RUSKIX 115 



1563. the parish register of that year containing the 

 entry, " Nicholas Vode (Wood) the son of the good 

 wyfe of the grewond was buryed the xxix day of 

 January. " The voluminous John Tavlor mentions 

 it in 1624 as one of the two Croydon inns, and it was 

 the headquarters of General Fairfax in 1645. when 

 Cromwell vehemently disputed with him under its 

 roof on the conduct of the campaign, urging more 

 severe measures. 



Following upon the alteration, the " Greyhound ' 

 was rebuilt. Its gallows sign disappeared at the same 

 time, when a curious point arose respecting the post 

 supporting it on the opposite pavement. Erected in 

 the easy-going times when such a matter was nothing 

 more than a little friendly and neighbourly concession, 

 the square foot of ground it occupied had by lapse of 

 time become freehold property, and as such it was duly 

 scheduled and purchased by the Improvements 

 Committee. A sum of £400 was claimed for freehold 

 and loss of advertisement, and eventually £350 was paid. 



I suppose there can be no two opinions about the 

 slums cleared away under that Improvement Act ; 

 but they were very picturesque, if also very dirty 

 and tumble-down : all nodding gables, cobblestoned 

 roads, and winding ways. I sorrow, in the artistic way, 

 for those slums, and in the literary way for a house swept 

 away at the same time, sentimentally associated with 

 John Ruskin. It was the inn kept by his maternal 

 grandmother, and is referred to in " Pra?terita " : 



' ... Of my father's ancestors I know nothing, 

 nor of my mother's more than that my maternal 

 grandmother was the landlady of the ' Old King's 

 Head ' in Market Street, Croydon ; and I wish she 

 were alive again, and I could paint her Simone Memmi's 

 ' King's Head ' for a sign." And he adds : " Mean- 

 time my aunt had remained in Croydon and married 

 a baker. . . . My aunt lived in the little house still 

 standing — or which was so four months ago * — 



* Preface to " Praeterita," dated May 10th, 18S5. 



