# The Boar’s Head Tavern, Eastcheap explained — The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

> Chapter companion for The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving.

## What happens

Geoffrey Crayon embarks on a pilgrimage to Eastcheap in search of the legendary Boar's Head Tavern, the setting of Shakespeare's Falstaff scenes. He finds only a stone boar's head built into a modern building and learns the tavern's history from a local widow. He then visits St. Michael's Church to see a painting of the old tavern, encountering a sexton and a talkative parish clerk. The chapter reflects on the power of literary illusion and the decay of historical landmarks.

## Themes in this chapter

### Literary Creation and Plagiarism

Crayon reflects on the nature of literary pilgrimage and the illusion of fiction, celebrating Falstaff as a creation that enriches life.

### Memory and Monuments

The chapter explores the decay of the physical tavern and the preservation of its memory through a stone sign, a painting, and literary tradition.

### Nostalgia and the Past

Crayon's quest is driven by a longing for the vanished world of Shakespeare's tavern and the merry roisterers of old Eastcheap.

## Character check-ins

### Geoffrey Crayon

Narrator who makes a pilgrimage to Eastcheap to find the Boar's Head Tavern.

### Dame Quickly

Mentioned as the former hostess of the Boar's Head Tavern; Crayon seeks traces of her.

### Falstaff

Celebrated as 'kind Jack Falstaff' and 'fat Jack'; the tavern's legendary guest.

### Shakespeare

The immortal bard whose comic scenes inspired Crayon's pilgrimage.

### Dame Honeyball

The sexton's wife, who provides a drink and is mentioned in Crayon's farewell.

### William Walworth

Mentioned as a figure whose biography could be included in a fuller account.

## Key lines

> I will make a pilgrimage to Eastcheap, and see if the old Boar's Head Tavern still exists.

Crayon decides to visit Eastcheap to find the legendary Boar's Head Tavern.

_This sets the chapter's central quest in motion._

> I would not give up fat Jack for half the great men of ancient chronicle.

Crayon values the fictional Falstaff more than many historical heroes.

_Highlights the theme of literary creation's enduring value._

> The only relict of it is a boar's head, carved in relief in stone, which formerly served as the sign, but at present is built into the parting line of two houses.

Only a stone boar's head remains of the original tavern, now embedded in a modern building.

_Illustrates the physical decay of historical landmarks._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_sketchbook_of_geoffrey_crayon_gent_se/chapters/the-boar-s-head-tavern-eastcheap
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_sketchbook_of_geoffrey_crayon_gent_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_sketchbook_of_geoffrey_crayon_gent_se/chapters