Under The Garland.

dust . Outside , therefore , and from the inside too , for that matter , Wreath ' s looks—may I use the expression ?—frousy . It is bow-windowed—it is lop-sided—it retires from inspection , as it were—it fences and shields itself behind huge balks or bulks of timber almost seA'ered by the indentations where ropes have for centuries been twisted around them , that the braAvny arms of countless generations of free vintners might find purchase to lower hogsheads of good liquor into the " Garland ' s" capacious cellars . I examined these perpendicular balks the other day . They are apparently of black oak . The lower

part of each is nearly Avorn through by the indentations I have described : but in the upper portion can still be traced the remains of delicate wood carving , vine leaves , bunches of grapes , Silenus and his goats , Bacchus astride his barrel , the thyrsus and the trellis , the amphora and the garland—all , all are there . Ah me ! how many a thirsty toper—Avho has years ago " gone over to the majority , " —

" When Bibo thought fit from the world to retreat , " —a reveller not perhaps altogether like Mat Prior ' s hero , "As full of champagne as an egg ' s full of meat , " but with quite sufficient of Wreath ' s best under his belt to render his corporeality for

the time vertically unreliable—how many a jolly good fellow , I repeat , has been fain to steady himself by those posts , Wreath ' s hospitality having been too profuse , or the invitations of boon companions too pressing . What a roaring trade must have been done " Under the Garland" when London Avas blazing around in the Annus Mirabilis ! —for Wreath ' s escaped the fiery purgation of ' 66 . How the thirsty carters , hurriedly removing lares and penates , must have fortified themselves at that wooden bar with

strong Avaters ! How frantic householders must have sought therein to " keep their spirits up by pouring spirits down , " when in ' 65 King Pest and in ' 66 King Flame were holding grim carnival tide around Paul ' s tower ! The name of Wreath had not departed from the " Garland " when Charles the Second was king . Indeed it has not departed even now ; but in those days an actual lineal and direct descendent of the deceased Armigers—a free -vintner and past master of his company —handled the spigot and gauge " Under the Garland " Avhile the mob burnt the rumps at the posts and chains Avhere the Temple Bar—removed yesterday—afterwards stood , when

that Avild saturnalia drove Cockneydom mad at the Restoration . I don ' t know absolutely AA'hether Wreath's rejoiced particularly at the spectacle of the king enjoying his own again . The " Garland" had always been loyal , certainly . Conviviality , gaiety , amusement , alAvays seem , somehow , to be identified Avith loyalty , as asceticism with the reverse . I am not quite sure , hoAvever , whether the association does not , sometimes tend to mislead ns . I , for one , do not believe that every Puritan gentleman spoke through the nose ,

despised art and poetry , and denounced divine music as " applying the hair of the horse unto the boAvels of the cat . " I will not subscribe defidei to the creed that every member of the Parliamentarian party in the great struggle wore " plain falling bands " and went close cropped . On the contrary , 1 do believe that there Avere some ardent politicians on that side Avho loved a fine picture , Avere thrilled at the si ght of a pretty face , set off their own in the frame of a point lace collar and a graceful love-lock or two , could turn

a copy of verses neatly , perform deftly on the lute or viol de gambo , and even would on occasion behold complacently a stage play or a masque . Mr . John Milton—poet , playwriter , and musician—come into court and say if I lie . And , per contra , I will not credit that every Englishman who carried his rapier hanging from a baldrick , instead of tuck-wise in a belt , and Avho adorned his sombrero with a plume and " guarded" his just-au-eorps with a feAV feet of gold lace , was thereby and necessarily a roue , a seducer , and a traitor . At all events , there were sufficient of the neutral party , the folks

" Who tloTi't -trouble their heads vjita affairs of the nation , They've enough of their OAVU for to mind , " as the song says , to constitute a pretty good connection for Wreath ' s Avhen the pave