Notwithstanding this grievous declension, however, I was gratified at
perceiving that the present occupants were not unconscious of the
poetical renown of their mansion. An inscription over the gateway
proclaimed it to be the inn where Chaucer's pilgrims slept on the
night previous to their departure; and at the bottom of the yard was a
magnificent sign representing them in the act of sallying forth. I was
pleased, too, at noticing that though the present inn was
comparatively modern, yet the form of the old inn was preserved. There
were galleries round the yard, as in old times, on which opened the
chambers of the guests. To these ancient inns have antiquaries
ascribed the present forms of our theatres. Plays were originally
acted in inn-yards. The guests lolled over the galleries, which
answered to our modern dress-circle; the critical mob clustered in the
yard, instead of the pit; and the groups gazing from the
garret-windows were no bad representatives of the gods of the shilling
gallery. When, therefore, the drama grew important enough to have a
house of its own, the architects took a hint for its construction from
the yard of the ancient "hostel."
I was so well pleased at finding these remembrances of Chaucer and his
poem, that I ordered my dinner in the little parlour of the Talbot.
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