Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1916 — FAMOUS INN PASSES [ARTICLE]

FAMOUS INN PASSES

Old Three Pigeons, Dear to Shakespeare, Is Closed. Houae Was Popular Resort for Posts and Dramatists of Elizabethan Era —Familiar to Reader* of Dickens. London. —One of the last, If not actually the last, of the old Elizabethan Inns associated with the name of Shakespeare and his literary contemporaries, passes away .with the closing of the famous Three Pigeons at Brentford. Much of the old-timbered building, including its low-carved and paneled chambers, disappeared years ago, and now comes the order of the Middlesex licensing Justices that the ancient hostelry must be closed. The inn, which was owned by Messrs. Charrlngton & brewers, has been in occupation up to the last, and although pot in a bad State of repair a’nfff 'having nothing against its record, it was 4eclded-that it now had become unnecessary. When the place actually was built no one can tell. “It was as old as the hills,* said one of the district officl&li, “but we can give no more definite date than that.” It is carious how popular the house seems to have been with poets * and dramatists of the Elizabethan era, seeing that the old town appears to have been always a byword for Its “dirt and ill odors.” The town is constantly referred to by Thomson, Gay, Goldsmith and others on account of its dirt, and it Is the subject of one of Doctor Johnson’s most famous* gibes. And yet, whenever Shakespeare and his friends had nothing better to do, they seem to have turned their footsteps westward to Brentford and there held high revel at the Three Pigeon*. The house was the scene of some of George Peele’s “Merry Jest*,” and Ben Jonson wrote, “We’ll Tickle It at the Pigeons.’’ In Shakespeare’s tlpap it was occupied by one John Lowin, one of the tragedians who played at the old Globe theater. Shakespeare not only refer* to the town of Brentford in hi* play*, but specifically mentions In a sarcastic fashion the proprietress of a neighboring rival house, the Tied Lion.' The house also is referred to In Butler’s “Hudlbraa” as the headquarter* of highwaymen, and later tradition* connect Dick Turpin with It. Up to quite recent times there were mysterious accounts of locked doors found unlocked during the night and specter* At the foot of the beds of casual sojourners and shadows at the window* o’ nights. In more modern times Brentford and the Three Pigeons are familiar to readers of Dickens. It was through Brentford that little Oliver Twist was made to tramp by Bill Sikes on his way to the burglary at Shepperton, and the inn Itself is mentioned In “Our Mutual Friend.”