"The young fellows are mostly sure to be their followers and admirers, as esteeming it a great favour to be admitted amongst their seniors and betters, thinking to learn to know the world and themselves. One constant topic of conversation is, the civility of the people, the diligent attendance, together with the goodness of the wines and cheapness of the eatables, with a side-wind reflection on another house. And, if at any time the wine is complained of, it is answered with 'People's palates are not at all times alike; my landlord generally hath as good, or better, than any one in the town.' And often the poor innocent bottle, or else the cork, falls under a false and heavy accusation. "In a morning there is no passing through any part of the town without being _hemmed_ and _yelped_ after by these locusts from the windows of Taverns, where they post themselves at the most convenient views, to observe such passengers as they have but the least knowledge of; and if a person be in the greatest haste, going upon extraordinary occasions, or not caring to vitiate his palate before dinner, and so attempts an escape, then, like a pack of hounds, they join in full cry after him, and the landlord is detached upon his dropsical pedestals, or else a more nimble-footed drawer is at your heels, bawling out 'Sir, Sir, it is your old friend Mr. Swallow, who wants you upon particular business.' "The sums which are expended daily by this method are really surprising. I knew a clerk to a vestry, a half-pay officer, a chancery solicitor, and a broken apothecary, that made a tolerable good livelihood, by calling into a tavern all their friends that passed by the window in this manner. Their custom was, to sit with a quart of white port before them in a morning; every person they decoyed into their company for a minute or two never threw down less than his sixpence, and few drank more than one gill; and, if two or three glasses, he seldom came off with less than one shilling. The master of the house constantly provided them with a plain dinner, _gratis_. All dinner-time they kept their room, still in full view of the street, and so sat catching gudgeons (as they used to call it) from morning till night; when, besides amply filling their own carcases, and discharging the whole reckoning, they seldom divided less than seven or eight shillings per man, _per diem_. "Some people, unacquainted with this fellow-feeling at Taverns, often wonder how such-a-one does to hold it; that he spends a confounded deal of money, is seldom out of a Tavern, and never in his business: when, in reality, he is thus never out of his business, and so helps to run away with the chief profits of the house. "Nor are these all the hardships many of the Vintners lie under; for, besides, their purses must too often stand a private examination behind the bar, when any of these sort of customers necessities shall require it.