The Inns and Taverns of "Pickwick": With Some Observations on Their Other AssociationsMatz, B. W. (Bertram Waldrom)
History
The Inns and Taverns of "Pickwick": With Some Observations on Their Other Associations
Matz, B. W. (Bertram Waldrom)
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870. Pickwick papers; Taverns (Inns) -- England
In 1828, the period of The Pickwick Papers, J. Pollard painted a
picture of the Cambridge coach ("The Star") leaving the inn. A
portion of this picture showing the coach and the north side of
Ludgate Hill, was published as a lithograph by Thomas McLean of
the Haymarket. It gives the details of the inn entrance and the
coach on a large scale. The inn at the time was owned by Robert
Nelson. He was a son of Mrs. Ann Nelson, the popular proprietor
of the "Bull," Whitechapel. Besides the coaches for the eastern
counties, those also for other parts of the country started from
its precincts, for such names as Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth,
Oxford, Gloucester, Coventry, Carlisle, Manchester were announced
on the signboard at the side of the archway.
In spite of the fact that Dickens only once refers to the inn,
its name and fame, nevertheless, will always be associated with
him and with Tony Weller, who was so familiar with it and so
attached to it, as to name it as the parish he resided in.
[illustration: The Cambridge Coach leaving Belle Sauvage yard.
From a lithograph]
The relating of the story of how Tony Weller was driven into
his second marriage, which reveals "La Belle Sauvage" as his
headquarters, also first brings into prominence the "Markis o'
Granby," Dorking, as the residence of Mrs. Susan Clarke, and
incidentally the scene of more than one amusing incident after
she became Mrs. Weller, senior. "The 'Marquis of Granby' in Mrs.
Weller's time," we are informed, "was quite a model of a roadside
public-house of the better class--just large enough to be convenient,
and small enough to be snug."
In the chapter describing how Sam displayed his high sense of duty
as a son, by paying a visit to his "mother-in-law," as he called
her, and how he discovered Mr. Stiggins indulging in "hot pine-apple
rum and water," we get a little pen-picture of the inn.
"On the opposite side of the road was a signboard on a high post
representing the head and shoulders of a gentleman with an
apoplectic countenance, in a red coat with deep blue facings, and
a touch of the same over his three-cornered hat, for a sky . . . an
undoubted likeness of the Marquis of Granby of glorious memory. The
bar window displayed a choice collection of geranium plants, and a
well-dusted row of spirit phials. The open shutters bore a variety
of golden inscriptions, eulogistic of good beds and neat wines; and
the choice group of countrymen and hostlers lounging about the stable
door and horse-trough afforded presumptive proof of the excellent
quality of the ale and spirits which were sold within."
Phiz's picture, forming the vignette on the title-page, hardly does
justice to this description, although the incident of old Weller
performing the "beautiful and exhilarating" act of immersing Mr.
Stiggins's head in the horse-trough full of water, is spirited enough.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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