Tuesday, 10 October 2017

The Mermaid, Newport

In Newport, we enter another Mermaid Tavern. This one has:

writhing crabs in whicker baskets;
smells of roasting, frying, stewing, wine, beer and tobacco;
ships' captains and officers and business people;
souvenirs on the walls - floats, nets, weapons, a crocodile skull, a feather cloak, a mask of painted coconuts and seashells;
both body heat and kitchen heat;
smoke and noise;
a merchant reading the Newport Commercial Bulletin, subtitled Salve Lucrum, meaning "Hail, Profit."

This is another of the many fictional inns that we would like to visit.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

The Mermaid Tavern sounds like the kind of place Nicholas van Rijn would love! Esp. if you could read newspapers with mottoes like "Salve Lucrum"!

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

I do think Old Nick would like it... 8-).

Sean M. Brooks said...

So would I, Mr. Stirling!

Sean