Drawn by C. G. Harper]

If its comfort, as described in the following paragraph, is to-day
equal to that found by Tom Smart, it is a place to seek for personal
pleasure, as well as a Pickwickian landmark.

"In less than five minutes' time, Tom was ensconced in the room
opposite the bar--the very room where he had imagined the fire
blazing--before a substantial matter-of-fact roaring fire, composed
of something short of a bushel of coals, and wood enough to make
half a dozen decent gooseberry bushes, piled half-way up the
chimney, and roaring and crackling with a sound that of itself would
have warmed the heart of any reasonable man. This was comfortable,
but this was not all, for a smartly dressed girl, with a bright eye
and a neat ankle, was laying a very clean white cloth on the table;
and as Tom sat with his slippered feet on the fender, and his back
to the open door, he saw a charming prospect of the bar reflected
in the glass over the chimney-piece, with delightful rows of green
bottles and gold labels, together with jars of pickles and preserves,
and cheeses and boiled hams, and rounds of beef, arranged on shelves
in the most tempting and delicious array. Well, that was comfortable,
too; but even this was not all--for in the bar, seated at tea at the
nicest possible little table, drawn close up before the brightest
possible little fire, was a buxom widow of somewhere about eight-and-
forty or thereabouts, with a face as comfortable as the bar, who was
evidently the landlady of the house, and the supreme ruler over all
these agreeable possessions."

What happened afterwards is another story. Many other incidents
occurred at Eatanswill during the Pickwickians' stay there, the