Ah, Ben! Say how, or when, Shall we thy guests, Meet at those lyric feasts Made at the Sun, The Dog, the Triple Tun? Where we such clusters had, As made us nobly wild, not mad; And yet each verse of thine Out-did the meat, out-did the wine. Ben Jonson, in inviting a friend to sup with him at the Mermaid, promises him— A cup of pure Canary wine, Which is the Mermaid’s now, but shall be mine. The Swan at Charing Cross, however, was the house where Jonson was always most sure of getting the best draught of his favourite liquor. Aubrey relates that the poet was upon one occasion dining with King James, and when called upon to say grace produced the following lines:— Our King and Queen, the Lord God blesse, The Palsgrave and the Lady Besse, And God blesse every living thing That lives and breathes and loves the King. God blesse the Councill of Estate, And Buckingham the fortunate. God blesse them all, and keep them safe, And God blesse me, and God blesse Ralph. Whereupon “the King was mighty inquisitive to know who this Ralph was. Ben told him ’twas the drawer at the Swanne Taverne by Charing Crosse, who drew him good canarie. For this drollerie his Ma^{tie.} gave him an hundred pounds.” The legend of St. Dunstan, who, being tempted of the devil in bodily form, took the prince of darkness by the nose, and With redhot tongs he made him roar Till he was heard three miles or more, {208} was commemorated on the signboard of a celebrated inn in Fleet Street, which was called “The Devil” for short. The old inn stood on the site now occupied by Child’s Bank, and it was there that the meetings of the celebrated Apollo Club were held, and rare Ben Jonson, with other kindred spirits, passed the sparkling wine and still more sparkling jest. Here over the entrance of the Apollo Chamber were inscribed the well-known lines beginning Welcome all who lead or follow To the oracle of Apollo. Sim Wadlow, whom Jonson dubbed “the king of skinkers,”[51] was one of the famous landlords of this house. The following epitaph on this notorious character is recorded by Camden in his _Remaines_:— [51] Skinkers = tapsters; from the old English verb schenchen, to pour out. Apollo et cohors Musarum, Bacchus vini et uvarum, Ceres pro pane et cervisia, Adeste omnes cum tristitia. Dii, Deæque, lamentate cuncti, Simonis Vadloe funera defuncti, Sub signo malo bene vixit, mirabile! Si ad cœlum recessit gratias Diaboli. These lines may be thus rendered:— Apollo and the Muses nine, Bacchus the god of grapes and wine, Ceres the friend of “cakes and ale,” Assembled, list to my sad tale. Gods, goddesses, lament ye all, At Simon Wadlow’s funeral, He lived right well tho’ his sign was evil, If heaven he won, ’tis thanks to ‘the Devil.’ Our illustration depicts two innkeepers, who were probably Sim Wadlow’s contemporaries. {209}