An introduction to Shakespeare . d unless some fop wished to make himself con-spicuous by joking with the choir boys. Thus was a school of life invaluable to the know that Ben Jonson learned much there, and wecan hardly doubt that Shakespeare did likewise. The Taverns. — Another center of London life wasthe tavern. The man who would now lunch at hisclub then dined at an ^ ordinary, a table d^hdte insome tavern. Men dined at noon, and then sat onover their wine, smoking or playing at cards or the evening one could always find there music andgood company. One tradit
An introduction to Shakespeare . d unless some fop wished to make himself con-spicuous by joking with the choir boys. Thus was a school of life invaluable to the know that Ben Jonson learned much there, and wecan hardly doubt that Shakespeare did likewise. The Taverns. — Another center of London life wasthe tavern. The man who would now lunch at hisclub then dined at an ^ ordinary, a table d^hdte insome tavern. Men dined at noon, and then sat onover their wine, smoking or playing at cards or the evening one could always find there music andgood company. One tradition of Shakespeare tells ofhis evenings at the Mermaid tavern. Many were thewit-combates, writes Fuller, betwixt him [Shake-speare] and Ben Jonson, which two I behold like aSpanish great gallion, and an English man of War;Master Jonson (like the former) was built far higherin Learning; Solid, but Slow in his , with the English man-of-War, lesser inbulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides,. TiMON OF Athens, v, 4. Outer Scene. Trutnpets so7tnd. Enter Alcibiades with his Poixiers be/ore Athens. A/c, Sound to this Coward, and lascivious Towne, Our terrible a pnrly. The Senators appeare upon the IVals. Eeproduced from The Shakespearean Stage, by V. E. Albright, through thecourtesy of the publishers, the Columbia University Press. ELIZABETHAN LONDON 57 tack about and take advantage of all winds, by thequickness of his Wit and Invention. Francis Beau-mont, the dramatist, wrote the following verses toBen Jonson: — What things have we seenDone at the Mermaid, heard words that have beenSo nimble, and so full of subtle flame,As if everyone from whence they cameHad meant to put his whole wit in a had resolved to live a fool the restOf his duU life; then when there hath been thrownWit able enough to justify the townFor three days past; wit that might warrant beFor the whole city to talk foolishlyTill that were cancelled ; a
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