for there, I perceive, is very witty and pleasant discourse. But I could not tarry, and, as it was late, they were all ready to go away.' Here also Pope saw the old man, whom he described as 'a plump man with a down look, and not very conversible.'

Such, then, were some of the principal coffee-houses. What were the taverns like? There were then no hotels proper, such as we know them: a man had to live in private apartments, and, when he wanted dinner, he had to betake himself to a tavern, or ordinary. As Misson remarks, ‘At London they hardly so much as know what an Auberge is: There are indeed a thousand and a thousand Taverns, where you may have what you please got for you.' A tavern was a far more free-and-easy place than a coffee-house-in fact, it is a question whether the convenances of a coffee-house would admit of a man 'washing his teeth at a tavern window in Pall Mall'; indeed, the keeping of them was hardly considered reputable, for we find 2 that Her Majestie sign'd a warrant for continuing the salaries of the prince's servants during her life, provided they kept no publick houses.'

Ward describes the freedom and jollity of these places : 'Accordingly we stept in, and in the Kitchen found half a dozen of my Friends Associates, in the height of their Jollitry, as Merry as so many Cantabridgians at Sturbridge Fair, or Coblers at a Crispins Feast. After a Friendly Salutation, free from all Foppish Ceremonies, down we sat; and when a Glass or two round had given fresh Motion to our drowsy Spirits, and abandon'd all those careful thoughts which makes Man's Life uneasie, Wit begot Wit, and Wine a Thirsty Appetite to each Succeeding Glass. Then open were our Hearts and unconfined our Fancies; my Friend and I contributed our Mites to add to the Treasure of our Felicity. Songs and Catches Crown'd the Night, and each Man in his Turn pleased his Ears with his own Harmony.'

The most singular thing was, that it was not at all derogatory for a nobleman or gentleman to go to a tavern for a carouse—and all clubs were held at taverns. Thoresby relates that, after his reception by the Queen, as one of a 3 London Spy.

1 Tatler, II. 2 Luttrell, Jan. 1, 1709.

deputation from Leeds, on July 2, 1712, 'We left the Duke there, but returned in the High Sheriff's coach to Sir Arthur

Majesty's health, and stayed full late.' And Swift writes to Stella: 'After dinner we went to a blind tavern, where Congreve, Sir Richard Temple, Eastcourt, and Charles Main were over a bowl of bad punch. The Knight sent for six flasks of his own wine for me, and we staid till twelve.' This sending for one's own wine was a peculiar arrangement, but doubtless the landlord was satisfied with a premium on 'corkage.' Swift frequently speaks of this custom: 'Today I dined with Lewis and Prior at an eating house, but with Lewis's wine.' 'I dined in a Coffee house with Stratford upon Chops, and some of his Wine.' Again he was with Lords Harley and Dupplin, the son and son-in-law of the Earl of Oxford-and 'we were forced to go to a tavern, and send for wine from Lord Treasurer's.'

But the frequenters of taverns were not all so respectable as these examples; and Brown supplies particulars of another section of society. 'A Tavern is a little Sodom, where as many Vices are daily practised, as ever were known in the great one; Thither Libertines repair to drink away their Brains, Aldermen to talk Treason, and bewail the loss of Trade; Saints to elevate the Spirit, hatch Calumnies, coin false News, and reproach the Church; Gamesters to shake their Elbows; Thither Sober Knaves walk with Drunken Fools to make Cunning Bargains and overreach them in their Dealings; Thither Young Quality retire to spend their Tradesmens Money; Thither Bullies Coach it to Kick Drawers, and invent new Oaths and Curses; Thither run Sots purely to be drunk, Beaux to shew their Vanity, Cowards to make themselve valiant by the Strength of their Wine, Fools to make themselves witty in their own Conceits, and Spendthrifts to be made Miserable by a Ridiculous Consumption of their own Fortunes.'

There were lower depths yet: there were the purl houses, where 'Tradesmen flock in their Morning gowns, by Seven, to cool their Plucks,' and the mug houses, which in George

1 Journal, Oct. 27, 1710.

2 Here is nothing drunk but Ale, and every Gentleman hath his separate Mug, which he Chalks on the Table, where he sits, as it is brought in; and every one retires when he pleases, as from a Coffee House.'-A Journey through Eng. land, 1722.

the First's time were made into political clubs. 'King George for Ever' was then the mug-house cry, which the coffee-houses countered with High Church and Ormonde; no Presbyterians; no Hanover; down with the Mug.'

The following is a list of the principal taverns then in existence, for some of which I am indebted to Timbs Club Life of London.' 'The Bear,' at the foot of London Bridge, Southwark and west side, which was in existence in 1463, was not pulled down till 1761. The Boar's Head,' in Eastcheap; Pontack's, in Abchurch Lane; and the 'Pope's Head' tavern in Pope's Head Alley, were all standing; and the 'Cock,' in Threadneedle Street, was only destroyed in 1851. There was the 'Salutation' in Newgate Street, where Wren used to smoke his pipe, whilst St. Paul's was rebuilding. Dolly's chop-house, in Paternoster Row, was established in Queen Anne's reign. The White Hart' in Bishopsgate Without, which bore the date 1480, was not pulled down till 1829. The 'King's Head,' in Fenchurch Street, at the corner of Mark Lane, was the hostel at which Queen Elizabeth is said to have dined in May 1554. The Devil,' in Fleet Street, now occupied by Childs' bank, was flourishing, and Steele describes it 1as 'a place sacred to mirth tempered with discretion, where Ben Jonson and his Sons used to make their liberal meetings,' and he says that in the Apollo room were the rules of Ben's Club, painted in gold letters over the chimney piece.

This tavern was so popular that a rival sprung up on the other side of the street, the 'Young Devil,' and here, for a year or so, from the beginning of 1708, till some time in or about 1709, the Society of Antiquaries held their meetings, afterwards at the 'Fountain' tavern, Inner Temple Gate. The 'Cock,' in Fleet Street, has only just been demolished. There was another famous tavern which was near St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleet Street, called 'The Hercules' Pillars,' which was visited by Pepys, as appears by four entries in his diary. Another tavern of this name, at Charing Cross, will be noted when treating of the amusements of the people

1 Tatler, 79.

The Mitre' tavern must not be confounded with the coffeehouse of that name in Mitre Court, but was the one frequented by Dr. Johnson, and so often referred to by Boswell.

ThePalsgrave's Head,' on the south side of the Strand, near Temple Bar, was then a coffee-house, and was so named from the Palsgrave Frederick, afterwards King of Bohemia, . who married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I. The 'Crown and Anchor,' which stretched along the Strand from Arundel Street to Milford Lane, was famous as being the place where the Academy of Music was instituted in 1710. The 'Rose' tavern in Drury Lane is frequently mentioned in the literature of this time. It was afterwards absorbed into Drury Lane Theatre, when Garrick enlarged it in 1776. The 'Rummer Tavern,' at Charing Cross, near Locket's Ordinary, is often mentioned in advertisements, and Brown and Ward speak of 'Heaven' and 'Hell,' which were two ale-houses near Westminster Hall. Pepys notices one of them on January 28, 1660-' And so I returned, and went to Heaven, where Ludlin and I dined.' And last, not least, was the 'Bumper' tavern, which 'Dick Estcourt,' the actor, opened on January 1, 1712, and which Steele so kindly puffed in Spectator No. 264. An exhaustive catalogue of the taverns in the City is given by Ward in his 'Vade Mecum for Maltworms,' a very curious and now rare book; but it is hardly worth while to reproduce their names, even in an appendix.