbury of 1471, survives, side by side with the fine -black-and-white timbered houses they designed and framed, and will survive -centuries yet. - -Tewkesbury is a town of inns. The "Hop Pole," among the largest of them, -is a Dickensian inn, and so treated of in another chapter; but besides it -you have the great red-brick Georgian "Swan," typically a coaching -hostelry, that is not quite sure of the titles "inn," "hotel," or -"tavern," and so, to be certain, calls itself, in the boldest of -lettering, "Swan Hotel, Inn, and Tavern," and thus has it all ways. - -[Illustration: YARD OF THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON.] - -[Illustration: THE "WHITE HORSE," MAIDEN NEWTON.] - -Probably the oldest inn of Tewkesbury is the "Berkeley Arms." There it -stands in the High Street, as sturdily as ever, and is in every timber, -every casement, and in all the circumstances of uneven flooring and -tortuous stairways, so indubitably ancient that men who fought on Yorkist -or Lancastrian side in those contested meads by Severn and Avon in 1471 -may well have slept beneath its roof the night before the battle, and -considered the place, even then, "old-fashioned." Its age is so evident -that for the sign to proclaim it, as it does, in the modern pseudo-antique -Wardour Street style, "Ye olde Berkeley Arms," is an impertinent -inadequacy, comparable to calling the Pyramids "large" or the Alps -"hills." It is much the same tale with the "Wheatsheaf"; a little less -hoary, perhaps, and certainly more susceptible to pictorial treatment. It -latterly has become "Ye," instead of "The," Wheatsheaf, and has assumed a -redundant "e" or so; but the equally old neighbouring "Black Bear" fairly -revels in the antique, and on a quite new sign-board proclaims itself to -be "Ye Olde Blacke Beare." What a prodigal and immoral consumption of that -already poor, overworked letter "e," already, as every compositor working -at case knows, the greatest in demand of all the twenty-six letters of the -alphabet! - -Among the various inns mentioned in Thomas Hardy's novels, the "White -Horse" at Maiden Newton was exceptionally picturesque. "Was," and is not, -for already, in the little while between the writing of _Tess of the -D'Urbervilles_ and now, that fine old stone hostelry of the seventeenth -century has been pulled down, to make way for a smart new red-brick house, -all show and glitter. The old house was the original of the inn at -"Chalk-Newton," where Tess breakfasted, on the way to Flintcomb Ash. - -The "Carnarvon Arms," Bloomsbury, in Besant and Rice's _Golden Butterfly_, -to which the dog "Caesar" leads Phillis so early in the morning, is the -"Guildford Arms," at the corner of Guildford and Brunswick Streets: "The -door ... hung half open by means of a leathern strap.... A smell of stale -beer and stale tobacco hanging about the room smote her senses, and made -her sick and faint.... She was in a tavern--that is, she thought, a 'place -where workmen spend their earnings and leave their families to starve.'" - -Similarly, the "Birch Tree Tavern," of the same authors' _Seamy Side_, is -the "Bay Tree," St. Swithin's Lane. It is described in those pages as the -resort, in the quieter hours of the afternoon, when all the hungry diners -were gone, of Mr. Bunter Baker and a coterie of needy company-promoters, -always seeking to float impossible companies and impracticable inventions, -and so unfortunate as to be, themselves, convinced of the commercial value -of their preposterous projects. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -VISITORS' BOOKS - - -The Visitors' Book is no new thing. In 1466, when a distinguished Bohemian -traveller, one Baron Leo von Rozmital, dined with the Knights of Windsor, -his hosts, after dinner, produced what they called their "missal," and -asked for his autograph "in memoriam" of him. A little daunted, perhaps, -by so ill-omened an expression, but still courteous, the Baron complied -with the request, and wrote, "Lwyk z Rozmitala a z Blatnie." This uncouth -autograph was not unnaturally looked upon with suspicion, and the Baron, -on leaving Windsor, found himself followed by the Knights, who made -inquiries of his retinue as to his real name. They suspected him to be -some impostor, or at the least considered him guilty of that kind of -foolishness which nowadays induces a certain class of visitor to sign -himself "Kruger" or the "King of the Cannibal Islands," or, worse still, -to write down the name of the latest notorious criminal. - -Foolishness is expected in a Visitors' Book, and is not often wanting. In -the present writer's own experience, when two friends who, oddly enough, -were named Rands and Sands, wrote their names in such a volume, the -waiter who read them there, half-apologetically, said, "No: your _real_ -names, please, gentlemen." Argument and assertion could not convince, and -in the end they wrote "Jones" and "Robinson," which duly satisfied. - -The Visitors' Book of an inn usually contains little else than fulsome -praise of the establishment and a somewhat revolting appreciation of its -good cheer. Would-be wit and offensive scurrility are, as a rule, the only -other characteristics; but from all this heap of chaff and rubbish it is -possible to extract a residuum of fun and sprightly fancy. Many modern -tourists in the Lake District have, for instance, been amused--after their -own experiences around the steeps of Langdale Pikes--to read in the -Visitors' Book of the "Salutation" at Ambleside the following piece of -poignant observation: - - Little bits of Langdales, - Little bits of pikes, - Make the little tourists - Walk their little bikes. - -Of the "Swan," at Thames Ditton, Theodore Hook wrote, but whether in a -book there, or not, does not appear: - - The "Swan," snug inn, good fare affords, - As table e'er was put on; - And worthier quite of loftier boards, - Its poultry, fish, and mutton. - And while sound wine mine host supplies, - With beer of Meux or Tritton, - Mine hostess, with her bright blue eyes, - Invites to stay at Ditton. - -Among the severe epigrams that guests have left behind them, none other is -so witty as that by Quin, written at the once famed "Pelican" inn, a -favourite Bath Road hostelry at Speenhamland, Newbury: - - The famous inn at Speenhamland, - That stands beneath the hill, - May well be called the Pelican, - From its enormous bill. - -Its monumental charges were long since ended, and where the "Pelican" -stood there are now only stables and a veterinary establishment. - -Bathos, ineptitude, and lines that refuse to scan are the stigmata of -visitors'-book verse. There is no worse "poetry" on earth than that which -lurks between those covers, or in the pages of young ladies' albums, the -last refuge of drivel and impertinence. People who would be ashamed to own -their verse elsewhere will write and sign it in a Visitors' Book; and thus -we find, for example, at the "King's Arms" at Malmesbury, the following, -signed by Bishop Potter of New York: - - Three savages from far New York - Found rest, refreshment here; - And grateful for the King's Arms, - Bear memory of good cheer. - - All blessings rest on Hostess Jones, - And her good spouse as well; - Of their kind thought for tired bones - Our countrymen will tell. - -Let us hope his divinity is better than his metrical efforts. - -The interesting pages of Visitors' Books are generally those that are not -there, as an Irishman might say; for the world is populated very densely -with those appreciative people who, whether from a love of literature, or -with an instinct for collecting autographs that may have a realisable -value, remove the signatures of distinguished men, and with them anything -original they may have written. Many years ago Charles Kingsley, Tom -Taylor, dramatist and sometime editor of _Punch_, and Thomas Hughes, -author of that classic, _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, were staying at the -Penygwryd Hotel, on the summit of Llanberis Pass, North Wales, and wrote a -long set of verses in the Visitors' Book; but the pages were stolen, long, -since, and now you do but come to that book by asking very nicely for it, -and then it is produced from a locked cupboard. - -Here are the verses, the respective authors identified by the initials -over each. It will clearly be seen that those three were sadly in want of -occupation, and were wound up for a long run: - -T. T. - - I came to Penygwryd - With colours armed and pencils, - But found no use whatever - For any such utensils; - - So in default of them I took - To using knives and forks, - And made successful drawings-- - Of Mrs. Owen's corks! - -C. K. - - I came to Penygwryd - In frantic hopes of slaying - Grilse, salmon, three-pound red-fleshed trout, - And what else there's no saying; - - But bitter cold and lashing rain, - And black nor'-eastern skies, sir, - Drove me from fish to botany, - A sadder man and wiser. - -T. H. - - I came to Penygwryd - A-larking with my betters, - A mad wag and a mad poet-- - Both of them men of letters; - - Which two ungrateful parties, - After all the care I've took - Of them, make me write verses - In Henry Owen's book. - -T. T. - - We've been mist-soak'd on Snowdon, - Mist-soak'd on Glyder Fawr; - We've been wet through on an average - Every day three times an hour. - - We've walk'd the upper leathers - From the soles of our balmorals, - And as sketchers and as fishers - With the weather have had our quarrels. - -C. K. - - But think just of the plants which stuff'd - Our box, old Yarrel's gift, - And of those which might have stuff'd it - If the clouds had giv'n a lift; - - Of tramping bogs, and climbing cliffs, - And shoving down stone fences - For spiderwort, Saussurea, - And Woodsia strensis. - -T. H. - - Oh, my dear namesake's breeches-- - You never saw the like-- - He bust them all so shameful - A-crossing of a dyke; - - But Mrs. Owen patched them - As careful as a mother, - With flannel of three colours-- - She hadn't got no other. - -T. T. - - But, can we say enough - Of those legs of mountain muttons? - And that onion sauce lies on our souls, - For it made of us three gluttons; - - And the Dublin stout is genuine, - And so's the Burton beer, - And the apple tarts they've won our hearts; - And think of soufflets here! - -C. K. - - Resembling that old woman - That never could be quiet, - Though victuals (says the child's song) - And drink formed all her diet, - - My love for plants and scrambling - Shared empire with my dinner; - And who says it wasn't good must be - A most fastidious sinner. - -T. H. - - Now, all I've got to say is, - You can't be better treated. - Order pancakes, and you'll find - They're the best you ever eated; - - If you scramble o'er the mountains, - You should bring an ordnance map; - I endorse all that previous gents - Have said about the tap. - -T. T. - - Penygwryd, when wet and worn, has kept - A warm fireside for us; - Socks, boots, and never-mention-'ems, - Mrs. Owen still has dried for us; - - With host and hostess, fare and bill, - So pleased we are that, going, - We feel, for all their kindness, - 'Tis we, not they, are Owin'. - -T. H., T. T., C. K. - - Nos tres in uno juncti - Hos fecimus versiculos, - Tomas piscator pisces qui - Non cepi sed pisciculos, - - Tomas sciagraphus sketches qui - Non feci sed ridiculos, - Herbarius Carolus montes qui - Nostravi perpendiculos. - -T. H. - - There's big trout I hear in Edno, - Likewise in Gwynant lake, - And the governor and black alder - Are the flies that they will take, - - Also the cockabondy, - But I can only say, - If you think to catch big fishes, - I only hope you may! - -T. T. - - I have come in for more of mountain gloom - Than mountain glory, - But I've seen old Snowdon rear his head - With storm-toss'd mist-wreaths hoary - - I stood in the fight of mountain winds - Upon Bwlch-cwm-y-llan, - And I go back an unsketching - But a better-minded man. - -C. K. - - And I, too, have another debt - To pay another way, - For kindness shown by these good souls - To one who's far away, - - Even to this old colley dog, - Who tracked the mountains o'er, - For one who seeks strange birds and flowers - On far Australia's shore. - -Enough; _quantum sufficit_! - -It was for lack of that natural outlet, the Visitors' Book, that many -old-time guests had recourse to the window-pane. Unfortunately--or should -it not perhaps rather be a fortunate circumstance?--while pen and ink were -at command of every one, only a diamond ring would serve on glass; and not -every guest was so luxuriously equipped. - -The classic instance of a window-pane at an inn being thus inscribed is, -of course, that of Shenstone's writing the last stanza of his lines on -"Freedom" upon the window of an inn--generally said to be the "Red Lion" -at Henley-on-Thames. But who shall decide? - -If we are to believe the account of Richard Graves, who knew the poet -well, and published _Recollections of Some Particulars in the Life of the -Late William Shenstone, Esq._, in 1788, the lines were first written in an -arbour of what used to be the "Sunrising" inn, on the crest of Edge Hill, -a house long since become a private residence. - -According to Graves, Shenstone, about 1750, visited a friend, one Mr. -Whistler, in the southernmost part of Oxfordshire, and did not -particularly enjoy his visit, Mr. Whistler sending the poet's servant off -to stay at an inn, in order that the man and the domestics of his own -house should not gossip together. Shenstone himself seems to have been a -very unamiable guest, and one better suited to an inn than to the house of -a friend; for he grew disagreeable over being expected to play "Pope Joan" -in the evening with his friend's children, and sulked when he lost a -trifle at cards. Then he would not dress himself tidily for dinner, and -snuffed and slouched to the inconvenience of every one, so that it is not -surprising to read of a coolness, and then quarrels, coming to estrange -the pair, resulting in Shenstone abruptly cutting short his visit. He lay, -overnight, on his journey home, at the "Sunrising" inn, and the next -morning, in an arbour, inscribed the famous lines which now form the last -stanza of "Freedom." - -"More stanzas," says Graves, "were added afterwards," and he rightly adds -that they "diminish the force" of the original thought. - -The "Sunrising" inn, long since become a private mansion, and added to -very largely, has no relics of Shenstone. It stands, with lovely gardens -surrounding, on the very lip and verge of Edge Hill, and looks out across -the great levels of Warwickshire. In recent times the hill has becomes -famous, or notorious, for motor and cycle accidents, and the approach to -it is heralded by a notice-board proclaiming "Great Danger. Cyclists -Dismount." But in these days of better brakes, very few obey that -injunction, and ride down, safely enough. - -Whistler died in 1754, when Shenstone, remorseful, wrote, "how little do -all our disputes appear to us now!" - -Here, then, is the original story of the famous inscription, but it does -not necessarily prove that this melancholy poet did not also inscribe it -at Henley-on-Thames and elsewhere, notably at the "White Swan," at that -quite different and far-distant place from the Thames-side Henley, -Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire; an old-fashioned house still in existence, -and claiming to date from 1358. - -[Illustration: HENLEY-IN-ARDEN, AND THE "WHITE SWAN."] - -If the story of the "Red Lion" at the Oxfordshire Henley be a myth, as it -is held to be, it is one of very considerable age, and one that has not -only misled uncounted myriads of writers, but will continue to do so until -the end of time. There is no disabling the flying _canard_, no overtaking -the original lie, howsoever hard you strive; and as the famous stanza -really _was_ at one time to be seen on a window of the "Red Lion" (whether -written there by Shenstone or another), it really seems that there is a -way out of the dilemma that probably has never until now been considered. -Shenstone resided on the Shropshire border, near Henley-in-Arden, but on -his journeys to and from London must often have stayed at the "Red Lion," -Henley-on-Thames, then on one of the two principal coach-routes; and it is -quite probable that he was so pleased with the last stanza of "Freedom," -and so satisfied with its peculiar fitness for inn windows, that he -inscribed it at both places, if not indeed at others as well: - - To thee, fair Freedom! I retire, - From flattery, feasting, dice and din; - Nor art thou found in homes much higher - Than the lone cot or humble Inn. - - 'Tis here with boundless power I reign, - And every health which I begin, - Converts dull port to bright champagne; - For Freedom crowns it, at an Inn. - - I fly from pomp, I fly from state, - I fly from falsehood's specious grin; - Freedom I love, and form I hate, - And choose my lodgings at an Inn. - - Here, waiter! take my sordid ore, - Which lacqueys else might hope to win; - It buys what Courts have not in store, - It buys me Freedom, at an Inn. - - And now once more I shape my way - Through rain or shine, through thick or thin, - Secure to meet, at close of day, - With kind reception at an Inn. - - _Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, - Where'er his stages may have been, - May sigh to think how oft he found - The warmest welcome--at an Inn._ - -Misquotation--sometimes a vice, occasionally a great improvement upon the -original--has constantly rendered the last two lines: - - May sigh to think, he _still_ has found - _His_ warmest welcome at an inn; - -and here, it seems, the use of posterity is the better. - -Neither at the "White Swan" nor the "Red Lion" is the inscription now to -be found. - -Dean Swift's bitter jest, by way of advice to the landlord, scratched on a -window of the "Three Crosses" inn at Willoughby, on the road to Holyhead, -is certainly the next most celebrated. It runs: - - There are three - Crosses at your door: - Hang up your Wife, - And you'l count Four. - Swift, D., 1730. - -I have elsewhere,[8] and at considerable length, told the story of this -remarkable incident, and given a _facsimile_ of the still-surviving -inscription, so hesitate before reprinting it. - -In imagination one sees that gifted man riding horseback on his journeys -between London and Holyhead, or Chester and Parkgate, on his way to or -from Ireland, halting overnight with his attendant at the rough inns of -that time, and leaving broadcast on the dim and flawed glass of their -windows humorous or spiteful comments upon anything that chanced to arouse -his criticism. You perceive him, waiting impatiently for breakfast, -scrawling malignant lampoons with his ring, or recording the stupidities -of his servant. The wayside taverns along that great north-westerly road -should still have such evidence of his passing, only glass is brittle, and -many a pane precious with those autographed records has accidentally -perished, while doubtless many another has long ago been removed by -admirers, and so become lost to the world. - -One such was the pane at the "Yacht" inn at Chester, that hoary timbered -and plastered tavern whose nodding gables scarce uphold the story that -this was once the foremost hotel of this picturesque city. The Dean, then -at the height of his fame, halting here on his way into Ireland, was in -one of his companionable humours, and invited the Dean and the other -dignified clergy of the Cathedral to supper; but not one of them -acknowledged his intended hospitality. Deans, Canons, and Prebendaries all -agreed among themselves, or resolved separately, to ignore the -distinguished visitor, who, in his rage, decorated a window with the -couplet: - - Rotten without and mouldering within, - This place and its clergy are all near akin. - -On the whole, regarding this quite dispassionately, having regard to the -gross affront on the one hand and Swift's malignant nature and very full -sense of what was due to himself on the other, it can hardly be said that -he rose to the heights of epigram or sank to the depths of abuse demanded -by the occasion. Here he surely should have surpassed himself, in the one -category or the other, or--even more characteristically--in both. We want -more bitterness, more gall, an extra infusion of wormwood, and feel that -this is an ineffectual thing that any affronted person, owning a diamond -and merely capable of writing, could have achieved. And, even so, the -historic pane itself has disappeared. - -The guests at inns in the middle of the eighteenth century often did not, -it seems, disdain the walls; for in _Columella_, a curious novel of -travelling, published about that period, we read that the characters in it -found time on their journey "to examine the inscriptions on walls and -windows, and learned that the love of woman, the love of wine, and the -love of fame were the three ruling passions that usually vented -themselves" in this manner. - -These were travellers who, come what might, determined to be -unconventional. - -"When they came to an inn, instead of complaining of their accommodations, -or bullying the waiters, they diverted themselves with the humours of my -landlord, criticising his taste in his furniture or his pictures, or in -perusing the inscriptions on the walls or windows, or inquiring into the -history of the neighbouring gentry. In short, they had determined to be -pleased with everything, and therefore were not disappointed." - -At the inn where these original persons breakfasted the great patriot, -John Wilkes, had usurped the principal place over the parlour chimney. -Where they stopped to dine, the virtuous George the Third and the amiable -Charlotte had resumed their places in the dining-room, and "Wilkes was -only stuck up against the stable-door, and in the temple of Cloacina." - -Alas! poor Wilkes, to be subjected to such an indignity! - -At one inn they found the inscription: - - James Harding, from Birmingham, dined here, Sept. 29, 1763. - Button-maker by trade, - -and there is your bid for fame. The other remarks they shamelessly quote -are all very well for eighteenth-century books, but they are not permitted -on the printed page in our own time. - -There was once a poet of a minor sort who not only cherished a mania for -scribbling verse on the windows of inns, but was mad enough to collect and -print a series of these by no means distinguished efforts, which he -published under the title of _Verses written on Windows in several parts -of the Kingdom in a Journey to Scotland_. - -This extraordinary person was one Aaron Hill, who "flourished" (as an -historian might say) between 1685 and 1750. If he is at all remembered -to-day, it is only as a friend of Pope, whose truest criticism presents -him as "one of the flying fishes, only capable of making brief flights out -of the profound." He afterwards, with more friendship and less truth, -described Hill as attempting to dive into dulness, but rising unstained to -"mount far off among the swans of Thames." How pretty! but he was in truth -the veriest goose, and his pinions ineffectual. - -Hill wrote reams of rhymes, but few of them are poetry and fewer have any -power of entertaining. In 1728 he travelled in Scotland, and there--it is -an experience not unmatched nowadays--he encountered, while staying at an -inn in the Highlands, bad weather. Happily, not all who are weatherbound -in those latitudes scrawl their thoughts on windows, or poetic congestion -must long since have ensued. At that inn--_what_ inn or _where_ we are not -told, he accomplished his one excellent epigram, his solitary perfect -quatrain: - - Scotland! thy weather's like a modish wife; - Thy winds and rains for ever are at strife; - So Termagant a while her thunder tries, - And when she can no longer scold--she cries. - -Other specimens of his quality do not exhibit the inspiration of those -lines, and indeed he is found to be too concerned with moral analogies to -please greatly, even in the best of them. Thus: - - Where'er the diamond's busy point could pass, - See! what deep wounds have pierced the middle glass! - While partial and untouching, all the rest, - Highest and lowest panes, shine, unimpressed: - No wonder, this!--for, e'en in life, 'tis so; - High fortunes stand, unreached--unseen the low, - But middle states are marks for every blow. - -And again: - - Whig and Tory scratch and bite, - Just as hungry dogs we see: - Toss a bone 'twixt two, they fight, - Throw a couple, they agree. - -There is some just observation in that last, although how you are to give -a bone apiece, and at the same time, to Whig and Tory, would, as I -conceive the situation, be a difficult, not to say an impossible, matter -in our scheme of politics. When a Government comes into power, be it Whig -or Tory, or any other fancy label you please, it takes _all_ the bones, -and the other dog merely does the growling, until the times do alter. - -With two more specimens we practically exhaust Hill's well of fancy: - - Tender-handed, stroke a nettle, - And it stings you, for your pains: - Grasp it, like a man of mettle, - And it soft as silk remains. - 'Tis the same with common natures, - Use 'em kindly, they rebel: - But be rough on Nutmeg-graters, - And the rogues obey you well. - - * * * * - - Here, in wet and windy weather, - Muse and I, two mopes together, - Far from friends and short of pleasure, - Wanting everything but leisure: - Scarce content, in any one sense, - Tell the showers, and scribble nonsense. - -How true that last admission! - - - - -INDEX - - - Adelphi Hotel, Adelphi, i. 212, 264 - - Ale-stakes, i. 14-17 - - Anchor, Ripley, ii. 212, 242 - - Angel, Basingstoke, ii. 279 - - -- Bury St. Edmunds, i. 238 - - -- Colchester, i. 90 - - -- Ferrybridge, ii. 81 - - -- Grantham, i. 118-123 - - -- Guildford, ii. 57 - - -- Islington, i. 119 - - -- Stilton, ii. 48 - - Ass-in-the-Bandbox, Nidd, ii. 203 - - - Barge Aground, Brentford, ii. 203 - - -- Stratford High Road, ii. 203 - - Battle, Pilgrims' Hostel at, i. 97 - - Bay Tree Tavern, St. Swithin's Lane, ii. 290 - - Bear, Devizes, ii. 8-16 - - -- Esher, ii. 116 - - -- and Billet, Chester, ii. 74 - - Bear's Head, Brereton, ii. 62 - - Beaufort Arms, Bath, i. 254 - - Beckhampton Inn, i. 238 - - Bee-Hive, Eaumont Bridge, ii. 138 - - -- Grantham, ii. 192 - - Beetle-and-Wedge, Moulsford, ii. 195 - - Bell, Barnby Moor, i. 60, ii. 55, 81 - - -- Belbroughton, ii. 245 - - -- Berkeley Heath, i. 256 - - -- Dale Abbey, ii. 88, 90 - - -- Stilton, ii. 48-54 - - -- Tewkesbury, ii. 283-287 - - -- Warwick Lane, London, i. 30 - - -- Woodbridge, ii. 112 - - Bell and Mackerel, Mile End, ii. 129 - - Belle Sauvage, Ludgate Hill, i. 229 - - Berkeley Arms, Tewkesbury, ii. 288 - - Birch Tree Tavern, St. Swithin's Lane, ii. 290 - - Black Bear, Sandbach, ii. 58 - - -- -- Tewkesbury, ii. 289 - - -- Boy, Chelmsford, i. 242 - - -- Bull, Holborn, i. 288-290 - - -- -- Newcastle-on-Tyne, i. 53 - - -- Horse, Cherhill, i. 232 - - -- Jack, Clare Market, i. 242-244 - - -- Swan, Kirkby Moorside, ii. 267 - - Blue Bell, Barnby Moor, i. 60, ii. 55, 81 - - -- Boar, Leicester, i. 202 - - -- -- Whitechapel, i. 291 - - -- Dragon, near Salisbury, i. 282-288 - - -- Lion, Muggleton, _i.e._ Town Malling, i. 226 - - -- Posts, Chester, i. 155-158 - - -- -- Portsmouth, ii. 137 - - Boar, Bluepitts, near Rochdale, ii. 197 - - Boar's Head, Eastcheap, ii. 253, 261 - - -- Middleton, ii. 218 - - Boot, Chester, ii. 78 - - Bottom Inn, Chalton Downs, near Petersfield, i. 270-274 - - Buck and Bell, Long Itchington, ii. 130 - - Bull, Dartford, i. 79-82 - - -- Fenny Stratford, ii. 111 - - -- Rochester, i. 221-223 - - -- Sissinghurst, ii. 244 - - -- Whitechapel, i. 242, 245 - - Bull and Mouth, St. Martin's-le-Grand, i. 228 - - Bull's Head, Meriden, ii. 80 - - -- Greengate, Salford, i. 7 - - Burford Bridge Hotel, near Dorking, ii. 273 - - Bush, Bristol, i. 255 - - -- Farnham, i. 309 - - - Capel Curig Inn, ii. 254 - - Carnarvon Castle, Chester, ii. 77 - - -- Arms, Guildford Street, ii. 289 - - Cart Overthrown, Edmonton, ii. 203 - - Castle, Conway, ii. 122 - - -- Marlborough, i. 60, ii. 8, 90-99 - - Cat and Fiddle, near Buxton, ii. 147 - - -- near Christchurch, ii. 181 - - Cat and Mutton, London Fields, ii. 139 - - Cats, Sevenoaks, ii. 191 - - Chapel House, near Chipping Norton, ii. 100-106 - - Cheney Gate, near Congleton, ii. 139 - - Chequers, Slapestones, ii. 134 - - -- of the Hope, Canterbury, i. 85 - - Civil Usage, Brixham, ii. 203 - - Clayton Arms, Godstone, ii. 30-34 - - Coach and Dogs, Oswestry, ii. 200 - - Coach and Horses, Chalton Downs, near Petersfield, i. 270 - - Coach and Horses, Isleworth, i. 276 - - Cock, Eaton Socon, i. 267 - - -- Great Budworth, ii. 69-71 - - -- Stony Stratford, ii. 43, 47 - - Cock and Pymat, Whittington, near Chesterfield, i. 181-184 - - County Inn, Canterbury, i. 291 - - Craven Arms, near Church Stretton, ii. 47 - - Cricketers, Laleham, ii. 167 - - Crispin and Crispianus, Strood, i. 292-295 - - Cross Hands, near Chipping Sodbury, ii. 85 - - Cross Keys, Wood Street, Cheapside, i. 295 - - Crow-on-Gate, Crowborough, ii. 205 - - Crown, Chiddingfold, ii. 242 - - -- Hempstead, i. 310 - - -- Oxford, ii. 101 - - -- Rochester, i. 223-225 - - -- Stamford, ii. 158 - - Crown and Treaty, Uxbridge, i. 161-169 - - Custom House, Chester, ii. 77 - - - Dale Abbey, ii. 88-90 - - Dedlock Arms, i. 290 - - De Quincey, T., on old inns, i. 57, ii. 274-279 - - Dial House, Bocking, ii. 226 - - Dick Whittington, Cloth Fair, i. 4 - - Dolphin, Potter Heigham, i. 159 - - Domus Dei, Southampton, i. 90 - - Dorset Arms, East Grinstead, ii. 35 - - Duchy Hotel, Princetown, ii. 149 - - - Eagle and Child, Nether Alderley, ii. 209 - - Edinburgh Castle, Limehouse, ii. 106-108 - - -- Regent's Park, ii. 126-128 - - Eight Bells, Twickenham, ii. 200 - - Epitaphs on Innkeepers, ii. 245-254 - - - Falcon, Bidford, ii. 89 - - -- Chester, ii. 74 - - Falstaff, Canterbury, i. 87 - - Feathers, Ludlow, ii. 18-25 - - Ferry inn, Rosneath, ii. 180 - - Fighting Cocks, St. Albans, i. 4 - - First and Last, Land's End, ii. 206 - - -- Sennen, ii. 206 - - Fish and Eels, Roydon, i. 118 - - Flitch of Bacon, Wichnor, ii. 79 - - Fountain, Canterbury, i. 291 - - Four Crosses, Hatherton, ii. 134 - - Fowler, J. Kearsley, of the White Hart, Aylesbury, i. 62 - - Fox and Hounds, Barley, ii. 153 - - Fox and Pelican, Grayshott, ii. 180 - - Fox-under-the-Hill, Strand, i. 255 - - - Garter, Windsor, ii. 261 - - Gate, Dunkirk, ii. 133 - - Gate Hangs Well, Nottingham, ii. 133 - - Gatehouse Tavern, Norwich, ii. 130 - - George, Amesbury, i. 283-287 - - -- Andover, ii. 16-18 - - -- Bridport, i. 180 - - -- Brighthelmstone, i. 181 - - -- Broadwindsor, i. 180 - - -- Colnbrook, i. 188 - - -- Crawley, ii. 152 - - -- Grantham, i. 267, ii. 55 - - -- Glastonbury, i. 107, 116 - - -- Greta Bridge, i. 268 - - -- Hayes Common, ii. 172 - - -- Huntingdon, ii. 47 - - -- Mere, i. 180 - - -- Norton St. Philip, i. 123-132 - - -- Odiham, ii. 44 - - -- Rochester, i. 82 - - -- St. Albans, i. 117, 119 - - -- Salisbury, ii. 263 - - -- Southwark, i. 31 - - -- Stamford, ii. 154-158 - - -- Walsall, i. 60 - - -- Wanstead, ii. 141 - - -- Winchcombe, i. 132-136 - - George and Dragon, Dragon's Green, ii. 117-119 - - -- Great Budworth, ii. 137 - - -- Wargrave-on-Thames, ii. 176 - - -- West Wycombe, ii. 222 - - George and Vulture, Lombard Street, i. 213, 251, 264 - - George the Fourth, Clare Market, i. 242-244 - - God's House, Portsmouth, i. 89 - - Golden Cross, Charing Cross, i. 213-220, ii. 72, 268 - - Grand Pump Room Hotel, Bath, i. 254 - - Great Western Railway Hotel, Paddington, i. 72 - - Great White Horse, Ipswich, i. 246-251 - - Green Dragon, Alderbury, i. 282-288 - - -- Combe St. Nicholas, ii. 109 - - -- Welton, i. 312 - - -- Wymondham, i. 95 - - Green Man, Hatton, i. 317 - - -- Putney Heath, i. 319 - - Green Man and Black's Head, Ashbourne, ii. 159 - - Grenadier, Whitley, ii. 138 - - Greyhound, Croydon, ii. 153 - - -- Sutton, ii. 153 - - -- Thame, i. 160 - - Guildford Arms, Guildford Street, ii. 290 - - - Halfway House, Rickmansworth, ii. 215 - - Hark to Bounty, Staidburn, ii. 204 - - -- Lasher, Castleton, ii. 204 - - -- Nudger, Dobcross, Manchester, ii. 204 - - -- Towler, Bury, Lancashire, ii. 204 - - Haycock, Wansford, ii. 80 - - Haygate Inn, near Wellington, Salop, ii. 80 - - Hearts of Oak, West Allington, ii. 87 - - Herbergers, i. 25 - - Hop-pole, Tewkesbury, i. 257, ii. 288 - - Horseshoe and Castle, Cooling, i. 295 - - Hostelers, i. 25 - - Hundred-and-One, The, ii. 129 - - Innkeepers, Epitaphs on, ii. 245-254 - - Isle of Skye, near Holmfirth, ii. 148 - - - Jack Straw's Castle, Hampstead Heath, i. 300-302 - - Johnson Dr., on inns, i. 43-46 - - Jolly Farmer, Farnham, ii. 217 - - - Keigwin Arms, Mousehole, ii. 230 - - King and Tinker, Enfield, i. 205-207 - - King Edgar, Chester, ii. 72-74 - - King's Arms, Lancaster, i. 299 - - -- Malmesbury, ii. 293 - - -- Salisbury, i. 180 - - -- Sandwich, ii. 228 - - King's Head, Aylesbury, i. 141-143, ii. 38 - - -- Chigwell, i. 277-283 - - -- Dorking, i. 230 - - -- Stockbridge, ii. 249 - - -- Thame, i. 160 - - -- Yarmouth, i. 207, ii. 114 - - - Labour in Vain, Stourbridge, ii. 199 - - Lamb, Eastbourne, ii. 57 - - Lawrence, Robert, of the "Lion," Shrewsbury, i. 60, ii. 250 - - Leather Bottle, Cobham, Kent, i. 230 - - -- Holborn, ii. 191 - - Leighton, Archbishop, i. 29 - - Lion, Shrewsbury, i. 60, 297, ii. 250, 274-279 - - Lion and Fiddle, Hilperton, ii. 195 - - Lion and Swan, Congleton, ii. 65-67 - - Living Sign, Grantham, ii. 192 - - Load of Mischief, Oxford Street, ii. 162 - - Locker-Lampson, F., on old inns, i. 58 - - Loggerheads, Llanverris, ii. 168 - - Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland, i. 136-140 - - Lord Warden, Dover, i. 54 - - Luttrell Arms, Dunster, ii. 37-40 - - Lygon Arms, Broadway, ii. 2-8, 244 - - - Magpie, Little Stonham, ii. 153 - - -- and Stump, Clare Market, i. 242 - - Maiden's Head, Uckfield, ii. 37 - - Maid's Head, Norwich, ii. 40-42 - - Maison Dieu, Dover, i. 88 - - -- Ospringe, i. 84 - - Malt Shovel, Sandwich, ii. 228 - - Man Loaded with Mischief, Oxford Street, ii. 162 - - Marlborough Downs, i. 231-238 - - Marquis of Ailesbury's Arms, Manton, i. 232 - - -- Granby, Dorking, i. 230 - - Maund and Bush, near Shifnal, ii. 199 - - Maypole, Chigwell, i. 277-282 - - Miller of Mansfield, Goring-on-Thames, ii. 177 - - Molly Mog, ii. 271 - - Mompesson, Sir Giles, i. 37-41 - - Mortal Man, Troutbeck, ii. 169 - - Morison, Fynes, on English inns, i. 36 - - Music House, Norwich, i. 157 - - - Nag's Head, Thame, i. 160 - - Neptune, Ipswich, ii. 110 - - Newhaven Inn, near Buxton, ii. 255 - - New Inn, Allerton, ii. 80 - - -- Gloucester, i. 98-106 - - -- Greta Bridge, i. 268 - - -- New Romney, ii. 44 - - -- Sherborne, i. 106 - - Newby Head, near Hawes, ii. 149 - - Noah's Ark, Compton, i. 90 - - Nutley Inn, ii. 36 - - - Old Angel, Basingstoke, ii. 279 - - -- Bell, Holborn, i. 30 - - -- -- Chester, ii. 78 - - -- Black Jack, Clare Market, i. 242-244 - - -- Fox, Bricket Wood, ii. 201 - - -- Hall, Sandbach, ii. 58-62 - - -- House at Home, Havant, ii. 220 - - -- King's Head, Aylesbury, i. 141-143, ii. 38 - - -- -- Chester, ii. 77 - - -- Leather Bottle, Cobham, Kent, i. 230 - - -- Magpies, Sipson Green, i. 317 - - -- Rock House, Barton, ii. 196 - - -- Rover's Return, Manchester, i. 7 - - -- Royal Hotel, Birmingham, i. 258, ii. 268 - - -- Ship, Worksop, ii. 226 - - -- Star, York, ii. 158 - - -- Swan, Atherstone, ii. 227 - - -- Tippling Philosopher, Chepstow, ii. 203 - - -- White Swan, Piff's Elm, i. 202-205 - - Osborne's Hotel, Adelphi, i. 212, 264 - - Ostrich, Colnbrook, i. 188-201 - - - Pack Horse and Talbot, Turnham Green, ii. 192 - - Peacock, Eatanswill, i. 230 - - -- Rowsley, ii. 25-29 - - Pelican, Speenhamland, i. 208, ii. 293 - - Penygwryd Hotel, Llanberis, ii. 294-298 - - Pheasant, Winterslow Hut, ii. 102 - - Pickering Arms, Thelwall, ii. 71 - - Pie, Little Stonham, ii. 153 - - Pied Bull, Chester, ii. 78 - - _Piers Plowman_, i. 16-18 - - Piff's Elm, i. 202-205 - - Pilgrims' Hostel, Battle, i. 97 - - -- Compton, i. 90 - - Plough, Blundeston, i. 290 - - -- Ford, ii. 136 - - Pomfret Arms, Towcester, i. 259-263 - - Pounds Bridge, near Penshurst, ii. 220 - - - Queen's Arms, Charmouth, i. 180 - - -- Head, Hesket Newmarket, i. 299 - - -- Hotel, St. Martin's-le-Grand, i. 229 - - -- Burton-on-Trent, ii. 114 - - - Raven, Hook, ii. 86 - - -- Shrewsbury, i. 42, 60 - - Red Bull, Stamford, ii. 158 - - Red Horse, Stratford-on-Avon, ii. 47, 269-271 - - Red Lion, Banbury, i. 146 - - -- Canterbury, i. 51 - - -- Chiswick Mall, ii. 123-125 - - -- Egham, ii. 53-56 - - -- Glastonbury, i. 116 - - -- Great Missenden, ii. 198 - - -- Guildford, ii. 262 - - -- Hampton-on-Thames, ii. 159 - - -- Hatfield, ii. 55 - - -- Henley-on-Thames, ii. 299-301 - - -- High Wycombe, i. 184 - - -- Hillingdon, i. 169 - - -- Martlesham, ii. 113, 165 - - -- Ospringe, i. 84 - - -- Parliament Street, i. 265, 290 - - Reindeer, Banbury, i. 145, 147-155, 169 - - Ridler's Hotel, Holborn, i. 31 - - Robin Hood, Turnham Green, ii. 131 - - -- Cherry Hinton, ii. 131 - - Rose, Wokingham, ii. 271 - - Rose and Crown, Halifax, ii. 273 - - -- Rickmansworth, ii. 215 - - Rover's Return, Shudehill, Manchester, i. 7 - - Row Barge, Wallingford, ii. 178 - - Royal County Hotel, Durham, ii. 55 - - Royal George, Knutsford, ii. 279 - - -- Stroud, ii. 82 - - Royal Hotel, Bath, i. 255 - - -- Bideford, ii. 273 - - Royal Oak, Bettws-y-Coed, ii. 172-175 - - Rummyng, Elynor, i. 19-24 - - Running Footman, Hay Hill, i. 255, ii. 193 - - Running Horse, Leatherhead, i. 18-25 - - -- Merrow, ii. 233 - - - Salutation, Ambleside, ii. 292 - - Saracen's Head, Bath, i. 266 - - -- Southwell, i. 172-180 - - -- Towcester, i. 259-263 - - Serjeant's Inn Coffee House, i. 255 - - Seven Stars, Manchester, i. 6, 8-12 - - Shakespeare's Head, near Chipping Norton, ii. 100-106 - - Shears, Wantage, ii. 202 - - Shepherd's Shore, Marlborough Downs, i. 232-237 - - Ship and Lobster, Denton, near Gravesend, i. 296 - - -- Afloat, Bridgwater, ii. 203 - - -- Aground, ii. 203 - - Ship, Brixham, ii. 139 - - -- Dover, i. 54 - - Smiling Man, Dudley, ii. 203 - - Smoker, Plumbley, ii. 179 - - Soldier's Fortune, Kidderminster, ii. 136 - - Sondes Arms, Rockingham, i. 290 - - Spaniards, Hampstead Heath, i. 256, 320-327 - - Star, Alfriston, i. 93-97, ii. 165 - - -- Lewes, ii. 37 - - -- Yarmouth, ii. 42-44, 273 - - Stocks, Clapgate, ii. 202 - - Stonham Pie, Little Stonham, ii. 153 - - Sugar Loaves, Sible Hedingham, ii. 195 - - Sun, Canterbury, i. 292 - - -- Cirencester, i. 180 - - -- Dedham, ii. 225 - - -- Northallerton, ii. 248 - - Sunrising Inn, Edge Hill, ii. 299 - - Swan and Bottle, Uxbridge, i. 165 - - -- Charing, ii. 188 - - -- Ferrybridge, ii. 81, 83 - - -- Fittleworth, ii. 159, 183 - - -- Haslemere, ii. 242 - - -- Kirkby Moorside, ii. 267 - - -- Knowle, ii. 231-233 - - -- near Newbury, ii. 216 - - -- Preston Crowmarsh, ii. 179 - - -- Rickmansworth, ii. 214 - - -- Sandleford, ii. 217 - - -- Tewkesbury, ii. 288 - - -- Thames Ditton, ii. 292 - - -- Town Malling, i. 226 - - -- with Two Necks, Gresham Street, i. 54-56 - - - Tabard, Southwark, i. 77-79 - - Talbot, Atcham, ii. 80 - - -- Cuckfield, ii. 81 - - -- Newark, i. 308 - - -- Ripley, ii. 213 - - -- Shrewsbury, ii. 80 - - -- Southwark, i. 79 - - -- Towcester, ii. 115, 243 - - Tan Hill Inn, Swaledale, near Brough, ii. 145 - - Tankard, Ipswich, ii. 110 - - Thorn, Appleton, ii. 138 - - Three Cats, Sevenoaks, ii. 191 - - -- Cocks, near Hay, ii. 47 - - -- Crosses, Willoughby, ii. 303 - - -- Crowns, Chagford, i. 170-172 - - -- Horseshoes, Great Mongeham, ii. 197 - - -- Houses, Sandal, i. 308 - - -- Jolly Bargemen, Cooling, i. 295 - - -- Magpies, Sipson Green, i. 317 - - -- Queens, Burton-on-Trent, ii. 114 - - -- Tuns, Bideford, ii. 110 - - Town Arms, Eatanswill, i. 230 - - Traveller's Rest, Flash Bar, ii. 148 - - -- Kirkstone Pass, ii. 148 - - Treaty House, Uxbridge, i. 161-169 - - Trevelyan Arms, Barnstaple, ii. 40, 110 - - Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham, ii. 134 - - Trouble House, near Tetbury, ii. 203 - - Turnspit Dogs, i. 48-51 - - Turpin's Cave, Epping Forest, i. 310 - - - Uncle Tom's Cabin, Bluepitts, near Rochdale, ii. 197 - - Unicorn, Bowes, i. 269 - - -- Ripon, ii. 121 - - - Verulam Arms, St. Albans, ii. 79 - - Vine, Mile-End, ii. 259 - - _Vision of Piers Plowman_, i. 16-18 - - Visitors' Books, ii. 291-308 - - - Waggon and Horses, Beckhampton, i. 233, 237 - - Wellington, Broadstairs, ii. 47 - - -- Market Place, Manchester, i. 7 - - -- Rushyford Bridge, i. 60 - - -- Tewkesbury, ii. 287 - - Whetstone, Chiswick Mall, ii. 124 - - White Bear, Fickles Hole, ii. 203 - - -- and Whetstone, Chiswick Mall, ii. 123-125 - - -- Bull, Ribchester, ii. 119-121 - - White Hart, Adwalton, ii. 255 - - -- Aylesbury, i. 62-67, 140 - - -- Bath, i. 254 - - -- Castle Combe, ii. 234 - - -- Drighlington, ii. 255 - - -- Eatanswill, i. 230 - - -- Glastonbury, i. 112 - - -- Godstone, ii. 30-34 - - -- Guildford, ii. 55 - - -- Hackney Marshes, ii. 257-259 - - -- Scole, ii. 150 - - -- Somerton, i. 185-187 - - -- Southwark, i. 226-228 - - -- Whitchurch, Hants, ii. 280 - - -- Widcombe, i. 254 - - -- Yard, Gray's Inn Road, ii. 106 - - White Horse, Eaton Socon, i. 267 - - -- Fetter Lane, i. 31, 219 - - -- Maiden Newton, ii. 289 - - -- Shere, ii. 241 - - -- Woolstone, ii. 211 - - White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, i. 253 - - White House, Hackney Marshes, ii. 259 - - White Lion, Maidstone, i. 226 - - White Swan, Henley-in-Arden, ii. 300 - - Who'd Have Thought It, Barking, ii. 204 - - Why Not, Dover, ii. 204 - - Widow's Son, Bromley-by-Bow, ii. 125-127 - - Windmill, North Cheriton, ii. 89-91 - - -- Salt Hill, i. 60 - - -- Tabley, ii. 179 - - Winterslow Hut, near Salisbury, ii. 102 - - Wizard, Alderley Edge, ii. 65-69 - - Wood's Hotel, Furnival's Inn, i. 31 - - World Turned Upside Down, Old Kent Road, ii. 204 - - -- near Three Mile Cross, ii. 204 - - Wright's, Rochester, i. 223-225 - - - Yacht, Chester, ii. 77, 304 - - -_Printed and bound by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _The Great North Road_, 1901, vol. i., pp. 260-66. - -[2] The sign of "Scole White Hart," illustrated in _Norwich Road_, p. 265. - -[3] Illustrated: _Brighton Road_, pp. 333, 337. - -[4] Illustrated: _Brighton Road_, p. 295. - -[5] Illustrated: _Norwich Road_, p. 256. - -[6] It is now the "Dolphin," and numbered 269. - -[7] Cf. _The Hastings Road_, p. 82. - -[8] _The Holyhead Road_, vol. i., pp. 244-7; _Stage Coach and Mail in Days -of Yore_, vol. i., p. 46. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. - -The original text includes Greek characters that have been replaced with -transliterations in this text version. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Inns of Old England, Volume II -(of 2), by Charles G. 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