There's a lot more that can be said about Alice Harrison Marley.

My source was Chappell, and I read it 20 years ago or more, so someone might want to double check me on this if they have a copy of Chappell handy. As I recall, it's misleading to say that Alice's husband Ralph ran the Swan inn. Alice ran the inn, and everybody knew it. She also was a large part of the reason people came to the inn: Chappell quotes from the diary of a traveller who stayed there one night and remarked about how well entertained his party was by the wit of the landlady. The dance tune Elsie Marley was written in her honor, and later a song was written to the melody of the dance tune. Because everybody knew how hardworking Elsie was, the songwriter was able to tease her about being lazy without giving offense.

Jacob