England's jests refin'd and improv'd being a choice collection of the merriest jests, smartest repartees, wittiest sayings, and most notable bulls yet extant, with many new ones never before printed to which are added XIII ingenious characters drawn to the life / the whole work compil'd with great care and exactness, and may serve as the witty-man's companion, the busie-man's diversion and the melancholy man's physick and recreation, calculated for the innocent spending of the winter evenings by H.C.

VI. Of a TAVERN.

A Tavern is a degree, or (if you will) a pair of Stairs above an Ale-house, where men are Drunk with more Credit. If the Vin••∣ners Nose be at the door, it is a Sign sufficient, but the absence of this is sup∣plied by a Bush: The Rooms are ill breathed, like the Drunkards that have been well washt over Night, and are smelt to fasting next morning, nor fur∣nished with Beds apt to be defiled, but more necessary Implements, Chairs Tables, and a Chamber-pot. It is a broacher of more News then Hogs∣heads, and more Jests than News; which are suckt up here by some spun∣gy Brain, and from thence squeezed into a Comedy. Men come here to make merry, but indeed make a Noise, and this Musick above, is answered.

with t••e Chat••ing below: The Draw∣ers are the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••cople in it: Men of good bringing up; and howsoever w•• esteem o•• th••m, none can boast m••re j••••tly of their High Calling. It is t••e b••••t Theatre of Natures, where they are truly act••d, not plaid: and the business, as in the rest of the World, up and down; that is, from the bottom of the Cellar to the Great Chamber. A Melancholy man would find matter to work upon, to see Heads as bri••••le as Glasses, and as ••ften bro∣ken. M••n come hither to qua••rel, and come hither to be made friend••. It is the common Con••u••ption of the Af∣ternoon, and the Murderer or Maker away of a Rainy Day. It is the Torrid Zone that scorches the Face, and T••∣b••cco the Gun powder that blows it up. A House of Sin you may call it, but not a House of Darkness, for the Cand••es are never out; and it is like those Cou••••i••s far in the North, where it is as clear at Mid-night as at Mid-day. After a long sitting, it be∣comes like a street in a dashing shower, where the Spouts are flushing above, and the Conduits ru••ning below:

while the Jordans, like swelling Ri∣vers, overflow their Banks. To give the total reckoning of it, 'Tis the busie mans Recreation, the Idle mans Busi∣ness, the Melancholy mans Sanctuary, the Inns a Court-mans Entertainment, the Schollars Kindness, and the Citi∣zens Courtesie. It is the Study of Spark∣ling Witts, and a Cup of Canary their Book, where we leave them.