Mermaid Tavern
Encyclopedia
The Mermaid Tavern was a tavern
on Cheapside
in London during the Elizabethan era
, located east of St. Paul's Cathedral on the corner of Friday Street and Bread Street. It was the site of the so-called Friday Street Club (the Tavern's entrance was on Friday Street). The Club, meeting monthly, was allegedly founded by Sir Walter Raleigh
in 1603, and included some of the Elizabethan era's leading literary figures, among them Ben Jonson
, John Donne
, John Fletcher
and Francis Beaumont
, Thomas Coryat
, John Selden
, Robert Bruce Cotton
, Richard Carew, Richard Martin
, and others—including, perhaps, William Shakespeare
.
According to legend, Shakespeare and Jonson had battle-of-wits debates in which they discussed politics, religion, and literature. Shakespeare, though not as learned as Jonson, often won these debates because Jonson was more ponderous, going off on tangents that did not pertain to the topic at hand.
How much of the legend is true is an open question. There is an extended reference to the Tavern and its witty conversation in Master Francis Beaumont's Letter to Ben Jonson. Coryat's letters also refer to the Tavern, and mention Jonson, Donne, Cotton, Inigo Jones
, and Hugh Holland—though Coryat was intimate with this group apparently from 1611 on.
Shakespeare certainly had a connection with the tavern, through its landlord, William Johnson. When Shakespeare bought the Blackfriars gatehouse on March 10, 1613, Johnson was listed as a trustee for the mortgage. Hugh Holland, mentioned in Coryat's letters, composed one for the commendatory poems prefacing the First Folio
of Shakespeare's plays (1623).
composed a poem on the legend, Lines on the Mermaid Tavern—26 lines of verse that open and close with the following couplets:
In his 1908 Prophets, Priests and Kings (p. 323), A. G. Gardiner
turned to these "intellectual revels" at the Mermaid Tavern to express the independent genius of his friend G. K. Chesterton
:
Canadian poets
William Wilfred Campbell
, Archibald Lampman
, and Duncan Campbell Scott
together wrote a literary column called "At the Mermaid Inn" for the Toronto Globe from February 1892 until July 1893.
In Canadian folksinger Joni Mitchell
's 1972 song, "Carey
," the speaker encourages Carey: "Let's go down to the Mermaid Cafe, and I will buy you a bottle of wine."
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
on Cheapside
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
in London during the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
, located east of St. Paul's Cathedral on the corner of Friday Street and Bread Street. It was the site of the so-called Friday Street Club (the Tavern's entrance was on Friday Street). The Club, meeting monthly, was allegedly founded by Sir Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
in 1603, and included some of the Elizabethan era's leading literary figures, among them Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
, John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
and Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
, Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat was an English traveller and writer of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean age. He is principally remembered for two volumes of writings he left regarding his travels, often on foot, through Europe and parts of Asia...
, John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
, Robert Bruce Cotton
Robert Bruce Cotton
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet was an English antiquarian and Member of Parliament, founder of the important Cotton library....
, Richard Carew, Richard Martin
Richard Martin (Recorder of London)
Richard Martin was an English lawyer, orator, and supporter of the Virginia Company who was appointed Recorder of the City of London at the recommendation of James I of England in 1618 but died shortly thereafter.-Lawyer and tavern wit:...
, and others—including, perhaps, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
.
According to legend, Shakespeare and Jonson had battle-of-wits debates in which they discussed politics, religion, and literature. Shakespeare, though not as learned as Jonson, often won these debates because Jonson was more ponderous, going off on tangents that did not pertain to the topic at hand.
How much of the legend is true is an open question. There is an extended reference to the Tavern and its witty conversation in Master Francis Beaumont's Letter to Ben Jonson. Coryat's letters also refer to the Tavern, and mention Jonson, Donne, Cotton, Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
, and Hugh Holland—though Coryat was intimate with this group apparently from 1611 on.
Shakespeare certainly had a connection with the tavern, through its landlord, William Johnson. When Shakespeare bought the Blackfriars gatehouse on March 10, 1613, Johnson was listed as a trustee for the mortgage. Hugh Holland, mentioned in Coryat's letters, composed one for the commendatory poems prefacing the First Folio
First Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
of Shakespeare's plays (1623).
Mermaid Tavern in literature
Two hundred years after Shakespeare (or more specifically, in early February 1819), John KeatsJohn Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
composed a poem on the legend, Lines on the Mermaid Tavern—26 lines of verse that open and close with the following couplets:
-
-
-
-
-
- Souls of poets dead and gone,
- What Elysium have ye known,
- Happy field or mossy cavern,
- Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?
-
-
-
-
In his 1908 Prophets, Priests and Kings (p. 323), A. G. Gardiner
Alfred George Gardiner
Alfred George Gardiner was a British journalist and author. His essays, written under the pen-name Alpha of the Plough, are highly regarded. He was also Chairman of the National Anti-Sweating League, a pressure group which campaigned for a minimum wage in industry.-Early life:Gardiner was born in...
turned to these "intellectual revels" at the Mermaid Tavern to express the independent genius of his friend G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
:
- Time and place are accidents: he is elemental and primitive. He is not of our time, but of all times. One imagines him wrestling with the giant Skrymir and drinking deep draughts from the horn of Thor, or exchanging jests with Falstaff at the Boar's Head in Eastcheap, or joining in the intellectual revels at the Mermaid Tavern, or meeting Johnson foot to foot and dealing blow for mighty blow. With Rabelais he rioted, and Don Quixote and Sancho were his "vera brithers." One seems to see him coming down from the twilight of fable, through the centuries, calling wherever there is good company, and welcome wherever he calls, for he brings no cult of the time or pedantry of the schools with him.
Canadian poets
Canadian poetry
- Beginnings:The earliest works of poetry, mainly written by visitors, described the new territories in optimistic terms, mainly targeted at a European audience...
William Wilfred Campbell
William Wilfred Campbell
William Wilfred Campbell was a Canadian poet. He is often classed as one of the country's Confederation Poets, a group that included fellow Canadians Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman, and Duncan Campbell Scott; he was a colleague of Lampman and Scott...
, Archibald Lampman
Archibald Lampman
Archibald Lampman, was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in...
, and Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott was a Canadian poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets....
together wrote a literary column called "At the Mermaid Inn" for the Toronto Globe from February 1892 until July 1893.
In Canadian folksinger Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
's 1972 song, "Carey
Carey (song)
"Carey" is a song from the 1971 Joni Mitchell album Blue. It was inspired by her time with a cave-dwelling hippie community in the village of Matala, on the Greek island of Crete.-Autobiographical elements:...
," the speaker encourages Carey: "Let's go down to the Mermaid Cafe, and I will buy you a bottle of wine."