A.D. 1771.

It was not Dr. Watts, then, as the verger had given me to understand. I
was sorry, for it had seemed like going to the house of an old friend,
and I had meant after supper to recite "How doth the little Busy Bee"
for the edification of my fellow-guests, and to tell them what I had
learnt long ago of the good writer's life and labours.

"Here we are again, Mrs. Kercham," said our conductor, stepping into the
low hall of the white house.

"Yes, here you are again," replied an old lady, dressed in black, and
wearing a widow's cap. "Have you got 'em all to-night?"

"Yes, six--all tidy men. Can you write, Mr. Paper Stainer?"

I could write, and did, setting forth, in a book which lay on a table in
a room labelled "Office," my name, age, occupation, and the town whence
I had last come. Three of the other guests followed my example. Two
could not write; and the sergeant, paying me a compliment on my
beautiful clerkly handwriting, asked me to fill in the particulars for
them. This ceremony over, we were shown into our bedrooms, and told to
give ourselves "a good wash." My room was on the ground-floor, out in
the yard: and I hope I may never be shown into a worse. It was not
large, being about eight feet square, nor was it very high. The walls
were whitewashed, and the floor clean. A single small window, deep set
in the thick stone-built walls, looked out on to the yard, and by it
stood the solitary piece of furniture, a somewhat rickety Windsor chair.
I except the bed, which was supposed to stand in a corner, but actually
covered nearly the whole of the floor. The bedstead was of iron, and, I
should imagine, was one of the earliest constructions of the sort ever
sold in this country.

"I put on three blankets, being Christmas-time, though the weather is
not according; so you can take one off if you like."

"Thank you, ma'am; I'll leave it till I go to bed, if you please." Much
reason had I subsequently to be thankful for my caution.

After having washed, I came out, and was told to go into a room, facing
my bedroom, on the other side of the yard. Here I found three of my
fellow-guests sitting by a fire, and in a few minutes the other two
arrived, all looking very clean and (speaking for myself particularly)
feeling ravenously hungry. The chamber, which had "Travellers' Room"
painted over the doorway, was about twelve or thirteen feet long and
eight wide, and, like our bedrooms, was not remarka