4 PROVINCIAL INN. 



attendant horsekeeper, the harness all in the 

 nicest order ; the quantity of packages 

 issuing from the booking-office ; the instruc- 

 tions, not unmixed with a little good- 

 natured banter, vulgarly called chaff, given 

 by the book-keeper to the well-known cha- 

 racters about to proceed to their accustomed 

 destination, formed altogether a scene not 

 unworthy the pen or pencil of a Hogarth. 



How different the same half-hour in 

 a provincial town in one corner of the 

 kingdom. On approaching the inn not a 

 solitary person did I see. The dingy, half- 

 washed coach stood by itself outside the 

 gates, like a deserted ship ; inside the yard 

 there was a dim, dirty place set aside for the 

 office; in it glimmered one poor mutton 

 candle, stuck on a piece of rusty tin, that 

 had served the ostler for a candlestick for 

 years ; by its light I entered, and could 

 just perceive a lantern -jawed, melancholy- 

 looking man, whose visage indicated 

 indeed, seemed already to anticipate the 



