Note 241 — A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY (continued 2)
Reading edition
Skelton says of Eleanor Rumming—
“She breweth noppy ale, And maketh thereof fast sale To travellers, to tinkers. To sweaters, to swinkers, And all good ale-drinkers.”
The woman kept an alehouse at Leatherhead, which, it is thought, Skelton may have visited when staying with his royal master at Nonsuch Palace. It has been claimed, however, on interesting evidence, that her alehouse was “Two-pot House,” between Cambridge and Hardwicke. (See Gentleman’s Magazine, Nov. 1794, and Chambers’ Book of Days under June 21.)