William Shakespeare with friends at Mermaid Tavern - stock illustration

The Mermaid Tavern was a tavern on Cheapside in London during the Elizabethan era, located east of St. Paul's Cathedral on the corner of Friday Street and Bread Street. It was the site of the so-called "Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen", a drinking club that met on the first Friday of every month that included some of the Elizabethan era's leading literary figures. Left to right : Shakespeare - Taylor - Burbage - Ben Jonson - Oldcastle Original edition from my own archives Source : Gartenlaube 1864 Graveur : Paul Thumann, Weimar