[Illustration: INTRODUCTION OF RANDOLPH TO BEN JONSON AT THE "DEVIL" TAVERN (_see page 40_).]
The portrait of Mull Sack has the following verses beneath:--
"I walk the Strand and Westminster, and scorn To march i' the City, though I bear the horn. My feather and my yellow band accord, To prove me courtier; my boot, spur, and sword, My smoking-pipe, scarf, garter, rose on shoe, Show my brave mind t' affect what gallants do. I sing, dance, drink, and merrily pass the day, And, like a chimney, sweep all care away."
In Charles II.'s time the "Devil" became frequented by lawyers and physicians. The talk now was about drugs and latitats, jalap and the law of escheats. Yet, still good company frequented it, for Steele describes Bickerstaff's sister Jenny's wedding entertainment there in October, 1709; and in 1710 (Queen Anne) Swift writes one of those charming letters to Stella to tell her that he had dined on October 12th at the "Devil," with Addison and Dr. Garth, when the good-natured doctor, whom every one loved, stood treat, and there must have been talk worth hearing. In the Apollo chamber the intolerable court odes of Colley Cibber, the poet laureate, used to be solemnly rehearsed with fitting music; and Pope, in "The Dunciad," says, scornfully:--
"Back to the 'Devil' the loud echoes roll, And 'Coll' each butcher roars in Hockly Hole."
But Colley had talent and he had brass, and it took many such lines to put him down. A good epigram on these public recitations runs thus:--
"When laureates make odes, do you ask of what sort? Do you ask if they're good or are evil? You may judge: from the 'Devil' they come to the Court, And go from the Court to the 'Devil.'"
Dr. Kenrick afterwards gave lectures on Shakespeare at the Apollo. This Kenrick, originally a rule-maker, and the malicious assailant of Johnson and Garrick, was the Croker of his day. He originated the _London Review_, and when he assailed Johnson's "Shakespeare," Johnson laughingly replied, "That he was not going to be bound by Kenrick's rules."
In 1746 the Royal Society held its annual dinner in the old consecrated room, and in the year 1752 concerts of vocal and instrumental music were given in the same place. It was an upstairs chamber, probably detached from the tavern, and lay up a "close," or court, like some of the old Edinburgh taverns.