. Vanishing England . something like independ-ence and territorial consequence, when after a wearydays travel he kicks off his boots, thrusts his feet intoslippers, and stretches himself before an inn fire. Letthe world without go as it may ; let kingdoms rise or fall,so long as he has the wherewithal to pay his bill, he is,for the time being, the very monarch of all he . Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn? thoughtI, as I gave the fire a stir, lolled back in my elbow chair,and cast a complacent look about the little parlour of theRed Horse at Stratford-on-Avon. And again, on Chri
. Vanishing England . something like independ-ence and territorial consequence, when after a wearydays travel he kicks off his boots, thrusts his feet intoslippers, and stretches himself before an inn fire. Letthe world without go as it may ; let kingdoms rise or fall,so long as he has the wherewithal to pay his bill, he is,for the time being, the very monarch of all he . Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn? thoughtI, as I gave the fire a stir, lolled back in my elbow chair,and cast a complacent look about the little parlour of theRed Horse at Stratford-on-Avon. And again, on Christmas Eve Irving tells of his joyouslong days ride in a coach, and how he at length arrivedat a village where he had determined to stay the he drove into the great gateway of the inn (some ofthem were mighty narrow and required much skill on thepart of the Jehu) he saw on one side the light of a rousingkitchen fire beaming through a window. He enteredand admired, for the hundredth time, that picture of con-. 7<rP^ Entrance to the Reindeer Inn, Banbury 236 VANISHING ENGLAND venience, neatness, and broad honest enjoyment—thekitchen of an English inn. It was of spacious dimen-sions, hung round with copper and tin vessels highlypolished, and decorated here and there with Christmasgreen. Hams, tongues, and flitches of bacon were sus-pended from the ceiling ; a smoke-jack made its ceaselessclanking beside the fire-place, and a clock ticked in onecorner. A well-scoured deal table extended along oneside of the kitchen, with a cold round of beef and otherhearty viands upon it, over which two foaming tankards ofale seemed mounting guard. Travellers of inferior orderwere preparing to attack this stout repast, while otherssat smoking and gossiping over their ale on two high-backed oaken settles beside the fire. Trim housemaidswere hurrying backwards and forwards under the direc-tions of a fresh bustling landlady ; but still seizing anoccasional moment to exchange a flippant w
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Keywords: ., bookauthorditchfieldphpeterhamp, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
