The Osceola times., 1882-02-18
A TENNYsONIAN TAvlRN.
The Demolition OF the Famous Cock In Lon
don Where the Pump Uead-wait-
cr Abode.


change into something new and-unde
termined as yet. This is the Cock, il
Fleet street, which the poet Laureate wa
in mortalized in his "Will Waterproof
Monologue," along with its plump heaC
waiter, and its sign, which last, it II
whispered, lit is brought TO the hammer
is alt gether likely TO take flight, thii
time across the Atlantic, a commission
having long ago been given TO secure i
for an eastern hostelry. That incIe 81
Of traffic in Fleet street before which
Temple Bar went down, has demanded
the setting back of the building. the
roof of which has been removed and thu
upper portion taken of, so that, even j
the room and its boxes larded with Tn,
steam of considerably more than 30,Oot
dinners to be retained, a new font viii
have to he built, and the size Of tn,
apartment will be lessened. The Cock
the most primitive Of London places o
the kind, stands Just on the east o
Apollo court, which commentaries IN,
Apollo Club at the Devil Tavern, and
was anciently the Cock and Bottle, the
sign meaning that liquors were on sale
on draught cock tap and by the bottle
"a sign, by the way. which has by moi
unnatural process Of evolution, become
in mary places the Cork and Bottle
the mighty ale within the reception be.
ing shown as sending the stopper forth
as from volcano, and boiling over the
sides of the vessel in amber floods ol
promise. The gilded bird above the low
doorway is ascribed-not upon incontro-
vertable evidence-to Grinling Gibbons
the famous carver in wood. The narrow
passage leading TO the ground floor din.
/ ming room and the dinning room itseli
were all that remained of the ancient
inn, and they had long history. Pepys
/ frequented the Cock-Cr. to speak more
accurately, visited it, as he records under
date of April 20, 1858. Thence by
water to the Temple and there to the
| Cock ale house, and drank and eat a lob.
ster, and sang, and nightly merry. So
almost night, | carried Mrs. Pierce home,
and then Mrs. Knipp and 10 the TEN.
pie again and took boat, it being now
night" Three years before that the
landlord, the plague then raging, had
shut up the tavern and retired into the
country, advertising his intentions as
follows: "This is to certify that the
master of the Cock and Bottle. commonly
] NhiANh tiib NpNh Nlt iuAiNt, dl lflalllit l1tf,
hath dismissed his servants and shut NJ
house for this long vacation, intending,
God willing to return at Michaelmas
next, so that all persons whosoever who
may have any accounts with the said
masters, or farthings belonging 10 the
said house are desired to repair thither
before the Sth OF this instant, and they
shall receive satisfaction" The farthings
alluded to wers tokens Of the sort that
were TO 60 out within the decade. In
the middle of the seventeenth there was
a lamentable want of small change, very
inadequately met by the coinage by
government of silver pence, half pence
and farthings. The great monastiC
establishments issued Abbey pieces of
copper, aud the merchants imported
"Nuremburg counters" and put out their
tokens-small accommodation bills in
metal payable on sight in effect Elizabeth
was too much opposed to putting her
august efiigy on anything but the precious
metals TO favor the scheme for replacing
these tokens by legitimate copper cur
rency, and'tne monopoly of the copper
coinage given by James I. to Lord Har.
rington was abused so abominaSly that
the people preferred the irregular pen
MES and farthiugs. Thus it came about
that under Charles /. and TIE common
wealth neerly every trader and tavern
keeper carried mis- own tokens "for
necessarie change" Some of the Cock
tokens ere cxiant, and show on one side
a cock surmounted by star, with the
inscription, 9Th Cock Ale House. and
on the other &c. Ii. NJ" surrounded by
the legend, "At Temple Barr, 1865" (star)
One of them, worn TO the thinness of a
wafer and scarcely decipherable, is pre-
served at the Cock, in little round
ebony box, in the custody of the head
waiter. The dining 70. m of the Cock is
a long, low room, divided into snug boxes
of n blackened mahogany, brass rodded
and green curtained, with a sanded or
sawdusted floor, and large open fire
place surmounted by carved black
oak mantel-piece, all being in much the
same condition ms when the plague was
devastating the city round about and
the great fire raging only a hundred
yards away. limbs records, apropos OF
the carving Of the time of James |. over
the mantel piece, that in the first quart
ter of this century the whole room was
similarly carved, and furnished with a
hugh black and gilt clock and settle.
Though some slight innovations have
in modern times been permitted in the
cuisine the Cock long restricted its bill
of fare with great iealously TO chops and
steaks, sausages and kidneys, cold beet
Welsh rabbits and eggs on buttered
toast, primitive cast steel forks of the
trident variety being in use. For liba-
tons there were the port Tennyson has
described. and the famous stout the
only malt liquid drawn within the doors,
although later Burton pale ale made its
insidious way in. Spirits of noted
strength and quality were also at call.
Dickens was an hsbltue of the place, and
from his favorite seat by the fire used to
take special delight in one Of the grin
ming heads carved on the ceiling. Ten
nyson, who immortalized the place, used
to dine there when he lived high
up under the roof of No. 81 Lincoln's
Inn square-frequently according to A..
II. Wall, who writes very sloppy article
about the tavern in Tine. iThe bard
now irequents Nerrey's, IN Regent street
when he dimes in town But Mr.. Wall
is very poor authority, as he labors un-
der the belief that the laureate's plump
head waiter still comes and goes, return
ing like the pewit, whereas william"
was called fiom the boxes by mellow
death many years ago and never was
quite reConciled to the fame that had
been thrust upon him and which really
made his fortune. You see, sir,n he
said, with his customary afable coude-
scension TO a guest, who had started the
inevitable subject, 1T isn't as if Mr.. Ten
nyson had been, as you may say, O. reg
lar customer; he only came in Just of
and on like; and SO, think, you know, 1t
was rather Of liberty on his pa;t.
Williams special cause OF complaint WIS
the coupler about the certain pottls-