Chapter XIX: Public-House Reform

“Nothing suits worse with vice than want of sense,” remarked Sir Harry Wilding in the “Constant Couple.” For vice we might read benevolence and find the maxim equally appropriate. Good judgment is especially needful in that kind of philanthropy so much in vogue at the present time, wherein one class of the community interests itself in improving the condition of another class with which it is imperfectly acquainted.

Take, for instance, the housing of the working classes. A committee of maiden ladies meet together and engage the services of some clever young architect. The local landowner finds the funds, and very soon a row of cottages has been built of dainty picturesque appearance, and everything inside them equally lovely. The sanitation is of the latest, the rooms are light and airy. All sorts of clever devices are introduced to economize space, nice cupboards, economical cooking stoves with every appliance to delight the housewife, and even a bath artfully hidden beneath a trap-door just in front of the kitchen fire. There is even high art decoration approved by the Kyrle Society. In short, these cottages would be a joy and a treasure if only the ungrateful labourer would consent to leave his insanitary hovel and come and take up his abode therein. He emphatically declines to do so because they contain no “best room.”

The committee of maiden ladies are very indignant at the idea of the working man insisting on his best room, an apartment which remains hermetically closed from week-end to week-end, reserved only as a shrine for the family Bible and for the reception of a few highly-favoured visitors. He ought, they contend, to be satisfied with the big airy living-room, specially designed for his family, and has no business to complain that his little heirlooms will be at the mercy of inquisitive and mischievous children. But it will be a bad day for England when the “best room” disappears from the artisan’s home. It is by long tradition his castle, his secret keep, the innermost temple of his religion. Every patriotic instinct of the poor man has its centre within that little stuffy apartment. Home to the working man means the best room. The safety of the best room justifies all the national expenditure on a standing army and a huge navy. In the defence of that best room he is prepared to send his sons to lay their bones in some nameless soldier’s grave in the most distant corner of the empire. Take away the best room and the wage-earner has no home worth either working for or fighting for. He becomes an atheist, an anarchist, and a general outcast.

A similar lack of appreciation of human nature is shown by certain philanthropists in dealing with the use by working men of the public-house as a place of resort. How much better, they urge, if the workman would spend his time in more intellectual surroundings--in reading rooms, popular lectures or entertainments, Christian endeavour societies, etc., etc. And so they exert all their influence over licensing justices, the police and other authorities, inciting them to make the public-house as uncomfortable as possible; with the result that a series of very undesirable institutions having all the worst qualities of the gin palace, without its publicity or proper means of supervision, are coming into existence. Penny readings, lectures, and other religious or educational centres are well enough in their way; but the man of few home resources yearns for the gossip of the alehouse. Only there can he find what the soul of every human being longs for, the company of his own kind, and recreation and amusement which he himself can assist in supplying.

Still, if it is to continue, the public-house must be reformed and improved in some way to satisfy the national conscience. And a book of this kind seems to be incomplete unless it contains some suggestions as to the direction in which reform ought to proceed.

In the first place, we would urge the inexpediency of any further legislation. Anybody, who as a parish worker or as an employer of labour has interested himself in a model public-house, will agree with us in this. No other institution in the country is so hopelessly law-ridden and police-ridden. We might make an exception in the case of the licence itself. All taxation of alcoholic liquors should be direct and should be levied at the fountain head--whether distiller, brewer or importer. The licence for retailing such liquors should be a moderate and fixed amount like all other licences. Why the publican should be penalised at so high a rate, when the grocer, whose annual sales often exceed those of all the public-houses in the district combined, is let off with a nominal sum, passes all comprehension.

To impose a high licence on the hotel or tavern-keeper is, in the opinion of those who have studied the subject carefully, a mistake both economically and morally. First, because a large and increasing portion of his sales consists in wares which the outside dealer supplies without the necessity of either tax or licence. Secondly, there is a serious temptation offered to the publican to recoup the high expenditure on his licence by inducing his customers to drink. And it is most important that men of the highest character and responsibility should be encouraged to take office as innkeepers and publicans. This can hardly be the case while the high licence adds so seriously to the amount of unremunerative capital required for embarking in the business. No other trade is handicapped by such an iniquitous impost.

We must not, of course, shirk that ugly word, “monopoly value,” introduced by the Licensing Act of 1902. But it is a monopoly of dwindling value riddled by half a dozen competing agencies and minimised by all sorts of vexatious restrictions. Sunday trading is not a desirable thing, but a visit to any favourite suburban resort on Sunday morning reveals a state of affairs only to be paralleled in Gilbertian comic opera. Tobacconists, sweet-stuff shops, tea gardens and enterprising Italian caterers are all doing a roaring trade without let or hindrance. Meanwhile the “Licensed Victualler,” who pays so high a price for his “monopoly” as a purveyor of refreshments, is compelled on pain of extinction to keep his doors bolted and barred against all but the few hardy souls who have accomplished the Sabbath Day’s journey.

There is an underworld in the drink trade. Provincial allotment holders never seem to lack a good supply of the national beverage on Sunday mornings; it does not flow from the local alehouse. Quarterns of gin and whisky are obtainable in London from some unknown sources at all hours of the night. One of the authors, associated for many years with a famous church in the poorer districts of central London, made some astonishing discoveries with regard to this illicit drink traffic. Most of it is the direct outcome of the oppressive one-sided licensing laws.

On the liquor question itself, we would suggest that the tax on beer should be graduated, and a comparatively light duty be imposed on beer guaranted to be brewed entirely from malt and hops, and containing only the small proportion of alcohol necessary to carry the phosphates--say not more than four per cent. We believe that the revenue would not ultimately lose much by this concession, while the result of its general adoption as a beverage would be highly beneficial. No better preventative could be imagined against nervous depression, the great curse of modern life, and the real cause of the drink and drug-taking habits--than a revival of the good old English mild ale such as our forefathers brewed in the pre-reformation Church Houses.

We have already referred to the work of the Public Refreshment House Association, and much good is bound to result from the efforts of this body in improving the status of the public-house. Its methods and the rules laid down for the management of the houses under its control are worthy of all praise. The foresight and self-denial of its directorate are especially commendable, in that the society seeks to co-operate in the formation of separate county trusts, rather than to aggrandize itself by acquiring an unlimited number of licences. The danger of a gigantic trust, as of a national monopoly, would be that enormous power might, in the second generation, fall into the hands of an ambitious and tyrannical central staff. One fear only we have with regard to the P.R.H.A. Its establishments are so attractive and altogether so desirable, that like all philanthropic efforts they will end by benefiting a higher class than was at first intended. The lady cyclist and the weekender will avail themselves of their advantages rather than the rural labourer. And we hope that the wise authorities at headquarters will guard against this difficulty by encouraging games, and providing magazines for the users of the tap-room.

A worthy country cleric of our acquaintance takes exception to the preferential commission which the Association allows to its local managers in order to push the sale of temperance drinks. He urges that no temperance drink has hitherto been invented which is either thirst quenching or wholesome. The tea and coffee habit would end by making the villager as neurotic as his cockney cousin. Aerated waters, flavoured with narcotic drugs and saturated with gaseous mineral carbonic dioxide, put a severe strain on the action of the heart; fruit syrups are doctored with nerve-destroying formaline to prevent natural fermentation. Even the popular ginger beer and ginger ale are not unimpeachable. Ginger is a drug injurious to the coating of the stomach; and in some modern brands the more poisonous capsicum is employed as a cheaper substitute.

But on general grounds, we think this encouragement of temperance drinks is altogether a judicious move. The public-house exists for the benefit and use of all classes and sections of the community; the teetotaller has as much right there as anybody else, and it is desirable that he should exercise that right as frequently as possible. The popular idea that the tavern is only a place for the consumption of certain alcoholic drinks must be dispelled; such liquors have to be on sale there merely because a large majority of Englishmen habitually desire them as beverages, and it is not the duty of those in charge to decide whether they shall, or shall not, continue to do so. Wine, beer and spirits are an essential part, but still only one department of the tavern-keeper’s business.

Village trusts have been introduced with success in some rural districts. A body of trustees is elected by the whole parish for a term of years, on much the same lines as the Parish Council. Management on a democratic basis has its good points, if only the natives can be roused to take a keen interest in the subject. But all these revolutionary displacements of “the trade” are unnecessary. The good conduct of the public-house depends not so much on those who manage it as on those who habitually use it, and on the growth of a healthy national appreciation of its value. If only men of good-will made it a rule to visit from time to time the various licensed houses of the neighbourhood, their very presence would be a wonderful help to the cause of morality. A good understanding with the landlord should be established, and then suggestions for the improvement of the house quietly and considerately discussed with him. We know of parish priests who, facing sneers about “Beer and Bible,” have pursued this course, and their efforts have brought blessing and reward. But it must be understood that all genuine progress is slow. The _Public_-house is not so much the moulder as the index of public morals; and any violent attempts at reforming it are as absurd as to manipulate a barometer with a view to improving the weather.

In a recent speech the Bishop of Birmingham cited as his ideal of the public-house, an establishment in Barcelona which he had visited several times, and which struck him as being specially delightful. He described it as an immense room in which there must have been about a thousand people. They were of all classes; a good many of them were artisans who wore their blouses, and they were there with their wives and children constantly. They were drinking all sorts of things--beer, wine, tea, coffee, or milk, and some of them were drinking a peculiar compound of a kind of pink colour, the nature of which he was not able to ascertain through an imperfect knowledge of the language. There was rather a good band, but one could not hear it much because all were talking and laughing and making themselves extremely agreeable to one another. He asked himself every time he went there--Was not that type of place of public resort, public refreshment, and public amusement entirely desirable? He had been there on Sundays and week-days, and he never felt that he had seen or heard anything that was not entirely desirable. Every time he went there--and he could find the same thing in other countries and cities--he said to himself: What was there in the nature of things why we could not have exactly this kind of place of public amusement and recreation--this kind of public-house with regard to which they would not feel the slightest desire for any legislation to restrict the opportunity of women or children or of anybody else going into it?

There are several public-houses in England where the presence of an enlightened thinker like Dr. Gore would be welcomed. One in particular occurs to us as we write--the _Ship_ at Ospringe, near Faversham. The climate of the Swale marshes will not admit of a hall to contain over a thousand people, but here there is a room which on Saturday nights might contain any number up to a hundred and fifty. There is no band--the police would speedily interfere at the first trumpet blare; nor any children--thanks to a recent Act of Parliament. But his lordship would find a happy good-humoured company, young men and old, wives and sweethearts, some drinking beer, some lemonade, young girls eating their supper of bread and cheese or fish, all engaged in merry converse, or listening with uncritical good-nature to songs and recitations provided by such among their number as are inclined to oblige. If a pianist happens to turn up, so much the better; otherwise the vocalist does his best without accompaniment. All is homely and hearty. We have visited the _Ship_ many times and never perceived any signs of objectionable conduct. If it lacks any of the advantages of its Barcelona rival, we must blame the law and the licensing authorities--certainly not the institution.

In Spain, as in Germany, the inn or the tavern is regarded as an essential element of civic life, not as a place to be discouraged and despised. A century or two ago all good and respectable Britons avoided the theatre, and the drama in England became a byword for immorality and licentiousness. A better spirit arose; churchmen and ladies of refinement interested themselves in the theatre; the ban was removed, and now we can take our sisters, cousins and aunts to see an English play without fear of incurring their reproaches. Perchance, also, a new era may await the public-house, and its value as an educative and steadying influence on the democracy will be understood.

We live in the midst of a period when great revolutionary changes are impending. Never before has the struggle for existence among the masses been so keenly felt, or the cruel differences of opportunity of rich and poor so widely ventilated. Class privilege and hereditary endowment seem alike destined for the melting-pot. What will emerge none can tell. We have shown how in previous ages, whenever there were great political or social changes, the tavern played its part. Within the doors of the public-house all men are brethren. There alone class can meet class and discuss their difficulties freely and even dispassionately. Society has too long left the lower orders to estimate the advantage of culture from its Tony Lumpkins. It is a great opportunity. The venerable house of call, bequeathed to us by the ages, beckons all to come within its kindly shelter, out of the storms of class hatred and political prejudice. Churlish and short-sighted indeed will those be who reject the invitation.

For, after all, the old antiquary whom we met with in the chapter on the Church Inns was right. The keynote of the public-house and its true purpose in life is Christian Charity. Charity which suffereth long and is kind, bearing all things, envying not, nor believing any evil; and without which we are nothing. The greatest thing in Earth or Heaven.

INDEX

_Acland Arms_, Exmoor, 188

Addington, _Angel_, 23

_Albion_, South Norwood, 131

Alfriston, _Star_, 24, 201

_Anchor_, Hartfield, 78, 142

---- Liphook, 133

_Angel_, Addington, 23

---- Basingstoke, 23

---- Bury St. Edmunds, 23

---- Grantham, 23

---- Guildford, 23

---- Islington, 24

---- Theale, 175

---- Woolhampton, 285

_Antelope_, Godalming, 116

Ashbourne, _Green Man and Black’s Head_, 171

Ash Vale, _Swan_, 143

Aylesbury, _George_, 159

---- _King’s Head_, 59, 195

Bagworth, _Maynard Arms_, 236

Barking, _Bull_, 18, 22

Barley, _Fox and Hounds_, 165

_Barley Mow_, Hartford, 79

Basingstoke, _Angel_, 23

Battersea, _Falcon_, 122

_Bear_, Chelsham, 174

---- Maidenhead, 126

---- Southwark, 20

---- Wantage, 174

_Bear and Ragged Staff_, Cumnor, 124

_Bee Hive_, Grantham, 168

_Bell_, Edenbridge, 171

---- Edmonton, 154

---- Epping, 234

---- Finedon, 77

---- Westminster, 77

---- Warwick Lane, 77

Bermondsey, _Simon the Tanner_, 61

Bettws-y-Coed, _Royal Oak_, 157

Birdbrook, _Plough_, 243

_Bird in Hand_, Bromley, 139

_Bishop Blaise_, New Inn Yard, 61

_Black Bear_, Devizes, 151

_Black Lion_, Walsingham, 115, 151

_Black Swan_, Lichfield, 260

Bletchingley, _White Hart_, 146

_Blue Boar_, Leicester, 117

_Blue Cap_, Sandiway, 140

_Book in Hand_, Mabelthorpe, 166

_Bournville Public House_, 236

Bracknell, _Hind’s Head_, 187

Brentford, _Three Pigeons_, 153

Brentwood, _White Hart_, 41, 42, 199

_Bricklayers’ Arms_, Caxton, 61

_Bridge Inn_, Port Sunlight, 236

Brighton, _Old Steyne_, 216

Broadway, _Lygon Arms_, 244

_Bull_, Barking, 18, 22

---- Coventry, 133

---- Dartford, 18, 87

---- Long Melford, 21, 87, 197

---- Malling, 18

---- Newington, 19

---- Reading, 19

---- Rochester, 22, 204

---- St. Albans, 21

---- Sudbury, 198

---- Theale, 18

---- Woodbridge, 150

_Bull and Bush_, Hampstead, 148

_Bull and Mouth_, St. Martins le Grand, 82, 127

Bury St. Edmunds, _Angel_, 23

_Cæsar’s Head_, Great Palace Yard, 112

Canterbury, _Chequers_, 106

---- _Falstaff_, 152

---- _Fountain_, 1

_Castle_, Hurst, 75

---- Marlborough, 91

Castleton, _George and Dragon_, 234

Caxton, _Bricklayers’ Arms_, 61

---- _George_, 86

Chelsham, _Bear_, 174

_Chequers_, Canterbury, 106

---- Doddington, 107

---- Loose, 107

---- St. Albans, 107

---- Slapestones, 110

Chester, _King Edgar_, 112

Chiddingfold, _Crown_, 208

Chigwell, _King’s Head_, 158

Clare, _Swan_, 175

_Clothiers’ Arms_, Stroud, 235

_Coach and Horses_, Westminster, 86

_Coal Hole_, Strand, 236

_Cock_, Fleet Street, 24

_Cock and Bell_, Romford, 79

_Cock and Tabard_, Westminster, 23

Colnbrook, _Ostrich_, 37, 188

Combe St. Nicholas, _Green Dragon_, 240

_Copt Hall_, London, E.C., 236

Coventry, _Bull_, 133

_Crown_, Chiddingfold, 208

---- Dartford, 126

---- Hempstead, 151

---- Ospringe, 37

---- Rochester, 1

---- Shipton-under-Wychwood, 199

_Crown and Treaty_, Uxbridge, 133

Cumnor, _Bear and Ragged Staff_, 124

Dartford, _Bull_, 18, 87

---- _Crown_, 126

Derby, _Dolphin_, 100

Derby, _Nottingham Castle_, 99

Devizes, _Black Bear_, 151

Doddington, _Chequers_, 107

_Dog and Doublet_, Sandon, 236

_Dolphin_, Derby, 100

---- Portsmouth, 261

Dorking, _White Horse_, 26

---- _Gun_, 123

_Dorset Arms_, Withyham, 107

_Duck in the Pond_, Harrow Weald, 236

_Duke of Wellington_, High Beech, 178

Edenbridge, _Bell_, 171

Edmonton, _Bell_, 154

_Elephant and Castle_, London, S.E., 64, 163

_Elm Tree_, Oxford, 236

Elmers’ End, _William IV_, 235

Elmesthorpe, _Wentworth Arms_, 236

Enfield, _King James and the Tinker_, 126

Epping, _Bell_, 234

_Falcon_, Battersea, 122

_Falstaff_, Canterbury, 152

---- Gad’s Hill, 152

---- Newington, 153

Farnham, _Jolly Farmer_, 151

Faversham, _Fleur de Lis_, 123

_Feathers_, Ludlow, 204, 244

Feering, _Sun_, 199

Felstead, _Swan_, 51, 75

_Fighting Cocks_, St. Albans, 2

Finedon, _Bell_, 77

_First and Last_, Sennen, 162

Fittleworth, _Old Swan_, 158

_Five Alls_, Marlborough, 176

_Fleur de Lis_, Faversham, 123

Flyford Flavel, _Union_, 239

_Fountain_, Canterbury, 1

---- Portsmouth, 261

_Four Swans_, Waltham Cross, 171

_Fox and Hounds_, Barley, 165

_Fox and Pelican_, Haslemere, 231

_George_, Aylesbury, 159

---- Caxton, 86

---- Glastonbury, 39, 199

---- Hayes, 158, 236

---- Huntingdon, 78

---- Rochester, 37

---- St. Albans, 39

---- Southwark, 87

---- Winchester, 54

---- Wymondham, 39

_George and Dragon_, Castleton, 234

---- Wargrave, 158

_General Wolfe_, Westerham, 131, 180

_Gipsy Queen_, Norwood, 131

Glastonbury, _George_, 39, 199

Gloucester, _New Inn_, 32, 87, 199

_Goat House_, Norwood, 206

Godalming, _Antelope_, 116

---- _King’s Arms_, 10

---- _Three Lions_, 11

Godstone, _Clayton Arms_, 208

_Golden Fleece_, South Weald, 63

_Golden Lion_, St. Ives, 87

_Green Dragon_, Combe St. Nicholas, 240

_Green Man_, Croydon, Dulwich, Leytonstone, 65

---- Tunstall, 236

_Green Man and Black’s Head_, Ashbourne, 171

Grantham, _Angel_, 23

---- _Beehive_, 168

---- _Blue Inns_, 168

_Greyhound_, Strand, 235

Guildford, _Angel_, 23

---- _White Hart_, 41

---- _White Lion_, 117

_Gun_, Dorking, 123

_Half Brick_, Worthing, 169

Hampton-on-Thames, _Red Lion_, 114

Harrow Weald, _Duck in the Pond_, 236

Hartfield, _Anchor_, 78, 142

Haslemere, _Fox and Pelican_, 231

Hawkhurst, _Queen’s Hotel_, 142

Hemel Hempstead, _King’s Arms_, x

Hempstead, _Crown_, 151

Henley-in-Arden, _White Swan_, 154

Henley-on-Thames, _Red Lion_, 154

Hereford, _Raven_, 151

High Beech, _Duke of Wellington_, 178

High Easter, _Punch Bowl_, 74, 76

_Hind’s Head_, Bracknell, 187

_Hole in the Wall_, Borough, 169

---- Waterloo Station, 169

Hollingbourne, _Windmill_, 179

_Holy Blaise_, Kidderminster, 61

_Honest Miller_, Wye, 168

_Horse and Groom_, Waltham St. Lawrence, 136

_Hundred House_, Purslow, 236

Huntingdon, _George_, 78, 87

---- _Queen’s Head_, 79

Hurst, _Castle_, 75

_Isaac Walton_, Ashbourne, 144

Islington, _Angel_, 24

---- _Pied Bull_, 120

---- _Queen’s Head_, 120

---- _Sir Hugh Middleton_, 120

_Jack of Newbury_, Reading, 131

_Jack Straw’s Castle_, Hampstead, 126

_Jolly Farmer_, Farnham, 151

_Jolly Sailor_, South Norwood, 131

Kelvedon, _Wheatsheaf_, 151

_Kentish Drovers_, Old Kent Road, 177

_King Edgar_, Chester, 112

_King James and the Tinker_, Enfield, 126

_King’s Arms_, Godalming, 10

---- Hemel Hempstead, x

_King’s Head_, Aylesbury, 59, 195

---- Chigwell, 158

---- Roehampton, 118

King’s Heath, _Red Lion_, 236

Kingsbury, _Plough_, 109

Kidderminster, _Holy Blaise_, 61

_Lamb_, Eastbourne, 77

_Lamb and Anchor_, Bristol, 78

_Lamb and Flag_, Brighton, 78

---- Sudbury, Swindon, 78

Leicester, _Blue Boar_, 117

Lichfield, _Black Swan_, 261

Lickfold, _Three Horseshoes_, 108

Lincoln, _Reindeer_, 138

Liphook, _Anchor_, 133

_Lisle Castle_, Chalk, Gravesend, 208

Long Melford, _Bull_, 21, 87, 197

Loose, _Chequers_, 107

Loughton, _Wheatsheaf_, 234

Ludlow, _Feathers_, 204, 244

Lurgashall, _Noah’s Ark_, 207

_Lygon Arms_, Broadway, 244

Mabelthorpe, _Book in Hand_, 166

Maidenhead, _Bear_, 126

_Maid’s Head_, Norwich, 202, 245

Maidstone, _Nelson_, 129

Malling, _Bull_, 18

Manchester, _Seven Stars_, 1

Marlborough, _Castle_, 91

---- _Five Alls_, 176

_Marquis of Granby_, Deptford, 145

---- Epsom, 128

Martlesham, _Red Lion_, 174

_Maynard Arms_, Bagworth, 236

Midhurst, _Spread Eagle_, 7

_Monster_, Pimlico, 161

_Nelson_, Maidstone, 129

Newark, _Ossington_, 236

---- _Saracen’s Head_, 1

Newington, _Bull_, 19

---- _Falstaff_, 153

_New Inn_, Gloucester, 32, 87, 199

---- New Romney, 250

_Noah’s Ark_, Lurgashall, 207

Norwich, _Maid’s Head_, 202, 245

Norwood, _Gipsy Queen_, 131

---- _Goat House_, 206

---- Nautical Inns, 131

_Nottingham Castle_, Derby, 99

Nottingham, _Ram_, 1

_Old Red House_, nr. Newmarket, 79

_Old Steyne_, Brighton, 216

_Old White House_, Oxford, 236

_Ossington_, Newark, 236

Ospringe, _Crown_, 37

---- _Ship_, 37

_Ostrich_, Colnbrook, 37, 188

Oxford, _Elm Tree_, 236

---- _Old White House_, 236

_Oxford Arms_, Warwick Lane, 83

Papworth Everard, _Three Horse Shoes_, 108

_Pelican_, Speen, 125

_Pied Bull_, Islington, 120

Pleshy, _White Horse_, 98

_Plough_, Birdbrook, 243

---- Kingsbury, 109

---- Smallfield, 208

---- Upper Dicker, 109

Plumbley, _Smoker_, 141

Portsmouth, _Dolphin_, 261

---- _Fountain_, 261

Port Sunlight, _Bridge Inn_, 236

_Prince Albert_, Rodborough, 235

_Punch Bowl_, High Easter, 74, 76

Purslow, _Hundred House_, 236

_Queen’s Head_, Huntingdon, 79

---- Islington, 120

_Queen’s Hotel_, Hawkhurst, 142

_Ram_, Nottingham, 1

_Raven_, Hereford, 151

Reading, _Bull_, 19

Redbourne, _Chequers_, 107

_Red House_, Stratford-on-Avon, 216

_Red Lion_, Hampton-on-Thames, 114, 148

---- Henley, 154

---- King’s Heath, 236

---- Martlesham, 174

---- Sittingbourne, 114

---- Speldhurst, 114

---- Truro, 244

---- Wingham, 113, 195

_Reformation_, Reading, 169

_Reindeer_, Lincoln, 138

Rochester, _Bull_, 22, 204

---- _George_, 37

Rodborough, _Prince Albert_, 235

Roehampton, _King’s Head_, 118

Romford, _Cock and Bell_, 79

_Rose_, Wokingham, 94

_Rose and Crown_, Sudbury, 204

_Royal Oak_, Bettws-y-Coed, 157

_Running Horse_, Sandling, 141

Saffron Walden, _Sun_, 174

St. Albans, _Bull_, 21

---- _Chequers_, 107

---- _Fighting Cocks_, 2

---- _George_, 39

---- _White Hart_, 85

_St. Anna’s Castle_, Great Leighs, 165

Sandiway, _Blue Cap_, 140

Sandon, _Dog and Doublet_, 236

_Saracen’s Head_, Newark, 1

Scole, _White Hart_, 172

Sennen, _First and Last_, 162

_Seven Stars_, Manchester, 1

Shefford, _Swan_, 174

_Ship_, Norwood, 131

---- Ospringe, 37, 283

---- Wingham, 194

Shipton-under-Wychwood, _Crown_, 199

_Sieve_, Minories, E.C., 164

_Simon the Tanner_, Bermondsey, 61

_Sir Hugh Middleton_, Islington, 132

Sittingbourne, _Red Lion_, 114

_Skittles_, Letchworth, 231

Slapestones, _Chequers_, 110

Smallfield, _Plough_, 208

_Smoker_, Plumbley, 141

Sonning, _White Hart_, 236

South Weald, _Golden Fleece_, 63

Speen, _Pelican_, 125

Speldhurst, _Red Lion_, 114

_Spread Eagle_, Midhurst, 7

_Spital_, Stanmore, 189

_Star_, Alfriston, 24, 201

---- Great Yarmouth, 204

_Star and Garter_, Brighton, 155

Stratford-on-Avon, _Red Horse_, 216

Strand, _Clothiers’ Arms_, _Greyhound_, 235

_Swan_, Ash Vale, 143

---- Clare, 175

---- Felstead, 51, 75

---- Fittleworth, 158

---- Grasmere, 158

---- Shefford, 174

---- Sutton Valence, 116

---- Tarporley, 140

_Swan and Maiden Head_, Stratford-on-Avon, 152

Sudbury, _Bull_, 19, 198

---- _Rose and Crown_, 204

_Sun_, Feering, 199

---- Saffron Walden, 174

Sutton Valence, _Swan_, 116

_Tabard_, Southwark, 25

Tarporley, _Swan_, 140

_Ten Bells_, Leeds, Kent, 179

Theale, _Angel_, 175

_Three Crosses_, nr. Daventry, 263

_Three Frogs_, Wokingham, 123

_Three Horseshoes_, Lickfold, 108

---- Papworth Everard, 108

_Three Lions_, Godalming, 11

_Three Pigeons_, Brentford, 153

_Tiger_, Lindfield, 7

Truro, _Red Lion_, 244

Tunstall, _Green Man_, 236

_Turpin’s Cave_, High Beech, 170

_Unicorn_, Weobley, 121

_Union_, Flyford Flavel, 239

Upper Dicker, _Plough_, 109

Uxbridge, _Crown and Treaty_, 133

Walsingham, _Black Lion_, 115, 151

Waltham Cross, _Four Swans_, 171

Wantage, _Bear_, 174

_Warbolt-in-Tun_, Warbleton, 167

Warlingham, _White Lion_, 145, 208

Weobly, _Unicorn_, 121

_Wentworth Arms_, Elmsthorpe, 236

Westerham, _General Wolfe_, 132

Westminster, _Cock and Tabard_, 23

---- _Coach and Horses_, 86

West Wickham, _White Hart_, 235

_Wheatsheaf_, Kelvedon, 151

_Wheatsheaf_, Loughton, 234

---- Bletchingley, 146

_White Hart_, Borough, 176

---- Brentwood, 41, 199

---- Godalming, 117

---- Godstone, 208

---- Guildford, 41

---- St. Albans, 85

---- Scole, 172

---- Sonning, 236

---- West Wickham, 235

---- Witham, 89, 176

_White Horse_, Dorking, 26

---- Kensington, 148

---- Pleshy, 98

_White Lion_, Bristol, 117

---- Guildford, 117

---- Warlingham, 145

_White Swan_, Henley-in-Arden, 154
(See also _Swan_)

_William IV_, Elmers’ End, 235

Winchester, _George_, 54

_Windmill_, Hollingbourne, 179

Wingham, _Red Lion_, 113, 195

---- _Ship_, 194

Witham, _White Hart_, 89, 176

Withyham, _Dorset Arms_, 107

Wokingham, _Rose_, 94

---- _Three Frogs_, 123

Woodbridge, _Bull_, 150

Wye, _Honest Miller_, 168

Wymondham, _Green Dragon_, 39

Yarmouth, _Star_, 204

THE END

_Press of Isaac Pitman & Sons, Bath, England._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Parker’s “Manor of Aylesbury,” 14.

[2] “Paston Letters,” III, 304.

[3] See also J. J. Jusserand. “English Wayfaring Life,” p. 342.

[4] J. R. Green. “Town Life in the Fifteenth Century,” I, 55.

[5] At the _George Inn_, Winchester, in Elizabeth’s reign, the charge for a feather bed for one night was one penny; for a dinner of “Beef, mutton, or pigge,” sixpence.

[6] “All at Coventry.” By W. T. Montcrieff.

[7] Green. “Town Life in the Fifteenth Century,” II, 126.

[8] “Burnet’s Own Times,” II, 426.

[9] MS. 10. E. IV.

[10] “Piers the Plowman.” Text B., Passus V.; Text C., Passus VII.

[11] Literally “Harbourers.” Compare the French _Auberge_.

[12] “History of Signboards,” II, 45.

[13] Charles Lamb, who delighted in the old _Queen’s Head_, suggests that the liquid was not water but “Black Jack.”

[14] “Twelfth Night”; Act III, Sc. 3.

[15] Some of the rival establishments at Colnbrook contend that the above honours belong to them, and not to the _Ostrich_.

[16] “About Yorkshire.”

[17] Larwood and Hotten, in “The History of Signboards,” state that the sign of the _Red Horse_ in their day was almost extinct. Longfellow’s description of “The Wayside Inn” contains the lines:

“And half effaced by rain and shine,
The red horse prances on the sign.”

[18] “Three Deep; or All on the Wing.” A once favourite farcical play by Joseph Lunn.