A little farther on, he
came to a rickety-looking corner-house, with a steep thatched roof
overgrown by stonecrop and other parasites, which was evidently the shop
of the village, inasmuch as one side of the window exhibited a show of
homely drapery, while the other side was devoted to groceries, and a
shelf above laden with great sprawling loaves of bread. This
establishment was also the post-office, and here Gilbert resolved to make
his customary inquiries, when he had put up his horse.
Almost immediately opposite this general emporium, the sign of the Blue
Boar swung proudly across the street in front of a low rather
dilapidated-looking hostelry, with a wide frontage, and an archway
leading into a spacious desolate yard, where one gloomy cock of Spanish
descent was crowing hoarsely on the broken roof of a shed, surrounded by
four or five shabby-looking hens, all in the most wobegone stage of
moulting, and appearing as if eggs were utterly remote from their
intentions. This Blue Boar was popularly supposed to have been a most
distinguished and prosperous place in the coaching days, when twenty
coaches passed daily through the village of Crosber; and was even now
much affected as a place of resort by the villagers, to the sore vexation
of the rector and such good people as believed in the perfectibility of
the human race and the ultimate suppression of public-houses.
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