In any case it was, in Shakespeare's time,
frequented
by the
chief writers of the day, amongst them Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher,
Selden, Carew, Donne, and Shakespeare himself.
Keats
_Bards_, poets and singers.
l. 8. _parle_, French _parler_. Cf. _Hamlet_, I. i. 62.
l. 12. _Dian's fawns._ Diana was the goddess of hunting.
INTRODUCTION TO LINES ON THE MERMAID TAVERN.
The Mermaid Tavern was an old inn in Bread Street, Cheapside. Tradition
says that the literary club there was established by Sir Walter Raleigh
in 1603.
In any case it was, in Shakespeare's time,
frequented
by the
chief writers of the day, amongst them Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher,
Selden, Carew, Donne, and Shakespeare himself.
Beaumont, in a poetical
epistle to Ben Jonson, writes:
What things have we seen
Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been
So nimble and so full of subtle flame,
As if that any one from whence they came
Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,
And has resolved to live a fool the rest
Of his dull life.
NOTES ON LINES ON THE MERMAID TAVERN.
PAGE 131. l. 10. _bold Robin Hood._ Cf. _Robin Hood_, p. 133.
