Shakespeare's Christmas Gift to Queen Bess

At the Mermaid. Thus Raleigh, thus immortal Sidney shone (Illustrious names!) in great Eliza's days. --Thos. Edwardes. The numberless diamond-shaped window panes of the Mermaid Tavern are twinkling like so many stars in the chill December air of London. It is the last meeting of the Mermaid Club for the year 1596, and not a member is absent. As they drop in by twos and threes and gather in groups about the room, it is plain that expectation is on tip-toe. They call each Other by their Christian names and pledge healths. Some are young, handsome, fastidious in person and dress; Others are bohemian in costume, speech, and action; all wear knee breeches, and nearly all have pointed beards. He of the harsh fighting face, of the fine eye and coarse lip and the shaggy hair, whom they call Ben, although one of the youngest is yet plainly one of the leaders both for wit and for wisdom