lustration: The Bear and Ragged Staff Inn, Tewkesbury]

Another inn, the "Fighting Cocks" at St. Albans, formerly known as "Ye
Old Round House," close to the River Ver, claims to be the oldest
inhabited house in England. It probably formed part of the monastic
buildings, but its antiquity as an inn is not, as far as I am aware,
fully established.

The antiquary must not forget the ancient inn at Bainbridge, in
Wensleydale, which has had its licence since 1445, and plays its
little part in _Drunken Barnaby's Journal_.

[Illustration: Fire-place in the George Inn, Norton St. Philip,
Somerset]

Many inns have played an important part in national events. There is
the "Bull" at Coventry, where Henry VII stayed before the battle of
Bosworth Field, where he won for himself the English crown. There Mary
Queen of Scots was detained by order of Elizabeth. There the
conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot met to devise their scheme for
blowing up the Houses of Parliament. The George Inn at Norton St.
Philip, Somerset, took part in the Monmouth rebellion. There the Duke
stayed, and there was much excitement in the inn when he informed his
officers that it was his intention to attack Bristol. Thence he
marched with his rude levies to Keynsham, and after a defeat and a
vain visit to Bath he returned to the "George" and won a victory over
Faversham's advanced guard. You can still see the Monmouth room in the
inn with its fine fire-place.

The Crown and Treaty Inn at Uxbridge reminds one of the meeting of the
Commissioners of King and Parliament, who vainly tried to arrange a
peace in 1645; and at the "Bear," Hungerford, William of Orange
received the Commissioners of James II, and set out thence on his
march towards London and the English throne.

The Dark Lantern Inn at Aylesbury, in a nest of poor houses, seems to
tell by its unique sign of plots and conspiracies.

Aylesbury is noted for its inns. The famous "White Hart" is no more.
It has vanished entirely, having disappeared in 1863. It had been
modernized, but could boast of a timber balcony round the courtyard,
ornamented with ancient wood carvings brought from Salden House, an
old seat of the Fortescues, near Winslow. Part of the inn was built by
the Earl of Rochester in 1663, and many were the great feasts and
civic banquets that took place within its hospitable doors. The
"King's Head" dates from the middle of the fifteenth century and is a
good specimen of the domestic a