In the High Street, which, I suppose, is the noblest old street in
England, Mr. Hall pointed out, the Crown Inn, where Shakespeare used to
spend the night, and was most hospitably welcomed by the pretty hostess
(the mother of Sir William Davenant) on his passage between Stratford and
London. It is a three-story house, with other houses contiguous,--an old
timber mansion, though now plastered and painted of a yellowish line.
The ground-floor is occupied as a shoe-shop; but the rest of the house is
still kept as a tavern. . . . .
It is not now term time, and Oxford loses one of its most characteristic
features by the absence of the gownsmen; but still there is a good deal
of liveliness in the streets. We walked as far as a bridge beyond
Maudlin College, and then drove homeward.
At six we went to dine with the hospitable Ex-Mayor, across the wide,
tree-bordered street; for his house is nearly opposite our lodgings. He
is an intelligent and gentlemanly person, and was Mayor two years ago,
and has done a great deal to make peace between the University and
the town, heretofore bitterly inimical. His house is adorned with
pictures and drawings, and he has an especial taste for art. . . . . The
dinner-table was decorated with pieces of plate, vases, and other things,
which were presented to him as tokens of public or friendly regard and
approbation of his action in the Mayoralty. After dinner, too, he
produced a large silver snuff-box, which had been given him on the same
account; in fact, the inscription affirmed that it was one of five pieces
of plate so presented.
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