rning hours, the men-about-town promenaded there, displaying their
gorgeous clothes and hailing those whom they wished to have known as
their acquaintances. If a gallant's cash were at low ebb, he loitered
there, hoping for an invitation to dinner. If he had had a dinner, he
often came back for another stroll in the afternoon. At one pillar he
would find lawyers standing; at another, serving men seeking
employment; at still another, public secretaries. Here one could learn
anything from the latest fashion to the latest political scandal.
Meanwhile, divine worship might be going on in the chancel, unobserved
unless some fop wished to make himself conspicuous by joking with the
choir boys. Thus St. Paul's was a school of life invaluable to the
dramatist. We know that Ben Jonson learned much there, and we can
hardly doubt that Shakespeare did likewise.

+The Taverns+.--Another center of London life was the tavern. The man
who would now lunch at his club then dined at an 'ordinary,' a _table
d'hote_ in some tavern. Men dined at noon, and then sat on over their
wine, smoking or playing at cards or dice. In the evening one could
always find there music and good company. One tradition of Shakespeare
tells of his evenings at the Mermaid tavern. "Many were the
wit-combates," writes Fuller, "betwixt him [Shakespeare] and Ben
Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish great gallion, and an English
man of War; Master Jonson (like the former) was built far higher in
Learning; Solid, but Slow in his performances. Shake-spear, with the
English man-of-War, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn
with all tides, {57} tack about and take advantage of all winds, by the
quickness of his Wit and Invention." Francis Beaumont, the dramatist,
wrote the following verses to Ben Jonson:--

"What things have we seen
Done at the Mermaid, heard words that have been
So nimble, and so full of subtle flame,
As if everyone from whence they came
Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,
And had resolved to live a fool the rest
Of his dull life; then when there hath been thrown
Wit able enough to justify the town
For three days past; wit that might warrant be
For the whole city to talk foolishly
Till that were cancelled; and when that was gone,
We left an air behind us, which alone
Was able to make the two next companies
(Right witty, though but downright fools) more wise."

+At the