corrupted version of his name. It is of course untrue that Fastolfe
was ever the intimate associate of Henry V when Prince of Wales, who
was not his junior by more than ten years, or that he was an
impecunious spendthrift and gray-haired debauchee. The historical
Fastolfe was in private life an expert man of business, who was
indulgent neither to himself nor his friends. He was nothing of a
jester, and was, in spite of all imputations to the contrary, a
capable and brave soldier."

Sad as has been the havoc wrought by time and the hand of man among
the hostelries of Southwark, a considerable portion of one still
survives in its actual seventeenth century guise. This is the George
Inn, which is slightly nearer London Bridge than the Tabard. To
catch a peep of its old-world aspect, with its quaint gallery and
other indubitable tokens of a distant past, gives the pilgrim a
pleasant shock. It is such a contrast to the ugly modern structures
which impose themselves on the public as "Ye Olde" this and "Ye
Olde" that. Here at any rate is a veritable survival. Nor does it
matter that the George has made little figure in history; there is a
whole world of satisfaction in the thought that it has changed but
little since it was built in 1672. Its name is older than its
structure. Stow included the George among the "many fair inns" he
saw in Southwark in 1598, a fact which deals a cruel blow to that
crude theory which declares inns were so named after the royal
Georges of Great Britain.

[Illustration: GEORGE INN.]

Among the numerous other inns which once lined the High Street of
Southwark there is but one which has claims upon the attention on