Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER THE LAMB INN THIRD HP HE town of Bridgewater in the year 1684 laid claim to being a seaport, although the vessels, the largest of which in all probability registered no more than three hundred tons, had to follow the muddy, snake-like course of the River Parret some dozen miles from its mouth in the Bristol Channel ere they were able to discharge their cargoes at the quay built by the enterprising townsfolk. The formation of this somewhat straggling little place at the period of which we are writing would be most correctly described if we said that it represented more closely than anything else the letter Y with the Parret flowing at its base. The river was crossed by a quaint and narrow, three-arched, wooden bridge, enabling the villager from the adjacent hamlets upon the moors, and the traveller by the stage waggon from such flourishing cities as Bath, or Bristol, or the then almost inaccessible golden city of London, to supply the hundred and one wants of the seafaring men who frequented the port, and to cross to the town proper. Upon the east bank a number of low, white cottages, many having shutters that, when open, served the double purpose of letting in the light of day and of forming a counter upon which the busy shopkeeper could display his wares. When these shutters were raised at night, being strongly made, they would not only defy the attack of the elements, but were proof against the intrusion of burglariously-inclined members of the community. This portion of the town, if the few buildings located there might be honoured by so high-sounding an appellation, was, and is known to the present day as Eastover; but in justice let it be said that some forty years prior to the period of which we are writing, quite a busy...
