New-York tribune., 1910-01-15

OF OLD ENGLAND. BY Frederick "
lakewood. Illustrated. Svo, pp sq2.
Sturgls & Walton Company.
There is exceeding good entertainment
In Mr.. Hackwood's study of old English
inns, and of the ways Of their Ieeners
and customers. Their history runs back
to the ''Tabernae" of Roman days. when
along the splendid roads made bv the
conquerors rose the comfortable dwell
ings wherein the traveller might find
fcod and lodging. In the centuries that
followed a store of quaint anecdote and
strange instances has gathered bout the
British inn-the author has certainly not
lacked material. Among the illustra-
tons are many delightful pictures of an
Gent hostieT1es, houses of q wondrously
Charming architecture. The oldest of all
the English inns, they say, is the Seven
Stars" in Witty Green, Manchester:
there are documents which show that it
was IN existence before 1856 The Bell"
at Finedon, in Northamptonshire, was
used as an inn, 1t is asserted, in 1912, but
there is probably truth in the authors
suggestion that the actual building
stands on the site Of an older hostlery
There is no doubt at all that the Sara
GEMS Head at Newark was entertain
ing travellers in 1341, for it can be
traced by its title deeds to that date.
The George" the beautiful Gothic inn
at Glastonbury, was built in the fifteenth
century and was then called the "Old
Pilgrim inn. When Henry VIII came
to Glastonbury to visit the Abbey, he
slept at this inn, and his bed was long
preserved there Another "George''-at
Salisbury-is thought to have been erect
ed about 1920. It is still used as an es-
teemed private hotel, and those So
journers who look out UPON it's court
yard of morning may delight them
selves with a not I'll grounded belief
that, like many other strolling players,
Shakespeare once acted therein.
What is said to be the oldest inhabited
house in England is the Fighting Cocks
Inn, at st. Adams, queer little octago-
nal building, which was erected as
boathouse for the monastery founded by
King Ofa, about the year 195. "a sub
terranean passage, now blocked up, runs
from the basement to the ruins of the
monastery, a distance Of about two hun
dred yards 1t was used also as a stor-
age for the fishing tackle of the monks.
There is a shed at the back of the house
where, it is said, Oliver Cromwell stabbed
his horse, himself once sleeping under its
roof during the Civil War" OF COM
paratively modern English inns one of
the oldest is the Crooked House." at
Himley, on the Earl of Dudley's estate:
AS d result of mining operations-the
whole lad
pits--it has fallen out Of the perpendicular
TO an alarming extent. 1t Is as difficult TO
walk through the doorway as to pace the
deck OF vessel in rolling. sea-; the
warped floor and the leaning walls make it
difficult TO maintain vertical position. the
more so as all the rooms are out Of joint
and present a remarkable optical Illusion,
The clocks on the walls, although abso-
iutely perpendicular as their pendulumS
testify, appear to be hanging sideways at
d very pronounced angle. a shelf which is
really level appears TO be a foot higher at
one end than at the other. If marbles be
placed on what appears to be the lower
end of the tap room table they apparently
roll uphill and fall over with q bump!
Among the stories associated with
existing inns is that of Dirty Dick"
who, when a spruce and prosperous
young landlord on the point of giving q
great wedding feast. heard of the sud
den death of his betrothed. He turned
the key in the door OF the room where
the wedding supper was spread, and for
fifty years no one entered il. Ruin, rust,
dirt and dilapidation seized the whole
house and its owner as we'll. The author
suggests that it was upon this actual
happening that Dickens founded the
Havisham episode in Great Expecta-
tions." We must not forget, by the way,
that one inn and one inn keeper of the
loved still exist in England, and Mr.
lakewood tells us where TO find them.
There is good deal of interesting his
tory in the chapter on inn signs. Why,
for example, should the sign OF a hos
tlery be simply Now Thus? In the
time OF the Civil War there lived near
the site OF the present inn a wealthy
Royalist squire who had cause TO fear
the coming OF the Parliamentary troops.
He sent away his servants and his live
stock, buried all his money, plate and
jewels under the floor of q barn, and,
habited as a farm laborer, thrashed corn
directly above his treasure He was
swinging his fail when the Roundheads
came in upon him, excaiming with each
stroke, Now Thus" Nothing more
could their questions extract from the
apparently witless worker. and they de-
parted with nothing TO show for their
trouble. The two words which saved
him appear not only on the inn sign
they are carved on an old gravestone in
Leek churchyard, presumably the grave
stone of the clever Royalist himself.
Mr.. lakewood furnishes countless de-
tails Of the growth Of the drinking habit
ia England, Of the beverages adjusted to
the popular thirst and their origins.
There Is much that is unpleasant in the
story, and he does not blink the fact.
But pleasant or net. the book is read
able from end 20 end
Central America and It's Problems" is
the title OF volume BIZ MI FresertcI-