Few Leicester hostelries have found a place in Literature, but the Bell has acquired fame as the inn at which Drunken Barnaby was lodging, when he received such a severe lesson from the watchmen of Leicester:—
"Veni Leicester ad Campanam,
Ubi mentem laesi sanam;
Prima nocte mille modis
Flagellarunt me custodes,
Pelle sparsi sunt livores,
Meos castigare mores."
Perhaps, however, it was at the old Bell in the Swinesmarket that Barnaby put up. His visit to Leicester must have taken place some time before 1638, for it was in that year that his Journal first appeared, and the Swinesmarket Bell was certainly existing, as we have seen, as late as 1605.
The history of the old inns of Leicester can be sketched only in the barest outline. Wider research might, no doubt, discover many more interesting allusions to their ancient life, but their doings must remain for the most part closed in darkness, and the cheerful clatter of their busy days is now silent for ever.
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