The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-08-09
THE OLD AAypoLE.
ake sAarp, in Detroit Free Press.

tefuO3e, kue HUN
 aI saw the old inn this morning. Words cannot tel hov good it is."
 This must have refezTed to the May pole at Chigwell, for that same week he began BaEnahy Rndae" or the r7sh he vruee the w0uds:
 Such sre the changes which . few years hsing about. and co do things pass away iks . tale thaf is told"
 Thsae words were the last of "The Old Curiosity Shop" and it is a curious fact that the next thing he wrote should be a beginning to a new book the open ing sentence ef which showed that things did not pass away like a tale that is told"
 Barnaby RudGe begins thus:
 h the year I77S there stood upon the boarders of Epping forest a house of en- ,estainmene cansd tho 1GAypoee. The pla1e vas eai1 te lave been built in the deys of UAe H1nry VIII, and there is . iassna thn Qdeen Eissabe1A had .lepe taes eae sghi whih spos |
 The EnSish hn has bog been synony- nous in Amezicaa infnds uith the idea of real. homaly cpnfu1 ssch e cannet be obsai=ed ia sny osAr plAee of h,red abode elsevhere on eassk. As such su intense and thorough Engiishman as Charles Dickeas has -see the seal of his approval on any one particular tavern as a typical Engiish inn, that inn must al- ways command the veneration of Amezi- cans, for my countrymsn, think, know more of Chafics Dickens, are 6onder of him, and appreciate his works better than does the average Englishman. Dickens wrote to John Fossssr.
 "Chigvell. my dear fellow, is the great est place in the world. Name your day for going. Such . delicious old inn opposite the churchyard-such lovely ride-such beautiful tosest sceoezy-such an out-of-the-way rural place-such . sexton ]! say again name your day"
 About this jovial, rollicl<ing, Dickensy invitation Forsaer says: "The day was named at once; and tho whitest of stones marks 1t now in sorrswfnl memory. His promise was exceeded by our enjoyment and his delight in this double recogni- ton of himself and of Barnaby by the landlord of the nice old inn, far exceeded any pride he would have taken in what the world thinks the highest sor of honor'
 presume it was Catternole who drew the preposseTous picture of the Maypole that appears as a frontispiece to most illustrated editions of Barnaby Rudge. It represents an Elizabethan mansion, with curved and arched gables, a pile covered with ivy-certainiy most ro- mantle old pile, but no more like the old Maypole inn than is @The Shipn at Greenwich. Why Dickens allowed this picture to appear is hard to conjecture, for he was someuAat particular about the drawing. which illus6aasd his work.
 Since wEiting the above have made a thorough search ef Dickens letters to SC if there was any reference to this absurd Maypole picture, and find that ! va mistaken in supposing that the sentence l quoted from the letter of January i4 re- ferred to the old inn. lt evidently uefns to Catteznole's picture, for Dickens adds {:
 can't bear the thought of its being cut, and should like to frame and glare it in statu quo forever and ever.n
 The old Maypole is very different from Cattesnole's picturs. Those who go to see it expecting to behold such . ram- bling caravansary a that depicted in tho engraving referred to will be greatly dis appointed. The fat John Willes has no corpulent sueressor aad taking 1t all in all, the old inn has been smaEtened up a good deal since the Lord Gordon riots of 100 ysan ago. The name of the tavern is the Kings Head. h the b. ginning of Barnaby Rudge. Dickess says: 1: The Maypole-by which term from hencefogth iS mea1t the house and not its sign." He refexyed there to the tall Maypole that then ssood as the sign of the house, but there is a chance that he had the name Kings Head in his own head at the time.
 The Kings Head on the creaking sign is 50 old and faded that you can hardly tell whose head it is. It looks like the head of Charles l. who, as everybody knows, lost it.
 Dickens says: SThe Maypole was an old building with more gable ends than lazy maa would cara to coun, on sunny dsy, wifh huee sig-zag cAimneys, ont of which it socaed a though even smoke could not choose but come in more than nAtuyd11y fantasfic shapes."
 The Kine,s Had csndss q three stories, not counting the one Charles told, and not counting hafs of stories-sort of architectural anecdotes, as it were-thss show their presence hy little windows in the gables. The bottom stosy is of wood, the other two stories are plassez, and over all is rcd tile roof Iron supports pro iect from the third story and hold up the old faded sign that crss6 back cd fssh when the bseese hlovs tAssukh chiKWell. It has five gables tew1fds the streef, if remember righaiy. As VI ntered the low kall, which goe direc1ly tArougA the inn to prstsy Issden n C haek thse appeared the bor-seom at tAe - anA big room b the night viah low csifine and oak vsi.scseing. Tahles uilh ckain aroand them su1gssaed bsE, cd . 1oag clay pipe, vhose slan1ez cGngDA asn mus kavo ben two - - lQGdA m leass, lay aa eae q the daf4 tl1oss q t Joe Win& e oas of n usniss haAlaid iS An~m 41a~o . hsnm< = ~~~ .zz S.