CHAPTER ONE

IN WHICH CERTAIN PERSONAGES OF THIS DELIGHTFUL HISTORY ARE INTRODUCED TO
THE READER'S ACQUAINTANCE.


It was on the great northern road from York to London, about the
beginning of the month of October, and the hour of eight in the evening,
that four travellers were, by a violent shower of rain, driven for
shelter into a little public-house on the side of the highway,
distinguished by a sign which was said to exhibit the figure of a black
lion. The kitchen, in which they assembled, was the only room for
entertainment in the house, paved with red bricks, remarkably clean,
furnished with three or four Windsor chairs, adorned with shining plates
of pewter, and copper saucepans, nicely scoured, that even dazzled the
eyes of the' beholder; while a cheerful fire of sea-coal blazed in the
chimney. Three of the travellers, who arrived on horseback, having seen
their cattle properly accommodated in the stable, agreed to pass the
time, until the weather should clear up, over a bowl of rumbo, which was
accordingly prepared. But the fourth, refusing to join their company,
took his station at the opposite side of the chimney, and called for a
pint of twopenny, with which he indulged himself apart. At a little
distance, on his left hand, there was another group, consisting of the
landlady, a decent widow, her two daughters, the elder of whom seemed to
be about the age of fifteen, and a country lad, who served both as waiter
and ostler.

The social triumvirate was composed of Mr. Fillet, a country practitioner
in surgery and midwifery, Captain Crowe, and his nephew Mr. Thomas
Clarke, an attorney. Fillet was a man of some education, and a great