''BELL AND BOTTLE''. 



133 



swino-iuo; 



At the western end of Maidenhead Thicket, where, 

 lying modestly back from the road, stands one of the 

 innumerable " Coach and Horses " of the highway, the 

 gossips of the adjacent Littlewick Green foregather 

 and play bowls on the grass. Then comes Knowl 

 Hill, where an old sign. 



romantically 

 from a wayside fir tree, 

 proclaims the proximity 

 of a curiously named inn, 

 the "Bell and Bottle." 

 What affinity have bells 

 for bottles, or bottles for 

 bells ? " Wliat," as the 

 poet asks (in quite a 

 different connection), " is 

 Hecul^a to him, or he to 

 Hecuba ? " But perhaps 

 the original innkeeper 

 was something of a cynic, 

 and thus paraphrased 

 the well-worn conjunction, "Beer and Bible." Un- 

 fortunately for the inquiring stranger, the origin is 

 " wrop in mistry." 



Down below Knowl Hill, past a chalk quarry on 

 the right, is yet another inn — the neat and pretty 

 "Seven Stars," to be succeeded at the hamlet of 

 Kiln Green by t]]e " Horse and Groom," gabled and 

 embowered with vines, and facing up, not fronting, 

 the road, in quite the ideal fashion. What the 

 country here lacks in bold scenery it evidently gains 

 in fertility, for the gardens of Kiln Green are a 

 delightful mass of luxuriant flowers. 



THE " BELL AND BOTTLE SIGN. 



