Walton, under the overhanging eaves of which the Avon silently flows.

The old "Seven Stars" at Manchester is said to be the most ancient in
England, claiming a licence 563 years old. But it has many rivals,
such as the "Fighting Cocks" at St. Albans, the "Dick Whittington" in
Cloth Fair, St. Bartholomews, the "Running Horse" at Leatherhead,
wherein John Skelton, the poet laureate of Henry VIII, sang the
praises of its landlady, Eleanor Rumming, and several others. The
"Seven Stars" has many interesting features and historical
associations. Here came Guy Fawkes and concealed himself in "Ye Guy
Faux Chamber," as the legend over the door testifies. What strange
stories could this old inn tell us! It could tell us of the Flemish
weavers who, driven from their own country by religious persecutions
and the atrocities of Duke Alva, settled in Manchester in 1564, and
drank many a cup of sack at the "Seven Stars," rejoicing in their
safety. It could tell us of the disputes between the clergy of the
collegiate church and the citizens in 1574, when one of the preachers,
a bachelor of divinity, on his way to the church was stabbed three
times by the dagger of a Manchester man; and of the execution of three
popish priests, whose heads were afterwards exposed from the tower of
the church. Then there is the story of the famous siege in 1642, when
the King's forces tried to take the town and were repulsed by the
townsfolk, who were staunch Roundheads. "A great and furious skirmish
did ensue," and the "Seven Stars" was in the centre of the fighting.
Sir Thomas Fairfax made Manchester his head-quarters in 1643, and the
walls of the "Seven Stars" echoed with the carousals of the
Roundheads. When Fairfax marched from Manchester to relieve Nantwich,
some dragoons had to leave hurriedly, and secreted their mess plate in
the walls of the old inn, where it was discovered only a few years
ago, and may now be seen in the parlour of this interesting hostel. In