Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2) / With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries

by John Timbs

"THE MOURNING CROWN."

In Phœnix Alley, (now Hanover Court,) Long Acre, John Taylor, the Water Poet, kept a tavern, with the sign of "the Mourning Crown," but this being offensive to the Commonwealth (1652), he substituted for a sign his own head with this inscription—

"There's many a head stands for a sign;

Then, gentle reader, why not mine?"

He died here in the following year; and his widow in 1658.

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