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DICKENSIAN INNS AND TAVERNS
* * * * * *
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
THE INNS AND TAVERNS OF PICKWICK
With thirty-one illustrations.
Large Crown 8vo. Second Edition.
10/6 net.
"The Inns and Taverns of Pickwick" has proved one of the most successful
books of the season. The reviewers have been unanimous in its praise, and
in speaking of its value and qualities have used such adjectives as
famous, friendly, entertaining, delightful, well-informed, irresistible,
valuable, fascinating, jolly, glowing, jovial, great, favourite, charming,
congenial, and agreed that it is the "final authority and worthy of its
mighty subject."
LONDON: CECIL PALMER
* * * * * *
[Illustration: JOHN BROWDIE AND FANNY SQUEERS ARRIVE AT THE SARACEN'S HEAD
_Drawn by T. Onwhyn_]
DICKENSIAN INNS & TAVERNS
by
B. W. MATZ
Editor of "The Dickensian"
Author of "The Inns and Taverns of Pickwick" etc., etc.
With Thirty-Nine Illustrations by T. Onwhyn, Charles G. Harper,
L. Walker, F. G. Kitton, G. M. Brimelow and from Photographs
and Old Engravings
London
Cecil Palmer
Oakley House, Bloomsbury Street, W.C. I
First Edition
1922 Copyright
Printed in Great Britain by Burleigh Ltd. Bristol
TO RIDGWELL CULLUM
CONTENTS
_Chapter_ _Page_
PREFACE 13
I DICKENS AND INNS 15
II OLIVER TWIST 22
III NICHOLAS NICKLEBY: THE SARACEN'S HEAD 32
IV NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (_continued_) 49
V BARNABY RUDGE: THE MAYPOLE 72
VI BARNABY RUDGE (_continued_) AND THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP 89
VII MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT 105
VIII DOMBEY AND SON 132
IX DAVID COPPERFIELD 144
X BLEAK HOUSE, LITTLE DORRIT, HARD TIMES 169
XI A TALE OF TWO CITIES AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS 178
XII OUR MUTUAL FRIEND 191
XIII EDWIN DROOD, AND THE LAZY TOUR OF TWO IDLE APPRENTICES 217
XIV SKETCHES BY BOZ, AND THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER 239
XV CHRISTMAS STORIES AND MINOR WRITINGS 258
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
John Browdie and Fanny Squeers arrive at the Saracen's Head.
Drawn by T. Onwhyn _Frontispiece_
The Red Lion, Barnet. Photo by T. W. Tyrell _Page_ 24
The Coach and Horses, Isleworth. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 26
The Eight Bells, Hatfield. Drawn by F. G. Kitton " 29
The Sign of the Saracen's Head " 35
The Saracen's Head, Snow Hill. From an old print " 41
The Peacock, Islington. From an old engraving " 50
The George Inn, Greta Bridge. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 57
The King's Head, Barnard Castle. Photo by T. W. Tyrrell " 60
The Bottom Inn, near Petersfield. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 65
The King's Head, Chigwell. Drawn by L. Walker " 75
The Chester Room, King's Head. Drawn by L. Walker " 82
The Old Boot Inn, 1780. From an old engraving " 91
The Red Lion, Bevis Marks. Drawn by G. M. Brimelow " 99
The George, Amesbury. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 111
The George Inn, Salisbury. Photo by T. W. Tyrrell " 114
The Black Bull, Holborn. Drawn by L. Walker " 121
The Sign of the Black Bull. Drawn by L. Walker " 129
The Bedford Hotel, Brighton. From an old engraving " 134
The Royal Hotel, Leamington. From a lithograph " 134
The Plough Inn, Blunderstone. Photo by T. W. Tyrrell " 146
The Buck Inn, Yarmouth. Photo by T. W. Tyrrell " 146
The Duke's Head, Yarmouth. Photo by T. W. Tyrrell " 146
The Little Inn, Canterbury. Drawn by F. G. Kitton " 157
Jack Straw's Castle. Drawn by L. Walker " 163
The London Coffee House. From an old engraving " 172
The Old Cheshire Cheese. From a photo " 180
The Ship and Lobster, Gravesend. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 187
The Grapes Inn, Limehouse. Photo by T. W. Tyrrell " 194
Limehouse Reach. Drawn by L. Walker " 199
The Ship Hotel, Greenwich. Drawn by L. Walker " 207
The Red Lion, Hampton. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 213
Wood's Hotel, Furnival's Inn. Drawn by L. Walker " 223
The King's Arms, Lancaster. Drawn by L. Walker " 231
The Eagle Tavern. From an old print " 242
The Crispin and Crispianus. Drawn by C. G. Harper " 255
The Mitre Inn, Chatham. From an engraving " 259
The Lord Warden Hotel, Dover. From an engraving " 268
The Pavilion Hotel, Folkestone. From an engraving " 268
PREFACE
The very friendly reception given to my previous book on the Inns and
Taverns of Pickwick has encouraged me to pursue the subject through the
other novels and writings of Dickens, and to compile the present volume.
I do not claim that it is encyclopædic in the sense that it will be found
to supply a complete index to every inn mentioned in the novelist's books.
Many a reader will recall, I expect, a certain inn in his favourite story
which has been overlooked; but, while my chief aim has been to deal with
the famous and prominent ones, I have not ignored the minor ones which, in
many cases, are also the most alluring, and often play an important part
in the story.
The plan has been to take the long novels in something approximating to
chronological order, followed by the shorter stories and sketches; and,
where an inn is mentioned in more than one book, to deal with it fully in
the chapter devoted to the story in which it was first alluded to.
Inns associated with the novelist's own life find no place in this
volume, unless they have association also with his books.
In such a volume as this it is obviously necessary to quote freely from
Dickens's books, but, when one recalls the young person's comment on
lectures about Dickens that "she always loved them because of the
quotations," no apology or excuse is needed here.
I am greatly indebted to my friends T. W. Tyrrell and Charles G. Harper
for much valuable advice and assistance in my task. The former has kindly
loaned me prints from his unique collection of topographical photographs,
and has also given me the advantage of his expert knowledge of the
subject.
How much I owe to the latter goes without saying. No one can write of old
inns, old coaches, or old coaching roads without acknowledging
indebtedness to the score of books standing in Mr. Harper's name, which
are rich mines for any student of the subject quarrying for facts. He has
not only permitted me to dig in his mines, but has allowed also the use of
many of his charming drawings.
Acknowledgment is also made to Messrs. A. & C. Black, Messrs. Methuen &
Co., and the proprietors of the Cheshire Cheese for the use of blocks on
pages 24, 99 and 180 respectively.
B. W. MATZ.
DICKENSIAN INNS & TAVERNS
CHAPTER I
DICKENS AND INNS
In these days when life is, for the most part, and for most of us, a
wearying process of bustle and "business," it is comforting as well as
pleasant to reflect that the old coaching inn still remains in all its
quiet grandeur and the noble dignity which quaint customs and unbroken
centuries of tradition have given to it. For a brief period in our recent
history, it seemed that even so great a British institution as the old
English inn, and its first cousin the tavern, were doomed to pass away.
Indeed, the invention of railways, followed by the almost automatic
suspension of the coach as a means of locomotion, did succeed actually in
closing down many of them. But the subsequent invention of the motor-car
reopened England's highways and by-ways so that to-day there are
unmistakable indications that the old English inn is once more acquiring
that atmosphere of friendly hospitality and utility with which it was
endowed in the past, and which is so faithfully reflected in every book of
Dickens.
No one can really believe that the palatial and gilded hotels that sprang
up in the place of scores of the old coaching inns possessed the same snug
cheerfulness, the same appeal to the traveller, as did the old hostelries
of the coaching era. To-day, this is being realised more and more, and
when the time comes, as we are told is not far off, when everyone will
have his own motor-car, mine host of every wayside inn and county town
hostelry will once again become the prominent figure that Dickens made
him. The real romance of the coaching era may never return. Perhaps we
have become too matter-of-fact for that. But something approximating to
the spirit and glamour of those days is possible still for those who are
content to undertake a motor journey minus the feverish ambition for
breaking speed records. In many an old-world English village stands an
old-world English inn, and when that hour before sunset arrives that all
travellers of the open road know--the moment when a luxurious and healthy
weariness overcomes us--ah, well, be sure the right sort of inn awaits you
if you deserve such good fortune, and, when the time comes to fill pipes
and sit at ease before a blazing log-fire, what better subject for your
dreams will you find than the glowing pages of a Dickens book?
In them you get not only the romance and the glamour of the journey from
place to place, but also descriptive pictures of the various inns, of
their picturesque outward appearances, of their interior comfort and
customs, of their glorious and luscious array of wholesome food and wine,
to say nothing of the wonderful description of the happy company assembled
there, all told with that incomparable charm and grace and good humour of
a writer of genius.
Dickens not only knew how to describe an inn and its comforts (and its
discomforts, too, sometimes), but he seemed to revel in doing so, and
became filled with delight when he was one of the guests within its walls.
He seems to have shared Dr. Johnson's view that there was no private house
in which people could enjoy themselves so well as at a good tavern, where
there was general freedom from anxiety, and where you were sure of a
welcome; and to agree with him that there is nothing as yet contrived by
man by which so much happiness is produced as in a good tavern or inn.
His books are full of the truth of this, and provide many such happy
occasions when, after a cold coach drive, the hospitable host conducts the
passengers to a large room made cosy with a roaring fire, and drawn
curtains, and presenting an inviting spread of the good things of life,
and a plentiful supply of the best wines or a bowl of steaming punch, for
the jovial company. And the coach journey which brings one to these inns!
Is there any described with so much exhilaration to be found elsewhere?
Take the coach ride of Nicholas Nickleby along the Great North Road to his
destination in Yorkshire. Here is reflected the real spirit of old-time
travelling which brings us in touch with the old customs of the coaching
age in a manner that no historian could possibly convey so realistically.
Read again Tom Pinch's ride to London. We not only encounter old inns and
old houses with their cherished memories, their old rooms, each with its
own romantic atmosphere and a tale to tell, but we traverse picturesque
by-ways and highways, which in themselves recall the past as well as
reveal unchanging scenes of glorious nature; we can experience these
feelings to-day in a way our fathers could not. The railroad, for a spell,
made this impossible. To-day the road has come into its own again, and the
motor-car brings back to us the glory of the road, the pleasure of the
inn, and the enjoyment of the wonderful country which is England.
There seems to have been a positive allurement about an inn or tavern for
Dickens which he could not resist. He lingered over the most decrepit and
lowly public-house, such as the dirty Three Cripples, the resort of Bill
Sikes, as he did over the sumptuous Pavilion Hotel at Folkestone. A
wayside inn was as real a joy to him in its modest way as was the chief
coaching hotel in a country town with its studied comfort.
When travelling about the country himself with his friends, some comment
or pen-picture of the inn they stayed at creeps into his letters, as it
would seem, by instinct. Even in his unpublished diary we see noted items
about delightfully beautiful drives, coach offices, stage-coaches, and
excellent inns. And, when he and Wilkie Collins went for their idle tour,
it resolved itself into visiting the inns and coast corners in
out-of-the-way places.
His knowledge of inns was stupendous. In that Christmas story, "The Holly
Tree," there are scores of them recalled, each recollection no doubt
reminiscent of experiences and association.
One gets a gleam of the joy he experiences at such times in the extract
from a letter to an American friend, in 1842, after he had gone for a trip
into Cornwall with some bright and merry companions:
"If you could but have seen one gleam of the bright fires by which we sat
at night in the big rooms of the ancient inns, or smelt but one steam of
the hot punch which came in every evening in a huge broad china bowl!"
But instances could be multiplied.
Dickens saw something different in every inn, and succeeded in conveying
it to the reader. There were no two inns alike to him. Each had its own
tale to tell, its own individuality to reveal, its own atmosphere and fare
to present, whatever its grade or social environment. As for an inn sign,
it transported him into his most whimsical and pleasant of moods.
In the following pages an attempt has been made to gather together the
material from his books which shows how Dickens delighted in everything
appertaining to inns, and how he extracted from association with them all
that glow of sentiment and joy which permeated their atmosphere in the
old days, leaving their pictures in glowing words for all time.
There is nothing so calculated to make a place famous as mention of it in
a classic story. It may have already had a past history by association
with notable names and events, which gave it prominence in our annals for
a time; but in the case of a building, when it is demolished, it soon
passes out of memory. If, however, Dickens has drawn a pen-picture of it,
or, in the case of an old inn, has used it for a scene in one of his
books, it can never be forgotten; even when razed to the ground its fame
survives, and the site becomes a Dickens landmark.