The North American Review

It is not a little singular that Englishmen, who are so generally reproached by other nations for their want of sociality, should yet have originated clubs, the very object of which is the promotion of good-fellowship. Such, however, seems to be the case, the two earliest we have on record being one which celebrated its symposia at the Mermaid Tavern in Friday Street, and Ben Jonson's Club, which met at the old Devil Tavern, between Temple Gates and Temple Bar. The club at the Mermaid was, according to all accounts, the first established, and owed its origin to Sir Walter Raleigh, who had here instituted a meeting of men of wit and genius, previously to his engagement with the unfortunate Cobham. This society comprised all that the age held most distiguished for learning and talent; numbering amongst its members Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Sir Walter Raleigh, Donne, Cotton, Carew, Martin, and many others who were inferior in reputation to none except those master spirits, and well worthy to sit at the same table, although at a lower seat. There it was that occurred the "wit-combats" between Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, which have so often excited the regretful curiosity of antiquarians, VOL. LXXXI. -NO. 168. 1

and to which, probably, Beaumont alludes with so much affection, in his letter to the old poet, written from the country:

"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 whom they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest."

It is greatly to be regretted that not a fragmentary record of those meetings has come down to us; a few scattered allusions amongst the old dramatists, or their panegyrists, alone attest that such things did exist; but the wit, and the lively fancies, — the gay bubbles, as it were, of the most fervid imaginations brightened by wine and social emulation,— all these have passed away with the moment that gave rise to them. What would we now give to recall even the slightest portion of those days, and thus enjoy but a single hour in the society of such men as Shakespeare and his brother dramatists, their conversation varied and tempered by the world-knowledge of Raleigh and the profound learning of Selden! One man, and one only, could, by the magic of his pen, have called up the images of such a time; but the Great Unknown - the name must never leave him-sleeps the last sleep in Dryburgh Abbey, and who is there that can hope to succeed him? Nay, we almost regret having thrown out such a hint, lest some of our popular writers Heaven save the mark! should catch at the idea, and, having dressed up a set of fantoccini puppets, should endeavor to impose them upon the world as the legitimate representatives of the Mermaid Tavern.

Ben Jonson's Club was held in a room of the old Devil Tavern, which probably from this circumstance acquired the distinguishing name of the "Apollo." A print of this room, published in 1774, appears to have been seen by Gifford, who describes it as "a handsome room, large and lofty, and furnished with a gallery for music." Over the door of it was placed a bust of the poet, underneath which were inscribed, in golden letters upon a black ground, his own verses of welcome to the comer:

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The North American Review, Τόμος 81