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This inn, called the Tadcaster, after the former owners of the ground,
was an inn rather than a tavern, an hotel rather than an inn, and had a
carriage entrance and a large yard.
The carriage entrance, opening from the court on the field, was the
legitimate door of the Tadcaster Inn, which had, beside it, a small
bastard door, by which people entered. To call it bastard is to mean
preferred. This lower door was the only one used, It opened into the
tavern, properly so called, which was a large taproom, full of tobacco
smoke, furnished with tables, and low in the ceiling. Over it was a
window on the first floor, to the iron bars of which was fastened and
hung the sign of the inn. The principal door was barred and bolted, and
always remained closed.
It was thus necessary to cross the tavern to enter the courtyard.
At the Tadcaster Inn there was a landlord and a boy. The landlord was
called Master Nicless, the boy Govicum. Master Nicless--Nicholas,
doubtless, which the English habit of contraction had made Nicless, was
a miserly widower, and one who respected and feared the laws. As to his
appearance, he had bushy eyebrows and hairy hands. The boy, aged
fourteen, who poured out drink, and answered to the name of Govicum,
wore a merry face and an apron. His hair was cropped close, a sign of
servitude.
He slept on the ground floor, in a nook in which they formerly kept a
dog. This nook had for window a bull's-eye looking on the bowling-green.
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