The Red Lion, Drury Lane
Oliver Goldsmith
Where the Red Lion, staring o'er the way,
Invites each passing stranger that can pay;
Where Calvert's butt and Parson's black champagne
Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury Lane;
There in a lonely room, from bailiffs snug,
The Muse found Scroggen stretched beneath a rug.
Now one of the famous theatre streets of Covent Garden in London's West End, in the 18th Century, Drury Lane was one of London's worst slums. It was a den of drunkards and prostitutes. The poet, Oliver Goldsmith, was notorious for having a dissolute lifestyle, so maybe he knew about Drury Lane first hand.
