The panels are of the linen-fold pattern, and at the head of each are
various designs, such as the Tudor Rose and Pomegranate, the Lion of
England, etc. The house originally known as the Old Blue Shop has some
magnificent mantelpieces, and also St. Nicholas House can boast of a
very elaborately carved example of Elizabethan sculpture.
We journey thence to Tewkesbury and visit the grand silver-grey abbey
that adorns the Severn banks. Here are some good inns of great
antiquity. The "Wheat-sheaf" is perhaps the most attractive, with its
curious gable and ancient lights, and even the interior is not much
altered. Here too is the "Bell," under the shadow of the abbey tower.
It is the original of Phineas Fletcher's house in the novel _John
Halifax, Gentleman_. The "Bear and the Ragged Staff" is another
half-timbered house with a straggling array of buildings and curious
swinging signboard, the favourite haunt of the disciples of Izaak
Walton, under the overhanging eaves of which the Avon silently flows.
The old "Seven Stars" at Manchester is said to be the most ancient in
England, claiming a licence 563 years old. But it has many rivals,
such as the "Fighting Cocks" at St. Albans, the "Dick Whittington" in
Cloth Fair, St. Bartholomews, the "Running Horse" at Leatherhead,
wherein John Skelton, the poet laureate of Henry VIII, sang the
praises of its landlady, Eleanor Rumming, and several others.
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