EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY INNS
yard beyond it on either side of the foot-board. Above him, on his chest and stomach, from his chin to his knees, lay a huge squab or cushion, covered with a gay-patterned chintz, and ornamented at each comer with a fine tassel,—looking equally handsome, glossy, cold, and uncomfortable. For fear of deranging this article, he could only turn his eyes towards me as I entered, and when he spoke, it was with a voice that seemed weak and broken from exhaustion. 'Frank, I've passed a miserable night. … I have n't—slept—a wink. … Did you ever see such a thing as that?' with a slight nod and roll of his eyes towards the cushion. I shook my head. 'If I moved—it fell off; and if I did n't, I got—the cramp.'"
In general, the German conception of comfort was not English. "The Germans seldom have a wash-hand basin in any of their country inns; and even at Villach, a large town, we could not find one: the inn we slept at, however, (its sign The Crown,) is clean and good, though tall people cannot sleep comfortably either here or in any part of Germany: the beds, which are very narrow, being placed in wooden frames, or boxes, so short that any body who happens to be above five feet high must absolutely sit up all night supported by pillows; and this is, in fact, the way in which the Germans sleep."[1]
As for food, travelers were advised to carry provisions between towns, for there was no certainty of finding much that was good along the road but wine.[2] A hundred and fifty years ago, to a far greater degree than is now the case, inns throughout Europe were dependent upon the supplies from the immediate neighborhood, and where this was unproductive the inn table provided starvation fare. Particularly was this the case in Westphalia, where in the towns the traveler fared ill, and "in the public inns along the road and in small places" he was entertained with "miserable pompernickel, with bacon half raw, and wretched beer."[3]
In more favored regions the guest had an embarrassment of choice; and it is needless to specify more than one or two
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