The Wonderful Wapentake

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895. Excerpt: ... THE WAYSIDE INN Going along those great highways which were once the chief channels of communication between our principal towns and cities, or through the narrower by-roads which connect village with village, the observant traveller must often notice an occasional solitary building standing deserted and dark by the wayside. There is perhaps a courtyard in front, the pavement of which is obscured by grass and weeds; and round the courtyard are stables, extensive enough to harbour a score of horses. Probably no other house is near, and the next village is two or three miles away. How came such a building to be reared in so lonely a spot? and how, having been reared, came it to be deserted and left to decay? The answer is not far to seek. These solitary wayside houses were inns sixty or eighty years ago--inns by the highway-side, where a brisk business was done all day, and arrivals and departures were occurring every moment. The v door was always open; the courtyard constantly re-echoed the tramping of horses' feet. Coaches drove north; coaches drove south. The postchaise dashed up to the door; new horses were put to while the traveller drank a glass of home-brewed ale; and away went the equipage again, up hill, down dale, while the land unrolled itself like a map. Around these wayside inns there was always plenty of bustle and life until Steam, spreading across the land its network of iron rails, drove the old-fashioned methods of locomotion away, and with them the trade of the ancient hostelries. Then the road-side taverns were closed, and their windows became darkened, and grass grew in the stable-yards, and the old houses stood, monuments of the ancient regime, looking sadly at the new order of things. They were picturesque, comfortable places, those o...