midnight
A tavern is the best picture of human folly , nature wearing no garb of hypocrisy . You must know that the Boar 's Head had once been the home of the `` Blackfriars , '' then a residence of a bishop , a convent , a brewery , and finally fell into the hands of the grandfather of Dame Quickly , who bequeathed it to his posterity and the public as a depot for plum pudding , roast beef , lamb , birds , fish , ale , wine , brandy and universal pleasure . A boar 's head , with a red light in its mouth was kept constantly burning from sunset to sunrise , where wandering humanity found welcome and rest . Supper parties from the adjacent theatres filled the tavern in midnight hours , where actors , authors , politicians , statesmen and ladies of all hue , reveled in jolly , generous freedom , beneath the ever-present superintendence of buxom Dame Quickly . _ `` The gods are just , and oft our pleasant vices Make instruments to scourge us . Boys , immature in knowledge , Pawn their experience to their present pleasure . '' _ The main bar , decorated with variegated lights and shining blue bottles and glasses , with pewter and silver mugs in theatrical rows , lent a kind of enchantment to the nightly scene .