. The
chief sticklers for the said addition were Sir William Seroggs, Jun.,
Robert Fairebeard, Capt. Stowe, Capt. Radcliffe, one Yalden, with
others, to the number of 40 or thereabouts; many of them sharpers about
town, with clerks not out of their time, and young men newly come from
the university. And some of them went the 17th to Windsor, and presented
the said addresse to his majesty: who was pleasd to give them his
thanks and confer (it is said) knighthood on the said Mr. Fairebeard;
this proves a mistake since. The 16th was much such another addresse
carried on in the Middle Temple, where several Templars, meeting about
one or two that afternoon in the hall for that purpose, they began to
debate it, but they were opposed till the hall began to fill; and then
the addressers called for Mr. Montague to take the chaire; on which a
poll was demanded, but the addressers refused it, and carried Mr.
Montague and sett him in the chaire, and the other part pulled him out,
on which high words grew, and some blows were given; but the addressers
seeing they could doe no good with it in the hall, adjourned to the
Divill Tavern, and there signed the addresse; the other party kept in
the hall, and fell to protesting against such illegall and arbitrary
proceedings, subscribing their names to a greater number than the
addressers were, and presented the same to the bench as a grievance."

Like the King's Head Tavern, which stood in Chancery Lane, the Devil
Tavern, in Fleet Street, was a favorite house with the Caroline Lawyers.
Its proximity to the Temple secured the special patronage of the
templars, whereas the King's Head was more frequented by Lincoln's-Inn
men; and in the tavern-haunting days of the seventeenth century those
two places of entertainment saw many a wild and dissolute scene. Unlike
Chattelin, who endeavored to satisfy his guests with delicate repasts
and light wines, the hosts of the Devil and the King's Head provided the
more substantial fare of old England, and laid themselves out to please
roysterers who liked pots of ale in the morning, and were wont to drink
brandy by the pint as the clocks struck midnight. Nando's, the house
where Thurlow in his student-period used to hold nightly disputations
with all comers of suitable social rank, was an orderly place in
comparison with these more venerable hostelries; and though the Mitre,
Cock, and Rainbow have witnessed a good deal of deep drinking, it may be
questione