Old Boston Taverns and Tavern ClubsDrake, Samuel Adams
History
Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs
Drake, Samuel Adams
Boston (Mass.) -- Social life and customs; Clubs -- Massachusetts -- Boston; Taverns (Inns) -- Massachusetts -- Boston
Gunnison's house presently took the not always popular name of the _King's
Arms_, which it seems to have kept until the general overturning of
thrones in the Old Country moved the Puritan rulers to order the taking
down of the King's arms, and setting up of the State's in their stead;
for, until the restoration of the Stuarts, the tavern is the same, we
think, known as the =State's Arms=. It then loyally resumed its old
insignia again. Such little incidents show us how taverns frequently
denote the fluctuation of popular opinion.
As Gunnison's bill of fare has not come down to us, we are at a loss to
know just how the colonial fathers fared at his hospitable board; but so
long as the 'treat' was had at the public expense we cannot doubt that the
dinners were quite as good as the larder afforded, or that full justice
was done to the contents of mine host's cellar by those worthy legislators
and lawgivers.
When Hugh Gunnison sold out the _King's Arms_ to Henry Shrimpton and
others, in 1651, for £600 sterling, the rooms in his house all bore some
distinguishing name or title. For instance, one chamber was called the
"Exchange." We have sometimes wondered whether it was so named in
consequence of its use by merchants of the town as a regular place of
meeting. The chamber referred to was furnished with "one half-headed
bedstead with blew pillars." There was also a "Court Chamber," which,
doubtless, was the one assigned to the General Court when dining at
Gunnison's. Still other rooms went by such names as the "London" and
"Star." The hall contained three small rooms, or stalls, with a bar
convenient to it. This room was for public use, but the apartments
upstairs were for the "quality" alone, or for those who paid for the
privilege of being private. All remember how, in "She Stoops to Conquer,"
Miss Hardcastle is made to say: "Attend the Lion, there!--Pipes and
tobacco for the Angel!--The Lamb has been outrageous this half hour!"
The =Castle Tavern= was another house of public resort, kept by William
Hudson, Jr., at what is now the upper corner of Elm Street and Dock
Square. Just at what time this noted tavern came into being is a matter
extremely difficult to be determined; but, as we find a colonial order
billeting soldiers in it in 1656, we conclude it to have been a public inn
at that early day. At this time Hudson is styled lieutenant. If Whitman's
records of the Artillery Company be taken as correct, the younger Hudson
had seen service in the wars. With "divers other of our best military
men," he had crossed the ocean to take service in the Parliamentary
forces, in which he held the rank of ensign, returning home to New
England, after an absence of two years, to find his wife publicly accused
of faithlessness to her marriage vows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account