At length quite at the end of the place, I perceived a great sign
hanging across the street, and the last house to the left was the
inn, at which everything seemed to be still in motion.
I entered without ceremony, and told them my errand, which was, that
I intended to sleep there that night. "By no means," was the
answer, "it was utterly impossible; the whole house was full, and
all their beds engaged, and, as I had come so far, I might even as
well walk on the remaining five miles to Oxford."
Being very hungry, I requested that, at least, they would give me
something to eat. To this they answered that, as I could not stay
all night there, it would be more proper for me to sup where I
lodged, and so I might go on.
At length, quite humbled by the untowardness of my circumstances, I
asked for a pot of beer, and that they did vouchsafe to give me, for
ready money only; but a bit of bread to eat with it (for which also
I would willingly have paid) they peremptorily refused me.
Such unparalleled inhospitality I really could not have expected in
an English inn, but resolving, with a kind of spiteful indignation,
to see how far their inhumanity would carry them, I begged that they
would only let me sleep on a bench, and merely give me house-room,
adding, that if they would grant me that boon only, I would pay them
the same as for a bed, for, that I was so tired, I could not
possibly go any farther.
