Random London: The Devil Tavern, Temple Bar, stood between temple bar and Middle Temple Gate, Fleet Street.
Small sign denoting the site of the tavern on Fleet Street
The Sign of the Devil Tavern
The church of St. Dunstan's was nearly opposite; and the sign of the tavern was the Devil pulling St. Dunstan by the nose.
(Famously, of course the legend has it the other way round, as in this verse from the 17thC,
St Dunstan, as the story goes,
Once pull'd the devil by the nose
With red-hot tongs, which made him roar,
That he was heard three miles or more )
St Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street
The Devil Tavern in the 17th Century
It was sometimes called " The Old Devil Tavern," to distinguish it from "The Young Devil Tavern," in the same street, where, in 1707, Wanley and Le Neve originated, or gave the first impulse to, the Society of Antiquaries.
Often mentioned in 17th century literature including by Swift, Pepys and Pope
"One likes no language but the Faery Queen;
A Scot will fight for Christ's Kirk o' the Green;
And each true Briton is to Ben so civil,
He swears the Muses met him at the Devil."
- Alexander Pope.
Ben Jonson and the Devil Tavern
In the time of Ben Jonson, who gave a lasting reputation to the house, the landlord's name was Simon Wadloe—the original of "Old Sir Simon, the King," the favourite air of Squire Western in Fielding’s Tom Jones.
The great room was called the Apollo, where Jonson presided:
“Thither came all who desired to be sealed of the tribe of Ben”
There young poets and wits, such men as Herrick, Randolph, Carew, Marmion, Cartwright, Howell and Lord Falkland-paid their court to one whom they regarded as the first figure in the world of letters.
Over the door was verse, on a marble tablet in gold lettering, written by Jonson, as well as a bust of Apollo:
"Welcome all who lead or follow,
To the oracle of Apollo—
Here he speaks out of his pottle,
Or the tripos, his tower bottle :
All his answers are divine,
Truth itself doth flow in wine.
Hang up all the poor hop-drinkers,
Cries old Sim, the king of skinkels;
He the half of life abuses,
That sits watering with the Muses.
Those dull girls no good can mean us;
Wine it is the milk of Venus,
And the poet's horse accounted :
Ply it, and you all are mounted.
"Tis the true Phobian liquor,
Cheers the brains, makes wit the quicker,
Pays all debts, cures all diseases,
And at once three senses pleases.
Welcome all who lead or follow,
To the oracle of Apollo."
Beneath these verses was the name of the author - O rare Ben Jonson- a posthumous tribute from his grave in Westminster Abbey.
The End of the Devil Tavern
Established in the reign of James I (1603–25), it was demolished in 1787 by Child & Co. to expand their banking premises.
