The Lord-keeper Coventry thus speaks of them:--‘I account ale-houses and tippling-houses the greatest pests in the kingdom. I give it you in charge to take a course that none be permitted unless they be licensed; and for the licensed ale-houses, let them be but few and in fit places; if they be in private corners and ill places, they become the den of thieves--they are the public stages of drunkenness and disorder. Let care be taken in the choice of ale-house keepers, that it be not appointed to be the livelihood of a large family. In many places they swarm by default of the justices of the peace.’[141] It may be remarked that by this time inns had become representative; that is, for the most part each inn attracted a particular species of customer. This did not escape the notice of that keen observer Heywood:-- The gentry to the King’s Head, The nobles to the Crown, The knights unto the Golden Fleece, And to the Plough the clown; The Churchman to the Mitre, The shepherd to the Star, The gardener hies him to the Rose, To the Drum the man of war; To the Feathers, ladies, you; the Globe The seamen do not scorn; The usurer to the Devil, and The Townsman to the Horn; The Huntsman to the White Hart, To the Ship the merchants go, But you that do the Muses love The sign called River Po; The bankrupt to the World’s End, The fool to the Fortune hie, Unto the Mouth the oyster-wife, The fiddler to the Pie; * * * * * The drunkard to the Vine, The beggar to the Bush, then meet And with Sir Humphrey dine.