London Taverns.

TAVERN SIGNS.

I'M amused at the signs,

As I pass through the town,
To see the odd mixture,
A Magpie and Crown,
The Whale and the Crow,
The Razor and Hen,

The Leg and Seven Stars,
The Scissors and Pen,
The Axe and the Bottle,
The Tun and the Lute,
The Eagle and Child,

The Shovel and Boot.

British Apollo, 1707.

THE TABARD INN.

EFELLE, that, in that seson on a day,

BEFE

In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,
Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with devoute corage,
At night was come into that hostelrie
Wel nine and twenty in a compagnie
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle

In felawship, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Canterbury wolden ride.
The chambres and the stables weren wide,

And wel we weren esed atte beste.

And shortly, whan the sonne was gon to reste,
So hadde I spoken with hem everich on,
That I was of hir felawship anon,

And made forword erly for to rise,
To take oure way ther as I you devise.

Geoffrey Chaucer.

LINES ON THE MERMAID TAVERN.

NOULS of poets dead and gone,

SOULS

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 browse from 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?

John Keats.

THE SUN, THE DOG, THE TRIPLE TUN.

ODE TO BEN JONSON.

Ан Ben!

Say how or when

Shall we, thy guests,

Meet at those lyric feasts,

Made at the Sun,

The Dog, the Triple Tun:

Where we such clusters had

As made us nobly wild, not mad;
And yet each verse of thine

Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine.

My Ben!

Or come again,

Or send to us

Thy wit's great overplus;

But teach us yet

Wisely to husband it,

Lest we that talent spend:

And having once brought to an end

That precious stock, the store

Of such a wit the world should have no more.

Robert Herrick.

THE MERMAID.

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 when there hath been thrown Wit able enough to justify the town

For three days past, wit that might warrant be For the whole city to talk foolishly

Till that were cancelled; and when that was gone, We left an air behind us, which alone

Was able to make the two next companies

(Right witty, though but downright fools) more wise.

Francis Beaumont.

WHER

THE RED LION, DRURY LANE.

HERE the Red Lion, staring o'er the way,
Invites each passing stranger that can pay;

Where Calvert's butt and Parson's black champagne
Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury Lane;
There in a lonely room, from bailiffs snug,

The Muse found Scroggen stretched beneath a rug.

Oliver Goldsmith.

THE COCK.

WILL WATERPROOF'S LYRICAL MONOLOGUE.

0

PLUMP head-waiter at The Cock,
To which I most resort,

How goes the time? "T is five o'clock.

Go fetch a pint of port:

But let it not be such as that

You set before chance-comers, But such whose father-grape grew fat

On Lusitanian summers.

No vain libation to the Muse,
But may she still be kind,
And whisper lovely words, and use
Her influence on the mind,
To make me write my random rhymes,
Ere they be half forgotten;

Nor add and alter, many times,
Till all be ripe and rotten.

I pledge her, and she comes and dips
Her laurel in the wine,
And lays it thrice upon my lips,

These favored lips of mine;

Until the charm have power to make

New lifeblood warm the bosom,

And barren commonplaces break

In full and kindly blossom.