Boyle's." "Dear Prue," he says on this occasion, "do not send after
me, for I shall be ridiculous." There were _Caudles_ in those
days.[37]
FOOTNOTE:
[37] Lives of Wits and Humourists, vol. i. p. 134.
CLARE MARKET TAVERNS.
Clare Market lying between the two great theatres, its butchers were
the arbiters of the galleries, the leaders of theatrical rows, the
musicians at actresses' marriages, the chief mourners at players'
funerals. In and around the market were the signs of the Sun; the Bull
and Butcher, afterwards Spiller's Head; the Grange; the Bull's Head,
where met "the Shepherd and his Flock Club," and where Dr. Radcliffe
was carousing when he received news of the loss of his 5000_l._
venture. Here met weekly a Club of Artists, of which society Hogarth
was a member, and he engraved for them a silver tankard with a
shepherd and his flock. Next is the Black Jack in Portsmouth-street,
the haunt of Joe Miller, the comedian, and where he uttered his
time-honoured "Jests:" the house remains, but the sign has
disappeared. Miller died in 1738, and was buried in St. Clement's
upper ground, in Portugal-street, where his gravestone was inscribed
with the following epitaph, written by Stephen Duck: "Here lie the
remains of honest Joe Miller, who was a tender husband, a sincere
friend, a facetious companion, and an excellent comedian. He departed
this life the 15th day of August, 1738, aged 54 years.
"If humour, wit, and honesty could save
The humorous, witty, honest, from the grave,
This grave had not so soon its tenant found,
With honesty, and wit, and humour crown'd.
Or could esteem and love preserve our health,
And guard us longer from the stroke of Death,
The stroke of Death on him had later fell,
Whom all mankind esteem'd and loved so well."
The stone was restored by the parish grave-digger at the close of the
last century; and in 1816, a new stone was set up by Mr. Jarvis Buck,
churchwarden, who added S. Duck to the epitaph. The burial-ground has
been cleared away, and the site has been added to the grounds of
King's College Hospital.
At the Black Jack, also called the Jump, (from Jack Sheppard having
once jumped out of a first-floor window, to escape his pursuers, the
thief-takers,) a Club known as "the Honourable Society of Jackers,"
met until 1816. The roll of the fraternity "numbers many of the
popular actors since the time of Joe Miller, and some of the wits;
from John Kemble, Palmer, and Theodore Hook down to Kean, Liston, and
the mercurial John Pritt Harley. Since the dissolution of this last
relic of the sociality of the Joe Miller age, 'wit-combats' have been
comparatively unknown at the Old Black Jack."[38]
FOOTNOTE:
[38] Jo. Miller; a Biography, 1848.
THE CRAVEN HEAD, DRURY LANE.
This modern Tavern was part of the offices of Craven House, and the
adjoining stabling belonged to the mansion; the extensive cellars
still remain, though blocked up.
Craven House was built for William Lord Craven, the hero of
Creutznach, upon part of the site of Drury House, and was a large
square pile of brick, four storeys high, which occupied the site of
the present Craven-buildings, built in 1723. That portion of the
mansion abutting on Magpie-alley, now Newcastle-street, was called
Bohemia House, and was early in the last century, converted into a
tavern, with the sign of the head of its former mistress, the Queen of
Bohemia. But a destructive fire happening in the neighbourhood, the
tavern was shut up, and the building suffered to decay; till, at
length, in 1802, what remained of the dilapidated mansion was pulled
down, and the materials sold; and upon the ground, in 1803, Philip
Astley erected his Olympic Pavilion, which was burnt down in 1849.
The Craven Head was some time kept by William Oxberry, the comedian,
who first appeared on the stage in 1807; he also edited a large
collection of dramas. Another landlord of the Craven Head was Robert
Hales, "the Norfolk Giant" (height 7 ft. 6 in.), who, after visiting
the United States, where Barnum made a speculation of the giant, and
28,000 persons flocked to see him in ten days,--in January, 1851,
returned to England, and took the Craven Head Tavern. On April 11th
Hales had the honour of being presented to the Queen and Royal Family,
when Her Majesty gave him a gold watch and chain, which he wore to the
day of his death. His health had been much impaired by the close
confinement of the caravans in which he exhibited. He died in 1863, of
consumption. Hales was cheerful and well-informed. He had visited
several Continental capitals, and had been presented to Louis
Philippe, King of the French.
THE COCK TAVERN, IN BOW-STREET.
This Tavern, of indecent notoriety, was situated about the middle of
the east side of Bow-street, then consisting of very good houses, well
inhabited, and resorted to by gentry for lodgings. Here Wycherley and
his first wife, the Countess of Drogheda, lodged over against the
Cock, "whither, if he at any time were with his friends, he was
obliged to leave the windows open, that the lady might see there was
no woman in the company, or she would be immediately in a downright
raving condition." (_Dennis's Letters._)
The Cock Tavern was the resort of the rakes and Mohocks of that day,
when the house was kept by a woman called "Oxford Kate." Here took
place the indecent exposure, which has been told by Johnson, in his
life of Sackville, Lord Dorset. "Sackville, who was then Lord
Buckhurst, with Sir Charles Sedley, and Sir Thomas Ogle, got drunk at
the Cock, in Bow-street, by Covent-garden, and going into the balcony,
exposed themselves to the company in very indecent postures. At last,
as they grew warmer, Sedley stood forth naked, and harangued the
populace in such profane language, that the public indignation was
awakened; the crowd attempted to force the door, and being repulsed,
drove in the performers with stones, and broke the windows of the
house. For this misdemeanour they were indicted, and Sedley was fined
five hundred pounds; what was the sentence of the others is not known.
Sedley employed Killegrew and another to procure a remission of the
King, but (mark the friendship of the dissolute!) they begged the fine
for themselves, and exacted it to the last groat."
Sir John Coventry had supped at the Cock Tavern, on the night when, in
his way home, his nose was cut to the bone, at the corner of
Suffolk-street, in the Haymarket, "for reflecting on the King, who,
therefore, determined to _set a mark_ upon him:" he was watched; when
attacked, he stood up to the wall, and snatched the flambeau out of
the servant's hands, and with that in one hand, and the sword in the
other, he defended himself, but was soon disarmed, and his nose was
cut to the bone; it was so well sewed up, that the scar was scarce to
be discerned. This attempt at assassination occasioned the Coventry
Act, 22 and 23 Car. II. c. 1, by which specific provisions were made
against the offence of maiming, cutting off, or disabling, a limb or
member.
THE QUEEN'S HEAD, BOW-STREET.
This Tavern, in Duke's Court, was once kept by a facetious person,
named Jupp, and is associated with a piece of humour, which may either
be matter of fact, or interpreted as a pleasant satire upon
etymological fancies. One evening, two well-known characters, Annesley
Shay and Bob Todrington (the latter caricatured by Old Dighton), met
at the Queen's Head, and at the bar asked for "half a quartern" each,
with a little cold water. They continued to drink until they had
swallowed four-and-twenty half-quarterns in water, when Shay said to
the other, "Now, we'll go." "Oh, no," replied he, "we'll have another,
and then go." This did not satisfy the Hibernians, and they continued
drinking on till three in the morning, when they both agreed to go; so
that under the idea of going they made a long stay, and this was the
origin of drinking, or calling for, goes of liquor; but another,
determined to eke out the measure his own way, used to call for a
quartern at a time, and these, in the exercise of his humour, he
called _stays_. We find the above in the very pleasant _Etymological
Compendium_, third edition, revised and improved by Merton A. Thoms,
1853.
THE SHAKSPEARE TAVERN.
Of this noted theatrical tavern, in the Piazza, Covent Garden, several
details were received by Mr. John Green, in 1815, from Twigg, who was
apprentice at the Shakspeare. They had generally fifty turtles at a
time; and upon an average from ten to fifteen were dressed every week;
and it was not unusual to send forty quarts of turtle soup a-week into
the country, as far as Yorkshire.
The sign of Shakspeare, painted by Wale, cost nearly 200_l._: it
projected at the corner, over the street, with very rich iron-work.
Dick Milton was once landlord; he was a great gamester, and once won
40,000_l._ He would frequently start with his coach-and-six, which he
would keep about six months, and then sell it. He was so much
reduced, and his credit so bad, at times, as to send out for a dozen
of wine for his customers; it was sold at 16s. a bottle. This is
chronicled as the first tavern in London that had rooms; and from this
house the other taverns were supplied with waiters. Here were held
three clubs--the Madras, Bengal, and Bombay.
Twigg was cook at the Shakspeare. The largest dinner ever dressed here
consisted of 108 made-dishes, besides hams, etc., and vegetables; this
was the dinner to Admiral Keppel, when he was made First Lord of the
Admiralty. Twigg told of another dinner to Sir Richard Simmons, of
Earl's Court, Mr. Small, and three other gentlemen; it consisted of
the following dishes:--A turbot, of 40lb., a Thames salmon, a haunch
of venison, French beans and cucumbers, a green goose, an apricot
tart, and green peas. The dinner was dressed by Twigg, and it came to
about seven guineas a head.
The Shakspeare is stated to have been the first tavern in Covent
Garden. Twigg relates of Tomkins, the landlord, that his father had
been a man of opulence in the City, but failed for vast sums. Tomkins
kept his coach and his country-house, but was no gambler, as has been
reported. He died worth 40,000_l._ His daughter married Mr. Longman,
the music-seller. Tomkins had never less than a hundred pipes of wine
in his cellar; he kept seven waiters, one cellar-man, and a boy. Each
waiter was smartly dressed in his ruffles, and thought it a bad week
if he did not make 7_l._ Stacie, who partly served his apprenticeship
to Tomkins, told Twigg, that he had betted nearly 3000_l._ upon one of
his racehorses of the name of Goldfinder. Stacie won, and afterwards
sold the horse for a large sum.
There was likewise a Shakspeare Tavern in Little Russell-street,
opposite Drury-lane Theatre; the sign was altered in 1828, to the
Albion.
SHUTER, AND HIS TAVERN-PLACES.
Shuter, the actor, at the age of twelve, was pot-boy at the Queen's
Head (afterwards Mrs. Butler's), in Covent Garden, where he was so
kind to the rats in the cellar, by giving them sops from porter, (for,
in his time, any person might have a toast in his beer,) that they
would creep about him and upon him; he would carry them about between
his shirt and his waistcoat, and even call them by their names. Shuter
was next pot-boy at the Blue Posts, opposite Brydges-street, then kept
by Ellidge, and afterwards by Carter, who played well at billiards, on
account of the length of his arms. Shuter used to carry beer to the
players, behind the scenes at Drury-lane Theatre, and elsewhere, and
being noticed by Hippisley, was taken as his servant, and brought on
the stage. He had also been at the house next the Blue Posts,--the
Sun, in Russell-street, which was frequented by Hippisley. Mr.
Theophilus Forrest, when he paid Shuter his money, allowed him in his
latter days, two guineas per week, found him calling for gin, and his
shirt was worn to half its original size. Latterly, he was hooted by
the boys in the street: he became a Methodist, and died at King John's
Palace, Tottenham Court Road.
THE ROSE TAVERN, COVENT GARDEN.
This noted Tavern, on the east side of Brydges-street, flourished in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and from its contiguity to
Drury-lane Theatre, and close connection with it, was frequented by
courtiers and men of letters, of loose character, and other gentry of
no character at all. The scenes of _The Morning Ramble, or the Town
Humour_, 1672, are laid "at the Rose Tavern, in Covent Garden," which
was constantly a scene of drunken broils, midnight orgies, and
murderous assaults, by men of fashion, who were designated "Hectors,"
and whose chief pleasure lay in frequenting taverns for the running
through of some fuddled toper, whom wine had made valiant. Shadwell,
in his comedy of the _Scowrers_, 1691, written at a time when
obedience to the laws was enforced, and these excesses had in
consequence declined, observes of these cowardly ruffians: "They were
brave fellows, indeed! In those days a man could not go from the Rose
Tavern to the Piazza once, but he must venture his life twice."
Women of a certain freedom of character frequented taverns at the
commencement of the last century, and the Rose, doubtless, resembled
the box-lobby of a theatre. In the _Rake Reformed_, 1718, this tavern
is thus noticed:
"Not far from thence appears a pendent sign,
Whose bush declares the product of the vine,
Whence to the traveller's sight the full-blown Rose
Its dazzling beauties doth in gold disclose;
And painted faces flock in tally'd clothes."
Dramatists and poets resorted to the house, and about 1726, Gay and
other wits, by clubbing verses, concocted the well-known love ditty,
entitled _Molly Mogg of the Rose_, in compliment to the then barmaid
or waitress. The Welsh ballad, _Gwinfrid Shones_, printed in 1733, has
also this tribute to Molly Mogg, as a celebrated toast:
"Some sing Molly Mogg of the Rose,
And call her the Oakingham pelle;
Whilst others does farces compose,
On peautiful Molle Lepelle."
Hogarth's third print of the Rake's Progress, published in 1735,
exhibits a principal room in the Rose Tavern: Lethercoat, the fellow
with a bright pewter dish and a candle, is a portrait; he was for many
years a porter attached to the house.
Garrick, when he enlarged Drury-lane Theatre, in 1776, raised the new
front designed by Robert Adam, took in the whole of the tavern, as a
convenience to the theatre, and retained the sign of the Rose in an
oval compartment, as a conspicuous part of the decoration, which is
shown in a popular engraving by J. T. Smith.
In D'Urfey's Songs, 1719, we find these allusions to the Rose:
"_A Song in Praise of Chalk, by W. Pettis._
"We the lads at the Rose
A patron have chose,
Who's as void as the best is of thinking;
And without dedication,
Will assist in his station,
And maintains us in eating and drinking."
"_Song.--The Nose._
"Three merry lads met at the Rose,
To speak in the praises of the nose:
The flat, the sharp, the Roman snout,
The hawk's nose circled round about;
The crooked nose that stands awry,
The ruby nose of scarlet dye;
The brazen nose without a face,
That doth the learned college grace.
Invention often barren grows,
Yet still there's matter in the nose."
EVANS'S, COVENT GARDEN.
At the north-west corner of Covent Garden Market is a lofty edifice,
which, with the building that preceded it, possesses a host of
interesting associations. Sir Kenelm Digby came to live here after the
Restoration of Charles II.: here he was much visited by the
philosophers of his day, and built in the garden in the rear of the
house a laboratory. The mansion was altered, if not rebuilt, for the
Earl of Orford, better known as Admiral Russell, who, in 1692,
defeated Admiral de Tourville, and ruined the French fleet. The façade
of the house originally resembled the forecastle of a ship. The fine
old staircase is formed of part of the vessel Admiral Russell
commanded at La Hogue; it has handsomely carved anchors, ropes, and
the coronet and initials of Lord Orford. The Earl died here in 1727;
and the house was afterwards occupied by Thomas, Lord Archer, until
1768; and by James West, the great collector of books, etc., and
President of the Royal Society, who died in 1772.
Mr. Twigg recollected Lord Archer's garden (now the site of the
singing-room), at the back of the Grand Hotel, about 1765, well
stocked; mushrooms and cucumbers were grown there in high perfection.
In 1774, the house was opened by David Low as an hotel; the first
family hotel, it is said, in London. Gold, silver, and copper medals
were struck, and given by Low, as advertisements of his house; the
gold to the princes, silver to the nobility, and copper to the public
generally. About 1794, Mrs. Hudson, then proprietor, advertised her
hotel, "with stabling for one hundred noblemen and horses." The next
proprietors were Richardson and Joy.
At the beginning of the present century, and some years afterwards,
the hotel was famous for its large dinner- and coffee-room. This was
called the "Star," from the number of men of rank who frequented it.
One day a gentleman entered the dining-room, and ordered of the waiter
two lamb-chops; at the same time inquiring, "John, have you a
cucumber?" The waiter replied in the negative--it was so early in the
season; but he would step into the market, and inquire if there were
any. The waiter did so, and returned with--"There are a few, but they
are half-a-guinea apiece." "Half-a-guinea apiece! are they small or
large?" "Why, rather small." "Then buy two," was the reply. This
incident has been related of various epicures; it occurred to Charles
Duke of Norfolk, who died in 1815.
Evans, of Covent-Garden Theatre, removed here from the Cider Cellar in
Maiden-lane, and, using the large dining-room for a singing-room,
prospered until 1844, when he resigned the property to Mr. John
Green. Meanwhile, the character of the entertainment, by the selection
of music of a higher class than hitherto, brought so great an
accession of visitors, that Mr. Green built, in 1855, on the site of
the old garden (Digby's garden) an extremely handsome hall, to which
the former singing-room forms a sort of vestibule. The latter is hung
with the collection of portraits of celebrated actors and actresses,
mostly of our own time, which Mr. Green has been at great pains to
collect.
The _spécialité_ of this very agreeable place is the olden music,
which is sung here with great intelligence and spirit; the visitors
are of the better and more appreciative class, and often include
amateurs of rank. The reserved gallery is said to occupy part of the
site of the cottage in which the Kembles occasionally resided during
the zenith of their fame at Covent-Garden Theatre; and here the gifted
Fanny Kemble is said to have been born.
THE FLEECE, COVENT GARDEN.
The Restoration did not mend the morals of the taverns in Covent
Garden, but increased their licentiousness, and made them the resort
of bullies and other vicious persons. The Fleece, on the west side of
Brydges-street, was notorious for its tavern broils; L'Estrange, in
his translation of Quevedo's _Visions_, 1667, makes one of the Fleece
hectors declare he was never well but either at the Fleece Tavern or
Bear at Bridge-foot, stuffing himself "with food and tipple, till the
hoops were ready to burst." According to Aubrey, the Fleece was "very
unfortunate for homicides;" there were several killed there in his
time; it was a private house till 1692. Aubrey places it in
York-street, so that there must have been a back or second way to the
tavern--a very convenient resource.
THE BEDFORD HEAD, COVENT GARDEN.
Was a luxurious refectory, in Southampton-street, whose epicurism is
commemorated by Pope:--
"Let me extol a cat on oysters fed,
I'll have a party at the Bedford Head."
_2nd Sat. of Horace, 2nd Bk._
"When sharp with hunger, scorn you to be fed
Except on pea-chicks, at the Bedford Head?"
_Pope, Sober Advice.___
Walpole refers to a great supper at the Bedford Head, ordered by Paul
Whitehead, for a party of gentlemen dressed like sailors and masked,
who, in 1741, on the night of Vernon's birthday, went round Covent
Garden with a drum, beating up for a volunteer mob; but it did not
take.
THE SALUTATION, TAVISTOCK STREET.
This was a noted tavern in the last century, at the corner of
Tavistock-court, Covent Garden. Its original sign was taken down by
Mr. Yerrel, the landlord, who informed J. T. Smith, that it consisted
of two gentlemen saluting each other, dressed in flowing wigs, and
coats with square pockets, large enough to hold folio books, and
wearing swords, this being the dress of the time when the sign was put
up, supposed to have been about 1707, the date on a stone at the
Covent Garden end of the court.
Richard Leveridge, the celebrated singer, kept the Salutation after
his retirement from the stage; and here he brought out his _Collection
of Songs_, with the music, engraved and printed for the author, 1727.
Among the frequenters of the Salutation was William Cussans, or
Cuzzons, a native of Barbadoes, and a most eccentric fellow, who lived
upon an income allowed him by his family. He once hired himself as a
potman, and then as a coal-heaver. He was never seen to smile. He
personated a chimney-sweeper at the Pantheon and Opera-house
masquerades, and wrote the popular song of Robinson Crusoe:
"He got all the wood
That ever he could,
And he stuck it together with glue so;
And made him a hut,
And in it he put
The carcase of Robinson Crusoe."
He was a bacchanalian customer at the Salutation, and his nightly
quantum of wine was liberal: he would sometimes take eight pints at a
sitting, without being the least intoxicated.
THE CONSTITUTION TAVERN, COVENT GARDEN.
In Bedford-street, near St. Paul's church-gate, was an old tavern, the
Constitution (now rebuilt), noted as the resort of working men of
letters, and for its late hours; indeed, the sittings here were
perennial. Among other eccentric persons we remember to have seen
here, was an accomplished scholar named Churchill, who had travelled
much in the East, smoked and ate opium to excess, and was full of
information. Of another grade were two friends who lived in the same
house, and had for many years "turned night into day;" rising at eight
o'clock in the evening, and going to bed at eight next morning. They
had in common some astrological, alchemical, and _spiritual_ notions,
and often passed the whole night at the Constitution. This was the
favourite haunt of Wilson, the landscape-painter, who then lived in
the Garden; he could, at the Constitution, freely indulge in a pot of
porter, and enjoy the fun of his brother-painter, Mortimer, who
preferred this house, as it was near his own in Church-passage.
THE CIDER CELLAR.