WILLIAM CONGREVE

EDITED BY ALEX. CHARLES EWALD, F.S.A.

AUTHOR OF "STORIES FROM THE STATE PAPERS," &C.

"I lie and dream of your full Mermaid wine."-Beaumont.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

"What things have we seen

Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been
So nimble, and so full of subtle flame,

As if that every one from whence they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,

And had resolved to live a fool the rest

Of his dull life."

Master Francis Beaumont to Ben Jonson.

"Souls of Poets dead and gone,

What Elysium have ye known,

Happy field or mossy cavern,

Choicer than the Mermaid Tave:n?"

Keats.