"May I Stay Here To-Night?" I Asked With Eagerness.
"Why, yes, you
may;" an answer which, however cold and surly, made me exceedingly
happy.
They showed me into the kitchen, and set me down to sup at the same
table with some soldiers and the servants. I now, for the first
time, found myself in one of those kitchens which I had so often
read of in Fielding's fine novels; and which certainly give one, on
the whole, a very accurate idea of English manners.
The chimney in this kitchen, where they were roasting and boiling,
seemed to be taken off from the rest of the room and enclosed by a
wooden partition; the rest of the apartment was made use of as a
sitting and eating-room. All round on the sides were shelves with
pewter dishes and plates, and the ceiling was well stored with
provisions of various kinds, such as sugar-loaves, black-puddings,
hams, sausages, flitches of bacon, &c.
While I was eating, a post-chaise drove up, and in a moment both the
folding-doors were thrown open and the whole house set in motion, in
order to receive, with all due respect, these guests, who, no doubt,
were supposed to be persons of consequence. The gentlemen alighted,
however, only for a moment, and called for nothing but a couple of
pots of beer, and then drove away again. Notwithstanding, the
people of the house behaved to them with all possible attention, for
they came in a post-chaise.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 110 of 199
Words from 29769 to 30023
of 53881
