OLD LONDON INNS. 221 



was excellent ; a joint was ready, with a dish of fish, 

 daily about five o'clock, but the country folk generally 

 preferred rump-steak and oyster sauce, with a fried sole, 

 prime ripe cheddar cheese, and a tankard of strong ale, 

 the dinner to wind up with a bottle of undeniably good 

 old crusted port. Then, at seven o'clock, most of the 

 company went off to the play, and, on their return, a 

 score of native oysters with stout, and after this a glass 

 of hot brown brandy and water, prepared the guests 

 for bed. I remember my father taking me and my 

 brother up from the country to see Joey Grimaldi 

 as clown in the pantomime. The lumbering hackney 

 coach and pair of horses afforded us the means of 

 locomotion ; cabs had not been introduced, and, until 

 Mr. Shillibeer, that eminent innovator, had bethought 

 him of the omnibus, there was no other way of reaching 

 the destination required except on foot. But the 

 greatest change is in these old-fashioned inns themselves, 

 altered out of all recognition into the modern Jiotel. 

 The first step was the improving and fitting-up of The 

 Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Street, Bacon's Hotel in 

 Great Queen Street, The Golden Cross, Charing Cross ; 

 then new buildings arose, The Queen's or The Bull and 

 Mouth, St. Martin's-le-Grand, which has since disap- 

 peared to allow the enlargement of the Post-office ; then 

 the railway companies built their station caravansaries, 

 and such structures as the Langham came on the 

 scene ; and now of course the hotels of London 

 dwarf the royal palaces and the Houses of Parlianient 

 themselves. 



I noticed lately in reading Captain Gronow's reminis- 



