THE WILD BOAR. 113 



over the other, as I expected, the edifice was modern, 

 with a date in the front of 1668. I immediately 

 concluded that the old house was burnt down by 

 the great fire." Goldsmith's latest editor, Colonel 

 Cunningham, in a note to the essay above referred 

 to, assures us that this was so. 



Hone, however, continued his researches. On 

 each side of the" doorway he observed " a vine- 

 branch carved in wood, rising more than three feet 

 from the ground, loaded with leaves and clusters; 

 and on the top of each a little Falstaff, eight inches 

 high, in the dress of his day." This induced him to 

 make further inquiry, when he ascertained that the 

 place had been sold by auction three week's before, 

 at Garraway's coffee-house ;* that the purchaser was 

 a stranger, and had the keys ; and that a sight of 

 the premises could not be obtained. "There is 

 nothing," he says, " more difficult than to find out 

 a curiosity which depends upon others, and which 

 nobody regards. With some trouble," he continues, 

 " I procured a sight of the back buildings. I found 

 them in that ancient state which convinced me that 

 tradition, Shakespeare and Goldsmith, were right ; 

 and could I have gained admission into the premises 

 of mine hostess, Mistress Quickly, I should certainly 

 have drank a cup of sack in memory of the bulky 

 knight." 



There was another and more ancient hostelry 



* The date of his visit is not stated, but the date of his Preface to 

 " The Year Book," in which his account is printed (under "December 3")> 

 is January, 1832. 



