Page:The George Inn, Southwark.djvu/49

George in Southwarke"; and on the reverse are three tobacco-pipes; above them, four beer-measures.

The other token is inscribed, "James Gunter 16 . . "? St. George and Dragon, in field. Reverse, "In Southwarke in the field 'I.A.G.'"

Mr. Burn quotes some lines from the "Musarum Deliciæ" or the "Muses' Recreations," compiled by Sir John Manners (Admiral and Chief Controller of the Navy) and Doctor James Smith, 1656, upon a surfeit by drinking bad sack at the "George" tavern, in Southwark.

"Oh, would I might turn poet for an houre,
 To satirize with a vindictive power
 Against the drawer! or I could desire
 Old Johnson's head had scalded in this fire;
 How would he rage and bring Apollo down
 To scold with Bacchus, and depose the clown
 For his ill-government and so confute
 Our poet-apes, that do so much impute
  Unto the grape's inspirement."

In the year 1670, "The George Inn" was, in great part, burnt and demolished by a violent fire which then happened in the Borough, and it was totally burnt down in the great fire of Southwark, in 1676, which I have mentioned in speaking of the "Tabard," and of which I promised to give a further account in the history of "The George."

From the records of the Court of Judicature, established by Act of Parliament for settling differences between landlords and tenants, and owners of adjoining houses, in consequence of this fire, we learn that the owner of "The George," at that time, was John Sayer, and the tenant, Mark Weyland.

In the year 1676, ten years after the great fire of London, a great part of Southwark, from the bridge to St. Margaret's Hill, including the town hall, which had been established in 1540, in the Church of St. Margaret, was destroyed by fire, which broke out in the Borough; and being as yet, like old London, chiefly built of timber, lath and plaster, the fire spread extensively and destroyed considerable property. After this it was found necessary