h must have existed there before the era of railways.

Not far away is Southwell, where there is the historic inn the
"Saracen's Head." Here Charles I stayed, and you can see the very room
where he lodged on the left of the entrance-gate. Here it was on May
5th, 1646, that he gave himself up to the Scotch Commissioners, who
wrote to the Parliament from Southwell "that it made them feel like
men in a dream." The "Martyr-King" entered this inn as a sovereign; he
left it a prisoner under the guard of his Lothian escort. Here he
slept his last night of liberty, and as he passed under the archway of
the "Saracen's Head" he started on that fatal journey that terminated
on the scaffold at Whitehall. You can see on the front of the inn over
the gateway a stone lozenge with the royal arms engraved on it with
the date 1693, commemorating this royal melancholy visit. In later
times Lord Byron was a frequent visitor.

On the high, wind-swept road between Ashbourne and Buxton there is an
inn which can defy the attacks of the reformers. It is called the
Newhaven Inn and was built by a Duke of Devonshire for the
accommodation of visitors to Buxton. King George IV was so pleased
with it that he gave the Duke a perpetual licence, with which no
Brewster Sessions can interfere. Near Buxton is the second highest inn
in England, the "Cat and Fiddle," and "The Traveller's Rest" at Flash
Bar, on the Leek road, ranks as third, the highest being the Tan Hill
Inn, near Brough, on the Yorkshire moors.

[Illustration: The Bell Inn, Stilton]

Norwich is a city remarkable for its old buildings and famous inns. A
very ancient inn is the "Maid's Head" at Norwich, a famous hostelry
which can vie in interest with any in the kingdom. Do we not see there
the identical room in which good Queen Bess is said to have reposed on
the occasion of her visit to the city in 1578? You cannot imagine a
more delightful old chamber, with its massive beams, its wide
fifteenth-century fire-place, and its quaint lattice, through which
the moonbeams play upon antique furniture and strange, fantastic
carvings. This oak-panelled room recalls memories of the Orfords,
Walpoles, Howards, Wodehouses, and other distinguished guests whose
names live in England's annals. The old inn was once known as the
Murtel or Molde Fish, and some have tried to connect the change of
name with the visit of Queen Elizabeth; unfortunately for the
conjecture, the inn was known as the Maid's Hea