diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6699.txt | 8572 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6699.zip | bin | 0 -> 181734 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 8588 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6699.txt b/6699.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2783cd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/6699.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8572 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Inns and Taverns of Old London, by Henry C. Shelley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Inns and Taverns of Old London + +Author: Henry C. Shelley + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6699] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII, with some ISO-8859-1 characters + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INNS AND TAVERNS OF OLD LONDON *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available +by the CWRU Preservation Department Digital Library + + + + + + +INNS AND TAVERNS OF OLD LONDON + + +SETTING FORTH THE HISTORICAL AND LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THOSE +ANCIENT HOSTELRIES, TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE MOST NOTABLE +COFFEE-HOUSES, CLUBS, AND PLEASURE GARDENS OF THE BRITISH METROPOLIS + +BY + +HENRY C. SHELLEY + +Author of "Untrodden English Ways," etc. + +1909 + + + +PREFACE + +For all races of Teutonic origin the claim is made that they are +essentially home-loving people. Yet the Englishman of the sixteenth +and seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially of the latter, +is seen to have exercised considerable zeal in creating substitutes +for that home which, as a Teuton, he ought to have loved above all +else. This, at any rate, was emphatically the case with the +Londoner, as the following pages will testify. When he had perfected +his taverns and inns, perfected them, that is, according to the +light of the olden time, he set to work evolving a new species of +public resort in the coffee-house. That type of establishment +appears to have been responsible for the development of the club, +another substitute for the home. And then came the age of the +pleasure-garden. Both the latter survive, the one in a form of a +more rigid exclusiveness than the eighteenth century Londoner would +have deemed possible; the other in so changed a guise that +frequenters of the prototype would scarcely recognize the +relationship. But the coffee-house and the inn and tavern of old +London exist but as a picturesque memory which these pages attempt +to revive. + +Naturally much delving among records of the past has gone to the +making of this book. To enumerate all the sources of information +which have been laid under contribution would be a tedious task and +need not be attempted, but it would be ungrateful to omit thankful +acknowledgment to Henry B. Wheatley's exhaustive edition of Peter +Cunningham's "Handbook of London," and to Warwick Wroth's admirable +volume on "The London Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century." +Many of the illustrations have been specially photographed from rare +engravings in the Print Boom of the British Museum. + +H.C.S. + + + +CONTENTS + +PREFACE + +I. INNS AND TAVERNS OF OLD LONDON. + + I. FAMOUS SOUTHWARK INNS. + + II. INNS AND TAVERNS EAST OF ST PAUL'S. + + III. TAVERNS OF FLEET STREET AND THEREABOUTS. + + IV. TAVERNS WEST OF TEMPLE BAR. + + VI. INNS AND TAVERNS FURTHER AFIELD. + +II. COFFEE-HOUSES OF OLD LONDON. + + I. COFFEE-HOUSES ON 'CHANGE AND NEAR-BY. + + II. ROUND ST PAUL'S. + + III. THE STRAND AND COVENT GARDEN. + + IV. FURTHER WEST. + +III. THE CLUBS OF OLD LONDON. + + LITERARY. + + "SOCIAL AND GAMING". + +IV. PLEASURE GARDENS OF OLD LONDON. + + I. VAUXHALL. + + II. RANELAGH. + + III. OTHER FAVOURITE RESORTS. + +INDEX + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +KING'S HEAD TAVERN, FLEET STREET +GEOFFREY CHAUCER +TABARD INN, SOUTHWARK IN 1810 +BRIDGE-FOOT, SOUTHWARK, SHOWING THE BEAR INN IN 1616 +COURTYARD OF BOAR'S HEAD INN, SOUTHWARK +GEORGE INN +WHITE HART INN, SOUTHWARK +OLIVER GOLDSMITH +COCK INN, LEADENHALL STREET +PAUL PINDAR TAVERN +ANCIENT VIEW OF CHEAPSIDE, SHOWING THE NAG'S HEAD INN +A FRENCH ORDINARY IN LONDON +YARD OF BELLE SAUVAGE INN +THE CHESHIRE CHEESE--ENTRANCE PROM FLEET STREET +THE CHESHIRE CHEESE--THE JOHNSON ROOM +DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON +TABLET AND BUST FROM THE DEVIL TAVERN +BEN JONSON +FEATHERS TAVERN +ADAM AND EVE TAVERN +A TRIAL BEFORE THE PIE-POWDER COURT AT THE HAND AND SHEARS TAVERN +FALCON TAVERN, BANKSIDE +GARRAWAY'S COFFEE-HOUSE +MAD DOG IN A COFFEE-HOUSE +TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE +LLOYD'S COFFEE-HOUSE +GRECIAN COFFEE-HOUSE +JOHN DRYDEN +JOSEPH ADDISON +SIR RICHARD STEELE +LION'S HEAD AT BUTTON'S COFFEE-HOUSE +BRITISH COFFEE-HOUSE +SLAUGHTER'S COFFEE-HOUSE +OLD PALACE YARD, WESTMINSTER +DON SALTERO'S COFFEE-HOUSE +ST JAMES'S STREET, SHOWING WHITE'S ON THE LEFT +AND BROOKS'S ON THE RIGHT +THE BRILLIANTS +"PROMISED HORRORS OF THE FRENCH INVASION" +GAMBLING SALOON AT BROOKS'S CLUB +TICKETS FOR VAUXHALL +ENTRANCE TO VAUXHALL +THE CITIZEN AT VAUXHALL +SCENE AT VAUXHALL +VENETIAN MASQUERADE AT RANELAGH, 1749 +THE ASSAULT ON DR. JOHN HILL AT RANELAGH +MARYLEBONE GARDENS +WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE +BAGNIGGE WELLS +FINCH'S GROTTO, SOUTHWARK + + + + +I. + +INNS AND TAVERNS OF OLD LONDON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FAMOUS SOUTHWARK INNS. + + +Unique among the quaint maps of old London is one which traces the +ground-plan of Southwark as it appeared early in the sixteenth +century. It is not the kind of map which would ensure examination +honours for its author were he competing among schoolboys of the +twentieth century, but it has a quality of archaic simplicity which +makes it a more precious possession than the best examples of modern +cartography. Drawn on the principle that a minimum of lines and a +maximum of description are the best aid to the imagination, this +plan of Southwark indicates the main routes of thoroughfare with a +few bold strokes, and then tills in the blanks with queer little +drawings of churches and inns, the former depicted in delightfully +distorted perspective and the latter by two or three half-circular +strokes. That there may be no confusion between church and inn, the +possibility of which is suggested by the fact that several of +the latter are adorned with spire-like embellishments, the +sixteenth-century cartographer told which were which in so many +words. It is by close attention to the letter-press, and by +observing the frequent appearance of names which have age-long +association with houses of entertainment, that the student of this +map awakens to the conviction that ancient Southwark rejoiced in a +more than generous provision of inns. + +Such was the case from the earliest period of which there is any +record. The explanation is simple. The name of the borough supplies +the clue. Southwark is really the south-work of London, that is, the +southern defence or fortification of the city. The Thames is here a +moat of spacious breadth and formidable depth, yet the Romans did +not trust to that defence alone, but threw up further obstacles for +any enemy approaching the city from the south. It was from that +direction assault was most likely to come. From the western and +southern counties of England, and, above all, from the Continent, +this was the high road into the capital. + +All this had a natural result in times of peace. As London Bridge +was the only causeway over the Thames, and as the High street of +Southwark was the southern continuation of that causeway, it +followed that diplomatic visitors from the Continent and the +countless traders who had business in the capital were obliged to +use this route coming and going. The logical result of this constant +traffic is seen in the countless inns of the district. In the great +majority of cases those visitors who had business in the city itself +during the day elected to make their headquarters for the night on +the southern shore of the Thames. + +Although no definite evidence is available, it is reasonable to +conclude that the most ancient inns of Southwark were established at +least as early as the most ancient hostelries of the city itself. To +which, however, the prize of seniority is to be awarded can never be +known. Yet on one matter there can be no dispute. Pride of place +among the inns of Southwark belongs unquestionably to the Tabard. +Not that it is the most ancient, or has played the most conspicuous +part in the social or political life of the borough, but because the +hand of the poet has lifted it from the realm of the actual and +given it an enduring niche in the world of imagination. + +No evidence is available to establish the actual date when the +Tabard was built; Stow speaks of it as among the "most ancient" of +the locality; but the nearest approach to definite dating assigns +the inn to the early fourteenth century. One antiquary indeed fixes +the earliest distinct record of the site of the inn in 1304, soon +after which the Abbot of Hyde, whose abbey was in the neighbourhood +of Winchester, here built himself a town mansion and probably at the +same time a hostelry for travellers. Three years later the Abbot +secured a license to erect a chapel close by the inn. It seems +likely, then, that the Tabard had its origin as an adjunct of the +town house of a Hampshire ecclesiastic. + +But in the early history of the hostelry no fact stands out so +clearly as that it was chosen by Chaucer as the starting-point for +his immortal Canterbury pilgrims. More than two centuries had passed +since Thomas ą Becket had fallen before the altar of St. Benedict in +the minster of Canterbury, pierced with many swords as his reward +for contesting the supremacy of the Church against Henry II. + +"What a parcel of fools and dastards have I nourished in my house," +cried the monarch when the struggle had reached an acute stage, +"that not one of them will avenge me of this one upstart clerk!" + +Four knights took the king at his word, posted with all speed to +Canterbury, and charged the prelate to give way to the wishes of the +sovereign. + +"In vain you threaten me," Ą Becket rejoined. "If all the swords in +England were brandishing over my head, your terrors could not move +me. Foot to foot you will find me fighting the battle of the Lord." + +And then the swords of the knights flashed in the dim light of the +minster and another name was added to the Church's roll of martyrs. +The murder sent a thrill of horror through all Christendom; Ą Becket +was speedily canonized, and his tomb became the objective of +countless pilgrims from every corner of the Christian world. + +In Chaucer's days, some two centuries later, the pilgrimage had +become a favourite occupation of the devout. Each awakening of the +year, when the rains of April had laid the dust of March and aroused +the buds of tree and herb from their winter slumber, the longing to +go on a pilgrimage seized all classes alike. + + "And specially, from every shires ende + Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, + The holy blisful martir for to seke, + That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke." + +Precisionists of the type who are never satisfied unless they can +apply chronology in the realm of imagination will have it that +Chaucer's pilgrimage was a veritable event, and that it took place +in April, 1388. They go further still and identify Chaucer's host +with the actual Henry Bailley, who certainly was in possession of +the Tabard in years not remote from that date. The records show that +he twice represented the borough of Southwark in Parliament, and +another ancient document bears witness how he and his wife, +Christian by name, were called upon to contribute two shillings to +the subsidy of Richard II. These are the dry bones of history; for +the living picture of the man himself recourse must be had to +Chaucer's verse: + + "A semely man our hoste was with-alle + For to han been a marshal in an halle; + A large man he was with eyen stepe, + A fairer burgeys is ther noon in Chepe; + Bold of his speche, and wys, and well y-taught, + And of manhood him lakkede right naught. + Eke thereto he was right a merry man." + +No twentieth century pilgrim to the Tabard inn must expect to find +its environment at all in harmony with the picture enshrined in +Chaucer's verse. The passing years have wrought a woeful and +materializing change. The opening lines of the Prologue are +permeated with a sense of the month of April, a "breath of +uncontaminate springtide" as Lowell puts it, and in those far-off +years when the poet wrote, the beauties of the awakening year were +possible of enjoyment in Southwark. Then the buildings of the High +street were spaciously placed, with room for field and hedgerow; +to-day they are huddled as closely together as the hand of man can +set them, and the verdure of grass and tree is unknown. Nor is it +otherwise with the inn itself, for its modern representative has no +points of likeness to establish a kinship with the structure +visualized in Chaucer's lines. It is true the poet describes the inn +more by suggestion than set delineation, but such hints that it was +"a gentle hostelry," that its rooms and stables were alike spacious, +that the food was of the best and the wine of the strongest go +further with the imagination than concrete statements. + +[Illustration: GEOFFREY CHAUCER.] + +Giving faith for the moment to that theory which credits the +Canterbury Tales with being based on actual experience, and +recalling the quaint courtyard of the inn as it appeared on that +distant April day of 1388, it is a pleasant exercise of fancy to +imagine Chaucer leaning over the rail of one of the upper galleries +to watch the assembling of his nine-and-twenty "sondry folk." They +are, as J. R. Green has said, representatives of every class of +English society from the noble to the ploughman. "We see the +'verray-perfight gentil knight' in cassock and coat of mail, with +his curly-headed squire beside him, fresh as the May morning, and +behind them the brown-faced yeoman in his coat and hood of green +with a mighty bow in his hand. A group of ecclesiastics light up for +us the mediaeval church--the brawny hunt-loving monk, whose bridle +jingles as loud and clear as the chapel bell--the wanton friar, +first among the beggars and harpers of the courtly side--the poor +parson, threadbare, learned, and devout ('Christ's lore and his +apostles twelve he taught, and first he followed it himself')--the +summoner with his fiery face--the pardoner with his wallet 'full of +pardons, come from Rome all hot'--the lively prioress with her +courtly French lisp, her soft little red mouth, and _Amor vincit +omnia_ graven on her brooch. Learning is there in the portly +person of the doctor of physics, rich with the profits of the +pestilence--the busy sergeant-of-law, 'that ever seemed busier than +he was'--the hollow-cheeked clerk of Oxford with his love of books +and short sharp sentences that disguise a latent tenderness which +breaks out at last in the story of Griseldis. Around them crowd +types of English industry; the merchant; the franklin in whose house +'it snowed of meat and drink'; the sailor fresh from frays in the +Channel; the buxom wife of Bath; the broad-shouldered miller; the +haberdasher, carpenter, weaver, dyer, tapestry-maker, each in the +livery of his craft; and last the honest ploughman who would dyke +and delve for the poor without hire." + +Smilingly as Chaucer may have gazed upon this goodly company, his +delight at their arrival paled before the radiant pleasure of mine +host, for a poet on the lookout for a subject can hardly have +welcomed the advent of the pilgrims with such an interested +anticipation of profit as the innkeeper whose rooms they were to +occupy and whose food and wines they were to consume. Henry Bailley +was equal to the auspicious occasion. + + "Greet chere made our hoste us everichon, + And to the soper sette he us anon; + And served us with vitaille at the beste. + Strong was the wyn, and wel to drinke us leste." + +But the host of the Tabard was more than an efficient caterer; he +was something of a diplomatist also. Taking advantage of that glow +of satisfaction which is the psychological effect of physical needs +generously satisfied, he appears to have had no difficulty in +getting the pilgrims to pay their "rekeninges," and having attained +that practical object he rewarded his customers with liberal +interest for their hard cash in the form of unstinted praise of +their collective merits, In all that year he had not seen so merry a +company gathered under his roof, etc., etc. But of greater moment +for future generations was his suggestion that, as there was no +comfort in riding to Canterbury dumb as a stone, the pilgrims should +beguile their journey by telling stories. The suggestion was loudly +acclaimed and the scheme unanimously pledged in further copious +draughts of wine. And then, to "reste wente echon," until the dawn +came again and smiled down upon that brave company whose +tale-telling pilgrimage has since been followed with so much delight +by countless thousands. By the time Stow made his famous survey of +London, some two centuries later, the Tabard was rejoicing to the +full in the glories cast around it by Chaucer's pen. Stow cites the +poet's commendation as its chief title to fame, and pauses to +explain that the name of the inn was "so called of the sign, which, +as we now term it, is of a jacket, or sleeveless coat, whole before, +open on both sides, with a square collar, winged at the shoulders; a +stately garment of old time, commonly worn of noblemen and others, +both at home and abroad in the war, but then (to wit in the wars) +their arms embroidered, or otherwise depict upon them, that every +man by his coat of arms might be known from others." All this +heraldic lore did not prevent the subsequent change--for a time--of +the name Tabard to the meaningless name of Talbot, a distortion, +however, which survives only in antiquarian history. + +At the dissolution of the monasteries this inn, which up till then +had retained its connection with the church through belonging to +Hyde Abbey, was granted to two brothers named Master, and in 1542 +its annual rent is fixed at nine pounds. An authority on social life +in England during the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign ventures on +the following description of the arrangements of the inn at that +period. "On the ground-floor, looking on to the street, was a room +called 'the darke parlour,' a hall, and a general reception-room +called 'the parlour.' This was probably the dining-room of the +house, as it opened on to the kitchen on the same level. Below the +dark parlour was a cellar. On the first floor, above the parlour and +the hall, were three rooms--'the middle chamber,' 'the corner +chamber,' and 'Maister Hussye's chamber,' with garrets or 'cock +lofts' over them. Over the great parlour was another room. There +were also rooms called 'the Entry Chamber' and 'the Newe chamber,' +'the Flower de Luce' and 'Mr. Russell's chamber,' of which the +position is not specified." + +[Illustration: TABARD INN, SOUTHWARK, IN 1810.] + +When, in 1575, the old Tabard, the inn, that is, of George +Shepherd's water-colour drawing of 1810, was demolished, making way +for the present somewhat commonplace representative of the ancient +hostelry, many protests were made on the plea that it was sheer +vandalism to destroy a building so intimately associated with the +genius of Chaucer. But the protests were based upon lack of +knowledge. Chaucer's inn had disappeared long before. It is +sometimes stated that that building survived until the great +Southwark fire of 1676, but such assertions overlook the fact that +there is in existence a record dated 1634 which speaks of the Tabard +as having been built of brick six years previously upon the old +foundation. Here, then, is proof that the Tabard of the pilgrims was +wholly reconstructed in 1628, and even that building--faithful copy +as it may have been of the poet's inn--was burnt to the ground in +1676. From the old foundations, however, a new Tabard arose, built +on the old plan, so that the structure which was torn down in 1875 +may have perpetuated the semblance of Chaucer's inn to modern times. + +Compared with its association with the Canterbury pilgrims, the +subsequent history of the Tabard is somewhat prosaic. Here a record +tells how it became the objective of numerous carriers from Kent and +Sussex, there crops up a law report which enshrines the memory of a +burglary, and elsewhere in reminiscences or diary may be found a +tribute to the excellence of the inn's rooms and food and the +reasonableness of the charges. It should not be forgotten, however, +that violent hands have been laid on the famous inn for the lofty +purposes of melodrama. More than sixty years ago a play entitled +"Mary White, or the Murder at the Old Tabard" thrilled the +theatregoer with its tragic situations and the terrible perils of +the heroine. But the tribulations of Mary White have left no imprint +on English literature. Chaucer's pilgrims have, and so long as the +mere name of the Tabard survives, its recollection will bring in its +train a moving picture of that merry and motley company which set +out for the shrine of Ą Becket so many generations ago. + +Poetic license bestows upon another notable Southwark inn, the Bear +at Bridge-foot, an antiquity far eclipsing that of the Tabard. In a +poem printed in 1691, descriptive of "The Last Search after Claret +in Southwark," the heroes of the verse are depicted as eventually +finding their way to + + "The Bear, which we soon understood + Was the first house in Southwark built after the flood." + +To describe the inn as "the first house in Southwark" might have +been accurate for those callers who approached it over London +Bridge, but in actual chronology the proud distinction of dating +from post-deluge days has really to give place to the much more +recent year of 1319. There is, preserved among the archives of the +city of London a tavern lease of that date which belongs without +doubt to the history of this hostelry, for it refers to the inn +which Thomas Drinkwater had "recently built at the head of London +Bridge." This Thomas Drinkwater was a taverner of London, and the +document in question sets forth how he had granted the lease of the +Bear to one James Beauflur, who agrees to purchase all his wines +from the inappropriately named Drinkwater, who, on his part, was to +furnish his tenant with such necessaries as silver mugs, wooden +hanaps, curtains, cloths and other articles. + +A century and a half later the inn figures in the accounts of Sir +John Howard, that warlike "Jacke of Norfolk" who became the first +Duke of Norfolk in the Howard family and fatally attested his +loyalty to his king on Bosworth Field. From that time onward casual +references to the Bear are numerous. It was probably the best-known +inn of Southwark, for its enviable position at the foot of London +Bridge made it conspicuous to all entering or leaving the city. Its +attractions were enhanced by the fact that archery could be +practised in its grounds, and that within those same grounds was the +Thames-side landing stage from whence the tilt-boats started for +Greenwich and Gravesend. It was the opportunity for shooting at the +target which helped to lure Sir John Howard to the Bear, but as he +sampled the wine of the inn before testing his skill as a marksman, +he found himself the poorer by the twenty-pence with which he had +backed his own prowess. Under date 1633 there is an interesting +reference which sets forth that, although orders had been given to +have all the back-doors to taverns on the Thames closed up, owing to +the fact that wrong-doers found them convenient in evading the +officers of the law, an exception was made in the case of the Bear +owing to the fact that it was the starting-place for Greenwich. + +[Illustration: BRIDGE-FOOT, SOUTHWARK. (_Showing the Bear Inn +in_ 1616.)] + +Evidence in abundance might be cited to show that the inn was a +favourite meeting place with the wits and gallants of the court of +Charles I and the Restoration. "The maddest of all the land came to +bait the Bear," is one testimony; "I stuffed myself with food and +tipple till the hoops were ready to burst," is another. There is one +figure, however, of the thirties of the seventeenth century which +arrests the attention. This is Sir John Suckling, that gifted and +ill-fated poet and man of fashion of whom it was said that he "had +the peculiar happiness of making everything that he did become him." +His ready wit, his strikingly handsome face and person, his wealth +and generosity, his skill in all fashionable pastimes made him a +favourite with all. The preferences of the man, his delight in the +joys of the town as compared with the pleasures of secluded study in +the country, are clearly seen in those sprightly lines in which he +invited the learned John Hales, the "walking library," to leave Eton +and "come to town": + + "There you shall find the wit and wine + Flowing alike, and both divine: + Dishes, with names not known in books, + And less among the college-cooks; + With sauce so pregnant, that you need + Not stay till hunger bids you feed. + The sweat of learned Jonson's brain, + And gentle Shakespeare's eas'er strain, + A hackney coach conveys you to, + In spite of all that rain can do: + And for your eighteenpence you sit + The lord and judge of all fresh wit." + +Nor was it in verse alone that Suckling celebrated the praises of +wine. Among the scanty remains of his prose there is that lively +sally, written at the Bear, and entitled: "The Wine-drinkers to the +Water-drinkers." After mockingly commiserating with the teetotalers +over the sad plight into which their habits had brought them, the +address continues: "We have had divers meetings at the Bear at the +Bridge-foot, and now at length have resolved to despatch to you one +of our cabinet council, Colonel Young, with some slight forces of +canary, and some few of sherry, which no doubt will stand you in +good stead, if they do not mutiny and grow too headstrong for their +commander. Him Captain Puff of Barton shall follow with all +expedition, with two or three regiments of claret; Monsieur de +Granville, commonly called Lieutenant Strutt, shall lead up the rear +of Rhenish and white. These succours, thus timely sent, we are +confident will be sufficient to hold the enemy in play, and, till we +hear from you again, we shall not think of a fresh supply.... Given +under our hand at the Bear, this fourth of July." + +Somewhere about the date when this drollery was penned there +happened at the Bear an incident which might have furnished the +water-drinkers with an effective retort on their satirist. The Earl +of Buccleugh, just returned from military service abroad, on his way +into London, halted at the Bear to quaff a glass of sack with a +friend. A few minutes later he put off in a boat for the further +shore of the Thames, but ere the craft had gone many yards from land +the earl exclaimed, "I am deadly sick, row back; Lord have mercy +upon me!" Those were his last words, for he died that night. + +Another picturesque figure of the seventeenth century is among the +shades that haunt the memory of the Bear, Samuel Pepys, that +irrepressible gadabout who was more intimately acquainted with the +inns and taverns of London than any man of his time. That +Thames-side hostelry was evidently a favourite resort of the +diarist. On both occasions of his visits to Southwark Pair he made +the inn his base of operations as it were, especially in 1668 when +the puppet-show of Whittington seemed "pretty to see," though he +could not resist the reflection "how that idle thing do work upon +people that see it, and even myself too!" + +Pepys had other excitements that day. He was so mightily taken with +Jacob Hall's dancing on the ropes that on meeting that worthy at a +tavern he presented him with a bottle of wine. Having done justice +to all the sights of the fair, he returned to the Bear, where his +Waterman awaited him with the gold and other things to the value of +forty pounds which the prudent diarist had left in his charge at the +inn "for fear of my pockets being cut." + +Pepys himself incidentally explains why he had so friendly a regard +for the Bridge-foot tavern. "Going through bridge by water," he +writes, "my Waterman told me how the mistress of the Beare tavern, +at the bridge-foot, did lately fling herself into the Thames, and +drowned herself; which did trouble me the more, when they tell me it +was she that did live at the White Horse tavern in Lumbard Street, +which was a most beautiful woman, as most I have seen." + +Yet another fair woman, Frances Stuart, one of the greatest beauties +of the court of Charles II, is linked with the history of the Beare. +Sad as was the havoc she wrought in the heart of the susceptible +Pepys, who is ever torn between admiration of her loveliness and +mock-reprobation of her equivocal position at court, Frances Stuart +created still deeper passions in men more highly placed than he. +Apart from her royal lover, there were two nobles, the Dukes of York +and Richmond who contended for her hand, with the result of victory +finally resting with the latter. But the match had to be a runaway +one. The king was in no mood to part with his favourite, and so the +lovers arranged a meeting at the Bear, where a coach was in waiting +to spirit them away into Kent. No wonder Charles was offended, +especially when the lady sent him back his presents. + +Nearly a century and a half has passed since the Bear finally closed +its doors. All through the lively years of the Restoration it +maintained its reputation as a house of good cheer and a wholly +desirable rendezvous, and it figures not inconspicuously in the +social life of London down to 1761. By that time the ever-increasing +traffic over the Thames bridge had made the enlargement of that +structure a necessity, and the Bear was among the buildings which +had to be demolished. + +Further south in the High street, and opposite the house in which +John Harvard, the founder of America's oldest university, was born, +stood the Boar's Head, an inn which was once the property of Sir +Fastolfe, and was by him bequeathed through a friend to Magdalen +College, Oxford. This must not be confused with the Boar's Head of +Shakespeare, which stood in Eastcheap on the other side of the +river, though it is a remarkable coincidence that it was in the +latter inn the dramatist laid the scene of Prince Hal's merrymaking +with the Sir John Falstaff we all know. The earliest reference to +the Southwark Boar's Head occurs in the Paston Letters under date +1459. This is an epistle from a servant of Fastolfe to John Paston, +asking him to remind his master that he had promised him he should +be made host of the Boar's Head, but whether he ever attained to +that desired position there is no evidence to show. The inn makes +but little figure in history; by 1720 it had dwindled to a-mere +courtyard, and in 1830 the last remnants were cleared away. + +[Illustration: COURTYARD OF BOAR'S HEAD INN, SOUTHWARK.] + +Inevitably, however, the fact that the Boar's Head was the property +of Sir John Fastolfe prompts the question, what relation had he to +the Sir John Falstaff of Shakespeare's plays? This has been a topic +of large discussion for many years. There are so many touches of +character and definite incidents which apply in common to the two +knights that the poet has been assumed to have had the historic +Fastolfe ever in view when drawing the portrait of his Falstaff. The +historian Fuller assumed this to have been the case, for he +complains that the "stage have been overbold" in dealing with +Fastolfe's memory. Sidney Lee, however, sums up the case thus: +"Shakespeare was possibly under the misapprehension, based on the +episode of cowardice reported in 'Henry VI,' that the military +exploits of the historical Sir John Fastolfe sufficiently resembled +those of his own riotous knight to justify the employment of a +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 +the score of historic and literary interest. This is the White Hart, +which was doubtless an old establishment at the date, 1406, of its +first mention in historical records. Forty-four years later, that is +in 1450, the inn gained its most notable association by being made +the head-quarters of Jack Cade at the time of his famous +insurrection. Modern research has shown that this rebellion was a +much more serious matter than the older historians were aware of, +but the most careful investigation into Cade's career has failed to +elicit any particulars of note prior to a year before the rising +took place. The year and place of his birth are unknown, but twelve +months before he appears in history he was obliged to flee the realm +and take refuge in France owing to his having murdered a woman who +was with child. He served for a time in the French army, then +returned under an assumed name and settled in Kent, which was the +centre of discontent against Henry VI. As the one hope of reform lay +in an appeal to arms, the discontent broke into open revolt. "The +rising spread from Kent over Surrey and Sussex. Everywhere it was +general and organized--a military levy of the yeomen of the three +shires." It was not of the people alone, for more than a hundred +esquires and gentlemen threw in their lot with the rebels; but how +it came about that Jack Cade attained the leadership is a profound +mystery. Leader, however, he was, and when he, with his twenty +thousand men, took possession of Southwark as the most desirable +base from which to threaten the city of London, he elected the White +Hart for his own quarters. This was on the first of July, 1450, and +for the next few of those midsummer days the inn was the scene of +many stirring and tragic events. Daily, Cade at the head of his +troops crossed the bridge into the city, and on one of those +excursions he caused the seizure and beheadal of the hated Lord Say. +Daily, too, there was constant coming and going at the White Hart of +Cade's emissaries. At length, however, the citizens of London, stung +into action by the robberies and other outrages of the rebels, +occupied the bridge in force. A stubborn struggle ensued, but Cade +and his men were finally beaten off. The amnesty which followed led +to a conference at which terms were arranged and a general pardon +granted. That for Cade, however, as it was made out in his assumed +name of Mortimer, was invalid, and on the discovery being made he +seized a large quantity of booty and fled. Not many days later he +was run to earth, wounded in being captured, and died as he was +being brought back to London. His naked body was identified by the +hostess of the White Hart, who was probably relieved to gaze upon so +certain an indication that she would be able to devote herself once +more to the entertainment of less troublesome guests. + +For all the speedy ending of his ambitions, Cade is assured of +immortality so long as the pages of Shakespeare endure. The rebel is +a stirring figure in the Second Part of King Henry VI and as an +orator of the mob reaches his greatest flights of eloquence in that +speech which perpetuates the name of his headquarters at Southwark. +"Hath my sword therefore broke through London gates, that you should +leave me at the White Hart in Southwark?" + +But English literature was not done with the old inn. Many changes +were to pass over its head during the nearly four centuries which +elapsed ere it was touched once more by the pen of genius, changes +wrought by the havoc of fire and the attritions of the hand of time. +When those years had fled a figure was to be seen in its courtyard +to become better known to and better beloved by countless thousands +than the rebel leader of the fifteenth century. "In the Borough," +wrote the creator of that figure, "there still remain some half +dozen old inns, which have preserved their external features +unchanged, and which have escaped alike the rage for public +improvement and the encroachments of private speculation. Great, +rambling, queer old places they are, with galleries, and passages, +and staircases, wide enough and antiquated enough to furnish +materials for a hundred ghost stories.... It was in the yard of one +of these inns--of no less celebrated a one than the White Hart--that +a man was busily employed in brushing the dirt off a pair of boots, +early on the morning succeeding the events narrated in the last +chapter. He was habited in a coarse-striped waistcoat, with black +calico sleeves, and blue glass buttons; drab breeches and leggings. +A bright red handkerchief was wound in a very loose and unstudied +style round his neck, and an old white hat was carelessly thrown on +one side of his head. There were two rows of boots before him, one +cleaned and the other dirty, and at every addition he made to the +clean row, he paused from his work, and contemplated its results +with evident satisfaction." + +[Illustration: WHITE HART INN, SOUTHWARK.] + + +Who does not recognize Sam Weller, making his first appearance in +"The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club"? And who has not +revelled in the lively scene in the White Hart when Mr. Pickwick and +his friends arrived in the nick of time to prevent the ancient but +still sentimental Rachael from becoming Mrs. Jingle? It is not +difficult to understand why that particular instalment of "Pickwick" +was the turning-point of the book's fortunes. Prior to the advent of +Sam in the courtyard of the White Hart the public had shown but a +moderate interest in the new venture of "Boz," but from that event +onward the sales of the succeeding parts were ever on the increase. +Sam and the White Hart, then, had much to do with the career of +Dickens, for if "Pickwick" had failed it is more than probable that +he would have abandoned literature as a profession. + +When Dickens wrote, the White Hart was still in existence. It is so +no longer. Till late in the last century this hostelry was spared +the fate which had overtaken so many Southwark taverns, even though, +in place of the nobles it had sheltered, its customers had become +hop-merchants, farmers, and others of lower degree. In 1889, in the +month of July, four hundred and thirty-nine years after it had +received Jack Cade under its roof, the last timbers of the old inn +were levelled to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +INNS AND TAVERNS EAST OF ST. PAUL'S. + + +Boswell relates how, in one of his numerous communicative moods, he +informed Dr. Johnson of the existence of a club at "the Boar's Head +in Eastcheap, the very tavern where Falstaff and his joyous +companions met; the members of which all assume Shakespeare's +characters. One is Falstaff, another Prince Henry, another Bardolph, +and so on." If the assiduous little Scotsman entertained the idea of +joining the club, a matter on which he does not throw any light, +Johnson's rejoinder was sufficient to deter him from doing so. +"Don't be of it, Sir. Now that you have a name you must be careful +to avoid many things not bad in themselves, but which will lessen +your character." + +Whether Johnson's remark was prompted by an intimate knowledge of +the type of person frequenting the Boar's Head in his day cannot be +decided, but there are ample grounds for thinking that the patrons +of that inn were generally of a somewhat boisterous kind. That, +perhaps, is partly Shakespeare's fault. Prior to his making it the +scene of the mad revelry of Prince Hal and his none too choice +companions, the history of the Boar's Head, so far as we know it, +was sedately respectable. One of the earliest references to its +existence is in a lease dated 1537, some sixty years before the +first part of Henry IV was entered in the Stationers' Register. Some +half century later, that is in 1588, the inn was kept by one Thomas +Wright, whose son came into a "good inheritance," was made clerk of +the King's Stable, and a knight, and was "a very discreet and honest +gentleman." + +But Shakespeare's pen dispelled any atmosphere of respectability +which lingered around the Boar's Head. From the time when he made it +the meeting-place of the mad-cap Prince of Wales and his roistering +followers, down to the day of Goldsmith's reverie under its roof, +the inn has dwelt in the imagination at least as the rendezvous of +hard drinkers and practical jokers. How could it be otherwise after +the limning of such a scene as that described in Henry IV? That was +sufficient to dedicate the inn to conviviality for ever. + +How sharply the picture shapes itself as the hurrying dialogue is +read! The key-note of merriment is struck by the Prince himself as +he implores the aid of Poins to help him laugh at the excellent +trick he has just played on the boastful but craven Falstaff, and +the bustle and hilarity of the scene never flags for a moment. Even +Francis, the drawer, whose vocabulary is limited to "Anon, anon, +sir"--the fellow that had "fewer words than a parrot, and yet the +son of a woman"--and the host himself, as perplexed as his servant +when two customers call at once, contribute to the movement of the +episode in its earlier stages. But the pace is, increased furiously +when the burly Falstaff, scant of breath indeed, bustles hurriedly +in proclaiming in one breath his scorn of cowards and his urgent +need of a cup of sack. We all know the boastful story he told, how +he and his three companions had been set upon and robbed by a +hundred men, how he himself--as witness his sword "packed like a +hand-saw"--had kept at bay and put to flight now two, anon four, and +then seven, and finally eleven of his assailants. We all can see, +too, the roguish twinkle in Prince Hal's eyes as the braggart knight +embellishes his lying tale with every fresh sentence, and are as +nonplussed as he when, the plot discovered, Falstaff finds a way to +take credit for his cowardice. Who would not forgive so cajoling a +vaunter? + +It was later in this scene, be it remembered, that the portly knight +was found fast asleep behind the arras, "snorting like a horse," and +had his pockets searched to the discovery of that tavern bill--not +paid we may be sure--which set forth an expenditure on the staff of +life immensely disproportionate to that on drink, and elicited the +famous ejaculation--"But one half-pennyworth of bread to this +intolerable deal of sack!" + +But Shakespeare had not finished with the Boar's Head. More coarse +and less merry, but not less vivid, is that other scene wherein the +shrill-tongued Doll Tearsheet and the peace-making Dame Quickly +figure. And it is of a special and private room in the Boar's Head +we think as we listen to Dame Quickly's tale of how the amorous +Falstaff made love to her with his hand upon "a parcel-gilt goblet," +and followed up the declaration with a kiss and a request for thirty +shillings. + +For Shakespeare's sake, then, the Boar's Head is elect into that +small circle of inns which are immortal in the annals of literature. +But, like Chaucer's Tabard, no stone of it is left. Boswell made a +mistake, and so did Goldsmith after him, in thinking that the Boar's +Head of the eighteenth century was the Boar's Head of Shakespeare's +day. They both forgot the great Fire of London. That disastrous +conflagration of 1666 swept away every vestige of the old inn. Upon +its foundation, however, another Boar's Head arose, the sign of +which, cut in stone and dated 1668, is among the treasures of the +Guildhall Museum. This was the building in which Boswell's club met, +and it was under its roof Goldsmith penned his famous reverie. + +As was to be expected of that social soul, the character of Falstaff +gave Goldsmith more consolation than the most studied efforts of +wisdom: "I here behold," he continues, "an agreeable old fellow +forgetting age, and showing me the way to be young at sixty-five. +Sure I am well able to be as merry, though not so comical, as he. Is +it not in my power to have, though not so much wit, at least as much +vivacity?--Age, care, wisdom, reflection, begone--I give you to the +winds! Let's have t'other bottle: Here's to the memory of +Shakespeare, Falstaff, and all the merry men of Eastcheap!" + +[Illustration: OLIVER GOLDSMITH.] + +With such zest did Goldsmith enter into his night out at the Boar's +Head that when the midnight hour arrived he discovered all his +companions had stolen away, leaving him--still in high spirits with +the landlord as his sole companion. Then the mood of reverie began +to work. The very room helped to transport him back through the +centuries; the oak floor, the gothic windows, the ponderous +chimney-piece,--all were reminders of the past. But the prosaic +landlord was an obstacle to the complete working of the spell. At +last, however, a change came over mine host, or so it seemed to the +dreaming chronicler. "He insensibly began to alter his appearance; +his cravat seemed quilled into a ruff, and his breeches swelled out +into a farlingale. I now fancied him changing sexes; and as my eyes +began to close in slumber, I imagined my fat landlord actually +converted into as fat a landlady. However, sleep made but few +changes in my situation: the tavern, the apartment, and the table, +continued as before: nothing suffered mutation but my host, who was +fairly altered into a gentlewoman, whom I knew to be Dame Quickly, +mistress of this tavern in the days of Sir John; and the liquor we +were drinking seemed converted into sack and sugar." + +Such an opportunity of interviewing an acquaintance of Falstaff was +not to be lost, and to the credit of Dame Quickly be it said that +she was far more communicative than some moderns are under the +questioning ordeal. But it was no wonder she was loquacious: had she +not been ordered by Pluto to keep a record of every transaction at +the Boar's Head, and in the discharge of that duty compiled three +hundred tomes? Some may subscribe to the opinion that Dame Quickly +was indiscreet as well as loquacious; certainly she did not spare +the reputations of some who had dwelt under that ancient roof. The +sum of the matter, however, was that since the execution of that +hostess who was accused of witchcraft the Boar's Head "underwent +several revolutions, according to the spirit of the times, or the +disposition of the reigning monarch. It was this day a brothel, and +the next a conventicle for enthusiasts. It was one year noted for +harbouring Whigs, and the next infamous for a retreat to Tories. +Some years ago it was in high vogue, but at present it seems +declining." + +One other son of genius was to add to the fame of the Boar's Head, +the American Goldsmith, that is, the gentle Washington Irving. Of +course Shakespeare was the moving spirit once more. While turning +over the pages of Henry IV Irving was seized with a sudden +inspiration: "I will make a pilgrimage to Eastcheap, and see if the +old Boar's Head tavern still exists." But it was too late. The only +relic of the ancient abode of Dame Quickly was the stone boar's +head, built into walls reared where the inn once stood. Nothing +daunted, however, Irving explored the neighbourhood, and was +rewarded, as he thought, by running to earth Dame Quickly's +"parcel-gilt goblet" in a tavern near by. He had one other "find." +In the old graveyard of St. Michael's, which no longer exists, he +discovered, so he avers, the tombstone of one Robert Preston who, +like the Francis of "Anon, anon, sir," was a drawer at the Boar's +Head, and quotes from that tombstone the following admonitory +epitaph: + + "Bacchus, to give the toping world surprise, + Produced one sober son, and here he lies. + Though rear'd among full hogsheads, he defied + The charms of wine, and every one beside. + O reader, if to justice thou'rt inclined, + Keep honest Preston daily in thy mind. + He drew good wine, took care to fill his pots, + Had sundry virtues that excused his faults. + You that on Bacchus have the like dependence, + Pray copy Bob, in measure and attendance." + +Small as was the reward of living's quest, a still more barren +result would ensue on a modern pilgrimage to the Boar's Head. It was +still a tavern in 1785, for a chronicler of that date described it +as having on each side of the doorway "a vine branch, carved in +wood, rising more than three feet from the ground, loaded with +leaves and clusters; and on the top of each a little Falstaff, eight +inches high, in the dress of his day." But Dame Quickly's forecast +of declining fortune moved on to its fulfilment. In the last stages +of its existence the building was divided into two, while the carved +boar's head which Irving saw still remained as the one sign of its +departed glories. Finally came the resolve to widen the approach to +London Bridge from the city side, and the carrying out of that +resolve involved the sweeping away of the Boar's Head. This was in +1831, and, as has been said, the only relic of the ancient tavern is +that carved sign in the Guildhall Museum. But the curious in such +matters may be interested to know that the statue of King William +marks approximately the spot of ground where hover the immortal +memories of Shakespeare, and Goldsmith, and Irving. + +Within easy distance of Eastcheap, in Upper Thames Street, which +skirts the river bank, there stood, in Shakespeare's day and much +later, a tavern bearing the curious name of the Three Cranes in the +Vintry. John Stow, that zealous topographer to whom the historians +of London owe so large a debt, helps to explain the mystery. The +vintry, he tells us, was that part of the Thames bank where "the +merchants of Bordeaux craned their wines out of lighters and other +vessels, and there landed and made sale of them." He also adds that +the Three Cranes' lane was "so called not only of a sign of three +cranes at a tavern door, but rather 'of three strong cranes of +timber placed on the Vintry wharf by the Thames side, to crane up +wines there." Earlier than the seventeenth century, however, it +would seem that one crane had to suffice for the needs of "the +merchants of Bordeaux," and then the tavern was known simply as the +Crane. Two references, dated respectively 1552 and 1554, speak of +the sign in the singular. Twenty years later, however, the one had +become three. + +Ben Jonson, whose knowledge of London inns and taverns was second, +only to that of Pepys, evidently numbered the Three Cranes in the +Vintry among his houses of call. Of two of his allusions to the +house one is derogatory of the wit of its patrons, the other +laudatory of the readiness of its service. "A pox o' these +pretenders to wit!" runs the first passage. "Your Three Cranes, +Mitre, and Mermaid men! Not a corn of true salt, not a grain of +right mustard amongst them all." And here is the other side of the +shield, credited to Iniquity in "The Devil is an Ass":-- + + "Nay, boy, I will bring thee to the bawds and roysters + At Billingsgate, feasting with claret-wine and oysters; + From thence shoot the Bridge, child, to the Cranes in the Vintry, + And see there the gimblets how they make their entry." + +Of course Pepys was acquainted with the house. He had, indeed, a +savage memory of one meal under its roof. It was all owing to the +marrying proclivities of his uncle Fenner. Bereft of his wife on the +last day of August, that easy-going worthy, less than two months +later, was discovered by his nephew in an ale-house, "very jolly and +youthsome, and as one that I believe will in a little time get him a +wife." Pepys' anticipation was speedily realized. Uncle Fenner had +indulged himself with a new partner by the middle of January, and +must needs give a feast to celebrate the event. And this is Pepys' +frank record of the occasion: "By invitation to my uncle Fenner's, +where I found his new wife, a pitiful, old, ugly, ill-bred woman, in +a hatt, a midwife. Here were many of his, and as many of her +relatives, sorry, mean people; and after choosing our gloves, we all +went over to the Three Cranes taverne, and (although the best room +of the house) in such a narrow dogg-hole we were crammed, (and I +believe we were near forty) that it made me loath my company and +victuals; and a sorry, poor dinner it was." + +In justice to the Three Cranes, Pepys must not be allowed to have +the last word. That particular dinner, no doubt, owed a good deal of +its defects to the atmosphere and the company amid which it was +served. At any rate, the host of the Black Bear at Cumnor--he of Sir +Walter Scott's "Kenilworth"--was never weary of praising the Three +Cranes, "the most topping tavern in London" as he emphatically +declared. + +No one can glance even casually over a list of tavern signs without +observing how frequently the numeral "three" is used. Various +explanations have been offered for the propensity of mankind to use +that number, one deriving the habit from the fact that primitive man +divided the universe into three regions, heaven, earth, and water. +Pythagoras, it will be remembered, called three the perfect number; +Jove is depicted with three-forked lightning; Neptune bears a +trident; Pluto has his three-headed dog. Again, there are three +Fates, three Furies, three Graces and three Muses. It is natural, +then, to find the numeral so often employed in the signs of inns and +taverns. Thus we have the Three Angels, the Three Crowns, the Three +Compasses, the Three Cups, the Three Horseshoes, the Three Tuns, the +Three Nuns, and many more. In the city of London proper the Three +Cups was a favourite sign and the Three Tuns was hardly less +popular. There were also several Three Nuns, the most famous of +which was situated in Aldgate High Street, where its modern +representative still stands. In the bygone years it was a noted +coaching inn and enjoyed an enviable reputation for the rare quality +of its punch. Defoe has a brief reference to the house in his "A +Journal of the Plague Year." + +An attempt to enumerate the King's Head taverns of London would be +an endless task. It must not be overlooked, however, that one of the +most notable houses so named stood in Fenchurch Street, on the site +now occupied by the London Tavern. This is the tavern for which a +notable historic association is claimed. The tradition has it that +when the Princess Elizabeth, the "Good Queen Bess" of after days, +was released from the Tower of London on May 19th, 1554, she went +first to a neighbouring church to offer thanks for her deliverance, +and then proceeded to the King's Head to enjoy a somewhat plebeian +dinner of boiled pork and Pease-pudding. This legend seems to ignore +the fact that the freedom of the Princess was comparative only; that +she was at that time merely removed from one prison to another; and +that the record of her movements on that day speaks of her taking +barge at the Tower wharf and going direct to Richmond en route for +Woodstock. However, the metal dish and cover which were used in +serving that homely meal of boiled pork and Pease-pudding are still +shown, and what can the stickler for historical accuracy do in the +face of such stubborn evidence? + +Two other Fenchurch Street taverns have wholly disappeared. One of +these, the Elephant, was wont to claim a somewhat dubious +association with Hogarth. The artist is credited with once lodging +under the Elephant's roof and with embellishing the walls of the +tap-room with pictures in payment for a long overdue bill. The +subjects were said to have included the first study for the picture +which afterwards became famous under the title of "Modern Midnight +Conversation," but treated in a much broader manner than is shown in +the well-known print. When the building was pulled down in 1826 a +heated controversy arose concerning these Hogarth pictures, which +were removed from the walls and exhibited in a Pall Mall gallery. +The verdict of experts was given against their being the work of the +master for whom they were claimed. The other tavern was one of the +many mitres to be found in London during the seventeenth century. +The host, Dan Rawlinson, was so staunch a royalist that when Charles +I was executed he hung his sign in mourning, an action which +naturally caused him to be regarded with suspicion by the Cromwell +party, but "endeared him so much to the churchmen that he throve +again and got a good estate." Something of that prosperity was due +no doubt to the excellent "venison-pasty" of which Pepys was so +fond. But Dan Rawlinson of the Mitre had his reverses as well as his +successes. During the dreaded Plague of London Pepys met an +acquaintance in Fenchurch Street who called his attention to the +fact that Mr. Rawlinson's door was shut up. "Why," continued his +informant, "after all this sickness, and himself spending all the +last year in the country, one of his men is now dead of the plague, +and his wife and one of his maids sick, and himself shut up." Mrs. +Rawlinson died a day or two later and the maid quickly followed her +mistress to the grave. A year later the Mitre was destroyed in the +Great Fire of London and Pepys met its much-tried owner shortly +after "looking over his ruins." But the tavern was rebuilt on a more +spacious scale, and Isaac Fuller was commissioned to adorn its walls +with paintings. This was the artist whose fondness of tavern life +prevented him from becoming a great painter. The commission at the +Mitre was no doubt much to his liking, and Walpole describes in +detail the panels with which he adorned a great room in that house. +"The figures were as large as life: a Venus, Satyr, and sleeping +Cupid; a boy riding a goat and another fallen down, over the +chimney: this was the best part of the performance, says Vertue: +Saturn devouring a Child, Mercury, Minerva, Diana, Apollo; and +Bacchus, Venus, and Ceres embracing; a young Silenus fallen down, +and holding a goblet, into which a boy was pouring wine; the +Scarons, between the windows, and on the ceiling two angels +supporting a mitre, in a large circle." The execution of all this +must have kept Fuller for quite a long time amid his favourite +environment. + +[Illustration: COCK INN, LEADENHALL STREET.] + +One of the lesser known Cock taverns of London was still in +existence in Leadenhall Street during the first quarter of the last +century. A drawing of the time shows it to have been a picturesque +building, the most notable feature being that the window lights on +the first floor extended the entire width of the front, the only +specimen of the kind then remaining in London. At the time the +drawing was made that particular room was used as the kitchen. From +the dress of the boys of the carved brackets supporting the +over-hanging upper story, it has been inferred that the house was +originally a charity school. Behind the tavern there stood a brick +building dated 1627, formerly used by the bricklayers' company, but +in 1795 devoted to the purposes of a Jewish synagogue. As with all +the old taverns of this sign, the effigy of the bird from which it +took its name was prominently displayed in front. Far more ancient +than the Cock is that other Leadenhall Street tavern, the Ship and +Turtle, which is still represented in the thoroughfare. The claim is +made for this house that it dates back to 1377, and for many +generations, down, indeed, to 1835, it had a succession of widows as +hostesses. The modern representative of this ancient house prides +itself upon the quality of its turtle soup and upon the fact that it +is the meeting-place of numerous masonic lodges, besides being in +high favour for corporation and companies' livery dinners. + +If the pilgrim now turns his steps toward Bishopsgate Street +Within--the "Within" signifying, of course, that that part of the +thoroughfare was inside the old city wall--he will find himself in a +neighbourhood where many famous inns once stood. Apart from the +Wrestlers and the Angel which are mentioned by Stow, there were the +Flower Pot, the White Hart, the Four Swans, the Three Nuns, the +Green Dragon, the Ball, and several more. The reason for this +crowding together of so many hostelries in one street is obvious. It +was through Bishop's gate that the farmers of the eastern counties +came into the city and they naturally made their headquarters in the +district nearest to the end of their journey. + +For many years the White Hart maintained its old-time reputation as +a "fair inn for the receipt of travellers." That it was an ancient +structure is proved by the fact that when it was demolished, the +date of 1480 was discovered on one of its half-timbered bays. The +present up-to-date White Hart stands on the site of the old inn. + +Far greater interest attaches to the Bull inn, even were it only for +the fact of its association with Thomas Hobson, the Cambridge +carrier whom Milton made famous. In the closing years of the +sixteenth century the house appears to have had a dubious +reputation, for when Anthony Bacon came to live in Bishopsgate +Street in 1594 his mother became exceedingly anxious on his account, +fearing "the neighbourhood of the Bull Inn." Perhaps, however, the +distressed mother based her alarm on the dangers of play-acting, for +the house was notable as the scene of many dramatic performances. +That it was the recognized headquarters for Cambridge carriers is +shown by an allusion, in 1637, which reads: "The Blacke Bull in +Bishopsgate Street, who is still looking towards Shoreditch to see +if he can spy the carriers coming from Cambridge." Hobson, of +course, was the head of that fraternity. He had flourished amazingly +since he succeeded to his father's business in the university city, +and attained that position of independence which enabled him to +force the rule that each horse in his stable was to be hired only in +its proper turn, thus originating the proverb, "Hobson's choice," +that is, "this or none." Despite his ever growing wealth and +advanced years, Hobson continued his regular journeys to London +until the outbreak of the plague caused the authorities to suspend +the carrier service for a time. This is the fact upon which Milton +seized with such humourous effect in his poetical epitaph: + + "Here lies old Hobson. Death hath broke his girt, + And here, alas! hath laid him in the dirt; + Or else, the ways being foul, twenty to one + He's here stuck in a slough, and overthrown. + 'Twas such a shifter that, if truth were known, + Death was half glad when he had got him down; + For he had any time this ten years full + Dodged with him betwixt Cambridge and The Bull. + And surely Death could never have prevailed, + Had not his weekly course of carriage failed; + But lately, finding him so long at home, + And thinking now his journey's end was come, + And that he had ta'en up his latest inn, + In the kind office of a chamberlain, + Showed him his room where he must lodge that night, + Pulled off his boots, and took away the light." + +[Illustration: PAUL PINDAR TAVERN.] + +Among the "Familiar Letters" of James Howell is a stately epistle +addressed "To Sir Paul Pindar, Knight," who is informed to his face +that of all the men of his times he is "one of the greatest examples +of piety and constant integrity," and is assured that his +correspondent could see his namesake among the apostles saluting and +solacing him, and ensuring that his works of charity would be as a +"triumphant chariot" to carry him one day to heaven. But Sir Paul +Pindar was more than benevolent; he was a master in business affairs +and no mean diplomatist. His commercial aptitude he put to +profitable use during a fifteen years' residence in Italy; his skill +as a negotiator was tested and proved by nine years' service in +Constantinople as the ambassador of James I to Turkey. At the date +of his final return to England, 1623, the merchant and diplomat was +an exceedingly wealthy man, well able to meet the expense of that +fine mansion in Bishopsgate Street Without which perpetuated his +name down to our own day. In its original state Sir Paul Pindar's +house, both within and without, was equal in splendour and extent to +any mansion in London. And, as may be imagined, its owner was a +person of importance in city and court life. One of his possessions +was a great diamond worth thirty-five thousand pounds, which James I +used to borrow for state occasions. The son of that monarch +purchased this jewel in 1625 for about half its value and +successfully deferred payment for even that reduced sum! Sir Paul, +indeed, appears to have been a complacent lender of his wealth to +royalty and the nobility, so that it is not surprising many +"desperate debts" were owing him on his death. A century and a +quarter after that event, that is in 1787, the splendid mansion of +the wealthy merchant and diplomat had become a tavern under the +names of its builder, and continued in that capacity until 1890, +when railway extension made its demolition necessary. But the +beautifully carved front is still preserved in the South Kensington +Museum. + +While there may at times be good reason for doubting the claims made +as to the antiquity of some London taverns, there can be none for +questioning the ripe old age to which the Pope's Head in Cornhill +attained. This is one of the few taverns which Stow deals with at +length. He describes it as being "strongly built of stone," and +favours the opinion that it was at one time the palace of King John. +He tells, too, how in his day wine was sold there at a penny the +pint and bread provided free. It was destroyed in the Great Fire, +but rebuilt shortly after. Pepys knew both the old and the new +house. In the former he is said to have drunk his first "dish of +tea," and he certainly enjoyed many a meal under its roof, notably +on that occasion when, with Sir W. Penn and Mrs. Pepys, he "eat +cakes and other fine things." Another, not so pleasant, memory is +associated with the Pope's Head. Two actors figured in the episode, +James Quin and William Bowen, between whom, especially on the side +of the latter, strong professional jealousy existed. Bowen, a low +comedian of "some talent and more conceit," taunted Quin with being +tame in a certain role, and Quin retorted in kind, declaring that +Bowen's impersonation of a character in "The Libertine" was much +inferior to that of another actor. Bowen seems to have had an +ill-balanced mind; he was so affected by Jeremy Collier's "Short +View" that he left the stage and opened a cane shop in Holborn, +thinking "a shopkeeper's life was the readiest way to heaven." But +he was on the stage again in a year, thus resuming the career which +was to be his ruin. For so thoroughly was he incensed by Quin's +disparagement that he took the earliest opportunity of forcing the +quarrel to an issue. Having invited Quin to meet him, the two appear +to have gone from tavern to tavern until they reached the Pope's +Head. Quin was averse to a duel, but no sooner had the two entered +an empty room in the Cornhill tavern than Bowen fastened the door, +and, standing with his back against it and drawing his sword, +threatened Quin that he would run him through if he did not draw and +defend himself. In vain did Quin remonstrate, and in the end he had +to take to his sword to keep the angry Bowen at bay. He, however, +pressed so eagerly on his fellow actor that it was not long ere he +received a mortal wound. Before he died Bowen confessed he had been +in the wrong, and that frank admission was the main cause why Quin +was legally freed of blame for the tragic incident in the Pope's +Head. + +Although there was a Mermaid tavern in Cornhill, it must not be +confused with its far more illustrious namesake in the nearby +thoroughfare of Cheapside. The Cornhill house was once kept by a man +named Dun, and the story goes that one day when he was in the room +with some witty gallants, one of them, who had been too familiar +with the host's wife, exclaimed, "I'll lay five pounds there's a +cuckold in this company." To which another immediately rejoined, +"Tis Dun!" + +Around the other Mermaid--that in Cheapside--much controversy has +raged. One dispute was concerned with its exact site, but as the +building disappeared entirely many generations ago that is not a +matter of moment. Another cause of debate is found in that passage +of Gifford's life of Ben Jonson which describes his habits in the +year 1603. "About this time," Gifford wrote, "Jonson probably began +to acquire that turn for conviviality for which he was afterwards +noted. Sir Walter Raleigh, previously to his unfortunate engagement +with Cobham and others, had instituted a meeting of _beaux +esprits_ at the Mermaid, a celebrated tavern in Friday Street. Of +this club, which combined more talent and genius, perhaps, than ever +met together before or since, our author was a member; and here, for +many years, he regularly repaired with Shakespeare, Beaumont, +Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and many others, +whose names, even at this distant period, call up a mingled feeling +of reverence and respect." Many have found this flowing narrative +hard of belief. It is doubted whether Gifford had any authority for +mixing up Sir Walter Raleigh with the Mermaid, and there are good +grounds for believing that Jonson's relations with Shakespeare were +not of an intimate character. + +All the same, it is beyond dispute that there were rare combats of +wit at the Mermaid in Jonson's days and under his rule. For +indisputable witness we have that epistle which Francis Beaumont +addressed to Jonson from some country retreat whither he and +Fletcher had repaired to work on two of their comedies. Beaumont +tells how he had dreams of the "full Mermaid wine," dwells upon the +lack of excitement in his rural abode, and then breaks out: + + "Methinks the little wit I had is lost + Since I saw you; for wit is like a rest + Held up at tennis, which men do best + With the best gamesters. What things have we seen + Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been + So nimble, and so full of subtle flame, + As if that every one (from whence they came) + Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, + And had resolved to live a fool the rest + Of his dull life." + +That poem inspired another which should always be included in the +anthology of the Mermaid. More than two centuries after Beaumont +penned his rhyming epistle to Jonson, three brothers had their +lodging for a brief season in Cheapside, and the poetic member of +the trio doubtless mused long and often on those kindred spirits +who, for him far more than for ordinary mortals, haunted the spot +where the famous tavern once stood. Thus it came about that John +Keats' residence in Cheapside was a prime factor in suggesting his +"Lines on the Mermaid Tavern": + + "Souls of poets dead and gone, + What Elysium have ye known, + Happy field or mossy cavern, + Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern? + Have ye tippled drink more fine + Than mine host's Canary wine? + Or are fruits of Paradise + Sweeter than those dainty pies + Of venison? O generous food! + Drest as though bold Robin Hood + Would, with his maid Marian, + Sup and bowse with horn and can. + + "I have heard that on a day + Mine host's sign-board flew away, + Nobody knew whither, till + An Astrologer's old quill + To a sheepskin gave the story, + Said he saw you in your glory, + Underneath a new-old sign + Sipping beverage divine, + And pledging with contented smack + The Mermaid in the Zodiac. + + "Souls of poets dead and gone, + What Elysium have ye known, + Happy field or mossy cavern, + Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?" + + [Illustration: ANCIENT VIEW OF CHEAPSIDE, SHOWING THE NAG'S HEAD +TAVERN.] + +Compared with the Mermaid, the other old taverns of Cheapside make a +meagre showing in history. There was a Mitre, however, which dated +back to 1475 at the least, and had the reputation of making "noses +red"; and the Bull Head, whose host was the "most faithful friend" +Bishop Ridley ever had, and was the meeting-place of the Royal +Society for several years; and, above all, the Nag's Head, famous as +the alleged scene of the fictitious consecration of the Elizabethan +bishops in 1559. There is an interesting drawing of 1638 depicting +the procession of Mary de Medici in Cheapside on the occasion of her +visit to her daughter, the wife of Charles I. This animated scene is +historically valuable for the record it gives of several notable +structures in the thoroughfare which was at that time the centre of +the commercial life of London. In the middle of the picture is an +excellent representation of Cheapside Cross, to the right the +conduit is seen, and in the extreme corner of the drawing is a +portion of the Nag's Head with its projecting sign. + +Another of Ben Jonson's haunts was situated within easy distance of +the Mermaid. This was the Three Tuns, of the Guildhall Yard, which +Herrick includes in his list of taverns favoured by the dramatist. + + "Ah Ben! + Say how or when + Shall we thy Guests, + Meet at those lyric feasts + Made at the Sun, + The Dog, the Triple Tunne; + Where we such clusters had + As made us nobly wild, not mad?" + +Close at hand, too, in Old Jewry, was that Windmill tavern, of which +Stow wrote that it was "sometime the Jews' synagogue, since a house +of friars, then a nobleman's house, after that a merchant's house, +wherein mayoralties have been kept, and now a wine tavern." It must +have been a fairly spacious hostelry, for on the occasion of the +visit of the Emperor Charles V in 1522 the house is noted as being +able to provide fourteen feather-beds, and stabling for twenty +horses. From the fact that one of the characters in "Every Man in +His Humour" dates a letter from the Windmill, and that two of the +scenes in that comedy take place in a room of the tavern, it is +obvious that it also must be numbered among the many houses +frequented by Jonson. + +One dramatic episode is connected with the history of the Windmill. +In the early years of the seventeenth century considerable +excitement was aroused in Worcestershire by the doings of John +Lambe, who indulged in magical arts and crystal glass enchantments. +By 1622 he was in London, and numbered the king's favourite, the +Duke of Buckingham, among his clients. That was sufficient to set +the populace against him, an enmity which was greatly intensified by +strange atmospheric disturbances which visited London in June, 1628. +All this was attributed to Lambe's conjuring, and the popular fury +came to a climax a day or two later, when Lambe, as he was leaving +the Fortune Theatre, was attacked by a mob of apprentices. He fled +towards the city and finally took refuge in the Windmill. After +affording the hunted man haven for a few hours the host, in view of +the tumult outside, at length turned him into the street again, +where he was so severely beaten that he died the following morning. +A crystal ball and other conjuring implements were found on his +person. + +Far less exciting was the history of Pontack's, a French ordinary in +Abchurch Lane which played a conspicuous part in the social life of +London during the eighteenth century. Britons of that period had +their own insular contempt for French cookery, as is well +illustrated by Rowlandson's caricature which, with its larder of +dead cats and its coarse revelation of other secrets of French +cuisine, may be regarded as typical of the popular opinion. But +Pontack and his eating-house flourished amazingly for all that. A +French refugee in London in 1697 took pride in the fact that whereas +it was difficult to obtain a good meal elsewhere "those who would +dine at one or two guineas per head are handsomely accommodated at +our famous Pontack's." The owner of this ordinary is sketched in +brief by Evelyn, who frequently dined under his roof. Under date +July 13, 1683, the diarist wrote: "I had this day much discourse +with Monsieur Pontaq, son to 'the famous and wise prime President of +Bordeaux. This gentleman was owner of that excellent vignoble of +Pontaq and Obrien, from whence come the choicest of our Bordeaux +wines; and I think I may truly say of him, what was not so truly +said of St. Paul, that much learning had made him mad. He spoke all +languages, was very rich, had a handsome person, and was well bred; +about forty-five years of age." + +[Illustration: A FRENCH ORDINARY IN LONDON. (_From a Rowlandson +Caricature_).] + +Hogarth, it will be remembered, paid Pontack a dubious compliment in +the third plate of his Rake's Progress series. The room of that +boisterous scene is adorned with pictures of the Roman Emperors, one +of which has been removed to give place to the portrait of Pontack, +who is described by a Hogarth commentator as "an eminent French +cook, whose great talents being turned to heightening sensual, +rather than mental enjoyments, has a much better chance of a votive +offering from this company, than would either Vespasian or Trajan." +These advertisements, however, were all to the good of the house. +They were exactly of the kind to attract the most profitable type of +customer. Those customers might grumble, as Swift did, at the +prices, but they all agreed that they enjoyed very good dinners. The +poet, indeed, expressed the unanimous verdict of the town when he +asked: + + "What wretch would nibble on a hanging shelf, + When at Pontack's he may regale himself?" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +TAVERNS OF FLEET STREET AND THEREABOUTS. + + +Save for the High Street of Southwark, there was probably no +thoroughfare of old London which could boast so many inns and +taverns to the square yard as Fleet Street, but ere the pilgrim +explores that famous neighbourhood he should visit several other +spots where notable hostelries were once to be seen. He should, for +example, turn his steps towards St. Paul's Churchyard, which, +despite the fact that it was chiefly inhabited by booksellers, had +its Queen's Arms tavern and its Goose and Gridiron. + +Memories of David Garrick and Dr. Johnson are associated with the +Queen's Arms. This tavern was the meeting-place of a select club +formed by a few intimate friends of the actor for the express +purpose of providing them with opportunities to enjoy his society. +Its members included James Clutterback, the city merchant who gave +Garrick invaluable financial aid when he started at Drury Lane, and +John Paterson, that helpful solicitor whom the actor selected as one +of his executors. These admirers of "little David" were a temperate +set; "they were 'none of them drinkers, and in order to make a +reckoning called only for French wine." Johnson's association with +the house is recorded by Boswell as belonging to the year 1781. "On +Friday, April 6," he writes, "he carried me to dine at a club which, +at his desire, had been lately formed at the Queen's Arms in St. +Paul's Churchyard. He told Mr. Hoole that he wished to have a City +_Club_, and asked him to collect one; but, said he, 'Don't let +them be _patriots_.' The company were to-day very sensible, +well-behaved men." Which, taken in conjunction with the abstemious +nature of the Garrick club, would seem to show that the Queen's Arms +was an exceedingly decorous house. + +Concerning the Goose and Gridiron only a few scanty facts have +survived. Prior to the Great Fire it was known as the Mitre, but on +its being rebuilt it was called the Lyre. When it came into repute +through the concerts of a favourite musical society being given +within its walls, the house was decorated with a sign of Apollo's +lyre, surmounted by a swan. This provided too good an opportunity +for the wits of the town to miss, and they promptly renamed the +house as the Goose and Gridiron, which recalls the facetious +landlord who, on gaining possession of premises once used as a +music-house, chose for his sign a goose stroking the bars of a +gridiron and inscribed beneath, "The Swan and Harp." It is an +interesting note in the history of the St. Paul's Churchyard house +that early in the eighteenth century, on the revival of Freemasonry +in England, the Grand Lodge was established here. + +Almost adjacent to St. Paul's, that is, in Queen's Head Passage, +which leads from Paternoster Row into Newgate Street, once stood the +famous Dolly's Chop House, the resort of Fielding, and Defoe, and +Swift, and Dryden, and Pope and many other sons of genius. It was +built on the site of an ordinary owned by Richard Tarleton, the +Elizabethan actor whose playing was so humorous that it even won the +praise of Jonson. He was indeed such a merry soul, and so great a +favourite in clown's parts, that innkeepers frequently had his +portrait painted as a sign. The chief feature of the establishment +which succeeded Tarleton's tavern appears to have been the +excellence of its beef-steaks. It should also be added that they +were served fresh from the grill, a fact which is accentuated by the +allusion which Smollett places in one of Melford's letters to Sir +Walkin Phillips in "Humphry Clinker": "I send you the history of +this day, which has been remarkably full of adventures; and you will +own I give you them like a beef-steak at Dolly's, _hot_ and +_hot_, without ceremony and parade." + +Out into Newgate Street the pilgrim should now make his way in +search of that Salutation Tavern which is precious for its +associations with Coleridge and Lamb and Southey. Once more, alas! +the new has usurped the place of the old, but there is some +satisfaction in being able to gaze upon the lineal successor of so +noted a house. The Salutation was a favourite social resort in the +eighteenth century and was frequently the scene of the more formal +dining occasions of the booksellers and printers. There is a +poetical invitation to one such function, a booksellers' supper on +January 19, 1736, which reads: + + "You're desired on Monday next to meet + 'At Salutation Tavern, Newgate Street, + Supper will be on table just at eight." + +One of those rhyming invitations was sent to Samuel Richardson, the +novelist, who replied in kind: + + "For me I'm much concerned I cannot meet + At Salutation Tavern, Newgate Street." + +Another legend credits this with being the house whither Sir +Christopher Wren resorted to smoke his pipe while the new St. Paul's +was being built. More authentic, however, and indeed beyond dispute, +are the records which link the memories of Coleridge and Lamb and +Southey with this tavern It was here Southey found Coleridge in one +of his many fits of depression, but pleasanter far are the +recollections which recall the frequent meetings of Lamb and +Coleridge, between whom there was so much in common. They would not +forget that it was at the nearby Christ's Hospital they were +schoolboys together, the reminiscences of which happy days coloured +the thoughts of Elia as he penned that exquisite portrait of his +friend: "Come back into memory, like as thou wert in the day-spring +of thy fancies, with hope like a fiery column before thee--the dark +pillar not yet turned--Samuel Taylor Coleridge--Logician, +Metaphysician, Bard!--How have I seen the casual passer through the +cloisters stand still, entranced with admiration to hear thee +unfold, in thy deep and sweet intonations, the mysteries of +Jamblichus, or Plotinus, or reciting Homer in his Greek, or +Pindar--while the walls of the old Grey Friars re-echoed to the +accents of the inspired charity-boy!" As Coleridge was the elder by +two years he left Christ's Hospital for Cambridge before Lamb had +finished his course, but he came back to London now and then, to +meet his schoolmate in a smoky little room of the Salutation and +discuss metaphysics and poetry to the accompaniment of egg-hot, +Welsh rabbits, and tobacco. Those golden hours in the old tavern +left their impress deep in Lamb's sensitive nature, and when he came +to dedicate his works to Coleridge he hoped that some of the +sonnets, carelessly regarded by the general reader, would awaken in +his friend "remembrances which I should be sorry should be ever +totally extinct--the 'memory 'of summer days and of delightful +years,' even so far back as those old suppers at our old Salutation +Inn,--when life was fresh and topics exhaustless--and you first +kindled in me, if not the power, yet the love of poetry and beauty +and kindliness." + +Continuing westward from Newgate Street, the explorer of the inns +and taverns of old London comes first to Holborn Viaduct, where +there is nothing of note to detain him, and then reaches Holborn +proper, with its continuation as High Holborn, which by the time of +Henry III had become a main highway into the city for the transit of +wood and hides, corn and cheese, and other agricultural products. It +must be remembered also that many of the principal coaches had their +stopping-place in this thoroughfare, and that as a consequence the +inns were numerous and excellent and much frequented by country +gentlemen on their visits to town. Although those inns have long +been swept away, the quaint half-timbered buildings of Staple Inn +remain to aid the imagination in repicturing those far-off days when +the Dagger, and the Red Lion, and the Bull and Gate, and the Blue +Boar, and countless other hostelries were dotted on either side of +the street. + +With the first of these, the Dagger Tavern, we cross the tracks of +Ben Jonson once more. Twice does the dramatist allude to this house +in "The Alchemist," and the revelation that Dapper frequented the +Dagger would have conveyed its own moral to seventeenth century +playgoers, for it was then notorious as a resort of the lowest and +most disreputable kind. The other reference makes mention of "Dagger +frumety," which is a reminder that this house, as was the case with +another of like name, prided itself upon the excellence of its pies, +which were decorated with a representation of a dagger. That these +pasties were highly appreciated is the only conclusion which can be +drawn from the contemporary exclamation, "I'll not take thy word for +a Dagger pie," and from the fact that in "The Devil is an Ass" +Jonson makes Iniquity declare that the 'prentice boys rob their +masters and "spend it in pies at the Dagger and the Woolsack." + +A second of these Holborn inns bore a sign which has puzzled +antiquaries not a little. The name was given as the Bull and Gate, +but the actual sign was said to depict the Boulogne Gate at Calais. +Here, it is thought, a too phonetic pronunciation of the French word +led to the contradiction of name and sign. What is more to the +point, and of greater interest, is the connection Fielding +established between Tom Jones and the Bull and Gate. When that hero +reached London in his search after the Irish peer who brought Sophia +to town, he entered the great city by the highway which is now +Gray's Inn Road, and at once began his arduous search. But without +success. He prosecuted his enquiry till the clock struck eleven, and +then Jones "at last yielded to the advice of Partridge, and +retreated to the Bull and Gate in Holborn, that being the inn where +he had first alighted, and where he retired to enjoy that kind of +repose which usually attends persons in his circumstances." + +No less notable a character than Oliver Cromwell is linked in a +dramatic manner with the histories of the Blue Boar and the Red Lion +inns. The narrative of the first incident is put in Cromwell's own +mouth by Lord Broghill, that accomplished Irish peer whose +conversion from royalism to the cause of the Commonwealth was +accomplished by the Ironsides general in the course of one memorable +interview. According to this authority, Cromwell once declared that +there was a time when he and his party would have settled their +differences with Charles I but for an incident which destroyed their +confidence in that monarch. What that incident was cannot be more +vividly described than by the words Lord Broghill attributed to +Cromwell. "While we were busied in these thoughts," he said, "there +came a letter from one of our spies, who was of the king's +bed-chamber, which acquainted us, that on that day our final doom +was decreed; that he could not possibly tell us what it was, but we +might find it out, if we could intercept a letter, sent from the +king to the queen, wherein he declared what he would do. The letter, +he said, was sewed up in the skirt of a saddle, and the bearer of it +would come with the saddle upon his head, about ten of the clock +that night, to the Blue Boar Inn in Holborn; for there he was to +take horse and go to Dover with it. This messenger knew nothing of +the letter in the saddle, but some persons at Dover did. We were at +Windsor, when we received this letter; and immediately upon the +receipt of it, Ireton and I resolved to take one trusty fellow with +us, and with troopers' habits to go to the Inn in Holborn; which +accordingly we did, and set our man at the gate of the Inn, where +the wicket only was open to let people in and out. Our man was to +give us notice, when any one came with a saddle, whilst we in the +disguise of common troopers called for cans of beer, and continued +drinking till about ten o'clock: the sentinel at the gate then gave +notice that the man with the saddle was come in. Upon this we +immediately arose, and, as the man was leading out his horse +saddled, came up to him with drawn swords and told him that we were +to search all that went in and out there; but as he looked like an +honest man, we would only search his saddle and so dismiss him. Upon +that we ungirt the saddle and carried it into the stall, where we +had been drinking, and left the horseman with our sentinel: then +ripping up one of the skirts of the saddle, we there found the +letter of which we had been informed: and having got it into our own +hands, we delivered the saddle again to the man, telling him he was +an honest man, and bid him go about his business. The man, not +knowing what had been done, went away to Dover. As soon as we had +the letter we opened it; in which we found the king had acquainted +the queen, that he was now courted by both the factions, 'the Scotch +Presbyterians and the Army; and which bid fairest for him should +have him; but he thought he should close with the Scots, sooner than +the other. Upon this we took horse, and went to Windsor; and finding +we were not likely to have any tolerable terms with the king, we +immediately from that time forward resolved his ruin." + +As that scene at the Blue Boar played so important a part in the +sequence of events which were to lead to Cromwell's attainment of +supreme power in England, so another Holborn inn, the Red Lion, was +to witness the final act of that petty revenge which marked the +downfall of the Commonwealth. Perplexing mystery surrounds the +ultimate fate of Cromwell's body, but the record runs that his +corpse, and those of Ireton and Bradshaw, were ruthlessly torn from +their graves soon after the Restoration and were taken to the Red +Lion, whence, on, the following morning, they were dragged on a +sledge to Tyburn and there treated with the ignominy hitherto +reserved for the vilest criminals. All kinds of legends surround +these gruesome proceedings. One tradition will have it that some of +Cromwell's faithful friends rescued his mutilated remains, and +buried them in a field on the north side of Holborn, a spot now +covered by the public garden in Red Lion Square. On the other hand +grave doubts have been expressed as to whether the body taken to the +Red Lion was really that of Cromwell. One legend asserts that it was +not buried in Westminster Abbey but sunk in the Thames; another that +it was interred in Naseby field; and a third that it was placed in +the coffin of Charles I at Windsor. + +Impatient though he may be to revel in the multifarious associations +of Fleet Street, the pilgrim should turn aside into Ludgate Hill for +a few minutes for the sake of that Belle Sauvage inn the name of +which has been responsible for a rich harvest of explanatory theory. +Addison contributed to it in his own humorous way. An early number +of the Spectator was devoted to the discussion of the advisability +of an office being established for the regulation of signs, one +suggestion being that when the name of a shopkeeper or innkeeper +lent itself to "an ingenious sign-post" full advantage should be +taken of the opportunity. In this connection Addison offered the +following explanation of the name of the Ludgate Hill inn, which, it +has been shrewdly conjectured by Henry B. Wheatley, was probably +intended as a joke. "As for the bell-savage, which is the sign of a +savage man standing by a bell, I was formerly very much puzzled upon +the conceit of it, till I accidentally fell into the reading of an +old romance translated out of the French; which gives an account of +a very beautiful woman who was found in a wilderness, and is called +in the French La Belle Sauvage; and is everywhere translated by our +countrymen the bell-savage." + +Not quite so poetic is the most feasible explanation of this unusual +name for an inn. It seems that the original sign of the house was +the Bell, but that in the middle of the fifteenth century it had an +alternative designation. A deed of that period speaks of "all that +tenement or inn with its appurtenances, called Savage's inn, +otherwise called the Bell on the Hoop." This was evidently a case +where the name of the host counted for more than the actual sign of +the house, and the habit of speaking of Savage's Bell may easily +have led to the perversion into Bell Savage, and thence to the +Frenchified form mostly used to-day. + +Leaving these questions of etymology for more certain matters, it is +interesting to recall that it was in the yard of the Belle Sauvage +Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion came to an inglorious end. That rising +was ostensibly aimed at the prevention of Queen Mary's marriage with +a prince of Spain, and for that reason won a large measure of +support from the men of Kent, at whose head Wyatt marched on the, +capital. At London Bridge, however, his way was blocked, and he was +obliged to make a détour by way of Kingston, in the hope of entering +the city by Lud Gate. But his men became disorganized on the long +march, and at each stage more and more were cut off from the main +body by the queen's forces, until, by the time he reached Fleet +Street, the rebel had only some three hundred followers. "He passed +Temple Bar," wrote Froude, "along Fleet Street, and reached Ludgate. +The gate was open as he approached, when some one seeing a number of +men coming up, exclaimed, 'These be Wyatt's ancients.' Muttered +curses were heard among the by-standers; but Lord Howard was on the +spot; the gates, notwithstanding the murmurs, were instantly closed; +and when Wyatt knocked, Howard's voice answered, 'Avaunt! traitor; +thou shall not come in here.' 'I have kept touch,' Wyatt exclaimed; +but his enterprise was hopeless now, He sat down upon a bench +outside the Belle Sauvage yard." That was the end. His followers +scattered in all directions, and in a little while he was a +prisoner, on his way to the Tower and the block. + +[Illustration: YARD OF BELLE SAUVAGE INN.] + +More peaceful are the records which tell how the famous carver in +wood, Grinling Gibbons, and the notorious quack, Richard Rock, once +had lodgings in the Belle Sauvage Yard, and more picturesque are the +memories of those days when the inn was the starting-place of those +coaches which lend a touch of romance to old English life. Horace +Walpole says Gibbons signalized his tenancy by carving a pot of +flowers over a doorway, so delicate in leaf and stem that the whole +shook with the motion of the carriages passing by. The quack, into +the hands of whom and his like Goldsmith declared all fell unless +they were "blasted by lightning, or struck dead with some sudden +disorder," was a "great man, short of stature, fat," and waddled as +he walked. He was "usually drawn at the top of his own bills, +sitting in his arm-chair, holding a little bottle between his finger +and thumb, and surrounded with rotten teeth, nippers, pills, +packets, and gallipots." + +From the Belle Sauvage to the commencement of Fleet Street is but a +stone's throw, but the pilgrim must not expect to find any memorials +of the past in the eastern portion of that famous thoroughfare. The +buildings here are practically all modern, many of them, indeed, +having been erected in the last decade. As these lines are being +written, too, the announcement is made of a project for the further +transformation of the street at the cost of half a million pounds. +The idea is to continue the widening of the thoroughfare further +west, and if that plan is carried out, devastation must overtake +most of the ancient buildings which still remain. + +By far the most outstanding feature of the Fleet Street of to-day is +the number and variety of its newspaper offices; two centuries ago +it had a vastly different aspect. + + "From thence, along that tipling street, + Distinguish'd by the name of Fleet, + Where Tavern-Signs hang thicker far, + Than Trophies down at Westminster; + And ev'ry Bacchanalian Landlord + Displays his Ensign, or his Standard, + Bidding Defiance to each Brother, + As if at Wars with one another." + +How thoroughly the highway deserved the name of "tipling street" may +be inferred from the fact that its list of taverns included but was +not exhausted by the Devil, the King's Head, the Horn, the Mitre, +the Cock, the Bolt-in-Tun, the Rainbow, the Cheshire Cheese, +Hercules Pillars, the Castle, the Dolphin, the Seven Stars, Dick's, +Nando's, and Peele's. No one would recognize in the Anderton's Hotel +of to-day the lineal successor of one of these ancient taverns, and +yet it is a fact that that establishment perpetuates the Horn tavern +of the fifteenth century. In the early seventeenth century the house +was in high favour with the legal fraternity, but its patronage of +the present time is of a more miscellaneous character. The present +building was erected in 1880. + +[Illustration: THE CHESHIRE CHEESE--ENTRANCE FROM FLEET STREET.] + +Close by, a low and narrow archway gives access to Wine Office +Court, a spot ever memorable for its having been for some three +years the home of Oliver Goldsmith. It was in 1760, when in his +thirty-second year, that he took lodgings in this cramped alleyway, +and here he remained, toiling as a journeyman for an astute +publisher, until towards the end of 1762. So improved were +Goldsmith's fortunes in these days that he launched out into supper +parties, one of which, in May, 1761, was rendered memorable by the +presence of Dr. Johnson, who attired himself with unusual care for +the occasion. To a companion who, noting the new suit of clothes, +the new wig nicely powdered, and all else in harmony, commented on +his appearance, Johnson rejoined, "Why, sir, I hear that Goldsmith, +who is a very great sloven, justifies his disregard of cleanliness +and decency by quoting my practice, and I am desirous this night to +show him a better example." The house where that supper party was +held has disappeared, but in the Cheshire Cheese nearby there yet +survives a building which the centuries have spared. + +Exactly how old this tavern is cannot be decided. It is inevitable +that there must have been a hostelry on this spot before the Great +Fire of 1666, inasmuch as there is a record to show that it was +rebuilt the following year. Which goes to show that the present +building has attained the ripe age of nearly two and a half +centuries. No one who explores its various apartments will be likely +to question that fact. Everything about the place wears an air of +antiquity, from the quaint bar-room to the more private chambers +upstairs. The chief glory of the Cheshire Cheese, however, is to be +seen downstairs on the left hand of the principal entrance. This is +the genuinely old-fashioned eating-room, with its rude tables, its +austere seats round the walls, its sawdust-sprinkled floor, and, +above all, its sacred nook in the further right hand corner which is +pointed out as the favourite seat of Dr. Johnson. Above this niche +is a copy of the Reynolds portrait of the sturdy lexicographer, +beneath which is the following inscription: "The Favourite Seat of +Dr. Johnson.--Born 18th Septr., 1709. Died 13th Decr., 1784. In him +a noble understanding and a masterly intellect were united with +grand independence of character and unfailing goodness of heart, +which won him the admiration of his own age, and remain as +recommendations to the reverence of posterity. 'No, Sir! there is +nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much +happiness has been produced as by a good tavern.'" + +[Illustration: THE CHESHIRE CHEESE--THE JOHNSON ROOM.] + +After all this it is surprising to learn that the authority for +connecting Dr. Johnson with the Cheshire Cheese rests upon a +somewhat late tradition. Boswell does not mention the tavern, an +omission which 'is accounted for by noting that "Boswell's +acquaintance with Johnson began when Johnson was an old man, and +when he had given up the house in Gough Square, and Goldsmith had +long departed from Wine Office Court. At the best," this apologist +adds, "Boswell only knew Johnson's life in widely separated +sections." As appeal cannot, then, be made to Boswell it is made to +others. The most important of these witnesses is a Cyrus Jay, who, +in a book of reminiscences published in 1868, claimed to have +frequented the Cheshire Cheese for fifty-five years, and to have +known a man who had frequently seen Johnson and Goldsmith in the +tavern. Another writer has placed on record that he often met in the +tavern gentlemen who had seen the famous pair there on many +occasions. + +Taking into account these traditions and the further fact that the +building supplies its own evidence as to antiquity, it is not +surprising that the Cheshire Cheese enjoys an enviable popularity +with all who find a special appeal in the survivals of old London. +As a natural consequence more recent writing in prose and verse has +been bestowed upon this tavern than any other of the metropolis. +Perhaps the best of the many poems penned in its praise is that +"Ballade" written by John Davidson, the poet whose mysterious +disappearance has added so sad a chapter to the history of +literature. + + "I know a house of antique ease + Within the smoky city's pale, + A spot wherein the spirit sees + Old London through a thinner veil. + The modern world so stiff and stale, + You leave behind you when you please, + For long clay pipes and great old ale + And beefsteaks in the 'Cheshire Cheese.' + + "Beneath this board Burke's, Goldsmith's knees + Were often thrust--so runs the tale-- + 'Twas here the Doctor took his ease + And wielded speech that like a flail + Threshed out the golden truth. All hail, + Great souls! that met on nights like these + Till morning made the candles pale, + And revellers left the 'Cheshire Cheese.' + + "By kindly sense and old decrees + Of England's use they set the sail + We press to never-furrowed seas, + For vision-worlds we breast the gale, + And still we seek and still we fail, + For still the 'glorious phantom' flees. + Ah well! no phantom are the ale + And beefsteaks of the 'Cheshire Cheese.' + + "If doubts or debts thy soul assail, + If Fashion's forms its current freeze, + Try a long pipe, a glass of ale, + And supper at the 'Cheshire Cheese.'" + +While the Cheshire Cheese was less fortunate than the Cock in the +Fire of London, the latter house, which escaped that conflagration, +has fallen on comparatively evil days in modern times. In other +words, the exterior of the original building, which dated from early +in the seventeenth century, was demolished in 1888, to make room for +a branch establishment of the Bank of England. Pepys knew the old +house and spent many a jovial evening beneath its roof. It was +thither, one April evening in 1667, that he took Mrs. Pierce and +Mrs. Knapp, the latter being the actress whom he thought "pretty +enough" besides being "the most excellent, mad-humoured thing, and +sings the noblest that ever I heard in my life." The trio had a gay +time; they "drank, and eat lobster, and sang" and were "mightily +merry." By and by the crafty diarist deleted Mrs. Pierce from the +party, and went off to Vauxhall with the fair actress, his +confidence in the enterprise being strengthened by the fact that the +night was "darkish." If she did not find out that excursion, Mrs. +Pepys knew quite enough of her husband's weakness for Mrs. Knapp to +be justified of her jealousy. And even he appears to have +experienced twinges of conscience on the matter. Perhaps that was +the reason why he took his wife to the Cock, and "did give her a +dinner" there. Other sinners have found it comforting to exercise +repentance on the scene of their offences. + +Judging from an advertisement which was published in 1665, the +proprietor of the Cock did not allow business to interfere with +pleasure. "This is to certify," his announcement ran, "that the +master of the Cock and Bottle, commonly called the Cock Alehouse, at +Temple Bar, hath dismissed his servants, and shut up his house, for +this Long Vacation, intending (God willing) to return at Michaelmas +next." + +But the tavern is prouder of its association with Tennyson than of +any other fact in its history. The poet was always fond of this +neighbourhood. His son records that whenever he went to London with +his father, the first item on their programme was a walk in the +Strand and Fleet Street. "Instead of the stuccoed houses in the West +End, this is the place where I should like to live," Tennyson would +say. During his early days he lodged in Norfolk Street close by, +dining with his friends at the Cock and other taverns, but always +having a preference for the room "high over roaring Temple-bar." In +the estimation of the poet, as his son has chronicled, "a perfect +dinner was a beef-steak, a potato, a cut of cheese, a pint of port, +and afterwards a pipe (never a cigar). When joked with by his +friends about his liking for cold salt beef and new potatoes, he +would answer humorously, 'All fine-natured men know what is good to +eat.' Very genial evenings they were, with plenty of anecdote and +wit." + +All this, especially the pint of port, throws light on "Will +Waterproof's Lyrical Monologue," which, as the poet himself has +stated, was "made at the Cock." Its opening apostrophe is familiar +enough: + + "O plump head-waiter at The Cock, + To which I most resort, + How goes the time? 'Tis five o'clock. + Go fetch a pint of port." + +How faithfully that waiter obeyed the poet's injunction to bring him +of the best, all readers of the poem are aware: + + "The pint, you brought me, was the best + That ever came from pipe." + +Undoubtedly. As witness the flights of fancy which it created. Its +potent vintage transformed both the waiter and the sign of the house +in which he served and shaped this pretty legend. + + "And hence this halo lives about + The waiter's hands, that reach + To each his perfect pint of stout, + His proper chop to each. + He looks not like the common breed. + That with the napkin dally; + I think he came like Ganymede, + From some delightful valley. + + "The Cock was of a larger egg + Than modern poultry drop, + Stept forward on a firmer leg, + And cramm'd a plumper crop; + Upon an ampler dunghill trod, + Crow'd lustier late and early, + Sipt wine from silver, praising God, + And raked in golden barley. + + "A private life was all his joy, + Till in a court he saw + A something-pottle-bodied boy + That knuckled at the law: + He stoop'd and clutch'd him, fair and good, + Flew over roof and casement: + His brothers of the weather stood + Stock-still for sheer amazement. + + "But he, by farmstead, thorpe and spire, + And follow'd with acclaims, + A sign to many a staring shire + Came crowing over Thames. + Right down by smoky Paul's they bore, + Till, where the street grows straiter, + One fix'd for ever at the door, + And one became head-waiter." + +Just here the poet bethought himself. It was time to rein in his +fancy. Truly it was out of place to make + + "The violet of a legend blow + Among the chops and steaks." + + +So he descends to more mundane things, to moralize at last upon the +waiter's fate and the folly of quarrelling with our lot in life. It +is interesting to learn from Fitzgerald that the Cock's plump +head-waiter read the poem, but disappointing to know that his only +remark on the performance was, "Had Mr. Tennyson dined oftener here, +he would not have minded it so much." From which poets may learn the +moral that to trifle with Jove's cupbearer in the interests of a +tavern waiter is liable to lead to misunderstanding. But it is, +perhaps, of more importance to note that, notwithstanding the +destruction of the exterior of the Cock in 1888, one room of that +ancient building was preserved intact and may be found on the first +floor of the new house. There, for use as well as admiration, are +the veritable mahogany boxes which Tennyson knew,-- + + "Old boxes, larded with the steam + Of thirty thousand dinners--" + +and not less in evidence is the stately old fireplace which Pepys +was familiar with. + +Not even a seat or a fireplace has survived of the Mitre tavern of +Shakespeare's days, or the Mitre tavern which Boswell mentions so +often. They were not the same house, as has sometimes been stated, +and the Mitre of to-day is little more than a name-successor to +either. Ben Jonson's plays and other literature of the seventeenth +century make frequent mention of the old Mitre, and that was no +doubt the tavern Pepys patronized on occasion. + +No one save an expert indexer would have the courage to commit +himself to the exact number of Boswell's references to the Mitre. He +had a natural fondness for the tavern as the scene of his first meal +with Johnson, and with Johnson himself, as his biographer has +explained, the place was a first favourite for many years. "I had +learned," says Boswell in recording the early stages of his +acquaintance with his famous friend, "that his place of frequent +resort was the Mitre Tavern in Fleet Street, where he loved to sit +up late, and I begged I might be allowed to pass an evening with him +there, which he promised I should. A few days afterwards I met him +near Temple-bar, about one o'clock in the morning, and asked if he +would then go to the Mitre. 'Sir,' said he, 'it is too late; they +won't let us in. But I'll go with you another night with all my +heart.'" That other night soon came. Boswell called for his friend +at nine o'clock, and the two were soon in the tavern. They had a +good supper, and port wine, but the occasion was more than food and +drink to Boswell. "The orthodox high-church sound of the Mitre,--the +figure and manner of the celebrated Samuel Johnson,--the +extraordinary power and precision of his conversation, and the pride +arising from finding myself admitted as his companion, produced a +variety of sensations, and a pleasing elevation of mind beyond what +I had ever before experienced." + +[Illustration: DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.] + +On the next occasion Goldsmith was of the company, and the visit +after that was brought about through Boswell's inability to keep his +promise to entertain Johnson at his own rooms. The little Scotsman +had a squabble with his landlord, and was obliged to take his guest +to the Mitre. "There is nothing," Johnson said, "in this mighty +misfortune; nay, we shall be better at the Mitre." And Boswell was +characteristically oblivious of the slur on his gifts as a host. But +that, perhaps, is a trifle compared with the complacency with which +he records further snubbings administered to him at that tavern. For +example, there was that rainy night when Boswell made some feeble +complaints about the weather, qualifying them with the profound +reflection that it was good for the vegetable creation. "Yes, sir," +Johnson rejoined, "it is good for vegetables, and for the animals +who eat those vegetables, and for the animals who eat those +animals." Then there was that other occasion when the note-taker +talked airily about his interview with Rousseau, and asked Johnson +whether he thought him a bad man, only to be crushed with Johnson's, +"Sir, if you are talking jestingly of this, I don't talk with you. +If you mean to be serious, I think him one of the worst of men." +Severer still was the rebuke of another conversation at the Mitre. +The ever-blundering Boswell rated Foote for indulging his talent of +ridicule at the expense of his visitors, "making fools of his +company," as he expressed it. "Sir," Johnson said, "he does not make +fools of his company; they whom he exposes are fools already: he +only brings them into action." + +But, if only in gratitude for what Boswell accomplished, last +impressions of the Mitre should not be of those castigations. A far +prettier picture is that which we owe to the reminiscences of Dr. +Maxwell, who, while assistant preacher at the Temple, had many +opportunities of enjoying Johnson's company. Dr. Maxwell relates +that one day when he was paying Johnson a visit, two young ladies, +from the country came to consult him on the subject of Methodism, to +which they were inclined. "Come," he said, "you pretty fools, dine +with Maxwell and me at the Mitre, and we will take over that +subject." Away, they went, and after dinner Johnson "took one of +them upon his knee, and fondled her for half an hour together." +Dante Gabriel Rossetti chose that incident for a picture, but +neither his canvas nor Dr. Maxwell's record enlightens us as to +whether the "pretty fools" were preserved to the Church of England. +But it was a happy evening--especially for Dr. Johnson. + +As with the Cock, a part of the interior of the Rainbow Tavern dates +back more than a couple of centuries. The chief interest of the +Rainbow, however, lies in the fact that it was at first a +coffee-house, and one of the earliest in London. It was opened in +1657 by a barber named James Farr who evidently anticipated more +profit in serving cups of the new beverage than in wielding his +scissors and razor. He succeeded so well that the adjacent +tavern-keepers combined to get his coffee-house suppressed, for, +said they, the "evil smell" of the new drink "greatly annoyed the +neighbourhood." But Mr. Farr prospered in spite of his competitors, +and by and by he turned the Rainbow into a regular tavern. + +No one who gazes upon the century-old print of the King's Head can +do other than regret the total disappearance of that picturesque +building. This tavern stood at the west corner of Chancery Lane and +is believed by antiquaries to have been built in the reign of Edward +VI. It figures repeatedly in ancient engravings of the royal +processions of long-past centuries, and contributed a notable +feature to the progress of Queen Elizabeth as she was on her way to +visit Sir Thomas Gresham. The students of the Temple hit upon the +effective device of having several cherubs descend, as it were, from +the heavens, for the purpose of presenting the queen with a crown of +gold and laurels, together with the inevitable verses of an +Elizabethan ceremony, and the roof of the King's Head was chosen as +the heaven from whence these visitants came down. Only the first and +second floors were devoted to tavern purposes; on the ground floor +were shops, from one of which the first edition of Izaak Walton's +"Complete Angler" was sold, while another provided accommodation for +the grocery business of Abraham Cowley's father. + +From 1679 the King's Head was the common headquarters of the +notorious Green Ribbon Club, which included a precious set of +scoundrels among its members, chief of them all being that +astounding perjurer, Titus Gates. Hence the tavern's designation as +a "Protestant house." It was pulled down in 1799. + +Another immortal tavern of Fleet Street, the most immortal of them +all, Ben Jonson's Devil, has also utterly vanished. Its full title +was The Devil and St. Dunstan, aptly represented by the sign +depicting the saint holding the tempter by the nose, and its site, +appropriately enough, was opposite St. Dunstan's Church, on the +south side of Fleet Street and close to Temple-bar. One of Hogarth's +illustrations to "Hudibras" gives a glimpse of the tavern, but on +the wrong side of the street, as is so common in the work of that +artist. + +No doubt the Devil had had a protracted existence prior to Jonson's +day, but its chief title to fame dates from the time when the +convivial dramatist made it his principal rendezvous. The exact date +of that event is difficult to determine. Nor is it possible to +explain why Jonson removed his patronage from the Mermaid in +Cheapside to the Devil in Fleet Street. The fact remains, however, +that while the earlier period of his life has its focus in Cheapside +the later is centred in the vicinity of Temple-bar. + +[Illustration: TABLET AND BUST FROM THE DEVIL TAVERN.] + +Perhaps Jonson may have found the accommodation of the Devil more +suited to his needs. After passing through those years of opposition +which all great poets have to face, there came to him the crown of +acknowledged leadership among the writers of his day. He accepted it +willingly. He seems to have been temperamentally fitted to the post. +He was, in fact, never so happy as when in the midst of a group of +men who owned his pre-eminence. What was more natural, then, than +that he should have conceived the idea of forming a club? And in the +great Apollo room at the Devil he found the most suitable place of +meeting. Over the door of this room, inscribed in gold letters on a +black ground, this poetical greeting was displayed. + + "Welcome all who lead or follow + To the Oracle of Apollo-- + Here he speaks out of his pottle, + Or the tripos, his tower bottle: + All his answers are divine, + Truth itself doth Bow in wine. + Hang up all the poor hop-drinkers, + Cries old Sam, the king of skinkers; + He the half of life abuses, + That sits watering with the Muses. + Those dull girls no good can mean us; + Wine it is the milk of Venus, + And the poet's horse accounted: + Ply it, and you all are mounted. + 'Tis the true Phoebian liquor, + Cheers the brains, makes wit the quicker. + Pays all debts, cures all diseases, + And at once three senses pleases. + Welcome all who lead or follow, + To the Oracle of Apollo." + +That relic of the Devil still exists, carefully preserved in the +banking establishment which occupies the site of the tavern; and +with it, just as zealously guarded, is a bust of Jonson which stood +above the verses. Inside the Apollo room was another poetical +inscription, said to have been engraved in black marble. These +verses were in the dramatist's best Latin, and set forth the rules +for his tavern academy. Much of their point is lost in the English +version, which, however, deserves quotation for the sake of the +inferences it suggests as to the conduct which was esteemed "good +form" in Jonson's club. + + "As the fund of our pleasure, let each pay his shot, + Except some chance friend, whom a member brings in. + Far hence be the sad, the lewd fop, and the sot; + For such have the plagues of good company been. + + "Let the learned and witty, the jovial and gay, + The generous and honest, compose our free state; + And the more to exalt our delight whilst we stay, + Let none be debarred from his choice female mate. + + "Let no scent offensive the chamber infest. + Let fancy, not cost, prepare all our dishes. + Let the caterer mind the taste of each guest, + And the cook, in his dressing, comply with their wishes. + + "Let's have no disturbance about taking places, + To show your nice breeding, or out of vain pride. + Let the drawers be ready with wine and fresh glasses, + Let the waiters have eyes, though their tongues must be ty'd. + + "Let our wines without mixture or stum, be all fine, + Or call up the master, and break his dull noddle. + Let no sober bigot here think it a sin, + To push on the chirping and moderate bottle. + + "Let the contests be rather of books than of wine, + Let the company be neither noisy nor mute. + Let none of things serious, much less of divine, + When belly and head's full profanely dispute. + + "Let no saucy fidler presume to intrude, + Unless he is sent for to vary our bliss. + With mirth, wit, and dancing, and singing conclude, + To regale every sense, with delight in excess. + + "Let raillery be without malice or heat. + Dull poems to read let none privilege take. + Let no poetaster command or intreat + Another extempore verses to make. + + "Let argument bear no unmusical sound, + Nor jars interpose, sacred friendship to grieve. + For generous lovers let a corner be found, + Where they in soft sighs may their passions relieve. + + "Like the old Lapithites, with the goblets to fight, + Our own 'mongst offences unpardoned will rank, + Or breaking of windows, or glasses, for spight, + And spoiling the goods for a rakehelly prank. + + "Whoever shall publish what's said, or what's done, + Be he banished for ever our assembly divine. + Let the freedom we take be perverted by none + To make any guilty by drinking good wine." + +By the testimony of those rules alone it is easy to see how +thoroughly the masterful spirit of Jonson ruled in the Apollo room. +His air was a throne, his word a sceptre that must be obeyed. This +impression is confirmed by many records and especially by Drummond's +character sketch. The natural consequence was that membership in the +Apollo Club came to be regarded as an unusual honour. There appears +to have been some kind of ceremony at the initiation of each new +member, which gave all the greater importance to the rite of being +"sealed of the tribe of Ben." Long after the dramatist was dead, his +"sons" boasted of their intimacy with him, much to the irritation of +Dryden and others. While he lived, too, they were equally elated at +being admitted to the inner circle at the Devil, and, after the +manner of Marmion, sung the praises of their "boon Delphic god," +surrounded with his "incense and his altars smoking." + +[Illustration: BEN JONSON.] + + +Incense was an essential if Jonson was to be kept in good humour. +Many anecdotes testify to that fact. There is the story of his loss +of patience with the country gentleman who was somewhat talkative +about his lands, and his interruption, "What signifies to us your +dirt and your clods? Where you have an acre of land, I have ten +acres of wit." And Howell tells of that supper party which, despite +good company, excellent cheer and choice wines, was turned into a +failure by Jonson engrossing all the conversation and "vapouring +extremely of himself and vilifying others." Yet there were probably +few of his own circle, the "sons of Ben," who would have had it +otherwise. Few indeed and fragmentary are the records of his +conversation in the Apollo room, but they are sufficient to prove +how ready a wit the poet possessed. Take, for example, the story of +that convivial gathering when the tavern keeper promised to forgive +Jonson the reckoning if he could tell what would please God, please +the devil, please the company, and please him. The poet at once +replied: + + "God is pleased, when we depart from sin, + The devil's pleas'd, when we persist therein; + Your company's pleas'd, when you draw good wine, + And thou'd be pleas'd, if I would pay thee thine." + +Some austere biographers have chided the memory of the poet for +spending so much of his time at the Devil. They forget, or are +ignorant of the fact that there is proof the time was well spent. In +a manuscript of Jonson which still exists there are many entries +which go to show that some of his finest work was inspired by the +merry gatherings in the Apollo room. + +For many years after Jonson's death the Devil, and especially the +Apollo room, continued in high favour with the wits of London and +the men about town. Pepys knew the house, of course, and so did +Evelyn, and Swift dined there, and Steele, and many another genius +of the eighteenth century. It was in the Apollo room, too, that the +official court-day odes of the Poets Laureate were rehearsed, which +explains the point of the following lines: + + "When Laureates make odes, do you ask of what sort? + Do you ask if they're good or are evil? + You may judge--From the Devil they come to the Court, + And go from the court to the Devil." + +But the Apollo room is not without its idyllic memory. It was +created by the ever-delightful pen of Steele. Who can forget the +picture he draws of his sister Jenny and her lover Tranquillus and +their wedding morning? "The wedding," he writes, "was wholly under +my care. After the ceremony at church, I resolved to entertain the +company with a dinner suitable to the occasion, and pitched upon the +Apollo, at the Old Devil at Temple-bar, as a place sacred to mirth +tempered with discretion, where Ben Jonson and his sons used to make +their liberal meetings." The mirth of that assembly was threatened +by the indiscretion of that double-meaning speaker who is usually in +evidence at such gatherings to the confusion of the bride, but +happily his career was cut short by the plain sense of the soldier +and sailor, as may be read in the pages of the "Tatler." + +Within easy hail of the Devil, on the site now occupied by St. +Clement's Chambers, Dane's Inn, there stood until 1853 a quaint old +hostelry known as the Angel Inn. It dated from the opening years of +the sixteenth century at least, for it is specifically named in a +letter of February 6th, 1503. In the middle of that century, too, it +figures in the progress of Bishop Harper to the martyr's stake, for +it was from this inn that prelate was taken to Gloucester to be +burnt. The Angel cannot hope to compete with the neighbouring +taverns of Fleet Street on the score of literary associations, but +the fact that seven or eight mail coaches started from its yard +every night will indicate how large a part it played in the life of +old London. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TAVERNS WEST OF TEMPLE BAR. + + +Even one short generation ago it would have been difficult to +recognize in the Strand of that period any resemblance to the +picture of that highway given by Stow at the dawn of the seventeenth +century. Much less would it have been possible to recall its aspect +in those earlier years when it was literally a strand, that is, a +low-lying road by the side of the Thames, stretching from Temple-bar +to Charing Cross. On the south side of the thoroughfare were the +mansions of bishops and nobles dotted at sparse intervals; on the +north was open country. To-day there are even fewer survivals of the +past than might have been seen thirty years ago. The wholesale +clearance of Holywell Street and the buildings to the north has +completely transformed the neighbourhood, while along the southern +line of the highway, changes almost equally revolutionary have been +carried out. As a consequence the inns and taverns of the Strand and +the streets leading therefrom have nearly all been swept away, +leaving a modern representative only here and there. Utterly +vanished, for example, leaving not a wreck behind, are the Spotted +Dog and the Craven Head, two houses more or less associated with the +sporting fraternity. The former, indeed, was a favourite haunt of +prize-fighters and their backers; the latter was notorious for its +host, Robert Hales by name, whose unusual stature--he stood seven +feet six inches--enabled him "to look down on all his customers, +although he was always civil to them." When the novelty of Hales' +physical proportions wore off, and trade declined, a new attraction +was provided in the form of a couple of buxom barmaids attired in +bloomer costume--importations, so the story goes, from the United +States. + +A far more ancient and reputable house was the Crown and Anchor +which had entrances both on the Strand and Arundel Street. It is +referred to by Strype in his edition of Stow, published in 1720, as +"a large and curious house, with good rooms and other conveniences," +and could boast of associations with Johnson, and Boswell, and +Reynolds. Perhaps there was something in the atmosphere of the place +which tended to emphasize Johnson's natural argumentativeness; at +any rate the Crown and Anchor was the scene of his dispute with +Reynolds as to the merits of wine in assisting conversation, and it +was here too that he had his famous bout with Dr. Percy. Boswell +describes him as being in "remarkable vigour of mind, and eager to +exert himself in conversation" on that occasion, and then +transcribes the following proof. "He was vehement against old Dr. +Mounsey, of Chelsea College, as 'a fellow who swore and talked +bawdy.' 'I have been often in his company,' said Dr. Percy, 'and +never heard him swear or talk bawdy.' Mr. Davies, who sat next to +Dr. Percy, having after this had some conversation with him, made a +discovery which in his zeal to pay court to Dr. Johnson, he eagerly +proclaimed aloud from the foot of the table: 'Oh, sir, I have found +out a very good reason why Dr. Percy never heard Mounsey swear or +talk bawdy, for he tells me he never saw him but at the Duke of +Northumberland's table.' 'And so, sir,' said Dr. Johnson loudly to +Dr. Percy, 'you would shield this man from the charge of swearing +and talking bawdy, because he did not do so at the Duke of +Northumberland's table. Sir, you might as well tell us that you had +seen him hold up his hand at the Old Bailey, and he neither swore +nor talked bawdy; or that you had seen him in the cart at Tyburn, +and he neither swore nor talked bawdy. And is it thus, sir, that you +presume to controvert what I have related?' Dr. Johnson's +animadversion was uttered in such a manner, that Dr. Percy seemed to +be displeased, and soon after left the company, of which Johnson did +not at that time take any notice." Nor did the following morning +bring any regret. "Well," said he when Boswell called, "we had good +talk." And Boswell's "Yes, sir; you tossed and gored several +persons," no doubt gave him much pleasure. + +When the Crown and Anchor was rebuilt in 1790 the accommodation of +the tavern was materially increased by the erection of a large room +suitable for important public occasions and capable of seating +upwards of two thousand persons. That room was but eight years old +when it was the scene of a remarkable gathering. Those were stirring +times politically, largely owing to Fox's change of party and to his +adhesion to the cause of electoral reform. Hence the banquet which +took place at the Crown and Anchor on January 24th, 1798, in honour +of Fox's birthday. The Duke of Norfolk presided over a company +numbering fully two thousand persons, and the notable men present +included Sheridan and Horne Tooke. The record of the function tells +how "Captain Morris"--elder brother of the author of "Kitty +Crowder," and a song-writer of some fame in his day--"produced three +new songs on the occasion," and how "Mr. Hovell, Mr. Robinson, Mr. +Dignum, and several other gentlemen, in the different rooms sang +songs applicable to the _fźte_." But the ducal chairman's +speech and the toasts which followed were the features of the +gathering. The former was commendably brief. "We are met," he said, +"in a moment of most serious difficulty, to celebrate the birth of a +man dear to the friends of freedom. I shall only recall to your +memory, that, not twenty years ago, the illustrious George +Washington had not more than two thousand men to rally round him +when his country was attacked. America is now free. This day full +two thousand men are assembled in this place. I leave you to make +the application. I propose to you the health of Charles Fox." + +Then came the following daring toasts: + +"The rights of the people." + +"Constitutional redress of the wrongs of the people." + +"A speedy and effectual reform in the representation of the people +in Parliament." + +"The genuine principles of the British constitution." + +"The people of Ireland; and may they be speedily restored to the +blessings of law and liberty." + +And when the chairman's health had been drunk "with three times +three," that nobleman concluded his speech of thanks with the words: +"Before I sit down, give me leave to call on you to drink our +sovereign's health: 'The majesty of the people.'" + +Such "seditious and daring tendencies," as the royalist chronicler +of the times described them, could not be overlooked in high +quarters, and the result of that gathering at the Crown and Anchor +was that the Duke of Norfolk was dismissed from the lord-lieutenancy +of the west riding of Yorkshire, and from his regiment in the +militia. It would have been a greater punishment could George III +have ordered a bath for the indiscreet orator. That particular +member of the Howard family had a horror of soap and water, and +appears to have been washed only when his servants found him +helpless in a drunken stupor. He it was also who complained to +Dudley North that he had vainly tried every remedy for rheumatism, +to receive the answer, "Pray, my lord, did you ever try a clean +shirt?" + +In that district of the Strand known as the Adelphi--so called from +the pile of buildings erected here in 1768 by the brothers +Adam--there still exists an Adelphi Hotel which may well perpetuate +the building in which Gibbon found a temporary home in 1787. Ten +years earlier it was known as the Adelphi Tavern, and on the +thirteenth of January was the scene of an exciting episode. The +chief actors in this little drama, which nearly developed into a +tragedy, were a Captain Stony and a Mr. Bates, the latter being the +editor of _The Morning Post._ It appears that that journal had +recently published some paragraphs reflecting on the character of a +lady of rank, whose cause, as the sequel will show, Captain Stony +had good reason for making his own. Whether the offending editor had +been lured to the Adelphi ignorant of what was in store, or whether +the angry soldier met him there by accident, does not transpire; the +record implies, however, that the couple had a room to themselves in +which to settle accounts. The conflict opened with each discharging +his pistol at the other, but without effect, which does not speak +well for the marksmanship of either. Then they took to their swords, +with the result of the captain receiving wounds in the breast and +arm and Mr. Bates a thrust in the thigh, clearly demonstrating that +at this stage the man of the pen had the better of the man of the +sword. And he maintained the advantage. For a little later the +editor's weapon "bent and slanted against the captain's +breast-bone." On having his attention called to the fact the soldier +agreed that Mr. Bates should straighten his blade. At this critical +moment, however, while, indeed, the journalist had his sword under +his foot, the door of the room was broken open and the combatants +separated. "On the Sunday following," so the sequel reads, "Captain +Stony was married to the lady in whose behalf he had thus hazarded +his life." + +Duels were so common in those days that Gibbon probably heard +nothing about the fight in the Adelphi when he took rooms there one +hot August day in 1787. Besides, he had more important matters to +occupy his thoughts. Only six weeks had passed since, between the +hours of eleven and twelve at night, he had, in the summer house of +his garden at Laussanne, written the last sentence of "The Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire," and now he had arrived in London with +the final instalment of the manuscript on which he had bestowed the +labour of nearly twenty years. The heightened mood he experienced on +the completion of his memorable task may well have persisted to the +hour of his arrival in London. Some reflection of that feeling +perhaps underlay the jocular announcement of his letter from the +Adelphi to Lord Sheffield, wherein he wrote: "INTELLIGENCE +EXTRAORDINARY. This day (August the seventh) the celebrated E. G. +arrived with a numerous retinue (one servant). We hear that he has +brought over from Laussanne the remainder of his History for +immediate publication." Gibbon remained at the Adelphi for but a few +days, after which the story of the tavern lapses into the happiness +which is supposed to accrue from a lack of history. + +Before retracing his steps to explore the many interesting +thoroughfares which branch off from the Strand, the pilgrim should +continue on that highway to its western extremity at Charing Cross. +The memory of several famous inns is associated 'with that locality, +including the Swan, the Golden Cross, Locket's, and the Rummer. The +first named dated from the fifteenth century. It survived +sufficiently long to be frequented by Ben Jonson and is the subject +of an anecdote told of that poet. Being called upon to make an +extemporary grace before King James, and having ended his last line +but one with the word "safe," Jonson finished with the words, "God +blesse me, and God blesse Raph." The inquisitive monarch naturally +wanted to know who Ralph was, and the poet replied that he was "the +drawer at the Swanne Taverne by Charing Crosse, who drew him good +Canarie." It is feasible to conclude that no small portion of the +hundred pounds with which the king rewarded Jonson was expended on +that "good Canarie." And perhaps Ralph was not forgotten. + +By name, at any rate, the Golden Cross is still in existence, but +the present building dates no farther back than 1832. Of Locket's +ordinary, however, no present-day representative exists. When Leigh +Hunt wrote "The Town" he declared that it was no longer known where +it EXACTLY stood, but more recent investigators have discovered that +Drummond's banking house covers its site. + +As was the case with Pontack's in the city, Locket's was +pre-eminently the resort of the "smart set." The prices charged are +proof enough of THAT, even though they were not always paid. The +case of Sir George Ethrege is one in point. That dissolute dramatist +and diplomat of the Restoration period was a frequent customer at +Locket's until his debt there became larger than his means to +discharge it. Before that catastrophe overtook him he was the +principal actor in a lively scene at the tavern. Something or other +caused an outbreak of fault-finding one evening, and the commotion +brought Mrs. Locket on the scene. "We are all so provoked," said Sir +George to the lady, "that even I could find in my heart to pull the +nosegay out of your bosom, and throw the flowers in your face." + +Nor was that the only humorous threat against Mrs. Locket from the +same mouth. Probably because he was so good a customer and an +influential man about town, his indebtedness to the ordinary was +allowed to mount up until it reached a formidable figure. And then +Sir George stopped his visits. Mrs. Locket, however, sent some one +to dun him for the money and to threaten him with prosecution. But +that did not daunt the wit. He bade the messenger tell Mrs. Locket +that he would kiss her if she stirred in the matter. Sir George's +command was duly obeyed. It stirred Mrs. Locket to action. Calling +for her hood and scarf, and declaring that she would see if "there +was any fellow alive that had the impudence," she was about to set +out to put the matter to the test when her husband restrained her +with his "Pr'ythee, my dear, don't be so rash, you don't know what a +man may do in his passion." + +It is not difficult to understand how the bill of Sir George Ethrege +reached such alarming proportions. "They shall compose you a dish," +is a contemporary reference, "no bigger than a saucer, shall come to +fifty shillings." And again, + + "At Locket's, Brown's, and at Pontack's enquire + What modish kickshaws the nice beaux desire, + What fam'd ragouts, what new invented sallat, + Has best pretensions to regale the palate." + +Adam Locket, the founder of the house, lived until about 1688, and +was succeeded by his son Edward who was at the head of affairs until +1702. All through the reign of Queen Anne the ordinary flourished, +but after her death references to it become scanty and finally it +disappeared so completely that Leigh Hunt, as has been said, was in +ignorance as to its site. + +And Hunt also owned to not knowing the site of another Charing Cross +tavern, the Rummer. As a matter of fact that, to modern ear, +curiously-named tavern was at first located almost next door to +Locket's, whence it was removed to the waterside in 1710 and burnt +down in 1750. The memory of the tavern would probably have sunk into +oblivion with its charred timbers, save for the accident of its +connection with Matthew Prior. For the Rummer was kept by an uncle +of the future poet, into whose keeping he is supposed to have fallen +on the death of his father. One cannot resist the suspicion that +this uncle, Samuel Prior by name, was of a shifty nature. He had +serious enemies, that is certain. The best proof of that fact is the +announcement he inserted in the _London Gazette_ offering a +reward of ten guineas for the discovery of the persons who spread +the report that he was in league with the clippers of aoin. +Then there is the nephew's portrait, which implies that his +tavern-keeping relative was an adept in the tricks of his trade. + + "My uncle, rest his soul! when living, + Might have contrived me ways of thriving; + Taught me with cider to replenish + My vats, or ebbing tide of Rhenish; + So, when for hock I drew pricked white-wine,' + Swear't had the flavour, and was right-wine." + +Destiny, however, had decided the nephew's fate otherwise. The Earl +of Dorset, so the story goes, was at the Rummer with a party one day +when a dispute arose over a passage in Horace. Young Prior, then a +scholar of Westminster, was called in to decide the point, and so +admirably did he do it that the earl immediately undertook to pay +his expenses at Cambridge. He, in fact, "spoiled the youth to make a +poet." Annotators of Hogarth have pointed out that the scene of his +"Night" picture was laid in that district of Charing Cross where +Locket's and the Rummer were situated. + +Harking back now to Drury Lane the explorer finds himself in the +midst of the memories of many daring adventures. The Jacobites who +aimed at the dethroning of William III were responsible for one of +those episodes. During the absence of that monarch they tried to +raise a riot in London on the birthday of the Prince of Wales. +Macaulay tells the rest of the story. "They met at a tavern in Drury +Lane, and, when hot with wine, sallied forth sword in hand, headed +by Porter and Goodman, beat kettledrums, unfurled banners, and began +to light bonfires. But the watch, supported by the populace, was too +strong for the revellers. They were put to rout: the tavern where +they had feasted was sacked by the mob: the ringleaders were +apprehended, tried, fined, and imprisoned, but regained their +liberty in time to bear a part in a far more criminal design." + +Noisy brawls and dark deeds became common in Drury Lane. It was the +haunt of such quarrelsome persons as that Captain Fantom, who, +coming out of the Horseshoe Tavern late one night, was offended by +the loud jingling spurs of a lieutenant he met, and forthwith +challenged him to a duel and killed him. And the tavern-keepers of +Drury Lane were not always model citizens. There was that Jack +Grimes, for example, whose death in Holland in 1769 recalled the +circumstance that he was known as "Lawyer Grimes," and formerly kept +the Nag's Head Tavern in Princes' Street, Drury Lane, "and was +transported several years ago for fourteen years, for receiving +fish, knowing them to be stolen." There is, however, one relieving +touch in the tavern history of this thoroughfare. One of its houses +of public entertainment was the meeting-place of a club of virtuosi, +for whose club-room Louis Laguerre, the French painter who settled +in London in 1683, designed and executed a Bacchanalian procession. +This was the artist who was coupled with Verrio in Pope's +depreciatory line, + +"Where sprawl the Saints of Verrio and Laguerre." + +Poets and prose writers alike were wont to agree in giving Catherine +Street an unenviable reputation. Gay is specially outspoken in his +description of that thoroughfare and the class by which it used to +be haunted. It was in this street, too, that Jessop's once +flourished, "the most disreputable night house of London." That nest +of iniquity, however, has long been cleared away, and there are no +means of identifying that tavern of which Boswell speaks. He +describes it, on the authority of Dr. Johnson, as a "pretty good +tavern, where very good company met in an evening, and each man +called for his own half-pint of wine, or gill if he pleased; they +were frugal men, and nobody paid but for what he himself drank. The +house furnished no supper; but a woman attended with mutton pies, +which anybody might purchase." + +If the testimony of Pope is to be trusted, the cuisine of the +Bedford Head, which was described in 1736 as "a noted tavern for +eating, drinking, and gaming, in Southampton Street, Covent Garden," +was decidedly out of the ordinary. In his imitation of the second +satire of Horace he makes Oldfield, the notorious glutton who +exhausted a fortune of fifteen hundred pounds a year in the "simple +luxury of good eating," declare, + + "Let me extol a Cat, on oysters fed, + I'll have a party at the Bedford-head." + +And in another poem he asks, + + "When sharp with hunger, scorn you to be fed, + Except on pea-chicks at the Bedford-head?" + +There is an earlier reference to this house than the one cited +above, for an advertisement of June, 1716, alludes to it as "the +Duke of Bedford's Head Tavern in Southampton Street, Covent Garden." +Perhaps the most notable event in its history was it being the scene +of an abortive attempt to repeat in 1741 that glorification of +Admiral Vernon which was a great success in 1740. That seaman, it +will be remembered, had in 1739 kept his promise to capture Porto +Bello with a squadron of but six ships. That the capture was +effected with the loss of but seven men made the admiral a popular +hero, and in the following year his birthday was celebrated in +London with great acclaim. But in 1740 his attempt to seize +Cartagena ended in complete failure, and another enterprise against +Santiago came to a similar result. All this, however, did not daunt +his personal friends, who wished to engineer another demonstration +in Vernon's honour. Horace Walpole tells how the attempt failed. "I +believe I told you," he wrote to one of his friends, "that Vernon's +birthday passed quietly, but it was not designed to be pacific; for +at twelve at night, eight gentlemen dressed like sailors, and +masked, went round Covent Garden with a drum beating for a volunteer +mob; but it did not take; and they retired to a great supper that +was prepared for them at the Bedford Head, and ordered by Whitehead, +the author of 'Manners.'" At a later date it was the meeting-place +of a club to which John Wilkes belonged. + +In all London there is probably no thoroughfare of equal brief +length which can boast so many deeply interesting associations as +Maiden Lane, which stretches between Southampton and Bedford Streets +in the vicinity of Covent Garden. Andrew Marvell had lodgings here +in 1677; Voltaire made it his headquarters on his visit to London in +1727; it was the scene of the birth of Joseph Mallord William Turner +in 1775; and while one tavern was the rendezvous of the conspirators +against the life of William III, another was the favourite haunt of +Richard Porson, than whom there is hardly a more illustrious name in +the annals of English classical scholarship. + +While the name of the conspirators' tavern is not mentioned by +Macaulay, that frequented by Porson had wide fame under the sign of +the Cider Cellars. It had been better for the great scholar's health +had nothing but cider been sold therein. But that would hardly have +suited his tastes. It is a kindly judgment which asserts that he +would have achieved far more than he actually did "if the sobriety +of his life had been equal to the honesty and truthfulness of his +character." All accounts agree that the charms of his society in +such gatherings as those at the Cider Cellars were irresistible. +"Nothing," was the testimony of one friend, "could be more +gratifying than a tźte-ą-tźte with him; his recitations from +Shakespeare, and his ingenious etymologies and dissertations on the +roots of the English language were a high treat." And another +declares that nothing "came amiss to his memory; he would set a +child right in his twopenny fable-book, repeat the whole of the +moral tale of the Dean of Badajos, or a page of Athenęus on cups, or +Eustathius on Homer." One anecdote tells of his repeating the "Rape +of the Lock," making observations as he went on, and noting the +various readings. And an intimate friend records the following +incident connected with the tavern he held most in regard. "I have +heard Professor Porson at the Cider Cellars in Maiden Lane recite +from memory to delighted listeners the whole of Anstey's 'Pleaders' +Guide.' He concluded by relating that when buying a copy of it and +complaining that the price was very high, the bookseller said, 'Yes, +sir, but you know Law books are always very dear.'" + +Somewhat earlier than Porson's day another convivial soul haunted +this neighbourhood. This was George Alexander Stevens, the strolling +player who eventually attained a place in the company of Covent +Garden theatre. He was an indifferent actor but an excellent +lecturer. One of his discourses, a lecture on Heads, was immensely +popular in England, and not less so in Boston and Philadelphia. +Prior to the affluence which he won by his lecture tours he had +frequently to do "penance in jail for the debts of the tavern." He +was, as Campbell says, a leading member of all the great +Bacchanalian clubs of his day, and had no mean gift in writing songs +in praise of hard drinking. One of these deserves a better fate than +the oblivion into which it has fallen, and may be cited here as +eminently descriptive of the scenes enacted nightly in such a resort +as the Cider Cellars. + + "Contented I am, and contented I'll be, + For what can this world more afford, + Than a lass that will sociably sit on my knee, + And a cellar as sociably stored. + My brave boys. + + "My vault door is open, descend and improve, + That cask,--ay, that will we try. + 'Tis as rich to the taste as the lips of your love, + And as bright as her cheeks to the eye: + My brave boys. + + "In a piece of slit hoop, see my candle is stuck, + 'Twill light us each bottle to hand; + The foot of my glass for the purpose I broke, + As I hate that a bumper should stand, + My brave boys. + + "Astride on a butt, as a butt should be strod, + I gallop the brusher along; + Like a grape-blessing Bacchus, the good fellow's god, + And a sentiment give, or a song, + My brave boys. + + "We are dry where we sit, though the coying drops seem + With pearls the moist walls to emboss; + From the arch mouldy cobwebs in gothic taste stream, + Like stucco-work cut out of moss: + My brave boys. + + "When the lamp is brimful, how the taper flame shines, + Which, when moisture is wanting, decays; + Replenish the lamp of my life with rich wines, + Or else there's an end of my blaze, + My brave boys. + + "Sound those pipes, they're in tune, and those bins are well fill'd; + View that heap of old Hock in your rear; + 'Yon bottles are Burgundy! mark how they're pil'd, + Like artillery, tier over tier, + My brave boys. + + "My cellar's my camp, and my soldiers my flasks, + All gloriously rang'd in review; + When I cast my eyes round, I consider my casks + As kingdoms I've yet to subdue, + My brave boys. + + "Like Macedon's Madman, my glass I'll enjoy, + Defying hyp, gravel, or gout; + He cried when he had no more worlds to destroy, + I'll weep when my liquor is out, + My brave boys. + + "On their stumps some have fought, and as stoutly will I, + When reeling, I roll on the floor; + Then my legs must be lost, so I'll drink as I lie, + And dare the best Buck to do more, + My brave boys. + + "Tis my will when I die, not a tear shall be shed, + No _Hic Jacet_ be cut on my stone; + But pour on my coffin a bottle of red, + And say that his drinking is done, + My brave boys." + +Although to-day celebrated chiefly for being the central +clearing-house for the flower, fruit and vegetable supply of London, +Covent Garden as a whole can vie with any other district of the +British capital in wealth of interesting association. The market +itself dates from the middle of the seventeenth century, but the +area was constituted a parish a few years earlier. By that time, +however, it could boast many town residences of the nobility, and +several inns. One of these has its name preserved only in the +records of the House of Lords, in a letter from a John Button at +Amsterdam, who wrote to his brother "with Mr. Wm. Wayte, at the sign +of the Horseshoe, Covent Garden." But the taverns of greater note, +such as Chatelaine's, the Fleece, the Rose, the Hummums, and +Macklin's ill-fated ordinary, belong to more recent times. + +Which of these houses was first established it would be hard to say. +There can be no question, however, that Chatelaine's ordinary was in +great repute during the reign of Charles II, and that it continued +in high favour throughout the latter years of the seventeenth +century. Pepys alludes to it in 1667 and again in his entries of the +following year. On the second occasion his visit interfered with +toothsome purchases he was making for a dinner at his own house. "To +the fishmonger's, and bought a couple of lobsters, and over to the +'sparagus garden, thinking to have met Mr. Pierce, and his wife, and +Knipp; but met their servant coming to bring me to Chatelin's, the +French house, in Covent Garden, and there with musick and good +company, Manuel and his wife, and one Swaddle, a clerk of Lord +Arlington's, who dances, and speaks French well, but got drunk, and +was then troublesome, and here mighty merry till ten at night. This +night the Duke of Monmouth and a great many blades were at +Chatelin's, and I left them there, with a hackney-coach attending +him." This was a different experience than fell to the lot of Pepys +on the previous occasion, for he tells how the dinner cost the party +eight shillings and sixpence apiece, and it was "a base dinner, +which did not please us at all." The ordinary was evidently in the +same class as Pontack's and Locket's, as may be inferred from it +being classed with the latter in one contemporary reference: + + "Next these we welcome such as firstly dine + At Locket's, at Gifford's, or with Shataline." + +Allusions in the plays of the period also show it was the resort of +those who thought quite as much of spending money as of eating. Thus +Shadwell makes one of his characters say of another who had risen in +life that he was "one that the other day could eat but one meal a +day, and that at a threepenny ordinary, now struts in state and +talks of nothing but Shattelin's and Lefrond's." And another +dramatist throws some light on the character of its frequenters by +the remark, "Come, prettie, let's go dine at Chateline's, and there +I'll tell you my whole business." + +Far less fashionable was the Fleece tavern, where Pepys found +pleasant entertainment on several occasions. His earliest reference +to the house is in his account of meeting two gentlemen who told him +how a Scottish knight was "killed basely the other day at the +Fleece," but that tale did not prevent him from visiting the tavern +himself. Along with a "Captain Cuttle" and two others he went +thither to drink, and "there we spent till four o'clock, telling +stories of Algiers, and the manner of life of slaves there." And +then he tells how one night he dropped in at the Opera for the last +act "and there found Mr. Sanchy and Mrs. Mary Archer, sister to the +fair Betty, whom I did admire at Cambridge, and thence took them to +the Fleece in Covent Garden; but Mr. Sanchy could not by any +argument get his lady to trust herself with him into the taverne, +which he was much troubled at." + +Equally lively reputations were enjoyed by the Rose and the Hummums. +The former was conveniently situated for first-nighters at the +King's Playhouse, as Pepys found on a May midday in 1668. Anxious to +see the first performance of Sir Charles Sedley's new play, which +had been long awaited with great expectation, he got to the theatre +at noon, only to find the doors not yet open. Gaining admission +shortly after he seems to have been content to sit for a while and +watch the gathering audience. But eventually the pangs of hunger +mastered him, and so, getting a boy to keep his place, he slipped +out to "the Rose Tavern, and there got half a breast of mutton off +the spit, and dined all alone." Twenty years later the vicinity of +the Rose gained an unenviable reputation. "A man could not go from +the Rose Tavern to the Piazza once, but he must venture his life +twice." And it maintained that reputation well into the next +century, growing ever more and more in favour with the gamblers and +rufflers of the times. It was at the bar of this house that +Hildebrand Horden, an actor of talent and one who promised to win a +great name, was killed in a brawl. Colley Cibber tells that he was +exceedingly handsome, and that before he was buried "it was +observable that two or three days together several of the fair sex, +well dressed, came in masks, and some in their own coaches, to visit +the theatrical hero in his shroud." + +To the student of etymology the name of the Hummums tells its own +tale. The word is a near approach to the Arabic "Hammam," meaning a +hot bath, and hence implies an establishment for bathing in the +Oriental manner. The tavern in Covent Garden bearing that name was +one of the first bathing establishments founded in England, and the +fact that it introduced a method of ablution which had its origin in +a country of slavery prompted Leigh Hunt to reflect that Englishmen +need not have wondered how Eastern nations could endure their +servitude. "This is one of the secrets by which they endure it. A +free man in a dirty skin is not in so fit a state to endure +existence as a slave with a clean one; because nature insists that a +due attention to the clay which our souls inhabit shall be the first +requisite to the comfort of the inhabitant. Let us not get rid of +our freedom; let us teach it rather to those that want it; but let +such of us as have them, by all means get rid of our dirty skins. +There is now a moral and intellectual commerce among mankind, as +well as an interchange of inferior goods; we should send freedom to +Turkey as well as clocks and watches, and import not only figs, but +a fine state of pores." + +John Wolcot, the satirist to whom, as Peter Pindar, nothing was +sacred, and who surely had more accomplishments to fall back upon +than ever poet had before, having been in turns doctor, clergyman, +politician and painter, found a congenial resort at the Hummums when +he established himself in London. He preserved the memory of the +house in verse, but it is an open question whether his reflections +on the horrible sounds of which he complains should be referred to +Covent Garden or to the city he had abandoned. + + "In Covent Garden at the Hummums, now + I sit, but after many a curse and vow, + Never to see the madding City more; + Where barrows truckling o'er the pavement roll: + And, what is sorrow to a tuneful soul, + Where asses, asses greeting, love songs roar: + Which asses, that the Garden square adorn, + Must lark-like be the heralds of my morn." + +Those love songs have not ceased in Covent Garden; the amorous duets +are to be heard to this day from the throats of countless +costermongers' donkeys. But they disturb Peter Pindar's tuneful soul +no more as he lies in his grave near by. + +It would be a grave injustice to the Hummums to overlook the fact +that it possessed a ghost-story of its own. Its subject was Dr. +Johnson's cousin, the Parson Ford "in whom both talents and good +dispositions were disgraced by licentiousness," and the story was +told to Boswell by Johnson himself. "A waiter at the Hummums," +Johnson said, "in which house Ford died, had been absent for some +time, and returned, not knowing that Ford was dead. Going down to +the cellar, according to the story, he met him; going down again, he +met him a second time. When he came up he asked some of the people +of the house what Ford could be doing there. They told him Ford was +dead. The waiter took a fever, in which he lay for some time. When +he recovered, he said he had a message to deliver to some women from +Ford; but he was not to tell what or to whom. He walked out; he was +followed; but somewhere about St. Paul's they lost him. He came back +and said he had delivered it, and the women exclaimed, 'Then we are +all undone!' Dr. Pellet, who was not a credulous man, inquired into +the truth of this story, and he said the evidence was irresistible." +A tantalizing ghost-story this, and one that begets regret that the +Society for Psychical Research did not enter on its labours a +century or so earlier. + +One other tavern, or ordinary, of unusual interest spent its brief +career of less than a year under the Piazza of Covent Garden. It was +the experiment of Charles Macklin, an eighteenth century actor of +undoubted talent and just as undoubted conceit and eccentricity. He +had reached rather more than the midway of his long life--he was +certainly ninety-seven when he died and may have been a +hundred--when he resolved to leave the stage and carry out an idea +over which he had long ruminated. 'This was nothing less than the +establishment of what he grandiloquently called the British +Institution. + +So much in earnest was Macklin that he accepted a farewell benefit +at Drury Lane theatre, at which he recited a good-bye prologue +commending his daughter to the favour of playgoers. In the greenroom +that night, when regrets were expressed at the loss of so admirable +an actor, Foote remarked, "You need not fear; he will first break in +business, and then break his word." And Foote did not a little to +make his prophecy come true. For a part of Macklin's scheme, whereby +he was to instruct the public and fill his own pockets at the same +time, was a lecture-room on the "plan of the ancient Greek, Roman, +and Modern French and Italian Societies of liberal investigation." +Macklin appointed himself the instructor in chief, and there was +hardly a subject under the sun upon which he was not prepared to +enlighten the British public at the moderate price of "one shilling +each person." The first two or three lectures were a success. Then +the novelty wore off and opposition began. Foote set up a rival +oratory and devoted himself to the simple task of burlesquing that +of Macklin. He would impersonate Macklin in his armchair, examining +a pupil in classics after this fashion. + +"Well, sir, did you ever hear of Aristophanes?" + +"Yes, sir; a Greek Dramatist, who wrote--" + +"Ay; but I have got twenty comedies in these drawers, worth his +_CLOUDS_ and stuff. Do you know anything of Cicero?" + +"A celebrated Orator of Rome, who in the polished and persuasive is +considered a master in his art." + +"Yes, yes; but I'll be bound he couldn't teach Elocution." + +Of course all this raillery was more attractive to the public than +Macklin's serious and pedagogic dissertations. The result may be +imagined. Foote's oratory was crowded; Macklin's empty. + +But that was not the worst. Another feature of the British +Institution was the establishment of the ordinary aforesaid. The +prospectus of the Institution bore this notice: "There is a public +ordinary every day at four o'clock, price three shillings. Each +person to drink port, claret, or whatever liquor he shall choose." A +disastrous precursor of the free lunch this would seem. And so it +proved. But not immediately. Attracted by the novelty of having a +famous actor for host, the ordinary went swimmingly for a time. +Macklin presided in person. As soon as the door of the room was +shut--a bell rang for five minutes, a further ten minutes' grace was +given, and then no more were admitted--the late actor bore in the +first dish and then took his place at the elaborate sideboard to +superintend further operations. Dinner over, and the bottles and +glasses placed on the table, "Macklin, quitting his former +situation, walked gravely up to the front of the table and hoped +'that all things were found agreeable;' after which he passed the +bell-rope round the chair of the person who happened to sit at the +head of the table, and, making a low bow at the door, retired." He +retired to read over the notes of the lecture he had prepared for +these same guests, and during his absence for the rest of the +evening his waiters and cooks seized the opportunity to reap their +harvest. The sequel of the tale was soon told in the bankruptcy +court, and Macklin went back to the stage, as Foote said he would. +And now he lies peacefully enough in his grave in the Covent Garden +St. Paul's, within stone's throw of the scene where he tried to be a +tavern-keeper and failed. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +INNS AND TAVERNS FURTHER AFIELD. + + +Outside the more or less clearly defined limits of the city, the +neighbourhood of St. Paul's, Fleet Street, the Strand and Covent +Garden, the explorer of the inns and taverns of old London may +encircle the metropolis from any given point and find something of +interest everywhere. Such a point of departure may be made, for +example, in the parish of Lambeth, where, directly opposite the +Somerset House of to-day, once stood the Feathers Tavern connected +with Cuper's Gardens. The career of that resort was materially +interfered with by the passing of an act in 1752 for the regulation +of places of entertainment "and punishing persons keeping disorderly +houses." The act stipulated that every place kept for public +dancing, music, or other entertainment, within twenty miles of the +city, should be under a license. + +[Illustration: FEATHERS TAVERN. ] + + +Evidently it was found impossible to secure a license for Cuper's +Gardens, for in a public print of May 22nd, 1754, the Widow Evans +advertises that "having been deny'd her former Liberty of opening +her Gardens as usual, through the malicious representations of +ill-meaning persons, she therefore begs to acquaint the Public that +she hath open'd them as a Tavern till further notice. Coffee and Tea +at any hour of the day." There is no record of the Widow Evans ever +recovering her former "Liberty," and hence the necessity of +continuing the place as a tavern merely, with its seductive offer of +"coffee and tea at any hour." Even without a license, however, a +concert was announced for the night of August 30th, 1759, the law +being evaded by the statement that the vocal and instrumental +programme was to be given by "a select number of gentlemen for their +own private diversion." As there is no record of any other +entertainment having been given at the E'eathers, it is probable +that this attempt to dodge the law met with condign punishment, and +resulted in the closing of the place for good. After it had stood +unoccupied for some time Dr. Johnson passed it in the company of +Beauclerk, Langton, and Lady Sydney Beauclerk, and made a sportive +suggestion that he and Beauclerk and Langton should take it. "We +amused ourselves," he said, "with scheming how we should all do our +parts. Lady Sydney grew angry and said, 'An old man should not put +such things in young people's heads.' She had no notion of a joke, +sir; had come late into life, and had a mighty unpliable +understanding." Though Johnson did not carry his joke into effect, +the Feathers has not lacked for perpetuation, as is shown by the +modern public-house of that name in the vicinity of Waterloo Bridge. + +From Lambeth to Westminster is an easy journey, but unhappily there +are no survivals of the numerous inns which figure in records of the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. One of those hostelries makes +its appearance in the expense sheet of a Roger Keate who went to +London in 1575 on the business of his town of Weymouth. He notes +that on Friday the tenth day of February, "in the companie of +certain courtiars, and of Mr. Robert Gregorie, at Westminster, at +the Sarrazin's Head" he spent the sum of five shillings. This must +have been a particularly festive occasion, for a subsequent dinner +cost Mr. Keate but twenty pence, and "sundrie drinkinges" another +day left him the poorer by but two shillings and twopence. + +Another document, this time of date 1641, perpetuates the memory of +a second Westminster inn in a lively manner. This is a petition of a +constable of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields to the House of Commons, and +concerned the misdoings of certain apprentices at the time of the +riot caused by Colonel Lunsford's assault on the citizens of +Westminster. The petitioner, Peter Scott by name, stated that he +tried to appease the 'prentices by promising to release their +fellows detained as prisoners in the Mermaid tavern. When he and +another constable approached the door of the house, his colleague +was thrust in the leg with a sword from within, which so enraged the +'prentices--though why is not explained--that they broke into the +tavern, and the keeper had since prosecuted the harmless Peter Scott +for causing a riot. + +Numerous as were the taverns of Westminster, it is probable that the +greater proportion of them were to be found in one thoroughfare, to +wit, King Street. It was the residence and place of business of one +particularly aggressive brewer in the closing quarter of the +seventeenth century. This vendor of ale, John England by name, had +the distinction of being the King's brewer, and he appears to have +thought that that position gave him more rights than were possessed +by ordinary mortals. So when an order was made prohibiting the +passing of drays through King Street during certain hours of the +day, he told the constables that he, the King's brewer, cared +nothing for the order of the House of Lords. The example proved +infectious. Other brewers' draymen became obstreperous too, one +calling the beadle that stopped him "a rogue" and another vowing +that if he knew the beadle "he would have a touch with him at +quarterstaff." But all these fiery spirits of King Street were +brought to their senses, and are found expressing sorrow for their +offence and praying for their discharge. + +According to the legend started by Ben Jonson, this same King Street +was the scene of poet Spenser's death of starvation. "He died," so +Jonson said, "for want of bread in King Street; he refused twenty +pieces sent him by my Lord Essex, and said he was sure he had no +time to spend them." This myth is continually cropping up, but no +evidence has been adduced in its support. The fact that he died in a +tavern in King Street tells against the story. That thoroughfare, +then the only highway between the Royal Palace of Whitehall and the +Parliament House, was a street of considerable importance, and +Spenser's presence there is explained by Stow's remark that "for the +accommodation of such as come to town in the terms, here are some +good inns for their reception, and not a few taverns for +entertainment, as is not unusual in places of great confluence." +There are ample proofs, too, that King Street was the usual resort +of those who were messengers to the Court, such as Spenser was at +the time of his death. + +It is strange, however, that not many of the names of these taverns +have survived. Yet there are two, the Leg and the Bell, to which +there are allusions in seventeenth century records. There is one +reference in that "Parliamentary Diary" supposed to have been +written by Thomas Burton, the book which Carlyle characterized as +being filled "with mere dim inanity and moaning wind." This +chronicler, under date December 18th, 1656, tells how he dined with +the clothworkers at the Leg, and how "after dinner I was awhile at +the Leg with Major-General Howard and Mr. Briscoe." Being so near +Whitehall in one direction and the Parliament House in the other, it +is not surprising to learn that the nimble Pepys was a frequent +visitor at the tavern. After a morning at Whitehall "with my lord" +in June, 1660, he dined there with a couple of friends. Nearly a +year later business took him to the House of Lords, but as he failed +to achieve the purpose he had in view he sought consolation at the +Leg, where he "dined very merry." A more auspicious occasion took +place three years after. "To the Exchequer, and there got my tallys +for ~17,500, the first payment I ever had out of the Exchequer, and +at the Legg spent 14s. upon my old acquaintance, some of them the +clerks, and away home with my tallys in a coach, fearful every +moment of having one of them fall out, or snatched from me." He was +equally glowing with satisfaction when he visited the tavern again +in 1667. All sorts of compliments had been paid him that day, and he +had been congratulated even by the King and the Duke of York. "I +spent the morning thus walking in the Hall, being complimented by +everybody with admiration: and at noon stepped into the Legg with +Sir William Warren." + +'Then there was that other house in King Street, the Bell, upon +which the diarist bestowed some of his patronage. On his first visit +he was caught in a neat little trap. "Met with Purser Washington, +with whom and a lady, a friend of his, I dined at the Bell Tavern in +King Street, but the rogue had no more manners than to invite me, +and to let me pay my club." Which was too bad of the Purser, when +Pepys' head and heart were full of "infinite business." The next +call, however, was more satisfactory and less expensive. He merely +dropped in to see "the seven Flanders mares that my Lord has bought +lately." But the Bell had a history both before and after Pepys' +time. It is referred to so far back as the middle of the fifteenth +century, and it was in high favour as the headquarters of the +October Club in the reign of Queen Anne. + +During the eighteenth century many fashionable resorts were located +in Pall Mall and neighbouring streets. In Pall Mall itself was the +famous Star and Garter, and close by was St. Alban's Tavern, +celebrated for its political gatherings and public dinners. Horace +Walpole has several allusions to the house and tells an anecdote +which illustrates the wastefulness of young men about town. A number +of these budding aristocrats were dining at St. Alban's Tavern and +found the noise of the coaches outside jar upon their sensitive +nerves. So they promptly ordered the street to be littered with +straw, and probably cared little that the freak cost them fifty +shillings each. + +No doubt the charges at the St. Allan's were in keeping with the +exclusive character of the house, and it might be inferred that the +same would have held good at the Star and Garter. But that was not +the case. Many testimonies to the moderate charges of that house +have been cited. Perhaps the most conclusive evidence on this point +is furnished by Swift, who was always a bit of a haggler as to the +prices he paid at taverns. It was 'at his suggestion that the little +club to which he belonged discarded the tavern they had been used to +meeting in and went to the Star and Garter for their dinner. "The +other dog," Swift wrote in one of his little letters to Stella, "was +so extravagant in his bills that for four dishes, and four, first +and second course, without wine or dessert, he charged twenty-one +pounds, six shillings and eightpence." That the bill at the Star and +Garter was more reasonable is a safe inference from the absence of +any complaint on the part of Swift. + +Several clubs were wont to meet under this roof. Among these was the +Nottinghamshire Club, an association of gentlemen who had estates in +that county and were in the habit of dining together when in town. +One such gathering, however, had a tragic termination. It took place +on January 26th, 1765, and among those present were William +Chaworth, John Hewett, Lord Byron, a great-uncle of the poet, and +seven others. Perfect harmony prevailed until about seven o'clock, +when the wine was brought in and conversation became general. At +this juncture one member of the company started a conversation about +the best method of preserving game, and the subject was at once +taken up by Mr. Chaworth and Lord Byron, who seem to have held +entirely opposite views. The former was in favour of severity +against all poachers, the latter declaring that the best way to have +most game was to take no care of it all. Nettled by this opposition, +Mr. Chaworth ejaculated that he had more game on five acres than +Lord Byron had on all his manors. Retorts were bandied to and fro, +until finally Mr. Chaworth clenched matters by words which were +tantamount to a challenge to a duel. + +Nothing more was said, however, and the company was separating when +Mr. Chaworth and Lord Byron happened to meet on a landing. What +transpired at first then is not known, but evidently the quarrel was +resumed in some form or other, for the two joined in calling a +waiter and asking to be shown into an empty room. The waiter obeyed, +opening the door and placing a small tallow candle on the table +before he retired. The next news from that room was the ringing of a +bell, and when it was answered it was found that Mr. Chaworth was +mortally wounded. What had happened was explained by Mr. Chaworth, +who said that he could not live many hours; that he forgave Lord +Byron, and hoped the world would; that the affair had passed in the +dark, only a small tallow candle burning in the room; that Lord +Byron asked him if he meant the conversation on the game to Sir +Charles Sedley or to him? To which he replied, if you have anything +to say, we had better shut the door; that while he was doing this, +Lord Byron bid him draw, and, in turning, he saw his lordship's +sword half drawn, on which he whipped out his own, and made the +first pass; the sword being through his lordship's waistcoat, he +thought he had killed him, and asking whether he was not mortally +wounded, Lord Byron, while he was speaking, shortened his sword, and +stabbed him in the abdomen. Mr. Chaworth survived but a few hours. +There was a trial, of course, but it ended in Lord Byron's acquittal +on the ground that he had been guilty of but manslaughter. And the +poet, the famous grand-nephew, rounds off this story of the Star and +Garter by declaring that his relative, so far from feeling any +remorse for the death of Mr. Chaworth, always kept the sword he had +used with such fatal effect and had it hanging in his bedroom when +he died. + +Although the neighbouring Suffolk Street is a most decorous +thoroughfare at the present time, and entirely innocent of taverns, +it was furnished with two, the Cock and The Golden Eagle, in the +latter portion of the seventeenth century. At the former Evelyn +dined on one occasion with the councillors of the Board of Trade; at +the latter, on January 30th, 1735, occurred the riot connected with +the mythical Calf's Head Club. How the riot arose is something of a +mystery. It seems, however, that a mob was gathered outside the +tavern by the spreading of the report that some young nobles were +dining within on a calf's head in ridicule of the execution of +Charles I, and a lurid account was afterwards circulated as to how a +bleeding calf's head, wrapped in a napkin, was thrown out of the +window, while the merrymakers within drank all kinds of confusion to +the Stuart race. According to the narrative of one who was in the +tavern, the calf's head business was wholly imaginary. Nor was the +date of the dinner a matter of prearrangement. It seems that the +start of the commotion was occasioned by some of the company inside +observing that some boys outside had made a bonfire, which, in their +hilarity, they were anxious to emulate. So a waiter was commissioned +to make a rival conflagration, and then the row began. It grew to +such proportions that the services of a justice and a strong body of +guards were required ere peace 'could be restored to Suffolk Street. + +Rare indeed is it to find a tavern in this district which can claim +a clean record in the matter of brawls, and duels, and sudden +deaths. Each of the two most famous houses of the Haymarket, that +is, Long's and the Blue Posts Tavern, had its fatality. It was at +the former ordinary, which must not be confused with another of the +same name in Covent Garden, that Philip Herbert, the seventh Earl of +Pembroke, committed one of those murderous assaults for which he was +distinguished. He killed a man in a duel in 1677, and in the first +month of the following year was committed to the Tower "for +blasphemous words." That imprisonment, however, was of brief +duration, for in February a man petitioned the House of Lords for +protection from the earl's violence. And the day before, in a +drunken scuffle at Long's he had killed a man named Nathaniel Cony. +This did not end his barbarous conduct, for two years later he +murdered an officer of the watch, when returning from a drinking +bout at Turnham Green. Mercifully for the peace of the community +this blood-thirsty peer died at the age of thirty. At the Blue Posts +Tavern the disputants were a Mr. Moon and a Mr. Hunt, who began +their quarrel in the house, "and as they came out at the door they +drew their swords, and the latter was run through and immediately +died." There was another Blue Posts in Spring Gardens close by, +which became notorious from being the resort of the Jacobites. This, +in fact, was the house in which Robert Charnock and his fellow +conspirators were at breakfast when news reached them which proved +that their plot had been discovered. + +A more refined atmosphere hangs around the memory of the Thatched +House, that St. James's Street tavern which started on its +prosperous career in 1711 and continued it until 1865, at which date +the building was taken down to make room for the Conservative +Clubhouse. Its title would have led a stranger to expect a modest +establishment, but that seems to have been bestowed on the principle +which still prevails when a mansion is designated a cottage. It +reminds one of Coleridge and his + + "the Devil did grin, for his darling sin + Is the pride that apes humility." + +Swift was conscious of the incongruity of the name, as witness the +lines, + + "The Deanery House may well be match'd, + Under correction, with the Thatch'd." + +As a matter of fact the tavern was of the highest class and greatly +in repute with the leaders of society and fashion. And its +frequenters were not a little proud of being known among its +patrons. Hence the delightful retort of the Lord Chancellor Thurlow +recorded by Lord Campbell. "In the debates on the Regency, a prim +peer, remarkable for his finical delicacy and formal adherence to +etiquette, having cited pompously certain resolutions which he said +had been passed by a party of noblemen and gentlemen of great +distinction at the Thatched House Tavern, the Lord Chancellor +Thurlow, in adverting to these said, 'As to what the noble lord in +the red ribbon told us he had heard at the ale-house.'" + +Town residences of a duke and several earls are now the most +conspicuous buildings in the Mayfair Stanhope Street, but in the +closing years of the eighteenth century there was a tavern here of +the name of Pitt's Head. On a June night in 1792 this house was the +scene of a gathering which had notable results. The host conceived +the idea of inviting a number of the servants of the neighbourhood +to a festivity in honour of the King's birthday, one feature of +which was to be a dance. The company duly assembled to the number of +forty, but some busybody carried news of the gathering to a +magistrate who, with fifty constables, quickly arrived on the scene +to put an end to the merrymaking. Every servant in the tavern was +taken into custody and marched off to a watch-house in Mount Street. +News of what had happened spread during the night, and early in the +morning the watch-house was surrounded by a furious mob. A riot +followed, which was not easily suppressed. But another consequence +followed. During the riot the Earl of Lonsdale was stopped in his +carriage while passing to his own house, and annoyed by that +experience he addressed some curt words to a Captain Cuthbert who +was on duty with the soldiers. Of course a duel was the next step. +After failing to injure each other at two attempts, the seconds +intervened, and insisted that, as their quarrel had arisen through a +mutual misconception, and as neither of them would make the first +concession, they should advance towards each other, step for step, +and both declare, in the same breath, that they were sorry for what +had happened. + +In pre-railway days Piccadilly could boast of the White Horse +Cellar, which Dickens made famous as the starting-point of Mr. +Pickwick for Bath after being mulct in seven hundred and fifty +pounds damages by the fair widow Bardell. The fact that it was an +important coaching depot appears to have been its chief attraction +in those and earlier days, for the novelist's description of the +interior would hardly prove seductive to travellers were the house +existing in its old-time condition. "The travellers' room at the +White Horse Cellar," wrote Dickens, "is of course uncomfortable; it +would be no travellers' room if it were not. It is the right-hand +parlour, into which an aspiring kitchen fireplace appears to have +walked, accompanied by a rebellious poker, tongs, and shovel. It is +divided into boxes, for the solitary confinement of travellers, and +is furnished with a clock, a looking-glass, and a live waiter: which +latter article is kept in a small kennel for washing glasses, in a +corner of the apartment." Pierce Egan, in the closing pages of his +lively account of Jerry Hawthorn's visit to London, gives an outside +view of the tavern only. And that more by suggestion than direct +description. It is the bustle of the place rather than its +architectural features Egan was concerned with, and in that he was +seconded by his artist, George Cruikshank, whose picture of the +White Horse Cellar is mostly coach and horses and human beings. + +Few if any London taverns save the Adam and Eve can claim to stand +upon ground once occupied by a King's palace. This tavern, which has +a modern representative of identical name, was situated at the +northern end of Tottenham Court Road, at the junction of the road +leading to Hampstead. It was built originally on the site of a +structure known as King John's Palace, which subsequently became a +manor house, and then gave way to the Adam and Eve tavern and +gardens. This establishment had a varied career. At one time it was +highly respectable; then its character degenerated to the lowest +depths; afterwards taking an upward move once more. + +Something in the shape of a place for refreshments was standing on +this spot in the mid seventeenth century, for the parish books of +St. Giles in the Fields record that three serving maids were in 1645 +fined a shilling each for "drinking at Totenhall Court on the +Sabbath daie." In the eighteenth century the resort was at the +height of its popularity. It had a large room with an organ, +skittle-alleys, and cosy arbours for those who liked to consume +their refreshments out of doors. At one time also its attractions +actually embraced "a monkey, a heron, some wild fowl, some parrots, +and a small pond for gold-fish." It was at this stage in its +history, when its surroundings were more rural than it is possible +to imagine to-day, that the tavern was depicted by Hogarth in his +"March to Finchley" plate. Early in the last century, however, it +"became a place of more promiscuous resort, and persons of the worst +character and description were in the constant habit of frequenting +it; highwaymen, footpads, pickpockets, and common women formed its +leading visitants, and it became so great a nuisance to the +neighbourhood, that the magistrates interfered, the organ was +banished, the skittle-grounds destroyed, and the gardens dug up." A +creepy story is told of a subterraneous passage having existed in +connection with the manor house which formerly stood on this spot, a +passage which many set out to explore but which has kept its secret +hidden to this day. + +[Illustration: ADAM AND EVE TAVERN.] + +Record has already been made of the fact that there was one +"Sarrazin's" Head tavern at Westminster; it must be added that there +was another at Snow Hill, which disappeared when the Holborn Viaduct +was built. Dickens, who rendered so many valuable services in +describing the buildings of old London, has left a characteristic +pen-picture of this tavern. "Near to the jail, and by consequence +near to Smithfield, and on that particular part of Snow Hill where +omnibuses going eastward seriously think of falling down on purpose, +and where horses in hackney cabriolets going westward not +unfrequently fall by accident, is the coachyard of the Saracen's +Head Inn; its portals guarded by two Saracens' heads and shoulders +frowning upon you from each side of the gateway. The Inn itself +garnished with another Saracen's head, frowns upon you from the top +of the yard. When you walk up this yard you will see the +booking-office on your left, and the tower of St. Sepulchre's Church +darting abruptly up into the sky on your right, and a gallery of +bedrooms upon both sides. Just before you, you will observe a long +window with the words 'Coffee Room' legibly painted above it." That +allusion to St. Sepulchre's Church recalls the fact that in that +building may be seen the brass to the memory of the redoubtable +Captain John Smith, who was to win the glory of laying the first +abiding foundations of English life in America. The brass makes due +record of the fact that he was "Admiral of New England," and it also +bears in the coat of arms three Turks' heads, in memory of Smith's +alleged single-handed victory over that number of Saracens. As +Selden pointed out, when Englishmen came home from fighting the +Saracens, and were beaten by them, they, to save their own credit, +pictured their enemy with big, terrible faces, such as frowned at +Dickens from so many coigns of vantage in the old Saracen's Head, + +[Illustration: A TRIAL BEFORE THE PIE-POWDER COURT AT THE HAND AND +SHEARS TAVERN.] + +During the closing decade of the famous Bartholomew Fair--an annual +medley of commerce and amusement which had its origin in the days +when it was the great cloth exchange of all England and attracted +clothiers from all quarters--the scene of what was known as the +Pie-Powder Court was located in a 'tavern known as the Hand and +Shears. Concerning this court Blackstone offered this interesting +explanation: "The lowest, and, at the same time, the most +expeditious court of justice known to the law of England, is the +Court of Pie-Powder, _curia pedis pulverizati_, so called from +the dusty feet of the suitors." Another explanation of the name is +that the court was so called "because justice is there done as +speedily as dust can fall from the foot." Whatever be the correct +solution, the curious fact remains that this court was a serious +affair, and had the power to enforce law and deal out punishment +within the area of the Fair. There is an excellent old print of the +Hand and Shears in which the court was held, and another not less +interesting picture showing the court engaged on the trial of a +case. It is evident from the garb of the two principal figures that +plaintiff and defendant belonged to the strolling-player fraternity, +who always contributed largely to the amusements of the Fair. This +curious example of swift justice, recalling the Old Testament +picture of the judge sitting at the gate of the city, became +entirely a thing of the past when Bartholomew Fair was abolished in +1854. + +There are two other inns, one to the north, the other to the south, +the names of which can hardly escape the notice of the twentieth +century visitor to London. These are the Angel at Islington, and the +Elephant and Castle at Walworth. The former is probably the older of +the two, though both were in their day famous as the starting-places +of coaches, just as they are conspicuous to-day as traffic centres +of omnibuses and tram-cars. The Angel dates back to before 1665, for +in that year of plague in London a citizen broke out of his house in +the city and sought refuge here. He was refused admission, but was +taken in at another inn and found dead in the morning. In the +seventeenth century and later, as old pictures testify, the inn +presented the usual features of a large old country hostelry. As +such the courtyard is depicted by Hogarth in his print of the "Stage +Coach." Its career has been uneventful in the main, though in 1767 +one of its guests ended his life by poison, leaving behind this +message: "I have for fifteen years past suffered more indigence than +ever gentleman before submitted to, I am neglected by my +acquaintance, traduced by my enemies, and insulted by the vulgar." + +[Illustration: FALCON TAVERN, BANKSIDE.] + +If he would complete the circle of his tour on the outskirts of +London proper, the pilgrim, on leaving the Elephant and Castle, +should wend his way to Bankside, though not in the expectation of +finding any vestige left of that Falcon tavern which was the daily +resort of Shakespeare and his theatrical companions; Not far from +Blackfriars Bridge used to be Falcon Stairs and the Falcon Glass +Works, and other industrial buildings bearing that name, but no +Falcon tavern within recent memory. It has been denied that +Shakespeare frequented the Falcon tavern which once did actually +exist. But so convivial a soul must have had some "house of call," +and there is no reason to rob the memory of the old Falcon of what +would be its greatest honour. Especially does it seem unnecessary in +view of the fact that the Falcon and many another inn and tavern of +old London, has vanished and left "not a rack behind." + + + + +II. + +COFFEE-HOUSES OF OLD LONDON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +COFFEE-HOUSES ON 'CHANGE AND NEAR-BY. + + +Coffee-Houses still exist in London, but it would be difficult to +find one answering to the type which was so common during the last +forty years of the seventeenth century and the first half of the +eighteenth. The establishment of to-day is nothing more than an +eating-house of modest pretensions, frequented mostly by the +labouring classes. In many cases its internal arrangements follow +the old-time model, and the imitation extends to the provision of a +daily newspaper or two from which customers may glean the news of +the day without extra charge. Here and there, too, the coffee-house +of the present perpetuates the convenience of its prototype by +allowing customers' letters to be sent to its address. But the more +exalted type of coffee-house has lost its identity in the club. + +It is generally agreed that 1652 was the date of the opening of the +first coffee-house in London. There are, however, still earlier +references to the drink itself. For example, Sir Henry Blount wrote +from Turkey in 1634 to the effect that the natives of that country +had a "drink called _cauphe_ ...in taste a little bitterish," +and that they daily entertained themselves "two or three hours in +_cauphe-_houses, which, in Turkey, abound more than inns and +alehouses with us." Also it will be remembered that Evelyn, under +date 1637, recorded how a Greek came to Oxford and "was the first I +ever saw drink coffee." + +Whether the distinction of opening the first coffee-house in London +belongs to a Mr. Bowman or to a Pasqua Rosee cannot be decided. But +all authorities are as one in locating that establishment in St. +Michael's Alley, Cornhill, and that the date was 1652. The weight of +evidence seems to be in favour of Rosee, who was servant to a Turkey +merchant named Edwards. Having acquired the coffee-drinking habit in +Turkey, Mr. Edwards was accustomed to having his servant prepare the +beverage for him in his London house, and the new drink speedily +attracted a levee of curious onlookers and tasters. Evidently the +company grew too large to be convenient, and at this juncture Mr. +Edwards suggested that Rosee should set up as a vendor of the drink. +He did so, and a copy of the prospectus he issued on the occasion +still exists. It set forth at great length "the virtue of the Coffee +Drink First publiquely made and sold in England by Pasqua Rosee," +the berry of which was described as "a simple innocent thing" but +yielding a liquor of countless merits. But Rosee was frank as to its +drawbacks; "it will prevent drowsiness," he continued, "and make one +fit for business, if one have occasion to watch; and therefore you +are not to drink it after supper, unless you intend to be watchful, +for it will hinder sleep for three or four hours." + +That Pasqua Rosee prospered amazingly in St. Michael's Alley, "at +the Signe of his own Head," is the only conclusion possible from the +numerous rival establishments which were quickly set up in different +parts of London. By the end of the century it was computed that the +coffee-houses of London numbered nearly three thousand. + +But there were days of tribulation to be passed through before that +measure of success was attained. In eight years after Rosee had +opened his establishment the consumption of coffee in England had +evidently increased to a notable extent, for in 1660 the House of +Commons is found granting to Charles II for life the excise duty on +coffee "and other outlandish drinks." But it is a curious fact that +while the introduction of tea was accepted with equanimity by the +community, the introduction of coffee was strenuously opposed for +more than a decade. Poets and pamphleteers combined to decry the new +beverage. The rhyming author of "A Cup of Coffee, or Coffee in its +Colours," published in 1663, voiced his indignation thus: + + "For men and Christians to turn Turks and think + To excuse the crime, because 'tis in their drink! + Pure English apes! ye might, for aught I know, + Would it but mode learn to eat spiders too. + Should any of your grandsires' ghosts appear + In your wax-candle circles, and but hear + The name of coffee so much called upon, + Then see it drank like scalding Phlegethon; + Would they not startle, think ye, all agreed + 'Twas conjuration both in word and deed?" + +By way of climax this opponent of the new drink appealed to the +shades of Ben Jonson and other libation-loving poets, and recalled +how they, as source of inspiration, "drank pure nectar as the Gods +drink too." + +Three years later a dramatist seems to have tried his hand at +depicting the new resort on the stage, for Pepys tells how in +October, 1666, he saw a play called "The Coffee-House." It was not a +success; "the most ridiculous, insipid play that ever I saw in my +life," was Pepys' verdict. But there was nothing insipid about +the pamphlet which, under the title of "The Character of a +Coffee-House," issued from the press seven years later. The author +withheld his name, and was wise in so doing, for his cuts and +thrusts with his pen would have brought down upon him as numerous +cuts and thrusts with a more dangerous weapon had his identity been +known. "A coffee-house," he wrote, "is a lay-conventicle, +good-fellowship turned puritan, ill-husbandry in masquerade; whither +people come, after toping all day, to purchase, at the expense of +their last penny, the repute of sober companions: a rota-room, that, +like Noah's ark, receives animals of every sort, from the precise +diminutive band, to the hectoring cravat and cuffs in folio; a +nursery for training up the smaller fry of virtuosi in confident +tattling, or a cabal of kittling critics that have only learned to +spit and mew; a mint of intelligence, that, to make each man his +penny-worth, draws out into petty parcels what the merchant receives +in bullion. He, that comes often, saves two-pence a week in +Gazettes, and has his news and his coffee for the same charge, as at +a three-penny ordinary they give in broth to your chop of mutton; it +is an exchange where haberdashers of political smallwares meet, and +mutually abuse each other, and the public, with bottomless stories, +and headless notions; the rendezvous of idle pamphlets, and persons +more idly employed to read them; a high court of justice, where +every little fellow in a camlet cloke takes upon him to transpose +affairs both in church and state, to shew reasons against acts of +parliament, and condemn the decrees of general councils." + +Having indulged in that trenchant generalization, this vigorous +assailant proceeded to describe a coffee-house in detail. The room +"stinks of tobacco worse than hell of brimstone;" the coffee itself +had the appearance of "Pluto's diet-drink, that witches tipple out +of dead men's skulls;" and the company included "a silly fop and a +worshipful justice, a griping rook and a grave citizen, a worthy +lawyer and an errant pickpocket, a reverend non-conformist and a +canting mountebank, all blended together to compose an oglio of +impertinence." There is a delightful sketch of one named "Captain +All-man-sir," as big a boaster as Falstaff, and a more delicately +etched portrait of the Town Wit, who is summed up as the +"jack-pudding of society" in the judgment of all wise men, but an +incomparable wit in his own. The peroration of this pamphlet, +devoted to a wholesale condemnation of the coffee-house, indulges in +too frank and unsavoury metaphors for modern re-publication. + +Of course there was an answer. Pamphleteering was one of the +principal diversions of the age. "Coffee-Houses Vindicated" was the +title of the reply. The second pamphlet was not the equal of the +first in terseness or wit, but it had the advantage in argument. The +writer did not find it difficult to make out a good case for the +coffee-house. It was economical, conduced to sobriety, and provided +innocent diversion. When one had to meet a friend, a tavern was an +expensive place; "in an ale-house you must gorge yourself with pot +after pot, sit dully alone, or be drawn in to club for others' +reckonings." Not so at the coffee-house: "Here, for a penny or two, +you may spend two or three hours, have the shelter of a house, the +warmth of a fire, the diversion of company; and conveniency, if you +please, of taking a pipe of tobacco; and all this without any +grumbling or repining." On the score of sobriety the writer was +equally cogent. It was stupid custom which insisted that any and +every transaction should be carried out at a tavern, where continual +sipping made men unfit for business. Coffee, on the contrary, was a +"wakeful" drink. And the company of the coffee-house enabled its +frequenter to follow the proper study of man, mankind. The +triumphant conclusion was that a well-regulated coffee-house was +"the sanctuary of health, the nursery of temperance, the delight of +frugality, an academy of civility, and free-school of ingenuity." + +But a still more serious-minded person took part in the assault upon +the coffee-house. He was one of those amateur statesmen, who +usually, as in this case, abrogate to themselves the title of "Lover +of his Country," who have a remedy for every disease of the body +politic. In a series of proposals offered for the consideration of +Parliament, this patriot pleaded for the suppression of +coffee-houses on the ground that if less coffee were drunk there +would be a larger demand for beer, and a larger demand for beer +meant the growing of more English grain. Apart from economics, +however, there were adequate reasons for suppression. These +coffee-houses have "done great mischiefs to the nation, and undone +many of the King's subjects: for they, being great enemies to +diligence and industry, have been the ruin of many serious and +hopeful young gentlemen and tradesmen, who, before frequenting these +places, were diligent students or shopkeepers, extraordinary +husbands of their time as well as money; but since these houses have +been set up, under pretence of good husbandry, to avoid spending +above one penny or two-pence at a time, have gone to these +coffee-houses; where, meeting friends, they have sat talking three +or four hours; after which, a fresh acquaintance appearing, and so +one after another all day long, hath begotten fresh discourse, so +that frequently they have staid five or six hours together," to the +neglect of shops and studies, etc., etc. + +Even yet, however, the worst had not been said. The wives of England +had to be heard from. Hence the "Women's Petition against Coffee," +which enlivens the annals of the year of grace 1674. The pernicious +drink was indicted on three counts: "It made men as unfruitful as +the deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought;" its +use would cause the offspring of their "mighty ancestors" to +"dwindle into a succession of apes and pigmies;" and when a husband +went out on a domestic errand he "would stop by the way to drink a +couple of cups of coffee." + +These assaults--or, what is more probable, the abuse of the +coffee-house for political purposes--had an effect, for a time. The +king, although enjoying the excise from that "outlandish" drink, did +issue a proclamation for the suppression of the coffee-houses, only +to cancel it almost ere the ink was dry. But later, to put a stop to +that public discussion of state affairs which was deemed sacrilege +in the seventeenth century, an order was issued forbidding +coffee-houses to keep any written or other news save such as +appeared in the Gazette. + +But the coffee-house as an institution was not to be put down. +Neither pamphlets nor poems, nor petitions nor proclamations, had +any effect. It met a "felt want" apparently, or made so effective an +appeal to the social spirit of seventeenth century Londoners that +its success was assured from the start. Consequently Pasqua Rosee +soon had opposition in his own immediate neighbourhood. It may be +that the Rainbow of Fleet Street was the second coffee-house to be +opened in London, or that the honour belonged elsewhere; what is to +be noted is that the establishments multiplied fast and nowhere more +than in the vicinity of the Royal Exchange. Several were to be found +in Change Alley, while in the Royal Exchange of to-day, the third +building of that name, are the headquarters of Lloyd's, which +perpetuates in name at least one of the most remarkable +coffee-houses of the seventeenth century. + +Evidence is abundant that the early coffee-houses took their colour +from the district in which they were established. Thus it would be +idle in the main to expect a literary atmosphere among the houses +which flourished in the heart of the city. They became the resorts +of men of business, and gradually acquired a specific character from +the type of business man most frequenting them. In a way Batson's +coffee-house was an exception to the rule, inasmuch as doctors and +not merchants were most in evidence here. But the fact that it was +tacitly accepted as the physicians' resort shows how the principle +acted in a general way. One of the most constant visitors at +Batson's was Sir Richard Blackmore, that scribbling doctor who was +physician to William III and then to Queen Anne. Although his +countless books were received either with ridicule or absolute +silence, he still persisted in authorship, and finally produced an +"Heroick Poem" in twelve books entitled, "Prince Alfred." Lest any +should wonder how a doctor could court the muse to that extent +without neglecting his proper work, he explained in his preface that +he had written the poem "by such catches and starts, and in such +occasional uncertain hours as his profession afforded, and for the +greater part in coffee-houses, or in passing up and down the +streets," an apology which, led to his being accused of writing "to +the rumbling of his chariot wheels." But in the main the real +literary folk of the day would have none of him. He belonged to the +city, and what had a mere city man to do with poetry? Even Dr. +Johnson, in taking note of a reply Blackmore made to his critics, +chided him with writing "in language such as Cheapside easily +furnished." + +Other physicians, however, resorted to Batson's coffee-house in a +professional and not a poetic way. The character of its frequenters +was described in a lively manner in the first number of the +Connoisseur, published in January, 1754. Having devoted a few +sentences to a neighbouring establishment, the writer noted that it +is "but a short step to a gloomy class of mortals, not less intent +on gain than the stock-jobbers: I mean the dispensers of life and +death, who flock together like birds of prey watching for carcasses +at Batson's. I never enter this place, but it serves as a _memento +mori_ to me. What a formidable assemblage of sable suits, and +tremendous perukes! I have often met here a most intimate +acquaintance, whom I have scarce known again; a sprightly young +fellow, with whom I have spent many a jolly hour; but being just +dubbed a graduate in physic, he has gained such an entire conquest +over the risible muscles, that he hardly vouchsafes at any time to +smile. I have heard him harangue, with all the oracular importance +of a veteran, on the possibility of Canning's subsisting for a whole +month on a few bits of bread; and he is now preparing a treatise, in +which he will set forth a new and infallible method to prevent the +spreading of the plague from France to England. Batson's has been +reckoned the seat of solemn stupidity: yet it is not totally devoid +of taste and common sense. They have among them physicians, who can +cope with the most eminent lawyers or divines; and critics, who can +relish the _sal volatile_ of a witty composition, or determine +how much fire is requisite to sublimate a tragedy _secundum +artem_." The house served a useful purpose at a time when +physicians were not in the habit of increasing their knowledge by +visiting the wards of the hospitals. Batson's was a consulting-house +instead, not alone for patients but for the doctors themselves. In +this respect, then, it differed from the generally commercial +character of the coffee-houses under the shadow of the Exchange. + +[Illustration: GARRAWAY'S COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +But there was no mistaking the commercial character of a place like +Garraway's in Change Alley. The essayist just quoted is responsible +for a story to the effect that when a celebrated actor was cast for +the part of Shylock he made daily visits to the coffee-houses near +the Exchange that "by a frequent intercourse and conversation with +'the unforeskin'd race,' he might habituate himself to their air and +deportment." And the same chronicler goes on to say that personally +he was never more diverted than by a visit to Garraway's a few days +before the drawing of a lottery. "I not only could read hope, fear, +and all the various passions excited by a love of gain, strongly +pictured in the faces of those who came to buy; but I remarked with +no less delight, the many little artifices made use of to allure +adventurers, as well as the visible alterations in the looks of the +sellers, according as the demand for tickets gave occasion to raise +or lower their price. So deeply were the countenances of these +bubble-brokers impressed with attention to the main chance, and +their minds seemed so dead to all other sensations, that one might +almost doubt, where money is out of the case, whether a Jew 'has +eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, affections, passions.'" But lottery +tickets were not the only things offered-for sale at Garraway's. +Wine was a common article of sale there in the early days, and in +the latter career of the house it became famous as an auction-room +for land and house property. + +Thomas Garraway was the founder of the house, the same who is +credited with having been the first to retail tea in England. On the +success of Pasqua Rosee he was not long, apparently, in adding +coffee to his stock, and then turning his place of business into a +coffee-house. The house survived till 1866, and even to its latest +years kept an old-time character. A frequenter of the place says the +ground-floor was furnished with cosy mahogany boxes and seats, and +that the ancient practice of covering the floor with sand was +maintained to the last. + +Two other houses, Jonathan's and Sam's, were notorious for their +connection with stock-jobbing. The latter, indeed, figured +prominently in the gigantic South Sea Bubble fraud. And even when +that was exposed Sam's continued to be the headquarters of all the +get-rich-quick schemes of the day. Thus in one issue of a newspaper +of 1720 there were two announcements specially designed to catch the +unwary. One notice told that a book would be opened for entering +into a joint-partnership "on a thing that will turn to the advantage +of the concerned," and the other was a modest proposal to raise two +million pounds for buying and improving the Fens of Lincolnshire. + +[Illustration: MAD DOG IN A COFFEE-HOUSE. _(From a Rowlandson +Caricature.)_] + +Jonathan's is incidentally described by Addison as "the general mart +of stock-jobbers," and in that amusing account of himself to which +he devoted the first number of the Spectator he explained that he +had been taken for a merchant on the exchange, "and sometimes passed +for a Jew in the assembly of stock-jobbers at Jonathan's." Half a +century later than these allusions the Annual Register recorded a +case tried at the Guildhall arising out of an assault at this +coffee-house. It seems that the master, Mr. Ferres, pushed the +plaintiff, one Isaac Renoux, out of his house, for which he was +fined one shilling damages on it being proved at the trial that "the +house had been a market, time out of mind, for buying and selling +government securities." + +Such houses as John's in Birchin Lane and the Jerusalem +coffee-house, which was situated in a court off Cornhill, were +typical places of resort for merchants trading to distant parts of +the world. One of Rowlandson's lively caricatures, that of a "Mad +Dog in a Coffee-House," is a faithful representation of the interior +of one of those houses. A bill on the wall shows how they were used +for the publication of shipping intelligence, that particular +placard giving details of the sailing of "The Cerebus" for the +Brazils. In a private letter of July 30th, 1715, is an account of an +exciting incident which had its origin in the Jerusalem +coffee-house. At that time England was in a state of commotion over +the Jacobite insurrection and the excitement seems to have turned +the head of a Captain Montague, who was reputed to be "a civil sober +man," of good principles and in good circumstances. He had entered +the Jerusalem coffee-house on the previous day, as the letter +relates, and, without any provocation, "of a sudden struck a +gentleman who knew him a severe blow on the eye; immediately after; +drawing his sword, ran out through the alley cross Cornhill still +with it drawn; and at the South entrance of the Exchange uttered +words to this effect, that he was come in the face of the Sun to +proclaim James the third King of England, and that only he was +heir." Whereupon he knocked down another gentleman, who, however, +had sense enough to see that the captain was out of his mind and +called for assistance to secure him. It took half a dozen men to +hold him in the coach which carried him to a magistrate, who +promptly committed him to a mad-house. + +Tom's coffee-house was situated in the same thoroughfare as John's. +This was the resort affected by Garrick on his occasional visits to +the city, and is also thought to have been the house frequented by +Chatterton. In a letter to his sister that ill-fated poet excused +the haphazard nature of his epistle he was writing her from Tom's on +the plea that there was "such a noise of business and politics in +the room." He explained that his present business--the concocting of +squibs, tales and songs on the events of the day--obliged him to +frequent places of the best resort. + +[Illustration: TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +In view of its subsequent career no coffee-house of the city proper +was of so much importance as that founded by Edward Lloyd. He first +appears in the history of old London as the keeper of a coffee-house +in Tower Street in 1688, but about four years later' he removed to +Lombard Street in close proximity to the Exchange, and his house +gradually became the recognized centre of shipbroking and marine +insurance business, for which the corporation still bearing the name +of Lloyd's is renowned all over the world. + +Two pictures of Lloyd's as it was in the first decade of the +eighteenth century are to, be found in the gallery of English +literature, one from the pen of Steele, the other from that of +Addison. The first is in the form of a petition to Isaac +Bickerstaff, Esq., from the customers of the house, and begged that +he would use his influence to get other coffee-houses to adopt a +custom which prevailed at Lloyd's. Great scandal, it seems, had been +caused by coffee-house orators of the irresponsible order. Such +nuisances were not tolerated at Lloyd's. The petitioners +explained--and by inference the explanation preserves a record of +the internal economy of the house--that at Lloyd's a servant was +deputed to ascend the pulpit in the room and read the news on its +arrival, "while the whole audience are sipping their respective +liquors." The application of the petition lay in the suggestion that +this method should be adopted in all coffee-houses, and that if any, +one wished to orate at large on any item of the news of the day he +should be obliged to ascend the pulpit and make his comments in a +formal manner. + +[Illustration: LLOYD'S COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +Evidently the pulpit at Lloyd's was a settled institution. It played +a conspicuous part in that ludicrous incident which Addison +describes at his own expense. It was his habit, he explained, to jot +down from time to time brief hints such as could be expanded into +Spectator papers, and a sheetful of such hints would naturally look +like a "rhapsody of nonsense" to any one save the writer himself. +Such a sheet he accidentally dropped in Lloyd's one day, and before +he missed it the boy of the house had it in his hand and was +carrying it around in search of its owner. But Addison did not know +that until it was too late. Many of the customers had glanced at its +contents, which had caused them so much merriment that the boy was +ordered to ascend the pulpit and read the paper for the amusement of +the company at large. "The reading of this paper," continues +Addison, "made the whole coffee-house very merry; some of them +concluded that it was written by a madman, and others by somebody +that had been taking notes out of the Spectator. One who had the +appearance of a very substantial citizen told us, with several +political winks and nods, that he wished there was no more in the +paper than what was expressed in it: that for his part, he looked +upon the dromedary, the gridiron, and the barber's pole, to signify +something more than what was usually meant by those words: and that +he thought the coffee-man could not do better than to carry the +paper to one of the secretaries of state." In the midst of the +numerous other comments, wise and otherwise, Addison reached for the +paper, pretended to look it over, shook his head twice or thrice, +and then twisted it into a match and lit his pipe with it. The ruse +diverted suspicion, especially as Addison applied himself to his +pipe and the paper he was reading with seeming unconcern. And he +consoled the readers of the Spectator with the reflection that he +had already used more than half the hints on that unfortunate sheet +of notes. + +Since those almost idyllic days, Lloyd's has played a notable part +in the life of the nation. At its headquarters in the Royal Exchange +building are preserved many interesting relics of the history of the +institution. From a simple coffee-house open to all and sundry, it +has developed into the shipping-exchange of the world, employing +1,500 agents in all parts of the globe. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ROUND ST. PAUL'S. + + +If there was a certain incongruity in the physicians having their +special coffee-house in the heart of the city, there was none in +clerics affecting the St. Paul's coffee-house under the shadow of +the cathedral of that name. This being the chief church of the +metropolis, notwithstanding the greater historic importance of +Westminster Abbey, it naturally became the religious centre of +London so far as clergymen were concerned. But the frequenters of +this house were of a mixed type. That historian of Batson's who was +quoted in the previous chapter, related that after leaving its +dismal vicinity he was glad to "breathe the pure air in St. Paul's +coffee-house," but he was obliged to add that as he entertained the +highest veneration for the clergy he could not "contemplate the +magnificence of the cathedral without reflecting on the abject +condition of those 'tatter'd crapes,' who are said to ply here for +an occasional burial or sermon, with the same regularity as the +happier drudges who salute us with the cry of 'coach, sir,' or +'chair, your honour.'" Somewhat late in the eighteenth century St. +Paul's coffee-house had a distinguished visitor in the person of +Benjamin Franklin, who here made the acquaintance of Richard Price, +that philosophical dissenting divine whose pamphlet on American +affairs is said to have had no inconsiderable part in determining +Americans to declare their independence. The fact that Dr. Price +frequented the St. Paul's coffee-house is sufficient proof that its +clients were not restricted to clergymen of the established church. + +More miscellaneous was the patronage of Child's, another resort in +St. Paul's Church-yard. It is sometimes described as having been a +clerical house like the St. Paul's, and one reference in the +Spectator gives some support to that view. The writer told how a +friend of his from the country had expressed astonishment at seeing +London so crowded with doctors of divinity, necessitating the +explanation that not all the persons in scarfs were of that dignity, +for, this authority on London life continued, "a young divine, after +his first degree in the university, usually comes hither only to +show himself; and on that occasion, is apt to think he is but half +equipped with a gown and cassock for his public appearance, if he +hath not the additional ornament of a scarf of the first magnitude +to entitle him to the appellation of Doctor from his landlady and +the boy at' Child's." There is another allusion to the house in the +Spectator. "Sometimes I"--the writer is Addison--"smoke a pipe at +Child's, and while I seem attentive to nothing but the Postman, +overhear the conversation of every table in the room." Apart from +such decided lay patrons as Addison, Child's could also claim a +large constituency among the medical and learned men of the day. + +Notwithstanding its ecclesiastical name, the Chapter coffee-house in +Paul's Alley was not a clerical resort. By the middle of the +eighteenth century it had come to be recognized as the rendezvous of +publishers and booksellers. "The conversation here," to appeal to +the Connoisseur once more, "naturally turns upon the newest +publications; but their criticisms are somewhat singular. When they +say a good book, they do not mean to praise the style or sentiment, +but the quick and extensive sale of it. That book in the phrase of +the Conger is best, which sells most; and if the demand for Quarles +should be greater than for Pope, he would have the highest place on +the rubric-post. There are also many parts of every work liable to +their remarks, which fall not within the notice of less accurate +observers. A few nights ago I saw one of these gentlemen take up a +sermon, and after seeming to peruse it for some time with great +attention, he declared that 'it was very good English.' The reader +will judge whether I was most surprised or diverted, when I +discovered that he was not commending the purity and elegance of the +diction, but the beauty of the type; which, it seems, is known among +printers by that appellation. We must not, however, think the +members of the Conger strangers to the deeper parts of literature; +for as carpenters, smiths, masons, and all mechanics, smell of the +trade they labour at, booksellers take a peculiar turn from their +connexions with books and authors." + +Could the writer of that gentle satire have looked forward about a +quarter of a century he would have had knowledge on which to have +based a greater eulogy of the Congers. It should be explained +perhaps that Conger was the name of a club of booksellers founded in +1715 for co-operation in the issuing of expensive works. Booklovers +of the present generation may often wonder at the portly folios of +bygone generations, and marvel especially that they could have been +produced at a profit when readers were so comparatively few. Many of +those folios owed their existence to the scheme adopted by the +members of the Conger, a scheme whereby several publishers shared in +the production of a costly work. + +Such a sharing of expense and profit was entered into at that +meeting at the Chapter coffee-house which led to Dr. Johnson's +"Lives of the English Poets." The London booksellers of that time +were alarmed at the invasion of what they called their literary +property by a Scottish publisher who had presumed to bring out an +edition of the English poets. To counteract this move from Edinburgh +the decision was reached to print "an elegant and accurate edition +of ail the English poets of reputation, from Chaucer down to the +present time." The details were thoroughly debated at the Chapter +coffee-house, and a deputation was appointed to wait upon Dr. +Johnson, to secure his services in editing the series. Johnson +accepted the task, "seemed exceedingly pleased" that it had been +offered him, and agreed to carry it through for a fee of two hundred +pounds. His moderation astonished Malone; "had he asked one +thousand, or even fifteen hundred guineas, the booksellers, who knew +the value of his name, would doubtless have readily given it." + +But writers of books as well as makers and sellers of books could be +found on occasion within the portals of the Chapter coffee-house. +Two memories of Goldsmith, neither of them pleasant, are associated +with the house. One is concerned with his acceptance of an +invitation to dinner here with Charles Lloyd, who, at the end of the +meal, walked off and left his guest to pay the bill. The other +incident introduces the vicious William Kenrick, that hack-writer +who slandered Goldsmith without cause on so many occasions, Shortly +after the publication of one of his libels in the press, Kenrick was +met by Goldsmith accidentally in the Chapter and made to admit that +he had lied. But no sooner had the poet left the house than the +cowardly retractor began his abuse again to the company at large. + +Chatterton, too, frequented the house in his brief days of London +life. "I am quite familiar at the Chapter Coffee-House," he wrote +his mother, "and know all the geniuses there." And five years later +there is this picture of the democratic character of the resort from +the shocked pen of one who had been attracted thither by the report +of its large library and select company: "Here I saw a specimen of +English freedom. A whitesmith in his apron and some of his saws +under his arm came in, sat down, and called for his glass of punch +and the paper, both which he used with as much ease as a lord. Such +a man in Ireland and, I suppose, in France too, and almost any other +country, would, not have shown himself with his hat on, nor any way, +unless sent for by some gentleman." + +Perhaps the most interesting association of the Chapter coffee-house +was that destined to come to it when its race was nearly run. On a +July evening in 1548 the waiter was somewhat startled at the +appearance of two simply-dressed, slight and timid-looking ladies +seeking accommodation. Women guests were not common at the Chapter. +But these two were strangers to London; they had never before +visited the great city; and the only hostelry they knew was the +Chapter they had heard their father speak about. So it was to the +Chapter that Charlotte and Anne Bronté went when they visited London +to clear up a difficulty with their publishers, Smith and Elder. +Mrs. Gaskell describes the house as it was in those July days. "It +had the appearance of a dwelling-house two hundred years old or so, +such as one sometimes sees in ancient country towns; the ceilings of +the small rooms were low, and had heavy beams running across them; +the walls were wainscoted breast-high; the stairs were shallow, +broad, and dark, taking up much space in the centre of the house. +The gray-haired elderly man who officiated as waiter seems to have +been touched from the very first by the quiet simplicity of the two +ladies, and he tried to make them feel comfortable and at home in +the long, low, dingy room upstairs. The high, narrow windows looked +into the gloomy Row; the sisters, clinging together in the most +remote window-seat (as Mr. Smith tells me he found them when he came +that Saturday evening), could see nothing of motion or of change in +the grim, dark houses opposite, so near and close, although the +whole breadth of the Row was between." If it were only for the sake +of those startled sisters from the desolate Yorkshire moors one +could wish that the Chapter coffee-house were still standing. But it +is not. Nor are there any vestiges remaining of the St. Paul's or +Child's. + +Nor will the pilgrim fare better in the adjacent thoroughfare of +Ludgate Hill. Not far down that highway could once be found the +London coffee-house, which Benjamin Franklin frequented, and where +that informal club for philosophical discussions of which Dr. +Priestly was the chairman held its social meetings. The London +continued in repute among American visitors for many years. When +Charles Robert Leslie, the artist, reached London in 1811 intent on +prosecuting his art studies, he tells how he stopped for a few days +"at the London Coffee-house on Ludgate Hill, with Mr. Inskeep and +other Americans." + +Further west, in the yard of that Belle Sauvage inn described in an +earlier chapter, there existed in 1730 a coffee-house known as +Wills', but of which nothing gave one somewhat pathetic incident is +on record. The memory of this incident is preserved among the +manuscripts of the Duke of Portland in the form of two letters to +the Earl of Oxford. The first letter is anonymous. It was written to +the earl on February 8th, 1730, in the interests of William +Oldisworth, that unfortunate miscellaneous writer whose adherence to +the Stuart cause helped, along with a liking for tavern-life, to mar +his career. This anonymous correspondent had learnt that Oldisworth +was in a starving condition, out of clothes likewise, and labouring +under many infirmities. "Though no man has deserved better of his +country, yet is none more forgot." The letter also hinted at the +fact that Oldisworth would not complain, nor suffer any one to do +that office for him. But the writer was wise enough to enclose the +address of the man in whose behalf he made so adroit an appeal, that +address being Wills' coffee-house in the Belle Sauvage yard. + +Edward Harley, that Earl of Oxford who preferred above all things to +surround himself with poets and men of letters, and whose generosity +helped to bring about his financial ruin, was not the man to ignore +a letter of that kind. Some assistance was speedily on its way to +Will's coffee-house, for on February 2lst Oldisworth was penning an +epistle which was to "wait in all humility on your Lordship to +return you my best thanks for the late kind and generous favour you +conferred on me." He sent the earl an ancient manuscript as token of +his gratitude, explained that he was ignorant of the one who had +written in his behalf, and for the rest was determined to keep his +present station, low as it was, with content and resignation. The +inference is that Will's coffee-house was but a lowly and +inexpensive abode and hence it is not surprising that it makes so +small a showing in the annals of old London. + +At the western end of Fleet Street the passer-by cannot fail to be +attracted by the picturesque, timbered house which faces Chancery +Lane. This unique survival of the past, which has been carefully +restored within recent years, has often been described as "Formerly +the Palace of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey." Another legend is +that the room on the first floor was the council-chamber of the +Duchy of Cornwall under Henry, the eldest son of James I. More +credible is the statement that Nando's coffee-house was once kept +under this roof. In the days when he was a briefless barrister, +Thurlow was a frequent visitor here, attracted, it is said, as were +so many more of the legal fraternity, by the dual merits of the +punch and the physical charms of the landlady's daughter. Miss +Humphries was, as a punster put it, "always admired at the bar by +the bar." The future Lord Chancellor had no cause to regret his +patronage of Nando's. So convincingly did he one day prove his skill +in argument that a stranger present bestirred himself, and +successfully, to have the young advocate retained in a famous law +case of the time, an apppointment which led to Thurlow's becoming +acquainted with the Duchess of Queensbury, with after important +results. + +During those stirring days when the "Wilkes and Liberty" riots +caused such intense excitement in London, one worthy merchant of the +city found Nando's a valuable place of refuge. Arrangements had been +made for a body of merchants and tradesmen of the city to wait on +George III at St. James's with a loyal address and as token of their +sympathy with the position assumed by that obstinate monarch. But on +the night before handbills had been scattered broadcast desiring all +true and loyal subjects to meet on the following day and form a +procession towards the city, taking particular care "not to +interfere with the Merchants going to St. James's" The handbill had +the desired effect. The cavalcade of merchants was scattered in +confusion long before it reached Temple-bar, and isolated members of +the party, few in number, did their best to reach the royal palace' +by roundabout ways. Even so they were a sorry spectacle. For the +other loyal subjects of the king had liberally bespattered them with +mud. Nor was this the most disconcerting feature of their situation. +Having reached the presence of their sovereign it was certainly +annoying that they could not present the address which had brought +them into all this trouble. But the fact was the address was +missing. It had been committed to the care of a Mr. Boehm, and he +was not present. As a matter of fact Mr. Boehm had fled for refuge +to Nando's coffee-house, leaving the precious address under the seat +of his coach. The rioters were not aware of that fact, and it seems +that the document was eventually recovered, after his Majesty had +been "kept waiting till past five." + +There is a fitness in the fact that as Thurlow's name is linked with +Nando's coffee-house so Cowper's memory is associated with the +adjacent establishment known as Dick's. The poet and the lawyer had +been fellow clerks in a solicitor's office, had spent their time in +"giggling and making giggle" with the daughters of Cowper's uncle, +and been boon friends in many ways. The future poet foretold the +fame of his friend, and extorted a playful promise that when he was +Lord Chancellor he would provide for his fellow clerk. The prophecy +came true, but the promise was forgotten. Thurlow did not even deign +to notice the poetical address of his old companion, nor did he +acknowledge the receipt of his first volume of verse. "Be great," +the indignant poet wrote-- + + "Be great, be fear'd, be envied, be admired; + To fame as lasting as the earth pretend, + But not hereafter to the name of friend!" + +For Thurlow the ungrateful, Nando's was associated with his first +step up the 'ladder of success; for Cowper, Dick's was the scene of +an agony that he remembered to his dying day. For it was while he +was at breakfast in this coffee-house that he was seized with one of +his painful delusions. A letter he read in a paper he interpreted as +a satire on himself, and he threw the paper down and rushed from the +room with a resolve either to find some house in which to die or +some ditch where he could poison himself unseen. + +Reference has already been made to the Rainbow as one of the famous +taverns of Fleet Street, and also to the fact that it was a +coffee-house ere it became a tavern. But somehow it was as a +coffee-house that it was usually regarded. It is so described in +1679, in 1708, in 1710, and in 1736. Under the earliest date it +appears as playing a part in the astounding story of Titus Gates. +One of the victims of that unrivalled perjurer was Sir Philip Lloyd, +whom Oates declared had "in a sort of bravery presented himself in +the Rainbow coffee-house, and declared he did not believe any kind +of plot against the King's person, notwithstanding what any had said +to the contrary." This was sufficient to arouse the enmity of the +wily Oates, who had the knight haled before the council and closely +examined. Sir Philip explained that he had only said he knew of no +other than a fantastic plot, but, as a contemporary letter puts it, +"Oates had got ready four shrewd coffee-drinkers, then present, who +swore the matter point blank." So the perjurer won again, and Sir +Philip was suspended during the king's pleasure as the outcome of +his Rainbow coffee-house speech. + +But there is a pleasanter memory with which to bid this famous +resort farewell. It is enshrined in a letter of the early eighteenth +century, wishing that the recipient might, if he could find a +leisure evening, drop into the Rainbow, where he would meet several +friends of the writer in the habit of frequenting that house, +gentlemen of great worth and whom it would be a pleasure to know. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE STRAND AND COVENT GARDEN. + + +How markedly the coffee-houses of London were differentiated from +each other by the opening of the eighteenth century is nowhere more +clearly demonstrated than in Steele's first issue of the Tatler. +After hoodwinking his readers into thinking he had a correspondent +"in all parts of the known and knowing world," he informed them that +it was his intention to print his news under "such dates of places" +as would provide a key to the matter they were to expect. Thus, "all +accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under +the article of White's Chocolate-house; poetry, under that of Will's +Coffee-house; learning, under the title of the Grecian; foreign and +domestic news, you shall have from Saint James's Coffee-house, and +what else I have to offer on any other subject shall be dated from +my own apartment." + +Several days elapsed ere there was anything to report from the +Grecian coffee-house, which was situated in Devereux Court, Strand, +and derived its name from the fact that it was kept by a Greek named +Constantine. When it does make its appearance, however, the +information given under its name is strictly in keeping with the +character Steele gave the house. "While other parts of the town are +amused with the present actions, we generally spend the evening at +this table in inquiries into antiquity, and think anything news +which gives us new knowledge." And then follow particulars of how +the learned Grecians had been amusing themselves by trying to +arrange the actions of the Iliad in chronological order. This task +seems to have been accomplished in a friendly manner, but there was +an occasion when a point of scholarship had a less placid ending. +Two gentlemen, so the story goes, who were constant companions, +drifted into a dispute at the Grecian one evening over the accent of +a Greek word. The argument was protracted and at length grew angry. +As neither could convince the other by mere words, the resolve was +taken to decide the matter by swords. So the erstwhile friends +stepped out into the court, and, after a few passes, one of them was +run through the body, and died on the spot. + +That the Grecian maintained its character as the resort of learned +disputants may be inferred from the heated discussions which took +place within its walls when Burke confused the public with his +imitation of the style and language of Bolinbroke in his +"Vindication of Natural Society." All the critics were completely +deceived. And Charles Macklin in particular distinguished himself by +rushing into the Grecian one evening, flourishing a copy of the +pamphlet, and declaring, "Sir, this must be Harry Bolinbroke; I know +him by his cloven foot!" + +[Illustration: GRECIAN COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +Even if it were not for that fatal duel between the two Greek +scholars, there are anecdotes to show that some frequenters of the +house were of an aggressive nature. There is the story, for example, +of the bully who insisted upon a particular seat, but came in one +evening and found it occupied by another. + +"Who is that in my seat?" + +"I don't know, sir," replied the waiter. + +"Where is the hat I left on it?" + +"He put it in the fire." + +"Did he? damnation! but a fellow who would do _THAT_ would not +mind flinging me after it!" and with that he disappeared. + +Men of science as well as scholars gave liberal patronage to the +Grecian. It was a common thing for meetings of the Royal Society to +be continued in a social way at this coffee-house, the president, +Sir Isaac Newton, being frequently of the parties. Hither, too, came +Professor Halley, the great astronomer, to meet his friends on his +weekly visit to London from Oxford, and Sir Hans Sloane, that +zealous collector of curiosities, was often to be met at the +Grecian. Nor did the house wholly lack patrons of the pen, for +Goldsmith, among others, used the resort quite frequently. + +Goldsmith was also a faithful customer of George's coffee-house +which was situated close to the Grecian. This was one of the places +to which he had his letters addressed, and the house figures in one +of his essays as the resort of a certain young fellow who, whenever +he had occasion to "ask his friend for a guinea, used to prelude his +request as if he wanted two hundred, and talked so familiarly of +large sums" that no one would have imagined him ever to be in need +of small ones. It was the same young fellow at George's who, +whenever he wanted credit for a new suit from his tailor, used to +dress himself in laced clothes in which to give the order, for he +had found that to appear shabby on such occasions defeated the +purpose he had in view. + +Most likely Goldsmith sketched his certain young fellow from life. +There was another frequenter of the place who would have provided an +original for another character study. This was that Sir James +Lowther, afterwards Earl of Lonsdale, of whom the story is told that +having one day changed a piece of silver in the coffee-house, and +paid twopence for his cup of coffee, he was helped into his carriage +and driven home, only to return a little later to call attention to +the fact that he had been given a bad halfpenny in his change and +demand another in exchange. All this was in keeping with the +character of the man, for despite the fact that he had an income of +forty thousand pounds a year, he was notorious for his miserly +conduct, and would not pay even his just debts. + +There was another legend connected with George's which Horace +Walpole ought not to have destroyed. In telling a correspondent of +the amusement with which he had been reading Shenstone's letters, he +took occasion to characterize as vulgar and devoid of truth an +anecdote told of his father, Lord Orford. This was the story that +his father, "sitting in George's, was asked to contribute to a +figure of himself that was to be beheaded by the mob. I do remember +something like it," Walpole continued, "but it happened to myself. I +met a mob, just after my father was put out, in Hanover-square, and +drove up to it to know what was the matter. They were carrying about +a figure of my sister." Walpole traded so largely in traditional +stories himself that it was ungrateful of him to spoil so good a +one. + +On the way to Bedford Street, where Wildman's coffee-house was +situated, the pilgrim will pass the site of the Somerset +coffee-house, which was notable in its day from the fact that some +of the letters of Junius were left here, the waiters being paid tips +for taking them in. Wildman's was notorious as being the favourite +headquarters of the supporters of John Wilkes, and hence the lines +of Churchill: + + "Each dish at Wildman's of sedition smacks; + Blasphemy may be Gospel at Almacks. + Peace, good Discretion, peace,--thy fears are vain; + Ne'er will I herd with Wildman's factious train." + + +Among the notable coffee-houses of Covent Garden were the Bedford, +King's, Rawthmell's and Tom's. The first was situated under the +Piazza, and could count among its patrons Fielding, Pope, Sheridan, +Churchill, Garrick, Foote, Quinn, Collins, Horace Walpole and +others. Its characters, according to the Connoisseur, 'afforded a +greater variety of nearly the same type as those to be found at +George's. It was, this authority asserts, crowded every night with +men of parts. Almost every one to be met there was a polite scholar +and a wit. "Jokes and _bon mots_ are echoed from box to box; +every branch of literature is critically examined, and the merit of +every production of the press, or performance at the theatres, +weighed and determined. This school (to which. I am myself indebted +for a great part of my education, and in which, though unworthy, I +am now arrived at the honour of being a public lecturer) has bred up +many authors, to the amazing entertainment and instruction of their +readers." + +But the Bedford coffee-house has a more sensational association. It +was here, according to Horace Walpole, that James Hackman spent his +last few hours of freedom ere he murdered Martha Ray as she was +leaving Covent Garden theatre on the night of April 17th, 1779. No +tragedy of that period caused so great a sensation. Miss Ray had for +some years been the mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, at whose house +Hackman first met and fell in love with her. There are good reasons +for believing that his love was returned for a time, but that +afterwards Miss Ray determined to continue in her irregular relation +with the nobleman. On learning that his suit was wholly hopeless, +Hackman conceived the plan which had so fatal an ending. The +question as to whether the fact that he provided himself with two +pistols was proof that he intended to take his own life as well as +that of Miss Ray was the theme of a warm discussion between Dr. +Johnson and his friend Beauclerk, the latter 'arguing that it was +not, and the former maintaining with equal confidence that it was. + +King's coffee-house was nothing more than a humble shed, an early +representative of the peripatetic coffee-stall which is still a +common sight of London streets in the early morning. Kept by a +Thomas King who absconded from Eton because he feared that his +fellowship would be denied him, it was the resort of every rake +according to Fielding, and, in the phrase of another, was "well +known to all gentlemen to whom beds are unknown." On the other hand +Rawthmell's was an exceedingly fashionable house, and witnessed the +founding of the Society of Arts in 1754. It had another claim to +slight distinction as being the resort of Dr. John Armstrong, the +poet of the "Art of Preserving Health," and a man so generally +unsociable that one acquaintance described him as having a rooted +aversion against the whole human race, except a few friends, and +they were dead! + +Judging from a poetical allusion of 1703, Tom's coffee-house was at +that time a political resort. A little later it was distinguished +for its fashionable gatherings after the theatre. A traveller +through England in 1722 records that at Tom's there was "playing at +Picket, and the best of conversation till midnight. Here you will +see blue and green ribbons and Stars sitting familiarly, and talking +with the same freedom as if they had left their quality and degrees +of distance at home." But the most interesting picture of this house +is given by William Till. He writes: "The house in which I reside +was the famous Tom's Coffee-House, memorable in the reign of Queen +Anne; and for more than half a century afterwards: the room in which +I conduct my business as a coin dealer is that which, in 1764, by a +guinea subscription among nearly seven hundred of the nobility, +foreign ministers, gentry, and geniuses of the age--was made the +card-room, and place of meeting for many of the now illustrious +dead, and remained so till 1768, when a voluntary subscription among +its members induced Mr. Haines, the then proprietor, to take in the +next door westward, as a coffee-room; and the whole floor _en_ +suite was constructed into card and conversation rooms." It seems +that the house took its name originally from the first landlord, a +Captain Thomas West, who, driven distracted by the agony of gout, +committed suicide by throwing himself from his own windows. + +Interesting, as has been seen, as are the associations which cluster +round the coffee-houses of this district already mentioned, their +fame is slight compared with the glory of the houses known as Will's +and Button's. + +Macaulay has given us a glowing picture of the wits' room on the +first floor at Will's. Through the haze of tobacco smoke with which +he filled the apartment we can see earls, and clergymen, and +Templars, and university lads, and hack-workers. We can hear, too, +the animated tones in which discussions are being carried on, +discussions as to whether "Paradise Lost" should have been written +in rhyme, and many another literary question of little interest in +these modern days. But, after all, the eye does not seek out earls, +or clergy, or the rest; nor does the ear wish to fill itself with +the sound of their voices. There is but one face, but one voice at +Will's in which the interest of this time is as keen as the interest +of the seventeenth century. That face and voice were the face and +voice of John Dryden. + +Exactly in what year Dryden first chose this coffee-house as his +favourite resort is unknown. He graduated at Cambridge in 1654, and +is next found in London lodging with a bookseller for whom he worked +as a hack-writer. By 1662 he had become a figure of some consequence +in London life, and a year later his first play was acted at the +King's theatre. Then, in the pages of Pepys, he is seen as the +centre of that group of the wits which he was to dominate for a +generation. "In Covent Garden to-night," wrote Pepys under the date +February 3rd, 1664, "going to fetch home my wife, I stopped at the +great Coffee-house there, where I never was before; where Dryden, +the poet, I knew at Cambridge, and all the wits of the town, and +Harris the player, and Mr. Hoole, of our college. And, had I had +time then, or could at other times, it will be good coming hither, +for there, I perceive, is very witty and pleasant discourse." + +[Illustration: JOHN DRYDEN.] + +With what persistence this tradition survived, the tradition of +Dryden as the arbiter of literary criticism at Will's is illustrated +by the story told by Dr. Johnson. When he was a young man he had a +desire to write the life of Dryden, and as a first step in the +gathering of his materials he applied to the 'only two persons then +alive who had known him, Swinney and Cibber. But all the assistance +the former could give him was to the effect that at Will's. +Coffee-house Dryden had a particular chair for himself, which was +set by the fire in winter, and removed to the balcony in summer; and +the extent of Cibber's information was that he remembered the poet +as a decent old man, judge of critical disputes at Will's. But +happily a more detailed picture of Dryden as the centre of the wits +at Will's has survived. On his first trip to London as a youth of +seventeen, Francis Lockier, the future dean of Peterborough, +although an odd-looking boy of awkward manners, thrust himself into +the coffee-house that he might gaze on the celebrated men of the +day. "The second time that ever I was there," Lockier said, "Mr. +Dryden was speaking of his own things, as he frequently did, +especially of such as had been lately published. 'If anything of +mine is good,' says he, ''tis Mac Flecknoe; and I value myself the +more upon it, because it is the first piece of ridicule written in +Heroics.' On hearing this, I plucked up my spirit to say, in a voice +just loud enough to be heard, that 'Mac Flecknoe was a very fine +poem; but that I had not imagined it to be the first that ever was +writ that way.' On this, Dryden turned short upon me, as surprised +at my interposing; asked how long I had been a dabbler in poetry; +and added, with a smile, 'Pray, sir, what is it that you did imagine +to have been writ so before? 'I named Boileau's _Lutrin_, and +Tassoni's Secchia _Rapita_, which I had read, and knew Dryden +had borrowed some strokes from each. ''Tis true,' said Dryden, 'I +had forgot them.' A little after Dryden went out, and in going spoke +to me again, and desired me to come and see him next day. I was +highly delighted with the invitation; went to see him accordingly, +and was well acquainted with him after, as long as he lived." + +As a companion to this picture in prose there is the poetic vignette +which Prior and Montague inserted in their "Country Mouse and the +City Mouse," written in burlesque of Dryden's "Hind and Panther." + + "Then on they jogg'd; and since an hour of talk + Might cut a banter on the tedious walk, + As I remember, said the sober mouse, + I've heard much talk of the Wits' Coffee-house; + Thither, says Brindle, thou shalt go and see + Priests supping coffee, sparks and poets tea; + Here rugged frieze, there quality well drest, + These baffling the grand Senior, those the Test, + And there shrewd guesses made, and reasons given, + That human laws were never made in heaven; + But, above all, what shall oblige thy sight, + And fill thy eyeballs with a vast delight, + Is the poetic judge of sacred wit, + Who does i' th' darkness of his glory sit; + And as the moon who first receives the light, + With which she makes these nether regions bright, + So does he shine, reflecting from afar + The rays he borrowed from a better star; + For rules, which from Corneille and Rapin flow, + Admired by all the scribbling herd below, + From French tradition while he does dispense + Unerring truths, 'tis schism, a damned offence, + To question his, or trust your private sense." + +Dryden appears to have visited Will's every day. His rule of life +was to devote his mornings to writing at home, where he also dined, +and then to spend the remainder of the day at the coffee-house, +which he did not leave till late. There came a night for the poet +when this regularity of habit had unpleasant consequences. A +Newsletter of December 23rd, 1679, tells the story: "On Thursday +night last Mr. Dryden, the poet, comeing from the coffee-house in +Covent Garden, was set upon by three or four fellows, and very +soarly beaten, but likewise very much cutt and wounded with a sword. +It is imagined that this has happened to him because of a late satyr +that is laid at his door, though he positively disowned it." The +compiler of that paragraph was correct in his surmise. The hired +ruffians who assaulted the solitary poet on that December night were +in the pay of Lord Rochester, who had taken umbrage at a publication +which, although not written by Dryden, had been printed with such a +title-page as suggested that it was his work. A reward of fifty +pounds was offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of this +outrage, but to no effect. Still it is some consolation to know that +the cowardly Rochester immediately fell under suspicion as the +author of the attack. Less reprehensible is the story told of a Mr. +Finch, "an ingenious young gentleman," who, nearly a decade later, +"meeting with Mr. Dryden in a coffee-house in London, publickly +before all the company wished him joy of his _new_ religion. +'Sir,' said Dryden, 'you are very much mistaken; my religion is the +old religion.' 'Nay,' replied the other, 'whatever it be in itself I +am sure 'tis new to you, for within these three days you had no +religion at all.'" + +[Illustration: JOSEPH ADDISON.] + +Dryden died in 1700 and for a time Will's maintained its position as +the resort of the poets. Did not Steele say that all his accounts of +poetry in the Tatler would appear under the name of that house? But +the supremacy of Will's was slowly undermined, so that even in the +Tatler the confession had soon to be made that the place was very +much altered since Dryden's time. The change had been for the worse. +"Where you used to see songs, epigrams, and satires in the hands of +every man you met, you now have only a pack of cards; and instead of +the cavils about the turn of the expression, the elegance of the +style, and the like, the learned now dispute only about the truth of +the game." This is all confirmed by that traveller who took notes in +London in 1722, and found there was playing at Picket at Will's +after the theatre. + +Addison was the chief cause of this transformation. And Steele +helped him. The fact is that about 1713 Addison set up coffee-house +keeper himself. That is to say, he was the means of getting one +Daniel Button, once servant with the Countess of Warwick, to open +such an establishment in close proximity to Will's. For Addison to +remove his patronage from Will's to Button's meant the transference +of the allegiance of the wits of the town also, consequently it soon +became known that the wits were gone from the haunt of Dryden to the +new resort affected by Addison. And a close scrutiny of the pages of +the Guardian will reveal how adroitly Steele aided Addison's plan. +Thus, the issue of the Guardian for June 17th, 1713, was devoted to +the habits of coffee-house orators, and especially to the +objectionable practice so many had of seizing a button on a +listener's coat and twisting it off in the course of argument. This +habit, however, was more common in the city than in the West-end +coffee-houses; indeed, Steele added, the company at Will's was so +refined that one might argue and be argued with and not be a button +the poorer. All that delightful nonsense paved the way for a letter +in the next number of the Guardian, a letter purporting to come from +Daniel Button of Button's coffee-house. + +[Illustration: SIR RICHARD STEELE.] + +"I have observed," so ran the epistle, "that this day you made +mention of Will's Coffee-house, as a place where people are too +polite to hold a man in discourse by the button. Everybody knows +your honour frequents this house; therefore they will taken an +advantage against me, and say, if my company was as civil as that at +Will's, you would say so: therefore pray your honour do not be +afraid of doing me justice, because people would think it may be a +conceit below you on this occasion to name the name of Your humble +servant, Daniel Button." And then there is this naļve postscript: +"The young poets are in the back room, and take their places as you +directed." + +Nor did that end the plot. A few days later Steele found another +occasion to mention Button's. His plan this time was to concoct a +letter from one Hercules Crabtree, who offered his services as +lion-catcher to the Guardian, and incidentally mentioned that he +already possessed a few trophies which, he wished to present to +Button's coffee-house. This lion business paved the way for +Addison's interference in the clever scheme to divert the wits from +Will's. Hence that paper of the Guardian which he wound up by +announcing that it was his intention to erect, as a letter-box for +the receipt of contributions, a lion's head in imitation of those he +had described in Venice, through which all the private intelligence +of that commonwealth was said to pass. + +"This head," he explained, "is to open a most wide and voracious +mouth, which shall take in such letters and papers as are conveyed +to me by my correspondents, it being my resolution to have a +particular regard to all such matters as come to my hands through +the mouth of the lion. There will be under it a box, of which the +key will be kept in my own custody, to receive such papers as are +dropped into it. Whatever the lion swallows I shall digest for the +use of the public. This head requires some time to finish, the +workman being resolved to give it several masterly touches, and to +represent it as ravenous as possible. It will be set up in Button's +coffee-house in Covent-garden, who is directed to shew the way to +the lion's head, and to instruct young authors how to convey his +works into the mouth of it with safety and secrecy." + +[Illustration: LION'S HEAD AT BUTTON'S COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +That lion's head was no myth. A fortnight later the leonine +letter-box was actually placed in position at Button's, and, after +doing service there for some years, was used by Dr. Hill when +editing the Inspector. It was sold in 1804, the notice of the sale +in the Annual Register stating that "The admirable gilt lion's head +letter-box, which was formerly at Button's coffee-house, and in +which the valuable original copy of the Guardian was received, was +yesterday knocked down at the Shakespeare-tavern, Cove & Garden, to +Mr. Richardson, for seventeen pounds ten shillings." It changed +hands again in more recent times, and is now the property of the +Duke of Bedford, who preserves it at Woburn. + +For some months after the installation of the lion's head at +Button's, constant references are made in the Guardian to that +unique letter-box, Addison being mainly responsible for the quaint +conceits which helped to keep attention on the house where it was +placed. In the final number of the Guardian there is a lively letter +in response to an attack on masquerading which had reached the +public via the lion's head. "My present business," the epistle ran, +"is with the lion; and since this savage has behaved himself so +rudely, I do by these presents challenge him to meet me at the next +masquerade, and desire you will give orders to Mr. Button to bring +him thither, in all his terrors, where, in defenee of the innocence +of these midnight amusements, I intend to appear against him, in the +habit of Signior Nicolimi, to try the merits of this cause by single +combat." + +But Addison and his lion's head and Steele were not the only notable +figures to be seen at Button's. Pope was a constant visitor there, +as he was reminded by Cibber in his famous letter. Those were the +days when, in Cibber's phrase, the author of the "Dunciad" was +remarkable for his satirical itch of provocation, when there were +few upon whom he did not fall in some biting epigram. He so fell +upon Ambrose Philips, who forthwith hung a rod up in Button's, and +let Pope know that he would use it on him should he ever catch him +under that roof. The poet took a more than ample revenge in many a +stinging line of satire afterwards. + +Pope was cut adrift from Button's through the controversy as to +which was the better version of the Iliad, his or Tickell's. As the +latter belonged to the Addisonian circle, the opinion at Button's +turned in favour of his version, especially as Addison himself +thought Tickell had more of Homer than Pope. This ended Pope's +patronage of Button's, and, indeed, it was not long ere the glory it +had known began to wane. Various causes combined to take away one +and another of its leading spirits, and when the much-talked-of +Daniel Button passed away in 1730 it was to a pauper's grave. Yet +farewell of so famous a house should not be made with so melancholy +a story. There is a brighter page in its history, which dates three +years earlier. Aaron Hill had been so moved by the misfortunes of +his brother poet, Richard Savage, that he had penned an appeal on +his behalf and arranged for subscriptions for a volume of his poems. +The subscriptions were to be left at Button's, and when Savage +called there a few days later he found a sum of seventy guineas +awaiting him. Hill may, as has been asserted, have been a bore of +the first water, but that kindly deed may stand him in stead of +genius. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FURTHER WEST. + + +Several favourite coffee-houses might once have been found in the +neighbourhood of Charing Cross. One of these bore the name of the +Cannon and was much frequented by John Philpot Curran, of whom it +was said "there never was so honest an Irishman," and Sir Jonas +Barrington, that other Irish judge who was at first intended for the +army, but who, on learning that the regiment to which he might be +appointed was likely to be sent to America for active service, +declined the commission, and requested that it might be bestowed on +"some hardier soldier." Evidently Sir Jonas desired no further +acquaintance with cannon than was involved in visiting the +coffee-house of that name. The legend is that he and Curran affected +one particular box at the end of the room, where they might be seen +almost any day. + +[Illustration: BRITISH COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +In the same vicinity, but close to the Thames-side, was the +coffee-house kept by Alexander Man, and known as Man's. The +proprietor had the distinction of being appointed "coffee, tea, and +chocolate-maker" to William III, which gave him a place in the vast +army of "By Appointment" tradesmen, and resulted further in his +establishment being sometimes described as the Royal Coffee-house. +This resort had a third title, Old Man's Coffee-house, to +distinguish it from the Young Man's, which was situated on the other +side of the street. + +Of greater note than any of these was the British coffee-house which +stood in Cockspur Street. There is a record of its existence in +1722, and in 1759 it was presided over by the sister of Bishop +Douglas, who was described as "a person of excellent manners and +abilities." She was succeeded by a Mrs. Anderson, on whom the +enoomium was passed that she was "a woman of uncommon talents and +the most agreeable conversation." As the names of these ladies +suggest, they were of Scottish birth, and hence it is not surprising +to learn that their house was greatly in favour among visitors from +north of the Tweed. That the Scottish peers were sometimes to be +found here in great numbers is the only conclusion to be drawn from +an incident recorded by Horace Walpole. There was a motion before +the House of Lords for which the support of the Scots was required, +and the Duke of Bedford wrote to sixteen of their number to solicit +their votes, enclosing all the letters under one cover directed to +the British coffee-house. It was under this roof, too, that the +Scottish club called The Beeswing used to meet, one of whose members +was Lord Campbell, that legal biographer who shared with most of his +countrymen the ability of "getting on." The club in question +consisted of about ten members, and the agreement was to meet once a +month at the British coffee-house to dine and drink port wine. The +other members included Spankie, Dr. Haslam, author of several works +on insanity, Andrew Grant, a merchant of considerable literary +acquirements, and George Gordon, known about town as "the man of +wit." The conversation is described as being as good as any to be +enjoyed anywhere in the London of that day, and the drinking was +voted "tremendous." The last-named fact is one illustration out of +many that during the latter years of their existence the +coffee-houses of London did not by any means confine their liquors +to the harmless beverage from which they took their name. + +[Illustration: SLAUGHTER'S COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +Among the earliest coffee-houses to be established in the West-end +of London was that opened by Thomas Slaughter in St. Martin's Lane +in 1692 and known as Slaughter's. It remained under the oversight of +Mr. Slaughter until his death in 1740, and continued to enjoy a +prosperous career for nearly a century longer, when the house was +torn down. The bulk of its customers were artists, and the famous +men numbered among them included Wilkie, Wilson, and Roubiliac. But +the most pathetic figure associated with its history is that of +Abraham De Moivre, that French mathematician who became the friend +of Newton and Leibnite. Notwithstanding his wonderful abilities he +was driven to support himself by the meagre pittances earned by +teaching and by solving problems in chess at Slaughter's. In his +last days sight and hearing both failed, and he finally died of +somnolence, twenty hours' sleep becoming habitual with him. By the +time of De Moivre's death, or shortly after, the character of the +frequenters of Slaughter's underwent a change, for when Goldsmith +alluded to the house in 1758 it was to make the remark that if a man +were passionate "he may vent his rage among the old orators at +Slaughter's Coffee-house, and damn the nation, because it keeps him +from starving." + +Politics and literature were the topics most under discussion at the +Smyrna coffee-house which had its location on the north side of Pall +Mall. It makes its appearance in an early number of the Tatler, +where reference is made to "that cluster of wise heads" that might +be found "sitting every evening from the left hand side of the fire, +at the Smyrna, to the door." Five months later Steele entered into +fuller particulars. + +"This is to give notice," he wrote, "to all ingenious gentlemen in +and about the cities of London and Westminster, who have a mind to +be instructed in the noble sciences of music, poetry, and politics, +that they repair to the Smyrna coffee-house in Pall-mall, betwixt +the hours of eight and ten at night, where they may be instructed +gratis, with elaborate essays, by word of mouth on all or any of the +above-mentioned arts. The disciples are to prepare their bodies with +three dishes of bohea, and purge their brains with two pinches of +snuff. If any young student gives indication of parts, by listening +attentively, or asking a pertinent question, one of the professors +shall distinguish him, by taking snuff out of his box in the +presence of the whole audience." And the further direction is given +that "the seat of learning is now removed from the corner of the +chimney on the left towards the window, to the round table in the +middle of the floor over against the fire; a revolution much +lamented by the porters and chairmen, who were much edified through +a pane of glass that remained broken all last summer." + +That Steele and Addison knew their Smyrna well may be inferred from +their familiar references to the house, and there are equal proofs +that Swift and Prior were often within its doors. The Journal to +Stella has many references to visits from the poet and the satirist, +such as, "The evening was fair, and I walked a little in the Park +till Prior made me go with him to the Smyrna Coffee-house, where I +sat a while, and saw four or five Irish persons, who are very +handsome, genteel fellows, but I know not their names." From Prior's +pen there is an allusion to be found in the manuscripts of the +Marquis of Bath in a letter the poet addressed to Lord Harley from +London in the winter of 1719. Prior was lying low on that visit to +town, for the main purpose of his presence was medicinal. "I have +only seen Brown, the surgeon," he writes, "to whom, I have made an +_auricular confession_, and from him have received _extreme +unction_, and applied it, which may soften the obduracy of my +ear, and make it capable of receiving the impression of ten thousand +lies which will be poured into it as soon as I shall take my seat at +the Smyrna." + +Two other figures not unknown to fame haunt the shades of the +Smyrna, Beau Nash and Thomson of the "Seasons." It is Goldsmith who +tells of the first that he used to idle for a day at a time in the +window of the Smyrna to receive a bow from the Prince of Wales or +the Duchess of Marlborough as they drove by; and of the second is it +not on record that he in person took subscriptions at the Smyrna for +the "Four Seasons?" + +In the Cocoa-Tree Club of to-day may be found the direct +representative of the most famous Tory chocolate-house of the reign +of Queen Anne. It had its headquarters first in Pall Mall, but +removed not long after to St. James's Street, the Mecca of clubland +at the present time. Perhaps the best picture of the house and its +ways is that given by Gibbon, who in his journal for November 24th, +1762, wrote: "I dined at the Cocoa-Tree with ------, who, under a +great appearance of oddity, conceals more real humour, good sense, +and even knowledge, than half those who laugh at him. We went thence +to the play, the 'Spanish Friar,' and when it was over, retired to +the Cocoa-Tree. That respectable body, of which I have the honour of +being a member, affords every evening a sight truly English; twenty, +or perhaps thirty, of the first men in the kingdom in point of +fashion and fortune, supping at little tables covered with a napkin +in the middle of a coffee room, upon a bit of cold meat or a +sandwich, and drinking a glass of punch. At present we are full of +King's Councillors and Lords of the Bedchamber, who, having jumped +into the ministry, make a very singular medley of their old +principles and language with their modern one." It is easy to infer +from Gibbon's account, what was a fact, that by his time the house +had been turned into a club, the use of which was restricted to +members, as at the present time. The change was made before 1746, +when the Cocoa-Tree was the rendezvous of the Jacobites. One of the +most curious features of the present premises is a carved palm-tree +which is thrust up through the centre of the front rooms on the +first and second floors. What its age is no one knows, nor who was +responsible for the freak of botanical knowledge implied by +utilizing a palm-tree as symbolical of cocoa. + +Soon after the transformation of the house into a club it became +notorious for the high play which went on under the shadow of the +palm-tree. Walpole, for example, tells the story of a gamble between +an Irish gamester named O'Birne and a young midshipman named Harvey +who had just fallen heir to a large estate by his brother's death. +The stake was for one hundred thousand pounds, and when O'Birne won +he said, "You can never pay me." But the youth replied, "I can, my +estate will sell for the debt." O'Birne, however, had some scruples +left, so said he would be content with ten thousand pounds, and +suggested another throw for the balance. This time Harvey won, and +it would be interesting to know that the lesson had not been lost. +But Walpole does not throw any light on that matter. + +Another lively scene took place under the palm-tree of the +Cocoa-Tree late in the eighteenth century. The principal figure on +that occasion was Henry Bate, that militant editor of the Morning +Post whose duel at the Adelphi has already been recorded. It seems +that Mr. Bate, who, by the way, held holy orders, and eventually +became a baronet under the name of Dudley, was at Vauxhall one +evening with a party of ladies, when Fighting Fitzgerald and several +companions met them and indulged in insults. An exchange of cards +followed, and a meeting was arranged for the following morning at +the Cocoa-Tree to settle details of the inevitable duel. Fitzgerald, +however, was late, and by the time he arrived apologies had been +tendered and accepted by Mr. Bate. When Fitzgerald arrived on the +scene with a Captain Miles he insisted on a boxing-match with the +supposed captain, who, he affirmed, had been among the assailants of +the previous night. Mr. Bate objected, inasmuch as he did not +recognize Mr. Miles, and moreover scouted the indignity of settling +such a matter with fists. He was willing to decide the dispute with +sword or pistol. Fitzgerald, however, roused Bate's ire by dubbing +him a coward. After that it did not take many minutes to form a ring +under the shade of the palm-tree, and in less than a quarter of an +hour the "coward" had pulverized Captain Miles in an eminently +satisfactory manner. + +Earlier and more sedate references to the Cocoa-Tree are in +existence, There is, for example, a letter from General William +Stewart, of October 27th, 1716, addressed to the father of William +Pitt, placing this incident on record: "The other night, at the +Cocoa-Tree, I saw Colonel Pitt and your brother-in-law Chomeley. The +former made me a grave bow without speaking, which example I +followed. I suppose he is directed to take no notice of me." Nor +should the lively episode placed to the credit of a spark of the +town in 1726 be overlooked. "The last masquerade," says a letter of +that period, "was fruitful of quarrels. Young Webb had quarrelled at +the Cocoa-Tree with Oglethorp, and struck him with his cane; they +say the quarrel was made up." But "Young Webb" was evidently +spoiling that night for more adventures, for while still in his cups +he went to the masquerade and, meeting a German who had a mask with +a great nose, he asked him what he did with such an ornament, pulled +it off and slapped his face. "He was carried out by six grenadiers," +is the terse climax of the story. + +Florio was, of course, a frequenter of the Cocoa-Tree. And that his +manners there as elsewhere must have been familiar is illustrated by +the fact that one of the waiters addressed an epistle to him in the +following terms: "Sam, the waiter at the Cocoa-Tree, presents his +compliments to the Prince of Wales." The rebuke was characteristic: +"You see, Sam, this may be very well between you and me, but it +would never do with the Norfolks and Arundels!" + +Of course the house has its George Selwyn story. An American captain +began it by asserting that in his country hot and cold springs were +often found side by side, which was convenient, for fish could be +caught in the one and boiled in the other in a few minutes. The +story was received as belonging to the "tall" order, until Selwyn +gravely accepted it as true, because at Auvergne he had met a +similar experience, with the addition that there was a third spring +which supplied parsley and butter for the sauce. + +Just as the Tories were faithful to the Cocoa-Tree, so the Whigs +were stout in their loyalty to the St. James's coffee-house nearby. +This was the resort named by Steele as the origin of the political +news served up in the Tatler, and it was favoured with many +references in the Spectator of Addison, The latter gives an amusing +account of a general shiftround of the servants of the house owing +to the resignation of one of their number, and in a later paper, +devoted to coffee-house speculations on the death of the King of +France, he gives the place of honour to the Whig resort as providing +the most reliable information. "That I might be as near the +fountain-head as possible, I first of all called at St. James's, +where I found the whole outward room in a buzz of politics. The +speculations were but very indifferent towards the door, but grew +finer as you advanced to the upper end of the room, and were so very +much improved by a knot of theorists, who sat in the inner room, +within the steams of the coffee-pot, that I there heard the whole +Spanish monarchy disposed of, and all the line of Bourbon provided +for in less than a quarter of an hour." + +Politics, however, did not claim all the interest of the frequenters +of the St. James's. Verdicts were passed upon the literary products +of the day in much the same manner as at Button's, and it should not +be forgotten that Goldsmith's "Retaliation" had its origin at a +meeting at this house. + +[Illustration: OLD PALACE YARD, WESTMINSTER] + +To judge from their present-day dignified appearance, no one would +imagine that the Old Palace and the New Palace Yards at Westminster +ever tolerated such mundane things as coffee-houses and taverns +within their precincts. The evidence of history, however, shows that +at one time there were numerous establishments of both kinds +situated under the shadow of Westminster Hall and the Abbey. A +drawing not more than a century old shows several such buildings, +and the records of the city enumerate public houses of the sign of +the Coach and Horses, and the Royal Oak, and the White Rose as being +situated in the Old Palace Yard, while the coffee-houses there +included Waghorne's and Oliver's. Nor was it different with New +Palace Yard. In the latter were to be found Miles's coffee-house and +the Turk's Head, both associated with James Harrington, that early +republican whose "Oceana" got him into so much trouble. One story +credits Cromwell with having seized the manuscript of that work, and +with its restoration having been effected by Elizabeth Clay-pole, +the favourite daughter of the Protector, whom Harrington is said to +have playfully threatened with the theft of her child if her father +did not restore his. The author of "Oceana" seems to have thought +the occasion of Cromwell's death a favourable one for the discussion +of his political theories, and hence the Rota club he founded, which +used to meet at Miles's. Aubrey gives a vivid account of the room at +the coffee-house where the club met, with its "large oval-table, +with a passage in the middle for Miles to deliver his coffee. About +it sat his disciples and the virtuosi. Here we had (very formally) a +ballotting box, and ballotted how things should be carried by way of +Tentamens. The room was every evening full as it could be crammed." +But when it became obvious that the Restoration would soon be an +accomplished fact the meetings at Miles's came to a sudden end. And +shortly after, Harrington was committed to the Tower to meditate +upon ideal commonwealths amid less congenial surroundings. + +Westminster Hall itself had a coffee-house at the beginning of the +last century. It was named Alice's, presumably after the proprietor, +and was on one occasion the scene of a neat version of the +confidence trick. The coffee-house was used almost entirely by +barristers engaged in the different courts of law then held in +Westminster Hall, and they availed themselves of the house for +robing before going to the courts, and as the storeroom of their +wigs and gowns when the business of the day was ended. Armed with +this knowledge, a needy individual by the name of William Lill +applied to the waiter at Alice's, and made a request for a Mr. +Clarke's gown and wig, saying that he had been sent by a well-known +lawyers' wig-maker and dresser. It happened, however, that Mr. +Clarke's clerk had a little before fetched away the wig and gown Mr. +Lill was so anxious to receive. But when the waiter imparted that +information he did not lose his self-possession. He also wanted, he +said, Mr. Ellison's wig and gown. Taken with the man's knowledge of +the barrister's names, the waiter not only handed over the wig and +gown, but also informed the obliging Mr. Lill that when Mr. Ellison +was last in court he had left his professional coat and waistcoat at +the coffee-house; perhaps Mr. Lill would take those too. Mr. Lill +readily obliged, and disappeared. Later in the day the waiter's wits +began to work. Being, too, in the neighbourhood of the wig-maker's +shop, it occurred to him to drop in. There he learnt that no Mr. +Lill had been sent for any wigs or gowns. The alarmed waiter next +proceeded to Mr. Ellison's office, to learn there that no messenger +had been sent to Alice's. At this stage the waiter, as he +subsequently confessed, had no doubt but that Mr. Lill was "an +impostor." Mr. Lill was more. He was courageous. Having secured his +prey so simply on the one day, he came back on another, trusting, no +doubt, that his waiter friend would be as obliging as before. But it +was not to be; a few questions confirmed the waiter's suspicions +that Mr. Lill really was "an impostor;" and a police-officer +finished the story. One feels rather sorry for Mr. Lill. Of course +it was wrong of him to annex those wigs and gowns, and sell them for +theatrical "properties," but it is impossible not to admire the +pluck of a man who stole from a lawyer in the precincts of a +lawcourt. Alice's deserves immortality if only for having been the +scene of that unique exploit. + +By far the most curious of the coffee-houses of old London was that +known as Don Saltero's at Chelsea. There was nothing of the don +really about the proprietor, whose unadorned name was James Salter. +The prefix and the affix were bestowed by one of his customers, +Vice-Admiral Munden, who, having cruised much upon the coast of +Spain, acquired a weakness for Spanish titles, and bestowed a +variant of one on the Chelsea coffee-house keeper. + +That same Mr. Salter was an odd character. Not content with serving +dishes of coffee, nor with drawing people's teeth and cutting their +hair, he indulged in attempts at fiddle-playing and set up a museum +in his house. + +[Illustration: DON SALTERO'S COFFEE-HOUSE.] + +Steele's description of a visit to this manysided resort is by far +the best picture of its owner and its contents. "When I came into +the coffee-house," he wrote, "I had not time to salute the company, +before my eye was diverted by ten thousand gimcracks round the room, +and on the ceiling. When my first astonishment was over, comes to me +a sage of thin and meagre countenance; which, aspect made me doubt, +whether reading or fretting had made it so philosophic: but I very +soon perceived him to be of that sect which the ancients call +Gingivistę; in our language, tooth-drawers. I immediately had a +respect for the man; for these practical philosophers go upon a very +rational hypothesis, not to cure, but to take away the part +affected." And then follows that delightful dissertation which +linked Mr. Salter in the line of succession with the barber of Don +Quixote. But Steele could not forgive the Chelsea barber and +coffee-house keeper one thing. "I cannot allow the liberty he takes +of imposing several names (without my license) on the collections he +has made, to the abuse of the good people of England; one of which +is particularly calculated to deceive religious persons, to the +great scandal of the well-disposed, and may introduce heterodox +opinions. He shews you a straw hat, which I know to be made by Madge +Peskad, within three miles of Bedford; and tells you, 'It is Pontius +Pilate's wife's chambermaid's sister's hat.' To my knowledge of this +very hat it may be added, that the covering of straw was never used +among the Jews, since it was demanded of them to make bricks without +it." + +Don Saltero had a poetic catalogue of his curiosities, of which one +verse ran: + + "Monsters of all sorts here are seen, + Strange things in nature as they grew so; + Some relics of the Sheba Queen, + And fragments of the famed Bob Crusoe." + +These treasures, however, could not avert the fate which was due to +befall the house on January 8th, 1799, when the lease of the +building and all within were disposed of by public sale. A +philosophic journalist, not possessing Steele's sense of humour, +gravely remarked of the Don's gimcracks that they, with kindred +collections, helped to cherish the infancy of science, and deserved +to be appreciated as the playthings of a boy after he is arrived at +maturity. Happily the Don himself did not survive to see his +precious treasures fetch less than ten shillings a-piece. + + + + +III. + +THE CLUBS OF OLD LONDON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LITERARY. + + +Pending the advent of a philosophical historian who will explain the +psychological reason why the eighteenth century was distinguished +above all others in the matter of clubs, the fact is to be noted in +all its baldness that the majority of those institutions which are +famous in the annals of old London had their origin during that +hundred years. One or two were of earlier date, but those which made +a noise in the world and which for the most part survive to the +present time were founded at the opening of the eighteenth century +or later in its course. + +Although the exact date of the establishment of the Kit-Cat club has +never been decided, the consensus of opinion fixes the year +somewhere about 1700. More debatable, however, is the question of +its peculiar title. The most recent efforts to solve that riddle +leave it where the contemporary epigram left it: + + "Whence deathless Kit-Cat took his name, + Few critics can unriddle; + Some say from pastry-cook it came, + And some from Cat and Fiddle. + From no trim beaus its name it boasts, + Gray statesmen or green wits; + But from this pell-mell pack of toasts + Of old Cats and young Kits." + +Equally undecided is the cause of its origin. Ned Ward, however, had +no doubts on that score. That exceedingly frank and coarse historian +of the clubs of London attributed the origin of the club to the +astuteness of Jacob Tonson the publisher. That "amphibious mortal," +according to Ward, having a sharp eye to his own interests, +"wriggled himself into the company of a parcel of poetical young +sprigs, who had just weaned themselves of their mother university" +and, having more wit, than experience, "put but a slender value, as +yet, upon their maiden performances." Paced with this golden +opportunity to attach a company of authors to his establishment, the +alert Tonson baited his trap with mutton pies. In other words, +according to Ward, he invited the poetical young sprigs to a +"collation of oven-trumpery" at the establishment of one named +Christopher, for brevity called Kit, who was an expert in pastry +delicacies. The ruse succeeded; the poetical young sprigs came in a +band; they enjoyed their pies; and when Tonson proposed a weekly +meeting of a similar kind, on the understanding that the poetical +young sprigs "would do him the honour to let him have the refusal of +all their juvenile products," there was no dissentient voice. And +thus the Kit-Cat club came into life. + +Some grains of truth may be embedded in this fanciful narrative. +Perhaps the inception of the club may have been due to Tonson's +astuteness from a business point of view; but at an early stage of +the history of the club it became a more formidable institution. Its +membership quickly comprised nearly fifty nobles and gentlemen and +authors, all of whom found a bond of interest in their profession of +Whig principles and devotion to the House of Hanover, shortly to be +established on the throne of England in the person of George I. +Indeed, one poetical epigram on the institution specifically +entitles it the "Hanover Club." + +It seems that the earliest meetings of the club were held at an +obscure tavern in Shire Lane, which no longer exists, but ran +parallel with Chancery Lane near Temple-bar. This was the tavern +kept by Christopher Cat, and when he removed to the Fountain tavern +in the Strand the club accompanied. Its principle place of meeting, +however, was at the mansion of Tonson at Barn Elms, where a room was +specially built for its accommodation. The dimensions of this room +were responsible for the application of the term Kit-Cat to +portraits of a definite size. Thus, on the suggestion of Tonson the +portraits of the members were painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for the +bookseller, but as the walls of the room at Barn Elms were not lofty +enough to accommodate full-lengths, the painter reverted to a canvas +measuring thirty-six by twenty-eight inches, a size of portrait +which preserves the name of Kit-Cat to this day. + +Apart from its influence on the nomenclature of art, the club is +memorable for the additions it caused to be made to the poetic +literature of England. One of the customs of the club was to toast +the reigning beauties of the day regularly after dinner, and the +various poets among its members were called upon to cast those +toasts in the form of verse, which were afterwards engraved on the +toasting-glasses of the club. Addison was responsible for one of +those tributes, his theme being the Lady Manchester: + + "While haughty Gallia's dames, that spread + O'er their pale cheeks an artful red, + Beheld this beauteous stranger there, + In native charms divinely fair; + Confusion in their looks they show'd; + And with unborrow'd blushes glow'd." + +But the Earl of Halifax and Sir Samuel Garth were the most prolific +contributors to Kit-Cat literature, the former being responsible for +six and the latter for seven poetical toasts. For the Duchess of St. +Albans, Halifax wrote this tribute: + + "The line of Vere, so long renown'd in arms, + Concludes with lustre in St. Albans charms. + Her conquering eyes have made their race complete; + They rose in valour, and in beauty set." + +To the Duchess of Beaufort these lines were addressed: + + "Offspring of a tuneful sire, + Blest with more than mortal fire; + Likeness of a mother's face, + Blest with more than mortal grace; + You with double charms surprise, + With his wit, and with her eyes." + +Next came the turn of Lady Mary Churchill: + + "Fairest and latest of the beauteous race, + Blest with your parent's wit, and her first blooming face; + Born with our liberties in William's reign, + Your eyes alone that liberty restrain." + +Other ladies celebrated by Halifax included the Duchess of Richmond, +Lady Sutherland, and Mademoiselle Spanheime. To Garth fell the task +of singing the attractions of Lady Carlisle, Lady Essex, Lady Hyde, +and Lady Wharton, the first three have two toasts each. Perhaps the +most successful of his efforts was the toast to Lady Hyde. + + "The god of wine grows jealous of his art, + He only fires the head, but Hyde the heart. + The queen of love looks on, and smiles to see + A nymph more mighty than a deity." + +Whether the businesslike Tonson derived much profit from his +contract with the poetical young sprigs does not transpire; it is of +moment, however, to recall that the members of the club did +something to encourage literature. They raised a sum of four hundred +guineas to be offered as prizes for the best comedies. It may be +surmised that Thomas D'Urfey stood no chance of winning any of those +prizes, for he was too much of a Tory to please the Kit-Cat members. +Hence the story which tells how the members requested Mr. Cat to +bake some of his pies with D'Urfey's works under them. And when they +complained that the pies were not baked enough, the pastrycook made +the retort that D'Urfey's works were so cold that the dough could +not bake for them. + +For all their devotion to literature, the Kit-Cats did not forget to +eat, drink, and be merry. That their gatherings were convivial +enough is illustrated by the anecdote of Sir Samuel Garth, physician +to George I as well as poet. He protested at one meeting that he +would have to leave early to visit his patients. But the evening +wore on and still he stayed, until at length Steele reminded him of +his engagements. Whereupon Garth pulled out a list of fifteen +patients, and remarked, "It matters little whether I see them or not +to-night. Nine or ten are so bad that all the doctors in the world +could not save them, and the remainder have such tough constitutions +that no doctors are needed by them." It is to be hoped that the +bottle had not circulated so freely on that evening when the little +girl who afterwards became Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was ushered +into the presence of the members. Her proud father, Lord Kingston, +nominated her as a toast, but as the members protested that they did +not know her, the child was sent for on the spot. On her arrival the +little beauty was elected by acclamation. That triumph, she +afterwards declared, was the happiest hour of her life. + +Despite the fact that it had no formal constitution, and that +membership therein depended upon a lady's favour, the Blue-Stocking +Club was too important a factor in the literary life of old London +to be overlooked. It owed its existence to Elizabeth Robinson, who +as the wife of Edward Montagu found herself in the possession of the +worldly means essential to the establishment of a literary salon. It +had its origin in a series of afflictions. Mrs. Montagu first lost +her only child, and shortly after her mother and favourite brother. +These bereavements put her on the track of distractions, and a visit +to Bath, where she made the acquaintance of the poet Young, appears +to have suggested that she would find relief from her sorrows in +making her house in London a meeting-place for the intellectual +spirits of the capital. At first she confined her enterprise to the +giving of literary breakfasts, but these were soon followed by +evening assemblies of a more pretentious nature, known as +"conversation parties." The lady was particular to whom she sent her +invitations. In a letter to Garrick, inviting him to give a recital, +she wrote: "You will find here some friends, and all you meet must +be your admirers, for I never invite Idiots to my house." Unless +when Garrick or some famous French actor was invited to give a +recital, no diversion of any kind was allowed at these gatherings; +card-playing was not tolerated, and the guests were supposed to find +ample enjoyment in the discussion of bookish topics. + +Why Mrs. Montagu's assemblies were dubbed the Blue-Stocking Club has +never been definitely decided. On the one hand the term is supposed +to have originated from the fact that Benjamin Stillingfleet, taking +advantage of the rule which stipulated that full dress was optional, +always attended in blue worsted instead of black silk stockings. But +the other theory derives the name from the fact that the ladies who +frequented the gatherings wore "blue stockings as a distinction" in +imitation of a fashionable French visitor of the time. + +Plenty of ridicule was bestowed upon Mrs. Montagu and her +"conversation parties," but there SEEMS some truth in the contention +of Hannah More that those "blue-stocking" meetings did much to +rescue fashionable life from the tyranny of whist and quadrille. +Whether Mrs. Montagu really possessed any literary ability is a +matter which does not call for discussion at this late hour, but it +is something to her credit that she was able to attract under her +roof such men as Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson, Burke, Garrick, +Reynolds, and many other conspicuous figures of the late eighteenth +century. The hostess may have wished her guests to credit her with +greater knowledge than she really had; Johnson said she did not know +Greek, and had but a slight knowledge of Latin, though she was +willing her friends should imagine she was acquainted with both; but +the same authority was willing to admit that she was a very +extraordinary woman, and that her conversation always had meaning. +But, as usual, we must turn to a member of her own sex for the last +word in the matter. Fanny Burney met her frequently, and made +several recording entries in her diary. Here is the first vignette: +"She is middle-sized, very thin, and looks infirm; she has a +sensible and penetrating countenance, and the air and manner of a +woman accustomed to being distinguished, and of great parts. Dr. +Johnson, who agrees in this, told us that a Mrs. Hervey, of his +acquaintance, says she can remember Mrs. Montagu _trying_ for +this same air and manner. Mr. Crisp has said the same: however, +nobody can now impartially see her, and not confess that she has +extremely well succeeded." And later there is this entry: "We went +to dinner, my father and I, and met Mrs. Montagu, in good spirits, +and very unaffectedly agreeable. No one was there to awaken +ostentation, no new acquaintance to require any surprise from her +powers; she was therefore natural and easy, as well as informing and +entertaining." + +Almost to the end of her long life Mrs. Montagu maintained her +Blue-Stocking Club. So late as 1791, when she had reached her +seventy-first year, she gave a breakfast of which Fanny Burney +wrote: "The crowd of company was such that we could only slowly make +our way in any part. There could not be fewer than four or five +hundred people. It was like a full Ranelagh by daylight." That other +breakfast-giver, Samuel Rogers, who only knew Mrs. Montagu towards +the close of her life, described her as "a composition of art" and +as one "long attached to the trick and show of life." But the most +diverting picture of the Queen of the Blue-Stockings was given by +Richard Cumberland in a paper of the Observer. In answer to one of +her invitation cards he arrived at her salon before the rest of the +company, and had opportunity to observe that several new +publications, stitched in blue paper, were lying on the table, with +scraps of paper stuck between the leaves, as if to mark where the +hostess had left off reading. Vanessa, for under that title did +Cumberland present Mrs. Montagu, entered the room shortly +afterwards, dressed in a petticoat embroidered with the ruins of +Palmyra. The lady is made to mistake the author for the inventor of +a diving-bell, and to address him accordingly, with delightful +results. The various visitors are described in the same humourous +manner, and then comes the climax. "Vanessa now came up, and +desiring leave to introduce a young muse to Melpomene, presented a +girl in a white frock with a fillet of flowers twined round her +hair, which hung down her back in flowing curls; the young muse made +a low obeisance in the style of an oriental Salaam, and with the +most unembarrassed voice and countenance, while the poor actress was +covered with blushes, and suffering torture from the eyes of all the +room, broke forth as follows." But the recorder of that particular +meeting of the Blue-Stocking Club could endure no more. He fled the +house as hastily as though he had just learnt it was infected with +the plague. + +Although several lists are printed which profess to give the names +of "the principal clubs of London," they may be searched in vain for +that one which can rightly claim to be The Club. Nevertheless, +ignorance of its existence can hardly be reckoned a reproach in view +of the confession of Tennyson. When asked by a member, the Duke of +Argyll, to allow him to place his name in nomination, Tennyson +rejoined, "Before answering definitely, I should like to know +something about expenses. 'The Club?' It is either my fault or my +misfortune that I have never heard of it." When the poet made that +confession he was in his fifty-sixth year, and up to that time, +apparently, had not read his Boswell. Or if he had, he was not aware +that the club Reynolds had founded in 1764 under the name of The +Club, of which the title had subsequently been changed to the +Literary Club, still existed under its original designation. + +Another fact is likely to confuse the historian of this club unless +he is careful. Owing to the fact that Dr. Johnson was one of the +original members, and dominated its policy after his usual +autocratic manner, it is sometimes known as Dr. Johnson's Club. +However, there is no disputing the fact that the credit of its +origin belongs to the "dear knight of Plympton," as the great +painter was called by one of his friends. The idea of its +establishment at once won the approval of Johnson, and it started on +its illustrious career having as its members those two and Edmund +Burke, Dr. Nugent, Topham Beauclerk, Bennet Langton, Oliver +Goldsmith, Anthony Chamier and Sir John Hawkins. Soon after its +foundation, the number of members was increased to twelve, then it +was enlarged to twenty, and subsequently to twenty-six, then to +thirty, and finally to thirty-five with a proviso that the total +should never exceed forty. + +To set forth a list of the members of The Club from 1764 to the +present year would be to write down the names of many of the men +most eminent in English history. In Boswell's time those who had +been admitted to its select circle included David Garrick, Adam +Smith, Edward Gibbon, Sir William Jones, Sir William Hamilton, +Charles James Fox, Bishop Percy, Dr. Joseph Warton, and Richard +Brinsley Sheridan. In more modern days the members have included +Tennyson, Macaulay, Huxley, Gladstone, Lord Acton, Lord Dufferin, W. +H. E. Lecky and Lord Salisbury. The limit of membership is still +maintained; it is yet the rule that one black ball will exclude; and +the election of a member is still announced in the stilted form +which Gibbon drafted by way of a joke: "Sir, I have the pleasure to +inform you that you had last night the honour to be elected as a +member of The Club." + +As The Club had no formal constitution it was an easy matter to +regulate its gatherings by the convenience of the members. Thus, at +first the meetings were held at seven on Monday evenings, then the +day was changed to Friday, and afterwards it was resolved to come +together once a fortnight during the sitting of Parliament. Although +admission was so strictly guarded that its membership was accounted +a rare honour, The Club does not appear to have been in a +flourishing condition in its second decade. Otherwise Beauclerk +would hardly have written, "Our club has dwindled away to nothing; +nobody attends but Mr. Chamier, and he is going to the East Indies. +Sir Joshua and Goldsmith have got into such a round of pleasures +that they have no time." Two or three years later Edmund Malone, the +literary critic and Shakesperian scholar, was moving heaven and +earth to secure his own election. "I have lately," he wrote to a +member, "made two or three attempts to get into your club, but have +not yet been able to succeed--though I have some friends +there--Johnson, Burke, Steevens, Sir J. Reynolds and Marlay--which +in so small a society is a good number. At first they said, I think, +they thought it a respect to Garrick's memory not to elect one for +some time in his room--which (in any one's case but my own I should +say) was a strange kind of motive--for the more agreeable he was, +the more need there is of supplying the want, by some substitute or +other. But as I have no pretensions to ground even a hope upon, of +being a succedaneum to such a man--the argument was decisive and I +could say nothing to it. 'Anticipation' Tickell and J. Townshend are +candidates as well as myself--and they have some thoughts of +enlarging their numbers; so perhaps we may be all elected together. +I am not quite so anxious as Agmondisham Vesey was, who, I am told, +had couriers stationed to bring him the quickest intelligence of his +success." + +Malone appears to have thought that it was a mere subterfuge to +instance the death of Garrick as a reason for not electing him. But +it was nothing of the kind. The Club did actually impose upon itself +a year's widowhood, so to speak, when Garrick died. And yet his +election had not been an easy matter. That was largely his own +fault. When Reynolds first mentioned The Club to him, he ejaculated +in his airy manner, "I like it much; I think I shall be of you." Of +course Reynolds reported the remark to Johnson, with a result +that might have been anticipated. "_He'll_ be of _us_," Johnson +repeated, and then added, "How does he know we will _permit_ +him? The first duke in England has no right to hold such language." +Other recorders of Johnson's conversation credit him with +threatening to black-ball the actor, and with the expression of the +wish that he might have one place of resort where he would be free +of the company of the player. Whatever Johnson's attitude was, the +fact remains that Garrick's election was opposed for a considerable +time, though when he was made a member he approved himself a welcome +addition to the circle. + +Unconsciously amusing is the account Boswell gives of his own +election. The Club had been in existence some nine years when the +fatal night of the balloting arrived. Beauclerk had a dinner party +at his house before the club-meeting, and when he and the other +members left for the ceremony the anxious Boswell was committed to +the hospitality of Lady Di, whose "charming conversation" was not +entirely adequate to keep up his spirits. In a short time, however, +the glad tidings of his election came, and the fussy little Scotsman +hurried off to the place of meeting to be formally received. It is +impossible to read without a smile the swelling sentences with which +he closes his narrative. He was introduced "to such a society as can +seldom be found. Mr. Edmund Burke, whom I then saw for the first +time, and whose splendid talents had long made me ardently wish for +his acquaintance; Dr. Nugent, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. +(afterwards Sir William) Jones, and the company with whom I had +dined. Upon my entrance, Johnson placed himself behind a chair, on +which he leaned as on a desk or pulpit, and with humourous formality +gave me a charge, pointing out the conduct expected from me as a +good member of this club." There was probably more than "humourous +formality" at the back of Johnson's mind that night. He was +responsible for Boswell's election, and may well have had a doubt or +two as to how that inconsequential person would behave in such a +circle. + +As Johnson had had his way in the case of Boswell, he could not very +well object when some were proposed as members with whom, from the +political and religious point of view, he had little sympathy. But +he had the grace to regard the matter with philosophy. When its +numbers were increased to thirty, he declared he was glad of it, for +as there were several with whom he did not like to consort, +something would be gained by making it "a mere miscellaneous +collection of conspicuous men, without any determinate character." +The political difficulty was felt by other members. That fact is +oppressively illustrated by an account of a meeting recorded by Dr. +Burney, the father of the talented Fanny, in a letter to his +daughter, dated January 3lst, 1793, at a time, consequently, when +excitement still ran high at the execution of Louis XVI of France: +"At the Club on Tuesday, the fullest I ever knew, consisting of +fifteen members, fourteen all seemed of one mind, and full of +reflections on the late transaction in France; but, when about half +the company was assembled, who should come in but Charles Fox! There +were already three or four bishops arrived, hardly one of whom could +look at him, I believe, without horror. After the first bow and cold +salutation, the conversation stood still for several minutes. During +dinner Mr. Windham, and Burke, jun., came in, who were obliged to +sit at a side table. All were _boutonnés_, and not a word of +the martyred king or politics of any kind was mentioned; and though +the company was chiefly composed of the most eloquent and loquacious +men in the kingdom, the conversation was the dullest and most +uninteresting I ever remember at this or any such large meeting." +There were evidently serious disadvantages then in the mixed nature +of the club, as there have been since. For example, how did +Gladstone meet Huxley after his Gadarene swine had been so +unmercifully treated by the man of science? + +When Johnson reached his seventy-fourth year, and found himself the +victim of infirmities which prompted him to seek his social +intercourse near at hand, he conceived the idea of founding what was +known as his Essex Street Club. One of his first invitations was +sent to Reynolds, but the painter did not see his way to join. The +members included the inevitable Boswell, the Hon. Daines Barrington, +famous for his association with Gilbert White, and others whom +Boswell noted as men of distinction, but whose names are no more +than names at this distance. Johnson drew up the rules of the club, +which restricted its membership to two dozen, appointed the meetings +on Monday, Thursday and Saturday of each week, allowed a member to +introduce a friend once a week, insisted that each member should +spend at least sixpence at each gathering, enforced a fine of +threepence for absence, and laid down the regulation that every +individual should defray his own expense. And a final rule +stipulated a penny tip for the waiter. The meeting-place was a +tavern in Essex Street, known as the Essex Head, of which the host +was an old servant of Mr. Thrale's. Boswell, as in duty bound, +seeing he was a member, declared there were few societies where +there was better conversation or more decorum. And he added that +eight years after the loss of its "great founder" the members were +still holding happily together. But it was founded too late in the +day to gather around it many notable Johnsonian associations, and +after his death it was, on Boswell's showing, too happy to have any +history. + +Among the informal clubs of old London, a distinguished place +belongs to that assemblage of variously-talented men, who, under the +title of the Wittenagemot abrogated to themselves the exclusive use +of a box in the north-east corner of the Chapter coffee-house. It +found a capable if terse historian in one of its members, who +explains that the club had two sections. The one took possession of +the box at the earliest hour of the morning, and from their habit of +taking the papers fresh from the news-men were called the Wet Paper +Club. In the afternoon the other section took possession, and were +as keen to scan the wet evening papers as their colleagues to peruse +those of the forenoon. Among the members of the Wittenagemot were +Dr. Buchan, the author of a standard treatise on medicine, who +although a Tory was so tolerant of all views that he was elected +moderator of the meetings; a Mr. Hammond, a manufacturer, who had +not been absent for nearly forty-five years; a Mr. Murray, a +Scottish Episcopal minister, who every day accomplished the feat of +reading through at least once all the London papers; a "growling +person of the name of Dobson, who, when his asthma permitted, vented +his spleen" upon both sides of politics; and Mr. Robison the +publisher, and Richard, afterwards Sir Richard, Phillips, so keenly +alert in recruiting for his Monthly Magazine that he used to attend +with a waistcoat pocket full of guineas as an earnest of his good +intentions and financial solvency. + +Perhaps, however, the most original member of the Wittenagemot was a +young man of the name of Wilson, to whom the epithet of "Long-Bow" +was soon applied on account of the extraordinary stories he retailed +concerning the secrets of the upper ten. Just as he appeared to be +established in the unique circle at the Chapter he disappeared, the +cause being that he had run up a bill of between thirty and forty +pounds. The strange thing was, however, that the keeper of the +coffee-house, a Miss Bran, begged that if any one met Mr. Wilson +they would express to him her willingness to give a full discharge +for the past and future credit to any amount, for, she said, "if he +never paid us, he was one of the best customers we ever had, +contriving, by his stories and conversation, to keep a couple of +boxes crowded the whole night, by which we made more punch, and +brandy and water, than from any other single customer." But the +useful Long-Bow Wilson was never seen again, and several years later +the Wittenagemot itself died of disintegration. It was more +fortunate, however, than scores of similar clubs in old London, of +which the history is entirely wanting. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SOCIAL AND GAMING. + + +Neither of the literary societies described in the previous chapter +could claim to be a club in the present accepted meaning of that +term. Even Dr. Johnson's famous definition, "An assembly of good +fellows, meeting under certain conditions," needs amplification. +Perhaps the most satisfactory exposition is that given in "The +Original" which was applied in the first instance to the Athenęum. +"The building," said Walker, "is a sort of palace, and is kept with +the same exactness and comfort as a private dwelling. Every member +is a master without any of the trouble of a master. He can come when +he pleases, and stay away as long as he pleases, without anything +going wrong. He has the command of regular servants without having +to pay or to manage them. He can have whatever meal or refreshment +he wants, at all hours, and served up with the cleanliness and +comfort of his own house. He orders just what he pleases, having no +interest to think of but his own. In short, it is impossible to +suppose a greater degree of liberty in living." This is somewhat +copious for a definition, but it would be difficult to put into +smaller compass the various traits which marked the social and +gaming clubs of old London. + +All those qualities, however, were not in evidence from the first. +They were a matter of growth, of adaptation to needs as those needs +were realized. The evolution of the club in that sense is nowhere +better illustrated than in the case of White's, which can claim the +proud honour of being the oldest among London clubs. It was +established as a Chocolate-house about 1698, and as such was a +resort open to all. Even in those days it was notorious for the high +play which went on within its walls. Swift has recorded that the +Earl of Oxford never passed the building in St. James's Street +without bestowing a curse upon it as the bane of half the English +nobility. And a little later it was frankly described as "a Den of +Thieves." + +[Illustration: ST. JAMES'S STREET. (_Showing White's on the left +and Brooks's on the right_.)] + +Fire destroyed the first White's a little more than a generation +after it was opened. Its owner at that time was one named Arthur, +and the account of the conflagration tells how his wife leaped out +of a window two stories high onto a feather bed and thus escaped +without injury. George II went to see the fire, accompanied by the +Prince of Wales, both of whom encouraged the firemen with liberal +offers of money. But royal exhortations did not avail to save the +building; it was utterly consumed, with a valuable collection of +paintings. + +Two or three years after the opening of the new building White's +ceased to be a public resort as a Chocolate-house and became a club +in the strict meaning of the word. It remained under the direction +of Mr. Arthur till his death in 1761, and then passed into the +control of Robert Mackreth, who had begun his career as a +billiard-marker in the establishment. Mackreth married Arthur's only +daughter a few months after her father's death, and thus gained an +assured hold on the property, which he seems to have retained till +his death, although managing the club through an agent. This agent +was known as "the Cherubim," and figures in the note Mackreth +addressed to George Selwyn when he retired from the active oversight +of the club. "Sir," he wrote, "Having quitted business entirely and +let my house to the Cherubim, who is my near relation, I humbly beg +leave, after returning you my most grateful thanks for all favours, +to recommend him to your patronage, not doubting by the long +experience I have had of his fidelity but that he will strenuously +endeavour to oblige." Before this change took place the club had +removed to its present premises, which, however, have been +considerably altered both inside and out. The freehold of the house +realized forty-six thousand pounds when offered for sale a +generation ago. + +From a study of the club records, which extend back to 1736, it is +possible to trace its evolution to the close corporation it has +become. Rules of a more and more stringent nature were gradually +adopted, but at the same time its reputation for gambling was on the +increase. There was hardly any probability upon which the members +did not stake large sums of money. The marriage of a young lady of +rank led to a bet of one hundred guineas that she would give birth +to a child before a certain countess who had been married several +months earlier; another wager was laid that a member of infamous +character would be the first baronet hung; and when a man dropped +dead at the door of the club and was carried into the building, the +members promptly began betting whether he was dead or not, and +protested against the bleeding of the body on the plea that it would +affect the fairness of the wagers. Well might Young write in one of +his epistles to Pope: + + "Clodio dress'd, danc'd, drank, visited, (the whole + And great concern of an immortal soul!) + Oft have I said, 'Awake! exist! and strive + For birth! nor think to loiter is to live!' + As oft I overheard the demon say, + Who daily met the loiterer in his way, + 'I'll meet thee, youth, at White's:' the youth replies, + 'I'll meet thee there,' and falls his sacrifice; + His fortune squander'd, leaves his virtue bare + To every bribe, and blind to every snare." + +Another witness to the prevalent spirit of White's at this time is +supplied by Lord Lyttelton in a private letter, wherein he wrote +that he had fears, should his son become a member of that club, the +rattling of a dice-box would shake down all the fine oaks of his +estate. + +Mackreth manifested great worldly wisdom in addressing himself to +George Selwyn when he retired from the active management of the +club, for he knew that no other member had so much influence in the +smart set of the day. Selwyn was a member of Brooks's as well, and +for a time divided his favours pretty equally between the two +houses, but in his latter years seems to have felt a preference for +White's. The incidental history of the club for many years finds +more lively chronicle in his letters than anywhere else, for he was +constant in his attendance and was the best-known of its members. +Through those letters we catch many glimpses of Charles James Fox at +all stages of his strange career. We see him, for example, loitering +at the club drinking hard till three o'clock in the morning, and +find him there sitting up the entire night preceding his mother's +death, planning a kind of "itinerant trade, which was of going from +horse-race to horse-race, and so, by knowing the value and speed of +all the horses in England, to acquire a certain fortune." Later, we +see the brilliant statesman flitting about the club rooms, "as much +the minister in all his deportment, as if he had been in office +forty years." + +Among the countless vignettes of club life at White's as they crop +up in Selwyn's letters it is difficult to pick and choose, but a few +taken almost at random will revive scenes of a long-past time. Here +is one of a supper-party in 1781: "We had a pretty group of +Papists--Lord Petres at the head of them--some Papists reformed, and +one Jew. A club that used to be quite intolerable is now becoming +tolerating and agreeable, and Scotchmen are naturalized and received +with great good humour. The people are civil, not one word of party, +no personal reflections." A few days later Selwyn tells this story +against himself. "On my return home I called in at White's, and in a +minute or two afterwards Lord Loughborough came with the Duke of +Dorset, I believe the first time since his admittance. I would be +extraordinarily civil, and so immediately told him that I hoped Lady +Loughborough was well. I do really hope so, now that I know that she +is dead. But the devil a word did I hear of her since he was at your +house in St. James's Street. He stared at me, as a child would have +done at an Iroquois, and the Duke of Dorset seemed _tout +confus_. I felt as if I looked like an oaf, but how I appeared +God knows. I turned the discourse, as you may suppose." And here is +a peep of a gambling party at faro. "I went last night to White's, +and stayed there till two. The Pharo party was amusing. Five such +beggars could not have met; four lean crows feeding on a dead horse. +Poor Parsons held the bank. The punters were Lord Carmarthen, Lord +Essex, and one of the Fauquiers; and Denbigh sat at the table, with +what hopes I know not, for he did not punt. Essex's supply is from +his son, which is more than he deserves, but Malden, I suppose, +gives him a little of his milk, like the Roman lady to her father." + +Other glimpses might be taken such as would give point to +Rowlandson's caricature of a later day in which he depicted a scene +in "The Brilliants" club-room. The rules to be observed in this +convivial society set forth that each member should fill a bumper to +the first toast, that after twenty-four bumper toasts every member +might fill as he pleased, and that any member refusing to comply +with the foregoing was to be fined by being compelled to swallow a +copious draught of salt and water. Rowlandson did not overlook the +gambling propensities of such clubs, as may be seen by his picture +of "E O, or the Fashionable Vowels." By 1781 there were swarms of +these E O tables in different parts of London, where any one with a +shilling might try his luck. They had survived numerous attempts at +their suppression, some of which dated as far back as 1731. + +[Illustration: THE BRILLIANTS. _(A Rowlandson Caricature of London +Club Life in the 18th Century.)_] + +All the characteristic features of White's were to be found at +Brooks's club on the opposite side of St. James's Street, the chief +difference between the two being that the former was the recognized +haunt of the Tories and the latter of the Whigs. This political +distinction is underlined in Gillray's amusing caricature of 1796, +in which he depicted the "Promised Horrors of the French Invasion." +The drawing was an ironical treatment of the evil effects Burke +foretold of the "Regicide Peace," and takes for granted the landing +of the French, the burning of St. James's Palace and other +disasters. According to the artist, the invaders have reached the +vicinity of the great clubs, and are wreaking vengeance on that +special Tory club--White's--while Brooks's over the way is a scene +of rejoicing. The figures hanging from the lamp-post are those of +Canning and Jackson, while Pitt, firmly lashed to the Tree of +Liberty, is being vigorously flogged by Fox. + +During the earlier years of its history Brooks's was known as +Almack's, its founder having been that William Almack who also +established the famous assembly-rooms known by his name. The club +was opened in Pall Mall as a gaming-salon in 1763, and it speedily +acquired a reputation which even White's would have been proud to +claim. Walpole relates that in 1770 the young men of that time lost +five, ten, fifteen thousand pounds in an evening's play. The two +sons of Lord Holland lost thirty-two thousand pounds in two nights, +greatly, no doubt, to the satisfaction of the Hebrew money-lenders +who awaited gamblers in the outer room, which Charles Fox +accordingly christened the Jerusalem Chamber. While it still +retained its original name, Gibbon became a member of the club, and +Reynolds wished to be. "Would you imagine," wrote Topham Beauclerk, +"that Sir J. Reynolds is extremely anxious to be a member of +Almack's? You see what noble ambition will make men attempt." Gibbon +found the place to his liking. "Town grows empty," he wrote in June, +1776, "and this house, where I have passed very agreeable hours, is +the only place which still invites the flower of English youth. The +style of living, though somewhat expensive, is exceedingly pleasant; +and, notwithstanding the rage of play, I have found more +entertainment and even rational society here than in any other club +to which I belong." + +[Illustration: PROMISED HORRORS OF THE FRENCH INVASION. _(From a +Caricature by Gillray.)_] + +Two years later Almack's became Brooks's. Why the original +proprietor parted with so valuable a property is not clear, but the +fact is indisputable that in 1778 the club passed into the +possession of a wine merchant and moneylender of the name of Brooks, +whose fame was celebrated a few years later by the poet Tickell. + + "Liberal Brooks, whose speculative skill + Is hasty credit, and a distant bill; + Who, nursed in clubs, disdains a vulgar trade, + Exults to trust, and blushes to be paid." + +It was the new owner who built the premises in which the club still +meets, but that particular speculation does not appear to have +prospered, for the story is that he died in poverty. Under the new +regime the house kept up its reputation for high play. But there was +a time soon after the change when its future did not look promising. +Thus in 1781 Selwyn wrote: "No event at Brooks's, but the general +opinion is that it is _en decadence_. Blue has been obliged to +give a bond with interest for what he has eat there for some time. +This satisfies both him and Brooks; he was then, by provision, to +sup or dine there no more without paying. Jack Townshend told me +that the other night the room next to the supper room was full of +the insolvents or freebooters, and no supper served up; at last the +Duke of Bolton walked in, ordered supper; a hot one was served up, +and then the others all rushed in through the gap, after him, and +eat and drank in spite of Brooks's teeth." A state of affairs which +goes far to explain why the club was in a precarious condition. + +Charles Fox was of course as much at home at Brooks's as White's. It +was, naturally, more of a political home for him than the Tory +resort. This receives many illustrations in the letters of Selwyn, +especially at the time when he formed his coalition with Lord North. +Even then he managed to mingle playing and politics. "I own," wrote +Selwyn, "that to see Charles closeted every instant at Brooks's by +one or other, that he can neither punt or deal for a quarter of an +hour but he is obliged to give an audience, while Hare is whispering +and standing behind him, like Jack Robinson, with a pencil and paper +for mems., is to me a scene la plus _parfaitement que l'on puisse +imaginer_, and to nobody it seems more risible than to Charles +himself." The farce was being continued a few days later. "I stayed +at Brooks's this morning till between two and three, and then +Charles was giving audiences in every corner of the room, and that +idiot Lord D. telling aloud whom he should turn out, how civil he +intended to be to the Prince, and how rude to the King." + +[Illustration: GAMBLING SALOON AT BROOKS'S CLUB.] + +Notwithstanding his preference for White's, Selwyn exercised his +voting power at Brooks's in a rigid manner. For some reason, +probably because he could not boast a long descent, Sheridan's +nomination as a member provoked his opposition. Fox, who had been +enamoured of Sheridan's witty society, proposed him on numerous +occasions and all the members were earnestly canvassed for their +votes, but the result of the poll always showed one black ball. When +this had gone on for several months, it was resolved to unearth the +black-baller, and the marking of the balls discovered Selwyn to be +the culprit. Armed with this knowledge, Sheridan requested his +friends to put his name up again and leave the rest to him. On the +night of the voting,--and some ten minutes before the urn was +produced, Sheridan arrived at the club in the company of the Prince +of Wales, and on the two being shown into the candidates' +waiting-room a message was sent upstairs to Selwyn to the effect +that the Prince wished to speak to him below. The unsuspecting +Selwyn hurried downstairs, and in a few minutes Sheridan had him +absorbed in a diverting political story, which he spun out for a +full halfhour. Ere the narrative was at an end, a waiter entered the +room and by a pre-arranged signal conveyed the news that Sheridan +had been elected. Excusing himself for a few minutes, Sheridan +remarked as he left to go upstairs that the Prince would finish the +story. But of course the Prince was not equal to the occasion, and +when he got hopelessly stuck he proposed an adjournment upstairs +where Sheridan would be able to complete his own yarn. It was then +Selwyn realized that he had been fooled, for the first to greet him +upstairs was Sheridan himself, now a full member of the club, with +profuse bows and thanks for Selwyn's "friendly suffrage." Happily +Selwyn had too keen a sense of humour not to make the best of the +situation, and ere the evening was over he shook hands with the new +member and bade him heartily welcome. + +Far less hilarious was that evening when the notorious George Robert +Fitzgerald forced his way into the club. As this bravo had survived +numerous duels--owing to the fact, as was stated after his death, +that he wore a steel cuirass under his coat--and was of a generally +quarrelsome disposition, he was not regarded as a desirable member +by any of the London clubs. But he had a special desire to belong to +Brooks's, and requested Admiral Keith Stewart to propose him as a +candidate. As the only alternative would have been to fight a duel, +the admiral complied with the request, and on the night of the +voting Fitzgerald waited downstairs till the result was declared. +When the votes were examined it was discovered that every member had +cast in a black ball. But who was to beard the lion in his den +below? The members agreed that the admiral should discharge that +unpleasant duty, and on his protesting that he had fulfilled his +promise by proposing him, it was pointed out, that as there was no +white ball in the box, Fitzgerald would know that even he had not +voted for his admission. Posed for a moment the admiral at length +suggested that one of the waiters should be sent to say that there +was one black ball, and that the election would have to be postponed +for another month. But Fitzgerald would not credit that message, nor +a second which told him a recount had shown two black balls, nor a +third which said that he had been black balled all over. He was sure +the first message implied a single mistake, that the second had been +the result of two mistakes instead of one, and the third convinced +him that he had better go upstairs and investigate on his own +account. This he did in spite of all remonstrance, and when he had +gained the room where the members were assembled he reduced the +whole company to perplexity by asking each in turn whether he had +cast a black ball. Of course the answer was in the negative in every +case, and the triumphant bully naturally claimed that he had +consequently been elected unanimously. Proceeding to make himself at +home, and to order numerous bottles of champagne, which the waiters +were too frightened to refuse, he soon found himself sent to +Coventry and eventually retired. As a precaution against a +repetition of that night it was resolved to have half a dozen sturdy +constables in waiting on the following evening. But their services +were not required. Fighting Fitzgerald never showed himself at the +club again, though he boasted everywhere that he had been elected +unanimously. + +Perhaps it is hardly surprising that the national dish of England +was laid under contribution for the name of a club, but it is +somewhat confusing to find that in addition to the Beef Steak Club +founded in the reign of Queen Anne there was a Beef Steak Society of +which the origin is somewhat hazy. The former society is described +with great gusto by Ned Ward, who had for it many more pleasant +adjectives than he could find for the Kit-Cat Club. The other +society appears to have owed its existence to John Rich, of Covent +Garden theatre, and the scene-painter, George Lambert. For some +unexplained reason, but probably because of its bohemian character, +the club quickly gained many distinguished adherents, and could +number royal scions as well as plebeians in its circle. According to +Henry B. Wheatley, the "room the society dined in, a little Escurial +in itself, was most appropriately fitted up: the doors, wainscoting, +and roof of good old English oak, ornamented with gridirons as thick +as Henry VII's Chapel with the portcullis of the founder. The +society's badge was a gridiron, which was engraved upon the rings, +glass, and the forks and spoons. At the end of the dining-room was +an enormous grating in the form of a gridiron, through which the +fire was seen and the steaks handed from the kitchen. Over this were +the appropriate lines:-- + + "'If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well + It were done quickly." + +Saturday was from time immemorial the day of dining, and of late +years the season commenced in November and ended in June. The last +elected member of the fraternity was known as Boots, and, no matter +how high his social rank, there were certain lowly duties he had to +discharge until set free by another newcomer. There was another +officer known as the Bishop, whose duty it was to sing the grace, +and to read to each new member, who was brought in blindfolded, the +following oath of allegiance: "You shall attend duly, vote +impartially, and conform to our laws and orders obediently. You +shall support our dignity, promote our welfare, and at all times +behave as a worthy member of this sublime society. So Beef and +Liberty be your reward." Although there is a Beef Steak Club in +existence to-day, it must not be identified with either of the two +described above. + +Another St. James's Street club which can date back to the middle of +the eighteenth century is that known as Boodle's. The building was +erected somewhere about 1765, but has been materially improved in +more recent years. Presumably it takes its singular and not +euphonious name from its founder, but on that point no definite +information is forthcoming. Practically its only claim to +distinction resides in the fact that Gibbon, who was almost as fond +of clubs as Pepys was of taverns, was a member, as readers of his +correspondence will recollect. In 1773 and the following year the +great historian appears to have used the club as his writing-room, +for many of his letters of those years are on Boodle's note-paper. +One of the epistles recalls the fact that the clubs of London were +wont to hold their great functions, such as balls or masquerades, at +the Pantheon in Oxford Street, erected as a kind of in-town rival to +Ranelagh. It was opened in 1772, and on the fourth of May two years +later Gibbon wrote: "Last night was the triumph of Boodle's. Our +masquerade cost two thousand guineas; a sum that might have +fertilized a province, vanished in a few hours, but not without +leaving behind it the fame of the most splendid and elegant +_fźte_ that was perhaps ever given in a seat of the arts and +opulence. It would be as difficult to describe the magnificence of +the scene, as it would be easy to record the humour of the night. +The one was above, the other below, all relation. I left the +Pantheon about five this morning." Gibbon does not note that two +"gentlemen," coming from that masquerade dressed in their costumes, +"used a woman very indecently," and were so mauled by some +spectators that they had difficulty in escaping with their lives. It +is to be hoped they were not members of Boodle's, who, on the whole, +appear to have been somewhat inoffensive persons. At any rate they +allowed Gibbon ample quietude for his letter-writing. + +Two other clubs of some note in their day are now nothing but a +memory. The first of these, the Dover House, was formed by George IV +when Prince of Wales in opposition to Brooks's, where two of his +friends had been black-balled. He placed it in the care of one +Weltzie, who had been his house steward, and for a time it +threatened to become a serious rival to the other establishments in +St. James's Street. There is Selwyn's confession that the club began +to alarm the devotees of Brooks's, for it lived well, increased in +numbers, and was chary in the choice of members. That, surely, was +the club of which Selwyn tells this vivid story. "The Duke of +Cumberland holds a Pharaoh Bank, deals standing the whole night; and +last week, when the Duke of Devonshire sat down to play, he told him +there were two rules; one was, 'not to let you punt more than ten +guineas;' and the other, 'no tick.' Did you ever hear a more +princely declaration? Derby lost the gold in his pocket, and the +Prince of Wales lent him fifty guineas; on which the Duke of +Cumberland expressed some surprise, and said he had never lent fifty +pounds in his whole life. 'Then,' says the Prince of Wales, 'it is +high time for you to begin.'" + +Notwithstanding the promise it gave, Weltzie's club does not seem to +have had a protracted history. Nor did the Alfred Club survive a +half century. It was one of the earliest clubs to cater for a +distinct class, and may have failed because it was born out of due +time. This resort for men of letters, and members of kindred taste, +does not appear to have been a lively place in its first years, for +at that time Lord Dudley described it as the dullest place in the +world, full of bores, an "asylum of doting Tories and drivelling +quidnuncs." Nor was Byron, another member, much more complimentary. +His most favourable verdict pronounced the place a little too sober +and literary, while later he thought it the most tiresome of London +clubs. Then there is the testimony of another member who said he +stood it as long as he could, but gave in when the seventeenth +bishop was proposed, for it was impossible to enter the place +without being reminded of the catechism. + +Because Arthur's Club is described as having been founded in 1811 +that is no reason for overlooking the fact that its age is much more +venerable than that date would imply. The word "founded" is indeed +misleading; a more suitable term would be "reconstructed." For that +is what happened in 1811. The club can really trace an ancestry back +to 1756, when it was the "Young Club" at Arthur's, the freedom of +which Selwyn desired to present in a dice box to William Pitt. That +the club has maintained the old-time spirit to a remarkable degree +may be inferred from the fact that no foreigners are admitted as +members, and from the further regulation which does not allow a +member to entertain a friend at the club. There is a "Strangers' +room" in which visitors may wait for members, and where they may be +served with light refreshments as a matter of courtesy, but none +save members are allowed in the public rooms of the building. This +rigid exclusiveness has not militated against the prosperity of the +club. Despite a high entrance fee and a considerable annual +subscription, candidates have to wait an average of three years for +election to its limited circle of six hundred. Which goes to show +that the old type of London club is in no danger of extinction just +yet. + + + + +IV. + +PLEASURE GARDENS OF OLD LONDON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +VAUXHALL. + + +Numerous and diversified as were the outdoor resorts of old London, +no one of them ever enjoyed the patronage of the gardens at +Vauxhall. Nor can any pleasure resort of the English capital boast +so long a history. For nearly two centuries, that is, from about +1661 to 1859, it ministered to the amusement of the citizens. + +At the outset of its career it was known as New Spring Gardens, and +it continued to be described as Spring Gardens in the official +announcements, till 1786, although for many years previously the +popular designation was Vauxhall. The origin of that name is +involved in obscurity, but it is supposed to have been derived from +a family of the name of Faux who once held the manor. + +For the earliest pictures of the resort we must turn to the pages of +Pepys, whose first visit to the gardens was paid in May, 1662. On +this occasion he was accompanied by his wife, the two maids, and the +boy, the latter distinguishing himself by creeping through the +hedges and gathering roses. Three years later Pepys went to the +gardens on several occasions within a few weeks of each other, the +first visit being made in the company of several Admiralty friends, +who, with himself, were ill at ease as to what had been the result +of the meeting between the English and Dutch fleets. Still, on this, +the "hottest day that ever I felt in my life," Pepys did not fail to +find enjoyment in walking about the garden, and stayed there till +nine o'clock for a moderate expenditure of sixpence. Not many days +later he was back again, this time alone and in a philosophic mood. +The English fleet had been victorious, and the day was one of +thanksgiving. So the diarist strolled an hour in the garden +observing the behaviour of the citizens, "pulling of cherries, and +God knows what." Quite a different scene met his gaze on his third +visit that year; the place was almost deserted, for the dreaded +plague had broken out and London was empty. Then came the year of +the Great Fire, and Pepys was in too serious a mood to wend his way +to Vauxhall. But he had recovered his spirits by the May of 1667, +and gives us this record of a visit of that month: "A great deal of +company, and the weather and garden pleasant: and it is very +pleasant and cheap going thither, for a man may go to spend what he +will, or nothing, all as one. But to hear the nightingale and other +birds, and hear fiddles, and there a harp, and here a Jew's trump, +and here laughing, and there fine people walking, is mighty +divertising. Among others, there were two pretty women alone, that +walked a great while, which being discovered by some idle gentlemen, +they would needs take them up; but to see the poor ladies how they +were put to it to run from them, and they after them, and sometimes +the ladies put themselves along with other company, then the other +drew back; at last, the last did get off out of the house, and took +boat and away. I was troubled to see them abused so; and could have +found in my heart, as little desire of fighting as I have, to have +protected the ladies." But a time was to come, on a later visit, +when Pepys found himself in the company of a couple who were just as +rude as the gentlemen he had a mind to fight. For on a May evening +the next year he fell in with Harry Killigrew and young Newport, as +"very rogues as any in the town," who were "ready to take hold of +every woman that comes by them." Yet Pepys did not shake their +company; instead he went with the rogues to supper in an arbour, +though it made his heart "ake" to listen to their mad talk. When +sitting down to his diary that night he reflected on the loose +company he had been in, but came to the conclusion that it was not +wholly unprofitable to have such experience of the lives of others. +Perhaps he really enjoyed the experience; at any rate, he was back +again the following evening, and saw the young Newport at his tricks +again. Nor was that rogue singular in his behaviour. Pepys had other +illustrations on subsequent visits of the rudeness which had become +a habit with the gallants of the town. + +By the numerous references which may be found in the comedies of the +Restoration period it is too obvious that Vauxhall fully sustained +its reputation as a resort for the "rogues" of the town. But, +happily, there are not lacking many proofs that the resort was also +largely affected by more serious-minded and respectable members of +the community. It is true they were never free from the danger of +coming in contact with the seamy side of London life, but that fact +did not deter them from seeking relaxation in so desirable a spot. +There is a characteristic illustration of this blending of amusement +and annoyance in that classical number of the Spectator wherein +Addison described his visit to the garden with his famous friend Sir +Roger de Coverley. As was usual in the early days of the eighteenth +century, and for some years later, the two approached the garden by +water. They took boat on the Thames, at Temple-stairs, and soon +arrived at the landing-place. It was in the awakening month of May, +when the garden was in the first blush of its springtime beauty. +"When I considered," Addison wrote, "the fragrancy of the walks and +bowers, with the choirs of birds that sung upon the trees, and the +loose tribe of people that walked under their shades, I could not +but look upon the place as a kind of Mahometan paradise. Sir Roger +told me it put him in mind of a little coppice by his house in the +country, which his chaplain used to call an aviary of nightingales. +'You must understand,' said the knight, 'there is nothing in the +world that pleases a man in love so much as your nightingale. Ah, +Mr. Spectator, the many moon-light nights that I have walked by +myself, and thought on the widow by the music of the nightingale!' +He here fetched a deep sigh." But the worthy old man's fit of musing +was abruptly broken by too tangible a reminder that this was indeed +a kind of Mahometan paradise. + +[Illustration: TICKETS FOR VAUXHALL.] + +Up to 1732 Vauxhall appears to have been conducted in a haphazard +way. That is, no settled policy had been followed in its management +or the provision of set attractions. The owner seems to have +depended too much on the nightingales, and the natural beauties of +the place. From the date mentioned, however, a new regime began. At +that time the garden passed into the control of Jonathan Tyers, who +introduced many alterations and improvements. A regular charge was +now made for admission, and season tickets in the shape of silver +medals were instituted. Several of these were designed by Hogarth, +in recognition of whose services in that and other ways Mr. Tyers +presented him with a gold ticket entitling him to admission for +ever. Among the improvements dating from this new ownership was +adequate provision of music. An orchestra was erected, and in +addition to instrumental music many of the most famous singers of +the day were engaged. The innovations of Mr. Tyers have left their +impress on the literature of the place in prose and verse. A +somewhat cloying example of the latter is found in an effusion +describing the visit of Farmer Colin in 1741: + + "Oh, Mary! soft in feature, + I've been at dear Vauxhall; + No paradise is sweeter, + Not that they Eden call. + + "Methought, when first I entered, + Such splendours round me shone, + Into a world I ventured, + Where rose another sun: + + "While music, never cloying, + As skylarks sweet, I hear: + The sounds I'm still enjoying, + They'll always soothe my ear." + +Ten years later Mr. Tyers was paid a more eloquent tribute by the +pen of Fielding. Perhaps he took his beloved Amelia to Vauxhall for +the purpose of heightening his readers' impression of her beauty, +for it will be remembered that she was greatly distressed by the +admiration of some of the "rogues" of the place; but incidentally he +has a word of high praise for the owner of the garden. "To delineate +the particular beauties of these gardens would, indeed," the +novelist writes, "require as much pains, and as much paper too, as +to rehearse all the good actions of their master, whose life proves +the truth of an observation which I have read in some ethic writer, +that a truly elegant taste is generally accompanied with an +excellency of heart." But Fielding does not quite dodge his +responsibility to say something of the place itself, only he is +adroit enough to accentuate his words by placing them in the mouth +of the fair Amelia. "The delicious sweetness of the place," was her +verdict, "the enchanting charms of the music, and the satisfaction +which appears on every one's countenance, carried my soul almost to +heaven in its ideas." That her rapture should have been spoilt by +the impertinents who forced themselves on the little party later, is +a proof that the evils which Pepys lamented were still in evidence +at the middle of the eighteenth century. + +And another proof may be cited to show that Vauxhall was at the time +in high favour with the smart set. It occurs in a letter to Lord +Carlisle of July, 1745. The correspondent of the peer thinks he will +be interested in a piece of news from Vauxhall. One of the boxes in +the garden was, he said, painted with a scene depicting a gentleman +far gone in his cups, in the company of two ladies of pleasure, and +his hat lying on the ground beside him. This appealed so strongly to +a certain marquis as typical of his own tastes that he appropriated +the box for his own use, stipulating, however, that a marquis's +coronet be painted over the hat. Notwithstanding the high character +attributed to him by Fielding, Mr. Tyers agreed to the proposal, and +the waiters were given authority to instruct any company that might +enter that box that it belonged to the marquis in question, and must +be vacated if he came on the scene. + +Although changes were made from time to time, the general +arrangement of Vauxhall remained as it existed at the height of Mr. +Tyers' tenancy. The place extended to about twelve acres, laid out +in formal walks but richly wooded. The principal entrance led into +what was known as the Grand Walk, a tree-lined promenade some three +hundred yards in length, and having the South Walk parallel. The +latter, however, was distinguished by its three triumphal arches and +its terminal painting of the ruins of Palmyra. Intersecting these +avenues was the Grand Cross Walk, which traversed the garden from +north to south. In addition there were those numerous "Dark Walks" +which make so frequent an appearance in the literature of the place. +Other parts of the garden were known as the Rural Downs, the Musical +Bushes, and the Wilderness. In the farthest removed of these the +nightingales and other birds for which Vauxhall was famous +contributed their quota to the attractions of the place. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO VAUXHALL.] + + +In addition to the supper-boxes and pavilions, which were arranged +in long rows or in curving fashion, the buildings consisted of the +orchestra and the Rotunda, the latter being a circular building +seventy feet in diameter. It was fitted up in a style thought +attractive in those days, was provided with an orchestra where the +band played on wet evenings, and was connected with a long gallery +known as the Picture Room. The amusements provided by the management +varied considerably. Even at their best, however, they would be +voted tame by amusement-seekers of the twentieth century. Fireworks +took their place on the programme in 1798, and nearly twenty years +later what was deemed a phenomenal attraction was introduced in the +person of Mme. Saqui of Paris, who used to climb a long rope leading +to the firework platform, whence she descended to the accompaniment +of a "tempest of fireworks." One of the earliest and most popular +attractions was that known as the Cascade, which was disclosed to +view about nine o'clock in the evening. It was a landscape scene +illuminated by hidden lights, the central feature of which was a +miller's house and waterfall having the "exact appearance of water." +More daring efforts were to come later, such as the allegorical +transparency of the Prince of Wales leaning against a horse held by +Britannia, a Submarine Cavern, a Hermit's Cottage, and balloon +ascents. The most glorious of these attractions presented a sordid +sight by daylight, but in the dim light of the countless lamps hung +in the trees at night passed muster with the most critical. + +[Illustration: THE CITIZEN AT VAUXHALL.] + +Enough evidence has been produced to show how the "rogues" amused +themselves at Vauxhall, but the milder pleasures of sober citizens +have not been so fully illustrated. Yet there is no lack of +information on that score. There is, for example, that lively paper +in the Connoisseur which gives an eavesdropping report of the +behaviour and conversation of a London merchant and his wife and two +daughters. The Connoisseur took notes from the adjoining box. + +"After some talk, 'Come, come,' said the old don, 'it is high time, +I think, to go to supper.' + +"To this the ladies readily assented; and one of the misses said, +'Do let us have a chick, papa.' + +"'Zounds!' said the father, 'they are half-a-crown a-piece, and no +bigger than a sparrow.' + +"Here the old lady took him up, 'You are so stingy, Mr. Rose, there +is no bearing with you. When one is out upon pleasure, I love to +appear like somebody: and what signifies a few shillings once and +away, when a body is about it?' + +"This reproof so effectually silenced the old gentleman, that the +youngest miss had the courage to put in a word for some ham +likewise: accordingly the waiter was called, and dispatched by the +old lady with an order for a chicken and a plate of ham. When it was +brought, our honest cit twirled the dish about three or four times, +and surveyed it with a very settled countenance; then taking up the +slice of ham, and dangling it to and fro on the end of his fork, +asked the waiter how much there was of it. + +"'A shilling's worth, Sir,' said the fellow. + +"'Prithee,' said the don, 'how much dost think it weighs? An ounce? +A shilling an ounce! that is sixteen shillings per pound! A +reasonable profit truly! Let me see, suppose now the whole ham +weighs thirty pounds; at a shilling per ounce, that is, sixteen +shillings per pound, why! your master makes exactly twenty-four +pounds of every ham; and if he buys them at the best hand, and salts +and cures them himself, they don't stand him in ten shillings +a-piece.' + +"The old lady bade him hold his nonsense, declared herself ashamed +for him, and asked him if people must not live: then taking a +coloured handkerchief from her own neck, she tucked it into his +shirt-collar (whence it hung like a bib), and helped him to a leg of +the chicken. The old gentleman, at every bit he put into his mouth, +amused himself with saying, 'There goes two-pence, there goes +three-pence, there goes a groat. Zounds, a man at these places +should not have a swallow as wide as a torn-tit.'" + +But having been launched on a career of temporary extravagance, the +honest citizen grew reckless. So he called for a bottle of port, and +enjoyed it so much as to call for a second. But the bill brought him +to his senses again, and he left Vauxhall with the conviction that +one visit was enough for a lifetime. + +So long as Vauxhall existed the thinness and dearness of its plates +of ham were proverbial. There is a legend to the effect that a man +secured the position of carver on the understanding that he was able +to cut a ham so thin that the slices would cover the entire garden. +Writer after writer taxed his ingenuity to find metaphors applicable +to those shadowy slices. One scribe in 1762 declared that a +newspaper could be read through them; Pierce Egan decided that they +were not cut with a knife but shaved off with a plane; and a third +averred that they tasted more of the knife than anything else. + +Of course Goldsmith made his philosophical Chinaman visit Vauxhall, +the other members of the party consisting of the man in black, a +pawnbroker's widow, and Mr. Tibbs, the second-rate beau, and his +wife. The Chinaman was delighted, and, by a strange coincidence, +Addison's metaphor crops up once more in his rapturous description. +"The illuminations began before we arrived, and I must confess that, +upon entering the gardens, I found every sense overpaid with more +than expected pleasure; the lights everywhere glimmering through the +scarcely moving trees; the full-bodied concert bursting on the +stillness of the night; the natural concert of the birds, in the +more retired part of the grove, vying with that which was formed by +art; the company gaily-dressed looking satisfaction, and the tables +spread with various delicacies, all conspired to fill my imagination +with the visionary happiness of the Arabian lawgiver, and lifted me +into an ecstasy of admiration. 'Head of Confucius, cried I to my +friend, 'this is fine! this unites rural beauty with courtly +magnificence: if we except the virgins of immortality that hang on +every tree, and may be plucked at every desire, I do 'not see how +this falls short of Mahomet's paradise!'" + +But the Celestial rhapsody was interrupted by Mr. Tibbs, who wanted +to know the plan of campaign for the evening. This was a matter on +which Mrs. Tibbs and the widow could not agree, but an adjournment +to a box in the meantime was accepted as a compromise. Even there, +however, the feminine warfare was continued, to the final triumph of +Mrs. Tibbs, who, being prevailed upon to sing, not only distracted +the nerves of her listeners, but prolonged her melody to such an +extent that the widow was robbed of a sight of the water-works. + +No account of Vauxhall however brief should overlook the attractions +the place had to the sentimental young lady of the late eighteenth +century. From the character of the songs which the vocalists +affected it might be inferred that love-lorn misses were expected to +form the bulk of their audience. Perhaps that was so; for the Dark +Walks were ideal places in which to indulge the tender sentiment. +The elder daughter of the Connoisseur's citizen confessed a +preference for those walks because "they were so solentary," and Tom +Brown noted that the ladies who had an inclination to be private +took delight in those retired and shady avenues, and in the windings +and turnings of the little Wilderness, where both sexes met and were +of mutual assistance in losing their way. + +Smollett, however, made his impressionable Lydia Melford sum up the +attractions of Vauxhall for the young lady of the period. It is a +tender picture she draws, with the wherry in which she made her +journey, "so light and slender that we looked like so many fairies +sailing in a nutshell." There was a rude awakening at the +landing-place, where the rough and ready hangers-on of the place +rushed into the water to drag the boat ashore; but that momentary +disturbance was forgotten when Miss Lydia entered the resort. + +"Imagine to yourself, my dear Letty," she wrote, "a spacious garden, +part laid out in delightful walks, bounded with high hedges and +trees, and paved with gravel; part exhibiting a wonderful assemblage +of the most picturesque and striking objects, pavilions, lodges, +groves, grottos, lawns, temples, and cascades; porticos, colonnades, +and rotundas; adorned with pillars, statues, and paintings; the +whole illuminated with an infinite number of lamps, disposed in +different figures of suns, stars, and constellations; the place +crowded with the gayest company, ranging through those blissful +shades, or supping in different lodges, on cold collations, +enlivened with mirth, freedom, and good humour." Lydia has a word, +too, for the musical charms of the place, and seems pleased to have +heard a celebrated vocalist despite the fact that her singing made +her head ache through excess of pleasure. All this was enhanced, no +doubt, by the presence of that Mr. Barton, the country gentleman of +good fortune, who was so "particular" in his attentions, + +Perhaps the best proof of the place Vauxhall occupied in popular +esteem is afforded by the number of occasions on which the garden +was chosen as the scene of a national event. This was notably the +case in 1813, when a pretentious festival took place in the grounds +in celebration of the victory achieved at Vittoria by the Allies +under Wellington. An elaborate scheme of decoration, both interior +and exterior, was a striking feature of the occasion, while to +accommodate the numerous dinner guests a large temporary saloon +became necessary. This was constructed among the trees, the trunks +of which were adorned with the flags of the Allies and other +trophies. The Duke of York presided over the banquet, and the +company included, in addition to Wellington, most of the royal and +other notables of the day. Dinner, whereat the inevitable ham +appeared but probably not so finely cut, lasted from five to nearly +nine o'clock, at which hour the ladies and general guests of the +evening began to arrive. Vauxhall outdid itself in illuminations +that night. And the extra attractions included a transparency of the +King, a mammoth picture of Wellington, a supply of rockets that rose +to a "superior height," and innumerable bands, some of which +discoursed music from the forest part of the garden, presenting some +idea of "soldiers in a campaign regaling and reposing themselves +under the shade." In fact, the whole occasion was so unusual that +the electrified reporter of the Annual Register was at his wit's end +to know what to praise most. For a moment he was overpowered by the +exalted rank of the leading personages, and then fascinated by the +charms and costumes of the ladies, only to find fresh subjects for +further adjectives in the fineness of the weather, the blaze of +lights that seemed to create an artificial day, and the unity of +sentiment and disposition that pervaded all alike. + +At this date, of course, the Tyers of Fielding's eulogy had been +dead some years. He was succeeded by his two sons, one of whom, Tom, +was a favourite with Dr. Johnson. At the Vittoria fete the resort +was still controlled by the Tyers family, but it passed out of their +possession in 1821, and had many owners before the end came in 1859. + +Another Amelia, however, was to visit Vauxhall before its gates were +closed for the last time,--the Amelia beloved of all readers of +"Vanity Fair." Naturally, she does not go alone. Thackeray had too +much affection for that gentle creature to make her face such an +ordeal. No, there was the careless, high-spirited George Osborne, +and the ever-faithful Dobbin, and the slow-witted Jos Sedley, and +the scheming Rebecca Sharp. That Vauxhall episode was to play a +pregnant part in the destiny of Becky. Such an auspicious occasion +would surely lead to a proposal from the nearly-captured Jos. For a +time it seemed as though such might be the case. Becky and her +corpulent knight lost themselves in one of those famous Dark Walks, +and the situation began to develop in tenderness and sentiment. Jos +was so elated that he told Becky his favourite Indian stories for +the sixth time, giving an opening for the lady's "Horn I should like +to see India!" But at that critical moment the bell rang for the +fireworks, and at the same time tolled the knell of Becky's chances +of becoming Mrs. Jos Sedley. For the fireworks somehow created a +thirst, and the bowl of rack punch for which Jos called, and which +he was left to consume, as the young ladies did not drink it and +Osborne did not like it, speedily worked its disastrous effects. In +short, as we all know, Jos made a fool of himself, and when he came +to himself the following morning and saw himself as Osborne wished +he should, all his tender passion for Becky evaporated once and for +all. + +Perhaps these visitors to Vauxhall who never had an existence are +more real to us to-day than all the countless thousands of men and +women who really trod its gravel walks. But the real and the unreal +alike are of the past, a memory for the fancy to play with as is +that of Vauxhall itself. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +RANELAGH. + + +During the latter half of the eighteenth century Vauxhall had a +serious rival in Ranelagh. No doubt the success of the former was +the cause of the latter. It may have been, too, that as the gardens +at Vauxhall became more and more a popular resort without +distinction of class, the need was felt of a rendezvous which should +be a little more select. + +No doubt exists as to how Ranelagh came by its name. Toward the end +of the seventeenth century the Earl of Ranelagh built himself a +house at Chelsea, and surrounded it with gardens which were +voted the best in England for their size. This peer, who was +Paymaster-General of the Forces, seems to have taken keen pleasure +in house-planning and the laying out of grounds. Among the +manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde are many letters written by +him to the bearer of that title in the early eighteenth century, +which show that he assumed the oversight of building operations at +Ormonde's London house at that time. The minute attention he gave to +all kinds of detail's proves that he had gained experience by the +building of his own house not many years before. + +But Ranelagh house and gardens had a short history as the residence +and pleasance of a nobleman. The earl died in 1712, and in 1730 it +became necessary to secure an act of Parliament to vest his property +at Chelsea in trustees. Three years later a sale took place, and the +house and larger portion of the grounds were purchased by persons +named Swift and Timbrell. It was at this stage the project of +establishing a rival to Vauxhall first took shape. The idea seems to +have originated with James Lacy, that patriotic patentee of Drury +Lane theatre who raised a band of two hundred men at the time of the +Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. He it was, also, who afterwards became a +partner with David Garrick. But, however successful he was to prove +as an organizer of volunteers, Lacy was not to shine as the founder +of a rival to Vauxhall. For some unexplained reason he abandoned his +share in the Ranelagh project, and eventually the matter was taken +in hand by Sir Thomas Robinson, who soon secured sufficient +financial support to carry the plan to a successful issue. Sir +Thomas provided a considerable share of the capital of sixteen +thousand pounds himself, and took a leading part in the management +of Ranelagh till his death in 1777. His gigantic figure and cheery +manners earned for him the titles of Ranelagh's Maypole and Gardand +of Delights. + +As the gardens were already laid out in a handsome manner, the chief +matter requiring attention was the planning and erection of a +suitable main building. Hence the erection of the famous Rotunda, +the architectural credit of which is given to one William Jones. But +that honour is disputed. It is claimed that no less a person than +Henry VIII was responsible for the idea on which the Rotunda was +based. That king, according to one historian, caused a great +banqueting-house to be erected, eight hundred feet in compass, +after the manner of a theatre. "And in the midst of the same +banqueting-house," continued the historian, "was set up a great +pillar of timber, made of eight great masts, bound together with +iron bands for to hold them together: for it was a hundred and +thirty-four feet in length, and cost six pounds thirteen shillings +and fourpence to set it upright. The banqueting-house was covered +over with canvas, fastened with ropes and iron as fast as might be +devised; and within the said house was painted the heavens, with +stars, sun, moon, and clouds, with divers other things made above +men's heads. And above the high pillar of timber that stood upright +in the midst, was made stages of timber for organs and other +instruments to stand upon, and men to play on them." Such, it is +asserted, was the model the architect of the Rotunda at Ranelagh had +in view. + +And really there appears to be good ground for laying this charge of +constructive plagiarism against the memory of William Jones. It is +true the building was on a scale somewhat smaller than that erected +at the order of Henry VIII, for its circumference was limited to +four hundred and fifty feet, while its greatest diameter was but one +hundred and eighty-five feet. But the planning of the interior of the +Rotunda bore a suspicious likeness to the royal banqueting-house. +The central portion of the building was a square erection consisting +of pillars and arches, and seems to have been a direct copy of those +eight great masts. Nor did the parallel end there. In the Rotunda at +Ranelagh as in the king's banqueting-house, this central +construction was designed as the place for the musicians. And even +the ceiling was something of a copy, for that of the Rotunda was +divided into panels, in each of which was painted a celestial figure +on a sky-blue ground. + +On the general idea of the banqueting-house, however, Mr. Jones made +a number of improvements. The entrances to the Rotunda were four in +number, corresponding with the points of the compass, each +consisting of a portico designed after the manner of a triumphal +arch. The interior of the building presented, save for its central +erection, the aspect of a modern opera-house. Around the entire wall +was a circle of boxes, divided by wainscoting, and each decorated +with a "droll painting" and hung with a candle-lamp. Above these was +another tier of boxes, similarly fitted, each of them, fifty-two in +number, having accommodation for seven or eight persons. Higher up +was a circle of sixty windows. Although the building itself was +constructed of wood, it could boast of a plaster floor, which was +covered with matting. Scattered over that floor were numerous tables +covered with red baize whereon refreshments were served. Such was +the general arrangement of the Rotunda, but one alteration had +speedily to be made. It was quickly discovered that the central +erection was ill adapted for the use of the orchestra, and +consequently it was transformed into four fireplaces, which were +desirable locations in the cold months of the year. + +Perhaps no surprise need be felt that Ranelagh was not ready when it +was opened. What public resort ever has been? The consequence was +that there were at least two opening ceremonies. The first took the +form of a public breakfast on April 5th, 1742, and was followed by +other early repasts of a like nature. One of these, seventeen days +later, provided Horace Walpole with the subject of the first of his +many descriptions of the place. "I have been breakfasting this +morning at Ranelagh Gardens;" he wrote, "they have built an immense +amphitheatre, with balconies full of little ale houses; it is in +rivalry to Vauxhall, and costs above twelve thousand pounds. The +building is not finished, but they get great sums by people going to +see it and breakfasting in the house: there were yesterday no less +than three hundred and eighty persons, at eighteen pence a piece." +About a month later another inaugural ceremony took place, which +Walpole duly reported. "Two nights ago Ranelagh Gardens were opened +at Chelsea; the prince, princess, duke, much nobility, and much mob +besides were there. There is a vast amphitheatre, finely gilt, +painted, and illuminated; into which everybody that loves eating, +drinking, staring, or crowding is admitted for twelve pence. The +building and disposition of the gardens cost sixteen thousand +pounds. Twice a week there are to be ridottos at guinea tickets, for +which you are to have a supper and music. I was there last night, +but did not feel the joy of it. Vauxhall is a little better, for the +garden is pleasanter, and one goes by water." In time, however, +Walpole was converted to the superior attractions of the new resort. +Two years later he confessed that he went every night to Ranelagh, +that it had totally beaten Vauxhall, and that it had the patronage +of everybody who was anybody. Lord Chesterfield bad fallen so much +in love with the place that he had ordered all his letters to be +directed thither. + +[Illustration: VENETIAN MASQUERADE AT RANELAGH, 1749.] + +Many red-letter days are set down in the history of Ranelagh during +the sixty years of its existence, but its historians are agreed that +the most famous of the entertainments given there was the Venetian +Masquerade in honour of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle on April 26th, +1749. For the most spirited narrative of that festival, recourse +must--be had to the letters of Walpole. Peace was proclaimed on the +25th, and the next day, Walpole wrote, "was what was called a +Jubilee Masquerade in the Venetian manner, at Ranelagh; it had +nothing Venetian in it, but was by far the best understood and +prettiest spectacle I ever saw; nothing in a fairy tale even +surpassed it. One of the proprietors, who is a German, and belongs +to the Court, had got my Lady Yarmouth to persuade the King to order +it. It began at three o'clock, and about five people of fashion +began to go. When you entered you found the whole garden filled with +masks and spread with tents, which remained all night very +commodely. In one quarter was a Maypole dressed with garlands and +people dancing round it to a tabor and pipes and rustic music, all +masqued, as were all the various bands of music that were dispersed +in different parts of the garden; some like huntsmen with French +horns, some like peasants, and a troop of harlequins and +scaramouches in the little open temple on the mount. On the Canal +was a sort of gondola adorned with flags and streamers, and filled +with music, rowing about. All round the outside of the amphitheatre +were shops filled with Dresden china, Japan, etc., and all the +shopkeepers in mask. The amphitheatre was illuminated, and in the +middle was a circular bower, composed of all kinds of firs in tubs, +from twenty to thirty feet high; under them orange trees with small +lamps in each orange, and below them all sorts of the finest +auriculas in pots; and festoons of natural flowers hanging from tree +to tree. Between the arches, too, were firs, and smaller ones in the +balconies above. There were booths for tea and wine, gaming tables +and dancing, and about two thousand persons. In short it pleased me +more than anything I ever saw." + +But there was another side to all this. Vauxhall evidently looked on +with envious eyes, and those who were interested in the welfare of +that resort managed to engineer opposition to the Venetian fete in +the form of satirical prints and letterpress. Perhaps they did more. +At any rate it is a significant fact that shortly afterwards the +justices of Middlesex were somehow put in motion, and made such +representations to the authorities at Ranelagh that they were +obliged to give an undertaking not to indulge in any more public +masques. This, however, did not prevent the subscription carnival in +celebration of a royal birthday in May, 1750, when there was "much +good company but more bad company," the members of which were +"dressed or undress'd" as they thought fit. + +Ranelagh was evidently an acquired taste. It has been seen that +Walpole did not take to the place at first, but afterwards became +one of its most enthusiastic admirers. And there was a famous friend +of Walpole who passed through the same experience. This was the poet +Gray, who, three years after the resort was opened declared that he +had no intention of following the crowd to Ranelagh. + +"I have never been at Ranelagh Gardens since they were opened," is +his confession to a friend. "They do not succeed: people see it +once, or twice, and so they go to Vauxhall." + +"Well, but is it not a very great design, very new, finely lighted?" + +"Well, yes, aye, very fine truly, so they yawn and go to Vauxhall, +and then it's too hot, and then it's too cold, and here's a wind and +there's a damp." + +Perhaps it is something of a surprise to find the author of the +"Elegy" interested in public gardens at all, but given such an +interest it would have been thought that Ranelagh was more to his +taste than Vauxhall. And so it proved in the end. Like his Eton +friend Walpole, he became a convert and so hearty an admirer of the +Chelsea resort that he spent many evenings there in the August of +1746. + +Other notable visitors to Ranelagh included Goldsmith and Sir Joshua +Reynolds, and Dr. Johnson and Tobias Smollett. It seems more than +likely that Ranelagh with the first couple figured largely in that +round of pleasures which kept them from the meetings of The Club to +'the disgust of Beauclerk, but Goldsmith might have justified his +visits on the plea that he was gathering "local colour" for that +letter by Belinda which he introduced into the "Citizen of the +World." No doubt he saw many a colonel there answering to that ft +irresistible fellow "who made such an impression on Belinda's +heart." So well-dressed, so neat, so sprightly, and plays about one +so agreeably, that I vow he has as much spirits as the Marquis of +Monkeyman's Italian greyhound. I first saw him at Ranelagh: he +shines there: he is nothing without Ranelagh, and Ranelagh nothing +without him. "Perhaps Sir Joshua would have excused his idling at +Ranelagh on the ground of looking for models, or the hints it +afforded for future pictures." + +With Dr. Johnson it was different. Ranelagh was to him a "place of +innocent recreation" and nothing more. The "_COUP d'ceil_ was +the finest thing he had ever seen," Boswell reports, and then makes +his own comparison between that place and the Pantheon. "The truth +is, Ranelagh is of a more beautiful form; more of it, or rather, +indeed, the whole Rotunda, appears at once, and it is better +lighted. However, as Johnson observed, we saw the Pantheon in time +of mourning, when there was a dull uniformity; whereas we had seen +Ranelagh, when the view was enlivened with a gay profusion of +colours." No small part of Johnson's pleasure during his visits to +Ranelagh was derived from uncomplimentary reflections on the mental +conditions of its frequenters. Boswell had been talking one day in +the vein of his hero's poem on the "Vanity of Human Wishes," and +commented on the persistence with which things were done upon the +supposition of happiness, as witness the splendid places of public +amusement, crowded with company. + +"Alas, Sir," said Johnson in a kind of appendix to his poem, "these +are all only struggles for happiness. When I first entered Ranelagh, +it gave an expansion and gay sensation, to my mind, such as I never +experienced any where else. But, as Xerxes wept when he viewed his +immense army, and considered that not one of that great multitude +would be alive a hundred years afterwards, so it went to my heart to +consider that there was not one in all that brilliant circle, that +was not afraid to go home and think; but that the thoughts of each +individual there would be distressing when alone." + +Smollett, like Goldsmith, made good use of his visits to Ranelagh. +With the enterprise of the observant novelist, he turned his +experiences into "copy." And with that ubiquity of vision which is +the privilege of the master of fiction he was able to see the place +from two points of view. To Matt. Bramble, that devotee of solitude +and mountains, the Chelsea resort was one of the worst inflictions +of London. + +"What are the amusements of Ranelagh?" he asked. "One half of the +company are following one another's tails, in an eternal circle; +like so many blind asses in an olive-mill, where they can neither +discourse, distinguish, nor be distinguished; while the other half +are drinking hot water, under the denomination of tea, till nine or +ten o'clock at night, to keep them awake for the rest of the +evening. As for the orchestra, the vocal music especially, it is +well for the performers that they cannot be heard distinctly." But +Smollett does not leave Ranelagh at that. Lydia also visited the +place and was enraptured with everything. To her it looked like an +enchanted palace "of a genio, adorned with the most exquisite +performances of painting, carving, and gilding, enlighted with a +thousand golden lamps, that emulate the noon-day sun; crowded with +the great, the rich, the gay, the happy, and the fair; glittering +with cloth of gold and silver, lace, embroidery, and precious +stones. While these exulting sons and daughters of felicity tread +this round of pleasure, or regale in different parties, and separate +lodges, with fine imperial tea and other delicious refreshments, +their ears are entertained with the most ravishing music, both +instrumental and vocal." If the management of Ranelagh had been on +the lookout for a press agent, they would doubtless have preferred +Smollett in his Lydia mood. + +Only occasionally was the even tenor of Ranelagh amusement disturbed +by an untoward event. One such occasion was due to that notorious +Dr. John Hill who figures so largely in Isaac Disraeli's "Calamities +and Quarrels of Authors." Few men have tried more ways of getting a +living than he. As a youth he was apprenticed to an apothecary, but +in early manhood he turned to botany and travelled all over England +in search of rare plants which he intended drying by a special +process and publishing by subscription. When that scheme failed, he +took to the stage, and shortly after wrote the words of an opera +which was sent to Rich and rejected. This was the beginning of +authorship with Hill, whose pen, however, brought more quarrels on +his head than guineas into his pockets. And it was his authorship +which connected him with the history of Ranelagh. One of Hill's +ventures was to provide the town with a daily paper called The +Inspector, in the pages of which he made free with the character of +an Irish gentleman named Brown. Usually the men Hill attacked were +writers, who flayed him with their pens whenever they thought there +was occasion. Hence the conclusive epigram with which Garrick +rewarded an attack on himself: + + "For physic and farces, his equal there _scarce_ is, + His farces are physic, his physic a farce is." + +[Illustration: THE ASSAULT ON DR. JOHN HILL AND RANELAGH.] + +But Mr. Brown was a man of action, not words. So he sought out his +assailant at Ranelagh on the night of May eth, 1752, and caned him +in the Rotunda in the presence of a large company. Here was +excitement indeed for Ranelagh, and the affair was the talk of the +town for many a day afterwards. Of course Hill did not retort in +kind; on the contrary he showed himself to be an abject coward and +took his thrashing without any bodily protest. That he made loud +vocal protest seems likely enough. Hence the point of the pictorial +satire which was quickly on sale at the London print-shops. This +drawing depicted Hill being seized by the ear by the irate Mr. +Brown, who is represented as exclaiming, "Draw your sword, libeller, +if you have the spirit, of a mouse." + +The only reply of Hill was, "What? against an illiterate fellow that +can't spell? I prefer a drubbing. Oh, Mr. P----, get me the +constable, for here's a gentleman going to murder me!" + +Mr. P----, who is seen hastening from behind a pillar of the +Rotunda, replies: "Yes, sir, yes. Pray young gentleman don't hurt +him, for he never has any meaning in what he writes." + +Hill took to his bed, raised an action against Mr. Brown for +assault, and proclaimed from the housetops that there was a +conspiracy to murder him. This brought forth a second print, showing +Hill in bed and attended by doctors, one of whom, in reply to the +patient's plea that he had no money, responds, "Sell your sword, it +is only an encumbrance." + +Another lively episode disturbed the peace of Ranelagh on the night +of May 11th, 1764. Several years previously some daring spirits +among the wealthier classes had started a movement for the abolition +of vails, otherwise "tips," to servants, and the leaders of that +movement were subjected to all kinds of annoyance from the class +concerned. On the night in question the resentment of coachmen, +footmen and other servants developed into a serious riot at +Ranelagh, special attention being paid to those members of the +nobility and gentry who would not suffer their employees to take +vails from their guests. "They, began," says a chronicle of the +time, "by hissing their masters, they then broke all the lamps and +outside windows with stones; and afterwards putting out their +flambeaux, pelted the company, in a most audacious manner, with +brickbats, etc., whereby several were greatly hurt." This attack was +not received in the submissive spirit of Dr. Hill; the assaulted +gentry drew their swords to beat back the rioters and severely +wounded not a few. They probably enjoyed the diversion from the +ordinary pleasures of Ranelagh. + +How gladly the frequenters of the gardens welcomed the slightest +departure from the normal proceedings of the place may be inferred +from the importance which was attached to an incident which took +place soon after 1770. Public mourning was in order for some one, +and of course the regular patrons of Ranelagh expressed their +obedience to the court edict by appropriate attire. One evening, +however, it was observed that there were two gentlemen in the +gardens dressed in coloured clothes. It was obvious they were +strangers to the place and unknown to each other. Their +inappropriate costume quickly attracted attention, and became the +subject of general conversation, and, such a dearth was there of +excitement, Lord Spencer Hamilton aroused feverish interest by +laying a wager that before the night was out he would have the two +strangers walking arm in arm. The wager taken, he set to work in an +adroit manner. Watching one of the strangers until he sat down, he +immediately placed himself by his side, and entered into +conversation. A few minutes later Lord Spencer left his new friend +in search of the other stranger, to whom he addressed some civil +remark, and accompanied on a stroll round the gardens. Coming back +eventually to the seat on which the first stranger was still +resting, Lord Spencer had no difficulty in persuading his second new +acquaintance to take a seat also, The conversation of the trio +naturally became general, and a little later Lord Spencer suggested +a promenade. On starting off he offered his arm to the first +stranger, who paid the same compliment to stranger number two, with +the result that Lord Spencer was able to direct the little +procession to the vicinity of his friends, and so demonstrate that +the wager was won. So simple an incident furnished Ranelagh with +great amusement for an entire evening! + +What the management provided by way of entertainment has been +partially hinted at. Music appears to have been the chief stand-by +from the first and was provided at breakfast time as well as at +night. Many notable players and singers appeared in the Rotunda, +including Mozart, who, as a boy of eight, played some of his own +compositions on the harpsichord and organ, and Dibdin, the famous +ballad singer. Fireworks were a later attraction, as also was the +exhibition named Mount Etna, which called for a special building. +Occasional variety was provided by regattas and shooting-matches, +and balloon-ascents, and displays of diving. + +No doubt Ranelagh was at its best and gayest when the scene of a +masquerade. But unfortunately those entertainments had their +sinister side. Fielding impeaches them in "Amelia" by their results, +and the novelist was not alone in his criticism. The Connoisseur +devoted a paper to the evils of those gatherings, deriding them as +foreign innovations, and recalling the example of the lady who had +proposed to attend one in the undress garb of Iphigenia. "What the +above-mentioned lady had the hardiness to attempt alone," the writer +continued, "will (I am assured) be set on foot by our persons of +fashion, as soon as the hot days come in. Ranelagh is the place +pitched upon for their meeting; where it is proposed to have a +masquerade _al fresco,_ and the whole company are to display +all their charms in _puris naturalibus._ The pantheon of the +heathen gods, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Titian's prints, will supply +them with sufficient variety of undressed characters." A cynic might +harbour the suspicion that this critic was in the pay of Vauxhall. + +Even he, however, did not utter the worst about the amusements of +Ranelagh. The truth was known to all but confessed by few. The +outspoken Matt. Bramble in the indictment cited above gave emphatic +utterance to the fact that the chief recreation at Ranelagh was +worse than none at all. "One may be easily tired" of the place, was +the verdict of a noble lord in 1746; "it is always the same." And to +the same effect is the conclusion reached by a French visitor, who +was delighted for five minutes, and then oppressed with satiety and +indifference. When the visitor had made the promenade of the +Rotunda, there was practically nothing for him to do save make it +again. Hence the mill-round of monotony so aptly expressed by the +Suffolk village poet, Robert Bloomfield, who was lured to Ranelagh +one night shortly before its doors were finally closed. + + "To Kanelagh, once in my life, + By good-natur'd force I was driven; + The nations had ceas'd their long strife, + And Peace beam'd her radiance from Heaven. + What wonders were there to be found, + That a clown might enjoy or disdain? + First, we trac'd the gay ring all around; + Aye--_and then we went_ round _it_ again. + + "A thousand feet rustled on mats, + A carpet that once had been green, + Men bow'd with their outlandish hats, + With corners so fearfully keen! + Fair maids, who, at home in their haste, + Had left all their clothes but a train, + Swept the floor clean, as slowly they pac'd, + Then.--walked round and swept it again. + + "The music was truly enchanting, + Right glad was I when I came near it; + But in fashion I found I was wanting-- + 'Twas the fashion to walk, and not hear it. + A fine youth, as beauty beset him, + Look'd smilingly round on the train, + 'The King's nephew,' they cried, as they met him. + Then-we _went_ round and met _him_ again. + + "Huge paintings of heroes and peace + Seem'd to smile at the sound of the fiddle, + Proud to fill up each tall shining space, + Round the lantern that stood in the middle. + And George's head too; Heaven screen him; + May he finish in peace his long reign: + And what did we when we had seen him? + Why-went round and _saw him again_." + +That poem ought to have killed Ranelagh had the resort 'not been +near its demise at the time it was written. But there was to be one +final flare-up ere the end came. On a June night in 1803 the Rotunda +was the scene of its last ball. The occasion was the Installation of +the Knights of the Bath, and produced, on the authority of the +Annual Register, "one of the most splendid entertainments ever given +in this country." The cost was estimated at seven thousand pounds, +which may well have been the case when the guests ate cherries at a +guinea a pound and peas at fourteen shillings a quart. That fźte was +practically the last of Ranelagh; about a month later the music +ceased and the lamps were extinguished for ever. And the "struggles +for happiness" of sixty years were ended. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +OTHER FAVOURITE RESORTS. + + +Prior to the eighteenth century the Londoner was ill provided with +outdoor pleasure resorts. It is true he had the Paris Garden at +Bankside, which Donald Lupton declared might be better termed "a +foul den than a fair garden. It's a pity," he added, "so good a +piece of ground is no better employed;" but, apart from two or three +places of that character, his _al fresco_ amusements were +exceedingly limited. It should not be forgotten, however, that the +ale-houses of those days frequently had a plot of land attached to +them, wherein a game of bowls might be enjoyed. + +But the object-lesson of Vauxhall changed all that. From the date +when that resort passed into the energetic management of Jonathan +Tyers, smaller pleasure gardens sprang into existence all over +London. By the middle of the eighteenth century they had grown so +numerous that it would be a serious undertaking to attempt an +exhaustive catalogue. As, however, they had so many features in +common, and passed through such kindred stages of development, the +purpose of this survey will be sufficiently served by a brief +history of four or five typical examples. + +How general was the impression that Vauxhall had served as a model +in most instances may be seen from the remark of a historian of 1761 +to the effect that the Marylebone Garden was to be "considered as a +kind of humble imitation of Vauxhall." Had Pepys' Diary been in +print at that date, and known to the proprietor, he would have been +justified in resenting the comparison. For, as a matter of fact, the +diarist, under the date of May 7th, 1668, had actually set down this +record: "Then we abroad to Marrowbone, and there walked in the +garden, the first time I ever was there, and a pretty place it is." +At a first glance this entry might be regarded as disposing of the +charge of imitation on the part of Marylebone Gardens. Such, +however, is not strictly the case. It is true there were gardens +here at the middle of the seventeenth century, but they were part of +the grounds of the old manor-house, and practically answered to +those tavern bowling-alleys to which reference has been made. The +principal of these was attached to the tavern known as the Rose, +which was a favourite haunt of the Duke of Buckingham, and the scene +of his end-of-the-season dinner at which he always gave the toast: +"May as many of us as remain unhanged next spring meet here again." + +What needs to be specially noted in connection with the history of +this resort is, that it was not until 1737--five years after the +opening of Vauxhall under Tyers--that the owner of Marylebone +Gardens, Daniel Gough, sufficiently put the place in order to +warrant a charge for admission. In the following year the place was +formally advertised as a resort for evening amusement, that +announcement marking a definite competition with Vauxhall. The +buildings at this time comprised a spacious garden-orchestra fitted +with an organ, and what was called the Great Room, an apartment +specially adapted for balls and suppers. + +Many singers, some famous and other notorious, entertained the +patrons of Marylebone Gardens. From 1747 to 1752 the principal +female vocalist was Mary Ann Falkner, who, after a respectable +marriage, became the subject of an arrangement on the part of her +idle husband whereby she passed under the protection of the Earl of +Halifax. She bore two children to that peer, and so maintained her +power over him that for her sake he broke off an engagement with a +wealthy lady. Another songstress, fair and frail, was the celebrated +Nan Catley, the daughter of a coachman, whose beauty of face and +voice and freedom of manners quickly made her notorious. She had +already been the subject of an exciting law suit when she appeared +at Marylebone at the age of eighteen. Miss Catley had been engaged +by Thomas Lowe, the favourite tenor, who in 1763 became the lessee +of the gardens, and opened his season with a "Musical Address to the +Town," sung by himself, Miss Catley and Miss Smith. The address +apologized for the lack of some of the attractions of Vauxhall and +Ranelagh, but added-- + + "Yet nature some blessings has scattered around; + And means to improve may hereafter be found." + +Presuming that Lowe kept his promise, that did not prevent failure +overtaking him as a caterer of public amusement. He lacked +enterprise as a manager, and a wet summer in 1767 resulted in +financial catastrophe. + +More serious musical efforts than ballad concerts were attempted at +Marylebone from time to time. That this had been the case even +before Dr. Samuel Arnold became proprietor of the gardens is +illustrated by an anecdote of Dr. Fountayne and Handel, who often +frequented the place. Being there together on one occasion the great +composer asked his friend's opinion of a new composition being +played by the band. After listening a few minutes, Dr. Fountayne +proposed that they resume their walk, for, said he, "it's not worth +listening to--it's very poor stuff." "You are right, Mr. Fountayne," +Handel replied, "it is very poor stuff. I thought so myself when I +had finished it." + +Fireworks were not added to the attractions until 1751, and even +then the displays were only occasional features for some years. In +1772, however, that part of the entertainment was deputed to the +well-known Torré, whose unique fireworks were the talk of London. He +had one set piece called the Forge of Vulcan, which was so popular +that its repetition was frequently demanded. According to George +Steevens, it was the fame of Torré's fireworks which impelled Dr. +Johnson to visit the gardens one night in his company. "The evening +had proved showery," wrote Steevens in his account of the outing, +"and soon after the few people present were assembled, public notice +was given that the conductors of the wheels, suns, stars, etc., were +so thoroughly water-soaked that it was impossible any part of the +exhibition should be made. 'That's a mere excuse,' says the Doctor, +'to save their crackers for a more profitable company. Let us both +hold up our sticks, and threaten to break these coloured lamps that +surround the orchestra, and we shall soon have our wishes gratified. +The core of the fireworks cannot be injured; let the different +pieces be touched in their respective centres, and they will do +their offices as well as ever.' Some young men who overheard him +immediately began the violence he had recommended, and an attempt +was speedily made to fire some of the wheels which appeared to have +received the smallest damage; but to little purpose were they +lighted, for most of them completely failed." + +[Illustration: MARYLEBONE GARDENS.] + +Apparently that was not the only occasion when the management failed +to keep faith with the public. In July, 1774, the newspaper severely +criticised the proprietors for having charged an admission fee of +five shillings to a Fźte Champčtre, which consisted of nothing more +than a few tawdry festoons and extra lamps, and another mentor of an +earlier date had dismissed the whole place as "nothing more than two +or three gravel roads, and a few shapeless trees." Altogether, +popular as Torre's fireworks were when they went off, it is not +improbable that they had a considerable share in terminating the +existence of the gardens. Houses were increasing fast in the +neighbourhood, and the dwellers in those houses objected to being +bombarded with rockets. At any rate, six years after the renowned +Torré began his pyrotechnics, the site of the gardens fell into the +hands of builders and the seeker of out-door amusement had to find +his enjoyment elsewhere. + +Perhaps some of the frequenters of Marylebone Gardens transferred +their patronage to the White Conduit House, situated two or three +miles to the north-east. Here again is an example of a pleasure +resort developing partially from an ale-house, for the legend is +that the White Conduit House was at first a small tavern, the +finishing touches to which were given, to the accompaniment of much +hard drinking, on the day Charles I lost his head. + +[Illustration: WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE.] + +Unusual as is the name of this resort, it is largely +self-explanatory. There was a water-conduit in an adjacent field, +which was faced with white stone, and hence the name. The house +itself, however, had its own grounds, which were attractively laid +out when the whole property was reconstructed somewhere about 1745. +At that time a Long Room was erected, and the gardens provided with +a fish-pond and numerous arbours. The popularity of the place seems +to date from the proprietorship of Robert Bartholomew, who acquired +the property in 1754, and to have continued unabated till nearly the +end of the century. Mr. Bartholomew did not overlook any of his +attractions in the announcement he made on taking possession; "For +the better accommodation of ladies and gentlemen," so the +advertisement ran, "I have completed a long walk, with a handsome +circular fish-pond, a number of shady pleasant arbours, inclosed +with a fence seven feet high to prevent being the least incommoded +from people in the fields; hot loaves and butter every day, milk +directly from the cows, coffee, tea, and all manner of liquors in +the greatest perfection; also a handsome long room, from whence is +the most copious prospects and airy situation of any now in vogue. I +humbly hope the continuance of my friends' favours, as I make it my +chief study to have the best accommodations, and am, ladies and +gentlemen, your obliged humble servant, Robert Bartholomew. Note. My +cows eat no grains, neither any adulteration in milk or cream." It +is obvious that Mr. Bartholomew's enthusiasm made him reckless of +grammar, and that some of his ladies and gentlemen might have +objected to have their butter hot; but it is equally plain that here +was a man who knew his business. + +And he did not fail of adequate reward. Six years after the +publication of that seductive announcement the resort had become so +popular, especially as the objective of a Sunday outing, that its +praises were sung in poetry in so reputable a periodical as the +Gentleman's Magazine. The verses describe the joy of the London +'Prentice on the return of Sunday, and give a spirited picture of +the scene at the gardens. + + "His meal meridian o'er, + With switch in hand, he to White Conduit House + Hies merry-hearted. Human beings here + In couples multitudinous assemble, + Forming the drollest groups that ever trod + Fair Islingtonian plains. Male after male, + Dog after dog succeeding--husbands, wives, + Fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, + And pretty little boys and girls. Around, + Across, along, the gardens' shrubby maze, + They walk, they sit, they stand. What crowds press on, + Eager to mount the stairs, eager to catch + First vacant bench or chair in long room plac'd. + Here prig with prig holds conference polite, + And indiscriminate the gaudy beau + And sloven mix. Here he, who all the week + Took bearded mortals by the nose, or sat + Weaving dead hairs, and whistling wretched strain, + And eke the sturdy youth, whose trade it is + Stout oxen to contund, with gold-bound hat + And silken stocking strut. The red arm'd belle + Here shows her tasty gown, proud to be thought + The butterfly of fashion: and forsooth + Her haughty mistress deigns for once to tread + The same unhallow'd floor.--`Tis hurry all + And rattling cups and saucers. Waiter here, + And waiter there, and waiter here and there, + At once is call'd--Joe--Joe--Joe--Joe--Joe-- + Joe on the right--and Joe upon the left, + For ev'ry vocal pipe re-echoes Joe. + Alas, poor Joe! Like Francis in the play + He stands confounded, anxious how to please + The many-headed throng. But shou'd I paint + The language, humours, custom of the place, + Together with all curts'ys, lowly bows, + And compliments extern, 'twould swell my page + Beyond its limits due. Suffice it then + For my prophetic muse to say, 'So long + As fashion rides upon the wings of time, + While tea and cream, and butter'd rolls can please, + While rival beaux and jealous belles exist, + So long, White Conduit House, shall be thy fame.'" + +More distinguished members of the community than the London +'prentice and the "red arm'd belle" frequented the gardens now and +then. About 1762 the place was a favourite resort with Oliver +Goldsmith, and was the scene of a typical episode in his life. While +strolling in the gardens one afternoon he met the three daughters of +a tradesman to whom he was under obligation, and of course must +needs invite them to take tea as his guests. But when the time of +reckoning came he found, characteristically enough, that his pocket +was empty. Happily some friends were near to rescue him from his +difficulty, but the crucial moment of the incident was to be +perpetuated in all its ludicrous humour by an artist of a later +generation, who, in the painting entitled "An Awkward Position," +depicted the poet at the moment when he discovered his pockets were +empty. + +Later in its history the White Conduit House became known as the +"Minor Vauxhall" and was the scene of balloon ascents, fireworks, +and evening concerts. Gradually, however, it fell on evil days, and +in 1849 it passed permanently into the history of old London. + +No one traversing that sordid thoroughfare known as King's Cross +Road in the London of to-day could imagine that that highway was the +locality in the mid-eighteenth century of one of the most popular +resorts of the English capital. Such, however, was the case. At that +time the highway was known as Bagnigge Wells Road, and at its +northern extremity was situated the resort known as Bagnigge Wells. +The early history of the place is somewhat obscure. Tradition has it +that the original house was a summer residence of Nell Gwynne, where +she frequently entertained her royal lover. It has also been stated +that there was a place of public entertainment here as early as +1738. + +Whatever truth there may be in both those assertions, there is no +gainsaying the fact that the prosperity of Bagnigge Wells dates from +a discovery made by a Mr. Hughes, the tenant of the house, in 1757. +This Mr. Hughes took a pride in his garden, and was consequently +much distressed to find that the more he used his watering-can, the +less his flowers thrived. At this juncture a Dr. Bevis appeared on +the scene, to whom the curious circumstance was mentioned. On +tasting the water from the garden well he was surprised to find its +"flavour so near that of the best chalybeates," and at once informed +Mr. Hughes that it might be made of great benefit both to the public +and himself. The next day a huge bottle of the water was delivered +at Dr. Bevis's house, and analysis confirmed his first impression. +Before he could proceed further in the matter, Dr. Bevis fell ill, +and by the time he had recovered notable doings had been +accomplished at Bagnigge Wells. + +For Mr. Hughes was not wholly absorbed in the cultivation of +flowers. Visions of wealth residing in that well evidently captured +his imagination, and he at once set to work fitting up his gardens +as a kind of spa, where the public could drink for his financial +benefit. A second well was sunk and found to yield another variety +of mineral water, and the two waters were connected with a double +pump over which a circular edifice named the Temple was constructed. +Other attractions were added as their necessity became apparent. +They included a spacious banqueting hall known as the Long Room, +provided with an organ, and the laying out of the gardens in +approved style. No doubt the curative qualities of the waters +speedily became a secondary consideration with the patrons of the +place, but that probably troubled Mr. Hughes not at all so long as +those patrons came in sufficient numbers. + +That they did come in crowds is demonstrated by the literature which +sprang up around the gardens, and by many other evidences. On its +medicinal side the place was celebrated by one poet in these +strains: + + "Ye gouty old souls and rheumatics crawl on, + Here taste these blest springs, and your tortures are gone; + Ye wretches asthmatick, who pant for your breath, + Come drink your relief, and think not of death. + Obey the glad summons, to Bagnigge repair, + Drink deep of its waters, and forget all your care. + + "The distemper'd shall drink and forget all his pain, + When his blood flows more briskly through every vein; + The headache shall vanish, the heartache shall cease, + And your lives be enjoyed in more pleasure and peace + Obey then the summons, to Bagnigge repair, + And drink an oblivion to pain and to care." + +Twenty years later the muse of Bagnigge Wells was pitched in a +different key. The character of the frequenters had changed for the +worse. Instead of "gouty old souls," and "rheumatics," and +"asthmaticks," the most noted Cyprians of the day had made the place +their rendezvous. So the poet sings of + + "Thy arbours, Bagnigge, and the gay alcove, + Where the frail nymphs in am'rous dalliance rove." + +[Illustration: BAGNIGGE WELLS.] + +Concurrently with this change the gentlemen of the road began to +favour the gardens with their presence, chief among their number +being that notorious highwayman John Rann, otherwise known as +Sixteen-String Jack from his habit of wearing a bunch of eight +ribbons on each knee. But he came to Bagnigge once too often, for, +after insisting on paying unwelcome attentions to a lady in the +ball-room, he was seized by some members of the company and thrown +out of a window into the Fleet river below. + +Notwithstanding this deterioration, the proprietor of the place in +1779 in announcing the opening for the season still dwelt upon the +invaluable properties of the waters, not forgetting to add that +"ladies and gentlemen may depend on having the best of Tea, Coffee, +etc., with hot loaves, every morning and evening." But nothing could +ward off the pending catastrophe. "Bagnigge Wells," wrote the +historian of its decline, "sported its fountains, with little wooden +cupids spouting water day and night, but it fearfully realized the +_facilis descensus Averni_. The gardens were curtailed of their +fair proportions, and this once famous resort sank down to a +threepenny concert-room." It struggled on in that lowly guise, for a +number of years, but the end came in 1841, and now even the name of +the road in which it existed is wiped off the map of London. + +More fortunate in that respect was the Bermondsey Spa, the name of +which is perpetuated to this day in the Spa Road of that malodorous +neighbourhood. This resort, which, like Bagnigge Wells, owed its +creation to the discovery of a chalybeate spring, is bound up with +the life-story of a somewhat remarkable man, Thomas Keyse by name. +Born in 1722, he became a self-taught artist of such skill that +several of his still-life paintings were deemed worthy of exhibition +at the Royal Academy. He was also awarded a premium of thirty +guineas by the Society of Arts for a new method of fixing crayon +drawings. + +But thirty guineas and the glory of being an exhibitor at the Royal +Academy were hardly adequate for subsistence, and hence, somewhere +about 1765, Keyse turned to the less distinguished but more +profitable occupation of tavern-keeper. Having purchased the +Waterman's Arms at Bermondsey, with some adjoining waste land, he +transformed the place into a tea-garden. Shortly afterwards a +chalybeate spring was discovered in the grounds, an event which +obliterated the name of the Waterman's Arms in favour of the +Bermondsey Spa Gardens. The ground was duly laid out in pleasant +walks, with the usual accompaniments of leafy arbours and other +quiet nooks for tea-parties. The next step was to secure a music +license, fit up an orchestra, adorn the trees with coloured lamps, +organize occasional displays of fireworks, and challenge comparison +with Vauxhall if only on a small scale. One of the attractions +reserved for special occasion was a scenic representation of the +Siege of Gibraltar, in which fireworks, transparencies, and bomb +shells played a prominent part. Keyse himself was responsible for +the device by which the idea was carried out, and the performance +was so realistic that it was declared to give "a very strong idea of +the real Siege." + +Hearty as were the plaudits bestowed upon the Siege of Gibraltar, +there is not much risk in hazarding the opinion that Keyse took more +pride in the picture-gallery of his own paintings than in any other +feature of his establishment. The canvases included representations +of all kinds of still life, and, thanks to the recording pen of J. +T. Smith, that enthusiastic lover of old London, it is still +possible to make the round of the gallery in the company of the +artist-proprietor. Mr. Smith visited the gardens when public +patronage had declined to a low ebb, so that he had the gallery all +to himself, as he imagined. "Stepping back to study the picture of +the 'Greenstall,' 'I ask your pardon,' said I, for I had trodden on +some one's toes. 'Sir, it is granted,' replied a little, thick-set +man with a round face, arch looks, and close-curled wig, surmounted +by a small three-cornered hat put very knowingly on one side, not +unlike Hogarth's head in his print of the 'Gates of Calais.' 'You +are an artist, I presume; I noticed you from the end of the gallery, +when you first stepped back to look at my best picture. I painted +all the objects in this room from nature and still life.' 'Your +Green-grocer's Shop,' said I, 'is inimitable; the drops of water on +that savoy appear as if they had just fallen from the element. Van +Huysun could not have pencilled them with greater delicacy.' 'What +do you think,' said he, 'of my Butcher's Shop?' 'Your pluck is +bleeding fresh, and your sweetbread is in a clean plate.' 'How do +you like my bull's eye?' 'Why, it would be a most excellent one for +Adams or Dolland to lecture upon. Your knuckle of veal is the finest +I ever saw.' 'It's young meat,' replied he; 'any one who is a judge +of meat can tell that from the blueness of its bone.' 'What a +beautiful white you have used on the fat of that Southdown leg! or +is it Bagshot?' 'Yes,' said he, 'my solitary visitor, it is Bagshot: +and as for my white, that is the best Nottingham, which you or any +artist can procure at Stone and Puncheon's, Bishopsgate Street +Within.' 'Sir Joshua Reynolds,' continued Mr. Keyse, 'paid me two +visits. On the second, he asked me what white I had used; and when I +told him, he observed, "It's very extraordinary, sir, that it keeps +so bright. I use the same." "Not at all, sir," I rejoined: "the +doors of this gallery are open day and night; and the admission of +fresh air, together with the great expansion of light from the +sashes above, will never suffer the white to turn yellow."'" + +And then the enthusiastic artist and his solitary patron walked out +to the orchestra in the gardens, sole auditors of the singer who had +to sing by contract whether few or many were present. It is a +pathetic record, portending the final closing of Bermondsey Spa but +a few years later. + +On the return journey to Southwark, the Southwark of Chaucer's +Tabard, the pilgrim among these memories of the past may tread the +ground where Finch's Grotto Gardens once re-echoed to laughter and +song. They were established in 1760 by one Thomas Finch, who was of +the fraternity of Thomas Keyse, even though he was but a Herald +Painter. Falling heir to a house and pleasant garden, encircled with +lofty trees and umbrageous with evergreens and shrubs, he decided to +convert the place into a resort for public amusement. The adornments +consisted of a grotto, built over a mineral spring, and a fountain, +and an orchestra, and an Octagon Room for balls and refuge from wet +evenings. The vocalists included Sophia Snow, afterwards as Mrs. +Baddeley to become notorious for her beauty and frailty, and Thomas +Lowe, the one-time favourite of Vauxhall, whose financial failure at +Marylebone made him thankful to accept an engagement at this more +lowly resort. But Finch's Grotto Gardens were not destined to a long +life. Perhaps they were too near Vauxhall to succeed; perhaps the +policy, of engaging had-been favourites was as little likely to +bring prosperity in the eighteenth as in the twentieth century. +Whatever the cause, the fact is on record that after a career of +less than twenty years the gardens ceased to exist. + +[Illustration: FINCH'S GROTTO, SOUTHWARK.] + +As has been seen in an earlier chapter, the great prototype of the +pleasure gardens of old London, Vauxhall, outlived all its +competitors for half a century. But upon even that favourite resort +the changing manners of a new time had fatal effect. As knowledge +grew and taste became more diversified, it became less and less easy +to cater for the amusement of the many. To the student of old-time +manners, however, the history of the out-door resorts of old London +is full of instruction and suggestion, if only for the light it +throws on these "struggles for happiness" which help to distinguish +man from the brute creation. + +THE END. + + + + +INDEX + + +"A Cup of Coffee, or Coffee in its Colours," +Adam and Eve Tavern +Adam., the brothers +Addison, Joseph +Adelphi hotel +Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace of +Alice's coffee-house +Alfred Club +Almack, William +Almack's +"Amelia" +Anderson, Mrs. +Anderton's Hotel +Angel Inn, Fleet Street +Angel Inn, Islington +Anne, Queen +Annual register +Anstey's "Pleaders' Guide" +Apollo room at the Devil tavern +Archer, Mrs. Mary +Argyll, Duke of +Aristophanes +Armstrong, Dr. John +Arnold, Dr. Samuel +Arthur's Club +Arthur, Mr. +Athenseum Club +Bacon, Anthony +Baddeley, Mrs. +Bagnigge Wells +Bailley, Christian +Bailley, Henry +Barrington, Hon. Daines +Barrington, Sir Jonas +Bartholomew Fair +Bartholomew, Robert +Bate, Henry +Bath, Installation of the Knights of +Batson's coffee-house +Bear inn +Beauclerk, Lady Sydney +Beauclerk, Topham +Beaufort, Duchess of +Beaumont, Francis +Becket, Thomas ą, +Bedford coffee-house +Bedford, Duke of +Bedford Head tavern +Beeswing Club, The +Beef Steak Club +Bell tavern +Belle Sauvage inn +Bermondsey Spa Gardens +Bevis, Dr. +Bickerstaff, Sir Isaac +Bishopsgate Street Within, inns of +Bishopsgate Street Without, inns of +Blackmore, Sir Richard +Bloomfield, Robert +Blount, Sir Henry +Blue Boar inn +Blue Posts tavern +Blue-Stocking Club +Boar's Head inn, Eastcheap +Boar's Head inn, Southwark +Boehm, Mr. +Boileau's _Lutrin_ +Bolinbroke, Viscount +Boodle's Club +Bordeaux, merchants of +Boswell, James +Bowen, William +Bowman, Mrs. +Bramble, Matt +British coffee-house +British Institution +Broghill, Lord +Brontė, Anne +Brontė, Charlotte +Brooks's Club +Brown, Tom +Buchan, Dr. +Buckingham, Duke of +Bull and Gate inn +Bull Head tavern +Bull inn +Burke, Edmund +Burney, Dr. +Burney, Fanny +Burton's, Thomas, "Parliamentary Diary" +Button's coffee-house +Buttony, Daniel +Byron, Lord +Byron, Lord, the poet +Cade, Jack +"Calamities and Quarrels of Authors" +Calf's Head Club +Campbell, Lord +Campbell, Thomas +Cannon coffee-house +Canterbury +Canterbury Tales +Cambridge carriers +Carlisle, Lord +Carlyle, Thomas +Cat, Christopher +Catley, Nan +Chamier, Anthony +Chapter coffee-house +Charnock, Robert +Charing Cross, coffee-houses of +Charing Cross, inns of +Charles I +Charles II +Charles V +Chatelaine's +Chatterton, Thomas +Chaucer, Geoffrey +Chaworth, William +Cheapside Cross +Cheshire Cheese +Chesterfield, Lord +Child's coffee-house +Chinaman, Goldsmith's, at Vauxhall +Christ's Hospital +Churchill, Lady Mary +Cibber, Colley +Cicero +Cider Cellars, +"Citizen of the World," +Claypole, Elizabeth, +Club, definition of, +Clubs of old London, +Club, The, +Clutterback, James, +Cock tavern, Fleet Street, +Cock tavern, Leadenhall Street, +Cock tavern, Suffolk Street, +Cocoa-Tree Club, +Coffee, +"Coffee House, The Character of," +Coffee-houses in London, + first to be opened, + subject of a play, + pamphlets for and against, + petition, + against, + proclamationl + suppressing, + influenced by locality, +"Coffee. Women's Petition against," +"Coffee House Vindicated," +Coleridge, S. T., +Colin. Farmer, +Collier's, Jeremy, "Short View," +Congers, +Connoisseur, The, +Cony, Nathaniel, +"Country Mouse and the City Mouse," +Covent Garden, coffee-houses of, +Covent Garden, taverns of, +Coverley, Sir Roger de, +Cowley, Abraham, +Cowper, William, +Craven Head Inn, +Crown and Anchor, +Cromwell, Oliver, +Cruikshank, George, +Cumberland, Duke of, +Cumberland, Richard, +Cupels Gardens, +Curran, Jolin Philpot, +Cuthbert, Captain, +Dagger tavern, +"Dark Walks" of Vauxhall. +Davidson, Jobs, +Davies, Thomais, +"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," +Defoe, Daniel, +De Moivre. Abraham, +Devil tavern, +Devonshire, Duke of, +Dibdin, Charles, +Dickens, Charles, +Dick's coffee-house, +Dolly's chop-house, +Don Saltero's coffee-house, +Dorset, Duke of, +Dorset. Earl of. +Douglas, Bishop, +Dover House Club, +Drinkwater, Thomas, +Drummond, William, +Drury Lane, inns of, +Dryden, John, +Dudley, Lord, +D'Urfey, Thomas, +Dutton, John, +Edward VI, +Edwards; Mrs., +Egan, Pierce, +Elephant and Castle tavern, +Elephant tavern +Elizabeth, Queen +England, John +E O tables +Essex, Lord +Essex Street Club +Ethrage, Sir George +Evans, Widow +Evelyn, John +Falcon tavern +Falkner, Mary Ann +Falstaff, Sir John +Farr, James +Faslolfe, Sir John +Fantom, Captain +Feather's tavern +Fielding, Henry +Finch's Grotto Gardens +Finch, Thomas +Fireworks at Vauxhall + at Ranelagh + at Marylebone + at Bermondsey Spa Gardens +Fitzgerald, Edward +"Fitzgerald, Fighting," +Fleece tavern +Fleet Street, taverns of +Ford, Parson +Foote, Samuel +Fortune Theatre +Fountain tavern +Fountayne, Dr. +Fox, Charles James +Franklin, Beniamin +Froude, James Anthony +Fuller, Isaac +Fuller, Thomas +Garrawav's coffee-house +Garraway, Thomas +Garrick, David +Garth, Sir Samuel +Gaskell, Mrs. +Gay, John +Gentleman's Magazine +George I +George II +George III +George's coffee-house +George inn +Gibbon, Edward +Gibbons, Grinling +Gibraltar, Siege of +Gifford's, William, Life of Ben Jenson +Gillray, James +Golden Cross tavern +Golden Eagle tavern +Goldsmith, Oliver +Goose and Gridiron +Gordon, George +Goueh, Daniel +Grant, Andrew +Gray, Thomas +Grecian coffee-house +Green, J. R. +Green Ribbon Club +Gregorie, Robert +Gresham, Sir Thomas +Grimes, Jack +Guardian, The +Guildhall Museum +Gwynne, Nell +Hackman, James +Hal, Prince +Hales, John +Hales, Robert +Halifax, Earl of +Hall, Jacob +Halley Professor +Hamilton, Lord Spencer +Hand and Shears tavern +Handel, George Frederick +Hanover Club +Harley, Edward, Earl of Oxford +Harper, Bishop +Harrington, James +Harvard, John +Haslam, Dr +Hawkins, Sir John +Henry II +Henry III +Henry IV +Henry V +Henry VI +Henry VIII +Herrick, Robert +Hill, Aaron +Hill, Dr. John +Hobson, Thomas +Hogarth, William +Holborn, inns of +Holland, Lord +Horden, Hildebrand +Horn tavern +Horseshoe tavern +Horseshoe tavern, Covent Garden +Howard, Lord +Howard, Major-General +Howard, Sir John +Howell. James. "Familiar Letters" of +Hughes, Mr +Hummums tavern +Humphries, Miss +"Humphry Clinker" +Hunt's, Leigh, "The Town" +Hyde, Abbot of +Hyde, Lady +Inspector, The +Irving, Washington +Jacobites +Ja-mes I +James III +Jay, Cyrus +Jerusalem coffee-house +Jessop's +Jonathan's coffee-house +John's coffee-house +Johnson, Dr. Samuel +Jones, Sir William +Jones, William +Jonson, Ben +Keate, Roger +Keats, John +Kenrick, William +Kensington, South, Museum +Keyse Thomas +Killigrew, Harry +King's coffee-house +King, Thomas +King's Head tavern, Penchurch Street +King's Head tavern, Fleet Street +King John's Palace +Kingston, Lord +King Street, Westminster, taverns of +Kit-Cat Club +Kit-Cat portraits +Knapp, Mrs. +Lacy, James +Laguerre, Louis +Lamb, Charles +Lambe, John +Lambert, George +Langton, Bennet +Lee, Sidney +Leg tavern +Leslie, Charles Robert +Lill, William +Lincolnshire, Fens of +Lion's Head at Button's coffee-house +"Lives of the English Poets" +Lloyd, Charles +Lloyd's coffee-house +Lloyd, Edward +Lloyd, Sir Philip +Locket's +Locket, Adam +Locket, Mrs. +Lockier, Francis +London Bridge +London coffee-house +London, Fire of +London, Plague of +London tavern +Long's tavern +Lonsdale, Earl of +Loughborough, Lady +Loughborough, Lord +Louis XVI +Lowe, Thomas +Lowell, J. R. +Lowther, Sir James +Lunsford, Colonel +Lupton, Donald +Lyttelton, Lord +Macaulay, Lord +"Mac Fleoknoe" +Macklin, Charles +Mackreth, Robert +Maiden Lane taverns +Malone, Edmund +Man, Alexander +Man's coffee-house +Manchester, Lady +Marlborough, Duchess of +Marvell, Andrew +Marylebone Gardens +Maxwell, Dr. +Medici, Mary de +Melford, Lydia +Mermaid tavern, Cheapside +Mermaid tavern, Cornhill +"Mermaid Tavern, Lines on," +Miles's coffee-house +Mitre tavern, Cheapside +Mitre tavern, Fenchurch Street +Mitre tavern, Fleet Street +Monmouth, Duke of +Montagu, Captain +Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu, Mrs. +More, Hannah +Morris, Captain +Mounsey, Dr. +Mozart, W. A. +Nag's Head tavern, Cheapside +Nag's Head tavern, Drury Lane +Nando's coffee-house +Nash, Beau +Newport, Young +New Spring Gardens +Newton, Sir Isaac +Norfolk, Duke of +North, Dudley +North, Lord +Northumberland, Duke of +Nottinghamshire Club +Oates, Titus +Observer, The +"Oceana" +October Club +Oldisworth, William +Orford, Lord +Ormonde, Marquis of +Oxford, Earl of +Pall Mall taverns +Pantheon, The +"Paradise Lost," +Paris Garden +Paterson, James +Pellett, Dr. +Pembroke, Earl of +Pepys, Mrs. +Pepys, Samuel +Percy, Dr. +Petres, Lord +Philips, Ambrose +Phillips, Sir Richard +"Pickmick Papers," +Pierce, Mrs. +Pie-Powder Court +Pindar, Sir Paul +Pindar, Sir Paul, tavern +Pindar, Peter +Pitt, Colonel +Pitt's Head tavern +Pitt, William +Poins +Pontack's +Pope, Alexander +Pope's Head tavern +Porson, Richard +Portland, Duke of +Preston, Robert +Price, Dr. Richard +Priestly, Dr. +"Prince Alfred," +Prior, Matthew +Prior, Samuel +Queen's Arms tavern +Queensbury, Duchess of +Quickly, Dame +Quin, James +Rainbow tavern +Raleigh, Sir Walter +Ranelagh + Rotunda at, + f&e at, + amusements of, + riot at, + poem on, + closing of +Ranelagh, Earl of +Rann, John +Raw&son, 'Dan +Rawlinson, Mrs. +Rawthmell's coffee-house +Ray, Martha +Red Lion inn +"Retaliation" +Reynolds, Sir Joshua +Rich, John +Richard II +Richardson, Samuel +Richmond, Duke of +Ridley, Bishop +Robinson, Sir Thomas +Rochester, Lord +Rock, Richard +Rogers, Samuel +Rosee, Pasqua +Rose tavern +Rossetti, Dante Gabriel +Rota Club +Rousseau, J. J. +Rowlandson, Thomas +Rummer tavern +St. Albans, Duchess of +St. Alban's tavern +St. James's coffee-house +St. James's Palace +St. Paul's churchyard +St. Paul's coffee-house +Salter, James +Salutation tavern +Sam's coffee-house +Sanchy, Mr. +Sandwich, Earl of +Saqui, Mme. +Saracen's Head tavern, Snow Hill +"Sarrasin's Head," Westminster +Savage, Richard +Scott; Peter +Scott, Sir Walter +Sedley, Sir Charles +Sedley, Jos. +Selden, John +Selwyn, George +Shadwell, Thomas +Shakespeare, William +Sharp, Rebecca +Sheffield, Lord +Shepherd, George +Sheridan, R. B. +Ship and Turtle tavern +Slaughter's coffee-house +Slaughter, Thomas +Sloane, Sir Hans +Smith, Adam +Smith, Captain John +Smith, J. T. +Smollett, Tobias +Smyrna coffee-house +Snow, Sophia +Somerset coffee-house +Southey, Robert +South Sea Bubble +Southwark + map of + meaning of name + inns of + Tabard inn + Bear inn + fair of + Boar's Head inn + George inn + White Hart inn +Spectator, The +Spenser, Edmund +Spotted Dog inn +Staple inn +Star and Garter tavern +Steele, Sir Richard +Steevens, George +Stella, Journal to +Stevens, George Alexander +Stewart, Admiral Keith +Stewart, General William +Stillingfleet, Benjamin +Stony, Captain +Stow, John +Strand, Inns and taverns of +Strype, John +Stuart, Frances +Suckling, Sir John +Suffolk Street taverns +Swan inn +Swift, Jonathan +Tabard inn +Tarleton, Richard +Tassoni's Secchia Rapita +Tatler, The +Tearsheet, Doll +Temple Bar +Tennyson, Alfred, Lord +Thackeray, W. M. +Thatched House tavern +Thomson, James +Three as sign of London taverns +Three Cranes' Lane +Three Cranes in the Vintry +Three Nuns tavern +Three Tuns tavern +Thurlow, Lord Chancellor +Tibbs, Mr. and Mrs. +Tickell Thomas +Till, William +Tom's coffee-house, Birchin Lane +Tom's coff ke-house, Covent Garden +"Tom Jones" +Tonson, Jacob +Tooke, Home +Torre +Totenhall Court +Turk's Head coffee-house +Turner, J. M. W. +Tyers, Jonathan +Tyers, Tom +"Vanity Fair" +Vauxhall, + plan of; + Rotunda at; + attractions of; + supper party at; + closing of +Vernon, Admiral +Vittoria, victory of +Voltaire +Wales, Prince of (George IV) +Walker's "The Original" +Walpole, Horace +Walton's, Isaac, "Complete Angler" +Ward, Ned +Warren Sir William +Warwick, Countess of +Washington, George +Washington, Purser +Waterman's Arms tavern +"Webb, Young" +Weller, Sam +Wellington, Duke of +Welteie's Club +West, Captain Thomas +Westminster taverns and coffee-houses +"Wet Paper Club" +Wheatley, Henry B. +White's Chocolate-house +White Conduit House +White Hart inn +White Hart inn, Bishopsgate Street Within +White Horse Cellar +"White, Mary, or the Murder at the Old Tabard" +Wildman's coffee-house +"Wilkes and Liberty" +Wilkes, John +William III +William, King, statue of, +Wilson, "Long-Bow" +Will's coffee-house, Belle Sauvage yard +Will's coffee-house, Covent Garden +"Will Waterproofs Lyrical Monologue" +Windmill tavern +Wittengamot Club +Wolcot, John, "Peter Pindar" +Wren, Sir Christopher +Wright, Thomas +Wyatt, Sir Thomas +Yarmouth, Lady +York, Duke of +Young, Edward + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Inns and Taverns of Old London, by Henry C. Shelley + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INNS AND TAVERNS OF OLD LONDON *** + +This file should be named 6699.txt or 6699.zip + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/6699.zip b/6699.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7b708e --- /dev/null +++ b/6699.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac36bfa --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6699 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6699) |