Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-10-31
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INNS OF OLDEN TIMES.
How Many Of Them Entertained Guests
Centuries AFRO,

How Many Of Them Entertained Guests
Centuries Ago.
1t would be interesting to know
who was the first person to keep an
inn. The word itself is Ar';lo. Saxon,
signifying lodging house. Another
term was gest hus, n house for
guests, or cumena, IL house OF COM
ers. Near the hieh1oads II few
scattered inns were established
where travellers could obtain a
nights shelter Edward the Con-
lessor ordained that if n man lay
three nights at the Same inn he was
to be styled third night avn hinde,
and the landlord was rnswerablo
for him, just as ii he were one OF
the servants.
A good many alehouses seem to
have been dotted about Saxon Eng
land. Our study foIefathers spent
large portion of their spare time
in them. Chaucer's friar knew
we'll the taverns i'll every town,
and Dunston found it necessary to
ordain that a priest "should i'll no.
wise be an alescop"--thatis is, story
teller or reciter in an alehouse.
Efforts were continually made to
keep down the number Of inns. In
the reign of Edward l there were
only three in the whole of London.
Even in 1862 no more than 40 were
legally permitted il the metropolis,
now spreading cut of its boundaries
on every side. York might have 8;
Norwich, Exeter and Cambridge, a;
Bristol, 6, and Oxford, 3.
These regulations must have been
set at naught in very wholesale
manner, fol half century later
there were AGO "houses of call" in
that part Of London known as the
city and no fewer than "a clustered
around Covent Garden. In media val
Oxford it was ruled that no "victual-
Ter" was eligible for the office OF
mayor, and this term included an
innkeeper. 1t will BIZ remembered
that tho "Sweet Swan of isis, Sir
William Devenant, the poet, was the
son of an Oxford innkeeper, mine
host of the Crown" a house which
tradition declares was patronized by
the immortal Will himself in his
London. The Grown" is one CT
our oldest signs. A curious epitaph
records that
Here lies the body Of Matilda Brown,
Who, whilo alive. was hostess Of tho Crown.
Her sonrinlaw keeps IN the Lusin, SIS still.
Patient, r.. ign,L to tho eternal Will.
Tho inns CT tho middle ages were
furnished in u very homely style,
We know from an old inventory
what the famous George inn at Sal
isbury was like in the fifteenth cen.
fury. This house possessed - guest
chambers, each with three beds in
it, table on trestle and some oaken
benches People ate and slept in the
same apartments iEdiscriminately.
The 10 ICONS were named the
principal chamber, tho earl's cham
Der, tho pantry adjoining, the Ok
ford chamber, the Abingdon, the
squire's, the LON bard s, the George,
the ClaI endon, the Undestent, the
Fitzwary II, tho LCLGcn and the gar
ret. At this period titled persons
slept Oh a bed, commoners on mat
tresses-a curious distinction.
. In French ard C6lmRn medieval
inns a humorous custom prevailed
for the punishment of thoso convict
ed of draw ing Ito "long bow" A
wooden knife called IL coutaau rodo-
mont was placed by the side Of the
president at tho table, whose duty
and privilege it was to put boosters
to silence by ringing the bell in the
blade or by blowing whistle con.
cealed in tho l.andle. He then, amid
the laughter of tho company, handed
the knife to tho offender, to keep
until q greater Eouster than himself
could DO found.
A curious provision was intro
duced into tho Scotch parliament III
1925, owing 10 the complaints of the
innkeepers flat travellers staid with
friends when they came to town. 1t
was enacted that these henceforth,
whether on foot or l. CrseEack, should
repair to the established hostelry of
the place ard that any burgess who
took them into his own house should
be fined 40 shillings. MOBILES and
gentlemen might stay where they
pleased, provided that they sent
their horses and attendants to the
inn