26 CHARLES II. IN DORSET. 



hostelry. There are undoubted traces of a large court-yard 

 behind, and space for abundant stabling, whilst part of the old 

 stone-tiled roof remains, and seems to have formed a covering for 

 several dwellings in more recent times. In a room at the back of 

 the shop is preserved a large oil painting, which has been there as 

 long as the present occupant, and his father before him, can 

 remember. It is said to have been given by the King to the 

 landlady in 1666 the date upon the canvas and is stated to 

 represent Queen Henrietta Maria, another lady, and three children. 

 Why the King should have granted this distinction to a landlady 

 in whose house he stayed but a very few hours, and who (if there 

 were such a person) must have been absolutely ignorant of his 

 presence, I cannot say. The story must go for what it is worth. 

 There is, besides, what appears to be a portrait of the King 

 himself, but not improbably a prior occupant of the premises has 

 brought that there, for there is no tradition here that this (a much 

 move likely subject than the other) was ever given to the landlady 

 in question. The front of the house now bears this inscription : 

 " Tradition says that Charles II. hid himself here in 1651 ;" but 

 not so very many weeks ago I think I remember the date put 

 up was 1666, the date of the picture may be, but nevertheless 

 an entirely erroneous one. 



" The George Inn, at Broadwindsor," says Mr. Hughes, writing 

 in 1830, "was pulled down and rebuilt about ten years ago." 

 That would be between sixty and seventy years from now. 



He appears to have had a communication from the Rev. Mr. 

 Dowland (the then Vicar of Broadwindsor), who had sent him the 

 substance of the village traditions. " The inn," he says, " after 

 the Restoration changed its name from the ' Castle' to the 

 ' George,' as was natural enough." Why natural 1 There was no 

 occasion to have done that before the House of Hanover came to 

 the throne, when we might expect to find it (as we do) called the 

 " George," in the second part of Blount's " Boscobel," which was 

 not published until 1725 (temp. George II.). The present 

 landlord of the George told me very recently that he distinctly 



