Besides these two funeral societies there is a third of quite a different cast,which tends to throw the sunshine of good-humor over the whole neighborhood.It meets once a week at a little old-fashioned house,kept by a jolly publican of the name of Wagstaff,and bearing for insignia a resplendent half-moon,with a most seductive bunch of grapes.The old edifice is covered with inions to catch the eye of the thirsty wayfarer,such as "Truman,Hanbury,and Co.'s Entire,""Wine,Rum,and Brandy Vaults,""Old Tom,Rum and Compounds,etc."This indeed has been a temple of Bacchus and Momus from time immemorial.It ha always been in the family of the Wagstaffs,so that its history is tolerably preserved by the present landlord.It was much frequented by the gallants and cavalieros of the reign of Elizabeth,and was looked into now and then by the wits of Charles the Second's day.But what Wagstaff principally prides himself upon is,that Henry the Eighth,in one of his nocturnal rambles,broke the head of one of his ancestors with his famous walking-staff.This,however,is considered as a rather dubious and vainglorious boast of the landlord.
The club which now holds its weekly sessions here goes by the name of "The Roaring Lads of Little Britain."They abound in old catches,glees,and choice stories,that are traditional in the place,and not to be met with in any other part of the metropolis.There is a madcap undertaker who is inimitable at a merry song;but the life of the club,and indeed the prime wit of Little Britain,is bully Wagstaff himself.His ancestors were all wags before him,and he has inherited with the inn a large stock of songs and jokes,which go with it from generation to generation as heirlooms.He is a dapper little fellow,with bandy legs and pot belly,a red face,with a moist,merry eye,and a little shock of gray hair behind.At the opening of every club night he is called in to sing his "Confession of Faith,"which is the famous old drinking trowl from "Gammer Gurton's Needle."He sings it,to be sure,with many variations,as he received it from his father's lips;for it has been a standing favorite at the Half-Moon and Bunch of Grapes ever since it was written;nay,he affirms that his predecessors have often had the honor of singing it before the nobility and gentry at Christmas mummeries,when Little Britain was in all its glory.
It would do one's heart good to hear,on a club night,the shouts of merriment,the snatches of song,and now and then the choral bursts of half a dozen discordant voices,which issue from this jovial mansion.At such times the street is lined with listeners,who enjoy a delight equal to that of gazing into a confectioner's window,or snuffing up the steams of a cook shop.
There are two annual events which produce great stir and sensation in Little Britain;these are St.Bartholomew's Fair,and the Lord Mayor's Day.During the time of the fair,which is held in the adjoining regions of Smith field,there is nothing going on but gossiping and gadding about.The late quiet streets of Little Britain are overrun with an irruption of strange figures and faces;every tavern is a scene of rout and revel.
The fiddle and the song are heard from the tap-room,morning,noon,and night;and at each window may be seen some group of boon companions,with half-shut eyes,hats on one side,pipe in mouth,and tankard in hand,fondling,and prosing,and singing maudlin songs over their liquor.Even the sober decorum of private families,which I must say is rigidly kept up at other times among my neighbors,is no proof against this Saturnalia.There is no such thing as keeping maid-servants within doors.Their brains are absolutely set madding with Punch and the Puppet Show;the Flying Horses;Signior Polito;the Fire-Eater;the celebrated Mr.Paap;and the Irish Giant.
The children,too,lavish all their holiday money in toys and gilt gingerbread,and fill the house with the Lilliputian din of drums,trumpets,and penny whistles.
But the Lord mayor's Day is the great anniversary.The Lord Mayor is looked up to by the inhabitants of Little Britain as the greatest potentate upon earth;his gilt coach with six horses as the summit of human splendor;and his procession,with all the Sheriffs and Aldermen in his train,as the grandest of earthly pageants.How they exult in the idea that the King himself dare not enter the city without first knocking at the gate of Temple Bar,and asking permission of the Lord Mayor:for if he did,heaven and earth!there is no knowing what might be the consequence.The man in armor,who rides before the Lord mayor,and is the city champion,has orders to cut down everybody that offends against the dignity of the city;and then there is the little man with a velvet porringer on his head,who sits at the window of the state-coach,and holds the city sword,as long as a pike-staff--Odd's blood!If he once draws that sword,Majesty itself is not safe!
Under the protection of this mighty potentate,therefore,the good people of Little Britain sleep in peace.Temple Bar is an effectual barrier against all interior foes;and as to foreign invasion,the Lord Mayor has but to throw himself into the Tower,call in the train bands,and put the standing army of Beef-eaters under arms,and he may bid defiance to the world!