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.
[Illustration: The “Bell” Inn, Bell Common, Epping]
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.
[Illustration: Angel Inn, Woolhampton]
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.
[Illustration]
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.